Europe

https://archive.is/3hkO8

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has indicated that his country will no longer comply with the Dublin Regulation, an EU legal act that allows asylum seekers to be returned to the member state in which they first applied for protection.

Such a move would mark a further escalation in the Polish government’s increasingly tough line on migrants and asylum seekers. Tusk’s announcement prompted the European Commission to remind Poland that “all member states are required to fully comply with current asylum rules”.

The US, grappling with an egg shortage, is reaching out to Lithuania for egg exports after Finland declined. The situation has prompted ridicule online.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.21-113643/https://www.ft.com/content/0d43970a-e3a6-4871-820a-18e5736f5572

The German parliament’s football team was adamant that it already had enough rightwingers. But FC Bundestag has been thrown into crisis after a Berlin court overturned a ban on members of the far-right Alternative for Germany from joining the squad. 

In a microcosm of the fraught debate about how to handle the AfD — which last month claimed a historic second-place finish in federal elections — the club must now decide how to respond to the ruling and whether to allow the far right MPs to take part in its weekly matches.

“More than 20 per cent of the population voted for us and want us to be represented in different offices in the parliament — and also in FC Bundestag,” said Malte Kaufmann, an AfD Bundestag member who campaigned against the ban. “This is an example of how opposition rights are trampled in Germany.”

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Such competition [arising from China's steel overcapacity] brings the threat of deindustrialisation in that sector – mirroring an existing trend for aluminium, which would hamper the continent’s efforts to ramp up its military industrial base “with the flexibility and speed required in a fast-changing geopolitical context”.

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The EU has long railed against China’s steel output, which represents more than half of the world’s total, but has been stirred into action by two factors emanating from the United States.

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“The industry remains threatened by global excess capacities and by global distortions from China and other countries that artificially support their domestic industries or circumvent EU trade defence measures and sanctions,” the plan said.

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In a “Steel and Metals Action Plan” unveiled on Wednesday, the plan proposed tightening steel import quotas by April 1, to reduce imports by a further 15 per cent. This would be an extension of a safeguard measure in place since 2018, which is set to expire in just over a year, a measure it also wants to expand in light of recent events.

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“Our competitors must not be able to take advantage of gaps in our regulatory framework, and this is why we are planning to make some changes,” said Stephane Sejourne, the European Commission’s executive vice-president.

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European Steel Association data show China produces 55 per cent of global crude steel output. The new plan estimated that in 2024, global steel overcapacity was “more than four and a half times the EU’s yearly consumption”.

According to the OECD, “China’s steel trade surplus has surged to nearly 100 million metric tonnes in 2024, on an annualised basis, a massive leap that is affecting competition across global steel markets”.

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Chinese steel products are the most common targeted by EU regulators, which has seven ongoing trade investigations into Chinese steel products, as well as existing import restrictions and tariffs in place.

The commission now wants to start opening probes preemptively, looking for the threat of injury, rather than substantial economic harm.

“To address the fast developments in global markets and to protect the industry, the Commission will strengthen the monitoring of trade flows and will proactively open investigations based on a ‘threat of injury’, without waiting for material injury to occur,” the plan said.

Russia inflicted unimaginable suffering on millions of Ukrainian children and violated their rights since its full scale invasion of Ukraine begun in 2022, a new report by the United Nations Human Rights Office said on Friday.

"Their rights have been undermined in every aspect of life, leaving deep scars, both physical and psychosocial," said UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk.

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"In the four regions of Ukraine that were illegally annexed by the Russian Federation in 2022, children have been particularly affected by violations of international human rights law...including summary executions, arbitrary detention, conflict-related sexual violence, torture and ill-treatment", the report said.

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Five boys and two girls were summarily executed in 2022 and 2023, with the report noting that the wilful killing of civilians was a war crime and a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions.

Some children had to take part in military-patriotic training, including singing the Russian anthem, and to follow the Russian school curriculum - in violation of international humanitarian law.

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The transfer of at least 200 children within Russian occupied territory and to Russia between February 2022 and December 2024 may amount to war crimes, the report stated.

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In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova related to the abduction of Ukrainian children. Russia denounced the warrants as "outrageous and unacceptable."

Russia failed to provide detailed information about the children to the Central Tracing Agency, thwarting families attempts to find them, the report said.

Some 50,000 people were reported missing in the war between Ukraine and Russia over the last year, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross in February.

More than 600 children were killed between 24 February 2022 and 31 December 2024 in Ukraine, including occupied territories, the UN Human Rights Office verified. At least 737,000 children had been internally displaced and a further 1.7 million were refugees.

A cargo ship, linked to the Russian ghost fleet, which has been investigated for suspicious activity in the Baltic was spotted by an Irish Air Corps aircraft dropping an anchor close to an undersea cable in Irish waters.

It has emerged that the incident earlier this year occured in waters off the north east coast. The Air Corps had dispatched an aircraft to monitor its movements as it is a list of Russian related vessels.

There has been several incidents in the Baltic Sea where anchors, dropped by Russian linked vessels, have damaged critical internet cables.

The Air Corps was able to film the ship, dropping the anchor in the area, and following communication from the Irish crew the cargo vessel fled. It was not confirmed if the ship was intentionally targeting undersea infrastructure or if it was a case of bad seamanship.

