⊂ EUROPE ⊃
IS militants arrested for planning attack in Düsseldorf: German prosecutors said three Syrians have been arrested for planning an „Islamic State“ (IS) attack on Düsseldorf’s historic city center. A fourth terrorist was arrested in Paris in February and was in French investigative custody while pending extradition to Germany, federal prosecutors said. The suspects were planning to stage a series of attacks in several places in Düsseldorf, the capital of NRW, state Interior Minister Ralf Jäger told journalists.
dw.com
ECB meeting in Vienna: The European Central Bank sounded a note of cautious optimism on the eurozone’s economic recovery on Thursday after leaving its stimulus unchanged. Despite a recent rise in oil prices, the ECB’s economists barely raised their inflation forecast for this year, and left their projections for next year and 2018 unchanged. Consumer prices have been falling in the bloc for much of this year. The ECB will begin buying corporate bonds in on June 8, a way of pumping money into the economy.
nytimes.com, wsj.com
Hit against organised crime in Europe: After years of investigations against organised crime across Europe, the police has broken up dozens of gangs especially in Eastern Europe. Hundreds of suspects were arrested. Thousands of police officers from 22 countries participated. The arrests targeted organised theft, a series of burglaries, robberies, shoplifting, document forgery, human trafficking, and contract killings.
tagesspiegel.de
European agenda for the collaborative economy: The EU Commission has presented guidance aimed at supporting consumers, businesses and public authorities to engage confidently in the collaborative economy. These new business models can make an important contribution to jobs and growth in the EU, if encouraged and developed in a responsible manner. The collaborative economy is growing rapidly, and national and local authorities are responding with a patchwork of different regulatory actions. This fragmented approach to new business models creates uncertainty for traditional operators, new services providers and consumers alike and may hamper innovation, job creation and growth.
europa.eu
Commission listened to industry on alcohol advertising: A new EU Commission proposal to reform advertising rules on television and online has opened a new battlefield for health NGOs, advertisers and the alcohol industry. The Commission presented a new draft proposal last Wednesday of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which governs EU-wide coordination of national legislation on all audiovisual media, both traditional TV broadcasts and on-demand services. The objective of the proposed review was to make Europe’s audiovisual media landscape fit for purpose in the digital age.
euractiv.com
OPEC fails to agree on oil output ceiling: OPEC isn’t going to stop flooding the market with oil any time soon. The oil cartel wrapped up its summit in Vienna on Thursday by deciding not to change its output policy. It’s a sign of continued dissension within OPEC as well as confidence that its strategy of all-out production is working to rebalance the markets.
cnn.com
European left: German left wants Gregor Gysi as new head of European left euractiv.de
ECJ: End of fixed prices for prescription drugs euractiv.de
Tunisia: Council agrees to 500 million euros in loans consilium.europa.eu
Conference: Commission helps regions join forces to invest in industrial modernisation europa.eu
⊂ QUOTES ⊃
„We need a real de-escalation, total control of the entire Donbass by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Ukrainian control of the border with Russia, free and fair elections as well as the withdrawal of Russian troops and weapons. It would be wrong to ease sanctions for a little bit of progress.“
Ukrainian foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin names clear conditions for a possible easing of sanctions against Russia.
tagesspiegel.de
⊂ COUNTRIES ⊃
German Bundestag passes Armenia genocide resolution: Germany’s Bundestag passed a resolution qualifying the Ottoman era Armenian killings as genocide. The lower house of parliament voted almost unanimously. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced that he called Turkey’s Berlin ambassador to report in Ankara in response to the vote. Turkish President Erdogan said ahead of the resolution that it could damage diplomatic, economic, business, political and military ties between the two countries. German Chancellor Merkel said the resolution did not detract from Germany’s amicable relationship with Turkey.
dw.com
Azerbaijan ordered to pay compensation to human rights activists: The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Azerbaijan to pay compensations to human rights activists Leyla Yunus and her husband, Arif Yunus, for inadequate medical treatment that led to „prolonged mental and physical suffering. The court ordered Azerbaijan to pay 15,000 euros to each applicant.
faz.net
Clashes on Lesbos: More than a dozen migrants and refugees were hurt in a brawl in a main detention camp on the Greek island of Lesbos that also saw nearly 30 tents torched. Hundreds of families with children were evacuated from the camp during the night. Three of the injured were hospitalised. Clashes also erupted at a detention camp on the Greek island of Samos, police said.
yahoo.com
Anti-liberal Croatia: After five months in office, the Croatian government risks being brought down by a no-confidence vote against the deputy prime minister. The vote comes as the government led by businessman Tihomir Oreskovic has been labelled the EU’s newest illiberal democracy. On Wednesday, about 40,000 people protested in he capital Zagreb against the government’s attempt to stop a reform of the education system introduced by the previous cabinet.
euobserver.com
France delivers warship to Egypt: Egypt has received the first of two advanced warships from France in a deal worth one billion dollars. The Mistral helicopter carriers were originally made for Russia, but the contract was cancelled in 2014 over the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Egypt is fighting a long-running insurgency in its northern Sinai region and fears being affected by the conflict in neighbouring Libya. The first of the ships was handed over at a ceremony in western France. The second ship will arrive in Egypt in September.
bbc.com
France: Marine Le Pen leads in polls derstandard.at
Montenegro: Opposition politician Darko Pajovic is new speaker of the parliament derstandard.at
Great Britain 1: Brexit proponents submit draft for stricter immigration law euractiv.de
Great Britain 2: Buried tablets reveal the 2,000-year-old financial dealings of early Londoners time.com
⊂ DATA ⊃
Major bond market investor PIMCO sees a 40 percent chance of a British exit from the EU at a referendum planned for later this year.
reuters.com
⊂ JOB-BOARD ⊃
politjobs.eu: 350.org seeks campaigner *** Steltemeier & Rawe seeks Senior Associate (m/f) *** 1&1 sucht EU Public Affairs Manager VKU sucht Referentin/en *** Afore Consulting seeks Junior Consultants in European Public Affairs
politjobs.eu, politjobs.eu/submit (Inserat schalten)
⊂ MALFUNCTION ⊃
Man on cigarette pack was not a smoker: An Austrian woman whose husband died from non-smoking relating problems is claiming that the EU is using a picture of him on his deathbed – without permission – as an anti-smoking warning on cigarette packets. The widow of the man is now consulting a lawyer. The EU Commission denies that the man pictured is the woman’s husband and says it is in fact a German man who gave his permission for the picture to be used.
derstandard.at