Euobserver.com

Phil Hogan, the European Commissioner for trade, has returned to Washington DC amid looming US threats to impose tariffs on cars. He is meeting his US counterpart Robert Lighthizer in a bid to reset EU-US economic relations. Hogan first visited the US as trade commissioner some three weeks ago.

The FDP's Thomas Kemmerich resigned on Thursday as state premier of the eastern German state of Thuringia, a day after he was elected with the support of the far-right AfD party, causing a political earthquake in Germany. His liberal party will call for new elections in the state. Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose own CDU party had supported Kemmerich, called the election "unforgivable" and had said it must be reversed.

Three months and one day is how long Ludovic Orban's Romanian minority government managed to stay in power after losing a no-confidence vote brought about by the leftist parliamentary majority this week.

The EU Commission proposed tweaks in the accession process to overcome the French objection to opening accession talks with Nothern Macedonia and Albania by May.

"Improving the statistics and data available will help the commission to know where we are and where we want to be," the European Court of Auditors said on Wednesday.

The private sector, governments, academia, and civil society have all been calling for ethical guidelines in AI development - but these discussions remain vague, open to interpretation, non-universal, and most importantly, unenforceable.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell will visit the US on Thursday and Friday for meetings with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, national security advisor Robert O'Brien and senior advisor to the president, Jared Kushner. Earlier this week, Borrell was highly negative in a statement about the Israel-Palestine peace deal announced by president Donald Trump, but prepared by his son-in-law Kushner.

Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the leader of the Catalan government, Quim Torra, are expected to meet on Thursday for the first time in over a year, although a more formal "bilateral negotiation table" was postponed after Torra called a snap election. Torra expects to be able to agree with the Spanish PM on the format, timing and content of the negotiation table mandate.

The head of the regional government of the Northern Aegean, Kostas Moutzouris, requested on Wednesday a state of emergency on three Greek islands, after days of protests by asylum seekers, the Greek daily Ekathimerini reported. "The government was wrong to reject our request to declare a state of emergency on Lesvos, Chios and Samos. If the current situation is not an emergency, then what is?" Moutzouris asked.

The European Commission on Wednesday admitted its fiscal rules for national budgets needs to be reworked given the complexity of its so-called stability and growth pact. The pact sets limits on eurozone member states' debt burden and budget deficits. "They are today perceived as too complex and difficult to communicate," said Valdis Dombrovskis, commissioner of economy, in a statement.

Some 28 NGOs have signed a letter demanding MEPs postpone a plenary vote next week on the controversial EU trade deal with Vietnam. They say Vietnam must first agree "to meet concrete and verifiable benchmarks to protect labour rights and human rights." The lead MEP spearheading the file resigned as rapporteur following conflict of interest revelations by this website.

The European Commission on Wednesday said products originating from the Western Sahara must be labelled as such, in a move likely to stoke a backlash from Morocco, which annexed the territory. The EU has recently secured trade deals with Morocco that span the Western Sahara, an area around the size of the United Kingdom amid an intense lobbying campaign. EUobserver's conflict of interest revelations led to rapporteur's resignation.

The State of the Nordic Region report, published 4 February 2020, has revealed that birth rates in Finland, Norway, and Iceland are at record-low levels. Only in the Faroe Islands does the birth rate exceed the death rate.

Romania's minority government was ousted on Wednesday, just three months after taking power, making early elections likely. Prime minister Ludovic Orban's cabinet lost a no-confidence motion in parliament after his Liberal Party sought to fast-track legislation on municipal voting. Orban wanted to prompt a snap election, as he plans to capitalise on his current high polling at the ballot box. The government will stay on in a caretaker capacity.

A liberal politician was elected premier of the eastern German state of Thuringia on Wednesday, in a surprise result after the far-right AfD backed him. The FDP's Thomas Kemmerich, with the support of chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU, was elected after left-wing incumbent Bodo Ramelow failed to secure a majority. That created a stalemate, as all parties rejected a coalition with AfD, but the CDU wouldn't work with Ramelow's Left Party.

The presentation of the first EU-wide climate law, expected at the end of the month, has been postponed to 4 March, according to a document of the European Commission published on Wednesday. This proposal aims to set binding rules to ensure the 2050 goal of climate-neutrality is irreversible. This legislation needs to be approved by the European Parliament and member states before entering into force.

The EU commission wants to roll out a plan and new legislation by the end of the year to help EU countries fight cancer.

Five MEPs to keep an eye on from the 27 new members who are joining the European Parliament this week, following the UK's departure from the EU.

The European Commissioner for equality Helena Dalli has said the distribution of 'LGBTI-free zones' stickers or the adoption of anti-LGBTI resolutions cannot be allowed. Some 86 towns in Poland have so far declared themselves 'LGBTI-free zones'.

In a 1917 book, British geographer James Fairgrieve described parts of central and eastern Europe as a "crush zone". The area was a buffer between Germany and Russia. When those two quarrelled, they fought it out in the crush zone.