European Union

After ten years of negotiations the five states that border the Caspian Sea have agreed on a treaty governing the legal status of the body of water. Up to now only a deal agreed between the Soviet Union and Iran in the 1930s had applied. Commentators analyse Russia's position in settling the dispute.

While political relations are at a current low, EU-Israel ties are steadily growing in areas less known to the public. Raanan Eliaz and Dimitri Dombret explain how economic and commercial ties, as well as more human interaction, could help rescue the dire political ties.

Extreme heat and forest fires seem to have helped Sweden's Green Party, growing its support from four percent in June to 5.6 percent, according to the latest poll from SIFO institute, published by Svenska Dagbladet. The threshold in Sweden is four percent. With focus moving away from migration issues over the summer, the far-right Sweden Democrats lost support slightly, falling from 18.5 percent in June to 16.8 percent.

Leaders of the five Caspian littoral states met on Sunday (12 August) for the Fifth Caspian Summit in Kazakhstan's port city Aktau to sign a landmark declaration determining the legal status of the Caspian Sea and aiming to end the legal limbo over its resource-rich waters.

Human rights groups called on European governments on Sunday to tell a charity ship where it can dock and let more than 140 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean disembark in safety.

Thousands took part on Sunday (12 August) in the third night of protests in Bucharest against alleged government corruption, two days after a crackdown on a mass demonstration left hundreds injured.

German carmaker Daimler has shelved its expansion plans in Iran due to the reimposition of US sanctions but it might not be the last EU company to pull the plug on future aspirations, businesses organisations told EURACTIV.

Germany's economy minister on Sunday lashed out at US President Donald Trump, slamming his global trade rows and efforts to "dictate" Europe's dealings with Iran through renewed US sanctions.

France plans to introduce a penalty system next year that would increase the costs of consumer goods with packaging made of non-recycled plastic.

Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller was a substantial factor in causing cancer, a San Francisco jury has found, and ruled the company liable for a terminally ill man's cancer and awarding him €254m in damages. In Europe, more than 1.3 million people signed a 'Stop Glyphosate' petition, but authorisation for the world's best-selling herbicide was nevertheless extended for five years last November.

The Turkish lira dropped almost nine percent in early trading on Monday and the euro hit a one-year low as investors feared Turkey's financial crisis could spread into European markets. The lira has lost more than 40 percent of its value this year on worries over president Recep Tayyip Erdogan's economic management. Erdogan accused foreign countries of waging war on Turkey and said he would respond with trade measures.

From 2019 products with unrecycled plastic packaging will cost up to 10 percent more in France, secretary of state for ecological transition, Brune Poirson, has told Journal du Dimanche newspaper. Plastic products such as straws, cups and plates will be banned by 2020 and recycling bins standardised across the country. Just 25 percent of plastic in France is currently recycled.

French transport minister, Elisabeth Borne, has officially protested against an EU plan connecting Ireland to Europe via Zeebrugge, Antwerp and Rotterdam after Brexit. In a letter to the EU commission dated 10 August the French minister said the proposal was "not accepteble" to France adding that French ports has the necessary resources to handle the likely increase in trade flows and preventing exports from being delayed by UK custom.

Around 40,000 Romanians flooded the capital Bucharest on Saturday for a second night of anti-government protests, following violent clashes injuring more than 400 people on Friday. Romania's president Klaus Iohannis condemned Friday's "brutal intervention of the gendarmerie" while the crowds were blowing horns and shouting "resignation", Reuters reported. Protesters are angry over widespread corruption, low wages and attempts by the governing Social Democrats (PSD) to weaken the judiciary.

More than 100 Westminster parliamentary seats that voted for Brexit in the 2016 referendum have now switched their support to Remain, according to a study commissioned by Hope Not Hate and pro-EU group Best for Britain. Constituencies in Wales and the North have seen the largest swing. The constituencies of Brexiteers Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jacob Rees-Mogg are among the 112 areas where opinion has changed.

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for people who like chips.

If you love chips or indeed any other fried or baked foods such as crisps, biscuits or toast, you may have heard of acrylamide, a harmful substance present in these foods.

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Discovered by Swedish scientists in 2002, acrylamide can be found in a wide range of everyday starch-rich foods that are fried, baked or roasted at high temperatures. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded in 2015 that acrylamide in food is a public health concern, highlighting links with cancer and obesity.

Following EFSA’s opinion, the European Commission presented a proposal in June 2017 on measures to reduce acrylamide levels in food. The new rules apply from 11 April 2018.

Ingredients used and storage and processing temperatures have a major influence on acrylamide formation. Manufacturers should therefore select potato and flour varieties with lower acrylamide-forming potential and keep to the right storage temperature. They are advised to wash or soak chips before frying, to keep the oil temperature as low as possible, and to control the colour of the final product, as a longer cooking time and deeper colour increase the amount of acrylamide. In addition, manufacturers must measure the levels of acrylamide in their products to check them against the values set by the Commission. If these voluntary efforts fail to be sufficiently effective, the Commission is considering setting binding limits for the food industry.

The way you cook at home also has a substantial impact, so the advice is to fry your chips until golden yellow, not brown, and to avoid overcooking your toast.

Further information

• European Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Food Safety website, https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/chemical_safety/contaminants/catalogue/acrylamide_en
• European Food Safety Authority’s website, http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/acrylamide
• EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service: www.epthinktank.eu

The reform and modernisation of Ukraine’s energy market is vital to the future of Ukraine, but can also play a very important role in the energy security and economic development of the region, and the wider European continent, writes Maxim Timchenko.

It seems as if the EU and some member states are trying to 'sell' European external action in Italy, Austria, Poland and Hungary as a key to solving internal issues – and thus pulling these missions into today's populist debates.