European Union

The crisis in US-Turkish relations, which already has put Turkey's economy under massive strain, also risks souring military ties between the two NATO allies, unleashing unknown geopolitical consequences.

Less than a month before the Swedish general election, a wave of possibly co-ordinated attacks on Monday evening saw dozens of cars set alight and stones thrown at police by gangs of masked youths. In Gothenburg alone over 80 vehicles were destroyed or badly damaged, police said. Similar incidents were reported in Malmo, Helsingborg and Trollhattan. A election stall in Linkoping of the far-right Sweden Democrats was also set alight.

Romania has opened an enquiry into alleged police violence at a mass anti-corruption protest against the leftwing government last week where hundreds were injured, military prosecutors said Monday.

Both Spain and Italy appear unwilling to accept a new group of 141 migrants rescued by the Aquarius boat on Friday. "Spain is not the safest port", sources close to Spain's prime minster were reported saying by El Pais. "It can go where it wants, (but) not to Italy!", Italy's deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, tweeted. Spain offered the ship safe port in June, when Italy and Malta denied entry.

The world's largest seed and agrochemical company, German multinational Bayer's stock slumped more than 10 percent in trading on Monday, three days after a San Francisco jury ruled the company's subsidiary Monsanto liable for a terminally-ill man's cancer and awarded him €254m in damages. Monsanto, the maker of the glyphosate weedkiller Roundup, was acquired by Bayer in June for €55bn.

German chancellor Angela Merkel will host a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Berlin this weekend, spokesman Steffen Seibert announced on Monday. The surprise meeting is meant to focus on Syria, violence in eastern Ukraine and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. It comes at a time when relations with the US are strained by trade tariffs, hitting both Russian, Turkish and German aluminium and steel exports.

The Hungarian government is planning to remove gender study courses from the curriculum of universities from 2019. "Nobody wants to hire gender graduates, so you do not need to train them," deputy prime minister Zsolt Semyen was qouted saying by the Atv.hu news portal on Monday. Universities were offered 24 hours to comment on the draft law, which was criticised by academics as a "dangerous precedent" for state interference.

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for parents and parents-to-be.

As soon as you find out that you are going to become a parent, you are confronted with a new situation that requires not only mental readiness but also some basic equipment.

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You will need the means to transport the new family member (pushchair, car seat or baby carrier), a place for him or her to sleep safely (cot, barriers), clothes, nappies, and the list goes on. Although it is still early days, it might not be long before you start thinking about toys. Then after a few months, you might start buying ready-made baby food.

Every product on sale in the European Union has to comply with general safety rules. Particular rules apply to toys, electrical and electronic goods, cosmetics, chemicals and other specific product groups. European standards ensure the safety of toys, nursery products and furniture, child resistant products and protective devices, and playground and sports equipment for children. Children’s car seats have to comply with global rules.

Manufacturers declare that a product has been checked against all essential EU safety criteria by using the CE conformity mark, which is legally required for products sold in the European Union, Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway. The rapid alert system for non-food, dangerous products (RAPEX) facilitates the rapid exchange of information between 31 countries: consumers are then warned and the product taken off the shelves. RAPEX weekly reports provide information about dangerous products.

Food for infants and young children, meanwhile, must meet special strict EU requirements regarding nutritional composition and food safety.

Further information

• EPRS publication on the safety of toys, 2014, https://epthinktank.eu/2014/12/20/ensuring-europes-parents-can-rely-on-the-safety-of-toys
• European Commission’s website dedicated to RAPEX, https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/consumers_safety/safety_products/rapex/alerts/repository/content/pages/rapex/index_en.htm
• European Commission’s website on food for infants and young children, https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/labelling_nutrition/special_groups_food/children_en
• EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service: www.epthinktank.eu

The relatively-new Spitzenkandidat process means the commission will be led by a political candidate, and thus it instantly becomes more political. But is that the desired effect?

The US oil and gas giant hosted Cypriot MEPs, Cyprus' highest EU diplomat and EU commissioner Christos Stylianides at a dinner in a private club in Brussels.

The dramatic drop of the Turkish lira on the currency markets has continued since Friday, with the exchange rate currently at over eight lira to the euro. Since the start of the year the Turkish currency has lost around 40 percent of its value against the euro and its downwards slide has now been accelerated by new tariffs and sanctions imposed by the US. What will the currency crash mean for Turkey and Europe?

Tens of thousands of demonstrators have been protesting in Romania since Friday, calling for the resignation of the social-liberal government which they say is corrupt. Many of the demonstrators live abroad and have returned expressly to take part in the protests. Commentators believe the political system in Romania is on the verge of collapse, and call on the EU to keep a closer eye on the country.