Europe remains the elephant in the room of the Dutch campaign ahead of October snap elections: it is there, it is hugely relevant, yet it is strangely ignored by most parties.

Earlier this week, my former editor @alejandrotauber.bsky.social posted a call for pitches. He wanted the most insane, pie-in-the-sky policy proposals that Europe should adopt. My idea was simple. Europe should declare war on big tech. whatwelost.substack.com/p/how-europe...

On 27 May, an official document, The Need for Civilizational Allies in Europe, calling for regime change in European countries was published, written by a senior adviser for the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in the US State Department, writes Caroline de Gruyter.

Kunnen Nederlandse melkveehouders tóch meer mest blijven uitrijden dan Brussel toestaat? Demissionair landbouwminister Femke Wiersma (BBB) wil het opnieuw gaan vragen. Uit interne documenten blijkt: de Europese Commissie heeft geen enkel vertrouwen meer in Nederland.

Probably one of the better days to unearth this iconic article from our archives. euobserver.com/eu-political...

Wilders vroeg zijn kiezers of zij meer of minder Europese Unie wilden. Dat ging de PVV wel even regelen. Maar eenmaal aan de macht droegen PVV-bewindslieden alleen maar bij aan meer Europese integratie. www.ftm.nl/artikelen/oo...

"Stabiel overheidsbeleid" framed rechts vaak, terwijl ze regels met jaren voorbereidingstijd in twijfel trekken. De reactie van MVO: "De partij geeft hiermee het signaal af dat bedrijven onder het mom van ‘regeldruk’ mogen wegkijken van misstanden, zoals kinderarbeid, in hun productieketens.”

A group of nearly 100 economists from across Europe has come out strongly against the European Commission’s efforts to water down key sustainability laws, warning that the rollback risks undermining both human rights and Europe’s industrial future. euobserver.com/green-econom...

Made a little website - the inverse of a live blog, for stories that develop over years rather than hours.

Today, we at @euobserver.com kicking off a campaign to find 2,500 new supporting members who believe, like us, that EU democracy needs independent watchdogs — not to punish wrongdoing, but to provide citizens with the information they need to make decisions (like punishing wrongdoing).

In 2022 schreef ik een verhaal voor @vn.nl over de macht die grote Amerikaanse cloud-aanbieders hebben over Europa. Europa lijkt zich dat eindelijk te realiseren, en de big tech bedrijven zijn bang voor verlies van deze enorm lucratieve markt. Lees het hier: www.vn.nl/big-tech-en-...

The EU firm holding €183bn of frozen Russian assets has hired bodyguards for its top executives, according to a joint EUobserver investigation with Belgian daily De Morgen, Belgian weekly Humo, French daily Le Monde, and RFE/RL in Prague.

The EU Commission has unveiled a proposal to ease the regulatory burden on companies, but critics argue it fails to simplify and instead reverses key Green Deal achievements.

There are two takeaways from Sunday's election in Germany — it was the highest turnout in two generations, and four-in-five Germans refused to vote for the racist far-right.

Letta: “Of all the negative things coming from Trump, Musk, and Vance, Musk endorsing the AfD is the worst — absolutely the worst. … It’s a terribly stupid move.”

Greece has become the latest European government to hire Washington lobbyists as it seeks to curry favour with the capricious president Donald Trump.

Hidden in plain sight within the European Parliament's own rules of procedure is a little-known provision that could dramatically alter the Union's ability to defend its democratic values from internal threats. Let publisher @alejandrotauber.bsky.social introduce you to Rule 241.

Perhaps now?

Allow us at EUobserver to blow our own trumpet as 2024 draws to a close, with a look back at the best of the journalistic path we follow — less frothy personality-driven politics, more policy, research and investigations.

Eeuwig zonde.

The European Union's own policies often align with the interests of the ultra-wealthy. This oligarchic drift risks turning the EU into a system that protects privilege over people, undermining the very values it claims to uphold.

The EU’s leading conservative faction has stepped up its opposition to the bloc’s planned ban on combustion engines, arguing that it breaks the principle of ‘technological neutrality’ and is “irreconcilable with EU law”.

The number of 'revolving door' cases at the European Investment Bank is rising, pointing to a systemic issue at this key EU institution and endangering its integrity. Alarmingly, the Bank’s response until now seems to be one of sitting back and doing nothing about it. https://euobserver.com/eu-poli…

Despite widespread opposition from civil society, farmers and unions on both sides of the Atlantic, the EU Commission is aiming to seal the deal during the Mercosur summit — precisely at the moment when Argentinian climate-denier Javier Milei takes over the Mercosur bloc’s rotating presidency.

The European Commission is setting specific conditions linked to the respect of human rights on future budget support under the EU-Tunisia deal, an official told MEPs on Wednesday.

Need more evidence? "As publisher visibility diminishes on X & with Meta seemingly unwilling to make Threads a breaking news destination, surging Bluesky traffic raises the possibility the platform may become professional journalism’s microblogging site of choice." pressgazette.co.uk/platforms/bl...

“Two years after capturing the public’s imagination, it seems ChatGPT’s main legacy has been in padding the finances of tech’s biggest players.” This piece is magnificent, filled with exactly the right data 📈

MEPs narrowly voted down efforts by their right-wing counterparts to effectively ban cannabis, as part of a wider resolution on tobacco smoke.

An analysis by the Dutch Bureau for Economic Policy found that Trump’s tariffs would reduce Dutch and EU trade by between one percent and two percent.

Bluesky is getting more traction than X for the EUObserver. This confirms what several other people have been telling me as well as my own experience. If this continues, a significant platform shift will happen: people go where the audience is. #EUsky www.linkedin.com/posts/alejan...

"Part of the stated objective is to make it more difficult to live in Sweden without a permit, as well as enforce refusal-of-entry or expulsion orders," @nikolajnielsen.bsky.social reports for @euobserver.com. [Gift article]

MEPs have said yes to Ursula von der Leyen's 2.0 commission. But support remains weak, with some unusual splits in party ranks — prompting questions about the fate of the mainstream so-called 'democratic coalition' and future dynamics in the European Parliament. [Gift link]