Europe has a new Lampedusa. It is the Spanish island of El Hierro, in the Atlantic Ocean, where a record number of landings have been recorded. This year, almost twice as many migrants as residents have arrived in the southernmost of Spain’s Canary Islands. According to the Red Cross, by mid-November around 19,400 irregulars had reached its coasts: the inhabitants ...
“Yesterday we witnessed a real farce.” The opinion of Valentina Palmisano, MEP of the Five Star Movement, on the green light in Parliament for the commissioners of Ursula von der Leyen’s team is clear. Last night it seemed that the green light for the Italian Raffaele Fitto and the Spanish Teresa Ribera was failing at the last second, due to ...
The political balance in Brussels is changing, and we are moving towards a centre-right majority in Europe. Paolo Borchia, head of delegation of Matteo Salvini’s League to the European Parliament, is convinced of this, after the conclusion of the commissioners’ hearings which saw the Italian Raffaele Fitto being confirmed vice president against the opinion of socialists, liberals and greens. And ...
For weeks the appointment of Raffaele Fitto has been in the balance, with the Italian minister risking being stripped of his position as vice-president of the European Commission. But in the end Giorgia Meloni’s man not only won, but brought home another important result for the prime minister: the Conservatives and Reformists (Ecr), the European group of which Fratelli d’Italia ...
In the end the green light arrived for the Hungarian commissioner, but Viktor Orbán’s man was deprived of some of the responsibilities initially assigned to him. MEPs are calling on Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to withdraw oversight of the protection of reproductive rights and the management of pandemics from them. Approved but with fewer powers After a long ...
The EU Council rejected the changes proposed by the European Parliament on the regulation against deforestation, effectively rejecting the line of the EPP which, however, had forced a change to the text by forming a surprise alliance with the radical right of the Chamber. Coreper, the body that brings together the ambassadors of the member states, only gave its green ...
The decision on Raffaele Fitto, candidate to become executive vice-president of the European Commission, is in the balance. When it seemed that the political parties of the EU Parliament had found an agreement that would allow the Italian to get the green light from the Chamber, at the last second a clash over the Spanish socialist Teresa Ribera reopened the ...
Bulgaria and Romania could join Schengen fully by the end of the year. Austria would have decided to eliminate its veto which was keeping the practice suspended, with Vienna pushing to maintain border controls fearing an increase in irregular immigration. The first steps The two Eastern European countries joined the European Union in 2007, but only at the beginning of ...
Olaf Scholz’s return trip from the G20 in Rio de Janeiro will certainly be accompanied by quite a bit of turbulence. Political turmoil, which is growing among the leaders of the German Social Democratic Party, divided on the candidate to propose for the chancellorship race. A possible official decision on Scholz’s candidacy was expected by the end of the month, ...
Major maneuvers underway in Brussels on the management of the funds of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. According to what the Politico newspaper reveals, Ursula von der Leyen is evaluating a reform of the staff who manage the money attributed by the European Union to the Member States through the Recovery Fund. The EU Commission is thinking of moving ...