Euobserver.com

The EU should tax US or other foreign firms which cause excessive pollution in Europe, Italy's nominee for financial affairs commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, has said. "We'll try to be very quick and effective on a carbon border tax," he said at his European Parliament hearing Thursday. There should be an EU-wide tax on giant digital firms, he added, in remarks that risked enflaming an ongoing US-EU trade conflict.

Incoming European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will live, eat and sleep in a tiny new 25m2 flat next to her office in the EU commission's Berlaymont building's top floor in Brussels, German daily Die Welt reported. The arrangement would cut security costs and save von der Leyen from Brussels traffic. Von der Leyen also lived at her ministry in Berlin, while keeping her main residence in Hanover.

Scotland's highest civil court will hear on Friday a request from three individuals seeking to force a delay of Brexit. The legal proceedings are issued against prime minister Boris Johnson personally to force him to abide to the "Benn Act", passed by opposition MPs in the UK parliament and ordering the government to request a Brexit delay if a deal has not been signed off by 19 October.

What Greece needs is for its new government to have the courage to say what everyone knows needs to happen - namely that the large-scale returns to Turkey are off the table and that the island containment policy is unsustainable.

Lithuania's commissioner-designate, Virginijus Sinkevičius, unveiled during his three-hour hearing on Thursday a package of proposals to protect the environment - from the bottom of the oceans to the top of the sky.

Estonia's European commissioner-designate for the energy portfolio, Kadri Simson, did not manage to fully convince MEPs during her grilling. She avoided questions on concrete actions for the energy transition in Europe.

Denying the Holocaust happened is not a form of freedom of expression protected under the European Human Rights Convention, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday. In 2010 Udo Pastoers was convicted under German law for denying the Holocaust, which he challenged citing freedom of expression. But the court ruled Pastoers "had intentionally stated untruths in order to defame the Jews and the persecution that they had suffered."

The captain of the Sea Watch 3 migrant-rescue boat, Carola Rackete, says the draft migrant deal between some EU member states on disembarkation may force vessels to take orders from Libya.

EU Council president Donald Tusk said Thursday the EU was "unconvinced" by the Brexit plan put forward by British prime minister Boris Johnson this week. While not ruling it out entirely, Tusk tweeted that the EU stands "fully behind Ireland" and remains "open, but still unconvinced" by Johnson's ideas for customs checks away from the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

MEPs in charge of Brexit on Thursday said that the UK's proposal, submitted on Wednesday, do not represent a basis for a divorce agreement. "The proposals do not address the real issues that need to be resolved," their statement said. MEPs added that the plans do not resolve the Irish border issue, as border checks would be still needed, and any solution would be conditional on the Northern Ireland assembly.

An inaugural EU-Arctic forum is heralding a new impetus in EU efforts in the Arctic. This coincides with increased focus on the Arctic from China, Russia and the US.

French president Emmanuel Macron's EU nominee risks being scalped by the EP after a difficult hearing that focused on her financial improprieties.

The French government is considering monitoring the social media accounts of taxpayers to detect possible tax fraud. According to France24, authorities will control purchases on sites such as eBay or Le Bon Coin. The French National Commission for Data Protection and Liberties (CNIL) stated that the proposal may infringe on freedom of thought and expression. In the UK, a similar system called 'Connect' uses social media to identify tax evaders.

Malta's nominee for EU commissioner for the new equality portfolio, Helena Dalli, promised on Wednesday (2 October) an ambitious programme to fight all types of discrimination, stereotypes, and gender-related issues across Europe.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he does not share the "common excitement" about Greta Thunberg's speech at the UN general assembly last month, reported Reuters. "No one has explained to Greta that the modern world is complex and [that] (…) people in Africa or in many Asian countries want to live at the same wealth level as in Sweden," said Putin during an energy forum in Moscow.

After a 15-year legal battle, the US was given the green light to impose tariffs on EU products. The EU is threatening countermeasures but wants to negotiate. Transatlantic ties have suffered another blow.

The EU commission said on Wednesday evening there were "problematic points " in the new Brexit proposals from London on Northern Ireland that will need "further work in the coming days". The main concerns are having to obtain the consent of the Northern Ireland assembly to keep the province under EU regulatory rules and the "substantive customs rules", as Boris Johnson wants Northern Ireland to leave the EU's customs union.

Margaritas Schinas at his hearing before MEPs on Thursday has an opportunity to put the core values of the EU – peace, sustainable development and human rights – back at the heart of EU migration policy.

British PM Boris Johnson proposes regulatory alignment between the EU and Northern Ireland to avoid most of the checks at the border, but wants the province to leave the EU's customs union when the UK does.

Helena Dalli, the Maltese nominee for the new equality portfolio, has promised to make a proposal on pay transparency in her first 100 days, to tackle the gender pay gap and gender pension pay gap. She also committed to monitoring that the directive on work-life balance is fully implemented by member states. "The 21st century must be the century of women being equal," said Dalli.