European Union

Libya is "absolutely opposed" to the EU's idea to establish camps there for people who cannot claim asylum in Europe, Libyan prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj said Friday. In an interview to Germany's Bild newspaper, he said his country saved "thousands of people each day" off its coast and that it was "left alone" in doing it. He asked "more technical and financial support", at sea and to accommodate migrants.

All of you preparing to go to southern Europe by car this summer, good luck! Especially on your way back.

The world’s largest ever trade deal is also the first Europe has signed that commits both parties to upholding the UN climate accord. EURACTIV's media partner Climate Home News reports.

Britons will from next week start receiving weekly information bulletins from the government about how to make sure they’re ready for a disorderly Brexit, The Times reported today (20 July).

Without a shared EU foreign policy, the notion of halting future migration waves is unrealistic, write Ilhan Kyuchyuk and Samuel Doveri Vesterbye. Ilhan Kyuchyuk MEP (Bulgaria) is ALDE Vice President and Member of the European Parliament; Samuel Doveri Vesterbye is...

Italy is stepping up its campaign to stop EU warships and other rescue vessels from taking migrants to its ports.

EDA has opened a 2nd call for papers from defence industry, academia and research institutes on the topic of Remotely Piloted Air Systems (RPAS) in the context to the EDA Industry Exchange Platform on RPAS Air Traffic Integration (ATI).

The call focuses on RPAS ATI in European airspace in the timeframe 2025-2030 and aims at gathering industry proposals on new R&D and validation activities needed in the RPAS ATI domain in the following technical areas:

• Autonomy
• Secure Command and Control datalinks
• Detect and Avoid

The responses to this call for papers will drive the ideation of potential project proposals during the 2nd formal meeting of the EDA RPAS ATI Industry Exchange Platform which will take place at the EDA on 26 October 2018. They will also be used to update the RPAS ATI Industry Exchange Platform contributors list, in view of potentially inviting additional industry participants to this initiative.
 

How to submit

• Download the call for papers here
• Send your completed files to cps@eda.europa.eu with a copy to juanignacio.delvalle@eda.europa.eu
• Deadline for submissions is 21 September 2018
   

Background

The EDA RPAS ATI Industry Exchange Platform is part of EDA’s approach towards establishing a structured dialogue and enhanced engagement with industry based on a set of priority actions, as supported by the EDA Ministerial Steering Board on 18 May 2017. The initiative is in line with the coordinated approach amongst the main European stakeholders in Single European Sky.

The purpose of EDA RPAS ATI Industry Exchange Platform is:

• to establish a regular dialogue with industry on a key priority: MALE RPAS integration in the European ATM System in the 2025 – 2030 timeframe
• to share information on current R&D initiatives and strategies, also on industry side, in the RPAS ATI domain
• to identify technology gaps and solutions that can benefit both civil and military applications.

Italy's far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini said he will sue Roberto Saviano, a best-selling writer exposing the Camorra mafia, who has criticised the League leader's hardline migration policy. Salvini said he filed a defamation suit against Saviano for accusing him of supporting the mafia. Salvini earlier questioned the necessity of police escorts for Saviano, who has been threatened by the mafia. In response, Saviano called Salvini "minister of the underworld."

France, Germany, Italy, and Lithuania are among EU countries that have sent help to Sweden, which is battling its worst wildfire season, triggered by the extreme heatwave across the Nordic region. Several countries have sent aircraft to help with putting out the around 40 fires. The EU Commission helped mobilise two firefighting planes from Italy, and the EU's Copernicus satellite mapping system has been activated to help Swedish authorities.

Britain's former EU commissioner Lord Hill is facing calls for an inquiry after taking up six roles with multinational companies since leaving office, the Guardian reported. Hill resigned as commissioner after the Brexit referendum. Transparency campaigners Corporate Europe Observatory have written to the EU Commission calling for "an urgent conflict of interest assessment" of Hill's jobs by the EU executive's ethics committee.

British prime minister Theresa May is to tell the EU it should drop its position on the Irish border solution of creating a so-called 'backstop' (aligning Northern Ireland with EU rules) and "evolve" their position to break the deadlock in Brexit talks. In a speech to be delivered in Belfast on Friday, May is expected to say the backstop solution is "unworkable" and no British prime minister could accept it.

Written by Ariane Debyser (1st edition),

© am / Fotolia

On 31 May 2017, the Commission adopted a proposal for a directive on the interoperability of electronic road toll systems and facilitating cross-border exchange of information on the failure to pay road fees in the Union. It was presented within the context of the Commission’s first ‘Europe on the Move’ package that seeks to modernise mobility and transport.

Tying in with the 2015 energy union strategy and the Commission’s 2016 European strategy for low‑emission mobility, and announced in the 2017 Commission work programme, the revision of the European Electronic Tolling Service (EETS) was presented together with the revision of the directive on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures (the Eurovignette Directive).

In June 2018, both Parliament and Council adopted their positions on the Commission’s proposal, opening the way for interinstitutional (trilogue) negotiations to begin.

Versions

• July 2018: ‘Revision of the European Electronic Tolling Service (EETS) Directive‘ (1st edition)

Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and the Council on the interoperability of electronic road toll systems and facilitating cross-border exchange of information on the failure to pay road fees in the Union (recast) Committee responsible: Transport and Tourism (TRAN) COM(2017) 280
31.5.2017 Rapporteur: Massimiliano Salini (EPP, Italy) 2017/0128(COD) Shadow rapporteurs:

 

  Olga Sehnalová (S&D, Czech Republic)
Evžen Tošenovský (ECR, Czech Republic)
Matthijs van Miltenburg (ALDE, The Netherlands)
Jakop Dalunde (Greens/EFA, Sweden)
Rolandas Paksas (EFDD, Lithuania) Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) (Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Trilogue negotiations

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday (19 July) warned NATO against cultivating closer ties with Ukraine and Georgia, saying such a policy was irresponsible and would have unspecified consequences for the alliance.

The European Commission yesterday (19 July) stepped up a legal battle with Hungary over EU migration rules and denounced as illegal its "Stop Soros" law that criminalises support for asylum seekers.

British Prime Minister Theresa May arrived yesterday (19 July) in Northern Ireland, whose border with EU-member Ireland has become one of the biggest impediments to reaching a deal to leave the European Union.

Europe's market for recycled plastics will never pick up unless regulators make a decisive move and impose a minimum amount of recycled materials into new products, said a wide coalition of businesses, local authorities and environmental NGOs.

Italy has asked the European Commission to set up an agency to oversee the distribution of migrants rescued in the Mediterranean, Prime Minister Giovanni Conte said yesterday (19 July).

Spain's Supreme Court dropped a European arrest warrant for former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on Thursday (19 July) after Germany refused to extradite him to face a charge of rebellion for declaring Catalonia an independent state last year.

The EU is open to palm oil and there is no ban on the commodity, the head of the European Union Delegation to Malaysia, ambassador Maria Castillo Fernandez, said on 16 July in an apparent attempt to appease Asian producers.