European Union

The sudden death of Milan Bandić, Zagreb’s Mayor for an uninterrupted 20 years and a controversial figure, is likely to have quite an impact on the country’s politics and has thrown the mayoral race in this spring’s local elections wide...

Bulgaria will miss the start of Poseidon 21, the first NATO multinational naval exercise of 2021, after a group of its sailors were infected with the coronavirus. The exercises, organised by the Romanian Naval Forces (FNR) and to be held...

Vetëvendosje leader and Kosovo’s Prime-Minister designate Albin Kurti, whose party won the 14 February election, has received two letters regarding Pristina’s decision to open its embassy in Jerusalem: one from Israel, and one from Turkey. In his letter to Kurti,...

Slovakia’s transport ministry believes it will persuade the European Commission that EU budget funds should be used for the country’s road infrastructure despite the Commission prioritising rail. For the self-governing regions, EU funds are a key means of financing the...

The Czech Republic could receive Russian Sputnik V jabs “as soon as possible”, President Miloš Zeman told CNN Prima News, confirming that after consulting with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš he had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for the COVID-19 vaccines...

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Friday presented the country’s National Recovery Plan (KPO), the budget of which will be based on Poland’s share of the EU’s €750 billion post-pandemic recovery fund. With the plan only having a few weeks left...

If the planned amendment to the statutes of the European People’s Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament passes, making the suspension of an entire group of lawmakers possible, Fidesz will leave the faction, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told...

The Greeks “will suffer the most damage” because of the bilateral tensions and attempts to strengthen the Greek army, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar has said. “As you know, Greek fighter jets disturbed the Cesme, which is conducting scientific research....

Finland will go into a partial three-week shutdown from 8 March as the country’s coronavirus situation has been deteriorating since Christmas, the Finnish government has announced. According to Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo, this will be the “final spurt to accelerate...

The Irish government should attempt to meet new coronavirus targets of 10 cases per day, the Social Democrats have said. Such a benchmark would help the country avoid a further lockdown in the near future, according to co-leader Róisín Shortall. Speaking...

Germany’s leftist party Die Linke elected Thuringian state party leader Susanne Hennig-Wellsow and Hessian parliamentary group leader Janine Wissler with clear majorities to lead the party into September’s parliamentary elections during its virtual party conference over the weekend. Hennig-Wellsow and...

The Portuguese secretary of state for European affairs has acknowledged that Portugal’s EU presidency will face difficulties in applying sanctions to Hungary and Poland for violations of the rule of law. Ana Paula Zacarias said Portugal has scheduled a debate on Article...

China used coronavirus prevention measures, intimidation and visa curbs to limit foreign reporting in 2020, ushering in a "rapid decline in media freedom," the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China (FCCC) said on Monday, Reuters reports. "All arms of state power - including surveillance systems introduced to curb coronavirus - were used to harass and intimidate journalists, their Chinese colleagues, and those whom the foreign press sought to interview," it said.

More than 20m people in the UK have been given at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, the country's health secretary, Matt Hancock, has announced, Deutsche Welle reports. The UK will begin vaccinating people over 40 in March, as the country pushes ahead with first doses. The British government is aiming to give the entire adult population at least one dose of vaccine by the end of July.

Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić has attacked EU proposals to issue 'vaccine passports' enabling people who had had the jab to travel freely, following EU leaders' talks last week. The passports were "meaningless" and "anti-European", he said, because they would force people to take the drug and would create discrimination. France and Germany "were against that in the beginning, but obviously the pressure is huge", Vučić told TV Prva Saturday.

Germany has added France's eastern Moselle region to its list of "variant of concern" areas, triggering tougher entry requirements at the border between the two neighbours, Deutsche Welle writes. Under the new restrictions, almost all travel will be banned. There are only a few exemptions, including lorry drivers and certain key workers. Anyone crossing the border will have to provide a valid negative Covid-19 test.

Italian researchers have discovered that healthcare workers with obesity produced only about half the amount of antibodies in response to a second dose of the jab compared with healthy people, The Guardian writes. Although it was too soon to know what this means for the efficacy of the vaccine, it might imply that people with obesity need an additional dose to ensure they are adequately protected against coronavirus.

The Iranian foreign ministry has announced it is not willing to attend EU-brokered talks with the US over the future of the Iran nuclear deal because Washington has not done enough to lift sanctions against Tehran, The Guardian writes. The new US administration committed to returning to the 2015 nuclear deal, had said it was willing to attend talks, and might lift sanctions at the negotiating table, but not before.

Three policemen were injured, one of them needing hospital care, and 23 people were arrested in anti-lockdown protests in Dublin on Saturday. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the demonstration had "posed an unacceptable risk to both the public and gardaí [police]". "It is utterly horrifying to see our members being placed under incredible ... danger," a police spokeswoman said, after some protesters had discharged fireworks at police at point-blank range.

The EU has asked its ambassador to Cuba to explain why he signed a letter asking US president Joe Biden to stop being "hostile" to Havana.