IRELAND’S performance on human rights is to be put under the spotlight for the first time next week when the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for human rights makes a week-long visit.

EUROPE is the world leader in producing ecstasy and amphetamines but the authorities are trying a new way to tackle this illegal trade.

EU LEADERS en route to a summit to discuss climate change in Brussels next month will detour in their private jets to Lisbon first to sign the new treaty.

TOYS from China have been given the all-clear just in time for Christmas as the EU lifted its threat to ban them following safety concerns.

SEX-TRAFFICKED women are frequently deported from Ireland rather than helped, the European Network Against Racism says.

REFORMS to the EU’s €106 billion farm payments policy, which could see Irish farmers lose €100 million a year, will be resisted by the country’s main farming organisations and politicians.

EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has threatened to take the Government to court over the preferential treatment they give to the Voluntary Health Insurance (VHI).

AN POST can keep its government contract to distribute more than €7 billion a year in social welfare payments, the European Court of Justice has ruled.

A CAMPAIGN to cut the rate of VAT on condoms has been launched on Facebook by members of the European Parliament ahead of World Aids day next month.

MINISTERS have spoken in Irish 22 times at EU meetings since the language became an official one last January, while MEPs have used it about twice as often.