Новости за 21.08.2020

French president Emmanuel Macron and Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel offered EU mediation to Belarus, while also offered health care and asylum to Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny who is suspected of being poisioned.

Belarusian protesters are - unconsciously - subjects of a geopolitical battle between the east and the West. That is why their revolution is both precious and fragile.

Industrial production decreased 12.3 percent in the euro area and 11.6 percent in the European Union in June, compared to the same month in 2019, according to Eurostat. With 14.8 percent, Portugal registered the biggest decline among member states, followed by Germany and Spain (-14.1 percent each), then Italy (-13.7 percent). As the only country of the EU, Ireland saw an increase of it industrial production with 4.5 percent.

Despite the façade of democracy, the impunity of political and economic power makes corruption the point of politics in Bosnia, as in Lebanon.

French president Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday France and Germany would act in a coordinated way and that both countries wanted a de-escalation of tensions and respect for sovereignty, Ekathimerini writes. During a joint press conference with German chancellor Angela Merkel in Fort de Bregançon in southern France, he also said that Europe must protect its members' sovereignty in the eastern Mediterranean when it was cast into doubt.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has put Belgium in its entirety in dark orange, after it surpassed 60 infections per 100,000 inhabitants. So far, only Flanders and Brussels were coloured orange. Now the region of Wallonia is joining. Belgium has the fifth highest number of infections in the EU after Spain, Malta, Luxembourg, and Romania.

The European Commission and German biotech firm CureVac said on Thursday they had concluded a first round of talks for the supply of at least 225m doses of a potential Covid-19 vaccine to EU states, Reuters reports. The commission agreed last week on a purchase deal with AstraZeneca for at least 300m doses of the vaccine it is developing with Oxford University.

A German NGO is sending an air-ambulance with a coma-specialist team to pick up Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, Deutsche Welle reports. Navalny fell ill after drinking tea on a domestic flight, raising suspicion of poisoning. However, the doctors of the Siberian hospital say he is too ill to fly. French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday they were ready to offer asylum and medical assistance.