Euobserver.com

Dozens of protestors booed Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán on Thursday in Vienna for his racist speech over the weekend, which saw a strong rebuke from Washington. Orbán, meeting with Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer during a one-day visit, defended his comments against creating "peoples of mixed-race", saying they represented a "cultural, civilisational standpoint". "It happens sometimes that I speak in a way that can be misunderstood," Orbán told reporters.

China's ambitions and clearly-stated strategic objectives are no less than delegitimising and finally replacing what it views as the Western-dominated and unfair existing world order. It denounces the current global system as the main source of instability and insecurity.

Making the EU target to reduce gas demand by 15 percent this winter mandatory should be decided unanimously and not by a qualified majority vote, Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki told broadcaster Polsat News on Thursday. "We absolutely favour such a vote in this matter… where Poland has the right to veto. We demand it," he said. His comments come after EU energy ministers reach a deal earlier this week.

Estonia announced on Thursday that Russian citizens will no longer enjoy visas or residence permits to study in the country, Reuters reported. The country's foreign ministry will also stop granting short-term work authorisations to Russians and other citizens allied with Belarus with a visa from another EU member state. "The continuation of sanctions against Russia is essential to ensuring relentless pressure on the country," said foreign minister Urmas Reinsalu.

Germany is preparing a bill to impose a levy on households and industry for their gas consumption to help suppliers facing skyrocketing prices, Reuters reported on Thursday. The levy will enter into force on 1 October, affecting all consumers with long-term contracts until the end of September 2024. The tax would be between 1.5 cents and five cents per kilowatt hour, according to German economy minister Robert Habeck.

French president Emmanuel Macron hosts Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman for talks in Paris on Thursday, despite criticism the invitation is inappropriate four years after the murder by Saudi agents of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, AFP reported. Energy concerns will dominate the agenda as fears over power shortages rise. It is the prince's (referred to as MBS) first trip to the EU since the murder of Khashoggi.

Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar on Wednesday unveiled a centre in Istanbul to oversee the export of Ukrainian grain, after a UN deal last week between Russia and Ukraine. The first shipment is expected to depart from Black Sea ports within days. The joint coordination centre (JCC) will oversee departures from three Ukrainian ports, with ships circumventing mines, and will conduct inspections of incoming ships for weapons, Reuters reported.

It comes a day after EU governments approved a watered-down plan to curb gas demand by 15 percent, aimed at lowering consumption, building storage, and sharing supplies if Russia in future cuts all exports.

The Irish government announced on Wednesday it will appoint two extra commissioners to the country's Data Protection Commission, Reuters reports. The move is significant because most major Big Tech platforms — Alphabet (ie Google), Meta (ie Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp), Apple, Microsoft, and Twitter — are based in Ireland. The country hosts the US multinationals for tax reasons, but also, critics say, for its slow and light-touch data privacy regulation.

The Spanish government is to ask the European Parliament to allow Catalan to be used in the chamber, a first for a regional language, Reuters reports. The request could then be extended to Basque and Galician, if regional governments request it. Unanimous approval will be needed first from the EU Council. The move is seen as a conciliatory gesture by the centre-left coalition in Madrid to the Catalonia separatist movement.

The European Commission put forward a new proposal to reduce pesticides in mid-June. But experts warn that it is based on weak rules, and that European agriculture is stuck in a "permanent pesticide-dependence."

The EU court in Luxembourg has thrown out Russia's challenge against a ban on propaganda outlet Russia Today imposed after the invasion of Ukraine.

Bulgaria is preparing for snap elections, likely in October, after the Socialist party abandoned plans to form a new coalition. "It became clear that there is no majority willing to fight corruption ... In that case we will return the mandate to form a government to the president unfulfilled tomorrow," Georgi Svilenski, a senior party member, told press Wednesday, Reuters reports. The previous reformist government was toppled last month.

An internal investigation by the EU Commission found "indicators of compromise" — signs that some staff smartphones were hacked using Israeli-made 'Pegasus' malware — according to a letter from EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders to Dutch MEP Sophie in 't Veld on 25 July, seen by Reuters. The probe was triggered when Apple warned Reynders back in 2021 his phone might have been hacked with Pegasus, he added.

Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan's minister of ecology and natural resources, talks about the country's environmental challenges.

Hotel Giardino, in the tiny skiing resort of Breno, Italy, is run by a staff of refugees as part of a good-news programme aimed at integrating migrants.

The top 22 Russian and Belarusian firms in Lithuania used to make billions of euros, pay little tax, and employ relatively few people before the Ukraine war and EU sanctions regime, Lithuanian newspaper lrt.lt reports. The firms — mostly sales agents for Belarusian and Russian goods — earned €1.2bn in revenues last year, paid €70m in tax, and employed 2,000 people. BMZ Baltija employed 12 people and earned €230m.

Germany aims to spend up to €13bn a year in future on updating buildings to become more energy-efficient ones, compared to €9.6bn this year, its economy minister Robert Habeck said Tuesday. "Consuming less energy is the cheapest and most efficient contribution to more independence and climate protection and helps to save on energy costs," he said. Funding for renovations will come from state lender KfW and a new "climate fund".

The EU needs to install 76 gigawatts of additional wind and solar energy by 2026, instead of 38 gigawatts — as is being forecast by industry — in order to meet climate goals, according to UK think-tank Ember. "Europe no longer lacks renewables ambition, but it is now facing an implementation gap," it said. Finland, Croatia, Lithuania and Sweden were the only EU states on a trajectory to meet goals.

Greece has proposed a new EU mechanism to compensate industries affected by EU plans to restrict gas use. "By offering financial incentives, rather than relying on the penalty of interruptions during an emergency, the proposal is more likely to unlock a firm and sizeable response from industry," Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a letter to the EU Commission, Reuters reports. Russia supplies 40 percent of Greek gas.