The surge, which began on Thursday at one of the EU’s only two land borders with Africa – the other being Morocco’s frontier with the Spanish enclave of Melilla – triggered alarm across the bloc

International News via Reuters:

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed on Monday that the European Union further strengthen its borders and increase support for Morocco to help prevent a repeat of the chaotic influx of 50,000 migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week.

The surge, which began on Thursday at one of the EU’s only two land borders with Africa – the other being Morocco’s frontier with the Spanish enclave of Melilla – triggered alarm across the bloc.

Migration has been one of the European Union’s most divisive political issues since the 2015-16 migration crisis, when more than a million refugees and migrants, many fleeing war in Syria, arrived in Europe.

The influx fuelled support for anti-immigration and far-right parties across the bloc and intensified years of disputes over border controls, asylum rules and burden-sharing.

Increasingly, the EU relies on migration agreements with countries in North Africa to curb irregular arrivals.

“Morocco is an important strategic partner, particularly in our efforts to combat migrant smuggling and illegal migration,” von der Leyen wrote.

“In cooperation with Spain, especially on anything related to Ceuta and Melilla, we could enhance border management early-warning systems and improve our technical and financial support to Morocco.”

CEUTA THE FIRST TEST OF EU’S NEW MIGRATION PACT

Morocco said on Sunday that recent mass crossings to Ceuta and Melilla had been fuelled by misinformation on social media, human trafficking networks and misinterpretation of a Spanish court ruling.

In the event, most of those who breached the border barrier found no food or welcome, and returned to Moroccan soil.

Nevertheless, Italy suspended passport-free Schengen travel arrangements with Spain for a month, even though they do not apply to Ceuta, while 22 of the EU’s 27 members urged coordinated action to strengthen the bloc’s external borders.

The Ceuta incident is the first major test of the EU’s Migration Pact, which entered into force in June after years of negotiations aimed at creating common migration rules and stronger solidarity among member states.

“The idea of the pact is control and solidarity between EU member states. Yet we’ve seen the opposite,” said Bram Frouws, director of the Mixed Migration Centre.

“If the first major incident shows that the pact isn’t doing much differently, that’s politically risky,” Frouws said, arguing that it could undermine confidence in European leaders and provide “fuel for the far right”.

With elections approaching in several EU countries, migration remains among the bloc’s most politically sensitive issues.

EUROPE’S MIGRATION DILEMMA

Critics argue the strategy of relying on transit countries leaves Europe vulnerable to pressure if these relax migration controls, or threaten to do so, in pursuit of political or economic concessions.

“Europe’s increasing reliance on neighbouring countries for migration control may reduce arrivals in the short term, but it can also provide those countries with significant political leverage,” said Alberto-Horst Neidhardt, senior policy analyst at the European Policy Centre.

Additional reporting by Inti Landauro, Andrew Gray, Philip Blenkinsop, Sudip Kargupta; Editing by Kevin Liffey

In the letter, dated August 3rd, she also reiterated the EU’s support to help Spain tackle illegal immigration while noting that more needed to be done

International News via Reuters:

More must be done to strengthen the European Union’s borders at critical points, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in a letter seen by Reuters.

In the letter, dated August 3rd, she also reiterated the EU’s support to help Spain tackle illegal immigration while noting that more needed to be done.

The letter came after last week’s huge rush of migrants who surged over the Moroccan border to enter the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in north Africa. At least 67 people died as a result.

“In co-operation with Spain, especially on anything related to Ceuta and Melilla, we could enhance border management early-warning systems and improve our technical and financial support to Morocco,” wrote von der Leyen in the letter.

Reporting by Inti Landauro and Amina Ismail; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Charlotte Van Campenhout

Registrations of Tesla’s vehicles, a proxy for sales, rose 86% in France and 52% in Denmark from a year ago, according to data from French car body PFA and Denmark’s bilstatistik.dk

International News via Reuters:

Tesla’s July registrations across several European markets painted a mixed picture on Monday, with strong gains in France and Denmark contrasted by sharp declines in Norway, Sweden and Spain.

Registrations of Tesla’s vehicles, a proxy for sales, rose 86% in France and 52% in Denmark from a year ago, according to data from French car body PFA and Denmark’s bilstatistik.dk.

However, the registrations plunged 97% in Norway, 60% in Sweden and 81% in Spain, numbers from compilers OFV, Mobility Sweden and industry group ANFAC showed.

The broader European electric car market appeared strong in July, supported by state incentives in France and continued market growth for battery-electric vehicles in Denmark, among others, said Rico Luman, senior economist at ING Research.

Tesla appears to be prioritising incentive-rich markets such as Germany, where volumes could rise sharply in the second half of 2026, and France, said Matthias Schmidt, European auto market analyst at Schmidt Automotive, adding that weaker sales elsewhere could be reflecting that.

Andy Leyland, co-founder of supply-chain specialist SC Insights, commented on the plunge in Norway by saying a single month’s figures should be treated with caution.

“Such a large change is usually reflective of either shipment timings, or a taxation change,” Leyland said.

Tesla’s sales in Europe have so far rebounded this year after two straight annual declines, helped by easier year-ago comparisons, higher fuel prices, government incentives and growing consumer interest in electric vehicles.

Overall registrations of new BEVs rose 51% in June, data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association showed.

