Euobserver.com

The European Commission says it will not comment on Donald Trump's repeated threats to target cultural sites in Iran, preferring instead to operate its diplomacy behind closed doors.

Spanish caretaker prime minister and Socialist Party (PSOE) leader, Pedro Sánchez, is expected to win the second investiture vote on Tuesday - after he lost the first attempt on Sunday in an extremely tight result.

Italy, with its particular relations with Tripoli and Misrata, and UAE, with its significant influence in Egypt and Libya, can truly play a pivotal role in halting the Haftar offensive.

The foreign ministers of Greece, Cyprus, France, Italy and Egypt will meet on Wednesday in Cairo, the Egyptian government announced on Monday. According to the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini the ministers are expected to discuss "rapid developments" since the recent maritime borders and defence agreements singed by Ankara and the UN-recognised government in Libya. Turkey announced on Sunday it had started the deployment of troops to Libya.

French finance minister Bruno Le Maire on Monday urged the US to renounce threatened sanctions on France over taxing tech giants, warning of possible EU retaliation. "This trade war is in no-one's interest and I call on our American friends to display wisdom, to return to their senses," he said. He was to speak to his US counterpart Steven Mnuchin, and meet EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan on Tuesday .

The president of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), Donald Tusk, on Monday called the new Austrian governing coalition of conservatives and Greens "an important guideline for all the EPP", sending a signal that centre-right parties in Europe should look for new alliances on the left to govern. "Climate protection and the protection of our planet, this is, for us Christians, the eleventh commandment. Australia warns!," he tweeted.

A European Commission spokesperson on Monday described the crisis in Venezuela as "unprecedented" and untenable. "People are suffering and the leadership of the country should understand that a solution is really urgently needed," said Peter Stano, who speaks for EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. The comments follow the election on Sunday of the president of the National Assembly, which the EU says were marked by serious irregularities.

The European Parliament announced in on Monday that it recognises pro-independence Catalan leaders Oriol Junqueras, Carles Puigdemont, and Toni Comín as MEPs. "Following the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union dated 19 December 2019, at the plenary sitting of 13 January 2020, the European Parliament will take note of [their election as MEPs]," the text states.

The EU foreign affairs chief attempts to salvage whatever is left of the Iran nuclear deal by inviting the Iranian foreign minister to Brussels - while the EU commission president heads to London for Brexit talks.

German chancellor Angela Merkel will go to Moscow to discuss the Middle East crisis with Russian president Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin press service announced. The visit comes at the invitation of Putin after the assassination of the Iranian top general Qassem Suleimani. Apart from the Iran crisis, they will also discuss Syria, Libya and Ukraine, the Kremlin says. Merkel's spokesperson said German foreign minister Heiko Maas will accompany her.

On Sunday (5 January) Spain's prime minister Pedro Sanchez did not obtain the required majority of 176 of 350 votes in parliament for his coalition of social democrats and the far-left Podemos. Of the 350 MP's 166 voted in favour, 165 against and 18 abstained. In a second vote, expected on Tuesday (7 January), only a simple majority of the votes is needed.

Social democrat and former prime minister Zoran Milanovic has won 52.7% of the votes in the second round of Croatia's presidential elections. He defeated the center-right incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic with a larger margin than expected. On Facebook Milanovic wrote: "Thank you! Thanks to all volunteers, all of you who were my support over these six months. Thank you, people."

Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkey has started with the deployment of troops to Libya, after the parliament gave its approval, Deutsche Welle reports. "Our soldiers' duty there is coordination. They will develop the operation center there. Our soldiers are gradually going right now," he told CNN Turk broadcaster. The troops are sent to support the international backed government of Fayez al-Sarraj.

Iranian State TV announced that Iran will no longer commit itself to the limits of the nuclear deal (JCPOA), despite calls from France, Germany and the UK to stick to the 2015 deal. According to the deal Iran would be able to build nuclear energy but no nuclear weapons. Iran declared it would still cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations.

With the assassination of Iranian general and war hero Qassem Suleimani, Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei gets the opportunity to reunite the people in his country, after weeks of mass protests.

While Poland's government is escalating its rule of law crisis by introducing even more drastic measures against the country's judges, another problem is looming over the EU's commitment to upholding the rule of law: Malta.

Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades signed a deal on Thursday to build a pipeline carrying gas from the eastern Mediterranean to continental Europe. The 1,900km pipeline should provide an alternative to Russian gas supply to Europe and is expected to satisfy up to 10 percent of Europe's gas needs.

Turkey's parliament authorises the president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to send troops to Libya - despite the two main opposition parties saying the conflict there has nothing to do with Turkish national security.

Volkswagen is in talks over a settlement with more than 400,000 German owners of vehicles that were affected by the carmaker's 'Dieselgate' emissions-rigging scandal, the Guardian reported. Germany's VZBV, a consumer rights organisations, said the talks are about a "pragmatic solution in the interests of customers". Volkswagen has already compensated VW owners in the US and Australia, and faces a class action lawsuit in the UK.

The White House announced that president Donald Trump had ordered the killing of Iranian general Qassem Suleimani in a drone strike on the airport of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Suleimani was the leader of all Iranian military operations in Iraq and Syria. Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, ordered three days of national mourning and said that the US would face "severe revenge" for the killing.