European Union

SLAPP: open dialogue with the Commission

15/12/2021 -  Paola Rosà

A public consultation on gag complaints is open until 10 January. In a meeting on the subject with organisations from all over Europe, which we attended on Thursday 25 November, Vice President of the European Commission Vera Jourova renewed her call for numerous contributions from all countries of the EU

Starting afresh from biodiversity, from the Netherlands to Slovenia

20/12/2021 -  Redazione

The "Week of Cities and Regions" discussed biodiversity and sustainability starting from the experiences of two European territories

More trains, fewer emissions

27/10/2021 -  Lorenzo FerrariGianluca De Feo

Currently, trains offer a reasonable alternative to around half of the most popular short-haul flights in Europe. Additional improvements and incentives could bring further reductions in CO2 emissions from transport.

MEPs wrote to Borrell and Schmidt, express concerns over tensions in BiH

25/10/2021

A group of European Parliament members wrote to High Representative Josep Borrell and High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Christian Schmidt, expressing concern over the latest escalation of tensions in BiH

Albania, all still on the European front

25/10/2021 -  Gentiola Madhi

A positive assessment emerges from the recent "Progress Report" on Albania. However, the local media - compared to the past - speak little about it: there is a strong disillusionment with the failure to start negotiations

Slovenia no limits

20/10/2021 -  Stefano Lusa

Relations between Ljubljana and Brussels are increasingly tense. Janez Jansa, Prime Minister of Slovenia, shows no bounds in provoking the European Union. He demonstrated this during the recent visit of a European Parliament delegation that came to Slovenia to assess the situation of the rule of law

Sustainability labels and the carbon footprint of foods

29/10/2021 -  Gianluca De Feo

If the European Union really wants to meet its Green Deal targets, food related emissions must be curbed. To that end, the introduction of "traffic light" sustainability labels could convince Europeans to cut down on their meat consumption.

Migrants in Croatia, the rule of law suspended

14/10/2021 -  Giovanni Vale Zagreb

This time the violence of the Croatian police against migrants is well documented and unequivocal, so much so that the police themselves are forced to admit its veracity. However, the Minister of the Interior ignores the matter. The EU expresses concern, but its inaction makes it complicit

The new common agricultural policy: green or greenwashing?

05/10/2021 -  Ornaldo Gjergji

After almost two years of negotiations, last June the European Parliament and the Council reached an agreement for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), with several novelties and strong criticisms

Slovenia, Croatia: barbed wire

24/09/2021 -  Giovanni Vale

"They ask me 'are you for or against immigration?', but the question makes no sense, there is no need to be for or against, immigration exists. Rather, you have to choose how to manage it". An interview with Tiha K. Gudac, director of the documentary «Žica», barbed wire

Climate: is the EU plan ambitious enough?

03/08/2021 -  Giulia Bassetto

The European Commission has presented the new package of climate proposals to the European Parliament: the goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and achieve full climate neutrality by 2050

Montenegro, time for action

19/07/2021 -  Željko Pantelić

After a long experience in the NGO sector, Jovana Marovic decided to engage in politics with the URA movement. In this interview, she tells us about her choice and her vision on Montenegro's European integration path

Human rights violations: Frontex knew and did not react

19/07/2021 -  Giulia BassettoRossella Vignola

The European Parliament published its report on the work of Frontex and the violations of the rights of migrants. Numerous issues were highlighted

EU and climate change: a lot of funds, few results

06/07/2021 -  Gianluca De Feo

As part of the Common Agricultural Policy, the European Union spent 100 billion Euros to combat climate change between 2014 and 2020. But these funds, which make up half of the entire EU budget earmarked for the fight against climate change, have not led to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions

North Macedonia, Europe is more than a football field

01/07/2021 -  Francesco Martino

North Macedonia is now fully part of Europe only in football. The country is condemned to a long wait which highlights all the contradictions of the EU enlargement strategy to the Western Balkans. A comment

Citizens and democracy threatened by SLAPPs: preview of the draft resolution

23/06/2021 -  Paola Rosà

The CASE coalition of which OBCT is part has received the text that will be presented to the European Parliament next Monday: a commitment to defend the rule of law and public participation, which collects many suggestions and proposals from civil society organisations

