European Union

External aviation policy: EU signs agreement boosting air services with Japan.

The Council adopted today a sixth round of sanctions in view of the situation in Myanmar/Burma.

The Council. approved conclusions setting out the renewed long-term EU strategy to deepen its strategic relationship and equal partnership with the Great Lakes region.

The Council approved conclusions on chemical disarmament and non-proliferation to define the EU position with a view towards the Fifth Special Session of the Conference of the States Parties to Review the Operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, which will be held in The Hague from 15-19 May 2023.

The Council approved conclusions on the EU priorities in UN human rights fora in 2023, stressing that the EU stands united as a staunch supporter of the UN human rights system, and will continue to actively uphold, defend and promote all human rights as a priority of its external action.

The Council adopted a decision authorising the coordinator of the PESCO project ‘NetLogHubs’ to invite Canada to participate in this military project.

The Council is launching the European Union military partnership mission in Niger.

The Council is launching the European Union civilian mission in Armenia (EUMA Armenia) under the Common Security and Defence Policy.

Main agenda items, approximate timing and press opportunities.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, European Council President Michel stressed the importance of North-South relations and underlined that there can be no prosperity without security.

Committee meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

On 28 February, the Committee on Foreign Affairs jointly with the Subcommittee on Security and Defence will mark the first year of the fully-fledged Russian war of aggression against Ukraine with a debate on the lessons learnt and the way forward.
Members together with interlocutors other EU Institutions and partners from Ukraine will honour the Ukrainian victims of this war and pay tribute to the servicemen and servicewomen who died fighting for the independence, freedom and sovereignty of their homeland.

The debate will be webstreamed.
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

AMENDMENTS 1 - 330 - Draft report 2022 Commission Report on Serbia
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Vladimír Bilčík

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

AMENDMENTS 1 - 305 - Draft report 2022 Commission Report on Kosovo
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Viola von Cramon-Taubadel

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

The EU and the European Parliament have stood with Ukraine ever since Russia launched an unjustified and illegal full-scale invasion of the country on 24 February 2022.

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

The current phase of the war in Ukraine, one year after Russia started its brutal aggression, is reminiscent of the entrenched phase of World War I when hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides dies in muddy trenches of Flanders and France, fighting to conquer only a few metres.

A question mark hangs over the timeline of the sustainable use of pesticides regulation (SUR) after a leaked letter showed agriculture MEPs are dragging their feet on the crucial file, leading Commission officials to accuse them of deliberately blocking progress on the regulation.

The tragedy of both Serbia and the Serbian people is caused by the fascination with Russia as a gulag, Russia as a prison, Russia as an occupier and robber, writes Vuk Drašković.

While free traders generally lament the politicisation of trade for its undermining effect on the multilateral trade order, the more geopolitical tensions might give some EU trade deals the impetus they need to get over the line.

The migrant welcoming system within the EU has “come to the brink of failure" mostly due to inadequate planning and growing needs, the head of a delegation of EU lawmakers declared after completing a visit to three reception hotspots on Wednesday evening (22 February).