Méabh Mc Mahon
Europe Today
Associate EU membership 'very interesting' for New Zealand, says former prime minister
Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, says a form of associate membership of the European Union, similar to the proposal for Canada, would be “very interesting”. She highlights access to the single market as a potential key benefit for a “distant trading country” such as New Zealand.
Europe Today
Ukraine attacks are 'war crimes done by Putin', says politician
Yulia Klymenko, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, says Russia “cannot achieve anything on the front line” and is therefore waging a “fight and genocide against civilians” in Ukraine, following a targeted attack that killed 33 civilians.
Europe Today
Browder: Dropping oligarchs from sanctions sets 'bad precedent'
Bill Browder, once Russia’s largest foreign investor, said sanctions are the “worst thing” that can happen to Russian oligarchs, adding that they are “scheming and trying to come up with ways of getting off the sanctions list”.
Europe Today
Siberia plague outbreak is an 'isolated incident', virologist says
Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst says that while people may think of plague as “something medieval”, cases are reported every year in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar. However, he says the laboratory link makes this incident “a little more serious”.
Europe Today
Expert: Sánchez able 'to convert' housing weakness 'into strength'
Javier Carbonell, an analyst at the European Policy Centre, says that while housing has been one of the “biggest policy failures” of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s administration, the prime minister has been able to turn it into an electoral issue.
Europe Today
'Bolsonaro win could put EU-Brazil ties at risk,' says former MEP
A Bolsonaro victory could push Brazil further from the European Union, according to Portuguese political analyst and former MEP João Albuquerque. He says Lula helped bring the two sides closer on trade, climate and democratic values, including progress on the Mercosur deal.
Europe Today
Child protection is everyone's responsibility, business group says
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General of DigitalEurope, said protecting children from social media risks is a "joint responsibility of the public and private sectors". The association, which represents companies such as OpenAI and Meta, believes it cannot be "one party's responsibility".
Europe Today
Von der Leyen to deliver 'inspirational message', VP says
European Commission Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu hopes Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will deliver an "inspirational message" that will "speak directly to each of the 450 million Europeans" in her annual address to citizens.
Europe Today
Sweden faces ‘very messy’ politics after election, expert says
Lars Trägårdh, Professor of History at Ersta Sköndal University College in Stockholm, said Sweden’s election-winning Social Democrats would have to rely on “a very unwieldy coalition”, warning that the country faces a “very messy” political situation.
The Ring
Ceuta migration crisis tests European solidarity - MEPs in The Ring
This week on The Ring, EU lawmakers clash over the Ceuta migration crisis. From Morocco’s role and Spain’s response to whether EU member states are doing enough to help out when one member state comes under pressure, the debate raises more questions than answers.
Europe Today
'The Spanish government is weak' on Ceuta crisis, Spanish MEP says
Speaking on Europe Today, Spanish EPP MEP Antonio López-Istúriz said the government of Pedro Sanchez was ‘weak’ and should have reacted earlier to reports from the national police and intelligence services that had warned that thousands of irregular migrants were preparing to enter Ceuta.