Euobserver.com

Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte said Friday that the EU must not accept the threats of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said he would push millions of Syrian refugees into Europe. "Turkish efforts to welcome in Syrian refugees cannot then become a tool of blackmail for a military initiative that we cannot accept and which must immediately stop," Conte said, adding that Erdogan should stop military operations in Syria.

EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Friday that EU ambassadors agreed to open intensive "tunnel" negotiations on British PM Boris Johnson's latest proposals, aiming to reach an agreement by next Thursday's summit, the Guardian writes. Johnson's proposals for the Irish border had been highly criticised by Barnier. However, Jonhson and his Irish counterpart, Leo Varadkar, concluded talks on Wednesday saying that there is a "pathway" to an agreement.

The European Commission on Friday released a statement saying the "EU and the UK have agreed to intensify discussions over the coming days." The statement followed a meeting between EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay. The UK is set to leave the European Union on 31 October as outstanding issues remain entrenched on efforts to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland after Brexit.

Trains across Norway stopped for two hours on Thursday as employees walked out to protest against the implementation of the EU's 4th Railway Package, a set of legislative texts designed to complete the single market for rail services. Protestors said the rules would weaken train services in Norway and have announced more strikes for 31 October. Norway is bound to follow EU rules due to its EEA membership.

EU diplomats stood alone against the US and Russia on Syria at the UN on Thursday, painting a bleak picture of transatlantic relations.

As Poland's combative Law and Justice party faces elections this Sunday, the commission once again sends a case on its domestic judiciary reforms to the European Court of Justice for breaking EU rules.

In reaction to the European Parliament's veto of France's European commission nominee Sylvie Goulard, French president Emmanuel Macron said he warned EU commission president-elect Ursula von der Leyen that Goulard might face difficulties as she is under investigation. He also said that von der Leyen told him she called the main EP group leaders, who promised their support. The S&D and EPP leadership deny receiving such a call.

France's finance minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday the EU is ready to impose sanctions on US products if an agreement is not reached over the EU's illegal state-aid for aircraft dispute. "The American administration should be aware that if there is no settlement, Europe will not have any other choice but to retaliate and to put [on] sanctions," Le Maire said after a meeting of EU finance ministers.

EU officials said on Thursday that the EU is working on a new approach to fight financial crime and the flow of dirty money, Reuters reported. The European Central Bank and the EU parliament proposed establishing a new agency against money laundering that "should have an independent structure and decision-making [competence]," Finnish finance minister Mika Lintila said. A decision on this new framework is expected in December.

France opposes the start of EU membership talks with North Macedonia and Albania, saying the EU has too many other challenges to cope with for now, Reuters reported. More than half of the EU member states are in favour of the talks. If not, proponents say, the EU would leave a strategic vacuum that might be filled by Russia, Turkey and China.

The European Union decided to impose 66.4 percent tariffs on Chinese steel road wheels in a sanction against dumping, according to Bloomberg. Chinese companies sold steel road wheels for cars, tractors and trailers under the real cost causing harm to European manufacturers. The market is worth €800m and employs around 3,600 people, mainly in Germany, France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Italy, Romania and Poland.

The EU approved on Thursday a proposal from the Greek government designed to tackle the stock of non-performing loans weighing on the balance sheets of Greek banks. EU commissioner in charge of competition policy, Margrethe Vestager, welcomed this solution as a "good example of how member states can help banks [to] clean up their balance sheets without granting [state] aid or distorting competition."

The European Commission is one step away from taking Hungary to court if it does not offer a credible explanation for why it denied detained migrants food in its transit zones along the Serbian border.

While our politics is dominated by old and bullying alpha males and the negativity they have injected into our times, there is at least one day of hope - and it is through unleashing the power of young girls.

The Irish and British prime ministers, Leo Varadkar and Boris Johnson, said on Thursday they could "see a pathway to a possible deal" on Brexit, after talks in the north of England on Thursday. Although time is running out before next week's EU summit for a last-minute Brexit deal, solving the Northern Ireland border problem, that statement was more optimistic than expected, sending the pound up against the dollar.

Romania's government collapsed on Thursday after losing a no-confidence vote - only weeks ahead of the presidential election. Prime minister Viorica Dancila was the country's third premier in seven months, while her Social Democrats party (PSD) had been in power since 2016. Romania has for several years been plagued by government corruption scandals. President Klaus Iohannis will now choose a replacement government. General elections are only due in late 2020.

France's nominee for the European Commission has lost the vote on her candidacy - with 82 MEPs against and 29 in favour - after tough ethics questions in a second hearing.

Greek environment and energy minister Kostis Chatzidakis and his Bulgarian counterpart Temenuzhka Petkova signed on Thursday an agreement about the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), reported Greek daily Kathimerini. This €240m project, partly funded by the EU, will allow Bulgaria to have greater access to natural gas from the Caspian sea. However, the European Investment Bank intends to stop any funding of fossil fuels, including natural gas, by 2020.

A new report from Oxfam reveals that many of the people producing the food on sale in European supermarkets are victims of poverty pay, harsh working conditions, gender discrimination, and human rights abuses.

Turkey's president Recep Tayyib Erdogan threatened in a speech to "open the gates to Europe for 3.6 million Syrian refugees who asked for asylum in Turkey" if the EU continues to criticise Turkey for its attack in northern Syria, and if it calls it an invasion. The EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini called upon Turkey "to immediately stop its unilateral military action", after it attacked Syria on Wednesday.