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A new NATO cyber forum aims to increase cooperation between NATO members as well as with the private sector to ramp up the Western military alliance's response to future cyber threats.

The European Socialist Party (PES) did not reach a common position on the current events in Israel and Palestine during its national congress occurring in Málaga, Spain, a source from the PES told Euractiv. 

Over seven weeks, the European Defence Agency (EDA) oversaw the ninth Helicopter Tactics Instructors Course (HTIC) at Sintra Airbase No1 in Portugal and Pápa Air Base in Hungary. It was the final course of its kind managed by EDA before being transferred to the Multinational Helicopter Training Centre (MHTC) in Portugal.

The course was structured in a two-week classroom phase, followed by a two-week simulator phase at Sintra Airbase No1. After a week of recovery and transfer of aircrafts, participants engaged in live flying exercises and demanding missions in a three-week deployment to the Pápa Air Base in Hungary. 

Supported by personnel from the Hungarian Defence Forces and Pápa Air Base, the flying phase included a complex operational scenario employing dissimilar formation flying, Evasion Training against a range of airborne threats, Electronic Warfare (EW) exercises against both ground-based and airborne systems and performing a variety of additional tasks, such as Helicopter Assault, Convoy Escort, and Vehicle Interdiction. The course was led by the EDA HTIC Chief Instructor Maj Christian Kappl with participating crews from Austria, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, and Slovakia flying on five different types of helicopters: AH-101, UH-60, OH-58, H145M, and Mi-171.

Throughout the course, the staff instructors from Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, and Sweden received specialised support from Inzpire Ltd. Units of the Czech Alca Jets and the Hungarian Gripens provided fixed wing support, acting mainly as threats during the training. In addition, EW assets and ground troops were provided by Austria, Germany, Hungary, and Slovenia.

In total, 15 Bronze, six Silver, and four Gold qualifications were awarded during the graduation ceremony, ensuring an important contribution to the international cadre of Helicopter Tactics Instructors (HTI) and the improvement of the national capabilities.

This year’s HTIC was the final edition managed by EDA. Following the training’s successful delivery, it has reached a high state of maturity, international recognition and has developed a growing cadre of HTI, facilitating a seamless and secure transition to the MHTC by the end of 2023.

For more details on EDA's helicopter initiatives, please see here.

EU defence ministers are expected to issue a joint statement on Tuesday (14 November) calling on banks to grant the defence industry access to loans, in a bid to remove hurdles for greater investment into production capacities.

In the wise words of a wizarding great, Albus Dumbledore, “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

Vladimir Putin’s biggest – and wildest – project is to resuscitate the Soviet Union in some form during his lifetime. But he has a problem: No country wants to join the Russian Federation, not even Belarus, despite its vassal status.

Written by Laurence Amand-Eeckhout.

World Diabetes Day – marked every year on 14 November – was proclaimed by the United Nations in 2007, to raise awareness of diabetes and related complications, and to promote prevention and care, including through education.

Background

Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas is no longer able to produce insulin, or when the body cannot make good use of the insulin it produces. There are three main types of diabetes: type 1, type 2 and gestational. Type 1 results from a lack of insulin production and is diagnosed mainly in childhood and in teenagers. Its causes are still unknown. Daily insulin injections are required to keep blood glucose levels under control. Type 2, which accounts for 90 % of all diabetes cases, results from the body being unable to use the insulin it produces effectively. Type 2 is diagnosed mainly in adults, although an increase in cases has recently been observed among children. Type 2 diabetes often results from excess body weight and physical inactivity. A healthy lifestyle, regular physical activity and maintaining a normal body weight can help prevent type 2 diabetes. However, those who have already contracted type 2 diabetes require oral drugs and/or insulin to maintain safe blood glucose levels. Gestational diabetes consists of high blood glucose during pregnancy. Women who are affected and their children are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

‘Know your risk, know your response‘ is the theme of the third year of the World Diabetes Days 2021-2023 campaign ‘Access to Diabetes Care’, underlining the importance of knowing the risk of type 2 diabetes to help delay or prevent the condition.

Facts and figures

According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF – an umbrella organisation of over 240 national diabetes associations in 160 countries) approximately 537 million adults (aged 20 to 79) around the world were living with diabetes in 2021. This number is expected to rise to 783 million by 2045. In addition, 541 million adults are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. In the EU specifically, it is estimated that over 33 million people suffer from diabetes (without counting the undiagnosed).

EU action on diabetes

EU Member States are responsible for their own healthcare policies. However, according to Article 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, EU action should complement national policies. The EU focuses on prevention, research and information, while also fostering cooperation between Member States. The European Commission addresses diabetes in its work on non-communicable diseases (NCDs). It is supporting Member States as they work towards reaching the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization’s nine targets on NCDs by 2025, as well as UN Sustainable Development Goal 3, which aims to reduce premature mortality from NCDs by one third by 2030. The Healthier Together EU non-communicable diseases initiative (which covers 2022 to 2027) aims to support EU countries in reducing the burden of NCDs, including diabetes, while improving citizens’ health, as part of efforts to build a European health union. The EU4Health programme and other EU programmes support the implementation of the initiative in the Member States. In the field of prevention, the Commission’s action focuses mainly on the key risk factors for type 2 diabetes, encouraging the promotion of healthy eating and physical activity and the reduction of obesity and the harmful use of tobacco and alcohol.

On 23 November 2022, 100 years after the discovery of insulin, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on prevention, management and better care of diabetes in the EU.

