Belgium

BRUSSELS (AP) — Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper made it clear to Turkey on Wednesday that it will face economic sanctions if it goes ahead with the purchase of a Russian missile defense system, as the standoff between the two NATO allies dragged on.

Esper met with Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar during a NATO meeting, delivering a familiar U.S. message: If Turkey buys the Russian S-400 system, it will not be allowed to buy the high-tech F-35 fighter jet. The meeting, however, ended with no discernable results.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Trump administration aims to persuade allies the confrontation with Iran, which threatened to worsen into a deadly shooting war last week, is “not Iran versus the United States” but rather a global challenge requiring global diplomacy, the new acting Pentagon chief said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters traveling with him to a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, Mark Esper said he wants to help form a broader coalition to deter Iran and compel its leaders to return to the negotiating table for nuclear talks.

25 June 2019; DW: A searing heat wave has begun to spread across Europe, with Germany, France and Belgium likely to experience extreme temperatures in the coming days.

In Germany, temperatures are expected to exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, topping the country's previous June record of 38.2 degrees Celsius set in Frankfurt in 1947.

Fire fighters braced for busy week

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders failed Thursday to back a plan to make the bloc’s economy carbon neutral by 2050 in spite of promises to protesters across the continent to fight harder against climate change.

Ahead of a U.N. meeting in the fall, the proposal was relegated to a non-binding footnote in the final statement of Thursday’s summit of EU leaders in Brussels.

“For a large majority of Member States, climate neutrality must be achieved by 2050,” the footnote read.

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are underlining that their divorce agreement with Britain cannot be renegotiated regardless of who becomes the next prime minister there.

At a summit of EU leaders Friday, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said the current Brexit agreement “is the best possible deal.”

With Boris Johnson favorite to become next prime minister, Bettel says it makes no difference who takes office.

He says “it’s not possible (that) because you change the leader in the U.K. that we need to postpone decisions.”

21 June 2019; DW: Leaders of the European Union's member states on Thursday struggled to break the deadlock over the bloc's key leadership positions.

Heads of government were gathered to decide on five top jobs — most notably who should succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as the next president of the European Commission, the EU's executive branch.

But despite talks extending into the early hours of Friday, the leaders deferred any decision on the posts until June 30.

19 June 2019; DW: The European Union on Tuesday delayed the start of formal accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia until October.

The European Commission last month recommended that accession talks should begin with the Balkan countries after they had carried out reforms.

17 June 2019; MEMO: The EU’s second most senior diplomat affirmed the bloc’s support for the nuclear deal between world powers with Iran, including via the use of a new payment system for barter-based trade designed to circumvent US sanctions.

Helga Schmid, the secretary general of European Union external action service, visited Tehran last week. She helped negotiate the deal in 2015.

15 June 2019; MEMO: Belgian State Council decided on Friday to suspend the licenses of arms exports to Saudi Arabia fearing their use against civilians in Yemen, media sources reported.

In recent months Belgium’s Foreign Minister Didier Reynders has been a vocal advocate against arms sales to the kingdom because of its human rights violations in Yemen.

15 June 2019; AFP: The EU has sealed a deal to end a long-running row with Washington over US beef imports, a statement said on Friday, with hopes that the agreement can ease transatlantic trade tensions.

"With this step, the European Union reaffirms its commitment to bring about a new phase in the relationship with the United States," said EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan in a statement.