"Another blow for Energy Charter Treaty as Luxembourg announces exit

Luxembourg has decided to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty following in the footsteps of Germany, France, the Netherlands and others who have recently announced their exit from the controversial 1990s charter.

In force sinc"

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"e 1998, the treaty, which has 53 signatories including the European Union, allows investors to sue governments over policies that jeopardise their investments and expected profits.

But a growing number of EU countries have decried the ECT for violating the goals of the Paris Agreement by offering legal protection to climate-wrecking fossil fuels.

Germany, preceded by France, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, have recently announced their intention to withdraw from the treaty, citing the charter’s incompatibility with EU climate goals.

Luxembourg has now come to the same conclusion.

“Today, Luxembourg is exiting the Energy Charter Treaty. This is what the government council has decided today, based on my proposition,” the country’s Energy Minister Claude Turmes said in comments posted on Twitter.

“Even if the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty leads to some progress, the treaty is still not compatible with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, as it continues to protect investments in fossil and nuclear energies,” Turmes explained.

The ECT was conceived after the collapse of the USSR, at a time when investors were wary of putting their money in the former Soviet bloc. It was designed to promote energy security by fostering open markets and investments in the newly independent states.

However, the European Commission acknowledged that the treaty had been rendered “outdated” by the Paris Agreement to curb climate change and needed to be reformed.

In June, the EU executive announced a breakthrough in talks to reform the ECT, which will be submitted for approval to the treaty’s 53 signatories during a conference of the parties due to take place on 22 November.

Unanimity is needed to pass a new text. But with a growing number of countries planning to withdraw, it is uncertain if the EU will be in a position to back the reformed text at the ECT conference next week.

Blow for reformists

The announcement by Luxembourg is a severe blow for those supporting the treaty’s modernisation process.

Turmes used to be among the most vocal critics of the treaty but backtracked in February last year, shortly before a Luxembourg official, Guy Lentz, was appointed to lead the ECT secretariat in Brussels.

Since then, he had made the case for reforming the treaty, saying EU countries were “a major force” among the signatories, making 65% of the secretariat’s budget.

“An EU withdrawal would be seen as a major diplomatic failure and a step back in the climate ambition” of the EU, Turmes argued at the time.

Luxembourg backtracks on Energy Charter Treaty withdrawal

Claude Turmes, the Grand Duchy’s energy minister who used to be at the forefro

"EU car manufacturing regions to collaborate in move towards electric vehicles

As the automotive industry shifts from combustion engine vehicles to cleaner technology, regional governments warn of increased competition between automotive regions for a decreasing number of jobs. To prevent this, they"

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" are calling for greater collaboration.

Earlier this year, carmaker Ford outraged trade unions by pitting two of its factories against each other in an internal competition to be transformed into an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer.

Jobs in the car industry are expected to decline as the sector shifts away from internal combustion engines, which consist of many more parts than their electric equivalents, meaning such situations could increase.

But a new alliance of automotive regions in the EU refuses to eye each other purely as competitors for a decreasing number of jobs. Instead, they want to collaborate, learning from each other on how to retrain workers, strengthen regional development, and create new jobs beyond the automotive sector.

“We have to approach this transformation positively,” EU Employment Commissioner Nicolas Schmit said at the first working meeting of the Automotive Regions Alliance in Leipzig, a group of 29 EU regions that host automotive sector factories.

“Positive, of course, also means that we have to give people confidence. Many employees have the feeling or the fear that they may be left behind in this transformation, that they will not be taken along. In principle, that is not the case, but the risk exists,” said Schmit.

“Europe is […] about learning from each other and working together,” the Commissioner added.

EU finalises deal spelling death of diesel and petrol cars

European Union legislators agreed to a deal late Thursday evening (27 October) requiring new cars and vans to be zero-emission as of 2035, a momentous agreement that sets Europe on a trajectory to a largely electric automotive future.

Competition for a decreasing number of car jobs

As the EU looks to phase out petrol and diesel cars, demand for combustion engine parts is decreasing, while other parts of the sector – notably producing batteries as well as building and maintaining charging infrastructure – will see employment rising.

The problem, a report from the think-tank Next Economy Lab’ says, is that the new jobs often require different skills than those disappearing and might not geographically match with lay-offs in the disappearing parts of the industry.

Not only will future employment be dispersed differently among the continent, but it might also be less in total. Some 600,000 jobs related to the combustion engine “will be destroyed” in the transition towards electric vehicles, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton warned in a recent interview with POLITICO.

