EURACTIV News
Russian court orders Yulia Navalnaya’s arrest in absentia
A court in Moscow on Tuesday (9 July) ordered Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, arrested in absentia for two months.
Categories: EurActiv
UK’s Starmer commits to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday (9 July) said he would fulfil a campaign commitment to increase UK defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, but underlined he would only do so when the country could afford it and after a review of defence strategy.
Categories: EurActiv
EU socialists: Ban on petrol cars ‘key demand’ for next Commission
The EU's social democrats have set out their key demands for von der Leyen and the next Commission mandate. Banning petrol cars, linking EU funds to rule of law, and own resources on defence, all feature prominently.
Categories: EurActiv
European fisheries hope for closer EU-UK collaboration after Labour victory
The Labour Party's victory in the UK general election has opened up the prospect of harmonisation and collaboration with the EU, according to Europe's fishing industry, although concerned about promises concerning bans in marine protected areas.
Categories: EurActiv
United by NATO, the EU and US must pull together on defence [Advocacy Lab Content]
European sovereignty and the transatlantic alliance, transforming European defence, and the importance of digital transformation, took centre stage on day two at Eurosatory 2024: The Global Event for Defence and Security, in Paris.
Categories: EurActiv
Hungarians facing long hospital waiting lists, dissatisfaction rising [Advocacy Lab Content]
Long waiting lists for scheduled operations at Hungarian hospitals are at the centre of a fierce political debate. Seven thousand patients were added to the lists in just one year, delays can take up to six years.
Categories: EurActiv
European agreements with pharma can push development and production, says Belgian MEP Vautmans [Advocacy Lab Content]
A staunch advocate for the European Health Union, Belgium's Hilde Vautmans begins her third MEP mandate with a renewed focus on healthcare equal access, preventive care and digitisation.
Categories: EurActiv
Poland leans towards shorter data exclusivity period, one year market protection [Advocacy Lab Content]
Warsaw has sided with the European Commission on the length of the Regulatory Data Protection (RDP) period in the EU Pharma Package. Poland advocates that the incentives scheme should focus on market protection and not last more than a year.
Categories: EurActiv
UK’s Labour government puts health at the top of its agenda
The new Labour government takes office with an ambitious new approach to health, but there are questions over how these plans will be funded.
Categories: EurActiv
Czechia lifts ban on blood donation by gay men [Advocacy Lab Content]
New Czech regulation, which took effect on 1 July, allows gay men to donate blood, a practice previously prohibited.
Categories: EurActiv
The Brief – German government tricks itself out of a budget crisis, again
Once again, the German government has used accounting tricks to reconcile its spending wishes with the rules of its constitutional ‘debt brake’ – but unlike the tricks faulted by the country’s Constitutional Court last year, this time experts say it's waterproof.
Categories: EurActiv
In Europe as in France, Le Pen’s party still trapped behind ‘cordon sanitaire’
The President of the Rassemblement National (RN), Jordan Bardella, already saw himself as Prime Minister, but he was elected to lead the Patriotes pour l'Europe group in the European Parliament on Monday 8 July, remaining for the time being trapped behind a watertight "cordon sanitaire".
Categories: EurActiv
EU centre-right aims for agriculture Commissioner, says party’s farming policy chief
The chair of the European Parliament's Agriculture and Rural Development Committee (AGRI) will go to the Conservatives, the current European People’s Party (EPP) coordinator for agriculture Herbert Dorfmann, told Euractiv, as they aim for the post of Commissioner for Agriculture.
Categories: EurActiv
Spain’s Court of Auditors fines far-right VOX for irregular donations
Spain's Court of Auditors imposed on Tuesday (9 July) two sanctions on the far-right VOX party, the third force in the Spanish parliament, for what it said were two serious violations of Spanish law on party financing.
Categories: EurActiv
Austria’s Gewessler launches task force to investigate Gazprom energy contract
The Austrian energy minister launched a task force of independent experts to examine the country’s long-term gas contract with Russia’s Gazprom, on Tuesday (9 July), including investigating the level of political involvement in the 2018 signing.
Categories: EurActiv
France: EU files the left coalition agrees on – and those it could divorce over
The left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) coalition, the relative winner of France’s snap legislative elections, is set to lead negotiations on a future coalition government but internal disagreements over a few fundamental EU files could test the alliance’s survival.
Categories: EurActiv
Starmer vows to champion farming, but uncertainty remains over UK agriculture plans
The UK's new centre-left government has pledged to champion British farming and prioritise food security, but questions linger over Labour’s plans for the country's post-Brexit farming policies.
Categories: EurActiv
Pro-EU forces to block ‘Patriots’ in Parliament, ECR from rule of law committee
The pro-EU forces of the European Parliament have agreed to block any member of the newly established far-right “Patriots for Europe” group from getting any parliamentary committee, two EU Parliament sources confirmed to Euractiv.
Categories: EurActiv
CODE Talks: A More Competitive Europe Starts with Open Digital Ecosystems [Advocacy Lab Content]
On 22 May, the Coalition for Open Digital Ecosystems (CODE) hosted "CODE Talks: A More Competitive Europe Starts with Open Digital Ecosystems."
Categories: EurActiv
Germany embarks on ‘radical change’ to finance renewables
A government compromise in Berlin envisions radical changes to the country’s renewables subsidy approach, alongside creating the foundation for back-up power plants to underpin the coal exit.
Categories: EurActiv