Almost 60% of experts sitting on the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) panels have direct or indirect links with industries regulated by the agency, according to an independent screening performed by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) and freelance journalist Stéphane Horel. The report “Unhappy Meal. The European Food Safety Authority's independence problem”identifies major loopholes in EFSA's indepen ...

After her re-election, Angela Merkel will again propose to the EU that the German economic model — thrift, probity, austerity and a formal partnership between employers and workers — should be the norm for all Europe. But that partnership, once  admired for its fairness, is failing. Now employers revel in local and global inequality. ...

Carlos Humberto de Carvalho, the mayor of Barreiro, is a straightforward and frank 62-year-old who has just won the Portuguese city’s municipal elections for the third time in a row — and with an absolute majority. Dressed without a tie, he has been a communist since he came of age in 1968, since the tough, tricky and far-off days of the underground era. He belongs to the hardcore — to the Central Committee ...

How terrible, how sad, said the politicians from Italy to England. Pope Francis called the shipwreck a “disgrace” and offered prayers for the victims. Italy took the easy route saying, quite understandably, that it was a problem for Europe as a whole. But less than a week later, the drowning of some 363 migrants off the coast of   the island of Lampedusa has already fallen out of the main news. Had the vict ...

The conservative government of Antonis Samaras claims to be cracking down on “extremism”. But what skeletons does the Prime Minister hide in his closet?   Video by Ross Domoney, Klara Jaya Brekke and Dimitris Dalakoglou for the City at a Time of Crisis research project. Illustration by Latuff. The Greek Prime Minister, Mr Samaras, is currently visiting the USA. He arrived here in the immediate aftermat ...

Costa-Gavras joins us for the hour to discuss a nearly 50-year career that has earned him the reputation as one of the world’s greatest living political filmmakers. Born in Greece in 1933, the 80-year-old has won two Academy Awards for his films "Z" and "Missing." Other acclaimed films include "State of Siege," "Amen.," "Music Box," "The Confession," "Hanna K." and "Betrayed." For nearly five decades, Costa ...

The only way to stop the fascists profiting from the breakdown of the Greek state is to offer a socialist alternative to capitalism. Greece – and the rise of Golden Dawn – is an extreme parable of what has happened to many developed countries since the global crisis broke out in 2007. The policies of the Greek "rescue" – where the Greek people had no inkling what was afoot until the agreement was signed in ...

De AIVD heeft niets geleerd van het gewroet in het verleden van linkse mensen in de vorige eeuw, schrijft Roel van Duijn. 'Alsof zij nog steeds niets geleerd heeft over de nodeloze schending van de privacy van mensen die hebben bijgedragen aan de opbouw van de huidige democratische rechtsstaat.' ...

Dimitris Kousouris is one of the first political victims of Golden Dawn attacks. On June 16th, 1998, in a café outside the courts of Athens, he was attacked brutally by a group of Golden Dawn members. He had to go through a difficult brain surgery and he barely escaped death. The attackers were identified by Kousouris and his friends. The main perpetrator was back then nr 2 in the leadership of Golden Dawn, ...

The authorities in Greece have long been aware of this neo-Nazi group. So why are they only now taking action? ...