European Union

The Romanian intelligence services suspect a Russian influence campaign on TikTok was behind the success of the far-right presidential candidate Călin Georgescu, who unexpectedly won the first round of the presidential election a fortnight ago. The General Prosecutor's Office is investigating the alleged attempts to manipulate the vote. A highly confusing situation ahead of the runoff election on Sunday.

One week after their surprise invasion of Aleppo, rebel groups have forced the Syrian army to withdraw from the city of Hama 130 kilometres to the south. Hama, the country's fourth-largest city, had been under the control of the Assad regime for the duration of the civil war that began in 2011. Commentators see the regime under mounting pressure.

A complete phaseout of Russian pipeline gas would strike a decisive blow against the Kremlin’s economic leverage.

Harassment and cyberviolence are issues that women experience often online. The European Parliament is looking into countering these forms of violence.

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

From 9 to 15 December, EP committees and delegations will discuss how to enhance women’s empowerment in the digital world as part of the fifth European Gender Equality Week.
Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

From 9 to 15 December, EP committees and delegations will discuss how to enhance women’s empowerment in the digital world as part of the fifth European Gender Equality Week.
Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Written by Ionel Zamfir and Colin Murphy.

The rise of digital technologies represents a double-edged sword for women’s rights. On the one hand, the digital environment has enabled women to build networks and spread awareness about the abuse they suffer, such as through the #Metoo movement. On the other, it has provided abusers and misogynists with new tools with which they can spread their harmful content on an unprecedented scale. With the development of artificial intelligence, these trends, both positive and negative, are expected to continue.

Against this backdrop, it has become clear that digital violence is as harmful as offline violence and needs to be tackled with the full force of the law, as well as through other non-legislative measures. Moreover, the digital content causing the harm – images, messages, etc. – needs to be erased. This is particularly important, as the impact on victims is profound and long-lasting.

The European Union has adopted several pieces of legislation that aim to make a difference in this respect. The directive on combating violence against women, to be implemented at the latest by June 2027, sets minimum EU standards for criminalising several serious forms of cyberviolence and enhances the protection of and access to justice for victims.

EU legislation on the protection of privacy is also having an impact on cyberviolence. For example, the new Digital Services Act imposes an obligation on big digital platforms in the EU to remove harmful content from their websites. This is instrumental in removing intimate or manipulated images that are disseminated on the internet without the person’s consent; almost all such images portray women, according to existing data.

Member States use a multiplicity of legal approaches to tackle this issue, combining criminalisation of specific cyber offences with the use of general criminal law. In some Member States, an explicit gender dimension is also included.

Read the complete briefing on ‘Cyberviolence against women in the EU‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Gazprombank said it remained the only bank authorised to process payments for Russian gas by foreign buyers, that it will receive payments only in roubles, but it would not assists foreign buyers in converting foreign currency into rubles

In today’s edition of the Capitals, find out more about the Slovak MEPs being divided over the EU-Mercosur, the final round of the Romanian presidential election, and so much more. 

The Economy Ministry confirmed to Euractiv Slovakia that it has long supported the deal.

Europe “needs to be more selfish towards its opponents and solidary within.”