European Union

An earthquake of 5.5 Richter magnitude hit Croatia's capital Zagreb on Sunday morning, causing serious material damage and seriously wounding a 15-year old resident. The epicentre was seven kilometres north of Zagreb. EURACTIV Croatia reports.

French President Emmanuel Macron threatened to close France's border with Britain on Friday if Prime Minister Boris Johnson failed to take more stringent measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak, a French newspaper reported.

Tag: Operation Irini

“North Macedonia is now part of the NATO family, a family of 30 nations and almost 1 billion people. A family based on the certainty that, no matter what challenges we face, we are all stronger and safer together," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement. Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski said: "We cannot rejoice and mark the event as it should [be marked] … But, this is a historic success that after three decades of independence, finally confirms Macedonian security and guarantees our future. Congratulations to all of you! We deserve it!”

Pendarovski signed the so-called instrument of accession after Spain earlier in the week became the last alliance member to ratify the former Yugoslav republic’s membership.

Since gaining independence, one of the strategic goals of the country was to join NATO, as was stated in 1993, and the relationship with Alliance was always marked by close cooperation. North Macedonia joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) in 1995, and in 1999 the country submitted its first Membership Action Plan. Furthermore, North Macedonia deployed troops in support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan from 2002 to end 2014 and is currently supporting the follow-on Resolute Support mission to train, advise and assist the Afghan security forces. Before that, the country was a key partner in supporting NATO-led operations in Kosovo in 1999, as well as to provide logistical support to the Kosovo Force (KFOR) mission.

The 20th NATO Summit in Bucharest in 2008 was more than symbolic, as it was expected that Albania, Croatia and (then) Macedonia would receive an invitation to join NATO. However, although Albania and Croatia did receive the invitation and became members a year later.

It marks the end of a long quest for the former Yugoslav republic. Joining NATO and the European Union has been a priority for its leaders, but a dispute with neighboring Greece over the country’s name stalled progress for more than two decades. North Macedonia previously was known as FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), a name it shared with a Greek province. Under a 2017 deal with Athens, the country changed its name and Greece agreed to drop objections to its NATO and eventual EU membership.

On the other hand, Kržalovski thinks that until now the participation of North Macedonia in NATO mission was symbolic.

“We have also increased defense part of the budget, though we are not at the level of 2% of the GDP yet. As a small country, both the requirements and expectations from other members are not so high, and our participation so far in NATO missions were rather symbolic, although we have participated with a relatively high number of soldiers in proportion to the overall size of the Army”, explains Kržalovski.

The budget increase that he mentions is DEN 10,133,000,000 for 2020, or about 1.4% of North Macedonia’s total GDP, which is an increase over 2019 when it was about 1.19% of total GDP. Interestingly, this is a third year of the defense budget increase, but it is still far from the prescribed 2% of BDP. However, this is not a major problem, as many current NATO members have not fulfilled this provision.

Source

Overview of the main subjects to be discussed at meetings of the Council of the EU over the next two weeks and upcoming media events.

President Charles Michel addressed a letter to President Sergio Mattarella on the situation in Italy following the COVID-19 outbreak

The EU is taking urgent measures to introduce a slot waver to help air carriers cope with the sharp drop in demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak and the measures to contain it.

The EU issued a declaration ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21 March 2020, to reiterate its unwavering commitment to fighting racism and xenophobia and all other forms of intolerance.

**This article is continuously updated with the latest developments. The Dutch government announced it will introduce a temporary, more flexible scheme to support independent businesses, including self-employed persons, so that they can receive additional income support for living costs for...

Italy imposed further draconian restrictions on public life on Friday (20 March) in an increasingly desperate effort to halt coronavirus infections after the death toll leapt by 627 in a single day, by far the biggest 24-hour rise recorded anywhere.

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a dramatic impact on Germany's demand for electricity. According to initial projections, Germany could emit between 50 and 120 million tons less CO2 this year, meaning it could even exceed its climate target. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Belgium's newly formed federal government will provide €1 billion urgently to help hospitals face the coronavirus crisis as the situation in the coming days become "extremely intense" for healthcare services, it said on Friday (20 March).

David SASSOLI, EP President, meets with a Vietnamese delegation © European Union 2020 – Source : EP

The President of the European Parliament sometimes receives large numbers of identical messages on a given topic. The Citizens’ Enquiries Unit (AskEP) is asked to reply to these campaign messages. Replies to campaigns are also published on the EPRS blog.

The President of the European Parliament has received a large number of messages on the import and transport of wildlife into Vietnam.

