Category: Євросоюз

When figures in the EU talk about the new members that might join the union by 2030, there is no mention of Turkey. It is a glaring omission noticed by Ankara. As when the European Union published its annual reports on candidate countries’ progress towards EU norms on Wednesday, all eyes will be on Ukraine and Moldova. Turkey, a formal candidate for membership since 1999, will barely be discussed – but it wasn’t always the case. After EU leaders approved the start of accession talks with Turkey in 2004, the then British premier Tony Blair hailed it as a historic …

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On Tuesday, Polish truckers blocked roads to three border crossings with Ukraine for the second day in a row. The truckers say their Ukrainian counterparts have an unfair advantage due to regulations passed during Russia’s war on Ukraine. Lesia Bakalets reports from the Korcheva-Krakovets border crossing. Camera: Daniil Batushchak. …

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed Tuesday that his country would become a member of the European Union. His remarks came a day before a report is scheduled to be published Wednesday on the progress of the country’s candidacy to the EU. The progress of candidate countries Moldova and Georgia will also be addressed in the report by the European Commission. The EU granted Ukraine candidate status in June 2022 and outlined several conditions for admittance, including addressing widespread corruption and judicial reforms in the country. Zelenskyy pointed to the strides Ukraine has made and acknowledged that more work was needed …

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 As a child growing up in Malta, Paul Caruana Galizia didn’t think much about how his mother regularly checked under the car for bombs.   Such precautions were just part of being Daphne Caruana Galizia’s son. The investigative journalist was so well known in Malta — beloved and disliked — that everyone just called her Daphne.   But such precautions were warranted.  On October 16, 2017, a car bomb killed the journalist near her home in Bidnija.  The fallout from the targeted killing has reverberated far beyond Malta’s rocky shores, but full justice remains elusive.  “Everything is still a fight,” Caruana …

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As political rhetoric over immigration heats up ahead of next year’s European elections, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz outlined plans Tuesday to toughen migration laws and deport more failed asylum-seekers in a sharp reversal of policies under his predecessor Angela Merkel. In the first nine months of this year, 230,000 people claimed asylum in Germany, more than the total for 2022. With migrant shelters filling up, regional authorities have complained that the costs are unsustainable. Migrant deal Scholz said recently that too many migrants were coming to Germany. After hosting the country’s 16 state governors in Berlin on Monday evening for …

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European astronomers on Tuesday released the first images from the newly launched Euclid space telescope, designed to unlock the secrets of dark matter and dark energy — hidden forces thought to make up 95% of the universe. The European Space Agency, which leads the six-year mission with NASA as a partner, said the images were the sharpest of their kind, showcasing the telescope’s ability to monitor billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light years away. The images spanned four areas of the relatively nearby universe, including 1,000 galaxies belonging to the massive Perseus cluster just 240 million light years …

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NATO has suspended operations for the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, a key Cold War era security pact, in response to Russia pulling out of the agreement. The CFE includes many of NATO’s 31 member countries and was aimed at limiting the size of Cold War rivals’ forces at or near mutual borders. Russia formally withdrew from the treaty and blamed the United States, alleging that the U.S. undermined post-Cold War security by expanding the NATO military alliance.  NATO responded by freezing operations for the agreement on Tuesday, saying it wouldn’t be feasible for the treaty to exist …

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Russia’s defense ministry said Tuesday it thwarted attacks by Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the Crimean Peninsula. Russian air defenses destroyed nine of the drones, while eight others were intercepted using electronic means, the ministry said. Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russia-installed governor of Sevastopol, said on Telegram that falling debris from a downed drone injured one person. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday in his nightly video address it was “utterly irresponsible” to discuss holding elections in Ukraine during a time of war. He called for unity to avoid pointless political discussions. “We need to recognize that this …

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Nearly half a century after José Ignacio Fernández Guaza disappeared into thin air after being suspected of killing a student in Spain, two journalists tracked him down in Argentina.      Like the discoveries of Nazi war criminals such as Adolf Eichmann who hid in South America, the suspected killer was discovered living under a false identity decades later.    At first, Guaza denied he was the chief suspect in the shooting of Arturo Ruíz at a left-wing rally in Madrid in 1977.      But when the 76-year-old agreed to meet two journalists from the Spanish newspaper El País, …

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November 6 is the International Day for the Prevention of Environmental Exploitation in War and Armed Conflict. According to the Ukrainian prosecutor-general, the environmental damage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine totals roughly $56 billion, with destruction of the Kakhovka Dam as one of the worst disasters. Lesia Bakalets reports on how Ukrainian eco-activists and law enforcement gather information on eco-crimes. Videographer: Daniil Batushchak …

