Euobserver.com

Trade unions are calling on key MEPs to halt further steps in the legislative procedure on rules on working conditions in the so-called platform economy until Uber's controversial EU lobbying tactics are fully investigated. "Expecting good faith from the digital labour platforms during these procedures is a naïve attitude from the legislator, if not a lack of political responsibility," they said in a letter published on Thursday.

EU Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans called for a memorial day for climate-change victims at a meeting of environment ministers in Prague on Thursday, which also marked the one-year anniversary of floods that killed more than 220 people, mostly in Germany and Belgium. "These erratic weather patterns are a consequence of the climate crisis. And I think it's time we paid a bit more attention to those victims," he said.

Italy was plunged into fresh political turmoil on Thursday as prime minister Mario Draghi announced his resignation after a key ally within his grand coalition government boycotted a parliamentary vote.

Some 100 representatives of civil society organisations, including Transparency International EU and Oxfam, accuse German Green MEP Reinhard Bütikofer of disrespecting a moderator because she was a woman of colour and want him reprimanded.

The EU Ombudsman said missing texts between European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and the boss of Pfizer are a "wake-up call" for all institutions about how they should handle work-related instant messages in the digital era.

The EU is preparing to sign a gas-import deal with Azerbaijan to reduce dependence on Russia following cut-offs to Europe.

Abortion remains criminalised in Malta and Andorra. In Poland, the ultraconservative government is doing everything to ensure that abortion is basically impossible. In Italy, Slovakia, and Croatia, despite abortion being legal, ultraconservative parties have committed themselves to scale-back access.

Since Gergely Karacsony was elected Green mayor of Budapest in 2019, Viktor Orban's government has actively worked not only to constrict the capital's budget, and thereby impede its operations, but also to appropriate urban areas and monopolise large-scale development.

The US has urged Russia to stop deporting people from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, citing reports that indicated Moscow was putting children up for adoption, Reuters reported Wednesday. "Estimates … indicate Russian authorities have  interrogated,  detained  and  forcibly deported between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens, including 260,000 children, from their homes to Russia — often to isolated regions in the Far East," US secretary of state Antony Blinken said.

Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar said on Wednesday that Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN have reached an agreement to form a coordination centre to resume the transit of Ukraine grain exports through the Black Sea, Reuters reported. Akar said in a statement that an agreement would be signed next week when all parties meet again. The deal would include joint controls for checking grain at harbours, he added.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday the territorial integrity of his country is not negotiable under any peace deal and no peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv are underway, Reuters reported. "The objective of Ukraine in this war... is to liberate our territories, restore our territorial integrity, and full sovereignty in the east and south of Ukraine," he said. "This is the end point of our negotiating position."

The European Commission on Wednesday released new guidance on the transit of goods from Russia to its Kaliningrad exclave. It said that sanctioned products, such as iron, steel, cement, wood, coal, crude oil and oil products, cannot transit from Russia to Kaliningrad by road, but it adds that "no such similar prohibition exists for rail transport, without prejudice to member states' obligation to perform effective controls."

Brussels wants member states to turn down the heating and air-conditioning to stave off an energy crisis in the winter. EU countries should give households and companies financial incentives to reduce demand, according to a draft "gas-demand reduction plan" seen by the Financial Times. The commission said in the draft text that measures could cut the impact of "sudden supply disruption by one-third".

The EU's own report acknowledged positive development in some member states — but particularly criticises Poland and Hungary, along with jibes at Slovenia, Malta, Greece, Ireland and Spain, among others.

Lawmakers in the industry committee in the European Parliament voted to increase some of the EU's updated renewable energy directive targets.

EU states are in talks on potential visa bans on right-wing extremists in the Western Balkans, amid fears that Russian propaganda is stirring up new threats.

EU institutions are creating a new cell to prevent signals interception by foreign spies. The 'CSC-TSCM Expert Group' will bring together specialists from EU states "to prevent, detect and potentially neutralise eavesdropping of information in any physical or electronic form" including "inspection of facilities and vehicles and the protection of classified meetings" in the EU Council, Parliament, and Commission after it is agreed 25 July, an internal EU memo said.

The agency is suspending border surveillance operations in Lithuania. It also wants to reverse a rule which requires it to suspend operations in EU states where violations take place — and instead send in more agents.

The EU is preparing to pay Niger €25m over the next three years to create an Armed Forces Technician Training Centre on military logistics and a "forward operating base" in the Tillabéri region in the west of the country to reduce its army's "vulnerability" to jihadist attacks there, according to an EU draft decision dated 12 July and seen by EUobserver. The money comes with strings attached on human-rights compliance.

Last weekend, Italy's Lampedusa island was again making headlines for being overrun with migrants. But, paradoxically, the crisis was more visible from TV news bulletins and social media than from the ground.