The French government has launched a procedure to suspend access to the fast-fashion giant Shein’s website, after authorities found child-like sex dolls listed on the platform. Under French law, online platforms must remove clearly illegal content, including child sexual content, within 24 hours, or risk being blocked and delisted.

This move came on Wednesday, the same day Shein opened its first permanent physical store in the world, inside BHV, one of Paris’s historic department stores. The opening drew long queues of shoppers, and a crowd of protesters, who briefly disrupted the launch before being escorted out.

Join us on our journey through the events that shape the European continent and the European Union.

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The European Commission has released its annual enlargement report and there’s movement on Europe’s waiting list. Ten countries are officially candidates to join the EU: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo, Turkey, and Ukraine.

They all want a seat at the table, but who is really getting closer to joining, and who is falling behind?

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Liberties, a network of civil liberties organisations across the EU, has released its 2025 Gap Analysis, reviewing the Commission’s Rule of Law cycle. The report examined over 500 recommendations issued to Member States since 2022, case studies on Italy and Slovakia, and a dedicated review of media freedom.

The findings point to a system that is stalling. So, if this is the case how do we protect democracy in Europe now?

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It has been a year since the concrete canopy at Novi Sad train station collapsed, killing 16 people and sparking one of Serbia’s largest youth-led protest movements in recent memory. What began as mourning has transformed into a sustained political awakening that is reshaping Serbia today.

Now, tensions between citizens demanding accountability and a government determined to hold its grip on power have reached a new, boiling point. But what does this movement show about the future of democracy in Serbia?

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In the fourth episode of The Right to Decide, our host Sophie in ’t Veld speaks with Belgian Senator Celia Groothedde to explore how anti-rights actors are using money and media to influence politics, public opinion, and access to healthcare. From anti-choice clinics spreading disinformation to campaigns targeting schools and sex education, we uncover how a well-funded network is reshaping Europe’s cultural and political landscape…one narrative at a time.

A podcast by the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual & Reproductive Rights

Produced by Europod, in collaboration with Ambiorix Centre

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Sudan’s government has publicly criticised the European Union, accusing Brussels of responding too softly to atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces, the RSF, in the city of El Fasher.

The United Nations describes the situation in Sudan as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. So, what is happening on the ground and what is the international community, including the EU, actually doing to stop this crisis?

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A political plot twist happened after yesterday’s election in the Netherlands. A leader once dismissed as “Robot Jetten” is suddenly the smiling face of Dutch centrist optimism, challenging the far-right, and potentially becoming the country’s first openly gay prime minister.

Who is Rob Jetten, and why is Europe watching him so closely?

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Across Europe, a generation is being quietly locked out of the housing market. Millennials and Generation Z, people in their twenties and thirties are working, studying, saving, and yet, for many of them, owning a home has become an impossible dream.

Housing is recognised as a fundamental human right. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms everyone’s right to adequate living standards, including housing.The European Pillar of Social Rights, adopted by the European Union in 2017, reaffirms this principle. But across the EU that right is increasingly out of reach, especially for younger generations.

Over the last decade, according to data from Eurostat, house prices in the EU have increased by almost 50%, while real wages have risen by less than half of that. The result is a widening gap between what people earn and what a home costs. And that gap has created what Eurofound calls a “generation-wide affordability divide.” So, what’s behind it and what does this say about the kind of Europe we’re building?

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