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Two climate change protesters were arrested Monday after they smashed a protective glass panel covering a famous Diego Velazquez oil painting at London’s National Gallery, police said Monday. The two activists from the group Just Stop Oil targeted Velazquez’s “The Toilet of Venus,” also known as “The Rokeby Venus,” with small hammers. Photos showed the protective glass panel punctured with several holes. Just Stop Oil, which has previously led similar protests targeting famous artworks and public buildings, said Monday’s action was to demand Britain’s government immediately halt all licensing for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the …

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 The conflict in Gaza, rather than the war in Ukraine, dominated a fiery press conference in Pretoria following a meeting between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor. It was Kuleba’s first visit to South Africa, as he tries to shore up support for Kyiv on a continent where Moscow holds considerable influence. Pretoria has officially remained neutral on the Ukraine war, but critics, including U.S. officials, have accused the South African government of essentially siding with Moscow. South African Foreign Minister Pandor expressed her desire to see a peaceful, negotiated end to the war …

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Security alerts ramped up following Islamists attacks in France and Belgium, following a pair of Islamist attacks. A spike in anti-Jewish acts and a string of bomb alerts. Once again, some European countries are seeing the spillover of another conflict in the Middle East, a month into the Israel-Hamas war. But there are clear differences between the nature and potential ramifications of today’s security threat and that of nearly a decade ago — when the Islamic State, which controlled large swathes of Iraq and Syria, spawned terrorist attacks that killed hundreds in Europe, officials and analysts say. If the Israel-Hamas …

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Polish President Andrzej Duda will appoint a new prime minister in a national address on Monday, an aide said. The announcement will trigger the process of forming a new government after general elections last month in which the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party lost its parliamentary majority to three allied opposition parties but emerged as the single biggest vote-getter. This has fed speculation over Duda’s choice. “Following consultations and after deep consideration, President Andrzej Duda has taken his decision regarding the so-called first step” [in forming a government], presidential aide Marcin Mastalerek said on X, formerly known as Twitter. …

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Russia’s war on Ukraine is the driving force behind continued high inflation and a decline in social services in Russa, according to the latest intelligence report from Britain’s ministry of defense.  Inflation rose to six percent in Russia in September, the ministry said Monday, driven by the rising cost of basic consumer items, like food and fuel.  The report also found that inflation will likely impact government spending on social services, a move the ministry said “further illustrates the reorientation of Russia’s economy to fuel the war above all else.” The high inflation rate will also likely influence borrowing costs …

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Ukraine said Sunday it had opened a criminal investigation after a Russian missile strike killed multiple soldiers during what media reports said was an “award ceremony” near the frontline this week. At least 20 soldiers were reported to have been killed in the attack, which local media said took place on Friday as a brigade gathered to receive awards in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region. “This is a tragedy that could have been avoided,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an evening address Sunday. “A criminal investigation has been registered into the tragedy,” he added. AFP was not able to immediately …

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A German citizen abducted in Dubai and sentenced to death by Iran is almost unable to walk and talk because of health conditions that prison authorities have failed to properly treat, his daughter told AFP. Jamshid Sharmahd, who is also a U.S. resident, suffers from Parkinson’s disease and could die because of his deteriorating health, Gazelle Sharmahd told AFP after her father last week made a rare phone call from prison to the family. Sharmahd, 68, was kidnapped in the United Arab Emirates and forcibly transferred to Iran in the summer of 2020, according to the U.N. Working Group on …

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The European Union Commission has proposed another $53 billion in aid for Ukraine. The announcement came as Ukraine’s military readies for another winter at war with Russia and Ukrainians brace for another season of cold weather and possible attacks on the power grid. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports. …

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The Russian military reported Sunday a successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear warheads from a new nuclear submarine.  The report comes as tensions are soaring between Russia and the West over the fighting in Ukraine. Adding to those tensions, President Vladimir Putin last week signed a bill revoking Russia’s ratification of a global nuclear test ban in a move that Moscow said was needed to establish parity with the United States.  The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Imperator Alexander III strategic missile cruiser fired the Bulava missile from an underwater …

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Turkish police used tear gas and water cannon as hundreds of people at a pro-Palestinian rally Sunday tried to storm an air base that houses U.S. troops, hours before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due in Ankara for talks on Gaza. Turkey, which has stepped up its criticism of Israel as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has worsened, supports a two-state solution while hosting members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Since the Israel-Hamas war started, protests have erupted across the country. Earlier this week, the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, an Islamist Turkish aid agency, organized a convoy …

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