European Union

Russian President Putin spent around 90 minutes at the wedding party of Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl on Saturday. The invitation was harshly criticised by politicians and media at home and abroad. But there are also those who praise the Russian leader's performance at the wedding.

The loan programmes of the euro bailout fund the ESM come to an end this Monday, meaning that for the first time in eight years Greece will have to finance itself on the markets from today. The country's economic data has improved of late but one in five of its inhabitants is still unemployed and the national debt is still 180 percent of its GDP. Has Greece really been saved?

The Hungarians commemorate today the founding of the Hungarian state by King Stephen I, who was canonised on 20 August 1083. He was the first Christian king of the Hungarians and his crown is featured on the country's national coat of arms. Hungarian commentators take widely diverging views of the significance of this day.

Finger pointing is dominating the political debate in Italy following the collapse of the motorway bridge in Genoa. Economic Development Minister Di Maio has blamed the motorway operator Autostrade while Interior Minister Salvini complained that EU budget constraints were making Italy unsafe. Commentators say the Italian state is also to blame for the tragedy in which 40 people died.

Russia and Germany are set to proceed with the completion of a second natural gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea between the two countries. 

Italy's interior minister, Matteo Salvini, threatened on Sunday to send "back to Libya" nearly 180 people picked up by Italian coastguard ship Diciotti. "Either Europe decides to seriously offer Italy some concrete help ... or we will be forced to do what will definitively end the human traffickers' business. That means taking the people saved in the sea back to Libya," Salvini said in a statement.

Maltese Christian Democrat MEP David Casa has come under fire for employing his uncle and his brother-in-law as local assistants on the European Parliament payroll. Speaking to Malta Today newspaper, Casa denied any breach of the rules banning the hire of close relatives, such as spouses, partners, parents, children, brothers, or sisters. He threatened to "take all necessary action permitted by law" should the newspaper publish the story.

"European values, such as freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights, are at the heart of the EU and are not subject to negotiations," Germany's foreign minister Heiko Maas told a newspaper ahead of his visit to Poland on Monday. Maas will discuss a range of issues, including the rule of law, where the European Commission says Poland has diverged from EU values and rules.