[Focus] Smiles and frowns in Slovak EU logo
The Slovak EU presidency logo contains a smily emoji. But its 23 year-old designer made other faces in case things go wrong.
The Slovak EU presidency logo contains a smily emoji. But its 23 year-old designer made other faces in case things go wrong.
Germany has proposed tightening up EU law on technology that controls car emissions. But critics said it's too little too late after the VW scandal.
Big lobbying groups representing lawyer bars, consultants, and EU public affairs professionals all support plans to set up a mandatory joint lobbying register in Brussels.
US president Barack Obama will be meeting EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and EU council chief Donald Tusk in Warsaw in July. The meeting will take place in the margins of the Nato summit. The EU says it "will provide an opportunity to underline transatlantic unity and discuss common political, economic and international security challenges".
Painful process to agree on use of glyphosate, a weed-killing chemical linked to a cancer scare, could end up with EU Commission taking unilateral action.
Transparency International, along with lobbyists from the EU public affairs professionals (SEAP), consultancies (EPACA) and lawyers (CCBE) associations have asked the EU commission, the EU Parliament, and the Council, to create a mandatory lobby register. "It’s time for a robust and credible transparency regime," notes their joint letter. The EU commission is set to shortly announce a new proposal for an inter-institutional agreement to make the register mandatory.
Commission says Turkey has ratified a readmission pact linked to its EU visa-free bid. Turkey told EUobserver it hasn't, as talks become increasingly tense.
Greek authorities on Monday released official figures on "refugee flows in Greece" as of 6 June 2016. The stats indicate that a "BP gas station" in Evzoni, a border town between Greece and Macedonia, is now home to 1,276 people.
The EU-Turkey deal, which gives EU perks in return for slowing the flow of migrants, could be replicated with countries such as Tunisia and Niger.
Russian president Vladimir Putin is set to visit Finland in July, reports Finnish state broadcaster YLE. The Russian president is set to meet his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto as part of his one-day visit. Details of the exact dates and what is to be discussed have yet to be disclosed.
Italian MEP Gianluca Buonanno, a member of the anti-immigration Northern League party, died in a car accidents on Sunday. Dutch politician Geert Wilders and French right-right Marine Le Pen, among others, have expressed their condolences for the 50-year old.
Fines for car firms that cheat tests in the EU range from €7 million to €1,000. But even the EU commission is unsure to what extent states complied with rules on "dissuasive" penalties.
First round of Italian local elections has left Matteo Renzi humbled and his biggest rivals - the anti-establishment Five Star part - triumphant.
Swiss voters on Sunday rejected in a referendum a proposal for a guaranteed monthly income paid for by the government, with 77 percent voting No and 23 percent voting Yes. The proposal was for a monthly minimum income of €2,250 for adults while children would be entitled to about a quarter of that amount. Switzerland is the first country to have held such a vote.
France aims to push European Union countries to coordinate navy patrols in the disputed South China Sea, French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said at the Shangri-La Asian defence forum in Singapore on Sunday, according to Bloomberg. A senior French official travelling with the minister said France will discuss plans with EU partners in coming weeks, with a focus on guaranteeing that EU navies regularly crisscross the waters.
With eurosceptic MPs drawing knives on David Cameron, the EU membership vote has become a fight for the Conservative Party's soul on Europe.