France
Analysis
Biden’s narrow timeline to get tough on Putin
On March 2, President Joe Biden’s administration, together with the United Kingdom and the European Union, announced new sanctions against Russia over last summer's...
Archive
Several EU nations halt AstraZeneca vaccine rollout over blood clot fears
Several nations in Europe have suspended the use of the Coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca/Oxford University over blood clot concerns, despite a statement by...
Belgium
No human rights without the right to know
Access to information legislation was first seen in Sweden in 1766, with parliamentary interest to access information held by King Adolf Frederick. Finland followed...
China
Disinformation and the efforts to counter its effects can undermine human rights
Disinformation is a phenomenon often thought of in relation to electoral interference, subversion of democratic processes or foreign state influence operations. While all of...
Archive
Nicolas Sarkozy found guilty of corruption, sentenced to prison
A French court on Monday found former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling, sentencing him to three years in prison, including...
Archive
Europe builds 14.7 GW of new wind farms in 2020, 19% less due to COVID
Europe built 14.7 GW of new wind farms in 2020, which was 19% less than what was expected before COVID, statistics on wind energy...
Archive
Engie produces renewable gas from solid non-recyclable waste
Through a project called Gaya, France’s Engie has recently started the production of renewable gas from solid non-recyclable waste.Supported by the French agency for...
Africa
Macron urges Europe to send vaccines to Africa
The European Union and the United States need to provide African countries with vaccines, to prevent exacerbation of global inequality, French President Emmanuel Macron...
Archive
France fines Google €1.1 million over ‘misleading’ hotel ranking practices
France has fined Google €1.1 million for allegedly "misleading" consumers with their rankings of hotels and other tourist accommodations on its search engine, the...
Archive
Total inaugurates France’s largest NGV and bioNGV filling station for trucks
French energy giant Total has inaugurated France’s largest filling station exclusively dedicated to Natural Gas for Vehicle (NGV) and bioNGV, with the onsite presence...
Finland
Twilight of the Russian gods?
Alexey Navalny's three and a half years sentence in a penal colony is supposed to be a punishment for having violated his parole conditions...
Archive
French labs to start producing Pfizer, Moderna COVID vaccines
A French lab will start producing in March the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moderna, while another one will begin manufacturing the Pfizer/BioNTech jab a...
Analysis
A new dawn for Libya brings hope for regional stability
While it may seem as though only one subject has dominated the news for the past year, and our lives came to a very...
Albania
Karl von Habsburg: Speech on the future of Europe
The following speech was given on January 11 to honor the 60th birthday of Karl von Habsburg, the head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine...
Archive
French government warns 6pm curfew ‘not sufficient’ to curb virus spread
France's nationwide 6pm curfew is "not sufficient" to slow down the spread of the virus and authorities are considering tighter restrictions, government spokesman Gabriel Attal...
Archive
Sanofi to help produce over 125 million doses of Pfizer COVID vaccine
French pharmaceutical company Sanofi has signed an agreement with US drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech to help produce more than 125 million...
Archive
Sefcovic hails milestone for EU Battery Alliance
A second Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) to support research and innovation in the battery value chain complies with EU state aid...
Albania
The EU-China investment agreement is a disaster for the West
The EU-China Comprehensive Investment Agreement that was announced in December 2020 at joint virtual press conference between Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel, Xi...
Africa
Uncertainty, outrage abound as African Union prepares for leadership election
The African Union Commission elections that are slated for February 7 in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa is facing an unprecedented level of public...
Africa
France looking to withdraw ‘some troops’ from Sahel anti-terror operations
France is eyeing at withdrawing some of its troops from the Sahel region in Africa, following successes against Islamist militants and support by European...
Archive
France imposes nationwide 6pm curfew
French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday announced a nationwide 6pm curfew until 6 am, starting from Saturday for 15 days, in a bid...
Archive
IEA to develop roadmap to net-zero emissions by 2050
The International Energy Agency on January 11 announced that it will produce the world’s first comprehensive roadmap for the energy sector to reach net-zero...
Canada
Erasmus and Brexit
No policy decision better encapsulates the entire Brexit process better than the UK's decision to withdraw from the Erasmus Programme. For those in Brussels,...
Archive
Stunned world reacts to Capitol Hill disruptions
Even though the January 6 disruptions in Washington that resulted in five deaths are seen to fall exclusively in the domain of the term...
Archive
Energean wraps up acquisition of stake in offshore Block 2, western Greece
Greece’s Energean announced on January 7 that it has completed its acquisition of France’s Total’s entire 50% working interest share and operatorship position in...
