EU diplomacy chief Federica Mogherini said Friday that the EU will continue to apply a UN nuclear deal with Iran, despite US president Donald Trump's threat to "terminate it". "It's a robust deal that provides guarantees and a strong monitoring mechanism, she said, adding that the deal "doesn't belong to any single country." Trump said earlier he will leave it unless the US Congress and US allies "fix" it.
Developments in the Spanish region are a radical, direct and immediate threat against everything the EU stands for.
EU environment ministers on Friday agreed a common position on a legislative proposal aimed at preserving forests and counting the CO2 emissions they absorb. They propose to amend the European Commission's complex proposal to give Finland, an EU member with a large surface area of trees, some "flexibilities". NGOs fear the text will have loopholes, but Estonian environment minister Siim Kiisler said the "main elements" of the plan are preserved.
A key showdown on the state of Brexit talks, an ECJ ruling on Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych, and Macron's proposals for the future of the EU, are all on the agenda this week.
A small number of migrants are now taking sailing yachts from Turkey to reach Italy. Some are paying up to €6,000 for the trip, in what the EU's police agency Europol describe as a new trend.
Environment ministers agreed their position on Friday on a legislative proposal on emissions-reduction targets for each EU country by 2030. They agreed with the targets proposed by the European Commission, but added a "safety reserve for less wealthy member states", a press release said. The reserve would let over-achieving member states help those struggling to reach their reduction target, but only if the common EU target is reached.
Whilst committed to joining the euro in theory, most Czech parties seem to be stonewalling on 'when' in the run-up to the 20-21 October election - and Andrej Babis, favourite to be prime minister, has ruled it out.
Hungary's government will give an extra year to foreign universities to comply with its new rules on higher education, including the Central European University (CEU) founded by US billionaire George Soros, Index news site reported. The EU Commission has launched a probe into the new law, which it says could breach EU rules. Critics said the rules target CEU for being a centre of liberal thinking in the country.
By 2025, the European battery sector will be worth €250 billion annually - the decisions we take now will decide where the jobs to serve it are created, says EU commissioner Maros Sefcovic.
Belgian firemen and medical services were called to the EU Council building Friday morning after "noxious fumes in the kitchens has led to a number of kitchen staff falling ill," the institution said. Staff were evacuated but "this incident will not prevent next week's meeting of the European Council from going ahead" (next Thursday and Friday), the statement said.
Andrzej Zybertowicz wants to keep some parts of society non-digital, and mused about banning "addictive technologies."
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said Friday that an EU mediation in the crisis between the Spanish and Catalan authorities "this will lead to serious disruptions in the EU" if requested by only one side. He told students in Luxembourg that "a long time ago" he asked Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy "to take initiative so the situation doesn't run out of control" but "many things remain to be done."
The new ruling coalition in the Netherlands wants to scrap a 2015 Dutch law, unique in Europe, which allows citizens-enforced, non-binding referendums on newly-adopted laws, like the ratification of the EU-Ukraine treaty. But the bill that would remove the people's power to demand referendums could itself be the subject of a citizens-enforced referendum, writes De Volkskrant.
Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to expel all EU ambassadors from the country after a delegation of MEPs criticised his 'war on drugs', which has killed almost 4,000 people, on Monday. "You bullshit. We are past the colonisation stage. Don't fuck with us," Duterte said. The EU mission in Manila said "The EU and the Philippines work constructively and productively together in a close partnership."
Negotiators representing national governments on one hand and the European Parliament on the other "were close to reaching an agreement" on the reform of the EU's emissions trading system (ETS). They spoke "until the early hours of Friday" but still need another meeting, a spokeswoman for the Estonian presidency of the Council said. The ETS is the EU's main climate tool that requires polluting industries to hand in CO2 credits.
Denmark's top bank, Danske Bank, played an "organised" role in a Russian money-laundering scam, French prosecutors have said.
German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel warned on Thursday that any move by US president Donald Trump's administration to withdraw from the 2005 Iran nuclear deal would drive a wedge between Europe and the US. Trump is expected to withdraw backing from the deal on Friday. "It would be a devastating signal for nuclear disarmament," Gabriel told Germany's RND newspaper.
A "soft Brexit" would be the best way to minimise damage to Britain and the European Union, Germany's outgoing finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Thursday in the sidelines of an International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington, Reuters reported. Remaining in or close to the EU's single market, and keeping many of the trade and business benefits it had as member, would be preferable, Schaeuble said.
MEPs in the civil liberties committee voted in favour of taking in more refugees than the Commission wants to or than member states are likely to accept.
