Author: staff
Rasmussen’s comments come ahead of a crucial meeting of EU leaders next week, where the EU’s deregulation drive will take center stage. Leaders are expected to urge the bloc’s executive to speed up efforts to slash red tape — a push the Danish minister said is vital to keeping Europe globally competitive. “If our investors are met with the red carpet in the U.S. and by red tape in Europe, they will, at the end of the day, choose the U.S.,” he stressed. For over a year, Brussels has been torching swaths of environmental red tape in a bid to…
Flexible response Still, strengthening allied air defenses may also require giving a broader mandate to Grynkewich. Historically, national caveats have restricted NATO from deploying troops to certain locations and have limited the use of assets for specific purposes, said Oana Lungescu, a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank and former NATO spokesperson, which “made things much harder to coordinate.” For air defense, it’s about “having greater clarity” on what these limits are for “SACEUR to deploy forces and capabilities,” she said. Grynkewich is examining the rules on flexibility in missions and national caveats under Eastern Sentry that…
“We were just marching peacefully and suddenly there were smoke bombs and police. I don’t get it. For maybe 10 troublemakers … they tear-gassed the entire crowd, the elderly, the children … It was shameful, an absolute disgrace,” said Rafael, a postal worker, whose eyes were red from the gas. “Instead of addressing the issue, we prefer to tear-gas the entire population exercising its right to strike,” said another participant, who didn’t want to share his name. Masked protest participants vandalized the Immigration Office building on Pachéco, with the entire incident filmed by Anneleen Van Bossuyt, Belgium’s migration minister. “The…
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s focus on slashing Italy’s deficit to escape an EU special monitoring regime has left the government with a slimmed-down budget with scarce headroom for flashy policies, prompting continued calls from the hard-right flank of her ruling coalition for “contributions” from financial institutions. While ongoing discussions between the government and banks have yet to yield an agreement on what form the tax would take, the hard-right League, of which Giorgetti is a member, is seeking between €4 billion and €4.5 billion from a range of measures, according to two people familiar with the matter. The measures would…
But Sánchez asked for a carve-out, arguing Madrid doesn’t need to spend as much money to fulfill the duties required by NATO. At the time, Trump had threatened to make Spain pay “twice as much” in tariffs. Madrid has the lowest military spending of any NATO member country, allocating just 1.3 percent of its GDP to defense in 2024. However, unlike what the U.S. president claims, only a few NATO allies such as Poland currently do spend 5 percent of their GDPs on defense. Under the alliance pledge, they have until 2035 to reach the target. Spanish Prime Minister…
There is also tension over the return of the bodies of people that Hamas took hostage on Oct. 7, 2024, with Israel accusing the militant group of being too slow to return the remainder. Four bodies out of the estimated 28 were handed over on Monday. Far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give Hamas an ultimatum on their return. “If you do not immediately return all the bodies of our fallen and continue to delay, we will immediately halt all aid supplies entering the Strip,” Ben-Gvir said on Telegram. The truce agreement called for the…
“And I am sure that it will then come to the conclusions that my colleague Hoffmann has just mentioned,” Spahn added. Israel and Hamas agreed to a U.S.-brokered peace deal this week after two years of bloodshed, including the killing of over 60,000 Palestinians. Germany, traditionally one of Israel’s staunchest allies, has taken a markedly sharper tone about the Israeli military’s offensive in recent months, but Merz has stopped short of committing Berlin to supporting the EU’s proposed sanctions. Those include partially suspending the EU–Israel Association Agreement and sanctioning two far-right ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. But the…
In the House of Commons on Tuesday, one pro-Palestine independent MP, Dewsbury and Batley’s Iqbal Mohamed, gave a flavor of the many contentious issues Starmer will still have to navigate. He called for the British PM to push for the release of 10,000 captives still being held by Israel, and to oppose fresh settlements on the West Bank. An official working with the left-wing Independent Group of MPs, many of whom rode to office after campaigning on the issue, insisted the Gaza problem “isn’t going away for Keir Starmer.” Discussions would soon turn to “what this government has enabled,”…
Hundreds of people waving Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyehs gathered outside the Ramallah Palace of Culture to welcome them, as chants and tears filled the streets. The prisoners, many of whom had spent decades behind bars, were greeted as symbols of resilience. Human rights organisations have long described harsh conditions in Israeli detention, and the released men appeared visibly changed after years of imprisonment. Some were reunited with family members who said they could barely recognise their relatives, while others stood among the crowd in disbelief at their sudden freedom. While joy filled the air, it was mixed with sorrow…
However, there has been no convergence with the EU on the rest of the data: Salaries remain among the lowest in the bloc, which means many Greeks are forced to work two jobs to cover the soaring cost of living, in particular high housing costs. The country is second to last in the EU when it comes to purchasing power, with nearly half of households unable to afford basic necessities, according to a 2024 report by the European Committee of Social Rights. One in five Greeks works more than 45 hours a week, the highest rate in the European Union, according…