Category Archives: European Union

Covid rates lower in western Europe than parts of central and eastern Europe

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Slower vaccination rates in east lead to dramatic surge in cases, while UK remains outlier in west as cases rise despite vaccinations

Higher vaccination rates are translating to lower Covid infection and death rates in western Europe than in parts of central and eastern Europe, the latest data suggests – except in the UK, where case numbers are surging.

Figures from Our World In Data indicate a clear correlation between the percentage of people fully vaccinated and new daily cases and fatalities, with health systems in some under-inoculated central and eastern EU states under acute strain.

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EU ‘close to the end of the road’ over Northern Ireland protocol

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Point will come when EU says ‘enough, we cannot compromise any more’, warns Irish foreign minister

The EU is close to the end of the road with the UK over the Northern Ireland protocol, accusing David Frost, the Brexit minister, of trying to undermine serious attempts to solve the problem, the Irish foreign minister has said.

Simon Coveney said he had spoken to Lord Frost’s counterpart, the European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, on Sunday. They have agreed there would come a point when “the EU will say: enough, we cannot compromise any more”, Coveney said.

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Sebastian Kurz departure is further blow to Europe’s centre-right

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Resignation of Austrian chancellor follows Germany’s CDU crashing to its worst federal election result

Europe’s ailing centre-right is mourning the departure of a second high-profile conservative leader in the space of a month, as Austria’s chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, announced he would resign over allegations he encouraged the use of public funds to buy himself positive media coverage.

The fall from grace of the 35-year-old leader of the Austrian People’s party (ÖVP) comes just weeks after its German sister party failed to fill the space left by the outgoing chancellor, Angela Merkel, and crashed to the worst result in its history at federal elections.

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Trade war looms as UK set to spurn EU offer on Northern Ireland

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EU leaders urged to push back against No 10’s brinkmanship over role of European Court of Justice

Fears that the UK is heading for a trade war with the EU have been fuelled by strong indications from the government that proposals to be unveiled in Brussels on Wednesday over Brexit arrangements do not go far enough.

The Brexit minister, Lord Frost, will use a speech in Portugal on Tuesday to say that scrapping its prohibition on British sausages to resolve the dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol do not meet the UK and unionists demands.

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Brussels vows swift response to Poland’s ruling against EU law

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Ursula von der Leyen says European Commission will decide on next steps to take

The head of the European Commission has vowed a swift response to a ruling from Poland’s top court rejecting the supremacy of EU law, which has thrown relations between Brussels and Warsaw into a crisis.

Ursula von der Leyen said she was deeply concerned by Thursday’s ruling of the Polish constitutional tribunal, which concluded that basic principles of EU law were incompatible with Poland’s constitution. “I have instructed the commission’s services to analyse it thoroughly and swiftly. On this basis, we will decide on next steps,” she said in her first public statement on the matter.

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EU could lift ban on UK sausages to sweeten Northern Ireland deal

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Brussels to offer substantial package of proposals to improve post-Brexit arrangements

The EU will seek to sweeten its package of proposals over the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland by lifting a prohibition on sausages made in Britain.

The EU’s Brexit commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, will table four papers on Wednesday as to how the Northern Ireland protocol can be improved.

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What does the Irish tax deal mean for multinationals?

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Tech titans came to Ireland for its tax lures – but may now stay despite Dublin’s agreement to raise its rates

Ireland has dropped its low-tax policy after months of wrangling over the fine print of an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) agreement to operate a 15% minimum tax rate in more than 130 countries.

Why was Ireland key to a deal on taxing multinationals?

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Polish court rules EU laws incompatible with its constitution

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Country takes big step towards ‘legal Polexit’ against backdrop of rows between ruling nationalists and Brussels

Poland’s constitutional tribunal has ruled that some EU laws are in conflict with the country’s constitution, taking a major step towards a “legal Polexit” with far-reaching consequences for Warsaw’s funding and future relations with the bloc.

The tribunal, whose legitimacy is contested after multiple appointments of judges loyal to the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, said some provisions of EU treaties and EU court rulings clashed with Poland’s highest law, adding that EU institutions “act beyond the scope of their competences”.

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Ireland ends 12.5% tax rate in OECD global pact

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Low-tax policy of past 18 years had attracted multinationals such as Google and Facebook to Dublin

Ireland has dropped its cornerstone low-tax policy of the past 18 years, which helped persuade some of the world’s biggest companies, including Google and Facebook, to site their European headquarters in Dublin.

The decision comes after months of wrangling over the fine print of an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) agreement to operate a 15% minimum tax rate in more than 130 countries.

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France threatens to cut UK and Jersey energy supply in fishing row

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French government pushing EU to take stronger stance in dispute over access to Channel waters

The EU could hit Britain and Jersey’s energy supply over the UK’s failure to provide sufficient fishing licences to French fishers, France’s EU affairs minister has said.

Clément Beaune, who is a close ally of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said action would be decided on within days and discussions were already in motion.

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EU ‘failing to stop meat industry exploiting agency workers’

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MEPs call for EU ban on all outsourced labour after Guardian investigation finds unequal pay and terms

The EU is facing calls to ban outsourcing in the meat industry, after a Guardian investigation revealed how agency workers were exploited by companies that took no responsibility for pay and conditions.

Katrin Langensiepen, vice-chair of the European parliament’s employment and social affairs committee, said the EU should ban subcontracting across all economic sectors to ensure workers receive the same pay and conditions for the same work.

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UK promises ‘robust’ reaction if EU starts trade war over Northern Ireland

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Brexit minister says he expects Brussels response to UK demand to renegotiate protocol within 10 days

The UK will react in a “robust” manner if the EU launches a retaliatory trade war in the event of Brexit talks on Northern Ireland breaking down, the government has warned.

The Brexit minister, David Frost, said he expected the EU to issue its formal response to the UK’s demand for renegotiation of the Northern Ireland protocol within the next 10 days, as he outlined fresh detail on the timeline for talks.

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What may happen if article 16 of Northern Ireland protocol is triggered?

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Brexit minister David Frost threatens EU with use of emergency brake

The UK Brexit minister, David Frost, has stepped up demands on the EU to renegotiate the Northern Ireland protocol, a linchpin of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. At a speech to the Conservative party conference, Frost said “tinkering around the edges” of the protocol would not be enough. “We cannot wait for ever. Without an agreed solution soon, we will need to act, using the article 16 safeguard mechanism, to address the impact the protocol is having on Northern Ireland.”

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‘Only yourselves to blame’: UK’s shortages seen from abroad

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US and European media give their verdict on the fuel, food and labour crisis they say is caused by Brexit

Government ministers may insist it is “wrong” to blame Brexit for Britain’s fuel, food and labour shortages, but for the rest of Europe – and beyond – there is only one reason why the UK’s crisis is so very much worse than everywhere else’s.

“One is tempted to tell the British: ‘You have only yourselves to blame,’” said Gabi Kostorz on ARD’s Tagesthemen, a leading German news show. “We tried to talk you out of it, but you decided otherwise. Now you have to face the consequences.”

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Tensions rise at Kosovo border as number plate row escalates

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Behind a seemingly minor dispute, the long unresolved enmity with Serbia simmers

At an abandoned petrol station, half a mile from Kosovo’s Jarinje border checkpoint with Serbia, a giant Serbian flag had been laid out on the roof. In the former forecourt, a group of young people sat on upturned beer crates, sharing bottles of water and homemade rakija in small plastic cups. “This is our squad, our special forces,” one joked, as four tall, muscular men walked over to join them.

The mountain road next to them, flanked on either side by groups of protesters around tents and smouldering campfires, had been well and truly blocked by the men’s heavily laden trucks.

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Concerns grow over Poland’s treatment of migrants stuck at Belarus border

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Warsaw defies critics to extend state of emergency as it seeks to portray migrants as dangerous

Concerns over Poland’s treatment of migrants stranded on its border with Belarus are mounting after Warsaw this week ignored domestic and international criticism to extend a state of emergency and sought to portray them as dangerous deviants.

The European commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, met the Polish interior minister, Mariusz Kamiński, in Warsaw on Thursday night but won no concessions on the bloc’s request for monitors from the EU’s Frontex border force to be allowed into the zone, despite growing fears for the migrants’ safety after the deaths of at least five people.

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‘We have to fight for these conditions’: why Danish meat plant workers are Europe’s best paid

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Denmark has secured decent pay and conditions within the sector. Will other EU countries finally follow suit?

Read more: ‘The whole system is rotten’: life inside Europe’s meat industry

In meat plants, there’s a golden rule: the production line never stops. For 28 years, Frank Vestergaard has worked in Denmark’s meat processing industry. When he started, he says, workers were expected to slaughter 80 pigs an hour on the line; today, that number has rocketed to 432 animals.

He starts work at 6am and deals with animal carcasses. The pigs are first put to sleep with gas, then the workers slit their throats to let the blood drain out. Vestergaard’s job is to remove any injuries from the carcasses, such as broken bones, which the vets on the line identify. If the gallbladder is accidentally punctured, for example, a yellow fluid can seep on to the meat, and Vestergaard has to remove it.

“We have six seconds per pig for one operation, and then there is a new pig. We do the same over and over again. That is how we earn our money.”

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The invisible migrant workers propping up Ireland’s €4bn meat industry

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There has been a chronic mistreatment of workers in the country’s meat industry, according to unions

Read more: exploitation of meat plant workers rife across UK and Europe

In spring 2018, Alina Serbenco’s husband, Vasile, sat in a fast-food outlet in Dublin and plugged his mobile phone into a socket to recharge. It had been only a few months since he had moved from Romania to take up a job in a car wash, but he was being paid less than half the minimum wage and could not send money home to Alina and their two children. Homeless and living in a car, Vasile urgently needed a new job.

As he scrolled through Facebook, he spotted an advert for a job in a meat factory. It was posted by Irish employment agency AA Euro, a specialist recruitment consultancy working with companies in the agricultural, food processing, construction and mining industries, which has offices across the EU, including in Romania, Poland and the Netherlands. The job offer was up to 70 hours a week of work for just over the minimum wage and a room in a house for about €60 (£51.50) a week. Vasile decided to apply.

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Northern Irish unionist parties form alliance to oppose Brexit protocol

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Four parties including DUP and Ulster Unionists issue statement warning of ‘grave damage’ under new rules

Four rival unionist parties in Northern Ireland have formed an alliance to fight the Brexit protocol, issuing a joint statement weeks after the Democratic Unionist party threatened to quit Stormont if it was not scrapped.

It is seen as a significant attempt to show that the DUP’s hardline position is not isolated before the expected publication by the EU of fresh proposals to address UK demands to substantially rewrite the protocol.

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Revealed: exploitation of meat plant workers rife across UK and Europe

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Thousands of outsourced workers on inferior pay and conditions to fulfil demand for cheap meat, Guardian investigation shows

Read more: ‘The whole system is rotten’: life inside Europe’s meat industry

Meat companies across Europe have been hiring thousands of workers through subcontractors, agencies and bogus co-operatives on inferior pay and conditions, a Guardian investigation has found.

Workers, officials and labour experts have described how Europe’s £190bn meat industry has become a global hotspot for outsourced labour, with a floating cohort of workers, many of whom are migrants, with some earning 40% to 50% less than directly employed staff in the same factories.

The Guardian has uncovered evidence of a two-tier employment system with workers subjected to sub-standard pay and conditions to fulfil the meat industry’s need for a replenishable source of low-paid, hyper-flexible workers.

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