Euobserver.com

The Czech Republic and Slovakia are to call states of emergency of 30-45 days' length in response to the second wave of coronavirus infections. The Italian parliament also suspended all meetings after two out of its 319 deputes tested positive on Wednesday. Infection rates are currently the highest in Belgium, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK, as well as parts of central Europe, according to EU statistics.

German chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech to MPs on Wednesday she looked forward to "soon" meeting Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and paid tribute to Belarusian women's stand against regime corruption in Minsk. "I admire it and find it really impressive," Merkel said. Tikhanovskaya is due in Berlin on 5 October. She also met French president Emmanuel Macron in Lithuania earlier this week.

Swedish prime minister Stefan Lofven will not take part in the EU summit in Brussels starting on Thursday, and Finnish PM Sanna Marin will represent the Swedish government. Lofven is attending his mother's funeral. Lofven and Marin are both Social Democratic party leaders in their respective countries.

Polish MEP Sylwia Spurek of the Socialists & Democrats group in the European Parliament on Wednesday announced that she will defect to the Green party. Spurek becomes the first Polish member of the Green group. Spurek said she wanted to act in accordance with her values of human rights, animal rights, and combatting climate change.

Seven parties finally agreed on a government in Belgium on Wednesday morning, and this 16 months after the elections. The parties are the Flemish and Francophone socialists, liberals, greens and the Flemish christian-democrats. If the members of the seven parties now agree to it, a new prime minister will be appointed. His or her first task will be to deliver the government declaration in parliament on Thursday, 1 October.

The EU's Court of Auditors has warned that child poverty is increasing due to the pandemic's economic fallout, with 23 million under-18s already below the poverty line and with overall unemployment forecast to increase from 7.5% to 9.5% next year. "EU legislation does not target funding directly at combating child poverty," the court said Tuesday. "It is becoming more critical because of the expected impact of the pandemic," it added.

Britain's controversial internal market bill, giving the government powers to renege on its EU withdrawal agreement, passed a second reading vote by 340 MPs against 256 on Tuesday. It still has to be approved by the upper house. And MPs added an amendment that required follow-up votes in order to actually trigger its provisions. The EU, on Monday, repeated calls for Britain to drop the legislation.

More and more people have come to understand that today's challenges can only be dealt with at the European level. That is why today, perhaps even more than 20 years ago, there is an urgent need for independent, European, journalism.

A ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court to uphold the decision to ban the separatist leader from public office for 18 months, has been criticised as "disproportionate".

France's minister for digital, Cédric O, said on Tuesday that more work was needed to convince French people to download the Covid-19 tracing app, The Guardian reported. Only three million people have downloaded the French app, called StopCovid, based on a central server. Meanwhile, the UK's app has had 12 million downloads and Germany's 18 million. Both these are based on a decentralised system.

The UK on Tuesday slapped sanctions on Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, his son and other senior government officials. The British government imposed the sanctions, along with Canada, which include a travel ban and asset freeze on eight individuals from the Belarusian regime. The EU is unable to reach similar sanctions against the regime given a Cypriot blockade over Turkey.

Poland's health minister Adam Niedzielski on Tuesday ruled out a nationwide lockdown, although he announced a curfew on bars and restaurants in the areas most-affected by the coronavirus, Reuters reported. There would also be a limited number of people who can attend leisure events, such as weddings, and the wearing of face masks will be obligatory outdoors in hard-hit regions. Poland is currently reporting about 1,300 daily cases.

Hungary has called for the resignaiton of the commission vice-president, in the latest bellicose political move from the Hungarian PM.

Armenia says Turkey shot down one of its fighter jets, in the conflict with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. The Armenian defence ministry said the Armenian Sukhoi Su-25 was shot down by a Turkish F-16, a claim disputed by Turkey. "We are determined to resist with all our capacities and neutralise the intentions of this Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance", tweeted an Armenian official from the ministry of foreign affairs.

A report from the NGO Earthsight on Wednesday revealed that major European car manufacturers, including BMW and Jaguar Land Rover, are using leather linked to the destruction of a South American forest inhabited by one of the world's last uncontacted tribes. The 18-month investigation focused on the Paraguayan Gran Chaco forests. Earthsight estimated an area of one football pitch was cleared every two minutes in 2019.

Safeguarding Europe's position starts with recognising the unpleasant reality that Europe's power is waning. Behind the facade of European cooperation, national self-interest still predominates and that has never been any different.

The first ever report on the state of the rule of law in the EU due to be published this week by the European Commission marks a significant change in its mindset.

Spain's Supreme Court has barred the regional president of Catalonia, Quim Torra, from holding office because he displayed separatist banners from a government building during Spain's general election last year. He "repeatedly and stubbornly disobeyed the orders of the Central Electoral Board to remove certain symbols," the court said. Torra said the ruling violated his "free speech". His predecessor in the post, Carles Puigdemont, lives in self-exile in Belgium.

Taiwan has thanked the EU for help in a sensitive name dispute with China, Reuters reports. The Brussels-based Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy had listed six Taiwanese cities as being in China, but Taiwanese complaints saw their location changed back to Taiwan. And the EU "helped us in this effort" Taiwan foreign minister Joseph Wu told his parliament Monday, risking China's diplomatic wrath.

Belarusian writer and opposition activist Svetlana Alexievich has left the country to seek medical treatment, but her trip was not linked to politics and she planned to return home, her aides said on Monday. EU diplomats in Minsk have been helping to shield her from harassment. French president Emmanuel Macron will also meet Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in Lithuania on Tuesday, raising hopes of French help in the crisis.