European Union

British Prime Minister Johnson is refusing to budge. Today, Monday, he wants to have the House of Commons vote once more on holding a snap election. Speculation is also rife about whether he will flout a bill banning a no-deal Brexit passed by Parliament last week. When will the Brexit torment end? some commentators sigh.

Emily O'Reilly, the European Ombudsman, told EUobserver she would keep up pressure on EU institutions if reappointed in her post.

France has called an EU summit with Russia on the Ukraine conflict following a prisoner exchange - but the Dutch are unhappy that Ukraine freed a witness of the MH17 atrocity.

Laszlo Trocsanyi, Hungary's nomination for the European Commission, will face "a very rough ride" in the European Parliament, the Dutch liberal MEP Sophie in 't Veld told the Guardian, also calling it "a provocation". Trocsanyi was Viktor Orban's minister of justice from 2014 until his election to the EU parliament this year. As a justice minister he introduced several laws that caused legal action from the European Commission against Hungary.

According to Russian state media watchdog Roskomnadzor, Google and Facebook distributed political advertising during Sunday's regional elections, although they were asked to ban this kind of publicity over the weekend, in line with Russian law. "Such actions can be seen as interference in Russia's sovereign affairs and hindering the conduct of democratic elections in the Russian Federation", the watchdog said.

According to a new study, EU countries still provide billions of euros to fossil fuel industries, although all member states committed to ending such subsidies. Several EU environmental NGOs found that at least five member states (Germany, Greece, Poland, Slovenia, and the UK) are planning to introduce new funds or tax breaks for fossil fuel industries and that another six EU countries made false claims regarding these subsidies.

British prime minister Boris Johnson vistis Dublin on Monday to negotiate with the Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar the possibilities of embracing a Northern Ireland-only backstop. "We will be ready to do what we need to do to protect the single market if a no-deal Brexit occurs," Varadkar said. Once Johnson returns from Dublin later on Monday, MPs will vote on the government's second attempt to trigger an early election.

Politicians and political parties in Europe have had bots generate fake 'likes', views, and comments to boost their online popularity, in what has been described as outright voter manipulation.

Following their defeat in the last EU elections, the progressive forces in Europe found themselves in an uneasy position. 

Iran's nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, has said the EU has failed to deliver on commitments made in the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) to give relief to trade sanctions in return for Iran halting its nuclear enrichment. His statement came after Iran's announcement it would use centrifuges prohibited by the 2015 deal. The EU promised to maintain the deal despite the fact that the US pulled out of it.

The EU special envoy to Afghanistan, Roland Kobi, has said presidential elections are needed in September as the country needs democratic leadership and a new mandate from the people. His remarks came hours after Donald Trump canceled secret peace talks with the Taliban in Camp David, after an explosion in Kabul killed a US soldier. In an angry reaction the Taliban warned for "more losses to the US".

From 2000 to 2018 the population of Brussels grew from 960,000 to 1.2 million. According to a ULB study, 55 percent of this growth comes from non-Belgian EU citizens, reaching a total of 275,000 people or 23 percent of the total population. The largest percentage of foreigners in Brussels are French, while the new (mainly young and female) immigration comes from new member states like Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.

Iran's atomic agency chief hit out Sunday (8 September) at European powers, saying their broken promises gave the Islamic republic little choice but to scale back its commitments under a nuclear deal.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis rejected on Sunday (8 September) Turkish "threats" to let Syrian refugees come en masse to Europe unless more international aid was provided and called for neighbourly dialogue instead.

Not a single EU member state has so far spelt out a comprehensive plan to phase-out fossil fuel subsidies, despite a commitment taken at the G20 ten years ago to eliminate them by 2025, according to a fresh analysis of the bloc’s 28 National Energy and Climate Plans.

Committee and political group meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP