While Brussels leads with some of the world’s strongest human-rights laws, the European Fundamental Rights Agency director says uneven enforcement, security crackdowns and permissive border abuses are leaving migrants, women and minorities exposed.
Shaped by a childhood marked by standing up to bullies and a political career defined by pragmatic shifts, Mette Frederiksen is now using Denmark’s influence to advocate for a more assertive and self-reliant Europe.
As Peter Magyar rams through his ‘Purgatory’ reforms to sideline Orbán’s old guard, he has also triggered warnings against his bid to eject the president.
Trains buckle, schools shut and outdoor workers struggle through 40°C days. Trade unions and scientists are warning that Europe’s heatwave is no longer just a ‘weather story’ but a full showdown over who is responsible for keeping workers safe.
EU commission see ‘no overriding public interest’ to release secret Gaza reports, on day UN calls out genocideOn the same day that the UN human rights office called out genocide in Gaza, the European Commission told me there was no public interest in releasing 17 documents it wants to keep secret on the enclave.
As EU home affairs commissioner Magnus Brunner insists Brussels is not building a “European FBI”, MEPs are questioning how much power Europol could gain under a new proposal — from influencing national prosecutors to using information it is currently not allowed to use under existing rules.
The EU Commission says that it has not received a request to lift the diplomatic immunity of former migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos following an arrest warrant against him being issued by the Belgian authorities.
Behind closed doors, governments initially backed airline-friendly changes, but consumer groups and MEPs clawed back core EU passengers’ rights.
The shift from migration and climate wars to wallet issues is redrawing Europe’s political map, empowering forces that want a far bigger state at the very moment public coffers are already stretched.
THIS WEEK: Moldova pushes EU membership talks as Zelensky–Poland row clouds Gdańsk Ukraine summitEuropean leaders are set to gather in Gdansk for a summit to discuss the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. But a diplomatic row between president Zelensky and the Polish hosts could derail it.
With hundreds of athletes lining up behind Mbappé’s call to block the National Rally, the battle over France’s next president is spilling from parliament into living rooms and football stadiums.
Arriving at the Council building flanked by European Council and EU commission presidents Costa and von der Leyen, Zelensky celebrated “a really great moment for Ukraine”, which saw negotiations on future EU membership unblocked this week.
Among many other changes, Hungarians are about to find out which newsrooms can actually survive without state money – as a massive change within the public broadcast system is now underway.
That Germany’s Holocaust guilt matters less than Palestinian and Lebanese livesThe EU Commission will bring forward a proposal on import bans against Israeli settlers, but will it be a trade measure, which doesn’t need unanimity, or sanctions, which do?
The EU’s controversial return regulation passed by an overwhelming majority, splitting the centrist parties and creating new alliances in the European Parliament with toughened measures bringing Brussels’ border policies closer to the right.
THIS WEEK: Angry Trump meets EU leaders at G7 summit, as Ukraine starts accession talksThe burning question of US loyalty toward the West on Russia and a breakthrough on EU enlargement will dominate a week of summits in Belgium and France.
Hungary’s new anti-corruption drive could not only unfreeze billions in EU funds but also expose how much public money was funnelled into loyalist foundations, private equity funds and friendly business empires over the past decade.
The Swedish Parliament will vote to oblige its public sector voters to ‘snitch’ on undocumented migrants, as the latest addition to Stockholm’s far right’s crackdown on migration
EU deportation bill set to sail through parliament, as left scramble to add safeguardsThe return regulation is likely to get rubber stamped next week at the European Parliament following a political agreement earlier this month.
The European Commission has refused to publish full contracts with pharma giants to purchase billions of doses of Covid-19 vaccines. Now the EU’s top court is set to force its hand.