Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The European Union has assured Uganda that the trade and economic relations that exist will continue even when Uganda is finally declared a middle-income country. Ambassador Jan Sadek, the head of the EU Delegation in Uganda, says that when Uganda attains middle-income status, it …
Read More »European leaders call for strategic autonomy amid int’l turbulence and transatlantic tension
MUNICH, Germany | Xinhua | European leaders at the 62nd Munich Security Conference (MSC) have called for greater strategic autonomy, reflecting growing anxieties over a fractured international order and a widening rift in transatlantic relations. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted on Saturday that Europe faces “a distinct …
Read More »Who owns Africa’s agricultural data in the age of EUDR?
As EU rules tighten, EAC–SADC leaders should push for state-led traceability and regional compliance mechanisms COMMENT | JANE NALUNGA | The global trade architecture is currently undergoing a shift to one increasingly defined by stringent sustainability mandates and digital traceability requirements. This transition is most visible in the emergence of the …
Read More »Green Deal or Green Wall?
Inside the EU’s climate rules and the hidden costs they impose on African economies Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | In mid-December 2025, under the chandeliers of a conference hall in Speke Resort Hotel-Munyonyo, in Kampala, a familiar tension surfaced in unfamiliar language. Delegates from across Eastern and Southern Africa …
Read More »Are Ugandan farmers trading coffee beans to Europe for data?
Access to European markets increasingly depends on surrendering precise farm data under EUDR rules Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | In the lush highlands of eastern and western Uganda, coffee farmers have long relied on fertile soils, predictable rains, and generations of agricultural knowledge to sustain their livelihoods. Today, however, …
Read More »The treason of the populists
COMMENT | MICHAEL BURLEIGH | Until a few days ago, it had never crossed my mind that people across Europe – including Londoners like me – were living in a strife-afflicted hell hole, “suffocated” by regulations, stripped of political liberties, and bound for “civilizational erasure.” So, it was with …
Read More »U.S. threatens to retaliate against EU tech regulation
NEW YORK | Xinhua | The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday threatened to take countermeasures against the EU over what it described as the bloc’s controversial regulations on service providers. “If the EU and EU Member States insist on continuing to restrict, limit, and deter …
Read More »EU opens antitrust probe into Google’s AI services
BRUSSELS | Xinhua | The European Commission on Tuesday opened an antitrust investigation into whether U.S. tech giant Google has breached European Union (EU) anticompetitive rules, despite opposition from Washington. The probe focuses on whether Google has used content from web publishers and from its video-sharing platform YouTube for artificial …
Read More »Musk slams EU over fine on social media X
NEW YORK, the United States | Xinhua | U.S. tech billionaire Elon Musk on Saturday blasted the European Union (EU) for a fine slapped on his social media platform X for violating transparency rules, warning that his response would target the officials responsible for the penalty. “The ‘EU’ imposed this …
Read More »EU slaps Musk’s X with 120-mln-euro fines in first DSA non-compliance ruling
BRUSSELS | Xinhua | The European Commission on Friday imposed fines totaling 120 million euros (139.8 million U.S. dollars) on Elon Musk’s social media platform X for breaching transparency obligations in its first non-compliance decision under the Digital Services Act (DSA). According to the Commission’s press release, the penalty stems …
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The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price