Euobserver.com

The European Parliament will focus on Germany's biggest bank, Deutsche Bank's, role in the money-laundering scandal that saw Danske Bank's Estonia branch handle around €130bn of "suspicious" cash - the biggest such scandal in EU history. Members of the parliament's special committee on financial crimes have invited Stephan Wilken, Deutsche Bank's head of anti-financial crime, to testify in a special hearing on 4 February, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported.

A narrow majority in the Greek parliament is expected to approve ratification of the agreement reached last June, re-naming the Former Yugolsav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as North Macedonia, in a move that could help the country join Nato and the EU. Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras narrowly survived a confidence vote last week and needs backing from at least 151 MPs in the 300-member parliament to ratify the deal.

The European Commission says the fate of EU's naval operation Sophia has yet to be determined - amid a row on where to disembark rescued migrants.

Several Dutch and Belgian media outlets have cut ties with a Dutch freelance journalist, Peter Blasic, accusing him for plagiarising and for citing sources who could not be traced. Dutch magazine, HP/De Tijd, said seven of 302 articles by Blasic published between 2014 and 2017 were "copied in whole or in part" from the EUobserver website without crediting the site.

Cyprus is to host a summit between seven southern European Union countries on 29 January, Cypriot foreign minister Nicos Christodoulides said on Wednesday. Leaders of Greece, Italy, Malta, France, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus would discuss immigration, Brexit and the EU's multi-annual financial framework for 2021-2017 as well as the upcoming EU-Arab League meeting at the summit, which would be the fifth of its kind.

A group of 'Yellow Vest' protesters announced on Wednesday it would run candidates in the upcoming European Parliament elections, with 31-year old Normandy health worker, Ingrid Levavasseur, to top the list. It could take around 13 percent of the vote in May, according to an Elabe poll, behind president Emmanuel Macron's party (22.5 percent) and Marine Le Pen's party (17.5 percent). Additional candidates will to be chosen by mid-February.

German centre-right MEP Monika Hohlmeier said it was up to defence ministers to give shape to the idea introduced at a space conference this week.

It is especially Europe, geographically placed between the US and Russia, that is within the range of the missiles which the INF treaty prohibits.

The European Commission has described the sale of EU citizenship by Bulgaria, Cyprus and Malta as a "golden gate to Europe" for the rich. Unable to stop it, the commission now wants an expert group to probe the schemes.

The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Wednesday that no-deal Brexit was the default scenario, although it is not the preferred option for the EU. "Preparing for a no-deal scenario is more important now than ever, even though I still hope that we can avoid this scenario," Barnier said in Brussels, adding that to stop the no-deal option, "another majority will have to emerge" in the UK's parliament.

The EU Commission on Wednesday adopted two emergency measures to help EU fishing fleets in the event of a no-deal Brexit on 29 March. The measures would see EU fishermen entitled to contingency compensation, in the event that UK waters are closed to their fleets, plus a temporary deal to ensure UK access to EU waters, if Britain offers reciprocity. Both measures must be approved by the Council and Parliament.

Public spending on social areas such as pensions, healthcare and unemployment benefits was highest in France (31.2 percent of GDP) and Belgium (28.9 percent) in 2018, figures from the OECD reveal. Italy was fifth, after Denmark and Finland, while Ireland spent the least (14.4 percent) among EU countries. France is the only country among the top 10 listed that reduced social spending in 2018, compared to 2017.

Tax evasion deprives Europeans of roughly five times as much money as is spent in this year's EU budget, a study by the European parliament's social democrat S&D group has found. The EU tax gap might be €825bn a year and might exceed healthcare spending in half of all EU member states, the study found.

Spokesman confirms to EUobserver that centre-right Italian wants to come back as MEP and serve again as parliament president.

Space is becoming weaponised in a race between China and the US. Now EU commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska says it is time for Europe to debate wether to follow suit.

The Romanian EU presidency plans to hold a EU-Turkey summit in early March, foreign minister Teodor Melescanu said in Brussels on Tuesday, according to Turkish media. The summit would take place in Bucharest with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The last EU-Turkey summit was held in Bulgaria's Black Sea city of Varna in March 2018, during Bulgaria's term as president of the EU.

Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar has for the first time suggested a separate customs agreement with the UK may be needed to avoid a hard border with Northern Ireland in a no-deal Brexit scenario. In a private meeting with party leaders on Tuesday evening Varadkar warned that the EU could otherwise move control away from Ireland and onto the continent, meaning Ireland and the UK were treated as one block.

Bulgaria's justice ministry said on Tuesday it plans to stop selling controversial "golden passports" to wealthy foreigners, because the scheme had failed to bring any significant economic benefits. Bulgaria, Cyprus and Malta grant citizenship against investment, which then opens the door to most other EU countries. The practice is expected to be criticised by the EU Commission in a report on Wednesday into residency schemes in 20 EU states.

In the face of attacks on the liberal world order and the EU, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron renew German-Franco cooperation - but their lack of political capital prevents bold visions or ambitious goals.

The EU Commission on Tuesday fined Mastercard €570.6m for breaching antitrust rules, by limiting retailers from benefitting from conditions offered by banks elsewhere within the EU. The fine is the latest move by EU regulators to reduce card fees for retailers. The commission said Mastercard rules forced retailers to pay a higher interchange fee between banks after a consumer used a card in a shop or online.