Europe
Slovakia: Mass protests continue over journalist’s murder
For the second Friday running thousands of people protested across Slovakia against their government’s handling of a journalist’s murder and an end to high-level corruption, as talks between the country’s leaders failed to…
Hungary: Viktor Orban - ‘The most dangerous man in Europe’
This week, Viktor Orbán was elected for a third consecutive four-year term as Prime-Minister of Hungary. In 1989, he addressed 250,000 people in Budapest calling for free elections and the withdrawal of Soviet…
Smuggling migrants from Spain to the UK
Investigations are ongoing to identify, tackle and dismantle organised crime groups involved in movements of migrants entering Europe via the Western Mediterranean Route to the UK. Recently, Europol supported Spanish Guardia Civil in…
UK: Upholding the Chemical Weapons Treaty
In 1997 the Chemical Weapons treaty came into force. Its full title is ‘The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction’. In…
Ireland: government calls Catholic schools discriminatory
Ireland’s constitution protects the right to a religious education and for parents to ‘provide, according to their means, for the religious and moral, intellectual, physical and social education of their children’. A new…
France: Macron versus unions
France’s unions have started three months of industrial action. On two days in five trains will not run, and workers will down tools for a total of 36 days. 77% of train drivers…
Ireland: referendum on legalising abortion
The overwhelmingly Catholic Republic of Ireland will hold a referendum on 25 May on whether or not to alter its constitution to legalise abortion. The move follows the recent Irish Senate vote in…
France: police officer dies for hostage
Lt-Col Arnaud Beltrame, a practising Catholic, was shot and stabbed after he traded places with one of the captives following a shooting spree in southern France. His brother Cedric said his actions were…
Turkey: a turning point
Turkey was a secular country, but since President Erdogan's rise to power it is returning to its Ottoman and Islamic heritage. This shift is manifesting through authoritarianism, consolidation of power, increased support of…
Europe: control of fishing rights
On 20 March environment secretary Michael Gove told Tory MPs to 'keep their eyes on the prize' in the row over Brexit and fishing waters after the latest Europe Brexit meetings. Theresa May’s…