European Union

The chair of a United Nations inquiry that accused Myanmar's military of genocide is likely to brief the Security Council this month after Britain, France, the United States and six other members requested the meeting, diplomats said on Tuesday (16 October).

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that biofuels will need to rise 260% by 2030 and 750% by 2050 in order to contain global warming below 1.5°C. Yet, the EU Bioeconomy Strategy, published days after, seems to ignore this, writes James Cogan.

There is now a clear EU majority, led by the Nordic countries, for tougher targets on car emissions, writes Sanjeev Kumar. The big questions now relates to charging points for electric vehicles and whether they can charge fast enough, he writes.

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Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
Advocate General Szpunar proposes that the Court should rule that the ‘Returns Directive’ must be applied to third-country national where internal border controls have been reinstated

Poland's prosecutor general, Zbigniew Ziobro, has asked the Polish constitutional court whether article 267 of the EU treaty was compatible with the Polish charter, news agency onet.pl reports. The article gives the EU court in Luxembourg judicial supremacy over national tribunals on interpretation of EU laws. If the Polish tribunal was to reject the EU provision, it could call the country's EU membership into question, Polish judicial experts said.

Nordea bank, the Nordic region's largest lender, handled suspicious Russian money linked to the death of anti-corruption activist Sergei Magnitsky, according to a new complaint.

Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev will meet with German chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) in Brussels on Thursday to Friday, Tass reported. The 12th ASEM summit will be held at the headquarters of the Council of the European Union in Brussels with 30 European and 21 Asian countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand represented.

Only 44 percent of Italians would vote to remain in the EU if a referendum was held tomorrow, an unpublished Eurobarometer poll, circulated to media on Wednesday, found. Italy and the Czech Republic (47 percent) were the only two countries not having a majority for remaining in the EU. A majority of 53 percent in the UK would now vote to remain in the EU, the survey also found.

Up to three million Europeans were affected by a September Facebook security breach in which users' personal information was stolen, the Irish Data Protection Commission said on Tuesday, CNBC reported. This security breach is expected to be the first major test of Europe's new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) under which breaches must be reported to authorities within 72 hours - which Facebook failed to do.

On the eve of the EU summit in Brussels, EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday that he is ready to propose fresh ideas to reach a Brexit deal by next month and is open to extending Britain's Brexit transition period by another year. According to the Financial Times, Barnier's vision is for a "two tier" backstop to ensure an open border in Ireland.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker suggested on Tuesday that approving the Italian 2019 draft budget, which foresees the country's deficit rising to 2.4 percent of GDP, would spark a fierce "counter-reaction" from other eurozone governments. European leaders meet Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte in Brussels for a summit on Thursday, but formally it is the commission's task to assess the Italian budget and react within the coming two weeks. .

Germany's justice minister, Katarina Barley, is set to run as lead candidate for the Social Democrats (SPD) in May's European parliament elections, reports Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Barley served as general secretary for the SPD and holds both German and British citizenship. The SPD won 27.3 percent of the votes in the 2014 European elections when lead by Martin Schulz, who was also the Spitzenkandidat of the European social democrats.

The next seven year EU budget must be ambitious enough to support an ambitious new partnership with Africa, a group of former ministers say.

The main sticking point in Brexit negotiations is how to keep Britain's land border with the Republic of Ireland open after it leaves the European Union.

Poland's state-run gas firm PGNiG said on Tuesday (16 October) it filed a complaint with the EU's top court against a controversial deal by the European Commission to settle an anti-trust case against Gazprom, the Kremlin-backed energy giant.

Next week’s European Parliament vote on the proposed unfair trade practices (UTPs) directive is crucial as there will be no time to pass the bill in this legislature in the event of a non-approval, the MEP piloting the file has warned.

France and Germany on Tuesday (16 October) condemned Poland for pressing ahead with controversial changes to its supreme court despite EU calls for restraint.

Romanian prosecutors said they feared for their jobs and the rule of law after a new government ordinance increasing the years of professional experience required of them was published Tuesday (16 October).

The power of the parliament to 'appoint' the president of the EU Commission is new, highly-contested - and not universally understood. In fact, even some of the lead candidates to replace Jean-Claude Juncker are against it.

Italy's far right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini branded French President Macron "international shame" on Tuesday (16 October) for the French police having driven two migrants across its border and dumping them in Italy.