Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Around half of Europeans with HIV aren’t being tested early enough to receive the best possible treatment, fuelling a silent crisis which is causing the EU to fall behind the United Nations’ 2030 goals for AIDS, according to a new report. The report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease…

The European Commission once again rejected allegations of impropriety in the approval of operating grants to environmental campaign groups, during a grilling by right-wing members of the European Parliament on Wednesday as a controversial scrutiny panel got down to work. The probe stems from unproven allegation by conservative European People’s Party lawmakers and allies further…

Europe’s industrial base is at risk of collapse. Out of 18 sectors analyzed, only aerospace/defence remains competitive. Automotive, steel, chemicals, telecom, solar—all are losing ground to global rivals. This is not fate; it is the result of corporate and political choices, from the creation of global overcapacities to austerity measures. This is the stark message…

The European Union faces a critical test of its competitiveness: ensuring patients gain timely access to transformative therapies, such as gene treatments and genomic diagnostics. Despite ambitious strategies like the Life Sciences Strategy and the forthcoming Biotech Act, Europe risks losing ground to global rivals as research and manufacturing increasingly shift to the US and…

Much of the squid that ends up in restaurants and supermarkets across Europe may not have European origins at all, new DNA data analysis from freshly bought fish in Brussels and Milan has revealed. According to a report published Thursday by the NGO Oceana, squid products are often mislabelled as European even when DNA samples…

The Swiss will vote Sunday on replacing men’s current military service requirement with a compulsory civic duty for all, with backers and opponents both claiming to be championing women’s rights. As part of Switzerland’s direct democratic system, voters will also be weighing in on whether to slap new taxes on the super-rich to help finance…

Sweden’s Minister for EU Affairs, Jessica Rosencrantz. (Photo by Kristian Tuxen Ladegaard Berg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) Danes and Swedes are underrepresented in EU institutions. It affects our countries’ influence in European decision-making processes, and ultimately the legitimacy of our Union. A key issue is the EU’s recruitment system. Complicated application and selection processes are…

The EU’s new bioeconomy strategy will be a shop window onto goods like algae-based detergents, wooden sinks, and fertilisers made from fish faeces, charting a vision for 2040 in which houses are built out of straw and non-petroleum plastics have become the new normal. Brussels is not, however, planning new legislation to chivvy things along,…

On Thursday morning, Parliament and Council negotiators agreed on the Payment Services Regulation (PSR) and the Third Payment Services Directive (PSD3). The regulation aims to harmonise payment services and strengthen fraud prevention across the EU. It applies to payment services provided by banks, post-office giro and payment institutions, as well as technical service providers supporting…

The new rules, politically agreed by European Parliament and member state negotiators add clarity and simplicity to the process of fiscal surveillance by focussing on one single parameter, a government’s yearly expenditure, to analyse the sustainability of public finances. All countries will provide medium-term plans outlining their expenditure targets and how investments and reforms will…