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The European Commission refused to comment on the record to a Greenpeace report estimating that 18-20 percent of the EU budget benefits the livestock sector. However, a commission source, speaking on condition of anonymity, sent EUobserver a written statement. "The commission regrets that the reports jumps to conclusions and makes uncertain and unverified links to substantiate a dubious claim that cannot be based on facts or statistics," it said.

European ombudsman Emily O'Reilly has welcomed the generally "very high" level of transparency of Brexit talks, and urged the commission and member states to maintain this through the future relationship talks. The ombudsman, tasked with promoting good administration at EU level, met with EU negotiator Michel Barnier on Tuesday in Strasbourg. In total, 106 negotiating documents were published and the negotiating team replied to 10,000 messages from the public.

In 2017, 17.5 percent of the EU's energy consumption came from renewable sources, while the target is 20 percent by 2020. Brexit may actually help achieve that target - but only through a statistical sleight-of-hand.

British prime minister Theresa May told MPs Wednesday to give her more time to renegotiate the Brexit divorce deal with Brussels, despite EU warnings that the deal is not open for tweaks. Parliament was expected to vote on Thursday, but May urged lawmakers to "hold their nerve", telling them that they would get another chance to influence the process on 27 February, if she had not secured changes.

EU finance ministers expressed "clearly diverging" views on the European Commission's plan to decide certain tax issues by a qualified majority of member states, rather than unanimity. Euro commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said Tuesday that the executive wants to move "step-by-step" and combatting tax fraud should be the first issue decided by majority only. Despite several ministers opposing the idea, the Romanian presidency plans to hold further discussions on the topic.

The Bruges-based College of Europe is setting up private meetings with the EU institutions for seven ambassadors plus seven high-level officials from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The European Parliament voted on Tuesday in favour of an EU trade deal with Morocco that will include fishing rights off the disputed coast of the Western Sahara. Some 415 MEPs voted in favour of deal with 189 against and 49 abstentions. Human Rights Watch had earlier advised MEPs to first take the matter to the European Court of Justice.

The European Ombudsman confirmed on Monday it upheld its verdict that the promotion of Martin Selmayr to EU Commission secretary-general had been a case of "maladministration". The ombudsman called it "highly regrettable" the commission, led by Jean-Claude Juncker, chose not to change the appointment procedure, as the ombudsman recommended. "The ombudsman looks forward to implementation by the next commission," it said. The commission had disagreed with the initial verdict.

French president Emmanuel Macron's advisor Ismael Emelien on Monday became the latest to quit the president's team, as Macron struggles to rebuild his popularity, bruised by weeks of 'yellow vest' protests and a scandal surrounding his former security chief, Alexandre Benalla. Benalla was sacked after he attacked demonstrators last May. Emelien said on Monday his departure was unrelated to the issue.

The Ukrainian embassy in Italy has complained after the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), a Russia-occupied Ukrainian region, opened a representative office in Verona, the Italian city, on 9 February. "The embassy of Ukraine strongly condemns any attempts to promote and support in Italy ... fake 'republics'," it said. It also asked Verona to clarify the DPR entity's legal status.

The European Union on Monday began an 18-month process ahead of sanctions against Cambodia being imposed. Cambodia has a preferential trade access to the European Union, but the EU says it is imposing the sanctions in response to Cambodia's poor record on human rights and democracy.

The US has warned Hungary that Chinese and Russian "corruption" posed a national security threat, but Budapest hit back with accusations of "hypocrisy".

No breakthrough emerged from the meeting between the top EU and UK negotiators on Monday evening in Brussels. Michel Barnier urged the UK to move on its red lines to help clinch a deal, with 45 days left until Brexit.

MEPs are set to rubber-stamp a trade deal with Morocco to fish off the disputed coastline of the Western Sahara. Human Rights Watch have stepped in to point out the deal could be in breach of international law.

A new report from the environmental group said that between €28.5bn to €32.6bn of the European Union's subsidies for farmers supports the livestock sector.

The European Parliament elections in May will show that EU officials in Brussels, and French president Emmanuel Macron, are out of touch with average Europeans, according to the Polish prime minister.

The EU will contribute €4m to a new African Union Trade Observatory, the European Commission announced Saturday. "It will provide the African Union, the African countries and the private sector with data and statistics that are essential for the sound monitoring of continental trade and evidence-based policy-making," said EU development commissioner Neven Mimica. The observatory is aimed at helping an African-continent free-trade area develop.

The 2019 fishing limits for Sweden allows 52 percent more fishing than what scientists said would be sustainable, according to a new analysis of EU fish quota, published Monday. According to the New Economics Foundation, EU fisheries ministers last December set quotas for themselves in secret talks that in 55 cases were higher than the scientific advice. The United Kingdom and Ireland followed Sweden as the worst offenders.

MEPs have been invited for talks on reforming copyright in the EU this week, after national governments reached a new common position in the Council of the EU last Friday. The talks take place behind closed doors in so-called trilogue negotiations, between the European Parliament, European Commission, and the council. EU digital commissioner Andrus Ansip said he hoped a final agreement could be reached this week.

Ukip MEP Nigel Farage said over the weekend that within 24 hours 15,000 people registered for his new political party, The Brexit Party, saying there was "huge appetite out there". Meanwhile, British prime minister Theresa May continued dialogue with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, writing to him on Sunday that "it is good to see that we agree that the UK should leave the European Union with a deal".