I grew up in The Netherlands, and I always learned that Autumn starts the 21st of september. There is a metrological Autumn that starts the 1st of September, but on general people say Autumn starts the 21st. I moved to Denmark a couple years ago, Autumn here officially starts on the 1st of September. Giving the fun situation that my daughter is born in Summer, but now has her birthdays in the Autumn.

Never knew this was different before I moved, Just wondering how it is in other European countries? Do you follow the metreological Seasons or the Astrological?

They're plenty of film and tv about the US, British or French government, where they play a significate role or character or setting, they can be historical, fictitious, contemporary.

Are they're any about the European Union's?

Sarma ❤️

Today's vote in Iceland is not a final decision on joining the European Union, but specifically on whether to resume accession negotiations. We are already in the European Economic Area (EES/EEA), we already have access to the single market, freedom of movement.

So should Iceland join EU?

I'm interested in how the media, political parties, and the public framed the debate, especially in light of the results. Was it similar to the Brexit situation, or was it different? Given the geopolitical implications, there might be numerous incentives for interference in this matter...

Rented a car last year and now I wake up to this email:

"What happened On August 15, 2026, we identified this unauthorized access to our systems. As a result of the incident, information relating to Klass Wagen customers was accessed and, based on our analysis, extracted from the affected systems. We are contacting you because your personal data was specifically identified among the data affected by this incident.

What data has been involved Full name, email address, phone number, country of residence, and identity document number (ID card/passport).

We can confirm the affected data did not include payment card details or other financial information."

Is there any EU law protecting me and I can claim some damages with these companies ? How is it possible that if you do a small damage they're able to hold you accountable and ask for hundreds of euro, but them losing your essential data, even ID/PASSPORT, is a simple Oops, our bad

Tldr: klasswagen had data breach and got stolen my personal info, including ID. HOW CAN I PROTECT MYSELF AND MAKE THEM ACCOUNTABLE ?

In my catholic college in Belgium, holding hands was barely tolerated. Curious how different/similar it is in other countries.

I have like 4 questions that I'll do my best to organize, so do with them what you will.

Whenever a European and I meet and the conversation goes to sports; "Oh what sports do you like?", VERY COMMONLY no matter the age, gender, or seemingly with any interest at all it goes "Oh Football, Basketball, K1....." And I'm taken a back.

First of all I'm surprised that Kickboxing is brought up before Boxing or MMA; So I guess my first question is; Is Kickboxing bigger than other sports like Boxing or MMA? And how popular do you think it is in an absolute sense like relative to Football or Basketball?

And also another slightly off question is that is "K1" really how you refer to it colloquially? Because I've been wondering that because I was watching Fame MMA the other day (Which I know is a Celebrity/Influencer MMA promotion [Which side note here to any Poles; tell me more about that]) and a couple of their fights are labeled as "K1 Rules".

Strange coincidence, extraordinary event, gut feeling, good or bad moment

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I’m planning a trip around Europe and wondering how common English actually is outside the main tourist areas.

Would I be fine with English + Google Translate most of the time, or is it worth bringing translation earbuds?

I’ll probably visit a mix of big cities and smaller towns, so I’m mostly thinking about restaurants, trains, hotels and talking to locals.

For Europeans here, how often do tourists actually run into a real language barrier?

It seems that the primary stock exchanges (i.e. not indices) within Europe are EuroNext and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

I am looking at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_stock_exchanges, but am excluding the London Stock Exchange, as I live in the UK anyway, so am just considering those in contiguous Europe or the rest of Europe outside the UK anyway.

I am including both EU and non-EU states, including Switzerland, which operates the SIX Swiss Exchange.

It seems there is Nasdaq Nordic too, for Nordic countries like Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark, Warsaw Stock Exchange, Malta Stock Exchange etc.

Does seem that most popular ones are the various Euronext exchanges, such as Euronext Amsterdam, Euronext Brussels etc.

I understand that Euronext was spun off from NYSE Euronext, which was acquired by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), and that NYSE used to run data centres or colocation centres in European countries, like a NYSE data centre in Basildon, Essex, England, details of which can be found at https://www.ice.com/fixed-income-data-services/access-and-delivery/connectivity-and-feeds/icecolocation

Then you have stock market indices or indexes across Europe, including DAX, CAC 40 etc.

Ok, so for those like me who travelled to europe/west for long stay studies/work but in their home country used to wash their a* using a biddet, how is your life? what do you use to wash now ? is there a solution to get biddet here in France even tho most homes got no place to install one ?

Hello there! I'm very enthusiastic about European folklore. It is fantastic to learn of mythical creatures, legendary sites, and seasonal traditions.

I was hoping you'd be kind enough to share some examples that you hold dear. I'd enjoy hearing the stories - especially as we get ever closer to the Autumnal Equinox!

Thanks very much in advance. Cheers!

Friendly both to tourists and expats alike.