Archive
EU voices concerns over Iran enrichment, nuclear deal
The European Commission voiced its concerns on Tuesday over Iran's plans to enrich uranium up to 20% purity at its underground Fordow nuclear facility...
Archive
Italy extends lockdown restrictions as France ramps up vaccine rollout
Italy has announced new restrictions to fight a fresh coronavirus wave that has pushed the national death toll above 75,000, the highest in Europe.A...
Archive
Polish fine against Gazprom over Nord Stream 2 unlikely to ever be paid
Poland anti-monopoly watchdog has fined Russian gas giant Gazprom $7.6 billion over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which is unlikely to ever be...
Albania
Varhelyi refocuses on enlargement for Southeast Europe
EU Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi visited North Macedonia and Albania on October 6-7, meeting leaders in both countries as well as addressing parliaments....
Archive
France steers EU attention to Greece-Turkey standoff in East Med
French President Emmanuel Macron has taken a strong position in support of the rights of Greece and Cyprus, calling on Turkey to stop unilateral...
Albania
North Macedonia’s coalition government forms up, as directed
Once again, to the delight of North Macedonia’s Western supporters, Skopje has a new coalition government that looks very much like last year’s pre-election...
Archive
Athens pivots to Washington for help with Turkish provocations
In the latest sub-chapter of the seemingly never-ending dispute over energy exploration rights in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, Athens has again called for...
Archive
EU energy future wants to wean off China’s raw materials
The European Union is as dependent on Asian countries, especially China, when it comes to batteries and raw materials for technologies of the future...
Albania
North Macedonia’s elections unfold, marginally, as directed
To the delight of North Macedonia’s western supporters, the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) landed a razor-thin electoral majority on July 15 in...
Archive
Cyprus moves ahead with LNG terminal works eyeing EU market
Natural Gas Infrastructure Company of Cyprus (ETYFA) has issued the Notice to Proceed to the Consortium that was awarded the construction works of the...
Analysis
Kosovo: EU visa liberalisation issue resurfaces
Increased travel access to the EU for Kosovar citizens remains an interesting sidebar to the now-postponed Washington meeting between recently re-elected Serbian President Aleksandar...
Armenia
Elections in Nagorno-Karabakh don't dismiss democracy
Normally, a free and fair election is a welcome exercise of democracy and freedom. But in the case of the unrecognised Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh,...
Archive
France's Grand Est region reports 570 nursing home deaths since virus outbreak
During the coronavirus outbreak, 570 people have died in nursing homes in France's Grand Est region, according to health authorities.
While fatalities in nursing homes...
Asia & Pacific
Could bad data be to blame for high coronavirus death toll
European countries saw some of the highest death told for coronavirus over the last month. Deaths in Italy have surpassed those in China many...
Archive
France to fund hotel rooms for victims of domestic violence, as numbers rise amid lockdown
The French government announced that it will pay for hotel rooms to accommodate victims of domestic violence and open pop-up counselling centres, as reports...
Archive
France green lights use of chloroquine for certain coronavirus patients
The French government officially authorised the prescription of chloroquine to treat hospitalised coronavirus patients, after dozens recovered within five days.
Speaking at a press conference,...
Analysis
Europe's masked corona ball
Response from the Cabinet of Commissioner Lenarčič:
At the end of January, as the outbreak intensified in Wuhan coronavirus epicentre, President von der Leyen triggered...
Archive
Greece is reaching a 'whatever it takes' moment
There is not a single Athenian who could have ever imagined that the streets of the city would be completely empty. Even in mid-August,...
Asia & Pacific
Locked down, without answers
Most European governments are turning to increasingly harsh lockdowns to confront the coronavirus pandemic. They did so in the wake of watching Italy’s attempt...
Archive
France launches special train to relocate coronavirus patients
France launched a new high-speed TGV train to relocate patients infected by the coronavirus from the hard-hit east of the country to other regions,...
Archive
Public opinion in Italy, Spain, France in favour of lockdown measures
Italian, Spanish and French citizens are in their vast majority supportive of the heavily restrictive measures imposed by their countries to contain the spread...
Australia
Gulf nations have been quick to prevent economic downturn and Europe must do the same
From the outset of the novel coronavirus outbreak, it became clear that its repercussions would go far beyond public health. As countries have scrambled...
Archive
France pulls out military forces in Iraq
France announced on Wednesday that it is pulling out its military forces from Iraq to help fight the coronavirus at home.
The chief of staff...
Albania
In desperate times, EU approves new Balkan Enlargement steps
Moving on a trajectory that senior EU leaders publicly outlined at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February, the EU’s General Affairs Council (GAC) agreed...
Archive
France announces stricter coronavirus confinement rules
French prime minister Edouard Philippe announced even stricter rules to try to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
"Taking your children out or going...
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