Browsing: EU

The latest news from the EU News. Headquarters is located in Brussels with our correspondents and political analyst breaking down the news piece by piece, in-depth and relevant, so you can understand the news with perspective on our dedicated news page for the latest Euro News 24 hours a day.

EU agriculture ministers will discuss on Tuesday how to resolve European farmers’ growing discontent as Brussels scrambles to address the issue ahead of elections this year. Europe’s farmers are in revolt. The fury has led to road blockages and tractor parades in the past few weeks, with farmers taking their protests to the street in France, Germany, Poland and Romania, after the Netherlands earlier.

For Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, 2024 has started with renewed bombardment by Russian missiles. But inhabitants, loathe to leave again, are adapting to life with such dangers. A key question is education, which has been almost exclusively online for the past two years. Many school buildings have been destroyed and all are considered unsafe. So the city, and its region, are taking education underground – quite literally. Gulliver Cragg reports.

The trial of suspects allegedly complicit in the planning of the 2018 Trèbes and Carcassonne terrorist attacks in the south of France opens on Monday in Paris. Three men were shot dead in a car park and a supermarket, and a receptionist was taken hostage until a gendarme, Arnaud Beltrame, volunteered to take the place of the captive at the cost of his life. FRANCE 24’s Claire Paccalin reports.

French President Emmanuel Macron vowed this week to tackle the country’s growing infertility problem as part of efforts to revive the country’s sluggish birth rate, describing the subject of infertility as “the taboo of the century”. More than three million people in France are said to suffer from the condition, making it a major public health issue – but one that has never been treated as such.

It’s been described as a bombshell moment. The upper echelons of Sweden’s government and defence forces last week shocked the nation by explicitly warning that war might come to Sweden, and that each and every Swede should prepare themselves. While some have taken the warning seriously and flocked to the stores to stock up on fuel and survival kits, others have accused the country’s leaders of fear-mongering.

France’s controversial new culture minister, Rachida Dati on Wednesday said she plans to run for Paris mayor in 2026, only days after joining President Emmanuel Macron’s reshuffled government. Dati’s arrival was the biggest surprise in last week’s cabinet shake-up that saw 34-year-old Gabriel Attal take over as prime minister.

The world’s wealthiest five men have more than doubled their fortune since 2020 from $405 billion to $869 billion last year, the charity Oxfam said Monday in a report published as the global elite hobnob at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. Yet since 2020, nearly five billion people worldwide have grown poorer, Oxfam said. Pointing to the level of “staggering, obscene inequality”, Oxfam International Interim Director Amitabh Behar told FRANCE 24’s Yuka Royer that the world is “entering into an era of billionaire supremacy”.

Talking Europe interviews the EU commissioner in charge of jobs and social rights, Nicolas Schmit. He speaks to the importance of protecting workers, particularly the “gig” or “platform” workers, whose status is at the core of a dispute between the European Commission and several EU member states. He also addresses the issue of “social dumping” – people being paid below their level of skills – an issue of relevance not only to EU workers, but also to Ukrainian refugees that have been granted permission to live and work in the EU. Plus, he explains the implementation of the EU Directive on adequate minimum wages, as economic conditions in Europe threaten people’s purchasing power; especially that of poorer members of society.

Two renowned anthropologists have spent the past five years documenting the lives of migrants in one specific place. Didier Fassin and Anne-Claire Defossez chose to assist aid workers at a reception centre in the French Alpine town of Briançon, close to the Italian border. They looked at how the migrants were living, what support they received, as well as how they were treated by police. The pair were even arrested while carrying out their research, simply for helping the migrants. They spoke to FRANCE 24’s Gavin Lee in Perspective.

After a swift rise up the ranks, 34-year-old Gabriel Attal took the reins as France’s new prime minister on Tuesday. With a background steeped in privilege, the first openly gay head of government is expected to bring new energy to President Emmanuel Macron’s government, which has been weakened by months of protests over pension reform, the lack of a parliamentary majority and low approval ratings.