Greece presses France over missile sale to Turkey

Turkey wants to buy Eurofighters equipped with air-to-air Meteor missiles.

France leads fight against EU plans to merge health crisis and civil protection units

11 countries signed a paper to Ursula von der Leyen warning the move would downgrade Europe’s health crisis resiliency.

Roman Abramovich may owe HMRC ยฃ1bn for unpaid taxes, analysis shows

Exclusive: Leaked papers suggest billionaireโ€™s overseas firms should have paid UK tax on profits from hedge fundsRoman Abramovich, the billionaire Russian oligarch, may owe British tax authorities as much as ยฃ1bn, according to analysis of documents tha…

Greek court orders extradition of Israeli billionaire on Romanian corruption charges

Beny Steinmetz was convicted of participating in a scheme to take ownership of land once owned by Romanian monarchs.

Revealed: how Roman Abramovich dodged taxes on cost of running his fleet of superyachts

Cyprus Confidential files suggest offshore scheme was used to evade tens of millions in VAT on long list of expensesWhen it came to his fleet of superyachts, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was nothing if not generous.As 2011 drew to a close, his…

Hungary backs down in EU Russia sanctions standoff

Before relenting, Budapest had threatened to allow billions of dollars to flow back to the Kremlin in a row over energy imports.

Turkey pushing to help EU replace Ukraine gas transit

Ankara is angling for new energy talks in Brussels amid pressure for closer ties with the bloc.

Cyprus could join Schengen this year, president says

Cyprus is a unique case as the island has been divided since 1974 between the Republic of Cyprus in the south and the Turkish-occupied north.

EU bans โ€˜Turkaegeanโ€™ slogan following Greeceโ€™s appeal

Territorial sovereignty in the Aegean Sea has been a contentious issue between Greece and Turkey, whose summer economies rely heavily on tourism.

US to lift visa requirement for Romanian citizens

At present, Cyprus, Romania, and Bulgaria are the only EU countries whose nationals still need a visa to enter the US.
The post US to lift visa requirement for Romanian citizens appeared first on Euractiv.

EU climate chief Wopke Hoekstra goes to war with airlines

EU plans to hike airlines’ green taxes are “complete bullshit,” says lobby chief Willie Walsh.

Austria prepares to deport Syrian migrants after Assad regime falls

Belgium, Germany, Greece and Austria said they will halt Syrian asylum applications one day after rebel forces ousted the country’s dictator.

EU going too fast on climate, Cyprus president says

โ€œI do not consider it possible to achieve those goals within the timeframe we have set,โ€ Nikos Christodoulides said, according to Ekathimerini.

Cyprusโ€™ commissioner hearing: Costas Kadis on fisheries and oceans โ€” live updates

Cyprus’ former agriculture and environment minister has promised he won’t put the European fishing industry’s short-term interests ahead of long-term ocean health.

How Brexit helped Britain lose the Chagos Islands

After more than half a century, the U.K. is passing sovereignty of the disputed territory back to Mauritius. Why now?

EU citizen who applied for pre-settled status is to be deported from Scotland

Greek Cypriot Costa Koushiappis to be removed from UK even though his application is pending with Home OfficeAn EU citizen caught up in a Home Office backlog of applications for post-Brexit residency status is to be deported by Border Force officials i…

The Divided Island review โ€“ emotional stories from all sides of the Cyprus conflict

Cey Sesiguzelโ€™s documentary covers a lot of history โ€“ and not always in the most dynamic way. But the testimony of survivors of war forms its powerful coreFifty years have passed since the 1974 partition of Cyprus, a harrowing event that looms large ov…

The future EU commissionersโ€™ promises: Everything you need to know

We pored over more than 400 pages of written answers so you donโ€™t have to.

Kadis vows to promote active diplomacy for fair fisheries competition with third countries

The Cypriot nominee wants to “put an end to public subsidies that reinforce fishing capacity” through a new WTO agreement.

France aims to allow online casinos next year

France aims to bring its rules governing online gambling into line with most other EU countries, Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government has announced, despite compliants from traditional bricks-and-mortar casinos.ย France and Cyprus remain the only…

French PM Barnierโ€™s shadow follows Macron to Brussels

Weakened on the domestic front, the French president could also face pressure from his prime ministerโ€™s influence in Brussels.

Moldova faces โ€˜existentialโ€™ EU vote in face of Russian interference

Moscow is using cash and fear in an attempt to regain control of the former Soviet Republic, officials warn.

