In a remarkable year for elections, nearly half of the world’s population has been called to the polls, including in eight out of the ten most populous countries. In Europe, the elections for the European Parliament took place in June and a number of national elections have been held across the continent.
Despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s growing power on the world stage, progress in expanding the European Union to include new member states has been slow.
The European Parliament has awarded Venezuelan opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González the Sakharov Prize, an award for human rights and freedom of thought created in 1988.
Germany’s weather service as well as the European Union’s climate monitoring service Copernicus have reported record-setting temperatures in 2024.
According to a draft manifesto on migration, Germany’s conservative CDU and CSU parties want to turn back migrants who apply for asylum in Germany after entering from another European Union or Schengen member state.