Euobserver.com

Russia's caretaker EU ambassador, chargé d'affaires Kirill Logvinov, was summoned by the EU foreign service for a formal complaint about Ukraine annexations on Tuesday. Belgium, in April, had wanted to expel Logvinov on grounds he was a spy, but the EU foreign service requested for him to stay in Brussels, according to EUobserver's sources. Logvinov took over from veteran Russian ambassador Vladimir Chizhov, who was recently recalled to Moscow.

The Czech concept comprises an annual migration management report, a permanent EU migration support toolbox, an annual solidarity pool, and an EU migration forum.

EU diplomats want European navies to stay in the volatile Gulf of Aden region for hard geopolitical reasons, as well as to see off pirates.

French officials have raised the alarm over the eighth wave of the Covid-19 virus, as winter approaches, Reuters reported on Tuesday. "We are in this eighth wave," said Brigitte Autran, a member of the government's vaccination strategic board, pointing out that all indicators are up. The last figures showed an increase in the number of new daily confirmed cases, recording a seven-day average of 41,661 new positive cases.

EU countries agreed on Tuesday to include Anguilla, Bahamas and Turks and Caicos in its blacklist of tax-havens, as reported by EUobserver. The three Caribbean countries were added because, according to the commission, they have failed to enforce the economic substance requirements that apply to zero-tax jurisdictions. American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, the US Virgin Islands, and Vanuatu are also part of the list.

The European Political Community (EPC) has been derided as a deceptive ploy to sideline the enlargement process, or simply a characteristically grandiose but vague proposal coming from the French. What should it be?

The days of pilling up obsolete chargers in drawers and groping around to find the correct one are coming to an end. MEPs adopted new rules forcing all phone manufacturers to offer a common charging solution by autumn 2024.

"[…] We were astonished that on election day, the high representative for Bosnia imposed significant further changes to the constitution,"German MEP Andreas Schieder, head of the European Parliament election observation delegation to Bosnia said on Monday.

The EU is demanding a probe into possible war crimes following a video of people dressed in Azerbaijani uniforms executing Armenian prisoners of war.

After Russia's mobilisation speech, the Czech Republic's foreign ministry on Monday warned its citizens living in Russia that their embassy in Moscow cannot provide them "with adequate, full consular protection," Reuters reported. "Citizens of the Czech Republic who also hold Russian citizenship should bear in mind that if they are on the territory of the Russian Federation, they are perceived by Russian authorities primarily as citizens of the Russian Federation".

Greek energy minister Kostas Skrekas told ERT television on Monday that Athens will submit a proposal to the European Commission on an EU-wide price cap on natural gas this week. The Greek proposal will be discussed with energy ministers from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Poland in a conference call this week. "I hope that with this proposal, we will finally manage to win the necessary majority," he said.

Spanish rescue services said on Sunday they had recovered the bodies of four people from an inflatable dinghy found 278km south of Gran Canaria, from which one survivor was rescued. Spanish NGO Caminando sin Fronteras said there were initially 34 people on board. "The rest of the victims, 29 in total, have been swallowed by the ocean," said one of the activists from the NGO.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán warned that Germany's planned €200bn stimulus package could erode EU unity. "The sanctions policy is imposed on everyone, but there is no common fund to compensate for the financial consequences," Orbán said on Monday in Budapest. "The rich will bail out their companies with huge sums, while the poor cannot do this. [...] This is the beginning of cannibalism in the EU," he added.

The European watchdog for systemic economic risk last week warned of "severe" threats to financial stability — but internal notes show top-level officials expressed "strong concerns" over the "timing" of such a warning, fearing publication could further destabilise financial markets.

Lithuania's foreign ministry on Monday declared Russia's top diplomat in the country, Sergey Ryabokon, persona-non-grata. "[His] recent actions and statements are incompatible with a diplomat's status, and should be seen as interference in the host nation's domestic affairs," the statement said. The ministry did not detail the alleged offences. The diplomat has to leave the country in five days. Lithuania expelled Russia's ambassador in April and recalled its own.

Polish foreign minister Zbigniew Rau on Monday signed a diplomatic note to Berlin concerning reparations for the second world war, formalising his country's demand for compensation ahead of a visit by German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock to Warsaw on Tuesday. Poland's ruling nationalists in September estimated that Germany owed the country €1.28 trillion. Germany, Poland's biggest trade partner, has said all financial claims linked to the war had been settled.

European finance ministers will debate national energy plans amid calls for more coordination between member states — and raised eyebrows over Germany's €200bn energy plan.

Europe has muted its criticism of India and accepted both the country's neutrality on the Russian war in Ukraine and prime minister Narendra Modi's undemocratic conduct and discrimination of minorities.

Italy stopped receiving Russian gas via Austria this weekend, its top energy firm, Eni, has said, after Russian supplier Gazprom said Austrian regulatory changes caused temporary contractual problems. The outage comes after Russia cut off gas to Germany and Poland in a move seen as putting pressure on EU countries to drop sanctions. Austria said its Russian deliveries were normal. Russian gas comes to south-east Europe via Ukraine and Turkey.

Bulgaria faced ongoing political uncertainty after inconclusive elections on Sunday, which saw the conservative-populist GERB party of former prime minister Boyko Borissov hobble into first place with some 25 percent of votes, according to exit polls. The reformist We Continue the Change party came second on 20 percent. If Borissov fails to create a coalition, another election — the fifth in two years — might need to be called.