Belgium

14 June 2019; DW: The newly formed Identity and Democracy (ID) group has 73 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the 751-seat assembly ahead of its new session in July. 

Replacing the Europe of Nations and Freedom group, which had 36 seats in the previous parliament, the new ID group includes:

11 June 2019; DW: After several years in decline, the number of first-time asylum applications lodged in European Union countries is growing again, according to the European Asylum Support Office (EASO).

While first-time applications from Syrians — the largest nationality represented — were down 8% from 2018 to 20,392, Venezuela came in second, with 14,257 citizens seeking asylum in the European Union.

5 June 2019; DW: The European Commission said in a debt report released Wednesday that Italy's massive public debt in 2018 violated EU budget rules and recommended beginning infringement procedures. 

"Italy is not projected to comply with the debt reduction benchmark in either 2019 or 2020 based on both the government plans and the commission 2019 spring forecast," the report said.

BRUSSELS, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission released the draft 2020 EU budget on Wednesday, which would focus on competitive economy, security and solidarity, and climate change.

This budget is designed to optimise funding for existing programmes as well as new initiatives and to boost the European added value in line with the priorities of the Commission.

31 May 2019; DW: Upon receiving the Charlemagne Prize, the UN secretary-general called for a strong and united Europe to avoid "a new cold war." He also said the EU was too important to fail.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was awarded the Charlemagne Prize on Wednesday for promoting European unity.

31 May 2019; DW: Support for extremist parties remains limited, with signs of protest voting around single issues.

Italy’s deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, said this week that "Europe is changing." The leader of the far-right League party hailed the results of elections to the European Parliament, referring to the success of parties led by France’s Marine Le Pen and Britain’s Nigel Farage as well as his own.

New  €100 and €200 notes were released into circulation on Tuesday, completing an overhaul of the currency's paper denominations that is aimed at deterring counterfeiters.

The fresh bills have been changed to have larger numbers in a bolder design, have a satellite hologram, and have been printed in more contrasting shades than the old versions, which had remained the same since they were first introduced in 2002.

 28 May 2019; DW: Ahead of a summit to discuss EU election results, the French and German leaders have disagreed over how to choose the next European Commission president. Emmanuel Macron has said the process should not be automatic.

Speaking ahead of a special EU summit, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Germany still favors choosing the top candidate from the winning party of Sunday's EU elections as the next president of the European Commission.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The latest on European elections (all times local):

8:10 p.m.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she’d like to see a quick agreement on who should run the European Union’s executive branch, a matter on which her own governing coalition so far is divided.

In her first comments on the outcome of the European Parliament election, Merkel said both her center-right bloc and her center-left coalition partners back the idea that the head of the EU’s executive Commission should be a politician who ran for that job.

Brussels, May 27; AFP/GANASHAKTI:  Liberals and Greens say they have broken the two centrist blocs' grip on power in the European Parliament based on a projected shift in the electoral fortunes of the four.

Liberals and Greens are now pushing harder to snag the head of the European Commission, the 28-nation EU executive, and shape key laws, such as on climate change and taxation.