EU news in May 2018

What happened in the European Union in May?

Facebook's big chief who started the company, Mark Zuckerberg, came to the European Parliament. But many people working at the Parliament complained he didn't answer the questions well (article).

The EU has many conflicts. The Parliament against the EU countries. The north against the south. Left-wing against right-wing. However, a new one is getting in the news: 'liberals' against 'nationalists'. Liberals typically want EU countries to work more together, nationalists the opposite and are against immigration. At the liberal side: the Commission, France, Germany, and others. Two nationalists are Hungary and Poland (article).

Fun fact: they both say they're defending democracy. For example, Nationalists say they defend the will of the people. Liberals say they protect the independence of the judges. How did this conflict come in the news? With the proposed budget, the Commission wants to give part of the money only to countries that have a democracy with a liberal style (article) (another interesting article here).


© European Union , 2018   /   Etienne Ansotte

Is this conflict hard in the EU? Yes and no. The leaders of the Commission and Hungary are in the same European political party (see the picture, the two on the left). But in Hungary, some organisations that don't work for profit (NGOs) are being bullied so they have to leave (article). One of the consequences of this conflict is that the European migration laws aren't going to change soon - even if everyone thinks they need to change (article).

Some countries will get less money anyway from the European budget (for 2021-2027). Because some parts are only given to poorer countries. And Hungary and Poland became richer. Italy, on the other hand, will get more (article) (article). The European Parliament also looked at the proposal for the budget (article). Getting everyone's okay for the budget is a very long process - so no quick okays can be expected.

The Commission, the EU's government, proposed two new interesting plans: one is to have 15000 European 18-year olds to travel for free for one month in the EU this summer (article). Another is to ban some plastics that are only used once to have less pollution (article).

Also feel free to ask questions about the EU!

Keep up with the EU news on my Facebook page.

Want this news in your inbox? Subscribe here.

Get 50% discounts or even less on the best Amazon books about international politics.