World
EU fiscal rules couldn’t reduce debt in the last 25 years: Gentiloni
Paolo Gentiloni, the European Commissioner for the economy, offered on Friday a candid assessment of the European Union’s fiscal framework.
“Public debt increased in the last 25 years,” Gentiloni said on Friday morning as he defended the Commission’s proposal to make the union’s economic governance framework more flexible.
EU member states have to adhere to a set of rules, known as the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) to keep a cap on their public deficit and government debt but which have been the object of intense scrutiny since their introduction in the late 1990s.
The limits were set at 3% for deficit-to-GDP and at 60% for debt-to-GDP.
The conversation gained further traction in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 financial meltdown and the subsequent European debt crisis, which saw several countries adopt punishing austerity measures that backfired and exacerbated the pain.
Now, following the back-to-back economic shocks unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, soaring energy prices and record-breaking inflation, the debate is back on the top of the political agenda.
The European Commission put forward in April a legislative proposal to overhaul the fiscal rules and make them fit for purpose in the new economic landscape. The review keeps the 3% and 60% targets intact but allows member states wider space to design their own trajectories and sanitise their finances across a four-year period.
“Our goal is to make the framework simpler, more transparent and more effective, with greater national ownership and better enforcement, while allowing for reform and investment and reducing high public debt ratios in a realistic, gradual and sustainable manner,” Gentiloni said in remarks at the Salzburg Summit 2023.
“It didn’t happen in the last 25 years, so we’re starting from a situation where existing rules were very useful from several aspects – let’s think, for example, of the famous 3% threshold for deficit-to-GDP – but they were not able to reduce public debt.”
Gentiloni’s comments come days after Eurostat released new data that showed government debt across the EU standing at 83.7% of GDP in the first quarter of 2023, a slim decrease compared to the 83.8% recorded in the previous quarter.
A total of 12 countries remain above the 60% goal enshrined in the fiscal rules, with six of them – Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, France and Belgium – breaking the 100% barrier.
While debt levels have gone down in recent months, the economic challenges that lie in the EU’s path threaten to derail the trend.
A recent report by the European Commission estimated the bloc would need up to €745 billion in additional investments per year to fulfill the Green Deal and the digital transition. Although most of the money is expected to come from the private sector, public authorities will be asked to step in and act as the driving force.
In Gentiloni’s view, these exorbitant figures underline the need to modernise the fiscal framework and move away from the economic consensus that characterised the last decade. The ultimate goal, he said, must be achieving “inclusive and sustainable growth.”
But the Commission’s fresh push to reform the rules is far from a deal done.
Countries like Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Estonia have raised concerns about the proposed overhaul because they fear it might give governments excessive leeway to negotiate their national plans and therefore fail to produce a continued, tangible decline in debt levels.
Germany, in particular, has come forth with demands to introduce uniform safeguards to ensure indebted countries realise a minimum reduction every year. France, however, forcefully opposes this approach, arguing it will lead to economic hardship.
Gentiloni acknowledged on Friday the “different positions” around the table and conceded “our proposal can be improved.”
“I think we’re reasonably addressing this issue,” Gentiloni said.
“It is important not to lose the balance we manage to strike as a Commission and work together in the common interest to reach an argument on reform by the end of the year.”
When shots were fired at a campaign rally for former President Donald J. Trump on a July evening in Butler, Pa., the veteran New York Times photographer Doug Mills was just a few feet from him. As the Secret Service rushed toward Mr. Trump, Mr. Mills’s heart pounded when he realized what was happening.
Then instinct took over. Mr. Mills kept taking pictures, at an extremely fast shutter speed of one eight-thousandth of a second, capturing an image that illustrates the magnitude of that moment: Mr. Trump, his face streaked with blood, his fist raised in defiance.
This year was made up of such extraordinary moments. And Times photographers captured them in extraordinary images. The Year in Pictures brings you the most powerful, evocative and history-making of those images — and allows you to see the biggest stories of 2024 through our photographers’ eyes.
The presidential campaign — full of twists and turns — provided some of our most memorable photos. Kenny Holston captured a shaky President Biden struggling to find his footing in what turned out to be his only debate of the 2024 election. Erin Schaff conveyed the exhilaration surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris in the short sprint of her campaign. And Todd Heisler brought home the excitement of an 8-year-old girl in pigtails, Ms. Harris’s great-niece, who watched with pride as Ms. Harris accepted her party’s nomination for president.
Yet even as the American political campaign intensified, wars ground on overseas, creating new dangers and obstacles for our photojournalists determined to document the fighting. The war between Hamas and Israel escalated into a regional conflict, and our photographers depicted the Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, the families forced to flee their homes and the neighborhoods reduced to rubble.
When Israeli forces recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, our photographers revealed the pain of the captives’ families as they cried out at their loved ones’ funerals after 11 months of anguished waiting. And last month, Samar Abu Elouf, a Palestinian photographer for The Times, delivered some of the most indelible images of the year: a series of portraits of Gazans horribly injured in the war, including children who had lost arms, legs or eyes.
Children were also central to the work of Lynsey Addario, a veteran photographer who has been chronicling the war in Ukraine since Russia first invaded in 2022. Ms. Addario’s images tell the stories of young Ukrainians with cancer whose treatment was disrupted by the war, often with devastating results. One, a 5-year-old girl whose chemotherapy was upended by the Russian invasion, ultimately lost her life.
Our photographers embrace their calling of bearing witness to history, showing readers the atrocities and the suffering that might otherwise be overlooked. But they also see their mission more broadly, and aim to depict the richness and color of life by regularly bringing us pictures that delight and surprise.
Take the photo by Hiroko Masuike from the ticker-tape parade in October for the New York Liberty women’s basketball team. The young fans pictured radiate a kind of awe-struck joy, screaming to the players by name. Or the photographs that show the sense of wonder on the faces of people at Niagara Falls as they bask in the magic of a solar eclipse in April.
We hope you can spend some time with these pictures, and take in our photographers’ reflections on them. This collection of images is a way to remember the year, but it is also, we hope, an opportunity to better understand their craft and their devotion to producing the world’s best photojournalism.
January
Arivaca, Ariz., Jan. 13 Migrants climbing over the border wall between Mexico and a ranch in Arizona. When the ranch owners discovered that migrants were becoming stranded, they installed water fountains in the desert to help keep people alive.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times
Luhansk, Ukraine, Jan. 21 Russian soldiers killed on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine, left behind in a maelstrom of violence where the struggle to stay alive often outweighed concern for the dead.
Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
“This struck me as an image that showed how stark and cold this war can be. This scene is played out on both sides every day. And if you think about all of the battles that are happening at any given moment, you can only imagine the number of incidents like this that are costing the lives of young men.” — Tyler Hicks
Kharkiv, Ukraine, Jan. 20 A group of civilian volunteers called Platsdarm collected bodies from the bloody fields and battered villages of eastern Ukraine. A cross on a chain was found on the body of a Russian soldier.
Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
Iowa City, Jan. 17 Young fans waiting to take a picture with Caitlin Clark. The basketball star shattered scoring records in both college and the W.N.B.A., where she was the No. 1 draft pick this year.
Hilary Swift for The New York Times
“It was amazing to go into the arena and see so many people there and such massive support for not only an Iowa team, but a women’s team. There were so many little girls there who were so excited and stoked to be in Clark’s presence. They can now aspire to having similarly successful careers.” — Hilary Swift
Manhattan, Jan. 22 The artist Cindy Sherman, who folds photographic nips and tucks right in with her aging subjects’ wrinkles. She said she saw the disjunctions in her new work’s faces almost as an exercise in Cubism.
Caroline Tompkins for The New York Times
Las Vegas, Jan. 19 Hannah Neeleman, a Utah homemaker known to her millions of online fans as Ballerina Farm, competed in the Mrs. World pageant two weeks after giving birth. She breastfed her baby backstage after the crowning of the winner.
Bridget Bennett for The New York Times
Manhattan, Jan. 30 Yusef Salaam, a City Council member who was wrongfully convicted in 1990 as part of the Central Park Five, explaining his vote to override the mayor’s veto of two criminal justice bills. The Council passed both laws.
Dave Sanders for The New York Times
“Salaam said that he wondered how his life might have been different if these laws had existed in 1989. I had positioned myself in front of him, thinking it might be more personal for him than other members. He became choked up while speaking, and Avilés, a co-sponsor of the legislation, came over to embrace him. It was a powerful moment.” — Dave Sanders
Central Gaza Strip, Jan. 8 A destroyed Palestinian house, emblematic of the sheer destruction wrought by Israel’s war in the territory and the devastation of Hamas’s operations.
Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times
“I tried hard to show the life there, but we couldn’t see any people. So I tried to feel the life there in the houses. I wanted to show the view that was there before the war. This was a way to see the view from this house — even if it wasn’t through the windows but through a broken wall.” — Avishag Shaar-Yashuv
Rafah, Gaza Strip, Jan. 9 Palestinians lining up for free food. Officials said that inspections, bottlenecks and safety concerns were limiting the flow of aid in the territory, contributing to a growing humanitarian crisis.
Hatem Ali/Associated Press
Bakhmut, Ukraine, Jan. 22 Wounded Russian soldiers being treated near the front line at an underground hospital, where medical personnel operate in rooms set up in a warren of tunnels that once served as a wine cellar.
Nanna Heitmann for The New York Times
“I was standing at this particular place all night. I had dozens of frames of different patients. They were undressing the man in this photo, and it was unclear if he would make it. They brought him to the surgery room in the back to amputate his leg and arm, his hip and part of his genitals.” — Nanna Heitmann
February
Los Angeles, Feb. 18 A construction worker covering the side of a hill with plastic tarp in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood as the region braced for an atmospheric river that was expected to bring heavy rains.
Mark Abramson for The New York Times
Aboard the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Feb. 20-21 On an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, 5,000 sailors and pilots destroyed weapons storage sites, missile systems, air defense systems, radars and missile launchers before the Houthi militia could use them to wreck commercial ships.
Kenny Holston/The New York Times
Las Vegas, Feb. 11 Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift celebrating after his team won the Super Bowl. Their relationship dominated the N.F.L. conversation all season, attracting a new audience for the league and inspiring strong emotions among fans.
Doug Mills/The New York Times
Manhattan, Feb. 2 Marc Jacobs brought the living paper-doll look to the runway before Fashion Month kicked off. Models arrived seven hours early to get ready, and a team of 50 dressers helped them into the show’s 47 looks.
Simbarashe Cha/The New York Times
Khan Younis, Gaza, Feb. 9 Shaymaa Shady, 5, left, and Sarah Yusuf, 5, center, were among a group of 16 young people airlifted to hospitals in Italy after suffering grievous injuries in the course of Israel’s campaign against Hamas.
Nariman El-Mofty for The New York Times
Trostyanets, Ukraine, Feb. 19 After nearly two years, the family of Serhiy Hrebinyk, a Ukrainian marine captured by the Russians in Mariupol, still hoped he would come home. His sister Kateryna wore a dog tag featuring his image.
David Guttenfelder for The New York Times
“I went with Serhiy’s sister and mom to the church to light candles for him, and I noticed the tag around her neck. There was something touching about the relationship between the brother and sister, with the siblings so close in age. I photographed it up close so we could see his face.” — David Guttenfelder
Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Feb. 2 President Biden honoring three Army reservists who were killed in an attack on a base in Jordan. Their bodies were returned to the United States in a ceremony known as a dignified transfer.
Kenny Holston/The New York Times
“I was a combat photographer for the Air Force, and this is something I had covered while I was still in the military. I tried to give depth to a serious, sad and solemn situation. The principals standing at the back of the plane with their heads down — that was a picture that I knew would drive the point home.” — Kenny Holston
Rafah, Gaza, Feb. 28 Children in a burned-out car. A United Nations official said that at least a quarter of Gaza’s residents were “one step away from famine,” and that one in six children under 2 in northern Gaza were acutely malnourished.
Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Amsterdam, Feb. 17 Aleksei Navalny, an anticorruption activist who led the political opposition in President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia, spent months in a Russian prison before his death. Memorials were held around the world, including in Dam Square.
