Euobserver.com

EU defence and foreign ministers meeting in Helsinki on Thursday will hold informal talks on the security implications of climate change "for the first time ever", EU top diplomat Federica Mogherini said. They will also discuss hostile propaganda, cyber attacks, and maritime security, including in the Gulf. Defence ministers met executives from top tech firms on Wednesday to discuss emerging threats posed by artificial intelligence.

Junkcer failed to protect the public interest from powerful corporate lobbies - von Der Leyen must do better.

Italy's far-right deputy leader, Matteo Salvini, wanted it all. He gambled on elections, but instead he got a new government composed of his arch-enemies and himself out in the cold.

Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft have all been listening to users' private conversations, prompting investigations by EU data authorities.

The fiscally prudent Germany could miss the EU's debt target of 60 percent of GDP due to a possible downturn in its economy. "Germany has not abandoned to stick to the goal, but recent economic developments mean that this target will be harder to hit", a finance ministry spokesman said Wednesday according to Reuters. Germany has in the past led criticism on overspending by left-leaning governments, for instance, in Italy.

Europe is witnessing a surge in measles, with more cases in the first half of 2019 than in all of 2018, according to the World Health Organisation. Some 90,000 cases and 37 deaths were reported in 48 countries in the region. Albania, the Czech Republic, Greece, and the UK lost their measles-free status. The worst affected was Ukraine, with more than 54,000 cases and 18 deaths in early 2019.

Six German journalist organisations sent an open letter to Germany's interior minister Horst Seehofer asking for protection from far-right groups, Deutsche Welle reported. Police raids on far-right networks had discovered lists of journalists as potential targets. The organisations say current levels of protection is insufficient, as police encourage threatened journalists to "withdraw from public life". The organisations want authorities to inform those at risk and give recommendations for their safety.

"Sinister" and "undemocratic" - that is what senior EU politicians and rebel British MPs think of Boris Johnson's parliament shut-down plan for Brexit.

Blackouts, food shortages, and violence for migrants at "EU hotspot" on Greek island, despite billions given to Athens in European funds.

Finland, the reigning EU presidency, has urged EU foreign service chief Federica Mogherini to use "all tools" to help stop Amazon fires. "Recent actions in Brazil in particular risk leading toward a vicious spiral toward further destruction of the rain forest," Finland's environment minister Krista Mikkonen said in a letter to Mogherini on Tuesday. "The international community cannot let the development reach a point of no return," Mikkonen added.

Former MEP Sylvie Goulard (En Marche/Renew) has been nominated by France to be its next European commissioner. Currently deputy director of the Bank of France, she is a former minister of defence and former president of the European Movement, France. With Goulard, the European Commission will have one more member of the liberal Renew group, and a one more female candidate, amid a target of 13 of 28 female commissioners.

Another 40 people perished off the Libyan coast on Tuesday, as EU politics puts halt to search and rescue operations.

A spokesperson for Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro has said the country will accept foreign aid to extinguish Amazon fires. Bolsonaro earlier declined €18m from the G7 states and insulted French president Emmanuel Macron over the offer. The Brazilian spokesman said his country must have full control of foreign grants and that outside help must not impinge on its sovereignty.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and other British opposition leaders have agreed not to call for a confidence vote on prime minister Boris Johnson in early September in order to create a care-taker government. Instead, they will work on legislation to make a no-deal-Brexit illegal. The opposition leaders also agreed to organise an alternative parliament in case Johnson forced a delay in recalling MPs until after Brexit day on 31 October.

The number of women in decision-making posts has grown in recent years, but they are still out-numbered by men in EU, national, and local politics, figures show.

The number of women in decision-making posts has grown in recent years, but they are still out-numbered by men in EU, national, and local politics, figures show.

Despite an earlier promise to announce the nomination of its European commissioner on Monday, France said it will postpone the decision to an unspecified date. France and Italy are the only countries not to have put forward candidates yet. The new commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, needs at least one more female candidate to reach her gender-balance target of 13 women out of 28 commissioners.

Wednesday 28 August is the last day for the Five Star Movement (M5S) and the Democratic Party (PD) to form a government. If not, president Sergio Mattarella will install a care-taker government and call for elections. On Tuesday, talks resumed as PD agreed on Giuseppe Conte to remain prime minister. Remaining points of discussion are migration, the budget, and a M5S plan to cut the amount of members of parliament.

If confrontations gain pace between Brussels and Rome, let alone with Berlin and Paris, they could cause political radicalisation and eurozone instability.

Juncker and Johnson to speak for second time this summer on the phone, while London's top Brexit man will be in Brussels on Wednesday for "technical talks".