European Union

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Turkey must release the politician Selahattin Demirtaş from prison. The Erdoğan critic and former leader of the pro-Kurdish HDP has been behind bars for two years on charges of spreading terrorist propaganda. President Erdoğan, however, has roundly rejected the ruling. Will Ankara come under pressure now?

The Ukrainian government stopped the signing of the association agreement with the EU on November 21, 2013. Spontaneous protests led to the fall of president Yanukovych in February 2014 and Russia's annexation of Crimea, and continue to strain relationships between Russia and the West today. Ukrainian media take stock.

A scandal has rocked the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League following reports that Muslim members in the Skåne region who represented anti-Semitic and homophobic positions were tolerated for years. The League's collaboration with Muslim organisations is also causing a stir. Despite resignations the problem is far from resolved as far as Sweden's press is concerned.

The European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee decided on Wednesday to postpone a vote about its internal rules, including on meeting lobbyists. It followed distribution on Tuesday of a long-overdue legal opinion. "Many colleagues haven't had time to read it," said the committee's chairwoman Danuta Huebner. The three largest groups, the European People's Party, the Socialists & Democrats and European Conservatives and Reformists supported the postponement.

Interpol member states voted by 101 to 61 in Dubai on Wednesday to appoint a South Korean candidate, Kim Jong Yang, as its new president, instead of Alexander Prokopchuk, a Russian official. The vote came after Lithuania and Ukraine threatened to quit Interpol if the Russian candidate got in, due to the fact he had personally overseen politically-motived abuses of its systems on behalf of the Kremlin.

The UN’s environment chief, Erik Solheim, has resigned following severe criticism of his global travels and internal rule-breaking which led some nations to withhold their funding. EURACTIV’s partner The Guardian reports.

Novartis Farma
Approximation of laws
The reimbursement by a national healthcare insurance system of a medicinal product for a use not covered by its marketing authorisation (off-label use) is not contrary to EU law

Associação Peço a Palavra and Others
Freedom of establishment
Advocate General Campos Sánchez-Bordona proposes that the Court of Justice declare that the requirements of the Portuguese Government in relation to the reprivatisation of TAP constitute a justified restriction on the freedom of establishment, with the exception of the obligation to maintain and develop the national hub

Deutsche Bank, Germany's top lender, handled about €130bn of the "suspicious" money in the Danske Bank affair, new revelations show, as whistleblower testifies to MEPs.

Five international law firms have teamed up to launch a joint legal action against Danske Bank, seeking compensation for losses on shares following the money-laundering scandal in the bank's Estonian branch, Berlingske Tidende reports. US investment services company Battea has been hired to collect data on stocks and calculate losses. Battea was also behind collection of data for charges raised against Volkswagen over Dieselgate.

A new EU sanctions regime for human rights abusers ought to focus on the kinds of crimes most readily associated with African conflicts, the Dutch foreign minister has indicated.

Prosecutors in the Sicilian city of Catania requested on Tuesday the seizure of migrant-aid ship Aquarius for illegal disposal of 24,000kg of waste, included clothing worn by migrants, blood-stained bandages and medical waste. The Aquarius, run by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders (MSF), called it an "unfounded and sinister measure aimed at criminalising our lifesaving activity". It is the last privately-operated ship conducting rescue missions in the Mediterranean.

Populist parties have more than tripled their support in Europe in the last 20 years, securing enough votes to put their leaders into government posts in 11 countries, analysis by more than 30 leading political scientists published by the Guardian showed. The findings of the study come six months before European parliamentary elections that some are predicting could return more rightwing populists than ever to the 751-seat chamber.