Новости за 29.08.2017

Estonia’s EU presidency has reserved the right to ban Russian reporters from its events if it deemed them guilty of “subversive propaganda”.

The European Commission on Tuesday rejected Poland's claim that it had no competence to threaten sanctions over issues of national judicial reform. A spokeswoman said the Commission would "quite powerfully refute" Poland's line, adding it had the power under a "rule of law framework" procedure inscribed in EU law. German chancellor Merkel and Commission president Juncker will on Wednesday discuss concerns that the Polish government is seizing control of courts.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said on Tuesday that "an enormous amount of issues" concerning Brexit still need to be settled. "I would like to be clear that I did read with the requisite attention all the papers produced by the British government and none of those are satisfactory,” he said in a speech to EU ambassadors, amid the third round of EU-UK talks that are underway this week.

German chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that Turkey currently "doesn't respect the principles of rule of law" and that Germany has "decided on a new orientation for its policy with Turkey." "I would like to have better relations with Turkey, but that it is not possible at the moment," she said in a press conference in Berlin.

The French president hosted a mini-summit with leaders from Chad, Libya and Niger, along with Germany, Italy and Spain. Among the proposals is a plan to set up safe zones in Niger and Chad to initiate asylum claims.

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

Work to extend the Russian-built nuclear plant in Paks, in central Hungary, will start next year, Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday. "The real construction work will start in January and nothing will stop the investment from now on," he said after a meeting between Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban and Russian president Vladimir Putin. The project was approved by the European Commission in March.

Kay Bailey Hutchison, a former Republican senator of Texas, took office as new US ambassador to Nato on Monday. During her confirmation hearing last month she said that she would strengthen the military alliance against an "aggressive" Russia. On Monday, she said that president Donald Trump is committed to Article 5 - the mutual defence clause - and that collective defence "will not rest unfairly" on US taxpayers.