European Union

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.

The European Commission said Wednesday a "real driving emissions" (RDE) test for CO2 to help prevent cheating would take years to develop. "To think we can move from one day to another to an RDE test, that is not going to happen, that is not going to be possible," the commission told MEPs at a discussion about new reduction targets for cars. MEP Miriam Dalli proposed such a test.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker had called a pre-summit "informal working meeting" in Brussels on Sunday to discuss migration and asylum, the issue currently preoccupying both the German coalition government in Berlin and the new Italian government. The commission did not immediately specify who would attend, although it was thought to include Germany, France, Italy and Spain, plus incoming and outgoing EU presidencies - Bulgaria and Austria.