Inside the UKโ€™s dirtiest (and dumbest) political battle in years

“House of Cards” for amateurs: How the brutal fight for the Tory leadership lurched into chaos and recrimination.

The EU wants to deport migrants. It needs the help of Syriaโ€™s Assad.

Syria is the elephant in the room as EU leaders talk migration.

Greece arrests Israeli billionaire on Romanian corruption charges

Beny Steinmetz was released on bail after detention in Athens.

Med9 states call for Middle East ceasefire

French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned as “unacceptable” Israeli firing on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, a stance echoed by Spain’s prime minister.

ECHR ruling for Cyprus asylum seekers may embolden refugees in buffer zone

Lawyers predict more claims after โ€˜perfect winโ€™ for two Syrian asylum seekers pushed back to LebanonA ruling by the European court of human rights ordering authorities in Cyprus to pay damages to two Syrian refugees found to have been prevented from ap…

European Mediterranean states to meet in Cyprus over Middle East, migration

Leaders from nine Mediterranean nations, joined by Jordan’s King Abdullah II, will meet in Cyprus on Friday to discuss Middle East conflicts and migrant flows. France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, and Croatia will focus on …

EUโ€™s top court scraps controversial truck return obligation

The rulings ends a very bitter dispute that split EU member countries.

Scholz forces German โ€˜noโ€™ vote in Chinese EV duty saga

Berlin’s change in stance could draw EU members to follow its lead, but Germany is still a long way from overturning the Commission’s tariff decision.

How a law on truck movements divided the EU

The EU’s top court delivers a ruling on an exceptionally fierce legal fight this week.

Waste scandal haunts Cyprusโ€™ EU pick as he heads to Brussels

A decade-old environmental dispute in Limassol, Cyprus, is raising questions over Costas Kadis’ run for EU commissioner.

Costas Kadis: A bookish technocrat to handle oceans and fisheries

A conservation biologist by training, Kadis has held several ministerial posts over the past 25 years.

The President of Cyprus says he is ready to resume reunification talks โ€˜todayโ€™

Cyprus’ president said on Wednesday (25 September) he was ready to immediately resume reunification talks over the ethnically divided island, urging regional rival Turkey to also engage in the effort.

Emmanuel Macronโ€™s lonely battle to defend the EU-Canada trade deal

French lawmakers, and even Macronโ€™s new ministers, want to stop CETA โ€”ย but that doesnโ€™t mean they will be able to.

Mission Impossible: Germanyโ€™s bid to kill EU duties on Chinese EVs

Germany has one last chance to overturn the tariffs at a vote by member countries. But getting the required blocking majority looks to be out of reach โ€” and would be without precedent.

Cyprus signs agreement with Greece on โ€˜worldโ€™s longestโ€™ subsea high-voltage cable

Greece and Cyprus have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to press ahead with a subsea electric cable linking continental Europe to the East Mediterranean, the energy ministries of the two countries said on Saturday (21 September).

โ€˜You basically have free hot waterโ€™: how Cyprus became a world leader in solar heating

The country, which has more 300 days of sunshine a year, has embraced rooftop systems that harness the sunโ€™s energyThe Thriamvos company truck pulls up at noon outside the four-storey building in the heart of Nicosia.Itโ€™s the third rooftop installation…

Meet the commissioners: Class of 2024

Everything you need to know about Ursula von der Leyen’s team for her second term.

Ursula von der Leyenโ€™s new European Commission

Commission president hands out the top jobs in her new team.

Never mind the war, the French Riviera still loves oligarchs

The south of France has long been a safe space for Russians.

Europeโ€™s new normal: High energy bills, fading industry and one chance to fix it

German manufacturers are being strangled. The EU is feeling the pinch. Mario Draghi on Monday warned the EU may be staring at โ€˜slow agony.โ€™

The great Commission puzzle: Who we think will get each portfolio

Ursula von der Leyen is about to hand out key jobs in her team. Hereโ€™s POLITICOโ€™s version of the next Commission.

Cyprus and EU-funded Lebanese forces complicit in forced returns of Syrian refugees, report claims

The European Union is ‘bankrolling’ Lebanese institutions without monitoring their compliance with fundamental rights, Human Rights Watch says.

EU Mediterranean countries call on the Commission to speed up water strategy

At a meeting in Cyprus on Tuesday (3 September), agriculture ministers from nine member states urged the bloc’s executive to make rapid progress on policies on water security.

