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Emerging threats and crises: EU launches Preparedness Union Strategy

Europe is facing a new era of crises that threaten the foundations of our societies. Geopolitical tensions, hybrid and cyber threats, foreign interference, and the escalating impact of climate change are testing Europe’s resilience like never before. The EU Commission and the High Representative propose a Preparedness Union Strategy. Explore the joint plan to help Member States prevent, anticipate, and respond to existing and emerging threats.

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26/03/2025

Sweden: National strategy against violent extremism and terrorism

The strategy is divided into four areas: Prevent, Avert, Protect and Manage. These areas encompass the actors in society that are engaging to avert crime linked to violent extremism and terrorism and, if such crimes are nevertheless committed, to enable managing their consequences. It is difficult to protect society against all threats, but through all relevant actors in society having a clear role in this work, conditions are created for

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28/03/2024

UK: New sanctions on persons linked to Hamas-supporting media network

The UK Government has announced a full asset freeze against two individuals suspected of providing financial support for Gaza Now – a news agency that promotes the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist groups.
All funds and economic resources in the UK belonging to or controlled by Sultana and Ayash have been frozen. No UK person may make available funds, economic resources and financial services to them or for

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28/03/2024

Switzerland stands firm on nuclear weapons treaty direction

On the basis of a new comprehensive reassessment, the Federal Council decided at its meeting on 27 March 2024, that there is currently no reason to change its position on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which entered into force in 2021. It has therefore reaffirmed the conclusion it reached in 2018 and 2019 and has decided that Switzerland will not join the TPNW for the time

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28/03/2024

DSA: EU Commission issues guidelines for election security

Today, the Commission has published guidelines on recommended measures to Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines to mitigate systemic risks online that may impact the integrity of elections, with specific guidance for the upcoming European Parliament elections in June. Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), designated services with more than 45 million active users in the EU have the obligation to mitigate the risks related to electoral processes, while

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26/03/2024

ISIL(Da’esh) and Al-Qaeda: EU Council adds a person and an entity to its autonomous list of sanctions

The Council decided today to add Mohamed Ibrahim al-Shafi’i Al-Salem, also known as Aba Al-Sahraoui, and Katiba Macina to the EU autonomous list of persons, groups, undertakings and entities associated with ISIL(Da’esh) and Al-Qaeda, subject to EU restrictive measures. Aba Al-Sahraoui is the leader of ISIL-affiliated group ‘Islamic State Sahel Province’, which primarily operates in the tri-border area of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali. Katiba Macina is an affiliate of

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25/03/2024

EU provides €600m to strengthen rescEU firefighting fleet

The announcement comes as Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, participated in Zagreb today in the signature ceremony of the agreement between the government of Croatia and the Canadian Commercial Corporation to purchase specialised firefighting aircraft. This, together with the signature of a similar agreement by the government of Greece recently, marks an important step in increasing the aerial firefighting capacity in the EU, protecting EU citizens from disasters.

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25/03/2024

Finland: Residence permit processing time reduced by half 

The development measures of the employment and economic development services (TE services), the Finnish Immigration Service and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment reduced the processing time of residence permits for employed persons to an average of 41 days in February 2024 from the previous year’s figure of 77 days. A faster processing time for favourable decisions is particularly significant. In February 2024, the average processing time was 23

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25/03/2024

Speech by EU Commission President von der Leyen at the Nuclear Energy Summit

Innovation in nuclear technologies is a very dynamic space, particularly for nuclear power technologies such as Small Modular Reactors, or SMRs. Of course, as with every emerging technology, there are ups and downs, successes and failures, that is quite normal. But SMRs are a promising technology and there is a race underway. The race is among leading countries and companies to prove this technology and bring it to market. More

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21/03/2024

Europol: 9 arrested in hit against holiday-rental fraudsters

Europol supported the Romanian Police (Politia Romana) and the Spanish National Police (Policía Nacional) in an operation that led to the arrest of nine scammers engaged in the publishing of fake advertisements for cheap holiday rentals. Although this sort of cyber fraud is not new, the level of sophistication exhibited by the gang involved in this case is unprecedented, and a multifaceted investigation was required to crack the case.

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20/03/2024

Norway donates NOK70m to refugees and migrants

During the meeting, the foreign minister and Pope signed an agreement for NOK 30 million over two years for IOM’s work in North Africa. This agreement is part of a Nordic collaboration with IOM and the EU to help find lasting solutions for the many migrants in countries in North Africa. The support also goes to local communities hosting large groups of refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants. In addition,

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19/03/2024

European Humanitarian Forum announces pledges of over €7.7bn for global crises

The third edition of the European Humanitarian Forum concluded today in Brussels, co-organised by the European Commission and the Belgian Presidency of the EU. At the Forum, EU Member States together with the European Commission announced the planned humanitarian funding of more than €7.7 billion for 2024, as a concrete expression of global solidarity and of the EU’s leading role in humanitarian action.

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19/03/2024

Europol: Three arrested in Spain following migrant deaths at sea

A joint operation between the Spanish National Police (Polícia National) and the Spanish Civil Guard (Guardia Civil), supported by Europol, has led to the arrests of two men and a woman in Cádiz and Granada. The suspects carried out migrant smuggling activities, which resulted in deaths. The presumed members of the smuggling network allegedly facilitated the travel of migrants, in boats, between Kenitra (Morocco) and Cádiz (Spain). The joint investigation

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18/03/2024

Europol: 42 arrested for smuggling migrants across the Danube

A cross-border investigation led by the Romanian Border Police (Poliția de Frontieră), supported by Europol and involving the Bulgarian General Directorate Combating Organised Crime (Главна Дирекция Борба с организираната престъпност) and the German Police (Bundespolizeiinspektion Waidhaus), has resulted in the dismantling of an organised crime group involved in migrant smuggling. The group were smuggling migrants from Bulgaria to Romania, across the Danube river, and then toward Western Europe.

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15/03/2024

EU Commission sends requests for information on generative AI risks to 6 VLOPs and 2 VLOSEs under the DSA

Today, the Commission has formally sent requests for information under the Digital Services Act (DSA) to Bing and Google Search (Very Large Online Search Engines, or VLOSEs), as well as to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, and X (Very Large Online Platforms, or VLOPs). The Commission is requesting these services to provide more information on their respective mitigation measures for risks linked to generative AI, such as so-called ‘hallucinations’ where

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14/03/2024
guns, weapons, shotgun

Deal on making firearms import and export more transparent to fight trafficking

On Thursday, negotiators from Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement on updating rules to trace import and export of civilian firearms more effectively. The revised regulation aims to make import and export of firearms in the EU more transparent and more traceable, reducing the risk of trafficking. Under the updated and more harmonised rules, all imports and a vast majority of export of firearms for civilian use will be

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14/03/2024

Opening remarks by EU Commission VP Schinas and Commissioner Johansson at the press conference on migration and asylum

The agreement that we reached last December 2023 on the new pact, on migration and asylum was an historic decision. It took us four years to get there to rebuild the necessary trust between the Member States and also together with Parliament and other stakeholders, and I think one of the most important parts we could manage, to get this agreement was to realize that migration, managing migration is not

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13/03/2024

Petteri Orpo: “We need a resilient, competitive and secure Europe”

In his “This is Europe” address to the European Parliament, Prime of Minister of Finland Petteri Orpo focussed on three key factors for the coming years. First, strategic competitiveness, which is important as Europe’s productivity is falling behind that of key competitors. To thrive in a global landscape, Europe needs a fully functioning internal market, investments in innovation and skills, and a more effective use of its budget, said Mr

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13/03/2024