European Union

The euro bailout fund ESM's programme of loans to Greece has ended this week, meaning that for the first time in eight years Greece will have to finance itself on the markets. 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 GDP. Has Greece really been saved?

Ahead of his trip to Ireland Pope France has called for "zero tolerance" for sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. In a letter to believers around the world he described it as a crime, demanded investigations and condemned what he described as an "abnormal understanding of authority in the Church". Will his words change anything?

Against the backdrop of the row with the US and Turkey's economic problems there are now signs of a rapprochement between the country and the EU. Last week President Erdoğan had phone calls with Macron and Merkel. The leader of Germany's Social Democrats, Andrea Nahles, has also brought up the idea of financial aid to help Turkey cope with its currency crisis. Commentators are unsure what to make of the situation.

Italy will allow its coast guard ship carrying 177 migrants rescued five days ago to dock in Sicily, Italy's transport minister Danilo Toninelli said on Monday, ending a standoff with Malta over where the ship should go. The European Commission said it was in talks with member states to distribute the migrants after a request was made by Italy. "Now Europe must swiftly play its part," Toninelli tweeted.

French energy giant Total has quit its multi-billion euro gas project in Iran after the US has reimposed sanctions when president Donald Trump walked away from a nuclear arms control deal earlier this year. The pullout came as Iran said on Monday that Europe should speed up its efforts to salvage a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and other powers, including Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia.

British foreign minister's call for tougher Russia measures risks falling on deaf ears as UK prepares to leave the EU and US leader continues to bash Europe.

US president Donald Trump accused the EU and China of manipulating their currencies amid a wider trade dispute with both economies, who are the US's largest trading partners. "I think China's manipulating their currency, absolutely. And I think the euro is being manipulated also," Trump told Reuters without providing evidence. This is the first time since 1994 that the US has officially accused another country of currency manipulation.

Cases of measles have hit a record high in Europe this year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), with more than 41,000 people infected in the first six months of 2018, leading to 37 deaths. Last year 23,927 cases were reported and the year before only 5,273. The WHO said that some 23,000 cases occurred in Ukraine, which is struggling to govern effectively while fighting off Russia's covert warfare.

Swedish anti-immigration politician, Hanif Bali, who is himself an immigrant, may have taken inspiration from US president Donald Trump when declaring war against Swedish media. "Hanif & DN at war" an Instagram poster said showing the conservative member of parliament with guns. Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter (DN) on Sunday decided to offer election coverage for free to support democracy, while Bali later removed the poster.

Sweden is paying the price for 20 years of "very unsuccessful integration policies", conservative opposition leader Ulf Kristersson has told the Financial Times. A recent wave of shootings and arson attacks are as serious as the country's 1990s' financial crisis, he said. Survey's poll Kristersson's party, the Moderates, as third biggest ahead of elections on 9 September, behind the the ruling Social Democrats and the fast growing anti-migrant Sweden Democrats.