The money, which forms part of the EU’s Ukraine facility, will help Ukraine’s economy, as the country continues to fight against Russia.

The G7 group of the world’s biggest economies have earmarked an overall loan of $50 billion for Ukraine, serviced by profits generated by Russian assets immobilised in the West.

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The European Commission estimates the number of asylum applications reached 924,000 by the end of 2022 – the highest level since 2016 – while irregular border crossings tripled year-on-year to 330,000.

Notably, the asylum requests included citizens from countries considered official candidates to join the bloc, like Turkey, Albania, North Macedonia and Moldova.

The growing concern among member states came to the fore during a two-day informal meeting of interior ministers that took place in Stockholm this week.

“We have three times more asylum applications than irregular arrivals and these are overloading the reception capacities,” Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for home affairs, said on Thursday.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/01/27/eu-raises-the-alarm-on-soaring-asylum-requests-from-safe-countries

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He said this is one of the options Malaysians would consider to deal with the EU’s negative palm oil campaign that has been turned up a notch in recent years.

“If we need to engage experts from overseas to counter any decision made by the EU, we have to do it. The other option will be to stop exporting to Europe, and focus on other countries, if they keep making it difficult for us. We believe industry players in Europe will still import our palm oil,” he said at the Palm Oil Economic Review and Outlook Seminar 2023 on Thursday (Jan 12).

He added that Malaysia will involve Indonesia in the discussion — the world’s biggest producer and exporter of palm oil — in his upcoming work visit to the country at the end of January.

Fadillah further added that the EU’s new deforestation regulations also negate progress made by Malaysian palm oil players to comply with sustainable palm oil production rules.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.theedgemarkets.com/node/651492

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The ECB’s three key interest rates were each raised by 75 basis points.

“This major step frontloads the transition from the prevailing highly accommodative level of policy rates towards levels that will ensure the timely return of inflation to the ECB’s 2% medium-term target,” the bank’s Governing Body said in a statement.

It also flagged to markets that “over the next several meetings the Governing Council expects to raise interest rates further to dampen demand and guard against the risk of a persistent upward shift in inflation expectations.”

The move sees the ECB follow in the policy footstep of the US Federal Reserve which carried out two jumbo rate hikes of 0.75 points in June and July.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/09/08/european-central-bank-announces-largest-interest-rate-hike-in-bid-to-fight-inflation

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German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has called for the EU to halve the period that people recovering from COVID-19 can travel freely in the bloc to three months, citing the increased risk of reinfection with the new Omicron variant.

On Tuesday, EU member countries adopted a recommendation under which travelers within the EU should be considered recovered up to 180 days after overcoming a coronavirus infection. Germany had, before the talks, shortened that period to three months — and now Lauterbach wants the bloc to row back and follow the line taken by Berlin.

“After three months, a person who already caught the Delta variant can be re-infected with Omicron,” Lauterbach told ZDF public TV on Wednesday night.

“What we have been able to change in Germany we have also tried to change in Europe,” Lauterbach continued.

Studies show that the rapid spread of Omicron, which since being detected in southern Africa in November has gone on to become the dominant strain worldwide, is partly due to its improved ability to sidestep the immunity gained through vaccination or prior infection.

Germany’s daily caseload on Thursday topped 200,000 for the first time in the two-year-old pandemic.

The German health ministry faced a public backlash after the recovered status was shortened on January 15, catching many people unawares. While the vaccinated are not affected, many of the unjabbed who have recovered from COVID found their immunity certificates had become invalid overnight.

This article is part of POLITICO’s premium policy service: Pro Health Care. From drug pricing, EMA, vaccines, pharma and more, our specialized journalists keep you on top of the topics driving the health care policy agenda. Email pro@politico.eu for a complimentary trial.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/german-health-minister-wants-eu-to-shorten-recovered-period-to-three-months/

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The EU is aiding the Libyan Coast Guard by intercepting boats crossing the Mediterranean, and returning them to prisons where they face the possibility of forced labour or extortion. The EU’s policy includes boats in international waters, which human rights groups claim is a breach of human rights. Over 20,000 people are now being held in custody, which is up 7000 from September.

