Many women struggle to break the so-called ‘glass ceiling’. Frenchwoman Claudie Haignere went one further — breaking through the earth’s atmosphere to travel to space.
He defeated Safe Harbour, he defeated Privacy Shield, now Austrian internet privacy campaigner Max Schrems is taking on AI, using the GDPR, to insist its personal data is “accurate”. AI is finding that difficult.
What to do when a European oil project has the permits, popular approval and government go-ahead to destroy sensitive Ugandan eco-habitats? Target the financing and insurance, says activist Hilda Nakabuye
The 78-year old Italian Emilio De Capitani is a gamekeeper turned poacher — going from working for the European Parliament, to using every legal trick in the book to try to force open the ‘black box’ of EU decision making.
The Parliament Dreams is a poetic series of digital photos by German artist Martina Geiger-Gerlach. After two-and-a-half years and five months of visiting Strasbourg plenary sessions, she created eight large panels featuring 818 EU politicians, leaders, and officials—all with their eyes closed.
Jacques Delors is often seen as the ‘godfather’ of the euro, but Hans-Dietrich Genscher played a quieter, catalytic role. His 1988 ‘magna carta’ helped reframe the single currency as a question of European security — a theme especially relevant today.
Half of Europe’s nine million farmers are set to retire in the next 10 years. A mix of obstacles prevents many young people from choosing it as a career. Donald Trump’s tariff threats are not helping either.
Jim O’Neill was right about China and, to some extent India, challenging the hegemony of the West, particularly the United States and Europe. However, beyond being a forum, it is still not clear what the BRICS is for.
A rare and brave German voice against the austerity cuts imposed on Greece and Italy during the eurozone crisis, Udo Bullmann got involved in politics in 1975 — and 50 years later is still not afraid of being smeared as ‘fiscally irresponsible’.
Marion Lalisse was appointed by the European Commission as coordinator for combating anti-Muslim hatred. But EUobserver’s attempts to squeeze responses out of the commission on her behalf have been a near impossible endeavour, highlighting possible institutionalised racism for a minority under constant attack.
With US-Europe relations at a swift and unprecedented nadir, one obscure Nato official remembers when Washington and Brussels spoke with one voice — the night of Tuesday, 11 September 2001.
Luisa Albera is the lead rescue coordinator onboard the Ocean Viking rescue ship, operated by SOS Mediterranee, an international civil organisation dedicated to saving migrants’ lives at sea. Her skill and experience led to the largest rescue ever carried out by the Ocean Viking, some 80 nautical miles north of Libya during the summer of 2021.
The decades-long struggle against racism and prejudice across Europe has been led by brave individuals, with the EU institutions following along in their wake. But often the warm words are not met by commitment, or representation.
A liberal British MEP, swept aside in the Brexit flood spearheaded by Nigel Farage, has some interesting ideas — and warnings — of where the EU is going wrong, and some remedies it should have tried years ago.
Far-right movements across Europe are no longer confined to rallies or party platforms. They are shaping entire cultural ecosystems through music, fashion, food and wellness, and attracting new followers along the way. Researcher Katherine Kondor believes understanding these everyday influences is key to confronting their rise.
Serhiy Nigoyan’s name is hardly known outside Ukraine, but the 20-year-old is celebrated in a mural in the capital, Kyiv, and in Ukrainian songs, while the country’s leaders laid flowers at the Hrushevskoho Street memorial on the anniversary of his killing on 20 January 2014.
Guinea Bissau economist and former African Union advisor Carlos Lopes has seen the so-called “partnership of equals” touted by Brussels flounder on a desire to open up market access for European countries, rather than help Africa industrialise.
Laura Espinosa spends her days sorting through thousands of signals, as part of a team that quietly protects millions across Europe from disease outbreaks. Her role at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) usually means ‘success’ goes unnoticed — but that’s exactly how she knows she’s done her job well.
Most national anthems have a martial theme, to put it mildly. That’s not the ethos of Mendi Mengjiqi, who composed the anthem for Kosovo, when it declared independence in 2008.
Hatched over drinks in a London pub, and anger over the lies fuelling the UK’s exit from the EU, four friends took on Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson armed only with a ladder and some posters. Their guerilla ad campaign didn’t ultimately work — but it had more cut through than most mainstream media coverage.