Euobserver.com

Denmark has a "pervasive 'rape culture' and endemic impunity for rapists", international NGO Amnesty International said in a report Tuesday. Out of an estimated 5,100 rape cases in 2017, just 94 ended in guilty verdicts it said. The vast majority (20) of EU states lacked a "consent-based" definition of rape, in which a woman must say yes to sex in order for it to be legal, the NGO said.

The US has restored full diplomatic status to EU diplomatic staff in Washington following a downgrade last year, which had left them less likely to be invited to high-end events, the Reuters news agency said. "We're pleased that the US took the decision to revert to the usual practice," the European Commission noted. The move coincided with the arrival of the new EU ambassador, Stavros Lambrinidis, in the US.

Video-streaming site YouTube could end up "over-blocking content to limit legal risk" under a new EU copyright law due to be voted on by MEPs, Google, the US tech giant which runs the website, has warned. The EU directive's loose legal language could also see the Google News website limit its content to "very short extracts" from media, Kent Walker, a senior Google executive, told the Financial Times newspaper.

Europe should reopen its treaties on migration and defence, French leader Emmanuel Macron has said, calling for an EU "renaissance" amid the "danger" posed by nationalists.

Britain's Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay and attorney general Geoffrey Cox will be in Brussels on Tuesday for talks with the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, hoping to secure concessions on the Irish backstop in order to secure backing form the UK parliament to leave the EU on 29 March with a negotiated deal. MPs will vote on the deal on 12 March.

Poland is to start work in the second half of this year on digging a canal through the Vistula Spit in the Baltic Sea, Reuters reported, so that ships can come and go to the Polish maritime area without having to ask Russia for permission to use the only other entry point into the lagoon, which is located on Russian territory. EU institutions have raised concerns on environmental grounds, however.

A now-defunct Lithuanian bank was used to help move billions of euros of suspicious money out of Russia, according to leaked documents.

Finland's Centre Party environment minister, Kimmo Tiilikainen, on Monday backed ambitions in a plan from the EU commission to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. EU ministers held a policy debate in public session on the commission's climate protection plan, which is in line with Finland's bioeconomy strategy for low-carbon economic growth. Finland holds national elections on 14 April and takes over the EU presidency in July.

MEPs of the transport and tourism committee on Monday backed a Commission proposal to end the automatic seasonal time change in 2021, allowing member states to choose between winter or summer time. EU countries have been obliged since 2001 to switch to summertime on the last Sunday of March and to switch back to wintertime on the last Sunday of October. There are currently three standard time-zones in the EU.

While domestic political parties often use the European Parliament as a dumping ground for unwanted politicians - and a majority of citizens don't bother to vote - the parliament, over the years, has become a dominant force in the EU.

EUobserver's new magazine is meant to help readers prepare for the European Parliament elections, no matter their level of knowledge. You can download and read the entire magazine now.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban has pledged to put up new anti-migrant posters - despite hopes in his centre-right EU family that he might "apologise and put an end" to the campaign.

Several Balkan capitals were hit by anti-government protests over the weekend, adding to talk about a 'Balkan Spring' rising against EU-backed leaders who activists say erode rule of law. Thousands of people rallied in Serbia, Albania and Montenegro, demanding that corrupt leaders resign, while several hundred Croatian journalists took to the streets in the capital Zagreb against a wave of lawsuits filed against them.

The president of Italy's Lazio region, Nicola Zingaretti, was Sunday elected leader of the centre-left Democratic party with 67 percent support among 1.6 million party members participating in the vote. The party was formerly led by ex-prime minister Matteo Renzi and is currently polling at 18.2 percent, according to Italy's YouTrend. The governing right-wing League party has 35.9 percent support and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement 21.2 percent.

UK prime minister Theresa May's chances of winning parliamentary approval for her Brexit deal grew over the weekend as Conservative Brexiteers' European Research Group (ERG) softened their opposition. The group would support May's deal if it passes three tests, including "a time limit or a unilateral exit mechanism" to the Irish backstop. The plan was drawn up in conjunction with Northern Irish DUP's Nigel Dodds, reported the Sunday Times.

Former Greek foreign minister, Stavros Lambrinidis, was Monday officially welcomed in Washington in his new role as the European Union's ambassador to the US. Lambrinidis served as foreign minister for Greece's socialist PASOK government under George Papandreou in 2011 before becoming the European Union's Special Representative for Human Rights. He replaces Ireland's David O'Sullivan, a former secretary-general of the European Commission, in the top diplomatic post in Washington.

Former MEP Kaja Kallas' liberal opposition party, Reform, came top in Estonia's election on Sunday, with 28.8 percent of the vote - ahead of centre-left prime minister Juri Ratas's party (23 percent) and surging far-right EKRE, which doubled its vote to 17.8 percent. Ratas's two coalition partners, the Social Democrats (9.8 percent) and conservative Isamaa (11.4 percent) may team up with Reform and make Kallas Estonia's first female prime minister.

Member states that are still willing to save lives in the Mediterranean should set up a new Mare Nostrum rescue mission.

A Dutch proposal for EU asset freezes and visa bans on human rights abusers worldwide is moving ahead following initial talks in Brussels.

The EPP continues to struggle to deal with Orban's Fidesz party, while the Hungarian PM's favourite topic - migration - will be back on home affairs ministers' agenda. And the UK is set to leave the EU this month.