Before Brexit the UK was renowned for ‘gold-plating’ EU laws with extra red tape. With a 7% drop in real incomes forecast over the next two years, and the UK needing to generate economic growth, the objective should be to roll back red-tape barriers to growth rather than adding to the burden – yet the…
“Generators of hope” – a campaign launched jointly by Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, and Dario Nardella, President of Eurocities – will bring practical aid to people in Ukraine, by delivering a massive supply of power generators at a time of urgent need. Following consecutive missile and drone attacks by Russia on critical civilian infrastructure of…
Brussels has been urged to “systematically align EU policies for the victory of Ukraine.”. The message, from centre right MEPs, comes with the war in Ukraine showing no signs of abating. In comments on Thursday, the EPP group also said the EU should start membership talks with Ukraine “as soon as possible.” The EPP statement…
Last week UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled an emergency budget to plug the £55 billion black hole in the nation’s finances. He accepted that the last seven years of growth would be erased and that the country will remain in recession for up to two years., writes Philip Bushill-Matthews . In the circumstances he had little…
Elderly people and those with a disability “must not be left behind” in Europe’s rush to digitilization, an international conference on transport mobility was told. The conference heard that new technologies such as artificial intelligence will have a crucial role to play in transforming Europe’s transport eco system. But, in any debate about the future…
It is 33 years since the Berlin Wall was torn down, in November 1989. It heralded the break-up of the old Soviet empire and a new hope for the fledgling democracies which would spring up across Central and Eastern Europe, writes Philip Bushill-Matthews. Some walls stayed firmly fixed: the ‘Peace Walls’ in Belfast and the…
The Commission has adopted a recommendation to the Council to authorise the opening of negotiations of upgraded European Border and Coast Guard Agency’s (Frontex) status agreements between the EU and Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, as well as with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Commission is also adopting a new assistance package worth €39.2 million under the Instrument for…
According to a statement issued by the Uzbekistan Government, European partners highly appreciate and support the profound socio-economic reforms undertaken at the initiative of PresidentShavkat Mirziyoyev, as well as Uzbekistan’s new regional policy. This has made it possible to solve within a short period of time the most difficult problems of joint use of water…
EU colleagues must be bewildered by the current antics in the UK Conservative party. They are not the only ones, writes Philip Bushill-Matthews. Liz Truss finally resigned, not just becoming our shortest ever Prime Minister but also securing the title of the country’s worst PM despite stiff competition from her immediate predecessors. She said the reason for her going was that she was no longer able to…
Climate change is having a “very real” impact on wine production in Europe, according to leading French wine growers. Their warning about global warming on the wine sector came at the launch of a high profile campaign to promote a “new generation” of wines from the Alsace region of France. The campaign, tagged “Alsace Rocks!”,…
