Author: staff

Nestlé took a “transactional” approach, according to Monday’s Senate report. It shared its wrongdoings with the French government, and, in exchange for ending carbon filter treatments, offered instead to use microfiltration at 0.2 microns. Until that point, French health authorities had established that any filtration below a 0.8-micron threshold would risk altering the water’s composition. But in 2023, the French government allowed local authorities to loosen the regulatory framework through executive action in order to permit the finer microfiltration method. Monday’s report is the result of a parliamentary inquiry by Socialist senator Alexandre Ouizille into the practices of the French…

LONDON — When it comes to rebuilding Britain’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU, the course of true love never did run smooth. But a new pact means it may just get a bit less bumpy.  On Monday negotiators unveiled a sweeping agreement on defense and fishing, as well as a pledge to work towards deals on energy, agrifood rules, climate, migration and policing, after years of Brexit bad blood.  While the devil will be in the final details of the deal, the agreement could pave the way for smoother trade and travel between the U.K. and EU, freeing whole sectors…

Paris intends to present a proposal for discussion by the foreign ministers of EU member countries at the next General Affairs Council on May 27. The proposal, seen by POLITICO, says the EU needs to “increase its efforts” in the face of “an alarming increase of hate speech and hate crimes,” in particular following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks against Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. Israel’s ground and air campaign has killed more than 52,000 people in the Gaza Strip, according to the territory’s health ministries. Israel launched its campaign in response to the Hamas attacks in which…

A ce titre, le pacte de sécurité et de défense formalise la coopération entre les deux parties dans des domaines tels que la guerre hybride, la cybersécurité, la résilience des infrastructures et la sécurité maritime. Mais Ursula von der Leyen a clairement indiqué qu’il y avait encore du chemin à parcourir, décrivant le pacte de lundi comme étant seulement “le premier pas vers la participation du Royaume-Uni au programme européen d’investissement dans la défense” et dénommé SAFE. “Nous avons besoin d’une deuxième étape, mais ces achats communs dont nous avons discuté amélioreront notre état de préparation, combleront les lacunes militaires…

Ed Arnold, senior research fellow at the defense think tank RUSI, said the lack of concrete measures in the new partnership showed that “even on something such as defense and security, whereby the second Trump administration should be pushing them very, very close together, it’s just not quite happening that way.” He added that it showed “disagreements remain, despite all of the language used about close alignment.” Shadow Defense Secretary James Cartlidge posted on X: “They’ve surrendered our fishing grounds for 12 years in exchange for no guaranteed defence funding. When Labour negotiates, Britain loses.” However, Emily Thornberry, Labour chair…

London offered up four. And in the end, they settled on 12. The giveaway, pounced on by critics, is a political gamble for Starmer, who appears to be trading a hit to a relatively small by symbolic part of the U.K. economy for wins elsewhere. The decision immediately gave euroskeptics like Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage and embattled Tory chief Kemi Badenoch a clear line of attack. Farage declared the agreement “the end of the fishing industry” while Badenoch branded it a “sell-out.” Euroskeptic parts of the British press are already following their lead, and even Johnson himself re-emerged to…

The first aid trucks have entered Gaza after an almost three-month long blockade of the territory by Israel, the United Nations has confirmed.Five trucks carrying humanitarian aid, including baby food, entered the territory of over two million Palestinians via the Kerem Shalom crossing on Monday, according to the Israeli defence body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, Cogat.The UN called the delivery a “welcome development” but said much more aid is needed to address the humanitarian crisis in the Strip.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier on Monday that the decision to resume limited deliveries of aid to Gaza…

The Parliament’s legal affairs committee will then decide whether to strip the immunities, in a process that could take as little as four weeks if fast-tracked, or up to a year in sensitive cases. Daniel Attard, a Maltese Socialist MEP, is part of the group, he said on social media on Monday. He said he was being investigated in connection with the Huawei probe for attending a football match in September at the box that Huawei has in the Anderlecht football stadium in Brussels. “I was not made aware that the invitation originated from any company, or that it involved…

Representatives of Brazil’s indigenous peoples travelled to Brussels to set out concerns with the trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur countries at recent meetings with MEPs and European Commission officials. A key issue is the likely expansion of agriculture and livestock farming in the lands inhabited by native peoples, which predate Portuguese colonisation in the 16th century.If the agreement is ratified by the European Parliament and EU Member States, many agri-food products will be exported from South America to Europe at zero or reduced duties.Considering that the EU is already the second largest trading partner of the countries…

Die Welt wartet auf das Gespräch zwischen Donald Trump und Wladimir Putin an diesem Nachmittag. Gordon Repinski spricht mit Hans von der Burchard. Er war für POLITICO den ganzen Tag im Regierungsviertel unterwegs und hat sich dort über die neuesten Entwicklungen vor dem Termin informiert. Er berichtet von der ebenso erwartungsvollen wie angespannten Stimmung in diesen Stunden. Johanna Sahlberg fasst die wichtigsten Ergebnisse des EU-UK-Summits zusammen, die soeben vom britischen Premier Keir Starmer und EU-Kommissionspräsidentin Ursula von der Leyen vorgestellt worden sind. Beide Seiten wollen ihre Beziehungen neu starten. Wie das nahezu alle Themen von Verteidigung bis Fischerei betrifft, hört…