Belgium

(Reuters) --- European Union citizens' support for their national governments has fallen sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic began, although the supranational bloc itself has maintained trust, a survey by an EU agency published on Thursday showed.

The survey by Eurofound, the EU agency for improving living and working conditions, showed that citizens in 26 of the 27 EU countries had less faith in their national governments than when COVID-19 lockdowns began in March last year. The exception was Denmark, where sentiment was steady.

(Reuters) --- The European Union entered what was intended to be a final round of negotiations on Thursday to bridge differences over the use of COVID-19 certificates designed to open up tourism this summer.

European Parliament lawmakers and current EU president Portugal representing the bloc's 27 members scheduled an afternoon of discussions to break deadlock about the extent to which the certificates would ease travel.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive arm on Thursday finalized a third vaccine contract with Pfizer and BioNTech through 2023 for an additional 1.8 billion doses of their COVID-19 shot to share between the bloc’s countries except for Hungary, which opted out of the deal.

The European commission said the contract, which was agreed on behalf of all 27 EU countries earlier this month, will allow the buying of 900 million doses of the current shots and of a serum adapted to the virus’ variants, with an option to purchase an extra 900 million shots.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The sight of hundreds of migrants swimming or climbing fences separating the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from the rest of Africa this week is a stark reminder of just how dependent the European Union can be on the whims of countries it chooses to pay to enforce its migration policy.

Since well over 1 million migrants entered the EU in 2015, most of them refugees fleeing conflict in Syria, the world’s biggest trading bloc has spent vast sums trying to ensure that migrants no longer set out for Europe on arduous overland treks or dangerous sea journeys.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union and the United States have decided to temporarily suspend measures at the heart of a steel tariff dispute that is seen as one of the major trade issues dividing the two sides.

With the decision, “we are walking the talk in our efforts to reboot the transatlantic relationship,” said EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis.

16 May 2021; MEMO: Foreign ministers of EU countries will meet on Tuesday to discuss Palestine-Israel escalation as "unacceptable number of civilian casualties" increase, the bloc's top diplomat said on Sunday, reports Anadolu Agency.

"In view of the ongoing escalation between Israel and Palestine and the unacceptable number of civilian casualties, I am convening an extraordinary VTC of the EU Foreign Ministers on Tuesday," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wrote on Twitter.

(Reuters) --- The European Union must recognise that Balkan countries seeking membership are losing faith in Brussels' long accession strategy, worsened by its initial failure to provide COVID-19 vaccines, according to an internal EU document seen by Reuters.

Europe and the United States say that Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia will one day become members of the club of 27 states, following the ethnic wars of the 1990s that led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

(Reuters) --- More clinical and real-world data is needed on how well and for how long COVID-19 vaccines are protective before any decisions should be made on offering third or booster doses, Europe's drug regulators said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the first of planned regular fortnightly media briefings on the coronavirus pandemic, the European Medicines Agency's head of biological health threats and vaccines strategy Marco Cavaleri cautioned against making "premature" moves to deploy booster COVID-19 shots.

(Reuters) --- The European Union launched a new lawsuit against AstraZeneca on Tuesday that could lead to financial sanctions for the company which the EU alleges has breached a supply contract for COVID-19 vaccines.

The lawsuit is the EU's second against AstraZeneca after the bloc took action at the end of April over delayed vaccine supplies. 

BRUSSELS (AP) — As strict lockdowns are loosened across Europe and many EU citizens dream about holidays in the sun, the 27-nation bloc has yet to agree on how to quickly implement a virus certificate scheme to boost summer travel and tourism.

European affairs ministers gathered Tuesday in Brussels to assess progress in discussions with European lawmakers. A deal between the Parliament and EU countries is required in May to ensure the system will be up and running by the end of June, but several sticking points remain.