European Union

More than 100 Catholic priests in Germany have offered blessings to same-sex couples this week, defying the Vatican, Deutsche Welle writes. The church in Germany does not permit it, while the Vatican forbids it. Earlier this year the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome issued a sternly worded 'responsum' (reply) forbidding blessings for same-sex partnerships.

Laura Codruta Kovesi, the head of the new European Union-wide prosecutors office (EPPO), has faulted Slovenia. The country has yet to put forward candidate prosecutors for the new Luxembourg-based office. "Slovenia can't stop #EPPO but the manifest lack of sincere cooperation makes it more difficult for us to be efficient," said the EPPO, in a tweet.

A report of the International Energy Agency (IEA) revealed on Tuesday that renewable sources of electricity, such as wind and solar, grew at their fastest rate in two decades last year - with renewable capacity set to continue expanding at a faster pace. "Wind and solar power are giving us more reasons to be optimistic about our climate goals as they break record-after-record," said IEA's executive director Fatih Birol.

The European Union has launched a second legal action against AstraZeneca - in a bid to oblige the company to deliver 90 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to EU member states by the end of June.

Disgraced former Fidesz MEP József Szájer is entitled to a transitional allowance. The European Parliament won't say if he took one. An appeal on a freedom of information request is delayed - while appeals are overseen by another Fidesz MEP.

Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo announced that from 9 June restaurants, cinemas, theatres and fitness centres will be able to open their doors again. Indoor and outdoor events will steadily be able to host more people.

EU policymakers are right to resist pressure to emulate the hard security stance and implicit anti-China bias of 'Quad' members: the US, Japan, Australia and India.

The pro-Kremlin affiliation of various radical paramilitary organisations is a significant cause for concern throughout central Europe.

MEPs urge member states to protect and further enhance women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights in a report adopted on Tuesday.
Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

MEPs urge member states to protect and further enhance women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights in a report adopted on Tuesday.
Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Find out how the EU aims to boost consumer protection and adapt it to new challenges such as the green transition and the digital transformation.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Find out how the EU aims to boost consumer protection and adapt it to new challenges such as the green transition and the digital transformation.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

ERRATUM on the 2019-2020 Commission Reports on Turkey (2019/2176(INI))
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Nacho Sánchez Amor

Source : © European Union, 0 - EP

The Conference on the Future of Europe was officially launched on 9 May with a ceremony at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

The Conference on the Future of Europe was officially launched on 9 May with a ceremony at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Retaliatory airstrikes by Israeli warplanes in Gaza killed eight Hamas militants, according to the military, Deutsche Welle writes. The Palestinian authorities in Gaza said 20 people were killed, including nine children, and some 65 were wounded. Israel reacted to rockets fired by Hamas into Israel after Israeli authorities refused to withdraw police from the Temple Mount and Shaikh Jarrah neighbourhoods in the Holy City, amid protests over settlement-expansion.

EU countries are unlikely to expel any more Russian diplomats in solidarity over alleged Russian bomb attacks in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria in 2014, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said Monday after meeting foreign ministers. "Everybody agrees on the need of not continuing the escalation. That we need to look for strong support, but at the same time to try not to increase the tensions," Borrell told press.

The EU will shortly issue a statement of support for pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong with or without Hungary, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said Monday, after Budapest vetoed a draft communiqué. "If unanimity is not reached ... we will have to take a position which does not reflect unanimity," he said, adding: "We will continue working [on Hungary's objections] for one more week ... just one more week".

EU foreign ministers discussed Western Balkans enlargement for the first time in two years on Monday in what EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said was "quite strange" given the region's "geostrategic" importance. "We cannot go on holidays without having restarted the talks", on normalising Kosovo-Serbia relations, he said. Granting Kosovars visa-free EU travel and lifting Bulgaria's veto on North Macedonia accession talks were also his top priorities, Borrell said.

Russia has recruited allies in German chancellor Angela Merkel's "inner circle" and in Austrian intelligence services, exiled Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned.