Browsing: featured-eu

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.

GDP in the EU is now forecast to reach 1.0% in 2023 and 1.7% in 2024, up from a previous forecast of 0.8% and 1.6%.

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.

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.

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 Ukrainian city of Ternopil was attacked by Russia just before the country’s Eurovision act was set to take the stage.

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.