
Macron revives multi-speed Europe idea
"We have to think up a Europe with several formats," said the French president, who will make "concrete" proposals after the German elections.
Friday
1st Sep 2017

"We have to think up a Europe with several formats," said the French president, who will make "concrete" proposals after the German elections.

EU and British negotiators started the third round of Brexit talks amid growing disagreement on how the process is going.

The next few months will be decisive in selecting who stays in the core of the EU and who stays behind, writes Tomas Prouza, a former state secretary for European Affairs of the Czech Republic.
From strengthening the internal market to completing the energy union, the prime ministers of Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland set out their vision for the EU.
Perceptions of the EU have increased significantly in France, and Europeans generally feel more optimistic about the future of the bloc since last autumn - despite Brexit and a surge in populism.
New wave of recriminations after Commission formally notified Warsaw it had launched “infringement proceedings”.

Poland said its judicial reforms were "in line with European standards", amid souring EU relations on many fronts.

Brexit secretary Davis expects this round of talks to be about 'technical discussions', while the EU says 'the technical cannot outpace the political'.

A senior EU official says "lack of substance" from the UK side is preventing considerable progress in Brexit talks.

EU anti-fraud agency and European Investment Bank tight-lipped on report that said Volkswagen deceived the bank when acquiring a €400 million loan.
Just over a year after a small majority voted for Britain to leave the EU, new realities are dawning on both the in and the out camps.
Cities from 21 countries have applied to host the two London-based EU agencies, which will have to be relocated after Brexit, with Luxembourg throwing its hat in for the banking authority.
The lack of a UK position on a financial settlement is becoming a crucial obstacle in Brexit talks, amid "philosophical" differences on what the money should pay for.
Top EU jurist says he disagrees with Hungary and Slovakia's view that the decision was against the law.
"It's hard to imagine that, overnight, UK law would suddenly forget European law," said Ian S. Forrester, a British judge at the Court of Justice of the EU.
Andrzej Duda decided to veto two of the controversial draft laws, which would put the judiciary under political control, but the EU executive is awaiting details before deciding on whether to launch legal probes on Wednesday.
EU law professor Ellen Vos says the commission's proposed mini-reform on comitology, an obscure but often-used method of EU lawmaking, should go much further.
Candidates from all political families should be presenting their vision on where the Union should be headed. European socialists want to keep the Spitzenkandidat procedure for future elections.
Public prosecutors in Paris have opened a preliminary investigation into an alleged misuse of assistants in the European Parliament by Jean-Luc Melenchon.

Martin Kern has been interim director of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology for almost three years. “I understand it must look a bit unusual from the outside.”

Emily O'Reilly has asked the EU Commission to say what former commissioners should be allowed to do after they leave office and explain why it took no decision over its former president's controversial new job.
The UK will have to accept the Brexit financial settlement, Jeremy Corbyn said, adding that if he was prime minister he would "negotiate to protect jobs".
The remaining 27 EU members have started a process to relocate the EU banking and medicines agencies. London's Jennette Arnold: 'I don’t want them to leave.'

The Netherlands is one of the many countries that want to host the EU's medicines agency after Brexit.

Finance ministers at a Eurogroup meeting endorsed Italy's rescue of some of its banks, but said that European rules on banking resolution should be strengthened.
Lawyers at the European Parliament and the Council of the EU are finding ways to work around renewed transparency initiatives. The lack of leadership and political will makes the task for greater transparency even more difficult.
The leaders of five political groups said that the UK's offer on citizens' rights was a “damp squib” that risks “creating second-class citizenship”.

The EU Brexit negotiator warned that a customs union between the UK and EU will not be possible if the UK doesn't want to respect single market rules, and "no deal" would send the UK back to "a distant past".

The fine for violating the EU principle of net neutrality is €9,600 in Estonia, while it can be up to €1 million in Bulgaria, Luxembourg, and Belgium.
At a time when citizens expect an unprecedented level of accountability from their elected representatives, senior MEPs use their ‘free mandate’ to justify opposing new lobbying transparency rules.
The European Commission president said that MEPs were not serious during a debate that only around 30 people were attending.