Brussels vote cancelled after it became clear law would not pass final stage with majority vote
The EU’s nature restoration laws appear on the verge of collapse after eight member states, including Hungary and Italy, withdrew support for the legislation.
The laws, which have been two years in the making and are designed to reverse decades of damage to wildlife on land and in waterways, were supposed to be rubber-stamped in a vote on Monday.
Continue reading...Members of justice committee say €150m in EU funding went straight to country’s president, Kais Saied
The European Commission has been accused of “bankrolling dictators” by senior MEPs who have claimed that the €150m it gave to Tunisia last year in a migration and development deal has ended up directly in the president’s hands.
A group of MEPs on the human rights, justice and foreign affairs committees at the European parliament launched a scathing attack on the executive in Brussels, expressing anxiety over reports that the commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, was about to seal a similar deal with Egypt.
Continue reading...Open Arms vessel, loaded with humanitarian supplies, is waiting for approval from Israel before leaving
A Gaza-bound aid ship expected to make the maiden voyage along a new maritime corridor from Cyprus has yet to set sail because of logistical challenges.
Government officials confirmed on Saturday that while a vessel belonging to Open Arms, a Spanish search and rescue group, had been loaded with food, water and other supplies and was ready to depart the Mediterranean island, it was unlikely to leave before Sunday.
Continue reading...Centre-right European People’s party says it wants to create deportation deals with non-EU countries to head off rise of far right
The European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, has given her support to controversial migration reforms that would involve deporting people to third countries for asylum processing and the imposition of a quota system for those receiving protection in EU countries.
Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People’s party (EPP), said the policies – similar to the UK’s Rwanda scheme – had been worked out with all the parties in the EPP political group, which includes von der Leyen’s Christian Democrat Union in Germany.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s president met the prime ministers of Italy, Canada and Belgium in a show of unity after recent battlefield defeats
Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed western leaders to Kyiv on Saturday on the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, declaring that Vladimir Putin “must lose absolutely everything”.
Ukraine’s president met the prime ministers of Italy, Canada and Belgium – Giorgia Meloni, Justin Trudeau and Alexander De Croo – as well as the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
Continue reading...Remarks by head of trade authority come amid fears UK firms could be undercut ‘to extinction’
The head of Britain’s post-Brexit trade watchdog has said it is ready to follow Brussels in launching an investigation into Chinese companies flooding the market for electric cars, but the government has not asked it to do so.
Oliver Griffiths, the chief executive of the UK’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA), which advises the government on trade defence, said it was keeping lines of communication open with ministers and had been in close contact with the car industry. “We’ll be ready to go if anyone does come to us,” he told the Guardian in an interview.
Continue reading...Moussa Faki welcomes Giorgia Meloni’s plan to strengthen relations but says ‘we are not beggars’
The chair of the African Union Commission has said “we are not beggars” as the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, outlined a plan aimed at helping African countries to prosper in return for curbing illegal immigration.
Speaking at the much anticipated Italy-Africa summit in Rome, Moussa Faki welcomed Italy’s overtures for a mutually beneficial strengthening of relations with the African continent, but said: “We cannot be satisfied with mere promises that can’t be kept.”
Continue reading...Then president told European commissioners in 2020 that ‘Nato is dead’ and the US would never defend Europe if it were attacked
Donald Trump told the president of the European Commission in 2020 that the US would “never come help” if Europe was attacked and also said “Nato is dead”, a senior European commissioner said.
Multiple news outlets said the exchange between Trump and Ursula von der Leyen at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2020 was described in Brussels on Tuesday by Thierry Breton, a French European commissioner responsible for the internal market, with responsibilities including defence.
Continue reading...Unless from a wealthy family, internships for many mean chipping away at savings and cutting back on essentials
By day, he was mostly an unpaid intern, getting a glimpse of day-to-day life in university research as he networked with potential employers.
Nightfall would often send him rushing to his second shift; this time, at a library in the suburbs of Paris as he strives to pay his bills.
What we see is that, many times, they [internships] are actually replacing entry-level jobs
Tea Jarc, of the European Trade Union Confederation
Unpaid internships have really become a barrier for the social mobility of young people
María Rodríguez Alcázar, of the European Youth Forum
Continue reading...Viktor Orbán’s threat to block funds and membership to Ukraine strikes at the heart of decision-making in the bloc
In the past three years, European leaders have weathered Brexit, the pandemic and the energy crisis, but it turns out that the biggest threat to the EU’s unity and security has come from within.
All week, ministers and EU leaders have been closing ranks to try to prevent the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, from derailing plans to greenlight the start of EU membership talks with Ukraine and a new €50bn (£43bn) facility to help the country pay its bills over the coming years.
Continue reading...Hungarian prime minister has threatened to block extra €50bn and also Ukraine’s EU membership plans
EU leaders hope to face down the Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán and keep their promise to find another €50bn (£43bn) for Ukraine despite his threat to veto extra funds during a crunch summit.
“There is no [one] plan B, there are plan Bs and if need be, we can go to Z,” said one diplomat, expressing the determination of the EU to ensure Orbán’s threats are not a barrier to Ukraine securing much-needed financial and military assistance to fight Russian invasion forces.
