Tuesday
14th Sep 2021
CWT Global is the European Parliament's in-house travel agency. But the US owned firm cannot book MEP flights to Cuba, due to the American embargo. MEPs now question why this agency was selected in the first place.
Pro-cashless lobbying efforts, mainly coming from private financial institutions, have stepped up. Banks and companies providing financial services are interested in the transaction fees they receive from cashless payments and offer incentives to merchants and consumers to stop using cash.
MEPs on the environment and agriculture committee have adopted a joint position on the Farm to Fork strategy - calling for binding targets to reduce pesticide use in the EU.
MEPs expect the EU Commission president to also address issues such as the economy, climate change, digital transformation, the EU's role in the world, migration policy, and the Conference on the Future of Europe.
Finance ministers of eight EU member states released a signed letter calling for a renewed effort to "reduce excessive debt" among member states. It is the starting point for renewed debates on debt and deficits in Europe.
The majority of members of the European Parliament's energy committee, including the Socialists and the Left, look set to green-light measures proposed by conservative parties which would lock the EU into fossil gas for years to come.
Almost half of Russians still have friendly feelings towards the West despite years of hostile propaganda, a new poll has shown in a snapshot of the EU's giant neighbour on the eve of elections.
Robert Dover from the University of Hull said intelligence work nowadays is mostly data warehousing to "improve the behavioural models of how state and individuals will act and behave" - and how to encounter that.
A new Greenpeace study found natural disasters can cause market prices to swing - both up or down. These 'inflationary pressures' will increase in the coming decades, as natural disasters are expected to become more frequent due to climate change.
MEPs on the environment committee have raised the alarm over the possible implications that new climate policies - aimed at cutting emissions from cars and buildings - may have on poorer households.
NGOs are appealing for EU lawmakers to stop work on Eurodac reforms, a bill that collects the biometric data of migrants and asylum seekers. But the lead MEP on the file says the European Parliament intends to adopt it anyway.
Belgrade has been generous, but there are also other reasons at play. The first one is the keystone of Serbian foreign policy: Kosovo. The countries receiving Serbian generosity have been the ones that did not recognise an independent Kosovo.
EU leaders are planning to repeat old promises to Western Balkan states at an upcoming summit, but enlargement is going nowhere for now.
The study shows that the 29 biggest energy companies in Europe have lost much of their financial clout. But it also shows that most of these companies can still afford to meet EU climate targets by themselves.
The green and digital transition, together with the pressure on democracy and the shift in the shares of the global population and GDP, will shape the geopolitical world order, according to a new report published by the European Commission.
The EU's Brexit negotiator spoke ahead of his first-ever visit to Northern Ireland where he wants to focus on "concrete problems" after the UK has once again postponed the implementation of checks between Northern Ireland and the UK.
With a surge in new Covid-19 cases and the second-lowest vaccination-rate in the EU, Romania's current political mess could not come at a worse time.
Throughout history, revolutionaries willing to sustain extreme conflict have been 'devoted actors', fused together by faith in defending or advancing non-negotiable 'sacred values', whether religious or secular, like God or country.
A new EU camp for asylum seekers is being inaugurated later this month in Samos. Vagelis Stratis from the IRC says people are leaving the island to avoid to go to it, amid a spike in mental health cases.
Air pollution from coal-powered plants in the western Balkans has caused 19,000 deaths over the past three years, according to a new report. Coal-fired power plants in the region have breached emission legal limits for years.
Green bond-funded projects may not add significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, but countries can still include gas projects in their national reform plan.
The move comes after the commission gave Poland until 16 August to explain how - and under what timeline - they will implement two EU court decisions. But Warsaw has not laid out any concrete plans.
Fewer Iraqi and Afghan migrants are entering the EU from Belarus, but new sanctions on Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko are coming anyway.
When one member state is threatened, Brussels will come up with its usual denouncements and superficial sanctions, just to let the other member states relapse into their habit of trading with rivals, and focussing on the next election campaign.
Many regard Fit for 55 as the moment for European climate policy. However, wait just a little longer, as perhaps most crucial piece of legislation will be the revision of the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive in the autumn.
After severe floods and fires hit several EU countries this summer, MEPs in the regional committee argue that EU emergency funds are not sufficient or future-proof.
Andreas Von Brandt, head of EU delegation to Afghanistan told MEPs that "for the moment - and this needs to be verified and confirmed - there has not been a dramatic change, so far, and that is a good thing".
The research estimates that a 25-percent minimum tax rate (the lowest current rate within the seven largest world economies) would net member states an extra €10-13bn a year in tax revenue.
The United States' loss in Afghanistan has paved the way for autocracy, and Washington has offered it political legitimacy as a bonus. The Taliban are not only victors in the GWOT; they are now heroes of the anti-West front.
The right to seek asylum is a fundamental tenet of international law, and yet Iran and Pakistan have fortified their borders, leaving Afghans no escape. The EU should put pressure on Pakistan to allow refugees into the country.
One of the topics for the keynote speech will certainly be the Covid-19 recovery fund - with Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Spain, and Portugal having already received their pre-financing.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said they want to send a "joint European presence" to Kabul in order to help evacuate Europeans and other Afghan nationals to willing member states.
EU energy companies cannot use the controversial Energy Charter Treaty to sue member states and claim compensation for the impact of policy measures, the European Court of Justice ruled, casting doubts over a number of ongoing cases.
