Italy’s road to an executive vice-presidency of the European Commission, much sought after and requested by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, is uphill. Although in Brussels it now seems certain that Palazzo Chigi’s candidate, the Minister of European Affairs Raffaele Fitto, is in pole position for the role (and with a heavy economic portfolio), in the European Parliament not everyone seems ...
More carrot than stick, more money than controls. This is what the representatives of the European Union’s agri-food sector are asking of Brussels. Their wishes are summarized in a strategic document presented on September 4 and delivered directly into the hands of the President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen. After the violent protests of farmers based on manure ...
The new Commission is set to be dominated (once again) by men, despite President Ursula von der Leyen’s attempt to achieve parity or at least some balance. A letter from the German People’s Party sent to all governments this summer asked them to submit two candidates, one man and one woman, but in the end most capitals ignored the request ...
When Volkswagen announced yesterday a “cost-cutting restructuring plan to make the brand more competitive and sustainable in the long term,” it gave a clear idea of the nature of its austerity-driven growth model: a wave of cuts and forced layoffs in Germany. Volkswagen’s cost-cutting plans will certainly face stiff resistance from unions, which hold nearly half the seats on the ...
The European Conservatives and Reformists party seems to want to dump Viktor Orban, the leader who was once seen as a possible ally or even a possible member after the Hungarian prime minister left the European People’s Party. In an article on the website of the political party to which Fratelli d’Italia belongs and of which Giorgia Meloni is president, ...
The European Union has suffered a sharp setback in antitrust and corporate concentration matters. This is the summary of the historic ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the merger between Illumina, a multinational specializing in genetic sequencing, and Grail, a company that develops blood tests for early diagnosis of cancer. Both companies are headquartered in ...
The saga of Fredi Beleris, the Greek-Albanian MEP who, like Ilaria Salis, was elected to the European Parliament while under arrest, seems to be coming to an end. Unlike the Italian, who was under house arrest at the time of her election and was immediately released by Hungarian judges, Beleris remained in an Albanian prison, where he ended up following ...
The triumph of the far right AfD and the far left BSW of Sahra Wagenknecht (plus a sovereignist and populist movement) in the elections of the German states of Thuringia and Saxony stings. The points of contact between the two parties are not few: immigration, relations with NATO and pro-Putinism are the controversial elements in common between BSW and AfD. ...
Poland and other countries bordering Ukraine have a “duty” to shoot down Russian missiles before they enter their airspace, despite NATO’s opposition, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said on Financial Times. Poland thus takes another step forward in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. At least on paper. Warsaw, Sikorski said, has the obligation to guarantee the safety of its ...
As France welcomes 12 million students into classrooms for the start of the school year, President Emmanuel Macron resumes consultations for the appointment of the Prime Minister. Almost two months have passed since the results of the legislative elections of July 7, but the Elysée has preferred to wait and bypass the appointment of the Olympic Games before making a ...