The European Union has agreed on landmark legislation to regulate artificial intelligence (AI). Bulgaria expects to complete a report next summer on its readiness to join the euro area by 2025. Iran accuses a Swedish EU diplomat of conspiring with Israel.
In the run-up to next year’s European Parliament election, the question of EU enlargement has been the subject of political debate. It is against that background that some lawmakers and other social media users claimed in November 2023 that the European Parliament had abolished “the right of veto” of the European Union’s member states by replacing unanimous voting with qualified majority voting in several areas. This however is inaccurate for several reasons. The claim refers to a resolution recently adopted by the European Parliament that proposes increasing the number of areas where decisions are taken by qualified majority voting, which would prevent any one country from blocking decisions. However, a resolution does not have binding value, several experts in EU law told AFP. For now, the voting process remains unchanged. Furthermore, for the proposed change to come into force, a revision of the European treaties would have to be made — a complex process requiring unanimous approval from the member states. In other words, the European Parliament cannot force the change on its members.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Borjana Krišto has presented the first draft of the country’s reform plan to European Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi. A spokesman for the German FDP has accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of blocking talks on Ukraine’s EU accession. The latest Eurobarometer figures show a significant increase of citizens interested in the European elections compared to 2019.
”European leaders will not tolerate over time an imbalance in the trade relationship,” said European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in an interview with the European Newsroom on Tuesday, ahead of the EU-China summit on December 7. Besides trade, the EU officials plan to also address China-Russia relations, sanctioned MEPs and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Similar to their Polish colleagues, Slovakian lorry drivers have begun blocking a border crossing with Ukraine in protest at competition from their Ukrainian counterparts. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that the negotiations for a trade deal between Mercosur and the EU could fail. Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon expressed her support for North Macedonia’s EU accession.