Euobserver.com

The EU Commission expressed concern on Wednesday over media freedom in Hungary, after one of the last independent radio broadcasters, the government-critical Klubradio station, lost its licence, forcing it off the air. The move "increases concerns" about "media freedom and pluralism" in Hungary, a commission spokesman said. Klubradio will go off the airwaves on Sunday after a court upheld a decision by media authorities not to extend its broadcasting licence.

Europeans are preparing to stay in their home countries for summer 2021 vacations due to the pandemic, with bookings and real-estate prices soaring for cottages in Ireland and Sweden, for instance, Reuters reports. Houseboat bookings in Germany also shot up, amid fears Greek and Spanish beach resorts may be closed. "People shouldn't be booking holidays right now - not domestically or internationally", British transport minister Grant Schapps also said Wednesday.

The trial of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen started in Paris on Wednesday, AFP reported. She is charged with breaching hate speech laws by tweeting pictures of atrocities committed by the Islamic State. Le Pen argues the charges challenge her right to free speech. The National Rally party leader in 2015 tweeted the images, in response to a journalist, shortly after the Paris terrorist attacks that killed 130 people.

Eurozone countries must keep fiscal spending up this year and into 2022 to protect the bloc from permanent damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday. Lagarde also urged the EU to kick start the bloc's €750bn recovery spending package, as some economic restrictions could remain in place until the second half of the year, she told the Economist magazine.

The EU Commission adopted a proposal on Wednesday to ask the UK if it can take an extra two months to ratify the post-Brexit trade agreement, by extending the provisional application of the deal until April 30, Reuters reported. The commission said it needed more time to translate the deal into all 24 languages, and for the European Parliament to vote on the deal.

The International Organization for Migration, an inter-governmental body related to the UN, is demanding the EU and member states put an end to illegal expulsions of people seeking asylum.

The European Commission admitted mistakes were made during the bloc's approval and rollout of vaccines - triggering criticism from MEPs who demanded more transparency and accountability, plus solidarity with low and medium-income countries.

It's more than geography. Ukraine and the European Union are "stitched" together with a common worldview and goals, with common values and future. And the best thing we can do – is to make these threads stronger.

The development of the Chinese economy over the past 40 years has also been a process of greater alignment, connection, and integration with the world economy.

The US Senate voted 56 to 44 Tuesday that the second impeachment process against former US president Donald Trump was constitutional and could proceed, Deutsche Welle reports. The vote meant Trump was officially accused of inciting the Capitol riot on 6 January 6 and will face a fully-fledged trial. But with only six Republicans breaking with their party Tuesday, the Democrats still lack a majority to convict the former leader.

Turkey is close to completing purchase of a gas-drilling ship from Norwegian firm Dolphin Drilling in a move that bodes ill for EU relations. The ship was "legendary" and the "crown jewel" of the Norwegian fleet, Turkish pro-government newspaper Daily Sabah said Tuesday. Turkey is currently in talks to reduce tension with Cyprus and Greece after its three existing drilling vessels violated Cyprus-claimed waters in recent months, prompting EU sanctions.

A Polish court has ordered two eminent historians, Jan Grabowski and Barbara Engelking, to apologise to a Polish woman for "defaming" her late uncle in a book saying he had given up Jews to Nazis. The ruling could chill Holocaust research, academics feared, amid wider EU concern the right-wing Polish government wielded political control of judges. Germany, also Tuesday, charged a 100-year old man for 3,518 murders at concentration camps.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has promised new sanctions on Russia in ongoing fall-out from his "humiliating" trip to Moscow.

The UK will require passengers arriving from countries where worrying coronavirus variants are spreading to pay for 10 days of quarantine in hotels, while rule-breakers will face heavy fines or jail terms, under tighter restrictions from next week, Reuters reports. "Anyone who lies on the passenger locator form [...] will face a prison sentence of up to 10 years," UK health secretary Matt Hancock told parliament.

The European commission published on Tuesday the redacted contract signed with the pharmaceutical firm Sanofi-GSK last September. This is the third contract that has been made public, after CureVac's and AstraZeneca's deals. "Transparency, accountability and building trust with institutions and citizens are a key commitment of our work," said EU health commissioner Stella Kyrirakides. Three of the early purchase agreements signed between the EU executive and vaccine-developers remain confidential.

A baby born in Spain to a same-sex couple from Bulgaria and Gibraltar is at risk of statelessness, reports Reuters. Bulgaria has refused to provide the child with a birth certificate and citizenship due to the parents' sexual orientation. The case was heard at the European Court of Justice on Tuesday. "It's caused us a lot of upset. This discrimination feels very personal and has shocked us," said the mother.

In an open letter to EU institutions, Reporters without Borders say they have observed around 400 cases of journalists being arrested for "covering massive, peaceful protests against president Alexander Lukashenko's fraudulent reelection." They add that at least 62 cases of physical violence against journalists have been registered since 9 August and 11 journalists are currently jailed. The letter urges the EU to increase sanctions on Belarus and support independent media.

While all governments are seeking to secure vaccines as fast as they can so they can open up their economies, so far only Hungary's Viktor Orban has chosen to break with the EU's vaccine strategy.

MEPs have condemned the near-total ban on the right to abortion in Poland, following the entry into force of the country's Constitutional Tribunal ruling - which makes 98 percent of all abortions carried out annually in the country illegal.

The World Health Organisation team that visited Wuhan to investigate the origins of the coronavirus has dismissed a theory that the virus leaked from a laboratory, while giving some credence to China's focus on the possibility of transmission via frozen food, The Guardian writes. Peter Ben Embarek, head of the team called this theory, spread by Donald Trump, "extremely unlikely" and not "a hypothesis we suggest implies further study."