Euobserver.com

UK prime minister Theresa May suffered another blow to her Brexit plan on Wednesday after MPs voted against a motion endorsing the government's negotiating strategy. The vote in the Commons has no legal muscle but instead sends a political message of discontentment with her strategy. The UK is set to leave the European Union on 29 March.

A number of London-based banks that deal with eurozone affairs have not moved enough staff into other EU states ahead of UK's departure from the European Union, said German bank supervisor Joachim Wuermelling on Thursday. Banks that deal with the eurozone and single currency are required to do so from within the EU. "All banks must ensure that they have relocated sufficient staff to the EU 27 entities," he said.

Italy's former prime minister Matteo Renzi wants Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel to vie for a top post in the European Union. "Merkel could certainly be a good person to lead foreign policy, but she could also be a good candidate to chair the Council, " he said in a new book, reported EuroNews.

The German government said acts of antisemitism in Germany increased by 10 percent last year. Figures cited in German media noted 1,646 crimes aimed against people of the Jewish faith. The rise in antisemitism is not limited to Germany. France recently announced a 74 percent increase.

The rate of rejection of would-be asylum seekers has reached a record high in Italy, according to figures released by the Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI). It says some 24,800 asylum applications in Italy were denied in the last four months. It noted rejected asylum applications went from 17,500 from October 2017 to January 2018, to almost 25,000 between October 2018 and January 2019.

Hungary will not submit invoices to claim EU funds for projects carried out by Elios, the company once owned by premier Viktor Orban's son-in-law and where the EU's anti-fraud agency found "serious irregularities", Hungarian media reported. "It's a wise decision, that solves the problem for the EU but not for the Hungarian taxpayer," MEP Ingeborg Grassle, the European Parliament's budgetary control committee chair told EUobserver on Thursday.

MEPs on Thursday supported a new EU-level tool to screen foreign direct investment (FDI), with 500 votes in favour, 49 against, and 56 abstentions. The new system will make sure FDI is vetted in a coordinated way to ensure it does not harm Europe's strategic interests. The European Commission will have the right to ask for information, but the final decision whether to allow an investment remains a national matter.

A resolution demanding Saudi Arabia release prisoners and stop gender-based violence was passed by over 500 MEPs on Thursday in Strasbourg. They also demanded greater transparency over Brussels-based lobbying for the Saudis, following an EUobserver exclusive.

EU negotiators agreed on Thursday the EU should set up a European Labour Authority, 11 months after the European Commission proposed it. MEPs managed to give the agency the power to tackle so-called 'letter box' companies. "Companies that are trying to circumvent paying a proper wage or labour rights through malicious constructions will now have to fear inspections and fines for their practices," said centre-left Dutch MEP Agnes Jongerius.

The EU has stigmatised Saudi Arabia and four US territories on "dirty money" - but let Azerbaijan and Russia off the hook.

After marathon talks, EU negotiators agree on provisional copyright reform, requiring companies to filter content to prevent unauthorized work on their platform. Online platforms and open-internet advocates warn it will hurt the free flow of information.

'The EU needs a reality check; power is not a dirty word," Mark Rutte declared, in a speech on foreign policy in which he explicitly ruled out a European army.

The European Parliament's Italian president referred to Croatia and Slovenia as former Italian regions at the weekend, sparking outrage. Although Antonio Tajani apologised, somer former leaders and MEPs are now calling for his resignation.

Germany will need to make sure EU rules are being followed by Russia's controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, currently under construction, it was decided in negotiations between EU institutions on Tuesday evening.

Scottish Green MEP Alyn Smith on Wednesday wrote to ask Jorg Monar, the rector of The College of Europe, to provide assurances that the institute has not received "financial contributions from the Saudi authorities in any form" in its efforts to set up meetings with the EU institutions. The query follows EUobserver revelations that the College of Europe is organising a high-level Saudi visit in February.

Yulia Tymoshenko's contradictory politics raises questions about the direction she would lead Ukraine if she is elected president in March 2019.

Italy's new leaders have behaved in an "idiotic ... spiteful ... [and] ugly" way, MEPs told "puppet" prime minister Giuseppe Conte in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

French prime minister Edouard Philippe on Tuesday said some 1,800 'Yellow Vest' protestors have been convicted of criminal offences. The initially leaderless protests kicked off over plans to raise a fuel tax, but quickly spread to other grievances, leading to nationwide marches marked by violence over the past three months.

The French government says acts of antisemitism in French increased by 74 percent last year, from 311 in 2017 to 541 in 2018. "Antisemitism is spreading like poison," said Christophe Castaner, France's interior minister. In Paris, swastikas have painted over images of Simone Veil. The word 'Juden' had also been splashed across a front window of a bagel shop.

A study by the Bertelsmann Foundation says Germany will need some 260,000 immigrants per year for the next 40 years to meet labour demands, reports Yahoo Finance. A relatively low birth rate and ageing population are among the factors. The study also suggests that migrants from other EU states to Germany will not be enough to plug the labour gap.