Euobserver.com

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan questioned on Sunday the sovereignty of certain Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, restating a 1990s theory of so-called "grey zones" in the region, Ekathimerini reports. "Those who make plans on disputed sovereignty of islands in the Aegean should know that the coast is not clear," Erdogan said, adding that he would protect Turkey's economic rights. "We do not intend to start conflicts," he added.

French president Emmanuel Macron called on Saturday for a truce in the transport strikes over the holidays, three days after negotiations between the government and unions failed to ease tensions over pension reforms, France24 reported. "I believe there are moments in the life of a nation when it is also good to call a truce to respect families," he said. However, unions are calling for further mobilisation.

Turkey's president Erdogan said more violence in the north-western Syrian province of Idlib would trigger a new migration crisis "felt by all European countries."

Immigration (34%), climate change (24%), and the economy (18%) were EU citizens' top concerns in a year-end survey published by the European Commission. More than two thirds wanted the EU to press ahead with a common asylum system, gender equality rules, and monetary union. The EU's overall approval rating was 42 percent, a slight dip, with Ireland the most EU-friendly country, but with approval falling in the Netherlands and Austria.

German MPs have complained that the defence ministry wiped data from the phone of Ursula von der Leyen, the former German defence minister and now European Commission president, to hamper an investigation into the award of lucrative consultancy contracts in her time in Berlin. "We have to assume that people in office destroyed evidence," the Green party's Tobias Lindner told media. "Such actions can have have criminal relevance," he added.

Russia's Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz have agreed a last-minute deal on EU gas transit up till 2024, allying fears of a winter supply crunch in Europe. Saturday's deal after Gazprom agreed to pay $2.9bn (€2.6bn) in an arbitration dispute on old contracts. "Everyone is a winner," the European Commission said. But the breakthrough came the same day US sanctions halted construction of a Russia-Germany pipeline in a fresh dispute.

US sanctions have halted construction of Russia's divisive gas pipeline to Germany, Nord Stream 2.

MPs in London on Friday were poised to approve the new Conservative government's Brexit withdrawal bill, following the party's 80-majority victory in the general election last week. Despite earlier promises, prime minister Boris Johnson had removed from the bill a guarantee of matching EU's workers' rights, leading the opposition Labour party to oppose the bill. The bill means the UK will formally leave the EU on 31 January 2020.

The parliament's legal services are analysing whether three Catalan leaders elected in the European elections in May - former president Carles Puigdemont, former vice-president Oriol Junqueras and former minister Toni Comín - can now be accredited as MEPs.

A lone Polish NGO has objected to Denmark's permit for Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline, but neither that nor US mini-sanctions are likely to stop the juggernaut.

EU officials can expect five more years of needling investigations at the hands of their ombudsman, "energetic" Irish woman Emily O'Reilly.

Pieter Timmermans, CEO of the Federation of Belgian Enterprises, has pleaded for an interim government that would work on a few core issues like employment, pensions, climate, energy and mobility. This government should be limited in ministers, time and focus. Former deputy prime minister and current MEP Kris Peeters made a similar proposal this week. Belgian political parties have been trying to form a government since the 26 May election.

On Thursday, Russia and Ukraine reached a deal to continue the transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory, Deutsche Welle writes. European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic announced the news, saying "after these very intensive talks I am very glad to say that we reached an agreement in principle on all key elements," adding that "very good and very positive news for Europe, for Russia, for Ukraine."

Sea Watch 3, a German ship that rescued migrants in the Mediterranean sea, has won an appeal in a Sicilian court after a five-month detainment in a port on the Italian island, Deutsche Welle reports. The charity organisation celebrated its victory and announced it would resume its rescue missions. The two other rescue ships, Alex and the Mare Jonio, remain detained in the Sicilian port of Licata.

A Belgian court has found Fabien Neretse guilty of genocide and war crimes, De Standaard reports. The 71-year old agricultural scientist set up a militia to kill Tutsi Rwandans during the genocide of 1994 and was found guilty of the killing of 11 people. Neretse is the first Rwandan to be convicted in Belgium for the Rwandan genocide where up to one million people were killed.

With "A Wake Up Call On The Environment. A Student Manifesto" French students want to force companies to become more ecological. If not, they say they will not work for them.

It is tempting to shun the issue of the misuse of EU funds altogether, as it might play into the hands of eurosceptics. But keeping silent pre-empts the healthy debate that is so vital to a genuine European democracy.

The Catalan Republican party (ERC) announced on Thursday that the negotiations over the investiture of Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez are suspended until Sánchez's socialists party (PSOE) assess Thursday's verdict of the EU's top court, El País writes. The EU's highest court ruled that the leader of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, had immunity as an MEP since May, although he was sentenced to 13 years in prison in October.

The internationally-recognised government of Libya has accepted an offer from Turkey to send military and logistic support in order to protect itself from an attack against Tripoli. Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier this month that he was considering sending troops. Foreign minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu said last weekend in Doha that Turkey would only do so if Tripoli would request military help.

The UK government rejected on Thursday the demands of Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, to hold a new independence referendum in 2020, Reuters writes. "A second independence referendum next year would be a damaging distraction," Britain's government said in a statement, adding that it would undermine the result of the last vote five years ago when 55 percent of Scots chose to remain in the UK.