Free Republic

The vote passed with a razor-thin majority of 291 votes in favour to 274 against, with 44 abstentions. The main proposed changes include the abolition of the principle of unanimity in a total of 65 areas of law, as well as transferring competencies from the member states to the European Union. These include the transfer of inclusive competency on the matters of environmental protection and biodiversity, meaning that law pertaining to those matters would be entirely set at the European level. In addition, the shared competencies would be expanded to seven new areas, those being foreign and security policy, border...

The European Parliament on Thursday called for the Hamas terror group to be “eliminated” in a scathing rebuke of its devastating onslaught on southern Israel on October 7. In a non-binding resolution passed 500-21, the body demanded the “unconditional release” of hostages held in Gaza, blasting their kidnapping as a war crime while expressing sympathy for civilian victims on both sides of the conflict.

Eva Kaili is the name on everyone's lips in Brussels.The Greek MEP was considered, until her arrest on 9 December, a rising star among the ranks of the socialist group (S&D). Known as media-friendly and approachable, Kaili was first elected to the European Parliament in 2014, running with the centre-left PASOK party, and was re-elected in 2019.In January 2022, the 44-year-old was named one of the parliament's 14 vice presidents, a culmination of her legislative work in digital topics such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and blockchain.Since her shocking detainment, Kaili has been expelled from PASOK, suspended from the S&D group...

The European Commission is seeking feedback on whether the 27-country bloc needs to loosen state aid rules to allow governments to support companies affected by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, with plans for a European fund in future. The $430 billion act, which grants consumers tax credits for U.S.-produced electric vehicles (EV) and other green products, has triggered fears it could disadvantage European Union companies and tempt businesses to relocate to the United States. […] The EU executive will ask countries if looser state aid rules known as the temporary crisis framework, adopted in March for businesses hit by the...

The war on cash has just gone to an entirely new level. When I heard that the European Union was planning to completely ban all cash transactions above 10,000 euros, I had a hard time believing it. There are so many wild rumors flying around on the Internet these days, and so I wasn’t going to write about this unless I could confirm it. Unfortunately, this particular rumor is quite real. Under the pretext of fighting “money laundering and terrorist financing”, the European Union will be entirely outlawing all cash payments greater than 10,000 euros. The following comes from the...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - After all-night negotiations, the European Union struck a political deal on Tuesday to impose a carbon dioxide emissions tariff on imports of polluting goods such as steel and cement, a world-first scheme aiming to support European industries as they decarbonise. Negotiators from EU countries and the European Parliament reached a deal at around 5am in Brussels, on the law to impose CO2 emissions costs on imports of iron and steel, cement, fertilisers, aluminium and electricity. Companies importing those goods into the EU will be required to buy certificates to cover their embedded CO2 emissions. The scheme is...

Every four years, the World Cup comes around and Americans become interested in soccer until the men’s team loses. Then it is back to football. There is women’s soccer, too, but it attracts little interest, in large part because it is woke.The rest of the world is soccer mad because it is three minutes of action packed into three hours of drinking beer. Americans have baseball for that.Soccer also has a political side, which Alain Destexhe of the Gatestone Institute explored in this year’s celebration in Belgium — the de facto capital of Europe. The cheering was raucous and illuminating.Destexhe...

'European democracy is under attack': Roberta Metsola addresses EU Parliament corruption scandal By Euronews • Updated: 13/12/2022 - 11:31 Roberta Metsola address the European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg, France. Roberta Metsola address the European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg, France. - Copyright Philippe BUISSIN/ European Union 2022 - Source : EP Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, warned on Monday that there would be "no impunity" for those found guilty of corruption as she addressed what is perhaps the gravest graft scandal to hit the hemicycle in recent years. "Make no mistake, the European Parliament, dear colleague, is under...

Pfizer CEO Bails On EU Testimony After Report Highlights 'Secretive' Vaccine Deal Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has bailed on an appointment to testify before the European Parliament's special committee, where he was expected to face tough questions over secretive vaccine deals ... Bourla was scheduled to appear before the panel on Oct. 10, alongside key officials involved in the EUs vaccine procurement process, in order to discuss how to respond to future pandemics. According to the report, "Other pharmaceutical executives have addressed the committee, including the CEO of Moderna and senior officials from AstraZeneca and Sanofi." Bourla? Not so much....

Croatian Member of European (MEP) Parliament and former judge Mislav Kolakusic called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau out to his face in Brussels on Tuesday, savaging Trudeau over “civil rights violations” against Freedom Convoy protesters.Speaking before the European Parliament, Kolakusic accused the prime minister of engaging in a “dictatorship of the worst kind” by using the Emergencies Act to crush peaceful demonstrations.Kolakusic’s speech followed Trudeau’s own address to the parliament, where the prime minister had sounded off on purported threats to democracy posed by freedom protesters.

