Euobserver.com

France credits the lockdown with cutting bad habits, such as smoking and drinking, according to a poll published on Monday. Carried out by Odoxa and FG2A for daily Le Figaro and Franceinfo radio, the survey revealed that most people typically engage in unhealthy practices within a social environment. Before the lockdown 57 percent of French said they drank alcohol regularly or occasionally, which dropped to 51 percent during confinement.

The new Insect Atlas published on Tuesday revealed that insects are in decline across the world because of industrial farming and heavy pesticide use. While 41 percent of insect species are in decline worldwide, at least one-in-ten bee and butterfly species in Europe is threatened with extinction. Two-thirds of the pesticides global market is dominated by four companies: BASF, Bayer, Syngenta and Corteva.

The EU-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya has said it would continue its military campaign against warlord Khalifa Haftar, despite Russian warnings to back off. Its coming assault on the al-Jufra airbase, which is said to house 14 Russian warplanes and crews, risked enflaming the conflict. But the GNA, backed by Turkish forces, said it would do all it could to stop Russia establishing a permanent military facility.

The president of the EU's second-highest court, the General Court in Luxembourg, Marc van der Woude, has warned Germany's constitutional court risked destroying the primacy of EU law in Europe. The German court had said, on 5 May, an EU bond-buying scheme might be illegal, but that was "direct interference in the functioning of the European legal order" van der Woude said in a rare public statement, voicing "deep concern".

Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst has criticised people who attended a 10,000-strong march in Brussels Sunday in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US, saying "it wasn't a good idea", even if people wore masks, because they did not maintain social distancing, and because it made it harder to explain to others why social gatherings were still limited to 12 people, he told Belgian daily Le Soir.

US president Donald Trump, Saturday, agreed to pull out 9,500 American soldiers from the 35,000 or so stationed in Germany since Cold War times, US media report citing officials. Some British MPs complained he should have first consulted Nato allies. Poland also voiced concern due to its history of conflict with Russia. US bases in Germany were "in the interest of both our countries" German foreign minister Heiko Maas said.

Some EU countries, such as Italy, have begun "competing for tourism" against each other by refusing to follow EU guidelines, agreed Friday, to reopen internal borders on 15 June instead of earlier, Belgium's foreign minister said Saturday. "We are asking for coordination, but it doesn't work, as some countries have entered a form of tourism competition," Belgium's Philippe Goffin told La Libre Belgique.

British laws forcing all arrivals from abroad, except from Ireland, to self-quarantine for 14 days or pay €1,120 fines came into effect Monday. "Science is clear that if we limit the risk of new [coronavirus] cases coming ... from abroad, we can help stop a devastating second wave," home secretary Priti Patel said. The UK still has the fourth most cases in the world after the US, Brazil, and Russia.

Turkey's EU candidate status ought to be revoked due to its gas drilling in Cypriot waters, Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades has said in an interview with Politico. "Either they are compliant with the terms and conditions of any other candidate country, otherwise they could not be either a candidate or accepted," he said. Another option was to add Turkish names to an EU blacklist against its "aggressive" neighbour, Anastasiades added.

The Czech Republic, on Friday, expelled two Russian diplomats after one of them drafted a fake memo about assassination plans against three Russia-critical Czech mayors, shared it with Czech intelligence, and news of it appeared in Czech magazine Respekt. "The whole case arose as a result of an internal struggle between [Russian embassy] employees", Czech PM Andrej Babiš said. Russia has complained and signalled tit-for-tat Czech expulsions to follow.

"You can divide a municipality, but you can't divide a mayor in two," an EU official said, in another European muddle on Israel at a critical time.

"Freedom is the rule," in Belgium, the EU institutions' home, from Monday, when bars and cafes reopen. But 90 percent of EU talks - on economic rescues and Africa diplomacy - to stay online.

Recruitment rules for member states to nominate people to become European prosecutors may have to be changed because Malta cannot find enough eligible candidates.

Estimates report that more than 13,000 foreign women and children are held in camps in north-west Syria. Many EU citizens who once have fled their home to join the ranks of the Islamic State are counted among the detainees.

"No significant progress" has been made on the latest round of talks between the UK and EU on how their relationship should look from January, according to Michel Barnier. The EU told UK to stick to its prior commitments.

Most member states committed to opening borders and related travel restrictions by mid-June, following the recent calls of the European Commission to restore the freedom of movement in the EU that has been hardly weakened due to the coronavirus.

The European Court of Auditors has urged the European Commission to establish measurable commitments to tackle biodiversity loss caused by intensive farming - as the Common Agriculture Policy has so far failed to reverse this long-standing issue.

Polish judges' association Iustitia has warned that a new disciplinary board plans to cross-examine government-critical judge Igor Tuleya on 9 June in a case that could see him jailed over procedural details. The move was in "blatant violation" of a recent EU court injunction, Iustitia said. A Polish diplomat disagreed, saying "Poland always implements EU court rulings". Police would "have to use force" to drag him into court, Tuleya said.

EU countries have begun to rally round Germany in its opposition to a land-swamp deal between Kosovo and Serbia, an EU official told press Thursday, amid German fears of enflaming ethnic tensions. Some US diplomats have backed the swap, while others said they had nothing against it. EU sources confirmed US Kosovo/Serbia envoy Richard Grenell had not yet spoken to his EU counterpart, Miroslav Lajčák, despite Lajčák's overtures.

"It's a tragedy. Without tourists Venice is like a sea without fishes," says Andrea, a commuter waiting for his train.