Euobserver.com

Several failed candidates in French elections have urged their voters to back president Emmanuel Macron in the second round to keep out far-right contender Marine Le Pen.

French voters have narrowed the presidential race to the final two contenders over the weekend — while in the EU, discussions over Ukraine, energy, possible food shortages and Hungary top the agenda.

While Zemmour makes Le Pen look less extreme, the result is that far-left and centre-right voters are divided between her and Macron.

Observers are increasingly concerned that the use of water as a weapon will escalate as the war continues, with devastating consequences.

Nearly 70-percent of Europeans want to halt oil and gas imports from Russia to stop financing Moscow's war machine, a survey found on Friday. Support for a boycott of energy trade-flows was particularly strong in Poland, followed by Sweden. The EU adopted new sanctions on Friday, including a ban on the import of coal from Moscow. But oil and gas remain Russia's main sources of foreign income.

Hundreds of dogs starved to death at a shelter in Borodyanka. A Ukrainian refugee, along with a Polish animal welfare organisation, managed to rescue four.

European agriculture ministers have called for higher domestic farm output, amid food security worries, and a looming food crisis in Africa. Many African countries, eg Benin, Egypt, Sudan, Madagascar, and Burundi, are almost entirely, or exclusively, dependent on Ukrainian grain.

Oil companies have made around €3bn in profits in Europe since the Ukraine war began, a report published on Thursday by Greenpeace found. Between January and March, crude oil prices increased by about 19.38 cents per litre — prompting campaigners to demand taxes on windfall profits and investigations into potential price-fixing. Campaigners said it is necessary to accelerate the greening of the transport sector to reduce oil dependencies on Russia.

MEPs called for an immediate and "full" embargo on Russian oil, coal, nuclear fuel, and gas in response to atrocities in Ukraine. But a coal ban is the only likely move for now.

Non-EU airlines that fly on behalf of European ones must compensate passengers for delays in line with EU rules, Europe's top court ruled Thursday. The case arose after three Dutch passengers booked with German carrier Lufthansa to fly to the US. Lufthansa outsourced the flight to American carrier United Airlines, which landed 223 minutes late, but refused to pay compensation, prompting the passengers to sue in a Dutch court.

Over 50 percent of Europeans say cannabis should be made legal for recreational use for adults and almost one in three were interested in buying it, according to a report by Hanway, a British consultancy, and Curaleaf International, a marijuana producer, out Thursday. Germany "will lead the way and create a domino effect for rest of the continent", Cureleaf CEO Joe Bayern told the Reuters news agency.

Albania wants to decouple its EU entry bid from North Macedonia due to Bulgaria's veto on Skopje's progress, Albanian prime minister Edi Rama has said. "Albania cannot wait anymore until two neighbours resolve their quarrel," Rama said Thursday, Reuters reports. He voiced pessimism Sofia would lift its veto, which relates to claims North Macedonia falsified its historical ties to Bulgaria, any time soon.

Human Rights Watch has called for the EU Commission to open legal proceedings against Greece amid eyewitness accounts that it is using non-Greek nationals of Asian or Middle Eastern origin to intercept people on the Turkish border and dump on the Turkish side of the Evros River. "Using proxies to carry out these illegal acts does not relieve it [Greece] of any liability," the NGO's Bill Frolic said Thursday.

The United Nations general assembly has voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council over reports of "gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights" by invading Russian troops in Ukraine. Some 93 countries voted in favour of the US-led motion, while 24 countries voted against and 58 countries abstained. In a draft resolution, the 193-member General Assembly expressed "grave concern at the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine."

There is a major new battle coming in east Ukraine and Russia's war could drag out for "years", Nato has said, dampening optimism.

Poland and the UK said on Thursday that they were "deeply concerned" by the changes to Russia's military presence in Belarus, without giving details. In a joint statement, they pledged to step up "urgent military aid" and training to Ukraine and find a solution to ensure the "Russian war machine" cannot benefit from the trade of energy supplies. Warsaw and London will also continue to host Ukrainians fleeing the war.

To his opponents, Emmanuel Macron is a "president of the rich" or a panderer to Islamophobes. If the polls are right, and he nevertheless wins reelection this month, they'll insist it was due to the weakness of his opponents

Ukraine said on Thursday that Hungary's position that it is ready to pay in roubles for Russian gas was an "unfriendly" stance that was destroying the unity of the EU over Russia's invasion, Reuters reported. Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said that if Hungary wants to help end the war, it should "stop destroying unity in the EU, support new anti-Russian sanctions, [and] provide military assistance to Ukraine".

As the Washington Post's header always reads "Democracy Dies in Darkness". The biggest threat to a dictator like Vladimir Putin is an informed populace. Let us do everything we can to make that threat loom larger.

Europe is closing its doors to adult relatives of the Russian regime in reaction to its brutality in Ukraine, including president Vladimir Putin's daughters.