European Union

The European Commission refused to comment on Monday on a proposal by Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to update the 2016 migration pact, meant to stop people from reaching the Greek islands. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Erdoğan had spoken by phone over the weekend. "This is a conversation, which is taking place in a process," said chief commission spokesperson, Eric Mamer.

Can the EU do more to hold back the kinds of malign forces that overran the US Capitol? It's not an idle question. Democratic shortcomings in the EU are regularly invoked by the far-right to whip up nationalist sentiment.

Ursula von der Leyen promised the Conference on the Future of Europe, the European Council supported it, the European Parliament was enthusiastic to go ahead ... and then, nothing.

On Tuesday (12th January), the EU-India Human Rights dialogue will take place. Will EU leaders take a leap and stop keeping quiet about the deteriorating human rights situation in India?

Trade MEPs on Monday welcomed the achievements of the agreement between the EU and the UK but promised detailed scrutiny of the deal before a consent decision.
Committee on International Trade

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

EUobserver was tipped off about the investigation by an anonymous source, who said Olaf had raided the offices of Frontex director Fabrice Leggeri and his chef de cabinet in early December given alleged misconduct.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

MEPs will examine the implementation of the EU's vaccines strategy and start looking into the agreement on EU-UK relations reached at the end of 2020.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

The EU’s lead negotiator on COVID-19 vaccines contracts, Sandra Gallina, will update MEPs on the latest developments concerning COVID-19 vaccines, on Tuesday at 9 am.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Health workers distributing the Covid-19 vaccine have been forced to take extra precautions after Spain was paralysed by Storm Filomena, which brought a snowfall in Madrid of proportions unseen in half a century, Deutsche Welle writes. Spain was to send special convoys carrying the Covid-19 vaccine to areas cut off by the blizzard, the interior minister said.

France has unveiled a plan to transform the Champs-Élysées boulevard in Paris in a €250m project due to be implemented in 2024, when it hosts the Olympic Games. It aims to cut space for cars by half and create green pedestrian areas with trees, turning the 1.9km area into an "extraordinary garden". "The legendary avenue has lost its splendour during the last 30 years," the project-managers said in a statement.

Britain has authorised the use of thiamethoxam, a pesticide banned by the EU in 2018 for doing harm to bees, following lobbying by the National Farmers' Union and British Sugar advocacy groups, British newspaper The Guardian reports. The decision was "environmentally regressive" for conservationist group Buglife. Some 11 states have now approved "emergency" use of the product, including Belgium, Denmark, and Spain, despite the EU decision, UK authorities said.

Italy's far-right former interior minister, Matteo Salvini, appeared before a judge in Palermo, Sicily, on Saturday, in connection with his order to block migrants from disembarking in August 2019. The judge is to decide in March if he is to face charges on abuse of power. "I am totally at ease and proud of what I did," Salvini told media after the closed-door hearing, British newspaper The Guardian reports.

"The UK government must ... provide an urgent multibillion package of compensation to Scotland to mitigate the lasting Brexit harm done to Scottish businesses, industries, and communities," Ian Blackford, a leading MP from the Scottish National Party said Sunday, British newspaper The Guardian reports. Scottish fishermen, for instance, have suspended exports to the EU due to excessive paperwork after the UK's Brexit transition-period ended on 1 January, among other disruptions.

British citizenship and international awards are not enough to make Belarusian dissident Natalia Kaliada feel safe after a high-profile death threat.

The European Parliament's environment committee will hear from the person who negotiated the vaccine contracts, commission director-general of health and food safety, Sandra Gallina.

The European Court of Justice last month ruled Hungary had breached EU asylum laws. Budapest was told to stop pushing asylum seekers back into Serbia - yet nearly 2,500 people have been forced across the border since that judgement.

The three pillars of Italy's G20 presidency - "people", "planet" and "prosperity" aimed at building a more sustainable future, as well as digital innovation - are shared by Joe Biden, which raises hopes of a positive EU-US dialogue.

Given China's size and interconnectedness with Europe, a strategic policy of non-engagement hardly deserves the label "strategic".