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I would like to echo the other colleagues and thank Minister Galletti for his excellent hospitality and skillful chairing, as well as the citizens of Bologna for their warm welcome.

We in the EU think that a more resource-efficient, low-carbon and circular economy is the way forward, not only for Europe but also for the whole world. I am very glad that this view is confirmed at G7 level.

Today we adopted the five year Bologna Roadmap on resource efficiency in continuity with what was agreed in Toyama last year. Using our resources better will also help address marine litter. An issue on which the G7 is advancing.

There was agreement among G7 members on certain, I bet if very important issues, relating to the environment and sustainable development: the importance of implementing the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals agenda; the need of scaling up sustainable finance in particular for our Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) encouraging public private partnership; the need to actively promote and develop an ambitious agenda on resource efficiency and the circular economy as an opportunity for innovation, growth and jobs. On the issue of climate change,the European Uniondeeply regrets President Trump's announcement to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement.

We therefore also regret that the United States have not been able to join the rest of us in the climate change part of the communique.

Let me be very clear on the point of the irreversibility of the Paris Agreement: the European Union will not renegotiate the Paris Agreement. Now it is time for action, the world's priority is implementation.

The European Union is a climate leader and we will continue to lead through ambitious climate policies (we have the world's most ambitious climate target) and through continued support to the poorest and most vulnerable countries (we are the world's largest climate finance provider).And we are also leading in terms of emissions reductions.Overall, the EU has reduced emissions by 24% since 1990 while our economy has grown by 50%.

The clear message from this G7 Environment Ministerial is that, with the exception of the United States, we are all determined to move forwards and implement the Paris Agreement swiftly and effectively.

I would like to inform you that the European Union will host the fourth high-level Our Ocean Conference in Malta on 5 and 6 October 2017.

Allow me to conclude by confirming to Minister Galletti, our support to implement the decisions made here today and express my best wishes to Minister McKenna for Canada's Presidency in 2018.

Let me repeat President Juncker's words that, in Europe the planet comes first.

G7 Communique: http://www.minambiente.it/sites/default/files/archivio_immagini/Galletti/G7/communique_g7_environment_-_bologna.pdf

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G7 Environment Ministers' Meeting - Press Statement, on behalf of the European Union, by Commissioner Karmenu Vella - EU News

The European Union's executive will open legal cases against three Eastern members on Tuesday for failing to take in asylum seekers to relieve states on the front lines of the bloc's migration crisis, sources said.

The European Commission would agree at a regular meeting on Tuesday to send so-called letters of formal notice to Poland and Hungary, three diplomats and EU officials told Reuters. Two others said the Czech Republic was also on the list.

This would mark a sharp escalation of a dispute between Brussels and these states. Such letters are the first step in the so-called infringement procedures the Commission can open against EU states for failing to meet their legal obligations.

Representational image. Reuters

A Commission spokeswoman did not confirm or deny the executive would go ahead with the legal cases, but referred to an interview that Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker gave to the German weekly Der Spiegel last week.

"Those that do not take part have to assume that they will be faced with infringement procedures," he was quoted as saying.

Poland and Hungary have refused to take in a single person under a plan agreed in 2015 to relocate 160,000 asylum-seekers from Italy and Greece, which had been overwhelmed by a mass influx of people from the Middle East and Africa.

The bloc has fought two years of these bitter migration battles but the two southern states, backed by rich countries like Germany and Sweden that are the final destinations for many migrants arriving in the EU, have failed to force Warsaw and Budapest to change their policies.

The scheme has been a failure and fewer than 21,000 people have been moved so far. But only Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have not pledged to accept migrants.

That allows the Commission to single them out on that formal basis, rather than open legal cases against just about every EU state for failing to take in the whole of their assigned quota.

In his interview, Juncker said: "The decision hasn't been made yet, but I will say this: I am for it - not to make a threat, but to make clear that decisions that have been made are the applicable law ... At issue here is European solidarity, which cannot be a one-way street."

The bloc's divisive migration disputes have come at a time its unity and resolve are already being tested by Brexit, weak economies and higher support for populist, eurosceptic and nationalist-minded parties on the continent.

It pits the formerly communist easterners against the wealthy westerners and countries on the Mediterranean coast, with Italy leading calls to punish Poland and Hungary by taking away some of the generous EU funds they benefit from.

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Migrant crisis: European Union to probe migration refusal in Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic - Firstpost

She's been called a "dead woman walking." But U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to prove she's not only very much alive, but so are the negotiations to pull Britain out of the European Union, scheduled to start on June 19.

Following a disappointing election outcome, May's working to show she got the message, loud and clear. She's dropped her controversial co-chiefs of staff. She brought former leadership rival Michael Gove back into cabinet to bolster her position and help with Brexit negotiations. And she's consulting with Conservative MPs as she scrambles to unite her party heading into coalition talks with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

"Crucially I've brought in talent from across the whole of the Conservative Party," May explained. "This is the government that is going to be governing for everyone. We want a country that works for everyone, bringing that talent together to ensure that we can get on with the job of delivering the successful Brexit."

Now talk has turned to what kind Brexit that will be: hard, soft, or a so-called Norway-style deal that offers access to the European Economic Area to allow U.K. financial services to be "passported" into Europe.

"I don't think it necessarily means that the United Kingdom will be completely over a barrel with the European Union," said Matt Beech, Director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Hull.

"Because Mrs. May's in this mess, I don't think it necessarily means that the Conservative Party doesn't have a strong case to put to the EU simply because I believe personally that it's in the European Union's best interest to continue tariff-free trade with the United Kingdom as it is in the United Kingdom's interest."

