Europe

The European Commission has filled a post promoting religious freedom that has lain vacant for two years. Christos Stylianides has been appointed special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU.

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) today issued a set of minimum requirements for conditions of detention in European prisons, concerned by the negative effects of pre-existing austerity measures in certain states, which could be exacerbated by the Covid-19 p

Polish human rights chief Adam Bodnar has been ordered to leave his post by the country's top court. Mr Bodnar, widely regarded as a nuisance to Poland's authoritarian ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, was appointed as Commissioner for Human Rights with the support of opposition parties in 2015.

In an unexpected development, the European Commission has reportedly opposed the UK's application to accede to the Lugano Convention. According to reports of a meeting yesterday, the Commission recommended that the UK should not be allowed to join Lugano. The final decision rests with member states

The Spanish government has begun reforming the secrecy regime that prevented papers from the civil war and Franco's dictatorship from being published. The Socialist-led coalition of Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister, said a commission had been established to bring Spain's freedom of informati

Conor McGregor has failed in a legal fight with a clothing firm over sportswear that bears his name. The 31-year-old MMA fighter applied to register his name as a trademark in order to sell clothing in Europe.

Spain is set to legalise assisted dying, becoming the fifth country in Europe and the sixth in the world to allow terminally ill people to end their life. Legislation providing for the regulation of assisted dying was approved by Spanish MPs this month with 202 in favour, 141 against and two abstent

A politician has been fined €10,000 for offering a wolf's tail as a retirement present. Jean-Marie Bernard, of France's conservative Republican party, said the gift was a “friendly gesture” as well as a political act to support farmers whose livelihoods are endangered by wolves.

Sibel Top, a PhD fellow of the Flemish Research Foundation (FWO) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, considers whether EU extradition laws have passed the "Catalan test". On 8 March 2021, the European Parliament voted to lift the immunity of Catalan MEPs, Puigdemont, Comin and Ponsati. Although this

A bullfighter has failed in an attempt to copyright his most famous kill. Spain's Supreme Court yesterday dismissed the case brought by Miguel Ángel Perera, ruling that the routine cannot be protected as it was improvised and not preconceived.

Search giant Google has been fined €1.1 million by French authorities for displaying "misleading" star ratings for hotels and other tourist accommodations. The French competition watchdog, the DGCCRF, launched an investigation in 2019 following complaints from hoteliers who said star ratin

The imprisonment of Catalan rapper Pablo Hasél for tweets and song lyrics which prosecutors said glorified terrorism and insulted the Spanish monarchy has been met with international outrage. Amnesty International said Mr Hasél's imprisonment was "excessive and disproportionate", while

The European Commission is expected to decide this week that data protection standards are high enough in the UK to allow personal data transfers between the UK and the EU to continue. The adequacy assessment has huge significance for businesses operating across the UK and the EU. It has attracted e

A court in the Netherlands has refused to extradite a man to Poland due to concerns about his fair trial rights in a country facing a rule of law crisis. The decision, which has been condemned by the Polish government, comes amid international criticism of the erosion of judicial independence in the

A 100-year-old man who served as a Nazi guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp north of Berlin has been charged with aiding and abetting murder in 3,518 cases.