⊂ EUROPE ⊃

Germany wants to revive Normandy format between France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock held talks with Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday. At a joint press conference, Baerbock said that the Russian troops‘ buildup near Ukraine had „no understandable reason“ and it was „hard not to take as threat.“ She called for „bringing new life“ to the talks in the so-called Normandy format, which includes Ukraine, Germany, Russia and France. Her Russian colleague, however, said that German officials should pressure their partners in Kyiv to have Ukraine „finally fulfill the obligations they had taken on“ in previous rounds of the now-stalled talks.
dw.com

NATO allies keen to engage with Russia: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday urged Russia to de-escalate amid fears that Moscow may be planning an invasion of Ukraine. Scholz said Germany and NATO expected Russia to ease the situation on the border with Ukraine by, for example, reducing the number of troops there. He said both agreed that Russia would face severe political and economic consequences if there was an invasion. Scholz also said Germany may consider halting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Russia attacks Ukraine. Stoltenberg said NATO allies were keen to engage with Russia on any concerns that it may have, urging Russia to join talks. Britain is supplying Ukraine with short-range anti-tank missiles for self-defence.
dw.com, reuters.com, bbc.com

White House warns Russian invasion of Ukraine may be imminent: The White House believes Russia could launch an invasion of Ukraine at any moment, press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday, warning that an “extremely dangerous situation” is building along the Ukrainian border. „We believe we’re now at a stage where Russia could at any point launch an attack on Ukraine,” Psaki said during her daily press briefing. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will fly to Ukraine and meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday. Blinken will head to Berlin on Thursday for four-way talks with Britain, France and Germany on the Ukraine crisis. On Friday, Blinken will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva in hopes of securing a „diplomatic off-ramp“ to the Ukraine crisis, a US official said. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the EU Parliament in Strasbourg that he feared a „de facto integration“ of eastern Ukraine into Russia.
nbcnews.com, france24.com, spiegel.de

Ukraine hit by cyber attack on government websites: Poland raises cybersecurity terror threat. reuters.com

Military drills: Russia, China and Iran plan military drill; Russia moves troops to Belarus for joint drills. rnd.de; nbcnews.com

Press freedom: Increasing number of journalists leave Russia. rnd.de

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EU Parliament elects youngest ever president: Roberta Metsola has been elected as the youngest ever president of the European Parliament and the first woman in the role for 20 years. Metsola, 43, has a record of being anti-abortion, but has billed herself as pro-LGBT rights. The Maltese national takes over the role from David Sassoli, 65, who died last week after a serious illness.
bbc.com

EU leaders remember Sassoli’s ’strong convictions‘ in tribute: EU leaders paid tribute to the late President of the EU Parliament David Sassoli on Monday, hailing his kindness, humility, ideals, and devotion to Europe. European Council President Charles Michel remembered Sassoli’s „ideals of social justice and solidarity“ and attachment to democratic values. French President Emmanuel Macron said it was with great emotion that he remembered „a man of rare kindness, whose smile, whose ideals and whose vision were big enough for a whole continent.“
euronews.com

New push for women’s quota on company boards: EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will make a new push at boosting women’s representation on companies‘ boards, trying to unblock legislation for a women’s quota which has been stuck since 2012. „It’s time to move forward with this file,“ von der Leyen told the Financial Times on Wednesday. „It’s been sitting on the shelf for 10 years now, but in these 10 years there has been a lot of movement and learning.“
reuters.com

EU tightens travel restrictions: The European Union has announced that Argentina, Australia and Canada should be removed from its Travel Safe List–the list of countries to and from which it proposes that member countries should allow travel into the EU for non-essential reasons from third-party countries. It is up to each individual EU member state to decide if it will follow the EU guidelines, as it is not a legally binding decision.
forbes.com

• EU regulator finds mRNA COVID-19 shots safe during pregnancy reuters.com
• French Senate passes amended bill transforming health pass into stricter ‘vaccine pass’ france24.com
• Denmark eases coronavirus restrictions reuters.com
• Greece extends restrictions to curb Omicron variant reuters.com
• Unvaccinated over-60s face monthly fine in Greece theguardian.com
• Over 70,000 attend German protests against Covid measures dw.com
• Anti-vaccine protesters try to storm Bulgaria’s parliament reuters.com
• Protest against Covid restrictions: Mayor of Messina on hunger strike spiegel.de

