Euobserver.com

The summer's extreme heat, drought and fires has lifted the environment to become the second most important political issue among Swedish voters one month ahead of general election, according to a new Demoskop survey published by Swedish daily Expressen. Some 23 percent of voters consider immigration to be the most important issue, but 16 percent now view the environment as the most important, ahead of healthcare at 13 percent.

Hundreds of migrant farmworkers walked off tomato fields in Foggia in southern Italy on Wednesday protesting their working conditions after two road accidents killed 16 African workers. The accidents happened when lorries carrying tomatoes collided with vans carrying the labourers home after their day's work. Interior minister Matteo Salvini reacted by declaring war on the mafia networks exploiting foreign agricultural workers, saying they had benefited from "uncontrolled immigration".

Germany announced on Wednesday a new agreement with Spain that migrants who are already registered there will be refused entry at the German border and deported within 48 hours. Similar talks with Italy and Greece are underway. Spain has become the new preferred route for migrants attempting to reach Europe in recent months, but does not share any direct borders with Germany.

Death rates of people crossing from Libya to reach Italy has spiked from 1 in 64 in the first five months to 1 in 16 in June and July alone. Yet the EU maintains their safety is a main priority.

By sitting on their hands, the international community is giving Russia a green light to do whatever it wants in Georgia's occupied territories, in the knowledge that there is no price to pay.

The leader of eurosceptic Danish People's Party, Kristian Thulesen Dahl, said his party is not aiming for a vote on Denmark's membership of the EU. "We should not leave the EU right now," he told a party gathering on Wednesday. "We do not propose to exit the EU without there being an alternative". He added: "When the British have made an agreement with the EU, there is such an alternative".

The EU will contribute €150,000 of emergency assistance to communities most affected by the recent earthquake on the Indonesian island of Lombok, the European Commission announced Wednesday. It said that the aid will help provide access to relief items and access to clean water and basic health care to 4,000 people. The EU is also providing maps of the struck region made by its Copernicus satellite mapping system.

Paul Magnette, mayor of Charleroi and former minister-president of the Belgian Wallonia region, has been approached by the French Socialist Party to lead the socialist list in the European parliament elections in May 2019, reports Figaro. Magnette, who became famous for opposing the EU-Canada free trade agreement (Ceta) and threatening to derail it in the last minute, said he was "flattered" and would discuss the idea with his own party.

A team of Danish economists has put forward a case for one largely-overlooked driver of economic development in Europe: 80,000km of roadways built by the Roman empire nearly 2,000 years ago, according to the Washington Post. Their study shows how density of ancient Roman roads in Europe strongly correlates with present-day prosperity, as measured by modern-day road density, population density and satellite imagery of nighttime lighting.

"Thank God without human casualties, but it is nevertheless extremely regrettable", Estonia's president Jueri Ratas commented after a Spanish fighter jet accidentally fired an air-to-air missile over Estonia on Tuesday during a routine Nato training mission. Estonia's military is now searching the area around where it was fired, as it is potentially still armed, while the Spanish defence ministry has opened an investigation into the matter.

Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay his first state visit to Germany since becoming president in 2014 on 28-29 September, the office of Germany's president Frank-Walter Steinmeier confirmed on Tuesday. The programme includes a meeting between Erdogan and Steinmeier while a meeting with chancellor Angela Merkel was not confirmed. Relations between the two Nato countries are strained due to Turkey's crackdown on suspected opponents and detention of German citizens.

Italy's parliament approved on Monday night (with 382 votes in favour, 11 against and one abstention) to donate 12 patrol vessels to the Libyan coastguard to help push back migrants setting sail for Europe. The plan to equip the Libyans is backed by the EU, which has funded the training of 237 Libyan coastguard officers to man the boats. The latest training course was run by the Spanish navy.

Director of Electronic Communications Networks and Services Anthony Whelan says in an internal document that he wanted to eliminate "possible criticisms" and "marginalise questions".

An advocate general at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg on Tuesday said the European arrest warrant remains valid in the UK so long as it remains a member of the European Union. "The UK's decision to leave the EU should not affect the execution of a European arrest warrant issued by it," said the opinion, after a suspect in Ireland challenged the UK for issuing an arrest warrant.

Danish state prosecutors on Monday launched an official investigation into Danske Bank over allegations that the country's biggest lender has been involved in money laundering through its Estonian branch. Meanwhile, Bill Browder, champion of the Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitski, killed in Russia, requested a criminal investigation of 26 officials of the Estonian branch of Danske Bank, who allegedly enabled the money laundering, Estonian daily Postimees reported.

A record low of 22 percent of British voters approve of prime minister Theresa May's handling of Brexit negotiations, a drop from 55 percent in the first half of 2017, according to a survey from ORB International pollster published on Monday. The UK is posed to leave the EU in a little more than eight months, on 29 March 2019.

EU justice commissioner Vera Jourova has called for greater scrutiny by EU countries that sell citizenship, and thus passports, to non-EU nationals who pay large sums or purchase expensive real estate. "The EU Commission is very concerned about the development of so-called golden passports," she said in an interview with German daily Welt. "We do not want Trojan horses in the Union" Jourova said.

The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) paid out the fifth and final tranche of financial assistance to Greece on Monday, amounting to €15bn. Managing director Klaus Regling said "Greece has come a long way during the three years of the ESM programme" ending on 20 August. From the payment, €9.5bn will be used to strengthen Greece's cash buffer and €5.5bn will be used for debt service.

An EU plan which excludes French ports from new shipping routes linking Ireland with the continent after Brexit is "scandalous and unacceptable", Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts de France region, which includes the ports of Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk, has told the Daily Telegraph. Adopted last week, the Commission's plan would connect Ireland to Europe via Zeebrugge, Antwerp and Rotterdam, preventing exports from being delayed by UK customs.

Since Emmanuel Macron took the French presidency in 2017, the concept of consolidating European industries to create continental 'champions', capable of competing on a global scale, has been revived.