Remko De Waal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Athens, Ga., Feb. 26 Mourners attending a vigil at the University of Georgia for Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed on campus. Jose Antonio Ibarra, a migrant from Venezuela, was charged in her death.
Melissa Golden for The New York Times
March
Baltimore, March 26 The collapse of the cargo ship Dali’s vital operating systems left the vessel adrift until it ultimately collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge, knocking it into the Patapsco River and killing six people.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times
Columbus, Ga., March 24 A full military funeral was held for Pvt. Albert King, a Black soldier killed by a white military police officer in 1941. It was part of an Army effort to correct its record on race going back to the Civil War.
Alyssa Pointer for The New York Times
“This was a reverent moment. The family is about to participate in a funeral they have been waiting years for. It was a somber experience and good to know the man was getting the respect he needed. I wanted to get as close as I possibly could to show the contrast between the hands and the flag.” — Alyssa Pointer
Brooklyn, March 20 Aldryn Zea, a migrant from Venezuela, resting at a warehouse that was converted into a shelter. Its capacity grew to 4,000 as the city grappled with an influx of migrants.
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
The Beaufort Sea, March 16 The U.S.S. Hampton, a nuclear-powered submarine, surfacing for Operation Ice Camp, a Navy mission aimed at sharpening sailors’ combat skills in the Arctic as Russia expanded military operations there.
Kenny Holston/The New York Times
“We were in the middle of the Arctic on a giant floating piece of ice, and out of nowhere a submarine surfaced through the ice. It felt as if I was on a different planet. Trying to work in such harsh conditions was so challenging. I had to use hand warmers to warm up the cameras.” — Kenny Holston
Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, March 15 A Ukrainian soldier taking part in a training exercise. Ukrainian troops in the region were working to defend an area created by the previous summer’s counteroffensive, a 10-mile-deep semicircle pressing into Russian-held territory.
Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times
April
Northern Gaza, April 23 Aid being parachuted into the Gaza Strip. Rules enforced by Israel, stolen shipments and difficult terrain made it a challenge for humanitarian groups to deliver aid in more traditional ways.
Omar Al-Qatta/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
“I went to the site and found thousands of citizens gathered near the destroyed buildings, waiting for the arrival of the planes. I carefully chose a shooting angle that showed the destruction, the aid and the people together in a single frame. The joy on people’s faces was evident as they received the aid and walked away, relieved and happy.” — Omar Al-Qatta
Los Angeles, April 26 Pro-Palestinian demonstrators camping out at the University of California, Los Angeles. After several days, the university declared the encampment illegal and threatened consequences if the protesters did not leave — but demonstrations continued.
Mark Abramson for The New York Times
“These students were sitting and waiting for their professor, who was leading the class to take a midterm math exam. I had this vantage point to see the encampment from above. Rather than just the scale of the encampment itself you get — literally — a window into these two worlds colliding. It was a different way of seeing the situation.” — Mark Abramson
Eagle Pass, Texas, April 8 The first total solar eclipse in seven years plunged the day into darkness across a swath of North America, reminding all in its path of Earth’s place in the cosmos.
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
From the project “Watching the Total Eclipse Across North America,” April 8 As darkness raced across the sky during the total solar eclipse, people in Murphysboro, Ill.; Cuatro Ciénegas, Mexico; Fredericton, New Brunswick; and Columbus, Ohio, gathered outside to look up for a moment of reverence.
Clockwise from top left; Andrea Morales for The New York Times, Luis Antonio Rojas for The New York Times, Chris Donovan for The New York Times, Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Times
Randall’s Island, April 19 People praying on Randall’s Island, a strip of land in the East River that is home to one of New York City’s largest migrant shelters. The city announced it would close the shelter in early 2025.
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
Omdurman, Sudan, April 21 Skeletal remains, apparently of a fighter for the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary group. A feud between two generals dragged the country into civil war, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes.
Ivor Prickett for The New York Times
“This scene was in one of those areas that had been fiercely fought over through the previous year and had been liberated by government forces. We were touring around these heavily destroyed areas, trying to piece together what had happened. I’ve seen worse, but there’s something about seeing a skull — it’s never not going to be disturbing.” — Ivor Prickett
Hualien, Taiwan, April 3 A magnitude-7.4 earthquake, the strongest to hit Taiwan in 25 years, killed 17 and injured over 1,000 others. It caused the most damage in Hualien, where several buildings tilted as their ground-floor levels were crushed.
Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times
Johannesburg, April 3 Athenkosi Fani posing for photographs after graduating from the University of Johannesburg. He, like many other young people in South Africa, felt disillusioned heading into a pivotal election this year and planned not to vote.
Joao Silva/The New York Times
Manhattan, April 17 Youth America Grand Prix, a student ballet group, set out to gather a record number of ballet dancers on pointe at the same time. The group needed at least 307 — and got 353.
Earl Wilson/The New York Times
Paris, Tenn., April 9 Summer, who was a teenage mom and leader of the Lady Jaguars when The New York Times followed the basketball team of troubled girls more than a decade earlier, is now a mother of seven. Her youngest is Kayra, born last year.
Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
Manhattan, April 25 This year, Eddie Redmayne took on the role of the Emcee, an indecorous impresario of a bawdy Berlin nightclub, in “Cabaret.” The performance earned him a Tony Award nomination for best leading actor in a musical.
Dana Scruggs for The New York Times
“Sometimes celebrities will come to get their portrait taken and it’s kind of like picture day, and they’re not engaged in the process. But even though I had a very short period of time, Eddie was fully engaged in making these images with me. I love this; it feels like Eddie is connecting with the person looking at the photograph.” — Dana Scruggs
May
East Taiga, Mongolia, May 30 Shurentsetseg Ganbold, a health worker, treats semi-nomadic reindeer herders who follow their herd wherever it roams. She travels for hours to meet them where they are, and when no horses are available she rides a reindeer.
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
“The nomads, they are scattered around, and when she visits them she rides a reindeer there, usually just for fun. But there was one nomad who lived in a hut farther away from the others. The doctor really wanted to visit her and didn’t want to wait until the next day. It was getting dark, so riding the reindeer helped.” — Chang W. Lee
Manhattan, May 29 Donald J. Trump leaving court during his criminal trial. The next day, he was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal, making him the first former U.S. president to be a felon.
Doug Mills/The New York Times
“It was not a pleasant time for him. Every day, every time he left the courtroom, there was a show of defiance when he would talk about the judge or the trial or the witch hunt he thought it was. It was either a vocal show of defiance or a hand gesture of defiance.” — Doug Mills
Kharkiv region, Ukraine, May 14 A bus filled with evacuees from Vovchansk and nearby small villages that were in the path of Russia’s surge across the border. They were among the thousands of people heading to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
Emile Ducke for The New York Times
“Something that struck me was that many of the evacuees had already seen their homes occupied and had lived through an occupation in the first months of the war. Now they were fleeing yet another Russian assault.” — Emile Ducke
Kharkiv, Ukraine, May 17 Smoke rising from the site of a strike on industrial buildings as Russian troops advanced on the city. Ukrainian officials and military analysts described the push as an attempt to stretch Ukraine’s already outnumbered forces.
Finbarr O’Reilly for The New York Times
Kyiv, Ukraine, May 20 President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, his army struggling after over two years of war, beseeched the United States and Europe to do more. “Shoot down what’s in the sky over Ukraine,” he said. “And give us the weapons to use against Russian forces on the borders.”
Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times
Swan Lake, N.Y., May 9 A group of men traveled to the Catskills to join a weekend-long retreat with All Kings, a New York nonprofit that aims to help men tap into stronger, kinder and more purposeful versions of themselves.
Kadar Small for The New York Times
Manhattan, May 6 Gwendoline Christie wore Maison Margiela to the Met Gala, the theme of which was “Garden of Time.” For the party, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was transformed by greenery and filled with musicians and dancers, creating a dreamscape just off Fifth Avenue.
Landon Nordeman for The New York Times
“The Met Gala is by far my favorite assignment of the year. There is incredible energy inside, and I am trying to make honest pictures in the midst of all of this over-the-top artistry and costume role-playing.” — Landon Nordeman
Greenfield, Iowa, May 22 Cassie Marckmann, left, comforted Jeri Pickrell as she sorted through belongings after a deadly tornado tore through the small town of about 2,000 people.
Rachel Mummey for The New York Times
“Jeri’s husband had sustained serious lung damage. The basement walls had collapsed, and he had been holding the walls up from crushing them. They were $940 away from paying off their house, and now they have to start over from scratch. They’re stuck in limbo. It was just really traumatic for them.” — Rachel Mummey
Atlanta, May 19 A Morehouse professor turned away as President Biden delivered the commencement address at the historically Black men’s college. Some students also turned their backs or wore keffiyehs or Palestinian flags in protest of his presence at the ceremony.
Michael A. McCoy for The New York Times
“I kept hearing about students at Morehouse not wanting Biden to come speak. They felt he had other things he could have been doing, like worrying about the war in Israel and Gaza. This was a professor at Morehouse. She stood there and held that position for minutes. It was a quiet moment.” — Michael McCoy
June
Mina, Saudi Arabia, June 16 Pilgrims arriving to perform the symbolic “stoning of the devil” ritual as part of the hajj. At least 1,300 people died during the pilgrimage to Mecca amid record heat.
Fadel Senna/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Nairobi, Kenya, June 25 Outrage over proposed tax increases drove Kenyans to the streets across the country, leading to violent clashes with the police who used water cannons to disperse the protesters.
Brian Otieno for The New York Times
“It was a showdown between the police and the young people. The police were pressing the youths, firing water cannons at them, and tear gas, and the youths were steadfast. They were not going anywhere. It was crazy. It was chaotic. And the protests were effective: The finance bill that brought on the protests was withdrawn.” — Brian Otieno
Atlanta, June 27 In a testy, personal clash at the first presidential debate, President Biden failed to ease worries about his age as former President Donald J. Trump forcefully made his case with limited resistance.
Kenny Holston/The New York Times
“I could see right out of the gate a lot of Trump dominance. It seemed like Biden was trying to catch up and couldn’t get his footing. I was trying to make pictures that captured that. The expressions on each of their faces — Trump forging forward and Biden losing his footing — that was the vibe in the debate hall.” — Kenny Holston
Raleigh, N.C., June 28 At a rally the day after his shaky debate performance, President Biden tried to beat back doubts about his fitness for office, firing up a crowd of supporters with an energetic speech.
Damon Winter/The New York Times
“There had been so much talk already about President Biden’s age and fitness to run for a second term, but the debate intensified the calls for him to step aside. In the front row, this woman exemplified the sense of panic that gripped the party with only a few months to go before the election.” — Damon Winter
Parkland, Fla., June 14 Six years after a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in one of the deadliest school shootings in American history, the site of the attack was torn down.
Scott McIntyre for The New York Times
Inglewood, Calif., June 19 Kendrick Lamar, left, sharing a moment with Ab-Soul during a Juneteenth concert hosted by Lamar after he unofficially won a high-profile diss war with his hip-hop rival, Drake.
Gabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York Times
July
Toretsk, Ukraine, July 13 An artillery unit of Ukraine’s 95th Separate Air Assault Brigade firing a howitzer at Russian troops trying to capture the eastern city, which had been under relentless assault.
Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
“Coverage of the war in Ukraine is not only in the trenches, but also at artillery positions such as this one. These positions in the past have been considered a safe way to cover the war. Now, because of armed drones, they have become as dangerous as infantry positions. There is no such thing as a safe haven for anybody.” — Tyler Hicks
New Orleans, July 6 Vice President Kamala Harris waiting backstage before an appearance at the Essence Festival of Culture, where she promoted the Biden administration’s achievements on issues like Black maternal health.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times
“When I started traveling with her about a month before she became the candidate, things were a lot slower. Then the energy ramped up incredibly quickly after she was tapped to run for president. It was a huge shift — and it became this whirlwind short campaign to define her and who she is to the American public.” — Erin Schaff
Adre, Chad, July 12 Fleeing war and a looming famine, Sudanese families like Adam Omar Osman, his wife, Fatima Hassan, and their four children crossed from the Darfur region to a refugee camp in Chad.
Ivor Prickett for The New York Times
Chernivtsi, Ukraine, July 28 Sonya Liakh, 6, gave herself medication with a syringe as she lay next to her mother, Natalia Kryvolapchuk. Sonya’s treatment for eye cancer was interrupted by the Russian invasion, allowing tumors to spread.
Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
“There are so many elements of this photograph that break my heart — Sonya’s withering body as she nears the end of her life, the visible tumors emerging from her neck, the fentanyl patch on her arm, the look on Sonya’s face, her mother’s face, and the bags of apples and snacks she insisted on having nearby but she no longer ate.” — Lynsey Addario
Guanare, Venezuela, July 17 Barred from running for president herself, María Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition, helped galvanize support behind the candidate challenging President Nicolás Maduro in elections.
Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times
“This was a rural area, and everyone from nearby came by to see her. I had not seen turnout like this. That town especially was really emotional; you saw a lot of people crying. You could kind of feel the desperation. In that specific moment it was chaotic. We photographers had to climb on nearby cars to take photos.” — Adriana Loureiro Fernandez
Butler, Pa., July 13 A bullet streaked past former President Donald J. Trump’s head during an assassination attempt at a campaign rally.
Doug Mills/The New York Times
“I started sending those photos to my editor. She looked through them and said: ‘You won’t believe this. I think you actually captured the bullet flying behind his head.’ I got chills. I’ve talked to Trump about it a number of times. He said it’s a picture he’s looked at quite often since then. It was an incredibly surreal moment.” — Doug Mills
Butler, Pa., July 13 With a bloodied face and ear, Donald J. Trump pumped his fist in a defiant gesture to the crowd as he was escorted offstage by Secret Service agents after the attempt on his life.
Doug Mills/The New York Times
“I heard the loud pops. I saw him grab his ear and go down, but I didn’t know how serious it was. All of a sudden he started to stand up. I was shocked, and happy to see he was alive. And then he put his fist up and pumped it — ‘Fight, fight, fight.’ That was his act of defiance.” — Doug Mills
Milwaukee, July 16 Donald J. Trump, a large bandage covering his right ear, was greeted with cheers and thunderous applause at the Republican National Convention, just days after the assassination attempt.
Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
“He was raising up his fist in what was like a coronation for him. It happened every single night. It felt like he was the king in a castle looking over his subjects. He showed up for four nights in a row, and every time people were cheering and chanting ‘U.S.A.’ and chanting his name.” — Haiyun Jiang
Al-Mawasi, Gaza, July 13 A Palestinian woman and her children mourning her husband, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Gaza health officials said at least 90 people were killed and 300 wounded in the attack.
Mohammed Saber/EPA, via Shutterstock
Butte County, Calif., July 27 A helicopter dropped water on the Park fire, which, within days, consumed hundreds of thousands of acres. It became the fourth largest wildfire in California history.
Daniel Dreifuss for The New York Times
Teahupoʻo, Tahiti, July 29 The Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina celebrating his ride at the Paris Games, for which he earned the highest single wave score in Olympics history with a 9.90 and advanced to the men’s quarterfinal.
Jerome Brouillet/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
“I knew, like other surf photographers, that Gabriel loves Teahupo’o and usually celebrates at the end of big wave rides. And that’s what he did. The tricky part of the shot was that when he was about to jump out of the wave, I was totally blind because the wave passed behind the boat at this moment.” — Jerome Brouillet
Paris, July 30 Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee carrying the American flag after the women’s gymnastics team won Olympic gold. It was a comeback for Biles, who withdrew from the Tokyo Games in 2021 because of a mental block.
James Hill for The New York Times
August
Paris, Aug. 9 At the Paris Olympics, iconic landmarks provided a backdrop for many events. Switzerland’s win over Australia for the bronze in women’s beach volleyball played out at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times
“I’d seen that view and seen incredible sunsets come and go. I got there and realized I had the wrong lens; it wasn’t wide enough. So I raced back to the hotel and grabbed the lens I should have grabbed in the first place. Luckily, I got back up there and the sky still had color. It all fell into place.” — Daniel Berehulak
Paris, Aug. 6 Team China performing in artistic swimming, one of the flashiest sports at the Olympics. Theatricality and impression are part of the score, but the need to exude constant beaming delight is a challenging element.
James Hill for The New York Times
Paris, Aug. 9 Breaking announced itself as an Olympic sport this year, making a memorable debut powered by a backbeat. Ami Yuasa of Japan, known as B-Girl Ami, won the sport’s first gold medal.
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Brooklyn, Aug. 16 The actress Margaret Qualley, who this year starred in “The Substance,” a body-horror bloodbath about fame and self-hatred. “I think everyone involved had to enter the eye of the storm,” Qualley said of making the film.
Thea Traff for The New York Times
“We wanted to convey the drama and intensity of the movie, and we also knew that Margaret used to dance. I asked her to move in a way that was reminiscent of the dance she used to do. It was very subtle movement. There was this moment where the light perfectly framed her eyes that felt so moody and perfect.” — Thea Traff
Chicago, Aug. 22 Vice President Kamala Harris accepted her party’s nomination four weeks after President Biden dropped out of the race, capping a Democratic convention unlike any in modern history. Her great-niece, Amara Ajagu, watched her from below.
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
“These are scripted events, but there are moments of authenticity to be found within that. I try not to overthink these situations and overdo it with symbolism. My editor asked me to look for any reaction from the family, but I had fairly low expectations since I was behind them and wouldn’t see their faces. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this connection.” — Todd Heisler
Vinhedo, Brazil, Aug. 10 Forensic workers examined the wreckage of VoePass Flight 2283, a São Paulo-bound passenger plane that fell from 17,000 feet, killing all 62 people on board.
Isaac Fontana/EPA, via Shutterstock
Kavumu, Democratic Republic of Congo, Aug. 24 Nathalie Minani, 7, being treated for mpox at a remote hospital overwhelmed with patients. The disease spread across the country and beyond, prompting the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency.
Arlette Bashizi for The New York Times
Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Aug. 1 Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was freed in a prisoner swap after 16 months in a Russian prison on what were widely seen as fabricated charges of espionage.
Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
September
Swannanoa, N.C., Sept. 27 Two trailers and several cars blocked a road after Hurricane Helene swept through, causing catastrophic flooding. The storm was among the deadliest in U.S. history, killing more than 200 people.