Cyprus nominates Costas Kadis as EU commissioner

Costas Kadis is an environmental science professor who has held ministerial portfolios.

A paradise for corruption: Britain tries to clean up its dirtiest secret

The British Virgin Islands mix fun in the sun with dark money. Will the UK’s new Labour government act?

UK far-right riots: everything we know

What has happened, who is behind the violence and how the UK government has responded.

Turkish Cypriot leader says no reason for UN-led Cyprus talks

The U.N. is seeking a trilateral meeting on Aug. 13 to explore ways to resume Cyprus reunification negotiations.

โ€˜Leave now,โ€™ UK tells British nationals in Lebanon

U.S. embassy in Beirut encourages American citizens in the country “to book any ticket available.”

Democracy in dark times: Hopeful lessons from Greeceโ€™s 50-year odyssey

The country’s half-century milestone cements that only democracy and international cooperation can provide solutions to 21st-century challenges.

Asylum seekers stuck in limbo as Cyprus rebuffs calls to act

Fifty-three asylum seekers โ€˜pushed backโ€™ into UN-patrolled buffer zone that bisects the southern European country
Almost two months to the day after she became stranded in no manโ€™s land in Nicosia, Mimi wants to go home. In her case, home means Camero…

Who will be the next European commissioners?

What we know so far about Ursula von der Leyenโ€™s next top team.

Cyprus eyes chance to run EU Mediterranean policyย 

Ursula von der Leyen plans a new EU commissioner for the Mediterranean Sea region.

Greeks reflect on democracyโ€™s new dawn 50 years after its return

The 1974 collapse of the far-right junta brought relief โ€“ but for some it took years to feel safeAfter a seven-year military dictatorship that tortured and exiled opponents, violently suppressed dissent, and restricted freedom of expression, a new dawn…

Turkey ready to build Cyprus naval base โ€˜if necessaryโ€™: ErdoฤŸan

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip ErdoฤŸan said Sunday that his country was ready to build a Cyprus naval base “if necessary”, 50 years after Turkish forces invaded the now-divided island.

Stark divide remains as Cyprus marks 50 years since Turkish invasion

Cyprus on Saturday (21 July) marked the 50th anniversary of the bloody invasion of the Mediterranean island by Turkish troops with both sides as divided as ever over the territory’s future.

South mourns as north rejoices: Cyprus marks 50 years of ethnic division

Greek Cypriots in south wake to air raid sirens reminding of invasion while Turkish-occupied north celebratesCyprus has marked the landmark anniversary of 50 years of ethnic division amid markedly contrasting scenes: mourning in the south and euphoria …

ErdoฤŸan dashes hopes for resumption of Cyprus talks on invasionโ€™s 50th anniversary

“We believe a federal solution is not possible in Cyprus,” Turkey’s president said, adding that the Turkish north is the “apple of Turkeyโ€™s eye.”

Where time has stood still for 50 years: the UN buffer zone in Cyprus โ€“ in pictures

For exactly 50 years, since the war with Turkey began on 20 July 1974, the UN neutral territory in Cyprus has remained largely untouched. The buffer zone contains abandoned homes, closed businesses and the disused Nicosia international airport, an endu…

โ€˜Why can there be no peace?โ€™ Cyprus remains divided 50 years on

As both sides of the island mark the war that began on 20 July 1974, it is in the knowledge that almost nothing has changedFor 47 years Giorgos and Despoina Kleitou have lived at 52 Democracy Street.When they moved into the newly built, three-bedroom h…

Von der Leyen is in! Let the fighting over the next European Commission begin.ย 

EU leaders will fight back against โ€œtoo powerfulโ€ von der Leyen as she assembles her team.

โ€˜Turkish troops fired on our hotel, the invasion had begunโ€™: 50 years after Cyprus was torn apart

In July 1974, Colin Smith was the Observerโ€™s correspondent in Cyprus. Five decades on, he recalls paratroopers dropping from the skies and a grand hotel under siegeFree Paphos Radio broadcast it in both Greek and English. โ€œGreetings Greek Cypriots,โ€ he…

Commissioner Kyriakides rules out second EU term

The health commissioner will return to Cyprus at the end of her mandate.

