While most MEPs have been vocal in support of the proposal by the European Commission for EU-wide vaccine certificates, key questions remain - ranging from fundamental rights, to its scientific validity.

Of the €30bn allocated to Romania under the EU recovery fund, just four percent is slated to go to renewable energy and energy-efficiency. Despite the pressing need to decarbonise Romania's heat and power sectors, this is not an investment priority.

We often talk about the need to establish a relationship between equals in our partnership with Africa. This paradigm needs to be more than a declaration of good intentions

The recession set to hit Europe after the pandemic will help organised crime penetrate legitimate business and recruit out-of-work specialists, the EU's joint police agency, Europol, has warned.

Concern over the low efficiency of Chinese-made vaccines has been mounting since China's top official said existing vaccines offer low protection against Covid-19 - raising questions for those nations relying heavily on the Chinese jabs. That includes Hungary and Serbia.

While Markus Söder, leader of CDU's Bavarian sister party, the CSU, also threw his hat into the race to replace chancellor Angela Merkel, the CDU's choice is likely to be decisive.

Montenegro had requested the EU help pay off a loan from China, reported the Financial Times. But the European Commission says that is not going to happen.

Several industry EU lobby groups are about to be entrusted again with the privilege of co-deciding how €9.6bn of public EU research funding should be used - in research areas as essential as healthcare, transportation, energy and IT infrastructures.

Ursula von der Leyen appears secure in her job as president of the European Commission. That's despite a troubled vaccine rollout in which delayed deliveries can cost lives and livelihoods.

International research shows, countries that engage with international trade tend to have more gender-equality than less open economies. Trade policy is thus a powerful tool to create opportunities for women - if used properly.

Less regionalised than Spain but more than France, Italy's institutional set-up is based on a complex patchwork of regions, autonomous regions, and autonomous provinces.

On Thursday, MEPs in the Democracy, Rule of Law, and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group meeting will hear from Polish judges, prosecutors, and government representatives on the situation of the judiciary in Poland.

The European Commission has spent €252m of its farming advertising budget for 2016-2020 to promote meat and dairy products - raising concerns over the compatibility of EU agri-food promotion policy with the bloc's climate ambitions.

Russia has reassured the EU that its anti-coronavirus vaccines have not caused a single death, following EUobserver's report on potential side-effects.