Euobserver.com

The EU's debt-criteria rules are in breach by Italy, the commission reiterated on Wednesday - in a decision that could pave the way for sanctions for Rome if member states agree.

The European Commission on Wednesday, in its draft EU budget proposal for 2020, said Frontex, the EU's border and coast agency, should get €420.6m. That sum is a 34.6 percent increase compared to 2019. The money is slated to help set up a standing corps of 10,000 border guards by 2027.

German chancellor Angela Merkel has repeated criticism of EU anti-trust law, saying that to block the emergence of European champions would pave the way for Chinese domination. The EU ought to change the rules "to be truly competitive" she said in Berlin on Tuesday, after the European Commission blocked a German-French railway merger. Claims China would not use the opportunity to sell more trains in Europe were "rash", Merkel added.

An EU court jurist, Maciej Szpunar, has advised the court to force Facebook to remove offensive content from its pages worldwide, if they are banned by national authorities in a European member state. "This opinion undermines the long-standing principle that one country should not have the right to limit free expression in other countries," Facebook said Tuesday, in an ongoing case brought by an Austrian Green politician.

British Brexit Party MEP Nigel Farage could face European Parliament (EP) sanctions, including fines, after refusing to attend a special hearing on alleged financial irregularities on Wednesday. The EP called him in after media reports he had received hundreds of thousands of pounds from British pro-Brexit businessman Arron Banks but had failed to declare it in his EP disclosure. "What is this but an EU kangaroo court?" Farage said.

European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker told White House official Jared Kushner in Brussels on Tuesday that any new US peace plan for the Middle East ought to respect the "legitimate aspirations" of both Israelis and Palestinians. Juncker also referred to Kushner as US president Donald Trump's "son-in-law" in a dig at his lack of political experience and Trump's nepotism. Trump last year unilaterally recognised Israel's capital as Jerusalem.

Senior financial advisors to Italy's ruling far-right League party, Claudio Borghi and Alberto Bagnai, have championed the idea of creating a de facto parallel currency to the euro in order to pay down government debt. The new financial instruments would be called "mini-bills of treasury" or "BOTs", the Financial Times newspaper reported. The idea has fuelled concern the League might return to previous policies of exiting the single currency.

The leader of the Danish Social Democrats, Mette Frederiksen, is poised to win national elections on Wednesday and complete a shift of power in all the three Nordic EU countries to having social democrat leaders.

Ukraine's new president and former TV comic Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on his first visit to Brussels on Tuesday that he would keep Ukraine "on its strategic course ... to achieve fully-fledged membership in the EU and Nato." He also said he was "ready to negotiate with Russia" to end Russian aggression in east Ukraine. He spoke amid concern that his political inexperience could see him manipulated by Moscow.

French central bank chief, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, said in Paris Tuesday the EU ought to promote the euro as an alternative to US and Chinese currencies in international transactions to help "protect our businesses against foreign exchange risks or legal disputes abroad". The French banker, who is running to be the next European Central Bank chief, said dollar-dominance was "a clear advantage in the exercise of American power".

The Czech Republic's billionaire prime minister, Andrei Babis, has accused the EU anti-fraud office, Olaf, of trying to "destabilise" his country.

Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras and Toni Comin, former members of the Catalan government who are currently in exile or in pre-trial detention, have been elected by 1,720,500 citizens of Spain and Catalonia to represent them in the European Parliament.

Two Catalonian separatists MEPs elected last week - including former leader Carles Puigdemont - have been barred from accrediting with the European Parliament until they sign a constitutional oath in Madrid. The pair fear arrest if they return to Spain.

The Greens added five MEPs to their group in the European Parliament, increasing the size of the fourth-largest EP group to 74 in the 751-seat chamber. The new members hail from the Czech Pirate Party, and the German satirical party, Die Partei. "We are pleased to announce that a further five MEPs joined the Greens," lead candidate Bas Eickhout tweeted, adding: "Talks with other parties are still ongoing."

US president Donald Trump told British prime minister Theresa May Tuesday that the US is committed to a "phenomenal trade deal" with the UK after it leaves the EU. "There is tremendous potential in that trade deal, I say probably two and even three times of what we are doing right now," Trump said in London, adding that "everything" will be on the table, including the National Health Service.

EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker will meet on Tuesday with Jared Kushner, White House senior advisor and son-in-law of US president Donald Trump, a commission spokeswoman said. Juncker will discuss "geopolitical issues", and the Middle East situation with Kushner, who has been drawing up a peace plan. The meeting came at Kushner's request, the spokeswoman said. The EU's foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini will also join the discussions.

European Court of Auditors report says the European Commission "underestimated difficulties involved in deploying an EU-wide eHealth infrastructure".

The European Union has invested more €450m in research projects related to genome-editing, which "can cure or treat patients affected by life-threatening diseases" EU science commissioner Carloes Moedas told MEPs. He said the European Commission was "exploring different activities to stimulate and inform the scientific and social debate on the applications of genome editing technologies for healthcare", including an EU-wide survey of citizens' opinions on such technologies.

EU states' efforts to "deter" migrants from Libya have helped kill more than 14,000 people and exposed 40,000 others to "crimes against humanity", according to a lawsuit filed in The Hague on Monday.

Finland's social democrat prime minister-designate, Antti Rinne, announced on Monday that his new government will include 19 ministers from five parties. The coalition will have a solid majority, with 116 seats, and make Rinne the country's first leftwing prime minister in 16 years. The Greens, one of the biggest winners in April's elections, will get the foreign and environment minister posts. Finland takes over the EU presidency from 1 July.