Opinions
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Circular economy must remain a priority for Europe beyond the 2019 elections
The Circular Economy Package and Plastics Strategy have set a high-level framework to improve the resource efficiency of the European economy. But to be effective, this framework must remain a policy priority for the next European Commission and Parliament, writes Nick Molho.
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Big agri-food industry aims to kill ‘End The Cage Age’ initiative
The Big Agri industry has launched a multi-pronged attack on the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) to End The Cage Age – a direct democracy tool that enables European citizens to request an end to the use of cages for farm animals, writes Olga Kikou.
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Fallout from the Kaczynski Twin Towers scandal
The public image of Poland’s political mastermind Jarosław Kaczyński and his ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party was shattered by revelations published by the Gazeta Wyborcza daily on Tuesday (29 January). Piotr Kaczyński (unrelated to the PiS leader) looks into the fallout.
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Making sense of the EU’s Circular Economy Package from the metal packaging value chain
New EU waste legislation adopted last year has redefined what can be considered “recycled” and resets targets for each packaging material. Gordon Shade goes through the expected changes and remaining challenges.
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Trilateral gas talks: A realistic approach towards ship-or-pay is needed
Despite new projects such as Nord Stream 2 and Turkish Stream, the transit of gas via Ukraine will continue, and the modalities need to be agreed, writes Danila Bochkarev.
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With Salome Zurabishvili, Georgia leads the way, again
The new president of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, is a worthy member of the small group of women in the club of world heads of state and government, writes Clare Moody.
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The blind side – the impact of Brexit on EU citizenship
The Brexit negotiations have assumed that EU citizenship will cease for all UK nationals if and when the UK leaves the EU. Tony Simpson, Tony Venables and Alexandra von Westernhagen question whether this is necessarily so, and what this means for EU citizenship in general.
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The EU’s moment: Cast adrift by the US, threatened by Russia and China
Against a backdrop of US decline and an influential China and Russia, Europe must overcome its internal challenges and shoulder its responsibilities as a leader on the world stage, writes Robert Malley.
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Citizens are fed up with industrial agriculture
Europe's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was a big issue at this year's Green Week in Berlin. With all the billions of euros available, the agro-ecological transition is more than possible, especially if subsidies to agribusiness and factory farms were stopped, write Harriet Bradley and Trees Robijns.
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Exercise to keep your heart healthy
Remember those heady days, right around New Year’s Eve, when you made a resolution to finally get yourself a gym membership and start working out again? Because you were dedicated to making 2019 the year you shed those extra pounds …
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E10 safe in all petrol cars
Folklore shouldn’t stop progress: if a car works fine with today’s petrol from EU filling stations, it will work just fine with the new E10 petrol, writes Ethanol Europe's James Cogan.
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Time to break the mourning silence on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
As we prepare to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we can hardly remain composed in our mourning. Rather than observe silence as the deepest mourning is solitary, we feel like shouting.
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Paper, the forgotten forest destroyer
As the world awakes to the threat posed by palm oil and soy to our forests, it’s in danger of overlooking how paper and packaging drives industrial logging, mis-shapes millions of hectares of forest landscapes and creates monoculture plantations, writes Sini Eräjää.
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To help save the Yemen Peace Deal, the international community needs to act now
The EU should lead the international community in ensuring that the Yemen Peace Deal is not allowed to collapse, argues Mohamed Issa Abushahab. H.E. Ambassador Mohamed Issa Abushahab is the UAE’s Ambassador to the EU. The adoption of the Stockholm agreement, one month …
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The contribution of the Polish energy sector to the implementation of global climate policy
The PKEE’s report presents the contribution of the Polish electric power industry to the implementation of the global climate policy. One of its main conclusions points out that despite unfavourable circumstances, including the historical dominance of coal-based technologies, the electric power sector is effectively taking measures aimed at the reduction of CO2 emissions.
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Cutting down on ammonia emissions in the EU: for healthier and more sustainable food production
Ammonia emissions – ammonia released into the atmosphere in high concentrations pollute the air we breathe and represent a significant threat to human health and the environment. It is time to act. The EU has already put in place measures to …
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Will the new Franco-German treaty revive the EU, or hold it back?
The new Franco-German co-operation treaty might strengthen the axis of the EU's two most powerful countries, but that might not be helpful for the rest of the bloc, writes Sofia Vasilopoulou.
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How to ramp up energy efficiency investment for Europe’s net-zero emissions future
Making finance and investments sustainable is essential to achieving a net-zero emissions world by 2050. And energy efficiency has the single biggest role to play, writes Peter Sweatman.
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Brexit or not, Britain must stay on the EU’s security team
Make no mistake: Brexit will damage our security. It will weaken the UK more, but it will weaken the EU too, writes Matthieu Borsboom.
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Russian Orthodoxy, a security issue in Ukraine
The politico-spiritual move away from Russian Orthodoxy, presented by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko as a major national security issue, has deeply angered Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has political ambitions in the region, writes Willy Fautré.
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EU at risk of missing 2020 energy efficiency targets: Lessons for 2030
EU energy consumption is rising despite targets to reduce demand across Europe. This should not come as a surprise and is explained mainly by GDP growth, writes Samuel Thomas.
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Tsipras kills three birds with one stone with North Macedonia deal
With the North Macedonia name change deal recently reached between Athens and Skopje, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has achieved more than improving his international image, by putting pressure on his domestic opponents, writes Nikolaos Koutsimpogiorgos.
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ECB reshuffle: The EU can do better than gentlemen’s agreements behind closed doors
Appointments to the European Central Bank's Executive Board are no less than a strategic and political decision over the future of the Eurozone. But experience has shown this process is not transparent, open, and democratic enough to protect the ECB from its legitimacy gap, argue Stanislas Jourdan and Sebastian Diessner.
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Time to give up sacred EU budget cows
As EU member states debate the bloc’s next 7-year budget, no sector should be off-limits. Annika Hedberg argues that each euro spent should provide added value for the EU and its citizens, including the agricultural sector, a major recipient of EU money.