European Union

Euronews reports: A Turkish law banning insults against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The court said the law against attacks on the “image” of the head of state was “not in keeping with the spirit of the European Convention”. The ruling followed a case against a young Turkish man who …

The BBC reports: Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has accused the EU of blackmail in a heated debate with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen over the rule of law. The clash in the European Parliament follows a top Polish court ruling that rejected key parts of EU law. Mrs von der Leyen said she would act to prevent …

Politico Europe reports: France is to use its upcoming presidency of the Council of the EU to launch a global campaign to abolish the death penalty, President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday. In a speech commemorating the 40th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in France, Macron said Paris would host a summit in 2022 to press for an …

Reuters reports: Hungary has called on European Union institutions “to respect member states’ sovereignty” after it backed a Polish court ruling that some EU law is incompatible with the Polish constitution. Prime Minister Viktor Orban signed a Hungarian government decree on Saturday, his press chief told state news agency MTI, welcoming the ruling by Poland’s Constitutional Court which has plunged …

Reuters reports: A Polish court ruling challenging the supremacy of EU law plunged the European Union into an existential crisis on Friday and raised the possibility of Poland leaving the 27-nation bloc. Politicians across Europe voiced dismay at the court’s move to undermine the legal pillar on which the EU stands, with one minister warning the eastern European country that …

Bloomberg News reports: Google is so successful that it’s the most searched for term on Microsoft Corp.’s Bing search engine, the company’s lawyer told a European Union court on Tuesday. “We have submitted evidence showing that the most common search query on Bing is by far Google,” Alfonso Lamadrid, a lawyer for the Alphabet Inc. unit, said at the EU’s …

Euronews reports: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has accused the European Commission of blocking funds over the country’s LGBT policies. Orban claimed on Friday that the EU had failed to approve Hungary’s coronavirus recovery plan because of their disagreements over gay rights. “The funds are loans that Brussels does not want to give us because of the debate on our …

CNN reports: A French government decree issued on Thursday bumped the United States and Israel from the country’s “green” list, down to “orange,” effectively prohibiting nonessential travel to France for unvaccinated visitors. France’s move follow restrictions imposed on US travelers from several other European destinations. Earlier this week, Spain changed its entry policy for arrivals from the US, requiring them …

Bloomberg News reports: The European Union threatened to block as much as 126 million euros ($150 million) of cohesion funds to local Polish governments over anti-LGBTQ zones introduced in five provinces. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, sent letters to the governors of the provinces last week warning that if the resolutions weren’t rescinded the money would be withheld. …

The Associated Press reports: The European Union recommended Monday that its 27 nations reinstate restrictions on tourists from the U.S. because of rising coronavirus infections there. The decision by the European Council to remove the U.S. from a safe list of countries for nonessential travel reverses advice that it gave in June, when the bloc recommended lifting restrictions on U.S. …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The European Union is set to recommend halting nonessential travel from the U.S. because of Covid-19, diplomats said on Sunday. European officials have been considering the move for much of the last month with the average U.S. infection rate now above that of the EU. The Slovenian presidency of the EU last week recommended removing …

Reuters reports: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vowed on Thursday he would not give in to EU pressure to repeal a new law banning schools from using materials seen as promoting homosexuality, as the bloc’s lawmakers called for penalties over the legislation. The law, which came into force on Thursday, has set Orban on a collision course with rights groups, …

Sky News reports: Czech President Milos Zeman has said he finds transgender people “disgusting”, while appearing to support a new Hungarian law banning educational programmes and material for children which the government considers to be promoting homosexuality or gender change. Asked about the law passed earlier this month by Hungarian politicians, he told CNN Prima: “If you undergo a sex-change …

Reuters reports: Respect LGBT rights or leave the European Union, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told his Hungarian counterpart as the bloc’s leaders confronted Viktor Orban over a law that bans schools from using materials seen as promoting homosexuality. “It was really forceful, a deep feeling that this could not be. It was about our values; this is what we …

Reuters reports: Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, France and Ireland were among European Union countries condemning their peer Hungary on Tuesday for a new anti-LGBTQ law as the bloc zeroed in again on democratic failings in Budapest and its nationalist ally Warsaw. Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg authored a joint declaration condemning the latest legal changes under Prime Minister Viktor Orban …

Euronews reports: Hungary is being investigated by the European Commission over a new law that bans the sharing of content that portrays homosexuality or sex reassignment with people under the age of 18. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, confirmed on Wednesday that the bill would be investigated by the European Union. It is the latest …

Reuters reports: U.S. President Joe Biden told fellow NATO leaders on Monday the defense of Europe, Turkey and Canada was a “sacred obligation” for the United States, a marked shift from his predecessor Donald Trump’s threats to withdraw from the military alliance. Arriving in Brussels from the weekend’s G7 summit in England, Biden again sought to rally Western allies to …

The Washington Post reports: The European Union on Wednesday agreed to open its borders to vaccinated Americans and others, after more than a year in which travel into the bloc has been severely restricted, a spokesman said Wednesday. The decision represents a formal turning point away from the eerie, economy-sapping status quo of the pandemic, when major cities — from …

The New York Times reports: The European Union is considering whether to follow the Biden administration’s decision to support a waiver of patent rights for Covid-19 vaccines as many poor and middle-income nations struggle to secure lifesaving doses. The European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, stopped short of outright supporting President Biden in a speech on Thursday morning, but …

The Guardian reports: The EU would reopen to holidaymakers from countries with low Covid infection rates such as the UK, and to anyone who has been fully vaccinated, by the start of June under a European Commission plan. With the rate of vaccination rising “dramatically” in EU member states, commission officials said it was time to relax rules on non-essential …