Category: EU Reporter

Germany’s data-retention law — aimed at combating major online crime — is not compatible with EU law, the European Court of Justice ruled.

The EU wants to expand its so-called ‘solidarity lanes’ to help Ukraine exports its goods towards member states. EU officials briefing reporters say around 2.6 million tonnes of Ukrainian agricultural goods were exported via such lanes in August.

Referendums organized by Moscow in occupied areas of four Ukrainian regions will have no effect, Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday, after Russian-backed officials announced the plans. “The Russians can do whatever they want. It will not change anything,” Kuleba told reporters in New York, according to Reuters. “Ukraine has every right to liberate its territories […]

Belgian bishops on Tuesday published a document allowing the blessing of same-sex unions, Reuters reported. The text suggested a ritual including prayers and a benediction for stable same-sex union, but specifying that it is not what the church considers “sacramental marriage”. The Vatican previously refused to give religious approval to same-sex marriage in the church, although […]

The European Commission unveiled on Tuesday a plan to ensure that the majority of the EU population who qualify for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screenings are offered such checking by 2025. Nearly €100m in total would be made available to help EU countries implement the new recommendations, which include extending the age target-groups, and […]

Swedish minister for European affairs Hans Dahlgren told EUobserver no decision can be expected on majority vote next year. Mikuláš Bek, the Czech minister for European affairs, said enlargement and changes to the decision-making are politically interlinked.

The current energy crisis is a good example of “emancipatory catastrophism” — the idea that humanity only moves forward out of fear for a catastrophe. Sometimes one needs a looming disaster to change what should have been changed long ago.

Notwithstanding the remarkable Ukrainian advances, a Russian defeat would not necessarily translate into regime change in Moscow. It is likely Putin will try to spin his military setbacks as evidence of the existential threat facing Russia.

The Malta-based EU asylum agency is facing abuse allegations from disenfranchised employees who accuse the leadership under Nina Gregori of nepotism and the mishandling of harassment claims, reports the Financial Times newspaper. The Financial Times says the complaint has been received by the EU’s anti-fraud office Olaf. The agency has denied any wrongdoing.

The EU throws away more food than it imports, according to a report from the environmental group Feedback EU published on Tuesday. While the bloc imported almost 138 million tonnes of agricultural products in 2021, it is estimated that the EU wastes 153.5 million tonnes of food every year. Responding to these figures, NGOs have […]