The European Commission will propose to member states that they encourage companies to establish one mandatory remote working day for workers and that public buildings be closed "when possible", as reported by the newspaper El País and confirmed by ARA. In the package of measures to alleviate the energy crisis caused by the war in Iran, Brussels also advocates for administrations to reduce public transport prices and for them to be free for certain groups.

European justice once again rules against Spain for the abuse of long-term temporary staff in public administrations throughout the State. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled this Tuesday that the measures provided for by Spanish legislation to sanction and compensate the "abusive use" of these workers in the public sector are insufficient. Specifically, the Luxembourg court concludes that measures such as the transformation of these temporary contracts into an indefinite but not permanent employment relationship, the payment of compensation to the worker at the time of contract termination, or the call for selection processes that take into account the worker's previous experience do not remedy the fact that Spanish regulations violate EU law.

Ursula von der Leyen wants to avoid more potential cases like Viktor Orbán's. The acting Prime Minister of Hungary has continuously blocked measures that have broad consensus in the European Union, especially those related to helping Ukraine and sanctioning Russia. The fact that unanimity is mandatory for processing foreign policy measures has given the far-right, pro-Russian leader the opportunity to single-handedly veto regulations that the rest of the European partners wanted to approve. For this reason, after the victory of the conservative Péter Magyar in the Hungarian elections, the President of the European Commission has advocated for removing unanimity in fields such as foreign affairs.

The European Union celebrates the defeat of Viktor Orbán and the victory of Péter Magyar. Community leaders and those from a large part of the member states took only a few minutes to react to the definitive results of the Hungarian elections. One of the most enthusiastic was the President of the European Commission herself, who tweeted unusually quickly and euphorically. "Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary. A country reclaims its European path. The Union becomes stronger," wrote the German conservative.

The European Union celebrates the defeat of Viktor Orbán and the victory of Péter Magyar. Community leaders and those from a good part of the member states took only a few minutes to react to the definitive results of the Hungarian elections. One of the most enthusiastic was the President of the European Commission herself, who tweeted unusually quickly and euphorically. "Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary. A country claims its European path. The Union becomes stronger," wrote the German conservative.

Viktor Orbán has become the Trojan horse and the eternal stumbling block for the European Union. He is the main ally of Vladimir Putin's regime – also of the Trump administration – and the great leader of the hardest and most Eurosceptic far-right in the community club. For this reason, in the European institutions, Orbán's electoral defeat, predicted by the polls, is eagerly awaited. However, optimism is moderate. Not only because obviously one does not want to claim victory until the electoral results arrive, but also due to the skepticism aroused by his main opponent, Péter Magyar, who leads the polls. Several diplomatic sources consulted by ARA doubt to what extent Magyar would restore European democratic standards in Hungary and, above all, whether he would break ties with Moscow to unequivocally rally behind Kyiv.

The housing crisis affects the entire European Union, but especially member states like Spain. Spain is the fourth EU country where the prices of flats and houses increased the most during the fourth quarter of last year compared to the same period in 2024: by 12.9%. The rate is more than double that recorded by the 27 member states of the European bloc, which stood at 5.5%, according to the report published this Tuesday by Eurostat, the EU's statistical office.

The European Commission continues to put pressure on technology and web platforms. Brussels announced this Thursday that the pornographic websites XVideos, XNXX, PornHub, and Stripchat are in breach of European regulations on child protection and digital matters. In a preliminary investigation, the Community executive accuses them of not implementing effective measures to prevent minors from accessing their portals. If these companies do not implement reforms, the European Commission can impose multi-million euro fines.

The alliance of the right and the far-right in the European Parliament is consolidating, especially on migration matters. The European People's Party (EPP) has approved, with the votes of the far-right MEPs, the reform that will allow camps in countries outside the European Union to deport immigrants there. Its promoter is the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who has already set them up in Albania, and it has majority support in the European Commission and among member states. The only major European Union country that voted against it is Spain.

One hot and one cold. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte usually has kind words for Pedro Sánchez's government because it has substantially increased military spending, while at the same time reminding him that it will have to continue increasing it at forced marches. Thus, at the press conference for the annual report on the military capabilities of the Atlantic Alliance, the Dutch leader congratulated Spain for increasing its defense spending from 1.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024 to 2% last year, although he reminded him that to meet NATO's security objectives, it will have to progressively increase this rate, reaching 3.5% by 2035.

The constant threats from Donald Trump against the European Union have caused the European Parliament to postpone the vote to validate the European bloc's trade agreement with the United States three times. Finally, however, after pressure from member states and the White House, the Eurochamber validated the pact this Thursday with 417 votes in favor, 154 against, and 71 abstentions.

French justice will investigate former Frontex director and National Rally MEP Fabrice Leggeri for complicity in crimes against humanity and torture for having carried out a "migrant hunt"The French representative, who was one of the star recruits of the far-right party led by Marine Le Pen in the previous European elections, headed the European Border and Coast Guard Agency—known as Frontex—between January 2015 and April 2022. Leggeri was repeatedly accused by several non-profit organizations of tolerating illegal pushbacks of migrants and gained a reputation for cracking down on people trying to enter the European Union. In fact, he resigned in the spring of 2022 precisely because of these accusations. However, it is only now that the French justice system has agreed to have an investigating judge look into the complaints filed by the French Human Rights League (LDH) against the far-right MEP, according to judicial sources speaking to the French news agency AFP.

