Anti-Kremlin Russian fighters attacked Russia from within this week. #StateOfTheUnion
Author: Euro News
Talking Europe interviews the boss of the largest and oldest group in the European Parliament, the centre-right European People’s Party. Manfred Weber is a veteran of the EU assembly, having first been elected nearly twenty years ago, and he is an important player in German politics, in the conservative Christian Social Union. He missed out on the job of EU Commission president in 2019, but does not seem to have given up on that ambition. We start the discussion with the European elections scheduled for June 2024, which could shake up the bloc’s political scene.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Friday the city planned to ban single-use plastic when it holds the 2024 Olympic Games as part of efforts to tackle a global plastic pollution crisis.
The Belgium-born NGO worker had been sentenced to a total of 40 years in prison in Teheran for widely contested charges of “espionage.”
A car collided Thursday with the gates of Downing Street in central London, where the British prime minister’s home and offices are located, setting off a rapid, intense security response at one of London’s most-fortified sites. No one was injured and police said they were not treating the incident as terror-related.
Rent-a-bike users in the French capital found large anti-abortion stickers plastered on their bicycles on Thursday, sparking an outcry from the government.
The bloc currently has 41 trade agreements in place with 72 countries.
EU legislators are currently negotiating the Artificial Intelligence Act, but the legislation could take up to three years to be fully applicable.
Together, the 27 EU member states manage the largest maritime exclusion zone in the world.
The 2024 summer Olympics in Paris will mark the first time an opening ceremony has not been held inside a stadium – instead, the extravaganza will unfold along the River Seine, with spectators lining streets and bridges in the heart of the French capital. The plan is not without risks, and organisers revealed extensive safety protocols on Tuesday.
The European Commission said on Wednesday that if energy prices were to flare up again, any support measures rolled out should be “targeted at protecting vulnerable households and firms.”
FRANCE 24 spoke to exiled Russian opposition figure Ilya Ponomarev, the political representative of the Freedom of Russia Legion. This Ukraine-based paramilitary group of Russian volunteers has been involved in cross-border incursions into Russia’s Belgorod region in the past last few days. Ponomarev claimed the pro-Ukrainian, anti-Putin group “didn’t lose a single soldier” and is successfully making progress inside Russia. Ultimately, “our guys will be in Moscow and Putin will not be in the Kremlin,” he predicted.
Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr’s red card in Sunday’s LaLiga match at Valencia, in which he was also racially abused, has been rescinded, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) said on Tuesday.
British oil and gas giant Shell faced a stormy shareholders’ gathering Tuesday, as environmental protesters hit out over its pledge to tackle carbon emissions.
Belgium is among the largest wholesale buyers of rare gems from Moscow, and local professionals fear that a Western ban on Russian diamonds could result in less oversight.
Unanimity rules can be used by one single member state to derail or block a collective decision.
Athletes have joined the clamour of criticism at the high cost of tickets for the 2024 Paris Olympics, decried as undermining organisers’ promises of a Games accessible to all.
Facebook owner Meta has been fined a record 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) for transferring EU user data to the United States in breach of a previous court ruling, Ireland’s regulator announced on Monday.
The European Commission has called for an independent investigation into allegations authorities carried out an illegal migrant pushback in April and warned it could take “formal steps” against the country.
Conservative incumbent Kyriakos Mitsotakis called Sunday’s vote a political earthquake. “Citizens want a strong government, with a four year horizon with bolder changes so that we can quickly make up the lost ground that still separates us from Europe”, he said. The former primer minister Alexis Tsipras suffered a crushing blow. The most likely outcome is a return to the polls in June
FRANCE 24’s Nathalie Savaricas reports.
Tens of thousands of Moldovans rallied on Sunday to demand European Union membership for their country, whose bid to join the bloc has been accelerated by the war in neighbouring Ukraine.
Greece went to the polls on Sunday in a general election unlikely to produce a clear winner, with a second vote expected by July if the country’s fractious political parties fail to agree to a coalition.
This month’s regional election in Spain sets the stage for the general election held six months later.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky compared Bakhmut’s “total destruction” after months of continuous battles and shelling to the Japanese city of Hiroshima after a nuclear strike in 1945. This comes following conflicting reports on the status of Bakhmut, as Russia claimed having taken the city while Ukraine denied it had fallen. Read our live blog for the latest developments in the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
