Euobserver.com

Top EU and Chinese officials meet next week in Beijing as unilateral US measures push the two sides closer together despite major disputes between the trading giants.

The European Commission on Friday opened an investigation into the acquisition of French train manufacturer Alstom by Germany's Siemens, over concerns it "may reduce competition in the supply of several types of trains and signalling systems." The commission said the operation could "deprive European rail operators of a choice of suppliers and innovative products, and lead to higher prices." The investigation will be closed by the end of November.

US president Donald Trump said Friday his Sun newspaper interview threatening a post-Brexit US-UK trade deal may have been "too brutal" for UK prime minister Theresa May. He also said their relationship was "the highest kind of special." At a joint press conference, May insisted that her Brexit position "provides the platform for Donald and me to agree an ambitious deal that works for both countries."

The majority of the Italian parliament will reject Ceta, the EU-Canada free trade agreement, when it is put to a vote for ratification, deputy prime minister Luigi di Maio, from the Five Star Movement, said on Friday in a meeting with Italy's main farming union. The agreement, which as signed in 2017, needs to be ratified by all EU national parliaments as well as several regional parliaments.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker suffered from a "very painful attack of sciatica accompanied with cramps", a condition that affects his ability to walk, his spokesman said Friday - after a video showed him supported by several leaders at the Nato summit on Wednesday triggered rumours of drunkenness. He added that Juncker, who travels to Asia over the weekend, is "well and following his programme fully" after taking "standard medication".

The suggestion that Russians themselves play a role in the condition of their state today is often dismissed as "xenophobic" or "Russophobic". But if not addressed, the evils of nationalism, chauvinism, and imperialism will continue even after Putin is gone.

The European Commission has cancelled a call for funding free wireless internet hotspots in EU cities due to an IT error. According to an email revealed by Belgium's Le Soir, the IT system did not take into account the different EU time zones, thus preventing some cities applying "on an equal basis" in the first-come, first-served application procedure. A new call will be opened later.

Trump said he hoped to befriend Putin at a showcase summit in Helsinki, following US president's attacks on Nato and British leaders earlier this week.

On his first official visit to the UK, US president Donald Trump tosses out plans for a bilateral trade deal based on Theresa May's Brexit blueprint.

Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, on Thursday launched a computer game based on the football World Cup. The game, named Crimeleague challenges players to collect cards of the 25 most wanted fugitives and win a Europol goody bag. "By completing the team, you are familiarising yourself with the faces and the crimes of some of Europe's most dangerous criminals on the run," Europol said.

Former German foreign minister and Social Democrat leader, Sigmar Gabriel, has urged a tougher European dealing with US president Donald Trump, saying in a Spiegel interview: "We can not be deluded anymore. Donald Trump only knows strength. When Trump "reclaims billions of US military spending from us, we will have to reclaim billions from him for refugees produced during failed US military interventions".

Greece will get a last bailout loan from the eurozone in August, when a final disbursement of €15bn is paid, Eurogroup chairman Mario Centeno confirmed on Thursday. German finance minister Olaf Scholz told members of the European Parliament's economic and monetary committee that Greece is "on the right track" but warned "it would be a big mistake to change the program that has been agreed on".

Eurozone finance ministers welcomed on Thursday a request from Bulgaria, the EU's poorest country, to join the ERM II - usually a two-year waiting room that precedes euro membership - and the banking union by July 2019. The finance ministers, however, also urged Bulgarian authorities to thoroughly implement reforms in the areas of judicial reform and to fight corruption and organised crime.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker was seen stumbling and struggling to keep his balance before a gala dinner at the Nato summit in Belgium, with Slovakia's president Milos Zeman and Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko having to support him. Juncker, 63, was also pictured in a wheelchair at the same event. Juncker, who is travelling to the US at the end of July, has said he suffers from sciatica, affecting his movements.

Trump has come to the UK during a Brexit crisis, after going through a Nato summit in Brussels like a bull in a china shop.

The EU executive rejected a report by the Court of Auditors that said its monitoring of fiscal policies was too lax and failed to produce results.

In the wake of two cabinet resignations on the issue, UK government publishes its long-awaited vision for the future relationship with the EU, which would revolve around a free trade agreement on goods, but would end free movement.

Austria's far-right interior minister Herbert Kickl on Thursday told reporters following a meeting with counterparts from other EU states that "many" supported the idea of setting up migrant return centres outside the EU. "We discussed this idea, many member states think that this would make sense, that this would increase the scope of what we can do with rejected asylum applications," he said.

Greens in the European Parliament have filed a formal complaint to the EU Ombudsman over the refusal by the Commission and Council to publish minutes of meetings relating to the 'Dieselgate' scandal over faked vehicle emission tests. MEP Bas Eickhout called it "unacceptable" that members of the key emissions in the automotive sector committee were denied access to documents beyond a closed reading room and promise of secrecy.

Orphaned children's faces in Libyan detention camps tell story of urgent "humanitarian crisis", which has been mislabelled as a "migration crisis" by EU leaders.