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But Serbia has accused CoE of violating procedures in accepting Kosovo’s application and it has pledged to change its stance towards Ukraine for its abstaining from the vote, as well as on other countries that did not follow its line.

Serbia ‘disappointed’ with Ukraine, Greece, Slovakia over CoE Kosovo vote

By: EBR | Wednesday, April 26, 2023

A vote on Kosovo’s bid to join the Strasbourg-based international human rights body, the Council of Europe, has laid bare a raft of geopolitical issues and tensions across Europe

With federal elections scheduled for autumn next year, Salzburg’s state elections have become an important mood tester in a country where opinion polls are conducted sparingly.

Austrian communist party stages major comeback

By: EBR | Tuesday, April 25, 2023

The communist party KPOplus made huge gains and secured a solid fourth place in its best supralocal election result since at least World War II in the Salzburg state elections

Copenhagen is responsible for the Faroe Islands’ foreign affairs and defence, but they have the right to negotiate international agreements in areas of their competence, namely regarding trade and fishing.

Faroe Islands warns Denmark not to probe Russian ships’ presence

By: EBR | Tuesday, April 25, 2023

It is up to the Faroe Islands to react to the presence of Russian fishing ships in its harbours, Faroese Foreign Minister Hogni Hoydal warned Copenhagen

To do this, Brussels tabled a revision of the EU’s energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD) and introduced minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) to make renovations for the 15% worst-performing buildings mandatory across the 27-country bloc.

Berlin considers withdrawing support for EU buildings directive

By: EBR | Monday, April 24, 2023

Government infighting in Berlin could see Germany abandon a mandatory renovation principle in the EU’s buildings directive ahead of final negotiations in Brussels

The European Parliament and EU27 ministers remain deadlocked on planned reforms to the statute on European political parties, which currently have members from within and outside the EU.

Lawmakers deadlocked over role of non-EU political parties

By: EBR | Monday, April 24, 2023

Tightening rules on EU political parties to prevent foreign interference could lead to parties from Ukraine and other pre-accession states being prevented from joining pan-EU political groups and “send a wrong message to the world”

However, the step would require the federal government in Berlin to change the relevant legislation to give all 16 federal states (Lander) the power to run their plants.

Bavaria wants to keep nuclear plants running despite federal phase-out plans

By: EBR | Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Nuclear power plants in Bavaria must be kept running despite the country’s phase-out plans, according to the region’s government, which will need an unlikely green light from the federal government

Merkel, who was German chancellor for 16 years until the most recent federal election in 2021, was awarded the Grand Cross, the country’s highest order of merit, by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier during a ceremony on Monday evening.

Merkel receives highest German award amid criticism

By: EBR | Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Former Chancellor Angela Merkel received the country’s highest order of merit, but not everyone thought the honour was justified, including high-ranking members of her own conservative CDU party

Meanwhile, the EU border agency, Frontex, reported 54,000 irregular crossings into the bloc in the first quarter, up a fifth from 2022. Twenty-eight thousand people arrived in the EU from the Central Mediterranean, a threefold increase from last year.

Worst migrant death toll in the Mediterranean since 2017, UN agency reports

By: EBR | Thursday, April 13, 2023

The first three months of 2023 were the deadliest since 2017 for migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean, according to data published by the International Organisation for Migration

While about 80 traffickers have been arrested this year, Karner said the number of asylum requests in Austria tripled last year to 108,490 applications when compared to the previous year, making it the EU nation with the sharpest increase overall.

Austria to request extension of border controls with Hungary, Slovenia

By: EBR | Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner wants to apply to the European Commission to extend border controls with Hungary and Slovenia for another six months, the minister said on Tuesday

Based on a survey of 2.4 million respondents in the EU, the report looks at how cohesion policy affected income inequality between 1989 and 2017 in 231 European regions.