His colleague, Employment Commissioner Schmit, acknowledged the size of the challenge, saying that it will not be a “one-to-one replacement of jobs with electric mo

"Tech Brief: ePrivacy strikes back, the Netherlands’ early AI move

Welcome to EURACTIV’s Tech Brief, your weekly update on all things digital in the EU. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.

“Providers of electronic communications networks and services shall be permitted to process electron"

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"ic communications data only if it is strictly necessary.”

-Join non-paper on the ePrivacy Regulation by the European Parliament’s rapporteur and Czech Presidency of the EU Council

Story of the week: After months of slow-cooking technical discussions, the Czech Presidency and Parliament rapporteur tried to tackle the core of the ePrivacy Regulation, Chapter 2, with a joint non-paper on the articles related to electronic communications data, metadata and content, obtained in exclusive by EURACTIV. Metadata is a particularly contentious issue, in particular, location data that member states want to be able to access in some cases like emergencies. The article on compatible processing of electronic communications metadata was put off the table following opposition from Birgit Sippel. At the same time, the thorny issue of data retention was also put on hold.

Still, the question is whether the leading negotiators can push the much-delayed file out of its deadlock. The momentum is not on their side: on Wednesday, there was a shadow meeting to discuss the compromise, and only two shadows showed up. The political groups had until today to provide written comments, which are expected to be extensive. The coming months will be decisive if the file is to see the light before the end of the mandate or face a likely withdrawal by the next Commission.

Don’t miss: In the wake of a major scandal in the Netherlands, in which a faulty algorithm led authorities to accuse thousands of fraud falsely, the Hague is pushing for several early measures for the public sector ahead of the new EU’s rulebook that will also apply to private entities. As part of an expansive working agenda, the Dutch minister for digitalisation told EURACTIV that the Netherlands would anticipate essential aspects of the AI Act, in terms of transparency, human rights vetting right to complain for algorithms used by the public sectors, which will need to be registered on a public database and be subject to a new supervisory authority. Read more.

Also, this week:

The Czech Presidency introduced some last-minute changes to the AI Act’s text ahead of COREPER’s green light.

No general approach to the Data Act is expected under this Presidency, as the Czechs will have to settle for a progress report.

There might be a compromise in sight on the controversial cybersecurity cloud certification scheme.

Tensions are coming to a head on the platform worker file as both co-legislators try to finalise their positions.

Enforcement and scope of the political ads regulation were at the centre of a new EU Council’s text.

EU institutions reached an agreement on the new satellite-based communications s

"The Brief — An ugly backdrop to the beautiful game

We need some cheer as Europe faces a bleak mid-winter. With Russia’s war in Ukraine still raging on and Europeans set for months of struggles to pay ever-higher food and heating bills, we are certainly entitled to a bit of light relief.

The World "

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"Cup in Qatar, which kicks off on Sunday, appears well-timed to help many of us get through the next six weeks. But for those who love football, it is impossible not to feel distinctly queasy about the tournament and, specifically, where it is hosted.

The numerous and well-documented allegations that multi-million dollar bribes were paid to members of FIFA’s executive committee in exchange for votes – though Qatar’s bid team deny any impropriety – are just the tip of a larger iceberg.

Qatar is not the first country to have bought the right to host a World Cup. Decades of endemic corruption within football’s governing body, FIFA, made kickbacks an established method of obtaining the sport’s biggest and most lucrative prize.

Nor is Qatar the first autocratic state to engage in sports washing to give the false impression of an open, progressive and welcoming country. History is littered with examples of dictatorships using the World Cup, the Olympics and other events to burnish their image on the world stage.

Four years ago, Putin’s Russia – which like the Emirati state, also has an appalling record on LGBT and human rights – hosted the competition.

The largely unreformed ‘kafala’ system, which applies to around 90% of the over two million foreign workers from the likes of Nepal, Bangladesh and India, and Africa, who massively outnumber Qatari citizens, amounts to little more than modern slavery.

Similarly, the deaths of migrant workers killed on the job and estimated by civil society groups at over 6,000 cannot simply be wished away by the Qatari spin team, their apologists and the government’s denials.

The competition is too precious and too lucrative for any team to have seriously entertained the idea of boycotting it, though a sizeable minority of fans will not watch the games.

Several teams, including Germany, England, Denmark, the Netherlands and the US, plan to demonstrate their support for LGBT rights. A number of EU leaders have indicated that they will only attend if their country’s team reaches the final. This is little more than token resistance though it will, at least, make a PR point.

Hopefully, FIFA and other sports authorities will get the message.

As Pele said, football is a beautiful game. The question is, how ugly can its backdrop get before football fans are put off?

Today’s edition is powered by Save the Children

For Child Health Week 2022, we ask EU policymakers: is there anything more important than helping save a child’s life?

The EU wields enormous power to help children across the world be healthy and happy, safe from harm and hunger.

Here’s what can be done >>

The Roundup

Luxembourg has decided to

"Unwrapping the EU’s packaging law proposal

An overhaul of the EU packaging and packaging waste directive (PPWD), the main EU-level instrument dealing with how food packaging is placed on the market and requirements for its end-of-life, is due 30 November.

But a leaked draft of the proposal has bee"

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"n met with consternation by stakeholders.

In this Event Report, EURACTIV takes a closer look at what this PPWD entails and what impact its contents will have on the agrifood sector.

MEP: ‘Ideologically driven’ EU packaging law endangers food value chain

Interview | Agrifood Nov 18, 2022

An ideologically driven EU packaging law based on rigid targets could end up endangering the food packaging and the food system value chain, Finnish MEP Elsi Katainen told EURACTIV in an interview.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/special_report/unwrapping-the-eus-packaging-law-proposal/?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9715&pnespid=7_c.GCUWK.gK0faQoj7lTo2TtQ.xRoV1N7e9nvVutB1mk4khcBA4icAkcOsV.A0tTDdmPYykng

"

"MEP: ‘Ideologically driven’ EU packaging law endangers food value chain

This article is part of our special report Unwrapping the EU’s packaging law proposal.

An ideologically driven EU packaging law based on rigid targets could end up endangering the food packaging and the food system value chain"

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", Finnish MEP Elsi Katainen told EURACTIV in an interview.

An overhaul of the EU packaging and packaging waste directive (PPWD), the main EU-level instrument dealing with how food packaging is placed on the market and requirements for its end-of-life, is due 30 November.

But a leaked draft of the proposal has been met with consternation by stakeholders, including the liberal lawmaker.

“I am concerned that the Commission is pushing forward a regulation that is not necessarily based on evidence and is driven by ideology,” she told EURACTIV.

The MEP particularly took umbrage with the fact that the draft proposal places too strong an emphasis on reusable packaging, despite the fact this is “robust evidence and data available that reusable packaging is not the best option in all settings,” such as in quick service restaurants.

For Katainen, the ideology against the use of biomass in recyclable products is “hard to understand” given that EU forests are sustainably managed, which the MEP defined as meaning forests are “grow[ing] more than they are harvested”.

As such, there is a risk that the new legislation may in fact increase the amount of plastic packaging in the EU market, she said.

In this way, the leaked proposal seems “contrary to the long-standing goal of the EU’s Green Deal agenda,” she said, stressing the need for the circular economy to be front and centre of the proposal.

EU’s draft reuse targets for packaging meets barrage of criticism from industry

A leaked draft of the EU’s new packaging law, seen by EURACTIV, has caused uproar among the industry, which says it risks undermining years of efforts and billions of euros worth of investments into recycling.

Food value chain ‘at risk’

Some of the targets in the draft include 30% of reusable packaging for cold and hot beverages by 2030 and 95% by 2040, as well as 20% of takeaway ready-prepared food by 2030 and 75% by 2040

According to the MEP, an ill-conceived proposal based on rigid targets could have far-reaching consequences for the agri-food chain.

“By unrealistic thresholds, the Commission will put food packaging and the food system value chain at risk,” she warned, stressing the need for “more concreteness” about the role of packaging in food security.

Instead, the Commission should take a more holistic approach to the food systems value chain, including food packaging, she said, stressing its crucial role in ensuring food safety and food availability.

Food packaging has also a role in preventing food waste which, for the MEP, is not given enough attention.

Stressing that as much as a third of all food goes to waste, she said that food packaging can “help reduce food w

"Russia warms to US prisoner swap for arms trader Bout

Russia said on Friday (18 November) it hoped to clinch a prisoner swap with the United States to return convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death”, in an exchange that would likely include US basketball star "

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"Brittney Griner.

Amid the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two, Russia and the United States are exploring a deal that could see imprisoned Americans including Griner return to the United States in exchange for Bout.

“I want to hope that the prospect not only remains but is being strengthened, and that the moment will come when we will get a concrete agreement,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by Interfax.

