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Hungary's Constitutional Court on Monday discussed a challenge by justice minister Judit Varga to an EU court ruling stating Budapest broke EU laws designed to protect refugees, by deporting them to the Serbian border. Varga's motion, submitted in February, asked Hungary's top court to assess whether the implementation of the EU court ruling would be compatible with country's constitution. A ruling is expected later.

In total 50 financial centres around the world were targeted on Friday to usher in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, also known as COP26, with Greta Thunberg in the City of London.

The UK has voiced anger over France's seizure of a fishing vessel with the wrong paperwork in a row on post-Brexit licences. France's ambassador to Britain was also ordered to explain "disproportionate threats made against the UK and Channel Islands" by British foreign minister Liz Truss after France threatened new customs checks and island-electricity cuts. "It's not war, but it is a fight," French seas minister Annick Girardin said.

Moldovan prime minister Natalia Gavrilița has declined to confirm reports of Gazprom blackmail, but thanked her EU "friends" for their support in dealing with Russia.

MEPs are going to Taiwan next week despite Chinese threats of new sanctions over EU contacts with Taipei.

A group of 12 EU countries on Thursday called on Israel to reverse its plants to build 3,000 new settler homes in the West Bank, Reuters reported. "We call on both parties to build on steps taken in recent months to improve cooperation and reduce tensions," says the joint statement signed by the foreign ministries of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden.

French president Emmanuel Macron told Australian PM Scott Morrison that the scrapping of a multibillion-dollar submarine contract "broke the relationship of trust" and said Canberra should propose "tangible actions" to heal the diplomatic rift, The Guardian writes. In mid-September, Australia announced that, instead of French submarines, it would work with the US and the UK to acquire at least eight nuclear-propelled submarines in a partnership to be known as Aukus.

The European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that the reform of the Polish disciplinary system for judges is a "conditio sine qua non" to receive the recovery funds. "We want to put into that recovery and resilience plan a clear commitment to dismantle the disciplinary chamber, to end or reform the disciplinary regime and to start a process to reinstall the judges," she said.

A six-party opposition alliance that aims to topple Hungary's Viktor Orbán in elections next year is four points ahead of Orbán's Fidesz party, according to an opinion poll, The Guardian writes. The poll, published 10 days after the alliance chose a small-town mayor, Péter Márki-Zay, as its prime ministerial candidate, showed support for the united opposition at 39 percent, compared with 35 percent for Fidesz, but 23 percent undecided.

The European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that the bloc is expected to produce more than 3.5 billion doses of vaccines next year. She said that the majority of these doses will be exported to other countries. On top of exports, the EU and its member states have committed to donating 500 million doses of vaccines by mid-2022.

A group of MEPs resorted to scare tactics and false information on Thursday (28 October) to rail against European Parliament plans to impose a digital green pass in order to gain access to its buildings.

The European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called for climate leadership, warning that next week's UN climate summit in Glasgow (COP26) is "a moment of truth" for climate action.

A French government spokesman has threatened "systematic customs and sanitary checks on products brought to France and a ban on landing seafood" at French ports, a major UK gateway to EU markets, saying Britain had granted French fishermen just half the licences agreed under Brexit. A French minister also warned on cutting electricity to British Channel Islands. The UK threatened to hit back at any sanctions with a "calibrated response".

Israel, Wednesday, gave the green light to build some 3,000 new settler homes in the West Bank, according to TV broadcaster Kan and NGO Peace Now. The move came shortly after the EU and US condemned Sunday's decision to build 1,350 settler homes. Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney also said Wednesday Israel was wrong to "unjustifiably undermine civil liberties" by using counter-terrorism laws against six Irish and EU-funded Palestinian NGOs.

The Italian senate voted by 154 to 131 on Wednesday to block a new law criminalising homophobic and misogynist attacks as well as violence against disabled people. Far-right parties had said it would lead to "homosexual propaganda" and the Vatican had said it would curb "freedom of thought". But for Pina Picierno, a centre-left MEP, the decision was "one of the worst pages in the history of the Italian republic".

EU countries blocked mention of waiving vaccine patents to help fight the pandemic at a meeting in Africa, overshadowed by the Sudan coup.

The EU Commission has agreed a €60m grant for Moldova to help its pro-EU government deal with an energy crisis linked to hard-nosed bargaining by Russia. "The grant ... is great news for the Moldovan people," Moldovan prime minister Natalia Gavrilița said Wednesday. The FT recently reported Russia's Gazprom had asked Chișinău to dilute an EU trade treaty in return for securing supplies, but the Kremlin denied the report.

Bulgaria's Covid-infection tally jumped by some 6,800 from Tuesday to Wednesday, a record increase, Reuters reports, while 124 people died from the virus in the same 24 hours. Some 7,300 infected people were currently in hospital, with 608 out of the country's 700 intensive-care beds occupied. "The only option left will [soon] be a full lockdown and a halt of economic life," interim health minister Stoicho Katsarov said.

Goods traffic between Ireland and the EU has grown 36 percent since Brexit, a new report by Dublin port shows. Business with the UK on the other hand dropped by a fifth. Importers and exporters are bypassing the UK by using new ferry services opened since January. There are now 44 direct ferry routes between Ireland, France and the Benelux countries, up from seven before Brexit, Reuters reports.

Some 87 percent of EU nationals said they were in favour of replacing short-haul flights with train services, according to a poll by the European Investment Bank, while 69 percent backed new taxes on high-polluting products. But at the same time, 58 percent said they did not believe the upcoming COP26 climate summit would see their national leaders agree to drastically cut CO2 emissions by 2050.