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EU Institutions
EU Institutions
EU Parliament begins its 10th mandate
The European Parliament was officially constituted on July 16, following the June 6-9 European election, kicking off the first plenary session of the 10th...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Policies on Deforestation Show Europe’s Internal Splits
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once famously asked the question “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?” to highlight...
The Americas
EU strengthens energy cooperation with Chile, Argentina
This week EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson visited Chile and Argentina to step up cooperation with these two countries in the energy field, with...
Interviews
European election results show EU is at an inflection point
A few days after the European Parliament elections, Marilena Raouna, Cyprus’ Deputy Minister for European Affairs, sat down with NE Global on the sidelines...
Transport
Trans-Caspian International Transport Route platform launched in Astana
In a major step forward for regional transport coordination, Kazakhstan’s capital Astana hosted the launch June 12 of a new coordination platform for the...
Disasters and Reconstruction Initiatives
Berlin Ukraine Recovery Conference
Although partially overshadowed by urgent Ukrainian requests for emergency help with its immediate air defense needs, as well as political shockwaves emanating from the...
Europe & Eurasia
EU-Central Asia discuss security challenges, joint cooperation
The European Union and the five Central Asian Deputy Foreign Ministers discussed common security challenges and joint cooperation to deepen ties between the two...
Interviews
Interview: EU and Turkmenistan are getting closer
NE Global sat down exclusively with Sapar Palvanov, Ambassador of Turkmenistan to the Kingdom of Belgium, also accredited as the head of the Mission...
China
Xi challenges a divided Europe
After the May 5-9 visit of President Xi Jinping to Europe most of the political analysts in Brussels who argued that the Chinese President's...
Democracy & Human Rights
Georgia’s “Foreign Representatives Law” moves forward amid protests
On May 14, Georgia’s parliament approved (84/150) a hotly contested law on “Transparency of Foreign Interests” regulating the amount of aid local civil society...
North Macedonia
North Macedonia: Resuming course towards the political dark side?
As most analysts predicted after the strong showing of the nationalist presidential candidate in the first-round presidential elections on April 24, VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian...
Refugees & Migration
EU sharply reduces visa access for Ethiopians
Citing the lack of Ethiopian cooperation to facilitate repatriation of citizens deported from EU member states, the EU Council announced on April 29 a...
Sanctions and related policies
New sanctions ordered following Iran’s April 13 missile and drone attacks against Israel
Following Iran’s massive, but ineffective, missile and drone strikes against Israel April 13, the United States and the United Kingdom announced their new sanctions...
Democracy & Human Rights
The empty seat in Strasbourg
When the newly elected European Parliament convenes this year on July 16 there will be an empty seat in the plenary hall within the...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
COP 29: Azerbaijan takes the spotlight
The next global climate conference, COP 29, will occur in November in Baku, Azerbaijan. The gathering is essential to continue discussing and developing strategies...
Labor and Human Workforce Futures
Platform work: getting the right approach for consumers and workers
With an agreement finally reached by the European institutions on the Platform Worker Rights Directive after two years of fractious discussions, attention turns to...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
EU-Armenia-U.S. High-level Meeting: A Critical Moment for the South Caucasus
On April 5, an EU-Armenia-U.S. trilateral meeting was held between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and U.S....
Minerals, Mining and Rare Earths
EU, U.S., Uzbekistan and other partners strengthen critical raw materials cooperation
The European Union, the United States, and other Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) partners, joined by Kazakhstan, Namibia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, officially launched the Minerals...
Transport
The Schengen Zone expands conditionally, for air and sea travelers
Europe’s passport-free Schengen Zone took an important step forward on March 31 with the partial inclusion of Romania and Bulgaria. Travelers arriving in the...
IT & Telecom
EU adopts safeguards on general purpose artificial intelligence
The European Parliament took an important step in regulating technology, approving on March 13 the EU's proposed Artificial Intelligence Act that aims to ensure...
EU Institutions
EU strives to boost ability to detect and prepare for cyber threats
The Belgian Presidency of the European Council on March 6 informally agreed on the Cyber Solidarity Act (CSoA), aiming to build a more resilient,...
Business and trade regulations
EU Parliament strives to protect energy market from manipulation
Responding to the energy crisis exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the European Parliament approved on February 29 legislation to tackle energy market manipulation...
Environment
EU law banning greenwashing to empower consumers for the green transition
Companies can no longer market their goods using unfounded claims about their environmental impact and durability, Croatian MEP Bijana Borzan told NE Global in...
