Sunday
23rd Jan 2022
Emmanuel Macron also took hits from French political opponents, including the Green party presidential challenger MEP Yannick Jadot in the European Parliament ahead of the upcoming presidential elections in France in April.
Competition is fierce and getting African leaders' attention is no easy task. US president Joe Biden has his own Africa summit, and Turkey, Japan, Russia and - most importantly - China, also have Africa forums up and running.
For each of the possible future conflicts in the EU's neighbourhood, the EU will need Turkey as a strategic partner. Therefore it is time to put past slights and sensitivities aside.
There are also numerous loopholes in the deal which will enable corporations to keep portions of their profits outside of the scope of the tax, so paying even less than 15 percent.
Enlargement commissioner Várhelyi "openly colluded [with Dodik] in potentially breaking up Bosnia and Herzegovina", according to dozens of MEPs who wrote to Várhelyi's boss.
Invasion is unlikely to be Vladimir Putin's preferred option. Yet this game of brinkmanship has another part of the equation. If Russia invades Ukraine, the costs for Europe will be equally devastating.
An EU mission using Danish and French warships is to patrol West African waters in coming years to stymie piracy.
Russia already has "hundreds" of mercenaries in Mali, but there was no sign they were using EU-trained Malian soldiers, an EU spokesperson has said.
Simply opening the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius, sparked a large-scale expansion of China's economic warfare against democracies. China's actions amount to a fundamental attack on the DNA of the European Union: the internal market.
The EU has redacted the only nice thing it was planning to say about Russia from its landmark strategy paper.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has gone against Germany by saying the fate of Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was tied to events in Ukraine.
The EU has got next to nothing for €700 million of its tax-payers' money meant to help rule of law in the Western Balkans.
Russia and the US have begun "complex" talks on European security, as the West dampened expectations for a positive outcome.
The EU's flagship naval operation risks losing permission to pursue pirates in Somalia's waters due to local politics.
A lieutenant colonel with top-level Kremlin links, a spy-catcher, and a Big Data specialist - the identities of eight Russians recently expelled by Nato shed light on the espionage threat in Brussels.
The EU's top diplomat warned Russia against military intervention in its neighbouring Kazakhstan, where protestors have been calling for a change in government.
The German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock warned in Washington that "it is out of the question, and let me make this very clear - there cannot be a decision on the security in Europe without Europe."
It is "very likely" that Russia will invade Ukraine and it can only be stopped by "enormous sanctions", Adam Schiff, the chair of the US House intelligence committee said.
Since hostilities between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front in Western Sahara resumed in November 2020, the EU has been reluctant to play an active role in the conflict.
US and Russian leaders have repeated their red lines on Ukraine ahead of New Year talks designed to prevent a new war in Europe.
Germany's foreign minister will boycott Beijing's Winter Olympics on human-rights grounds, but the EU has a "cognitive split" on China, it said.
From the Mediterranean to Minsk, from Covid to climate change, EUobserver has proudly broken original stories on the EU institutions in 2021 - under our ethos of 'Independent. Investigative. Influential.'
Russia has attracted international disgust for shutting down its most distinguished human-rights NGO.
French prime minister Jean Castex announced on Monday evening that people will need a 'vaccination pass' to enter restaurants, bars, and museums in future.
Russia and the US have scheduled security talks for 10 January, while Moscow continued to belittle the EU.
Poland's de facto ruler has accused Germany of trying to create a "Fourth Reich" in the EU, in his latest Germanophobe slur.
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg has sought a meeting of the Nato-Russia council for 12 January, but so far has not received a positive answer from Moscow.
Russia has underlined Europe's dependence on its gas, while keeping EU powers guessing over its next move on Ukraine.
The EU Commission also proposed measures to better detect shell or letter box companies which do not carry out any real economic activities.
The US is keen to start security talks with Russia in January, while threatening "immediate" sanctions in the event of a new attack on Ukraine.
Russia has continued to talk over Europe's head to America about threats of war, but the EU says it cannot be marginalised.
EU and national policymakers would do well to make a New Year's resolution to encourage a growing interest in donating to good causes far from home - by extending Europe's single market benefits to philanthropy.
After four years in Brussels, ambassador Zhang Ming, head of Chinese Mission to the EU, comes to the end of his tenure. Here is his farewell letter on his feelings about working in Brussels and his aspiration for China-EU relations.
