Euobserver.com

The overall number of migrant arrivals to Europe has dropped for a third consecutive year. But Frontex, also known as the European Border and Coast Guard agency, warns against complacency.

Models used to claim ECB policy have boosted eurozone economy were discredited by economists who inserted random figures.

British prime minister Theresa May's spokesman has said she would seek "legally binding changes" to the Irish border deal in Brexit talks with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Wednesday. But Stefaan De Rynck, a senior EU aide, said in London the same day that "there will be no reopening of the [UK] withdrawal agreement". Juncker's spokesman Margaritis Schinas said the same.

Hungary and Slovakia have promised to open diplomatic missions in Jerusalem, going against the EU line that the city should be shared between Israel and a future Palestinian state. "We will have an official presence in Jerusalem," Hungarian leader Viktor Orban said in Israel on Tuesday. Bulgaria and the Czech Republic also opened official delegations in Jerusalem after the US moved its embassy there last year.

EU competition rules should be overhauled so that Europe could create "global players", German chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin Tuesday. She spoke as France and Germany the same day launched joint proposals for a "European industrial policy fit for the 21st Century". She also spoke after EU law blocked a merger between French and German railway firms. But EU rules created "fair competition", Margrethe Vestager, its anti-trust chief, said.

EU commission president said EPP should expel Hungary's Fidesz, after Orban's government ran a campaign accusing Juncker of migration "conspiracy theories".

College of Europe rector, Jorg Monar, denies the academic institute is lobbying MEPs for the Saudis. Former students demand the Bruges-based campus cut ties with the regime.

Estonia ordered Danske Bank Tuesday to close its branch in Tallinn before the end of 2018 and transfer all customers and loan contracts to other banks in Estonia following a huge money laundering scandal. Kilvar Kessler, head of Estonia's banking regulator Finantsinspektsioon, said Danske Bank had "dealt a serious blow to the transparency, credibility and reputation of the Estonian financial market" while Danish authorities "handled the bank softly".

The European Commission has branded the latest campaign by the Hungarian government as 'fake news', after Orban's government accused Juncker of pressing ahead with migration proposals that threaten the country's security.

British prime minister Theresa May will travel to Brussels on Wednesday for talks with EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in a continued attempt to find a way to push the Brexit deal through the UK parliament. A commission spokesman reiterated that the EU-27 will not reopen the withdrawal agreement, cannot accept a time limit to the Irish backstop or a unilateral exit clause - key demands of the British PM.

The European Commission will take up a recommendation to apply transparency rules to ad hoc advisory groups, and not only to permanent expert groups, said the European Ombudsman. The decision comes after the ombudsman said more transparency was needed for the now-abolished Group of Personalities, which laid the ground for the European Defence Fund. The European Network Against Arms Trade, which filed the complaint, hailed the "positive outcome".

Negotiators on behalf of 28 EU governments, the European Parliament, and European Commission agreed in the early hours of Tuesday to limit CO2 emissions by trucks. They settled on a 15% reduction by 2025, compared to 2019, and 30% by 2030. It was the first time CO2 targets were set for trucks. The bill, which needs formal approval by Council and parliament, will also introduce incentive schemes for zero-emission trucks.

Hungary's government has launched a campaign against what it said were EU proposals that endangered Hungary's security, including distributing migrants across Europe based on a quota, giving visa to migrants, and altering member states' rights on border protection. The new ad, financed by taxpayer money, featured Juncker and US billionaire George Soros, a nemesis of Hungary's government. Budapest was warned by Juncker last December not to spread fake news.

No EU state would oppose a British demand for an extension of Brexit talks beyond the March 29 cut-off date, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker told German daily Stuttgarter Zeitung Monday. "Any decision to ask for more time lies with the UK. If such a request were to be made, no one in Europe would oppose it," he said, adding he has no time limit in mind for an extension.

US president Donald Trump promised European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker that he would not impose additional import tariffs on European cars for the time being, Juncker said in an interview in German daily Stuttgarter Zeitung Monday. Trump could impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on imported cars and parts by calling them a security threat. Juncker added that if Trump imposed tariffs, the EU would quickly react with countermeasures.

Belgian judges sentenced a former European Commission official to four years in prison on Monday for raping a junior member of his own staff in 2015, Belgian broadcaster RTL reports. M.R., a 51-year old former director of the commission's transport department, was earlier convicted of raping a young lawyer in her office after throwing an office party on 11 September 2015. He says she consented and plans to appeal.

"Poland is becoming ever stronger. The Middle East conference is a sign we're ... boxing in a higher-league. Of course, you can also get hit there," Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki told Polish daily Rzeczpospolita late Monday after a summit fiasco with Israel. The mini-EU summit was cancelled after an Israel minister made anti-Polish remarks. The Czech, Hungarian, and Slovak leaders downgraded their 'summit' meetings to 'bilateral' ones in solidarity.

French president Emmanuel Macron will describe Brexit as a wake-up call in a speech at the end of February or beginning of March, outlining how Europe must be more assertive in the face of rival world powers, Reuters reports. Macron will focus on promoting a "Europe that protects" in the May European Parliament election. He sees Brexit and the French 'yellow vest' protest movement as having the same roots.

Brexit talks will continue this week, the UK's Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay said on Monday following talks with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier. British attorney general Geoffrey Cox, who emerged as a key player in Brexit talks, will set out proposed amendments to the complicated Irish border backstop designed to avoid a hard border, to be discussed with EU negotiators later in the week.

EU countries and US should take every opportunity to shrink the group of wandering Islamist fighters in the Middle East and neighbouring regions.