Author: staff

“Several people in the Parliament saw it happening; it was related to Palestine-Israel tensions, because the MEP is very pro-Israel,” said a Parliament official, who was granted anonymity to speak freely. The atmosphere in the Parliament on Wednesday was tense as lawmakers debated Israel’s ongoing invasion of the Gaza Strip during a plenary session. A spokesperson for the Parliament said the violent incident, which was caught on surveillance cameras, was “being investigated as a matter of priority,” and “the initial assessment confirms the MEP’s version of events.” The spokesperson added that the Parliament was providing assistance to Teodorescu, whose office…

Romania’s constitutional court threw out defeated far-right candidate George Simion’s challenge to the result of Sunday’s presidential election. Simion announced Tuesday he would contest the outcome, claiming foreign interference by France and Moldova and voter fraud had influenced the contest, without providing evidence. But his request to annul the result was unanimously rejected, the court said on Thursday, paving the way for the inauguration of winner, centrist Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan.

Goose said in his order, aimed the U.K. Foreign Office, and seen by the Press Association news agency: “The defendant shall take no conclusive or legally binding step to conclude its negotiations concerning the possible transfer of the British Indian Ocean Territory, also known as the Chagos Archipelago, to a foreign government or bind itself as to the particular terms of any such transfer.” It added: “The defendant shall in particular not dispose of the territory in whole or in part. “The defendant is to maintain the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom over the British Indian Ocean Territory until further…

With rural discontent growing, Marine Le Pen’s far-right party sees an opportunity ahead of the 2027 presidential election. By MARION SOLLETYin AUCH, France Photo-illustration by Andrei Cojocaru for POLITICO This article is also available in: French Standing on the stage, Serge Bousquet-Cassagne looked down solemnly at his protégé, pointing his arm at him for all the farmers and their families to see. “I make you general of the army of the serfs,” the 65-year-old leader said in a makeshift ceremony organized to honor regional leader Lionel Candelon, who stood before him in a large concrete hall on the outskirts of Auch,…

Eurovision season is over for another year but people are still talking about it, including claims online that the iconic song contest was created by NATO.Posts on social media and even some news outlets allege that the military alliance wanted to use it to imperially exert its soft power during the Cold War and beyond.Some posts shared screenshots of a document from NATO’s Committee on Information and Cultural Relations, dated November 1955, which refers to a “North Atlantic Festival.”The document says that a “performance” could be a subtle way to push a pro-NATO narrative among the general population.”Consideration might be…

Overturning the subsidies would eliminate a potential U.S. export market for solar modules and batteries that could be worth as much as $50 billion by 2030, according to another analysis by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Other countries would fill an $80 billion investment gap left by shuttered U.S. solar facilities, electric vehicle shops and battery gigafactories.  Many countries stand to benefit from the U.S. vacating the space, the Johns Hopkins researchers wrote. But governments outside the U.S. would face risks as well: Those that fail to encourage cleantech investments at home may fall even further behind China, which would…

Civil society groups have accused the pharmaceutical industry of abusing the current system, and want to rein it in. The sector disputes this, however, and argues the perks must be big enough to entice the industry to invest in Europe. When Poland took up the presidency in January, smaller EU countries were hopeful that Warsaw could mobilize capitals to curtail Big Pharma’s market protections. This would allow cheaper copycat medicines to flood the market sooner after a new drug is launched, thereby improving access to the latest therapies. But in a sign that some countries are taking a position that favors the…

Dmitry Grozoubinski, founder of ExplainTrade, a trade and negotiations consultancy, agreed that the deal appeared to break WTO rules “a little bit.” In particular, he flagged the beef quota as a “new preferential quota for the U.S.” Liam Byrne, the chair of the U.K. House of Commons Business and Trade Committee, said the government should collaborate with the EU to uphold their “shared ambition to safeguard international trade globally.”  His committee has recommended that the U.K. join the WTO’s alternative dispute resolution system, an initiative whereby countries can dispute unfair trade practices through the organization. The current system has been…

But the party walks a tightrope. While not actively negotiating with the far right, the EPP can often depend on its votes in the European Parliament, becoming bedfellows in areas such as migration and deregulation ― exactly the sort of issues, the EPP feels, that motivated voters to support it. “I would love to see a different situation in the European Parliament,” Weber said. “But they are here, they have a vote … and the EPP has one principle and that is following our promises.” Weber personally, and the EPP more broadly, have been criticized by the Socialists, liberals and…

Russian hackers involved in the campaign have gone after government organizations and private companies in the defense, transport, maritime, air traffic management and IT sectors, they said.  Organizations from those industries based in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine and the U.S. were targeted, according to Wednesday’s statement.  The Western countries explicitly linked the cyber campaign to Russia’s war in Ukraine, saying the attacks ramped up after February 2022.  As Russian forces “failed to meet their military objectives and Western countries provided aid to support Ukraine’s territorial defense, Unit 26165 expanded…