Tuesday
20th Oct 2020
On a 2016 Latvia trip, vice-president Joe Biden told Baltic leaders not to take Donald Trump seriously. "Don't listen to that other fellow. He knows not of what he speaks", Biden joked. Months later, Trump was in the White House.
Safeguarding Europe's position starts with recognising the unpleasant reality that Europe's power is waning. Behind the facade of European cooperation, national self-interest still predominates and that has never been any different.
Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed two years ago on 2 October. Since then, mainly centre-right, conservative and far-right MEPs have voted down any moves to restrict, limit or ban the sales of weapons to the Saudi regime.
While the EU's enlargement progress reports have moved closer to capturing the problems of the region, they are still lagging behind in capturing the decline of democracy and rule of law in most of the region.
US secretary of agriculture Sonny Perdue argues that the EU is taking an approach "more based on 'political science' than demonstrated agricultural science" in its new Farm to Fork strategy.
EU states have imposed asset-freezes and visa-bans on Belarus' interior minister and 39 other officials, after Cyprus dropped its veto in return for tough talk on Turkey.
One ghost town symbolises Cyprus' plight. Varosha, a Greek-Cypriot city in the occupied district of Famagusta on the east coast, has been cordoned off by the Turkish military since 1974. This is why I never saw my mother's home before.
EU leaders flip-flopped on how to handle Turkey's latest military insults to Greece at Friday's summit.
EU leaders will discuss the latest flash-points in Turkey's confrontation with Greece on Friday (16 October), as Germany hardens talk of sanctions.
Honduran environmental rights defender Arnold Joaquín Morazan was killed in his home on Tuesday, a few days after his fellow activists were shortlisted for the European Parliament's Sakharov prize for freedom of thought.
EU countries have blacklisted six Russians and one entity over a chemical weapon attack, in what could prompt a high-level backlash.
On the agenda of today's summit is EU-Africa relations. It is a bit of an 'orphan' item. Without a steer from EU leaders, policy-making on Africa will drift, proceed in silos and be more of the same.
Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko has family connections to at least two companies in Cyprus, as EU states prepare to go after his money.
President Alexander Lukashenko is going back on an EU blacklist, as Belarusian police gets permission to use live ammunition against protesters.
EU countries are to impose modest sanctions on Russia for its second use of a prohibited chemical weapon in Europe.
This latest resumption in the conflict, as it is somewhat euphemistically called, is rather a self-declared offensive by Azerbaijan, aimed at achieving its desired outcome to the conflict by force rather than by negotiation.
A Russia-brokered ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan has broken down shortly after it was agreed on Saturday.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is escalating and there is little the EU can do about it, its top diplomat has said.
The European Parliament plenary on Thursday is set to vote on a joint resolution on "the situation of Ethiopian migrants in detention centres in Saudi Arabia." The largest political group, the EPP, is against a common position.
The likelihood of new EU sanctions on Russia has grown after international experts in The Hague said opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned by a chemical weapon.
Lithuania has clarified its role in the EU's purchase of surveillance drones for Belarusian authorities, saying it gave money only and paid it out before protests began in Belarus.
The EU has bought 15 surveillance drones for Belarusian authorities, prompting alarm they could be used against pro-democracy protesters.
France has accused Turkey's ally, Azerbaijan, of starting recent warfare with Armenia and importing "jihadist" fighters, as EU-Turkish relations continue to deteriorate.
Turkey has reportedly sent Syrian mercenaries to Azerbaijan, amid ongoing fighting with Armenia that threatens to draw in regional powers.
The EU's future relations with both the eastern and southern neighbourhood are at stake. A wrong signal to Belarus would be a wrong signal to all of the Eastern Partnership
Heavy fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan has claimed dozens of lives and caused alarm in Europe.
Following reports that accused EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell of sending diplomats to Venezuela in a "clandestine mission," the European People's Party was "alarmed" such move would weaken the EU position.
The loudest applause from MEPs during Ursula von der Leyen's State of the Union speech came for her call to move to Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) in foreign policy - at least on human rights and sanctions implementation.
The EU is expected to soon, perhaps this week, to release its renewed Sahel strategy, which was in dire need of a revamp and which will no doubt reflect some of the words of foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell.
German EU presidency "ready" to go ahead with EU human rights sanctions, but internal bickering could delay them into next year.
China's pledge to become carbon neutral before 2060 is "good news" for Europe, but it sends a clear message to Washington ahead of the US election - in which climate change has become a significant aspect for voters.
The special committee, only created in June, will start its hearings on Thursday with experts from the EU's foreign service on hybrid threats and disinformation.
The EPP, S&D, and Renew Europe have all dropped their support for a Belarus dissident with homophobic views, hours after EUobserver published an expose.