Advancing Gender Equality: The EU`s Landmark Directive 2024/1385 on Violence Against Women

 

 

Dr. Ceren Kasฤฑm, Postdoctoral
Research and Teaching Fellow, University of Hildesheim, Germany

Photo credit: MesserWoland, via Wikimedia Commons 

INTRODUCTION

 

The first-ever binding European
Union (EU) legal instrument to…

Israel-Hezbollah hostilities fan fears of widening Gaza war

Israel and Hezbollah traded fresh cross-border fire, as fears of a regional conflict grew after Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive and the Iran-backed militants vowed to blanket their foe in rockets.

Are Israel and Hezbollah about to square up?

Despite strenuous efforts and stern warnings, the risk of an expanding conflict in the Middle East is rising by the hour.

Cyprus stresses neutrality after Hezbollah threat over Israel war

Officials say Cyprus is โ€˜pillar of peaceโ€™ amid shock at warning it could become a target for Lebanese groupCypriots have reacted with shock after threats from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that their country could become a target if it allows I…

Hezbollah threatens war against Cyprus if it helps Israel

Nicosia and Tel Aviv have stepped up defense cooperation in recent years.

Hezbollah leader: Cyprus will be target if it lets Israel use its territory in conflict

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warns of โ€˜war without rulesโ€™ if Israel launches full-scale invasion against Lebanese militiaThe leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, warned of a war โ€œwithout rules or ceilingsโ€ in the event of a full-scale Israeli offen…

Hezbollah leader: Cyprus will be target if it lets Israel use its territory in conflict

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warns of โ€˜war without rulesโ€™ if Israel launches full-scale invasion against Lebanese militiaThe leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, warned of a war โ€œwithout rules or ceilingsโ€ in the event of a full-scale Israeli offen…

Hezbollah leader: Cyprus will be target if it lets Israel use its territory in conflict

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warns of โ€˜war without rulesโ€™ if Israel launches full-scale invasion against Lebanese militiaThe leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, warned of a war โ€œwithout rules or ceilingsโ€ in the event of a full-scale Israeli offen…

Rogue Austrian minister burns bridges to save EU nature law

Cue the lawsuits, potential fines, dueling allegations โ€”ย and, for Leonore Gewessler, a great campaign ad.

Here comes Europeโ€™s โ€˜foreigners out!โ€™ generation: Why the young vote far right

Their grandparents ushered in the sexual revolution. Today’s youth want to turn back the clock to 1950. Why?

Turning Cyprus from a problem into a solution

Despite its division, Cyprus is an island of stability in an increasingly turbulent part of the world, and it offers a platform for political, economic, humanitarian and military reach at Europeโ€™s intersection with the Middle East.

Influencers, activists and an army general: new MEPs heading to European parliament

Intake of lawmakers after the election also includes some controversial figures to keep an eye onWhile attention has focused on gains made by far-right and centrist parties in the European Parliament elections, this termโ€™s intake includes an assorted โ€“…

Influencer sweeps Cyprus EU elections, acts as a bulwark against far right

As Cypriot members of the European Parliament (MEPs) formally dressed in suits, commentated on the results of the European Parliament on national TV, one newly-elected parliamentarian,ย celebrated with a โ€˜dabโ€™.

Glamour to ghost town: the fate of one Cypriot beach resort โ€“ in pictures

Once a glamorous destination that attracted the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Abba, the Cypriot resort of Varosha was abandoned on 14 August 1974 when Turkey invaded. For 50 years, the town has been deserted, but in 2020 it was opened up to tourists. B…

US tariffs on China split EU Social Democrats, Commission names Booking gatekeeper under Digital Markets Act

New US tarriffs on Chinese goods, including semiconductors, have split the EU’s Social Democrats ahead of the elections, while the Commission designated Booking as a DMA gatekeeper.

UN warns Israel assault on Gazaโ€™s Rafah on โ€˜immediate horizonโ€™

The United Nations on Tuesday (30 April) warned that an Israeli assault on Rafah in the Gaza Strip was “on the immediate horizon” and that “incremental” progress by Israel on aid access to the enclave could not be used to prepare for or justify an oper…

EUโ€™s โ€˜Big Bangโ€™ enlargement: How 10 countries transformed the EU

As the European Commission prepares proposals for a further round of enlargement, the two decades since the 2004 ‘big bang’ enlargement showย the ups and downs that could lie ahead. On Wednesday (1 May), the EU commemorates 20 years since th…

EU leaders to insist on Cyprus talks progress amid calls for two-state solution

EU leaders are expected to stress the importance of making progress in the Cyprus settlement talks, according to draft conclusions, seen by Euractiv, for an EU summit on 17-18 April, amid new calls from Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar for a ‘two-sta…