European Union

In view of the situation in Ukraine, but also Russia's political disputes with the EU and the US, there was much excitement about what Vladimir Putin would say in his annual state-of-the-nation address. However, no drastic decisions were announced; the main focus was on social and economic measures. Commentators have very different explanations for this.

After seven years, talks between Switzerland and the EU aimed at a new institutional framework agreement are in danger of collapsing. Swiss President Guy Parmelin is to meet EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tomorrow, but in recent weeks Bern has neither given concrete answers to Brussels' questions nor presented proposals for a partnership agreement. Commentators conclude that the only goal now is damage control.

In the George Floyd case, a Minneapolis court jury has found ex-police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all three counts he was facing: second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. Commentators hail the verdict as a historic and promising start in the fight against racist police violence.

Tourism in Greece is to be ramped up again from May 15, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced in a televised speech on Wednesday evening. Covid-related restrictions will be relaxed in the coming weeks, with restaurants and cafés reopening from May 3. Commentators are emphatically unenthusiastic.

The WWF and several other NGOs have decided to suspend their participation in the European Commission’s Sustainable Finance Platform in protest against what they see as weak and “unscientific” criteria for bioenergy and forestry in the EU’s green finance taxonomy.

Intention is to drill the deepest bore hole in Europe, generate green electricity and test new use cases for the technology. Slovakian company GA Drilling, Finnish company Finest Bay Area Development Oy and the Finnish Pyhäjärvi city owned development company...

The Culture and Creative Industries (CCIs) have been among the hardest-hit branches by the COVID crisis, losing up to 90% of their revenues since the beginning of the pandemic. In this context, the EU is launching a new initiative to...

The rise of antimicrobial resistance is a looming global crisis, threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases, resulting in prolonged illness, disability, and death.

Austrian Airlines
Transport
The mere diversion of a flight to a close-by airport does not grant a right to flat-rate compensation

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