Ukraine pays first part of Gazprom bills

This should be a wake-up call to ensure consultancy firms with a vested interest are permanently excluded from public tenders. The close relationship between the EU's competition authority and economic consultants poses a serious risk to its independence.

Fico has the potential to shift Slovakia from the West and jeopardise the EU unity in its stance against Russia's Ukraine war. His victory could also have a domino effect in central Europe and empower of other far-right, populist movements.

A major meeting of leaders from all over Europe will take place this week, with security and enlargement as key topics for discussion. In the Parliament, MEPs are expected to vote on the European Media Freedom Act.

The European Central Bank (ECB) recently raised interest rates to the highest point in the currency's 21-year existence — but the effects of its policies on renewables are badly understood.

The dominance of the 'realist' camp in the Brussels' bureaucracy explains the EU's past and current behaviour towards Ukraine — in which reform shortcomings and failures are rarely openly called out.

The EU is meant to become a safer place for women from Sunday (1 October), as the Istanbul Convention enters into force.