European Union

A heated discussion about failures of the authorities has broken out in Romania after the murder of a 15-year-old girl. The police were unable to pinpoint the location of the abducted girl using the phone with which she made three emergency calls. Prime Minister Dăncilă has called for harsher punishments and talked of introducing chemical castration. Is this the right response?

The attack on the Gay Pride in Białystok has triggered a debate about homophobia in Poland. Right-wing counter-demonstrators had attacked the eight-hundred or so participants at the parade, throwing stones, fireworks and bottles at them. Where does all the aggression come from?

If the commission is to protect the rule of law in the EU, it has to confront the situation realistically and honestly – including how to deal with states who aren't willing to play by the rules.

Germany's top court will issue a ruling on Tuesday on the European Central Bank's (ECB) role as a supervisor, and if it acted within its mandate when it started buying bonds, DPA reported. A German plaintiff argued that the country is assuming liability-risks through the ECB programs that are beyond its control. The ECB bank regulators currently oversee 114 institutions, which hold 82 percent of banking assets in the eurozone.

Czech prime minister Andrej Babis will nominate Vera Jourova for a second term in the EU Commission, he told reporters on Monday after meeting with commission president-elect Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels. Jourova has served since 2014 as justice, consumer and gender-equality commissioner. She hails for Babis's liberal ANO party. She is the eighth women to be nominated for the new commission.