Euobserver.com

Leaders also said the EU "encourages diplomatic efforts and supports the Normandy format in achieving the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements."

French interior minister Gerald Darmanin said there are some 110,000 fake health passes circulating in the country. "The problem with the fake health passes is that they often involve the collusion of real doctors or real nurses," he told the France 2 broadcaster. He noted some 100 people had been arrested as a result of 400 investigations.

The Paris-based NGO Reporters Without Borders says that a record number of journalists – 488 (including 60 women) – are currently detained worldwide, while another 65 are being held hostage. "RSF logged a total of 488 journalists and media workers in prison in mid-December 2021, or 20 percent more than at the same time last year," it said, in a report.

Police in Germany launched raids Wednesday against anti-vax activists accused of plotting to hurt the state premier of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, due to his backing of anti-coronavirus measures. Germany's new chancellor, Olof Scholz, also promised to tackle "minority of hate-filled extremists" trying to overturn Germany's health rules, as well as "truth-denial" more broadly speaking, in his inaugural speech the same day.

Germany has expelled two Russian diplomats after a court ruling that Russia ordered the 2016 murder of a Chechen former soldier and asylum-seeker in Berlin. "Russian state authorities ordered the accused to liquidate the victim," the Berlin court's presiding judge Olaf Arnoldi said on the murder, which took place in broad daylight in a Berlin park. The verdict was "politically motivated", Russian ambassador to Germany, Sergei Nechayev, said.

The European Commission presented on Wednesday a proposal that clarifies current definitions of environmental crime offences, adding new provisions for the illegal timber trade, illegal ship recycling or illegal abstraction of water. Under the commission initiative, criminals can face 10 years in prison if an environmental offence causes death or serious injuries. In addition, the draft law is expected to make cross-border investigation and prosecution more effective.

France began implementing on Wednesday a new tightening of rules in the fight against Covid-19, meaning people aged 65 and over will lose the validity of their health pass unless they have had a third booster shot, France24 writes. The health pass was introduced in the summer and is obligatory for visiting any restaurant or cafe, inter-city train travel and going to cultural venues like cinemas or museums.

The European Commission unveiled on Wednesday the EU's first-ever legislative proposal aimed at reducing emissions in the energy sector, including strict rules to detect and repair methane leaks. It also introduces global monitoring rules to enhance data transparency of methane emissions from imports of oil, gas and coal into the EU. Under new rules, most venting and flaring practices which release methane into the atmosphere would also be prohibited.

The incoming Dutch cabinet, to be led for a fourth time by PM Mark Rutte, has reached a coalition agreement after 273 days of negotiations. It will increase investment in education, housing and child care and defence. It has also promised to spend an extra €35bn to speed up climate change efforts. Taxes for middle-incomes will go down and the minimum wage will go up 7.5 percent.

Debates over Christian identity and the use of words like Christmas preoccupied the European Parliament plenary for over an hour. The debate was tabled by Manfed Weber, the leader of the centre-right EPP group.

One of Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko's family-linked firms is suing EUobserver, as well as the EU Council, after being blacklisted.

The European Commission announced that some new and renovated buildings in the EU will need to be equipped with charging points for electric cars - as part of new efforts aimed at reducing the sector's emissions.

The EU has unveiled plans to phase-out natural gas and repurpose natural gas infrastructure for hydrogen.

EU leaders gather in Brussels to discuss the Omicron variant, rising energy prices, migration, and agree a stern warning to Russia.

The strong advocacy of Central and Eastern European capitals for including fossil gas and nuclear power in the EU's green taxonomy only leads to another unsustainable energy lock-in for the region, leaving their grid exposed to third-country coercion.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned on Tuesday that the Omicron variant was spreading at an unprecedented rate, France24 writes. It also urged countries to act as drug maker Pfizer said its coronavirus pill was effective against the variant. Omicron, first detected by South Africa and reported to the WHO on 24 November, has a large number of mutations, setting alarm bells ringing since its discovery.

"We will insist that it is our choice [to join the EU] and we would like other countries to respect that choice," Moldovan president Maria Sandu told Reuters in Brussels Tuesday, as EU leaders prepared to meet five eastern neighbours. Russia recently threatened to cut off Moldova's gas if did not dilute EU ties, the FT reported. "Moldova wants to become a member of the EU one day," Sandu said.

The US death toll from Covid-19 has passed 800,000, the Guardian writes. More than 200,000 of those lives were lost after vaccines became available last spring. The figure represents the highest reported toll of any country in the world. The US accounts for approximately 4 percent of the world's population, but about 15 percent of the 5.3 million known deaths from the coronavirus since the outbreak began two years ago.

The EU Commission wants to reduce internal border checks by shoring up joint-police patrols against irregular migrants making secondary movements.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said Tuesday in a phone call with the Finish president Sauli Niinsto that he wants "immediate" talks with the US and Nato over security guarantees, as tensions soar between Moscow and the West over Ukraine, AFP writes. The US and its allies have for weeks accused Russia of planning an invasion of its neighbour, warning of a massive coordinated sanctions response should Putin launch an attack.