European Union

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday troops would be pulled from the street to guard its borders with EU countries, Deutsche Welle writes. "We are compelled to withdraw our troops from the streets, have half our army on guard and close our state border with the West, first of all with Lithuania and Poland," said Lukashenko. Polish officials said Lukashenko's threat was propaganda, as the borders were already closed.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has stored caches of ammonium nitrate, the chemical in the recent Beirut blast, in Europe with a view to future attacks ordered out of Iran, US counterterrorism coordinator Nathan Sales said Thursday, The Guardian reports. "I can reveal that such [Hezbollah] caches have been moved through Belgium to France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland," he said. "This activity is still under way," he added.

The EU's top court has ruled that Europe acted legally when imposing sanctions on Russian energy firms and banks over its invasion of Ukraine in 2014. "The companies in question could not reasonably have been unaware of the reasons why the targeted restrictions at issue were imposed on them," it said Thursday. The verdict overturned an earlier, lower court ruling which had gone in Russia's favour.

Britain would renege on Brexit withdrawal treaty provisions only if the EU "engaged in a material breach of its duties of good faith or other obligations ... thereby undermining the fundamental purpose of the Northern Ireland Protocol", the British government said in new guidelines out Thursday. The UK would also "activate appropriate formal [withdrawal treaty-based] dispute settlement mechanisms with the aim of finding a solution through this route," it added.

France recorded 10,593 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours on Thursday, with a surge among young people and the over-75s. The rate of infections to people tested stayed stable at 5.4%, however. Authorities, the same day, said the crowd to welcome the finale of the Tour de France bicycle race in the Champs-Élysées boulevard in Paris this coming Sunday would be limited to 5,000 people.

Greek police launched an operation early on Thursday to relocate the more than 10,000 people without shelter following the fire which destroyed the overcrowded Moria refugee camp, the Guardian reported. Asylum seekers have been transferred into a temporary facility outside the port town of Mytilene on the Greek island. Earlier this week, five former residents of Moria camp were arrested in connection with the fire.

The World Health Organization's European director, Hans Kluge, warned national governments against reducing the 14-day quarantine period, especially given the "alarming rates of transmission" in Europe this month, the BBC reported. Last week, France reduced its quarantine for people possibly exposed to someone with Covid-19 from 14 to seven days. "The September case numbers should serve as a wake-up call for all of us," Kluge said.

MEPs adopted a resolution on Thursday calling on the European Council to "finally act" in light of "overwhelming evidence" of breaches of EU law regarding the legislative and electoral system, the independence of the judiciary, and fundamental rights in Poland. MEPs expressed concerns about how the situation has deteriorated since the Article 7 procedure was initiated in 2017, calling on member states to use this system to its full potential.

EU focus has moved to returning failed asylum seekers, and a "negative asylum decision will come together with a return decision", Ylva Johansson said. "No more Morias", she pledged.

Buying an EU passport does not give you impunity from visa-bans or asset-freezes, officials have said, as citizenship sales multiply.

The European Parliament has adopted a report calling on the European Commission to propose the first-ever EU law to boost the inclusion of Romani people.

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Common definitions, health criteria and methodologies are key to effectively fighting the ongoing pandemic and its economic consequences in the EU, MEPs say.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Common definitions, health criteria and methodologies are key to effectively fighting the ongoing pandemic and its economic consequences in the EU, MEPs say.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

In the context of the exponential growth of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the President of the European Parliament has announced a number of measures to contain the spread of epidemic and to safeguard Parliament's core activities.

On 2 July 2020, the Conference of Presidents adopted the revised EP Calendar 2020.

The current precautionary measures adopted by the EP to contain the spread of COVID-19 do not affect work on legislative priorities. Core activities are reduced, but maintained to ensure that the institution's legislative, budgetary, scrutiny functions are maintained.

Following these decisions, the next SEDE meeting is scheduled to take place on 28 September 2020 (online).

Recent press releases:

- Sahel, West Africa and the Horn of Africa: a new EU approach is necessary - 16 September 2020
- MEPs to discuss new defence related priorities - 7 September 2020
...

For further press releases please see in the SEDE press room.

New EP calendar 2020
SEDE meetings' calendar 2020
Press release: Sahel, West Africa and the Horn of Africa: a new EU approach is necessary - 16 September 2020
Press release: MEPs to discuss new defence related priorities - 7 September 2020
Press release: Defence Subcommittee MEPs will meet new head of the European Defence Agency - 16 July 2020
Press release: MEPs debate defence priorities with Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer - 14 July 2020
Press release: MEPs adopt a report on the implementation of EU arms export rules - 13 July 2020
Press release: European defence: Exchange with the French Minister of Armed Forces - 2 July 2020
Press release: The era of naive Europe is over, says Commissioner Breton - 25 June 2020
Press release: Call for a renewed relationship with the African continent based on solidarity and respect - 24 June 2020
Press release: EU must guarantee security to its citizens, warns Defence Subcommittee Chair - 26 May 2020
Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The funds will allow the EU to improve its chances of having an effective and safe vaccine available as soon as possible, and to step up COVID-19-related cohesion funding.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The funds will allow the EU to improve its chances of having an effective and safe vaccine available as soon as possible, and to step up COVID-19-related cohesion funding.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Europe should support the cultural sector during the Covid-19 crisis, say MEPs in a resolution adopted on 17 September.

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

On Thursday, Parliament adopted resolutions taking stock of the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and the Philippines.
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Human Rights

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

On Thursday, Parliament adopted resolutions taking stock of the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and the Philippines.
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Human Rights

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP