European Union

EU countries who fail to fulfil their emissions cut pledges should be fined, the European parliament's lead negotiator on climate policy, Swedish centre-right MEP Jessica Polfjard, has said. "Member states who don't reach their climate targets must face consequences," she said Monday, Reuters reports. But the idea could hurt poorer EU states with larger coal sectors. And Poland and Bulgaria have not even set national net-zero emissions targets yet.

Russia already has "hundreds" of mercenaries in Mali, but there was no sign they were using EU-trained Malian soldiers, an EU spokesperson has said.

The EU has urged Russia to free Alexei Navalny on the one-year anniversary of his arrest. "We reiterate our call on the Russian authorities for his immediate and unconditional release without further delay," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday. The anti-corruption activist was detained for a parole violation after recovering from an assassination attempt using a chemical weapon. He is serving a two-and-a-half year sentence.

The European Parliament honoured the memory of the late parliament president, David Sassoli, at a plenary session in Strasbourg on Monday. Sassoli died on 11 January after months of health issues. French president Emmanuel Macron described Sassoli as "a man of rare benevolence" whose "ideas and vision were large enough for a continent." European Council president Charles Michel and former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta also spoke at the ceremony.

Sweden's security services are investigating three incidents involving unidentified drones above its Frosmarks, Oskarshamn, and Ringhals nuclear power plants last Friday. Sweden's military, last week, also reinforced patrols on and around its Baltic Sea island of Gotland amid a dramatic spike in Nato-Russia tensions. "Security threats against Sweden have increased with a ... more complex threat picture," the security service said in a statement on Monday.

EU officials on Monday removed Argentina, Australia and Canada from the EU's 'whitelist' of countries for which it recommends no Covid-linked travel restrictions. As of Monday, member states are expected to gradually lift travel restrictions at the external borders for residents coming from Bahrain, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Kuwait, New Zealand, Peru, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and China. The list is updated regularly.

"Each further aggressive act will have a high price for Russia, economically, strategically, politically," German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said in Kyiv Monday, prior to meeting Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow Tuesday. Her visit is one of few high-level EU-Russia contacts on Russia's war-threats. But senior German politicians are against harsh Russia sanctions, such as stopping the Nord Stream 2 pipeline or blocking it from 'Swift' international payments.

Serbian tennis champion Novak Djokovic would be banned from playing in the French Open tournament in May under current rules, the French sports ministry said Monday. Djokovic refuses to get vaccinated, but under a new vaccine-pass law adopted by French MPs Sunday he would be barred from taking part, it told Reuters. "This will apply to everyone who is a spectator or a professional sportsperson ... no exemption," France said.

A French court on Monday fined far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour €10,000 for inciting racial hatred over his remarks to the CNews broadcaster in 2020. "They're thieves, they're killers, they're rapists ... they should be sent back," Zemmour had said of migrants who were unaccompanied minors. Zemmour is polling fourth behind president Emmanuel Macron, conservative contender Valérie Pécresse, and the far-right Marine Le Pen ahead of April's vote, Reuters reports.

The commission is expected to come forward with concrete proposals in the next months, and the debate is likely to heat up in June.

Investors and small businesses are not, in fact, as keen on tracking-based online adverts as Big Tech's lobbying efforts have claimed, new research revealed on Monday, ahead of this week's plenary vote on stricter rules for online platforms.

Simply opening the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius, sparked a large-scale expansion of China's economic warfare against democracies. China's actions amount to a fundamental attack on the DNA of the European Union: the internal market.

Length of video : 82'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

Length of video : 83'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

Media are invited to follow the ceremony, which takes place at the start of Monday’s plenary session at 18.00 in Strasbourg.

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

The European Parliament’s spokesperson will hold a last-minute briefing on the 17-20 January plenary session today at 16.30.

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

Monday, 17 January

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

Media are invited to follow the ceremony, which takes place at the start of Monday’s plenary session at 18.00 in Strasbourg.

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

MEPs will honour Parliament President David Sassoli, who passed away on 11 January, elect a new president and discuss the French EU presidency’s plans during the first plenary of 2022.

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

James Kanter becomes new editor-in-chief of EUobserver - Shada Islam will be editor of the EUobserver magazine.