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Special report: Voice to the youth: Political participation in the EU and beyond. ←click here

Nov.28.– The EU is stepping up its efforts to promote civic engagement and political participation with a new initiative targeting young people in third countries through its Youth Action Plan.

The plan was first presented in October by the EU Commission in a bid to “increase the voice and leadership” of young people in decision-making within the bloc’s external action for 2022-2027.

This Monday (28 November), the EU Council agreed on conclusions on the new initiative and called on the Commission, the EU external action service and member states to “mainstream meaningful youth participation and engagement in international fora and at multilateral, regional, country and local level”.

Nov. 12.– The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the EU’s national Economic and Social Councils discussed at their annual meeting the integration of people fleeing the war in Ukraine, the EU’s open strategic autonomy and enhancing the EESC’s role following the Conference on the Future of Europe.

European organised civil society can and must contribute to providing an effective answer to the EU’s current geopolitical challenges, such as the integration of people fleeing the war in Ukraine and the need for a strategic autonomy.

Former Soviet states have become unlikely defenders of the rule of law.

Oct. 26.– In too many places around the world, freedom is denied. In theocracies such as Afghanistan and Iran, women lack the right to dress as they please. In countries from Myanmar to Sudan, juntas rule. And Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, has not only launched a lawless war against his neighbour, Ukraine, but clamped down further on his own people’s rights. Yet there are bright spots too—and some of these can be found on Mr. Putin’s doorstep (see chart).

This can be seen in a report published on October 26th by the World Justice Project, a charity based in Washington, DC. It draws on tens of thousands of responses from legal practitioners, local academics, and household surveys to produce the Rule of Law Index, a ranking of 140 countries and jurisdictions according to a series of indicators: constraints on government powers, the absence of corruption, fundamental rights, and criminal and civil justice.

NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg warned Russia Thursday not to cross "a very important line" of using nuclear weapons.

Both NATO and Russia are scheduled to hold nuclear exercises this month.

 Brussels, Oct. 14 (DP.net).– A meeting of NATO’s secretive Nuclear Planning Group was held among defense ministers in Brussels, as concerns deepen over Putin’s insistence that he will use any means necessary to defend Russian territory. NATO is believed to have warned its members about the possibility the Russian dictator may have decided to detonate a nuke on Ukraine's borders, in an escalation designed to terrify the West. A senior defense source, however, said that a more likely demonstration of Putin’s readiness to use nuclear weapons could come in the Black Sea, The Times of London reports.

Asked what NATO would do if Russia launched a nuclear attack, NATO General Secretary Stoltenberg said: “We will not go into exactly how we will respond, but of course, this will fundamentally change the nature of the conflict. It will mean that a very important line has been crossed.” He added that "even any use of a smaller nuclear weapon will be a very serious thing, fundamentally changing the nature of the war in Ukraine, and of course, that would have consequences."

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also warned Putin not to cross that threshold. “Any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer, not a nuclear answer but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian Army will be annihilated,” he said in a speech in Bruges, Belgium.