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The European Commission has asked the European Court of Justice to speed up a case against Warsaw over large-scale logging in the Bialowieza forest, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The forest is also home to the largest herd of European bison, unique birds and insects, and the ECJ has issued an interim order demanding Poland cease its activities.

But the Polish government, led by the eurosceptic Rule and Jutice Party (PiS), has claimed the logging is necessary to control a beetle outbreak and has ignored the ECJ ruling.

It is the latest act of defiance by PiS, having passed controversial judical reforms giving the government greater powers over the judiciary and the state-run media.

Last week European Council president Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, admitted there was a "question mark" over his country's future with the EU.

He said: "It smells like an introduction to an announcement that Poland does not need the European Union and that Poland is not needed for the EU.

"I am afraid we are closer to that moment.

Katarzyna Lubnauer, an MP for the opposition Nowoczesna party, suggested PiS was deliberately trying to provoke the EU into expelling the country from the bloc.

She said: "When we look at what is happening now, we get the deep feeling that the farewell has already begun."

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There is no precedent for expelling an uruly member state from the bloc. The first country to leave the European Union in its history will be Britain in 2019, and of its own volition.

But European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has threatened to strip away Polands right to vote on EU matters by invoking Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty for the first time in history.

He said: If the Polish government goes ahead with undermining the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law in Poland, we will have no other choice than to trigger Article 7."

It would take at least of third of the EUs 28 member states to back Article 7 in order to impose sanctions and suspend voting rights..

But it can only triggered if there is a "clear risk of a serious breach by a Member State of the values referred to in Article 2.

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An EU official said last week Brussels sent a letter to Warsaw, requesting it complies with the ECJ order on the forest.

The Commission also asked the ECJ to inquire with Warsaw on what it has done to stop the logging and whether "in view of these developments (the court) could give priority treatment to the case".

ECJ cases can take years to conclude and the interim order to stop the logging was meant to ensure the primeval forest is not irreversibly damaged by the time a final ruling comes.

Continued here:
'The farewell has already begun' Lawmakers warn Poland is ready to leave EU - Express.co.uk

The Council has adopted a decision authorising a stabilisation action in the central regions of Mali, in the Mopti and Segou governorates. In response to the invitation from the Malian authorities, the European Union (EU) will deploy a team of experts to support Malian national plans and policies, in order to counter the growing insecurity and to re-establish and expand the civilian administration in these regions. The action's primary objective is to help consolidate and support democracy, the rule of law, human rights and gender equality by strengthening general governance in this region for the benefit of the local communities.

The EU stabilisation team will be responsible for advising the Malian authorities in Mopti and Segou on governance-related issues, and supporting the planning and implementation by the Malian authorities of activities aimed at reinstating the civilian administration and basic services in the region. The team will be able also to support an enhanced dialogue between the Malian authorities and the local communities.

The stabilisation team will consist of 10 people and will have a budget of 3.25 million for an initial operating phase of one year. It will be based within the EU Delegation in Mali and will operate in Bamako, Mopti and Segou. This action will complement those of the EU Delegation in Mali and the CSDP missions deployed there (EUCAP Sahel Mali and EUTM Mali), and is part of the EU's integrated approach in Mali. The stabilisation team will also work in close cooperation with other international actors in the region, particularly the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

This stabilisation action is decided by the Council on the basis of Article 28 of the Treaty on European Union, which states that 'where the international situation requires operational action by the Union, the Council shall adopt the necessary decisions. They shall lay down their objectives, scope, the means to be made available to the Union, if necessary their duration, and the conditions for their implementation.' This is the first time that a Council decision has been decided in that context. The decision was adopted by the Council by written procedure.

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Mali: European Union supports the stabilisation in the central regions of Mopti and Segou - ReliefWeb

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini participated in the swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

This will be 68-year-old Rouhani's second term as president.

According to Bloomberg, Mogherini's presence expressed the EU's clear and public support for Rouhani's leadership.

In his speech to Iran's parliament, Rouhani said his country will not be the first to violate the nuclear deal, but will also not stand by the deal if other countries violate it.

