DIDIER REYNDERS

The European Commission has recommended that the bloc's 27 nations end golden passport schemes that allow wealthy people — among them Russian oligarchs — to buy their way to EU citizenship.

New Zealand’s government summoned Russian Ambassador Georgii Zuev to meet Wednesday with top diplomatic officials who are urging Russia to return to diplomatic negotiations over Ukraine.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland hosted the U.S.-EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial at the Department of Justice on Dec. 16, 2021. Joined by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, the Attorney General welcomed Commissioner for Justice and Consumer Affairs Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, and Slovenian Ministers for Justice Marjan Dikaučič and for Home Affairs Aleš Hojs representing the Presidency of the EU Council. Other senior EU officials who participated in person or remotely, included the Director of Europol, President of Eurojust and EU Counterterrorism Coordinator. A joint statement was issued following the meeting, which can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1457246/downloadAttorney General Garland and Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas are joined by EU Commissioners, Presidency of the EU Council and others at U.S.-EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial.

The European Union is warning members that they risk undermining the 27-nation bloc’s COVID-19 travel and access certificate system with new uncoordinated restrictions some are introducing to try to thwart a surge in cases.

The clash strikes at questions over how far an E.U. state can break from Brussels.

Hungary’s government has called for a national referendum in defense of what it calls child protection measures that many have criticized as an attack on LGBT rights.

On 22 June 2021, the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union hosted the EU-U.S. The European Union, hosting the meeting, was represented by the Vice-President of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas, the Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, the Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, as well as the Portuguese Ministers for Justice Francisca Van Dunem and for Home Affairs Eduardo Cabrita, on behalf of the current Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The United States and the European Union will continue their joint efforts and work together to address and combat existing and emerging threats that affect our societies. The United States and the European Union will pursue and expand their information exchanges on violent extremist groups, in particular, those with transnational linkages. The United States and the European Union acknowledged the need to cooperate and shape a digital future based on our shared democratic values.

The European Commission has given Chinese-owned video app TikTok one month to answer complaints from an European consumers organization over its commercial practices.

FILE - In this file photo taken on Monday, Oct. 5, 2015 a woman walks by the entrance to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The European Union is referring Poland to Europes top court over long-standing concerns about respect for the rule of law and the independence of the countrys Supreme Court judges. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)BRUSSELS – The European Union is referring Poland to Europe's top court over long-standing concerns about respect for the rule of law and the independence of the country's Supreme Court judges, EU officials said Wednesday. “It's a crucial step in the infraction procedure," EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said of the court referral. Tuleya, who was critical of the changes to the justice system, has become the symbol of the struggle for judicial independence in Poland.

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the concept of a "vaccine passport" has been floated regularly. Now as vaccine rollouts gather pace, the prospect of these digital passports or certificates have caught the eye of many different industries. The International Air Transport Association introduced its "travel pass" late last year and launched a trial with Singapore Airlines this month. Given the sensitive health-related data at play, launching any digital service raises questions around privacy and data protection. This includes vaccine or test data and a unique identifier for the certificate.

Under the post-Brexit deal, EU products should still be able to travel unhindered from the bloc to Northern Ireland. The “vaccine export transparency mechanism″ will be used at least until the end of March to control shipments to non-EU countries. The “advanced purchasing agreement” with the EU was signed in August, before the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine had been properly tested. The European Medicines Agency approved the vaccine on Friday, making it the third authorized for use by EU nations. The U.K. is thought to be paying far more for the vaccine than EU countries.

(AP Photo/Bob Edme, File)BRUSSELS – The European Union's executive body proposed Monday that the bloc's 27 nations impose more travel restrictions to counter the worrying spread of new coronavirus variants but make sure to keep goods and workers moving across EU borders. More than 400,000 EU citizens have already died from the virus since the pandemic first hit Europe last year. “The start of the EU vaccination campaign kicked off the beginning of the end of the pandemic," EU Justice commissioner Didier Reynders said. “At the same time, new, more transmissible variants of the virus have surfaced. Since the discovery of the new virus variants, several EU countries have already reinforced their lockdown measures.

Quick tests will be accepted if they are able to detect the new virus variant, Djebbari said. The problem, he explained, is that the empty trucks sitting in England can’t reach the continent to pick up deliveries for Britain. The virus is blamed for 1.7 million deaths worldwide, including more than 68,000 in Britain, the second-highest death toll in Europe, behind Italy’s 69,000. Switzerland was one of the 40-odd countries to ban flights from Britain over the new variant. ___Angela Charlton in Paris, Jo Kearney in Dover, England, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

On December 11, the U.S.-EU Ministerial Meeting on Justice and Home Affairs took place in Washington D.C. The United States of America was represented by Attorney General William P. Barr and Acting Secretary for Homeland Security Chad Wolf. The Ministerial which is held twice a year -- aims to oversee transatlantic cooperation in the area of Justice and Home affairs and address common security threats. We welcomed achievements in this domain, in particular the U.S. efforts to share information on foreign terrorist fighters with EU Member States and Europol. The U.S.-EU agreement on Passenger Name Records (PNR) remains an important instrument for enhancing the security of our citizens.