European Union

EU justice chief Vera Jourova will push for a new data access agreement with the United States when she meets with her American counterpart next week, amid growing transatlantic tensions over issues including the Iran nuclear agreement and trade.

Agriculture is one of the sectors most affected by climate change. However, it also contributes to the release of gases like ammonia and greenhouse gases (GHGs), affecting the quality of air and biodiversity.

The UK's departure will have an major impact on the EU's regions and cities, the Committee of the Regions has warned. The Committee has urged the European Commission to consider setting up a regional stabilisation fund before 29 March 2019.

Written by Marcin Grajewski,

© Stockninja / Fotolia

President Donald Trump announced on 8 May that the United States was withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement, ignoring calls from other signatories to preserve the 2015 deal, which lifted sanctions on Teheran in return for measures scaling back its nuclear ambitions. The decision paves the way for reinstating US sanctions against Iran, which will also affect non-US companies doing business with that country. President Trump justified the move by saying that the deal did not go far enough in removing the threat posed by Iran to the United States and its allies in the Middle East.

This note offers links to reports and commentaries from some major international think-tanks and research institutes on the Iran nuclear deal and the US decision.

After Trump’s Iran decision: Time for Europe to step up
European Council on Foreign Relations, May 2018

Point of view: What Germany, France and Britain should do after Trump nixes the Iran deal
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, May 2018

Removing the stabilizing block of the Iran deal: Trump toys with global equilibrium
German Marshall Fund, May 2018

The Iran deal: Withdrawal symptoms
Atlantic Council, May 2018

Debating the Iran deal
Brookings Institution, May 2018

Trump decision on Iran will squeeze US allies in East and Central Europe
Atlantic Council, May 2018

Trump pulled out of the Iran deal: What now?
Council on Foreign Relations, May 2018

The President’s speech and the prospects of an Iranian-Israeli war
Atlantic Council, May 2018

The impact of the Iran nuclear agreement
Council on Foreign Relations, May 2018

Will Trump’s decision on Iran end Europe’s servility?
Egmont, May 2018

EU has little choice but to try to keep the Iran deal alive
Centre for European Reform, May 2018

The strategic fallout of U.S. withdrawal from the Iran deal
Rand Corporation, May 2018

Saving the Iran Nuclear Deal Without the U.S.
Crisis Group, Ma 2018

The view from the capitals: Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran deal
European Council on Foreign Relations, May 2018

Post Iran-deal: Israel in the post-American era
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, May 2018

US-Europe unity needed on Iran
Transatlantic Institute, May 2018

A new Israeli-Arab axis against Iran
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, May 2018

By pulling out of nuclear deal, Trump hands gift to Iranian hardliners
Chatham House, May 2018

Iran-Abkommen ohne die USA
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik, May 2018

Europe should stand its ground after U.S. Iran deal pullout
Carnegie Europe, May 2018

The world faces dangerous reality with Iran nuclear deal left for dead
Carnegie Europe, May 2018

What to do the day after killing the Iran deal
German Marshall Fund, May 2018

L’Organisation Badr en Irak: L’ancrage étatique d’une milice pro-iranienne
Groupe de Recherche et d’Information sur la Paix et la Sécurité, May 2018

Netanyahu and the Iran nuclear deal: Using half-truths to support a lie
Instituto Affari Internazionali, May 2018

Accord nucléaire iranien: Les sanctions américaines et la désillusion des entreprises étrangères
Institut des relations internationales et stratégiques, May 20189

Between a rock and a hard place: Europe’s uncertain role in Middle Eastern geopolitics
Istituto Affari Internazionali, May 2018

EU policy options in case of U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal
Carnegie Europe, April 2018

Europe should strike a tough pose with Trump on the Iran nuclear deal
European Council on Foreign Relations, March 2018

The art of sticking with the nuclear deal: Why Europe should defy Trump on Iran
Centre for European Policy Studies, February 2018

Germany should mediate between Iran and Israel
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, February 2018

What to know about the protests in Iran
Chatham House, January 2018

Read this briefing on ‘U.S. withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal‘ on the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

While the European Parliament has decided to ban palm oil imports by 2021, France recently gave the go-ahead for a biorefinery owned by Total, a move that prompted many critics. EURACTIV.fr reports.

As Europe’s domestic production of natural gas is steadily declining and demand is projected to remain stable, import requirements will rise in the coming decades. There are only two options to meet the increasing demand for gas imports – pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Pristina ‘understands’ the decision of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy not to attend the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia, but “Kosovo is not Catalonia”, Kosovo's President Hashim Thaçi told EURACTIV.com.

As Italy gets closer to having a cabinet dominated by the 5-Star Movement, the rejection of this force by the liberal ALDE group in January 2017 increasingly looks like a strategic mistake.

On May 22, the Investment Facilitation Forum (IFF) holds an event that seeks to clarify the role of investment hubs and explore how their activities are linked to the EU tax agenda, financial regulation and the assistance to developing countries. Ahead of the event, the IFF president shares his view on the importance of distinguishing between investment hubs and tax havens.

The EU starts enforcing its general data protection regulation on 25 May - but Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovenia won't be ready. The delay will cause legal uncertainty.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan holds a rally in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo to drum up support among the Turkish diaspora. Three days after the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia, Bulgaria, the Balkans confirm their strategic position.

The European Commission is determined to protect the integrity of its Cohesion Policy but this is going to be a battle where no one can have it all, the EU's Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger told the Committee of the Regions plenary on Thursday (May 16).

Italy's would-be populist new rulers plan to pile on debt, posing questions for eurozone stability and monetary union.

The EU parliament's budget rapporteur complained the Commission is using numbers with a "desire to confuse". According to parliament estimates, the cohesion fund could suffer as much as a 45 percent cut.

A previously-unseen internal paper by the European Commission warned that a French ban of the bisphenol A chemical was "fully disproportionate". However, there was no consensus on starting an infringement procedure against France.

Only three EU countries, Estonia (2.4 percent), Greece (2.1 percent) and UK (2.0 percent), meet Nato's target of spending at least two percent of GDP on defence, 2016 figures released by Eurostat on Friday showed. On average EU member states spent 1.3% of GDP on defence. In absolute figures UK spent the most (€47bn), which was almost a quarter (24 percent) of the total EU public expenditure on defence.

The planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany raises US intelligence and military concerns since it would allow Moscow to place new listening and monitoring technology in the Baltic Sea, a senior US official said on Thursday (17 May).

US president Donald Trump on Thursday criticised European defence budgets, telling Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg in Washington that members not meeting commitments would be "dealt with". Nato members have agreed to spend at least two percent of GDP on defence by 2024; only three EU countries meeting that target today. "And two percent is a very low number. The number really should be four percent," Trump said.

Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday (17 May) Britain would leave the EU customs union after Brexit but a source said London was considering a backstop plan that would apply the bloc's external tariffs beyond December 2020.

Widely accepted as a “transition fuel” until 2030 to help wean Europe from coal, gas is also positioning itself as a clean fuel in its own right beyond that date. But meeting the EU’s 2050 climate goals will require a deep transformation of the sector, amid growing competition from solar and wind power.