Iranian officials said the US' new sanctions on the Iranian Republic, and US President Donald Trump's desire to limit international trade with Iran, are in violation of the deal, which was signed in 2015 by representatives of 6 countries.

In a pre-ceremony meeting with Mogherini, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif Khonsari said the EU must remain alert to Trump's efforts to "undermine the deal and blame Iran." In her response, Mogherini promised that the EU would "determinedly" keep the Iran deal, Iran's state-run news agency reported.

The 2015 deal was signed by Iran, Britain, China France, Germany, Russia, and the United States. It attempts to limit Iran's nuclear development, and lifted sanctions on the rogue nuclear power-to-be.

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European Union supports Rouhani - Arutz Sheva

The European Union on Friday imposed sanctions on three more Russians, including deputy energy minister Andrei Cherezov, and three Russian companies over the delivery of Siemens turbines to Moscow-annexed Crimea.

Moscow criticised the EUs decision as an unfriendly and groundless act and said it reserved the right to take retaliatory steps.

The EU first introduced sanctions on Russia after the 2014 military takeover of the Black Sea peninsula from Kiev, and stepped them up repeatedly as Moscow then backed separatist unrest in the east of Ukraine.

The new tightening came in response to the delivery of Siemens gas turbines to Crimea in violation of EU sanctions, which bar doing business there since Russias annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine, a move which has not been internationally recognised.

Siemens says it has evidence that all four turbines it delivered for a project in southern Russia had been illegally moved to Crimea.

The responsibility for this decision, including possible expenses for Siemens and other German and European companies working in Russia, lies entirely with the EUs side and the German government, Russias foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russia reaffirmed its interest in developing economic cooperation with the bloc and remained committed to all previously assumed obligations, the ministry added.

The EU also said the blacklisted companies include Siemens two Russian contractors that moved the turbines.

EUs 28 states must be unanimous to go ahead with sanctions and diplomatic sources said Italys opposition meant a fourth name had to be dropped from the initial German proposal.

Diplomats in Brussels said the Russian energy ministry official is involved in bilateral cooperation with Italy and has since escaped being sanctioned. The Italian representation in Brussels did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other EU sanctions on Russia target its energy, financial and arms sectors. The latest additions complement a blacklist that already contains 150 people and 37 entities subject to an asset freeze and a travel ban over the turmoil in Ukraine.

More than three years of coordinated EU and U.S. sanctions, however, have not forced a change of hand in Moscow, which vows to never give back Crimea and still supports the armed conflict in east Ukraine which has killed more than 10,000 people.

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Russian deputy minister blacklisted in new European Union sanctions - Hindustan Times

Poland's future within the EU has come under renewed uncertainty after the President of the European Council said the country's "arrogant" rejection of EU law signals its desire to exit the union.

Donald Tusk, Poland's former Prime Minister, hit out at his home country's ruling Law and Justice party Thursday, saying that its fragile relationship with the EU had moved closer to breaking point.

"There is a question mark over Poland's European future today," Tusk told reporters in Warsaw Thursday.

Brussels has been at loggerheads with Poland in recent weeks over the conservative government's attempts to expand their powers. The EU claims that laws aimed at reforming the judiciary undermine the independence of judges and therefore break EU treaty rules. The government has since ignored a European Court of Justice order to halt tree logging in the Bialowieza forest, a Unesco World Heritage site.

"The fact that a European tribunal decision is rejected so arrogantly is evidence of something very dangerous in my opinion it is an overt attempt to put Poland in conflict with the European Union," Tusk said.

Tusk noted that several actions of the Polish government appear to be "very controversial" and could risk the country's continued EU status. Brussels has already been considering triggering Article 7 of the EU treaty, a legal process which could suspend the country's voting rights.

"It smells like an introduction to an announcement that Poland does not need the European Union and that Poland is not needed for the EU," Tusk noted.

"I am afraid we are closer to that moment."

Tusk's comments came as he was in the Polish capital giving evidence to the Polish prosecutor's office over allegations of negligence in his government's handling of an investigation into a plane crash in 2010. The crash killed many high-ranking Polish officials, including then-president Lech Kaczynski, brother of the head of the Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

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Question mark hangs over Poland's European future, says EU's Tusk - CNBC