Celina Ali Brussels: Pakistan and the European Union this week agreed to further deepen their relations in line with the Strategic Engagement Plan (2019). The agreement was reached in a meeting between Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, JosepBorrellFontelles. The meeting […]
Read MoreAthens: Greece and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a memorandum of collaboration in Abu Dhabi this week for the promotion of investments in digital infrastructure in Greece. Signing the memorandum were Greek Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou and UAE Investments Minister and CEO of ADQ, Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi. The memorandum specifically foresees the construction […]
Read MoreBerlin: The European Union’s main centre-right alliance will nominate Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as European Commission president at a congress in March if she wants to continue in the post, a senior EU lawmaker said. Von der Leyen, a German Christian Democrat, has not yet said publicly whether she wants a […]
Read MoreBrussels: Charles Michel, the president of the council of European Union leaders, this week abandoned a run for a seat in the European Parliament in the face of criticism that the move would have undermined his current role at a crucial time. The U-turn is an embarrassment for Michel, a former Belgian prime minister, and […]
Read MoreNewswire Athens: Europe needs migrants to stay competitive, Dubravka Suica, vice-president for Democracy and Demography of the European Commission, told a forum on the demographic crisis held in Athens this week. Faced with decreasing birthrates, European Union (EU) member states need to consider demographic figures to plan any economic policy and invest in human capital, […]
Read MoreStrasbourg: — Good news for fans of EU enlargement! The European Parliament decided this week to open an office in Panama in coordination with the European External Action Service, according to a confidential note seen by POLITICO. The senior MEPs who make up the Parliament’s bureau signed off on the move in a meeting behind […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: The ambassador of Pakistan to European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg Amna Baloch this week here expressed gratitude to the EU parliamentary recommendations for shedding light on the alarming situation and human rights abuses in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). The recent EU parliamentary recommendations of January 17 2024, to the […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Karachi: EU Ambassador Dr Riina Kionka emphasized this week that Pakistan should fully exploit the Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP Plus) status during a meeting organized by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Ambassador Kionka urged Pakistan to broaden its exports beyond textiles to the European Union, taking full advantage of […]
Read MoreBrussels: Travellers are expected to pay higher tourism taxes to several European destinations in 2024 as national economies try to boost local economies and support sustainability. According to a 2020 report by Group NAO and GDS-Movement, more countries are imposing tourism taxes lately, especially in the US and Europe, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports. Guy Bigwood from the […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: Jacques Delors, a former head of the European Commission and key figure in the creation of the euro currency, died in his sleep in his Paris home at the age of 98, his family announced this week. Marked by World War II and its horrors, the generation Delors grew up in developed a […]
Read MoreParis: Despite facing serious labour shortages, the French government passed a more restrictive immigration bill this week after watering down measures that would have streamlined the legalisation of foreign workers. But some of the law’s new provisions may still offer a glimmer of hope for the country’s hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants. Until it […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: European parliamentary elections in June could be as fateful as the US presidential race, the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has warned, saying he believes voters’ fear of the unknown may lead them to back rightwing populist parties. “I am afraid of fear, I am afraid Europeans vote because they are afraid. […]
Read MoreStaff Writer Islamabad: European Union Ambassador to Pakistan, Riina Kionka, this week, expressed “deep” concerns over the reports of mishandling of Baloch protesters in Islamabad. The EU ambassador to Pakistan took to the social media platform, X, to express her concerns over the reports of Islamabad’s police action against participants of the “Baloch long-march.” Earlier, […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Islamabad: The government of Pakistan and Team Europe partners will allocate €179 million to address urgent water and sanitation challenges in Faisalabad and Lahore while enhancing climate resilience. Accordingly, an agreement was signed this week by the European Union (EU), Germany, France, and Italy, as well as the Agence Française de Développement (AfD), […]
Read MoreNewswire Milan: French President Emmanuel Macron is lobbying other European leaders to agree on former European Central Bank president and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi as the next president of the European Commission, an Italian newspaper reported. According to la Repubblica, which cited diplomatic sources in Paris and Brussels, Macron has informally approached German Chancellor […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Islamabad: Dr Riina Kionka, ambassador and head of the delegation of the European Union to Pakistan said this week that Pakistan is a potential market for business and investment activities and it should focus on sustainable economic policies to attract more foreign investment. She said this while talking to a delegation of the […]
Read MoreNewswire Beijing: China’s new development will create new opportunities for Europe and the rest of the world, and it is hoped that the EU will observe China’s development and domestic and foreign policies in a comprehensive and objective way, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said this week. It was reported that recently the EU raises concerns […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Islamabad: In the margins of the General Conference of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Pakistan and the EU organised a joint side event this week to showcase how through key UNIDO expertise, the EU is helping people in the Sindh province to rebuild their lives after last year’s devastating floods. The […]
Read MoreNewswire QUETTA: The European Union (EU) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) this week jointly inaugurated of ‘Police Khidmat Markaz’ in Kuchlak, Quetta. This collaborative venture with Balochistan Police marks a pioneering era in community-focused law enforcement, embodying a transformative approach that places a premium on accessibility, responsiveness, and community engagement. […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: At a meeting of the Council’s permanent representatives committee this week, EU member states agreed their negotiating mandate for updating the EU long-term residents directive. This directive sets out the conditions under which third-country nationals can acquire EU long-term resident status. In order to acquire EU long-term resident status, third-country nationals have to […]
