Euobserver.com

A new EU sanctions regime for human rights abusers ought to focus on the kinds of crimes most readily associated with African conflicts, the Dutch foreign minister has indicated.

Prosecutors in the Sicilian city of Catania requested on Tuesday the seizure of migrant-aid ship Aquarius for illegal disposal of 24,000kg of waste, included clothing worn by migrants, blood-stained bandages and medical waste. The Aquarius, run by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders (MSF), called it an "unfounded and sinister measure aimed at criminalising our lifesaving activity". It is the last privately-operated ship conducting rescue missions in the Mediterranean.

Populist parties have more than tripled their support in Europe in the last 20 years, securing enough votes to put their leaders into government posts in 11 countries, analysis by more than 30 leading political scientists published by the Guardian showed. The findings of the study come six months before European parliamentary elections that some are predicting could return more rightwing populists than ever to the 751-seat chamber.

The European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee approved on Tuesday Italian Andrea Enria to chair of the supervisory board of the European Central Bank. If confirmed by the full parliament and the council, Enria will take over from Daniele Nouy for a five-year term from January 2019. Enria has chaired the London-based European Banking Authority since 2011.

EU institutions agreed on Tuesday to a new framework for screening foreign direct investment to better safeguard strategic assets. Member states will however keep the last word whether a specific operation should be allowed or not in their territory. Chinese companies made around 250 acquisitions in Europe last year, a 20 percent drop on the previous year, an EY study showed. Chinese companies were especially drawn to Germany.

The Open Society Foundations (OSF) has demanded an apology from Facebook following a New York Times report that Facebook employed a Republican opposition-research firm to discredit political critics by linking them to Soros. "We are demanding, insisting on a public apology from Facebook, not just to George Soros and the Open Society Foundations, but to all of those who are practicing their First Amendment rights," OSF president Patrick Gaspard said.

Former Macedonian leader Nikola Gruevski wrote on his Facebook page Tuesday that "today, the Republic of Hungary, an EU and Nato member country, responded positively to my previously submitted request for political asylum". Macedonia, which Hungary considers to be a safe country, has asked to have him extradited to serve a sentence on corruption charges, but Gruevski is an ally of Hungary's right-wing ruler, Viktor Orban, making that unlikely.

Lithuania has threatened to quit Interpol, along with Ukraine, if the international police agency elects a Russian official as its new president on Wednesday.

Internal legal European parliament documents circulated Wednesday, and seen by EUobserver, rule it illegal to force MEPs to meet only registered lobbyists. The opinion will likely render a larger effort to create a mandatory register for lobbyists null and void.

The UK Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by the British government to stop a decision on whether Article 50 (the formal Brexit notification) can be reversed from going to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg. Campaigners to stay in the EU had asked the Scottish courts to rule on the issue. They passed the decision on to the ECJ - a referral then challenged by the government.

UK prime minister Theresa May will travel to Brussels on Wednesday (21 November) to finalise details of the Brexit withdrawal agreement with EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, Downing Street confirmed on Tuesday. Their talks will come ahead of a special EU summit planned for Sunday to confirm the deal. The 585-page document, published last week, caused the resignation of the Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, and a mini-rebellion against May.

EU defence ministers want to continue Operation Sophia, the EU's Mediterranean naval mission, after its mandate ends this year, but have not yet agreed where warships should drop off migrants rescued at sea after Italy refused to take them in, EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said Tuesday. She called the migrant issue a "small element" of Sophia, which also trains the Libyan coastguard and enforces a Libya arms embargo.

France and Germany have proposed adding five names to EU visa ban lists on Russia over the Ukraine conflict, but Poland wants to add even more people, Polish foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz said in Brussels Monday. The names would cover people who organised what the EU and Ukraine called "illegal" elections in Russia-occupied east Ukraine on 11 November. EU ministers "agreed in principle" to go ahead, Czaputowicz said.

EU ministers have agreed to create a new "intelligence school" and to jointly build new drones and attack helicopters, amid French and German calls for a future "EU army".

EU commissioner for agriculture Phil Hogan told press on Monday that new data about sugar prices were "indicating the market is coming into balance". Following the abolition of sugar quota in 2017, the sugar sector has been struggling. Hogan said however that updated figures gave him confidence that the market was adjusting to the post-quota situation. "I am confident that prices will continue to increase," said Hogan.

The composition of the European Commission's expert groups, which give advice on policy, is becoming more balanced, but only slowly, researcher Roland Blomeyer told MEPs on Monday, presenting a study. In 23% of expert groups studied, all participants had an economic interest. Of the more than 700 groups, 107 of them had less than 40% women, failing to achieve an EU target. Only 12 groups were open to the public.

Environmental lobby groups Oceans at Risk and Oceana reacted with disappointment to the agreement of EU fisheries ministers on Monday. Ministers agreed the allowed fishing quota for a number of endangered species of deep-sea marine life, like roundnose grenadier. Elisabeth Koestinger, Austria's minister for sustainability who led the quota talks, said however the decision "will protect our maritime environment and help our industry in the longer term".

Arlene Foster, head of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, said Monday the 'backstop' was "only ever a negotiating tactic by the European Union" in Brexit talks. The backstop, preventing a EU-UK hard border on the Irish island, will only come to pass if talks for a trade deal fail. Meanwhile on Monday, UK prime minister Theresa May - who needs the DUP's support - lobbied business on the deal.

The negotiations between the Council of the EU - representing national governments - and the European Parliament for the 2019 budget ended Monday without agreement. They failed to reach a compromise by the legal deadline. The European Commission will now have to present a new draft budget. MEP Daniele Viotti called it "just a technical pause". Council negotiator Hartwig Loger said he was "confident" of a deal before year's end.

MEPs might delay a vote on boosting transparency on the lobbyists they meet and on how they spend taxpayers' money on themselves.