Euobserver.com

We are setting the standard for many years to come. Rest assured; I have a clear mandate from my group and I am doing everything in my power to kick out fossil fuels from EU financing.

The European Commission has blocked the recently-created European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) from using their budget to hire the specialised personnel they need. It has not explained why.

Around 90 centre-right European People's Party (EPP) lawmakers abstained in a vote to list gender-based violence a crime under EU law, while almost as many voted in favour.

Climate change has not been slowed down by the pandemic and the world remains off-track to meet 2015 Paris Agreement climate targets, the UN has warned- just weeks ahead of the COP26 summit.

The European Parliament supported the creation of a new EU ethics body to help tackle and prevent conflicts of interest, revolving doors and corruption inside the EU institutions. But Transparency International EU, a Brussels-based NGO, says the body needs to be improved in order to have a real impact, noting that sanctions against MEPs remain "open to political influence and bias." No MEP since 2014 has ever been sanctioned.

The EU is planning to firm up criticism of Russian aggression at its next Ukraine summit, as low-intensity fighting continues to claim lives.

EU commission vice-president Věra Jourová said the commission will pressure member states to do more, but without legal tools, the commission has little say.

Bulgarian president Rumen Radev re-appointed incumbent caretaker premier Stefan Yanev to lead an interim administration until a new government is formed, the official state gazette showed, Reuters reports. Radev has called for Bulgaria's third parliamentary election this year on 14 November, after inconclusive polls in April and July failed to produce a government in what is the EU's poorest country.

Jailed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny became favourite to win the European Parliament's 2021 'Sakharov prize' for human rights after the largest group, the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), on Wednesday, joined the liberal Renew group in putting his name forward. The EPP decision means Afghan women will lag in second place, despite calls by the Greens and centre-left Socialists & Democrats to honour them in the face of Taliban repression.

The leader of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczyński, said his country will not seek to leave the European Union, in comments made to state news agency PAP. "There will be no Polexit. It's a propaganda invention that has been used many times against us," he said, noting that Poland's future remains in the EU. The statement follows tensions between the EU and Warsaw over rule of law.

The cost of labour in the eurozone has fallen for the first time in a decade, dropping 0.1 percent since June last year. This should be set against the backdrop of a sharp rise in wages in the second quarter of 2020 compared with the year before, when they rose 4.3 percent. The means a wage growth of around two percent since 2019, the average over the last decade.

Israel has joined the EU's digital Covid certificate programme. "Europe recognises Israel's vaccination certificate and we recognise the vaccination certificates from European countries. This will allow significant relief for aviation, tourism and economic relations," Israel's health minister Nitzan Horowitz was quoted as saying in the Jerusalem Post. Some 42 countries have signed up to the EU pass.

British prime minister Boris Johnson has laid the groundwork for the next general election with a ruthless cabinet reshuffle, designed to clear out failing ministers and hand Michael Gove the key job of making "levelling up" a reality for sceptical voters, The Guardian writes. Johnson sacked three cabinet ministers and shifted Dominic Raab from the foreign office to the ministry of justice. Liz Truss will replace Raab as foreign secretary.

France's president announced the death of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara's leader, calling Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi's killing "a major success" for the French military after more than eight years fighting extremists in the Sahel, Associated Press reports. French president Emmanuel Macron tweeted that al-Sahrawi "was neutralised by French forces" but gave no further details. The Islamic State group is active along the border between Mali and Niger.

The Commission president hailed the EU's scientific capabilities at providing the most vaccines to the world, and the speed at which the bloc rolled out its digital Covid-19 vaccine certificate, as examples of the EU's resources and capacities.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen praised the EU's vaccination roll-out as a success and announced that the EUn will donate 200 million additional doses to low-income countries - doubling its current pledge.

Magdalena Andersson is favourite to become Sweden's prime minister when her social democrat colleague Stefan Löfven steps down in November, but major challenges face the current finance minister if she is to keep the top job longer than a few months, Reuters writes. If Andersson is picked to head her party in November, she is likely to become Sweden's first female prime minister.

The European Commission chief has called for EU "political will" to send joint forces into combat in a rough new world.

Ursula von der Leyen launched a global investment operation directed at infrastructure and transport. Its aim is to compete with the China's Belt and Road. "We want to create links and not dependencies," she said.

EU diplomats have raised concerns about the scope of the new forest strategy - and its implications for member states' national competencies, according to draft conclusions seen by EUobserver.