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The European Union on Thursday (11 March) warned China it could take "additional steps" as it condemned a vote by Beijing's rubber-stamp parliament for sweeping changes to Hong Kong's electoral system.

Romania will enter phase three of its vaccination schedule earlier than anticipated, due to receiving more vaccines than initially predicted, allowing all adults to receive a vaccination appointment from Monday, Prime Minister Florin Citu has confirmed. The campaign started at...

Bulgarian health authorities do not want to impose a new lockdown because, despite the huge COVID-19 death toll, “people do not want it”, explained Health Minister and MP candidate of the ruling GERB party, Kostadin Angelov. The government’s decisions on...

Hungary has agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it will join Israel’s international vaccination “green pass” initiative, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told state news agency MTI following a visit to Jerusalem on Thursday, which he made with Czech Prime Minister...

The National Criminal Agency (NAKA) has detained Vladimír Pčolinský, director of the Slovak Information Service (SIS) intelligence agency, over suspicions of corruption, Denník N reported. President Zuzana Čaputová has temporarily suspended Pčolinský from his position “because the act was allegedly committed in...

The European Commission reiterated on Thursday (11 March) that the remaining seven EU member states have to submit their national recovery plans by the end of April in order to access the funds.

47,000 people were vaccinated against COVID-19 in the Czech Republic on Wednesday, the highest one-day figure to date. This brings the total number of vaccines administered in the Czech Republic, with a 10 million population, to 949,000. Almost 280,000 people...

The Polish justice ministry has prepared a bill banning same-sex couples from adopting children. “This solution corresponds to the views of the vast majority of Polish society,” said Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro. The minister emphasised that the Polish constitution prioritises...

Two German states are set to vote on Sunday in regional elections seen as a bellwether for September's national poll as Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) continue to reel from a mask procurement scandal that could prove the party's undoing.

A coalition of industrialists and electricity companies have expressed concerns about a draft emission threshold above which hydrogen would be considered “green” under the EU’s sustainable finance taxonomy.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced a new economic support package on Thursday, which sees employees and businesses impacted by COVID-19, given an additional €2.5 billion, on top of the €9.1 billion already distributed in 2021. This new package will...

US health care giant Johnson & Johnson, beset by recent scandals over talcum powder and the opioid crisis, is poised for a reputational lift with its pathbreaking coronavirus vaccine.

The Spanish government on Friday will approve a long-awaited direct aid package worth €7 billion to help ease the difficult situation of many SMEs and self-employed badly hit by the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis. The weekly gathering of...

Ireland’s Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has called out AstraZeneca’s response on why they cannot honour their contractual agreements to the EU as “unsatisfactory”. AstraZeneca’s failure to honour their commitments is posing an “enormous problem” for the EU, Varadkar told the Dail...

The UK high court has rejected a legal bid for an extension to the EU settlement scheme (EUSS) on the grounds that the application process must have a deadline. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants had filed a...

Children and young people who wish to do so will be vaccinated after summer, Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) said on Thursday. ´“You will also receive a vaccine, but today you are the least vulnerable. First, we...

US President Joe Biden appears to be backing down from blocking the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, signalling that the White House recognises the construction of the $11-billion project is too advanced to be stopped, and that it risks jeopardising the transatlantic alliance, write Robert Dillon and Martin Jirušek.

The Commission spokes service does not do snark, vaccine row followed predictable arc, and MEPs were left in the dark

Three Baltic states have written to the European Commission asking for a new system of COVID-19 vaccine distributions based on need, which they say will improve the efficiency of the EU's vaccination programme. 

Cybersecurity, like vaccines, requires the cooperation of all governments together with the right experts to deliver best practices to the Industry to keep citizens safe, writes Sophie Batas. Sophie Batas is Director for Cybersecurity at Huawei EU. In 2021 the...