Europe is a continent and is different to the European Union.
Switzerland’s non-membership of the EU means it is viewed as more neutral than countries like Austria, Ireland or Sweden.
The body, which counts 46 countries as members, is the oldest political organisation in Europe and was created three years before the European Coal and Steel Community.
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It is one of Europe’s largest shantytowns. Canada Real in the Spanish capital Madrid is just 15 kilometres away from the landmark square Puerta del Sol. A side of the city few tourists see. Conditions were already poor in much of the neighbourhood and then, in October 2020, the electricity was cut off to thousands of residents, including many young children. Many believe the authorities want to drive them out of the area. Report by C?line Schmitt, Armelle Exposito and Sarah Morris.
Ugly scenes in Barcelona.
Less than two months after losing his home in an arson attack, the mayor of a town in western France resigned this week, citing, among other things, a “lack of support from the state”. Amid an increasingly tense political environment, attacks against mayors in France are multiplying. And some say they have been left to fend for themselves.
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Tourism in Italy has rebounded from COVID-19 lows but not everybody is happy to see the crowds of foreigners back.
Sweden won the Eurovision Song Contest early Sunday, as singer Loreen beat out 25 competitors in the finale of the world’s biggest live music event, hosted by Britain on behalf of war-torn Ukraine.
The results are in.
The Ukrainian city of Ternopil was attacked by Russia just before the country’s Eurovision act was set to take the stage.
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Rattled by repeated cases of sexual abuse over the years, the French Catholic Church will soon provide digital ID cards with scannable QR codes that will offer colour-coded background information – ranging from green to orange to red – on bishops, priests and deacons. But the new measure is raising eyebrows.
Spain is running out of water. After a long and painful drought, the country has been hit by an unusually early heat wave, evaporating even more of the “blue gold” it still has left in its reservoirs. While farmers fear for their survival, environmentalists say it is time for “Europe’s back garden” to rethink how it uses and manages its increasingly scarce water supply.
Turkey is officially a candidate to join the EU but its accession talks have been frozen since 2018 over rule of law and democratic concerns.
An early scorching heatwave across Spain has worsened the impact of the country’s long-term drought, causing unprecedented damage to the country’s crops. As farmers grow desperate for irrigation, the government’s plan to limit the rerouting of water from the nation’s longest river – the Tagus – for agricultural purposes lies at the centre of a heated debate. FRANCE 24 reports.
In this edition of “Brussels, my love?”, we take a look at Germany’s role in Europe following Chancellor Scholz’s speech before the European Parliament and ask whether the belated ratification of the Istanbul Convention to fight violence against women was a relief – or an embarrassment.
Graham Norton addressed the EBU’s decision (Picture: John Phillips/Getty Images)
Eurovision host Graham Norton has described the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) as ruling ‘with an iron fist’ after its decision to block Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky from speaking at the final.
The presenter hailed a ‘golden age’ of the competition on the eve of the grand final in Liverpool and said he had no involvement in the decision not to let Mr Zelensky address the worldwide audience of 160 million.
The EBU, which produces the event, said on Thursday night that it had declined Mr Zelensky’s request to speak on Saturday over fears it could politicise the contest.
‘The Eurovision Song Contest is an international entertainment show and governed by strict rules and principles which have been established since its creation,’ their statement begins.
‘As part of these, one of the cornerstones of the contest is the non-political nature of the event.
‘This principle prohibits the possibility of making political or similar statements as part of the contest.’
Presideny Zelensky has been barred from speaking at the Grand Final (Picture: EPA)
Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra won Eurovision last year (Picture: AP)
The EBU went on to commend Mr Zelensky for his ‘laudable intentions’.
At a press conference on Friday, Norton said: ‘As far as I know, it’s an EBU decision and, as we know, the EBU, they rule with an iron fist so what they say goes.’
He added he was not able to laugh at the acts in the contest any more because the standard has improved so much since he started commentating on the show in 2009.
He told journalists: ‘I personally think we’re going through a golden age of Eurovision.
It is against Eurovision’s rules to make political statements (Picture: REUTERS)
‘I really think the shows of the last few years have been great, really good songs.
‘There was always kind of a nostalgic thing and a kitschy thing and a campy thing and there’s a little bit of that left but, actually, now it’s just a bunch of great pop songs.
‘It is a serious song contest. I still have a joke from the commentary box but they’re different jokes.
‘You can’t laugh at the acts any more because they’re so good.’
Mae Muller said this year feels ‘very, very special’ (Picture: SplashNews.com)
This comes as UK entry Mae Muller called it a huge honour to see Ukrainian flags in the streets, as Liverpool prepared to host on behalf of the war-torn country.
She said: ‘I think this is what Eurovision’s about. It’s proof that us, as human beings, can come together and we can support each other.
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‘It feels like a very, very special year and no matter what the outcome is tomorrow night, I will look back at this moment with such a sense of pride.’
The 25-year-old singer added that she was ‘ready to get this show on the road’.
The Eurovision Grand Final airs Saturday, May 13 at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
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