Euobserver.com

"Ban the liars", Polish MEP Radek Sikorski said, as the EU slapped sanctions on some of Russia's most prominent TV broadcasters in response to their warmongering against Ukraine.

Viktor Orbán has often proved to be more bark than bite when it comes to his sympathies with Russia, and Vladimir Putin himself.

Anne Hidalgo is the socialist candidate to become the next president of France. But, now, Hidalgo may be presiding over the party's collapse. She's not used to being such an underdog.

Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM and others would need to put in place technical and legal safeguards. The EU commission estimated the new rules could generate €270bn of additional GDP by 2028.

EU Council president Charles Michel has called an emergency summit for Thursday to discuss "how we deal with Russia, notably holding Russia accountable for its actions", according to Michel's invitation letter, referring to Russia's latest incursion into Ukraine. The Polish and Lithuanian presidents also called for the EU to grant Ukraine EU membership candidate status in a declaration Wednesday.

If war breaks out, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) needs to ensure good practices and policies in civilian harm mitigation developed over the past few years are directly integrated into any military response.

"Who in the Lord's name does Putin think gives him the right to declare what he called new countries on the territories of his neighbour?", US president Joe Biden said.

The European Commission says it is working with EU states as part of a Blueprint Network to prepare contingency plans for a refugee influx.

EU Commission vice-president Věra Jourová said on Tuesday the executive would like Poland to adopt legislation scrapping its controversial domestic disciplinary chamber for judges "soon". The European Court of Justice has ruled Poland should suspend the chamber, which is also a pre-condition for Warsaw receiving allocated recovery funds. Polish president Andrzej Duda and MPs have drafted separate bills to overhaul the chamber, but do not yet have a majority.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday the "time has come" for the EU to guarantee Ukraine membership of the 27-nation bloc, AFP reported. "I called on the EU to put aside all the hesitation, reticence and scepticism ... and to give Ukraine the promise of future EU membership," Kuleba said, describing the move as the best strategic decision for the EU.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday that the Baltic Sea pipeline to deliver Russian gas couldn't be certified under "present circumstances."

Russia's open incursion into eastern Ukraine means it is now "inconceivable" that the UEFA Champion's League final should go ahead in St Petersburg in May, UK prime minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. Johnson spoke while announcing UK sanctions against Russia, when he said that and other major sporting events should not be held in Russia. At present, UEFA has "no plans to change the venue", according to the Guardian.

Some of the individuals to be blacklisted are Russian officials, but not Russian president Vladimir Putin himself or his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

A silly idea, when Russia has just amputated parts of Ukraine's territory? On the contrary — it would be a historic chance for the EU become again an agenda-setter rather than following a playbook set by others.

Russian president Putin pledged to recognise two Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine as sovereign states — a move that could trigger a first round of EU sanctions.

Republika Srpska's Mirolad Dodik is a close ally of Russia and a flare-up in the Western Balkans risks playing into Moscow's hands.

Some EU member states are calling for extra time to implement new due-diligence obligations under the new deforestation law.

The EU's anti-fraud office findings will go before the Frontex management board this week.

Even if the petition were to win sufficient backing, any commission moves toward fulfilling its demands would meet with fierce opposition from pro-Israeli EU countries.

The UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, says the UNHCR has recorded almost 540 reported incidents of "informal returns" of asylum seekers by Greece since the beginning of 2020. Grandi pointed out that a person's right to asylum does not depend on the mode of arrival to a country. "What is happening at European borders is legally and morally unacceptable and must stop," he said, in a statement.