Euobserver.com

The International Ice-Hockey Federation (IIHF) said Monday it was dropping plans for Minsk and Riga to co-host its 2021 world cup, due to safety concerns arising from coronavirus and the "political unrest" in Belarus. The IIHF had met with Belarus officials last week, despite ongoing torture of pro-democracy protesters there, in the hope the sports event could have been "a tool for reconciliation," the IIHF noted in its decision.

The EU should protect its companies from other countries' sanctions, better enforce its asset-freezes, and encourage more euro-denominated trading, according to a European Commission paper due Wednesday, seen by Reuters. EU officials should also look into "possible technical issues" in helping traders of complex financial products, such as derivatives, move from London to Europe. The strategy comes after the US threatened sanctions against EU firms involved with Russia and Iran.

People who exercise their right to refuse the coronavirus vaccine should not be discriminated against, but might face curbs on international travel in future, EU commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič said Monday after informal video-talks with European affairs ministers. "There will be different options how we handle travel ... the possibility of the electronic vaccination certificate could be added," Šefčovič said, after Greece first proposed the idea of a vaccine-passport scheme.

The Energy Community, an international body in Vienna comprising the EU and nine EU-aspirant states from south-east Europe, has extended sanctions on Bosnia for non-compliance with Europe's energy market laws, it said Monday. The move comes after the Bosnian federation failed to liberalise its energy market because its ethnically-based entities could not agree. The sanctions, which include being locked out of Energy Community votes, have been in place since 2015.

The European Commission unveiled its plans for the 'New European Bauhaus' initiative - an environmental, economic and cultural project whose aim is to design "future ways of living" in a sustainable manner.

The Greek government last week requested that the European Commission and EU border agency Frontex help return 1,450 failed asylum seekers to Turkey. Turkey has refused, citing the pandemic.

Romania has drawn the signal that the time has come to resume the EU-level dialogue on protracted conflicts and their crippling effects on the region's security and development perspectives, writes the country's foreign minister, Bogdan Aurescu.

A fire broke out at BOZAR, the well-known centre for the arts in Brussels, at around 4.15PM local time on Monday. The blaze was believed to be only in the roof, not inside the building, the Brussels fire department told Bruzz, a local media outlet. The origin of the fire was not yet established, but likely to have started in one of the building's technical rooms.

Russia's arrest of opposition star Alexei Navalny when he landed in Moscow on Sunday night merited new EU "restrictive measures" unless he was quickly freed, Lithuania's foreign minister, among others, tweeted in response. The initial draft of an EU statement, drawn up by the European External Action Service, did not threaten sanctions, an EU source told EUobserver. But EU foreign ministers holding an informal videoconference on Monday might change that.

Portuguese finance minister João Leão has tested positive for coronavirus after meeting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and other top officials in Lisbon Friday, Reuters reports. The event, which was held at the Belem Cultural Centre to celebrate Portugal's EU presidency, came despite surging infection figures and national lockdowns in Europe, posing questions on whether it should have gone ahead. Two EU commissioners and their entourages also attended.

"Evil is attacking. It's attacking our country, fatherland, state. Attacking the institution at the centre of our [Polish] identity, attacking the [Roman] Catholic church," Polish deputy prime minister Jarosław Kaczyński said in a speech in church in Strachowice, southwest Poland, Sunday. Kaczyński's "evil" referred to women's rights protesters campaigning against new anti-abortion laws. A handful of demonstrators gathered outside the church, which was holding a memorial for Kaczyński's late mother.

Eurostar said in a statement Sunday that due to a drop of 95 percent in passengers, it was facing an existential threat, adding "without additional funding from government, there is a real risk to the survival of Eurostar … the current situation is very serious," The Guardian writes. The company said that while government loans had been extended to aviation, international high-speed rail was also suffering from the pandemic.

North Rhine-Westphalia state premier Armin Laschet was elected Saturday as the new leader of Germany's ruling party, the Christian-Democrat Union (CDU). He is set to be the successor of current German chancellor Angela Merkel. In his acceptance speech, Laschet promised to continue Merkel's line. However, only a minority of Germans back Laschet as the conservative candidate to succeed Merkel in elections later this year, according to a poll.

Israel should extend its corona-vaccination programme to the 4.5 million Palestinians living under its occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, the New York-based campaign group, Human Rights Watch (HRW), has said. Some 20 percent of Israeli citizens, including Jewish settlers, have already received the jab in one of the world's fastest inoculation roll-outs. But "nothing can justify" denying people vaccines on grounds of their ethnicity, HRW's Omar Shakir said.

Documents recently stolen by hackers from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in Amsterdam and published on the dark web showed the EMA came under pressure from top EU officials in Brussels and from pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and BioNTech to quickly approve the coronavirus vaccine, according to Le Monde, which recovered 20 of them. The EMA claimed hackers had manipulated some of the texts prior to publication, however.

A local man walked into a pharmacy in Galway, western Ireland to buy medicine for his dog five years ago and now he is making history in the European Court of Justice.

The European Border and Coast Guard Day is held every May. The event includes movies, football and volleyball matches between Frontex and national border guards, shooting competitions and exercises to detect smugglers.

A new report warns that the use of artificial intelligence and autonomous arms are fuelling military escalation for future conflicts and threaten peace in Europe and worldwide.

EU leaders talk vaccines, while the Portugues EU presidency introduces itself to MEPs. Joe Biden will be inaugurated as president of the United States, and the EU hopes this will mark a new beginning for EU-US relations.

This week the European Commission's Directorate for Cooperation and Development changes its name to the Directorate-General for International Partnerships - in a symbol of how early-industrialised countries seem to be losing influence to the benefit of some emerging countries.