Cohesion funds increase inequality within EU regions, study finds

By: EBR | Tuesday, April 11, 2023

The EU’s cohesion policy, which aims at reducing regional disparities, benefits high-skilled, richer households more than low-income households and exacerbates inequality within EU regions, according to a recent study

The Commission recently noted the slowdown in Italy’s implementation of the National Recovery Plan but gave an overall positive assessment and granted the government an extra month to meet the targets necessary to release the third €19 billion tranche.

Italian MP: Meloni’s government can’t manage national recovery plan

By: EBR | Tuesday, April 11, 2023

The implementation of the national recovery plan is being delayed as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government struggles to solve the age-old problem related to the Public Administration spending funds from Brussels

The EU’s water governance strategy must be expanded beyond visible and scarce water resources. It should support the development of new governance paradigms that take a holistic view of water, and should seek to coordinate state and civic actors in an effort to rehydrate the Earth.

The EU’s Water Strategy Is Too Shallow

By: EBR | Friday, April 7, 2023

In March 2023, the UN held a conference on the future of water in a world increasingly affected by climate breakdown

Nehammer aims to make Austria less attractive to migrants, by cutting social support payments in a migrant’s initial years following their arrival.

Nehammer to team up with Nordics on EU migration transformation

By: EBR | Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Centre-right Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has visited Copenhagen and Stockholm to bolster the three countries’ coordination on transforming the EU’s migration regime

Efforts within the European Commission to get the EU’s looming demographic disaster onto the political agenda are having to contend with widespread indifference, if not outright disbelief.

Wanted: An EU ’Ageing Agency’ to waken somnolent politicians

By: EBR | Tuesday, April 4, 2023

With any luck, a new EU agency will be born next year to focus politicians’ attention on the problems of ageing

Mixing CO2 with hydrogen can produce synthetic fuels, which – much like regular fossil fuels – is energy dense and fit for purpose in aviation and maritime shipping.

EU eyes CO2-hydrogen combination to make synthetic fuels

By: EBR | Monday, April 3, 2023

Experts say the two molecules of carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen are the foundation of the EU’s future low-carbon synthetic fuel industry

Huge flows of cheap Ukrainian grain ended up in central European countries, affecting grain prices for local farmers, notably in Poland, Romania, and Hungary.

Polish PM demands EU takes action over cheap Ukrainian grain influx

By: EBR | Thursday, March 30, 2023

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will send a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling for immediate steps to remedy Polish farmers’ problems since the EU allowed cheap grain imports from Ukraine

The proposed legislation, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, focuses primarily on strengthening rules around data quality, transparency, human oversight and accountability.

The European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act, explained

By: EBR | Thursday, March 30, 2023

The European Union (EU) is considering a new legal framework that aims to significantly bolster regulations on the development and use of artificial intelligence

The Commission responded positively to a German proposal to create a new category of vehicles that run exclusively on carbon-neutral synthetic fuels, also known as e-fuels, according to Germany’s transport minister Volker Wissing.

German minister: E-fuels row ‘did Europe a great service’

By: EBR | Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Germany and the European Commission have moved closer to a deal on the future of the internal combustion engine, the German transport minister said

Von der Leyen responded after the first day of the summit, saying: “only the net-zero technologies that we deem strategic for the future – like solar panels, batteries and electrolysers, for example – have access to the full advantages and benefits” – which is not the case for nuclear power.

Paris plots response to von der Leyen’s ‘unfortunate’ comments on nuclear

By: EBR | Wednesday, March 29, 2023

The office of French Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher slammed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s recent comments about nuclear not being “strategic” for EU decarbonisation

While the proposal has already been lambasted by Habeck’s liberal coalition partner, the business-friendly FPD, Habeck himself publicly speculated that a previous draft of the proposal was leaked to the press from within government ranks to gain a tactical advantage.

A mission impossible for Sébastien Lecornu, Macron’s 5th Prime Minister?

By: N. Peter Kramer

President Emmanuel Macron has again named a close ally, Sébastien Lecornu, as the new French prime minister, 24 hours after a vote of confidence ousted François Bayrou.

Europe

France in fresh political crisis after MPs oust prime minister

France has been plunged into a new political crisis with the defeat of Prime Minister François Bayrou at a confidence vote in the National Assembly

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