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Euronews
5 days ago
- Business
- Euronews
Eight EU countries still missing cyber rules for critical sectors
Bulgaria, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden have all yet to adopt cybersecurity rules for critical sectors almost a year after an EU deadline, according to the latest data, meaning they face potential legal action. The Network and Information Security Directive 2 (NIS2), which was approved back in 2022 aims to protect critical entities, such as energy, transport, banking, water and digital infrastructures, against major cyber incidents. Countries had to transpose the rules into national legislation by 17 October last year. The EU executive began an infringement procedure in May against 19 member states for failing to adopt the rules. The countries had two months to take the necessary measures, or else face referral to the EU Court of Justice. Eleven member states have now done the work, but the remaining eight face potential further Commission action. A spokesperson for the institution told Euronews that the Commission is 'monitoring member states' replies" and 'once assessed, will propose either closure or in the absence of a satisfactory response [...] next steps of the infringement procedure.' Under NIS2, companies need to issue a warning within 24 hours and deliver an incident report within 72 hours in case of incidents that cause serious operational disruptions. In case of non-compliance, companies face fines up to €10 million, or 2% of worldwide revenue, whichever is higher. In December, the Commission will present an 'omnibus' simplification package in a bid to identify reporting obligations in existing digital legislation that can be cut to ease pressure on enterprises, particularly SMEs. Cyber rules are expected to be part of that.
The Journal
01-08-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
Italy gets slap on the wrist over plans to deport asylum seekers to Albanian detention centres
THE EU'S TOP court has backed Italian judges who questioned a list of 'safe countries' drawn up by the Italian government to deport International Protection applicants to detention centres in Albania. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's plan to outsource processing of asylum seekers to a non-European Union country and speed up deportations has been closely scrutinised by others in the EU. The costly scheme has been frozen for months by legal challenges. Italian magistrates have cited the European court's decision that EU states cannot designate an entire country as 'safe' when certain regions are not. In its ruling published today, the EU Court of Justice did not contest Italy's right to designate so-called 'safe countries of origin'. 'However, a Member State may not include a country in the list of safe countries of origin if that country does not offer adequate protection to its entire population,' it ruled. It said the sources of information on which the government's 'safe country' designation is based should be accessible both to the defendant and to courts. In the case considered by the court, two Bangladeshi nationals taken to an Albanian migrant centre were denied the possibility of 'challenging and reviewing the lawfulness of such a presumption of safety'. 'A member state may not designate as a 'safe' country of origin a third country which does not satisfy, for certain categories of persons, the material conditions for such a designation,' it said. Advertisement Italy's 'safe country' list included Egypt, Bangladesh and Tunisia, where human rights groups have documented abuses against minorities. Italy's government said the court was 'claiming powers that do not belong do it, in the face of responsibilities that are political'. Meloni and her Albanian counterpart Edi Rama signed the deal in November 2023. Under the plan, Italy would finance and operate detention centres designed to fast-track the processing of asylum seekers from 'safe' countries, and therefore unlikely to be eligible for asylum. Several people have been sent to the centres from October last year but they have been sent back to Italy after judges ruled they did not meet the criteria to be detained there. Italy responded by modifying its 'safe' list but judges ruled twice more against subsequent detentions and referred the issue to the ECJ. The court noted, however that European law will change in June 2026, allowing 'exceptions for such clearly identifiable categories of persons.' © AFP 2025 Need more clarity and context on how migration is being discussed in Ireland? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to finding good information online. Visit Knowledge Bank
The Journal
01-08-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
Budapest mayor questioned by police for defying government to hold Pride parade
