Belgium

BRUSSELS, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) and Britain started the negotiations for a new partnership here on Monday.

The talks began with a bilateral meeting between the chief negotiators, the EU's Michel Barnier and the UK's David Frost, according to the audiovisual service website of the European Commission.

With around 100 British officials participating, the first round of negotiations will cover 11 areas including trade in goods and services, energy and transport, as the agenda showed on the UK government's website.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union ministers will discuss possible responses to the coronavirus outbreak in extraordinary meetings this week, a sign of growing concern over the epidemic’s spread to most EU countries.

The spread of the virus raises questions over the EU economy and management of the European open-border Schengen area as well as causing health concerns.

Such a degree of activity in the EU has not been seen Europe’s 2015-16 migration crisis and the 2009-12 financial turmoil in which several EU states were bailed out.

BRUSSELS, March 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — With Brexit “done” as far as London is concerned, UK and EU negotiators on Monday begin talks aimed at forging a future relationship – while brandishing red lines that may yet prove to be irreconcilable.

The discussions covering trade and trading standards, agriculture, security, transport, energy, fisheries and police cooperation kick off in Brussels under teams run by Frenchman Michel Barnier for the EU and governmental advisor David Frost for Britain.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO head Jens Stoltenberg urged Russia and Syria on Friday to halt their Idlib offensive and said the military alliance stood in solidarity with member state Turkey, which lost 33 soldiers in an airstrike by Syrian government forces.

Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air power, have launched an assault to capture the northwest Idlib region, the last remaining territory held by rebels who are backed by Turkey against President Bashar al-Assad in the nine-year conflict.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on Thursday noted Britain’s negotiating mandate published earlier but, making clear sharp divergences ahead of talks starting next week, said the bloc would stick to the political declaration agreed last year.

“We take note of the UK’s mandate published today and will discuss our respective positions on Monday,” Barnier said in a tweet.

“We will stick to all our prior commitments in the Political Declaration. We want an ambitious & fair partnership with the UK in the future.”

BRUSSELS, Feb 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) : The European Commission slammed a Belgian street parade for featuring anti-Semitic floats that it said were “incompatible” with EU values.

The Aalst carnival, a centuries-old event in central Belgium long known for mocking public figures, has in recent years been accused of parading insulting and derogatory depictions of Jews.

Last year it lost its place on a UNESCO heritage list because of anti-Semitism.

22 February 2020; AFP: An EU summit called to set the bloc's next seven-year budget ended in impasse late Friday, riven by competing groups among the 27 member states and pressure to fill a funding gap left by Brexit.

Differences were "still too great to reach an agreement," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters at the end of the two days of talks in Brussels.

No date had yet been set for another summit to try again, but Merkel added that "we are going to have to return to the subject".

BRUSSELS, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The EU’s 27 leaders on Friday condemned Syrian government attacks on the city of Idlib, the country’s last rebel enclave, warning of humanitarian disaster.

“The renewed military offensive in Idlib by the Syrian government and its backers, causing enormous human suffering, is unacceptable,” said the EU council, which represents the EU’s 27 member states.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande sealed a breakthrough deal on the European Union’s last joint budget in 2013, negotiating in a backroom of a Paris stadium where Germany and France were facing off in a friendly soccer game.

“We did that in a room with concrete walls inside the Stade de France,” said a French diplomat who was present for the talks between the leaders of the two top EU powers. “We were negotiating there for an hour, and sometimes we could hear a huge roar coming from the 50,000 people in the stadium.”

18 Feb 2020; MEMO: Italy’s Foreign Minister said on Monday that he and his counterparts across the European Union have agreed to form a special mission to enforce the UN arms embargo on Libya.

Luigi di Maio explained that the mission would include a naval ship to ensure that the embargo is effective.

The Deputy Special Representative of the UN Support Mission to Libya, Stephanie Williams, told reporters on Sunday that “the arms embargo has become a joke.”