Justice & Home Affairs
Russian interference in western judicial systems is growing
The West doesn’t seem to realise the trend whereby bad-faith Russian cases brought by the Russian state and oligarchs leverage trumped-up charges in Russian courts to harass and damage opponents and rivals in western legal proceedings, writes Daniel Mitov.
RENEWed Arrogance
The EU must stop using rule of law as a political tool, writes Tamás Deutsch, in response to Renew Europe's leader Dacian Ciolos.
Time to recognise migrants’ contribution to Covid-19 response
COVID-19 has shown that migrants are essential workers but still face discrimination, argues Maria Nyman
The Moment for Lies
The Hungarian government is trying to portray itself as the victim of politically motivated attacks. Wrong, and the state of emergency still exists, write Gábor Halmai and Kim Lane Scheppele.
The Moment of Truth
The Hungarian government has faced a barrage of criticism from some of the EU's leadership. Minister for Justice Judit Varga claims this should worry other member states, because they could be next.
The Brief – Gangster’s paradise
In mafia circles all around Europe, the big news these days is that the EU has gone mad. It is going to disburse, in addition to the usual funds the mafia is familiar with, an additional €750 billion to member states.
Does the EU care about democracy at home?
While the whole world has been trying to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and looking for ways how to fine-tune the response to the virus and its consequences, one element is missing in the picture and it is the support to democracy and restoration of civil rights and fundamental freedoms, writes Pavel Havlicek.
Karlsruhe vs. Luxembourg: Resolving the clash of courts
Following the row between the ECJ and Germany's Constitutional Court, Europe need to develop mechanisms to avoid a repeat of such conflicting judgements between top courts, argues Patrick Breyer.
Fatnassia camp is a time-bomb that threatens whole of North Africa
The ongoing armed conflict in Libya is going to push thousands of people, now asylum-seekers in Libyan camps, to escape towards the Southern border regions of Tunisia, Medenine and Tataouine, writes Mourad Teyeb. Mourad Teyeb is a journalist and consultant...
Behind medical masks, democracy is being suffocated
In the midst of its EU Council presidency, Croatia turned to the UAE and China for medical help, forgetting its current leadership role as the presiding country that should spur member states into coordinated action, writes Oriana Ivković Novokmet.
The free and democratic Europe: a death by a thousand cuts?
The Hungarian parliamentary elections in April 2010 changed the country – for worse. Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz took power for the second time. Today, ten years later, we can see how the prime minister has turned his country into an illiberal state, ignoring the basic principles of the rule of law, writes MEP Udo Bullmann.
Fighting COVID-19 is a battle for human rights
The Covid-19 crisis is a human rights issue, one of the most global and urgent we have ever seen. This is a struggle by all of humanity, for the right to life, and for the right to health of every person, writes Eamon Gilmore.
Romani MEP: Coronavirus shows we need to fight more strongly against racism
At a time when stricter measures, special checkpoints or additional police are used to keep Romani communities in isolation or quarantine, mostly in Eastern Europe, we must urge politicians to refrain from discriminatory measures and instead, invest in basic infrastructure to protect all from getting infected, writes MEP Romeo Franz.
Return to borderless Europe after COVID-19 will be difficult but not impossible.
If we do not start creating the conditions for the return to a border free Schengen zone now, the temporary measures introduced to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic risk becoming permanent, writes Alena Kudzko.
COVID-19 means confining ourselves, not abandoning refugees
The image of three-year-old Alan Kurdi dead on the shore in 2015 sticks in our memory as a collective failure. Five years later, it looks like we haven’t done much to improve the situation of thousands of migrants who are either still trying to escape war or wait on asylum-seeker centres already on European soil, writes Iratxe García Pérez.
Why did Boyko Borissov’s mission in Ankara fail?
If von der Leyen’s Commission really wants to be global, it should intervene at the root of the problem instead of trying to deal with the consequences, writes Ivailo Kalfin.
A brief history of graft in Orbán’s Hungary
Corruption is deeply embedded in Hungary, with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán shielded by a cluster of wealthy bosses with close personal and political ties to the leader, writes Szabolcs Panyi.
Fatnassia refugee camp will anger both Tunisians and Europeans
Tunisia has always publically refuted reports that it “promised” Europe to accept hosting on its soil refugees from different African countries, but the EU could seize the opportunity of a war in Libya to convince Tunisia to do so, writes Mourad Teyeb.
In defence of democracy to save Europe
Europe has an opportunity and must intervene in the political conflict between Spain and Catalonia, writes Oriol Junqueras.
Europe has an Islamophobia problem. Who’s going to stop it?
It is time to acknowledge that Europe has an Islamophobia problem - perpetuated by a poorly regulated media and sustained by agenda-driven think-tanks - and to act on it, writes Magid Magid.
Defending human rights is a shared responsibility
The United States and the EU share common values and are at the front-line in defending human rights, US Ambassador Gordon Sondland writes on the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Need for a progressive EU-ACP partnership to address common global challenges
The international scenario is rapidly changing, but not necessarily in a positive way. That's why there is a need for a progressive partnership between the European Union and the Africa-Caribbean-Pacific countries, writes MEP Carlos Zorrinho.Special ReportPromoted content
A Europe that is close to citizens is a Europe that needs its notaries
What do the will of Queen Isabel la Católica, the award of the George Cross to the Maltese nation, the purchase of the Island of Herreninsel by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the renunciation document signed by Archduchess Marie-Antoinette on the crowns belonging to the House of Austria have in common?