Read this ‘at a glance’ note on ‘World Diabetes Day 2023‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Since its independence, Kazakhstan has made great efforts to develop its transport and transit potential and modernise transport corridors, having allocated over the past 15 years over $35 billion for these purposes, writes Marat Karabayev.

A Greek administrative watchdog has launched an investigation in the Pylos shipwreck that likely killed hundreds of people off the Greek coast in mid-June.

A technical meeting on the EU’s AI regulation broke down on Friday (10 November) after large EU countries asked to retract the proposed approach for foundation models. Unless the deadlock is broken in the coming days, the whole legislation is at risk.

Despite the EU having little direct say on the protection of poles and glaciers, advocates argued at the One Planet - Polar Summit, hosted in Paris from Wednesday to Friday (8-10 November), that its economic might can still be influential.

Written by Clare Ferguson and Katarzyna Sochacka.

During the first November plenary session, Members held a debate with the European Council and Commission on the conclusions of the European Council meeting of 26‑27 October 2023, and on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause. Further debates took place on Council and Commission statements on the outcome of the EU–United States Summit, EU enlargement policy and the state of the energy union.

Roberta Metsola, the Parliament’s President, made a statement on the urgent need for immediate measures against the rise of antisemitism. Finally, the session was preceded by an address by Cate Blanchett, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador.

System of own resources of the European Union

Members debated and voted a Committee on Budgets (BUDG) report on the Commission’s proposed amendment to the 2021 Own Resources Decision (ORD). The Commission’s latest proposal presents an adjusted package for the next generation of own resources, with an increased call rate on emissions trading system (ETS) revenue and a temporary statistical own resource based on company profits. The BUDG report considers the amended proposal adequately reflects the Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA) roadmap and calls on the Council to adopt the amended ORD. The committee again emphasises the need to secure sufficient (and not merely temporary) own resources for the EU budget, and introduces further amendments. Following Parliament’s vote, the Council can adopt now its decision on the proposal.

Motor vehicle emissions and battery durability (Euro 7)

Members debated and voted on a new proposal to tighten the regulations on light- and heavy-duty motor vehicle emissions and battery durability (Euro 7). Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) seeks to set stricter limits for heavy-duty vehicle exhaust emissions, but would grant additional time to reach the more stringent thresholds. The committee would retain most Euro 6/VI standards on testing conditions for cars and trucks, and supports the proposed creation of an environmental vehicle passport and on-board systems for monitoring emissions, consumption and battery health. The report as voted now constitutes Parliament’s position for negotiations with the Council.

Data Act

Members approved the political agreement reached following trilogue negotiations on fair access to and use of data (Data Act). The Council and Parliament agreed on a final text in June 2023, which the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and the Member States’ Permanent Representatives have both endorsed. The agreed Data Act sets out users’ rights to access and share the data they generate through their use of connected devices, the possibility to share private sector data with public sector bodies and institutions in public emergencies, sets new requirements to allow users to switch cloud provider, and safeguards against unlawful international data transfers. The Data Act now needs Council adoption before it becomes law.

EU-Madagascar Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement

Members followed a Committee on Fisheries (PECH) recommendation, giving consent to the conclusion of a new EU fisheries agreement and implementing protocol with Madagascar, as part of a set of EU tuna agreements. The new framework should provide access rights for the EU fleet to fish in Malagasy waters in return for an EU contribution of €1.80 million per year, €700 000 of which represents access rights. The rest should support Madagascar’s fisheries policy and conservation efforts. A four-year agreement and implementing protocol, initialled after eight rounds of negotiations between the European Commission and the government of Madagascar, have applied provisionally since June 2023.

Opening of trilogue negotiations

Decisions to enter into interinstitutional negotiations on a number of files were announced, and in all cases endorsed without a vote being required, so the committees may now open negotiations. The files concerned are: a report on managed security services from the ITRE committee; a report on import, export and transit measures for firearms, their essential components and ammunition: implementation of Article 10 of the UN Firearms Protocol from the Committee on International Trade (INTA); a report regarding management, conservation and control measures applicable in the Convention area of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and establishing a multiannual management plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean (PECH); a report regarding making public capital markets in the Union more attractive for companies and facilitating access to capital for small and medium-sized enterprises; and reports (directive and regulation) on multiple-vote share structures in companies that seek the admission to trading of their shares on an SME growth market from the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON); a report on Community designs and a report on legal protection of designs from the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI); a report on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market from the INTA/Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) committees; and a report on digital labelling of EU fertilising products from the IMCO committee.

Read this ‘at a glance’ note on ‘Plenary round-up – November I 2023‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

EU policymakers are butting heads over the principle of compliance by design, harmonisation of administrative procedures, and implementation deadlines, according to a compromise document on the short-term rental regulation, seen by Euractiv.

The European Union does not only want to slash its greenhouse gas emissions but also boost the amount of carbon it removes from the atmosphere in order to prevent drastic global warming – and healthy forests have a big part to play in this.

The Nature Restoration Law, which was approved during talks between the European Parliament and the Council, comes a little late in view of the ecological calamity raging on our doorstep, but at least it's there, writes Jutta Paulus.

MEPs and EU member states have reached a deal on the Nature Restoration Law — one of the most controversial initiatives of the EU's green agenda. Why does it matter?

A proposal to count the quantity of alternative fuels in Europe’s fuel mix towards CO2 reduction targets for heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers would create uncertainty for industry and ultimately increase emissions, writes Eamonn Mulholland.

Negotiators from EU countries and the European Parliament agreed on a landmark new law late on Thursday (9 November) to restore at least 20% of Europe’s land and sea areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.

Committee and political group meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP