Euobserver.com

Despite bold propositions for the EU's future, one could not help feeling the Commission chief's State of the Union address already sounded like a farewell speech.

This vote in the European Parliament could not mark a step change in the EU's global role in forests protection to prevent climate change.

The European Parliament has called for an international ban on lethal autonomous weapons, known colloquially as 'killer robots'. A non-binding text, adopted on Wednesday with 566 MEPs in favour, 57 against, and 73 abstaining, said that the 28 EU member states should have a common position on autonomous weapons by November and "speak in relevant forums with one voice".

"World" and "time" are the words the European Commission chief used the most in his last State of the Union address on Wednesday, amid a far-right surge and Trump's isolationism.

The European Commission wants more border controls, detentions and returns for rejected asylum seekers. The harsh tone is part of a broader anti-migrant mood. "We are treated like rats," one asylum seeker stuck on a Greek island told this website.

In his final State of the Union address, Jean-Claude Juncker warned of "exaggerated nationalism" in Europe - and said the EU should play a more dominant role in shaping world events, as the US withdraws from the global stage.

The European Parliament on Wednesday adopted triggering the so-called Article 7 procedure against Hungary, calling on EU member states to examine the state of Hungary's democracy, warning there is a "clear risk" of breaching EU values by the government of prime minister Viktor Orban. The move was adopted by two-thirds of MEPs, 448 for, 197 against and with 48 abstentions.

The European Parliament adopted on Wednesday a reform of copyright on the internet, with 438 MEPs voting in favour of the latest proposal and 226 against. "This is an excellent message sent to the European creative industries," said Axel Voss, the German centre-right MEP who steered the text. The reform, which was first rejected by MEPs in July, was opposed by internet companies and supported by many artists and journalists.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker proposed on Wednesday measures "to better protect our democratic processes from manipulation by third countries or private interests." The EU executive proposes more cooperation between countries on online transparency, cybersecurity incidents and disinformation campaigns, as well as "greater transparency in online political advertisements and targeting". It also proposes to tighten the rules on European political party funding.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday said the Commission wants qualified majority voting (QMV) when it comes to foreign policy. "It is not right that our union silenced itself at the United Nations human rights council, when it came to condemning human rights by China and this because one member state opposed it," he said.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday described it as an "aberration" that European companies purchase European planes in US dollars and not in euros. He said the commission before the end of the year will present plans "to strengthen the international role of the euro." He said the "euro must become the active instrument of a new and more sovereign Europe."

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday proposed a new alliance with Africa, one anchored "in investments and sustainable jobs" to create up to 10 million jobs in Africa over the next five years. "We have to stop seeing the Africa-EU relationship through the sole prism of development," an approach he described as "humiliating" for Africa. Juncker says the "donor relationship is a thing of the past."

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday announced new security-driven measures to counter online terrorism in terms of getting internet firms to remove the offending content within an hour. The idea has already been previously reported on. But Juncker also demanded that the EU's plan for a European public prosecutor, an Europe-wide body in charge of tackling large-scale, cross-border crime, also takes on terrorism.

The video European Council president Donald Tusk released on Twitter last Friday was prepared in-house, the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union told EUobserver. The video, which had the feel of a trailer for an action film, showed Tusk looking serious and in the midst of diplomatic action. "We estimate that the approximate cost of this kind of video product is around 800 euros."

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in his annual State of the Union address on Wednesday in Strasbourg told MEPs that Europe "is a force to be reckoned with". The statement is part of a wider push by the EU to have Europe play a much greater role on the international stage. Juncker said Europe needs to "increasingly be a sovereign player" in international affairs.

If the Syrian regime attacks Idlib, the last rebel enclave in Syria, the result will be a humanitarian and geopolitical disaster, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned in a Wall Street Journal article on Tuesday. Erdogan urged the international community to take action or face "security risks for Turkey, the rest of Europe and beyond". The UN has estimated 800,000 people could be displaced by an attack.

A failing economy, corruption, and intimidation of judges and media - after Poland and Hungary, Bulgaria seems like Europe's next rule of law crisis.

Romania's senate on Tuesday backed a citizens' initiative signed by over three million people to hold a referendum on changing the constitution, in a bid that could make it impossible to legalise same-sex unions in the future. If approved the constitution would be amended to define marriage as a union between "a man and a woman". The referendum could be held as early as 7 October.

The European Court of Justice has struck a second blow against churches' rights to hire and fire people based on their beliefs.

EU leaders are preparing to hold a special summit on Brexit in mid-November in order to sign the divorce deal with Britain, as it is no longer expected a deal can be agreed before their regular summit on 18-19 October. The biggest obstacle remains how to avoid police and customs checks at the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, once the UK leaves the EU in March 2019.