Category Archives: European Union

Call for investigation into far-right EU politicians’ flights to Trump gala

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Transparency International writes to EU requesting inquiry into potential failure to declare travel and ticket expenses

An NGO has called for an investigation into five far-right members of the European parliament, warning of a potential failure to declare expenses for a trip to attend a gala dinner in New York headlined by Donald Trump.

Transparency International’s EU office has written to the parliament’s watchdog on MEP conduct requesting an inquiry into five politicians over a potential failure to declare travel and tickets to the black-tie gala hosted by the New York Young Republican Club (NYYRC) in December 2023.

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Shrinking GDP forecast adds to German woes after coalition collapse

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European Commission figures predict German economy, usually the engine of the EU, will contract O.1% this year

Germany’s looming general election will be fought against the backdrop of a stagnating economy, the European Commission has forecast, with GDP expected to have contracted in 2024.

The commission’s quarterly forecast suggested Germany, traditionally the engine of the bloc’s economy, will be its weakest performer in 2025, notching up growth of just 0.7% after shrinking by 0.1% this year.

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Global plastic production must be cut to curb pollution, study says

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Analysis lays bare huge challenge of mismanaged waste on eve of UN plastic treaty talks in Busan

Global plastic production must be reduced to tackle the immense challenge of plastic pollution, according to an analysis published on the eve of crucial talks to hammer out the world’s first legally binding treaty on plastic waste.

Mismanaged plastic waste, which leaches into the environment and can be harmful to health, will double to 121m tonnes by 2050 if limits are not placed on the production of plastic, according to Samuel Pottinger, the lead author of the research.

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Paris prosecutor seeks jail and public office ban for Marine Le Pen

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Request in embezzlement trial threatens to undermine National Rally’s efforts to polish image before 2027 polls

A Paris prosecutor has requested a five-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from public office for the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, at a trial in which she and 24 others are accused of embezzling EU funds.

The trial, which comes almost a decade after initial investigations started, threatens to undermine her National Rally (RN) party’s efforts to polish its image before the 2027 presidential election, which many believe she could win.

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Ireland orders X, TikTok and Instagram to curb terrorist content

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Regulator issues online safety ruling after finding weak processes leave networks ‘exposed to terrorist content’

Elon Musk’s X, TikTok and Meta’s Instagram have been ordered by Irish media regulators to take “necessary measures” to prevent terrorist content being platformed in order to comply with sweeping new online safety legislation.

The Irish media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, said it issued the ruling after its investigations determined that the social media networks were “exposed to terrorist content” due to weak processes.

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Italian judges strike another blow against Meloni’s Albania asylum deal

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Far-right government angrily condemns ruling that seven men detained in Albania must be transferred to Italy

Italian judges have ordered seven men detained in a migration hub in Albania to be transferred to Italy, in another blow to a controversial deal between the far-right Rome government and Tirana aimed at curbing the arrival of asylum seekers.

The men arrived at the Albanian port of Shëngjin aboard a military vessel on Friday after being rescued in international waters while trying to make their way to Europe.

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German paper industry denies claims paper shortage could hinder election

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Head of electoral commission had said timing of early election could be affected by shortage of paper to print ballots

Paper industry bosses in Germany have hit back at claims by the national electoral commission that a lack of paper might hinder the timing of the country’s early elections.

“We have paper,” the seemingly exasperated head of the trade association for the German paper industry, Alexander von Reibnitz, told the state broadcaster ZDF, adding: “The German paper industry is very productive … we can deliver as long as the order is submitted in a timely manner.”

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Labour under fire for failing to name MPs for key EU role

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Calls for UK to work more closely with the EU on everything from defence and trade to immigration grow following Trump’s re-election

Keir Starmer’s government is coming under fire for having failed over more than four months to appoint new MPs and peers to a key EU-UK inter-parliamentary forum, as pressure grows for closer co-operation with the European Union after Donald’s Trump re-election to the White House.

Today in an article for the Observer online the MEP and former Italian government minister Sandro Gozi, recently elected as the new chair of the 70-strong UK-EU parliamentary partnership assembly (PPA), and the chair of the Labour Movement for Europe Stella Creasy MP say failure to reconstitute the PPA since the July general election is an issue that “urgently” needs to be addressed.

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Markets and farm shops among targets of organised crime gangs, say experts

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Smoked salmon, artisan cheese and fine wine among food and drink lost by European outlets

Small food producers are increasingly being targeted by organised crime gangs and rogue industry insiders looking to exploit national and global supply chain challenges , according to food crime experts.

The warning comes after several food businesses in the UK and continental Europe revealed how they had lost hundreds of thousands of pounds in scams where thieves apparently posed as legitimate buyers.

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Ed Davey urges Starmer to ‘Trump-proof’ UK with closer European ties

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Lib Dem leader says government should work with Trump but be prepared for him to act on security and trade threats

Ed Davey has urged Keir Starmer to “Trump-proof” the UK by urgently seeking closer European cooperation over military aid for Ukraine and economic ties, after the US president-elect’s threats about security and trade wars.

The Liberal Democrat leader, whose party is the third biggest in the House of Commons, argued that while the UK government should seek to work with a Donald Trump administration, it should also be as prepared as possible if he were to abandon Ukraine or impose sweeping tariffs.

