Europe

In a landmark verdict in February, an appeals court ordered the Netherlands to stop delivering parts for fighter jets used by Israel in its offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The court said at the time there was a "clear risk" the planes would be involved in breaking international humanitarian law.

But the rights groups are returning to court, saying that the ban has not prevented the parts ending up in Israeli planes.

"Unfortunately, everything indicates that these parts end up in Israel from the Netherlands via other routes," said Oxfam Novib, one of the groups involved in the case.

The Dutch government "has continued delivering (parts) to other countries, including the United States. And that contravenes the order of the court," Liesbeth Zegveld, a lawyer representing the rights groups, told the court.

"The court order (from February) applies to all F-35 parts with Israel as the final destination and the state must stop all such deliveries in practice," she argued.

The contribution would be used to combat climate change and inequality and would help to ensure that European citizens pay their fair share towards achieving these objectives.

The minimum threshold of signatories is only required a quarter of the EU countries, so in 7 of 27. France is already at 188% of the required threshold, Denmark at 88% and Germany at 80%

The French far-right leader Jordan Bardella has criticised the footballer Kylian Mbappé over his call for young people to vote against the “extremes” in parliamentary elections this month.

“I have a lot of respect for our footballers, whether Marcus Thuram or Kylian Mbappé, who are icons of football and icons for youth … But we must respect the French, we must respect everyone’s vote,” Bardella told CNews TV on Tuesday.

“When you’re lucky enough to have a very, very big salary, when you are a multimillionaire … then I’m a little embarrassed to see these athletes … give lessons to people who can no longer make ends meet, who no longer feel safe, who do not have the chance to live in neighbourhoods overprotected by security agents.”

On the eve of France’s opening match at Euro 2024, which is taking place amid political turmoil after President Emmanuel Macron’s shock decision to call a snap election, Mbappé warned on Sunday “the extremes are knocking at the doors of power”.

The comment by France’s popular captain followed an intervention by the team’s forward Thuram, who had urged people to “fight daily” to prevent Bardella’s National Rally (RN) from gaining power.

Mbappé did not name the RN but said he supported the same values and position as Thuram. “Kylian Mbappé is against extreme views and against ideas that divide people. I want to be proud to represent France; I don’t want to represent a country that doesn’t correspond to my values, or our values,” Mbappé said.

That call resonated with some young people in Mbappé’s former neighbourhood, an underprivileged Paris suburb, but was immediately criticised by the RN. Bardella was speaking a day after France won its Euro 2024 opening match in which Mbappé sustained a broken nose.

not sure which community to post this to but... this is my personal account on one of the many EU countries that are experiencing a lovely housing crisis.

Official says no sign of permit in Ottoman archives, in blow to British Museum, which defends legal right to statuary.

The DMA is meant to push us toward a world where you decide which software runs on your devices, where it’s easy to find the best products and services, where you can leave a platform for a better one without forfeiting your social relationships , and where you can do all of this without getting spied on.

If it works, this will get dangerously close to better future we’ve spent the past thirty years fighting for.

There’s just one wrinkle: the Big Tech companies don’t want that future, and they’re trying their damndest to strangle it in its cradle.

We want a European wealth tax to finance the social and climate transition and help countries hit by climate change.

Money is pouring into Europe from ultraconservative US foundations. One of the biggest spenders is the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian right wing organization that has played a prominent part in rolling back gender, abortion, and LGBTQIA+ rights on both sides of the Atlantic. Its latest tax filing shows it has doubled its spending in Europe since 2018.

This unfolds in a context where we could see a new right wing majority in the European Parliament after the European elections on 9 June, that includes the far right, and in parallel we may see Donald Trump retake the US Presidency. Considering the work done by the Trump camp to unite the European far right ­– including by forging a close alliance with the Hungarian President Viktor Orbán – this is a dangerous prospect. A strengthened European far right also bolsters the Trump camp.

This goes beyond party politics. Groups such as the ADF have been working on the ground in member states to network and build up power to overturn rights won through decades of struggle. Currently, the foundations that support the ADF and similar organisations, are increasing their spending dramatically. That is likely to strengthen their impact.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/15025234

EU would need 50% tariffs to curb imports of Chinese electric cars

https://archive.md/AP2cA

Unfortunately I was proven to be right about Riley Testut. He's yet another greedy person barely batter than Apple. After bitching to Apple to remove GBA4iOS from the App Store he's now leveraging Delta to force people into his AltStore.

