Euobserver.com

Italy's veto threat shows the fragility of EU sanctions on Russia, but their deficiencies run deeper and time has come to increase pressure on Moscow.

Malta's prime minister Joseph Muscat says a year long probe has dispelled allegations he, his wife and political associates were involved in money laundering or fraud.

Greek foreign minister Nikos Kotzias has rebuked Russia for trying to undermine his country's deal with Macedonia on the name issue. "Russia must realise that it cannot disrespect the national interests of another state because it feels it is stronger," he said in an interview over the weekend. Athens earlier this months said it would expel two Russian diplomats for attempting to undermine the landmark accord.

French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said the EU could not consider negotiating a free trade agreement with the US without Washington first withdrawing its tariffs on steel. He insisted that there is no disagreement between Germany and France on how to handle the US tariffs a few days before EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker visits Washington. "World trade cannot base itself on the law of the jungle," he said.

Britain's new chief Brexit negotiator Dominic Raab said the government must step up planning for the possibility that talks with the EU collapse. "Any responsible government must make sure we have planning in place in case of a no-deal outcome," Raab said Sunday after last week meeting EU negotiator Michel Barnier. Raab said he expects to reach a deal, but said planning is underway in case the agreement fails.

Around 25,000 people demonstrated in Munich on Sunday to protest the hardline immigration stance of Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian allies, three months before they face a tough election in the region with the rise of Alternative for Germany (AfD). Demonstrators said they marched against a "politics of fear" of state premier Markus Soeder and CSU leader interior minister Horst Seehofer, whose anti-migration stance threatened the German coalition last month.

Further talks on the Irish border could continue next week as the EU is open to "any solution" that keeps the border invisible. EU negotiator Michel Barnier said key questions remain over the UK's white paper on a future partnership.

"Improving transatlantic trade and forging a stronger economic partnership" will be the focus of discussions in the White House. In Brussels, migration will be back on the table.

Libya is "absolutely opposed" to the EU's idea to establish camps there for people who cannot claim asylum in Europe, Libyan prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj said Friday. In an interview to Germany's Bild newspaper, he said his country saved "thousands of people each day" off its coast and that it was "left alone" in doing it. He asked "more technical and financial support", at sea and to accommodate migrants.

Italy is stepping up its campaign to stop EU warships and other rescue vessels from taking migrants to its ports.

Italy's far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini said he will sue Roberto Saviano, a best-selling writer exposing the Camorra mafia, who has criticised the League leader's hardline migration policy. Salvini said he filed a defamation suit against Saviano for accusing him of supporting the mafia. Salvini earlier questioned the necessity of police escorts for Saviano, who has been threatened by the mafia. In response, Saviano called Salvini "minister of the underworld."

France, Germany, Italy, and Lithuania are among EU countries that have sent help to Sweden, which is battling its worst wildfire season, triggered by the extreme heatwave across the Nordic region. Several countries have sent aircraft to help with putting out the around 40 fires. The EU Commission helped mobilise two firefighting planes from Italy, and the EU's Copernicus satellite mapping system has been activated to help Swedish authorities.

Britain's former EU commissioner Lord Hill is facing calls for an inquiry after taking up six roles with multinational companies since leaving office, the Guardian reported. Hill resigned as commissioner after the Brexit referendum. Transparency campaigners Corporate Europe Observatory have written to the EU Commission calling for "an urgent conflict of interest assessment" of Hill's jobs by the EU executive's ethics committee.

British prime minister Theresa May is to tell the EU it should drop its position on the Irish border solution of creating a so-called 'backstop' (aligning Northern Ireland with EU rules) and "evolve" their position to break the deadlock in Brexit talks. In a speech to be delivered in Belfast on Friday, May is expected to say the backstop solution is "unworkable" and no British prime minister could accept it.

The EU Commission urged companies, citizens, and member states to prepare in case the UK next March crashes out of the EU without a deal - on the day the new UK Brexit minister arrived in Brussels.

US president Donald Trump said in a tweet on Thursday that the EU has "truly taken advantage of the US, but not for long!" He was reacting to the €4.34bn fine imposed on Google by the European Commission on Wednesday for abusing its market position in mobile phone operating systems. "I told you so!" he tweeted, saying that the tech company was "one of our great companies".

Spain's Supreme Court withdrew on Thursday its European arrest warrant against former Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont and five other politicians who left Spain last year. Last week the Schleswig-Holstein regional court had ruled that Puigdemont could be extradited from Germany only for embezzlement and not for rebellion over Catalonia's independence declaration in October. Spanish judge Pablo Llarena refused to drop the rebellion charge and dropped all warrants.

The EU is preparing a list of counter-measures to possible US tariffs on European cars, EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said on Thursday, a week before she and the EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker travel to Washington for trade talks with US president Donald Trump. The EU has already imposed tariffs worth €2.8bn on US products as a counter-measure to US tariffs on steel and aluminium.

The EU Commission on Thursday launched a probe into Hungary's so-called 'Stop Soros' legislation that criminalises assistance to people seeking asylum in the country. The new law could be in breach EU rules on asylum applicants' rights and other EU rules on non-admissibility. The commission also referred Hungary to the EU's top court for an earlier breach of EU asylum rules for legislation adopted in 2015.

The EU welcomed Thursday the lifting of the state of emergency in Turkey but warned that a new bill to maintain some measures "would dampen any positive effect of its termination." In a statement by the EU commission spokesperson on foreign affairs, it called on Turkey to "reverse all measures that continue to impact negatively on the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and the fundamental freedoms."