Europe turning into a dead end for desperate migrants

There are reports of violence, sexual assault and inhumane conditions in detention centres across Libya, where migrants are being detained before returning home. People have described beatings from guards as well as rape and sexual violence. The UN has urged Libyan authorities to take action to stop detaining migrants and put an end to the abuse of detainees.

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said that “We cannot be a silent witness to modern day slavery, rape and other sexual violence, and unlawful killings in the name of managing migration and preventing desperate and traumatized people from reaching Europe’s shores. The increasing interventions of the EU and its member states have done nothing so far to reduce the level of abuses suffered by migrants,” Hussein said, adding that instead, there appeared to be a “fast deterioration in their situation in Libya”.

These comments follow recent news that 13 European and African countries have pledged to improve conditions for migrants being held in Libya. Ministers from the countries impacted by the migration have expressed their concerns over the “ongoing human tragedy” of the Mediterranean route.”The participants intend to address the challenges posed by the alarming situation along the migration route to North Africa,” A representative from Switzerland said in a statement.

Is Europe exporting its refugee crisis to North Africa?

With the support of the EU, Italy has been training the Libyan coastguard to intercept more boats crossing the Mediterranean as part of a deal. This controversial deal has resulted in Italy’s arrivals falling 70% since July. The UN has criticized the EU for its role in deported migrants whilst knowing the conditions they face. The EU’s response to the UN’s statement is that Brussels is providing funding to protect those being held in Libya. “We believe that the detention centres in Libya must be closed. The situation in these camps is unacceptable,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Source: http://eu-policies.com/competences/regional-policy/un-says-eus-treatment-libyan-migrants-inhuman/

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Catalonia, one of Spain’s richest regions, is likely to declare independence from the southwestern European country next week. On October 1, more than two million Catalans voted in a referendum despite Madrid deeming it ‘unconstitutional’ and riot police lashing citizens to stop them from casting the ballot.

Over 900 civilians were injured in the clashes as Spain’s right-wing Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy chose force to stop the referendum spearheaded by Catalan secessionist leader Carles Puigdemont. Separatist leaders claim that a vast majority voted for independence and it seemed to have shaken Madrid.

Spain’s head of State King Felipe VI was prompt to back Rajoy in junking the referendum, saying it was ‘outside the law’ and a ‘display of unaccepted loyalty’. Last Friday, the government blocked Catalan parliament from declaring independence.

But Madrid’s knee-jerk attempts to stop the breakaway will only push the Catalans more towards independence, Peruvian-British journalist Daniel Hannan wrote in The Spectator.

Tongue-tied EU

As protests and violence paralysed Catalonia, plunging Spain into the darkest constitutional crisis it has seen since the military coup attempt of 1982, the European Union (EU) refused to lift a finger to help better things and steered clear of a blame game. All that a timid EU Commission said was – ‘Violence can never be an instrument in politics’.

Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, tweeted after meeting Rajoy on October 2 – ‘Sharing his constitutional arguments, I appealed for finding ways to avoid further escalation and use of force’.

Some may attribute this dull response to the choppy waters the world’s largest political-economic bloc is sailing through. Brexit pushed the EU into 18 months of chaos, public debt looms large, coastal countries are struggling with refugee crisis, economic mood is glum, growth rate is stuttering and unemployment increasing.

The geopolitical environment too is turning unhealthy with Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan upset with the EU for rejecting the country’s membership. US President Donald Trump is openly urging others to follow Brexit.

Mend for Unity

Sixty years after its birth, disintegration stares EU in the face and its supporters say the only way to save the bloc is by tightening ties and shunning its one-size-fits-all attitude. Some argue that the Catalan crisis was the opportunity for the EU to regain the trust of its voters who frown upon its illiberalism, and contain the growing Euroscepticism.

Instead, the bloc threatened Catalonia that quitting Spain would mean quitting the bloc – further fuelling the secessionist sentiment.

“Someone needs to tell the Catalan people the truth. If you contest the law to abandon Spain, you also need to know that you abandon the EU,” spokesperson of the European People’s Party, the largest party in European Parliament, said.

But, this is hardly a threat because “a breakaway country would have to reapply for membership, which obviously makes independence less attractive for the people who would like to leave,” argues Anton La Guardia, deputy foreign editor of The Economist.

A Powerhouse

Moreover, the EU is in no position to threaten an economic powerhouse like Catalonia. The region contributes to nearly 20% of Spain’s GDP and it has Barcelona — the biggest port in the Mediterranean and the world’s fourth largest cruise ship destination.

Catalonia is also home to top business schools such as ESADE and IESE and has an established tradition of business competence. It is because of Catalonia that Spain is the fourth major power in the EU. This is also why Spain does not want to part with it.

Fundamental Flaws

Another reason the EU has remained tongue-tied on the crisis is that it does not have a mechanism in place to deal with a dispute of this kind. The Catalan vote was ‘not legal’ and the issue was ‘an internal matter for Spain’, the EU Commission said.

Article 4.2 of the Lisbon Treaty (signed in 2009) states that EU ‘shall respect’ the ‘essential State functions of its members’, including ‘territorial integrity’ and ‘maintaining law and order’. This means ‘the EU has no power over how a member State decides to organise itself or its constituent regions,’ French journalist Natalie Nougayrede wrote in The Guardian.

This exposes the flaws in the bloc’s very fundamentals. Many say this needs to be fixed, but no one wants to get their hands dirty.

Even founding members Germany and France have not said much to cool the outrage pouring on Catalonia’s streets. Primarily because Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party is an ally of the ruling party in Spain and France’s President Emmanuel Macron is all for Spain’s ‘constitutional integrity’.

Cracks Deepening

In its 60 years, the EU has only known expansion and probably never foresaw disintegration. Now, the Catalan referendum seems to have ‘deepened the cracks in its plan for greater integration, driving debate around identity across the continent,’ says economist Franz Bushca, Professor at Westminster Business School, in the Quartz.

Secessionist sentiment is rife in many richer parts of Europe — Scotland in the UK, Flanders in Belgium, Corsica in France, Bavaria in south Germany and northern Italy to name a few.

On Exit Path

Poland, where national sovereignty is a fundamental issue, seems to take cues from Britain. Its argument is that the EU should allow member nations to have a say in planning the union’s future. It also wants a stronger autonomy from EU institutions.

“There is a quiet revolution happening with the countries left in the EU, countries like Poland and Hungary are standing up for themselves and they are looking towards Britain and Brexit. The last thing we want is a Europe dominated by the EU,” says Robert Oulds, a British Conservative politician.

Ireland, Denmark, Lithuania and Sweden could be next to leave the EU. The situation is such that it is not hard to predict that another member nation could copy a Brexit, points out The Economist.

It is still not late to save Catalonia – give it greater autonomy, power to keep its taxes and more protection for the Catalan language. Indirectly, the EU can help with this by junking its rigid reforms and introducing a ‘multi-tier or multi-speed’ system, which will help address grievances at a more microscopic level.

Hands down, the Catalan crisis has exposed the EU’s political limits. The bloc is fighting its illiberal reforms and the resulting rise in nationalism. “It is no longer unthinkable for the EU to break apart,” said Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s Foreign Affairs Minister.

Time to Unite

In fact, the three pro-Europe bigwigs – Tusk, Macron and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission – have been fighting among themselves to become the saviour of the EU.

This was evident at recent digital meet hosted by Estonia. While organisers banned Brexit and EU discussions at the meet, saying the topics were way too serious for such a platform, Macron put his foot down to debate on the EU budget.

But Tusk managed to have the last word by saying: “First and foremost, I will do everything in my power to keep the unity of the EU. Secondly, I will concentrate on finding real solutions to real problems of our citizens, who are concerned about security, migration or unemployment. And finally, we will all make sure that Europe is making progress”.

It is now more than ever that the 28-member union (soon to be 27 with Britain leaving) needs enhanced cooperation to overcome sluggish markets, silence anti-EU voices, keep the euro alive and tackle the threat of a possible political accident.

Juncker recently proposed new electoral processes, a joint EU army and an expansion of the eurozone, which could be a new starting point for discussions towards a more cohesive European Union.

Source: https://telanganatoday.com/european-union-stares-disintegration

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Spanish police used batons and rubber bullets against voters in Catalonia on Sunday in a bid to disrupt the banned referendum, with the government in Madrid refusing to accept the validity of the vote.

