European Union

Greece has rejected comments it was forced by outside forces to recently expel two Russian spies. "States, regardless of size, are independent and can exercise an independent, multidimensional and democratic foreign policy" the Greek foreign ministry has said. It spoke after the Kremlin told press the expulsions were "dirty provocations, into which, unfortunately, Athens was dragged." Russia did "not understand the principles and values of Greek foreign policy", Greece said.

European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker demanded "respect" from media in Brussels Wednesday after being asked whether he had consumed alcohol at a recent Nato summit. "I had sciatica last Wednesday and I had cramps in my legs [at the summit]," he said. He spoke after video footage showed him staggering, chuckling, and being held up by colleagues at the event. Juncker has been dogged by accusations of drunkenness before.

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EU Ministers of Employment and Social policy and Health meet for an Informal session on 19 and 20 July 2018 in Vienna.

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Environmental NGOs have questioned the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) scientific capacity to grant EU member states emergency authorisations for neonicotinoids, whose usage was recently banned.

Carbon capture and utilisation (CCUS) offers “one of the greatest industrial opportunities” for Britain as the world pivots to a low-carbon economy, said Claire Perry, the UK's Energy and Clean Growth Minister.

The European Union said it struck a deal on Wednesday (18 July) with Macedonia to deploy border guards to the non-EU Balkan state to help cope with any migrant surges. Serbia and Bosnia are expected to follow.

The OSCE mission monitoring the conflict in eastern Ukraine said yesterday (18 July) claims that Russia's security agency had received inside information about its activities came as a major blow.

The European Commission has repeated its insistence on breaking up the Ukrainian national gas and oil monopoly Naftogaz, separating transmission from production and supply, which the country had agreed to as a condition for receiving massive Western financing.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian allies, who are pressing her to toughen up immigration policy, should remember their Christian roots and show a sense of responsibility towards the poor and weak, the head of the Catholic Church in Germany said.

Greece will process 1,500 asylum applications from Germany as part of a deal signed between the two countries, Greece's migration minister said yesterday (18 July).

Russia's Defence Ministry said yesterday (18 July) that Russian and Syrian authorities had set up a refugee centre in Syria to help refugees return home from abroad.

Boris Johnson, who quit as Britain's former foreign minister last week, accused Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday of planning a phoney Brexit that would betray voters by failing to take the country completely out of the European Union.

The UK government has taken the somewhat unprecedented step of translating the executive summary of its Brexit White Paper into 22 European languages.

Iron cat 15-19 July 2018 on the Danube

Tag: Iron Cat

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2018/880 of 18 June 2018 amending Decision 2014/386/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2018/901 of 25 June 2018 amending Decision (CFSP) 2017/2074 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Venezuela

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2018/900 of 25 June 2018 amending Decision 2013/184/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Myanmar/Burma

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2018/833 of 4 June 2018 amending Decision 2010/413/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Iran

On 18 July, EU ambassadors confirmed the agreement reached with the Parliament to increase the budget of the structural reform support programme by €80 million.

Written by Ana Claudia Alfieri (1st edition),

© Art_Photo / Fotolia

Value added tax (VAT) is an important source of revenue for national governments and the European Union (EU) budget and, from an economic point of view, a very efficient consumption tax. However, the rules governing value added tax as applied to intra-Community trade are 25 years old and the current common EU VAT system is both complicated and vulnerable to fraud. Businesses doing cross-border trade face high compliance costs and the administrative burden of national tax administrations is also excessive.

The reform towards the definitive system is planned in several consecutive steps and will take some years. In the meantime, this proposal will amend the VAT Directive (Directive 2006/112/EC) and reform the rules by which Member States set VAT rates. The reform will enter into force when the definitive system is in place; it will give more flexibility to Member States to set VAT rates and will end the current arrangements and their many ad-hoc derogations.

Versions

• July 2018: ‘More flexible VAT rates‘ (1st edition)

Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 2006/112/EC as regards rates of value added tax Committee responsible: Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) COM(2018) 20
18.1.2018 Rapporteur: Tibor Szanyi (S&D, Hungary) 2018/0005(CNS) Shadow rapporteurs:

  Werner Langen (EPP, Germany)
Sander Loones (ECR, Belgium)
Thierry Cornillet (ALDE, France)
Miguel Viegas (GUE/NGL, Portugal)
Molly Scott Cato (Greens/EFA, United Kingdom) Consultation procedure – parliament adopts only a non-binding opinion Next steps expected: Vote on report in committee