They started with the rhetoric of hospitality, now they talk about cheap labour when it comes to migrants. Turkish politicians are using the growing Arabophobia as a tool to secure electoral favours and to blackmail the West. The Union will be dragging its feet until it modernises its own asylum policy.

The Slovak representative on the EU's Political and Security Committee expects the bloc to clearly define its defence ambitions through the Strategic Compass. The plan, which is supposed to be a response to the current challenges of European security, "will also be helpful for NATO," says MICHAL KOMADA.

Beijing is changing the shape of its own foreign policy. It wants to look like a power to the world and is moving away from a diplomatic tone. The emphasis is on the domestic audience to which it is emphasising its strength, says China expert RICHARD Q. TURCSANYI.

In July, the Commission published its second report on the rule of law in the EU. Although developments in Slovakia have been turbulent over the last two months, this is a different category of problem than in Poland or Hungary. Slovakia should not be a vocal critic in the V4, but a positive example, the panelists agreed.