Europe

Tensions between Moldova and Russia ratcheted up on Monday after Moldova's decision to expel three Russian diplomats on Monday.

The Moldovan Foreign Ministry declared the three "persona non grata" and ordered them to leave, saying there was "clear evidence'' of actions that violated their diplomatic responsibilities.

Russia's Foreign Ministry pledged to take retaliatory measures, though it has not specified what those might be.

[...]

The immediate trigger for Moldova's expulsion of Russian diplomats was the case of Alexander Nesterovschii, a member of parliament aligned with pro-Russian interests.

Nesterovschii was sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison after being convicted of illegally funding a political party linked to Ilan Shor — a fugitive businessman and former lawmaker.

Shor, who fled Moldova after being implicated in one of the country's largest bank fraud scandals, has since aligned himself with Kremlin-friendly causes.

[...]

President Maia Sandu condemned what she described as direct interference in Moldova's judicial system.

"Interference by the Russian Federation with the judicial system of the Republic of Moldova is unacceptable,'' she said in a radio interview. "Imagine if Moldova interfered with justice in Russia.''

Moldova's pro-European government has frequently accused Russia of attempts to destabilize the country as it seeks closer ties with the European Union. Moldova aims to join the EU by 2030 and was granted candidate status in 2022.

[...]

Archived

On April 1st, 2025, Finland officially closed the Salmisaari coal power plant in Helsinki, marking an essential moment in the country’s energy history

By doing this, Finland lowered its reliance on coal for power generation to below 1%, an achievement that reached four years ahead of schedule.

The closure is part of other efforts by the Finnish government to phase out coal completely by 2029, transitioning to cleaner and more sustainable energy sources, primarily wind power.

A Cyprus court’s acquittal of five men accused of abducting and raping a British woman in the resort of Ayia Napa has been met with outrage as calls mount for the verdict to be challenged.

Dismissing the charges on Monday, the three-member district court in Paralimni ruled the testimony of the 20-year-old had not been credible because it “lacked coherence and contained numerous substantial contradictions”. The defendants, Israelis aged between 19 and 20, claimed sexual contact with the woman had been consensual.

But her lawyer, Michael Polak, described the assertion as absurd. “The young lady in this case is gay, any suggestion that she voluntarily agreed to group sex with men she had never met before, who were speaking in a different language, is ridiculous,” he told the Guardian. “She has been left completely distraught by the court’s verdict today. It was one of the hardest phone calls I have ever had to make.”

In February, another British woman who also claimed she had been gang-raped in Ayia Napa by more than a dozen Israeli men in July 2019 won a “monumental victory” over Cypriot authorities after the Strasbourg-based tribunal ruled they had “failed in their obligation to effectively investigate the applicant’s complaint of rape”.

Archived

According to investigators, a drone believed to be of Russian origin flew over the JRC facility [the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, JRC, in Ispra, northern Italy. ] - one of the EU’s largest research centers after Brussels and Luxembourg - five times over a period of six days last month. The facility first raised the alarm on Friday, prompting heightened scrutiny from Italian authorities.

Sources close to the investigation revealed that radio frequencies detected by JRC monitoring systems were “traceable to a Russian source.”

The drone was identified using radiofrequency detection technology, and investigators confirmed that the signals matched those associated with Russian-made devices. However, key details remain unclear: the drone’s design suggests it was not built for long-distance travel, indicating it was likely operated from a nearby location.

[...]

Beyond the immediate investigation, [an Italian lawmaker] called for a broader European response, emphasizing that the security of EU research centers cannot be taken for granted. "This is not just an issue for Italy; it concerns the entire European Union. Our strategic research facilities must be adequately protected against foreign interference,” he stated.

[...]

A US think tank that recently opened a Brussels office to lobby for aggressively lower taxes is received with open arms by the Commission. But who is behind the organisation, and who funds it? The Transparency Register fails to reveal dark money flows – in the Tax Foundation’s case from US right-wing libertarian sources – and as such clearly needs a make-over.

“Europe has not started this confrontation,” Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Union’s executive, said in a speech. “We do not necessarily want to retaliate but, if it is necessary, we have a strong plan to retaliate and we will use it.”