Last month, Tesla reported record-setting second-quarter delivery numbers that beat Wall Street estimates, boosted by the rebound in Europe.

Registration data from Britain and Germany, Europe’s two largest car markets, is due later this week.

Reporting by Amir Orusov and Mathias de Rozario in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak

Strong firefighting forces assisted by water tanks and 21 aircraft were deployed near the communities of Kandili and Agia Skepi early on Monday as plumes of thick black smoke and red flames engulfed lush pine forests

International News via Reuters:

Hundreds of Greek firefighters battled a wildfire northwest of Athens for a fourth day on Monday after blazes fanned by strong winds gutted homes, thousands of hectares of farmland and pine forests, and forced emergency evacuations by land and sea.

Two people on a firefighting helicopter — a Greek and a Danish national — died on Sunday after their helicopter crashed after a mid-air brush with a second helicopter. The crew of the second firefighting aircraft, a Greek and a Briton, survived the incident near the seaside community of Psatha, about 40 miles from Athens.

Strong firefighting forces assisted by water tanks and 21 aircraft were deployed near the communities of Kandili and Agia Skepi early on Monday as plumes of thick black smoke and red flames engulfed lush pine forests, Reuters images showed. Local authorities with heavy machinery built fire breaks to stop the wildfire from reaching homes, a Greek fire brigade official told Reuters.

Europe has been ravaged by wildfires this summer after a period of record-breaking heatwaves and little rain — conditions that scientists say have been exacerbated by a fast-changing climate. France and Spain have been particularly hard hit although destructive blazes there abated over the weekend, providing some respite.

FAULTY POWER LINES

Sunday’s air crash follows a grim week for Greek emergency services. Three firefighters were killed in two separate incidents in Crete and on the Peloponnese on July 29 in a jarring start to a fire season which has, until now, been relatively mild by local standards.

Greek authorities are trying to ascertain the cause of the mid-air crash of the two helicopters, which occurred as they were flying at low altitude, with the rotor blades of one appearing to clip the underside of the other, footage which appeared on social media showed.

“We’re fighting an unequal battle with the impact of the climate crisis,” Deputy Climate Crisis Minister Kostas Katsafados told public broadcaster ERT, adding that strong winds over the past few days made water bombers unable to draw sea water and dump it in the area, leaving ground forces battling the blazes on their own.

Preliminary investigation suggests the outbreak in the area of Boeotia, northwest of Athens last week, which spread to a lush pine forest near the capital, was caused by sparks from vibrating conductors on a private power line transmitting electricity from wind turbines, the Greek fire brigade said.

Two Greek nationals, an electrical engineer and a contractor, have been arrested and face felony charges of arson.

Faulty power lines have been the leading cause of major wildfires in Greece in recent years, overshadowing arson and negligence.

Additional reporting by Angeliki Koutantou, Renee Maltezou and Lefteris Papadimas; writing by Angeliki Koutantou; editing by Susan Fenton

The conflict has almost halted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit route for the Gulf’s energy exports, sending manufacturers’ energy prices soaring

International News via Reuters:

Manufacturing activity in China slowed in July as the 5-month-long war in the Middle East delivered weaker demand and elevated costs for the exporting powerhouse — a situation mirrored across much of Europe — surveys showed on Monday.

The conflict has almost halted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit route for the Gulf’s energy exports, sending manufacturers’ energy prices soaring.

Factories in the world’s second-largest economy saw growth in new orders slow to its weakest pace since January, and although euro zone output surged, that was largely driven by firms clearing order backlogs rather than rising demand.

The headline S&P Global Eurozone Manufacturing PMI INPMI=ECI rose to 51.9 in July from June’s 51.4, its highest reading since April but just below a preliminary estimate of 52.0. A reading above 50.0 indicates growth.

“It’s a mixed bag, but with the main conclusion the euro zone economy is more resilient than feared … but we’re clearly heading into at least a low growth environment,” said Carsten Brzeski at ING.

“In the shorter term I think it is weak but relatively sustained growth unless obviously something really bad happens in the Middle East. It’s not a situation in which the euro zone economy will all of a sudden take off and present a stellar performance.”

Inflation in the common currency bloc rose to 2.9% in July from 2.8% a month earlier, official data showed last week, adding to an already strong case for another European Central Bank interest rate hike which would likely add a further constraint on demand as households curtail spending.

Factories across the globe faced elevated input costs last month, the PMIs showed.

Germany, Europe’s largest economy, enjoyed a strong start to the third quarter as manufacturing activity expanded but S&P Global said it was difficult to imagine this performance being sustained without a resolution to the Middle East conflict due to corresponding volatility in oil prices and uncertainty. 

French factory activity slipped back into contraction and Italy’s manufacturing industry saw growth slow. 

In Britain, outside the European Union, manufacturing activity expanded for a ninth straight month in July but at the slowest pace in four months, according to its PMI that pointed to a renewed impact from the Iran war towards the end of last month.

Earlier PMIs showed India’s manufacturing sector expanded at its slowest pace in nearly five years as overall demand remained soft. But in contrast, Japan’s factory output expanded at its fastest pace in more than 12 years with across-the-board improvements in sub-indexes, including a 4-1/2-year high surge in new orders buoyed by AI-related demand.

Reporting by Jonathan Cable; Editing by Toby Chopra