⊂ EUROPE ⊃

Poland closes border crossing with Belarus, EU calls for new sanctions against Belarus
apnews.com

• Hundreds if not thousands of migrants sought to storm the border from Belarus into Poland on Monday, cutting razor wire fences and using branches to try and climb over them
• Poland’s interior ministry said it had rebuffed the illegal invasion and claimed the situation was under control
• Polish border officials said the border crossing in Kuznica, in the northeast, will be closed early Tuesday
• EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday called on member states to impose new sanctions against Belarus, which she blamed for the influx of migrants at the Polish border
• The use „of migrants for political purposes is unacceptable“, she said in a statement, adding that the EU would also look at how to sanction „third-country airlines“ that bring migrants to Belarus
• The EU said it hoped that Poland would finally accept help from Frontex, the bloc’s border agency, a step that Poland’s ruling nationalists have so far refused to do

US Capitol siege: Capitol rioter Evan Neumann applies for asylum in Belarus, local media says. washingtonpost.com

Attempt to enter Spain illegally: A flight bound for Istanbul made an emergency stop on the Balearic Island of Mallorca on Friday due to an apparent medical emergency. Twenty-one passengers then fled the aircraft and jumped the airport fences. english.elpais.com

Merkel reflects on refugee policy: Asked to look back on her famous quote from 2015, when she said „We can do this,“ she admitted that „not everything went exactly as it should.“ But German Chancellor Angela Merkel considered it a major success to see how many refugees Germany had taken in, many of whom now permanently live and work in the country. dw.com

Obama urges youth to push leaders on climate: Former US President Barack Obama returned to the international spotlight Monday at the climate conference in Glasgow, urging young people to pressure their leaders to do more to combat climate change. „You are right to be frustrated,“ he said. „Folks in my generation have not done enough to deal with a potentially cataclysmic problem that you now stand to inherit.“ Obama said the world is „nowhere near where we need to be“ to avoid a future climate catastrophe. reuters.com, bbc.com

• Germany is providing 150 million euros to help poorer countries adapt to the consequences of climate change. The development ministry is investing a further 100 million in the so-called Least Developed Countries Fund which specifically benefits the least developed countries in the world spiegel.de
• The Netherlands will sign a deal to halt public international investments in coal, oil and gas projects politico.eu
• Germany hesitates to stop financing fossil fuels spiegel.de
• This Tuesday, environmental groups will present the 2022 Climate Protection Index in Glasgow, comparing the efforts of the largest emitters to curb CO2 emissions stern.de
• According to a German government paper, the EU wants to use the final document of the climate summit to openly denounce the lack of greenhouse gas reduction commitments rnd.de

Nuclear energy: Germany wants to prevent EU recommendation for nuclear power. faz.net

Energy crisis in Europe: Jitters in Europe as Russia shows no sign of increasing gas supplies. reuters.com

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Facebook whistleblower speaks to EU Parliament: Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen received a warm reception Monday at a hearing with members of the European Parliament, who said her revelations about the social network’s inner workings could shape their ongoing work regulating the tech industry. Haugen testified that only Facebook knows the extent of the problems on its platform, and called for policymakers to consider dynamic regulations that could keep pace in a constantly evolving technology landscape.
washingtonpost.com

Ransomware attacks: Suspected hackers arrested in European sting. dw.com

Pegasus spyware: Amnesty says NSO’s Pegasus used to hack phones of Palestinian rights workers. reuters.com

EU condemns re-election of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega as undemocratic
consilium.europa.eu, cnn.com

• EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell declared that the elections completed the conversion of Nicaragua into an autocratic regime
• Following the social protests that broke out in the spring of 2018, the Nicaraguan government unleashed violence against its own people, leaving death, forced disappearance, incarceration, mistreatment and mass exile in its wake and turning the country into a republic of fear, said Borrell
• US President Joe Biden: „What Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, orchestrated today was a pantomime election that was neither free nor fair, and most certainly not democratic.“
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, however, slammed US criticism as „unacceptable“

European court says two Polish judges‘ right to fair hearing was breached: Two Polish judges‘ right to a fair hearing was violated after they had job applications blocked, Europe’s top human rights court said on Monday. Monday’s ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) criticised Poland’s National Council of the Judiciary (NCJ), a public body responsible for nominating judges, and the procedure for their appointment. Judges Monika Joanna Dolinska-Ficek and Artur Ozimek complained to the ECHR after they had applications for posts blocked in Poland, alleging that the NCJ and the Supreme Court’s Chamber of Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs, which heard their appeals, were not independent and impartial.
reuters.com

