Europe

Ukraine: election on 31 March

15 Mar 2019
The Crimean Tatar people have decided to support Petro Poroshenko in Ukraine's presidential election. They said, ‘The most significant criterion in assessing candidates for the presidency is their ability to mobilise Ukrainian society…

East-West (mis)-understandings

07 Mar 2019
Romania’s presidency of the EU Council comes at an awkward time. Brexit looms in a matter of weeks. Populist parties threaten to gain seats in European parliamentary elections in May. Sharp differences separate…

France: orphans of French jihadist

07 Mar 2019
The grandmother of two orphans of French jihadists held in a Syrian camp is suing the French state for failing to bring them back to France. The children, aged five and two, are…

First EU-Arab summit

28 Feb 2019
European and Arab leaders recently held their first summit in a bid to bolster cooperation and protect their traditional diplomatic, economic and security interests while China and Russia move to fill the vacuum…

Spain: Gibraltar and visa-free travel

28 Feb 2019
In a bitter row over the sovereignty of Gibraltar, Spain has threatened to block visa-free access to the EU for Britons. Madrid refuses to back down on a controversial description of Gibraltar. Spain…

Vatican: first-ever abuse conference

22 Feb 2019
Catholic bishops are meeting to discuss the Roman Catholic church's response to the sexual abuse of children by members of the clergy for the first time. The Vatican says it wants four days…

Europe: Huawei and 5G security

22 Feb 2019
President Trump wants Europe to ban Chinese tech giant Huawei from their next-generation 5G information networks, citing security risks (giving China power inside telecommunication networks where they could modify or steal information or…

Europe: recession risk and the church

14 Feb 2019
The economic outlook across the Eurozone has deteriorated in 2019 as the probability of the entire Euro area falling into recession increases. Italy is in an officially-declared recession, and data suggest that Germany,…

EU / Ireland: further Brexit talks planned

08 Feb 2019
On 7 February, following a ‘robust but constructive’ meeting between Jean-Claude Juncker and Theresa May, who was seeking changes to her Brexit deal, Mr Juncker stressed that the withdrawal agreement would not be…

France: jihadists from Syria

08 Feb 2019
The US decision to remove 2,000 troops from Syria worries France, which has 200 special forces in areas wrested from IS by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). US forces ferried supplies to French…
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