The European Commission has presented a package of proposals to further strengthen procedural safeguards for citizens in criminal proceedings. The aim is to guarantee fair trial rights for all citizens, wherever they are in the European Union. The proposals aim to guarantee the respect for the presumption of innocence and the right to be present […]
Return to Employment Boost for Redundant Danish, Finnish and German Workers
Workers in Denmark, Finland and Germany who lost their jobs received a boost from the European Parliament’s Budgets Committee this week. MEPs approved support from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGAF) to help workers return to the labour market. The decision still needs to be endorsed by Parliament as a whole and Council. The Danish wind-turbine […]
Ashton Celebrates Chanukah, The Festival Of Light
Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy participated in the “EuroChanukah 4 Peace 2013” event. Organised by the European Jewish Community Centre (EJCC) to celebrate the eight-day Jewish festival of Chanukah – which means “festival of lights” – it aimed to illustrate the message that “a small light can […]
Damanaki Harpoons Fish Rogues
Maria Damanaki, European Fisheries Commissioner harpooned Belize, Cambodia and Guinea today, following a formal warning by the Commission one year ago. Damanaki intensified the Commission’s fight against illegal fishing by identifying Belize, Cambodia and Guinea as non-cooperating third countries. Despite the Commission working closely with the countries’ authorities to set up fisheries management and effective control […]
Groote’s New CO2 Emissions Targets Agreed
An informal agreement on new rules to achieve the 2020 CO2 emission target of 95g/km for new cars was reached by EP and member state negotiators on Tuesday afternoon. The file had to be reopened after EU ministers failed to endorse a previous informal deal on it with Parliament. During the negotiations, the European Parliament […]
“Trust Me, I’ve Changed…” TTIP’s ‘Promises, Promises’
The EU and the US need to find ways to restore their mutual trust so as to enable them to build a joint economic area under the Transatlantic Partnership agreement (TTIP), said Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee chair Elmar Brok (EPP, DE), opening Tuesday’s debate with the US Senate’s European Affairs Sub-Committee chair Chris Murphy and […]
Germany (almost) Has A New Government
Early this morning, the two Christian-democratic parties (CDU and CSU) and the social-democratic SPD reached a final coalition deal. Details of the deal will only be presented later today. Up to now, the only settlements known are a deal on a minimum wage of 8.50 (with some exemptions), a reduction of the retirement age to […]
MEPs Supporting Colombian ‘Mujeres por la Paz’ Peace March
More than 15 MEPs from the European Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the Greens European Free Alliance and the European United Left have sent a letter of support for a march organized by the Women for Peace network ‘Mujeres por la Paz’ . The peace movement aims to ensure that neither the Colombian Government nor rebel movement […]
EU Cyber War Capabilities, Ashton Must Clarify Says Schaake
Dutch Member of European Parliament Marietje Schaake (ALDE/D66) has called on EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, to provide clarification on the European Union’s developing offensive capabilities in cyber defence. “It looks like Ashton is aiming for European offensive capabilities to counter threats against critical European ICT infrastructure.” “While cooperation in conventional defence is lagging […]
EU-China Summit, “Two Major Forces For Peace, Markets, Human Progress”
China and the EU are two major forces in maintaining world peace, two important markets to promote common development and two civilizations to advance the cause of human progress, said Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China at the commencement of the 16th China-EU Summit, in Beijing. In a meeting with European Council President Herman […]