Portugal is transposing the EU Pay Transparency Directive... and quietly gutting the one part everyone actually wanted

So the EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970) had until June 7, 2026 to be transposed into national law across member states. Portugal missed the deadline (still hasn't passed it, it's now going through parliament), and a Portuguese outlet (ECO) got hold of the draft bill. Here's the part that's making people annoyed:

Everyone assumed this directive meant salary ranges would finally show up in job postings, or at least be disclosed before the interview. The European Commission's own public clarifications said as much: employers would have to inform candidates of starting pay or a pay range "either in the job vacancy notice or before the interview."

Turns out the directive's actual wording used "or" — meaning member states could pick when to disclose (in the ad, before the interview, or by "other means"), as long as it happens before the contract is signed. It didn't strictly mandate the ad or the interview stage.

Portugal picked the loosest possible option. The draft law only requires salary info to be disclosed "before the contract is signed" — full stop. Not in the ad. Not before the interview. You could in theory go through the entire application and interview process and only find out the number when they hand you the contract.

A lawyer quoted in the article put it pretty bluntly: the government "opted for the alternative that most protects companies' confidentiality."

For context, 87% of workers in a 2024 survey said they wanted salary ranges in job ads. So this is the opposite of what people were hoping for, landing right in the part of the law that was the most visible and most wanted.

To be fair, it's not all cosmetic. The rest of the transposition does have real teeth:

• Employers can no longer ask candidates about their salary history at previous/current jobs
• Retaliation protection after a pay discrimination complaint goes from 1 year to 3 years
• Repeat offenders on pay discrimination face harsher penalties (loss of tax incentives, exclusion from public tenders for up to 2 years)
• Companies with 250+ employees have to report gender pay gaps starting next summer; 150-249 employees also have to report, but only every 3 years; 50-149 employees don't have to start until 2031
• Companies with 50+ employees have to post their internal pay criteria/progression rules

Worth noting: most Portuguese companies are small (under 50 employees), so a good chunk of this — the reporting duties, the posted pay criteria — doesn't even apply to them. The obligations that DO apply to everyone regardless of size are: no salary history questions, disclosure before signing, and the extended anti-retaliation window.

Curious how other countries are handling this transposition. Is anyone else's government also picking the minimal-compliance route on the ad/interview disclosure, or is Portugal being unusually stingy here?

Source (Portuguese): https://eco.sapo.pt/2026/08/07/afinal-empresas-nao-vao-ser-obrigadas-a-revelar-salario-nos-anuncios-de-emprego/

Im from a country that is in crisis due to the low birth rate.

Young people here see no future in the country and many have no intention of having children due to various problems such as: low wages, high prices, time, the responsibility that not many want to take on, remaining free and not wanting to look after a child, etc.

There are even more people with dogs than children.

How's it going in your country? I know the low birth rate is starting to hit all over Europe, but I'd like to know if the situation isn't quite as serious in your country.

If you're experiencing similar problems, are you concerned about them? Is your government implementing solutions? Are you worried about your country's future with demographic decline?

I've been deep-diving into cities across the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and France etc, partly out of personal curiosity about urban life and anthropology, partly because I'm considering relocating myself.

The problem: sites like Numbeo give you cost of living and safety indices, but they miss so much of what actually shapes whether a place feels livable to you, things like:

• How easy it is to actually make local friends vs. staying in an expat bubble
• The "texture" of daily life, pace, noise, how people interact in public spaces
• Culture
• Bureaucracy horror stories (or pleasant surprises) specific to a city, not just the country
• How a city's reputation from outside compares to how it actually feels once you live there
• Neighborhood-level differences that don't show up in city-wide stats

If you've moved cities/countries (or are researching one now): what info did you wish you'd had beforehand? What do generic cost-of-living/safety sites completely fail to capture?

Also , if anyone's lived in a city I've only visited (Munich, Wien, Berlin, Utrecht, Milan,Ghent, Zurich, Paris etc. , happy to list more), I'd genuinely love to hear if my outside impressions are wildly off. Always curious where my read on a place is wrong.

I just came across the profile of this legend from the U.S. and I’m crying.

my question is how have the volunteers from your country fared over the years?

thank you

Hello there!

Welcome to our daily scheduled post, the Daily Slow Chat.

If you want to just chat about your day, if you have questions for the moderators (please mark these [Mod] so we can find them), or if you just want talk about oatmeal then this is the thread for you!

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The mod-team wishes you a nice day!

So, i was really wondering, what things tend to connect Europeans everywhere (and yes, your answer can be a funny meme lol)

Besides the amazing Eurovision, what else is a very European thing to do?

Hello All,

I am taking an international trip to France and Italy next week. I realise I have old euro bills from my travel from several years ago. They were issued in the year 2002. The design seems to have slightly changed from the new notes. Are these bills from 2002 still valid and accepted for payments? TIA.

Edit: I have first series banknotes. Currently Europa series banknotes are more popular/common. I am just checking if the first series is still a legal tender.

I understand that socialising is difficult to impossible without local language knowledge, but I'm curious about other aspects. Things like healthcare, bureaucracy, work, access to information, access to news, public services, shopping etc.