A Houston resident walks through waist deep water while evacuating her home after severe flooding | Win McNamee/Getty Images

MIDDAY BRIEF, IN BRIEF

Today at Commission, Hurricane Harvey and Polish justice

The EU’s satellite program has been asked to assess the damage caused in Texas.

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European commissioners will spend Thursday and Friday discussing the Commission’s priorities for the year ahead and preparing Jean-Claude Juncker’s State of the Union speech, which he’ll give in Strasbourg on September 13, chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Wednesday.

The Commission also announced that the U.S. had requested help in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The U.S. wants the EU’s satellite program Copernicus to provide maps so it can assess the damage caused in Texas.

Maja Kocijančič, spokeswoman for the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, said Washington had asked for EU help four times since 2012 and the bloc also provided assistance after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Schinas declined to provide a timetable for when the Commission will respond to Poland over its changes to the justice system. The Polish foreign ministry on Monday said it had provided “exhaustive clarifications” to the Commission. Schinas also refused to confirm if the commissioners will discuss Poland.

The spokesman said the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier is not expected to meet former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the European Commission headquarters on Thursday. Last week, the Commission announced that Blair would meet Commission President Juncker at 11:30 a.m. on the final day of the latest round of Brexit talks.

Authors:
Quentin Ariès 

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