Venezuelan asylum seekers try to make a new life in Spain

Europe continues to struggle with a heat wave, though some have seen a respite from record high temperatures for the time of year. One of several wildfires has raged out of control on Greece's second-largest island.

The Cypriot government says the vast majority of migrants enter the island's breakaway north via Turkey and then seek asylum in the EU-backed south. Arrivals doubled to about 10,000 in the first five months of this year.

The European Commission has recommended candidate status for Ukraine. Just over three months after being invaded by Russia, Kyiv has cleared the first hurdle on the road to membership.

A forensic examination on remains found in the Amazon confirmed they belonged to British journalist Dom Phillips. A second set of remains, believed to be those of Bruno Pereira, are still being analyzed.

Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief has called for Russia to end its blockade of Ukrainian ports. His comments come ahead of a meeting of the bloc's 27 foreign ministers.

With young Indigenous people leaving the Amazon in search of jobs the rainforest is losing one of its best lines of defense. Could ensuring they have economic opportunities at home help protect biodiversity?

Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia have criticized the slow progress on their EU membership bids. With Ukraine on the fast track, Western Balkan leaders are meeting with their EU counterparts — but hold out little hope.

EU leaders are in Brussels to discuss the membership bids of Ukraine and Moldova. Meanwhile, the European Parliament has voted heavily in favor of the two countries' getting candidate status.

Strong inflation headwinds could deny Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro a second term, with the incumbent also facing a new corruption scandal. Lula says citizens want to "get rid" of the current government.

The European Union should change the way it does business with Africa to redress imbalances left over in part from the colonial era, EU lawmakers have said.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine four months ago, the cost of living crisis has become a global issue. Prices have gone up around the world. In Europe, the countries that use the euro saw an average of 8.1 percent inflation in May. Pressure on prices, combined with stuttering economic growth, has sparked fears of a recession. These concerns could still come into play regarding the EU's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In this programme, we're joined by two MEPs to discuss how the EU should balance sanctions against Russia with the risk of recession.

This week on Talking Europe we take a look at some of the other countries, aside from Ukraine, that are knocking on the EU's door to join the bloc. EU leaders held a summit on Thursday with the Western Balkan states to discuss their accession process. For Albania, that started back in 2008 and still hasn't advanced to the negotiations stage. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama spoke to FRANCE 24’s Luke Brown on the sidelines of the EU-Western Balkans leaders' meeting in Brussels.