Boris Johnson says nobody warned him drinks event was against rules: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he “categorically” was not warned that a garden party in No 10 at the height of lockdown would breach the Covid rules. The PM’s former chief of staff Dominic Cummings has said Johnson dismissed his warnings that the “bring your own booze” event was against the law – a claim apparently corroborated by other sources. Several Tory MPs have already called for Johnson to step down.
independent.co.uk

Prince Andrew stripped of military titles and charities: Britain’s Prince Andrew has been stripped of his military titles and charities, Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday, a day after a judge ruled a sexual abuse civil lawsuit against the Queen’s son could proceed. Andrew will also no longer use the style „His Royal Highness“ in any official capacity. The royal’s reputation has been tarnished in recent years because of his relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his confidant, the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who was found guilty of five federal sex trafficking charges last month in New York City.
cnn.com, nbcnews.com

Europe’s veto threatens to stall global tax reform: Three EU countries have thrown the bloc’s efforts to introduce a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15% within 12 months into disarray. Finance ministers from Estonia, Hungary and Poland protested on Tuesday the planned timetable, which G20 countries agreed to in October as part of a wider overhaul of corporate tax rules.
politico.eu

EU blocks merger of Daewoo and Hyundai: The European Union has blocked the merger of South Korean shipbuilding giants Daewoo and Hyundai over concerns about restricting supplies of large liquified natural gas (LNG) carriers. The EU saw a potential security threat in restricting manufacturers.
dw.com

Price controls enter the European inflation debate: As inflation remains high, politicians and economists turn to other measures to contain prices, and age-old discussions around price controls are flaring up again, with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán putting them into practice.
euractiv.com

EU Commission presents toolkit to tackle foreign interference in research: The European Commission has released a toolkit to tackle foreign interference in research and innovation (R&I), identified as a growing threat in an increasingly internationalised field.
euractiv.com

British secret service: Texas synagogue hostage-taker Faisal Akram was investigated by MI5 in 2020 independent.co.uk
EU finance ministers: Germany, France show divisions on EU budget rules euractiv.com
Natural gas conflict: Turkish frigate drives research vessel off Cyprus handelsblatt.com
Gas supplies: EU competition chief questions Gazprom’s gas supply strategy politico.eu
„Global Gateway“: First project ideas for EU investment programme worth billions handelsblatt.com
Brexit: British trade with Ireland collapses after Brexit euractiv.de
Europol: Investigators shut down network of cybercriminals techradar.com
Conference on the Future of Europe: Local communities mull EU treaty change in bloc-wide democracy experiment euractiv.com

⊂ QUOTE OF THE DAY ⊃

„We believe the risks outweigh the benefits.“
The Swiss National Bank does not see any overall benefit from issuing a central bank digital currency to be used by the general public and used in day to day transactions, governing board member Andrea Maechler said on Tuesday.
reuters.com

⊂ COUNTRIES ⊃

In a landmark case, a German court convicts an ex-Syrian officer of torture: The world’s first criminal trial over torture in Syria’s prisons ended Thursday with a guilty verdict and life sentence for a former Syrian intelligence officer. The ruling came in a German case against Anwar Raslan, who was accused of more than 30 counts of murder, 4,000 counts of torture and charges of sexual assault from when he oversaw a notorious prison in Damascus in 2011 and 2012. The landmark trial marked the first time a high-ranking former Syrian official has faced Syrians in open court in a war crimes case.
npr.org

Far-right Norwegian mass killer Breivik seeks parole: Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian far-right fanatic who killed 77 people in bomb-and-gun massacres in 2011, argued Tuesday for an early release from prison, telling a parole judge he had renounced violence even as he professed white supremacist views and flashed Nazi salutes. Though experts agree Breivik is highly unlikely to be released, authorities have insisted he has the same rights as any other prisoner, arguing that treating him differently would undermine the principles that underpin Norwegian society, including the rule of law and freedom of speech.
apnews.com

