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Photographer: Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images

Photographer: Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images

The European Union will offer Turkey incentives to strike a deal with Greece and Cyprus over maritime claims while also preparing sanctions against Ankara if mediation fails, a senior official in Brussels said.

The carrot and stick approach will be followed during a summit of the blocs leaders set for Sept. 24-25, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity following a call between EU Council President Charles Michel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday over tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The call came as strains between Turkey and Greece, both NATO members, over contested territorial waters have been mounting in recent weeks as the Turkish government pursues energy exploration in the region.

The recent row has raised concerns about a potential military confrontation between the two countries, which have key positions on the alliances southeastern flank.

Greece says islands must be taken into account in delineating a countrys continental shelf, in line with the UN Law of the Sea, which Turkey hasnt signed. Ankara argues that a countrys continental shelf should be measured from its mainland. It says that the disputed area south of the Greek island of Kastellorizo -- a few kilometers off Turkeys southern coast -- therefore falls within its exclusive zone.

Competing claims over the Eastern Mediterranean

Sources: Turkeys Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Anadolu Agency; Greek government; Flanders Marine Institute

The 27-nation EU is engaged in a balancing act over Turkey, seeking to defend the sovereignty of member countries Greece and Cyprus while holding out hope that diplomatic initiatives can ease tensions with a strategically important partner. Turkey plays a key role in limiting the risk of another influx of Middle Eastern refugees into the EU.

Heres What Is at Stake as Turkey-Greece Tensions Rise Again

Michel has called a meeting of EU leaders for this month to discuss the situation in the region and the blocs relations with Turkey more broadly. During his call with Erdogan, Michel reiterated that the EU stands in solidarity with Greece and Cyprus but also wants a constructive relationship with Turkey, the official said.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, meanwhile, said that in order for talks between the two sides to start, Turkey must first stop its threats.

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EU to Consider All Measures on Turkey in Maritime Dispute - Bloomberg

Big Tech has to pay a "fair amount" of taxes in Europe, especially as they are the "real winners" of the coronavirus crisis, a top European official told CNBC Saturday.

His comments come amid an ongoing rift between the United States and the European Union over the taxation of companies such as Apple, Alphabet and Amazon.

"It is a major problem," Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for economics and taxation, told CNBC at the European House Ambrosetti Forum, acknowledging the difficulty in overcoming differences with the United States.

The giants of the digital platforms are the real winners of this crisis.

Paolo Gentiloni

European Commissioner

However, the former Italian prime minister added that it was no longer possible "to accept the idea that those giants, the winners of the crisis, are not paying a fair amount of taxes in Europe."

In 2018, the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, proposed a 3% digital levy, arguing that the tax system needed to be updated for the digital age. However, the White House said a digital tax was unfair as it disproportionately impacted American firms.

At the time, the European Commission said digital companies, on average,pay an effective tax rate of 9.5% compared to 23.2% for traditional businesses.

However, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Big Tech has got a boost, with many consumers relying on these companies for teleworking, shopping and staying connected.

"The giants of the digital platforms are the real winners of this crisis, from the economical point of view,"Gentiloni added. "We all experience this in our own lives."

Meanwhile, governments are in desperate need of additional funding and imposing new taxes is one key way of achieving this.

In this context, the EU is looking to propose a new digital tax in 2021 if negotiations at the OECD-level collapse by year-end.

"If we will not have decent results at the global level, the European Commission will come out next year with our own a proposal," Gentiloni said.

In a blow to negotiations, the United States pulled out of talks in June raising doubts about any feasible progress this year.

Gentiloni said there had been progress at the technical level, but the upcoming presidential election in the United States was impacting the process.

"We are in an electoral year in the U.S. and I think this also has an influence," he said, adding that, nonetheless, the EU needed "to insist on the necessity of a global solution."

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Tech giants are the 'winners' of the coronavirus crisis and should pay more tax, Europe official says - CNBC

The EU Council has rejected a Covid-inspired European Commission proposal for a 40 billion warchest to help coal-dependent regions shift to renewables, with the heads of member states instead allocating 17.5 billion. Despite the final figure being 10 billion higher than that suggested by the commission before coronavirus battered Europe, questions have been asked about how useful the program will be.

In a Covid-19-free Europe, a decision by the leaders of European Union member states this summer to allocate 7.5 billion to the Just Transition Fund (JTF) for fossil fuel-dependent regions might have been cheered by environmentalists as unequivocal backing of the ambitious plans of the European Commission for the blocs energy transition.

After all, that was exactly the figure suggested by the commission in January when it announced the fund, which is intended chiefly to help coal-dependent EU regions mitigate the social impacts of the switch to renewable energy generation.

However, the subsequent impact of Covid-19 in Europe prompted the Brussels policymakers in May, at the behest of member states, to suggest raising the stakes by increasing the JTF contribution made directly from the EU budget for 2021-27 from 7.5 billion to 10 billion. The commission also proposed beefing up the JTF with a further 30 billion from a new cash pile it was proposing to help the continent recover from the coronavirus the 750 billion Next Generation EU fund.

With expectations duly raised, the national leaders who make up the European Council in July approved creation of the Covid recovery fund but stipulated it would supply 10 billion, rather than 30 billion towards the JTF, and that the direct contribution from the blocs 2021-27 budget would revert to the 7.5 billion originally mooted by the commission.

Slimmer budget, slimmer transition hopes?

The dilution of the Just Transition Fund, from the 40 billion suggested in May to 17.5 billion, has raised questions about how effective the money will be in persuading coal-dependent regions to embrace renewables.

The JTF itself is part of a wider Just Transition Mechanism which also includes a program to attract private investment into renewables, under the blocs InvestEU platform, and a public sector loan facility, although both those measures are also likely to have slimmer budgets than those suggested by the commission in May.

Nikos Mantzaris, a senior policy analyst at Athens-based thinktank The Green Tank, criticized the Just Transition plans as overly favoring energy transition laggards such as Poland ahead of nations like Greece and Hungary, which have already progressed much further down the path to a renewables-based energy mix.

EU member states applying for Just Transition support have to draw up territorial transition plans identifying regions most heavily impacted by the switch to renewables and also outline their planned green recoveries to 2030.

With those plans requiring approval by the commission,Mantzaris told pv magazine: The criteria proposed by the European Commission for the allocation of funds are unfair and do not take into account key considerations. Specifically, the speed of transition away from coal and lignite is not accounted for and the same is true for the extent of dependence of the local economies on coal and lignite. As a result, member states which have not yet committed to phase out coal, such as Romania, Czechia or Bulgaria, or have not even yet accepted the climate neutrality objective, such as Poland, receive very large sums, leaving countries like Greece, Slovakia, Portugal or Hungary which have made far more ambitious commitments regarding the dirtiest fuel on the planet with utterly insufficient funds to implement the transition.

The standard of national and regional governance could also be key to the success of a slimmed down Just Transition program. Member states which engage communities in the most impacted regions and draw green transition plans in an open and transparent manner may have more success than those which do not and may also attract more private-sector finance for clean energy too.

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Will a watered down EU Just Transition Fund still be effective? - pv magazine International

On 9 August, Presidential elections took place in the Republic of Belarus.

The EU has been following the developments leading to the presidential elections closely. During the electoral campaign, the people of Belarus have demonstrated the desire for democratic change.

However, the elections were neither free nor fair.

State authorities deployed disproportionate and unacceptable violence causing at least one deathand many injuries. Thousands of people weredetained and the crackdown on freedoms of assembly, media and expression intensified. We call on the Belarusian authorities to release immediately and unconditionally all detained. Furthermore, credible reports of domestic observers showthat the electoral process did not meet the international standards expected of an OSCE participating State.

The people of Belarus deserve better.

Since the 2015 release of political prisoners, the relationship between the EU and Belarus had improved. But without progress on human rights and the rule of law, the EU-Belarus relationship can only get worse.

It is against this background that we will be assessing the Belarusian authorities actions to address the current situation and conducting an in-depthreview of the EUs relations with Belarus. This may include, inter alia, taking measures against those responsible for the observed violence, unjustified arrests, and falsification of election results.

We call on Belarusian political leadership to initiate a genuine and inclusive dialogue with broader society to avoid further violence. The EU will continue to support a democratic, independent, sovereign, prosperous and stable Belarus.

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Belarus: Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the presidential elections - EU News

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Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of European Union on the announcement of a normalisation of relations between Israel and the UAE. -...