Euobserver.com

Some 529 Ukrainian patients have been transferred from Poland, Moldova, Slovakia, and Ukraine to hospitals around the EU under a medical assistance scheme launched in February, internal EU papers show. Some 126 of these were military patients transferred from Ukraine. "Lately, Ukraine has mainly been requesting the transfer of military patients. Currently, there are about 25 requests for transfers per day," an EU document dated 10 June said.

EU auditors said on Monday that the European Commission did not properly scrutinise the reintroduction of internal border controls and restriction of free movement in the EU during the pandemic. Some 150 notifications of internal border controls were submitted to the commission between March 2020 and June 2021, of which 135 were related to Covid-19. The auditors also denounced lack of coordination on travel restrictions, pointing out inconsistencies in recommendations.

French president Emmanuel Macron on Monday called for a boost to defence budgets following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying France was now on a "war economy" footing, AFP reported. Macron said Europe needed "a much larger defence industry" to avoid relying on suppliers elsewhere for its equipment needs. He said France "has entered into a war economy in which I believe we will find ourselves for a long time".

Brexit campaigner, millionaire Arron Banks has lost his libel case against investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr of the Guardian. Banks, the founder of the pro-Brexit campaign group Leave.EU, sued Cadwalladr for defamation over a TED Talk video and a tweet, claiming he was defamed after comments Cadwalladr made about his relationship with Russia. The case, concluded by the judgement of the High Court, has been going on for nearly three years.

Russia earned €93bn from fossil fuel exports during the first 100 days of the war in Ukraine, according to an analysis published Monday. The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air revealed that the EU has paid €57bn to Russia for fossil fuel imports since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in late February. During the first 100 days, the biggest importers were China (€12.6bn), Germany (€12.1bn) and Italy (€7.8bn).

Finnish president Sauli Niinistö said his country won't join Nato without Sweden, amid Turkish objections zeroing in on Sweden's alleged support to Kurdish separatists. "We [Finland and Sweden] go hand in hand", Niinistö said Sunday after meeting Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. Turkey had "legitimate concerns" concerning Sweden, Stoltenberg said. "No Nato ally has suffered more terrorist attacks than Turkey," he added, referring to attacks by Kurdish militant groups.

British foreign minister Liz Truss is to introduce legislation in the UK parliament Monday overriding the Brexit customs deal for Northern Ireland and risking a trade war with the EU. "They [the British] are breaking their word to Ireland, they're also breaking an international treaty with the EU, and breaching international law by doing that," Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said Sunday, The Irish Times reports.

French president Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance, called Together, was in line for 25.2 percent of votes in Sunday's parliamentary elections, exit polls showed, while a left-wing coalition led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, called Unbowed, was heading for 25.6 percent. The slim margins indicated Macron, who was re-elected president in April, may struggle to build a parliamentary majority after the second round of the election, due next weekend.

The number of Syrian people granted German nationality tripled last year and is expected to go up again this year, the German Federal Statistical Office said Friday. Germany created 131,600 new citizens last year, of whom 19,100 were Syrians. More are likely to follow as there were 449,000 Syrians living in Germany for at least six years — just two years shy of the normal eight-year eligibility criteria for application.

Romania isn't the only country portraying lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a threat to children. From Poland and Hungary in EU, to reactionary movements around the world are prohibiting portrayals of LGBT people and families in schools.

Australia has agreed to pay France €555m in compensation for walking out of a nuclear submarine deal in September 2021 in favour of a rival US bid, causing a diplomatic rift. "We are re-establishing a better relationship between Australia and France," Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said Saturday. "I'm looking forward to taking up [French] president [Emmanuel] Macron's invitation to me to visit Paris at the earliest opportunity," he added.

Bulgaria was still clinging to its veto on North Macedonia's EU accession talks after German chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Sofia Saturday, but "I see chances for progress", Scholz said. "We will stay in close exchange in the coming days," he added, Reuters reports, referring to Bulgarian prime minister Kiril Petkov. Petkov earlier said he wanted EU guarantees on a deal with North Macedonia on cultural and historical identity.

Italian far-right politician Matteo Salvini has been forced to defend plans to let Russia pay for a planned visit to Moscow in May. His "peace" mission was cancelled in the end and he paid back the money to the Russian embassy, Russia said Saturday. "We see nothing illegal in any of these actions," the Russian embassy added. Salvini said he worked in "total transparency and correctness", The Guardian reports.

Sweden has voiced support for Ukraine's "European choice" as diplomacy gathers pace ahead of an EU summit on its first-ever wartime enlargement decision.

Ten countries have joined forces to water down the ambition of a flagship EU environmental policy on pesticides, ahead of a debate on Monday.

MEPs will vote on an objection to the EU Commission's proposal to classify, temporarily, gas and nuclear energy investment as 'green', under the so-called taxonomy. Meanwhile, EU finance ministers are expected to approve Poland's recovery plan.

Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić pushed back against German chancellor Olaf Scholz in a press conference in Belgrade Friday after Scholz urged him to adopt EU sanctions on Russia. "As far as sanctions are concerned we have different position.... We remember sanctions [against Serbia] and we do not think sanctions are efficient," Vučić said, Reuters reports. Scholz was on a tour of the Western Balkans to show support for future enlargement.

Christine Lagarde said the ECB's governing council had "unanimously" decided to end negative interest rates — but it is unclear what the bank will do if a new crisis erupts in the eurozone.

MEPs also called on national governments only to approve the recovery plan once Poland has implemented previous rulings of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on scrapping the disciplinary regime for judges, and reinstating sacked judges.

Western cyber attacks against Russian institutions could lead to a "direct military clash" the Russian foreign ministry has said. It blamed Ukraine and the US for recent cyber strikes on infrastructure, Reuters reports. Russia's housing ministry website was also hacked last weekend. The US was "deliberately lowering the threshold for the combat use" of IT, Russia claimed. "Russia will not leave aggressive actions unanswered," it added.