French presidential hopeful guilty of inciting hatred: French far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour was on Monday sentenced to pay €10,000 for inciting hatred and racial abuse. Zemmour described unaccompanied migrant children as „thieves“, „murderers“ and „rapists“ during a September 2020 programme on the CNews television channel. At his trial in November last year, which Zemmour did not attend, prosecutors argued that his comments were „contemptuous“ and „outrageous“, and that „the limits of freedom of expression have been crossed“.
euronews.com, bbc.com

French education minister faces calls to resign over Ibiza trip: France’s education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer is facing calls to resign after holidaying in Ibiza while the latest health rules for French schools were announced. Blanquer was revealed to have been staying on the Spanish island when the latest strict protocols were made public. In a statement, Blanquer said he „regretted the symbolism“ of his holiday venue, but denied breaking any laws.
euronews.com

Christiane Taubira confirms she will run for French presidency: Former French justice minister Christiane Taubira has announced she will stand as a candidate in French presidential elections in April. Taubira, the justice minister in the 2012 to 2017 administration of Socialist President Francois Hollande, blasted „top-down power and absence of social dialogue“ under President Emmanuel Macron and promised to fight for higher wages, better conditions for school pupils and students as well as the health service and environmental protection.
euronews.com, france24.com

Germany proposes scrapping Nazi-era abortion law: Germany’s justice ministry proposed a draft law on Monday to end the restrictions on doctors‘ offering information about abortion procedures. Abortion is technically illegal in Germany, but an exception is made for abortions in the first trimester if the patient goes to a counseling session. A Nazi-era law from 1933 also forbids doctors from providing information about abortion procedures. „Doctors should also be able to inform the public about abortion without running the risk of criminal prosecution,“ German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said on Monday.
dw.com

Slovenia to bolster trade ties with Taiwan: The foreign ministry of Taiwan on Tuesday confirmed plans with the Balkan nation to set up trade offices in each other’s territory, announced by Slovenia’s Prime Minister Janez Jansa on Monday — a move that threatens to further fuel ongoing EU tensions with Beijing over Lithuania’s warming diplomatic ties with Taipei, which prompted China to unleash a strict trade embargo.
politico.eu

Poland:

• Polish leader under fire over Pegasus hack scandal politico.eu
• Poland doesn’t pay fines owed to EU – next escalation threatens handelsblatt.com
• Polish lawmakers pass bill to step up government control of schools theguardian.com
• Poland announces tax cuts meant to ease soaring inflation abcnews.go.com
• Almost all Covid government advisers resign because their recommendations were not sufficiently taken into account by the government spiegel.de
• Clash over coal mine escalates, Czech minister heads to Warsaw euractiv.com

Sweden drones: Sightings reported over nuclear plants and palace: Days of sightings of drones over key Swedish sites including nuclear plants have prompted the country’s security service to take the lead in an investigation. Three nuclear sites have been targeted and sightings have been reported over airports and the royal palace.
bbc.com

Germany: Police pressure Telegram to delete far-right content dw.com
Italy: Berlusconi aide declares campaign for president a failure; Prosecutors probe 5Stars founder Beppe Grillo for peddling influence rnd.de; politico.eu
France to force EDF to take €8.4bn hit with energy bill cap theguardian.com
Serbia votes ‚Yes‘ to judiciary constitution changes balkaninsight.com
Bulgaria moves to end practice of ‚golden passports‘ euronews.com
Austrian FM: EU ready to help Lebanon if leaders reform abcnews.go.com
Czech government clashes with president over Prague castle security theguardian.com

⊂ POLITJOBS ⊃

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⊂ LAST BUT NOT LEAST ⊃

Louvre threatens to sue Marine Le Pen for campaign film: The Louvre is threatening to sue Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right party National Rally, after she broadcast a presidential election campaign video with the museum as a backdrop. The Louvre’s staff fear it is being dragged into an increasingly bad-tempered debate before the spring election and its image risks being damaged.
thetimes.co.uk