Euobserver.com

This magazine is about the world's collective and potentially transformational journey towards a green economy. It is also about taking the reader on what we hope is a fascinating "green voyage" across Europe, Africa and China.

EU Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič said on Tuesday that so-called "strategic autonomy" should become "an integral part" of the impact assessments that the EU executive prepares in the context of new policies and investments. "I think that it is quite clear that this unjustified military aggression is putting the green and digital transformation into also security perspective," said Šefčovič after a meeting with ministers in Luxembourg.

Poland has arrested a Russian man, living 18 years in the country, for espionage-related charges, Reuters reported. "The evidence gathered by the military counterintelligence service indicates that the man, instructed by the Russian special services, collected information concerning the military readiness of the Polish armed forces and of Nato troops," a spokesperson for the Polish interior ministry said on Tuesday. Poland expelled 45 Russian diplomats last month.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which is responsible for ensuring balanced oil markets, told the EU on Monday that new sanctions on Russia could create oil-supply problems globally, Reuters reported. EU commissioner for energy Kadri Simson, for her part, called on oil-producing countries to step up efforts to increase deliveries to international markets given the "market instability" generated by the war in Ukraine, the commission said.

The lead MEPs in charge of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act are now calling for a ban on predictive policing systems — a key demand of civil society groups. Under the draft report, finalised on Monday, predictive policing has been added as a prohibited practice. The report will be discussed in the European Parliament's internal market and civil liberties committees on 11 May, with a vote expected in late October.

Official Russian forecasts suggest the economy is set to shrink more than 10-percent this year. "The finance ministry and the ministry of economic development are assessing the [GDP] decline this year," Alexei Kudrin, who runs Audit Chamber, a budget watchdog, said on Tuesday at a Federation Council budget committee meeting, according to Interfax. "According to the official forecast, it will be more than a 10-percent decline."

Trying to keep the EU's green transition on track during the war in Ukraine is one important task. The other one is to convince other countries to embrace the Green Deal. It is not proving easy

Russian troops are regrouping in the east of Ukraine where "a big offensive" is expected, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Monday. The EU has pledged €1.5bn to support Ukraine, while it keeps buying Russian oil and gas imports."If you cut gas today, it's not going to stop the Russian army… in the next couple of weeks. It is aid and defence that really counts now," Borrell said.

The total losses caused to Ukraine's economy since Russia launched its invasion of the country on 24 February could amount to €550bn, according to the country's economy ministry. The estimate was made in collaboration with the Kyiv School of Economics, which released a study on Monday factoring in the indiscriminate shelling of civilian neighbourhoods, government buildings, infrastructure and businesses key to supplying food, such as warehouses and shopping malls.

Speaking in an interview with Russian state television on Monday, Russian foreign affairs minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would not halt its invasion of Ukraine the next time the two sides convene. He also said that calls by the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, for the bloc to continue arming Kyiv marked a "very serious U-turn" in European policy.

Russia is "provoking hunger in the world" by destroying wheat stocks, and blocking boats from leaving Ukraine, preventing its wheat from being exported, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Monday after a meeting with ministers in Luxembourg. Borrell said that EU sanctions on Moscow are not causing food scarcity in Ukraine and beyond. "It's the Russian military [that] is causing the scarcity," he said.

Finland is expected to kick off a debate on the country's potential Nato membership. But Russia has clearly voiced opposition towards any potential enlargement of the western military alliance.

Belarusian support for Ukraine, at least by its people, not its government, is happening against the backdrop of Belarus being de facto occupied by Russia.

After weeks of continuous work and extreme pressure, staff at Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine were finally relieved by boat via the Pripyat river — but situation at high-risk site is still far from normal, the UN nuclear watchdog said.

The EU Commission is considering revising its renewables targets, as part of efforts to reduce over-dependency on Russian energy, EU climate chief Frans Timmermans said on Sunday during a visit to Cairo. The proposal, expected in May, could include a "higher percentage of renewable energy for 2030," Timmermans said. Brussels previously announced an increase in the share of renewable energy to 40-percent of final consumption by 2030.

EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders was among the EU officials targeted by the Pegasus spyware last year, Reuters reported on Monday. EU staff became aware of the risks after Apple sent a warning message. The European Parliament is set to launch, this month, a committee of inquiry to look into how Israeli-made Pegasus spyware had been used by EU governments to target journalists, lawyers, and opposition figures.

Three locals near the Polish exclusion zone with Belarus say they cannot leave refugees and migrants to die or freeze in their woods. But by leaving bags of food in the woods, they risk possible fines or worse.

Ukrainian supporters outnumbered pro-Russian ones in protests in Frankfurt and Hanover in Germany Sunday, according to Reuters. Some 800 Russian protesters marched through Frankfurt while 600 or so took part in a motorcade in Hanover, calling to end Russophobia and denouncing Wester propaganda. But they fell far short of the 2,500 Ukrainians in Frankfurt and 3,500 in Hanover the same day, whose banners called for an end to the war.

Ukraine could get EU candidate status in June, in a morale-boosting move, but potential membership would still come years down the line, the EU ambassador to Kyiv, Matti Maasikas, told Estonian newspaper Pastimes Saturday. "I think that member countries will express their proposals in June [on the candidate status], and Ukraine's compliance with the Copenhagen criteria [for EU membership] will be recognised," he said, adding: "This is a huge step."

Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer is to meet Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday, saying he planned to urge Putin to stop his "war of aggression". Nehammer also met Ukrainian leader Volodomyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Saturday — a weekend full of visits, which also saw top EU officials and the UK prime minister go there. Most Western leaders have shunned face-to-face meetings with Putin since the war began.