European Union

The bosses of the four US internet giants Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon testified on Wednesday before a committee of the US House of Representatives. They were questioned about the abuse of their market power. Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg stressed that their size alone does not make these companies bad. But that's not the point, commentators argue.

Worldwide jurisdictions and particularly the EU and the US should formulate "common visions" on how best to regulate competition in the platform economy, the Commission's digital chief Margrethe Vestager has said.

Despite major disruptions to production and assembly in the first semester, installation of new wind farms over the first half of 2020 was comparable to previous years, industry figures show.

The US is to pull thousands of combat soldiers out of Germany back to America in a political blow by president Donald Trump.

Poland is considering reimposing quarantine measures for people returning from some countries where the number of new coronavirus cases is rising, Reuters reported. "We are considering introducing a quarantine for particular countries from the European Union and from outside of the EU," government spokesperson Piotr Muller on Thursday told private broadcaster Polsat News. He referred to Spain and France as countries triggering concerns inside the Polish government.

UK health secretary Matt Hancock said on Thursday that London will do everything to control the spread of a second wave, Reuters reported. "We have significant concerns about the second wave that is coming across Europe, [but] it's not just Spain ... there are other countries too where the number of cases is rising," Hancock said, after the UK reimposed 14-day quarantine on people arriving from Spain at the weekend.

EU ambassadors are expected to exclude Algeria from the 'safe list' of countries from which the bloc allows non-essential travel. The list would be reduced to 11 countries if the provisional decision is confirmed in writing by EU officials. The deadline for submissions is Thursday afternoon. The countries of the list are Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Tunisia and Uruguay.

French European affairs minister Clement Beaune said on Wednesday that his country will continue to defend the interests of fishermen in Brexit talks. He said that France would be "intransigent" on this aspect since EU fisherman should be able to keep the right to fish in British waters after the transition period. "We will not accept a deal at any price," he said in an interview on Wednesday.

Belarus's president Alexander Lukashenko, who is running for the sixth presidential term, said on Wednesday that the country's authorities have detained 32 members of a Russian private military company, according to The Guardian. Those arrested are accused of planning to destabilise Belarus during the election campaign, just a few days before the presidential election on 9 August. Some observers consider the arrests as a campaign stunt by Lukashenko.

The head of Germany's Robert Koch Institute for health, Lothar Wieler, said that young Germans going on holiday and ignoring coronavirus rules are an increasing cause of concern, The Guardian reported. Footages of revellers in Spain's Mallorca and a Bulgarian resort town have been splashed across German media. "It is reckless and careless to take part in wild parties," said Wieler, calling the partygoers "irresponsible".

Government leaders and officials from six Western Balkan countries on Wednesday discussed the negative economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic and ways to avoid delays in EU membership talks, AP reported. They agreed to accelerate the recovery by eliminating barriers that hinder economic growth, as well as pursuing an investment plan to attract foreign investment in the region - with a focus on infrastructure and energy.

A penitentiary court in Catalonia on Wednesday suspended the flexible prison scheme granted to five pro-independence leaders jailed last year over their roles in organising an outlawed referendum in 2017, El País reported. The head of the regional government in Catalonia, Quim Torra, criticised the ruling on social media. "No, the law does not include revenge as a response. Is this the dialogue Spain is offering?," he wrote.

The renovation of old buildings will be crucial to the success of the European Green Deal and a clean, robust economic recovery. Unless there is serious commitment from policymakers, we risk the Green Deal turning into a pumpkin.

The European Commission signed this week a €63m contract with the US-based biopharmaceutical company Gilead to secure batches of remdesivir for 30,000 patients with "severe" Covid-19 symptoms - after the US left Europe and most of the world without supplies.

Protests in Bulgaria against the government of Boyko Borissov grew stronger on Wednesday (29 July), the 21st day of revolt, as citizens blocked major crossroads, including a key Danube bridge at the country’s border with Romania at Russe-Giurgiu.