“The Americans are showing some external activity, we are working professionally through a special channel designed for this,” Ryabkov said. “Viktor Bout is among those who are being discussed, and we certainly count on a positive result.”

Who is Viktor Bout, arms dealer linked to swap for Americans held by Moscow?

The life of Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer jailed in the United States and linked to a possible swap for two US citizens detained by Moscow, sometimes reads like a far-fetched spy thriller.

For the two former Cold War foes, now grappling with the gravest confrontation since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the exchange would mark one of the more extraordinary prisoner swaps in their history.

The distinctly upbeat remarks from Ryabkov, the foreign ministry’s point man for the Americas and arms control, contrast with previous statements from Moscow which have cautioned Washington against trying to engage in megaphone diplomacy over the prisoner swap.

The possible swap includes Griner, facing nine years behind bars in Russia after being convicted on drug charges, and Paul Whelan who is serving a 16-year sentence in Russia after being convicted of espionage charges that he denies.

US basketball star Griner's 9-year drug sentence upheld in Russia

A Russian court on 25 October dismissed US basketball star Brittney Griner’s appeal against a 9-year sentence for possessing and smuggling vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, in a court case that Washington has called “sham.”

Bout for Griner

Variously dubbed “the merchant of death” and “the sanctions buster” for his ability to get around arms embargoes, Bout was one of the world’s most wanted men prior to his 2008 arrest on multiple charges related to arms trafficking.

For almost two decades, Bout was one of the world’s most notorious arms dealers, selling weaponry to rogue states, rebel groups and murderous warlords in Africa, Asia and South America.

But in 2008, Bout was snared in an elaborate US sting.

Bout was caught on camera agreeing to sell undercover US agents posing as representatives of Colombia’s leftist FARC guerrillas 100 surface-to-air missiles, which they would use to kill US troops. Shortly afterwards, he was a

"Council to negotiate increasing EU border agency’s presence in Western Balkans

The European Council announced on Friday (18 November) that it has green-lit negotiations on increasing the presence of Frontex, the EU border agency, in Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.

The inter"

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"national agreement under negotiation would allow Frontex to “exercise executive powers” such as border checks and registrations.

Broadening Frontex’s mandate in the region would be to “assist those countries to manage migration flows, counter illegal immigration and to tackle cross border crime”, according to the Council.

The border agency previously held a similar agreement with Albania, Montenegro and Serbia, however, the deals gave Frontex a limited mandate. The agency could only carry out “joint operations” and “deploy teams in the region of those countries bordering the EU”.

The upcoming negotiations will seek to increase Frontex’s executive powers in the region.

Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan said that this negotiation aims to “detect and block irregular migration movements early on”. The Balkan route is the second most popular path asylum-seekers and other immigrants use to arrive in the EU, with most coming from Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

According to Frontex, illegal crossings in the Balkans route doubled in 2021, in comparison with the previous year.

However, UN agencies in the field have denounced the harsh treatment directed at new arrivals by the border police of the Balkan countries.

In February 2022, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi criticised the high rates of abuse targeted towards people trying to cross borders, particularly on the Western Balkans route, as a practice that is normalising the illegal pushbacks.

UN warns pushbacks of migrants in Europe becoming 'normalised'

The UN refugee chief voiced alarm Monday (22 February) at increasing violence against refugees and migrants at European borders, warning that rights abuses and illegal pushbacks across frontiers risked becoming “normalised”.

Médicines Sans Frontières, one NGO working in the field, denounced the illegal pushback at the border between Serbia and Hungary in the summer of 2022. People were “denied access to basic services, beaten and humiliated in their attempts to cross the border”, the NGO wrote.

In February 2021, four Italian MEPs conducted a monitoring trip to the border with Croatia and Bosnia, however, Croatian police blocked them from crossing the border.

Four Italian MEPs stopped at Croatian-Bosnian border

Four Italian MEPs from the Democratic Party (PSE) – Piero Bartolo, Brando Benifei, Pierfrancesco Majorino, and Alessandra Moretti – who were checking the Croatian-Bosnian border near Bojna, where violence and arbitrary rejections of migrants were reported by NGOs and media …

The EU Commission will begin negotiations with the four countries. Once a bilateral agreement is reached, the adoption will b

"Czech presidency commits to follow up on EU rare diseases action plan

This article is part of our special report Czech presidency and pharmaceutical legislation.

The Czech Presidency of the EU Council said it will cooperate with forthcoming Council presidencies to create an EU action plan for rare"

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" diseases.

Read the original Czech article here.

In the EU, about 30 million citizens in Europe are affected by more than 6,000 various rare diseases, of which only a fraction have available treatments.

During its time at the helm of the rotating presidency of the EU Council, the Czechs sought to push for the creation of an EU action plan for rare diseases, seeking additional financing from other countries to ensure that there are no ‘second-class patients’.

“A European action plan on rare diseases is a big issue for the Czech presidency,” Czech Deputy Health Minister Jakub Dvořáček said in Brussels in October.

However, there is still a way to go before significant progress is made. A proposal to revise the orphan medicinal products legislation is scheduled for 2023, and the final meeting of health ministers for this Council rotation, slated for 9 December, is set to instead focus on the health data space and cancer screening.

“If we will not manage to have this launch during our time, I can assure you we will work on that with our Swedish colleagues and incoming presidencies and I believe it will happen,” said Dvořáček.

“We all have to make sure that in the upcoming years we do not abandon a goal we have been working on for a long time,” he added.

Health experts challenge inequitable distribution of new medicines across EU

As the EU seeks to ensure that patients across all its countries have access to modern, affordable medicines in sufficient quantities, experts warn that the current system is financially unsustainable and call for a change.

Regulation as a cornerstone

Before the start of the millennium, rare diseases were not systematically tackled in Europe, which was reflected in the number of drugs developed – close to zero. But regulations introduced in 2000 and 2007 on orphan drugs and paediatric medicines shifted the picture: To date, over 160 therapies for rare diseases have received approval.

The incentive system should remain predictable, while stimulating innovation and making Europe more competitive globally, stakeholders urged.

“We must not resort to the dogmatism of increasing or decreasing incentives. It is about doing what will entice investment where it is needed. That is the role of regulation,” said Yann Le Cam, executive director of EURORDIS, the patient umbrella organisation for rare diseases.

Some have proposed making incentives conditional on the availability of drugs in all European markets. However, the industry says such an “experiment” cannot work, as many countries do not have the infrastructure in place to use the new drugs properly and efficiently, and such an obligation will only deter investors.

"France pledges €20bn in tech, energy innovation before 2024

France will invest a total of around €20 billion into the technology and energy transition over this year and the next, according to a preliminary assessment of October 2021’s France 2030 plan, presented by the government on Friday (18 Nov"

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"ember).

Read the original French article here.

With over €10 billion expected to be invested into supporting innovation and assisting the industry’s transition as part of the France 2030 plan this year, the government has pledged to invest the same amount for 2023. In 2022, the money funded approximately 1,700 projects.

“France 2030 provides the means to make history today,” French President Emmanuel Macron stated in the brochure press received at the announcement of the plan for 2023.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told Les Echos that it is now “more important than ever to accelerate the implementation”.

While Macron’s initial France 2030 pledge came to €30 billion when he first announced the plan last year, the total pledge has now reached €54 billion, of which €8.4 billion has already been allocated for 2022.

Macron presents France's 2030 objectives, backed by €30 billion

French President Emmanuel Macron presented a massive investment plan, “France 2030”, on Tuesday (12 October). Backed by €30 billion, the plan will support innovation in flagship projects such as small-scale nuclear reactors and the first low-carbon aircraft.

Energy innovation

For energy, the government announced investments worth €169 million for the year. However, in reality, energy projects are slated to benefit from over €5.7 billion that targeted towards investment funds, research, company support, transport and raw materials.

The funds are to be distributed in such a way that, by 2030, half will be devoted to decarbonising the economy, while the other should go to emerging players and innovators “with no negative impact on the environment”.

The remaining €1.6 billion has not yet been allocated for 2023.

The goal is to “have committed €20 billion by the end of 2023”, said Borne, who on Friday attended the Charles Fabry laboratory at the University of Paris-Saclay, currently receiving France 2030 funds for a quantum computer project.

In other words, two-thirds of the €30 billion initially announced for 2030 have already been invested in the span of just two years.

Financing for the NUWARD project, as well as three other “identified” projects for the creation of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), which are among the flagship projects Macron announced last year, will be secured next year, the government also announced as it presented the preliminary assessment.

Funding for the projects will start at the end of the first quarter of 2023, with the goal of building the first SMR in 2030.

This should reduce costs for the nuclear industry and “allow many countries to replace their thermal power plants (gas and coal) of similar capacity to decarbonise their