Mike Belleme for The New York Times
“Overnight, the hurricane came through, and I live in that neighborhood. I didn’t go out with shooting in mind; I went out with checking on my neighbors in mind. There was a trailer that this guy named Danny had, and it had washed up and landed right in the middle of the road. Even by foot you couldn’t get around it.” — Mike Belleme
Ra’anana, Israel, Sept. 1 Nira Sarusi at the funeral of her son, Almog Sarusi, one of six hostages whose bodies were found in Gaza by the Israeli Army. The discovery set off a fresh wave of grief and anger in Israel.
Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times
“That was a really hard day. Everyone was broken here in Israel. The moment I saw the mother screaming and the father alongside her was really hard. I can actually feel the pain still.” — Avishag Shaar-Yashuv
Manhattan, Sept. 11 Inside the Roosevelt Hotel, which became a symbol of New York’s flagging aspirations and mounting struggles to respond with open arms to an influx of migrants. City officials called it the “new Ellis Island.”
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
“At night I would always see someone looking out the windows, and I thought to myself, I want to know what that experience is like inside. The boy was looking out the window, just kind of fascinated with this landscape of this wall of windows across the way and the Manhattan streets. I was finally able to see that perspective.” — Todd Heisler
Dekle Beach, Fla., Sept. 26 The wreckage of houses piled up along the shoreline southeast of Tallahassee. Dozens of homes in the small community were decimated when Hurricane Helene passed through.
Paul Ratje for The New York Times
Manhattan, Sept. 27 Mayor Eric Adams outside the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan after pleading not guilty to bribery and fraud charges. He asked New Yorkers to give him a chance to defend himself.
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
Mount Vernon, N.Y., Sept. 26 Alexander Reben, OpenAI’s first artist in residence, used a 16-foot robot outfitted with a cutting tool to create an alienlike sculpture — designed by artificial intelligence — from Italian marble.
Amir Hamja for The New York Times
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 22 Families displaced by gang violence took shelter at a converted school. More than 700,000 people who fled their homes after gang attacks on their communities were still unable to return.
Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times
“Were these children ever going back to school? For them to go back to school they will have to leave here, and they have nowhere else to go. Their homes have been burned and taken over by gangs. They are going through all this, but they play. They were jumping rope, and others were playing soccer with a tiny pen cap.” — Adriana Zehbrauskas
Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 19 Hezbollah supporters mourning the deaths of two people killed when pagers and walkie-talkies used by the militant group exploded in waves across the country on two successive days.
Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times
Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 29 Families sought refuge at Ramlet Al Baida beach after fleeing Israeli airstrikes on the city’s southern suburbs. Years of crises left the country in no shape to withstand a sharply escalating conflict.
Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times
“In these kinds of moments, you realize you’re trying to find scenes to illustrate the story, but at the same time we’re not vultures. If we want to humanize or illustrate the consequences, we need to do it with respect. I wanted to portray how war affects the innocents in a way that is universal all over the world.” — Diego Ibarra Sanchez
London, Sept. 14 The outfits on and off the runway at London Fashion Week — which was celebrating its 40th anniversary — felt more mature than usual. Some enchanting attire even conjured the wardrobe of Cinderella.
Simbarashe Cha/The New York Times
October
Juneau, Wis., Oct. 6 Former President Donald J. Trump at a rally at Dodge County Airport, one of the many campaign stops where he made his closing argument, a slurry of polarizing disinformation and unfounded personal attacks on his opponent in the presidential race, Kamala Harris.
Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times
“I was trying to figure out where to be to get an interesting photo. As soon as he’s onstage, it’s a performance. But that moment going down the stairs, you’re vulnerable, and the silhouette shows that. It was a real moment. That’s a moment that they are not behind the seal and the microphone.” — Jamie Kelter Davis
Washington, Oct. 29 Vice President Kamala Harris reviewing her last major speech of the presidential campaign. Later in the day, she delivered it at the Ellipse, the park where Donald Trump encouraged supporters to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times
“I’m most interested in seeing who politicians are when they’re not onstage performing for the public. And one thing is that she plays a big role in writing and editing her speeches, and she will go line by line on a speech, reworking it with staff, debating the meaning of a single word, and the grammar, and what her voice is.” — Erin Schaff
Manhattan, Oct. 24 A young New York Liberty fan celebrated the team’s first-ever championship at a ticker-tape parade along the Canyon of Heroes, the third time such an honor has been bestowed upon a women’s sports team in New York.
Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
“These kids were at the very beginning of the parade. Everybody was screaming, but those three girls especially were crazy screaming to each player that was coming. I thought, This is the moment I have to capture. These kids’ eyes were shining; I could see some hope or dreams in them.” — Hiroko Masuike
Christchurch, New Zealand, Oct. 12 Sara Saumanaia, 15, in an area near her home that became uninhabitable after an earthquake in 2011. For teenagers around the world, the global-warming crisis is upending their adolescence — and will define their future.
Tatsiana Chypsanava for The New York Times
“Behind these trees is a bike ramp where Sara goes with her siblings. We found this little island in the middle of a flooded area, and I asked her to sit down in a dry spot. It looks a little like her world is upside down. I wanted to show that in this area you can’t really run from climate change.” — Tatsiana Chypsanava
Beirut, Lebanon, Oct. 11 The aftermath in the Ras el-Nabaa neighborhood after Israeli airstrikes killed at least 22 people and wounded over 100. The strikes spread fear that nowhere was safe from Israel’s military onslaught against Hezbollah.
David Guttenfelder for The New York Times
“The power of the Israeli bombardment is hard to grasp without seeing it with your own eyes. It brings down entire buildings, and city blocks are reduced to a smoldering pile of stones. They were digging to find victims all day and all night; when they pulled the cranes out, people were able to go and retrieve whatever they could find.” — David Guttenfelder
From the project “Out of Gaza” Israel’s invasion and bombardment of Gaza left many with life-changing injuries. Some made it out for treatment. They included, clockwise from top left: Mahmoud Ajjour, 9, who lost both hands; Ruba Abu Jibba, 19, who lost her eye; and Nusaiba Kleib, 9, whose leg was amputated.
Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times
“When I started photographing the story, I could not imagine the amount of sadness I would share with my subjects. I felt very heavy. I cried a lot and felt all the pain they went through. No one in the world deserves to go through what they did. I cry every time I remember all of the horrors they endured.” — Samar Abu Elouf
Springfield, Ohio, Oct. 5 Nathan and Danielle Clark, whose 11-year-old son, Aiden, was killed in a crash caused by a Haitian migrant. His death inspired conspiracy theories, campaign lies and anti-immigrant hate.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times
“They wanted to share who Aiden really was as a person because all of the sentiment was antithetical to what their family believes, and also to the compassion and kindness their son had when he was alive. This is a photo of them in his room holding his baby blanket, which he had still used, and which still smelled like him.” — Erin Schaff
Allentown, Pa., Oct. 3 Members of the Valley Elite All Stars, a cheerleading team aiming to make it to Cheerleading Worlds. Competitive cheer is popular yet dangerous, and dominated by a single company: Varsity Spirit.
Dina Litovsky for The New York Times
“I was there for the team’s practice, and it was one of the hardest shifts I’ve ever had. It was complete pandemonium. They were jumping, somersaulting and doing flips, and I was just trying to get out of the way and not get kicked in the head. They were giving me their hardest material. They are very serious athletes.” — Dina Litovsky
Lakeland, Fla., Oct. 10 Donna Clark, 64, was rescued from floodwaters with her dog, Jack, after Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida’s western coast, just two weeks after Hurricane Helene had devastated the area.
Nicole Craine for The New York Times
“She had her eyes closed, dog in her hand, trash bag filled with her items and a carrier with the cat inside. She was so grateful she had gotten out of there, and so terrified. I had mixed feelings about taking that photo. I knew I was going to be headed home and she wasn’t sure where she was going.” — Nicole Craine
Stonecrest, Ga., Oct. 20 Congregants praying over Vice President Kamala Harris at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, an Atlanta-area megachurch that has hosted numerous politicians. Ms. Harris visited several churches in the final weeks of the election campaign.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times
“There was a moment at the worship service when leaders said, ‘Now we’re going to pray for the vice president,’ and I was on a balcony far away, holding a camera over my head, just hoping I was capturing the moment. What I like about that image is the visualization of people literally having her back.” — Erin Schaff
November
West Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 5 Waiting for election results at a Trump watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center. They came faster than expected, with former President Donald J. Trump declared the winner early the next morning.
Mark Peterson for The New York Times
“It was before people knew Trump was going to win. It was shortly after they let a lot of the public in. They could have been waiting hours in line. They kept filing in and filling up the chairs until all of them were full. They were all dressed so alike. I took five frames and that was that.” — Mark Peterson
Philadelphia, Nov. 4 Vice President Kamala Harris made her final pitch to voters from the museum steps made famous by the movie “Rocky,” calling it “a tribute to those who start as the underdog and climb to victory.”
Erin Schaff/The New York Times
“The energy was high, and she had really hit her stride in terms of what her character was as the lead face of the Democratic Party. One of the things she had incorporated in the final few days was raising up her fist at the end. There was a lot of energy, and a lot of tension and exhaustion.” — Erin Schaff
West Memphis, Ark., Nov. 5 A sticker was given to a voter outside a polling place at Lehr Arena on Election Day. Donald J. Trump won Arkansas’s six electoral votes with 64.2 percent of the vote.
Brad J. Vest for The New York Times
“Dr. Alfreda Robinson was running for Ward 1, a local government position, and she was out there campaigning and noticed they weren’t handing out stickers inside polling places. So she started to print out her own ‘I Voted’ stickers to hand out. Everybody who votes loves a good sticker afterward.” — Brad J. Vest
Washington, Nov. 6 Supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris waiting to hear her concession speech. Many were grappling with disorienting disappointment after Donald J. Trump’s quick and decisive victory.
Damon Winter/The New York Times
Plains Township, Pa., Nov. 6 Members of the group Bikers for Trump gathered to celebrate at D’s Diner. When approached by a Harris voter, Dave Ragan, an Army veteran, stood up and told him: “We changed the world!”
Philip Montgomery for The New York Times
“The man congratulated them and in a sarcastic tone remarked that he ‘hoped it all worked out.’ My decades of chronicling the American experience have been marked by frequent encounters with deep societal divisions, often manifesting at protests or organized gatherings. This moment felt unique in that it unfolded spontaneously in a mundane public place as people went about their lives.” — Philip Montgomery
Boston, Nov. 16 Anthony Kunz of Buffalo paused to pray before he and dozens of other men marched against abortion. Counterprotesters clashed with the demonstrators as they made their way through the city.
Sophie Park for The New York Times
Greenwood Lake, N.Y., Nov. 10 The Jennings Creek wildfire raged along a mountainous border between New York and New Jersey. It burned for 14 days across 5,300 acres.
Dakota Santiago for The New York Times
December
Damascus, Syria, Dec. 9 Thousands of people celebrated in Umayyad Square, in the center of the capital, after rebels ended Bashar al-Assad’s long and brutal reign and took control of the country.
Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times
“Civilians poured into the streets, weeping in disbelief and celebrating the end of al-Assad’s brutal reign. People screamed curses at the Assad family — words that would once have been a death sentence to utter out loud — as rebels fired celebratory gunfire into the air. Everyone there reveled in the fall of the regime and their newfound, if uncertain, sense of freedom.” — Daniel Berehulak
Damascus, Syria, Dec. 10 After the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, relatives looked for lost loved ones in a hospital mortuary, where bodies discovered at a notorious prison had been taken. For over a decade, tens of thousands of people would disappear without explanation.
Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times
Damascus, Syria, Dec. 12 The neighborhood of Jobar six years after it was destroyed by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in an operation to drive out rebels. The rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham toppled the Assad regime on Dec. 8.
Nicole Tung for The New York Times
Seoul, Dec. 7 Protesters took to the streets outside the National Assembly as lawmakers voted on whether to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after he briefly imposed martial law. The vote failed to meet the required two-thirds threshold.
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Hollidaysburg, Pa., Dec. 9 Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old suspect charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, being taken into the Blair County courthouse to be arraigned.
