European Union

At last: the international community, meeting in New York last month, finally acknowledged the need for coordinated action and an international agreement on how to handle the unprecedented wave of migration that has hit Europe and elsewhere.

A year ago, those countries most severely affected appealed for support. Now, the idea that this is an issue that affects everybody has caught on at the United Nations. But the end result of the Summit for Refugees and Migrants held on 19 September is, frankly, disappointing: in short, delegates decided to decide. They agreed to sign up to two global conventions – one on migrants and one on refugees – by 2018. Rather than a culmination, the meeting was a starting point; now it is up to all stakeholders, including those in civil society, to ensure that the journey towards these agreements continues until the goal is reached.

AVSI, a development NGO created in 1972, will keep up the pressure. We began our work in the fringes of the UN summit, drawing attention to our priorities and our practical experiences.

In the first instance, this means paying attention to people. Their personal experiences bring “good” and practical indications to the entire international community. For example, Cyprian Kaliunga comes from a Kenyan village affected by famine, cholera and malnutrition. He founded a school, formed a group of 700 families and started the largest dairy in the district thanks to AVSI’s Distance Support Programme. He has changed the face of his village and reduced or removed a ‘push’ factor for migration.

“The UN meeting was not a culmination, but a starting point; now it is up to all to continue the journey until the goal is reached”

Take Sultan Fawaz Jalloul, from Idlib, Syria. For five years, he has lived in a tent – with his wife and five sons – in an informal settlement in Lebanon. Thanks to a cash-for-work project, promoted by Italian development cooperation in collaboration with local authorities, Sultan has been able to work and to contribute to forest management in southern Lebanon. He has not (yet) been forced to cross the Mediterranean, risking his own life and those of his children.

What have we learnt from these experiences?

Migrants and refugees have special stories. They are not just numbers. And migration brings continents closer together, requiring them to work together at different stages of the migration journey.

In the countries of origin, we must promote business initiatives and local leadership, which ignites development in areas where poverty would otherwise force people to leave. Above all, we need to support education, which generates employment opportunities and helps to ensure peaceful coexistence.

In transit countries, we also need to focus on education for children and job opportunities for adults who still hope to go back home.

“Migrants and refugees have special stories. They are not just numbers. And migration brings continents closer together, requiring them to work together”

And in host countries, such as those in Europe, we must support projects for those who are arriving and those who are staying, helping people to become autonomous and to integrate. This means providing schooling, scholarships and training.

But the most important aspect is that these different interventions should be considered together. They support each other: if one falls, they all fall.

At the same time these experiences tell that no-one can even think of being able to face this challenge alone. It takes the involvement of all those affected by the migration phenomenon. A singular approach gets us nowhere. We also need a personal approach – “cultural work” based on personal relationships.

Through the reconstruction and care of those interpersonal ties, we can – we should – weave a new narrative on migration. We can rediscover the idea that the different, the other, is valuable and is good – something that risks being lost on many European institutions and citizens. The UN Summit is hopefully a first step on a better path.

The post A first step towards a better approach to migrants and refugees appeared first on Europe’s World.

Committee meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

An International Coalition including EU Member States is fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and has made considerable progress in the last months. However, the Islamic State is spreading its influence further in North Africa and is conducting terrorist attacks in the Muslim World and in Europe. The hearing aims to look at the situation in Iraq, Syria and North Africa, the progress of the military campaign as well as the perspectives for further engagement against the Islamic State.
Further information
Hearing programme
Hearing documents
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Saudi Arabia and Member States have long established relations in the field of armaments cooperation. In 2015, Saudi Arabia spent EUR 75 billion on defence. Yet, it still relies on the security guarantees provided by the United States. Many in Europe have reservations about arms exports to the Kingdom, driven by concerns on the respect of the international humanitarian law in the conflict in Yemen. There is, however, no common European position regarding the defence ties with the country.
Further information
Programme with biographies of speakers
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Place:        European Convention Center Luxembourg
Chair:        Gabriela Matečná, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development of Slovakia 

All times are approximate and subject to change

+/- 09.00    
Doorstep by Minister Gabriela Matečná 

+/- 10.00    
Beginning of the meeting (Roundtable TV/Photo opportunity)
Adoption of the agenda
Adoption of non-legislative A items
Adoption of legislative A items (public session) 

FISHERIES
+/- 10.15
2017 fishing opportunities in the Baltic Sea 

AGRICULTURE
+/- 11.20
Any other business:   
International financial institutions and animal welfare
Ministerial conference "The consumers have the right to be informed" 
+/- 11.50
Omnibus proposal (public session)    

+/- 15.05   
Any other business:
Conference of paying agencies 
+/- 15.15   
Market situation and support measures
Support programme in pigmeat sector in Poland
Sugar market
+/- 16.15
Joint statement of member states on greening
  +/- 17.00
Consequences of judgement of Case C-113/14 

