European Union

DRAFT REPORT on the Implementation report on the EU Trust Funds and the Facility for Refugees in Turkey
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Budgets
Committee on Development
György Hölvényi, Janusz Lewandowski, Milan Zver

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Committee meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has contradicted claims by EU Council president Charles Michel that Turkey was to blame for a recent fiasco, which saw the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, given a second-class seat in a mini-summit in Ankara. "The protocol ... met the demands of the EU side. In other words, the seating arrangement was designed to meet their demands and suggestions," Çavuşoğlu said on Thursday.

French president Emmanuel Macron has pledged to close the École nationale d'administration (ENA), an elite French academy, which admits fewer than 100 students a year, who are fast-tracked into top civil service posts, and which educated four French presidents, including Macron. The move comes in response to popular anger against social inequality ahead of next year's elections. The ENA closure marked a "profound revolution in terms of recruitment", Macron said.

The number of Covid-19 infections in the UK dropped by 60 percent in March due to the lockdown restrictions and vaccination, a study found. Imperial Collage London researchers said "infections may have resulted in fewer hospitalisations and deaths since the starts of the widespread vaccination". But they warned on Thursday that the UK's current strategy out of the lockdown could lead to 15,700 deaths in the UK by June 2022.

The pandemic has swung the pendulum of political consensus away from the populists, eroding their approval ratings ahead of key parliamentary elections in 2021 and 2022.

US president Joe Biden, who has Irish roots, has called for "calm" in Northern Ireland, following sectarian riots over post-Brexit border arrangements. "We're concerned by the violence in Northern Ireland and we join the British, Irish, and Northern Irish leaders in calls for calm," the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said. "We welcome the provisions in ... the Northern Ireland protocol," she added, referring to the Brexit border deal.

Italian prime minister Mario Draghi on Thursday called Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a "dictator", drawing condemnation from Ankara. EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Charles Michel met Erdoğan Tuesday, but the Commission chief was left with no seat, causing a stir. Draghi said "with these, let's call them what they are - dictators ... one nonetheless has to coordinate, one has to be frank".

Russia urged Slovakia on Thursday to return thousands of doses of the Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19, after Bratislava's drug agency said the jab batches it had received were different from those being reviewed by the EU medicine agency, Reuters reported. Slovakia bought 200,000 doses of Sputnik V last month. However, Slovakia's drug agency has not been able to assess the jab, due to gaps in data provided by Moscow.

Four people recently died after taking Russia's Sputnik V anti-corona jab in previously unreported cases, which are being taken "seriously" by the EU regulator, the European Medicines Agency.

Following a meeting in Ankara with President Erdoğan, President Michel reiterated the EU's strategic interest for a mutually beneficial and positive relationship with Turkey.

During his visit to Libya, President Charles Michel held a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Najla.

Weekly schedule of President Charles Michel 4-11 April 2021

On 29 March 2021, the Eurogroup President, Paschal Donohoe, published an opinion article in the Financial Times examining fiscal stimuluses deployed by the European Union and the United States.

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2021/372 of 2 March 2021 amending Decision (CFSP) 2020/1999 concerning restrictive measures against serious human rights violations and abuses.

On the occasion of the publication of an article co-signed with a number of world leaders, European Council President Michel and WHO Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus discussed their call for an international Treaty on Pandemics.

COVID-19 shows why united action is needed for more robust international health architecture" - Op-ed article by President Charles Michel, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and more than 20 world leaders.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

At its meeting on Wednesday, the Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe continued preparations to get the Conference started.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

At its meeting on Wednesday, the Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe continued preparations to get the Conference started.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP