Euobserver.com

The EU should become "the first major economy to fully decarbonise, fully reach net-zero emissions," EU climate commissioner Arias Canete told Reuters on Tuesday. He said it was "fully possible" to do it by 2050, but would require "lots of investment". The EU seeks to reduce CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050. Denmark also said it backed EU commission calls to stop making new diesel and petrol cars from 2030.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) must be deployed in the EU, the European Commission said in a new climate strategy paper.

Enough EU states want to create a new human rights sanctions regime for the Netherlands to table a formal proposal next month.

The EU Council's most senior lawyer, Hubert Legal, told a hearing at the EU court in Luxembourg the UK could not unilaterally revoke Article 50 - the EU treaty exit clause that it triggered after the 2016 referendum. "National processes cannot suffice to pull the carpet on which everyone has been forced to stand on," he said in a case brought by anti-Brexit campaigners. A verdict is unlikely before 2019.

European Parliament lawyers endorsed plans by the EU to set up centres in north Africa to offload rescued migrants, but did so on the basis of making big assumptions given the lack of operational and technical details.

EU industry commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska invited ministers from 15 EU countries to talk about the aftermath of the Dieselgate emissions scandal. Only two accepted.

The Dutch data protection authority has given US tech company Uber a €600,000 fine for keeping a data breach secret. In 2016, data from 57 million Uber users worldwide was hacked, but Uber did not report the event until November 2017. Uber's European headquarters is in Amsterdam. Since May 2018, any such failure to report a data breach will be subject to a much larger EU fine.

British prime minister Theresa May told MPs in London Tuesday she was wrong, last week, to have referred to EU nationals in the UK as being guilty of "queue jumping" on immigration. "I shouldn't have used that language in that speech," she said. The jibe had caused offence to the 3m EU citizens who had settled in the UK, tens of thousands of whom worked in the National Health Service.

US president Donald Trump said in Washington Monday the Brexit withdrawal agreement might block US plans for free trade with the UK in future. "I think we have to take a look seriously whether or not the UK is allowed to trade because right now if you look at the deal, they may not be able to trade with us," he said, calling it "a great deal for the EU".

Americans find relations with Germans good, while the Germans find relations with the US to be bad, a new Pew Research Center and Koerber-Stiftung survey found. Some 70 percent of Americans described relations between the US and Germany as good, while 73 percent of Germans said the relationship with the US was bad. Last year only 56 percent of Germans saw relations with the US as bad.

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi on Monday told the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee that "the euro area needs a fiscal instrument" to keep member countries afloat during sudden financial crisis. He said proposals by the European Commission for an EU fund to support investments, and French-German plans of a eurozone-only budget were "first steps". The euro marks its 20th anniversary on 1 January.

The European Court of Justice will on Tuesday hold an urgent one-day hearing before a full court of judges on Article 50 in the Lisbon Treaty - invoked by the UK to leave the European Union. There is no mention in the article of whether a state can change its mind. The case was referred to the Luxembourg court by Scotland's top court.

The EU's General Court in Luxembourg on Monday rejected a case brought by 13 ex-pat British citizens, saying that the opening of Brexit negotiations "does not directly affect the legal situation of the applicants". The 13 have lived more than 15 years outside the UK and could not vote in the Brexit referendum. They had asked the court for annulment of the decision authorising the opening of Brexit negotiations.

George Soros's Open Society Foundation will end its operations in Turkey as soon as possible after Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the organisation of trying to divide and destroy nations. The foundation's Turkish chief, Hakan Altinay, was among 13 activists detained 10 days ago. They are accused of supporting jailed activist Osman Kavala in an attempt to topple the government through mass protests.

Orban's Hungary will edge closer to Russia and cause discord within its Western alliances if it gets away with harbouring a convicted ex-PM.

Russia has rejected Western calls to free Ukrainian ships and sailors and to unblock access to the Azov Sea, while trumpeting its alternative account of the crisis.

Vladimir Putin's nightmare of Petro Poroshenko's re-election will be even certain as Ukrainians rally around the flag. Next March's election is not just to elect a new president but also a commander-in-chief to deal with five more years of Putin.

British prime minister Theresa May warned MPs on Monday that there was no 'Plan B' if the Brexit bill is voted down by the House of Commons next month. Faced with a major rebellion among her own Conservative MPs, and the Labour opposition pledging to reject it, May said: "No one knows what would happen if this doesn't pass. It would lead to more division and more uncertainty."

Russia has fired on and seized Ukrainian military vessels, prompting EU and US alarm on an escalation of the war on Ukraine.

Greek ex-finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was Sunday elected Spitzenkandidat for Democracy in Europe (DiEM25) and confirmed he will run in Germany in May's European elections. Varoufakis opposed austerity in Greece and advocates a 'New Deal for Europe'. Daniela Platsch, political director of the Austrian party The Change was elected second on the party's transnational electoral list, while Croatian Srecko Horvat won the third place and also runs in Germany.