EU leaders attempt to hash out response to US green subsidies

European Works Councils can play a key role for workers and their unions to bargain effectively — but what are they, why have they been neutered, and why is big business objecting to greater powers?

When his campaign began two years ago, his rallies in Czech towns could attract as little as 10 to 15 people. While a decorated general and military diplomat, he was a fairly obscure figure.

The EU has appointed a new anti-Islamophobia coordinator after an 18-month long gap which attracted criticism by Muslim rights groups.

The European Union has proposed a plan to counteract the US green subsidy bonanza — but experts warn that without EU debt wealthy Germany and France will out-subsidise the rest.

The ministers worry that a resolution adopted by the European Parliament could give political momentum to demands to revise the protected status of wolves.

The European Commission wants to shore up the land border between Bulgaria and Turkey with drones. "We can strengthen the border with management capabilities," European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told MEPs.

"We have to make the voice of workers heard and if there is a directive on their working conditions, it has to be in favour of the workers, not the platforms," said one of the leading MEPs of the report.

'Europeans need to pull their weight in Ukraine. They should pony up more funds.' Such has been the chorus since the start of the war. The problem is the argument isn't borne out by the facts, at least not anymore.

Hungary has blamed a conspiracy for coming bottom in an EU corruption rating as it seeks to unfreeze European funding.

Countries that were once democratising are now moving in the other direction — think of Turkey, Myanmar, Hungary or Tunisia. On the other hand, in autocracies mass mobilisation rarely succeeds in changing political institutions. Think of Belarus, Iran or Algeria.

The EU's lobby register remains riddled with errors, with pro-transparency campaigners demanding better data and mandatory rules. The latest findings come amid a raft of proposals by the European Parliament president to weed out corruption in the wake of Qatargate.

Draft legislation in Poland aimed at relaxing some of Europe's strictest laws surrounding onshore wind-turbines has been derailed by a surprise last minute amendment, which could put Poland back on a collision course with the EU.

Industrial energy-intense sectors, outside Germany and France, will not move to the US. They will go bust, as they cannot compete in a fragmented single market. So to save industry in two member states, we will kill the rest?

Europe accelerated its electricity transition in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with solar energy developers leading the charge.