Euractiv.com

A new European Union mechanism to facilitate payments for Iranian exports should be legally in place by 4 November, when the next phase of US sanctions hit, but will not be operational until early next year, three diplomats said.

US authorities have criticised the EU's plans to introduce a 'digital tax,' describing the measures as 'discriminatory' in a letter penned to European Council president Donald Tusk and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, at the close of last week's EU summit.

France said on Wednesday (24 October) it could impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia if its intelligence services find the kingdom was behind the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, even as Paris worked to maintain important business and strategic ties with Riyadh.

Every person from birth to death enters into relationships with others. These relationships, whatever their type, need to be regulated in order to coexist well, argues Pedro Carrión García de Parada, on the occasion of the European Day of Justice.

Former US President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were among the targets of suspected package bombs delivered to several high-profile Democrats and CNN, which the FBI said it was investigating as an act of terrorism.

More than two years after its launch, the EU's fast-track approval process for marketing new drugs, called PRIME, is broadly welcomed by patients and industry, walking the fine line between patients' safety and expediency, and between the need to foster innovation and remaining abuse-proof.

In view of the long-blocked negotiations about the reform of the EU's Dublin asylum system, Luigi Achilli argues that it is not migration but the lack of a common European response that is putting the EU's future at risk.

Fears of the populist right seizing control of the European Parliament after the 2019 elections are greatly exaggerated, says Piotr Buras. But the new European Parliament and Commission that will come out of the election will certainly be more colourful, he says.

The confusion and indecisiveness surrounding Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance epitomises more than just an international diplomatic hesitancy. It raises important questions regarding the validity of the global rule of law regime, writes Yana Popkostova.

MEPs were treated to a bizarre lesson in alternative history in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

Problems inside and outside Europe’s gates keep piling up, while our decision-makers continue to sleepwalk toward the cliff edge. Since our leaders don’t deliver on Brexit, migration or improving the monetary union, is it time to lock them in their meeting rooms until they find a solution?

The Assistant to US President for National Security Affairs John Bolton arrived in Azerbaijan on Wednesday (24 October), as part of a tour which will also take him to Armenia and Georgia, in an effort described by commentators as an attempt to isolate Iran.

Tim Cook, head of tech giant Apple, has rallied the US to “follow the lead” of the EU in privacy rules, saying that humanity is living amid a “data industrial complex” in which “our own information is being weaponised against us with military efficiency”.

MEPs moved on Wednesday (24 October) to ban widely-used, throw-away plastics such as straws, bags and cotton buds, putting the burden on manufacturers to recycle more in an effort to clear up ocean pollution.

A proposal to disregard CO2 capture and underground storage is doing the rounds in Strasbourg ahead of a Plenary vote on a COP24 Resolution on Thursday (25 October). The proposal is anti-science and anti-technology and must be rejected, writes Frederic Hauge.

19 European countries now support introducing a tax on tech giants’ revenues but a handful of capitals are resisting, including Paris. Campaigning so that the plan is successful, Bruno Le Maire, the French minister of economy and finance, has 60 days to convince. EURACTIV France reports.  

The new regulations on property regimes for international couples were welcomed on Tuesday (23 October) by professionals and academists as a step forward that will benefit European citizens, but some questions remain ahead of their entry into force in January 2019.

The German economic powerhouse is booming. But its export-centric model is drawing complaints from other eurozone countries and the United States.

The European Union remains committed to good neighbourly relations and respect of international agreements, an EU spokesperson told EURACTIV.com following tensions between Athens and Ankara on the expansion of territorial waters in the Aegean.

James Dyson, the billionaire British inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner, has chosen to build his electric car in Singapore to be close to Asian customers, supply chains and a highly skilled workforce.