A large wildfire broke out near an industrial area outside Athens on Tuesday, disrupting train routes and prompting authorities to seal off part of the national motorway, news wires reported.

Portugal, Luxembourg and Belgium on Tuesday received their first tranches from the 800 billion euro EU recovery fund aimed at helping them rebound from the pandemic and make their economies greener and more digitalised, the EU press service reported.

Germany's Greens presented on Tuesday an "emergency climate protection programme" aimed at reseting their national election campaign, news wires reported. The programme includes plans for a new Ministry for Climate Protection that would ensure no legislative project undermines a goal of limiting global warming under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The EC has opened an investigation to assess the proposed acquisition of Kustomer by Facebook under the EU Merger Regulation. The deal would reduce competition in the market for the supply of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. As a result of its combination with Kustomer, Facebook may foreclose access to its business-to-consumer (‘B2C') over-the-top (‘OTT') messaging channels, namely WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram, the EC said in a statement.

Lithuania has ordered its border guards to turn away, by force if needed, migrants attempting to enter the Baltic country form Belarus, AP reported. The order comes as the rapidly growing number of illegals has emerged a major foreign policy issue to the small EU nation.

Authorities in Greece closed the Acropolis and other ancient sites during afternoon hours starting Tuesday as a heat wave scorching the eastern Mediterranean worsened, AP reported. Temperatures reached 42 degrees Celsius in parts of the Greek capital, as the extreme weather fueled deadly wildfires in Turkey and blazes in Greece, Italy and across the region.

The governor of the area including Italy’s capital, Rome, sought on Monday to assure residents that a powerful hacking intrusion into the region’s website, into its second day, won’t interrupt Covid-19 vaccinations, news wires reported. The Lazio region governor Nicola Zingaretti also told reporters that the hacking attack, launched from abroad and underway after more than 36 hours, hasn’t and won’t disrupt ambulance, emergency room, transfusions, admissions to hospital or other health services.

The EC published four new calls for proposals, represent close to €12 million in EU funding, that aim to stimulate a lively and diverse public sphere and promoting citizens' access to reliable information across the EU. All financed projects will operate with full editorial independence, stressed the EC.

If the situation became unmanageable, Lithiania may ask other EU countries to accommodate some of the migrants who have been crossing into the country from Belarus, PM Ingrida Simonyte said on Monday. “We are considering it, but I cannot say yet when [Lithuania] will make the request. But if the situation becomes hard to manage, of course, we will,” she told reporters. Earlier on Monday, the Lithuanian prime minister discussed migration crisis with visiting European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, Baltic News service reported.

The European Commission on Monday adopted decisions ensuring that Covid-19 certificates issued by the Vatican City State and San Marino will be considered equivalent to the EU Digital Covid Certificate, EC Press service reported. This means that both countries will be connected to the EU's system and that Covid certificates issued by the Vatican and San Marino will be accepted in the EU under the same conditions as the EU Digital Covid Certificate.