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Test studies of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate Sputnik V are being carried out in Russia.

Sefa Karacan | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is "open" to the idea of producing Russia's coronavirus vaccine in the European Union, according to a spokesperson for her office.

Germany has so far administered the highest number of inoculations among the 27 European nations since the rollout began in late December. However, there are broad discrepancies within the bloc, where, for instance, the Netherlands only started vaccinating on Wednesday.

The EU has been criticized for a slow rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in comparison with other parts of the world, with the U.S., China and Israel among those leading the way in terms of the number doses administered.

Merkel discussed the response to the Covid-19 pandemic with Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. During the phone call, she said that she "is open to the idea of bilateral cooperation for the purpose of tapping European production capacities (for the Russian vaccine)," UlrikeDemmer, deputy spokesperson for the German government said on Wednesday, according to Politico.

A spokesperson for the German government based in Brussels confirmed the same statement to CNBC.

Germany has made it clear that this would only happen if the European Medicines Agency (EMA) were to give its approval to the Sputnik V vaccine.

Europe's regulators approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last month and the Moderna's jab on Wednesday. However, the EMA has not yet received a formal request to assess the Russian Covid vaccine for administration across the EU.

Russia's Gamaleya Institute, the developers of the Sputnik V vaccine, said Tuesday that more than 1 million people have received the jab, the Financial Times reported.

Earlier this week, Germany announced a further tightening in social restrictions, with school closures in place until January 31.

Germany's Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Thursday there will be a vaccine for "everyone" this year. "In 2021, we will have 50 million vaccine doses from Moderna and 90 million from BioNTech secured. That alone is enough to offer virtually everyone a vaccination," Spahn told German television channel ZDF.

Germany has about 83 million citizens.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Spahn also said "if all goes well" there will be a new Pfizer-BioNTech factory in February to expand the number of available vaccines in Europe. BioNTech is a biotechnology company based in Mainz, a city situated on the Rhine river in west-central Germany.

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Germany's Merkel 'open' to producing Russian Covid vaccine in the EU - CNBC

A pro-Brexit lobby group transferred its website registration address to the European Union to avoid losing its .eutop-level domain, Irish media reported on Thursday.

Leave.eu is a website funded byUKIP funder Arron Banks that campaigned for Brexit. It is not affiliated with the official Vote Leave Brexit campaignbut was an influential lobby group in the lead up to the 2016 Brexit referendum and subsequent negotiations.

The .eucountry code top-level domain is reserved for people and entities residing in the EU. As the UK has now left the bloc, theEuropean registry for the .eu domain, EURid, suspended all British-based .eu websites.

In a bid to avoid losing its domain name, which would affect its brand and its search rankings, the parent organization, Better for the Country, changed its address to a town in Ireland, according to the Irish Times and Euractiv.

Euractiv reported that Leave.eu was one of 80,000 British .eu websites thatEURid wrote to ahead of the Brexit cut-off date.

British operators of .eu domains have until March 31 to change their address to the EU or prove that they are EU citizens, or they will lose access entirely.

Banks ran the Leave.eu group with Andy Wigmore, who confirmed to French news agency AFP that they had shifted their registered office toWaterford, a town onIreland's southeast coast.

Wigmore defended the move in comments to British newspaper The Independent, saying: "Yes we did it and why not? Anyone can do it and thousands of companies have."

He told the paper that the move would not include the transfer of any staff or economic activity out of the UK to the EU.

The news bought mockery on social mediaand accusations of hypocrisy.

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Pro-Brexit lobby group Leave.eu joins the EU - DW (English)

BRUSSELS: The European Union says it will redouble its efforts to save the Iran nuclear agreement despite what it calls Tehran's "important breach" of commitments made in the 2015 deal by starting to enrich uranium to new levels. EU spokesman Peter Stano said that Iran's actions "will have serious implications when it comes to nuclear nonproliferation."

Stano said it was in everyone's interest to rescue the deal and said the 27-nation bloc "will strengthen" its attempts to make sure all adhere to the commitments made in the landmark deal.

Iran began enriching uranium Monday to levels unseen since its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The decision appeared aimed at increasing Tehran's leverage in the waning days in office for US President Donald Trump, whose unilateral withdrawal from the atomic accord in 2018 began a series of escalating incidents.

Increasing enrichment at its underground Fordo facility puts Tehran a technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the action was "fully reversible" if other partners in the deal fully complied too, without elaborating.

Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of its plans to increase enrichment to 20% last week.

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European Union says it will redouble efforts to save Iran nuclear deal after rule breach - Economic Times

Bosnian authorities have reportedly delivered beds and mattresses to migrants stranded at the site of the destroyed Lipa camp. Pressure is mounting in Europe for urgent solutions to be found.

Tents erected a few days ago by the Bosnian military near the burnt-out Lipa migrant camp have now been fitted out with beds and mattresses, according to local media reports. Several hundred migrants and refugees who have been sleeping in the open in freezing cold weather are to be accommodated at the site. The beds and mattresses have come from the nearby camp on the outskirts of Bihac, which was shut in September following protests by local residents.

The Lipa camp near the Bosnian city of Bihac was closed by the UN migration agency IOM shortly before Christmas, because the Bosnian authorities had refused to make it fit for winter conditions. Reportedly, a few of the camp residents set fire to tents, making it uninhabitable.

An attempt by Bosnian authorities to transfer the migrants by bus to a former barracks in the country's south was abandoned because of opposition by residents, and the migrants were returned to the site of the camp.

They have been receiving food and non-food assistance, and some medical care, from the Red Cross, the Danish Refugee Council and the IOM. However, the migrants' physical and mental health has continued to deteriorate, according to Peter Van de Auweraert, the Bosnian Chief of Mission for IOM.

The German foreign ministry has called on Bosnia to provide better conditions for migrants. Bosnian authorities have agreed to take steps to improve conditions, German foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Adebahr said on Wednesday, adding that Germany would be keeping an eye on progress.

Adebahr said 700,000 in aid could be provided to Bosnia. The EU has already supported the Balkan country with an extra 3.5 million to cope with the current emergency situation. Since 2018 the EU has provided 88 million to Bosnia to deal with migrants in the country, according to the German government.

There are growing calls for the European Union to take action on the Bosnia situation. Germany's protestant church (EKD) representative for migration, Manfred Rekowski, said politicians should be doing more to help those in camps "on the edge of the EU."

Municipalities in Germany must finally be able to admit refugees, Rekowski said in a video message posted on Thursday, referring to offers by a number of German municipalities to take in migrants.

"The German Federal Government and the European Union have to ensure that refugees in Bosnia receive concrete help," he added. "We mustn't lose sight of the people, they have lost everything."

The rights organization Pro Asyl has again urged the European Union to come to the aid of migrants at Lipa. "The people must be evacuated, they have to be brought to the European Union," said the head of Pro Asyls Europe section, Karl Kopp, in an online interview with German newspaper taz on Wednesday.

Kopp demanded that Germany take the lead on the issue, saying Berlin should set rapid rescue measures in motion in cooperation with new EU Council President Portugal.

"The European Union and the member states that forcibly closed the Balkans route in 2016 and at the same time initiated the Turkey deal with (Turkish President) Erdogan are helping to ensure that there is misery on the Greek islands and in the Balkans today," Kopp said.

"The cynical attitude of the EU that says: 'we give some money and then the people should stay there', is wrong and unrealistic."

Kopp said the survival of around 1,700 people at Lipa is hanging in the balance. There are currently 8,000 to 10,000 people stranded in Bosnia, the least stable country in the Balkans, he said.

"They are stuck there because they are violently pushed back by Croatia at the EU's external borders, contrary to international law," said Kopp.

He accused the EU and Germany of remaining silent about the constant human rights violations by Croatia.

With KNA, dpa, epd

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Calls growing for EU action on migrant situation in Bosnia - InfoMigrants

The European Union is looking at ways to bypass patent protections and make it easier to make generic drugs in cases of emergency such as the Covid-19 pandemic, a new document says.

Normally, under WTO regulations, the practice known as compulsory licensing is allowed in exceptional circumstances and could be applied as a waiver to bypass patent holders. Wednesdays document was published as part of the EUs plan to shore up the intellectual property rights of its member states.

The Commission sees the need to ensure that effective systems for issuing compulsory licences are in place, to be used as a means of last resort and a safety net, when all other efforts to make IP available have failed, the document said.

Reuters was the first to report on the plan, writing Wednesday that some legislators have urged the EU to use the WTO waiver to gain access to potential vaccines and drugs for Covid-19, but the bloc has resisted until this point. Instead, the European Commission and other governments on the continent have been purchasing prospective vaccines and therapies in bulk.

But Covid-19 is causing the EU to rethink its strategy, given the extraordinary nature of the pandemic and need for treatments.

The EU outlines how a procedure closely linked to patents, known as supplementary protection certificates, are also hampering European patent holders. The certificates provide an extended IP protection for products that undergo clinical trials and regulatory approvals, but due to inconsistent implementation across Europe, both generic and drug makers have had a difficult time implementing a cohesive Covid strategy.

Earlier this week, Reuters had previously reported that the bloc was considering making access to generics easier altogether. The goal of the plan is to make drugs more affordable while preventing the supply and manufacturing shortages seen during the early stages of the pandemic this spring.

A draft of the document reviewed by Reuters appeared to discuss a plan to apply antitrust policies more rigorously against pharmaceutical companies, though that does not appear in the final plan released Wednesday. The draft also mentioned the possibility of cracking down on drugmakers that delay the approval of generics, limiting patent protection for drugs that arent made available in all 27 EU countries, and aiming to prevent drug shortages across the continent.

Social: Shutterstock

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European Union aims to establish patent workaround in case of emergencies while trying to strengthen its own IP - Endpoints News