European Union

Latvia's prime minister on Tuesday (5 January) fired his health minister in a row over coronavirus vaccination policy, straining ties within the governing coalition.

Since the pandemic started last year, European citizens have had to radically realign their lives to the new reality. For the most part, this has meant rapidly migrating our personal and professional lives online. With this comes a broad range of policy measures aimed at reinforcing Europe’s connectivity and heightening cybersecurity standards across 2021.

The European Union is in talks with Pfizer and BioNTech over ordering up to 100 million more doses of their COVID-19 vaccine, three sources close to the matter said, as European governments battle to speed up immunisations.

The Dutch government was caught off guard by the approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by EU regulators in December and has been unable to start vaccinating due to logistical problems, Prime Minister Mark Rutte told parliament on Tuesday (5 January).

A l'occasion de l'inauguration de la présidence portugaise du Conseil de l'Union européenne, le président Charles Michel s´est rendu à Lisbonne et a rencontré le Premier Ministre portugais António Costa.

Over 80,000 internet domain names assigned to UK registrants have been suspended by the EU registry, EURid, following the end of the Brexit transition period at the close of 2020.

The EU has said it will try to save an Iran nuclear non-proliferation deal after Tehran confirmed plans to enrich uranium to near-weapons grade levels Monday. "It's regrettable but it's also highly important ... parties remain committed and we all work together and arrive at situation where all parties to agreement are in compliance," an EU foreign affairs spokesman said Tuesday. The uranium move was "an important breach", he said.

More than 20 civilians were killed by an unidentified helicopter gunship in Mali this weekend, on top of mounting French army casualties, according to reports.

More than 50 people including pro-democracy politicians and campaigners have been arrested in Hong Kong, in an unprecedented crackdown by authorities on opposition in the region, the Guardian reports. The activists were reportedly held under China's national security law, with some accused of "subverting state power" by holding primaries and saying they intended to win a majority of seats in an upcoming Hong Kong election.

EU leaders regularly held video-conferences to coordinate the pandemic reaction last year, but countries and EU institutions recently began a blame-game over the sluggish roll-out of vaccines.

Gibraltar is moving towards a new era after the UK and Spain reached a preliminary post-Brexit deal to avoid a hard border - but one which has triggered highly-sensitive border control issues on the peninsula Rock linked to Spain.

The Italian government is enmeshed in a dispute over how to spend some €208bn of EU funds aimed at alleviating the fallout from Covid-19. The party founded by former prime minister Matteo Renzi is now threatening to withdraw coalition support from prime minister Giuseppe Conte. The gamble could risk triggering a vote of confidence, according to one expert cited in CNBC news outlet.

The European Commission on Tuesday said it was seeking to boost efforts to save the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, after Tehran announced it would enrich uranium to new levels. "We are highly concerned by the measures taken by Iran when it comes to their uranium enrichment activities," said EU commission spokesperson Peter Stano. "We will strengthen our efforts to maintain the agreement," he added.

Belgium will make no distinction between people with and without Belgian nationality when vaccinating the population against the coronavirus, so long as they are legal residents, the Brussels Times reported. The newspaper De Standaard quoted the cabinet of Flemish welfare minister, Wouter Beke, saying that in the case of an infectious disease it is not possible to make a distinction based on status.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of Germany's 16 federal states are expected to extend a strict lockdown until the end of the month in a bid to stop the surge in coronavirus infections, German media reported on Tuesday. "The coronavirus situation is very serious. We must remain tough and should not stop too soon," Markus Soeder, Bavarian premier tweeted. By Monday, Germany had vaccinated 266,000 people.

Russian president Vladimir Putin and German chancellor Angela Merkel discussed possible ways of jointly producing vaccines, the German news agency DPA reported on Tuesday, based on a Kremlin statement. The Russian and German health ministries will continue talks on ways to combat the pandemic. Russia approved the use of its Sputnik V vaccine in mid-August, which has not been authorised in the EU.

The Brussels public prosecutor's office will launch an investigation into a gay orgy last November, in violation of Covid-19 social-distancing rules, reports Belgian media. The Hungarian now ex- MEP, Jozsef Szájer, who curbed LGBTi rights and pressed for conservative family values, was among those at the sex party. Police found an ecstasy pill in Szájer's bag. Szájer is a key ally of PM Viktor Orbán.

The Swedish king would have been better advised to use his annual Christmas interview to call for unity of purpose and shed light on the political roots of the country's response.

I understand that the German-Turkish community - often subjected to condescension in Germany - celebrated the story. Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türecki represent scientific excellence and business success at the highest level.

logos has created an organisational chart for each of the top EU priorities – Green Deal, Digital Age, and People Centre Economy – of the von der Leyen commission. For each institution – Commission, Parliament, and Council (including its rotating...