European Union

The Greek government has lashed out against Facebook, after the social media platform decided to partner with a “controversial” fact-checker in the country. Athens says it is now prepared to raise the issue at an EU level, unless it gets satisfactory answers.

Nathalie Loiseau, the lead European Parliament election candidate for French president Emmanuel Macron's party, has apologised for a series of gaffes, including her denial she had joined far-right activists when she was a student and her racist use of the word "gypsy". "They told me the campaign would be hard, and it is," she told France 2 radio Thursday. She said her gaffes were "clumsy mistakes", amid negative poll results.

Two Russian men, said to be intelligence officers, were jailed for 14 and 15 years, and two pro-Russian opposition politicians were jailed for five years, by a court in Montenegro on Thursday for their role in a failed coup in 2016 designed to stop the now Nato member from joining the Western alliance. Ten others, including several Serb nationals, a Montenegrin police chief, and an anti-Nato activist were also jailed.

The future for digitisation in European business is pivotal at the moment for the EU.

Iran on Wednesday announced its partial withdrawal from the nuclear deal. President Hassan Rouhani called on the contractual partners China, Germany, France, the UK and Russia to fulfill their side of the deal within sixty days. The announcement comes exactly one year after the US withdrew from the agreement. Commentators disagree on which side to blame for the escalation.

The candidates for Macron's party La République en Marche are presenting their agenda for the EU elections this Thursday. Instead of governmental politics the focus has clearly shifted to environmental protection. The positions on immigration are also less tough than Macron's stance to date. Commentators question the credibility of this new direction.

The EU Parliament elections will decide whether EU member states move closer together or further apart. According to polls the right-wing populists stand to make major gains and, if they form a parliamentary group together, become the second-strongest force in the parliament. The conservatives in particular must adopt a clear stance against them, commentators demand.

At a meeting of the Arctic Council, a high-level intergovernmental forum of the eight states that border on the Arctic Ocean, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attacked Russia for trying to gain control of the Polar region and militarising the area. He also accused China of aggressive tactics to boost its influence in this strategically important area. Is Washington's criticism justified?