Viktor Orbán's government continues toaccumulate controversies against the European Union in the midst of the pre-election campaign. Brussels has asked Budapest for explanations regarding the information published by the American newspaper. The Washington PostThe report claims that the Hungarian government is instantly relaying information about high-level meetings held at European institutions to Moscow. "This is very worrying. Trust and relations between member states and institutions are fundamental to the work of the European Union, and we expect the Hungarian government to provide us with clarification," said Anitta Hipper, spokesperson for the European Commission, at a press conference.

Final report by European experts on the major blackout in the Iberian Peninsula. Almost a year after the incident, a study by the European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E) concluded that the blackout of April 28th of last year was due to "multiple interconnected factors," including "cascade generators" and "overvoltages." The report, which involved 45 experts, reiterates that voltage is the energy level and must be maintained within certain limits. In this regard, they point out that a classic cause of a blackout is a voltage drop due to an imbalance between supply and demand. In the case of the major blackout, the reason for this imbalance was multifactorial, according to the study released this Friday by the European body. The European body's investigation indicates that the incident occurred in a matter of seconds after a rapid increase in voltage in the Iberian electrical system, which led to a chain reaction of power plant shutdowns, particularly those in the Iberian Peninsula. of renewables. "They operated with a fixed power factor and did not react to voltage changes," the report says.

Caution at the European Central Bank (ECB). Despite the Iran nuclear deal and rising fossil fuel prices, the ECB's Governing Council unanimously agreed at its meeting this Thursday not to change interest rates and keep them at 2%. sixth consecutive timeHowever, the president of the financial institution, Christine Lagarde, has opened the door to future interest rate hikes. The French leader warned that the Middle East conflict "has created upside risks to inflation and downside risks to economic growth," making the economic outlook "much more uncertain." "The war will have a significant impact on inflation in the short term due to rising energy prices," the ECB president noted at a press conference. However, the ECB has decided not to take action. "The Governing Council is well positioned to navigate this uncertainty," Lagarde assured. The institution emphasizes that inflation is currently under control, around the 2% target set by the bank itself, and asserts that expectations for price increases "in the longer term are firmly anchored and the economy has shown resilience in recent quarters."

It had been a while since Pedro Sánchez had seemed so comfortable in Brussels. He feels influential in European institutions by opposing the war in Iran, and capable of diverting attention from domestic problems, such as the lack of a budget. He knows that the European Union, although at first it seemed to be yielding to Donald Trump, has been gradually moving closer to its "No to war" stance and is increasingly distancing itself from the involvement in the conflict demanded by the White House. Following the same line as the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, the vast majority of leaders, to a greater or lesser extent, have asserted that "this is not Europe's war" and are increasingly openly accusing Trump of starting the conflict. The discourse adopted by Sánchez, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President António Costa, has been spreading among their counterparts. The consensus is once again—at least this week—that the European Union must defend international law and multilateralism.

The European Union wants to boost community business activity and increase their competitivenessEspecially in the face of powers like the United States or China. With this objective, Brussels has presented an initiative to allow Europeans to open a company that operates throughout the European Union in less than 48 hours, register online, for less than around €100, and without the requirement of a minimum share capital. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen explained that the regulation aims to eliminate barriers between national administrations within the European bloc and, therefore, make it easier for new companies to operate throughout the entire EU market from the outset. "Currently, European entrepreneurs who want to expand face 27 different legal systems and more than 60 national legal forms for companies," the German conservative stated at a press conference this Wednesday.

The Junts Guarantees Commission decided on February 2 to freeze the internal investigation into two complaints it received against Toni Comín for "psychological, sexual, and physical harassment", according to an internal party report to which ARA has had access. The body has opted to shelve the two cases, for at least four months for now, despite being aware of the European Parliament's resolution upholding the complaint for psychological and sexual harassment filed in the parliamentary chamber against the former Minister of Health by a former assistant. Furthermore, as confirmed by ARA with several Junts sources, the party handed over to the MEP the complaint filed by the alleged victims and "the accompanying documentation", such as "the writings in which each of them explains the facts" and also the confidential resolution of the European Parliament.

The European Parliament's investigation has sided with the former parliamentary assistant who accused Junts-elect MEP Toni Comín of sexual and psychological harassment. The European Parliament asserts that it has investigated and interviewed several "credible witnesses" who "confirm" the "allegations" reported by the worker parliamentarian, and claims he has "sufficient evidence" of "prima facie" which "justify" taking the case of the former regional minister in exile to court, according to a confidential resolution from the European Parliament to which ARA has had access. For his part, Comín asserts in this newspaper that he "has never been called" by the European Parliament "to explain the truth of the events," categorically denies "all the accusations," and warns that he "reserves the right to take legal action against those who are making false accusations with the intent to defame."

Most European allies are standing firm against Donald Trump and refusing to send a military mission to the Strait of Hormuz to keep it open. Following threats from the US president, who predicted a "very bad" future for NATO if European countries do not contribute, the majority of leaders of Europe's partners have spoken out against participation and are avoiding become more involved in the Iran war"This is not Europe's war," said the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, at the press conference following Monday's European Union Foreign Affairs Council meeting. At the entrance to the ministerial meeting, Kallas herself had proposed creating a European Union mission or the United Nations to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. One of the options the EU leader had proposed is modifying and expanding an existing mission, known as Operation Aspides, which aims to protect vessels in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks. The former Estonian prime minister even claimed to have already spoken with UN Secretary-General António Guterres.