France launches financial transaction tax

Prime minister Viktor Orbán's government has to implement 27 measures "fully and correctly" before any payment from the €5.8bn recovery fund can be made, or the suspended €7.5bn of cohesion funds can be unblocked.

The EU proposed a plan to use the proceeds from the €300bn Russian Central Bank assets to help reconstruct Ukraine, but suggested the funds should be returned if a peace agreement were to be signed.

Terezija Gras from Croatia, Dutchman Hans Leijtens, and Frontex's current interim executive director Aija Kalnaja, are all competing for a job left vacant by the resignation of Fabrice Leggeri.

Over the last 10 years, Portugal has given 1,470 golden visas to people originating from countries whose tax-transparency practices the EU finds problematic. But unlike common practice in other EU states with similar programmes, Portugal has not implemented "due diligence".

The lead rapporteur on asbestos, Danish MEP Nikolaj Villumsen, responds to EUobserver's two-part investigation.

Ukraine foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba on Tuesday asked for air defence systems and generators, as Russia has been pounding Ukraine's vital energy infrastructure.