THE MAYOR OF Budapest has been questioned as a suspect by the city's police for having organised the city's Pride parade in June, which authorities tried to ban as part of a series of regressive policies targeting LGBTQ+ rights. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his far-right government have enacted legislation restricting freedom of assembly and penalising visibility of LGBTQ+ related content, which it used this summer to ban the 30th annual Pride parade in Budapest and threaten attendees with fines or imprisonment. Despite the threats hanging over Budapest's LGBTQ+ community, the parade went ahead and was the largest the city has ever seen as more than 200,000 participants turned out to demand equality under the law. Budapest's left-wing mayor Gergely Karácsony took over the running of the parade in the weeks leading up to it, arguing that a municipal event would fall outside the scope of the government's ban – though police, following the government's orders, threatened him with imprisonment . Karácsony wore a T-shirt featuring Budapest's coat of arms with rainbow colours as he arrived for questioning this morning, where he was held for over an hour. Speaking after he was released, Karácsony said that police 'described the accusation' and that he told them he 'considered this to be unfounded and that [he] will lodge a complaint against it'. Advertisement An estimated 200,000 people attended the Budapest Pride parade at the end of June despite the Hungarian government's attempts to ban it. Martin Fejer / Alamy Martin Fejer / Alamy / Alamy Supporters gathered outside the building to show their support for Karácsony and LGBTQ+ rights. Addressing the crowd, Karácsony said that Budapest Pride showed that 'neither freedom nor love can be banned in Budapest'. If Karácsony is charged and convicted, he could spend up to a year in prison as an organiser of the protest. Ahead of the parade, authorities said that attendees identified as taking part could be fined up to €500 and organisers could face imprisonment of up to a year. Police later said that they will not take action against participants but that they had launched an investigation against an 'unknown perpetrator' for organising the event. 'Deviating from democracy' The efforts by Hungary's government to chip away at human rights have raised significant concerns about the state of liberal democracy in the country. Some observers have also said the targeting of the LGBTQ+ community appears to be a tactic by Orbán to curry favour among his hardline supporters ahead of an expected election next year. A formal legal opinion from an EU Court of Justice Advocate General in June outlined that Hungary's anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is infringing on the treaty that sets out the EU's fundamental principles of human dignity and equality . Hungary has 'significantly deviated from the model of a constitutional democracy', the legal opinion stated. Related Reads With fear and courage, Hungarians are refusing to let their government beat them down Budapest mayor threatened with imprisonment as he defies police to host Pride parade The last few years have been a distressing time to be LGBTQ+ in Hungary – though in the face of the government's repressive policies, the sense of community has in many ways been strengthened, not weakened, as people come together to stand up for their rights . The issue has also received international attention, with many politicians from abroad travelling to Budapest last month to attend the Pride parade. Among them were Irish MEPs Maria Walsh and Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and TD Roderic O'Gorman , while former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was in the city earlier that week for a conference on protecting LGBTQ+ rights. Additional reporting by AFP Have you been wondering why debates on transgender issues are so prevalent at the moment? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for background and essential reads about changes in society. Visit Knowledge Bank Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
RTÉ News
01-08-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Ireland fined €1.5m by EU for flexible work law delays
The EU Court of Justice has ordered Ireland to pay €1.54 million to the European Commission over delays in introducing laws allowing for flexible and remote working. The Commission referred Ireland to the court in January 2024 for failing to fully transpose an EU directive on work-life balance rights for parents and carers. The Commission asked the court to impose financial sanctions on Ireland. The EU Work-Life Balance Directive, adopted in 2019, is designed to enable working parents to better reconcile professional and private lives. The Commission first sent a letter of formal notice to Ireland in September 2022 over concerns that it had not yet fully transposed the directive. In subsequent correspondence in 2023, Ireland confirmed that the Work Life Balance Act had been enacted, but that a code of practice on the right to request remote or flexible working was still in the process of being drawn up. Taking the view that Ireland had still not complied with its obligations, the Commission brought the action to the EU Court of Justice in January 2024. In March 2024, the Government brought the right to request remote or flexible work into operation and published a code of practice which was drawn up by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). Following this, the Government informed the Commission that the transposition of the directive could now be considered complete. Consequently, the Commission withdrew its request to impose an additional penalty payment. Ireland was accused of failing to fully transpose the directive for a period of 581 days, from the deadline for transposition in August 2022, to the time the Government met its obligations in March 2024. Today, the EU Court of Justice found that Ireland had failed to fulfil its obligations under the directive. The Government has been ordered to pay to the European Commission a lump sum in the amount of €1.54 million.
