Новости за 13.06.2017

Commission wants EU to be able to force top clearing houses to be based on its territory, posing a threat to the City of London.

Commission has launched legal action over migrant quotas against Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. EU cannot "blackmail" us on who to take in, Hungary said.

Despite warnings from the UN, the EU and international rights organisations, Hungary's parliament passed a law that is seen as targeting NGOs partly funded by Hungarian-US billionaire George Soros.

The European Commission announced on Tuesday that it would launch infringement procedures against the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland over their refusal to take in asylum seekers. The three EU states have opposed a legally-binding scheme to relocate people from Italy and Greece. EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said "relocation is a legal obligation, not a choice."

Top MEPs discussed a possible renovation or even a complete reconstruction, but decided not to make any decisions yet.

Hungary’s parliament passed the government's new controversial legislation on NGOs on Tuesday. The law forces civil society groups that receive foreign funding to register separately, risk closure if they refuse, and be labelled “foreign-funded” in every public appearance. The move is seen as targeting Hungarian-US billionaire George Soros, whose Open Society Foundations fund several NGOs, and was met with serious criticism from human rights organisations, the UN, and the EU.

The British government is preparing to share power with a party, the DUP, known, if at all, for its links with sectarian killers and for its anti-gay views.

The Council of the EU's top diplomat, secretary-general Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen, told a conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday that there is no interest on either side in prolonging Brexit talks beyond the March 2019 deadline. Speaking in his own capacity, he said: "I don’t think there will be an interest in doing this [extending talks]. Because this whole affair is disruptive. Uncertainty is disruptive in itself".

"No deal is the worst possible outcome for the United Kingdom and for Denmark," former Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a Brexit conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday. "The impact and disruption caused by no-deal would harm Denmark and should be avoided." Negotiations should begin fast and "push past the divorce to begin constructing a new partnership for mutual benefit," he said. The UK is Denmark's fourth largest trading partner.

The number of nurses from EU states registering to work in the UK has dropped by some 96%, reports the BBC. As of April this year, only 46 had joined the UK's Nursing and Midwifery Council register. In comparison, over 1,300 had joined the register up until July last year. The Health Foundation, a UK-based charity, says the sharp drop should be a "wake-up call" for Britain's National Health Service.

Austria's foreign minister, Sebastian Kurz, told Austrian media that the Mediterranean migrant route from north Africa to Italy needs to be sealed off. Kurz, who was behind the drive to seal the Western Balkan route last year, wants rescued migrants to be taken to camps in Tunisia and Egypt. Some 160,000 people have landed in Italy from the north African coast this year alone.

The European Parliament's legal affairs committee voted on Monday to give a double legal basis to the posted workers directive and make it into a piece of social legislation, in addition to internal market legislation. MEPs still have to back the proposal in a plenary vote. Posted workers have become a bone of contention between EU nations, with richer countries saying they are a cause of "social dumping".

Finland's prime minister, Juha Sipila, said on Monday that he would ask president Sauli Niinisto to dissolve the government following the breaking apart of the coalition of leading political parties in the country. He said the Centre and National Coalition parties were unable to find common ground with the Finns Party. "I will therefore go to the president and ask him to dissolve the government," Sipila said.

Almost three months after elections, the Netherlands is still nowhere near a government. On Monday, talks collapsed between parties: the centre-right Liberals, centre-right Christian-Democrats, centrist D66 and left-wing GreenLeft. It was the second attempt at such a coalition, but differences in opinion over migration were still too big. Another previously failed option, with a christian-orthodox party instead of GreenLeft, may now be brought back as a possibility.

Frans Timmermans, the European Commission's second-in-command, told the EU parliament's environment committee Monday evening that the EU's climate diplomacy efforts should not be limited to classical "Westphalian" alliances with national governments. "I agree with those of you who say we should build new partnerships... Why couldn't we build stronger partnerships with California?" said Timmermans, referring to a US state that, unlike the White House, wants to continue the Paris agreement.

Companies operating in the EU will be required to report about their activities all over the world, country by country, but will be able to "omit" "commercially sensitive" information.

MEPs are set to vote on a new system to inform consumers about the energy efficiency of products. The most important change is abolishing the most recent change to a scale that goes up to A+++.

The EU's negotiator and the UK's top Brexit civil servant failed to agree a new date for exit talks after Britain's surprise election result.