Rachel Wisniewski for the New York Times
Paris, Dec. 6 Five years after a fire devoured its roof and nearly collapsed its walls, Notre-Dame Cathedral reopened with the clanging of its centuries-old bell. It was an emotional rebirth for one of the world’s most recognized monuments.
Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times
“This was during rehearsal so they were testing the lighting, and I had a chance to shoot it several times. This picture was taken from a bridge where tourists go. I wanted to take this iconic view of how people see it. A lot of Parisians are still so much in love with their city. They never tire of it.” — Dmitry Kostyukov
Curation
Tanner Curtis, Jeffrey Henson Scales
Interviews
Dionne Searcey
Editing
Natasha King
Digital Design
Matt Ruby
Print Design
Mary Jane Callister, Felicia Vasquez
Production
Peter Blair, Eric Dyer, Wendy Lu, Nancy Ramsey, Jessica Schnall, Hannah Wulkan
Additional Production
Anna Diamond
New York Times Director of Photography
Meaghan Looram
France’s highest court has upheld an appeal court decision which had found former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling while he was the country’s head of state.
Sarkozy, 69, faces a year in prison, but is expected to ask to be detained at home with an electronic bracelet — as is the case for any sentence of two years or less.
He was found guilty of corruption and influence peddling by both a Paris court in 2021 and an appeals court in 2023 for trying to bribe a magistrate in exchange for information about a legal case in which he was implicated.
“The convictions and sentences are therefore final,” a Court of Cassation statement on Wednesday said.
FRANCE’S MACRON NAMES CENTRIST ALLY BAYROU AS NEXT PRIME MINISTER
Sarkozy, who was France’s president from 2007 to 2012, retired from public life in 2017 though still plays an influential role in French conservative politics. He was among the guests who attended the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral earlier this month.
Sarkozy, in a statement posted on X, said “I will assume my responsibilities and face all the consequences.”
He added: “I have no intention of complaining. But I am not prepared to accept the profound injustice done to me.”
Sarkozy said he will seek to bring the case to the European Court of Human Rights, and hopes those proceedings will result in “France being condemned.”
He reiterated his “full innocence.”
“My determination is total in this case as in all others,” he concluded.
FILE – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy leaves the Elysee Palace after a lunch with heads of states and officials, Monday, Sept. 30, 2019 in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu, File)
Sarkozy’s lawyer, Patrice Spinosi, said his client “will comply” with the ruling. This means the former president will have to wear an electronic bracelet, Spinosi said.
It is the first time in France’s modern history that a former president has been convicted and sentenced to a prison term for actions during his term.
Sarkozy’s predecessor, Jacques Chirac, was found guilty in 2011 of misuse of public money during his time as Paris mayor and was given a two-year suspended prison sentence.
Sarkozy has been involved in several other legal cases. He has denied any wrongdoing.
He faces another trial next month in Paris over accusations he took millions of dollars from then-Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi to illegally finance his successful 2007 campaign.
The corruption case that led to Wednesday’s ruling focused on phone conversations that took place in February 2014.
At the time, investigative judges had launched an inquiry into the financing of Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign. During the inquiry, they discovered that Sarkozy and his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, were communicating via secret mobile phones registered to the alias “Paul Bismuth.”
Wiretapped conversations on those phones led prosecutors to suspect Sarkozy and Herzog of promising magistrate Gilbert Azibert a job in Monaco in exchange for leaking information about another legal case involving Sarkozy. Azibert never got the post and legal proceedings against Sarkozy have been dropped in the case he was seeking information about.
Prosecutors had concluded, however, that the proposal still constitutes corruption under French law, even if the promise wasn’t fulfilled. Sarkozy vigorously denied any malicious intention in his offer to help Azibert.
Azibert and Herzog have also been found guilty in the case.
A proposal on combatting child sexual abuse has been watered down by some EU justice ministers, with others expressing their regret at certain elements of the proposal being removed entirely.
With the development of new technologies, sexual abuse of children has seen a rise in Europe.
The EU is therefore looking to update its directive on combatting the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children, which dates back to 2011.
However, the EU Commission’s initial proposal has been watered down by the justice ministers of several EU countries. Seven Member States, which include Belgium, Finland and Ireland, expressed their regret at the removal of certain parts of the proposal.
“We deeply regret that the majority of Member States were unable to support a more ambitious approach aimed at ensuring that children who have reached the age of sexual consent receive the strongest and most comprehensive legal protection possible against unwanted sexual acts,” they wrote in a press release.
Key issues remained unaddressed
Isaline Wittorski, EU regional coordinator at child rights organisation ECPAT International, is particularly concerned regarding Member States’ opposition to the extension of the limitation period for pursuing child sexual abuse cases.
She also regrets that “grooming” – the process by which an adult intentionally approaches minors and manipulates them for sexual purposes – for children who have reached the age of sexual consent was not addressed by the Council.
“The Member States expressly refused to recognise in the text that a child in a state of shock or intoxication cannot be considered to have consented to sexual abuse”, she adds.
Harmonisation of penalties
The Commission’s proposal aims to harmonise the definition of sexual violence against minors and penalties within the EU.
It will also update criminal law in order to criminalise the rape of children broadcast live on the internet, as well as the possession and exchange of paedophile manuals and child abuse deepfakes.
MEPs, for their part, should support a more ambitious directive. Birgit Sippel, a German MEP (S&D), is calling for longer limitation periods.
“Many children who have been abused take years or even decades before they dare to go to court or to a police station. So this is a very important step that is missing from the current directive,” the MEP told Euronews.
“Unfortunately, what I see is that the Council is watering down almost everything that could improve the current directive. It will therefore be very important for the EU Parliament to maintain a very strong position and force the Council to go further and not limit itself to the current directive,” she added.
The proposal’s text can still be amended. After a vote by MEPs, negotiations will take place between the EU Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament.
It is estimated that one in five children in Europe is a victim of some form of sexual violence.
In 2022 alone, there were 1.5 million reports of child sexual abuse in the EU.
ADVERTISEMENTMinisters also failed to reach agreement on another regulatory text aimed at combatting the sexual abuse of children online, which aims to force platforms to detect and remove content depicting sexual violence against minors. This proposal caused a clash between children’s rights defenders and privacy protection lobbies.
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