Browsing: EU

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.

Around 250,000 people turned out across Germany on Saturday in protests against the far-right AfD, which sparked an outcry after it emerged that the party’s members discussed mass deportation plans at a meeting of extremists.

A French court on Friday gave suspended jail sentences to three officers in a rare case of police brutality coming to court, after a black man suffered irreversible rectal injuries.

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.

‘I’ll go to work and won’t come home. He will come and kill me.’

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.

France’s top court confirmed ‘complicity in crimes against humanity’ charges against cement maker Lafarge linked to the firm’s past operations in war-torn Syria on January 16, 2024.

France’s top court on Tuesday annulled a lower court decision to extradite Edgardo Greco, a convicted mafia killer-turned-pizza chef who has been on the run since 2006, to Italy.

Europe Briefing – Macron to face the press, Iceland volcano eruption A look at the big stories from Europe today as…

Farmers clogged Berlin streets with their tractors on Monday, honking their horns in protest at a plan to scrap tax breaks on the diesel.

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”.

Denmark turned a page in its history on Sunday when Queen Margrethe formally abdicated and her son became King Frederik X, with big crowds gathered in Copenhagen to witness history. 

A Serbian opposition party formally lodged a complaint on Friday against alleged fraud by President Aleksandar Vucic’s ruling party during parliamentary and local elections last month.

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.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday replaced his foreign minister but maintained other key figures in their posts, in a reshuffle that tilted his cabinet to the right and leaves all the top ministries in the hands of men.

South Africa asked the International Court of Justice to order Israel to immediately suspend its military operation in Gaza, where it says Israel is committing genocide against Palestinian civilians. FRANCE 24’s Fernande van Tets is in The Hague with the details.

A former interior minister and his aide have launched hunger strikes from prison after being detained on abuse of power charges Tuesday for masterminding a fake graft case to discredit another politician in 2007. 

Azerbaijan told France Wednesday not to “intervene” in its internal affairs after Baku arrested a Frenchman on espionage charges with tensions running high between the two countries.

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.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has accused Ukraine of being a neo-Nazi state – with President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government often targeted as sympathisers. A video by a German “whistleblower” now accuses the Ukrainian president of buying a former Nazi holiday home that belonged to Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. In this episode of Truth or Fake, Vedika Bahl explains how this claim has been fabricated.

New year, new face.France’s youngest-ever president naming the country’s youngest-ever prime minister. We willl ask why Emmanuel Macron chose to replace Elisabeth Borne with Gabriel Attal and chart the meteoric rise of a 34-year old Parisian who has already enjoyed stints as city councilor, party spokesperson, budget minister, government spokesperson and most recently education minister.

When some French schools reopen in September this year, they will pilot a mandatory school uniform under a two-year trial period initiated by Education Minister Gabriel Attal. The initiative aims to tackle inequality among French students and reduce bullying and peer pressure. But some public school teachers, psychologists and experts remain sceptical, saying the uniforms are just putting a “plaster” on such issues. 

European Council president Charles Michel announced Sunday that he will step down early, setting off a race against time for EU leaders to find a successor for the key position.