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Representatives of the industry are ready to digitalize small businesses, but MEP Josianne Cutajar believes that the human component in future services should not be discounted. In a EURACTIV panel held on 2 March, speakers representing different sectors and business...

Numerous technologies used and further developed in the defence domain have civil roots, and vice-versa: Additive Manufacturing (3D-printing), Gallium Nitride, Gallium Arsenide, Graphene, cyber and energy technologies are only a few examples. It makes therefore sense to bring the two sides closer together and promote synergies between them. This was also the objective of an EDA online workshop held this week under the Agency’s ANDES (ANalysis of Dual usE Synergies) project.

Launched in June 2020, the ANDES project aims at developing a Dual Use Technology Transfer Mechanism (DUT2M) to structurally enhance civil-military entanglements on innovation and R&T, for the benefit of both sides.  This week’s workshop, attended by more than 80 participants from 16 EDA Member States, EU institutions, industry, think tanks, academia and research centres, was particularly focused on discussing and defining the most appropriate and promising general framework future civil-military synergies. The main conclusion of the meeting was that there is increasing demand and need for enhancing spin-in/spin-off dynamics in advanced technologies, such as the electronic components, corrosion management or advanced materials. Europe-wide effort

The workshop comes only a week after the European Commission published its Action Plan on synergies between civil, defence and space industries. The plan lays the ground to deliver concrete policy actions under three headlines: - enhancing complementarity between relevant EU programmes and instruments to increase efficiency of investments and effectiveness of results (the ‘synergies’); - promoting that EU funding for research and development, including on defence and space, has economic and technological dividends for EU citizens (the ‘spin-offs’); - facilitating the use of civil industry research achievements and civil-driven innovation in European defence cooperation projects (the ‘spin-ins’). 

EDA’s ANDES project intends to support and promote those efforts by identifying valuable recommendations for the EU’s dual use policy, taking into account the present worldwide situation (e.g. relevant examples are USA and China). A particular focus is dedicated to the Dual Use Technology Transfer Mechanism: there are several possible models but the peculiarities of the defence ecosystem require a facilitator between the institutional stakeholders (e.g. European Commission, Ministries of Defence in Member States, EDA and other relevant EU bodies) on the one hand, and the industrial/academia/research community on the other hand. The ANDES workshop showed the active participation from the institutional/governmental and dual use stakeholders and led to the recognition that a structured EU dual use policy will be beneficial for the European defence and more generally for Europe’s economy, especially now as it is strongly affected by the covid-19 pandemic.

Way ahead

Before the completion of the ANDES project (scheduled for mid-2021), policy recommendations will be submitted to the project management board which, beyond EDA staff, also includes representatives from the European Commission and the European Parliament (think tank), with the objective to support future implementation actions in the EU dual use ecosystem.

More information

• EDA webnews on workshop on dual use technologies – components (June 2016)
• EDA assists dual use projects to access funding
• EDA fact sheet “European Structural Funds for dual-use research”
• European Council Conclusions December 2013 (point 18)

 

Requiring students to submit to biometric surveillance should be illegal, writes Nakeema Damali Stefflbauer.

L'accord UE-Mercosur, conclu en juin 2019 entre l'UE et les pays de ce bloc d'Amérique latine (Brésil, Argentine, Paraguay et Uruguay) après deux décennies de négociations, est actuellement en phase de traduction et de révision juridique. À l'issue de cette phase, avec un accord politique des 27, les pays des deux blocs devront le ratifier.

En séjour au Burkina Faso dans le cadre de l'ouverture de la première session ordinaire de l'année 2021 du Parlement burkinabè, le président de l'Assemblée nationale du Bénin, Louis Gbèhounou Vlavonou, a été reçu en audience par le président Marc Christian Roch Kaboré ce mercredi 03 mars 2021.

Cette rencontre a été l'occasion pour les deux personnalités d'échanger sur les questions telles que la Démocratie, l'État de droit, et la sécurité au Sahel qui sont d'intérêts communs pour les deux pays. La question de la diplomatie parlementaire n'a pas été occultée au cours des échanges.
Au terme de cette audience, Marc Christian Roch Kaboré par l'intermédiaire du président du Parlement béninois, a adressé au chef de l'Etat Patrice Talon, ses vœux de succès pour l'élection présidentielle du 11 avril 2021 prochain.
Avant la rencontre avec le président burkinabè, Louis Vlavonou a été reçu par son homologue burkinabè. Plusieurs questions d'intérêts étaient au menu des échanges entre les deux présidents de parlements ; la coopération interparlementaire notamment, avec une mutualisation des efforts entre les Parlements de la sous-région.

