Euobserver.com

The eurozone economy contracted by much less than expected in the first quarter of the year, revised data from the EU's statistics office showed, Reuters reports. Eurostat said GDP in the 19 countries sharing the euro contracted 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter for a 1.3 percent year-on-year decline. These compared with estimates three weeks ago of respectively -0.6 percent and -1.8 percent.

The United Nations Security Council backed secretary-general Antonio Guterres on Tuesday for a second term, recommending that the 193-member General Assembly appoint him for another five years from 1 January, 2022, Reuters reports. Guterres succeeded Ban Ki-moon in January 2017, just weeks before US president Donald Trump took office. Much of Guterres' first term was focused on placating Trump, who questioned the value of the United Nations and multilateralism.

China made a "huge strategic blunder" in recently blacklisting MEPs and EU officials, former US trade negotiator Clete Willems told US broadcaster CNBC Tuesday. "With China, it's over-reaching and over-reacting and not addressing legitimate issues like forced labour [of its Uighur minority]," he said. The European Parliament froze an EU-China business treaty in the sanctions war, and that meant the strategic investment pact was "off the table now," Willems said.

A group of 20 NGOs have raised concerns about postponing legislative proposals on minimising deforestation risks and sustainable corporate governance. These incentives, expected in June, have been postponed until at least September. "These files should be top priorities for achieving the global dimension of the Green Deal. The EU's legislative process should be open, transparent and democratic," they said in a letter sent on Tuesday to the European Commission.

United Nations appeal judges have upheld the convictions of former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladić, "the Butcher of Bosnia," for genocide and other offences during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, and confirmed his life sentence, The Guardian writes. The judgment means that the 78-year-old former general, who terrorised Bosnia throughout the war, will spend the rest of his life in prison.

This means that, following council approval, and after the financing agreement has been signed with EU governments, the first countries can receive pre-financing from the recovery fund, of up to 13 percent of their allocated funds.

As some member states start issuing the EU's Covid-19 certificate, EUobserver takes a look at what the bloc is doing to restore unrestricted travel in the bloc - a right that has been restricted, even prohibited, during the pandemic.

Lukashenko's Belarus is increasingly reminiscent of North Korea in its mix of capricious unpredictability and unbridled aggression born out of paranoia, writes Lithuania's foreign minister.

Sometimes it takes a little geopolitical competition to acknowledge the sins of the past.

Former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladić is to appear in The Hague war crimes tribunal for a final ruling on his appeal against a life sentence over the Srebrenica genocide in 1995, when Serb forces killed 8,000 Muslim boys and men. Charges include extermination, forcible transfers, terror, and hostage-taking. A prosecutor has asked that judges also add "genocide" to the list. Tuesday's ruling is conclusive with no further appeals possible

The EU and US have called for accountability after a BBC investigation revealed systematic sexual harassment, including rape, of Afghan policewomen in the same police corps that Western powers trained and equipped over the past 20 years. The EU had "a zero tolerance policy for such cases" its foreign service said. "These reports​ are shocking," a senior US diplomat said, as Nato forces prepare to leave the country for good.

EU countries should be able to subsidise renewable energy projects up to 100 percent in a derogation from normal anti-state aid rules, the European Commission proposed Monday. "Europe will need a considerable amount of sustainable investments" to meet CO2 targets, European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said. "Although a significant share will come from the private sector, public support will play a role in ensuring that the green transition happens fast".

Germany and Hungary have butted heads over EU policy on Hong Kong, in a dispute which made the EU foreign service look silly.

The obligation to wear face masks in Brussels' public spaces will no longer apply after 9 June. Due to the improving epidemiological situation and the ongoing vaccination campaign, Brussels minister-president Rudi Vervoort, plus the 19 Brussels mayors, decided to lift the mandatory mask-wearing measure. Masks will still be required indoors and on busy commercial streets.

Russia must change its behaviour if it wants better relations with the EU, European Council president Charles Michel said on Monday after a telephone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin. "The downwards trend in EU-Russia relations can only change if Russia stops disruptive behaviour," Michel tweeted after the call, adding that EU-Russia relations were at a low point and further deterioration is "in neither side's interest".

A senior Hungarian official said Viktor Orbán's government could put plans to build a Chinese university in Budapest to a referendum - after thousands protested at the weekend, accusing Orbán of cosying up to Beijing. Gergely Gulyás, Orbán's chief of staff, said on Sunday that the university was not even at the planning phase, and once the plan took shape, in early 2023, it could be put to a referendum.

Slovakia became the second country in the European Union to vaccinate its citizens with the Russian-made vaccine Sputnik V on Monday, Reuters reported. In Hungary, one million people have received two doses of this vaccine. Slovakia in March bought 200,000 doses, announcing it intended to buy two million more. But the vaccination was delayed after months of rows over the jab, which has not received the European authorities' approval yet.

A planned meeting between Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the sidelines of the Nato summit on 14 June will be private, with, at most, a top aide from each side present, Kathimerini writes. According to officials involved in the preparation of the meeting, the closed setting would help a frank exchange of views.

A special audit on how Frontex supports member states in cracking down on "illegal migration and cross-border crimes" has painted a bleak picture of an EU agency, whose annual budget rocketed from €19m in 2006 to €900m in 2021.

EU member states have given the final approval to the €17.5bn Just Transition Fund, intended to support fossil fuel-dependent regions to green their economies - paving the way for EU countries to start receiving the money.