European Union

EU and UK officials cut short their summer holidays, resuming Brexit talks in Brussels on Thursday (16 August). Future trade relations and the Northern Ireland border topped the agenda.

Brussels has recently encouraged Italy to increase expenditure in infrastructure, EU officials said on Thursday (16 August) in response to Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s allegations that the bloc's austerity policies were partly responsible for Italian bridge collapse. 

The European Parliament's Brexit steering group has criticised the UK government's plan to register EU citizens wanting to stay in the UK post-Brexit in alphabetical order. "We believe such an approach would be complicated, arbitrary and could create unnecessary confusion and uncertainty for millions of EU citizens already living in limbo," they said Thursday. The UK will have to register some 3.6 million EU citizens.

Bayer shares registered yet another sharp decrease on Thursday (16 August), dropping as much as 6.5% in Frankfurt to hover near the 76 euros level as investors fear the German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant may face numerous litigations in the US after its controversial merger with Monsanto. 

The European Commission has rebuked Italy's deputy premier Matteo Salvini's comments on EU "constraints" related to the Genoa bridge disaster. The commission wanted "to make a few things clear", spokesman Christian Spahr said Thursday. "For the record, under the agreed fiscal rules, member states are free to set specific policy priorities, for instance the development and maintenance of infrastructure. In fact, the EU has encouraged investment in infrastructure in Italy."

Fingers are being pointed after the collapse of the motorway bridge in Genoa. Economic Development Minister Di Maio has blamed the motorway operator Autostrade, and Interior Minister Salvini complained that EU budget constraints were making Italy unsafe. Commentators take a closer look at these accusations.

Mobile phones will be prohibited in French schools when classes begin this autumn. Internet-enabled devices will be banned in most schools, while lycées (upper secondary schools) will be allowed to decide for themselves whether to impose the ban. The move is a bid to improve pupils' concentration in class. Scientists and journalists also take a critical view of how smartphones are influencing our lives.

The conflict between Ankara and Washington is escalating on the trade front. Turkey has raised import tariffs on certain US products by up to 140 percent and announced a boycott on US electronic components, after the US doubled tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminium last week. What course will the relations between the two countries take?

Masked youths have set dozens of cars on fire and attacked police officers in several Swedish cities. In Gothenburg alone, at least 88 vehicles were destroyed or damaged. The authorities are not ruling out the possibility that this was a coordinated action. What will the unrest mean for the parliamentary elections at the start of September?