MEPs today changed their rules to stop French far-right holocaust denier Jean Marie Le Pen from presiding over the first session of the newly-elected European Parliament in July.

Sweeping plans for electronic monitoring of all visitors crossing European Union borders could be a “Big Brother” move too far, the European Commission was warned this afternoon.

PAT COX, the former president of the European Parliament, failed to be selected to chair a group to study the future direction of the EU at a summit of union leaders in Brussels.

Gibraltar could soon have its own national football team after Spanish efforts to block the move were overturned by judges.

European politicians today demanded to know the exact locations of the secret prisons that the US president has revealed the CIA operated overseas to interrogate terror suspects.

A BRITISH Muslim Euro-MP last night called for an end to Muslim protests against Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

Frustrated by the lack of progress in various European probes, senior EU parliamentarians today decided to set up their own committee to investigate allegations of CIA secret prisons in eastern Europe.

MEPs meeting in Strasbourg responded to the London bomb blasts with a show of solidarity today.

AN unrepentant Tony Blair fought back against his critics and reiterated his demand for European Union reform when he addressed the European Parliament in Brussels yesterday.

THERE will be no honeymoon period for the new European Commission as they spent their first day in office fighting off allegations about one of their members.

On his first day in office, EC President Jose Manuel Barroso was under fire from the European Parliament, which urged him to suspend Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot.

Political leaders at the European Parliament declared victory today and said they would give their backing to the new executive under Jose Manuel Barroso after the incoming EC chief presented his reshuffled team.

Europe’s outgoing Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs tonight backed anti-gay Italian Rocco Buttiglione to take over the job as planned and not step down because of his personal views.

The newly-elected European Parliament launched itself with a bang this afternoon – taking EU governments to court over air passenger privacy rights.

BEMOANING the “pathetically” low turnout in European Parliament elections, political leaders yesterday dismissed the impact of Euro-sceptics and said more had to be done to “sell” the EU to its own citizens.

The European Commission survived its most serious test yesterday when its president Romano Prodi refused to sack any of his commissioners over allegations of fraud.

Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson’s future was on the line today after his humiliating defeat in the euro referendum.

Opponents of British entry into the European single currency were today celebrating a decisive Swedish vote to reject the euro.

Italian premier Berlusconi provoked uproar in the European Parliament today by telling a German critic that he should star as a Nazi concentration camp guard in a film.

Moderate opinion across Europe is still firmly opposed to war against Iraq, a leading Euro-MP said tonight.

AN emergency summit of Europe’s leaders today faces an uphill struggle to salvage unity over Iraq in the face of deepening divisions.

The EU presidency warned today of a “deep crisis” if Europe cannot speak with one voice on Iraq and feared the bitter dispute that has split Nato could disrupt a European Union summit next week.

European leaders are being stampeded by the terrorist threat into approving new EU legal powers which ignore civil liberties, it was claimed today.

EU moves to crack down on money laundering has run into trouble in Brussels over lawyers’ rights to maintain complete professional secrecy over their clients’ financial dealings.

Euro-MPs will meet on Wednesday in a bid to rush through plans to freeze the assets of 27 organisations and individuals suspected of involvement in terrorism.

Plans to tighten counter-terrorism laws across Europe will be unveiled by the European Commission today.