Delta has finally made its way to the App Store. Additionally, the Delta developer has also published their alternative marketplace, AltStore, in the EU today.

If you're in the EU you'll only be able to get Delta on the AltStore and that requires:

This is complete bullshit he could've just launched Delta on the App Store in Europe as well but he decided not to.

Thanks Riley Testut for being a dick to the people that actually forced Apple into allowing alternative app stores in the first place.

Github issue related to this dick move: https://github.com/rileytestut/Delta/issues/292

Many state and public administrations from Helsinki to Lisbon operate with the software of the US corporation. It makes them vulnerable for hackers and spies, violates European public procurement law, blocks technical progress and costs Europe dearly. Harald Schumann and his Investigate Europe research team have spoken to insiders and managers throughout Europe about this. Martin Schallbruch, the former head of IT at the German Government, reports how the states are becoming increasingly dependent on Microsoft. A top Dutch lawyer describes how the EU Commission and governments are violating European procurement law. In France, the Ministry of Defence has bypassed parliament in concluding secret contracts with Microsoft, so Senator Joelie Garriaud-Maylam now wants to set up a committee of inquiry. The Hamburg data protection officer Johannes Caspar warns that the Microsoft systems could expose private data of citizens to investigation by the US secret services. Internal documents prove that the Federal Office for Information Security shares this mistrust. Both the European Parliament and the German Bundestag have therefore repeatedly called for state IT systems to be converted to open source software that can be tested by Europe's own security authorities. Italy's army has also begun this change, tells Italian general Camillo Sileo. The same is true for police authorities in France and Lithuania or the cities of Rome and Barcelona. But why do most governments oppose against the alternatives, or even - as in the case of the city of Munich - return into the arms of the monopolist Microsoft? Andrup Ansip, EU Commissioner for the Digital Single Market and other stakeholders face the questions.

A film by Harald Schumann and Árpád Bondy

The Commission published its first report on the real-world CO₂ emissions of new passenger cars and vans. The report is based on data collected in 2021 from fuel consumption monitors installed on-board of these vehicles.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/13481220

How to contact your MEP: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/portal/en/contact

Source: https://snort.social/nevent1qqsvcedd6dg39eh6633uqqff0p9h2zqyhu3zd6kwyyhzqj7da02x4pszyqe2wpknmwkyd0t295d5ezvtaxr00ngxjtcfuct8pfvyec3snckpwqcyqqqqqqgz2f7lp

Following its investigation, the EDPS has found that the European Commission (Commission) has infringed several key data protection rules when using Microsoft 365. In its decision, the EDPS imposes corrective measures on the Commission.

The EDPS has found that the Commission has infringed several provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, the EU’s data protection law for EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies (EUIs), including those on transfers of personal data outside the EU/European Economic Area (EEA).

As the EU’s new flagship tech laws, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, are coming into full application, Big Tech is working hard to shoot them down. As of today, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) becomes fully applicable, following its counterpart the Digital Services Act (DSA) on 17 February.

However, as the EU’s new tech laws are coming into full application, tech corporations like Apple, Amazon, Meta and TikTok are already undermining them at every turn. To subvert these new regulations, tech corporations have filed a number of lawsuits against the European Commission and attempted to weaken the rules with malicious compliance that protects their profits at the expense of their users.

As the Digital Markets Act comes into effect today, Device Neutrality starts to become a tangible reality in the European Union. While acknowledging the new law, the FSFE alerts that this is only the first step and further commitment is necessary.

After Mistral AI and Microsoft announced their strategic partnership on Monday (26 February), sparking an outcry from lawmakers in the European Parliament, French MPs have voiced concern over the partnership’s impact on competition and sovereignty in the cloud sector.

Far-right pro-Russian party Vazrazhdane has joined the far-right Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament, deputies from the Eurosceptic Bulgarian party announced on Wednesday after visiting Moscow at the invitation of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.

In Bulgaria, Vazrazhdane is the third-largest political force in the national parliament, which gives them the potential to have up to four out of a total of 17 Bulgarian MEPs in the European Parliament – which would undoubtedly help ID, currently the sixth largest group in the EU Parliament with 59 members.

According to the latest EU elections projections, the ID group is estimated to rank third, winning 92 seats in the new EU House.
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/11601446

An informative video about the Vistula canal and its implications on Russia-Europe relationships and Kaliningrad.