Euobserver.com

The UK government opened an independent investigation after former prime minister minister David Cameron's activities on behalf of finance firm Greensill Capital raised questions, Reuters reported. The Financial Times first reported that Cameron contacted ministers directly to lobby on behalf of Greensill Capital, including sending texts and setting up private drinks. Cameron said he had not broken any rules, but admitted communications with the government should be completely formal.

EU-UK talks on how to resolve post-Brexit trade rules on Northern Ireland have been constructive, but "significant differences" still remain, according to a UK spokesman. British negotiator David Frost talked with EU Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič on Friday on the issue. Northern Ireland has seen over a week of violence, partly due to unionist disapproval of new trade barriers between the province and mainland Great Britain.

Concern over the low efficiency of Chinese-made vaccines has been mounting since China's top official said existing vaccines offer low protection against Covid-19 - raising questions for those nations relying heavily on the Chinese jabs. That includes Hungary and Serbia.

While Markus Söder, leader of CDU's Bavarian sister party, the CSU, also threw his hat into the race to replace chancellor Angela Merkel, the CDU's choice is likely to be decisive.

Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov has revealed that the major new vaccine supply contract the EU is seeking from Pfizer-BioNTech from 2022 will be at a significantly increased price, Reuters writes. "Pfizer's (price) was €12, then increased to €15.50. Now for 2022 and 2023 the European Union contracts are being signed for 900 million vaccines, but already at a price of €19.50" Borissov said.

Montenegro had requested the EU help pay off a loan from China, reported the Financial Times. But the European Commission says that is not going to happen.

Several industry EU lobby groups are about to be entrusted again with the privilege of co-deciding how €9.6bn of public EU research funding should be used - in research areas as essential as healthcare, transportation, energy and IT infrastructures.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken will travel to Brussels this week (13 to 15 April) as part of a wider effort to shore up transatlantic relations. "In Brussels, secretary Blinken will join secretary of defense Lloyd Austin to consult with our Nato allies and partners on a range of shared priorities," according to the US state department. Blinken will hold bilateral and multilateral meetings with European counterparts.

Ursula von der Leyen appears secure in her job as president of the European Commission. That's despite a troubled vaccine rollout in which delayed deliveries can cost lives and livelihoods.

International research shows, countries that engage with international trade tend to have more gender-equality than less open economies. Trade policy is thus a powerful tool to create opportunities for women - if used properly.

The UK lifted its coronavirus lockdown on Monday, reopening non-essential shops and gyms, and letting people go back to bars and restaurants, but only by appointment and while wearing masks and keeping their distance. The government was on track to reach its target two days early to offer vaccinations to 32m people in priority groups by 15 April, The Times reported, as the third wave continued to rage in Europe.

Libyan prime minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh and a delegation of ministers will shortly make their first visit to Turkey to meet president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan since taking office last month, the Turkish presidency said, Ekathimerini writes. Turkey had backed the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) against the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), which was supported by Russia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and France.

The EU has proposed extending a freeze on tariffs worth several billions of euros, imposed in a long-running dispute on aircraft subsidies with the US, from four to six months in order to help reach a "negotiated solution". "This would create a necessary breathing space for industries and workers on both sides of the Atlantic," EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis told German news magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday.

An incident at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility on Sunday was caused by an act of "nuclear terrorism", the country's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said, adding that Tehran reserves the right to take action against the perpetrators, Reuters reports. Israel's Kan public radio cited intelligence sources, whose nationality it did not disclose, as saying that Israel's Mossad spy agency had carried out a cyber attack at the site.

Merkel loyalist Armin Laschet (CDU) and Bavarian leader Markus Söder (CSU) have both said they are ready to run for Germany's chancellorship in September elections. The conservative Christian Democrat-Christian Social Union bloc must now decide. The CDU and CSU are part of a grand coalition with the left-leaning Social Democrats (SPD). Merkel - who has been chancellor since 2005 - said she would not stand again.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken will return to Brussels this week for discussions on Iran, Afghanistan and Russian activities directed at Ukraine, a US official said, Reuters reports. Blinken will join US defence secretary Lloyd Austin in Brussels. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity on Saturday, did not release additional details on the trip.

Less regionalised than Spain but more than France, Italy's institutional set-up is based on a complex patchwork of regions, autonomous regions, and autonomous provinces.

France, Germany, and the US have voiced "regret" that Russia declined to attend a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to reassure the West that its military build up around Ukraine was not a preparation for full-scale war. "This approach does not help in dispelling concerns about the massing of Russian troops along the Ukraine border and in occupied Crimea," Poland also said.

On Thursday, MEPs in the Democracy, Rule of Law, and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group meeting will hear from Polish judges, prosecutors, and government representatives on the situation of the judiciary in Poland.

The European Commission has spent €252m of its farming advertising budget for 2016-2020 to promote meat and dairy products - raising concerns over the compatibility of EU agri-food promotion policy with the bloc's climate ambitions.