Every Monday, the Research Trainees of the CERESE assess the news of the previous week. You can read their opinions below:

I like the news that since the start of the implementation of the GDPR five years ago, more than €4 billion in fines have been imposed on companies. The General Data Protection Regulation protects natural persons when their data is processed by the private sector. The GDPR sets a level playing field for all companies operating in the European Union’s internal market. Companies based outside the EU must apply the same rules when providing services or goods to individuals, or when monitoring the behavior of individuals, within the EU. Using this regulation as a vehicle, in recent years the EU has imposed fines on companies that were caught not applying the new rules, the most recent being the case of Meta, the total amount of which exceeds €4 billion.

I like the arrest of Fulgence Kayishema. Kayishema was an official, and he is accused of orchestrating the killing of more than 2000 people during the Rwandan genocide. After an indictment by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2001, he has been wanted and was finally arrested following a joint operation by the UN and local authorities in the South African city of Paarl. His eventual arrest is tantamount to justice being served even after all these years.

I dislike the fact that Sinan Ogan supports President Erdogan in the second round of the election process. Sinan Ogan, the candidate for the nationalist ATA coalition in the Turkish presidential election, has called for the immediate removal of the estimated 5.5 million refugees in Turkey, citing concerns about their impact on the economy, culture, and security. Although he won 5.1 percent of the vote in the first round, his support could influence the outcome, as he aims to contest specific ministries in the new government.

I dislike the fact that the German economy is in recession. The biggest economy in Europe is losing steam, with a 0.3% contraction from January to March, following a 0.5% contraction in the last three months of 2022, with the inflation rate at 7.2% above the European average. Being the largest economy in the European Union, the fall of the German economy is sounding the alarm bells that the aftereffects of the events of the last three years have driven Europe, and the world as a whole, into a new global recession. Even though the recession has not yet reached the levels of 2008, it is no longer a question of whether, but rather of when, a global recession will happen.