Author: staff

By radically changing the rules, the Commission wants to address “strategic dependencies” on foreign countries and boost the kind of pan-European industrial revival championed by former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi in his landmark competitiveness report. The third and fourth pillars focus on enlargement and funding to foreign countries, and personnel costs, but there are few details on what could change in the near future. Overall, this model marks a dramatic shift from the EU’s current practice of funding local regions or national governments with fewer strings attached. “The Draghi report is setting the narrative for a power grab,” said…

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has threatened to give asylum seekers one-way tickets to Brussels in protest EU fines levelled at the country for breaching EU asylum rules. The 17 European countries in their letter to the Commission are asking for new rules to allow governments to detain illegal migrants if they pose a risk to national security, as well as to force migrants to cooperate with authorities and ensure all EU countries use the same software to manage cases. While not in the EU, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are members of the passport-free Schengen area. Austria’s nominee for the…

Analysts say Sunday’s election is unlikely to be free and fair, but the EU is unlikely to speak out as its major concern is stopping the boats. With his major opponents imprisoned or left off the ballot, Tunisian President Kais Saied faces few obstacles to winning re-election on Sunday, five years after riding anti-establishment backlash to a first term.The North African country’s Oct. 6 presidential election is its third since protests led to the 2011 ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali — the first autocrat toppled in the Arab Spring uprisings that also overthrew leaders in Egypt, Libya…

As the Iranian minister met with Lebanese and Hezbollah officials in Beirut, Israel continued to pick off top Hezbollah commanders with airstrikes. Hashem Safieddine, seen as Nasrallah’s most likely successor, was possibly among the dead in a series punishing Israeli attacks on the southern suburbs of Beirut this week. Israeli officials say they are still trying to confirm whether Safieddine was in a Hezbollah intelligence headquarters near Beirut’s airport when it was struck. Along with Hezbollah leaders, Israel has also been targeting Hamas commanders based in Lebanon. On Saturday, Hamas-affiliated media reported that Saeed Atallah, one of the leaders of…

This article was originally published in Italian An entrepreneur was conducting illegal excavations at the hitherto unknown archaeological site, damaging and looting the area, which has now been seized by the Carabinieri. The rediscovered church is a rare example of medieval art of which very few models are known in the whole of Italy. Investigations by the specialist Naples’ Cultural Heritage Protection Unit have led to a rare archaeological discovery in the centre of the city after an entrepreneur carried out illegal excavations underground at an ancient medieval church.To profit from the archaeological site, the suspect is accused of using several…

A sign of regional power The Mossos d’Esquadra (its full, official name is the Policia de la Generalitat de Catalunya)  was created in the early 1980s, as part of an arrangement to grant Catalonia greater regional autonomy. Its powers were broadened in the mid-1990s to take on almost all major policing duties in Catalonia except for border and passport controls. Along with the Basque Country, it is the only region to have its own force with such powers. “Having the Mossos was extremely important for Catalonia, it was an opportunity to have our own modern police,” Francesc-Marc Álvaro, a member…

“Recently, reports have come to light of heinous crimes committed in Afungi by Mozambican soldiers working for the French company TotalEnergies,” the lawmakers said in their written question.  The French energy giant had contracted a Mozambican security unit to defend the plant despite warnings that some soldiers had allegedly carried out human rights abuses.  TotalEnergies told POLITICO it had “no knowledge of the alleged events described” nor “any information indicating that such events took place.” The lawmakers are pressing the Commission to call on the Mozambican government to hold accountable and punish those responsible for the atrocities. They also seek…

The Partygate affair, as it became known, dealt a major blow to Johnson’s administration, and he resigned as prime minister in 2022 following an exodus of top ministers. Johnson was fined by police over his attendance at one gathering and was later found to have knowingly misled parliament about his knowledge of the gatherings. He rejected the findings of the committee investigating Partygate, and dramatically quit as an MP. In an interview with ITV News airing Friday night, Johnson said his “blanket apology” for Covid rule-breaking “at the beginning” of the scandal had opened the door to “accusations that then…

“Most allies were against that, pre-invasion … they were very afraid of the consequences,” he said. “I’m proud of what we have done, but it would have been a great advantage if it started earlier. “It maybe could even have prevented the invasion, or at least made it much harder for [Russia] to do what they’ve done.” Throughout the conflict, Kyiv has begged its Western allies for more advanced weapons, including long-range missiles, battle tanks and Patriot air defense systems. Some, such as Germany, eventually relented on some requests while steadfastly refusing others. Ukraine’s allies “should have given them more…

In separate comments on Friday during the annual diplomatic forum on Afghanistan in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called on Western countries to lift sanctions on the Taliban. “We once again appeal to Western countries with an urgent call to acknowledge responsibility for the post-conflict reconstruction of Afghanistan, lift sanctions restrictions, and return Kabul’s appropriated assets,” he said during the opening remarks of the meeting, where Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi had also been present. Lavrov also praised the current Afghan leadership for its fight against drugs and the Islamic State, while not expressly mentioning the Taliban. Russia has slowly…