Europe news

"Even a vegetable product can be called sausage": the ruling of the EU court

“Even a vegetable product can be called sausage”: the ruling of the EU court

For many producers of food for vegans and vegetarians it is a real victory. A ruling by the EU Court of Justice has in fact established that “if a legal name has not been adopted, a Member State cannot prohibit the use of terms traditionally associated with products of animal origin to designate a product containing vegetable proteins”. But to ...

Poland has placed a condition on Ukraine's accession to the EU

Poland has placed a condition on Ukraine’s accession to the EU

Poland has set a condition for its green light for Ukraine’s entry into the EU: Kiev will have to return the bodies of Polish victims of the Second World War killed by Stepan Bandera’s Ukrainian nationalists. This is a small crack in the usually almost total support for the country governed by Volodymyr Zelensky, with Poland having so far been ...

Brussels sues Hungary over its 'national sovereignty' law

Brussels sues Hungary over its ‘national sovereignty’ law

A “national sovereignty” law to limit foreign influence brings Hungary to the Court of Justice of the European Union. This is what the Commission decided today, which referred the Hungarian government to the European high court, believing that its national law on the defense of sovereignty violates European law. This is because the law approved last December by Budapest – ...

A well-known political opponent was murdered with 21 stab wounds

A well-known political opponent was murdered with 21 stab wounds

The assassination of Vidadi Isgandarli, a well-known Azerbaijani political activist who had been in exile in France for some time, is shrouded in mystery. The 62-year-old man was beaten and stabbed at least 21 times last Sunday in his apartment: he died on Tuesday 1st October in hospital. Isgandarli was known for challenging the dictatorial regime of Azerbaijani President Ilham ...

EU judges disavow lawyers: they will not be able to provide advice to Putin

EU judges disavow lawyers: they will not be able to provide advice to Putin

European lawyers cannot provide legal advice to Russian companies and entities, especially those targeted by European sanctions imposed in response to the invasion of Ukraine. This was confirmed by the Court of Justice of the European Union which, responding to an appeal by lawyers’ associations, reiterated the ban on providing legal consultancy services to the Moscow government and to all ...

The UK is trying to return to a "rational and sensible" relationship with the EU

The UK is trying to return to a “rational and sensible” relationship with the EU

The Labor-led United Kingdom is trying to improve relations with the European Union, after the choice of previous Conservative governments to proceed with a ‘hard Brexit’, and to cut almost all ties with the bloc of which the nation once was part of it. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer came on a mission to Brussels where he met the President ...

The country that wants to "ban poverty" by prohibiting begging

The country that wants to “ban poverty” by prohibiting begging

Sweden is intent on banning all forms of begging, with the government thinking it will get rid of beggars outside the nation’s shops, and has been accused of wanting to “outlaw poverty”. The centre-right coalition, supported by the far-right Sweden Democrats, announced a nine-month investigation into the implementation of a nationwide ban on begging, saying that if deemed feasible, such ...

How Orban supports (and influences) the European right with bank financing

How Orban supports (and influences) the European right with bank financing

Spain’s Vox party has become the latest far-right group to get a loan from a Hungarian bank to finance its political campaigns. Two journalistic investigations by the website “VSquare” and the newspaper El Pais have confirmed that the party led by Santiago Abascal received a loan from Magyar Bankholding (Mhb), an institution whose main shareholders include Lorinc Mészáros, a friend ...

Arrested for Chinese espionage: "She transmitted information on flights, cargo and passengers at the airport"

Arrested for Chinese espionage: “She transmitted information on flights, cargo and passengers at the airport”

Another case of espionage at the hands of Beijing shakes Germany. A Chinese woman, identified only as Yaqi the German defense industry. German prosecutors, who issued the arrest warrant, announced that the 38-year-old worked for a company that provided logistics services to the airport. “In the period between August 2023 and February 2024, the woman repeatedly transmitted information on flights, ...

Assange: "Journalism is not a crime. What happened to me can happen again"

Assange: “Journalism is not a crime. What happened to me can happen again”

“It’s hard not to draw a line between the U.S. government crossing the Rubicon and the current cold climate for free expression.” Washington as Julius Caesar. Just as the Roman general crossed the river, forever changing the history of what would later become an empire, so the United States has crossed that symbolic border which would establish its desire to ...