Beyond macho: Turkish-EU ties

The Gazprom pipeline simply does not have any commercial bearing. Rather, it undermines the functioning and effectiveness of the European Energy Union and circumvents Ukraine for gas transits - paving the way for further Russian strong-arming in the region.

Germany has given the go-ahead for a controversial Russian gas pipeline despite the furore over Russia's chemical attack in the UK.

If your publication ends up in its database, you're officially labeled by the EU as a publisher of disinformation and fake news. That is a problem which should not be underestimated. The state should not interfere with the free media.

Eight more Russian diplomats to be sent packing from Belgium and one from Ireland, but Russia's EU envoy to stay in place.

Eleven EU countries, many of them staunch friends of Russia, have so far failed to join other member states in expelling Russian diplomats.

Bulgaria's prime minister Boyko Borissov described a meeting at the Black Sea resort of Varna between the presidents of Turkey, the EU council, and the European commission as "charged with great tension." Disputes remain far from resolved.

France, Germany, Poland, and the US have led the largest-ever expulsion of Russian spies and diplomats in reaction to the UK chemical attack.

EU justice commissioner Vera Jourova wants to secure compatible rules with the US when it comes to granting police access to people's personal data stored in other countries. But governance issues may complicate those efforts.

Kiev is hoping to secure more than €500m in EU aid by July, amid its never-ending fight against corruption. The finance minister tells EUobserver the prosecutor general should resign - meanwhile privatisations of 3,500 state-owned companies go ahead, despite war.

As EU leaders Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker meet president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Bulgaria, their reluctance to use their diminishing leverage with Ankara means his dismantling of Turkey's democracy only speeds up.

More than 20 million Yemenis are now in need of humanitarian assistance, in an ongoing conflict partly fought with Saudi weapons sourced from EU member states - notably the UK and France.

Momentum is building in Denmark and Sweden for the adoption of Magnitsky Acts - a form of sanctions hated by the Kremlin.

Germany and France are to impose new sanctions on Russia over the UK attack, with some measures due as early as Monday.

EU leaders demanded a permanent exemption from US tariffs on steel and aluminium - and ruled out any bilateral trade talks within the 1 May deadline set by Donald Trump.