Euobserver.com

Over 120 asylum seeking children and teenagers in Greece have so far been relocated to a handful of EU states in a scheme the European Commission says is a demonstration of solidarity. EU states have pledged to take in 2,000.

Salman Rushdie, Francis Fukuyama, JK Rowling, among others have published an open letter in Harper's Magazine warning against "censoriousness", "an intolerance of opposing views" and "a vogue for public shaming and ostracism". Signed by 150 academics and writers the letter decries "a new set of moral attitudes and political commitments that tend to weaken our norms of open debate and toleration of differences in favour of ideological conformity".

In the Serbian capital Belgrade, 23 people were detained and 43 police officers and 17 demonstrators were injured in violent clashes on Tuesday evening amid anger over the return of strict lockdown measures to tackle coronavirus, The Guardian reports. Earlier on Tuesday a weekend curfew was announced after a rise in Covid-19 cases in Serbia and across the western Balkans.

Civil society organisations criticised that the commission is relying on early-stage technologies that require the continued use of fossil fuels, undermining the EU's 2050 climate-neutrality target set in the Green Deal.

The US coronavirus outbreak passed the milestone of over 3 million confirmed cases on Tuesday as more states reported record numbers of new infections, and Florida faced an impending shortage of intensive care unit hospital beds, Reuters reports. Authorities have reported alarming upswings of daily infections in roughly two dozen states over the past two weeks, showing the transmission of the virus is not under control.

France said it won't repeat its March lockdown should a second wave of the pandemic caused by Covid-19 hit the nation. "We are not going to carry out a possible reconfinement as we did in March," French Prime Minister Jean Castex told BFM TV on Wednesday. "Absolute containment has terrible consequences – human and economic," he added. France has as of 7 July some 168,810 confirmed cases of Covid-19.

Lithuania's media watchdog has banned five Russia Today (RT) programmes due its connection with Dmitry Kiselev, who is under EU sanctions for promoting Kremlin propaganda during the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, Lithuanianpublic broadcaster reported Wednesday. Kiselev, officially the head of Russia's state-controlled media group Rossiya Segodnya that includes RIA Novosti and Sputnik, is also considered to be in charge of RT. He denies the connection.

British former international trade secretary, Liam Fox, will be nominated by the UK to be the next chief of the World Trade Organization (WTO), The Guardian reported on Wednesday. The UK described Fox as "the ideal candidate" seen his "decades of experience in global politics and first-hand experience of running a trade ministry". The search for a new director comes after Brazilian Roberto Azevêdh announced he is quitting in August.

The Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte backed the nomination of Spanish minister of economy Nadia Calviño to lead the Eurogroup, Reuters reports. Eurozone finance ministers will meet on Thursday to choose the next Eurogroup chair. "The fact that she is a woman is an added value," Conte said during a visit to Madrid, adding that her leadership would be "in everyone's best interest".

The German chancellor told MEPs that for her restricting fundamental rights to stop the spread of coronavirus was a "very difficult decision". She said the EU must act quick to mitigate the economic fallout.

Annexation of parts of Palestine's West Bank would "have consequences for relations with Israel", the Egyptian, French, German, and Jordanian foreign ministers said after video-talks Tuesday. "Such a move would have serious consequences for the security and stability of the region and would constitute a major obstacle to efforts to achieve a comprehensive and just peace," they added. The warning on "consequences" comes amid talk of potential EU sanctions.

Shipping companies will have to pay for CO2 permits in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from 2021 and cut carbon pollution by 40 percent by 2030, MEPs on the environment committee voted Tuesday, pending plenary approval in September. Italian firm the Mediterranean Shipping Company overtook Irish budget airline Ryanair (already covered by ETS) in pollution rankings last year, Reuters reports, but coal-fired power plants were the worst CO2 villains.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Turkey's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed the possibility of European Union mediation between Turkey, Greece and Cyprus during a meeting in Ankara on Monday, Ekathimerini reports. "I am here [in Turkey] to find a solution to the conflict between Turkey and Greece over the eastern Mediterranean. We plan to organise negotiation talks between the two sides," Borrell said.

The European Commission is set to present later this month an action plan on firearms-trafficking and a new drugs agenda as part of a wider Security Union Strategy. "My part of that strategy will focus on fighting terrorists, fighting organised crime, and to make law enforcement fit for the digital age," said EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson. A strategy to fight child sexual abuse is also planned.

Ministers from Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia will be attending a conference to tackle human smuggling on Monday. The European Commission said the event is being hosted by Italy. "I hope that the outcome of this conference will be that we can build partnerships to fight human smuggling," said EU home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johannson.

Dutch police have arrested six men after discovering sea containers converted into a makeshift prison and sound-proofed "torture chamber" complete with a dentist's chair, tools including pliers and scalpels and handcuffs, The Guardian reports. The suspects were arrested based on encrypted messages. The news gave a chilling insight into the increasingly violent Dutch criminal underworld, which is involved in the large-scale production and trafficking of drugs.

EU commissioner for values Vera Jourova has expressed concern for the independence of Index.hu, Hungary's largest independent news website still in existence, which has recently come under attack from pro-government media investors. "What you are doing, the values you are fighting for, media freedom and pluralism, are essential for democracy," Jourova said in a message to Index published on the website. "You can count on my support," she added.

French president Emmanuel Macron's new prime minister, Jean Castex, has revamped the government with "rightwing stalwarts", analysts say according to AFP. Observers were quick to point out that new interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, is facing allegations of rape. The new justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti, a criminal lawyer, has recently been critical of police racism. Finance minister Bruno Le Maire and foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian are to stay.

This will be the most selfish act in recent economic history. It will burden future generations and by no means make the weakest member states better off.

The European Commission says it may a new system to monitor push backs by EU states. The announcement follows weeks of dithering by the commission, which has refrained from condemning abuse by Greek and Croat authorities, despite mounting evidence.