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German chancellor Angela Merkel's sister party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union (CSU) is polled to lose its absolute majority and receive only about 35 percent in elections on 14 October, according to Reuters. The Greens stand to win 16 percent and the right-wing AfD 12-13 percent. Losing the majority would weaken CSU leader Horst Seehofer, who serves as Merkel's interior minister.

Danske Bank whistleblower, Howard Wilkinson, who helped reveal money laundering at Danske Bank's Estonia branch, will consider an invitation from an EU parliament committee, his lawyer said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. There is a "good chance" he will attend a hearing next month, the lawyer said, while still waiting to receive a formal invitation for such a hearing.

Italy's interior minister Matteo Salvini has threatened to sue EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker for damages, and accused him of pushing up the country's cost of borrowing by likening Italy to Greece. "He should drink two glasses of water before opening his mouth, and stop spreading non-existent threats," Salvini said on Juncker. "I talk to sober people," Italy's news agency Ansa reported him saying.

Morocco's foreign minister Nasser Bourita has categorically rejected that his country will host EU asylum centres. "Morocco is generally against all kinds of centres. This is part of our migration policy and a national sovereign position," he told German newspaper Die Welt. He said asylum centres were counterproductive and that payments would not change Morocco's attitude. Bourita also criticised the EU for making the migration problem bigger than in reality.

Generations of students could lose out if the UK goes down the same path as Switzerland on the Erasmus+ student exchange scheme.

Finland's youthful-looking former prime minister Alexander Stubb wants to defend liberal values as the lead candidate of the centre-right EPP - as the campaign gears up for next May's election.

Denmark's centre-right government aims to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 and of hybrid cars from 2035, prime minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen told the parliament, Folketinget, on Tuesday. "This will mean that in 2030 there will be more than one million hybrid, electric or equivalent green cars in Denmark," he said. A concrete legal proposal will be presented to parliament next week.

Aleksandar Vucic, Vladimir Putin, and Hashim Thaci are blackmailing the EU for political and personal gain. With the US going against Germany, prospects of a happy outcome look dim.

Aleksandar Vucic, Vladimir Putin, and Hashim Thaci are blackmailing the EU for political and personal gain. With the US going against Germany, prospects of a happy outcome are dim.

Economy and finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to allow EU member states to reduce the rates of value added tax (VAT) on digital books, newspapers, and periodicals, to bring VAT rates in line with their physical equivalent. The measure was proposed almost two years ago by the European Commission. The bill required unanimity but was blocked by the Czech Republic as bargaining chip over another issue.

The European Parliament is not obliged to adopt the EU's annual budget in Strasbourg, but can also do that in Brussels, the EU's Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday. France, supported by Luxembourg, had called for annulment of the adoption of the 2017 budget, which happened in Brussels in 2016, and not in the French city Strasbourg. MEPs are required by treaty to meet in Strasbourg twelve times a year.

Months before European Parliament elections, the EU cannot afford to let the falsehoods spread by Hungary's rulers to go without response.

Iceland's financial crisis in 2008 was partly prompted by UK prime minister Gordon Brown and chancellor Alistair Darling, according to a new study by a professor at the University of Iceland, Hannes Holmsteinn Gissurarson. He concludes that decisions by the British government during the crisis were "politically motivated" and meant to divert attention from the rescue of big Scottish banks and show Scottish voters the risks of independence.

German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron are the world's most popular leaders, according to a PEW study among 26,000 people in 25 countries. Overall confidence in Merkel (52 percent) and Macron (46 percent) were highest in the northern European nations surveyed with less stellar ratings in eastern and southern Europe, while European attitudes toward US president Donald Trump were strikingly negative, it concluded.

Following more than six hours of negotiations, leaders of Germany's ruling coalition have agreed to limit emissions from diesel cars, with details of the plan to be announced later on Tuesday. A central point in the talks was whether the industry would be paying the full bill for retro-fitting of old cars, or if consumers would also have to contribute.

Around 180,000 protesters marched in Barcelona on Monday to mark the anniversary of Catalonia's independence vote. A majority of voters backed independence in the referendum on 1 October 2017. When its separatist government then declared independence on 27 October Spain's constitutional court deemed the referendum illegal, and Madrid imposed direct rule. Leaders of the independence movement are still in jail and its leader, Carles Puigdemont, in exile.

Immigrants coming to Britain from the EU will be treated exactly the same as those from the rest of the world after Brexit, according to prime minister Theresa May. Unveiling on Monday the biggest shake-up to Britain's immigration system in decades, she said the new system will give priority to high-skilled workers who will be able to bring their family to the UK only if sponsored by their future employer.

Ten years after Greece was hit by financial crisis, the country still has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union, at 19.1 percent in June 2018, according to figures from Eurostat. Spain had the second-highest unemployment level, 15.2 percent, followed by Italy at 9.7 percent. The lowest unemployment rates in August 2018 were recorded in the Czech Republic (2.5 percent), Germany and Poland (both 3.4 percent).

The EU commission president urged Rome to rethink its budget plans to avoid a Greek-style euro crisis. Meanwhile, Italy's finance minister tried to calm his colleagues in Luxembourg.

Well-meaning intentions on reducing plastic waste in our seas and oceans risks leading to job losses and depriving millions of European children of joy and celebration - without tangible environmental gain.