Euobserver.com

Baltic states are to ban all Russian tourists in some 10 days' time, but Nordic countries are not joining the move amid uncertainty over its legality.

Developers of 'internet of things' products like smart air purifiers or kettles may be fined up to €15m or 2.5 percent of their global turnover if they fail to meet new EU safety standards due to be proposed next week, according to the Financial Times. The proposal is expected to become law in 2024

New British prime minister Liz Truss on Wednesday said she hoped talks with the EU could help resolve a dispute over post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland, AFP reported. "My preference is for a negotiated solution," she told MPs, after taking office on Tuesday. But Truss would not drop a proposed bill which would unilaterally scrap parts of the EU-UK divorce deal. The EU said that move would break international law.

The European Commission announced on Wednesday its "European Care Strategy" aimed to ensure "affordable" and "accessible" care services across the EU while improving women's labour participation and gender equality. New targets include that 50 percent of children below the age of three are in early childhood education and care by 2030. They also told EU member states to increase the offer and mix of long-term homecare, community-based care and residential care.

The new energy plan includes a mandatory target to reduce peak electricity consumption, a cap on excess revenues by renewables and nuclear firms, a solidarity mechanism to channel fossil fuel companies' profits to citizens, and a temporary state aid framework.

The European Food Safety Authority on Wednesday issued five scientific opinions to inform the European Commission's review of EU animal welfare legislation, in place since 2005. They said that providing more space, lowering containers' maximum temperatures, and keeping journey times short can improve animal welfare and increase food chain safety. The recommendations cover sheep and goats, horses and donkeys, cattle and calves, pigs, and other animals transported in containers.

The EU is exploring ways to further crack down on irregular migration at its overseas missions, including the use of "specialised teams". Such missions are found in places like Niger, Libya, Mali, Somali, Iraq and elsewhere.

The European Parliament along with the forthcoming rotating EU presidencies have signed a timetable to finalise the EU's overhaul on migration and asylum rules proposed by the European Commission in late 2020. The legislators are hoping to finalise negotiations by February 2024. "This would require that the negotiations between the co-legislators should start at the latest by the end of 2022," they said.

The largest group in the European Parliament, the centre-right European People's Party, on Wednesday nominated the "Ukrainian people" and Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky for this year's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, awarded annually by the assembly. "They continue to defend European values on the battlefields every day," Lithuanian MEP Rasa Juknevičienė said. The final winner will by chosen by the parliament's leaders in October.

The EU said on Wednesday it had secured an additional 170,920 doses of the monkeypox vaccine, developed by biotech firm Bavarian Nordic, amid concerns about the outbreak of the disease, Reuters reported. This doubles the EU's supply of the vaccine, and will be available for delivery before the end of the year. The jabs purchased earlier are currently being distributed, the EU Commission said.

Selling more carbon credits to industry — as EU Commission plans have proposed — could increase pollution and "undermines" trust in the bloc's carbon markets, Dutch finance minister Sigrid Kaag warned.

Ukraine is considering closing down its Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant for security reasons, and concerns over the diesel fuel-reserves used for backup generators, Reuters reported. "The option of switching off the station is being assessed," Oleh Korikov, acting head of Ukraine's state nuclear regulatory inspectorate, said on Wednesday. The six-reactor Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, remains disconnected from Ukraine's electricity grid due to shelling in the area.

European efforts to protect households and businesses against high power prices have been "uncoordinated" and have prioritised national security over cooperation, Bruegel experts warn.

Hungary's justice minister Judit Varga will meet top commission officials on Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels in an effort to unblock billions of EU funds and alleviate rule-of-law concerns, Hungarian media reported. Varga will meet justice commissioner Didier Reynders and budget commissioner Johannes Hahn. The EU executive has been withholding the approval of Covid-19 recovery funds to Hungary and has launched a legal probe over rule-of-law issues.

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called for both sides to demilitarise the area around the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. Shelling of Europe's biggest nuclear power plant could lead to an unlimited release of radioactive materials, the UN warned. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors checked the plant last week. Two experts from the UN nuclear watchdog stayed on to maintain a long-term presence.

Britain's new prime minister Liz Truss spoke with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in her first call with a foreign leader. She accepted an invitation for her to visit Ukraine, Reuters reported. Truss reiterated Britain's support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. The United Kingdom has sent almost 7,000 anti-tank weapons, hundreds of missiles and armoured fighting vehicles to help Ukraine, and also trained Ukrainian fighters.

Belarus and Russia could once again use migrants to try to "destabilise" EU countries, Prague has warned, amid preparations to curb people's asylum rights in future emergencies.

Budapest's move is aimed at unblocking EU funds — as Hungary's government is under increasing pressure, from rising inflation and energy prices, coupled with a sinking forint, to come to an agreement with the commission.

US biotech giant Illumina said on Tuesday the company will challenge the European Commission's prohibition of its $8bn acquisition of Grail — a firm that develops blood-based early cancer detection tests. "It is vital to preserve competition between early cancer detection test-developers at this critical stage of development," EU commissioner for competition Margrethe Vestager said, going against last week's ruling by the US federal trade commission.

The European Commission proposed on Tuesday suspending the so-called visa-facilitation pact with Russia, in place since 2007. Russian citizens will have to go through a longer visa-application process, except for those who are family members of EU citizens, journalists, dissidents and civil society representatives. This follows a political agreement reached by EU foreign affairs ministers, although some EU countries have called for a ban on Russian tourists.