Monday
12th Apr 2021
Four people recently died after taking Russia's Sputnik V anti-corona jab in previously unreported cases, which are being taken "seriously" by the EU regulator, the European Medicines Agency.
In Germany, there is commotion about a new book in which two journalists describe meetings held during the corona crisis between federal chancellor Angela Merkel, and the 16 prime ministers of its federal constituent states.
According to the latest opinion polls, Matteo Salvini's League party is leading with 24 percent, followed by Brothers of Italy at 18 percent.
The violence came as tensions have been building over Brexit, which has seen trade barriers put in place between Northern Ireland and the rest of Great Britain.
Despite the calls for coordination from Brussels, EU capitals started issuing a jumble of measures for the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to respond to concerns over rare blood clots.
This week's snap election in Greenland resulted in a clear majority for the mining-sceptic IA party, in a historic change.
The pandemic has swung the pendulum of political consensus away from the populists, eroding their approval ratings ahead of key parliamentary elections in 2021 and 2022.
This week negotiations on a renewed nuclear deal with Tehran started in Vienna. Iran is desperate to have a deal quickly. Elections are coming up in June, and the economy is in terrible shape.
Beatings, forced sterilisation, police violence and fire bombings by right-wing extremists against Romani communities are still a reality in Europe. The corona pandemic only worsened this situation.
The European Commission says its president should be treated on an equal footing with the president of the European Council. The issue came to a head over a meeting in Ankara which saw von der Leyen separated from male counterparts.
On Tuesday Belgium launched a new website, QVAX, where people who are not yet vaccinated or have no appointment to be vaccinated, could register in case 'spare' appointments come up. Brussels will start it's own system mid-April.
The European Parliament has launched an internal probe into the conduct of Czech MEP Jan Zahradil over his dealings with China and a so-called 'friendship group'.
Since 2018, when the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries started negotiations on the deal that would replace the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, calls for "de-colonising aid" and a strong role for local actors in development have grown.
Italy's various mafias are allegedly exploiting the chaos caused by the Covid-19 emergency to infiltrate even deeper into sectors where they are already present, such as healthcare, mortuary services, and waste disposal (both medical and non-medical).
As a German national, I see German history as a constant warning to defend the rule of law - and to be vigilant to detect even the slightest beginnings of its erosion.
The EU failed to reach its target of having at least 80 percent of the elderly and healthcare workers vaccinated by the end of March. According to estimates, 55 percent will be vaccinated by the end of June.
A family law bill currently under talks in Greece was drafted by an international men's movement, says Giota Massouridou, vice-president of the European Democratic Lawyers Association. Critics say the bill rolls backs international treaties to protect women against domestic violence.
Iceland's international reputation masks two blunt realities that face the country's women - the disproportionate levels of gender-based violence that they experience, and a justice system that is frequently suspicious and hostile towards victims of this violence.
A study from the London School of Economics found both political and economic nativism divides far-right MEPs across Europe, casting doubt on a possible future alliance - as proposed by Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orbán.
Nine members of the expert group advising the European Commission on sustainable finance rules say criteria for gas, forestry and bioenergy are "a clear contradiction to climate science" - threatening to step down if lobbying and politics prevail over science.
Bulgaria's burgeoning information technology sector is becoming a voice of change – and parties are starting to take notice, as the country votes for a new parliament on Sunday.
At any one time, there are over 100,000 people in prison waiting for a trial - one-in-five of the total EU prison population. These numbers have consistently grown over the past few years and are fuelling Europe's prison overcrowding crisis.
The Slovenian prime minister recently lashed out against both journalists and MEPs. His country will soon take over the presidency. In Brussels, there is concern - but also faith that Janez Janša cannot have much impact on the EU machinery.
The European Parliament's plans to replace the current paper-based MEPs attendance control system with a digital register, based on a fingerprint scanner, raises "critical concerns", the EU data protection watchdog has warned.
Rights defenders say Montenegro's treatment of an investigative journalist amounts to a "politically-motivated judicial persecution".
European leaders always fail to mention the Turkish military intervention that led to the end of Khalifa Haftar's infamous military operation initiated in April 2019, and the end of the warlord's ambition to become Libya's 'new Gadaffi'.
Syrian people's suffering is worse than ever, but international aid is shrinking, amid no end in sight to its 10-year war.
The World Health Organization and 25 countries have backed a call for an international treaty on pandemics - first announced by the European Council president Charles Michel. "The next pandemic is not a question of 'if', but 'when'," he said.
Earlier attempts to unite Europe's far-right parties have failed because of domestic rivalries and deeply diverging views on Russia.
The UK says it has an "exclusivity deal" with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm. The EU says no other contract overrides its own.
Jean Monnet went from his father's Cognac business, to masterminding the First World War shipping channels, to founding the EU. The bloc could do with some of his business acumen right now.
Behind each product with a EU quality seal penalised by Nutriscore, there are smallholder farmers, producers, agricultural workers and a whole industry hit hard by Covid-19.
