Euobserver.com

Almost half of prosecuted cases in Europe are processed outside the framework of a trial - and new research shows that many people will have been coerced into pleading guilty, in some cases for crimes they did not commit.

The EU will not evacuate its staff from Kyiv, the bloc's foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Monday before the meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers, who will have a video conference with US secretary of state Anthony Blinken. "Blinken will explain the reasons for this announcement, we are not going to do the same thing, [...], we don't have to dramatise, the negotiations are going on," Borrell said.

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney has raised the alarm on Russian live-fire naval missile tests due to take place in Ireland's maritime economic zone. Russia had a right to the naval drills and had notified authorities of its plans, he said, "but In light of the current political and security environment in Europe ... [Ireland] had raised a number of concerns with the Russian authorities," he added on Sunday.

Poland wants the EU's blessing to restrict people's right to asylum if they sneak in from Belarus, among other "practical measures".

Campaign group British in Europe has written to the UK government seeking help for Britons who have lived in the EU and who wanted to resettle to the UK with their European family members, but faced hurdles due to Brexit. Britain ought to issue a "clear statement that those family members who are entitled to enter the UK on a visitor permit will be able to do so", it said.

Some 70 people were arrested, 15 needed hospital attention, and police used tear gas and water cannon after rioting broke out at an anti-corona pass protest involving 50,000 people in Brussels on Sunday. Attackers also smashed the glass-fronted side entrance to the EU foreign service building. Meanwhile, thousands of people marched against restrictions in Athens, Helsinki, London, Paris, and Stockholm and Gothenburg Saturday, but the rallies there were peaceful.

The Italian coastguard rescued 305 people, including 17 women and six minors, from a small, overcrowded boat which got into trouble near the Italian island of Lampedusa Friday. Hundreds of people rescued by three charity boats in recent times are also waiting for a safe port in the region to take them in, with Geo Barents, operated by charity Doctors without Borders, saying it had over 430 people on board.

Italian MPs, on Monday, begin to vote for the country's next president, with the incumbent, 80-year old Sergio Matarella, to step down on 3 February. Candidates in the secret ballot need an absolute majority in the first three rounds of voting and a simple one from the fourth round onward. The country's prime minister, Mario Draghi, is a favourite to win. Scandal-tainted former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has pulled out.

Gas continued flowing from Germany to Poland via the Yamal-Europe pipeline this weekend, instead of from Russia, via Poland, to Germany, as in normal times, according to German network operator Gascade, Reuters reports. Russia recently restricted supplies to Europe amid security tensions over Ukraine. But EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson said Saturday she would soon be travelling to Azerbaijan and the US to seek extra supplies to "improve our risk-preparedness".

Hans Kluge, the World Health Organisation's Europe director, told AFP on Sunday that the continent is nearing the end of the pandemic due to vaccinations and growing natural immunity. "It's plausible the region is moving towards a kind of pandemic endgame," he said. "There'll be a period of quiet before Covid-19 may come back towards the end of the year, but not necessarily the pandemic coming back," he added.

Germany has voiced opposition to EU plans to label nuclear energy as "green" in its "taxonomy" for investors. "We have once again clearly expressed our rejection of the inclusion of nuclear energy. It is risky and expensive," Germany's economy and environment ministers said in an open letter to the EU Commission Saturday. "Serious accidents with large, cross-border and long-term hazards to humans and the environment cannot be excluded," they added.

EU foreign ministers are to condemn "Russia's continued aggressive actions and threats against Ukraine", while promising "massive" sanctions at Monday's meeting in Brussels.

Throughout the week, MEPs will vote on the chairs and vice-chairs of the 20 standing committees and three sub-committees for the next two-and-a-half years, the remainder of the current legislative term.

The NGO Global Witness found that Shell Quest, a blue hydrogen and carbon capture pilot facility in Alberta, emitted more CO2 than it captured.

The Digital Services Act was adopted with a solid majority in the European Parliament plenary - and today, some marketing professionals weep. The result will be a fundamentally different digital eco-system, and this will change digital marketing too.

French far-right presidential candidates Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour have set their sights on the next French parliament elections and European elections, as much as on winning the Élysée Palace.

Romania's underfunded public health system was on the verge of collapse during the last surge of cases. Hospital morgues were full, and some patients were transferred abroad for treatment because Covid-19 intensive care units were at full capacity.

Environmental lawyers are threatening to take legal action against the European Commission if gas is included in the EU guidelines for sustainable finances. But the draft taxonomy has also triggered discontent among some EU national capitals and MEPs.

EU leaders are free to meet Russian president Vladimir Putin despite his threats to start a new war with Ukraine, the EU foreign service has said. "There is no embargo on contacts and visits between member states and Russia. Each member state decides ... on their own judgment," the EU foreign service told EUobserver. The comment follows reports Croatia invited Putin to visit and that Hungary's leader will meet him.

Austrians who refuse to be vaccinated can be fined €3,600 from 1 February until January 2024 under a new law passed by Austrian MPs Thursday. The bill must still pass the state and be signed by the president. The move was a "big, and, for the first time, also lasting step", health minister Wolfgang Mückstein said. Some 72 percent of Austrians have had the jab, amid months of anti-vaccination protests.