Vera Jourova

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's popularity is surprisingly higher in Bulgaria than in his own country or neighboring Slovakia, according to a March survey conducted by the "Ipsos" agency for "Euronews". While only 32% of Hungarians express a positive opinion of Orbán, nearly four out of ten Bulgarians have a favorable view of him.

EU member countries and lawmakers reached an agreement on Tuesday on the bloc's first rules to tackle violence against women, the European Parliament and officials said.

The law seeks to protect women in the 27-nation European Union from gender-based violence, forced marriages, female genital mutilation and online harassment.

The European Parliament and EU member states struck an agreement on Friday on new rules to better protect media from interference and safeguard journalists' freedom.

Women employed in the European Union are still earning 13 percent on average less than their male counterparts, the European Commission has said.

"This means that for every euro a man earns, a women will make only 87 cents," the commission said in a statement.

Looked at another way, women have to work more days in a year to attain the same annual salary level as a man.

"Only united can we hope for a good result, and not by accusing each other of showing weakness" - this is how the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mariya Gabriel commented on the tension in the ruling coalition in connection with the unknowns surrounding the acceptance of Bulgaria into Schengen:

The European Union's latest democracy health check showed there was no significant deterioration across the 27-nation bloc in areas like media and court freedoms or efforts to tackle corruption over the last year, a top official said on Wednesday.

Day 420 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

A visit to Slovenia by Vera Jourova, vice-president of the European Commission, on 1 and 2 March was dominated by debates surrounding media, both the state of the media in Slovenia and, more broadly, the fight against misinformation and disinformation.

Ljubljana – The National Assembly passed in 53:26 vote on Thursday changes to the act on RTV Slovenija with which the government would like to reduce what it sees as the influence of politics on the public broadcaster. The changes come after RTV journalists recently went on strike twice demanding editorial autonomy.

Photo: Unsplash/Matt Chesin

EU Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton said the purpose of the Act "will be to ensure the integrity and independence" of the EU media market.