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AFP Mar 6, 2015, 04.14PM IST

(Tensions between the West)

RIGA: The European Union must engage with average Russians, especially youth, to improve relations that are at their worst since the Cold War, the bloc's foreign policy chief said Friday.

"We have to engage with the people of Russia starting from the young people...to encourage them to see the European Union with their own eyes and build contacts across Europe," Federica Mogherini said in the Latvian capital Riga.

"We cannot lose generations of young Russians," she said, speaking to parliamentarians from across the EU who are there to discuss common foreign, security and defence policy.

Tensions between the West and Russia spiralled to their worst since the end of the Cold War after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula last year.

"The European Union has never and will never seek confrontation with Russia," Mogherini said, adding that it was "not in the European Union DNA to seek confrontation".

Last year, the EU and US imposed sanctions primarily targeting senior officials in President Vladimir Putin's administration amid fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces in the eastern regions of Ukraine bordering Russia.

Mogherini was upbeat about the sputtering so-called Minsk II ceasefire between the warring sides that the EU and Russia brokered last month.

"So far the ceasefire has been starting -- not perfect -- with some violations still, and I discussed that with Ukrainian President (Petro) Poroshenko last night," Mogherini said.

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European Union must 'engage' with average Russians: Federica Mogherini

March 28, 2014: In this file photo, Sub-Saharan migrants climb over a metallic fence that divides Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla. (AP)

Nov. 28, 2014: In this file photo, immigrants who arrived on a cargo ship from Turkey queue for meals in a basketball arena where they have been given temporary shelter in the town of Ierapetra, on the southern Greek island of Crete. (AP)

Nov. 28, 2014: In this file photo, a policeman observes the scene as immigrants who arrived aboard a cargo ship from Turkey queue for meals while others sit on bedding in a basketball arena where they have been given temporary shelter in the town of Ierapetra, on the southern Greek island of Crete. (AP)

Nov. 27, 2014: In this file photo, a baby looks out from the window of a bus after disembarking from a crippled freighter carrying hundreds of refugees trying to migrate to Europe, at the coastal Cretan port of Ierapetra, Greece. (AP)

MADRID The European Union is immersed in a full-fledged migration crisis.

Some officials are even floating the idea of a multinational border guard to deal with the hundreds of thousands arriving from war-torn countries like Syria, poor nations in Africa and non-EU neighbors like Kosovo.

With no signs the flow will let up anytime soon, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, said Thursday that dealing with migration "cries out for more thoughtful and coordinated action" between EU countries.

"The notion of ghost ships drifting on autopilot toward the coasts of Europe in the hopes that coast guards will rescue the people on board and the hideous sight of men and women tearing their flesh on barbed-wire fences in a desperate, and sometimes lethal, attempt to clamber into Europe and find a better, more peaceful life: Such scenes are simply intolerable," Zeid said in Geneva.

Here's a look at Europe's migration crisis:

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Europe swamped with unprecedented torrent of migrants swarming in by land and sea

AFP Mar 2, 2015, 04.02PM IST

(The European Union receives)

BRUSSELS: The EU said it hoped for a "positive outcome" in talks in Brussels on Monday between the Russian and Ukrainian energy ministers aimed at resolving a gas supply dispute threatening deliveries to Europe.

Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom threatened last week to cut deliveries to Ukraine and divert supplies instead to eastern parts of the country controlled by pro-Kremlin rebels.

The European Union receives about a third of its gas from Russia, with half that amount transiting via Ukraine pipelines.

European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic has invited energy ministers Alexander Novak of Russia and Volodymyr Demchyshyn of Ukraine to Brussels for talks due to start at 1400 GMT.

"Hope for positive outcome," Sefcovic said in a tweet. Tensions rose last month when Gazprom began supplying gas directly to separatist-held areas in eastern Ukraine and demanded Kiev pay for it.

Rebel leaders in east Ukraine said that Kiev had suddenly ceased gas supplies and asked for access to gas from Russia, which is accused of backing the separatists with troops, weapons and other types of assistance.

Naftogaz, Ukraine's national gas company, confirmed the cut, saying it was due to pipeline damage caused by fighting. It is also due to be represented in Monday's talks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Kiev's move to cut gas supply smacked of "genocide" and targeted four million people living in the area.

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European Union hopes for 'positive outcome' in Russia-Ukraine gas talks

PTI Feb 25, 2015, 04.52PM IST

(Last week, the US had announced)

NEW DELHI: Concerned over high pollution level in the capital, European Union has directed its diplomats here to soon install air purifiers in their offices and residences.

Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union to India Joao Cravinho said the decision has been taken keeping in mind the well-being of the EU staff here.

"We don't need to monitor the pollution level, the US is doing that... We don't need that... But we need to respond for the safety of our staff, the EU delegation living in the city here," Cravinho told PTI on the sidelines of the 7th EU-India Environment Forum here.

Last week, the US had announced its plans to expand air quality monitoring to some of its missions in several countries including India to help raise awareness about the dangers of pollution.

"We haven't bought them (purifiers) yet, but we have received instruction from our headquarters (in Brussels) to do so... And, our colleagues in delegation are doing market research study to find the best product," he said.

When asked if other European countries are also engaging in similar programmes, he said, "Many of them are doing that... Many are moving in that direction... But, each country is doing it from their own side, I do not decide that," he said.

The EU diplomat also expressed concern over a recent report that has put Delhi as "more polluted than Beijing".

"Seeing from statitics... Yes, it's a matter of deep concern... Two things are happening, two movements at the same time... Delhi is getting more polluted and Beijing is getting less polluted. Because in China they sought to address the issue, and they have implemented some policies and I hope it happens here in India as well," he added.

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European Union to install air purifiers at its office, residences in Delhi

Belchatow Power Station, Europe's largest coal-fired plant. Photo: Reuters

The European Union will fail to meet an ambitious goal of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 unless it takes more aggressive measures to limit the use of fossil fuels and adopts new environmental policies, according to a new report.

Although European countries are on track to meet, and even surpass, the goal of reducing 1990-level greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, existing policies are not robust enough to ensure that the 2050 targets are met, the European Environment Agency report said. Those targets, scientists have said, are critical to forestalling the most catastrophic effects of climate change, which are linked to carbon emissions caused by human activity.

"The level of ambition of environmental policies currently in place to reduce environmental pressures may not enable Europe to achieve long-term environmental goals, such as the 2050 target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95 per cent," the report said.

The report also noted that transportation continues to account for a quarter of all carbon emissions within the EU, and reducing those by 60 per cent by 2050 will require "significant additional measures."

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The report, which will formally be released on Tuesday, based in Copenhagen, Denmark, and is produced every five years to assess how the Union is progressing toward its environmental goals and to inform European policy. It will be presented to the European Commission and debated in the European Parliament later this month.

The findings are significant because Europeans have taken a lead role in seeking to avert the worst effects of climate change, in some cases putting aside their own economic prospects and political pressures to enact policies that could also serve as models for other countries and regions. The EU's failure to achieve its goals could discourage efforts by more reluctant nations, like China and India, and could loom large later this year as nations gather in Paris to discuss a global climate treaty.

Hans Bruyninckx, the executive director of the European Environment Agency, characterised the report as an alarming call that provides the 28 EU member states with a fresh opportunity to set a global example.

"Although we have colored the outlook red, it doesn't have to be red," Bruyninckx said. He named increased energy efficiency, ecological innovation and improvements to transportation systems as potential areas in which Europeans could adjust their policies to meet their long-term goals.

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Europe unlikely to meet 2050 climate goal, study finds