Euobserver.com

As ex-national leaders, we know it's not easy to withstand public pressures and put collective interests ahead of domestic concerns. But without strong institutional leadership, EU values themselves risk ringing hollow, not least to those seeking protection on Europe's shores.

MEPs approved on Wednesday an increase of €100m to the budget for the EU's research programmes (€80m for Horizon 2020) and youth mobility (€20m for Erasmus+), following NGO campaigning and an agreement between the EU Parliament and the Council on the EU's 2019 budget. The increased budget aims, among other things, to allocate 35 percent of Horizon 2020's budget to climate-related research.

We are only baffled by how nakedly Ursula von der Leyen's commission represents the very crisis affecting the EU. These commission nominees can expect their toughest questioning yet, they must be held accountable to those they should be representing.

EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said he is not emotionally attached to the Irish backstop, but workable solutions are required to keep the peace on the island.

The German federal government has passed a blockchain strategy designed to unlock the potential of this new technology, in both Germany and Europe, and prevent the risks associated with the implementation of these new technologies.

Poland's ambassador to the UK, Arkady Rzegocki, has written a letter to the 830,000 or so Poles living in the UK inviting them to go home because the Polish economy was doing well and because Brexit posed questions on their ability to remain in Britain. "I think it is a very good opportunity to come back to Poland," he also said on BBC radio on Wednesday.

British people "didn't need a lecture from anybody on how to run their country  ... and that includes Brussels" because the UK once "built the greatest empire" in the world and "held off the Nazis", Woody Johnson, the US ambassador in London, said Tuesday. His WW2 references echoed British eurosceptic rhetoric on "standing up to Europe". US president Donald Trump has also praised Brexit and verbally mauled the European Union.

British chaos over Brexit has dampened other member states' potential appetite for leaving Europe, Villeroy de Galhau, a French governor of the European Central Bank (ECB), said Tuesday. "It is a gratitude we have to the British today," he said at an event in the London School of Economics, Reuters reported, in comments which risked giving ammunition to British claims the EU was trying to punish the UK for leaving.

The Soviet Union never invaded Poland in World War Two, Russia has said, in a new version of history with disturbing implications for modern times.

EU law requires us to give two days' notice to get the assistance we need, even for our daily commutes. We can't travel like everyone else. It is frustrating, annoying and time-consuming. In short, it is unacceptable.

The European Union on Tuesday condemned Israel's latest move to approve a new settlement, currently an outpost, in the Jordan Valley. The Israeli decision follows recent announcements about the possible annexation of the valley and the northern Dead Sea area. "The EU calls on Israel to end all settlement activity and to dismantle the outposts erected since March 2001, in line with prior obligations," said the EU, in a statement.

Scotlands will keep domestic rules aligned with EU law, even if forced to leave as part of Brexit, first minister Nicola Sturgeon said in Potsdam, Germany, on Tuesday, where she received the M100 Sanssouci media award. A recently-tabled continuity bill "will enable Scotland to keep pace with EU regulations in policy areas that we have responsibility for... and be better placed to rejoin in the future", she said.

Spain's acting prime minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday announced another general election, the fourth in four years, following his failed attempts to cobble together a government with enough support from the parliament. "It has been impossible to complete the mandate given to us by the Spanish people on April 28," he said, in a statement, blaming rival parties for the impasse. The new election date is now 10 November.

Turkey's pro-government Anadolu Agency reported that president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is stepping up internal pressure to meet the criteria for the process of visa-liberalisation dialogue with the European Union. "In order to ensure the completion of visa liberalisation for our citizens, it is necessary to accelerate the efforts to meet the criteria registered in the Visa Liberalisation Roadmap," he said in a circular published in the Official Gazette.

EU outgoing council president Donald Tusk on Tuesday said the EU should back accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania. He praised North Macedonia's efforts on migration, relations with Bulgaria, and efforts to end a bitter name dispute with Greece. He also said Albania's path towards the EU is now closer. The EU is next month set to decide on whether to launch talks with the two Balkan states.

These developments will largely determine who will be running the world in the coming decades and perhaps generations. If the Europeans can't find an answer over the five years, they will be toast. And we haven't even mentioned climate change.

Apple, supported by Ireland, challenged on Tuesday in the EU General Court in Luxembourg the EU commission's 2016 ruling that obliged the tech company to pay €13bn in taxes to Ireland. This figure "defies reality and common sense", Apple said. The EU argued that Ireland allowed Apple to take advantage over other companies located in the country. Any further appeal would go to the EU Court of Justice.

British prime minister Boris Johnson should have provided the Supreme Court with a witness statement, setting out why he prorogued parliament for five weeks ahead of a possible no-deal Brexit, lawyers for activists bringing a case against the government told the court on Tuesday. A verdict by the Supreme Court on whether the suspension was legal, and whether it can even rule on the issue, will come this week.

Former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi announced he will leave the Democratic Party (PD) with some 30 other members of parliament. He said that what pushed him out of the party is "a lack of vision of the future". It was Renzi who proposed to form a government between PD and the Five Star Movement, in order to avoid elections after the League left the government in August.

European People's Party group leader Manfred Weber defended Ursula von der Leyen's decision to rename a commission portfolio, partly dealing with migration, "protecting the European way of life". He said it means rescuing people in the Mediterranean.