Eurotopics.net

EU Commission President von der Leyen has called for a swift response to the Omicron variant and said EU member states should debate mandatory vaccination, stressing that one-third of EU citizens are not vaccinated. While some see her advice as a step in the right direction, others believe it will backfire.

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) has cancelled all tennis tournaments in China and Hong Kong as a result of the Peng Shuai case. "In good conscience, I don't see how I can ask our athletes to compete there when Peng Shuai is not allowed to communicate freely and has seemingly been pressured to contradict her allegation of sexual assault," WTA chief executive Steve Simon said, explaining the move. Europe's press hopes other organisations will take similar action.

NATO's tone towards Russia is getting harsher: at the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Riga on Tuesday and Wednesday, Secretary General Stoltenberg warned that Russian aggression against Ukraine would "come at a high price". US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke of evidence of Russia having such plans and threatened economic sanctions. Europe's press interprets the signals from the conference.

France and Britain are still unable to agree on how to prevent migrant deaths in the English Channel. A meeting of interior ministers was cancelled by Macron after Johnson posted a Twitter message calling on France to take back all migrants. The situation has escalated after the drowning of 27 migrants in the English Channel last week.