Continue reading...New power to allow importers to sever ties would help to end Europe’s reliance on Russian supplies
EU countries may soon be able to halt their last remaining Russian gas imports under plans to ban Russian energy companies from their pipelines and terminals.
The European Council and parliament have agreed new rules that could empower the EU’s member states to crack down on companies from Russia and Belarus that have continued to import Russian gas into Europe since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine by buying import capacity at key EU import terminals and pipelines.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Matts Floderus says his son Johan has been through ‘levels of hell in his nearly 600 days in detention
The father of a 33-year-old Swedish citizen and EU diplomat held in captivity in Iran for the past 18 months has revealed the “levels of hell” his son has experienced, as his family and employers step up their fight for his release.
Johan Floderus, who on Friday will have been incarcerated for 600 days in Tehran’s Evin prison with no routine consular visits or phone calls, has been on hunger strike at least five times, his father said.
Continue reading...Draft resolution to European parliament committee is first formal attempt to place reparations for slavery on EU agenda
The European Union should urgently address and reverse the lasting impacts of European colonialism and support a reparations programme to rectify continuing injustices, according to a draft resolution to be presented to the European parliament’s development committee.
Noting that the EU has made “no concerted efforts to recognise, address and rectify the lasting effects of European colonialism on social and international inequities”, the draft resolution calls for the creation of a permanent EU forum on restorative justice.
Continue reading...Commission may be prepared to to give Budapest €10bn after leader threatens to derail EU plans to open accession talks with Ukraine
The European Commission has been urged not to “appease” Viktor Orbán by unfreezing billions of euros for Budapest, as the Hungarian prime minister threatens to derail EU plans to open accession talks with Ukraine and grant Kyiv fresh aid.
The Hungarian government’s moves in recent years to undermine independent institutions, as well as concerns about corruption and alleged misuse of European funds, have led Brussels to withhold over €27bn (£23bn) earmarked for Hungary.
Continue reading...Martin Schulz, former leader of Germany’s ruling SPD, says the Brexit divide is harming efforts to solve international crises
A leading figure in Germany’s ruling Social Democratic party (SPD) has called for far closer links between the UK and the European Union, amid rising concerns the Brexit divide is harming efforts to solve international crises, including mass migration.
Martin Schulz, a former SPD leader and candidate to be chancellor of Germany, said it was vital that regular meetings, known in EU jargon as “structured dialogue”, be set up to bind the UK closer to the EU – and Germany – once again.
Continue reading...European Commission vice-president says there must be ‘no role for Hamas in any post-conflict horizon’ during visit to Australia
Australia and the European Union are in talks about “the day after” the war in Gaza and are united on calls to revive a two-state solution, a senior official has said.
But the European Commission vice-president, Margaritis Schinas, added that Hamas had forfeited the right to be part of any political settlement.
Continue reading...Exclusive: ‘Cushion’ for carmakers facing looming tariff under deal for vehicles traded between EU and UK from start of 2024
The European Commission has hatched confidential Plan B proposals to “cushion” the impact of a looming 10% tariff on imports and exports of electric vehicles, the Guardian has learned.
The proposal was presented to member states on Monday in response to pressure from carmakers to amend some of the conditions imposed when the UK left the EU in January 2021.
Continue reading...Proposals aimed at choking off commercial revenues include total ban on sale of Russian rough diamonds
The European Commission is proposing a 12th round of sanctions against Moscow, including restrictions on scores of individuals apparently including the son of the former president Dmitry Medvedev and a relative of Vladimir Putin’s.
Among the 47 individuals the commission wants added to existing sanctions lists are Putin’s cousin Anna Tsivileva, who chairs the “defenders of the fatherland” foundation that supports Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Alongside Moldova, Ukraine is officially on the path to EU accession – what does that mean for the future of both countries and the continent?
• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition
Good morning. Ukraine has been hoping for EU membership for decades, but the prospect of it actually happening only became likely after Russia’s invasion posed an existential threat to Europe for the first time since the second world war. Weeks after the war erupted in February last year, Ukraine and Moldova applied for membership of the EU; in June they were both granted candidate status.
After waiting just under 18 months, the European Commission announced yesterday that it was recommending that formal talks begin on Moldova and Ukraine joining the European Union.
Conservatives | Suella Braverman has launched a full-throated attack on policing “double standards” after the head of the Metropolitan police gave the go-ahead for a pro-Palestine march on Saturday, Armistice Day.
Israel-Hamas war | The US, for the second time in recent weeks, has carried out strikes against a weapons storage facility in eastern Syria that the Pentagon said was used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and affiliated groups, as fears grow that the Gaza war could spread in the region.
Strikes | The RMT union has reached a possible deal with train operators to resolve their long-running national rail dispute, allaying fears of a repeat of last year’s Christmas strikes.
Environment | Japan has gained another island to add to its already impressive collection, after an undersea volcanic eruption 1,200km south of Tokyo created a new landmass.
US news | Hollywood actors are set to end their nearly four-month strike, the Sag-Aftra union announced on Wednesday, bringing to a close a historic work stoppage that had brought the film and television industry to a standstill for months.
Continue reading...