Belgium

BRUSSELS, November 30. /TASS/: The EU plans to approve a sanctions regime similar to the Magnitsky Act in the near future, Nabila Massrali, EU spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, told reporters on Monday.

"It is being discussed at the Council [of Europe], so we are waiting for it. Everybody is making sure that it will be soon adopted," she said.

In September, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen informed that an act similar to the Magnitsky Act is being developed by the EU.

BRUSSELS, November 27. /TASS/: Leaders of 27 European Union’s member-states will take a political decision to extend economic sanctions against Russia that expire on January 31, 2021, for half a year at a summit on December 10-11, a source in a delegation of one of European countries in the EU Council told TASS on Friday.

ANTWERP, Belgium (Reuters) - An Iranian diplomat and three other Iranians went on trial in Belgium on Friday accused of planning to bomb a meeting of an exiled opposition group in France in 2018, the first time an EU country has put an Iranian official on trial for terrorism.

Belgian prosecutors charged Vienna-based diplomat Assadolah Assadi and the three others with plotting an attack on a rally of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The rally’s keynote address was given by U.S. President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union and Britain said on Friday there were still substantial differences over a Brexit trade deal as the EU chief negotiator prepared to travel to London in a last-ditch attempt to avoid a tumultuous finale to the five-year Brexit crisis.

With just five weeks left until the United Kingdom finally exits the EU’s orbit on Dec. 31, both sides are calling on the other to compromise over fishing, state aid and how to resolve any future disputes.

27 Nov 2020; MEMO: The European Parliament urged the EU on Thursday to impose sanctions on Turkey after President Tayyip Erdogan this month paid a visit to the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north of Cyprus, Reuters reports.

With 631 votes in favour, three against and 59 abstentions, the parliament agreed a non-binding resolution in support of EU member Cyprus urging EU leaders to "take action and impose tough sanctions in response to Turkey's illegal actions".

BRUSSELS, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.

PARIS -- France's new COVID-19 infections slowed to 13,563 on Thursday, while hospital admissions continued to fall as the government is unwinding restrictions and planning the vaccination campaign, official data showed.

Thursday's count took France's total number of infections since the outbreak to 2,183,660. The daily tally was down by 2,719 from a day before. Another 339 people died from the coronavirus, bringing the toll to 50,957.

BRUSSELS (AP) — In a global push to end violence against women, activists held rallies Wednesday and world leaders called for action to stop the abuse, which has worsened because of the coronavirus pandemic this year.

Protests from France to Ukraine were held on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to draw attention to domestic violence in what is an uphill struggle to protect millions of women killed or abused every year by their partners and close relatives.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Poland and Hungary should ask the European Union’s top court to assess the link between access to EU money and observing the rule of law, instead of blocking the EU’s 2021-2027 budget and recovery plan, the head of the European Commission said.

The suggestion is one of the possible ways EU officials have been informally discussing to end the vetoes of Warsaw and Budapest holding up 1.8 trillion euros ($2.14 trillion) of EU funds to lift the economy of the 27-nation bloc.

BRUSSELS (AP) — A top European Union official said Wednesday that the first citizens in the 27 nation bloc could be vaccinated against the coronavirus by Christmas, but she warned that member countries must urgently prepare their logistical chains for the rollout of hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccines.

Claiming that “there’s finally light at the end of the tunnel,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers that “the first European citizens might already be vaccinated before the end of December.”

BRUSSELS, Nov 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Top European Union (EU) officials, welcomed the Group of Twenty (G20) leaders’ united commitment, to addressing major global pandemic and economic challenges.

A declaration adopted at the 15th G20 summit showed, the group leaders are committed to shaping a strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive post-COVID-19 era.

“We agreed that global action, solidarity and multilateral cooperation are needed, to build a better future,” European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, tweeted after the summit.