Euobserver.com

The EU seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate rose for five consecutive months, reaching 7.4 percent in August, according to statistics on Thursday by Eurostat. It is estimated that 15.6 million people in the EU were unemployed at the end of the summer. The EU's youth unemployment rate was higher than the overall population, reaching 17.6 percent in August. While the rate for women increased slightly more than for men.

The German Federal Statistical Office revealed on Thursday that immigration decreased in the first half of the year, due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the first six months of 2020, 529,000 people moved to Germany - representing a drop of 29 percent year-on-year. From March to May, when Germany was under lockdown, the number of immigrants dropped by 42 percent. Meanwhile, emigration from Germany also decreased during the same period.

The Spanish government ordered on Thursday a partial lockdown in the capital Madrid and other affected areas by the coronavirus, the BBC reported. Restrictions apply to areas with more than 100,000 residents that meet the following criteria: 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, 35 percent patient occupancy in intensive care units, and a 10-percent positivity test rate. The order gives local authorities 48 hours to put restrictive measures in place.

France has accused Turkey's ally, Azerbaijan, of starting recent warfare with Armenia and importing "jihadist" fighters, as EU-Turkish relations continue to deteriorate.

The parliament's majorty dismisses the German EU presidency's proposal on the rule of law conditionality, which has emerged as the main political obstacle to agree on the next long-term EU budget.

MEPs have refused to sign off the accounts of the European Economic and Social Committee, in yet another blow to the reputation of the EU's smallest institution. The massive vote against was linked to ongoing psychological harassment cases.

The European Parliament's legal affairs committee on Thursday adopted three reports on artificial intelligence, covering ethical, civil liability, and intellectual property aspects. The report on intellectual property rights calls for a sector-specific and customs-based regulation, which could facilitate the creation of the so-called "Single European Data Space" to promote innovation. The three reports will be submitted to the second plenary session vote in October.

MEPs warned on Thursday that they will once again object any proposal from the European Commission that lowers the bar for bees and other pollinators protection - since the process to renew EU bee guidance is still ongoing.

In his inauguration speech Belgium's new prime minister Alexander de Croo promised his government would work together and show unity - something Belgium has been missing for the past two years.

The ongoing escalation of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh is a most serious and significant one - just not surprising at all.

"We have precise information that indicates that the Syrian militants have abandoned the battlefield in Gaziantep [southern Turkey] in order to join the fighting in Karabakh [an Armenia-controlled region of Azerbaijan]," French president Emmanuel Macron said Thursday after arriving for a summit in Brussels. "This is very serious ... We will discuss it here at the summit," he said, amid allegations Turkey sent Syrian mercenaries to help its Azeri ally.

The EU Commission on Thursday launched a legal action against the UK for breaching its obligations under the Brexit withdrawal agreement. The commission has sent a letter to London beginning a formal infringement process, to which the UK now has one month to reply. The UK's internal market bill will violate the agreements on the Northern Ireland border issue, and London has already acknowledged it breaks international law.

The inaugural annual rule of law review highlighted shortcomings in member states - but will not lead to concrete action.

The Czech Republic's foreign affairs ministry filed a complaint to the European Commission against Poland on Wednesday to stop the re-licence of operations at the Turow lignite mine. Environmental groups welcomed the decision, urging the EU executive to act since the mine expansion violates four EU environmental directives. The commission has now three months to react to the complaint before the Czech government can take Poland to court in January.

The European Commission's first report on the rule of law has raised concerns over the lack of effective anti-corruption efforts in some members sates - while it considers Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands have good governance measures.

Portugal has sought to be a leader at the EU level with regard to refugees and migrants, advocating a liberal position. It has consistently shown a willingness to take in refugees.

The European Commission says the EU is not providing any financial aid to Caprera, the Italian warship caught smuggling cigarettes from Libya. A recent investigation by the New York Times said the Caprera had stopped some 7,000 migrants from reaching Europe and had also smuggled some 700,000 contraband cigarettes from Libya. The EU helps fund Italian projects to shore up the Libyan coast guard.

EU regulators should have new laws ready by end-of-year on data transfer by EU firms to the US, the EU's digital affairs commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in Brussels Wednesday. The revamp comes after an EU court overturned a previous EU data-privacy pact that governed the exchange. The new regime was "very ambitious and [we] hope that it can be in place before Christmas," Vestager said at a Politico congress.

The UK has offered to let EU fishing boats use its waters between 2021 and 2024 in a post-Brexit transition period that would see their allowable catch scaled down over time, British newspaper The Guardian reported Wednesday. "If the other problematic issues can be sorted, it doesn't look like fisheries will stand in the way of an agreement", a senior EU diplomat said. Other problems concern access to state aid.

Germany has welcomed China's recent pledge to become carbon-neutral by 2060, while regretting the US was not following suit. "Unlike other large emitters, it's encouraging that China stands by the Paris climate accord," Merkel told MPs on Wednesday, referring to the US decision to exit the so-called Paris climate accord. "This is a very ambitious [Chinese] goal that should spur us in Europe to really fulfil our targets," she added.