For the European Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, there should be no further postponements on the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact. In other news: The city of Brussels is worried about security, as Belgium decided to no longer house single men seeking asylum. Also: Charles Michel insists on setting 2030 as the date for EU-Enlargement.
The European Union faces the highest arrival of migrants since 2015 with record numbers of people arriving in Italy and Greece, putting reception mechanisms under severe strain. This year, member states reached a historic deal on key asylum and migration laws as deals with transit countries are struck. The EU has launched a legal procedure against Hungary.
Social media users shared videos in June 2023 claiming that a convoy of thousands of migrants were on their way to Italy from Libya. Some of the posts, shared hundreds of times in Polish, claimed the Libyan armed forces assisted their crossing in an organised operation to “invade Europe”. But an AFP investigation found the footage was filmed during an expulsion of migrants from Libya into neighbouring Egypt.
Slovakia sends firefighters to the Greek island of Rhodes to fight a forest fire. The first European Summer School on Artificial Intelligence opens in Slovenia. No party won a clear majority in Sunday’s general elections in Spain.
The European Commission, the Netherlands and Italy agree on a migration deal with Tunisia. The Commission formally requests Austria to address shortcomings in its implementation of the Habitats Directive in the Hohe Tauern National Park in the province of Salzburg. Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov hopes his country will join the Schengen area in October.