Euobserver.com

Hungarian MPs on Monday appointed Zsolt Andras Varga as the Supreme Court president for the next nine years, despite senior judges rejecting his nomination over his lack of experience, and concerns over the judicial independence, Reuters reported. The EU Commission expressed concern last month over legal amendments that lowered the eligibility criteria for this top legal post. The National Judicial Council, a self-governing panel of judges, overwhelmingly rejected Varga.

European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic "risks losing momentum", due to the second wave, and a further stimulus could be added if necessary. In an interview with French newspaper Le Monde, she said: "Since the rebound, we saw over the summer, the recovery has been uneven, uncertain and incomplete and now risks losing momentum," adding that ECB can do more if needed.

On a 2016 Latvia trip, vice-president Joe Biden told Baltic leaders not to take Donald Trump seriously. "Don't listen to that other fellow. He knows not of what he speaks", Biden joked. Months later, Trump was in the White House.

Italy's prime minister Giuseppe Conte gave mayors the powers to shut public squares from 9pm to stop gatherings, as part of measures to stop the spread of coronavirus after daily cases reached a new record of 11,705 on Sunday. Italy will halt amateur sport competitions and local fairs, while restaurants and other food shops will be allowed to remain open until midnight, Reuters reported.

The Covid-19 situation in Brussels and the Wallonia region is "the worst and most dangerous in all of Europe", Belgium's health minister said in a radio interview with RTL on Monday. Frank Vandenbroucke added that both regions face a "tsunami" of infections and hospitals will soon be unable to cope. The Belgian crisis centre has recorded more than 10,000 infections on a daily basis since last week.

Some 15 EU countries have demanded measures "to counter [5G] disinformation," following an increase of vandalism against telecommunication infrastructures. "There is an urgent need for an EU communication strategy that provides reliable information to the EU citizens as well as awareness raising campaigns regarding 5G," Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and Sweden said in a letter last week.

In Belgium, new measures against the spread of the coronavirus are in effect. The coordination committee of federal and regional governments installed curfew between midnight and 5AM and closed all restaurants and bars for one month. From 8PM onward, it is also forbidden to buy or sell alcohol. Working from home is recommended.

Ireland's data protection authority, the Data Protection Commissioner, is looking into complaints that social media platform Instagram, which is owned by US tech giant Facebook, abused children's private data, The BBC reported Sunday. "The DPC has been actively monitoring complaints ... in this area," it said. Instagram users have to be at least 13 years old. Facebook has its EU HQ in Ireland giving the DPC a lead European role.

For the 10th weekend rally in a row, tens of thousands of protesters opposing long-time president Alexander Lukashenko marched through the capital despite threats of force from authorities to open fire, Deutsche Welle writes. Crowds of protesters waved red-and-white opposition flags, marching through Minsk amid a heavy security presence. Protesters were heard chanting "Strike!" and "You and your riot police get out!". Over 200 persons were arrested.

A second Russia-brokered truce between Armenia and Azerbaijan broke down immediately after it was agreed, with Baku and Yerevan accusing each other of resuming shelling within minutes of the accord entering into force at midnight on Saturday. Azerbaijan said Armenia killed 13 civilians in its second largest city, Ganja, and its president vowed to take "revenge on the battlefield". Armenia urged Nato to stop its member Turkey from helping Azerbaijan.

Ersin Tatar, a right-wing nationalist, has won elections in the unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, with 52 percent in Sunday's vote, in a result that risked raising tension. "We deserve our sovereignty", Tatar said, rejecting prospects for reunification with EU member Cyprus. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who congratulated Tatar, earlier gave him a boost by reopening a no-man's-land beach in Cyprus ahead of the vote, infuriating Nicosia.

French people have held rallies in outrage over the murder of a history teacher by an Islamist extremist.

Spain's socialist-led coalition has proposed changing how members of the country's top judicial body, the General Council of the Judiciary, are appointed - triggering a political and judicial storm about the independence, and drawing 'double standards' complaints from Poland.

Under EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, transparency was supposed to be a "guiding principle". Instead, the European Commission is asking Kafkaesque questions in response to an access to documents request, and failing to meet its legal deadline.

Tense post-Brexit talks in London, and EU budget and rule-of-law negotiations in Brussels, will continue this week, as EU countries battle the second wave of Covid-19.

One ghost town symbolises Cyprus' plight. Varosha, a Greek-Cypriot city in the occupied district of Famagusta on the east coast, has been cordoned off by the Turkish military since 1974. This is why I never saw my mother's home before.

British PM Boris Johnson' spokesperson said on Friday: "The first thing to say is the trade talks are over. The EU have effectively ended them by saying they do not want to change their negotiating position. The EU can either fundamentally change their position or we can leave on 'Australian terms'", the Guardian reported. He added the EU Brexit negotiator should only come to London next week with a compromise.

EU leaders flip-flopped on how to handle Turkey's latest military insults to Greece at Friday's summit.

Finland's prime minister Sanna Marin left the EU summit on Friday to self-quarantine as a precautionary measure, after having come into contact with a Finnish lawmaker who tested positive for Covid-19. Marin asked Swedish PM, Stefan Lofven, to represent Finland. Marin will return to Finland to quarantine and test for the infection. EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen also left the summit on Thursday for the same reason.

EU leaders will discuss the latest flash-points in Turkey's confrontation with Greece on Friday (16 October), as Germany hardens talk of sanctions.