Euobserver.com

The UK is preparing to blacklist individuals from Russia, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea on human rights grounds on Monday in its first independent sanctions since leaving the EU in January. The UK visa bans and asset-freezes will target those "who commit unlawful killings perpetrated against journalists and media workers, or activity motivated on the grounds of religion or belief," British foreign minister Dominic Raab said, the BBC reports.

Austrian police have arrested two Russian nationals on suspicion of shooting dead a government-critical Chechen blogger in exile, called Martin B., in Vienna on Saturday. Germany recently expelled two Russian diplomats over the shooting of another Chechen exile in Berlin last year. A Chechen opposition leader was murdered in Lille, France, in January. Another Chechen refugee in France also fought off would-be assassins in an incident in February.

Croatia's ruling, centre-right party cruised to victory in Sunday's election despite concerns over coronavirus and the economy.

European Council president Charles Michel is expected to present his compromise proposal on the EU's long-term budget and the recovery fund to national capitals in the second half of the week.

Two cardinals and 110 bishops speak out to demand mandatory corporate due diligence at national, EU and UN-level. "In the time of pandemic, this has become more urgent than ever."

The European Commission on Friday granted a conditional marketing authorisation for the drug Remdesivir, making it the first medicine authorised at EU-level for treatment against Covid-19. "Today's authorisation of a first medicine to treat Covid-19 is an important step forward in the fight against this virus," said Stella Kyriakides, EU health and safety commissioner. The decision follows purchase by the US of almost the entire world's supply of Remdesivir.

French president Emmanuel Macron has accepted the resignation of prime minister Edouard Philippe and his government on Friday, the Elysée said in a statement. After the victory of the Greens in Lyon, Bordeaux and Marseilles in elections last weekend, Macron announced he wanted to take "a new way" with "a new team". Philippe became prime minister on 15 May 2017, after having resigned as mayor of Le Havre.

France has lied to Nato about a naval incident, in which it said Turkish warships locked weapons onto a French one last month, Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in Berlin Thursday. "France has not told the truth to the EU or to Nato" and should "apologise ... for not providing the correct information," he said. Turkish tourism minister Nuri Ersoy also welcomed German tourists back to "healthy" Turkey.

The EU foreign service has urged Russian authorities to investigate "allegations of irregularities, including voter coercion, multiple voting, violation of secrecy of the vote and allegations of police violence against a journalist who was present to observe" during the constitutional vote extending the Russian president's rule to 2036. Candidates were not able to campaign, the EU noted. The new constitution also unduly shielded Russia from international court rulings, it said.

Belgium is among one of several states seeking to host EU-bought reservers of masks and protective equipment due to be piled up in case of a second wave of coronavirus, according to Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, quoting a Belgian minister, Philippe De Backer. An EU task-force will decide in August where to locate reserves. Belgium advertised its central location and generous spirit with own masks during the crisis.

German chancellor Merkel said Europe is in the most difficult situation in its history and its answer to the corona-crisis has to be a powerful one.

France has been ordered to pay symbolic fines of €10,000 to €12,400 to three refugees who lived on the streets for several months by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The Afghan, Iranian, and Russian people were "victims of a degrading treatment reflecting a lack of respect for their dignity", the court said. The Iranian journalist was homeless for six months. The Afghan was homeless for 262 days.

French and Dutch police said Thursday they shut down an encrypted phone network, EncroChat, used by organised crime groups across Europe for murder attempts and major drug deals. After hacking the network, police read read millions of messages "over the shoulders" of suspects, leading to arrests of over a 100 suspected criminals, they told a press conference at the EU's judicial agency headquarters, Eurojust.

The European Commission on Thursday launched infringement proceedings against the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Greece, France, Italy, Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Slovakia for breaching EU law on reimbursement for cancelled travel due to Covid-19. Under EU law, passengers have the right to choose between reimbursement and other forms of refund such a voucher. Countries have two months to reply and address the commission's call.

European Council president Charles Michel aims to propose keeping the size of the planned €750bn recovery fund but reduce the EU's long-term budget's size in order to secure the support of the 'Frugal Four' countries advocating for a smaller package, Reuters reported Thursday. Michel's team plans to propose a budget between €1.05 trillion and €1.094 trillion, an official told Reuters, compared to the €1.1 trillion proposed by the EU Commission.

After four days of negotiations between the UK and the EU in which both sides pledged new momentum, the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said in a statement Thursday that "serious divergences" remained, and asked for more engagement from the UK. The EU restated its position on the need of "robust guarantees that the UK will not undercut EU standards and rules", and an effective dispute-settlement mechanism.

Members of the committee on civil liberties widely supported a moratorium on facial recognition for law enforcement purposes, just after the EU data watchdog backed earlier this week the ban on this technology in public spaces.

MEPs in January 2019 agreed to a rule change in a bid for greater transparency. The rules included requiring committee chairs to publish their meetings with registered lobbyists. EUobserver spoke to six chairs, who haven't done so yet.

Angela Merkel is only the seventh woman to chair the Council of the European Union's meetings. And in 2020 there is no woman leading any of the current 11 European civilian missions (let alone the six military operations).

Tobacco lobbyists aiming to influence specific EU policies have had dozens of lobby meetings with Commission officials, according to a report by pro-transparency group Corporate Europe Observatory. "The Commission's tax policy department held at least 24 meetings with tobacco industry lobbyists since early 2017, none of which were pro-actively disclosed," said the Brussels-based NGO. The study comes ahead of possible revised EU rules on tobacco set for next year.