europe

Among the many, many things that the EU regulates, are a handful of little-known laws that have helped protect the UK countryside. They are called the Birds and Habitat Directives.

My colleagues - and friends - in Brazil spent two months placing GPS trackers on illegal loggers in the Amazon. It's dangerous - but it helps us expose their crimes to the world.

My colleagues - and friends - in Brazil spent two months placing GPS trackers on illegal loggers in the Amazon. It's dangerous - but it helps us expose their crimes to the world..

Every ten years the European Union’s set of laws on fishing, the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), gets an overhaul. Today sees that process get its final approval and rubber-stamping from Members of the European Parliament, as they formally approve the last piece of legislation. So it’s a good time to pause and take stock on what CFP reform means, and why this time round has been a game-changer.

Another day another attempt to kill a clean car law in its tracks.

Or so it seems. Because only the other week I wrote about the German government’s last ditch attempt to sabotage a law that will cut CO2 emissions from cars and provide 400,000 new jobs by 2030 across Europe. Now they're back with round two. No prizes for guessing that they’ve gone for stamina over originality.

Of all the shoulders to cry on, it might seem strange to pick the German Chancellor’s. But that’s what the German car association (VDA) did this week when its president Matthias Wissman wrote to her to moan that long-term targets for cleaner cars could strangle the car industry. He asked her to take a strong position against the regulations which are currently being debated in Brussels.