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The death of Queen Sirikit has removed the final protective layer from the current monarch, King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

Activists hail from various parts of the world, yet they consistently convey the same message: the foundation of a just transition cannot be based on lies and false solutions.

Le gouvernement a signalé, vendredi, six nouvelles plateformes à la justice, dont cinq, AliExpress, Joom, eBay, Temu, Wish pour la vente de produits illégaux et Amazon pour non-respect du filtrage des mineurs. 

Written by Clare Ferguson and Katarzyna Sochacka.

Highlights of the November I plenary session included debates on the architecture and governance of the new 2028-2034 multiannual financial framework, and on the conclusions of the European Council meeting of 23 October 2025. Further debates concerned Parliament’s statement commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Islamist attacks of 13 November 2015 in Paris; Council and Commission statements on the illegal unilateral declaration of the secessionist entity created by Türkiye in Cyprus and the continued Turkish military occupation; and protecting EU consumers against the practices of certain e-commerce platforms.

European annual asylum and migration report

Members debated Council and Commission statements on the first European Annual Asylum and Migration report and the setting up of the Annual Solidarity Pool. Published on 11 November, the report identified animprovement in the migratory situation in the EU between July 2024 and June 2025. Challenges remain however in relation to irregular arrivals and unauthorised movements within the EU, hosting refugees from Ukraine, weaponisation of migration by Russia and Belarus, and cooperation on returns and readmission. The proposed Council implementing act on an Annual Solidarity Pool (to be established, in principle, by the end of 2025) outlines that 4 Member States are under migratory pressure (Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain), and 12 others are at risk of migratory pressure, with 6 facing a significant migratory situation due to the cumulative effects of movements over the past five years. The solidarity pool would allocate solidarity contributions such as relocations and financial support, in priority, to Member States under migratory pressure. While Parliament does not have a formal role in implementing measures under the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, it supported the establishment of the solidarity mechanism.

European Climate Law

Members debated a report on the proposal to set a 2040 EU emissions reduction target as a step towards ensuring a cost-efficient and realistic pathway to climate neutrality by 2050. Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Climate and Food Safety (ENVI) urged higher ambition on environmental and human rights and to safeguard against funding for projects that contradict EU strategic interests, in relation to international credits which can be used for 2040 but not for the other targets of the climate law. The committee also proposes to delay the new ETS2 emissions trading system for one year (currently set to start in 2027). Parliament adopted the ENVI report on amending the European Climate Law, setting its position for negotiations with the Council.

Conservation of marine biological diversity

The landmark 2023 United Nations High Seas Treaty, or Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, aims at the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national borders. Members debated and adopted an ENVI report on the proposal to establish rules on international management of the high seas, which introduced clarifications for closer alignment with the BBNJ text. The changes proposed aim at improving transparency by requiring that Member States publish the measures they take on biodiversity in the high seas, and at greater flexibility in the reporting process, especially in emergencies. The vote sets Parliament’s position for trilogue negotiations.

European Maritime Safety Agency

Members considered and adopted the provisional agreement reached in second reading on a proposal to revise the regulation founding the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The revision, supported by Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN), would expand EMSA’s mandate, strengthening its contribution to the green and digital transitions and enhancing its ability to tackle emerging security risks, including cyber and hybrid threats. In addition, it updates governance rules to balance oversight and efficiency in the EU’s efforts to improve maritime safety and prevent pollution from shipping.

Framework for Income Taxation (BEFIT)

Businesses that operate across EU borders face different corporate tax systems and rules in every Member State. To tackle the issue at EU level, the Business in Europe: Framework for Income Taxation (BEFIT) aims at creating a common corporate tax framework for large EU multinational businesses. Parliament considered and adopted a report on BEFIT from the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), under the consultation procedure. The report calls for improvements to address the challenges of taxing the digital economy. It recommends that a business be treated as tax resident in any Member State in which it generates a substantial level of sales, ensuring it pays fair taxes to the community that supports its operations. The file requires a unanimous vote in the Council.

