More time needed to agree full deal with UK - Barnier

A comprehensive agreement on the future relationship between the European Union and Britain will take longer to agree than the 11-month transition period that begins when the UK leaves the EU at the end of January, the EU's chief negotiator has said.

Macron backs sanctions on EU states that refuse migrants

French President Emmanuel Macron came out Saturday in support of financial sanctions against EU countries which refuse to accept migrants.

Russia 'not demanding' Turkey quit EU for Shanghai pact

Russia does not expect Turkey to cut its ties with the EU while conducting accession talks with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Russia’s ambassador to Ankara said Wednesday.

UK to play full EU role until it leaves: British PM

Britain would continue to play its full European Union (EU) role until exit, said British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday.

Russia slams end of EU arms embargo, calls S-300s ‘stabilizing factor’ in Syria

The failure of the European Union to agree on a new arms embargo for Syria is undermining the peace process, Moscow says. But the delivery of S-300 surface-to-air missiles may help restrain warmongers.

La UE financiará el desminado Donbás, dice Kiev

La UE financiará el proceso de desminado en Donbás bajo los auspicios de la OSCE, declaró el presidente ucraniano Petró Poroshenko.

UK and France say ending migrant crisis is top priority. UK and France urge EU action (video Al Jazeera)

Ending the crisis that has seen thousands of attempts by migrants to reach England from Calais in recent weeks is a "top priority", the interior ministers of France and Britain have written in a joint statement.

Greece may be open to compromise with its anti-austerity policy

Greece's government is confident of reaching a deal with its creditors this week and is open to pushing back parts of its anti-austerity programme to make that happen.

Tension builds over eurozone finance ministers meeting on avoiding a Greek exit from euro

Greece is still locked in negotiations with its EU-IMF creditors over a deal to release bailout funds in order to avoid a debt default.

Die Troika heißt nun "Die Institutionen"

Griechenland redet wieder mit der Troika. Am Morgen trafen sich Vertreter von EZB, IWF und EU mit griechischen Regierungsexperten in Brüssel zu einer "Bestandsaufnahme". Nur heißt das jetzt anders.

Barack Obama and Donald Tusk discussed potential coordinated action against Russia

Leaders of the United States and the European Union (EU) discussed potential coordinated action against Russia over its "destabilizing actions" in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, the White House said Monday.

Greeks strike against more EU-IMF reforms. -- Five general strikes were staged last year.

Greek unions held a 24-hour anti-austerity strike Wednesday, shutting down ferry services to the country's world-famous islands, disrupting rail travel and closing pharmacies and several government offices.
     
Called by the country's main private and public unions, the first general strike of the year is to protest new labour reforms demanded by the country's EU-IMF creditors.
     
Ships remained anchored in the main port Piraeus near Athens, with the country's main shipping union observing the strike call.

Spanish top court rules Catalonia referendum unconstitutional

Spain’s Constitutional Court has ruled that a referendum in Catalonia on independence from the rest of the country would violate the law, saying that regions within Spain “cannot unilaterally call a referendum on self-determination.”
According to a summary of the ruling, any “right to decide” their future by Catalans has to be in accordance with Spain's 1978 constitution, which stipulates Spanish unity.
The Constitutional Court ruled “unconstitutional and null” a declaration by the regional parliament in Barcelona which claimed that Catalonia has the right of self-determination. 

The fate of the region rests on the power struggle between Catalan President Artur Mas who had promised a referendum on independence from Spain on November 9 and the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy who insists that such a vote would be illegal.

Referendum in Crimea: Europe shows double standards, precedent in Kosovo shows this best - scholars

More than 11,000 children have been killed during a civil war in Syria, a war unleashed with the full connivance of the West. The country is in chaos. Its economy and infrastructure have been ruined. A terrible humanitarian disaster in Syria is worth every bit of the Western public’s attention. Instead, it's been looking in a different direction.
All the opinion polls of the past couple of weeks, all the statements by politicians of all stripes have been focused on nothing else but Russia in a frenzied urge to portray the Kremlin as an "aggressor" seeking to choke independent Ukraine. Western journalists have been surprisingly refusing to draw any parallels between Crimea and Kosovo. Yet, one of the unfailing laws of history is that it always puts things back in their proper places.

