Новости за 31.05.2021

The European Commission announced on Monday that its press room will reopen to journalists on 1 July, when teleworking will not longer be mandatory in Belgium. The midday briefing will work on a "first come, first served" basis, while other briefings will require seat reservation. There will be about 70 seats available. The online system will remain in place. The press room has been closed since 13 March 2020.

Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu prompted Greek rebukes after visiting the Thrace region in Greece on Sunday, where he met Muslim leaders, and spoke of a "Turkish" ethnic "minority" there. "Turkey's constant attempts to distort this reality, as well as the allegations of alleged non-protection of the rights of these citizens ... are rejected," the Greek foreign ministry, which considers the Thrace minority a religious not an ethnic group, said.

Denmark's Defence Intelligence Service helped the US National Security Agency (NSA) to get phone details of top French, German, Norwegian, and Swedish officials by giving it access to Danish internet cables, Danmarks Radio revealed Sunday. The 2012-2014 NSA operation targeted German chancellor Angela Merkel and then foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. US whistleblower Edward Snowden also said, in 2013, that the NSA had tapped Merkel's telephone.

More than 1,000 people protested against mask-wearing and vaccines in Brussels Saturday. Some in the same crowd also came out in support of Jürgen Conings, an extreme-right Belgian soldier who went on the run after threatening an attack. The crowd first gathered near the Bois de la Cambre park, then marched toward EU institutions. Things remained mostly calm, but police dispersed demonstrators by firing tear gas near the Schuman roundabout.

Ireland will end 14-day quarantines for British, EU, and US visitors from 19 July and reopen bar and restaurant interiors from 5 July, easing one of the strictest lockdown regimes in Europe, it said Friday. Restaurants will also reopen in the Netherlands on 5 June, as will museums, theatres, and cinemas. "This is actually the end of the lockdown," Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said at the weekend.

"Radical Islamism in Mali with our soldiers there? Never," French president Emmanuel Macron told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper. "There is this temptation today in Mali. But if it goes in that direction, I will withdraw," he said on Sunday, speaking after another recent coup in Bamako. Mali is at the heart of France's anti-jihadist Sahel operation, which involves 5,000 troops also in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, and Niger.

Elem, a Cypriot far-right party affiliated with the now-illegal neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party in Greece, doubled its share of the vote in Cyprus elections on Sunday. The ruling centre-right Dysi party and left-wing opposition Akel parties came top, with 28 percent and 22 percent, respectively. But Elem came fourth with 6.8 percent in an election dominated by government corruption scandals and xenophobia over increasing numbers of migrant arrivals.

A group of member states is seeking to prolong EU funding for cross-border natural gas projects - contrary to the European Commission's plans to remove all support for such infrastructure, according to a draft document seen by EUobserver.

Belgium and Latvia have seized Russian assets in a "perpetual" money-laundering affair involving the killing of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.

Last week, the UN high commissioner for human rights said the EU and its member states are partly responsible for making the central Mediterranean more dangerous for asylum-seeker hopefuls. The EU rejects that - despite evidence suggesting otherwise.

The European Parliament's special committee on artificial intelligence and the internal market committee will discuss the commission's AI proposals with vice-president Margrethe Vestager.

At Tuesday's summit co-chaired by the EU and Sweden to discuss the most pressing issues faced by Yemen - world leaders have a real chance to pull the country back from the brink, write seven international NGOs.