European Union

The next week will be decisive in Brexit talks in Brussels as the deadline for a deal rapidly approaches. At her party conference in Birmingham, the British PM promised not to hold a second Brexit referendum.

When he looks back on his youth in China's far-west Xinjiang region, Akikat Kaliolla, an ethnic Kazakh, recalls the place's natural beauty and the big, colourful weddings typical of his majority-Muslim community.  

MEPs voted in Strasbourg on Wednesday (3 October) in favour of a 40% CO2 reduction target for light vehicles by 2030. The target is higher than what the Commission has proposed and tough talks with national capitals now loom large on the horizon.

From MEPs expenses, to denial of Freedom of Information requests, to the backroom deal to appoint Martin Selmayr - the EU's institutions are failing to live up to their own standards.

EU environment ministers will refer to limiting global warming to 1.5C, when they meet on 9 October, a day after the release of the much-awaited, landmark IPCC report, according to draft conclusions seen by EURACTIV.com.

The European Parliament on Wednesday adopted its position on the climate action required from the automotive sector up until 2030. A majority of MEPs supported a 40% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2030 using 2021 as a baseline. The European Commission had proposed a less ambitious 30% target. Next week, EU environment ministers will determine their position, following which negotiations on the bill's final text can begin. Read more.

Plenary session, Strasbourg

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

Whatever the negotiation result of the revision of the electricity market design will be, the agreed framework for “capacity mechanisms” needs to be reviewed regularly due to the changing conditions of the European electricity sector, says Frank Umbach.

A big controversy is ongoing in Greece following reports that the country’s largest opposition force, New Democracy, which strongly opposes the name deal with Skopje, has had secretive contacts with the Prime Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Zoran Zaev.

The automotive industry is moving ever closer in the mass development of connected cars, yet a number of challenges still exist for policymakers if the EU is to foster the development of the technology alongside fulfiling its long-term goal of zero fatalities by 2050 as part of its ambitious "Vision Zero" programme.

The prime ministers of Greece and Macedonia, Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev, are among the favourites to become nominees for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, according to a Swedish journalist specialised in covering the secretive decision-making of the Nobel committee.

After Poland and Hungary, Brussels is watching rule of law in Romania with growing concern. Meanwhile a same-sex marriage referendum fuels anti-EU rhetoric.

A senior US diplomat has threatened to "take out" a Russian nuclear weapons system, raising tension as Nato defence ministers meet in Brussels.

Russia has threatened to use its UN veto to block Macedonia's name change in a deal with Greece, after a Macedonian referendum on the accord failed due to low turnout. "Macedonian voters opted for boycotting the decisions" and Russia "as a permanent member of the UN Security Council is closely following the developments", its foreign ministry said. The name deal was meant to see Macedonia join Nato next year.

France has accused Iran of plotting a bomb attack against an anti-Iranian group in Paris, the NCRI. Danish police, last Friday, also sealed bridges and ferries on suspicion Iranian intelligence was planning a strike against another anti-Iranian group, the ASMLA, in Denmark, which Iran blames for a recent terrorist attack in Tehran. The news threatens EU-Iranian solidarity against a US plan to scrap the Iran nuclear arms treaty.

German chancellor Angela Merkel's sister party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union (CSU) is polled to lose its absolute majority and receive only about 35 percent in elections on 14 October, according to Reuters. The Greens stand to win 16 percent and the right-wing AfD 12-13 percent. Losing the majority would weaken CSU leader Horst Seehofer, who serves as Merkel's interior minister.

Danske Bank whistleblower, Howard Wilkinson, who helped reveal money laundering at Danske Bank's Estonia branch, will consider an invitation from an EU parliament committee, his lawyer said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. There is a "good chance" he will attend a hearing next month, the lawyer said, while still waiting to receive a formal invitation for such a hearing.

Italy's interior minister Matteo Salvini has threatened to sue EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker for damages, and accused him of pushing up the country's cost of borrowing by likening Italy to Greece. "He should drink two glasses of water before opening his mouth, and stop spreading non-existent threats," Salvini said on Juncker. "I talk to sober people," Italy's news agency Ansa reported him saying.

Morocco's foreign minister Nasser Bourita has categorically rejected that his country will host EU asylum centres. "Morocco is generally against all kinds of centres. This is part of our migration policy and a national sovereign position," he told German newspaper Die Welt. He said asylum centres were counterproductive and that payments would not change Morocco's attitude. Bourita also criticised the EU for making the migration problem bigger than in reality.

‘Eat, sleep, code, repeat,’ is the mantra in Andela’s Nairobi campus, home to a network of Africa's brightest coders. Taking the inspiration for its name from the late South African President Nelson Mandela, Andela invests in Africa’s software engineers.