European Union

US social-media firm Facebook has, for the first time, formally banned "any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust" from its worldwide platform. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who is Jewish, said he had "struggled with the tension" between free speech and hate crime, but the new policy was "the right balance". "My own thinking has evolved as I've seen data showing an increase in antisemitic violence," he said on Monday.

EU countries are to impose modest sanctions on Russia for its second use of a prohibited chemical weapon in Europe.

The decrease of revenues in 2020 of subnational authorities in France, Germany and Italy alone is estimated to be €30bn for the three countries, a new report by the European Committee of the Regions says.

UK prime minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday a three-tier system aimed at avoiding a patchwork of complicated and confusing coronavirus rules across England, Reuters reported. Restrictions include shutting pubs, bars, gyms, leisure centres, betting shops and adult gaming centres in areas deemed "very high" alert level. "We must act to save lives," Johnson told MPs, who now have to agree the proposal. Scotland and Wales have devolved administrations.

In city elections in Vienna the far-right anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPÖ), plummeted to 7.5 percent, down from nearly 31 percent in 2015, Deutsche Welle reports. The party, led by disgraced far-right politician, Heinz-Christian Strache, will not enter the city's parliament. Strache was involved in a high-profile corruption scandal. The biggest winner was the centre-left SPÖ, led by Mayor Michael Ludwig, with 41.7 percent of the vote.

Belgium has the the EU's second-highest infection rate over a 14-day period, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The Sweden-based agency on Monday said Belgium's cumulative number of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 is 402.5 but also"advised to use all data with caution", given limitations. The Czech Republic has the highest at 493.1, followed by Belgium, and the Netherlands (364.2). Neighbouring Germany has 45.2.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said there is a need to speed up renovation of existing buildings throughout the European Union. "Our buildings are responsible for 40 percent of our energy consumption," she noted, adding at current pace it will take more than a century to bring emissions from buildings to zero. The Associated Press reported the European Commission is set to announce a building-renovation project on Wednesday.

EU countries are set to adopt a 'traffic-light' colour-coding system for coronavirus-affected areas. But member states will have the possibility to set their own strategies, on negative Covid-19 tests or different quarantine periods, for orange and red zones.

Bigots and far-right extremists are using online violence to try to silence feminists and LGBT people. It's a cowardly tactic since perpetrators don't even have to meet their targets. We hear stories from two Europeans on the receiving end

This latest resumption in the conflict, as it is somewhat euphemistically called, is rather a self-declared offensive by Azerbaijan, aimed at achieving its desired outcome to the conflict by force rather than by negotiation.

The EU Green Deal claims that it is a “new growth strategy that aims to transform the EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases...

By starting local and scaling up, data can be the greatest ally of Europe's upcoming renovation wave, writes Cristina Gamboda.

The democratic opposition in Belarus, Honduran environmental activists and the Archbishop of Mosul are the 2020 Sakharov Prize finalists.

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The democratic opposition in Belarus, Guapinol activists and Berta Cáceres, and the Archbishop of Mosul were shortlisted for the 2020 Sakharov Prize on Monday.
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Development
Subcommittee on Human Rights

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The democratic opposition in Belarus, Guapinol activists and Berta Cáceres, and the Archbishop of Mosul were shortlisted for the 2020 Sakharov Prize on Monday.
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Development
Subcommittee on Human Rights

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Former shipbuilding workers from Galicia should receive €2,054,400 in EU aid to help them re-integrate into the labour market, following a Budgets Committee vote on Monday.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Deepening the EU data economy and investments in AI are top priorities on the agenda of the von der Leyen Commission. Because of the COVID-19 crisis, the digital transformation in all sectors is speeding up, intensifying our reliance on software, data and AI.

The nonwovens sector is planning to inject more sustainability into its mix, with issues like new EU rules, a greater focus on recycling and the coronavirus pandemic all set to influence the future of the industry.

EU states have agreed to blacklist Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko and several other Belarusian figures, in addition to the 40 names they designated earlier this month. Lukashenko had shown "complete lack of will" to talk to the opposition, amid ongoing violence against pro-democracy protesters, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Monday. Cyprus had delayed previous attempts with its veto, but, this time, Borrell was "confident" of quick implementation.

“My policy is to be able to take a ticket at Victoria station and go anywhere I damn well please!” So said Britain’s post-war Foreign Secretary Ernie Bevin in 1951. Bevin, though not a Europhile, might well have been talking about freedom of movement across Europe, a cherished freedom currently on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic.