Belgium

BRUSSELS, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The European Commission has started a long-awaited probe into whether Poland and Hungary should continue to receive billions of euros from the EU budget because of problems with corruption and the rule of law.

Commission documents on Saturday showed letters were sent to Warsaw and Budapest on Friday asking governments for clarifications under a recent EU law allowing the suspension of EU cash if it may be misspent.

BRUSSELS, November 19. /TASS/: US nuclear weapons may end up in Eastern Europe if Germany removes them from its territory, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a conference on Friday.

‘’I expect that Germany will continue to be part of nuclear sharing because it is so important for Europe, and it is a multilateral framework,’’ he said at a conference organized by the German Atlantic Association and the Federal Academy for Security Policy. ‘’The alternative for NATO nuclear sharing is different kinds of bilateral arrangements.’’

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union was awaiting a firm counterproposal from the United Kingdom on Friday to ease a standoff over how to deal with Britain’s departure from the bloc.

Both sides are fighting over differences in how to regulate trade in Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K. but also belongs to the EU’s huge single market in a Byzantine deal that proved essential in the Brexit divorce negotiations.

BRUSSELS, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Belgian authority on Wednesday announced new measures to curb the rise in new coronavirus cases, including mandatory mask wearing in all closed public places.

"The virus is three times more contagious than the virus of last year," said Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, following the announcement of the new measures.

"We put emphasis on prevention and protection, not closure," he said.

BRUSSELS, Nov 16 (Reuters) - China will never change its position on Taiwan and will also not shift its view that the European Union must lift its sanctions if a new Sino-EU investment deal is to be ratified, China's ambassador to the EU said on Tuesday.

Despite plans for an EU-China summit by the end of this year, Zhang Ming's comments offered little hope for a diplomatic breakthrough after EU countries such as Lithuania increased contacts with Taiwan this year.

BRUSSELS, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) have agreed on new sanctions against Belarus over the migrant crisis, the bloc's top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Monday.

Addressing a press conference after the ministers' meeting, he said the new set of sanctions had been "politically adopted" and "will be finalized in the coming days." The sanctions will affect "quite an important number" of individuals and entities, he added.

16 Nov 2021; MEMO: The European Union yesterday imposed sanctions on four ministers recently appointed to the Syrian government, blaming them for playing a role in the continued repression of civilians in the country.

BRUSSELS, Nov 15 (Reuters) - The European Union urged Switzerland on Monday to set out a clear timetable for resolving issues over its place in the EU internal market by January after breaking off talks with its biggest trading partner in May.

Brussels has been pushing for a decade for a treaty that would sit atop a patchwork of bilateral accords and have the Swiss routinely adopt changes to single market rules. It would also have provided a more effective way to resolve disputes.

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged Russia on Monday to be more transparent about its military activities near Ukraine but he stopped short of suggesting that Moscow might be preparing to invade its former Soviet neighbor.

Ukraine claims that Russia kept tens of thousands of troops and equipment near their common border after conducting war games earlier this year. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and has supported a separatist insurgency that broke out that year in eastern Ukraine and still controls territory there.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Monday ratcheted up pressure on Belarus by agreeing to slap sanctions on airlines accused of helping President Alexander Lukashenko to wage a “hybrid attack” against the bloc using migrants, as tensions mounted on the Polish border.

Up to 4,000 migrants are stuck in makeshift camps in freezing weather after Poland reinforced its border with Belarus with 15,000 soldiers, in addition to border guards and police. At least nine migrants have died. Many of them want to head further west, often to Germany.