Section: European Voice (EU)
No cold winter for EU citizens, Commission says
The European Union’s energy system is now flexible enough to ensure that European homes would remain heated throughout a loss of supplies of Russian gas if the EU’s member states co-operate fully, the European Commission has concluded. The Commission’s study, which it published on Thursday (16 October), suggests a substantial...
Poroshenko heading for second victory in Ukraine
Ukrainians will go to the polls on Sunday (26 October) for a second time this year in parliamentary elections that are expected to give the country’s new leaders a stronger hand as they embark on wider-ranging political and economic reforms. Polls leave little doubt that the Party of Petro Poroshenko – formed by and named after the...
Bernd Lange – driving force
Many in the European Parliament have for weeks been impatiently waiting for the hearings of the European commissioners-designate to end and for normal business to resume. One MEP, though, has been rushing around ever since this Parliament was formed in July: Bernd Lange, the German socialist who now heads the Parliament’s trade – INTA –...
The Stockholm syndrome in politics
There is an emerging trend to cool rhetoric and to help Russia to eliminate itself as a party to and originator of the conflict with and in Ukraine, to try to help the aggressor to ‘save face’. It is a trend that brings to mind a medical diagnosis – the Stockholm syndrome that develops in some people in a captive or hostage situation....
Five questions for MEPs to ask Maroš Šefčovič
Maroš Šefčovič had an easy ride at his first hearing earlier this month, when he was the nominee for transport policy. He showed he had mastered the technical aspects of the portfolio and his gentle, pleasant demeanor put MEPs in a relaxed mood. The stakes are higher now that he has been nominated to be a vice-president for the sensitive subject...
Oettinger says EU in good shape to cope with Russian gas cuts
The European Union could cope if Russia cut off supplies of gas transported through Ukraine this winter, because of measures taken to improve security of supply, Günther Oettinger, the European commissioner for energy, said today. Speaking about the results of stress tests carried out by the European Commission into the effect of Russia cutting...
Juncker takes another gamble
The European Parliament will today (16 October) clear the way for a revised line-up of European commissioners to be approved next week in Strasbourg so that they can take up office on 1 November as initially planned. Jean-Claude Juncker, the president-elect of the European Commission, yesterday submitted a limited re-shuffle of his line-up to the...
Ebola joins military crises on foreign ministers’ agenda
The global health scare caused by the accelerating spread of Ebola will top the agenda when foreign ministers from the European Union’s 28 member states meet in Luxembourg on Monday (20 October). Warnings from the World Health Organization that 10,000 people could eventually contract the disease each week, coupled with criticism of the...
EU leaders to agree on emissions targets
Leaders of the European Union’s member states are expected to agree on long-term carbon-emissions targets when they meet for their regular autumn European Council in Brussels next week (23-24 October). The leaders are expected to sign off on a binding target of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by 40% from a 1990 baseline. The member states...
Kazakhstan strikes deal with EU
The European Union and Kazakhstan last week formally concluded talks on an expanded partnership and co-operation agreement, a revision intended to develop a relationship that has in the past seven years seen the EU become Kazakhstan’s leading trading partner. The agreement comes at a time when the crisis in Ukraine and the pending...