Pay inequality: Women in the EU earn 14% less than men deutschlandfunk.de
Brexit: Brain drain from Britain delivers financial boon to Estonia nytimes.com
Biofuels: EU’s strict green criteria for biofuels will hinder supply, MEPs warn euractiv.com
ECB economist: Inflation is temporary n-tv.de

⊂ QUOTE OF THE DAY ⊃

„The European Union should come up, as soon as possible, with a solid decision on [funding] border installations. We can’t change the behaviour of Lukashenko, so that’s why we better do things on our side in a proper way [by building a border wall],“
Lithuanian MEP Petras Austrevicius said on Monday.
euronews.com

⊂ COUNTRIES ⊃

French police officer survives knife attack in Cannes: A police officer who was attacked with a knife in the French city of Cannes on Monday was unharmed thanks to his bulletproof vest, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has said. The assailant suffered life-threatening injuries after he was shot by other officers. The attacker approached the police car in front of the police station, opened the front door and tried to stab the officer sitting at the wheel. He claimed to be acting „in the name of the prophet.“ Police were treating the incident as a possible terrorist attack, AFP news agency reported. The officer’s colleague shot the perpetrator, leaving him severely injured.
dw.com, france24.com

French Catholic Church offers own assets to compensate sex abuse victims: France’s Catholic Church agreed on Monday to financially compensate tens of thousands of sex abuse victims by selling its own assets or taking on loans. The move comes one month after a landmark inquiry found an estimated 216,000 children were sexually abused by members of the clergy between 1950 and 2020.
politico.eu

Five Czech parties sign deal to form government: Centre-right parties have signed a power-sharing agreement to form a new government in the Czech Republic. The coalition will be made of two political alliances that won the majority of votes in last month’s parliamentary elections. The coalitions’ candidate for prime minister is Petr Fiala, a former university rector. The new partnership will hold a 108-seat majority in the 200-seat lower house of Parliament and will aim to form an 18-member government.
euronews.com, reuters.com

Germany’s likely government prepares new Covid rules
dw.com, politico.eu

• Though still in the midst of coalition negotiations, the three parties that will probably make up Germany’s next government have begun framing new rules to curb the coronavirus pandemic
• The plans under discussion include a reintroduction of free COVID-19 testing and mandatory daily testing for employees and visitors of care homes, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or not
• The three parties stopped short of the introduction of mandatory vaccination for all adults
• Parliament will convene for a first reading of the bill Thursday
• Denmark, which has one of Europe’s highest vaccination rates, plans to re-introduce some restrictions to halt a recent spike in Covid cases bloomberg.com
• Hotels, bars and gyms in Slovakia closed zeit.de

Germany’s Social Democrats nominate new party leadership duo: The executive board of Germany’s Social Democrats on Monday nominated Lars Klingbeil to become co-chairman of the party, together with current SPD co-chairwoman Saskia Esken. Klingbeil is currently the SPD’s secretary-general and managed the party’s victorious federal election campaign ahead of Germany’s vote in September.
politico.eu

Future German finance minister: Austria’s Finance Minister Gernot Blümel touts Christian Lindner as Germany’s next finance chief. politico.eu

Slovenian Press Agency wins funding reprieve — for now: The Slovenian Press Agency (STA) has signed an agreement with the country’s government communication office which will allow it to access state funding this year, amounting to a reprieve in a dispute which has fuelled concerns about the independence of the press in Slovenia.
politico.eu

Georgia’s former president Saakashvili moved to hospital: Georgia’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili was transferred to a prison hospital Monday after 39 days on hunger strike, according to authorities in Tbilisi. Saakashvili, who was president of Georgia from 2004 to 2013, was arrested on 1 October, just hours after returning to the country from Ukraine. In 2018, he was convicted in absentia for a number of fraud-related charges and sentenced to six years in jail. He decried the move as politically motivated and maintained his innocence throughout.
dw.com

Portugal: Police investigate allegations that Portuguese troops stationed with a UN peacekeeping force in Central African Republic used military planes to smuggle diamonds, drugs and gold back into Europe theguardian.com
France: Court has recognised “turbine syndrome” after a couple complained their health was damaged by living near a windfarm theguardian.com
Shoah memorial in Vienna: Place to mourn the death of 65,000 people derstandard.at

⊂ POLITJOBS ⊃

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⊂ LAST BUT NOT LEAST ⊃

Large discrepancies in lifelong learning across EU member states: In order to adapt labour markets to the requirements of the future, the EU wants to promote lifelong learning among the continent’s workforce. However, the share of adults who take advantage of learning opportunities varies widely across Europe. While in Denmark already 56.7% of 25-65 year-olds participated in at least one form of adult learning in 2019, the equivalent share in Italy is only 22.9%. The EU average stands at 38%.
euractiv.com