+/- 17.30     
Press conference with Commissioner Hogan (live streaming) 

FISHERIES
+/- 17.45
EU/Norway: annual consultations for 2017
+/- 18.20
ICCAT special meeting
+/- 19.00
Baltic final compromise 

+/- 19.45 
Press conference with Commissioner Vella (live streaming)

Plenary sessions : MEPs formally endorsed the United Nations global climate agreement agreed during last December’s COP21 Conference in Paris during this week's plenary session, clearing the way for its ratification and implementation. They also endorsed a ban on exporting EU products that could be used for torture and the death penalty and approved financial assistance for laid-off workers. In addition they supported the idea of free rail passes for 18-year-olds to help them discover Europe.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : MEPs formally endorsed the United Nations global climate agreement agreed during last December’s COP21 Conference in Paris during this week's plenary session, clearing the way for its ratification and implementation. They also endorsed a ban on exporting EU products that could be used for torture and the death penalty and approved financial assistance for laid-off workers. In addition they supported the idea of free rail passes for 18-year-olds to help them discover Europe.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

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A small region of Belgium may determine the fate of an EU free trade deal with Canada – and potentially the terms of any post-Brexit deal with the UK.

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The new European Border and Coast Guard Agency (EBCG) is established today, October 6, 2016.

This successor of the former Frontex (from French: Frontières extérieures for "external borders") is an agency of the European Union headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, tasked with border control of the European Schengen Area, in coordination with the border and coast guards of Schengen Area member states. Frontex was established in 2004 as the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders, and primary responsible for coordinating border control efforts.

In response to the European migrant crisis of 2015-2016, the European Commission proposed on December 15, 2015, to extend Frontex's mandate and to transform it into a fully-fledged European Border and Coast Guard Agency. On 18 December 2015, the European Council roundly supported the proposal, and after a vote by the European Parliament, the Border and Coast Guard was officially launched on 6 October 2016 at the Bulgarian external border with Turkey.

To enable the Agency to carry out its tasks, its budget would be gradually increased from the €143 million originally planned for 2015 up to €238 million in 2016, €281 million in 2017, and will reach €322 million (about US$350 million) in 2020. The staff of the agency would gradually increase from 402 members in 2016 to 1,000 by 2020.

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency is not a new body. It does not replace Frontex and it retains the same legal personality. What the Commission draft Regulation aims to do is to strengthen the mandate of the EU border agency, to increase its competences and to better equip it to carry out its operational activities. The new tasks and responsibilities of the Agency need to be reflected by its new name. It coordinates its work alongside the European Fisheries Control Agency and European Maritime Safety Agency with regard to coastguard functions.
The permanent staff of the Agency will be more than doubled between 2015 and 2020. The new proposal provides for a reserve of European border guards and technical equipment. The Agency will be able to purchase its own equipment (this is not a novelty). However - and this is new - the Member States where this equipment is registered (this refers mainly to big equipment items such as patrol vessels, air crafts, etc. which need a flag of state) will be obliged to put it at the Agency's disposal whenever needed. this will make it possible for the Agency to rapidly deploy the necessary technical in border operations. A rapid reserve pool of border guards and a technical equipment pool will be put at the disposal of the agency, intending to remove the shortages of staff and equipment for the Agency's operations.

A monitoring and risk analysis centre will be established, with the authorisation to carry out risk analysis and to monitor the flows towards and within the EU. The risk analyses includes cross-border crime and terrorism, process personal data of persons suspected to be involved in acts of terrorism and cooperate with other Union agencies and international organisations on the prevention of terrorism. A mandatory vulnerability assessments of the capacities of the Member States to face current or upcoming challenges at their external borders will be established. The Agency is able to launch joint operations, including the use of drones when necessary. The European Space Agency's earth observation system Copernicus provides the new Agency with real time satellite surveillance capabilities alongside the current Eurosur border surveillance system.

ember States will be able to request joint operations, rapid border interventions, and deployment of the EBCG Teams to support national authorities when a Member State experiences an influx of migrants that endangers the Schengen area. In such a case, especially when a Member State’s action is not sufficient to handle the crisis, the Commission will have the authority to adopt an implementing decision that will determine whether a situation at a particular section of the external borders requires urgent action at the EU level. Based on this decision, the EBCGA will be able to intervene and deploy EBCG Teams to ensure that action is taken on the ground, even when a Member State is unable or unwilling to take the necessary measures.

The right to intervene is a point of contention between a number of EU Members and the Commission, especially those Members whose borders form the external borders of the EU, such as Greece, Hungary, Italy, and Poland. They want to ensure that intervention is possible only with the consent of the Member States, whose external borders necessitate the presence of the ECBGA. Greece’s Alternate Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, stated in an interview that while Greece is supportive of a common European action and of changing Frontex’s mandate, it wants the ECBGA to take complete charge of migration and refugee flows.

Tag: FRONTEXEBCG

European Youth Hearings follow-up of the EYE 2016

Thousands of young people took part in the European Youth Event (EYE2016) at the European Parliament in Strasbourg last May with the aim of producing ideas for Europe’s future.

Former EYE2016 participants will have the opportunity to present some of the most impactful ideas collected during the EYE and exchange views with MEPs, with the aim of having an impact on the future agenda of the EU and make positive change. The topics in the AFET-DEVE joint committee meeting, taking place on 8 October, will cover migration in the context of the joint AFET-DEVE Initiative report “Addressing refugees and migrants movements: the role of European external action”.

The meeting will be webstreamed live on http://eye2016.eu, from 10:00-10:45.

Location : Brussels, JAN 2Q2
Background for MEPs
Useful links
EYE2016 website
EYE2016 ideas report
EYE2016 ideas map
EYE2016 Twitter
EYE2016 Facebook
EYE2016 Instagram
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Monday 10 October 2016
Passau (Germany)
18.00 Participation in the "Menschen in Europa 2016" conference

Tuesday 11 October 2016
13.30 Meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Parliament President Martin Schulz (Berlaymont)
17.45 Phone call with Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte
19.30 Meeting with a delegation of the EU Committee of the Regions led by President Markku Markkula

Thursday 13 October 2016
17.30 Speech at the European Policy Centre 20th anniversary conference (Palais des Académies)

Friday 14 October 2016
10.00 Meeting with President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (photo opportunity)
11.30 Meeting with General Secretary Luca Visentini of European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)
12.30 Meeting with President Katherina Reiche and General Secretary Valeria Ronzitti of the European Centre of Employers and Enterprises providing Public Services (CEEP)
13.30 Presentation of letters of credentials of ambassadors
15.15 Meeting with President Emma Marcegaglia and Director General Markus Beyrer of BusinessEurope

Plenary sessions : All Parties to the Paris Agreement on climate change will need to step up their emission reduction pledges if the deal is to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees, and this includes the EU’s targets for 2030, say MEPs in a resolution voted on Thursday. Having ratified the Paris deal on Tuesday, the EU is now focusing on the tools needed to achieve its goals, ahead of the next round of talks to take place in Marrakesh next month.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : All Parties to the Paris Agreement on climate change will need to step up their emission reduction pledges if the deal is to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees, and this includes the EU’s targets for 2030, say MEPs in a resolution voted on Thursday. Having ratified the Paris deal on Tuesday, the EU is now focusing on the tools needed to achieve its goals, ahead of the next round of talks to take place in Marrakesh next month.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : EU-wide safety rules are needed for more materials in contact with food, such as those used in packaging, kitchen utensils and tableware, say MEPs in a non-binding resolution voted on Thursday. They note that only some of these materials, such as plastics and ceramics, have been fully tested for safety for human health. Others, including varnishes and coatings, inks and adhesives, have yet to be fully tested.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : EU-wide safety rules are needed for more materials in contact with food, such as those used in packaging, kitchen utensils and tableware, say MEPs in a non-binding resolution voted on Thursday. They note that only some of these materials, such as plastics and ceramics, have been fully tested for safety for human health. Others, including varnishes and coatings, inks and adhesives, have yet to be fully tested.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : The European Parliament opposed the European Commission plans to authorise five GMO products, maize Bt11, 1507 and MON810 (seeds and products), and a glyphosate-resistant cotton, in a vote on Thursday. MEPs reiterated their call for a reform of the EU’s GMO authorisation procedure.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : The European Parliament opposed the European Commission plans to authorise five GMO products, maize Bt11, 1507 and MON810 (seeds and products), and a glyphosate-resistant cotton, in a vote on Thursday. MEPs reiterated their call for a reform of the EU’s GMO authorisation procedure.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : MEPs urge all parties in the Syrian war, and especially Russia and the Assad regime, to stop bombing civilians, in a resolution voted on Thursday. They condemn the recent attacks on hospitals and a humanitarian relief convoy and call on International Syria Support Group members to resume negotiations for a stable truce and an eventual peace deal in Syria.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : MEPs urge all parties in the Syrian war, and especially Russia and the Assad regime, to stop bombing civilians, in a resolution voted on Thursday. They condemn the recent attacks on hospitals and a humanitarian relief convoy and call on International Syria Support Group members to resume negotiations for a stable truce and an eventual peace deal in Syria.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

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On 5 October, the EU and Afghanistan co-host the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan. For the international community, it is the opportunity to signal sustained political and financial support to Afghan peace, state-building and development. Donald TUSK, President of the European Council, High Representative Federica MOGHERINI and Neven MIMICA, European Commissioner for Development Cooperation, represent the European Union. President Ashraf GHANI and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Abdullah ABDULLAH represent Afghanistan.

Download this video here.