Euobserver.com

Some 70,000 people marched on Sunday through the streets of Brussels to the EU institutions urging European and national politicians to keep their promises on countering climate change. It is the fourth big climate rally in two months in the Belgian capital. Last week some 35,000 schoolchildren and students skipped class to demonstrate their climate demands. Belgium holds national and European elections on 26 May.

Thousands of people wearing red scarves gathered in Paris on Sunday to protest against violence by members of the 'yellow vest' movement. Around 2,000 people have been injured in 11 weeks of yellow vest marches, while 10 have died in road incidents related to protest blockades. A group of yellow vest protesters announced last week it would run candidates in the upcoming European Parliament elections.

Two months ahead of Brexit, staff at the European Medicines Agency in London lowered the 28 EU flags and symbolically said goodbye to their offices on Friday evening. Executive director Guido Rasi expressed his thanks to the UK for its contribution to the work of the agency and for having been its host since 1995. Amsterdam will now host the agency after Brexit.

Hungarian authorities are to decide if Portuguese Rui Pinto should be extradited as a hacker or protected as a whistleblower in relation to Football Leaks, an investigation into alleged tax fraud by footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and others. "I consider this to be a historic, unprecedented case for Europe," his lawyer told Spiegel. Pinto was detained in Hungary last week on a European arrest warrant issued by Portugal.

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro rejected on Sunday calls to hold early elections, saying the opposition leader, Juan Guaido's, self-declaration as president was a coup attempt. EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said the EU "will take further actions" in the absence of an announcement in the next days of elections, while France, Germany and Spain among others threatened to recognise Guaido unless elections were announced within eight days.

The foreign ministers of Sweden, Poland and the Czech Republic reflect on 10 years of the Eastern Partnership with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Kaddu Sebunya, CEO of the Nairobi-based African Wildlife Foundation, said China's model for Africa would be "a catastrophe in terms of environment".

EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini welcomed on Friday the vote by the Greek parliament in Athens to ratify a deal on neighbouring Macedonia's name. The Prespa Agreement sees the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) become North Macedonia, following a decades-long dispute with Greece over its region named Macedonia. The deal potentially unlocks North Macedonia's path to joining the EU and Nato.

Brexit looks to dominate news this week as British MPs gear up for a vote on how to break the internal deadlocks over the proposed deal with the European Union.

Marine plastic pollution, much of it garbage from the Asia-Pacific region but also from Europe, is pushed into the Arctic seas by global ocean currents. Scientists are also increasingly detecting microscopic plastic particles brought to the Arctic by long-range winds.

The UK chancellor, Philip Hammond, warned on Friday that a no-deal Brexit on 29 March was "a default that we could find ourselves in". With no breakthrough in sight after prime minister Theresa May's deal was voted down by a 230 majority, Hammond told the BBC that "there will be a short-term impact through disruption. There will be a long-term impact through a reduction in the size of our economy".

National data protection authorities from around the EU are about to make public their decision on a threat by Romania's data chief to force journalists to reveal their sources, in a case involving high-level political corruption.

The EU commission on Thursday announced an infringement procedure against Austria for reducing child benefits to Austrian-based foreign workers whose children live in poorer EU countries. Commissioner Marianne Thyssen said people who work and contribute to social security and tax system in an EU state should be entitled to the same social security benefits as local workers.

The British Queen has called for "common ground" amid the UK's political crisis over Brexit. By tradition, the monarch never comments on political affairs. However, in a speech to the Sandringham Women's Institute she called for "never losing sight of the bigger picture" and "respecting" opposing views. Prime minister Theresa May's 'Plan B' Brexit deal is due to be debated next week, with just nine weeks to go until Brexit.

Slovenia has been taken to court by the European Commission for allowing national investigators to look into documents and seize IT hardware belonging to the European Central Bank without permission. The case relates to a 2016 investigation into Slovenia's central bank chief Bostjan Jazbec for possible "criminal abuse of office" related to a €3bn bailout preventing banks from collapsing.

Ireland could face shortages of some foods and higher prices if Britain leaves the EU without a deal, the Irish Central Bank warned in a quarterly bulletin published on Friday. "Given the deep supply chain linkages between Ireland and the UK ..... there would be implications for firms through disruption to their production processes and for households through the price and availability of consumer goods," it said.

Malta wants to be the most UK-friendly country after Brexit and will offer Britons living in Malta a 10-year renewable residency permit with the same rights as they currently enjoy, prime minister Joseph Muscat said in a speech outlining Malta's preparations in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal. Some 13,000 Britons live in Malta, which was a British colony until 1964.

Men will have the right to 10 days paid paternity leave under a new work-life balance directive agreed on Thursday in a trialogue meeting between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The lead negotiator on the directive, Maltese MEP David Casa, described the deal as "a great day for all European families". The directive also includes a Europe-wide five-day annual carer's leave to look after relatives.

While the formation of a new government ends Sweden's fourth-month paralysis, it doesn't resolve the challenge from radical-right populists in Sweden. A key question remains: will treating populists like pariahs undercut the appeal of their, often anti-rights, politics?

The former first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, was on Thursday charged with two counts of attempted rape and nine counts of sexual assault. Salmond, 64, has denied all the charges. As first minister of Scotland from 2007-2014, he led the campaign for Scottish independence, which was lost by 45 percent to 55 percent. Much of the campaign focussed on Scotland's right to be admitted to the EU.