Euobserver.com

EU budget commissioner Guenther Oettinger urged EU affairs ministers Tuesday to speed up talks on the long-term EU budget and find agreement by October, before the current commission's mandate expires. The commission wants EU countries to agree on key budget points in the next months and finalise negotiations with the new European Parliament after the elections in May. EU leaders last December said they wanted a deal by autumn 2019.

The European Commission on Tuesday lifted its 'yellow card' warning on Thai fish exports, saying the country had "successfully addressed shortcomings" in illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing. The system had been in place since April 2015, in light of the country's failure to properly supervise the threat to fish stocks. A 'red card' could have seen a block on fish exports from Thailand - the world's third-largest exporter of seafood.

A German MP for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was badly beaten in the street on Monday night by three men, in what police are calling a politically-motivated attack, the party said in a statement. Frank Magnitz, AfD party leader in Bremen, was beaten unconscious with a piece of wood, before being kicked in the head. His injured are said to be "severe."

The EU commission said on Tuesday talks are ongoing with the US administration after news emerged that Washington downgraded the diplomatic status of the EU's delegation to the US last year - without informing the bloc. The news was first reported on German news site Deutsche Welle. A commission spokesperson would only confirm that it is "currently discussing" the issue with its US partners.

Chants of "Soubry is a Nazi" against Anna Soubry, a British pro-remain MP, outside parliament in London have prompted 55 MPs to write to British police for firmer action against "an ugly element of individuals with strong far-right and extreme-right connections" guilty of "intimidatory and potentially criminal acts" targeting politicians and others. The alarm comes after Jo Cox, a pro-remain MP, was murdered by a far-right fanatic in 2016.

Elmar Brok, the longest-serving MEP in the European Parliament, might not return after May's elections because local officials in his own party, the German centre-right CDU, failed to list him as a candidate on Monday in the region of North Rhine-Westphalia. Brok, 72, a veteran of the parliament's foreign affairs committee, told German press he could appeal the decision at a national CDU congress on 26 January.

Assets worth €870bn are being moved by financial firms from the UK into the EU in preparation for Brexit according to a report by British accountancy firm EY. Some 80 out of the 222 firms surveyed were moving or had moved personnel, and other items, to Europe, in a rising trend amid fears of a no-deal scenario. The €870bn figure is a fraction of the UK's €7 trillion financial sector

Italy's populist rulers have lent vocal and technological support to the yellow vest movement after eight weeks of riots in France.

The US has threatened to impose sanctions on Swiss engineering firm Allseas unless it pulls out of Russia's project to build a new gas pipeline to Germany called Nord Stream 2, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Monday, citing German government sources. Allseas, which has an operational base in the Netherlands, is meant to lay 90 percent of Nord Stream 2 on the Baltic Sea bed by 2020.

The European Commission says EU states have yet to help the 49 people stranded on the Sea-Watch and Sea Eye rescue boats - because solutions have not yet been found for the 249 people already rescued by Malta.

If misinformation in the field of migration can bring a government down, as in the recent case of Belgium following the country's adoption of the UN migration pact, then it can doubtless produce a populist majority in the European parliament.

The UK staged a 'rehearsal' for a no-deal Brexit on Monday, with a disused airfield in Kent commandeered for parking of lorries in the event of supply chains being disrupted. Manston airfield, between the ports of Dover and Ramsgate, is scheduled to become a temporary lorry park for some 6,000 vehicles. However, only some 87 lorries participated, according to the Guardian. Dover alone handles 10,000 trucks a day.

Police in Germany on Sunday questioned a 19-year old from the south-west of the country over a mass hacking of personal data from politicians, journalists and celebrities. According to state broadcaster ARD, the man claimed the data breach was committed by a contact of his, known only as "Orbit". Details from several hundred victims, including chancellor Angela Merkel, was published on a Twitter account over the holiday period.

Poland and Italy's right-wing rulers are to cement their "special relations" at a meeting in Warsaw, which could make Matteo Salvini's new anti-EU league a major force in the next EU parliament.

A majority (54 percent) of Britons would back remaining in the EU against 46 percent if a second Brexit referendum was held, a YouGov survey for the People's Vote campaign showed on Sunday. By comparison, a majority of 52 to 48 percent voted for Brexit in 2016. Just 22 percent approve Theresa May's Brexit deal and support for Labour would crash if it helps the government enable Brexit.

Swiss president Ueli Maurer on Sunday urged the European Union to renegotiate a deal governing future ties between the two sides, telling Swiss TV station Tele Zuri that Swiss voters would not agree to the proposed version if it comes to a referendum. "As things stand today, the framework agreement would not be accepted. So we would still have to make substantial renegotiations," he said.

France will deploy its navy and use drones to tackle an increase in the number of migrants trying to reach the UK in small boats, a statement from French interior minister Christophe Castaner said. UK home office figures showed that 539 migrants attempted to travel to the UK on small boats in 2018, with 80 percent of these making their attempts in the last quarter of the year.

Thousands of people took to the streets of the Serbian capital Belgrade for the fifth consecutive week on Saturday to protest against the government of president Aleksandar Vucic and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party. The protests first began in response to the beating-up of opposition politician Borko Stefanovic but now include demands for media freedoms, and an end to attacks on journalists and opposition politicians.

US tech giant Apple will open its first data centre outside the US in 2019 in a tiny Danish village. Cheap electricity, plus stable societies, are the two main reasons for global high-tech companies to locate in the Nordic region.

Romania will officially take over the EU's presidency this week, with commissioners and senior EU officials kicking off the testing next six-month period with meetings in Bucharest.