Euobserver.com

UK prime minister Boris Johnson had a lunch in Luxembourg on Monday with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. After the meeting, Juncker said it was "the UK's responsibility to come forward with legally-operational solutions", adding the commission was open to proposals to replace the backstop. However, Juncker continued, "such proposals have not yet been made" and that the "EU-27 remain united".

Belgium's nominee for EU justice commissioner was part of a corruption scheme involving the Congo and Libya, a Belgian former spy has testified.

Early on Saturday a dozen of drones attacked Saudi Arabia's oil installation Abqaiq, and oil field Khurais. Abqaiq is responsible for six million barrels of crude oil or six percent of the world's total oil production. The Houthi rebels of Yemen, who are supported by Iran, claimed responsibility for the attack. Analysts fear oil and gas prices will soar. The Saudi oil company Aramco says production will restart soon.

US officials claim they have proof that 17 points of impact on Saudi Arabia's main oil installation were caused by a combination of drones and missiles coming from Iraq or Iran. They also say that the Yemeni Houthi rebels lack the military sophistication for such a coordinated attack. President Donald Trump reacted on Twitter saying he would wait for Saudi Arabia to name the culprit. Iran denied any involvement.

According to an opinion poll by Belgian media, the far-right party, Vlaams Belang, would have 24.9 percent of the votes and become the largest party of Belgium. The Flemish nationalists (NVA) are losing a few percentages and become the second party with 22.7 percent. In Brussels the Greens would remain the largest with 21.4 percent. In Wallonia the socialist PS and the liberal MR are neck and neck.

Four Catalan and Basque nationalist parties (ERC, PNV, Compromís and Bildu) will endorse Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez's investiture to avoid new elections, according to Spanish newspaper El País. The only condition for Sanchez's centre-left Socialist Party (PSOE) is to reach an agreement with the leftist Unidas Podemos (UP). If Sanchez does not reconsider his position on ruling with a minority government before 23 September, elections are likely to happen.

EU's finance ministers supported on Saturday the idea of simplifying European fiscal rules "to increase transparency and predictability," said the commissioner for the euro, Valdis Dombrovskis. During the informal meeting held in Helsinki, the ministers backed the idea put forward by the independent European Fiscal Board (EFB) to focus fiscal rules on debt and government spending (over which finance ministers have control) - instead of on the structural deficit.

Italian former prime minister Matteo Renzi will lead a "consensual separation" from the ruling Democratic Party (PD) to set up a new centrist force, according to the Italian press. The new political party's name could be 'L'Italia del Sì' ('Italy of Yes'). However, senior PD figures asked him to hold back. "Don't let us break up, don't weaken us by splitting the party," said the minister of culture Dario Franceschini.

In the first round of the presidential elections in Tunisia, two independent candidates came on top of the polls: Kais Said gained 19 percent, while Nabil Karoui, a businessman currently in jail, received 15 percent. The candidate of the Islamist party Ennahda came third with 11 percent. The current prime minister, Youssef Chahed was fourth on seven percent. The elections come weeks after president Beji Caid Essebsi died in office.

France has urged the EU to introduce a framework for the regulation of cryptocurrencies, after the introduction of the new Facebook virtual money 'Libra' threatens the financial stability of the EU.

Jean-Claude Juncker will meet Boris Johnson for the first time, but no breakthrough is expected in Brexit talks. MEPs are preparing to hear from the commission-designates, while Hungary will be grilled at the EU affairs' ministers meeting.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) evacuated 98 vulnerable refugees (including 52 unaccompanied children) from Libya to Italy, as the conflict in Libya continues. The refugees are from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan. "There are still some 3,600 refugees in detention centres. We urgently need to find solutions for them, as well as thousands more vulnerable refugees living in urban areas," said the UNHCR chief of mission for Libya Jean-Paul Cavalieri.

Brexit may have another victim and it is the EU budget for 2021-2027.

Should the West help the Russian opposition to try topple the regime, or make new deals with Putin, as France is keen to do?

EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker will hold a working lunch with UK prime minister Boris Johnson in Luxembourg on Monday, the commission said. The UK is to leave the bloc on 31 October, following a key EU summit on 17 October in Brussels. The EU has been waiting for the UK to lay out plans to replace the backstop in the divorce deal aimed at avoiding a hard Irish border.

EU affairs ministers will hold their first meeting with Hungary under the Article 7 procedure on Monday. The European parliament triggered the sanctions procedure a year ago over concerns on judicial independence and democratic backsliding in Hungary. At the hearing, the parliament's report will be presented by the EU's Finnish presidency. A similar procedure, launched by the commission in 2017, is also under way against Poland over judicial independence.

Margrethe Vestager, the current Danish EU commissioner for competition who will take on digital affairs along with competition portfolios as vice president in the new commission, has named Denmark's EU ambassador as her head of cabinet. Kim Jorgensen has "worked for years with EU policy and foreign policy", Vestager said in a tweet, adding, "He has a sense of humour and is a team player!"

The European Parliament's committees will hold the hearings of the commission-designates from 30 September to 8 October, according to a timetable agreed by the political groups and parliament leaders on Thursday. The parliament will hold the final vote on the new commission on 23 October. Commissioner-designates will have until 26 September to answer written questions from the various committees in their field.

The EU's new defence budget might achieve little and loose talk of a joint army could do harm, a European watchdog has warned.

Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia have demanded to open accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania this year, as Hungary's man prepares to take over the enlargement portfolio.