Euobserver.com

MEPs will vote on new rules setting out transparency obligations for online players and holding Big Tech giants accountable. But some issues proved to be divisive after EU lawmakers tabled over a hundred amendments on the file.

Emmanuel Macron also took hits from French political opponents, including the Green party presidential challenger MEP Yannick Jadot in the European Parliament ahead of the upcoming presidential elections in France in April.

President Emmanuel Macron's address to the European Parliament championed a bold and ambitious pro-European agenda. There is one problem though - the plans rely on a system of governance that has gridlocked the EU for over a decade.

The EU plans to label natural gas as 'green' in sustainable investment rules. From 2026 it will have to be blended with low-carbon gases like green hydrogen - but many scientists warn this is inefficient, costly and damaging to health.

EU Council president Charles Michel will miss this week's European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg, after being in close contact with a positive Covid case, he tweeted on Wednesday. French president Emmanuel Macron is due to address the session on Wednesday, setting out the priorities for the French presidency of the EU which runs from January to June. EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is also currently in isolation.

The EU should start paying out its €72bn fund for helping poor households shift to green energy in 2024, instead of 2025 as previously planned, according to a European Parliament proposal seen by Reuters. "The green transition should be feasible for everyone," Dutch centre-right MEP Esther de Lange said. "The fund should not be used to buy Teslas .... but rather small- and medium-sizes cars for everyday families," she added.

German centre-left chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday in Berlin it was "clear that there will be a high price to pay and that everything will have to be discussed should there be a [Russian] military intervention in Ukraine", referring to sanctions on Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany. Scholz had previously opposed stopping the project. German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock also voiced a tough line while visiting Moscow Tuesday.

Marian Banaś, the head of Poland's Supreme Audit Office (NIK), has said Jarosław Kaczyński, the head of the ruling Law and Justice party, should answer questions on alleged government use of Pegasus spyware against political opponents. "Kaczyńsi, as deputy prime minister in charge of security, should appear at the headquarters of NIK at the summons of inspectors and answer questions under threat of criminal charges for perjury," Banaś said Tuesday.

On Thursday, MEPs must press for a ban on all live exports outside the EU, and call for overall journey times within the EU to be limited to four hours for poultry and rabbits, and eight hours for other animals.

Competition is fierce and getting African leaders' attention is no easy task. US president Joe Biden has his own Africa summit, and Turkey, Japan, Russia and - most importantly - China, also have Africa forums up and running.

Metsola's win was actually secured on Monday - after a deal was struck by the largest three political parties, the centre-right European People's Party, the Socialist and Democrats and the liberal Renew Europe.

An EU mission using Danish and French warships is to patrol West African waters in coming years to stymie piracy.

Text messages between European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of giant pharmaceutical company Pfizer Albert Bourla should be made public, MEPs and NGOs demanded.

A Corporate Europe Observatory research revealed on Tuesday that 613 lobby meetings took place between MEPs and tech representatives since the European Commission published the Digital Service Act on stricter rules for online platforms. Google (23), Facebook (16), Amazon (15) and Microsoft (12) had the most access to EU lawmakers. Tracking-based ads have emerged as one of the biggest issues. MEPs will vote for new rules on Thursday.

The new leaders of Bulgaria and North Macedonia agreed on Tuesday to improve relations between their countries, Reuters reported. Bulgarian prime minister Kiril Petkov, who took office last month, said he was a "big optimist for joint action" on finding solutions to issues that previously prompted Sofia to block accession talks between the EU and Skopje. North Macedonia's Dimitar Kovacevski said they will use "this new energy" for the negotiations.

Anders Breivik, who massacred 77 people in a bomb attack and gun spree in Norway in 2011, has appeared in Oslo court asking for parole, 10 years into his 21-year sentence. Breivik flashed a Nazi salute on arrival at the hearing, before giving an hour-long speech, according to the Guardian. Although prisoners are allowed a parole request in Norway, experts say he has almost no likelihood of being given one.

There were more politically-motivated crimes in Germany in 2021 than in any year in the two decades before, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said, DPA reported. The increase is six-percent on 2020, with a total of 47,303 offences in 2021. More than 17,000 cases could not be classified as left- or rightwing by police. Covid-19 pandemic tensions may have contributed to this, security officials said.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken will meet Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday in Geneva in hopes of securing a "diplomatic off-ramp" to the Ukraine crisis, a US official said Tuesday. Blinken is meeting Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Wednesday, and he will also stop in Berlin on Thursday to meet with European allies, AFP reported. Talks last week failed to ease fears that Russia might invade Ukraine.

Maltese centre-right MEP Roberta Metsola on Tuesday was elected the European Parliament's new president, in the first ballot with 458 votes. She is the first woman in 20 years to take the helm of the 705-member assembly. She has been criticised for her anti-abortion stance, although she pledged she will represent the parliament's view on reproductive rights. Metsola succeeds Italian socialist David Sassoli, who died earlier this month.

EU countries who fail to fulfil their emissions cut pledges should be fined, the European parliament's lead negotiator on climate policy, Swedish centre-right MEP Jessica Polfjard, has said. "Member states who don't reach their climate targets must face consequences," she said Monday, Reuters reports. But the idea could hurt poorer EU states with larger coal sectors. And Poland and Bulgaria have not even set national net-zero emissions targets yet.