But will Brexit even happen? One strategist is betting against it.

"Brexit is dead. Within six months, Theresa May will be out. She's as popular as the girl that brought a ham sandwich to a bat mitzvah," said Andrew Freris, CEO of Ecognosis Advisory. "We're not going to have a soft or a hard Brexit. We won't have a Brexit at all."

Freris said that's going to be bullish for sterling and the FTSE 100 in about six months' time, and "colossally bullish" for the European Union because they'll be able to use the failure of Britain to leave the EU as a warning for other nations considering an exit. Essentially, Freris thinks the kiss of death for the Brexit process is the coalition that looks set to govern the U.K. now that Prime Minister May's lost her majority.

"From an outsider looking in, the notion that potentially the event of the century in the U.K. is going to depend on ten Northern Irish MPs is beyond ludicrousness," he said. "It is completely irresponsible and absurd, and that's why it's not going to happen."

For now, though, Prime Minister May's keeping her stiff upper lip and pushing ahead. She's already huddled with her new cabinet. She's meeting Conservative MPs today as she works to maintain party unity. And on Tuesday, she sits down with Arlene Foster, the Democratic Unionist leader.

And while those Brexit talks are scheduled to start in a week's time, a fair number of people argue the next significant stop in this drama will be at the ballot box.

"I think the electorate is kind of lost, the country is mainly split between Brexiters and Remainers," said Philippe Le Corre, visiting fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution. "I would say 80 percent chance that there will be another election later this year or early next year."

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Betting against Brexit: Why one strategist says the UK won't leave the EU - CNBC

On Sunday, Ukrainians celebrated their first day of visa-free access to most of the EU's 28 nations following a measure adopted by the European Parliament in April and the European Council heads of government in May.

One of many elements of the EU-Ukraine association agreement signed in 2014, expanded access wasput on hold during themajor tensions that followed the overthrow of Russia-backed President Viktor Yanukovych that winter, and was further delayed after a 2016 referendum in the Netherlands initially rejected the pact.

Two weeks ago, the Dutch parliament backed a revised pact, which European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said could be finalized at a EU-Ukraine summit in July. If so, it is likely to come into force in September.

The new waiver allows one in 10 Ukrainians - those with biometric passports - to travel in the European Union without visas for up to 90 days in any 180-day periodfor tourism, business or family visits, but not to work.

Excluded from the setup are Britain and Ireland, but included are four non-EU Schengen zone members: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

In Kyiv late on Saturday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told a crowd that the new travel arrangement "symbolizes a final breakaway of our state from the Russian empire."

Poroshenkodescribed the moment as the onset of a "different historical era" and said Ukraine would now seek cheaper rail and aviation links withEU cities.

Ukrainians, some without visas, board a train from Kyiv to Poland

Ukraine's border authoritytold the news agency Interfax that 600 people with the new passports entered the European Union in the early hours of Sunday.

Contested borders

Ukraine's popular pro-EU uprising in 2014 was followed by Russia's annexation of Crimea and the imposition of Western sanctionson Moscow. Despite peace efforts involving German diplomats, since 2014fighting between pro-Russia separatists and government forcesin Ukraine's industrial east has claimed more than 10,000 lives and displaced many more people.

Since Saturday, four Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the most recent fighting, according to a report carried by the German news agency DPA.

Russian officials have often rejected claims that the Kremlin is arming the rebels.

In May, when the European Council finalized its visa waiver for Ukrainians, the EU announced thatthe measure contained a suspension mechanism "if there are serious migration or security issues with Ukraine."

Georgia, which fought a brief but bitter war with Russia in 2008, was granted a similar EU visa-free travel scheme that began in late March.

In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing passports issued by the self-declared Luhansk People's Republic and the Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine.

At the time, Poroshenko blasted the decree as a "violation by Russia of international law."

ipj/mkg (APF, dpa, Reuters)

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Ukrainians can now enter the European Union visa-free - Deutsche Welle

The 12th EU-Thailand Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) took place at the European External Action Service in Brussels on 9 June 2017. The EU side was chaired by Mr Gunnar Wiegand, Managing Director, Asia and the Pacific, European External Action Service. The Thai side was chaired by Mr Songphol Sukchan, Director-General of the Department of European Affairs, Royal Thai Foreign Ministry.

It was the first SOM since 2012. The EU and Thai senior officials held an open and friendly exchange on a broad range of issues of mutual interest with regard to the development of their relations. Prior to the SOM, the EU-Thailand Working Group on Trade and Investment was also convened.

The discussions included political, security, economic, trade, development cooperation, environmental as well as human rights issues in Thailand and the EU, together with regional and international matters. ASEAN integration and Thailand's role as ASEAN coordinator for the EU figured prominently in the meeting. The EU and Thailand remain committed to the global efforts against climate change and the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss, in particular, the on-going substantial and intense dialogues concerning illegal fishing (IUU), labour issues and prevention of human trafficking, as well as air safety and to underline the need to complete the implementation of the ongoing reforms. Both sides welcomed that Thailand and the European Union will hold the first negotiation round for a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) to strengthen cooperation on tackling illegal logging of timber and related trade later this month. Bilateral cooperation was also discussed on sustainable development, and science, technology and innovation.

Legislative preparations are being made for Thailand's general election which, with all the required processes being met in accordance with the timeline under the Constitution, could take place by the end of 2018. Against this background the two sides discussed not only the current cooperation, but also prospects for closer ties. The co-chairs concurred that the SOM was a significant step for facilitating future strengthened engagement and closer cooperation between the European Union and Thailand.

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12th European Union-Thailand Senior Officials' Meeting - EU News