European Union

Europe's reconstruction and development bank is excited about investing in Kazakhstan under the announced third stage of the country’s modernisation, always looking to combine investment with policy reform and technical advice, the head of the bank’s Brussels office said on Tuesday (19 June).

German Chancellor Merkel and French President Macron met on Tuesday at the chancellor's retreat Schloss Meseberg, where they agreed on reforms for the EU - including a Eurozone budget. Commentators note that the meeting was overshadowed by Germany's row over refugee policy, but draw different conclusions as to the impact this will have on the Franco-German motor.

Two positions in Europe's refugee policy appear to be growing increasingly irreconcilable: the appeal for countries to assume humanitarian responsibility on the one hand and the demands for secure borders on the other. The rift is apparent not just across Europe and within individual governments, but also in the commentary sections.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini of the far-right Lega Nord wants to carry out a census of all Roma living in the country and expel those without an Italian passport. Prime Minister Conte of the Movimento Cinque Stelle and EU Commission have countered that such a move is anti-constitutional. Journalists are incensed and hope that the provocateurs in Rome won't win out.

The government in Vienna is voicing outrage after it has emerged that Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND, spied on Austrian institutions. According to media reports among other things communications between ministers and companies were subject to systematic surveillance between 1999 and 2006. Commentators note the convenient timing of the scandal.

The outcry in the social media has proven effective: the Bulgarian cow Penka will not be slaughtered after leaving the EU in May on an unauthorised field trip to non-EU member Serbia. Bulgarian veterinary authorities had argued that the cow had to be killed, citing EU import regulations. But after receiving a clean bill of health Penka has been given a new lease on life. Europe's journalists can't get enough of the story.