EUobserver

Moscow announced on Tuesday its decision to block access to 81 prominent European media outlets across Russia. This move comes in retaliation to European Union sanctions that restrict the distribution of Russian TV channels and internet media due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Sofia lost the race for the seat of the European Labor Authority. The new EU agency will be located in Bratislava, EUobserver reported. Slovakia received 15 out of 28 votes during the vote in the ministerial meeting of the Council on Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs.

Germany is set to create its first federal migrant repatriation centre over the summer, reports EUobserver. 

State secretary Stephan Mayer told the newspaper that the centre was a top priority for the new government. The centre is likely to be built in Bavaria or in Hessen. The aim is to speed up returns of people whose asylum requests have been rejected.

BRUSSELS - The EU is preparing to pledge a 2025 deadline for the next wave of enlargement, but Balkan disputes could hold the process back, the EUobserver reports.

Eight EU countries have signed a letter asking for "Russian propaganda to be countered, especially in the Western Balkans."

Tanjug reported this on Tuesday, citing the Croatian daily Jutarnji List, which in turn, quoted the Brussels-based website EUobserver - which said it had seen the letter, sent to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

Over 95,000 unaccompanied minors have applied for asylum in Europe in 2015, a four-fold rise compared to 2014, according to the British Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Sweden recorded the highest number of unaccompanied child asylum applications with 35,369, followed by Germany (14,439), Austria (9,331) and Hungary (8,804).

The European Parliament decided to postpone a long-expected voting that could lead to scrapping roaming charges across the EU.

One of the key ideas within the bill was to end mobile phone roaming fees by 2016.

A proposal for "net neutrality", envisaging legal protection to the Open Internet, was also on the agenda.