Euobserver.com

The Danish government has committed to reducing Denmark's CO2 emissions by 70 percent by 2030. These are not figures made up for the occasion. They are the targets that scientists believe are the bare necessity.

British ex-security chiefs have rubbished a claim by interior minister Priti Patel that Brexit would improve UK security. Lord Ricketts, a former national-security adviser, told the BBC Monday "small print" in the Brexit deal meant it could take 20 days for British police to get information from EU colleagues on suspects. Lord Blair, a former police chief, said the country's police believed Brexit "is going to make us less safe".

Shares in the world's largest holiday company, Germany's Tui, jumped 8.3 percent in the first trading day of 2021, after its president said he expected "a largely normal summer" due to the roll-out of vaccinations in Europe. Shares in the so-called STOXX 600 pan-European index also recovered to levels last seen in February 2020, before the pandemic struck, Reuters reports. British, French, and German stock exchanges also reported smaller rebounds.

The European Commission said on Monday that it is examining the preliminary agreement reached by the UK and Spain regarding Gibraltar. The deal would allow the British Overseas Territory to join the Schengen area - with Spain "ultimately responsible" for controls at Gibraltar's port and airport, Spainish foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said. The Gibraltar deal will be part of the UK-EU treaty that should be ready within six months.

The Polish health ministry ordered the hospital of Warsaw medical university to clarify why some well-known actors and politicians received Covid-19 vaccines before they were eligible, The Guardian reported on Monday. Some of those vaccinated claimed that they were chosen as "ambassadors" in a vaccine-promotion campaign. Until now, only medical personal were supposed to receive the jabs - due to be followed by people aged over 60.

Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon announced on Monday that the country will be placed in lockdown until February. Scots will be required to stay home and telework where is possible, while schools will remain closed, the BBC reported. The move follows an increase in the number of cases, with 15 percent of tests returning a positive result - what "illustrates the severity and urgency of the situation," according to Sturgeon.

Trading in EU-listed shares is shifting smoothly from London to Amsterdam and Paris in the wake of Brexit, according to trading platforms Cboe Europe, the London Stock Exchange's new Dutch outpost, and Aquis Exchange, speaking to Reuters. "All our systems are operating normally, and as expected the majority of activity in EEA-symbols [mainly EU-listed shares] is now taking place on our Dutch venue," Cboe Europe president David Howson said.

The European Commission has declined to comment on revelations made by EUobserver of a plot by the Minsk authorities to assassinate Belarus dissidents in Germany. "We have no comments to make on this issue, and our policy vis-a-vis Belarus is very well known. We will not comment on this report," said Eric Mamer, chief spokesperson for the European Commission.

A British judge on Monday rejected a US request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges, saying it would be "oppressive" because of his mental health, AP reports. District judge Vanessa Baraitser said Assange was likely to commit suicide if sent to the US. The US government said it would appeal the decision.

The German government approved a total of €1.16 billion in arms exports during 2020 to countries involved in both the Yemen and Libya conflicts, reported news agency DPA. Germany, by 17 December, had signed off on permits to export weapons and military equipment worth €752m to Egypt, €305.1m to Qatar, over €51m to the United Arab Emirates, €23.4m to Kuwait, and around €22.9m to Turkey.

Iran has notified UN weapons inspectors it plans to enrich uranium to 20 percent - just below weapons grade - at its underground Fordow facility after the US, in 2017, abandoned an EU-brokered nuclear non-proliferation deal. It also accused the US and Israel of planning a false-flag strike on US assets in Iraq in order to justify US air-raids on Iran in the final days of the Donald Trump presidency.

The Conservative party in the UK would lose 80 seats if an election was held, wiping out its majority and putting it almost neck-and-neck with the opposition Labour, according to pollster Focaldata. The Scottish National Party, who want a second independence referendum, would win 57 out of 59 seats in Scotland. The next election is in 2024. The poll was seen as a public verdict on Brexit and pandemic-handling.

The pandemic death toll in the United States passed 350,000 on Sunday and experts warned of another surge in infections and deaths arising from gatherings at Christmas and New Year, the Guardian writes. Data from Johns Hopkins University shows more than 20 million have been infected, while the vaccination program is running slowly. President Donald Trump claimed on Sunday on Twitter the numbers were exaggerated.

Bosnia must do more to help the 10,000 or so migrants stuck there, after hundreds were left homeless in freezing weather when their so-called 'Lipa' camp burned down last month, the EU has said. "The situation is completely unacceptable. Lives and basic human rights ... are jeopardised," Johann Sattler, an EU special envoy, said Saturday, Deutsche Welle reports. Bosnia has received €85.5m from the EU for migrant assistance.

Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said Saturday she hoped her country would leave the UK and rejoin the EU as an independent state. "As an independent member of the European Union, Scotland would be a partner and a bridge-builder," she said. Scotland held a referendum on independence in 2014, but voted to stay British. The UK government has ruled out allowing a second referendum for now.

It is high time Europe makes cultural and historical dialogue part of its enlargement process in the Balkans, following the debacle on Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

The far-right rose in power over the span of 2017 and 2018. But for former EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, they never posed a real threat. "They are not right because their basic societal analysis is wrong," he said.

When decisive, coordinated action from EU institutions and member states was most needed to respond to the first coronavirus outbreaks, the bloc struggled to find a common and timely response. What lessons have been learned?

All EU action on the climate stands at the crossroads between domestic ambition and international cooperation - especially with the G20 countries, which are responsible for about 80 percent of all global emissions.

Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko authorised political murders in Germany in recent years, according to a bugged recording, which showed the danger posed by his homicidal regime.