You can find below, in English and Dutch, the reply sent to citizens who wrote to the President of the European Parliament on this matter.

Reply in English

On 12 February 2020, the European Parliament adopted a non-legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

MEPs in the resolution welcome the provisions for cooperation on animal welfare, including technical assistance and capacity-building for the development of high animal welfare standards, and encourages the Parties to make full use of them’.

MEPs further ‘urge the Parties to develop an action plan for cooperation on animal welfare as soon as possible, including a programme for training, capacity-building and assistance in the framework of the agreement, with a view to safeguarding animal welfare at the time of killing and better protecting animals on farms and during transport in Vietnam’.

More information is available in the European Parliament press release on the EU-Vietnam free trade and investment protection deals.

Concerning cats and dogs specifically, the European Parliament also adopted a resolution on protecting the EU’s internal market and consumer rights against the negative implications of the illegal trade in companion animals on 12 February 2020. In the resolution, Members highlight ‘that Member States should ensure that staff at borders are adequately trained in the procedures and rules that apply to the importation of companion animals from listed and unlisted third countries and that they are enforcing these rules’.

More widely, you may find information of interest to you via the Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam.

Reply in Dutch

Op 12 februari 2020 heeft het Europees Parlement een niet-wetgevingsresolutie aangenomen over het ontwerp van besluit van de Raad betreffende de sluiting van de vrijhandelsovereenkomst tussen de Europese Unie en de Socialistische Republiek Vietnam.

In deze resolutie stelt het Parlement dat het “ingenomen [is] met de bepalingen inzake samenwerking op het gebied van dierenwelzijn, met inbegrip van technische bijstand en capaciteitsopbouw voor de ontwikkeling van hoge dierenwelzijnsnormen, en de partijen [verzoekt] deze ten volle te benutten.”

Het Parlement dringt er voorts bij de partijen op aan “zo snel mogelijk een actieplan voor samenwerking op het gebied van dierenwelzijn te ontwikkelen, met inbegrip van een programma voor opleiding, capaciteitsopbouw en bijstand in het kader van de overeenkomst om het dierenwelzijn te waarborgen op het moment van het doden en dieren beter te beschermen op landbouwbedrijven en tijdens transport in Vietnam.”

Meer informatie is te vinden in het persbericht van het Europees Parlement over de vrijhandels- en investeringsbeschermingsovereenkomst tussen de EU en Vietnam.

Ten aanzien van katten en honden heeft het Europees Parlement op 12 februari 2020 ook een resolutie aangenomen over het beschermen van de interne markt van de EU en van de rechten van consumenten tegen de negatieve gevolgen van de illegale handel in gezelschapsdieren. In deze resolutie benadrukt het Parlement “dat de lidstaten ervoor moeten zorgen dat het personeel bij grensovergangen voldoende geschoold is in de procedures en voorschriften voor de invoer van gezelschapsdieren uit derde landen die al dan niet op de lijst staan van landen waaruit invoer is toegestaan, en dat het deze voorschriften ook daadwerkelijk handhaaft.”

De Delegatie van de Europese Unie in Vietnam kan ook een interessante bron zijn voor verdere informatie.

We know (now), it’s serious. After having underestimated the threat for a long while, European governments have put the bloc’s economy in an induced coma to halt the dramatic spread of the virus.

As Europe and North American countries go into self-imposed economic and social lockdown to curb the coronavirus pandemic, Africa remains the continent least affected by the virus. Still, a raft of African governments were quick to impose travel bans on airlines carrying passengers from Europe last week.

Global stock markets pushed higher Friday (20 March) at the end of another volatile week, as weary investors welcomed a worldwide fightback against the coronavirus fallout by governments and central banks. In the eurozone, markets jumped after the European Central...

As many European countries face coronavirus-testing shortages, health authorities have warned that there are not enough resources to follow the World Health Organization's recommendation to test as much as possible. Meanwhile, China is providing 50,000 testing kits to Europe.

Europe's ability to provide food depends on the preservation of the Single Market, agri-food stakeholders stressed in a joint statement published on Thursday (19 March) and directed to the European Commission.

The European Commission proposed for the first time on Friday (20 March) the activation of the general escape clause that would ‘pause’ the adjustments member states have to do to meet their fiscal targets and allow them to spend "as much as they need".

It would be “historic” to find a vaccine that can be distributed to all countries in 18 months to defeat the coronavirus, a high-ranking researcher at the World Health Organisation told EURACTIV’s partner EFE in an interview. “We are all...