Euobserver.com

Spain reported its second monkeypox-related death on Saturday, after recording the first casualty on Friday. Only five deaths had been reported worldwide as of 22 July, all in the African region. But Brazil reported the first monkeypox-related death outside the African continent last Friday. Spain is one of the world's worst-hit countries, with 4,298 people infected. The World Health Organization recently declared monkeypox a global health emergency. 

For the most part Nato and its 30 leaders rose to the occasion — but it wasn't without room for improvement. The lesson remains that Nato still doesn't know how or want to hold allies accountable for disruptive behaviour.

The Czech Republic took over the EU's rotating presidency on Friday (1 July), which will be dominated by the economic and humanitarian outfall of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A European Parliament administrator took photos of around a dozen in-house interpreters protesting outside the agricultural committee on Thursday, according to a source with knowledge of the issue. The interpreters are protesting remote sessions due to poor sound quality leading to auditory health problems and the fact the parliament is now outsourcing the work to others. The committee was in remote session with UN's World Food Programme.

Poland's dissolution of a controversial judicial disciplinary chamber meant it still did "not meat" EU Commission standards on independent courts for disbursing EU post-pandemic recovery funds, EU values commissioner Věra Jourová said Thursday, AP reports. "I am of good faith that at the end of this year, or early next year, the first recovery funds will be disbursed for specified projects in Poland," Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.

Polish president Andrzej Duda is already fishing for a job at the UN after his mandate ends in 2025, Polish news website Onet.pl reported Thursday, citing sources in his entourage. One possibility is as a UN special envoy on Ukraine, sources said. The appointment could not be vetoed by Russia, but would need Chinese support, with Duda having eschewed criticism of China in public in order to improve his chances.

EU auditors raised concerns on Thursday over the European Commission's increasing use of external consultants. In recent years, the commission paid €1bn annually for consultancy, studies, and other activities. Auditors said potential risks related to the concentration of firms, over-dependence and conflicts of interest are not properly monitored. "More transparency and accountability is needed," said lead auditor François-Roger Cazala, urging the commission to regularly publish the use of consultants.

Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the European Union and Moscow are set to come up with a plan on the movement of goods between Russia's mainland and its enclave Kaliningrad. "Both sides concluded that it is worth agreeing a plan that will not violate de facto implementation of the sanctions, because, frankly speaking, the Kaliningrad oblast is a very small part of Russia," he said.

Reuters news agency, citing an unnamed source , says EU states are set to back a European Commission proposal that would make it more difficult for state-backed foreign firms to take over European companies that are valued at €500m or more. The move is seen as a nod towards a more assertive China.

Billionaires during the height of the pandemic had a net worth average increase of $5.2bn a day, said WFP's David Beasley. He also noted Gulf states now profiting from high fuel prices. Both should step up, he said.

Dr Hans Bruyninckx the executive director of the European Environment Agency, on why — and how — Europe can cut its pollution-caused cancer rates.

The EU has overturned a funding ban on two Palestinian NGOs, effectively debunking an Israeli campaign to smear them as "terrorists".

The EU reach on Thursday a new trade agreement with New Zealand, including commitments related to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and international labour rights that are enforceable through a new system of sanctions. EU exports could potentially grow by up to €4.5bn per year thanks to this deal, the European Commission said. From the first year of application, the agreement could save €140m in duties for EU companies annually.

Two MEPs have withdrawn their nominations from the MEPs Awards over the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis's participation as a sponsor — currently involved in an alleged bribery scandal in Greece.

The Russian foreign ministry has told Norway it will take "retaliatory measures" unless it allows EU-sanctioned goods to resume flowing through Norwegian checkpoints to Russian settlements in the Svalbard archipelago in the high north, Reuters reports. Norwegian police said Wednesday a "criminal pro-Russian group" was guilty of hacking several public and private institutions, while reassuring people that no sensitive data had been stolen.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has said Moscow will reply in kind if Nato installs new military infrastructure in Finland or Sweden. "With Sweden and Finland, we don't have the problems that we have with Ukraine. They want to join Nato, go ahead," he said on state TV Wednesday. "If military contingents and infrastructure are deployed there, we will have to respond in kind and create the same threat," he added.

Increasingly, analysts — both inside and outside of Russia — are considering the possibility of the Russian Federation's collapse into a series of independent states. Who are the most likely candidates for secession in Russia's south, east, and centre?

Interpreters at the European Parliament are fed up with remote interpretation, citing auditory health issues given the poor quality of the online sessions.

Member states blame data privacy laws for lack of transparency in the bloc's biggest economic stimulus package.

Nato leaders have agreed a new wave of enlargement and to pile troops onto their Russian flank in response to its rampage in Ukraine.