Protests erupt across Germany against ‘neo-Nazi’ AfD
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Germany to demonstrate against the populist right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, seen by many…
Society
Latest reporting and analysis on society.
Rights talk: The gender agenda will be a major fault-line in the 2024 European Elections
Gender policies have become a major dividing line in contemporary politics.
Hungary won’t amend asylum, LGBTQ laws for EU funds
Hungary won’t meet European Union demands to amend controversial laws on asylum seekers and on restricting LGBTQ content, a senior minister said, making it less…
Europe’s capital facing sinkhole, sewage problem as debt explodes
Brussels is in danger of drowning in its own filth while sinkholes erupt across the city like a spotty teen’s chin.
Argentina’s Milei berates Western ‘Neo-Marxists’ at World Economic Forum
"Neo-Marxists have managed to co-opt the common sense of the Western world and this they have achieved by appropriating the media, culture, universities, and also…
European Parliament threatens to sue EC over funds for Hungary
A majority of MEPs, dominated by Liberals and the assembly's Left, are enraged about the European Commission's decision to release up to €10.
‘I’m an anti-Semite and I don’t give a damn’ says daughter of hard-left French MPs
The daughter of two hard-left French MPs has been arrested for antisemitism and glorifying terrorism, French media has reported.
Green MEPs guilty of ‘hyperbolic pathos’ as near-empty Parliament debates rise of ‘neofascism’
Liberal and left-wing MEPs are calling for the heads of Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
Turkey ramps-up web censorship ahead of March elections
Turkey has clamped down on virtual private networks (VPNs) ahead of local elections in March.
Edward Gibbon, Max Weber and Ralph Schoellhammer are wrong: Protestants did not invent capitalism. We Catholics got there first
Dr Ralph Schoellhammer is the Vienna academic whose work you will have read in Brussels Signal. I treat him and his articles with respect. I have to.
Polish lawmaker who extinguished Hanukkah candles loses immunity
Poland's parliament has voted to remove the immunity from prosecution of a lawmaker who used a fire extinguisher to put out Jewish Hanukkah candles in the country's…
German pupils ‘aimed to enforce extreme Islamic rules’
German police are investigating whether four young Muslim students attempted to impose stringent Islamic procedures, such as gender segregation and stoning, at a…
Is rape a crime? EU seems unsure …
The European Union's first directive on combating sexual violence against women has hit a roadblock.
Berlin’s still got it
Berlin, Germany Never write off Berlin. This is a city has been through a lot and it knows how to stay true to itself.
AfD’s Höcke should lose ‘fundamental rights’, German politicians told
A major player in Germany’s populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party should be stripped of all his "fundamental rights" under the country’s Constitution,…
EU risks being left ‘on its own’ if Trump returns, says Belgian PM
The European Union risks being left "on its own" if the US opts to return Donald Trump to the White House as President, the Prime Minister of Belgium has said.
When the Right starts talking about white privilege we are in trouble: Conservatives aren’t going to win by using Left-wing talking points
In the protracted daytime soap opera that passes for today’s U.S. Congress, Hunter Biden’s surprise appearance led the highlight reels all last week.
Belgian Socialists call for ‘ban on political advertising’ on social media
Socialists in Belgium say they want to put a stop to “excessive” spending on social-media adverts by political parties.
Italian NGO wins prestigious Mayor Paweł Adamowicz Award
Committee of the Regions, Brussels - Brescia, Italy
Is France losing its ‘Ooh la la’? Dramatic drop in births suggests maybe so …
France is seeing its lowest birth-rate since the Second World War and the number of single people is rising, according to the country’s National Institute of Statistics…
Brussels fifth-most traffic congested city in Europe, says TomTom survey
Dutch navigation company TomTom gives a bad score to Brussels in its annual traffic index report, with the European capital coming in as the tenth most congested…
Corsican Hunting: a cultural tapestry weaving tradition, identity, and challenges
Corsica, France
Biden Government slammed over ‘silence’ on Polish PM Tusk’s media crackdown
"The firing of personnel ...
New French Minister targeted over past opposition to gay marriage
France's new Government under openly gay Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has some other notable figures in its ranks causing feathers to be ruffled.
Potential AfD ban divides public opinion in Germany
Fewer than half of Germans support a nationwide ban on the populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party over allegations it is "extremist", a new poll has shown.
Meta’s Digital Services Act workaround under fire again
Facebook and Instagram owner Meta has been hit with another legal complaint over its attempt to work around new restrictions imposed on it by the European Union’s…
What is happening in Poland is setting a dangerous precedent for the whole of Europe: Autocracy in the name of liberalism is coming to a parliament near you soon
Poland has repeatedly been ahead of its time. Now, Donald Tusk is initiating a trend heralding a new era of liberal autocracy in Europe.
NGOs can ‘police the internet’ with EC blessing
The European Commission has given NGOs the power to patrol the web under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Second Trump presidency ‘could threaten US democracy’, European Parliament research body warns
Trump would probably push for the deconstruction of the American “deep-state”, a move the assembly think-tank claimed could threaten US democracy
ECJ silent on ‘legitimacy’ of Polish judges
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has refused to accept prejudicial questions from Polish judges who claim some of their colleagues have been appointed in a non-legitimate…