Euractiv
17-07-2025
- Health
- Euractiv
Bulgaria's telemedicine proposal sparks backlash over state monopoly
The Bulgarian government is facing strong criticism from legal experts and medical professionals over a draft regulation that aims to formalise telemedicine but limits its development by mandating the use of a single, state-run communication platform. In late June, the Bulgarian health ministry unveiled a draft ordinance to regulate remote medical services in the country. Instead of garnering support, the proposal drew fierce opposition from doctors, patients, and legal experts, who argue that the regulation introduces technical and organisational requirements that are nearly impossible to fulfil. Under the proposed rules, all remote consultations between patients and doctors, or between medical professionals, would have to be conducted exclusively through the National Health Information System (NHIS), a state-run digital infrastructure. According to Velichka Kostadinova, a lawyer specialised in medical law, this creates a de facto monopoly that could violate EU internal market rules. 'Requiring telemedicine to function solely via the state system contradicts EU legislation because it restricts competition and the free movement of services,' Kostadinova told Euractiv. Low quality and high cost concerns Kostadinova cited EU Court of Justice case law classifying medical services under Article 57 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which guarantees the freedom to provide services across the bloc. 'If the system crashes, there's no alternative. That means a complete shutdown of telemedicine, which could also disrupt cross-border cooperation in the EU, especially in light of the upcoming MyHealth@EU platform,' she warned. Critics argue that such centralisation will stifle innovation and lead to reduced quality of care. 'Instead of making access to healthcare easier, we are effectively blocking it,' said Kostadinova. 'We risk reaching the absurd point where doctors can't communicate with their patients-not by phone, not through secure electronic platforms.' Senior officials from Sofia-based hospitals, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Euractiv that the technical requirements proposed by the state would be prohibitively expensive. Hospitals would be required to set up private, offline computer networks and ensure secure data storage across two physically distant servers. While larger hospitals may be able to shoulder the investment, these conditions are deemed unworkable for doctors in private practice. 'No general practitioner can meet these demands unless they have a bunker filled with advanced tech,' said one Sofia-based GP. 'This goes beyond what is reasonable,' she said. The draft does include some positive provisions, such as mandatory informed consent from patients and a clear list of medical procedures that cannot be performed remotely, like surgery or the declaration of death. Legal challenges and obscurities However, the requirement to use only one communication platform is not stipulated in law, Kostadinova noted. The health minister has the authority to define technical standards for remote care, but not to mandate a single channel for its provision. This opens the door for a potential legal challenge to the ordinance. Despite the growing role of digital technology in healthcare, the proposed regulation seems to add barriers rather than removing them, observers say. Other EU countries, including France, Germany, Sweden, Greece, and Romania, allow the use of multiple certified platforms, provided they meet national legal requirements. Authorisation procedures in these countries vary depending on whether the platform employs doctors or simply connects them with patients, and whether services are reimbursed by national health insurance or paid out-of-pocket. But no other EU country has imposed a single-channel restriction. 'There's still no clarity in Bulgaria on who will pay for telemedicine, how, and when,' Kostadinova said. Tanya Andreeva, a paediatric rheumatologist, told Euractiv that current practice makes even basic online communication between doctors and patients legally dubious. 'I'm not even talking about telemedicine platforms. Patients can't send me a blood test over Viber. If I try to help without charging them, I'm breaking the rules,' Andreeva said. 'If someone checks my phone, filled with images of children's rashes and lab results, I could be accused of being the country's biggest violator.' Health ministry reaction In its defence, the health ministry argues that the regulation aims to establish clear rules and align the quality standards of remote medical care with those of in-person treatment. 'Given the rising role of telemedicine, this is a timely step to harmonise with EU trends and WHO recommendations,' the ministry said in the explanatory note to the draft ordinance. While the EU has not yet adopted binding rules on telemedicine, the European Commission and the World Health Organisation have long recognised its strategic importance. Since the Commission's 2008 Communication on telemedicine and in its more recent 'Digital Compass 2030' strategy, remote healthcare has been framed as a pillar of accessible and sustainable health systems. The health ministry maintains that its proposal follows guidelines by focusing on universal access, safety, and equality of care. However, critics say the country risks falling behind its EU peers in realising the full potential of telemedicine. [Edited by Vasiliki Angouridi, Brian Maguire]
