Euobserver.com

The European Committee of the Regions has approved a resolution that supports a bigger budget for a far-reaching Green Deal. Karl-Heinz Lambertz, president of the committee, said: "The Finnish EU Presidency budget proposal is not enough to respond to the climate emergency – we need 1.3 percent of the EU-27's GNI and a clear plan on where the new funds for the Green Deal will come from."

Bosnia has finalised the three-year overhaul of a heavily-polluting power plant, the Ugljevik coal facility, which used to emit 60 times more the amount of suffer dioxide, a poisonous gas, than is normally allowed in the EU. The €80m renovation was financed by a Japanese investor and designed to meet EU demands, but a recent French veto on further enlargement has rocked confidence in Europe's commitment to the region.

EU finance ministers said on Thursday aviation could be a sector which needed to "update provisions" on taxation to fall in line with climate goals. Airlines currently pay no fuel taxes in Europe in a move which saves the industry €27bn a year, according to one NGO, and which has helped to boost cheap air travel and related emissions. Sea transport has a similar tax waiver in the EU.

Fifteen operatives from Russia's GRU military intelligence service travelled back and forth to the Haute-Savoie region in the French alps between 2014 and 2018, probably to plot attacks against targets in the EU, French daily Le Monde has said, citing a senior French intelligence source. Germany, on Wednesday, also expelled two Russian diplomats over the contract killing of a Georgian national in Germany who had been a Kremlin adversary.

According to the internationally-recognised government of Libya, around 800 mercenaries are fighting with eastern commander Khalifa Haftar to take the Libyan capital Tripoli, The Moscow Times reports. The government accuses Moscow of escalating the conflict in Libya. "We are going to visit Russia after we collect all evidence and present [it] to the authorities and see what they say," Khaled al-Meshri, the head of the government's advisory body said.

In his first interview after leaving his post as president of the European Council, Donald Tusk told The Guardian Brexit is "one of the most spectacular mistakes" in EU history, adding it was "the most painful and saddest experience" during his term in office. He was equally tough on the French veto of North Macedonia accession, calling it "strategically and politically a huge mistake."

The European Parliament's civil liberties committee offers a snapshot of the European "state of mind", says its chair Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar. Its biggest challenge will be getting member states to unblock the EU asylum package.

Few people know that the code of conduct for the European Council president is substantially weaker than the code of conduct for commissioners.

British PR firm Chelgate worked for the Maltese government on the case of murdered journalist Caruana Galizia, three well-placed sources have told EUobserver.

The EU executive responds that its public opinion survey is not a statistic, but a snapshot, after concerns were raised over the method that could result in pro-EU bias.

Last year (2018) the number of beer breweries in Europe passed 10,000, double the amount of five years ago, according to the Brewers of Europe. The increase is almost entirely due to an explosion of microbreweries, mostly in the UK and France. Despite an overall decrease in alcohol consumption, beer consumption in Europe increased, partly due to the growing popularity of non- and low-alcohol beers.

The EU council said on Thursday that "stablecoins" (a type of cryptocurrency designed to minimise the volatility of the price) "should not come into operation until all of these risks and concerns are properly addressed". The lack of adequate information about the operability and risks of stablecoins makes it difficult to reach definitive conclusions on whether and how the existing EU regulatory framework applies, the institution concluded.

The Green Deal commissioner, Frans Timmermans, said the costs of inaction in climate policy are "tremendously high". However, it is still unclear if member states will unanimously agree on the EU's 2050 climate-neutrality goal at next week's summit.

French president Emmanuel Macron will face one the biggest strikes of his mandate on Thursday as unions organised more than 240 demonstrations. French rail workers, air-traffic controllers, teachers and public sector staff are expected to march across France against the proposed changes to the pension system. About half of the Eurostar trains between Paris and London have been cancelled. Many schools and shops will also be closed.

On Wednesday a new regulation by Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, came into force increasing its participation in border surveillance and support for EU member states and Schengen countries, Ekathimerini writes. It is a new step in the creation of a unified European border service of 10,000 border and coast guards to support national authorities with border control and migration management.

Bomb squad experts on Wednesday defused a grenade after it was thrown over the wall of a center for unaccompanied foreign minors in Madrid, El País reported. According to police sources, the device was a type of grenade used by the Spanish army. However, the amount of explosive was very small and there were no reported injuries. Far-right party Vox has repeatedly criticised the facility.

A study found that 500,000 hermit crabs died after being trapped in plastic bottles and other rubbish on two remote archipelagos at the Indian and Pacific Ocean, the Guardian reported. This could produce a possible global species decline. The researchers from University of Tasmania and the Natural History Museum in London previously revealed that the Cocos and Henderson islands are polluted with millions of pieces of plastic.

Israel's foreign ministry said on Twitter that it fully supports Greece, and expressed concern over Turkey's increasing activities in the Eastern Mediterranean. "Israel follows with concern recent steps taken by Turkey in the Mediterranean. Ignoring customary international laws of the sea can jeopardise peace and stability in the area," the ministry said, adding that "Israel reiterates its full support and solidarity with Greece in its maritime zones."

A group of Irish content moderators are preparing to take legal action for personal injuries caused by exposure to "disturbing content" during their employment by third-party company CPL in Dublin, on behalf of Facebook, the Irish Times writes. Facebook said in a statement that it is "committed to providing support for those that review content for Facebook as we recognise that reviewing certain types of content can sometimes be difficult".

The European Parliament's development committee says its overarching priority will be to deliver on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Achieving that will require an action plan and targeted investments, says its chair Swedish centre-right MEP Tomas Tobé.