Rory O’Neill

1 month ago | politico.eu | Rory O’Neill |Helen Collis |Claudia Chiappa |Mari Eccles

Belgium was the architect of a European plan to tackle chronic drug shortages. But it views the EU's long-awaited fix announced Tuesday as a letdown. Even before the European Commission presented its Critical Medicines Act — which focuses on an overhaul of procurement rules and subsidies to boost domestic drugs production — the country's health minister lamented that the proposal “does not meet the gravity” of Europe’s supply crisis.

Jan 7, 2025 | politico.eu | Rory O’Neill

France has reported its first case of the new mpox variant, the county's public health agency announced today, bringing the total number of EU cases to eight. The individual, located in Brittany, had been in contact with two people who had recently returned from Central Africa. French authorities said they were working to identify all contacts. Sweden, Germany, Belgium and the U.K. have all reported cases, although there have been no major outbreaks outside Africa.

Dec 5, 2024 | politico.eu | Rory O’Neill

Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, a landmark report from Amnesty International published Thursday concluded, the organization’s first such determination during an active armed conflict. The report, which analyzed interviews with 212 people, alongside satellite imagery, visual evidence and statements by Israeli officials, found Israel’s actions in the wake of the Oct.

Nov 10, 2024 | politico.eu | Rory O’Neill

LONDON — Of all the horrors that Manchester-based surgeon Ammar Darwish has seen in Gaza, one of the very worst is the trauma a year of Israeli bombardment has inflicted on the children. “It will go to their kids and to their grandkids … it does not go away,” he told POLITICO. On the wards of Gaza’s hospitals, Darwish saw children shivering at the sound of jets overhead. They know what that sound means.

Nov 6, 2024 | politico.eu | Rory O’Neill |Paula Andres

BRUSSELS — In some ways, it exceeded everyone's expectations. Olivér Várhelyi’s commissioner hearing was always going to be tough, but it turns out Viktor Orbán’s man in Brussels knew more about Europe’s health files than his CV suggested. He had done his homework. But while he mostly handled himself well in a room full of all-too-willing interlocutors, he failed to convince MEPs when pressed — again and again — on his support for abortion rights.