Finland plans to withdraw from the Ottawa convention banning anti-personnel landmines

Poland and the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said last month they will withdraw from the convention

Source can be downloaded from the EU website: https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/api/deliverable/download/file?deliverableId=97983

It's linked to on this page (near the bottom in the "infographics" section): https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/3492

In a powerful and emotionally charged speech at the European Parliament, President Ursula von der Leyen declares the European Union is prepared to take strong, united measures against rising U.S. tariffs. She makes it clear: Europe didn’t start this confrontation—but it’s ready to respond with strength and strategy. From defending our Single Market to forming new global alliances, this is a pivotal moment for Europe’s economic future. Watch now to see how the EU plans to stand up and fight back.

https://archive.ph/vVAXu

Meta is worried that the expected DMA ruling against Meta’s “pay or consent” model could impact its European revenue, which accounts for almost a quarter of its overall earnings, by forcing the company to allow European users to limit personalized ads on Facebook and Instagram for free.

https://archive.ph/GQfMT

The article title is a bit of a misnomer because apparently they only surveyed western Europeans rather than people across Europe. But still it's interesting.

These survey results appear in the article:

Berlin’s immigration authorities are moving to deport four young foreign residents on allegations related to participation in protests against Israel’s war on Gaza, an unprecedented move that raises serious concerns over civil liberties in Germany.

The deportation orders, issued under German migration law, were made amid political pressure and over internal objections from the head of the state of Berlin’s immigration agency.

The internal strife arose because three of those targeted for deportation are citizens of European Union member states who normally enjoy freedom of movement between E.U. countries. None of the four has been convicted of any crimes.

“What we’re seeing here is straight out of the far right’s playbook,” said Alexander Gorski, a lawyer representing two of the protesters. “You can see it in the U.S. and Germany, too: Political dissent is silenced by targeting the migration status of protesters.”

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.01-033748/https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/europe-turkey-alliance-defense-trump-2c85217b

Turkey’s suppression of democratic opposition would have elicited strong protests from Europe in the past. But now, the worst rift in trans-Atlantic relations in generations and the growing threat from Russia are trumping those concerns.

With the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s second-largest army and a robust defense industry, Turkey is crucial for European security at a time when President Trump’s administration is seeking a broad accommodation with the Kremlin and is treating its European allies with open hostility.

As European leaders started planning security cooperation without the U.S. following the disastrous White House meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, senior Turkish officials took pride of place. The European Union’s new white paper on defense, which outlines Europe’s massive rearmament drive, has named Turkey—alongside the U.K., Norway and Canada—as a key partner in ensuring European security.

https://archive.ph/v8Vlf

The conservatives of incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz and their likely center-left coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), have agreed to demand the bloc withhold funds and suspend voting rights from countries that violate key principles such as the rule of law, according to a draft coalition agreement seen by POLITICO.

While Hungary wasn’t mentioned by name, the draft agreement is clearly referring to the EU’s worst offender, which for years has been accused of taking a wrecking ball to democratic norms, curtailing the freedom of the press and restricting the independence of judges.

There is real competition" from China in particular, she cautioned, hailing that the giant FCC "project is absolutely on the good track" and urging states to release the funding needed to move forward.

With an average depth of 200 meters (660 feet), the tunnel would accommodate a particle accelerator that would be more than three times the length of CERN's existing Large Hadron Collider, currently the largest of its kind.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the conscription of 160,000 into military service.

The decree, which was reported by news agency Interfax and also published on the government website for legal announcements, says conscription applies to all citizens aged between 18 and 30 and covers the period from April to July.

Paywall? https://archive.is/cBXlo

A French court has found far-right leader Marine Le Pen guilty of misusing EU funds to pay staff from her National Rally party between 2004 and 2016 and followed up the verdict on Monday with a sentence barring her from running for office immediately, possibly dashing her political ambitions of standing in the next presidential race.

STOCKHOLM, March 31 (Reuters) - Sweden announced a new military aid package to Ukraine worth 16 billion crowns ($1.59 billion) on Monday, the biggest package to date from the Nordic country, saying it wanted to help Kyiv strengthen its position in talks on ending the war.

The bulk of the package, nine billion crowns, will consist of new equipment that will be purchased in processes led by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, Defence Minister Pal Jonson told a press conference.