European Union

From 2019 products with unrecycled plastic packaging will cost up to 10 percent more in France, secretary of state for ecological transition, Brune Poirson, has told Journal du Dimanche newspaper. Plastic products such as straws, cups and plates will be banned by 2020 and recycling bins standardised across the country. Just 25 percent of plastic in France is currently recycled.

French transport minister, Elisabeth Borne, has officially protested against an EU plan connecting Ireland to Europe via Zeebrugge, Antwerp and Rotterdam after Brexit. In a letter to the EU commission dated 10 August the French minister said the proposal was "not accepteble" to France adding that French ports has the necessary resources to handle the likely increase in trade flows and preventing exports from being delayed by UK custom.

Around 40,000 Romanians flooded the capital Bucharest on Saturday for a second night of anti-government protests, following violent clashes injuring more than 400 people on Friday. Romania's president Klaus Iohannis condemned Friday's "brutal intervention of the gendarmerie" while the crowds were blowing horns and shouting "resignation", Reuters reported. Protesters are angry over widespread corruption, low wages and attempts by the governing Social Democrats (PSD) to weaken the judiciary.

More than 100 Westminster parliamentary seats that voted for Brexit in the 2016 referendum have now switched their support to Remain, according to a study commissioned by Hope Not Hate and pro-EU group Best for Britain. Constituencies in Wales and the North have seen the largest swing. The constituencies of Brexiteers Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jacob Rees-Mogg are among the 112 areas where opinion has changed.

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 people who like chips.

If you love chips or indeed any other fried or baked foods such as crisps, biscuits or toast, you may have heard of acrylamide, a harmful substance present in these foods.

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Discovered by Swedish scientists in 2002, acrylamide can be found in a wide range of everyday starch-rich foods that are fried, baked or roasted at high temperatures. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded in 2015 that acrylamide in food is a public health concern, highlighting links with cancer and obesity.

Following EFSA’s opinion, the European Commission presented a proposal in June 2017 on measures to reduce acrylamide levels in food. The new rules apply from 11 April 2018.

Ingredients used and storage and processing temperatures have a major influence on acrylamide formation. Manufacturers should therefore select potato and flour varieties with lower acrylamide-forming potential and keep to the right storage temperature. They are advised to wash or soak chips before frying, to keep the oil temperature as low as possible, and to control the colour of the final product, as a longer cooking time and deeper colour increase the amount of acrylamide. In addition, manufacturers must measure the levels of acrylamide in their products to check them against the values set by the Commission. If these voluntary efforts fail to be sufficiently effective, the Commission is considering setting binding limits for the food industry.

The way you cook at home also has a substantial impact, so the advice is to fry your chips until golden yellow, not brown, and to avoid overcooking your toast.

Further information

• European Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Food Safety website, https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/chemical_safety/contaminants/catalogue/acrylamide_en
• European Food Safety Authority’s website, http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/acrylamide
• EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service: www.epthinktank.eu

The reform and modernisation of Ukraine’s energy market is vital to the future of Ukraine, but can also play a very important role in the energy security and economic development of the region, and the wider European continent, writes Maxim Timchenko.

It seems as if the EU and some member states are trying to 'sell' European external action in Italy, Austria, Poland and Hungary as a key to solving internal issues – and thus pulling these missions into today's populist debates.

EUobserver has asked for any minutes relating to 14 meetings with lobbyists held by commissioners Guenther Oettinger and Miguel Arias Canete. None exist.

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The manager of English football club Tottenham Hotspur has blamed the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union for his team’s failure to sign any new players before the start of the new campaign.

Russia’s meddling in Greece's domestic affairs is "unacceptable", the European Commission told EURACTIV.com, amid an ongoing war of words between Athens and Moscow.

Ryanair pilots in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden are staging a 24-hour strike on Friday (August 10) in one of the most severe examples of strike action in the company’s history. The low-cost carrier has branded the action "unjustified" and "unnecessary".

The US Secretary of State has imposed new sanctions on Russia in response to the poison attack on the Russian double agent Skripal and his daughter in Britain. While some commentators believe Putin is immune to Trump's unpredictable Russia policy, others see tough times ahead for the Russian president.