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EU leaders vow to make bloc more competitive in face of Trump threat

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Budapest meeting finds consensus on need to raise growth and productivity as ‘America first’ protectionism looms

EU leaders meeting in Budapest have signed a declaration aimed at boosting the bloc’s ailing competitiveness – a task given added urgency by the threat of “America first” protectionist trade policies promised by the US president-elect, Donald Trump.

The bloc has too many barriers to innovation and must drastically reduce red tape, especially for startups; ramp up investment; make access to capital easier; and raise productivity, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Friday.

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Leaders urge stronger action to defend Europe after Trump’s re-election

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EPC talks in Budapest hear calls for unity on continent as former US president’s return to White House brings uncertainty

European leaders have called for stronger action to defend their continent and support Ukraine, in a show of unity after Donald Trump won re-election to the White House for a second term that is likely to prove a major challenge for the bloc.

Meeting in Budapest for two days of talks hosted by Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, an outspoken Trump ally, the EU’s 27 heads of state and government were joined on Thursday by 20 other leaders from the wider European Political Community including Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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This year ‘virtually certain’ to be hottest on record, finds EU space programme

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Copernicus Climate Change Service says 2024 marks ‘a new milestone’ and should raise ambitions at Cop29 summit

It is “virtually certain” that 2024 will be the hottest year on record, the European Union’s space programme has found.

The prognosis comes the week before diplomats meet at the Cop29 climate summit and a day after a majority of voters in the US, the biggest historical polluter of planet-heating gas, chose to make Donald Trump president.

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Post-Brexit border scheme to simplify trade put on pause again

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Single Trade Window designed to reduce friction on imports and exports will be halted until at least 2026 amid cost fears

A key part of the UK’s post-Brexit border strategy has been put on pause for more than a year amid government concerns over the cost of implementing the scheme.

The introduction of the Single Trade Window (STW), which is designed to reduce friction for traders moving goods in and out of Britain, had already been delayed from late October to January next year, but will now be halted until at least 2026.

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Climate crisis leaves European farmers vulnerable to far right, say campaigners

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Populist groups capitalising on costly environmental policies that affect farmers by offering them support

The painful impacts of the climate crisis and globalisation have left farmers in Europe marginalised and vulnerable to populist politicians, warn anti-racism campaigners and academics.

They argue that if the transition to a low-carbon economy is not properly funded, planned and equitable, it risks fuelling a resurgence of the far right across the continent.

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Moldova’s president wins western praise for election triumph

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Maia Sandu’s victory amid claims of Russian interference boosts EU hopes and deals setback to Kremlin

Europe’s most powerful leaders have congratulated Moldova’s pro-western president, Maia Sandu, after she won a second term, cementing the country’s EU aspirations and dealing a setback to the Kremlin.

With nearly 98% of the vote counted in the second round of the presidential elections on Sunday, Sandu had 54% of the vote, ahead of Alexandr Stoianoglo, a Kremlin-friendly political newcomer, backed by the pro-Russia party of Socialists.

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Revealed: billionaires are ‘ultimate beneficiaries’ linked to €3bn of EU farming subsidies

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Thousands of small farms have closed according to analysis of official but opaque data from EU member states

The European Union gave generous farming subsidies to the companies of more than a dozen billionaires between 2018 and 2021, the Guardian can reveal, including companies owned by the former Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš and the British businessman Sir James Dyson.

Billionaires were “ultimate beneficiaries” linked to €3.3bn (£2.76bn) of EU farming handouts over the four-year period even as thousands of small farms were closed down, according to the analysis of official but opaque data from EU member states.

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‘Welfare for the rich’: how farm subsidies wrecked Europe’s landscapes

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The steep and stark environmental decline was not supposed to happen under the common agricultural policy

Revealed: the growing income gap between Europe’s biggest and smallest farms

The Rhine overflowed last winter, covering fields miles from the river and in some places leaving just the tops of trees visible.

But Thomas Bollig, who farms just a few miles from the banks of the Rhine, was not worried. Even as floods inundated the fields of his neighbours, making sowing impossible, his holdings were largely unaffected. Bollig farms organically, and the natural methods he uses to improve his soil allow his fields to hold more water when it rains, and release it gradually, coping well with floods and droughts.

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Imported Christmas trees cost more thanks to post-Brexit checks

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Nearly all are deemed ‘high-risk’ and so will need customs declarations and phytosanitary certificates

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Christmas trees make the journey into the UK to take pride of place in living rooms across the country.

But the the cross-border operation faces a new hurdle this year. Plants coming from the EU will be subject to post-Brexit border checks that importers are warning will increase costs for sellers, and probably push up prices for consumers.

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EU citizen who applied for pre-settled status is to be deported from Scotland

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Greek Cypriot Costa Koushiappis to be removed from UK even though his application is pending with Home Office

An EU citizen caught up in a Home Office backlog of applications for post-Brexit residency status is to be deported by Border Force officials in Scotland.

Costa Koushiappis, 39, who is Greek Cypriot, has been told to show up at Edinburgh airport at 7am on Friday to be forcibly put on a flight to Amsterdam just weeks after he received an email from the Home Office to say it could take a further 24 months to process his application for status.

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