Foreign Policies

CoFoE: Civic Society Criticises Lack of Inclusivity and Diversity

Brussels/Bratislava, December 7 (TASR-correspondent) – Representatives of civic society have raised concerns over a lack of inclusivity and diversity in the Conference of the Future of Europe (CoFoE), claiming that the conference is at risk of failure if member states do not follow citizens’ proposals, Euroactiv news website reported on Monday.

“In terms of our assessment of the Digital Platform, we want to refer to the accessibility audit commissioned by the European Disability Forum, pointing at the flaws of the platform that make it inaccessible for many people with disabilities,” said Maarten de Groot, member of the ECI Campaign and Alfiaz Vaiya, Co-Founder of Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice.

Others told Euroactiv that the platform should be more inclusive for ethnic minorities and those with disabilities. They also said the gender gap registered in the multilingual platform is concerning for the conference’s outcome.

On behalf of European Alternatives, Niccolò Milanese expressed similar concerns about minorities’ inclusion, noting that the random selection of panellists actually risks excluding many of Europe’s most marginalised.

“Non-binary people and EU residents without EU passports seem to be excluded entirely, and no quota is set for racialised and other marginalised communities. We believe that marginalised people should be at the centre of the conference on the Future of Europe and be a priority in the discussions”.

SPPK: If Farmers Aren't Taken Seriously, They Will Be Seen in Streets More Often

If farmers' demands are not taken seriously, they will be seen in the streets more often, Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber chairman Emil Macho told a news conference held in front of the Parliament's building on Thursday.

PM: Slovakia to Organise Repeated Mass Testing, Two Dozen Districts Exempt

Bratislava, November 2 (TASR) – Slovakia will organise a repeated mass testing for the coronavirus, but districts with positivity rates below 0.7 percent in the testing this past weekend will be exempt from the second round, Prime Minister Igor Matovic (OLaNO) announced after a meeting of the Central Crisis Management

Fico: Slovakia to Receive €1 bn of €10-bn Package of EU Funds for Floods

Slovakia will receive €1 billion of the €10-billion package from EU cohesion funds to deal with the consequences of the recent floods, Premier Robert Fico, who attended on Thursday a meeting of premiers and the European Commission on floods in Wroclaw, Poland, told a press conference on Friday.

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