MIDDAY BRIEF, IN BRIEF

Today at Commission, Turkey and diversity

The European Commission defends its record on diversity and says it’s already taking a tough line on North Korea.

After a week of tense Brexit negotiations, the European Commission was keen to move on and talk about a whole host of other subjects.

When Brexit did come up, Schinas stuck to the long-standing policy of refusing to comment. At the weekend, British media reported that EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the U.K. needs to be “educated” about the consequences of leaving the bloc.

“I was not there,” Schinas answered when asked to confirm Barnier’s comment, which was given in French. Barnier has denied the reports, hinting that there was a mistranslation of his statement.

Schinas also said he was not willing “to engage” when asked about a comment from David Davis, the U.K.’s Brexit secretary, that Barnier’s comments were “a bit silly.”

Margaritis Schinas, the Commission’s chief spokesman, said Tibor Navracsics, the commissioner for education, culture, youth and sport, is in Italy with European Parliament President Antonio Tajani. They are visiting the region of Norcia because Brussels is providing €1.2 billion of extra financial assistance and 230 volunteers from the European Solidarity Corps to the area, which was struck by several earthquakes over the past couple of years.

Schinas had less to say when asked if the Commission would side with German Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz, and to a lesser extent Chancellor Angela Merkel, who in an election debate on Sunday called for an end to EU accession talks with Turkey. Schulz was clear he wanted the membership talks stopped, while Merkel was far more cautious.

The spokesman repeated a statement given last week by Jean-Claude Juncker in which he said “Turkey is moving away in giant strides from Europe.”

Schinas added that it was not up to individual member countries to decide if EU accession talks should be ended, although he declined to describe how the process works.

Responding to a op-ed in POLITICO on a lack of diversity in the Commission, Schinas said it “does not discriminate on any grounds.”

Catherine Ray, the spokeswoman for foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, said the EU has “extensive” sanctions in place against North Korea after Pyongyang detonated what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb.

As some European leaders called for tougher sanctions, Ray said any “additional measures are a possible option but [a decision] will be taken by the Council.”

Finally, the Commission said it was “not aware of the details” of a report by the International Council on Clean Transportation, which claimed barely 10 percent of new cars in Europe respected EU emissions rules which came into force on September 1.