African journalists visiting Brussels

As part of a taz Panter Foundation program, I invited 16 journalists from 15 African countries to Brussels for two days of programming to explore the city, ask questions about the EU, visit the European Parliament, and network with various NGOs. As part of the foundation's program, the journalists also …

Frontex – EU Parliament refuses budget discharge

The EU Parliament today refused to approve the 2020 budget discharge for the European border management agency Frontex and postponed the vote. Fabrice Leggeri resigned from his post as director of the agency after the revelation of various scandals, including the involvement of illegal pushbacks by Frontex. The agency still has not met the demands of the EU Parliament's previous discharge report and …

Commission ignores service directive for pushbacks in Croatia

The Croatian police have received official instructions for pushbacks. In the instruction, which has now become public, Croatian border guards are admonished not to allow themselves to be filmed during pushbacks in the future and to search the surroundings for hidden cameras before carrying out the pushbacks. The pushbacks themselves are to continue as usual. In their response, …

A step toward global vaccine equity or lazy compromise?

India, South Africa, the USA and the EU have agreed on a compromise proposal for the TRIPS waiver. In this article, you can find out exactly what the TRIPS agreement is and what the position of the Green Group in the European Parliament is. The TRIPS Agreement (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) was signed in 1994 as part of the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations (General …

This is how the scheme by which the EU accepts refugees from Ukraine works

All 27 EU countries are ready to accept refugees from Ukraine. After a meeting of EU interior ministers on March 03, 2022, it was announced that the EU will activate a directive that guarantees war refugees from Ukraine protection in the EU - without costly asylum procedures. It's great that Europe is finally sticking together on taking in refugees. …

War in Europe – what you can do now

We want to bring together those who have to flee from Putin's terror with people, organizations and initiatives in solidarity. On the LeaveNoOneBehind homepage you can register and learn what you can do. There are many possibilities, depending on how you want to help and what your capacities are: You can donate, you can volunteer, you can support your environment …

Development Committee delegation trip to Lebanon

At the end of February, I was in Lebanon as head of a delegation of five members of the Development Committee to get an overview of the situation on the ground. The socio-economic crisis in Lebanon has come to a head – many people do not have sufficient access to medical care, electricity and water. Children have not been going to school for months, …

„Partnership at eye level“ at EU-Africa summit a long way off

On February 17 and 18, the sixth and corona long-awaited EU-Africa Summit took place, where the leaders of the African Union and the European Union meet every three years, alternating between Europe and Africa. The summit was organized around seven different "roundtables." But most of the results were already set behind closed doors beforehand, without …

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