Page 81 - European Union

Ukraine to adopt laws for membership talks with EU by mid-November

Ukraine plans to adopt the legislations needed to launch the membership talks with the European Union(EU) by mid-November, a top official said here.

Italy's EU partners vigilant as far right party set to take power

Italy's European Union partners are signalling discomfort, even vigilance, after Italy, one of the bloc's founding members, swung far to the political right. The result of Italy's latest election raises troubling questions about whether Rome will maintain its commitments to EU principles, laws and ambitions. The French prime minister on Monday said her government, along with EU officials, would be watching to ensure that basic human rights are guaranteed in Italy after Giorgia Meloni's neo-fascist far-right Brothers of Italy Party topped the vote count in Sunday's parliamentary election. In Europe, we uphold some values and obviously we will ensure, and the president of the commission will ensure, that these values on human rights, the respect of other people, especially the respect of the right to abortion will be respected by all (member states), Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told French broadcaster BFM TV. Such statements among the longtime EU partners are highly unusual and .

EU countries plan to delay Russian oil price cap amid divisions: Report

Countries may push to have a preliminary deal ahead of an informal gathering of EU leaders in Prague on Oct 6

EU candidate Serbia and Russia sign agreement on foreign policy matters

Serbia has signed an agreement with Russia for mutual consultations on foreign policy matters, the Balkan country's media reported on Saturday. Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Selakovic signed the agreement on Friday along with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, where most Western delegations shunned Russia's top diplomat over the country's invasion of Ukraine. The consultation plan covered by the agreement is expected to last for two years, Serbia's foreign ministry said in a Friday statement. Serbia officially is a candidate for European Union membership, but the government maintains relations with Russia. Although Serbia said it supports Ukraine's territorial integrity, the government has repeatedly refused to join Western sanctions against its Slavic allies in Moscow. Aligning foreign policies with the EU is one of the main pre-conditions for joining the 27-nation bloc, but Serbia has increasingly defie

EU seeks laws against human rights issue in Pakistan after MEP's visit

The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), who paid a three-day visit to Pakistan, have called for timely reforms and legislative changes on human rights issues including enforced disappearances

EU recommends withholding funds for Hungary over graft concerns

The European Commission has today proposed budget protection measures to the Council under the conditionality regulation

In a first, EU moves to cut money for Hungary over damaging democracy

EU executive proposes taking 7.5 billion euros from Hungary; 27 EU countries have three months to decide, no veto; Hungary pledges to meet all commitments to unlock EU funds

EU drafts new media laws amid concern over spying, state pressure

The European Union's executive branch unveiled plans Friday for new laws that it said would help protect media freedom and independence in the 27-nation bloc at a time of mounting concern about the dangers of political influence in several member countries. Spurred into action allegations of state spying on reporters, the use of political pressure on news outlets and the placing of advertising to peddle influence, the European Commission said the EU needs a European Media Freedom Act. We see a lot of worrying trends regarding media in Europe, and it's not only a matter of one or two countries, European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova told reporters in Brussels. She said the proposed legislation is needed for the times we live in, not for the times we would like to live in. The commission has criticised the governments of Hungary, Poland and Slovenia in recent years for trying to pressure their national media. But EU officials say they see the risk of political influence in mo

EU looks to raise $140 billion with windfall swoop on energy firms

As the bloc supports Ukraine, Russia has reduced or cut off natural gas to 13 member nations, surging gas and electricity prices that are expected to go higher as demand peaks during the cold months

EU seeks $140 bn from energy firms to insulate consumers from energy crisis

European gas and power prices have rocketed this year as Russia cut fuel exports to retaliate for Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine

EU doesn't single out China in planned ban on forced labour goods

The proposed Forced Labour Products Ban, from the European Commission, covers goods imported from third countries as well as those made within the EU.

17 million in EU may have suffered long Covid-19, says WHO report

New research suggests at least 17 million people in the European Union may have experienced long COVID-19 symptoms during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic, with women more likely than men to suffer from the condition, the World Health Organisation said Tuesday. The research, conducted for the WHO/Europe, was unclear on whether the symptoms that linger, recur or first appear at least one month after a coronavirus infection were more common in vaccinated or unvaccinated people. At least 17 million people met the WHO's criteria of long COVID-19 with symptoms lasting at least three months in 2020 and 2021, the report said. Millions of people in our region, straddling Europe and Central Asia, are suffering debilitating symptoms many months after their initial COVID-19 infection, said Hans Henri P Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, during a conference in Tel Aviv. The modeling also suggests that women are twice as likely as men to experience long COVID-19, and the ri

European Medicines Agency clears Pfizer-BioNTech's tweaked Covid booster

The European Medicines Agency has recommended the authorisation of a tweaked booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine that includes protection against two of the latest versions of omicron, as countries look to bolster their immunisation programs ahead of winter. The EU regulator said Monday that laboratory studies suggest the combination vaccine which targets both the original COVID-19 virus as well as the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 should trigger an effective immune response. The vaccine is expected to be as safe as the original version, but the agency will continue to track its rollout globally since the data is limited. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the modified vaccine shot the green light last month. According to the World Health Organisation, the BA.5 version of omicron is responsible for most of the COVID-19 spreading globally; it made up about 87% of all virus sequences shared with the biggest public database. Earlier this month, the .

EU must respond as one to Putin's 'blackmail': Greek PM Mitsotakis

The European Union should have a coordinated response to the challenge posed by Russian President Vladimir Putin's blackmail with the supply of natural gas, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Saturday. He said Putin's invasion of Ukraine is meant to "legitimise a despotic authoritarianism and enable any local troublemaker to do the same, a hardly veiled reference to Greece's neighbour Turkey and the increasingly aggressive rhetoric of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the Ukraine war, we stand with those defending themselves, we stand with democracy and freedom...we know what it means to have an (aggressive) neighbour, Mitsotakis said. Putin wants to turn European anxiety about energy into political destabilisation, Mitsotakis added in the keynote speech at the Thessaloniki International Fair, in which Greece's heads of government announce the coming year's economic policies. The Greek premier reminded his audience that Greece had proposed months ago a cap on natural ga

Targeting China, EU seeks to ban products made with forced labour

In a move to target China, concerned about human rights violations in the province of Xinjiang, the 27-member country European Union (EU) seeks to ban products made with forced labour

Small nuclear power stations emerge in EU as energy option, but risks loom

A global search for alternative sources to Russian energy during the war in Ukraine has refocused attention on smaller, easier-to-build nuclear power stations, which proponents say could provide a cheaper, more efficient alternative to older model mega-plants. UK-based Rolls-Royce SMR says its small modular reactors, or SMRs, are much cheaper and quicker to get running than standard plants, delivering the kind of energy security that many nations are seeking. France already relies on nuclear power for a majority of its electricity, and Germany kept the option of reactivating two nuclear plants it will shut down at the end of the year as Russia cuts natural gas supplies. While Rolls-Royce SMR and its competitors have signed deals with countries from Britain to Poland to start building the stations, they are many years away from operating and cannot solve the energy crisis now hitting Europe. Nuclear power also poses risks, including disposing of highly radioactive waste and keeping

EU members support swift adoption of 5-bn-euro loan to war-torn Ukraine

The EU has pledged 9 billion euros in assistance for Ukraine

EU nations agree on temporary emergency measures to curb energy prices

The energy ministers of the European Union (EU) member states have agreed a common position on temporary emergency measures to curb energy prices, according to senior officials.

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'Substantial victory' for Kyiv conceded on Russian state TV: Report

The Ukrainian breakthrough near Kharkiv was the fastest advance reported by either side for months, and one of the biggest shifts in the war's momentum