Новости за 07.08.2017

Some asylum seekers who arrived in Germany and other EU countries after March 2017 will be returned to Greece.

A European Commission spokeswoman said EU negotiators are always "available, if the British do want to clarify their position". However, she declined to comment in detail on British media reports that say the UK will release new Brexit position papers this week on possible future customs arrangements, the Northern Irish border issue and the financial settlement. The next round of talks are scheduled for the end of August.

German industrial production fell unexpectedly by 1.1 percent in June 2017 compared to the previous month, according to provisional data published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Monday. The result came as a surprise to many. In June, the German ifo Institute had significantly increased its economic forecasts for 2017 and 2018, and said that it was expecting new record highs in employment.

Belgium's admission that it took more than a month to inform the EU about a pesticide in eggs has raised questions about the efficiency of the EU alert system.

The EU's budget commissioner confirmed the bloc's position that the UK would need to keep paying for previously agreed programmes, while a new €40-billion divorce bill is making waves in the British media.

German carmakers may face fines into the billions, EU commissioner Guenther Oettinger told Monday's Bild newspaper. The EU competition authority "does not pay attention to big names," he said, adding that Brussels does not shrink from penalties that "hurt and frighten the business". Germany's major automakers stand accused in a US lawsuit of acting as a cartel, colluding for nearly two decades to limit technological advances and stifle competition.

Iranian politicians have been criticised for professional behaviour “unworthy of MPs” after photos showed they rushed to take selfies with female EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, who visited Tehran on Saturday to attend the formal inauguration ceremony of president Hassan Rouhani. One MP, Alireza Salimi, called the behaviour "self-surrender to the West", and said that a committee on the conduct of members may probe the incident, the BBC reports.

Germany's social democrats (SPD) on Sunday rejected Nato's target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defence. "We clearly say no to the 'two percent target' of Trump and the CDU/CSU", SPD leader Martin Schulz and Thomas Oppermann, who heads the party in parliament, wrote in a joint article. Increasing annual defence expenditure to 2 percent would make Germany the largest military power in Europe, they wrote.

Authorities in the country are not recognising young migrants as children, leading to cases of neglect.