Belgium

Israel must protect Palestinians, not displace them, says EU

07 May 2022; MEMO: The European Union (EU) on Friday criticised the Israeli Supreme Court's ruling for evicting more than 1,300 Palestinians from Masafer Yatta, south of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

"Under international law, individual or mass forcible transfers and deportation of protected persons from occupied territories are prohibited, regardless of their motive," the EU tweeted. "As the occupying power, Israel has the obligation to protect the Palestinian population and not displace it."

EU leader calls for Russian oil ban in new set of sanctions

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s top official on Wednesday called on the 27-nation bloc to ban oil imports from Russia in a sixth package of sanctions targeting Moscow for its war in Ukraine.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also proposed that Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, and two other major banks be disconnected from the SWIFT international banking payment system.

EU readies for end of Russia gas, warns won’t pay in rubles

Brussels, May 3 (AFP/APP): The European Union warned member states Monday to prepare for a possible complete breakdown in gas supplies from Russia, insisting it would not cede to Moscow’s demand that imports be paid for in rubles.


The European Commission will on Tuesday propose to member states a new package of sanctions to punish President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin for its invasion of Ukraine, including an embargo on Russian oil, officials said.

European Union escalates antitrust case against Apple

BRUSSELS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Apple may be fined and forced to open its mobile payment system to competitors after the European Commission has charged the company of abusing its dominant position by limiting access to technologies allowing contactless payment.

"Apple has built a closed ecosystem around its devices and its operating system, iOS. And Apple controls the gates to this ecosystem, setting the rules of the game for anyone who wants to reach consumers using Apple devices," EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Monday.

NATO chief says Finland, Sweden could join quite quickly

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that Finland and Sweden would be embraced with open arms should they decide to join the 30-nation military organization and could become members quite quickly.

Stoltenberg’s remarks came as public support in Finland and Sweden for NATO membership mounts in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Media speculation in the two countries suggest the two might apply in mid-May.

Belgian media La Libre and RTBF say polls show Macron leads in French election

BRUSSELS, April 24 (Reuters) - Belgian newspaper La Libre and Belgian public broadcaster RTBF carried reports on Sunday saying that according to two unidentified exit polls, Emmanuel Macron was leading the vote in the French presidential election with between 55% and 58% of the votes.

France’s official polling watchdog said last week that the country’s eight main pollsters had committed to not publishing exit polls and said anything purporting to reflect results before the last polling stations close at 8 p.m. in France (1800 GMT) could only be considered rumour at best.

EU reaches deal on new legislation to combat illegal content online

BRUSSELS, April 23 (Xinhua) -- The European Council said Saturday that it has reached a provisional political agreement with the European Parliament on a new legislation to combat hate speech, disinformation and other harmful content online.

The legislation, named the Digital Services Act (DSA), "aims to protect the digital space against the spread of illegal content, and to ensure the protection of users' fundamental rights," the European Council said in a press release.

EU law targets Big Tech over hate speech, disinformation

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union reached a landmark deal early Saturday to take aim at hate speech, disinformation and other harmful online content.

The law will force big tech companies to police themselves harder, make it easier for users to flag problems and empower regulators to punish noncompliance with billions in fines.

Frontex sees big rise in EU migrant entries, no Ukraine link

BRUSSELS (AP) — The number of migrants trying to enter the European Union without authorization in the first three months of this year has risen to its highest level since 2016, even excluding refugees arriving from Ukraine, the EU’s border and coast guard agency said Tuesday.

Frontex estimated that more than 40,300 “illegal crossings” were made into the 27-nation EU between January and March, up by 57% over the same period last year.

Subscribe to Belgium