Flou autour du referendum sur un "Etat" catalan indépendant fin 2014/Spain to block Catalonia independence referendum

Le président de Catalogne Artur Mas a annoncé jeudi un referendum le 9 novembre 2014 sur la création d'un "Etat" catalan indépendant, en dépit de l'opposition farouche du gouvernement central espagnol qui juge cette consultation anticonstitutionnelle. Le ministre espagnol de la Justice réfute la tenue du referendum.

 

Le ministre espagnol de la Justice, Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, a affirmé jeudi que le referendum sur l'indépendance de la Catalogne annoncé pour novembre 2014 par le gouvernement de cette région, "n'aura pas lieu". "Le vote n'aura pas lieu et il n'aura pas lieu car notre constitution n'autorise aucune communauté autonome à soumettre à un vote ou à un referendum les questions touchant à la souveraineté nationale", a-t-il déclaré devant la presse à Madrid. Les décisions affectant la souveraineté de l'Espagne "nous reviennent, à tous les Espagnols", a-t-il ajouté.

Ukraine’s decision to join Russia and CIS for trade relations, welcomed in Moscow.

“Moscow welcomes the decision of Ukraine to develop cooperation with Russia and other CIS countries”, said presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov to reporters on Thursday evening in Moscow.  

According to Mr Peskov, Russia is ready to enhance cooperation with its closest partner - Ukraine."

Ukraine Won't Sign Association Agreement, EU Confirms. -"In the interest of Ukraine's national security."

Ukraine will not be signing an Association Agreement with the European Union, confirmed EU special envoy Aleksander Kwasniewski.

"Our mission is over," said Kwasniewski, adding that no Association Agreement will be signed at the upcoming meeting in Vilnius next week.

Earlier Thursday, Ukraine's government announced it adopted a decision to stop the country's preparation for signing an Association Agreement with the European Union.

The decision whether to continue work for the Association Agreement was highly anticipated, as Ukraine had to decide between forging closer ties with the EU and joining the Belarus-Kazakhstan-Russia customs union.

Ukraine Remains Committed to EU Trade Deal.

MOSCOW, November 20 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine’s prime minister said Wednesday that his country remained committed to clinching a landmark trade deal with the European Union, although the agreement could be derailed by intransigence over jailed former premier Yulia Tymoshenko.
Ukraine is expected to sign an association agreement with the EU at the Eastern Partnership Summit, set to start in Vilnius on November 28.
Prime Minister Mykola Azarov told reporters in the Russian city of St. Petersburg that preparations for the summit were proceeding normally.
“Our plans remain unchanged,” he said.

Ukraine will have to adapt its laws in line with 59 EU directives.

KIEV, November 19, 21:58 /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine, which is seeking to sign an association and free trade zone agreement with the European Union, will have to adapt its laws to 59 regulations and directives of the European Union, Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Nikolai Prisyazhnyuk said on Tuesday.

“To ensure access to the European Union’s market for our products and to ensure their competitiveness there, we must harmonize our laws with relevant laws of the European Union,” he said at a roundtable meeting entitled “Ukraine’s Agrarian Sector and Paths of European Integration.” “Thus, we will have to adapt to 59 regulations and directives of the European Union listed in the draft association agreement with the European Union. At the same time, we hope for a considerable financial and technical assistance promised to us by the European side.”

Russia Blames EU For 'Pressure' on Former Soviet States.

MOSCOW, November 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized the European Union on Tuesday for exerting what he said was unfair political pressure on fomer Soviet states deciding whether to join the bloc.

Lavrov said “some representatives of the European Union” were forcing countries of the Eastern Partnership states to choose between closer ties with Russia or European states.

“They [European officials] say: you have to make a choice, but the choice should be in favor of the EU," he said "Either back to the dark past or with us [EU] to a bright future,” Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday.