Make no mistake about it: the war in Ukraine is, quite clearly, awful, and the ordinary citizens of Ukraine are undoubtedly victims in it. Right now there is heated debate in the West over the origins of this mess and which geopolitical factions are to blame. Is Russia mainly responsible, or NATO? Did Zelensky provoke […]
EU president Ursula Von Der Leyen has said that she wants Ukraine to join the European Union, claiming that “they belong to us.” The remarks were made this week amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. “We have a process with Ukraine that is, for example, integrating the Ukrainian market into the Single Market. We […]
The EU has announced plans to invest €15bn towards returning microchip manufacturing to Europe, to make the continent less reliant on foreign powers like China. The announcement was made by the European Commission this week, which said that the move was necessary to prevent future supply chain disruptions. “The European Chips Act will be a […]
The most popular newborn baby name in the Belgian capital of Brussels is now the Islamic name “Muhammad” according to the country’s national statistics agency, Stratbel. Two variations of the name – “Mohamed” and “Mohammed” – were two of the top three most common boys’ names in Brussels last year, with a total of 18,430 […]
A new major poll has found that only 27% of French people believe that the EU is advantageous to France overall. The poll was conducted by France’s oldest and most respected daily financial newspaper, Les Echos, which is 114 years old. According to the poll, which asked about the advantages and disadvantages of the EU, […]
‘Increased opportunities for the language’
Irish MMA two-weight world champion Conor McGregor has dubbed the Irish government “lapdogs” of the EU, adding that Ireland has “stockholm syndrome” to the bloc and that “economic partnership should not mean political surrender.” Last week, McGregor tweeted that it was “time to talk about Ireland leaving the European Union.” This prompted Fine Gael TD […]
A new political party in Ireland is calling for the EU to be made into a superstate, complete with its own government, army and constitution, and plans to run in the next election. VoltEuropa, which was established in Hamburg, Germany in 2018, is a pan-European party with factions and chapters across numerous EU member states […]
Will expire after 9 months
Joy unconfined in media and political circles, yesterday, as Ursula Von Der Leyen and Micheál Martin posed for their photo opportunity at which it was announced that Ireland will receive an initial €989million from the European Union’s Covid Recovery fund to, in the words of Frau Von Der Layen, “support investments and reforms that will […]
The Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Skjiilstra, visits Dublin today for discussions with his counterpart Simon Coveney, and with Tánaiste, Leo Varadker. The visit is part of the lead into to Hungary’s Presidency of the European Council, which begins at the end of the month. It comes at a time of epochal […]
The rule of thumb in politics in the European continent is that domestic failure politically bodes well for promotion to the upper echelons of power in Brussels. After the last election for example, the government very seriously considered spiriting (since left) Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy to Europe to remove him as a political liability at […]