Euobserver.com

Slovenia will give special attention to the discussion on the Western Balkan integration into the EU during the six months that it will hold the presidency of the EU Council, its prime minister Janez Janša said.

The European Parliament will debate in Strasbourg the breaches of EU law and of the rights of LGBTIQ people in Hungary, and adopt resolutions on the issues.

The migrant workers are exploited (by landlords and dairy-businessmen) like slaves. They work up to 14-hours per day, every single day non-stop without any leave, for barely €400 per month. If they get injured, their bosses hide these incidents.

The Libyan coast guard actively works with smugglers and are run by a militia, an ex-Libyan lieutenant police officer. The EU is buying the guard three new P150 high speed patrol boats.

A rift between Brussels and Ljubljana marred the start of the Slovenian presidency of the EU Council - with host prime minister Janez Janša publicly rebuking Brussels that "smaller countries in the EU are treated as second-class".

Slovenia formally assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the European Council on Thursday (1 July) - amid criticism against its right-wing prime minister Janez Janša for allegadly undermining the rule of law and democratic values in the EU.

The Libyan Coast Guard intercepted a wooden boat of 30 people some 10 nautical miles inside Malta's search and rescue zone. But then suddenly let them go, allowing the Ocean Viking to perform its first rescue since leaving Marseille.

The head of the EU delegation to Belarus is to head back to Brussels "in the coming days", EU foreign relations spokesman Peter Stano told EUobserver Thursday. "By requesting that he [the ambassador] is recalled to Brussels for consultations, the Belarusian regime has taken another step to self-isolate. Keeping channels of communication open is crucial in times of crisis," Stano added. The move comes after the EU imposed economic sanctions.

Two doses of Covid-19 vaccine appear to provide protection against the rapidly spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus, the European Medicines Agency said on Thursday. The head of vaccine strategy, Marco Cavaleri, said "it seems the four vaccines approved in the European Union are protecting against all the strains circulating in Europe, including the Delta variant." EMA approved Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

An EU-wide Covid-19 certificate, a document essentially consisting of a QR code, came into force on Thursday to make summer travel easier for Europeans. The document shows whether the bearer is vaccinated with one of the EU's approved vaccines, has recovered from an infection, or has a recent negative Covid-19 test. Under EU law, the certificate is meant to do away with the need for quarantines or further testing.

Germany's interior minister Horst Seehofer called European football's governing body UEFA "utterly irresponsible" for allowing big crowds at the tournament, Reuters writes. The World Health Organization (WHO) said the mixing of crowds in Euro 2020 host cities, travel and easing of social restrictions had driven up the number of new cases rose by 10 percent adding that a new wave is inevitable if football fans and others drop their guard.

Chinese president Xi Jinping told a massive audience gathered at Tiananmen Square to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party that "the era of China being slaughtered and bullied is gone forever," Deutsche Welle reports. "Anyone who dares try to do that will have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people," he said.

Several MEPs urged the EU Commission in a letter not to approve Hungary's Covid-19 recovery plan over concerns about fraud, corruption and LGBTIQ rights. The commission is expected to give its approval next week. "Citizens must be fully assured that the money of taxpayers is invested properly and not used to undermine the foundations of the EU," seven MEPs from Green, Liberal, Social Democrat and radical Left parties wrote.

The European Commission on Thursday adopted Slovenia's recovery plan, as the country took over the EU Council presidency. The EU will disburse a total of €2.5bn (€1.8bn in grants, €705m in loans). "It [the plan] combines investments for the green and digital transitions, with reforms of long-term care, healthcare, and pension systems for the benefit of all Slovenian citizens," said EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

The survey, as part of a research project for the German Marshal Fund of the United States, aimed to measure how Romanians react to series of elements of the Eurosceptic and nationalist agenda.

There is a double standard at the heart of the European Commission. Women — mostly white women — benefit from affirmative action when applying for jobs. But people of colour seeking advancement do not benefit from special consideration.

After leaving the French port of Marseille on Sunday, the Ocean Viking on Thursday morning spots an empty wooden boat at sea, an eerie prospect of what lies ahead as it plots a course south towards international waters off Libya.

Denmark is throwing out Syrian refugees, who risk violence and who made Denmark their home for years, in a test of the EU country's respect for human rights.

German and Polish constitutional court challenges designed to test whether national or EU law has primacy could end up tearing apart the EU, its justice commissioner, Didier Reynders, told the FT newspaper Wednesday. "What's the risk if we don't take care of this? That it will destroy the union itself," he said. Germany had emboldened Poland, whose verdict is expected in mid-July, with the risk more EU states will follow.

Recent EU sanctions on Belarusian exports of potash, a fertiliser component, will affect only about 15 percent of sales, Belarusian opposition has noted, while urging the EU to close loopholes designed to help European farmers absorb the shock. "Only full comprehensive sanctions will cause Lukashenko to change behaviour. Semi-sanctions or half-measures only will harm," Franak Viačorka, an aide to opposition-leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told The Guardian newspaper.