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France's EU financial affairs commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, compared EU populist leaders to "little Mussolinis" in a press conference in Paris Thursday, prompting anger from Italy's far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini. "He should wash his mouth out before insulting Italy, the Italians and their legitimate government," Salvini said. "They dare to say that in Italy there are many little Mussolinis, they should not dare", Italy's deputy PM, Luigi Di Maio, added.

EU states have made preparations to move 3,000 migrants from Greek island camps to the mainland to make way for fresh arrivals and ease overcrowding, the FT reported. The plans come as regime forces threaten to assault a rebel enclave in Idlib, Syria, which, Turkey says, could prompt tens of thousands to flee to Europe. The camps, meant to hose 6,000 people, already house 17,000 in "shameful" conditions, NGOs say.

German interior minister Horst Seehofer has called the far-right AfD party a "dangerous ... enemy of the state" in an interview with German press agency DPA, ahead of October's local elections in his home region of Bavaria. "They just got cocky ... and dropped the mask," he said. His CSU party is currently polling at 37.8 percent, the lowest this year, with the AfD in third place on 13.5 percent.

Uncontrolled migration at a global level finds very little support. This is a reality which every European politician should heed.

In August, Jean-Claude Juncker and his EU commissioners held a two-day seminar at a chateau outside Brussels to prepare this week's State of the Union speech. The commission implies there is no written record.

Sealing the name deal with Greece in the 30 September referendum is Macedonia's "ticket for entering the EU and Nato," Macedonian leader Zoran Zaev told MEPs in a speech in Strasbourg on Thursday. The deal with Greece was also "an inspiration for the resolution of all other bilateral conflicts" in the Western Balkans, he added. Macedonia hopes to enter the EU by 2030, its foreign minister recently said.

The European Court of Justice on Thursday upheld EU financial sanctions against two Russian energy firms, Gazprom Neft and Rosneft, and five lenders, Sberbank, VTB Bank, Vnesheconombank, Prominvestbank, and DenizBank imposed over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. EU diplomats, also on Thursday, extended the life of asset freezes and travel bans on 155 mostly Russian people and 44 entities over the war until March next year.

Israel's plan to demolish a Palestinian village, Khan al-Ahmar, would amount to "forcible transfer" of occupied peoples and a "grave breach of international humanitarian law", MEPs said in a resolution Thursday. It had "strategic" importance, EU diplomats said, because it allowed Israel to split Palestinian territories in the West Bank. The AJC, a pro-Israel lobby in Brussels, said it was needed because rickety homes there were a health risk.

In a speech of almost 5,000 words, covering the EU's priority to be a strong global actor, the eurozone and security union, EU citizens were only referenced five times.

Spain's lower house on Thursday adopted, with 172 votes against two, a government decree to exhume former dictator Franco from the controversial mausoleum in the Valley of the Fallen, near Madrid, where he was buried after his death in 1975, along with fascist soldiers. The decree was adopted thanks to the abstention of the centre-right Popular Party and liberal Ciudadanos.

Four MEPs have written to Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades warning if he cooperates with Russia on hounding British human rights activist Bill Browder then his country ought to "face consequences for the abrogation of its commitments to the EU...including sanctions available under the EU rule of law framework". The left-wing, liberal, and Green deputies spoke out as MEPs triggered a sanctions procedure against Hungary on Wednesday.

The European Parliament approved on Thursday, with 420 votes against 186, the opening of talks on visa liberalisation for citizens of Kosovo. The vote follows an assessment by the European Commission in July saying that the country, which is still not recognised by five member states, had fulfilled all the criteria.

The EU and US have voiced concern on Chinese and Russian influence in the Balkans as the region's countries prepare to move closer to Western bloc.

Poland has vowed to protect Hungary against any EU sanctions - one day after the Polish president belittled Europe in a speech.

Some 3,500 people have sent the European Medicines Agency (EMA) an unsolicited job application to work for the medicines-approval body after it moves to Amsterdam in 2019, Dutch minister for medical care Bruno Bruins said in a letter to parliament on Wednesday. The most recent estimate was that EMA would lost 200 staff members currently working in London. Bruins said construction of EMA's new building was happening according to plan.

Libyan coast guards have saved some 10,000 migrants at sea since the start of this year, according to German authorities. The figure was provided by the foreign ministry during a debate in parliament over what the Left party said were "inhumane conditions" of returns of migrants to Libya. Libyan coast guards are trained by the EU to stop migrants crossing to Europe.

Eighty-nine percent of French consider Germany as a "reliable ally or partner country", compared to 44 percent for the US and 61 percent for the UK, according to a poll published Wednesday. A majority of respondents think democracy is "more fragile" than previously in the US, the EU and France. They see immigration and worsening social conditions as the main reasons for the rise of populism in the EU.

Talks between France and the UK ended on Wednesday without an agreement on scallop fishing in the waters between the two countries. French fishermen wanted their British colleagues to refrain from fishing until 1 October, as they do. The dispute led last month to a clash between boats, with the European Commission calling for an "amicable" solution.

Netherlands positive, but Slovakia negative on proposal to do foreign policy by majority vote, as Jean-Claude Juncker outlines vision for "sovereign Europe".

The parliament launched a sanctions procedure against Hungary in an unprecedented vote that required a two-thirds majority from MEPs. Hungary is calling the vote a "fraud" and a "petty revenge" for its hardline migration policy.