EU withdraws debt sanction threat against Italy

Hungary will be in the spotlight on Tuesday as EU governments struggle over suspending EU funds to prime minister Viktor Orbán's government — despite rule of law concerns — and unlock key EU policies which Budapest has been blocking.

The EU's border police Frontex is set to deploy guards throughout the Western Balkans as part of a wider plan to stop migrants from reaching EU states.

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and French finance minister Bruno Le Maire called for new EU borrowing in the face of US green subsidies — but Dutch and German finance ministers both said they opposed such a tool.

The EU Commission has downplayed Russia's threat to stop selling oil to countries which adopt a Western cap on prices.

While the European Union openly criticises China for abusing its the mostly Muslim Uyghur population, the EU turns a blind eye to the way India treats its own Muslim minority — because it wants India as a strategic ally.

Vladimir Putin himself is somewhat suspicious of Serbia's leader, as are most who deal with the opaque Aleksandar Vucic. The Russian president has preferred to keep his Serbian counterpart compliant, via a tight rein of annually-reviewed gas pricing.