Euobserver.com

The European Commission is expected to unveil the second part of the 'Fit for 55' package – including proposals for joint gas-purchases, improving buildings' energy performance, boosting green mobility, and mitigating the impact of the transition on poor households.

For the sixth Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels on Wednesday, the EU should better differentiate between slow and fast reformers, deepen integration of the 'Association Trio' (Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia), and address the burning security issues in eastern Europe.

The EU has blacklisted Russia's mercenary Wagner Group, shedding new light on the activities of the Kremlin-linked fighters.

Caretaker prime minister Mark Rutte will form a new government with the same coalition and many of the old ministers - yet promising a "big transformation."

Russia's foreign ministry has said Nato should "officially disavow" a 2008 promise that Georgia and Ukraine will one day become members and create a "legally binding agreement" it will not place weapons that threaten Russia on its borders, even in Nato states. "This path must be traversed quickly," Russia deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov said. EU foreign ministers meeting Monday will discuss Russia's threat of a new attack on Ukraine.

Greece's third-largest group in parliament on Sunday elected a European Parliament lawmaker as its new leader, Ekathimerini writes. Nikos Androulakis defeated former prime minister George Papandreou to lead the Movement for Change, a socialist coalition. Partial results shortly before 9 PM. showed the 42-year old Androulakis with 68.4 percent of the vote compared to 31.6 percent for the 69-year-old Papandreou. Papandreou called his rival to congratulate him.

New Caledonia, France's archipelago of about 185,000 voters, 2,000 kilometres east of Australia, voted no in a referendum on independence, with 96.49 percent of the votes against independence, and only 3.51% were in favour, France24 reports. French president Emmanuel Macron said Sunday "France is more beautiful" with the Pacific islands included, adding "a period of transition is beginning, free from the binary choice of 'Yes' or 'No'."

Serbs in the lower house of parliament in Bosnia's Republika Srpska voted on Saturday to pull out of the country's armed forces, judiciary, and tax system in what was, for now, a non-binding recommendation. "This is the moment of conquering the freedom for Republika Srpska," Serb leader Milorad Dodik told the parliament. "Bosnia is an experiment ... I don't believe it can survive," he also said.

Some 44,000 people protested against mandatory coronavirus vaccinations in Vienna on Saturday, carrying banners such as "I'm not a neo-Nazi or a hooligan" and "I'm fighting for freedom and against the vaccine", The Guardian reports. Austrians over the age of 14 must get vaccinated from February onward or face fines starting from €600 and rising too €3,600.

Europe's 20 biggest meat and dairy corporations emit more greenhouse gas than the Netherlands or Denmark, new research reveals - ahead of the European Commission's presentation of its carbon farming initiative.

Efforts to smuggle firearms into Poland from the Ukraine are on the rise, says an internal EU document. Dated 30 November, the document notes firearms are also being trafficked from the EU towards Ukraine and Libya.

The EU-27 plus Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine will also adopt a statement raising alarm on "continuous destabilisation" in Ukraine.

Europe is politically weak because its opponents know that nothing makes the European Council more nervous than a few thousand migrants trying to cross an external EU border. And these opponents, act accordingly. Lukashenko, for example.

The new German government will not support French plans to label nuclear energy as 'green', foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said in Paris on Thursday.

French president Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that member states need an emergency mechanism to respond to threats at the bloc's external borders, Reuters reported. "A sovereign Europe is for me above all a Europe capable of controlling its borders," he said, arguing the EU countries are often "too slow to react". Macron said that the emergency mechanism would have to rely on cooperation with the EU border agency Frontex.

Former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi has started campaigning to run for Italian president in early 2022, MPs in his Forza Italia party told The Guardian on Thursday. "I've met him twice in the last two weeks and he was totally fired up," one MP said. The 85-year old Berlusconi has been convicted of tax fraud and is still on trial for alleging bringing witnesses in a sex-party scandal years ago.

Britain is sending a further 140 military engineers to help Nato ally Poland secure its border with Belarus after Minsk began flying in asylum seekers and forcing them to storm barbed-wire fences. "Our commitment to European security is unwavering and we'll always offer support to our allies. This non-combat support will assist Polish efforts to protect their border and pass on vital engineering expertise," UK defence secretary Ben Wallace said.

EU governments agreed that Croatia was ready to join the passport-free 'Schengen' travel zone, in a move set to extend membership from 26 to 27 European states. "Croatia is ready," home-affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson said after meeting with EU interior ministers Thursday. Croatia joined the EU in 2013 and the EU Commission recommended its Schengen accession in 2019, but it was not yet clear when the formalities would be completed.

Shareholders of Shell are expected to approve on Friday a plan to move the company's tax residency to London, from the Hague. The oil and gas giant announced the move in November, arguing that it was necessary to simplify the company's structure. Nevertheless, critics say Shell's decision was motivated by a Dutch court ruling that ordered the company to reduce its carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030

The EU has launched a €1.5bn programme aimed at promoting human rights and democracy during 2021–2027, the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday. The priorities include promoting equality, inclusion and respect for diversity, working towards the universal abolition of the death penalty, as well as supporting pluralist, participatory and representative democracies. EU funds will also support the UN high commissioner for human rights.