The ship, sailing under a flag from Caribbean region, had been in trouble in the Baltic Sea in the same month. German authorities escorted it out of the area along with Swedish and Danish naval colleagues.

On that occasion she was sailing from St Petersburg en route through the waters near Gotland, an island off Sweden.

The sighting of it in Irish waters was made earlier this year and it was being monitored after intelligence was shared from a friendly nation with the Irish State.

An Irish Air Corps maritime patrol vessel was despatched to keep watch – it is understood that they recorded it, using specialist camera equipment, as it dropped the anchor.

It is understood the ship was contacted by radio by the Irish Defence Forces and directed to haul its anchor back up and it departed the area.

The Journal has learned that the ship is back in Irish waters and is heading towards the west coast.

It is understood that the ship has steamed from the Bay of Biscay and is currently off the Cork and Kerry coast.

Using an open source flight monitoring service The Journal was able to follow an Air Corps CASA 295 aircraft which went to a location near the ship this afternoon.

This publication has previously revealed that Ireland held a major exercise behind closed doors to test how Ireland will deal with a complete loss of the internet after a targeted attack.

It is understood that the event, known as a tabletop exercise, was held in February and involved multiple Government departments and agencies including the Defence Forces, An Garda Síochána and other emergency services.

The scenario was a concerted cyber attack which was combined with the loss of multiple undersea cables.

There are a large amount of fibre optic internet cables connecting Europe to the US and other parts of the world running through Irish waters. They carry all high speed internet traffic, including banking and other critical data.

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While the fund is open to researchers of all nationalities, it appears to be a direct response to growing concerns among American scientists about the tightening restrictions on academic freedom under President Donald Trump. Researchers in the U.S. have raised alarms over increasing government censorship, political interference in fields like climate science and gender studies, and tighter controls on scientific communication. France has already launched a program to lure disillusioned American scientists, and the Netherlands now aims to follow suit.

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Dutch universities have already expressed interest in recruiting American researchers. The Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), which represents the country’s 14 public universities, confirmed they are exploring ways to bring in U.S. scientists. “It seems like a good idea to us,” a UNL spokesperson said, emphasizing that strengthening Dutch innovation is a priority. The universities also see it as a way to stand in solidarity with American academics facing restrictions.

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France’s telecommunications regulator, Arcom, has ordered Eutelsat to stop broadcasting two Russian TV channels sanctioned by the EU. The landmark decision comes three years after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

BRUSSELS, March 20 (Reuters) - European Union leaders said on Thursday that they will continue to support Ukraine, but they did not immediately endorse a call by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to provide at least 5 billion euros for artillery ammunition purchases.

“We need funds for artillery shells and would really appreciate Europe’s support with at least five billion euros ($5.42 billion) as soon as possible,” Zelenskiy told the EU leaders meeting in Brussels via video link.

https://archive.ph/cFjFc

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.21-101658/https://www.ft.com/content/bf9dde37-2dc8-44df-b5f5-ef5dece888f6

On Friday, the constitutional reform secured the support of more than two-thirds of the seats in the Bundesrat, the upper house that represents Germany’s 16 federal states. 

The changes, which were approved by the Bundestag earlier this week, loosen the country’s constitutional borrowing restrictions to allow unlimited defence spending and create a special €500bn, 12-year vehicle to modernise the country’s infrastructure.

What emerges is that despite their different focal points, support for European values serves as a common denominator for most of these movements. What unites them is their opposition to corruption, democratic backsliding, and the concentration of power in the hands of elites.

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These movements share important characteristics despite their different national contexts. All emerged in response to specific events: a train station collapse in Serbia, a pedophilia scandal in Hungary, a secret meeting with Putin in Slovakia, the rise of far-right euroscepticism in Romania, and the halting of EU negotiations in Georgia. Despite these different triggers, they all reflect deeper grievances about governance, with corruption and abuse of power emerging as common themes.

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The European Union, in its own interest, should provide much clearer support to these movements rather than maintaining diplomatic distance or prioritizing short-term stability. By standing firmly with citizens who embody its core values on the streets, the EU would not only strengthen its moral authority but also invest in the democratic future of the entire continent. These courageous demonstrators are not just fighting for their own countries—they represent the living heart of the European project itself.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/59074514

Summary:

• Meloni battles to balance Trump admiration with EU ties
• Critics accuse Meloni of isolating Italy within EU
• Pressure builds on Meloni to join EU defence drive

Italian version of the article.

Almost 300 top-flight clubs have deals with betting firms this season, exposing the game’s financial dependence on the sector. A number of teams circumvent restrictions with ‘gateway’ sponsors as campaigners say agreements risk pushing more into addiction.

The European Union plans to dramatically ramp up defense spending, mobilizing 800 billion euros over the next four years. The aim is to strengthen Europe's defense readiness and boost military support for Ukraine. The sharp increase signals growing concern that the bloc could also come under attack by Russia -- and can no longer depend on US protection for Europe via NATO.

Today, EDRi filed a DSA complaint against social media giant ‘X’ in the EU, together with our member ApTI Romania. Our investigation found that X is likely in breach of its obligations towards Trusted Flaggers by misleading them—in all tested languages except English—to submit illegal content notices on a wrong, non-functional online form.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/59073334

They are talking about why we are so dependent on the USA because we don’t have European operating systems and European browsers.

For fucks sake, have they been living under a digital rock for the last 30 years?