Transport
Investors Forum brings the Middle Corridor into EU-wide focus
Huge investment numbers were thrown around in Brussels January 29-30 at the Global Gateway Investors Forum for the European Union – Central Asia Transport...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Playing politics with EU veto power – a very old game
In late November, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, standing alongside visiting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, told the media that he was against the “bilateralization”...
Palestinian Territories
What will it take to prevent a Gaza reconstruction fiasco?
Let us be unequivocal about the current war between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas - the latter declared this war on Israeli...
Trade
Economy Minister says Kazakhstan to expand investment and diversify trade with Europe
Kazakhstan’s Minister of National Economy, Alibek Kuantyrov, spoke to NE Global in an exclusive interview about his country's relations with Europe, Astana's economic partners,...
Democracy & Human Rights
Meeting conditions for Georgia’s EU accession is a tall order for Tbilisi
The European Commission’s provisional endorsement of Georgia’s EU chances contained a not-so-subtle message couched in diplomatic jargon: Tbilisi must forge a stronger national consensus...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
The EU Green Deal is a barrier to trade and global partnerships
There is an English saying that if you can’t see the wood for the trees, then you should step back and then you will...
Energy
European aviation industry embraces new jet fuel regulation
The European Parliament on September 13 approved a new law to increase the uptake of sustainable fuels, such as advanced biofuels or hydrogen, in...
Afghanistan
The global impact two years after the Taliban’s takeover
Two years ago, the world saw the return of a repressive Taliban regime. The rapid fall of the Afghan government sent shockwaves throughout neighbouring...
EU Institutions
Latest gambit in North Macedonia seeks to break impasse with Bulgaria
At the end of July, the largest ethnic Albanian political party in North Macedonia, the Democratic Union for Integration, presented an innovative proposal to...
Democracy & Human Rights
Freedom of speech and expression require considered thought by lawmakers
The cornerstone of any functioning democracy is the ability to speak freely without fear or favour and be confident that our right to say...
Democracy & Human Rights
EU parliamentarians, former world leaders demand policy changes, recognition of Iranian resistance
On May 24, dozens of members of the European Parliament held a meeting in Brussels to discuss prospective changes in policy toward the Iran....
The Negroni Diaries
EU-Turkey earthquake relief conference: Time to get serious
The European Union is hosting a reconstruction conference in Brussels on March 20 to focus on the aftermath of Turkey’s devastating February 6 earthquakes,...
Economy & Business
Free Trade: The magic potion against economic decline
Despite rising internal and external nationalistic pressure, leaders on both sides of the Atlantic should remember that in a time of increasing hostilities from bad actors, retaliatory protectionism toward our allies will do nothing but ensure mutual decline.
Croatia
Croatia advances to the EU mainstream
Croatia took a decisive step January 1 towards the mainstream of the European project by adopting the Euro as its currency while at the...
EU Institutions
Iran’s influence peddling at the European Parliament
The Iranian dictatorship is able to use the services of agents disguised as “political advisors” to serve the interests of a foreign and hostile power that is out to undermine the very core of European democracy.
EU Institutions
The end of Europe
The European Union is simply too big; it is composed of too many cultures and political perspectives; and, despite Brussels' claim that it values diversity over all other issues, this does not include a deviation from what it considers its own norms. As matters currently stand, the EU runs the risk of collapsing under its own weight.
Albania
EU Tirana Summit: Enlargement must go on
The summit's generic one size fits all “membership perspective” statement was seen as good news by most after the topic of EU Enlargement had become a highly controversial subject.
Bulgaria
Schengen Zone tremblors center on Bulgaria and Romania
The Netherlands announced on December 2 that it will accept Romania and Croatia's joining the EU’s special passport-free Schengen Zone but intended to block...
Refugees & Migration
Unexpected migration woes
Brussels has, in the case of the migrant problem, proven that the EU's feckless bureaucrats are persuasive only when they carry a big stick against those that openly mock them.
Albania
Scholz’s Berlin Process Summit yields agreements, draws yawns
The November 3 Berlin Process Summit, held in the presence of six Western Balkan leaders and key EU luminaries in the context of the...
Democracy & Human Rights
EU politicians slam Tehran’s sanctions targeting European supporters of Iran’s organized resistance
The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, strongly condemned the Iranian regime’s decision on October 26 to sanction several MEPs, as well as...
EU Institutions
Malaysia shows how the private sector could lead on due diligence
If the rumors and press leaks are to be believed, the European Commission’s long-awaited proposal on Corporate Sustainable Governance is once again delayed. First...