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A Belgian court on Monday postponed again the decision to suspend or annul the European arrest warrant issued by Spanish authorities against two MEPs (the former head of the Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont, and a member of his cabinet, Toni Comín), Spanish news agency EFE reported. The hearing was postponed to an "unspecified" date, awaiting the European Parliament's decision on whether to lift the immunity of the pair.

A German court has ordered the US electric carmaker firm Tesla to stop clearing forest land near Berlin to build its first factory in Europe, in a legal victory for local environmental activists, Reuters reported. However, the ruling comes after the German environmental office gave the green light to clear 92 hectares of forest for Tesla's project. Tesla announced its plans to build a Gigafactory in Germany last November.

EU countries decided on Monday to prolong the restrictive measures against Belarus until February 2021, which include an embargo on arms and on equipment that could be used for internal repression, as well as an asset-freeze and travel ban against four people linked to the unresolved disappearances of two opposition politicians. The restrictive measures against Belarus were introduced in 2004.

North Macedonia has dissolved parliament and set 12 April for snap elections in the wake of an EU refusal to open accession talks with Skopje last year. The vote will test the popularity of the pro-EU Social Democrats party of former prime minister Zoran Zaev, amid concern the EU setback could give a boost to nationalist forces, but pro-enlargement states hope accession talks can now be opened in March.

EU institutions spent €60m in the past three years to promote meat eating in 21 separate campaigns, according to research by animal welfare group Wakker Dier. Some EU-funded campaigns countered research linking red meat to cancer or tried to promote veal. They came amid growth in vegetarianism in Europe linked to concern about the climate impact of the livestock industry, which accounts for 14.5 percent of global CO2 emissions.

According to China's National Health Commission, the total cases of of Coronavirus has surpassed the number of 70,000, Deutsche Welle reports. The total number of deaths rose up to 1,700. The World Health Organisation (WHO) just arrived in China and said its specialists had held their first meetings with Chinese health experts as part of efforts to find out how the new virus is spreading.

As the EU budget negotiations enter into their nasty phase, EU council chief Charles Michel tries to mitigate two very divided group of member states. Austria's Sebastian Kurz warned, net payers cannot be pushed to pay more.

Belgian coalition talks have hit a wall nine months after elections, posing the possibility of a new vote, which risks making the country even harder to govern.

EU leaders will put their heads together on Thursday night to look for a compromise on the next long-term EU budget. EU Council president Charles Michel's latest proposal has received a lukewarm welcome from member states.

The bloc wants to become a global leader in innovation in the data economy and AI. However, proportional legislation, better data-availability and huge invesment will be needed across the EU to compete with China and the US.

Despite years of conflict, sexual violence, hunger, and corruption, South Sudan is one crisis where a solution may be in sight – and where quick action by the EU could make the difference to help push the country to peace

The European Commission has met its responsibilities on nuclear safety, mainly for legislation and oversight, but it still has scope to update and improve the legal framework and internal guidelines, according to a report from the European Court of Auditors. They recommend strengthening the procedures used to verify the efficiency of national radioactivity monitoring facilities. In 2019, there were 124 nuclear reactors operating in 14 EU member states.

The Croatian EU presidency will be speaking at an invite-only dinner event Monday between MEPs and corporate lobbyists representing the fossil-fuel industry. Hosted by the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers, a lobby group, the event aims to discuss climate policy along with the European Energy Forum - composed of MEPs. Croatia's EU presidency is part-sponsored by the state-owned oil firm INA.

At the opening of the Munich Security Conference, Germany's president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, criticised the US for neglecting its international duties and warned of an "increasingly destructive dynamic in world politics," Deutsche Welle reported. "Year-by-year, we are distancing ourselves from the goal of international cooperation to create a more peaceful world," Steinmeier said, adding "the United States, under the current administration, itself rejects the idea of an international community."

EU Council president Charles Michel proposed Friday 1.074 percent of the EU GNI as an overall figure for the seven-year budget, ahead of crucial talks with EU leaders next Thursday. Michel proposes to have more flexibility in spending EU funds, and to weaken the threshold for procedures against countries that have rule of law "deficiencies". The Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Denmark are demanding a budget of no more than 1.0 percent.

At the Munich Security Conference this weekend, the Euro-Atlantic Security Leaders Group (EASLG) will publish Twelve Steps Toward Greater Security in Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic Region, endorsed by nearly 50 distinguished current and former senior officials, military officers, and experts.

The Italian foreign minister and former leader of the Five Star Movement (M5S), Luigi di Maio is calling for protests this weekend against the government he is minister in, the Guardian reports. He said the Italian people "must peacefully demonstrate" in Rome on Saturday against a government that "wants to cancel our laws". Since Lega Nord left the government last summer, M5S is in an uneasy coalition with Partito Democratico.

EU budget commissioner Johannes Hahn owns 2,200 shares in Austria's largest electricity provider. Those shares have tripled in value since he first declared them in 2014. In January, the firm met his head of cabinet to discuss climate policy.

The European Commission is ready to launch a joint procurement of medical supplies and to mobilise EU funding instruments, although no shortages have been identified in the EU so far, the commissioner for health Stella Kyriakides said on Thursday.

Small steps are being made to reveal who is lobbying who within the EU. But the approach is basically haphazard and piecemeal - meaning the public remains largely in the dark and unable to truly scrutinise the influencers.