The bright eclipsing and bursting low-mass X-ray binary EXO 0748 - 676 has been observed at several occasions by XMM-Newton during the initial calibration and performance verification ( CAL/PV ) phase .
We present here the results obtained from observations with the EPIC cameras .
Apart from several type-I X-ray bursts , the source shows a high degree of variability with the presence of soft flares .
The wide energy coverage and high sensitivity of XMM-Newton allows for the first time a detailed description of the spectral variability . The source is found to be the superposition of a central ( \sim 2 \times 10 ^ { 8 } cm ) Comptonized emission , most probably a corona surrounding the inner edge of an accretion disk , associated with a more extended ( \sim 3 \times 10 ^ { 10 } cm ) thermal halo at a typical temperature of \sim 0.6 keV with an indication of non-solar abundances .
Most of the variations of the source can be accounted for by a variable absorption affecting only the central comptonized component and reaching up to N _ { H } \sim 1.3 \times 10 ^ { 23 } cm ^ { -2 } .
The characteristics of the surrounding halo are found compatible with an irradiated atmosphere of an accretion disc which intercepts the central emission due to the system high inclination .