⊂ EUROPE ⊃
Ceasefire reached in Aleppo: The Syrian government has established control over eastern Aleppo, Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday. At the same time, a ceasefire agreement has been reached that would allow civilians and remaining rebel fighters trapped in the besieged Syrian city to evacuate. The Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed that talks between rebels in eastern Aleppo and the Russian military led to the ceasefire deal. Two men involved in the November 2015 Paris attacks have been killed in Syria in a US air strike, officials say.
cnn.com, nbcnews.com, bbc.com (Paris)
France and Germany support sanction extensions against Russia: The leaders of France and Germany, Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel, said they want to extend sanctions against Russia due to a lack of progress in implementing a ceasefire deal. The German Chancellor said the progress on implementing last year’s Minsk ceasefire agreement for eastern Ukraine had been very sluggish. Meanwhile, an EU report says Ukraine is carrying out intense and unprecedented reforms across its economy and political system.
dw.com, reuters.com, eeas.europa.eu (Ukraine)
EU slows Turkey membership talks: The EU on Tuesday expressed deep concern about Turkey’s security crackdown since the failed coup in July but stopped short of officially freezing membership talks with the country. Austria had demanded the suspension of talks to protest against a Turkish security crackdown since a failed coup attempt in July. The country has jailed some 36,000 people pending trial and sacked or suspended more than 100,000 over their alleged support for the plotters.
reuters.com
EU limits funding for far right: Several right-wing parties will have to provide bank guarantees before they can receive EU funding in the future, the EU Parliament decided on Monday. Among those facing new rules is the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (ADDE), which counts MEPs from the UK Independence Party (Ukip), anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Sweden Democrats in its ranks. ADDE was found to have misspent EU money on the Brexit campaign and other British elections.
euobserver.com
EU Parliament President: EVP nominates Italy’s Tajani tagesspiegel.de
Rules of Procedure: Improving transparency at the EU Parliament europarl.europa.eu
Trade concerns: New endocrine disruptor rules euractiv.com
North-East Atlantic: MEPs ban deep-sea fishing below 800 meters europarl.europa.eu
⊂ QUOTES ⊃
„Our analysis of TiSA lobby meeting shows that company interests are a high priority for the European Commission.“
Businesses are exerting massive pressure on the Trade in Services Agreement negotiations and the EU Commission is all too willing to listen, warns LobbyControl’s trade policy expert Max Bank.
euractiv.com
⊂ COUNTRIES ⊃
People smuggler sentenced to 18 years: A Tunisian captain who was piloting a fishing vessel crammed with migrants that collided with another ship, resulting in the deaths of about 700 people traveling to Italy from Libya, was sentenced on Tuesday to 18 years in prison. The court in Catania, Sicily also sentenced the captain to five years for abetting illegal immigration. The Italian Coast Guard rescued 192 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday, also recovering six bodies during the operation.
nytimes.com, euronews.com
Gulf States allegedly supporting ultraconservative Islam branch in Germany: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar have increasingly been providing support to a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, German media said on Monday citing Germany’s foreign and domestic intelligence agencies. By upping their support of Salafist missionary activities, the religious groups intend to spread the ultraconservative version of Islam in Germany, the intelligence reports said. The German government has repeatedly called on the Saudi government to stop supporting radical Islamists in Germany.
dw.com
New Italian prime minister pledges to support banks: Paolo Gentiloni has won an initial vote of confidence in the lower house of parliament after laying out a limited plan for his new government, which might only survive a few months. Gentiloni said on Tuesday that his government would be ready to take action to support the country’s troubled banking sector. He also demanded more help from the EU in coping with an influx of migrants.
cnbc.com, reuters.com
Germany and France plan fund for start-ups: France and Germany said on Tuesday they planned to set up a one billion euro fund to support start-ups in a bid to boost Europe’s digital economy and help it narrow the gap with the United States. In the second Franco-German conference on digitalisation, President Francois Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel, who were joined by top ministers, pledged to transform their economies together.
reuters.com
Macedonia: Opposition rejects election result deutschlandfunk.de
⊂ JOB-BOARD ⊃
politjobs.eu: PlasticsEurope seeks Public Affairs Manager (m/f) *** GIZ seeks Policy Advisor (m/f) *** Siegfried Mureșan MEP offers Traineeship *** European Sunlight Association seeks Communication Officer *** ChildFund Alliance seeks Director – Brussels Office *** Mototrola Solutions seeks Director of Government Affairs – Europe and Africa *** Bundesverband der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft sucht Praktikant (m/w) *** Uni Europa seeks Policy Officer (m/f)
politjobs.eu, politjobs.eu/submit (Inserat schalten)
⊂ MALFUNCTION ⊃
MEPs contest Oettinger’s exemption from vote: A group of Socialist MEPs has contested the procedure foreseen for Günther Oettinger’s change of portfolio. The free pass handed to the controversial Commissioner for the Digital Economy has infuriated many on the left of the EU Parliament. Socialists and Democrats MEPs have called for a vote on his promotion to the Budget and Human Resources brief, following the institution’s rules of procedure.
euractiv.com