News features

Following the opening of the world's largest solar power station at Alvarado, producing 50MW of power, Spain has now overtaken the US to become the biggest generator of solar energy. Spain's total solar output has now reached an impressive 432MW, roughly the equivalent of a nuclear power station. Last year, solar output met 2.8% of total demand in the country. In the northern region of Navarra, a highly impressive 75% of energy is now produced from renewable sources.

President Medvedev conducted a small reshuffle last week, which has been completely overlooked in the west, but which may represent a further marginalisation of Prime Minister Putin as the two men prepare to compete in upcoming Presidential elections in 2012.

Whilst the EU political elites struggle with the concept and processes of integration, at domestic level our communities are far from integrated. Politician and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell writes of a situation where political extremism not only creates tensions between communities, but also leads to domestic abuse within families. His words are shocking, but in the context of recently disturbing events in a number of EU states such as France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, they place the lofty aspirations of the EU into an altogether different context. The following article not only demonstrates the dangers that face a society that fails to grasp the importance of integration, but also highlights the absurdity of unchecked "political correctness".

The Green/EFA group in the European Parliament has published a study on the issue of "Carbon Leakage" in a world of unequal carbon prices.

The concept of carbon trading is a contentious one, and the study authored by Susanne Dröge and Simone Cooper has identified a number of problem areas.

Despite years of inertia that has seen the UK lag behind much of Europe, and indeed the world, in the field of renewable energy a major milestone has just been reached. Britain's offshore wind energy capacity has just reached 1 gigawatt.

Concerns about the dumbing down and politicisation of the media have begun to surface in the European Parliament.

The newly formed "media intergroup" met yesterday (Feb 2) to discuss, amongst other issues, the lack of independent reporting, and the closing down of many national and regional newspapers and journals.

MEPs and journalists vigorously debated the issues, in what promises to become one of the more controversial of the parliament's intergroups.

Last week, Jerzy Buzek received a telephone call from Hilary Clinton insisting that Parliament approve the transfer of bank data to the US to aid the "fight against terrorism".

As it became apparent that the MEPs would not play ball, last moment attempts were made to postpone the vote in plenary today, Feb 11th. Amid heated scenes, parliamentarians stood their ground as Joseph Daul led the call for a postponement.

One issue that never seems to go off the boil in the European Parliament is that of the labelling of food products. Today, the issue was debated in the EP's internal market committee, where MEPs chewed over the question of how much information should be put onto food packaging.

This journal has been mildly critical of two of the smaller groups in the European Parliament, the European Conservatives & Reformists (ECR) and the Europe of Freedom & Democracy (EFD), mainly because they have effectively marginalised the two centre-right British delegations by placing them on the periphery of EU politics. There has also been some speculation concerning the far-right backgrounds of certain members of both groups.

December 2009 saw EU staff members striking in anticipation of a coming pay battle. The European Commission is seeking an inflation-busting rise for staff and commissioners alike of 3.7%. Member states would like to limit the rise to 1.8%, mindful as they are of how such a rise would be perceived in countries suffering under the economic crisis.

The United States is absolutely right to reject Vladimir Putin's criticism of the proposed missile defence shield. Talk of "maintaining the balance" is misleading: Putin simply does not want his country to lose the one playable card it holds.

Speaking to journalists last week in Brussels, Edward McMillan-Scott pledged to "work alongside" the EPP group in the European parliament. He also reaffirmed his committment to human rights issues, highlighting his concerns about China in particular.

He left the conservative ECR group in protest at alleged far-right backgrounds of some of that group's members, and currently sits as a non-attached MEP, having lost the Tory whip.

However, the city has warmed to the project, with the environmental bene

British Spread-Betting millionaire, Stuart Wheeler, is best known for his generous donations to political parties. The £5 million he donated to the Conservative Party during the 2001 general election campaign is the largest such donation in history. He subsequently fell out with the Tory leadership over its position on the Lisbon Treaty, and switched his financial allegiance to the UK Independence Party, leading to his expulsion from the Conservatives.

The loss of the Aral sea was quite possibly the worst man-made environmental disaster in history. It is also a damning indictment of Soviet era policy and planning. But now there is cause for optimism, as the sea begins to recover, following completion of a dam project in 2005. Water levels are rising, salinity is dropping, and fish stocks are recovering to a level where cautious and low-level fishing will soon be viable.

Shale gas is natural gas produced from shale; it has become an increasingly more important source of natural gas in the United States over the past decade, and interest is spreading to potential gas shales in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

As results come in from yesterday's mid-term regional elections in Russia, one or two surprises are emerging.

The ruling United Russia  party, led by Vladimir Putin, is clearly ahead, as expected, but parties that would be considered "extremist" in the west have acheived some stunning results.

"Lustration" is an ancient word, meaning "purification". In post-Soviet Europe, however, it is used to describe the process of limiting, or even ending, the participation of former KGB operatives in government of civil service positions.

Today, in the European Parliament, we got to officially meet the newly elected Ukrainian President Yanukovich for the first time.

"This draft agreement cannot be called fair, as it lacks balance between developed and developing countries," Japanese representatives stated.