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Why is Finland deporting Russian dissidents applying for asylum?This is what Nikita and Olga expect when they land in Moscow after being denied asylum by Finland: “Both of us will be arrested immediately … and face prison sentences measured in the decades”.
Spring in Ukraine: May the Force Be With YouLife in Ukraine and Kyiv goes on. But there are islands of hurt, destruction, loss, scattered across the landscape, hidden behind polite smiles, encoded in the language
Pedro Sánchez: EU hero or Spanish problem?Many outside observers see Sánchez as a left-wing EU hero, but scandal fatigue has eroded his standing inside Spain.
A one-word answer to why EU lost control of Big Tech: Ireland“Ireland cannot fix this itself. This cannot come from inside … [it] needs pressure from the other capitals and from the [EU]Commission,” Irish data-rights activist warns.
A process not an event: but Brejoin is in the airThe two candidates most likely to be the UK’s next prime minister say they want to reverse Brexit. But it’s likely to be a slow process rather than a grand event.
As EU-Israel tensions escalate, will Trump wade in?Even the most far-right Israelis care about keeping their EU access and sense of legitimacy more than they might admit.
EU ‘appalled’ (again) by Israel, this time over Ben-Gvir’s Gaza flotilla humiliation, but continues doing nothingBy now, the question many are asking themselves is when this endless condemnation of Israel’s actions will translate into any concrete action.
Why blocking the sun to cool the planet is bound to go wrongReflecting the sun with tiny particles sprayed from airplanes could reduce global temperatures, but would need to be maintained for decades, perhaps centuries, and the margin of error is essentially zero.
Boring plenary debates? Get rid of the MEPs“The Commission is also not taking the debate seriously, they’re just sitting there for three hours, and at the end they read out a script that was prepared beforehand,” complains Bas Eickhout, a Dutch Green MEP.
The Belgian diplomat, Patrice Lumumba, and Africa’s sliding doors momentThe killing of Patrice Lumumba, DR Congo’s first democratically-elected prime minister, shaped decades of crisis, failed governments and tension in the Great Lakes region. And the death of the Belgian diplomat who had been due to stand trial in relation to his execution closes a chapter on Belgium’s dark colonial past.
Israeli flag still popular in Europe, song contest indicatesI bet some EU diplomats, just like Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also tuned in on Saturday to see Eurovision and which way the cultural wind was blowing.
A victory for publishers over Big Tech (if only it had happened five years ago)In a victory for publishers and a reality check for Silicon Valley, a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice has confirmed that publishers can request Big Tech companies to pay “fair compensation” for using snippets of their news articles.
How ‘too little oil’ can crash the system: A hidden risk in the energy transitionDisasters become more likely if the fossil-fuel system is not phased out in a controlled fashion.
EU cooperation with the Taliban legitimises this despotic (and despicable) regimeMillions of Afghan women and girls live under a draconian gender apartheid imposed by the very people – the Taliban regime – the EU commission is now courting.
Tanzania, an MEP delegation – and the €156m price of repressionTanzania has hired a London PR firm to spin the killing of several thousand pro-democracy protesters last November. But its refusal to allow a European Parliament delegation to enter the country could cost it millions in lost EU funds.
Putin and Fico look like losers at ‘Victory’ paradeJust six leaders from UN-recognised states joined Russian president Vladimir Putin — from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Slovakia, and Uzbekistan — highlighting his isolation.
Goodbye, Keir Starmer?By the time you read this, Sir Keir Starmer will … still be prime minister of the UK. But only just. And not for long.
Probably until this autumn, in fact. But that’s only because his enemies (by which I mean his own Labour MPs and cabinet ministers, not the opposition Conservatives) have nobody lined up to replace him.
Germany’s historical struggle and the legal debate on Israel’s right to existIt seems clear that making it a crime to deny a state’s right to exist sends a strong message. It puts the legitimacy of one country off-limits for public debate, which can be problematic in a democracy like Germany.
After flotilla raid, EU sticks to ambiguous warnings on Gaza aid missionsBy allowing for various possible interpretations, the EU Commission manages to sidestep any outward criticism to Israel, while defending a principled stand on humanitarian commitments.
‘Nothing changes’ — but what’s the point of a trade deal with Trump?The EU Commission insists that Donald Trump’s latest threat of 25-percent tariffs on EU car exports ‘changes nothing’. But is a US trade deal viable when the president changes his mind on a daily basis?