Read MoreBrussels: More than 3,000 women are killed each year in Europe by partners or family members, and countless more are harmed and harassed. Violence against women and girls is a threat to half of humanity, online and offline. It affects all women and takes many forms, including physical, sexual, or psychological violence, as well as […]
Read MoreChen Weihua Fu Cong, China’s ambassador to the European Union, hit the nail on Tuesday when he told a forum in Brussels that for most Chinese including himself, understanding EU’s “holy trinity” of defining China as a cooperation partner, economic competitor and systemic rival is a “mind-bogging exercise”. It has baffled me, too, since the […]
Read MoreChina Daily Politicization of economic and trade issues has proved detrimental to all parties, as has the adoption of protectionist approaches. Such practices only make things harder in what is already a testing time and do a disservice to the settlement of differences. Dialogue and a willingness to overcome challenges together represent the way for […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: The European Commission this week decided to refer Poland to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failure to communicate the measures transposing into national legislation the Directive on the right of access to a lawyer and to communicate upon arrest. The deadline for Member States to transpose the Directive was […]
Read MoreBrussels: Women in the European Union continue to earn less than men – the average gender pay gap in the EU stands at 13%. This means that for every €1 a man earns, a woman will make only €0.87. Equal Pay Day marks the date that symbolises how many extra days women must work until […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: After much suspense and speculation, Europe’s doors opened slightly wider for Georgia on November 8 when the European Union laid out its plan for making itself a bigger place in the future. Georgia was recommended for membership candidate status – a move that many hope will help sharpen the nation’s blurred focus on […]
Read MoreBrussels: The European Union agreed this week to pass a fiercely contested law to restore degraded natural ecosystems, salvaging measures some lawmakers had campaigned to kill off. Negotiators from EU countries and the European Parliament late on Thursday evening agreed to the deal, which would require countries to introduce measures restoring nature on 20% of […]
Read MoreBerlin: Germany this week proposed a detailed and innovative roadmap to expand the EU that would give candidate countries such as Ukraine early benefits including observer status at leaders’ summits in Brussels before full membership. The proposals by the foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, amount to an offer of integrating candidate countries into sections of the […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: In 2022, the EU had an estimated total of 28.9 million bed places available across more than 620 000 tourist accommodation establishments. Data showed a complete recovery in terms of tourism accommodation offers in 2022. Compared with 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic started, the number of bed places increased by 3% (+765 […]
Read MoreAbdullah Jan Karachi: In response to the rising malnutrition crisis in Sindh, a two-year support action, funded by the European Union, aimed at strengthening community based organizations in five districts to combat malnutrition was launched at a ceremony held here on Friday. The initiative aims at addressing malnutrition in five adversely affected districts of Kashmore, […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Islamabad: International Conference on “European Union as Model for Regional Integration: Lessons for South Asia” was organized by the International Relations department of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) and the Jean Monnet Chair in Jinnah Auditorium this week. Philipp Oliver Gross Deputy Head of Mission, European Union Delegation to Pakistan was […]
Read MoreNewswire Paris: Hundreds of members and staff of the European Parliament had a surprise when their train from Brussels to the French city of Strasbourg ended up at Disneyland Paris instead. The special train is chartered once a month to get MEPs between parliament’s seats in Brussels and Strasbourg. But a signalling error on Monday […]
Read MoreBrussels: Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman whose death in police custody sparked a wave of women’s rights protests in Iran, has been awarded the European Union’s top human rights prize. Amini, along with Iran’s Women, Life and Freedom movement that emerged in a months-long street protest campaign following her death, received the EU’s Sakharov […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: The European Commission has announced that it will increase its humanitarian aid to Gaza by three times, providing over 75 million euros to help alleviate the current crisis. President Ursula von der Leyen spoke to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres this afternoon regarding her on-going contacts with regional leaders. “The Commission will immediately […]
Read MoreBrussels: At its conference in Bilbao, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) this week urged the European Union to launch a European action plan stepping up cooperation between national health systems. The main goal: to provide better diagnoses, treatment and care to patients with rare diseases. A European strategy to give people with rare […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Islamabad: European Union Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Riina Kionka this week clarified that the EU MEPs’ decision to roll over the rules on Pakistan’s GSP Plus status has been proposed to avoid a “cliff edge” at the end of the year, is unrelated to Pakistan’s performance, and that monitoring will continue. Ambassador Kionka […]
Read MoreCharles Michel:President of the European Council Europe and the world have faced global challenges in recent years: combating global warming, the pandemic, war on European soil, the energy crisis. We have also seen a temptation to turn inwards, and a questioning of the fundamental principles of peaceful coexistence and cooperation. Over the last four years, […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Islamabad: The European Union has released an additional one million euros in humanitarian aid to respond to floods that directly or indirectly affected some 900,000 people in the past weeks. The new funding comes in addition to the 16.5 million euros already allocated in humanitarian assistance to Pakistan earlier this year, in order […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: The president of the European Parliament said Sunday she has conveyed the legislative body’s support for the appointment of a United Nations envoy to evaluate the chances of resuming stalemated talks to reunify ethnically divided Cyprus. Roberta Metsola said she personally communicated the position of the European Union’s legislature to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio […]
Read MoreLiaquat Ali Islamabad: The European Union (EU) is currently deliberating the extension of Pakistan’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) status for an additional four years, until 2027. The decision to extend these trade privileges, which grant Pakistan preferential access to EU markets, follows the endorsement of recommendations by the European Council and is currently under […]
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