Luxembourg

LUXEMBOURG, June 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — EU nations reached agreement on a long-stalled revision of the bloc’s rules to share the hosting of asylum seekers and migrants more equitably.

Sweden, which holds the bloc’s rotating presidency, announced the breakthrough after a fraught day of negotiations between EU interior ministers in Luxembourg.

The deal — which needed approval from a majority of countries representing at least 65 percent of the bloc’s population — comes after years of wrangling over asylum policy.

LUXEMBOURG, June 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — EU interior ministers meeting Thursday will seek agreement on a long-stalled revision of the bloc’s asylum and migration rules that is aimed at making burden-sharing fairer.

But diplomats cautioned the odds of a deal were still “50-50”, with increasing numbers of European Union members adopting hardline policies on the issue.
 
The proposal on the table at the meeting in Luxembourg calls for compulsory solidarity among EU countries, but with an option of showing that in one of two ways.

LUXEMBOURG, April 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The European Court of Justice ruled in favour of the family of late Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and confirmed the unfreezing of assets blocked over a decade ago.

The European Union had decided in March last year to end sanctions it had imposed on Mubarak, his wife, two sons and their wives following Egypt’s popular uprising in January 2011 which toppled his 30-year rule.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 26 (Reuters) - European Union green policy chief Frans Timmermans will meet China's top climate envoy Xie Zhenhua face-to-face for the first time on Wednesday ahead of the COP26 summit, as pressure grows for tougher action to curb global warming.

A pledge from China to reduce emissions faster this decade is seen as crucial for the world to have a realistic shot at meeting the Paris Agreement's target to cap warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius and avert the worst impacts of climate change.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The European Union on Monday played down the prospect of serious talks on Iran's nuclear programme outside the framework of negotiations between world powers and Iran in Vienna, with the EU's foreign policy chief saying time was not on Iran's side.

A senior EU official said last week Iran was not ready yet to return to actual talks with world powers over reviving its 2015 nuclear programme and related U.S. sanctions but could discuss with the EU in Brussels texts from when negotiations ended in June.

30 Sep 2021; MEMO: The European Court of Justice on Wednesday annulled an agreement on trade and a fisheries deal between the EU and Morocco from Western Sahara, citing the region's right to self-determination, Anadolu reports.

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Germany and France urged their European Union partners on Monday to consider imposing sanctions on Russians suspected of poisoning Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny with a nerve agent.

Berlin and Paris say they have not had a credible explanation from Moscow for what the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said was the presence of the banned Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in his body.

LUXEMBOURG/DUBLIN (Reuters) - Apple scored a major win on Wednesday as Europe’s second-highest court rejected an EU order for the iPhone maker to pay 13 billion euros ($15 billion) in Irish back taxes, dealing a blow to the bloc’s attempts to crack down on sweetheart tax deals.

In its order four years ago, the European Commission said Apple benefited from illegal state aid via two Irish tax rulings that artificially reduced its tax burden for over two decades - to as low as 0.005% in 2014.

18 Feb 2020; MEMO: Luxembourg has “stepped up efforts to coordinate an EU reaction to the risk Israel will annex Palestinian territories in the West Bank”, reported EUobserver. 

ATHENS, Feb 15 (NNN-Xinhua) — The European Investment Bank (EIB) will channel billions of euros this year to Greece to assist the recovery of its economy, the lender’s president Werner Hoyer said.

Last year the EIB committed funds of 2 billion euros to credit lines for various projects in Greece, and the lender is about to sustain its contribution this year.

“We will not go below this level, as Greece has a high level of ambition,” Hoyer, who is on a two-day visit in Athens, at a press conference with Greece’s Minister of Rural Development and Food Makis Voridis.