Euobserver.com

The EU is to blacklist Russia's most senior cleric, Patriarch Kirill, as well as going after Kremlin oil revenue in its latest sanctions.

Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein is expected to emerge as the largest party in the 90-seat Northern Ireland Assembly after Thursday's election in a historic breakthrough. It Is leading the polls after support fell for the loyalist Democratic Unionist Party, which has been the largest party for the last two decades. It would give Sinn Fein the post of first minister in the Belfast government for the first time.

The Russian rouble jumped Wednesday to around a two-year high against both the dollar and the euro, Reuters reported. The rouble was 3.6 percent stronger against the dollar and had gained 3.7 percent versus the euro during the day. The rouble is being propped up by capital controls, while stocks are trading with a ban on short selling and foreign players barred from ditching shares in Russian companies without permission.

Hungary cannot support the Russian oil ban proposed by the EU Commission in its current form, foreign minister Péter Szijjártó said Wednesday, arguing that halting oil imports would destroy Hungary's energy security. The proposed ban already included an exemption for Hungary until the end of next year. However, Szijjártó said that Budapest's support for the sanctions would be conditional of exempting imports of Russian crude oil through existing pipelines.

The European Parliament refused to green light the budget of the EU's border police, Frontex and has delayed granting discharge until the autumn. The plenary vote on Wednesday sends a political signal to the EU agency that MEPs are not happy with how it operates. They said a report by the EU's anti-fraud office Olaf into Frontex must first be made available. The agency's chief, Fabrice Leggeri, resigned last week.

The European Parliament wants to launch a convention to revise and reform the treaties — in response to the citizen-driven proposals of the Conference on the Future of Europe.

French MEP Thierry Mariani from the far-right Identity and Democracy Group is spearheading a report in the parliament's foreign affairs committee. The socialists are boycotting it.

Patriarch Kirill, the head of Russia's orthodox church, is to be added to an EU visa ban and asset-freeze list for cheerleading the war in Ukraine, according to documents seen by EUobserver. Kirill "portrayed the Russian military actions as a war against evil and equating it to a spiritual purification of Ukraine," the EU said. The wife, daughter, and son of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov are also being listed.

EU institutions have failed to create an inclusive culture for Europeans of colour and people with disabilities, according to the European Commission's first-ever survey on diversity, inclusion and respect at the workplace.

Some 2,514,738 Ukrainian refugees have registered for temporary protection status in the EU, as of Monday (2 May). The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says over 5.6 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of Russia's invasion, with most having gone to Poland. Over 1.2 million have since returned to Ukraine as of late April, according to the European Commission.

Activists warn Europe's Russian-gas exit strategy may be derailed if fossil hydrogen is expanded and labelled a green energy source in the revised Renewable Energy Directive currently underway.

Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said EU countries should phase out Russian crude oil imports within six months, and refined oil by the end of the year to minimise the impact on European economy and global supply.

MEPs adopted the European Parliament's position on the common charger on Wednesday, paving the way to start negotiations with member states. New rules would make USB-C the standard charging port for all smartphones, tablets, and other electronic devices — which would most likely force Apple to redesign the iPhone. Exemptions would apply to devices that are too small to have a USB-C port, such as smartwatches or health trackers.

Europe invested €41bn in new wind farms last year — 11 percent less than in 2020 — a report by the industry group WindEurope found on Wednesday. They say investment is falling short to meet the targets for 2030, plus energy-security objectives. Most of the investment in new wind farms were onshore. The UK invested the most, followed by Germany, France, Spain, Sweden and Finland.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday announced a "complete" EU embargo on Russian oil. Imports of crude will stop in six months; imports of refined products will stop by year end. "We simply have to do it," she said. "We will make sure that we phase out Russian oil in an orderly fashion […] Thus, we maximise pressure on Russia and we minimise the damage on us."

A proposal to create transnational lists for the upcoming elections in 2024 narrowly passed European lawmakers. Now they need to convince EU states.

MEPs have warned that the European Union is lagging behind the United States and China in the global race for Artificial Intelligence

Some MEPs have called on the EU to set up a pandemic-type emergency recovery fund to battle the "energy emergency", but the Commission is reluctant so far.

Italian prime minister Mario Draghi called for the EU to abandon its requirement for unanimity on foreign policy decisions but also called for EU help to mitigate the economic fallout of the war in Ukraine.

European lawmakers debated the lack of progress in the EU sanctions probe against Poland and Hungary, and warned Russia's invasion of Ukraine should not be a reason to turn away from rule-breaking within the bloc.