Euobserver.com

Didier Reynders, Belgium's nominee for EU justice commissioner promised to be tough on Hungary and Poland, while brushing off corruption allegations in his parliament hearing.

Sylvie Goulard, the French nominee for EU single market commissioner, has said her alleged misuse of EU funds while an MEP was an administrative error and her work for a US think tank was above board. "It's more about an HR management issue", she said on the funds, adding she was "clean" in her hearing Tuesday. "Parliament allows to have a professional activity," she added on the think tank job.

Workers in Greece went on strike on Wednesday, marching through Athens to protest against labour reforms proposed by the new conservative government. Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis's government promised to negotiate fiscal reforms with its European partners, increase net salaries and ease taxation, reported Reuters. However, Greek unions believe these reforms will not reduce unemployment. Greece has the highest rate of unemployment in the EU at around 17 percent.

British prime minister Boris Johnson told his Conservative Party conference on Wednesday that his plans on a Brexit compromise will not involve checks at the border in Northern Ireland, despite reports earlier to the contrary. "We will under no circumstances have checks on or near the border in Northern Ireland, we will respect the peace process," Johnson said. The UK will send its Brexit plans to Brussels later on Wednesday.

The European Commission ought to pursue sanctions procedures against Hungary and Poland on abuse of rule of law and cut their funds from the EU budget if need be, Didier Reynders, Belgium's nominee for EU justice commissioner said Wednesday. "I want to go forward with the Article 7 [sanctions] procedure not only in actual cases that we have but also if it's needed in other cases," he said.

Belgium's EU nominee for justice commissioner, Didier Reynders, denied the "malicious" allegations of corruption recently made against him by a former Belgian intelligence officer at his European Parliament hearing on Wednesday. Reynders said his family had suffered distress and a Belgian prosecutor had dismissed the case due to "no evidence". "Rule of law also means presumption of innocence," he said, before the hearing was interrupted by a power cut.

Poland's nominee for agriculture commissioner, Janusz Wojciechowski, is likely to face a second hearing after MEPs from top political groups lambasted his "vague" performance on Tuesday.

As Madrid seeks to address the 500-year old 'historic mistake' of exiling Jews, 132,226 descendants of Sephardic Jews, mainly from Latin America, have taken the opportunity to request Spanish citizenship before a 30 September deadline. The Jews were ordered in 1492 to either convert to Catholicism or exile. In 2015, Spain passed a law to make up for the medieval expulsion. A similar scheme in Portugal is still open.

The European Commission's possible next home affairs chief, who is responsible for creating a new pact on migration and asylum, struggled to provide MEPs any specific details on how to unblock the impasse over asylum.

France's highest appeal court, Cour de Cassation, on Tuesday rejected proposals from former president Nicolas Sarkozy to avoid facing trial over alleged illegal financing of his failed re-election campaign in 2012. Prosecutors says PR firm Bygmalion invoiced Sarkozy's UMP party rather than the president's campaign, allowing Sarkozy to spend almost double the permitted amount. Former president Jacques Chirac was given a suspended jail term in 2011 for misusing public funds.

UK prime minister Boris Johnson is on Wednesday set to lay out the details of his final Brexit negotiating offer to the EU, reported the BBC. Details reportedly include a secret pact with the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party on a 'two borders' plan, in which Northern Ireland stays under EU single market regulations for agri-food and manufactured goods until at least 2025.

The European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that website operators must get an "active consent" from users before storing their cookies. The case related to German Planet49, a game company, using a pre-ticked checkbox to participate in a promotional lottery as proof of consent. A pre-ticked checkbox is insufficient. Users must be informed of the duration of information storage and whether third parties gets access, the judges found.

Romania's ruling Social Democrats want MEP Dan Nica as their commissioner-designate for transport after their first candidate, Rovana Plumb, was blocked by EU lawmakers, according to party sources quoted by Romanian media. That would however wreck the gender balance in the new commission, which commission president-elect Ursula von der Leyen is keen on. Gabriela Ciot, secretary of state at the foreign ministry, has been mentioned as another possible candidate.

Europe is falling behind in the global competition. There are many reasons for this, but the most obvious one is that it is too difficult and too expensive to do business here.

Britain is to propose creating a string of new customs checkpoints a few kilometres away from the Irish border, leaked proposals say, in an idea immediately rubbished by Ireland.

Phil Hogan, the current agriculture commissioner, told MEPs the EU needs to defend itself in trade disputes but will try to work together with the US, if Washington is a willing partner.

"We have found the €23bn", Italy's premier Giuseppe Conte said on Monday, making it possible to avert a rise in value-added tax in January to ensure Italy complies with EU fiscal rules. Italy is set to unveil its 2020 budget next month. In July, the European Commission urged Italy to reduce the structural deficit by 0.6 percent next year. Italy's standard VAT rate is 22 percent.

While much ink has been spilled on the naming of the new migration "European Way of Life" commissioner, another shift has gone largely unnoticed - the new European Commission will no longer include a commissioner for "Development".

Two years after the former government of Carles Puigdemont held a unilateral independence referendum in defiance of the Spanish courts and constitution, the political and social conflict in Catalonia is still a key issue for both Spain and Europe.

Cache of 18 secret documents and allegations of death threats in fresh legal complaint surrounding Belgium's EU nominee, Didier Reynders, shortly after a low-level prosecutor cleared his name.