Euobserver.com

The European Medicines Agency has authorised the use of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by US company Moderna - while the EU is involved in a blame-game over a sluggish vaccine rollout across member states.

If Trump is still alive, healthy, free and tweeting politics by 2023, I think we all can officially start to worry. Not only for the American democracy, but for democracies in Europe and the rest of the world.

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.

A Norwegian firm that was meant to have provided technical and safety certificates for Russia's gas pipeline to Germany has abandoned the project due to US sanctions.

More than a dozen UK nationals have been refused entry to the Netherlands because Britain is no longer exempt from Covid-related restrictions on non-essential travel from outside the EU since it left the bloc, the Guardian reports. British citizens living in Spain were also barred from boarding flights in the UK because the airline said their pre-Brexit residency papers were no longer valid, while others were refused entry to Germany.

As case numbers continue to climb, UK prime minister Boris Johnson declared on Monday a lockdown for England until mid-February. All non-essential shops will be closed, along with schools and universities. On the same day, the German government and the majority of Germany's 16 federal states agreed to extend lockdown measures until 31 January to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, Deutsche Welle reported on Monday.

The EU Commission says the perceived slow roll-out of vaccines is due to production capacity, not the number of doses the EU has secured.

The European Commission is providing an additional €3.5m of humanitarian aid to help migrants made homeless in Bosnia and Herzegovina due to political infighting.