Belgium

BRUSSELS, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The European Union has no option but to talk to Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers and Brussels will try to coordinate with member governments to organise a diplomatic presence in Kabul, the top EU diplomat said on Tuesday.

"The Afghan crisis is not over," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the European Parliament in Strasbourg. "To have any chance of influencing events, we have no other option but to engage with the Taliban."

BRUSSELS, September 8. /TASS/: European Council President Charles Michel discussed the situation in Afghanistan with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Michel said in his Twitter Wednesday.

"Discussed with President [of Russia] the recent developments in #Afghanistan and impact on broader region," he said. "The EU and Russia share an interest in regional stability."

Michel noted that the EU considers "preventing a humanitarian disaster, combating terrorism and drug trafficking, and guaranteeing human rights - including those of women, girls and minorities" a priority.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union will request that Europe’s top court impose daily fines on Poland for failing to take action to protect the independence of the country’s justice system, officials said Tuesday.

The move ramps up a long-running battle between Poland’s nationalist government and the European Commission. The EU’s executive branch said that it wants the European Court of Justice to “impose financial penalties on Poland to ensure compliance” with a previous legal ruling.

BRUSSELS, Sept 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The EU and UK-Swedish drug-maker AstraZeneca have settled a row over a shortfall in coronavirus vaccines that affected the European rollout earlier this year.

AstraZeneca has agreed to deliver 200 million doses of its vaccine, which had been promised under a contract, to the EU by the end of March 2022.

The deal puts an end to the EU’s pending action in the Belgian courts.

The EU said this week that 70% of adults had been double vaccinated.

BRUSSELS, Sept 3 (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday he supported European Union plans to build a common defence policy but he warned against any rapid reaction force that might duplicate allied operations.

EU defence ministers are considering creating a "first entry force" of 5,000 troops, saying the bloc needed to react to conflicts beyond its borders, spurred by the chaotic Western withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union and coronavirus vaccine-maker AstraZeneca said Friday that they have clinched an agreement to end a damaging legal battle over the slow pace of deliveries of the Anglo-Swedish company’s shots.

The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, said AstraZeneca made a “firm commitment” to deliver a total of 300 million doses by March next year, as agreed under the advance purchasing agreement the two sides signed a year ago. About 100 million doses have already been supplied.

02 Sep 2021; MEMO: The EU is putting together a proposal to avoid a repeat of the 2015 migrant crises with a €600 million ($710 million) fund for Afghanistan's neighbours to help them host refugees fleeing the country following America's hasty withdrawal.

BRUSSELS, Aug 31 (Reuters) - European Union countries on Tuesday proposed to step up aid to Afghanistan and its neighbours but could not agree a common policy on accepting asylum-seekers fleeing Taliban rule.

Western nations involved in the fight against the Taliban have already evacuated 100,000 people who supported them, and should take them in, along with others who failed to get onto the last evacuation flights. Chancellor Angela Merkel said this group included up to 40,000 people with the right to German residency. 

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union plans to recommend that its member states reinstate restrictions on tourists from the U.S. because of rising coronavirus infection levels in the country, EU diplomats said Monday.

A decision to remove the U.S. from a safe list of countries for nonessential travel would reverse advice from June, when the 27-nation bloc recommended lifting restrictions on U.S. travelers before the summer tourism season.

BRUSSELS, Aug 27 (Reuters) - The European Union on Friday started a procedure to remove the United States from a list of countries whose citizens can travel to the 27-nation bloc without additional COVID restrictions, diplomats told Reuters.

One diplomat said other countries that would be removed from the safe travel list were Kosovo, Israel, Montenegro, Lebanon and North Macedonia.

The decision on new EU travel restrictions for foreigners would become final on Monday should no EU country object, the sources, as well as two more EU officials, added.