European Union

The Council has imposed restrictive measures on eight more individuals responsible for serious human rights violations in Nicaragua and/or whose actions undermined democracy or the rule of law, including Vice-President Rosario Murillo.

Death of Mr Barna Berke, judge of the General Court of the European Union

The EU imposed sanctions Monday on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's wife Rosario Murillo, who is his vice president, as well as one of his sons and six more officials.

The European Union will retain its tariffs on U.S. biodiesel for a further five years after concluding that removing them would likely lead to a surge of imports at artificially low prices.

About 200,000 people took to the streets across France to protest against the toughened Covid rules - significantly more than on the previous weekends. From 9 August on, vaccinations will be mandatory for certain occupational groups, and people refusing to comply may face suspension of pay. Testing will be compulsory for the unvaccinated in restaurants and on long-distance trains. Commentators believe the protests will be largely ineffective despite their size.

At their Open Balkan meeting on Thursday, the Prime Ministers of North Macedonia and Albania Zoran Zaev and Edi Rama as well as Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić decided to end border controls between the three countries beginning 1 January 2023. This means the "Mini-Schengen" on the Western Balkans is continuing to take shape - in contrast to joining the EU, as commentators emphasise.

In Spain, the deadline for legislation passed in May that forces delivery services like Deliveroo, Glovo and Uber Eats to employ all their deliverers on a regular employee contract expires on 12 August. At present these companies' "riders" work on a false self-employment basis, as a court had previously ruled. Deliveroo's announcement that it is leaving Spain triggers diverging reactions in the national media.

Since Alexander Lukashenka decided to stop preventing migration flows in protest at EU sanctions, such a large number of refugees have arrived in Lithuania that Vilnius has declared a state of emergency and massively increased border patrols. The country - only two percent of whose population are foreigners - is now also seeing protests. Commentators urge caution and call for support.