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The Portuguese presidency of the EU Council, together with the European Investment Bank, are hosting 30-days of talks with African political leaders on the energy transition and green investment needed in the continent. These dialogues started on Wednesday and will end on 23 April, when a forum will be held in Lisbon. These dialogues are part of the preparation for the next summit between the EU and the African Union.

The UK seems to be targeted as it has received 10m vaccines since January from the EU but has not exported back. Several EU countries are cautious about the tighter curbs fearing it could harm global supply chains.

Britain will introduce new rules for those seeking asylum, making it more difficult for refugees entering illegally to stay in the country, UK interior minister Priti Patel said, Reuters reports. "Under our new plan for immigration, if people arrive illegally, they will no longer have the same entitlements as those who arrive legally, and it will be harder for them to stay," Patel said in a statement.

The UN human rights council agreed to set up a team of investigators to gather evidence about the alleged brutality and torture by authorities in Belarus during their post-election crackdown on protesters, Reuters writes. "We must show our support to the people of Belarus and hold perpetrators of grave human rights violations accountable to end the vicious cycle of impunity," Portugal's ambassador Rui Macieira, speaking for the EU, said.

The European Commission has raised concerns about the "alarming" epidemiological situation in some member states, warning that it could worsen in the coming weeks as a third wave of the pandemic hits the continent.

The sanctions announced against Chinese officials are another example of European peddler politics: offering a little tasting of this and a little of that - without impact.

The EU is keen to display its capacity as a global actor: it has leverage in Yemen to be a force for peace-driven change, and to support Yemenis who are already pursuing peace, despite the horrific risks of doing so.

Belgium's prime minister Alexander De Croo announced on Wednesday that the country will go into four weeks of Easter lockdown, starting from Saturday (27 March).

Agnès Callamard, a French former UN investigator, has told The Guardian newspaper that a senior Saudi official twice threatened her UN colleagues that he would have her killed if she did not stop digging into Saudi Arabia's 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Callamard would be "taken care of," the Saudi official said. It was "a death threat. That was how it was understood," she told the British newspaper Monday.

China and Russia have called for a UN meeting to seek international support against EU and US human-rights sanctions.

European Council president Charles Michel announced on Twitter that US president Joe Biden will join the video-summit of EU leaders on Thursday. "Looking forward to welcome @POTUS at this week's European Council meeting", Michel said. "I have invited the president of the US to join our meeting for him to share his views on our future cooperation. Time to rebuild our transatlantic alliance," he added.

Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday morning to decide on new measures to halt the rise of infections and hospitalisations, Le Soir writes. On the table is a strict lockdown of three weeks, with the closure of schools, non-essentials shops and malls. Bars and restaurants are already closed, with a curfew of 10PM in Brussels and midnight in the rest of the country.

More than 250 MEPs and national parliamentarians on Tuesday urged the EU to support the temporary waiver of certain obligations under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). India and South Africa first call for a temporal patents waiver. Increasing the accessibility and availability of vaccines would "require wider sharing of proprietary technology and know-how…especially with low- and middle-income countries," they said in a statement.

Spain on 30 March will be lifting a travel ban from the UK, the Spanish government said. The move comes amid a relatively rapid vaccination rollout in the UK. However, the UK has for the moment imposed a travel ban to all foreign destinations but is set to review the policy in April. A Spanish government spokesperson said flight restrictions from Brazil and South Africa would be lifted 13 April.

Both France and Germany summoned China's ambassadors to their respective countries over recent sanctions against EU officials imposed by Beijing. In a statement, Germany's foreign ministry described the sanctions as "an inappropriate escalation that unnecessarily strains ties between the EU and China." An unnamed French official made similar remarks to Reuters news agency amid a brewing Twitter spat and insult slinging with China's ambassador in Paris.

"We are not seeking an outright ban on vaccine exports but we expect manufacturers to live up to their contractual obligations," EU Commission vice president Maroš Šefčovič said.

The 'super trialogue' on the knotty issue of Common Agriculture Policy reform later this week aims to give a rough approximation of the different institutions positions. However, there are still big differences between national capitals and the European Parliament.

Cyprus has rejected a draft prepared by EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell for a summit of EU leaders this week, which seeks to deepen trade ties with Turkey, describing it as "totally unacceptable," Ekathimerini writes. The offer of closer economic links, mixed with threats, reflects the complex relationship between Turkey, an EU candidate, and the world's largest trading bloc, which have drifted apart but are now seeking improved ties.

German federal and state leaders have agreed on a even-tighter shutdown over the Easter holidays, Deutsche Welle reports. "We are in a new pandemic" due to the spread of coronavirus variants, chancellor Angela Merkel said. Germany is extending its current lockdown through to April 18, and will impose an even stricter lockdown from April 1 to April 5 when shops, including grocery stores, will largely have to close.

The one key question that needs to be asked is – will this proposed new legislation aid the required economic recovery or could it have an actual negative effect?