European Union

Serbia and Kosovo are fully committed to EU talks, Brussels has said, despite a rival US process that caused irritation on Israel.

Spain becomes the first country in Western Europe to register 500,000 coronavirus infections on Monday, after a second surge in cases that coincided with schools reopening, Reuters writes. Spains's health ministry data showed a total of 525,549 cases on Monday, up from 498,989 on Friday, and 2,440 infections registered in the last 24 hours. Spain updates its data retroactively, so the latest numbers could be revised.

The European Commission wants to raise the EU's climate target for 2030 to 55 percent, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes. Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is to announce this in the middle of next week in the annual speech on the "State of the European Union" before the European Parliament. So far, the EU had promised a 40 percent reduction of emissions in 2030 compared to 1991.

A whistleblower who exposed massive bribery at a Monaco-based oil firm is now being hunted in Europe - in a test of its extradition system.

Parliament president David Sassoli is to make the final decision on travelling to Strasbourg ahead of the leadership and parliamentary group chairs meeting on Thursday.

Amnesty International is demanding a criminal investigation into the treatment of migrants and refugees by Malta. The demand comes on the back of a report by the NGO that details the island state's efforts to stem migrant arrivals.

While a new internal market bill reported to "override" the legal force of the Brexit withdrawal agreement on critical issues, the UK government also set a surprise 15 October deadline to agree a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.

There is only one woman among Italy's most-powerful politicians: Giorgia Meloni, 43, president of Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy), an ultra-conservative party allied with Matteo Salvini's League and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (Forward Italy).

In the last months, there has been a very concerning rise of racist attacks of the far-right in Portugal.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on Monday called on countries worldwide to invest in public health to be better prepared for the next pandemic, Reuters reported. "History teaches us that outbreaks and pandemics are a fact of life. But when the next pandemic comes, the world must be ready - more ready than it was this time," he told a news briefing in Geneva.

In a final ruling, a Saudi court has sentenced five men to 20 years in prison, plus three men to 7-10 years, for being involved in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, NRC writes. The court changed the death sentence of the five men to 20 years after that the son of Khashoggi had said he pardoned the killers.

Alexei Navalny has been taken out of an induced coma and is responsive, the Berlin hospital treating the Russian opposition figure said on Monday, Deutsche Welle reports. The hospital added that Navalny was responding to speech but "long-term consequences of the serious poisoning can still not be ruled out." German chancellor Angela Merkel last week said the anti-Putin activist was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.

Masked men snatched the leading Belarusian opposition figure, Maria Kolesnikova, from the street in the centre of the capital, Minsk, on Monday and drove her away in a minivan, the Guardian writes. Kolesnikova was one of the campaign leaders of the opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. President Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in the election, triggering daily protests. The EU has stated the elections results are not valid.

The EU voiced "serious concern and regret" on Monday (7 September) over Belgrade's commitment to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, casting a shadow over the resumption of Serbia-Kosovo talks.

French telecom giant Orange started on Monday (September 7) offering 5G service in five of the largest Spanish cities, less than a week after rival Telefonica rolled out its own service in the whole country.

Italy’s antitrust authority said on Monday (7 September) it had opened an inquiry into Google Inc, Apple Inc and Dropbox Inc over cloud computing services. “The proceedings relate to alleged improper commercial practices and the possible inclusion of unfair clauses...

Britain’s competition regulator on Monday fined Amazon £55,000 pounds after the U.S. online giant delayed an investigation into its purchase of a 16% stake in food platform Deliveroo by failing to provide documents on time.

Members of the Public Health Committee quizzed the Commission on efforts to develop, authorise and make safe COVID-19 vaccines available to European citizens.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Members of the Public Health Committee quizzed the Commission on efforts to develop, authorise and make safe COVID-19 vaccines available to European citizens.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The German football team has faced criticism for flying between the cities of Stuttgart and Basel on Sunday (6 September) instead of taking a train on the 260-kilometre journey. The Bundesrepublik’s football federation cited virus restrictions as a deciding factor....