Euobserver.com

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.

This is the first time the EU has raised money collectively – some called it Europe's New Marshall Plan – and if the process is seen to fail, it could shatter the frail trust in the European project.

The very porousness of the border poses questions about EU states' contingency plans, which for the most part have remained confidential.

Unsurprisingly, given the sensitivities surrounding energy issues in Africa and Europe, leaders did not appear to be in a hurry to announce big, new financing deals for fossil fuels at the summit.

The EU has been busy drawing up a list of sanctions against Moscow in retaliation for any aggression. But the threshold for their imposition still needs to be determined.

In Munich, Volodymyr Zelensky voiced his concerns that the chances of Nato membership for his country may already have been diminished, because of the pressure from Russia.

We are sounding the alarm to prevent an irreversible destructive scenario from unfolding. We must take lessons from the bitter experiences of the 20th century and dedicate all our efforts to reversing a march towards conflict.

African leaders, after their two-day summit in Brussels, called an offer by the EU to help Africa build vaccine-manufacturing plants was incomplete without backing a vaccine patent-waiver proposal.

Commission will need up to three weeks to update guidelines for suspending EU funds to rule-breaking member states.

Final communiqué at EU-African Union summit stripped of reference to women's health and sexual freedoms.

EU leaders said they remained united on "tough" Russia sanctions amid fears of an escalation on Ukraine's front line.