European Union

The EU's goods trade surplus with the US for the first five months of 2019 rose to €62.1bn from €55.4bn in the same period last year. The increase could stoke tensions after the US already imposed tariffs on some EU exports to get the numbers down. At the same time, Europe's trade deficit with China grew to €76.7bn from €69.2bn, amid complaints China unfairly restricts market access for foreign firms.

Israeli plans to demolish 10 Palestinian apartment buildings on the edge of Jerusalem were part of a "policy that undermines the viability of the two-state solution", EU diplomats in Jerusalem and Ramallah have said. Several other buildings faced a similar fate, Palestinian authorities noted. But they should be pulled down because they were built too close to Israel's wall around the occupied city, an Israeli court has ruled.

The EU "is ready to start work toward applying targeted measures for those members of the security forces involved in torture and other serious violations of human rights" in Venezuela, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Tuesday. Spain had pushed for sanctions over allegations that Rafael Acosta, a navy captain and opposition figurehead, had been tortured to death in custody. "She [Mogherini] threatens us with loathsome comments", Venezuela said.

The leader of Germany's ruling CDU party, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, is to replace Ursula von der Leyen as German defence minister following von der Leyen's elevation to the European Commission presidency, German officials have said. Kramp-Karrenbauer previously said she did not want a new post, but the ministerial job could give her the experience and exposure she would need to contest federal elections in 2021 when German chancellor Angela Merkel leaves.

Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday obtained a narrow majority of support in the European Parliament to become the first-ever female president of the European Commission.

Malta is about to put on trial three men it says killed journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017, but only a public enquiry might show who ordered the murder, her son has warned.

The management board of Greece-based EU Agency for Cybersecurity (Enisa) has nominated Juhan Lepassaar as the agency's new executive director, Enisa announced Tuesday. Until June, Lepassaar was head of cabinet for EU commissioner for digital affairs Andrus Ansip. The Estonian will face MEPs' questioning although they cannot stop his nomination. Lepassaar may meet his old boss there. Ansip, now an MEP, is a substitute member of the relevant committee.

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

Malta's attorney general filed indictments on Tuesday against three men accused of murdering journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia with a car bomb in 2017. The suspects, who were arrested shortly after the killing - Vince Muscat, George Degiorgio, and Alfred Degiorgi - will now stand trial. But Caruna Galizia's family continues to harbour concern that the trial could end up letting the masterminds of the operation, who remain unknown, go free.

European Commission presidential-hopeful Ursula von Der Leyen delivered her key appeal in the European Parliament to secure the post. Her appeal appeared to appease most of the political groups - but a lack of specifics, and opposition from Greens remain.

Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday spoke to the European Parliament, in a bid to clear the threshold 50 percent in tonight's secret vote of MEPs to endorse her as next Commission president. In a 30 minute speech, she mentioned respecting the rule of law, and possibly greater climate targets, whilst reminding she would be the first female Commission president.

Ursula von der Leyen, speaking Tuesday to MEPs as she hopes to become president of the European Commission, said she was open to further delay the UK's departure date from the EU on 31 October. "I stand ready for a further extension of the withdrawal date, should more time be required for a good reason," she said. Preserving peace on the Irish island and EU citizens' rights were her priorities.

EU relations with Turkey hit a new low with sanctions on Monday, but European arms sales to its Nato ally continue unabated.

Ursula von der Leyen, nominee to become president of the European Commission, promised MEPs on Tuesday that if elected she would introduce a carbon border tax, which the current commission administration opposes, but which is a long-standing wish of France. She said that to limit climate change, we must all change how we travel and live. "Emissions must have a price that changes our behaviour," said von der Leyen.

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, the two contenders for the Conservative party leadership, and post of British prime minister, said at a debate on Monday that the Irish backstop is "dead". The backstop is part of the UK-EU Brexit withdrawal deal, aimed at preventing a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. "The problem is really fundamental. It needs to come out," said Johnson.

According to EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini Iran's recent steps in the enrichment of uranium "are not significant and can be reversed". After a meeting of the European foreign ministers, she called on Iran "to reverse the steps and go back to full compliance". The statement comes amidst rising tensions between Iran and the US, and the decision of Iran the breach the nuclear agreement of 2015.

Why are more women from Poland and Croatia seeking pregnancy terminations abroad?

European Commission secretary-general Martin Selmayr will leave his job "at the end of next week", he reportedly told Politico Monday, the same day Ursula von der Leyen, the nominee for president of the commission, reportedly said "there can be only one high-ranking German at the top". Last year, MEPs asked Selmayr to resign, because of irregularities in his appointment procedure. The European Ombudsman said Selmayr's lightning-fast promotion constituted "maladministration".

North Macedonia expects to become a Nato member by the end of this year, president Stevo Pendarovski said on Monday. He added that he hoped the European Commission would start EU accession talks in October, Reuters reported. The commission formally recommended in May that negotiations with North Macedonia should start. In the meantime, French president Emmanuel Macron repeated that enlargement can only happen after a deepening of the EU.

Poland's former prime minister, Beata Szydlo, has cried foul after failing to get an EP committee chair a second time, in a fiasco which could spell trouble for the European Commission presidency vote on Tuesday.