Violence against migrants in Croatia: Amnesty International denounces the silence of the EU

11/06/2021 -  Toni Gabrić

What is the attitude of Croatia and the European Union towards migrants and refugees trapped at the external borders of the EU? Massimo Moratti, deputy director of Amnesty International’s office for Europe, explains in detail

Heroes without borders

28/05/2021 -  Stefano Lusa Koper

In many territories on the border between Italy and Slovenia, a climate of integration had finally been reached, but the measures introduced to limit the pandemic have changed everything. Neither Rome nor Ljubljana worried that much, but some, with creativity, "took the field" in favour of the complexity, interests, and relationships of cross-border areas

Croatia: the plan for the future

20/05/2021 -  Toni Gabrić

Recently, the Croatian government presented a summary of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. This document is crucial for obtaining 49,08 billion kuna (6,5 billion Euros) from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility to overcome the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and of earthquakes which hit Croatia last year

Majorino: shared responsibility is needed on the rights of migrants

21/05/2021 -  Rossella Vignola

With the suspension of the Frontex budget and the launch of a parliamentary commission to shed light on alleged human rights violations in illegal pushbacks at European borders, the European Parliament affirms the political will to acknowledge the rights of migrants. We talked about it with MEP Pierfrancesco Majorino

Inzko, the future of Bosnia and the Balkans

12/05/2021 -  Giovanni Vale Zagabria

According to Valentin Inzko, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country is at serious risk. The idea of ​​its "peaceful dissolution" would also begin to take hold in Brussels circles. For this reason, in his opinion, it is necessary for the EU to quickly change its approach with respect to the Balkans and Bosnia and Herzegovina

Castaldo: Western Balkans, the beating heart of the EU

19/05/2021 -  Paolo Bergamaschi

"The Western Balkans are not and must never be a defeated periphery of the West, but they are and must remain the beating heart of the present and future of the great European family". Interview with Fabio Massimo Castaldo, Vice President of the European Parliament

Ethnonationalist drift in the Balkans: Open Letter to EU, US, and NATO Governments

03/05/2021

Civil society, academia, citizens of the Balkan region, the EU and the United States have written a letter addressed to their respective governments to denounce and prevent the ethno-nationalist drift that seems to be increasingly taking place in the Western Balkans, of which the recent "non-papers" are a striking example

Covid-19: the plastic pandemic

28/04/2021 -  Marco Ranocchiari

In Europe, the period 2020-2021 was to mark the turning point in the fight against plastic waste, one of the most urgent problems of our century. Then came the new Coronavirus: with masks, gloves, and anti-contagion packaging, the risk of a step back is increasingly concrete

France, the Western Balkans, and the EU: on the wave of scepticism

30/04/2021 -  Antoine Laurent

Together with Christine Hübner, Jan Eichhorn, and Luuk Molthof, political scientist Srdan Cvijic recently published a report that analyses the French point of view on the enlargement of the European Union to the Western Balkans. We interviewed him

The caravan for freedom of movement

16/04/2021 -  Chiara Milan

In Trieste, a civil society initiative focuses on the themes of hospitality, transnational solidarity, and the need to build "the anti-border"

Georgia: the EU speaks out on the political crisis

14/04/2021 -  Marilisa Lorusso

The political impasse in Georgia continues despite two attempts at mediation by the EU institutions. The European Parliament warns: European aid only if the parties resolve the crisis

Four ways of looking at European cross-border rail links

12/04/2021 -  Gianluca De Feo

According to absolute numbers, Central Europe can count on the most cross-border train connections on the continent. What happens, however, if we take into account the length of each country’s borders and their population sizes?

Balkans in the EU: a future to be designed together

09/04/2021 -  Paolo Bergamaschi

The European Parliament seems much more inclined to open up to the Western Balkans than the Commission and the Council, and recently requested to include these countries in the Conference on the Future of Europe which will open on 9 May

European Parliament and the Western Balkans: I wish I could

26/03/2021 -  Željko Pantelić

In the plenary session of yesterday, 25 March, the European Parliament passed resolutions on Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia in an enlargement perspective. But many important representatives were absent from the parliamentary debate