European Union

In political Berlin speculation that the head of the domestic intelligence agency Hans-Georg Maaßen will have to resign continues. He recently came under fire for playing down the violence at the protests in Chemnitz and claiming that a video showing foreigners being hunted down was faked. Journalists in and outside Germany are galvanized by the affair.

In 2017 a court of arbitration ruled that most of the Bay of Piran belonged to Slovenia. But because Croatia refuses to recognise the ruling Slovenia lodged a complaint with the European Court of Justice in July. So far, however, EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, who from a legal point of view should side with Slovenia, has remained silent on the issue. Slovenian media vent their anger.

The Christian Democratic MEP Michaela Šojdrová from the Czech Republic has proposed that her country take in 50 Syrian war orphans. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, however, has rejected the proposal on the grounds that he is in principle against taking in refugees. The commentaries in the Czech papers say a thing or two about the views of their owners.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker made a point of delivering his plenary speech at the Three Seas Initiative forum in Bucharest in French, bucking the trend of other world leaders attending the event on Tuesday (September 18).

On the third anniversary of Dieselgate, the European Commission announced on Tuesday (18 September) that its anti-competition team is looking into BMW, Daimler and the VW group for allegedly limiting the roll-out of technology meant to clean up car emissions.

Member states, the European Parliament and the European Commission have made remarkable progress on the Clean Energy Package to date – which Orgalime, representing the European technology industries, warmly welcomes, writes Malte Lohan.

The European Commission has opened an investigation into possible collusion by BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen Group. The commission is concerned the companies may have limited the development of emissions control systems. "If proven, this collusion may have denied consumers the opportunity to buy less-polluting cars, despite the technology being available to the manufacturers," EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Tuesday - exactly three years after the 'Dieselgate' emissions scandal started.

Ahead of Germany’s coal commission meeting on Tuesday (18 September), one of its members explained to EURACTIV what is behind the meaning of ‘structural economic change’, which the newly appointed institution has to deal with. 

Serbia will never recognise Kosovo, Serbia's foreign minister has said, as the Western Balkans heads into a new period of turbulence.

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has pushed for a specific chapter on Gibraltar in the Brexit agreement during talks with EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Madrid on Monday. Spain, however, will not bring up the matter of UK sovereignty over the rock, reported El Pais, adding that the final Brexit agreement will contain three separate protocols for Northern Ireland, Gibraltar and the British bases in Cyprus.

Slovak authorities have identified a possible witness in the murder of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak, whose killing last February led mass protests that forced the government to resign, a state prosecutor said on Monday (17 September).

Italian foreign minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi has cancelled a meeting with his Austrian counterpart over Vienna's plans to grant dual citizenship to German-speaking residents in the northern Italian province of South Tyrol, also known by its Italian name Alto Adige. About 70 percent of locals said they were German speakers in the last census carried out in 2011. Italy called the plan "inappropriate" with potentially "disturbing consequences".

The British parliament will not accept a Brexit deal that includes a customs border in the Irish Sea, Brexit secretary Dominic Raab has repeated in an interview with The Irish Times. "The constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom needs to be respected," Raab said. Meanwhile Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney will brief his government on Tuesday on preparations for Brexit, including construction of inspection bays for trucks at Dublin port.