⊂ EUROPE ⊃
New Schengen rules: The EU Commission has proposed updated rules to reinforce the governance of the Schengen area. The targeted changes will bring greater EU coordination and better equip member states to deal with emerging challenges when managing both the EU’s common external border and internal borders within the Schengen area. The update seeks to ensure that reintroducing internal border controls remains a measure of last resort. Meanwhile, trains will run faster on key routes across Europe and ticket prices and provider costs could be slashed under a Brussels plan to boost faltering efforts to make rail Europe’s default mode of transport.
ec.europa.eu (Schengen), theguardian.com (Rail)
Turkey:
- EU paints gloomy picture of Turkey’s accession chances tagesspiegel.de
- Journalist Nazli Ilicak wins against Turkey at European Court of Human Rights dw.com
- Turkey wants transport corridor through Armenia faz.net
EU committee supports stricter rules for Google and Co: Brussels wants to curb the power of Big Tech companies in Europe by ensuring a higher degree of competition in the sector. On Tuesday, MEPs debated the so-called Digital Markets Act, which aims to prevent so-called gatekeepers, like Google and Facebook, from abusing their market power by allowing new players to enter the market more easily. The result of the vote is expected on Wednesday evening, after which the European Parliament will enter into negotiations with the European Council to come to an agreement on the final text of the legislation.
euronews.com
David Sassoli won’t seek second term as EU Parliament president: EU Parliament President David Sassoli will not run for reelection in January, and his group will not present any candidate for the presidency, according to a spokesman and several Parliament officials. The decision removes perhaps the biggest obstacle to the presidency for Maltese MEP Roberta Metsola, who is running as the candidate from the conservative European People’s Party (EPP), Parliament’s largest bloc.
politico.eu
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Ukrainian president accuses Germany of preventing arms deliveries: According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Western diplomacy is not enough to stop the Russian deployment on the border – weapons are needed. But the arms supplies would not arrive because of a German blockade, Zelensky now claimed in an interview with Italian newspaper „La Repubblica“. In the meantime, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday, telling him that the „territorial integrity of Ukraine must not be violated.“
spiegel.de, dw.com
- Leonid Volkov, former chief of staff to Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, calls on EU to impose sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his entourage tagesspiegel.de
- Russia seeks closer exchange with China n-tv.de
- Zelensky accuses the country’s richest oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov, of preparing a coup tagesspiegel.de
Belarusian opposition figure jailed for 18 years over protests: Sergey Tikhanovsky, the husband of Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison at a high-security penal colony, Belarusian state media BelTA reported on Tuesday. Sergei Tikhanovsky was convicted of organising riots among other charges following a trial condemned as a sham. State newspaper Sovetskaya Belarus said five other opposition figures tried alongside Tikhanovsky were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 14 to 16 years. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she was appalled by Tuesday’s „scandalous verdicts“ while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the EU condemned the repression of individuals by Belarus.
cnn.com, bbc.com
Solidarity with Russian NGO Memorial: The Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office wants to dissolve the renowned human rights organisation Memorial. Many people have taken to the streets in Berlin and other German cities to protest against this step. Russia’s Prosecutor-General’s Office is seeking the dissolution of Memorial International, a central part of the more than 30-year-old organisation critical of the Kremlin, which coordinates the work of the regional departments of the human rights network. The judiciary accuses Memorial of repeated violations of the law on so-called foreign agents. The human rights organisation has been registered as a „foreign agent“ since 2016 because it is partly funded from abroad.
dw.com
Gentiloni: EU recovery fund idea could be used again, if it is a success now: The EU’s idea of jointly borrowing for joint goals, such as for the post-pandemic recovery, could be used again if the implementation of the recovery scheme is a success, the bloc’s Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Monday. The pressure is now on large recipients of EU money to use the recovery funds effectively.
euractiv.com
Afghanistan: United Nations (UN) sounds alarm over extrajudicial killings in the Taliban’s Afghanistan; Afghans face „avalanche of hunger and destitution“ – UN agency. cnn.com; reuters.com
COVID-19: Omicron conquers Europe faster than feared spiegel.de
Lack of prospects: High Representative Christian Schmidt fears „brain drain“ in Bosnia and Herzegovina deutschlandfunk.de
Arms expenditure: 50 Nobel laureates call for significant disarmament tagesspiegel.de
Violence in South Asia: Atrocities mount under Myanmar’s junta latimes.com
Diplomacy: US secretary of state Antony Blinken warns China to stop ‘aggressive actions’ in Asia-Pacific theguardian.com
⊂ QUOTE OF THE DAY ⊃
„What’s happening in Telegram groups and channels violates the compliance rules of Apple and Google who offer it in their stores. We must urgently talk to them and persuade them to stop distributing Telegram.“
Boris Pistorius, regional interior minister of Lower Saxony, said Germany should order the messaging programme Telegram removed from Apple’s and Google’s app stores if it continues to ignore requests to help track down extremist content.
reuters.com
⊂ COUNTRIES ⊃
Italy returns to Libya: Italy has quietly resumed cooperation with the Libyan coast guard. This is not just about rescuing migrants and keeping them in Libya. Italy has its eye on Turkish involvement there. The „San Giorgio“, one of the largest landing ships of the Italian navy is off the port of Tripoli. For Rome, a first tangible success of the Libya dialogue under the new government of Mario Draghi.
tagesschau.de
EU court asks Bulgaria to give passport to baby of lesbian couple: The EU’s top court Tuesday ruled that Bulgaria must issue an identity document or passport to the stateless baby of a same-sex couple from Bulgaria and Gibraltar. “The Member State of which the child is a national is obliged to issue an identity card or a passport to that child without requiring a birth certificate to be drawn up beforehand by its national authorities,” the CJEU said in its ruling Tuesday. The case concerns a girl who was born in 2019 in Spain where she was given a birth certificate that lists her two mothers as parents. But she could not receive Spanish citizenship as neither of the women is Spanish.
euractiv.com
NATO’s Stoltenberg seeks to become Norway central bank governor: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has his eye on a new gig: leading Norway’s central bank. Stoltenberg and his main rival for the job, Norges Bank deputy governor Ida Wolden Bache, both said they had been encouraged by the government to apply. „I am very motivated about the job,” Stoltenberg said.
politico.eu, euractiv.com
Malta becomes first EU country to legalise cannabis for personal use: MPs approved a legal reform on Tuesday, allowing citizens to grow and possess limited amounts of marijuana. Under the new law, citizens aged 18 and over will be allowed to possess up to seven grams of cannabis, and cultivate up to four cannabis plants at home.
euronews.com
Denmark and Norway rush in stricter Covid measures as cases soar: Denmark and Norway have announced stricter Covid measures to battle soaring infection numbers, as authorities said the new Omicron variant was spreading fast and would probably become dominant in several EU countries within weeks or even days.
theguardian.com
- Italy to require negative coronavirus test for EU travelers politico.eu
- No cuddling the grandkids this Christmas, says Rutte as Dutch extend coronavirus measures politico.eu
How Lithuania is starting a fight with China: How to deal with Taiwan has become one of the most important issues in international politics. Concerns are growing that China will annex the island, which it already considers part of its territory. Many European governments are also concerned about the tensions. For forced reunification would not only be the end of Taiwanese democracy, it could also lead to a military confrontation between China and the US. Everyone sees the great danger, but no one addresses it. No one dares, except the small country of Lithuania – at least a little. Vilnius is not afraid of China. On the one hand, this is impressive, but on the other hand, the Baltic country hides behind the EU. The problem with Beijing must be solved by others.
handelsblatt.com
Norway wealth fund ‚weeds out‘ nine firms over ESG risks reuters.com
Danish firms fined for embargo-busting Russia fuel sales france24.com
Spain: Wind power becomes leading energy source for 2021 english.elpais.com
New Bulgarian PM pledges U-turn on North Macedonia’s EU ambitions ft.com
⊂ POLITJOBS ⊃
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⊂ LAST BUT NOT LEAST ⊃
Facebook buys meta domain name … from Finnish digital minister: When Facebook sought to clear website names ahead of its global rebrand to the corporate name Meta, it bumped into an unusual owner of the Finnish URL meta.fi: the country’s digital minister. Finland’s Minister of Transport and Communications Timo Harakka in 2013 bought meta.fi through his publishing and communications firm Kansakunta oy, local newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported Tuesday.
politico.eu