What sort of goals would make it worthwhile to hang out with a convicted child sex offender if you are a megalomaniac billionaire? The curious case of the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Gates just got curiouser. Anonymous sources, denials, millions of dollars in donations, and claims of lies surround a 2013 visit of Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein to the Strasbourg home of the then-chairman of Norway’s Nobel Committee, which awards the Peace Prize. The visit was uncovered by Norwegian business daily DN, whose sister publication describes in English the visit and its denial:Former Nobel Committee chair Thorbjørn...

People on the ground in Germany allegedly reported last week that Scytl, which hosting U.S. elections data through Spain, was raided by a large US ARMY force & their Servers were Seized in Frankfurt. The Spanish software company Scytl, which sells election manipulation software worldwide that was used in the USA, is on the verge of bankruptcy. The server for the manipulation was in Germany. Trump attorney Lin Wood talked about it last week and he raised a lot of questions. Mainstream media labeled this as fake news or conspiracy. More sources confirmed that the raid did occur, some called...

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday that voting US President Donald Trump out of office is critical for the Palestinians. “The election is very important. God help us, the EU, and the whole world if there are four more years of Trump,” he said. Shtayyeh spoke out against Trump’s peace plan, presented earlier this year. “Trump has wasted four years of everyone’s time,” he said. “The ultimate deal was not delivered. [Trump’s plan] was rejected by the Palestinians, the Arabs and Europe… The US is just too biased.” Shtayyeh called for...

The European Union’s Parliament has rubber-stamped the withdrawal agreement agreed between Brussels and London, a largely symbolic move which means the last administrative hurdle has been cleared before the United Kingdom departs the European Union on Friday night. European Parliament President David Sassoli signed the withdrawal agreement on behalf of its members after the chamber consented to the document Wednesday evening, having voted 621 in favour to 49 against, with 13 abstentions. He said he would give the document to the European Commission for the final administrative work for Brexit to take place on Thursday, before the United Kingdom formally...

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ leftist Syriza party suffered its first major defeat in years to the conservative New Democracy party in last Sunday’s European Parliament vote, prompting him to say he would call an early election. The snap election is expected to take place on July 7. On Sunday, the seats of the mayor of Athens and the district governor for the wider Athens area were the top prizes up for grabs in the runoffs of local elections. Results showed New Democracy candidates winning both seats, handing the conservatives another boost before Greeks return to vote in the expected election...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s grand coalition government was plunged into turmoil Sunday when the leader of the Social Democrats resigned abruptly under pressure after her center-left party suffered a humiliating defeat in last week’s European Parliament elections. Andrea Nahles, the first woman to head Germany’s oldest party, announced she would quit as party chairwoman, parliamentary floor leader and even give up her seat in the German parliament after her attempt to snuff out a brewing rebellion over the party’s frightening slide backfired.

The great-grandson of Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini defended his grandfather’s legacy on Wednesday, calling the era “a very complicated, complex period.” “You can’t define it in terms of right or wrong, good or bad,” Caio Mussolini, who is running for a European Parliament seat, told reporters. While the younger Mussolini has avoided explicit references to fascist ideology in the past, he has repeatedly hinted he views his great grandfather, who ruled Italy from 1925 to 1945, as an inspiration. Mussolini remains popular with many Italians today who say he modernized the country before ultimately damaging his reputation with racist...

"Today with Alessandro Di Battista we made a leap in France and we met the leader of the Yellow Waistcoats Christophe Chalencon and the candidates of the list RIC....." Italy's Deputy Prime Minister and Five Star Movement Leader Luigi Di Maio Tweet 2/5/2019 The leadership of one of Italy's ruling parties was in Paris Tuesday meeting with Yellow Vests leadership and candidates running on a "Yellow Vests" list in this May's elections to the European Parliament.....

In the wake of the revelation that an FBI informant lured George Papadopoulos to London during the 2016 campaign, the former Trump campaign adviser has grown skeptical of many of his contacts during and after the election, his wife says. Papadopoulos’ contacts with the FBI informant — a former University of Cambridge professor named Stefan Halper — have been widely reported over the past several weeks. The 30-year-old Chicago native’s interactions with Joseph Mifsud and Alexander Downer, two diplomats who are key to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election, are also well known. Simona Mangiante,...

LONDON — Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, plans to meet with members of the European Parliament as early as next week, the latest stop in a wide-ranging apology tour over the social network’s use of people’s personal data. Mr. Zuckerberg’s decision to travel to Brussels comes as Facebook faces a barrage of public criticism over how the data of tens of millions of its users was harvested without their consent, as well as concerns over the company’s role in elections around the world and questions over whether it has moved quickly enough to remove inflammatory content. His visit will involve...