Gender equality strategy

The EU plans to adopt a new gender equality strategy in early 2026. Parliament debated and adopted an own-initiative report from its Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) outlining priorities for the 2026 strategy. The report calls for a comprehensive and ambitious approach to tackling violence against women, including its possible definition as a ‘euro-crime’, and to close gaps in political representation, pay and the sharing of care responsibilities. Members also voted in favour of a change to the Electoral Act which would enable Members who are pregnant or who have recently given birth to vote by proxy, with another Member casting their vote. This change now needs to be adopted by the Council unanimously and approved by each Member State before it may come into force.

EU-Singapore DTA

The Parliament gave its consent to a digital trade agreement (DTA) between the EU and Singapore. Digital trade agreements can contribute to securing access to new markets, simplifying electronic transactions, protecting consumers, removing administrative obstacles to trade and increasing legal certainty. The EU-Singapore DTA ensures electronic contracts and signatures are legally valid, duty-free online transmissions and promotes open access to government data. Any disputes will be settled under the same rules that already apply under the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement.

Opening of trilogue negotiations

Two decisions to enter into interinstitutional negotiations, from the Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) Committee on amending certain agricultural products regulations as regards certain market rules and sectoral support measures in the wine sector and for aromatised wine products; and from the Foreign Affairs and Development (AFET/DEVE) Committees on amending Regulation (EU) 2021/947 as regards increased efficiency of the External Action Guarantee were announced. As no challenges to these mandates were received by the deadline, the committees may now launch negotiations with the Council.

Read this ‘at a glance note’ on ‘Plenary round-up – November I 2025‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

René Maran (1887-1960) n'est plus guère connu. Jadis, en 1921, cet écrivain guyanais avait fait sensation, en remportant le prix Goncourt pour Batouala, dont la préface fut également retentissante. Depuis, des dix ouvrages de fiction qu'il fit paraître de son vivant, aucun n'a été réédité, à (…) / Littérature, Colonisation, Afrique

"There has been too much pretence and performance, and too little action," says UN human rights chief Volker Türk.

Un Américain, installé en France sous une fausse identité après avoir fui les États-Unis et passé des années de cavale à travers le monde, a été arrêté près de Strasbourg, où il résidait. Il est mis en examen et écroué pour le viol de son fils adoptif, âgé de dix ans.

We have seen stalled climate action, widening inequality, and people left behind. At COP27, the establishment of the Just Transition Work Programme was a crucial step toward putting justice at the heart of climate action. But words alone cannot hold back the tide. —Open letter on Just Transition

Dans un contexte de « chasse aux milliards », au gouvernement comme au sein des assemblées parlementaires, comment la faramineuse augmentation du budget de la défense — plus 6,7 milliards d'euros, alors que presque tous, sauf la justice et l'intérieur, connaissent au minimum « une légère baisse en valeur », comme dit le premier ministre Sébastien Lecornu — a -t-elle pu passer pratiquement inaperçue ? Et ne sera sans doute pas débattue… faute de combattants !

- Défense en ligne

Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad and John Calabrese examine India's evolving strategy in the Middle East.

Den Unterlagen zufolge erwähnte Epstein den ehemaligen Außenminister Miroslav Lajčák, heute Berater von Premier Robert Fico, in mehreren Nachrichten und bezeichnete ihn als eine Person von ‚internationalem Einfluss‘.

A trade war, an unsolved murder, and the founding of the Chinese Embassy in London.

Cette semaine a été marquée par le terrible anniversaire des attaques du 13 novembre 2015. Ce soir-là, trois commandos terroristes ont semé la mort à Paris et dans sa périphérie, tuant 132 personnes et faisant des centaines de blessés. Dix ans plus tard, un policier et un gendarme de La Réunion, en service cette nuit-là, ont accepté de partager leur témoignage.

China is stepping up its legal narratives targeting the Philippines.

Washington and London’s recent unprecedented actions showed what global coordination can achieve – and what remains to be done.

The absence of the prime minister and other senior federal figures at COP30 suggests evolving priorities and moderated expectations.

If the current trajectory holds, the rivalry will harden into a permanent conflict in the next few years. But it's not too late to change course.

Le petit frère d'Amine Kessaci, figure de la lutte contre le narcobanditisme, a été tué par balles, jeudi, à Marseille. Le militant avait déjà perdu un frère en 2020 dans un narchomicide. Selon le procureur, l’hypothèse d’un assassinat d’avertissement n'est "pas exclue à ce stade".

Is collective decision making slowly re-emerging in the CCP?

Lai Ching-te(R) greeting the crowd with a crossed finger gesture after delivering his speech on Taiwan’s National Day, October 10, 2025.

When President Lai Ching-te unveiled Taiwan’s T-Dome air and missile defense system on National Day, October 10, 2025, the message to Beijing was unmistakable: Taiwan is done waiting to see what comes next.

Taiwan’s T-Dome, the island’s most up-to-date effort to build credible deterrence against China, is a sophisticated, multi-layered air defense network designed to counter diverse aerial threats, from drones to ballistic missiles, by integrating advanced radar systems, interceptor missiles like the domestically developed Sky Bow III and U.S.-supplied Patriot batteries, as well as short-range Stinger missiles. Its AI-driven ‘sensor-to-shooter’ architecture is particularly noteworthy for its capacity to fuse data from radar arrays and sensors to coordinate rapid, precise interception while utilizing mobile launchers and hardened command centers to ensure resilience during sustained attacks. Prioritizing overlapping protection of critical infrastructure and command nodes in strategic areas such as Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung, the Lai administration has positioned the T-Dome as the centerpiece of its defense modernization agenda, anchored in resilience and indigenous innovation. To maintain operational capacity amid growing Chinese military pressure, Taipei now aims to strategically invest in T-Dome. By 2026, Taiwan plans to push defense spending past 3 percent of GDP, targeting 5 percent by 2030.

The urgency in Taiwan demonstrated by the T-Dome is clear. Beijing now asserts sovereignty over Taiwan and continues to refuse to rule out the use of force to achieve unification. Throughout 2025, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) significantly expanded its operational reach around Taiwan. The Chinese air force deployed advanced fighter jets such as the J-10, J-16, and J-20, which can now reach Taiwan from bases deep within China without refueling. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reported that PLA aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over 245 times per month in 2025, a steep increase from fewer than 10 times per month five years earlier. Alongside its increased intrusion into the ADIZ, it is estimated that PLA aircraft are crossing the Taiwan Strait median line roughly 120 times monthly, marking unprecedented levels of military pressure on Taiwan.

This heightened activity reached a new peak in early April 2025, when the PLA conducted its largest exercise to date, ‘Strait Thunder-2025A’ on April 1–2. This operation, the biggest since 2024’s ‘Joint Sword 2024B,’ further escalated tensions across the strait while politically propagandizing the Lai administration as ‘verminous insects’ conspiring for ‘Taiwan independence.’ The exercise simulated precision strikes against Taiwan’s energy infrastructure and ports, involving 76 aircraft sorties (37 crossing the Taiwan Strait median line), over 15 naval vessels including the Shandong carrier group, and coast guard ships extending outside the First Island Chain. The increasing instances of escalatory activities are part of the PLA’s broader “gray zone” campaign, designed to exhaust Taiwan’s defenses without triggering open warfare. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry analyzes that China is honing such capabilities for a possible military operation as early as 2027, aligned with major PLA modernization milestones.

The U.S. continuously seeks peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait

With respect to Lai’s announcement of the T-Dome, the U.S. Department of State expressed continuous American support for Taiwan’s efforts to strengthen its defensive and deterrence capabilities. Ensuring peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait remains the United States’ highest priority and serves as the fundamental purpose of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA). Enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1979, following President Jimmy Carter’s formal recognition of the People’s Republic of China, the TRA provides the essential legal framework that guarantees Taiwan’s ability to maintain adequate self-defense capabilities in response to evolving threats. The Act also underpins the continuation of robust U.S. commercial, cultural, and defensive relations with Taiwan. Since its enactment, key developments under the TRA include the establishment of the American Institute in Taiwan, which manages unofficial relations, and congressional mandates ensuring that the United States stays prepared to effectively respond to any threats to Taiwan’s security.