Euobserver.com

People from Afghanistan and Syria are among the nationalities using the Western Balkans route to enter the European Union. Frontex, the EU's border agency, says they detected some 27,172 irregular entries into the EU on this route in the first four months of 2022, a 130-percent increase from last year. The agency says the route represents almost half of the all the irregular border crossings into the EU.

The impact of Russia's war in Ukraine is being felt throughout the EU and the eurozone. The European Commission has downgraded its economic forecast to 2.7-percent growth this year.

President Vladimir Putin on Monday warned that his country would respond if Nato began to bolster military infrastructure of Sweden and Finland, which have decided to join the military alliance following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Speaking to the leaders of a Russian-dominated alliance of ex-Soviet states, Putin claimed Nato enlargement was used by the US in an "aggressive" way to aggravate an already difficult global security situation, Reuters reported.

UK prime minister Boris Johnson on Monday visited Northern Ireland to encourage the return of the devolved government. The Democratic Unionist Party is refusing to enter the assembly, after nationalist Sinn Fein emerged as the strongest party, citing issues around the Northern Ireland protocol which governs post-Brexit trade. London had been expected to scrap parts of the protocol unilaterally after rejecting the EU's proposals for a compromise.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a threat to all Europe, particularly the Baltic. Sweden and Finland must join Nato to secure peace in the Baltic Sea, write the leaders of the EPP Nordic and Baltic delegations in European Parliament.

The EU and the US pledged on Monday to facilitate trade and investment in Ukraine in order to rebuild its economy. After a two-day summit in Paris, they also committed to securing global supply chains and countering Russian disinformation. "Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has demonstrated the dangerous impact foreign information manipulation and interference…can have, in particular, on transparent and accessible information," they said in a joint statement.

EU greenhouse-gas emissions in the fourth quarter of 2021 increased by eight percent compared with the same period of 2020, due to the economic rebound after the Covid-19 crisis, the EU's statistical office, Eurostat, reported on Monday. Emissions increased in all EU member states and all economic sectors. But households were responsible for most emissions of greenhouse gases, followed by manufacturing and electricity supply, agriculture, and transportation.

Germany's Social Democratic Party lost a regional North Rhine-Westphalia election on Sunday. The party, headed by German chancellor Olaf Scholz, scored it worst ever performance with 27.4 percent, according to projections from public broadcaster ARD. The main opposition headed by the christian democrats took 35.3 percent. It is the regional second loss for Scholz's party since he took office.

The EU plans to add an extra €500m to its previous €1.5bn pot for buying arms for Ukraine, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said Friday. The measures will be discussed by foreign ministers meeting in Brussels Monday. Ministers will also debate an oil embargo on Russia and blacklisting its top priest, Patriarch Kirill, for his support of the war, amid Hungarian reservations on the oil ban.

The EU Commission is drafting plans to allow firms to pay for Russian oil and gas without breaking EU currency-related sanctions by setting up dollar or euro accounts at Russian lender Gazprombank and letting the bank convert the money into roubles, Bloomberg reports, citing EU sources. Europe is still in talks on imposing a Russia oil embargo, in a decision expected later this month.

Pro-Russian hacker groups tried to attack the Eurovision song contest final on Saturday in Turin, in which Ukraine won, Italian police have said. The groups, dubbed Killnet and Legion, had also attacked the Eurovision semi-final and Italian institutions, such as its senate and a health agency, last week, Italian police said Sunday, Ansa reports.

Sweden has signalled it will follow Finland in applying to join Nato, as Switzerland also mulls closer ties with the Western alliance.

The EU Commission is expected to put forward the RePowerEU plan, which aims to help the diversification of fossil fuel imports in the bloc, as the EU aims to get rid of its dependence on Russian energy supplies.

Valdimir Putin's equivalent to Nato — the Collective Security Treaty Organization of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Armenia, Tajikistan, and Belarus — is convening in Moscow next week to give cover that Russia is not alone in its war against Ukraine.

The European Parliament and EU member states have reached an agreement over new rules intended to protect Europe's public and private critical entities from cyberattacks.

The European Commission announced on Thursday it will further support the Covid-19 vaccination rollout in Africa with an additional €400m. A total of €300m will be channelled through the global vaccine distribution facility COVAX while €100m will be used for diagnostics, therapeutics and strengthening health systems in the neighbouring continent. The EU will also provide €427m to the Global Pandemic Preparedness Fund, subject to agreement on its governance.

The EU unveiled plans to help Ukraine export its agricultural production — amid fears that the war will create a global food crisis.

Internal documents found EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and energy commissioner Kadri Simson coordinated their Russian gas cutting strategy with oil CEOs to determine which measures were "feasible".

Some 2.7 million Ukrainians have registered for protection in the EU. But many others are hesitating to do the same.

The Spanish government is planning an overhaul of employment and abortion law, which would see female employees allowed up to five days of menstrual leave, and ease abortion restrictions for 16 and 17-year olds, according to The Guardian. The socialist-led coalition will present draft legislation, to be approved by the cabinet next week, to eliminate measures requiring those aged 16 and 17 to have parental approval for terminations.