Belgium

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s foreign policy chief said Monday that in the face of the big military buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine’s borders, it will only take “a spark” to set off a confrontation.

In a glum assessment of relations with Moscow, Josep Borrell also said that the condition of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was “critical” and that the 27-nation group would hold the Kremlin accountable for his health and safety.

(Reuters) --- The European Union resolved on Monday to step up its influence in the Indo-Pacific region, using areas from security to health to protect its interests and counter China's rising power, although the bloc insists its strategy is not against Beijing.

Led by France, Germany and the Netherlands, which first set out ways to deepen ties with countries such as India, Japan and Australia, the 27-member bloc wants to use the nascent plan to show Beijing that it is against the spread of authoritarianism.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union countries will receive 50 million more coronavirus vaccines produced by Pfizer and BioNTech in the second quarter, the head of the EU Commission said on Wednesday, as deliveries expected at the end of the year will be brought forward.

BRUSSELS (AP) — President Joe Biden urged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to “de-escalate tensions” following a Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s border in their second tense call of Biden’s young presidency.

Biden also told Putin the U.S. would “act firmly in defense of its national interests” regarding Russian cyber intrusions and election interference, according to the White House. Biden proposed a summit in a third country “in the coming months” to discuss the full range of U.S.-Russia issues, the White House said.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on Russia on Tuesday to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s eastern border in what the alliance says is Moscow’s biggest build-up since 2014, ahead of an emergency meeting of allied foreign and defence ministers.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba flew to Brussels for talks with Stoltenberg a day after Kyiv accused the Kremlin of ignoring its request for talks between the two countries’ presidents over a build-up of Russian troops near its border.

BRUSSELS, April 12 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) on Monday strongly rejected any attempts to derail diplomatic efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal currently under way in Vienna, the capital of Austria.

EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano told an online press conference that the reported incident in Natanz "could have been an act of sabotage," but insisted that there had been no official attribution over who was responsible.

12 Apr 2021; MEMO: The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on eight high-ranking Iranian officials for a November 2019 crackdown on protests, including the chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Anadolu Agency reported.

The European foreign ministers decided to add eight people and three entities to the bloc's blacklist for human rights violations in Iran.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission is seeking EU governments’ approval to launch talks with Pfizer and BioNTech for the purchase of up to 1.8 billion doses of their COVID-19 vaccines to be delivered in 2022 and 2023, an EU official told Reuters.

Earlier on Friday, German daily Die Welt reported that the Commission was shortly to sign contracts to buy up to 1.8 billion doses, but did not say with which company.

BRUSSELS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Countries in Europe are finding themselves caught between a rock and a hard place as they plan to reopen after the Easter holidays.

While many countries enforced stricter rules over Easter to prevent a surge in COVID-19 infections during the celebrations, a prevailing fatigue among the general public about months of restrictions has made it increasingly difficult for compliance, especially as the weather warms up.

PANDEMIC FATIGUE

BRUSSELS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Parties to the Iran nuclear deal have agreed to convene in Austria next week to discuss ways to bring the deal back to life.

The deal, formally named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was reached in 2015 between Iran and the United States, Britain, Russia, France, China, Germany and the European Union (EU).

Washington withdrew from the deal in 2018 and tightened sanctions on Iran under former President Donald Trump. In response to the U.S. moves, Iran suspended the implementation of parts of its obligations under the deal.