European Union

Ambitions to lower the use of antibiotics in farming must take into account the “massive” amount of variation between member states and also between species, according to a leading livestock sustainability consultant who also highlighted the pressing need to digitalise the animal health sector.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday troops would be pulled from the street to guard its borders with EU countries, Deutsche Welle writes. "We are compelled to withdraw our troops from the streets, have half our army on guard and close our state border with the West, first of all with Lithuania and Poland," said Lukashenko. Polish officials said Lukashenko's threat was propaganda, as the borders were already closed.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has stored caches of ammonium nitrate, the chemical in the recent Beirut blast, in Europe with a view to future attacks ordered out of Iran, US counterterrorism coordinator Nathan Sales said Thursday, The Guardian reports. "I can reveal that such [Hezbollah] caches have been moved through Belgium to France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland," he said. "This activity is still under way," he added.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said it would be "impossible" to delay parliamentary elections planned for 6 December, after the European Union suggested pushing back the vote to meet conditions for the bloc to send an observer mission.

The EU's top court has ruled that Europe acted legally when imposing sanctions on Russian energy firms and banks over its invasion of Ukraine in 2014. "The companies in question could not reasonably have been unaware of the reasons why the targeted restrictions at issue were imposed on them," it said Thursday. The verdict overturned an earlier, lower court ruling which had been in Russia's favour.

Britain would renege on Brexit withdrawal treaty provisions only if the EU "engaged in a material breach of its duties of good faith or other obligations ... thereby undermining the fundamental purpose of the Northern Ireland Protocol", the British government said in new guidelines out Thursday. The UK would also "activate appropriate formal [withdrawal treaty-based] dispute settlement mechanisms with the aim of finding a solution through this route," it added.

France recorded 10,593 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours on Thursday, with a surge among young people and the over-75s. The rate of infections to people tested stayed stable at 5.4%, however. Authorities, the same day, said the crowd to welcome the finale of the Tour de France bicycle race in the Champs-Élysées boulevard in Paris this coming Sunday would be limited to 5,000 people.

Greek police launched an operation early on Thursday to relocate the more than 10,000 people without shelter following the fire which destroyed the overcrowded Moria refugee camp, the Guardian reported. Asylum seekers have been transferred into a temporary facility outside the port town of Mytilene on the Greek island. Earlier this week, five former residents of Moria camp were arrested in connection with the fire.

The World Health Organization's European director, Hans Kluge, warned national governments against reducing the 14-day quarantine period, especially given the "alarming rates of transmission" in Europe this month, the BBC reported. Last week, France reduced its quarantine for people possibly exposed to someone with Covid-19 from 14 to seven days. "The September case numbers should serve as a wake-up call for all of us," Kluge said.

MEPs adopted a resolution on Thursday calling on the European Council to "finally act" in light of "overwhelming evidence" of breaches of EU law regarding the legislative and electoral system, the independence of the judiciary, and fundamental rights in Poland. MEPs expressed concerns about how the situation has deteriorated since the Article 7 procedure was initiated in 2017, calling on member states to use this system to its full potential.

EU focus has moved to returning failed asylum seekers, and a "negative asylum decision will come together with a return decision", Ylva Johansson said. "No more Morias", she pledged.

Buying an EU passport does not give you impunity from visa-bans or asset-freezes, officials have said, as citizenship sales multiply.

The European Parliament has adopted a report calling on the European Commission to propose the first-ever EU law to boost the inclusion of Romani people.

A 60-page internal EU document on Libya seen by EUobserver says its border mission there intends to help draft Libya's national strategy of border security and management.

Spain would be prepared to recognise Kosovo if it clinched a deal with Serbia, Madrid has said, in the first positive signal of its kind since EU-brokered talks resumed.

Commissioner for home affairs, Ylva Johansson, would like to win the approval of all EU member states for a new proposal for a common asylum and migration policy - something her predecessors failed to do.

As Europe’s largest single source of renewable energy, sustainable biomass is a cornerstone of the EU’s low-carbon energy transition. Seeking to accelerate this transition, the European Commission has proposed a series of ambitious new goals to  achieve by the end...

Leuven's Catholic University, one of Belgium's best, has decided to close one of its respected but controversial chairs. And many say that is not because of an academic failure or scandal, but a result of the Turkish government's relentless pressure.

A judge will announce on September 28 whether Uber has been granted an operating licence in London, where it was stripped of its right to take rides by the city’s transport regulator over safety concerns. Transport for London (TfL) refused...

Common definitions, health criteria and methodologies are key to effectively fighting the ongoing pandemic and its economic consequences in the EU, MEPs say.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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