Euobserver.com

The first female commission president and her (almost) gender-balanced team can take office on 1 December. Despite a large majority of MEPs backing the new commission, many warned that their support was not a "blank cheque".

A new Eurobarometer survey reveals that more than two-thirds of Europeans (71 percent) believe that the EU should address air-quality related problems with additional measures. The survey also states that the majority of respondents do not feel well-informed about air quality problems in their country. Air pollution causes over 400,000 premature deaths every year in the EU, according to the commissioner for environment, Karmenu Vella.

Over 40 MEPs from different parties signed a letter addressed to president Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday calling on the new commission to act as a mediator between Spain and Catalonia and to ensure that human and fundamental rights are protected in Spain. "This European internal affair should count on a solution led by Europe," it states. Former MEPs Oriol Junqueras and Raül Romeva are among the imprisoned politicians.

MEPs approved on Wednesday a European solidarity fund aid to Greece worth €4.5m, after heavy rain and storms hit Crete in February. The resulting floods and landslides caused the loss of human life and consequences for the country's infrastructure and economic activities. The European financial assistance will mainly help to restore transport infrastructure and support clean-up operations.

The General Court of the European Union on Wednesday ruled that the EU's border and coast guard agency, known as Frontex, does not have to reveal information regarding their border operations. "The judgement takes for granted Frontex's speculation on the disadvantages of even the most simple public knowledge about its missions," said the lawyer representing the campaigners, who may now appeal.

MEPs gave the green light to the entire new European Commission during the plenary session in Strasbourg - but with the abstention of the Greens and a rejection by the leftist group GUE/NGL.

A new report of the European Agency for Fundamental Rights calls for "a clear legal framework" to regulate facial recognition technologies, saying that collecting facial images of individuals without their consent can harm people's dignity.

Joseph Muscat is hanging on to power by his fingernails amid intense domestic and international pressure over his handling of a journalist's killing.

The European People's Party, the largest group in the European Parliament, is not willing to support Guy Verhofstadt as chairman of the new Conference on the Future of Europe, De Standaard writes. This conference was demanded by the parliament and supported by commission president Ursula von der Leyen. It is also the idea of a common French-German non-paper which indicates the chair should go to an "important European personality".

In a report the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction says "drug market-related violence and intimidation is a growing concern in the EU," and that illicit drugs are "the most valuable market" for criminal organisations in the EU, AP writes. The agency's chief warned that fighting drugs should be "an urgent priority." Europe's cannabis market was worth at least €11.6bn in 2017, followed by cocaine with a €9.1bn.

Moldova's new prime minister, Ion Chicu, said his country might make a possible "pause" in its cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, the Moscow Times reports. Earlier he announced he is negotiating a $500m [€454m] loan with Russia. Chicu's minority socialist government took power after the former pro-Western government lost a no-confidence vote on 12 November. Moldova received $157m out of $182m under a three-year IMF program expiring in 2020.

Following the large earthquake in Albania, leaving several people dead and many injured, the country requested emergency support to the European Union, through the European Civil Protection Mechanism. Commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management Christos Stylianides said "search and rescue teams from Italy, Greece and Romania are already on their way," and thanked "Hungary, Germany, Croatia, France, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Turkey for their offers of assistance."

German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung this week reported that the incoming European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen wants to invest some €3 trillion in climate protection by 2030. The newspaper said some €1 trillion would come from the EU budget, with the remainder shored up by European Investment Bank.

A survey by Germany's Bertelsmann Foundation on Wednesday found that environmental protection is the most pressing issue among people polled across 27 EU member states. Environmental protection was followed by job protection at 34 percent and social security with 23 percent. Some 12,123 people were surveyed in every EU state except the UK.

I want to make use of my right of reply and take the opportunity to rectify the numerous slanders and unfounded accusations against King Leopold II and the Belgians who created and developed the Congo.

On Wednesday (27 November), European ambassadors will discuss plans to set up a European Peace Facility (EPF) to provide up to €10.5bn for EU military operations and security assistance.

The Mercosur trade deal and the US trade policy will be debated in the European Parliament's trade committee, where chairman Bernd Lange wants to make genuine progress on enforcing sustainable development measures through the EU's trade agreements.

On Wednesday (26 Novebmer), MEPs will finally cast their votes on the proposed new European Commission, headed by Ursula von der Leyen. For Renew Europe, there will be no 'carte blanche'.

Both EU member states and the parliament want to be ready in January with an agreement on how to involve citizens in a serious attempt to rethink the future of the EU. But institutional issues would come first.

The Maltese prime minister's chief of staff, Keith Schembri, resigned Tuesday in an escalation of the police inquiry into the murder of the prominent anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017. Schembri, who had been accused by Caruana Galizia of corruption, has been questioned by police. The inquiry intensified last week with the arrest of Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech, who allegedly had business links with Schembri.