Belgium

BRUSSELS, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of the European Union (EU) called for an accelerated production and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines late on Thursday as the bloc is struggling with supply shortfalls.

"Our top priority now is speeding up the production and delivery of vaccines, and vaccinations, across the EU," European Council President Charles Michel told reporters after the first day of the virtual summit.

25 Feb 2021; MEMO: The European Union urged Iran to reverse actions inconsistent with a 2015 nuclear deal it signed with world powers, Anadolu Agency reports.

Foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed deep concerns in a statement about Tehran's decision to temporarily suspend special audit rights for International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) inspectors.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union countries must ensure travel and border restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of new coronavirus variants do not hurt trade in goods and services in the bloc’s single market, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Belgium - which has a blanket ban on all non-essential travel in and out of its territory - and Germany came under particular pressure over their latest restrictions on movement, which the EU executive said have gone too far.

BRUSSELS. Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) and Italian flags in Brussels flew at half-mast on Tuesday as a tribute to Luca Attanasio, the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), who was killed in an attack in the African country.

Attanasio and two others in his entourage died in the attack during a humanitarian trip in a United Nations convoy in the east of DR Congo on Monday.

BRUSSELS. Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Britain has accepted a request by the European Union (EU) for extra time to ratify the post-Brexit trade agreement, European Commissioner for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight Maros Sefcovic said on Tuesday.

He said Britain agreed to extend the period of provisional application of the agreement until April 30 "to give the necessary time to complete our ratification procedure" in all of the bloc's 24 official languages.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission on Monday announced three flagship projects - in drone technologies, space communication and space traffic management - aimed at giving the 27-country bloc a competitive edge in these new fields.

Called the Action Plan on Synergies between the civil, defence and space industries, the scheme’s objective is to harness research and innovation in the three sectors for the projects and other ventures.

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union foreign ministers on Monday will look at options for imposing fresh sanctions against Russia over the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as the 27-nation bloc considers the future of its troubled ties with the country.

The ministers will discuss possible names of Russian officials and whether to target them individually or whether to use a new system of measures aimed at human rights abuses. But they appear unlikely to impose restrictions on oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin, as Navalny has requested.

BRUSSELS, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) announced on Friday to double its contribution to COVAX, an international program devised to help low and middle-income countries to have more access to COVID-19 vaccines.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told the G7 leaders' virtual summit that the bloc was pledging an additional 500 million euros (about 606 million U.S. dollars), bringing its contribution to the global initiative to one billion euros.

18 Feb 2021; MEMO: NATO defense ministers decided on Thursday to send as much as 3,500 additional troops to Iraq, Anadolu Agency reported.

"We will expand the NATO training mission in Iraq to ensure that ISIS (Daesh) doesn't return," the alliance's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced at a press conference.

The number of NATO personnel will be increased from the current 500 to 4,000 in the country, the NATO chief said after the virtual meeting's second day.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union put reform of the World Trade Organization at the heart of its trade strategy for the next decade on Thursday, saying global rules on commerce must be greener, take more account of state subsidies and be enforced.

The 27-nation bloc’s executive body also said it would seek to work with President Joe Biden’s U.S. administration to address a crisis of confidence in the WTO, where settlement of trade conflicts and negotiations are deadlocked.