European Union

The Social Democrats suffered losses in many municipalities in Belgium's local elections. In the Francophone south of the country and in Brussels the Greens in particular made gains, while the nationalists of the N-VA remain strong in Flanders. For commentators from both halves of the country the results are no reason to celebrate.

A harmonised system for Capacity Mechanisms was proposed in the Clean Energy for All package as a means to allow governments manage security of supply concerns whilst energy systems transition to sustainable fuels and utilisation operations. The report highlights key recommendations for their effective design to aid current discussion on EU Electricity Market legislation.

Discrimination against women in the farming sector is still widespread, though less than a decade ago, according to a global study carried out by Corteva AgriscienceTM which concluded that empowering women could help revive rural areas and meet the rising food demand.

Bavaria has voted. In neighbouring Austria, the result of this regional election is seen as providing confirmation of the political course taken in Austria after its own national elections last year. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Over 140 experts from 27 European countries and more than 30 different institutions and organisations participate in the Conference on the second Phase of the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS II). The Forum brings together experts from the defence and energy sectors to share information and best practices on improving energy management, energy efficiency, the use of renewable energy as well as increasing the protection and resilience of defence energy-related critical infrastructures.

Managed by EDA, the Consultation Forum is a European Commission initiative (DG ENER) receiving funding under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 R&I programme. The   conference of today was officially opened by Mr Tomasz Zdzikot, Polish Deputy Minister of Defence. Jorge Domecq, the EDA Chief Executive highlighted in his speech the “large number of participants which send the strong message that sustainable energy matters for defence, and a greener defence energy matters for the European Union”.

Mr Hans Van Steen, Acting Director for Renewables, Research and Innovation, Energy Efficiency, DG ENER, European Commission, underlined the importance of having seen “a network develop, information being exchanged, best practices being shared, and capacity, trust and self-confidence grow”.

The Consultation Forum provides a unique platform that can assist the Ministries of Defence of the EU Member States to generate ideas for defence energy policies, strategies, action plans and defence energy-related project ideas. This process will enable them to move towards a more sustainable energy model bringing down energy bills that can be allocated to other military priorities. In this respect, the second phase is more project-oriented, and as the Chief Executive underlined, it “presents a financial and strategic opportunity to improve energy efficiency and to diversify the energy supply and enhance resilience to security challenges”. Mr Hans Van Steen drew the participants’ attention to the fact that “At a time of tight defence budgets, the Defence and Security sector cannot afford to ignore the opportunities that a state-of-the-art approach to energy efficiency and renewable energy sources offer in terms of economic advantages, security of supply and environmental impact”. He then added that, in this context, “It is very important that the Defence community has a clear understanding of how the new EU legislation on energy could affect its work. The Energy Union Framework Strategy is not only about energy and climate: it is part of a wider policy aimed at accelerating the fundamental modernisation of Europe's entire economy, making it low-carbon and energy and resource efficient, by transforming the whole energy system in a socially fair manner.“

The Warsaw Conference focusses on a range of financing and funding options, coming either from the national public sector or the European Union instruments. To support this process, the Chief Executive has launched today the European Funding Gateway for Energy in Defence, a dedicated web-page on the EDA website. Through this instrument, he encourages the participants to explore what is “an overview of the financing and funding opportunities that the defence sector, and the Ministries of Defence and Armed Forces, industry, research and technology organisations or academia, can access at the European level for energy-related projects”.

The Conference will last two days and address several topics ranging from energy data in defence, energy metering & data collection, energy performance contracts, RES projects including energy storage to critical energy infrastructure resilience and energy-related legislation.
 

Next Conference

The third Conference of the Consultation Forum will be hosted by the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Cyprus and will take place in Nicosia on 26 and 27 February 2019.
 

About the CF SEDSS II

The Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS) is a European Commission initiative managed by the EDA. It aims at bringing together experts from the defence and energy sectors to share information and best practices on improving energy management, energy efficiency, the use of renewable energy as well increasing the protection and resilience of defence energy-related critical infrastructures. On 20 October 2017, the second phase of the Consultation Forum (CF SEDSS II) was launched. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, and the agreement is between the EASME executive agency and the EDA. The contract was signed on 16 October 2017 for 22 months, expiring on August 2019. 
Based on the foundations laid during the first phase of the Consultation Forum (2015-2017), the second phase has been further expanded to cover the following interrelated subjects though three main working groups (including sub-working groups): WG 1: Energy Management including Energy Efficiency (Sub-WG1: Energy Management and Sub-WG2: Energy Efficiency; WG 2: Renewable Energy Sources and Technologies; WG 3: Protection of Critical Energy Infrastructure and one cross-cutting theme: Finance.

More information:

• About CF SEDSS II at https://www.eda.europa.eu/european-defence-energy-network/cf-sedss-phase-ii
• European Funding Gateway for Energy in Defence at www.eda.europa.eu/eufunding/energy 

One French farmer commits suicide every two days, according to a survey conducted by the French national public health agency. The EU farmers' union said this alarming situation should be addressed immediately, emphasising that the farming community deserves better recognition.

The sudden and substantial increase of migrants’ flow to Europe over the last years has produced a severe political and identity crisis within the EU, a crisis that risks undermining its basic principles and values, and fostering the rise of xenophobic nationalism, writes the Progressive Caucus of the European Parliament.

EU foreign ministers have tasked the bloc's foreign service with giving "strategic advice" to the interior security forces of the Central African Republic (CAR). The new "civilian engagement" is to come on top of an earlier EU military training mission in the post-conflict country. The move comes amid EU concern that Russia is expanding its influence in the region after Russia and CAR signed a major arms deal in August.

Poland and the Czech Republic reject EU plans to create a 10,000-man border force under the control of EU agency Frontex, Polish prime minister Mateusz Moraiwecki said with Czech leader Andrej Babis on Monday. "We worry that more [EU] money for Frontex will mean less money for structural funds, less money for road or railway development," Morawiecki said. EU leaders aim to approve the plan at this week's summit.

As negotiations halt ahead of the EU summit later this week, British prime minister Theresa May told her parliament the Irish border issue should not derail a Brexit deal.

Italy aims to propose, at this week's EU summit, that the European Investment Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development should resume lending to smaller Russian businesses, the RFE/RFL news agency reports. Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevicius called the idea "bad timing" on Monday, but Hungarian minister Peter Szijjarto said there ought to be "normal cooperation between Europe and Russia". The bank sanctions were imposed after Russia annexed Crimea.

As anti-globalisation and protectionist sentiments threaten to come back, it is more important than ever for ASEM members to come together, think in the long term, and take coordinated actions to resist unilateralism and uphold multilateralism.

The Italian government on Monday approved a new budget raising welfare spending in the teeth of EU complaints. The extra funds for pensions, tax breaks, and a basic income is to push the Italian deficit-to-GDP ratio to 2.4 percent. That is below the EU's three percent limit, but EU officials believe the real costs will be higher, as the European Commission prepares to assess the plan.

EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday adopted a new sanctions regime for people deemed guilty of chemical weapons violations. Visa bans and asset freezes will target individuals no matter which country they come from, in a move inspired by Russia's chemical attack in the UK in March. EU discussions on similar sanctions against people guilty of cyber attacks and human rights violations are also under way.

EU foreign affairs ministers in Luxembourg adopted yesterday (15 October) a new sanctions regime as response to the use and proliferation of Chemical weapons. Russia was not mentioned.

The Russian Orthodox Church said on Monday (15 October) it had decided to sever all relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in protest over its endorsement of Ukraine’s request for an “autocephalous”, or independent, church.