European Union

AMENDMENTS 5 - 86 - Draft opinion Use of the Schengen Information System for the return of illegally staying third-country nationals
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

AMENDMENTS 6 - 37 - Draft opinion Establishment, operation and use of the Schengen Information System (SIS) in the field of border checks
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Pressure on US President Donald Trump is growing after the death of Otto Warmbier. Influential Republicans are demanding a firm response to the American student's death. Warmbier died in his home state of Ohio on Monday, shortly after being evacuated to the US after serving 18 months of a 15-year prison sentence in North Korea. Europe's press is deeply concerned about the diplomatic crisis.

All three ministers of the liberal MoDem party in France's new government have resigned. First Defence Minister Sylvie Goulard stepped down then Justice Minister Francois Bayrou and Europe Minister Marielle de Sarnez followed suit over allegations that the party used European parliamentary funds to pay assistants based in France. Macron's close confidant and urban planning minister Richard Ferrand of LREM has also tendered his resignation. But Macron is not unhappy about these developments, commentators surmise.

On International Refugee Day, celebrated on Tuesday, more than 65 million people were displaced worldwide. This dramatic and long-term situation must not be trivialised and reduced to a supposedly temporary state by the use of the term "crisis", commentators warn, and call on governments to take responsibility.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is to release its ruling on the border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia next week. The Slovenian government has announced that it will abide by the ruling. Croatia, however, says it doesn't feel obliged to observe it. Zagreb would offend not just Slovenia if it doesn't, commentators warn.

Just under a year after the British voted to leave the EU the Brexit negotiations have begun in Brussels. Weakened after the general elections, the British government will be more open to a softer and more humane Brexit, commentators believe, putting their trust in the negotiators' bargaining skills.