Marc Hall Archives

The European Union’s economic and financial challenges left the bloc in no doubt that its most populous member state is also its most politically powerful. On 22 September 2013, Germans will decide in a federal election whether that power remains within its current ruling conservative coalition led by incumbent Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), or whether to entrust it to the Social Democrats or a new coalition. In the run up to the elections, Europe has largely remained off the agenda.

Members of the European Parliament will vote for a winner from three European films shortlisted this week for the institutions’ Lux film prize. 

European ministers are proposing to stretch a fund for workers laid off as a result of globalisation to include those hit by the economic crisis, but want to slash its budget by two-thirds, says the MEP overseeing the fund.

Europe’s grassland butterfly population has dropped “dramatically” over the past 20 years, a stark warning that many of Europe’s species may be heading for extinction, says a new report by the European Environment Agency.

The EU’s top environment and industry officials are meeting Chinese leaders for talks on promoting green growth today (19 July), as Beijing advises the young, elderly and ill to remain indoors due to “heavy pollution” for the 68th time this year.

The EU and China's State Forestry Administration are to sign an agreement today (18 July) to help combat the illegal trade of wildlife products, such as elephant and rhinoceros horns, the EU’s top environment official, Janez Poto?nik, has told EURACTIV.

Backed by the European Parliament’s youth committee, around 100 Brussels-based workers gathered in front of the European Parliament today (17 July) to protest the abuse and inherent inequality of employers’ "hire an intern, not an employee" culture.

To boost the global standing of EU universities, the European Commission has pegged in its higher education strategy a new form of university listing, which analysts say may overturn the US “elite” bias of current commercial rankings.

Despite austerity-led frustration, participants in next year’s EU elections must be aware that voting eurosceptics into the European Parliament may have important knock-on effects for EU legislation, including on border issues and the environment, say the authors of a new report.

Greens in the European Parliament abstained from voting on a report aimed at tackling youth unemployment, calling it “weak” and saying that it puts too much of the blame on young people.

Some 80% of Europeans are concerned by the environmental impact of their purchases but only one-quarter say they “often” buy green products, reveals the latest EU opinion poll.

More than two-thirds of online retailers say that proposed changes to EU data protection rules will damage business, according to a poll by Europe’s largest e-commerce association.

Members of the European Parliament have revoked the parliamentary immunity of Marine Le Pen, the fiery leader of France’s far-right National Front, paving the way for her to face charges in her country for inciting racial hatred.

Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing regions and should remain so in the coming years. But its progress is hampered by an ever-widening income gap, development experts said at the Brussels launch of the 'African Economic Outlook 2013' report.

SPECIAL REPORT / Though civilian airlines are pressing for quieter, more efficient aircraft, noise output is low on the list of priorities for the sector’s military wing, but there are indications that may be changing.

The European Commission has released proposals for better functioning public job centres, as part of the fight against Europe’s soaring unemployment levels.

European unions and businesses have released a series of proposals to fight the EU’s "dangerous" levels of youth employment, but concrete results may prove hard to measure.

The European Commission today (11 June) laid out its plans for EU-wide measures for group lawsuits amid business fears that they could spark a US-style litigation culture.

The European Union and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today (10 June) pledged to pool resources for research into HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, malaria and other poverty-related diseases.

The soaps industry on Friday (7 June) launched a campaign to get Europeans to use a 30ºC washing cycle, saying just a 3º heat drop in a few countries would save enough energy to power the Italian city of Parma for a year.

The European Environment Agency today (5 June) predicted a rise in extreme weather events due to climate change as floods caused deaths and widespread property damage in Central Europe.

Paris and Berlin have delayed plans for deepening the economic and monetary union until after next year’s European elections, following talks in Paris between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande on the future of the eurozone.

Amid a crackdown on tax avoidance, the European Union has backed new rules requiring the extractive industries to disclose payments made to governments on a country-by-country basis.

Mobilising domestic revenue through stronger taxation regimes and proper reallocation of funds are critical if some of the world’s poorest countries are to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, according to a report released today (29 May).