The power of the parliament to 'appoint' the president of the EU Commission is new, highly-contested - and not universally understood. In fact, even some of the lead candidates to replace Jean-Claude Juncker are against it.

Hungary was added to the agenda of EU affairs ministers next to Poland, as the two countries face disciplinary procedures over rule of law concerns.

The commission heavily redacted documents released to EUobserver because they were reportedly 'out of scope'. Transparency campaigner Helen Darbishire says however the information was "clearly directly relevant to the request".

As negotiations halt ahead of the EU summit later this week, British prime minister Theresa May told her parliament the Irish border issue should not derail a Brexit deal.

As anti-globalisation and protectionist sentiments threaten to come back, it is more important than ever for ASEM members to come together, think in the long term, and take coordinated actions to resist unilateralism and uphold multilateralism.

The historic decision in Constantinople to grant Ukraine autocephaly (independence) from the Russian Orthodox church has geopolitical ramifications for Vladimir Putin - and for Europe.

If my region in the Sahara were excluded, it would strongly undermine our development, with a risk of opening the door to radicalisation and undermining the stability of the whole Mediterranean region, especially with respect to security and migration.

Voters in Germany's largest state hived off to the left and right of the ruling conservatives in Sunday's elections - posing questions for Merkel's authority.

A new treaty, to be negotiated this week at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, aims to put an end to the 'organised irresponsibility' of transnational corporations on human rights and labour abuses. Time for EU to take note.

The European Commission has promised greater flexibility for local authorities when it comes to delivering on-the-ground results - but it has also tied cohesion policy to the European Semester, a tool used to coordinate macroeconomic policies.

EU leaders hope to clinch a UK exit deal at this week's summit. Migrants, chemical weapons, and fish quotas also on this week's agenda.

EU member states and the European Commission are pressing ahead with plans to possibly use Morocco and Tunisia as countries to offload asylum seekers and migrants - part of larger bid to create a so-called "safe third country" list.

The EU should impose asset freezes and visa bans on people guilty of cyber attacks, a group of member states has urged.

Poland has vetoed an EU human rights statement on grounds it covered gay people but not Christians and Jews.