Two major setbacks have again called into uncertainty whether the new College of Commissioners will be able to start work in the Berlaymont office on 1 December. At least such were the intentions of President-elect Ursula von der Leyen, conveyed by her spokesperson at the Commission's daily press briefing on Thursday.

At their mini plenary session in Brussels, MEPs held a thorough discussion with the Commission and the Finnish Presidency of the Council on the situation in the hotspots on the Greek islands, in particular the case of Moria camp.

The discussion to give a broader mandate to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the Luxembourg-based euro area's crisis-fighting institution, is well underway. The main new elements in the beefed up mandate is to provide a backstop to the Single Resolution Fund and to play a stronger role in future adjustment programmes. 

The ambitious plans of the Luxembourg-based European Investment Bank (EIB) are becoming its real agenda as the Board of Directors of the EU's financial arm endorsed on Thursday a new energy lending policy and confirmed the EIB's increased drive in climate action.

It is important to underline that the EU has the potential to become a major player in the provision of water-related technologies and services. In this respect, digitalisation can help to significantly increase the efficiency both of water resource management and of production and service concepts, says Simo Tiainen, rapporteur on the EESC's blue bioeconomy opinion. 

MEPs from the EP committees on Foreign Affairs, Development and Civil Liberties joint forces on Wednesday to examine together with Commission's DG NEAR (Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations) and DG ECHO (European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations) the situation with Syrian refugees in Turkey. 

The EESC pull together people from civil society, media, trade unions, international organisations, EU institutions and legal representatives to take an all-round view of one critical issue for democracy in Europe. The conference on “Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law”, which took place on 5 November in Brussels, focused on the trends in the EU from a civil society perspective.

Our work in the EU-funded DECODE project is being used by Facebook for its new Libra project, through an “acqui-hire” of some of our former colleagues. This choice is an attempt to gain a strategic advantage in this market and establish a monopoly exactly where we intend to create an open field of opportunities for Europe's digital single market, says Dr Denis Roio, a software artisan, CTO and co-founder of Dyne.org Think &Do Tank and software house, in an interview to Europost.

At a debate initiated by the EPP, the plenary in Strasbourg reflected on the effects of the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook, a firm with 178-year history, which withstood two world wars. As Spanish centre-right MEP Rosa Estaras Ferragut underlined, this company has not however withstood the shift to digitalisation, the uncertainties of Brexit and the future of that new world of the 21st century.

To top up with €2.7bn the proposed by the Commission 2020 EU budget agreed MEPs during the plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday. Lawmakers adopted their position on next year's financial plan, the last for the current multiannual framework 2014-2020. They accented precisely on tackling climate change and youth unemployment, and also on boosting SMEs and research.