European Union

The 1st paragraph, if the JavaScript does not block you:

“Equality mainstreaming aims to ensure that policies, laws, programmes and other activities are designed and implemented to benefit all and remove barriers that prevent disadvantaged groups from enjoying the same rights, opportunities and benefits as the rest of society. The ultimate objective of equality mainstreaming is to achieve equality.”

cross-posted from: https://belgae.social/post/1289387

It’s sickening enough that they use Twitter without so much as a free-world mirror. Even more in our faces when the DG MOVE (the commission’s transport branch) repeatedly references Twitter in their biennial report (linked). Note as well that the report itself is exclusively reachable only to clearnet users. Everyone else must rely on archive.org for a copy.

Sample paragraph:

“All of these key developments were accompanied by external communication activities, in particular via DG MOVE’s X account, newsletter and website, with the aim to reach relevant stakeholders and multipliers. Under objective 3, these activities focused in particular on the revised TEN-T regulation, which reached a very high number of stakeholders and citizens on social media (274900 impressions on DG MOVE’s social media alone), the Passenger Mobility Package and its new online communication campaign for 2023-2024, to raise awareness of about EU passenger rights.”

In other words, if you want to be kept informed about your EU passenger rights, then lick Elon’s boots. We need to get to a point where licking Elon’s boots is an embarrassment. They are proudly counting the numbers of people they reach. We need to get them to count people who are excluded (as Mastodon excludes no one).

The EU has an unmonitored non-interactive Mastodon account, but that only mirrors general EU content, not DG NOVE specifically.

Also w.r.t. transparency, there is this:

“Digital Culture, and in particular Collaboration and communication was further improved by the migration to SharePoint online.”

Sharepoint is Microsoft garbage that is not open to public access.

Regarding the question of legality-- the EU has open data laws, which IIUC entails making publications accessible to everyone. I suppose I need to get to the bottom of that but my suspicion is that publishing something exclusively on Twitter and thus blocking all who don’t lick Elon’s boots is illegal. Otherwise, it certainly should be illegal.

Here is the original report.

Russia has planned or carried out at least 151 hostile operations in Europe since invading Ukraine in February 2022, according to a report by the Netherlands-based International Center for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) this week.

The figure includes only cases in which completed investigations or available evidence allow responsibility to be “confidently” attributed to Moscow, the report said. As a result, incidents are often identified and added to the tally with significant delay.

“As such, it is reasonable to assume that the actual number of incidents, particularly in the most recent period investigated, is likely higher,” the authors wrote.

German security agencies alone recorded 320 suspected sabotage attempts in 2025, including repeated sightings of unidentified drones near airports and military facilities, though conclusively identifying those responsible remains difficult, the report said.

Similar drone incursions have been reported across Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and the Baltic states.

[...]

Swedish military said on Friday that a Russian drone had flown unauthorized off the coast of southern Sweden while a French aircraft carrier was docked in the port of Malmo.

French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is in Malmo this week to take part in regular NATO exercise activities.

The incident comes as the Baltic Sea has become a hotspot in ongoing tensions between Russia and the NATO alliance countries, with nearby countries having reported numerous drone sightings in recent months, some of which have been blamed on Russia.

Swedish vessel 'neutralized' drone

This week's suspected Russian drone was detected by a Swedish naval vessel, which authorities have said they found to be taking off from a Russian signals intelligence ship in the Oresund strait, a waterway that separates Sweden from Denmark.

The Swedish naval vessel reportedly took countermeasures to jam the drone.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot addressed the issue while in Malmo on Friday, telling journalists that if Russian involvement was confirmed, "the only conclusion I would draw is that it would be a ridiculous provocation."

"The drone was neutralized away from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and in no way was the security of the aircraft carrier and its group threatened by this," Barrot added.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/41704507

European Citizens' Initiative

Demand the full suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement in view of Israel’s violations of human rights.

Justice for Palestine is a grassroots European Citizens’ Initiative calling on the EU to suspend the EU–Israel Association Agreement and end complicity in genocide and human rights violations.

https://www.justiceforpalestine.eu/

The following is a copypaste from a Mastodon post by @frida@camp.smolnet.org that I've linked above.

The EU is working on what is in essence a new Open Source strategy for Europe, and the call for evidence is now open. This is our cue to provide feedback and input to the strategy!

If you are involved in the Open Source community in any way, if you benefit (or could benefit) in any way from Open Source, or if you're simply interested in questions about digital sovereignty, please visit https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/16213-European-Open-Digital-Ecosystems_en for details on how to contribute.