European Union

The COVID-19 pandemic may have temporarily derailed plans for an EU-African partnership but it has also underscored the need for such a partnership, writes Carlos Lopes.

German women earned, on average, 19 percent less than men in 2019, according to the Federal Statistics Office. The figure inched down from 20 percent the year before, but was still worse than the EU average of 15 percent. Women also earned 6 percent less than men in Germany in jobs with the same hours and qualifications as men. Estonia had the biggest EU unadjusted pay gap on 22 percent.

Germany and EU institutions have voiced dismay over Bulgaria's ongoing veto on North Macedonia accession talks.

The Brussels office of Transparency International says a new deal struck by all three EU institutions to expand a joint register of lobbyists has major shortcomings. The current register covers lobbyists working with the European Commission and the European Parliament. It is now set to also include the Council, representing member states. But Transparency International says the latest plan still fails to set out mandatory, minimum, lobby-transparency standards.

An internal report of the Dutch health ministry, leaked on Tuesday, says that the closing of bars and restaurants did not have an effect on the Covid-19 reproduction number, De Standaard writes. According to the report, people were mainly infected at home via unsafe contact. Earlier this week, representatives of bars, restaurants and hotels demonstrated in The Hague, asking for more support.

A German court on Tuesday told US carmaker Tesla to suspend clearing a forest near Berlin where the company was going to build its first European factory, after environmentalists warned about the impact that cutting down trees could have on hibernating snakes, Reuters reported. Tesla's permission depends on a conditional authorisation by local authorities, responsible for consulting environmental groups and the community. Locals have logged 414 complaints against Tesla.

It remains "totally uncertain" if Britain and the EU can reach a trade deal, as UK prime minister Boris Johnson and EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen are expected to meet later this week, German minister for Europe, Michael Roth, said on Tuesday. He added that there was no progress in talks on the main obstacles of level playing field, governance and fisheries.

One possibility for a compromise could be a declaration, attached to the rule-of-law conditionality, on how it will be used - that alleviates the concerns of Hungary and Poland.

While some fear EU leaders are unlikely to strike a deal on the new climate target without first solving tensions over the rule of law and the seven-year budget, others remain optimistic.

Greek migration minister Notis Mitarachi presented video testimonies of migrants citing Norwegian NGO Aegean Boat Report as useful in their efforts to get to Greece. Mitarachi said such NGOs contribute to "illegal migratory flows". Aegean Boat Report disputes the account.

Vaclav Havel's 2007 play, Leaving, is about chancellor Rieger, his coterie and their refusal to accept the transfer of power. And now there is Donald Trump, barricaded in the White House. Does farce come first, followed by tragedy?

The UN Agency for Palestine refugees has run out of money. For millions of Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, Covid-19 is two pandemics in one: a health crisis and a pandemic of abject poverty.

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

With all eyes on the pending opening of the accession negotiations with North Macedonia, AFET will welcome its new Foreign Affairs Minister Bujar Osmani. As the government formed following the July 2020 elections continues implementing the EU-related reforms, the country expects that the first intergovernmental conference opening the accession talks could be held without further delay.
In addition to improving neighbourly relations, MEPs are expected to quiz the minister on domestic reforms and the foreign policy agenda.
Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

UK prime minister Boris Johnson will travel to Brussels for face-to-face talks with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, in a last attempt to break the impasse in Brexit negotiations. In a joint statement following a phone call which lasted over one hour on Monday evening, both leaders said the Brussels meeting will be held in the "coming days".

Hundreds of people recently attended the funeral, in a Chechen village, of Abdullakh Anzorov, the man who murdered French teacher Samuel Paty, according to videos uploaded to Islamist websites, The Guardian reports. Anzorov's hero-like treatment comes after Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov harangued French president Emmanuel Macron for defending the right to show cartoons of Mohammed. Western leaders who antagonised Muslims were "forcing people to commit crimes", Kadyrov has said.

The annual meeting of elite politicians and businessmen, the Davos Economic Forum, is to hold its 2021 event in May in Singapore, where Covid-rates are far lower, instead of in Switzerland, as usual, it has said. Current restrictions in Singapore do not allow meetings of more than five people. But Davos said delegates will be tested on arrival and fitted with special contact-tracing apps to help keep them safe.

EU states have formally approved new sanctions against human rights abusers, modelled on the US 'Magnitsky Act'.