European Union

The New York Times reports: The European Union is considering whether to follow the Biden administration’s decision to support a waiver of patent rights for Covid-19 vaccines as many poor and middle-income nations struggle to secure lifesaving doses. The European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, stopped short of outright supporting President Biden in a speech on Thursday morning, but …

The Guardian reports: The EU would reopen to holidaymakers from countries with low Covid infection rates such as the UK, and to anyone who has been fully vaccinated, by the start of June under a European Commission plan. With the rate of vaccination rising “dramatically” in EU member states, commission officials said it was time to relax rules on non-essential …

The New York Times reports: American tourists who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be able to visit the European Union over the summer, the head of the bloc’s executive body said in an interview with The New York Times on Sunday, more than a year after shutting down nonessential travel from most countries to limit the spread of …

The Associated Press reports: The European Union’s executive body proposed Wednesday issuing certificates that would allow EU residents to travel freely across the 27-nation bloc by the summer as long as they have been vaccinated, tested negative for COVID-19 or recovered from the disease. With summer looming and tourism-reliant countries anxiously waiting for the return of visitors amid the coronavirus …

The Associated Press reports: The European Parliament has overwhelming adopted a resolution declaring the entire 27-member European Union a “freedom zone” for LGBT people, an effort to push back on rising homophobia in Poland and elsewhere. The parliament announced late Thursday that there were 492 ballots in favor of the resolution and 141 against in a vote that came after …

The Associated Press reports: The European Parliament is scheduled to debate a resolution on Wednesday that would declare the entire 27-member European Union a “freedom zone” for LGBT people. The move comes largely in reaction to developments over the past two years in Poland, where many local communities have adopted largely symbolic resolutions declaring themselves free of what conservative authorities …

The Washington Post reports: Ahead of Europe’s summer holiday season, some top destinations such as Greece and Spain are pushing the European Union to introduce digital “vaccine passports” to ease entry for visitors — and their tourism cash. But what some countries see as a path toward reopening has been viewed by others, led by France and Germany, as a …

Reuters reports: The European Union’s top diplomat said on Sunday that last week’s siege of the U.S. Capitol exposed the dangers of allowing the degradation of democratic values to go unchecked and disinformation to spread on social media. “What we saw on Wednesday was only the climax of very worrying developments happening globally in recent years. It must be a …

Politico Europe reports: People must stop socializing in each other’s homes for several weeks under new pandemic restrictions announced Wednesday by the Irish government. The Cabinet took action in emergency session after public health chiefs warned that the rate of COVID-19 infections was growing much faster than during the first and second waves. Some measures, while immediately intended to discourage …

Ansa reports: The news was in the air for days, now it’s official. In Spain there will be a register of people who refuse the Covid vaccine. The vaccine will not be mandatory, said Health Minister Salvador Illa, but whoever decides not to do so will be included in a “register” which will then be shared with other European Union …

The New York Times reports: From nursing homes in France to hospitals in Poland, older Europeans and the workers who care for them rolled up their sleeves on Sunday to receive coronavirus vaccine shots in a campaign to inoculate more than 450 million people across the European Union. “Today, we start turning the page on a difficult year,” Ursula von …

The Associated Press c: The first shipments of coronavirus vaccines have arrived across the European Union as authorities prepared to administer the first shots to the most vulnerable people in a coordinated effort on Sunday. The vaccines developed by BioNTech and Pfizer arrived by truck in warehouses across the continent on Friday and early Saturday after being sent from a …

The Associated Press reports: Several German states moved closer to a “hard lockdown” Tuesday as officials warned that continued high coronavirus infections could overwhelm hospitals and that too many people were ignoring existing pandemic restrictions. The governor of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer [photo], announced that schools and most stores will close from Monday until Jan. 10, as the eastern state recorded …

EuroNews reports: A Hungarian lawmaker has mocked former Fidesz MEP József Szájer by holding up a drainpipe in Parliament. József Szájer resigned last week after he was caught by police fleeing a gay sex party in Brussels he had been attending, despite coronavirus lockdown restrictions. Drainpipes have become the centre of internet jokes and memes in Hungary while the guttering …

The Daily Beast reports: Ludicrous conspiracy theories are swirling across Europe one week after staunch Hungarian anti-LGBTQ lawmaker Jozef Szajer was caught—quite literally—with his pants down at a lockdown-breaking sex party in Brussels. A spokesman for the Orban government told Hungarian news website Hirado that the Szajer affair was part of a larger conspiracy against the Hungarian government. Orban’s administration …

Reuters reports: European Union members debated on Monday how best to “renew and reinvigorate” transatlantic relations after the departure of U.S. President Donald Trump, according to an internal document seen by Reuters. Ambassadors from the 27 EU countries considered five broad policy areas on which they see greater opportunities for cooperation when Joe Biden takes over as president after four …

The Guardian reports: Brussels has put itself on a collision course with the Polish and Hungarian governments after proposing to criminalise hate speech against LGBTQ+ people under EU law and secure recognition of same-sex partnerships across the bloc’s borders. Věra Jourová, a European commissioner, said the measures followed new “worrying trends”, with the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights reporting that …

The BBC reports: The European Union has agreed to buy up to 300 million doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, after it showed strong results in trials. Deliveries are expected to start by the end of this year, the companies said. But the EU refused to provide details on how the vaccine would be rolled out, insisting that “a number …

The Associated Press reports: Germany became the latest European country to embark on a partial shutdown Monday as authorities across the continent scramble to flatten a rapid rise in coronavirus infections that threatens to overwhelm their health care systems. In parts of Europe, the new restrictions — which vary in strictness — are prompting sometimes violent protests by people frustrated …

Reuters reports: Europe’s new COVID-19 cases have doubled in five weeks, propelling the region on Sunday across the bleak milestone of 10 million total infections, according to a Reuters tally. Just last month, both Latin America and Asia reported over 10 million total cases in their regions. The United States alone has over 9 million cases with a rapidly accelerating …