European Union

Aid organisations have denounced catastrophic conditions at Moria camp on the Aegean island of Lesbos. Almost 9,000 people are crammed into the camp, which has capacity for only around 3,300. Doctors Without Borders has reported suicide attempts by minors and the authorities see health and environmental risks at the camp. Greek commentators take the government to task.

After the European Parliament's vote to open punitive proceedings against Hungary the Hungarian opposition staged a demonstration outside the parliament building in Budapest. Ex-prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány called for the protests to continue until the government is ousted. Journalists examine Gyurcsány's role and wonder why he hasn't been able to mobilise more supporters.

Pope Francis will visit Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia from September 22 to 25. This is the first time a pope has visited the Baltic countries in 25 years. While the media in predominantly Catholic Lithuania are thrilled by the visit, Latvian papers take a more critical view.

During the Salzburg EU summit, English-speaking media were quick to draw the link between the Austrian city and the setting of the Sound of Music. For French-speaking journalists, the informal meeting brought another song to mind: "Rock around the bunker" by iconic Frenchman Serge Gainsbourg.

Committee and political group meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

Decisions in the EU are a complicated process of intense negotiations, quid pro quos and horse-trading, until an agreement can finally be reached. But that didn't happen in Salzburg.

Issues of sovereignty remain entrenched following a proposal by the European Commission to expand the EU's border and coast guard, also known as Frontex, to 10,000. But EU leaders maintain a "basic consensus" of support had been reached.

UK prime minister Theresa May's Brexit plans are opposed by a "rock-solid" core of 40 Conservative MPs, former Brexit minister David Davis has told Huffington Post. The group sticks together in the European Research Group (ERG) and wants a sharper break with the EU. If 40 of May's 315 lawmakers, plus the opposition parties voted against, May would fall short of the number needed to pass the legislation.

At least 22 seats in 17 local Swedish city councils will be empty following 9 September elections, a SVT review of results showed. The empty chairs belong to the far-right Swedish Democrats, which won more votes than they had candidates to fill. Prime minister Stefan Lofven still hopes to form a new national government with smaller parties or a grand coalition to avoid relying on the Sweden Democrats.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been ordered by a French court to undergo a psychiatric test for tweeting pictures of atrocities committed by the Islamic State group in 2015. Le Pen published the court order, dated 11 September, on Twitter on Thursday and said she would refuse to undergo such tests. "I'd like to see how the judge would try and force me do it," she said.

Ministers from Romania and Portugal hold the EU record in appearing at EU council meetings, being present in over 90 percent of the meetings, according to research from Danish think tank Europa. The figures - based on minutes from council meetings in the period 2015-2018 - also showed that ministers from Slovakia and Poland appeared the least, leaving their chairs to diplomats in almost every other meeting.