Euobserver.com

The Catalan leader who led the failed bid for independence in 2017, Carles Puigdemont, was released with conditions by the Belgian authorities on Friday, after Spain's court issued a European arrest warrant for him earlier this week. According to El Pais, Puigdemont put himself at the disposal of the Belgian authorities on Thursday, who have queried Spain about Puigdemont's possible immunity.

EU commissioner of financial services and future vice-president of the commission, Valdis Dombroskis, said on Friday that Facebook's Libra and other digital currencies "need an international and coordinated approach". Dombroskis also confirmed that the commission had received answers to the questions it sent to Facebook earlier this month regarding the risks of the Libra project.

Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte on Friday deplored that EU membership negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia failed at the EU summit. Conte said that the decision would be remembered as a "failure". "I did everything I could to support North Macedonia and Albania," Tusk told reporters. Denmark, France, and the Netherlands rejected opening accession talks with the two Balkan countries.

Remarks to Congress by the US ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, have shed light on the unusual nature of American diplomacy under president Donald Trump.

Denmark, France and the Netherlands opposed opening talks on EU accession with Albania and North Macedonia in a blow that may invite greater Russian influence in the Balkan region.

It is too easy only to criticise the rightists and their fixation with barbed wire, Trump for his wall on the border with Mexico, Orban for his xenophobia.

Catalan pro-independence supporters clashed with police and right-wing parties on Thursday, during the fourth and worst night of violence in Barcelona. Earlier that day the Catalan president, Quim Torra, condemned the violent protests but blamed "infiltrators" for the disturbances. "We cannot allow groups of infiltrators and provocateurs to destroy the image of the independence movement," Torra said, insisting that the "protests should be peaceful".

The United States have imposed new tariffs on European products starting on Friday. The tariffs of in total $7.5bn [€6.7bn] are in place on a list of products including airplanes (Airbus), French wine, Italian cheese and Scottish whisky. French minister of economy, Bruno Le Maire warned that "these decisions would have very negative consequences both from an economic and a political point of view".

A report by a G7 task force states that no digital currencies, including Facebook's Libra, should begin operations until they are proven safe and secure, Reuters reported. "Private sector entities that design stablecoin arrangements are expected to address a wide array of legal, regulatory and oversight challenges and risks," the report added. The text warns that cryptocurrencies could hinder efforts to fight money laundering, terror financing, cybersecurity, taxation or privacy.

US president Donald Trump tweeted "Great news out of Turkey!" after vice-president Mike Pence and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed a five-day ceasefire in northern Syria and a 32-km safe-zone from the Turkish border. This would allow the Syrian Kurdish forces to withdraw peacefully. Kurdish political leader Saleh Muslim welcomed the ceasefire but rejected the Turkish "occupation of northern Syria", adding they would defend themselves.

US president Donald Trump's acting chief of staff, Mike Mulvaney, announced the US will host the 2020 G7 summit at the Trump National Doral Miami resort in Florida, Deutsche Welle reports. The decision drew immediate criticism as Trump would financially benefit from his presidency. Mulvaney also said Russia might be invited, which would be a first since it was excluded from the G8 after its invasion in Ukraine in 2014.

Turkey's army-linked pension fund has purchased a 70-percent stake in a major Finnish defence manufacturer, which makes products such as reinforced steel for armoured vehicles, Finnish media Uutiset writes. The ministries of employment and economy closed the deal in April. Last year, Turkey was Finland's most important arms sales partner. Earlier this week EU states agreed to stop arms sales to Turkey over its invasion of Syria.

EU leaders on Thursday night endorsed the deal reach by EU and UK negotiators - now it is up to British PM Boris Johnson to convince a majority of MPs to ratify the agreement in a showdown on Saturday.

Turkey has agreed to a ceasefire in northern Syria between its forces and their allied rebels and Syrian Kurds. The agreement followed a meeting between US vice-president Mike Pence and Turkish president Recep Erdogan. Pence said there will be a pause in military operations for 120 hours after which "Turkey has then agreed to a permanent ceasefire." EU leaders in Brussels are set to discuss Turkey at an EU summit.

The EU-27 leaders endorsed the revised Brexit deal agreed earlier on Thursday at the EU summit in Brussels. The deal now needs to be ratified by the British parliament on Saturday and the European parliament possibly next week to enter into force. "I am happy and relieved that we reached a deal, but I am also sad because Brexit is happening," EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said.

Time and again, across the world, efforts to "decapitate" non-violent movements, and refusals to engage in political dialogue with them, have led to situations like we are seeing today in Catalonia.

European Parliament president David Sassoli on Thursday described Turkey's invasion into northern Syrian as an act of war. "We are not only worried, we are angry. This is an act of war," he said, demanding the EU steps up pressure against Ankara to withdraw. EU leaders at a summit are set to discuss the issue after a meeting of foreign affairs ministers collectively condemned Turkey, a Nato member.

The European parliament is able to ratify the revised Brexit deal before the 31 October deadline, the parliament's president David Sassoli suggested on Thursday after meeting EU leaders. "We are ready to do our duty, which is to examine the text and and adopt the necessary procedure so that the time limits are respected," he told reporters. The deal also needs to be ratified by the British parliament.

The new Brexit deal would "undermine the integrity" of the UK and the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party was "unable" to vote for it, the party said in a statement Thursday. The fact that goods travelling from Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK would be subject to EU customs and VAT rules would see Northern Ireland "start to diverge" from Great Britain's legal order, it added.

The EU Commission president-elect Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that the Brexit deal agreed between the UK and the EU on Thursday is "good for people and good for the single market". "I will work in my commission for a good relationship [with the UK] in the future," she added, hoping that the deal currently on the table passes the British parliament on Saturday.