Новости за 29.12.2021

The German government will present draft legislation that protects disabled people or patients with pre-existing conditions if over-stretched hospitals are forced to decide who gets care. The decision is in line with a ruling by the constitutional court on Tuesday (29 December), which said that the constitution stipulates that people with disabilities cannot be discriminated against.

"Should new negotiations not lead to success, the bilateral agreements that were still in force would gradually expire and make our relationship obsolete at some point," EU Commission vice president Maroš Šefčovič said in German magazine Der Spiegel Tuesday. Talks between Bern and Brussels on an overarching new treaty broke off in May. "We urgently need to know from Switzerland whether it seriously wants to negotiate with us," Šefčovič said.

Italy has let a charity ship, the Geo Barents run by Medecins Sans Frontieres, to disembark, in Sicily, 558 mostly African migrants it rescued in recent days. A second boat, Sea Watch 3, run by a German NGO, is also waiting to disembark a further 440 people it plucked from the sea. "The weather deteriorates ... Everyone has the right to disembark, now," Sea Watch said.

EU's trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovski's told the Financial Times he hoped Chile's incoming leftwing government and the EU will sign a trade deal that was originally negotiated by the country's rightwing predecessor. President-elect Gabriel Boric will take office in March and his government includes the Communist party. France has recently warned against the deal, fearing cheap chicken imports will hurt French farmers.

Turkey has offered to mediate between Bosnian opponents after Bosnian Serb leader Mirolad Dodik recently pushed ahead with plans to break up the country. "We view Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole. We have done all we can for its unity and stability ... If desired, Turkey can work as a mediator in Bosnia," Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar said Tuesday after visiting Sarajevo.

Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Tuesday he hoped "to end this dispute amicably with the Czech side" in talks in January over a Polish coal mine in Turow, which the EU court recently ordered to be closed due to cross-border pollution. "We absolutely do not intend to stop the operations of the mine, the operations of the power plant," Morawiecki also said, however.

An advisory body to the Belgian government on Tuesday suspended a decision by the government to close part of the cultural sector, arguing that new Covid-19 restrictions imposed on theaters are unreasonable. The restrictions took effect on Sunday, but some theatres stayed open in protest. In an emergency procedure, the Council of State ruled that measures concerning the theatre closure were "not proportionate," AP reported.

Russia has attracted international disgust for shutting down its most distinguished human-rights NGO.

Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said the cartel of oil producing countries had agreed not to increase production of oil, resisting pressure from China and the United States.

"This is an unprecedented thing in our history. This is the biggest and deepest crisis of democracy after 1989," Tusk said, who also served previously as the president of the European Council.