Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp among other apps competing for your attention on your smartphone, has a chequered history when it comes to runs-in with European Union regulators. But Meta struck a rare victory on Wednesday after the EU’s general court in Luxembourg said a European Commission move to regulate Facebook […]
Continue ReadingThe European Union and China are tooling up for a trade war with new coercive instruments to target each other’s companies. It could end badly for both of them. Tooling up for a trade war When Ursula von der Leyen emerged from a closed-door European Commission meeting about China last Friday, her officials issued the […]
Continue ReadingIn August, Icelanders will vote on whether the small Nordic island should restart negotiations with the European Union about joining the bloc. The referendum campaign has not taken off yet, but most agree questions about fishing rights, sovereignty and the euro will feature prominently when it does. Slotting Iceland into the 27-state union would be […]
Continue ReadingAll members of the European Union agreed to open talks with Ukraine and Moldova on the first cluster of issues in their accession talks, Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko said early on Thursday. “Fantastic news,” she wrote on X. “We are one step closer to the EU membership: steadily moving towards our goal.” Cyprus, which […]
Continue ReadingThe Republic’s reliance on corporation tax revenue from big US multinational companies continues to “pose risks to the stability of public finances”, the European Commission has warned. An annual European Union (EU) assessment of the State’s economic and fiscal position repeated warnings about the high dependence on corporate tax receipts from a handful of multinational […]
Continue ReadingThe European Commission has described plans by the Trump administration to cite concerns about forced labour to levy a fresh 10 per cent tariff on future trade coming from European countries as “unjustified”. The US is proposing a new tariff of at least 10 per cent on imports from 60 trading partners in president Donald […]
Continue ReadingSir, – As global hunger levels rise, not just in the poorest parts of the world, I fully support Tom Arnold’s call for Ireland to make food security a priority of its presidency of the Council of the European Union (“Food security must be made a priority of Ireland’s EU presidency,” May 28th). Access to […]
Continue ReadingEuropean Union leaders are coming around to the idea of talking directly to Russia. But they have yet to decide on who should represent them and what they should be talking about. Who should speak for Europe? When EU foreign ministers meet in the Cypriot port city of Limassol next week, one issue they will […]
Continue ReadingWes Streeting, who resigned as Britain’s health secretary last week and has said he will run in any contest to replace Keir Starmer as the Labour leader and prime minister, has described Brexit as a “catastrophic mistake” and said the UK should rejoin the EU. Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, who will […]
Continue ReadingThe water’s fine, the surroundings are clean, access is easy and the signs make sense – if that’s your local beach then chances are it got a blue flag to prove it. The annual Blue Flag awards were announced on Friday and the beaches that can tick all the important boxes now get to fly […]
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