Buses, planes, Bulgarians, Romanians and The Daily Mail: An Update The Daily Mail: Buses and Planes – full or not? On 31 December 2013 the UK?s Daily Mail published a story claiming that buses and planes to the UK from Bulgaria and Romania were sold-out, fully-booked, and single plane tickets were selling for up to £3,000 each. The … Read more
Italian navy rescues over 1,000 migrants in one day The Italian navy said on Friday (3 January) it had rescued more than 1,000 migrants from boats trying to reach Europe, as an immigration crisis that killed hundreds in the last year showed no signs of easing. Italian navy helicopters spotted four overcrowded boats struggling to … Read more
Background reading for a European Parliament election year One of the more useful pieces I found over the festive period, thanks to Craig Willy ? a rare outsider to the European system who actually understands how it works, and as such an excellent guide who comes with limited baggage (and some occasionally forceful and thought-provoking … Read more
European Commission outlines steps to restore faith in US-EU data sharing in a post-PRISM world The European Commission (EC) has drafted measures designed to restore faith in the flow of data between the US and Europe following revelations about the NSA?s spying activities with its PRISM programme. The EC today outlined what it views as … Read more
Seven countries join forces to build a European drone France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and Spain have signed an agreement on Tuesday (19 November) to build an unmanned aircraft by 2020 and challenge the dominance of the United States and Israel on a market seen as strategic. Defence ministers meeting in Brussels instructed … Read more
Athens anti-Nazi protest turns violent Greek police fired tear gas at anti-fascist protesters who hurled petrol bombs and stones near the Athens headquarters of Golden Dawn on Wednesday (25 September) following the killing of an anti-racism rapper by a supporter of the far-right party. Thousands of Greeks marched towards the party’s offices earlier on … Read more
France Sees Great Potential in the Chinese Tourism Industry The statistics this year for French tourism are a bit fuzzy. Minister of Tourism Sylvia Pinel remains cautious with the numbers while the results from Protourisme, the reference point for tourism studies, look gloomy [fr]. Vassiliou: ‘Europeans should get out of their chairs more often’ … Read more
Czech communists to return in office for first time since 1989 The Czech parliament voted yesterday (20 August) to dissolve itself, triggering an early election that could hand the Communist Party a share of power for the first time since a bloodless revolution ended the party’s totalitarian rule two decades ago. Opinion polls show that … Read more
Anonymous Leaks the Accounts of Spain’s Governing Party The global hacktivist group, Anonymous, has leaked the 1990-2011 financial accounts of the governing Partido Popular (PP) [People’s Party] on the internet. Recently, during the investigation, Judge Pablo Ruz asked for access to the documents dated since 1990 on suspicion of illegal financing. The PP refused, claiming … Read more
EU takes Russia to WTO for first time EU officials say a levy to cover recycling costs is a protectionist ploy in environmental disguise because it only applies to imported vehicles MAIN FOCUS: Help for Greece in dribs and drabs | 09/07/2013 After the conclusion of the troika’s review the finance ministers of the … Read more
The EU won?t stand up to the USA or protect our rights against ?the eyes? For all their purported shock and outrage, the inconvenient truth for many European leaders is that their own intelligence services are up to their necks in unregulated surveillance and/or cooperation with the global USA-UK spying infrastructure. European economy signals … Read more
MAIN FOCUS: EU eases taxpayers’ bank bailout burden | 28/06/2013 The EU’s finance ministers agreed on tougher rules for failing banks on Wednesday night. In future shareholders and creditors will be obliged to help cover the cost of their rescue, rather than just the taxpayers. Finally the average man on the street will no longer … Read more
Greece deprived of its public broadcasting service: More than a bad soap opera Flawed it may have been, but ERT, Greece’s public broadcaster, was one of the few things holding the country together during these difficult times. Employees and members of the public demonstrate outside the offices of ERT3. Demotix/Giorgos Kasapidis. All rights reserved. … Read more
Murder sparks anti-Muslim backlash There has been a huge increase in anti-Muslim incidents since the murder of a British soldier in London, an inter-faith charity says. MAIN FOCUS: Soldier killing shocks Britain | 24/05/2013 After the allegedly Islamist motivated murder of a soldier in London, security has been increased around military installations there. The authorities … Read more
Stockholm riots spread around city A fourth night of unprecedented riots in Stockholm sees unrest spread around the city, with a restaurant and up to 40 cars burnt. Wait, there are riots in Sweden? You’ve read the stories about Sweden’s excellent health care system, innovative gender-neutral day care centers, and generous parental leave policies. But … Read more