Barcelona metro stations were closed, pickets blocked main roads and civil servants walked out today after pro-independence groups called for a strike while the Spanish government refuse to acknowledge the referendum result, which was 90.1 per cent in favour of independence.

Now, Mr Farage has lambasted the EU for failing to condemn the violence in Spain despite pleas from officials in Catalonia, instead simply reiterating the Spanish government’s line that the referendum is not valid.

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PARIS

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Few regulators have been as happy to take on corporate interests as the European Union in recent years

What has been most remarkable is the willingness of European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager to tackle companies from across the Atlantic with the likes of Apple and Google all on the receiving end of heavy fines.

The EU’s inclination to act as the world’s corporate enforcer is likely to be expanded into the realms of privacy and data protection through a new law coming into effect early next year. Experts say that law could have big ramifications for the travel industry.

The new General Data Protection Regulation was approved in April 2016 and will become enforceable across the 28 member states on May 25, 2018.

“The basic principles of data protection law remain the same – the key ones perhaps being that people’s personal information should be treated fairly and securely; it should be kept up-to-date and accurate; it shouldn’t be used for different purposes to those for which it was collected; it should only be transferred to countries outside the European Economic Area which offer an adequate level of protection,” said Jon Baines, Chair of the UK’s National Association of Data Protection Officers.

While the update may keep some things the same, one of the big differences over the previous incarnation is the increased territorial scope.

Any company found flouting these new data protection laws will be punished regardless of where it is based — and the fines could be pretty heavy. A breach of the rules could see fines of up to 4% of annual global turnover or $23.8 million (€20 million), whichever is greatest.

“If you look at the field of competition law, for example, you can honestly say the only level at which the Gooogles, Facebooks and Microsofts have been held back is at the level of the EU. So there is some hope that EU-level legislation on this [data protection] would actually have a serious effect on these internet giants,” said Eerke Boiten, a professor in cyber security at De Montfort University.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE
What the EU is doing is handing greater control to the individual, something it has been keen to do in many other areas.

The balance is being tipped toward the consumer especially when it comes to consent. Companies will need to be clearer in their requests for information.

“The new law makes it clearer that if organizations are relying on someone’s consent to process their personal information, the consent should be valid – i.e. it should have been given unambiguously,” said Baines. “People should never feel ‘tricked’ into giving their consent.”

Consumers will be able to freely request information held on them and also ask for it to be deleted – also known as the right to be forgotten.

“The new regulations are here to protect consumer rights,” said Geoff Milton, director of sales at cloud security service ShieldQ. “This will force a shift in power from companies to consumers.”

TRAVEL’S DATA PROBLEM
It is not difficult to understand why this update to the law should be of interest to travel and hospitality firms. Every day the sector handles and processes vast amounts of data, some of which is sensitive.

“The travel industry is considered one of the most vulnerable sectors to data threats, because they process such high volumes of personal data, passports and credit card information on behalf of their clients,” said Milton.

Each corporate and leisure travel transaction can see information passed between multiple firms, creating plenty of opportunity for leakage or breaches.

“I think it will have a big effect on the travel industry,” said Jonathan Armstrong, a lawyer at Cordery, which provides legal and compliance advice to businesses.

“Firstly the industry shares a lot of data — for example, if my employer books me a hotel, maybe about seven different entities share my data, e.g. the hotel booking agency, the hotel, the brand owner, the affiliate card provider, etc.,” he said. “Secondly, companies tend to outsource a lot of travel management. They are likely to be much more aggressive on compliance because of the greater fines and this means upgraded compliance will spread throughout the industry.”

In recent years, there have been plenty of instances of hotel breaches. InterContinental Hotels Group, Trump Hotels, and Hilton Hotels have all been targeted, and the fact that the attacks didn’t happen in the EU is irrelevant given that they are all likely to either hold or process data from some citizens.

“In the hospitality industry, the challenges are huge given that almost every hotel property is likely to be held responsible for private information and card data of European citizens,” said Milton.

Source: https://skift.com/2017/09/22/the-european-union-is-preparing-to-get-tough-on-data-protection/

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