The message behind the introduction of the rebalancing mechanism is that “environmental protection has a cost for society, but business is not required to pay for it,” the NGO said in its analysis. It warned that it risks undermining through a backdoor a flagship element of the European Green Deal and set a dangerous precedent. … Read more
The new step follows the release of the declassification of Romanian intelligence documents on Wednesday, which alleged that paid influencers had boosted the account of ultranationalist Călin Georgescu in the lead-up to the first round of the Romanian presidential election. The decision should help “investigators establish the facts,” said Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s new … Read more
It’s a personal victory European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who campaigned to get this proposal through EU governments, and whose pet pony Dolly was killed by a wolf in 2022. Countries that supported the proposal included Andorra, Armenia, Georgia, Iceland, Norway, North Macedonia, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Serbia, Switzerland and Ukraine, along with all 27 EU members. The United … Read more
“If you succeed and escape, you arrive in neighboring countries. But then you have to make the tough passage to Europe through mountains and smuggling routes — that’s very dangerous and very difficult. Women are more vulnerable, so they rarely travel on foot. The majority of Afghans who come to the EU are men,” he … Read more
Oscar Soria with the Common Initiative called it a “unique funding mechanism,” but said its voluntary status could be a problem. “The mechanism’s effectiveness will likely depend on the global community’s willingness to support it and on corporate recognition of the value in participating for reputational gain,” he said. Other highlights included the creation of … Read more
But is this really the decision Georgians are making? Is the binary that clear cut? I’m not so sure. To understand the political situation in any country, Georgia included, ask a cab driver, the old adage goes. Maybe the average Joe — or in this case, Giorgi — could shed some light. As he steered his … Read more
With parliamentary elections set for late October, and EU membership negotiations due to start shortly thereafter, the timing of this behavior was largely puzzling. However, an even greater riddle was the ruling party’s 12-year reign: If Georgians were so passionate about Western integration, why did they keep reelecting the anti-EU Georgian Dream (GD) for more … Read more
Meanwhile, Vietnam has been allocated seed funding worth $2 million by the U.S. for semiconductor development initiatives, and there’s been increasing cooperation between Vietnamese and American companies on chip manufacturing. Not to be left behind, Infineon has also decided to expand hiring by hundreds in its Vietnam office as well. All this sounds positive — … Read more
Next, comes Europe’s strategic climate hypocrisy. As part of our concern for the climate, we’ve pushed our energy-intensive plants outside the Continent. The steel industry is an important example of this, as the economy needs steel in virtually every investment — large and small — and yet our industry is dying, with the trade deficit … Read more
This was the main decision G7 leaders made at their summit. And to enable it, the EU was to adopt a law prolonging the freezing of sovereign Russian assets until Moscow had paid for its war against Ukraine in full. This would guarantee the frozen assets would continue to be available to produce the interest … Read more
