Euobserver.com

Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands on Wednesday pledged to increase offshore wind generation capacity from 15 gigawatts (GW) now to at least 150GW by 2050 — as part of efforts to phase-out fossil fuels and reduce energy imports from Russia. This target represents half of the capacity intended for the entire 27-nations bloc, under the EU offshore renewable energy strategy, unveiled back in November 2020.

The EU and US are carrying out legal assessments on whether it can use frozen Russian money to rebuild Ukraine after the war.

The EU unveiled its plans to increase solar generation capacity and accelerate the rollout of major renewable projects in the EU — as part of efforts to reduce energy imports from Russia.

EU leaders unveiled a €210bn strategy aiming to cut Russian gas out of the European energy equation before 2027 and by two-thirds before the end of the year — but questions remain on how it is to be financed.

Turkey has blocked starting Nato accession talks with Finland and Sweden after the Nordic states' ambassadors handed over formal application letters Wednesday, saying they must first extradite 30 Kurdish separatists it calls terrorists. "So you won't give us back terrorists but you ask us for Nato membership?", Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said. "Nato expansion is only meaningful for us in proportion to the respect shown to our sensitivities".

Some 15,000 people tried to enter the EU irregularly in April — a 79-percent increase on April last year, according to EU border-control agency Frontex. The figures were part of a larger trend, with 57,800 people entering in the first four months of this year — a 69-percent spike. The biggest increases were on the Western Balkans route. The figures did not count the 5.9 million Ukrainian refugees.

Russia has expelled 34 French diplomats, 27 Spanish ones, and 24 Italian ones in return for Europe's earlier ejection of several hundred Russian alleged spies from its capitals over its massacre of Ukrainians in the town of Bucha. Russia also expelled 45 Polish diplomats and 40 German ones last month. Italian prime minister Mario Draghi called Russia's decision a "hostile act". France said Russia's move was not justified.

German ex-chancellor Gerhard Schröder's publicly-funded office is to be shut down amid mounting criticism at his refusal to distance himself from Russian president Vladimir Putin. The country's ex-leaders traditionally receive a state-funded office when they leave the post. Schröder has refused to condemn Putin, whom he still calls a close friend despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and is holding jobs at Russian state-owned energy companies, German media reported.

A Russian soldier facing the first war crimes trial since the start of the conflict in Ukraine has pleaded guilty to charges of killing a Ukrainian civilian, AP reported Wednesday. The 21-year-old sergeant Vadim Shyshimarin could get life in prison if convicted of shooting a Ukrainian man in the head through an open car window in a village in the Sumy region on 28 February, four days into the invasion.

Granting EU candidacy status to Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine will firmly anchor their ties with Brussels — and enable the EU to secure its place in the Black Sea region, connecting Europe to China and energy-rich Central Asia, bypassing Russia.

The EU Ombudsman reviewed 100 'revolving door' cases at the European Commission — of which, the EU executive forbid a former staff member from taking on a private sector job on just two occasions.

Ukraine can continue to count on arms supplies from EU states as it inflicts "record" losses on Russia's invading force, the EU's foreign affairs chief has said.

The EU warning comes after the UK government escalated the conflict over the Northern Ireland protocol — a set of post-Brexit trade rules — by saying it will unilaterally pass a law to change the EU-UK trade treaty.

If Russia were to attack Finland or Sweden before they became Nato members, they could invoke a joint defence clause in the EU treaty "obliging" other EU countries to help, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said Tuesday. "They can count on the full support of the EU", he said. Finnish MPs Tuesday voted 188 against eight to join Nato, amid plans to hand in their application with Sweden Wednesday.

The EU should not be freezing money for Hungary due to Budapest's abuse of rule of law because it needs those funds to diversify away from Russian oil, Polish president Andrzej Duda has said. "It will be hard for the Hungarians to diversify if European recovery funds remain blocked," Duda said in Warsaw alongside Hungarian president Katalin Novák, after Hungary blocked an EU oil embargo on Russia citing economic costs.

Four defendants in a larger case by Italian prosecutors face 20 years in prison for having helped rescue hundreds of people from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea.

The EU is to keep in place its military training mission in Mali, but reduce its 1,000-strong number of staff and change its tasks from training Malian rank-and-file soldiers to "high-level" advice for Malian commanders and those in Burkina Faso and Niger, EU defence ministers agreed Tuesday. The move comes due to "an increasing pattern of collusion and allegations of grave human rights abuses" by Malian soldiers and Russian mercenaries.

Facing with war at home and xenophobia in the Czech Republic, Ukraine's Roma refugees are falling between the cracks of Europe's great humanitarian effort.

EU must increase funding to "help ensure Ukraine prevails over Putin's aggression," US treasury secretary Janet Yellen said in Brussels — but some EU leaders are starting to sound less warlike and have instead called for an early peace.

MEPs on the environment committee agreed on reform of the European carbon market — including expanding it to buildings and transport. They also want to extend the scope of the carbon border tax, and phase out free permits by 2030.