Francesco Guarascio

The European Commission is set to adopt on Friday its seventh package of sanctions against Russia, which will add a ban to the import of Russian gold and tweak existing restrictive measures to avoid hampering food exports, two officials told Reuters.

The European Commission, the EU executive, formally proposed on Friday its latest package of sanctions against Moscow, including an import ban on Russian gold, and legal tweaks to prevent current measures from hampering food shipments.

The European Commission cut its forecasts for economic growth in the euro zone for this year and next and revised up its estimates for inflation on Thursday largely due to the impact of the war in Ukraine.

Euro zone finance ministers said on Monday the fight against inflation was the current priority despite dwindling growth in the bloc, as they were informed of a deteriorating economic outlook by the European Commission.

European Union leaders aim to maintain pressure on Russia at their summit this week by committing to further work on sanctions, a draft document showed, with gold among assets that may be targeted in a possible next round of measures.

The European Union is divided on how to help poorer nations fight a growing food crisis and address shortages of fertilisers caused by the war in Ukraine, with some fearing a plan to invest in plants in Africa would clash with EU green goals.

The European Union's adoption of a 15% corporate minimum tax was thrown into doubt again on Friday as Hungary raised last-minute objections that prevented a deal among all 27 EU states to turn it into law.

Euro zone finance ministers urged a return to budget discipline on Thursday to help the European Central Bank fight the risks of a new debt crisis in the bloc amid high inflation, falling growth and market tensions.

Italy and Hungary have urged the EU to call explicitly for a ceasefire in Ukraine and peace talks with Russia, putting themselves at odds with other member states determined to take a hard line with Moscow ahead of a summit next week.

The European Parliament is set to urge the blacklisting of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder if he does not quit as a board member of Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft.

The European Parliament urged that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder be blacklisted if he does not quit the board of Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft in a move also meant to dissuade him from taking a top job at Gazprom.

The European Commission is set to propose on Wednesday a new package of financial aid to Ukraine including new loans to provide immediate liquidity to Kyiv and commitments for the long-term financing of the country's reconstruction, officials said.

The European Commission is preparing new rules that would make it easier for EU governments to confiscate assets of oligarchs and other wealthy individuals hit by sanctions because of their ties with the Kremlin, according to officials and documents.

The European Commission is considering offering landlocked eastern European Union states more money to upgrade oil infrastructure in a bid to convince them to agree to an embargo on Russian oil, an EU source told Reuters on Monday.

Europe is increasingly becoming a hub for production and trans-shipment of cocaine to other regions of the world, in addition to being a major consumption market, EU agencies said on Friday, warning also about the expanding methamphetamine industry.

Hungary and Slovakia will be able to continue buying Russian crude oil until the end of 2023 under existing contracts, an EU source told Reuters on Wednesday, benefitting from exemptions from an oil embargo proposed by the European Commission.

European Union governments should ramp up COVID-19 immunisations of children, the European Commission said on Wednesday in presenting its strategy to move away from the emergency phase of the pandemic, which includes plans to develop antivirals.

The European Commission said that between 60% and 80% of the EU population was estimated to have been infected with COVID-19, as the bloc enters a post-emergency phase in which mass reporting of cases was no longer necessary.

The European Commission is set to say the EU has entered a new post-emergency phase of the pandemic in which testing should be targeted and monitoring of COVID-19 cases should be similar to sample-based flu surveillance, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.

The European Union has closed a loophole that allowed EU governments to export weapons worth tens of millions of euros to Russia last year alone despite an embargo which took effect in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region.

The EU aims to address rising wheat and fertilizer prices and expected shortages in the Balkans, North Africa and the Middle East with "food diplomacy" to counter Russia's narrative on the impact of its Ukraine invasion, EU diplomats and officials say.

Hungary and Austria questioned an EU decision to blacklist two Russian oligarchs but eventually accepted the move after pressure from other governments, European Union diplomats and officials said.

EU governments have frozen about 30 billion euros ($32.6 billion) of assets linked to oligarchs and other sanctioned people with ties to the Kremlin, the European Commission said on Friday.

The European Commission proposed sweeping new sanctions against Russia on Tuesday including banning coal imports and halting trade worth nearly 20 billion euros ($22 billion) in retaliation over possible war crimes in Ukraine.

The European Union has agreed to launch a stockpiling operation to boost its defences against chemical, nuclear and biological incidents amid concerns over the conflict in Ukraine, according to EU documents and people familiar with the matter.

The European Commission called on EU governments on Monday to end national programmes to sell citizenship to investors, also known as golden passports schemes, and urged them to suspend the sale of visas to Russians and Belarusians.

In the early stages of sanctions drafting against Moscow, one idea gained traction in Brussels - a ban on the import of Russian coal - until the European Union's biggest economy Germany struck it down, two sources told Reuters.

Oligarchs' wealth remains largely untouched in the European Union, weeks after Brussels approved measures to freeze the assets of dozens of billionaires and top officials linked to Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

The European Union is planning to buy and distribute vaccines against measles, polio, tuberculosis and COVID-19 to immunise Ukrainian children and other unvaccinated Ukrainian refugees, EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said on Tuesday.