No way! A European Citizens' Initiative to (1) tax millionaires to (2) finance a Green New Deal via EU Commission own funds, and (3) whose proponents are (check notes) the president of the Belgian Socialist Party, a Polish former Employment and Social Inclusion Commissioner and Thomas Piketty (@pikettylemonde), possibly the world's most prominent scholar of inequality.
🚆 New train service 🇮🇹 Rome – 🇩🇪 Munich and 🇮🇹 Milan – 🇩🇪 Munich, with a possible extension to Berlin;
🚆 New night train service 🇫🇷 Paris – 🇮🇹 Milan – 🇮🇹 Venice;
🚆 New train service 🇩🇪 Munich – 🇨🇭 Zurich.
We’re supporting these and 7 more pilot cross-border train connections across Europe!
Earlier this year, we announced we’re supporting ten pilot cross-border rail services, connecting more cities and shaping the future of train mobility, including:
🚆 Connecting 🇭🇺 Hungary, 🇦🇹 Austria and 🇷🇴 Romania;
🚆 New night train service 🇫🇷 Paris – 🇮🇹 Milan – 🇮🇹 Venice;
🚆 New service 🇩🇪 Munich – 🇨🇭 Zurich;
🚆 New night train service 🇳🇱 Amsterdam – 🇪🇸 Barcelona.
So, what exactly did Apple break in the EU 🇪🇺? A new blog post in which I analyze the current situation for Home Screen Web Apps on iOS 17.4 in the European Union.
EU Parliament adopts Right to Repair law with broad support
The European Parliament endorsed a beefed-up ‘right to repair’ law with a large majority on Tuesday (21 November), setting its position before negotiations with the Council representing the 27 EU countries.
No Bing, no Edge, no upselling: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon
Residents of the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, will soon experience less intrusive Microsoft services on their Windows 11 systems. This is in response to the European Commission's Digital Markets Act.
The flagship #Misskey instance is experiencing growing pains, but is also discouraging #Fediverse residents in #Europe (or rather the #EuropeanUnion 🇪🇺) from signing up due to #GDPR issues.
👉🏾 Misskey (https://misskey.io) signing up 20,000 new users per day
👉🏾 After consulting lawyers, Misskey.io will now discourage Europeans from signing up
👉🏾 #Firefish could fill in the vacuum in Europe
It’s time to wind down the reliance on fossil fuels.
Wind energy is renewable and abundantly available in the EU and its industry creates economic growth and green jobs.
This is why today we proposed a Wind Power Action Plan to maintain wind power a European success story.
It will:
→ speed up permitting procedure for projects on wind energy
→ help the industry access finance
→ ensure a fair international environment for our companies
→ train skilled workers
👉🏾 @EDPS announced EU voice is closing
👉🏾 @EU_Commission has 100,000 followers
👉🏾 #EuropeanCommission social #ActivityPub account will primarily be on Threads
👉🏾 EU Voice should ask citizens & local businesses in #Europe for instance funding help
It happened with the mail; it may happen soon with money.
We welcome the political agreement reached by the EU Council and the European Parliament on our proposal to make instant payments in euros available to all #EU citizens and businesses at no extra cost.
The new rules will also increase trust in #euro instant payments and make sanctions screening more efficient.
Deal on EU trash export ban hailed as end of ‘waste colonialism’
Environmental groups have applauded a landmark political agreement reached at the EU level last month to ban the export of waste for disposal both inside and outside of Europe, saying it puts an end to “waste colonialism” from rich nations.
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp may need to
overhaul how they collect the data of users in Europe after the top EU court ruled against parent company Meta on Tuesday.
Every time I look at the drawers of 'put away' items, especially old cell phones and tablets, I see still-functioning devices that could continue to serve a purpose. Take, for example, the old Motorola phone my mother discarded due to years without security updates. I believe it's no less efficient than an old Raspberry PI - it even has a screen, good built-in WiFi, various sensors, a camera, etc. Yet, this Android terminal has been abandoned since 2018, and I feel quite insecure running software on it.
The European Union, often too focused on bureaucracy and not enough on the real world, did make progress with USB-C. It would be wonderful if they could mandate manufacturers to open up their devices once they are abandoned. I dream of being able to install an updated OpenSource OS (not necessarily *BSD, but at least Linux) detached from Android, or at least an AOSP version of Android, without resorting to questionable binaries from XDA.
Essentially saying: 'You've bought my device, I won’t update it anymore, but since the hardware still works, you're on your own but you can keep it running.'
My drawers are full of high-quality, still usable but abandoned devices. I'd rather use my old Huawei as a surveillance camera (which now has outdated and unupdated software) than any device sending my images to obscure clouds in countries with questionable laws.
I'm considering starting a petition – not sure if there are any yet, will do some research – but I'm fairly certain it won't lead to much. Planned obsolescence is a concept too ingrained in today's technology, and there are too many interests behind it.
Today, we requested information from Amazon on how it meets its obligations under our Digital Services Act to protect consumers online and regarding risk assessments, including:
🔸 the dissemination of illegal products and the protection of fundamental rights;
🔹 compliance of recommender systems with the relevant provisions of the #DSA.
Failure to reply by the deadline could lead to the imposition of periodic penalty payments.
“Europeans preferred to do nothing rather than confront uncomfortable realities… They now have nine months to prepare for [Trump leaving NATO and causing domestic chaos]”
The European Union has agreed on new rules to have cleaner air and zero pollution by 2050. The bloc wants to introduce stricter limits for particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and other harmful pollutants.
Might under 30's manage to escape the travel problems of Brexit?
Well the European Commission certainly hopes so... and of course, behind this may be a hope of further enhancing support by the young for closer relations with the EU (reversing some of the nonsenses of Brexit?)