Euobserver.com

The Czech government has downplayed the significance of Russia's lethal attack on a weapons depot in 2014, but further retaliatory measures, including at EU or Nato level, could follow.

Leading officials for the German conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party voted to nominate Armin Laschet as chancellor candidate for this year's election, Deutsche Welle reports. A majority of 77.5 percent of the party board voted in favour of the party leader, while Bavarian leader Markus Söder received 9 votes. The vote is not an official decision, but Söder said he would respect the wishes of the CDU party board.

The European Commission announced on Monday it has activated the contractual option for member states to purchase 100 million more BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine doses - bringing the total number of doses supplied to the EU in 2021 to 600 million. The EU expects to receive 250 million doses of BioNTech/Pfizer in the second quarter (April to June). The EU is currently in talks with the company to purchase 1.8bn more doses.

EU states have imposed sanctions on two Myanmar conglomerates - Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company and Myanmar Economic Corporation - said to provide income for the military junta responsible for killings hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in recent months. They also added 10 junta members to their earlier 25-strong travel ban and asset-freeze lists saying: "Sanctions are crafted in such a way to avoid undue harm to the people of Myanmar".

No new Russia sanctions were being prepared, despite its largest-ever deployment of 150,000 troops on Ukraine's borders and the risk a small "spark" could ignite a wider conflict, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said Monday. Some foreign ministers in Monday's meeting called for the EU to publicly threaten new economic measures as a prophylactic against escalation, diplomats said. "This is up to EU leaders to decide," one diplomat noted.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg slammed the "tragedy" of vaccine inequity on Monday as she donated €100,000 to the World Health Organization's COVAX scheme. "We have the means at our disposal to correct the great imbalance that exists around the world in the fight against Covid-19," she stressed. Thunberg said earlier she plans to skip COP26 because the uneven rollout of vaccines would not allow countries to participate on even terms.

The Conference on the Future of Europe, thrown off-track by the pandemic and then by an intra-institutional fight over its leadership, will officially kick off on 9 May, but EU citizens can already start the debate online.

Environmental lawyers have called for "tobacco-style" health warnings on fossil fuel ads, after an analysis showing how energy giants use advertising to "greenwash" their contribution to climate change.

Greece formally re-opens on May 14, but from Monday (19 April), tourists from the EU, US, UK, Serbia, Israel and the United Arab Emirates will not have to quarantine if vaccinated or testing negative for Covid-19, Reuters reports. Tourism, which generates a fifth of Greece's GDP and one-in-five jobs, is vital for an economy which had climbed out of a decade-long slump only to slip back into recession last year.

Palestine is holding its first general legislative election in 15 years on 22 May. Its president has requested an EU mission to observe the elections but Israel has yet to respond - meaning the mission may not happen.

The co-leader of Germany's Greens, Annalena Baerbock, announced Monday she would run for chancellor in September's elections, the first time the party has sought the top job in its 40-year history, Reuters reports. Baerbock said she would offer a "new start" and focus on investing in education, digital and green technologies. A poll last week put support for the Greens on 23 percent, behind 27 percent for Angela Merkel's conservatives.

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny was transferred to a prison hospital, his lawyer said on Monday, 20 days into a hunger strike that has brought international warnings of consequences should he die in jail, Reuters writes. Allies of Navalny, who have had no access to him since last week, said they were braced for bad news about his health. They are planning countrywide demonstrations later this week.

Between June 2020 and February 2021, 22 consecutive opinion polls indicated majorities in favour of Scottish independence. That kind of sustained support for statehood is unprecedented in modern Scottish history.

Swiss firm Moderna has said it will miss second-quarter delivery deadlines for the UK and Canada, but not the EU or Switzerland, Reuters reports. "Vaccine manufacturing is a highly complex process and a number of elements, including human and material resources have factored into this volatility," Patricia Gauthier, a Moderna Canada executive said. The announcement comes amid an ongoing row between the UK and Europe on vaccine shortfalls and exports.

Thierry Breton, the EU's internal markets commissioner, said Sunday that "nothing is decided" concerning the bloc's plans to open further contracts with vaccine-maker AstraZeneca, Deutsche Welle writes. AstraZeneca has delivered fewer than a quarter of the doses it initially promised to the EU. "We're pragmatic. My priority, as far as the vaccines are concerned, is to ensure that the firms we have contracts with deliver them punctually," Breton said.

Spanish officers raided an illegal 3D-printing weapons workshop in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands and arrested the owner, who has been charged with illegal possession of weapons and explosives, Reuters writes. A replica assault rifle, small arms, several gun barrels, two tasers and a machete were among the arsenal seized from a Spanish factory discovered to be producing 3D-printed weapons, police said on Sunday.

Russia has ordered 20 Czech diplomats to leave the country by the end of Monday following a similar move by Prague, the foreign ministry in Moscow announced, Deutsche Welle reports. The Czech ambassador was summoned to the ministry on Sunday evening and told that 20 employees of the Czech embassy had been declared "persona non grata." Czech authorities expelled 18 Russian diplomats on Saturday, accusing them of being secret agents.

Slovenian prime minister Janez Janša reportedly told a senior Bosnian politician, Šefik Džaferović, on Friday that "there was no non-paper that could be linked to the government of Slovenia, which would include redrawing [Bosnia's] borders", according to Džaferović's readout of their call. The informal paper, allegedly sent to EU officials by Slovenia in February, has caused a diplomatic storm, with Germany joining the US in saying that partition was unacceptable.

Italy could overshoot an EU deadline on 30 April for member states to say how they plan to spend their share of the bloc's €750bn post-pandemic loan and grant scheme, according to sources quoted by Reuters Sunday. "The plan will be presented on April 30," the Italian economy ministry said, denying the report. Italy is eligible for €200bn, the largest chunk, with a delay potentially embarrassing its new government.

EU Council president Charles Michel told EU Parliament group chiefs Tuesday he "regretted" the incident in Ankara last week in which EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen was not given a chair, in what looked like a sexist insult, according to an AFP source. Michel also put forward a plan for "seating arrangements" and "speaking slots" that would ensure "dignified treatment of both presidents" in future, Politico reported.