F. A. A.

Mit ihrem Bundestagswahlprogramm setzt die SPD ihren aktuellen Linkskurs fort. Eines der drei Hauptschlagwörter, neben „Zukunft“ und „Respekt“: „Europa“. Die deutsche Sozialdemokratie positioniert sich internationaler.

Heute u.a. mit dabei: Diverse Vorschläge Bulgariens für die EU-Staatsanwaltschaft scheinen nicht gut anzukommen, es droht neuer Streit zwischen Brüssel und London, und in Frankreich werden die "Identitären" verboten.

Tous les matins, Les Capitales décrypte pour vous l'info à travers l'Europe

Turkey has stopped insulting France and the European Union, providing some reassurance, but ties will remain fragile until it takes concrete action, France's foreign minister said.

Robbanás történt egy észak-hollandiai település, Bovenkarspel koronavírus-tesztközpontjánál szerda reggel, a rendőrség szerint pokolgépes támadásról van szó – írta az NLTimes című holland hírportál.

A rendőrség közölte, hogy személyi sérülés nem történt, a központ öt ablaka megrongálódott. Az épület környékét lezárták, a pokolgép teljes hatástalanításának érdekében a hatóságok a védelmi minisztérium különleges részlegéhez fordultak segítségért. A holland NOS műsorszolgáltató szerint a detonátort egy fémcsőbe helyezték, amely a tesztközpont kapuja előtt robbant fel.

A rendőrség szóvivője elmondta, hogy reményeik szerint néhány órán belül tisztázzák az eset részleteit. Hangsúlyozta: minden jel arra mutat, hogy célzott támadás történt. Mark Rutte holland ügyvivő kormányfő “teljességgel elfogadhatatlannak” nevezte a támadást. Hangsúlyozta, hogy az egészségügyi alkalmazottak keményen dolgoznak a polgárok biztonsága érdekében, és “szörnyű és szégyenletes, hogy őket éri atrocitás”.

Hugo de Jonge egészségügyi miniszter is megdöbbenését fejezte ki az eset miatt. “Őrület, ami történt. Már egy éve csak ezekre a frontvonalban dolgozó emberekre támaszkodhatunk, álljunk ki értük, mert csak ők tudnak minket a válságból kisegíteni” – mondta.

Bovenkarspel polgármestere úgy nyilatkozott, hogy bár a rendőrségi vizsgálat még folyamatban van, meg van győződve arról, hogy a támadás a lezárásokkal és a korlátozó intézkedésekkel szembeni elégedetlenség miatt történt. Hollandiában nem ez az első eset, hogy tesztközpontot ért támadás: karácsony előtt vandálok gyújtottak fel a hollandiai Urk kistelepülésen egy szabadtéri központot, továbbá Amszterdamban és a limburgi Urmondban is megrongálták több tesztelőhely ablakait.

The post Hollandiában pokolgépes támadás érhetett egy tesztközpontot appeared first on .

L'année dernière, 48 % des réservations d'hôtels ont été annulées, tandis que 61 % des réservations ont été remboursées en raison de la pandémie COVID-19.

Written by Suzana Anghel,

© Adobe Stock

On 26 February 2021, EU leaders met for a second video-conference session to discuss security and defence and the southern neighbourhood. They reaffirmed their commitment to implementing the 2019-2024 Strategic Agenda, by increasing the EU’s ability to act autonomously and strengthening its resilience through taking ‘more responsibility for its security’. They also expressed their wish to deepen the transatlantic bond with the US and through NATO. In line with past meetings dedicated to security and defence, the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, joined the EU leaders to discuss EU-NATO cooperation.

Video-conference of the members of the European Council

The October 2020 Leaders’ Agenda had listed security and defence as well as health as items for discussion in February 2021. A discussion on the southern neighbourhood was only subsequently added to the agenda. While health was discussed on 25 February, with European Parliament President David Sassoli addressing the European Council on the same day, discussions at the 26 February 2021 video-conference of the Heads of State or Government focused on security and defence and the southern neighbourhood. The title ‘special’ European Council specified on the Leaders’ Agenda indicates that the original intention was to organise a physical meeting in Brussels, but this had to be abandoned owing to the difficult EU-wide epidemiological situation. Accordingly, the EU leaders did not adopt conclusions, but released a statement, outlining medium to longer-term commitments (see Table 1).

Table 1 – New European Council commitments and requests with a specific time schedule

Policy area Action Actor Schedule Security and defence Keep under regular review European Council 2021-2022 Security and defence Report on the implementation of the cybersecurity strategy High Representative June 2021 Security and defence Present a technology roadmap European Commission October 2021 Security and defence Continue work on the Strategic Compass High Representative / Member States March 2022 Security and defence

The European Council returned to discussing security and defence policy, a rolling item on its agenda between 2012 and 2018, and committed to reviewing this regularly. European Council President Charles Michel stressed that the EU wanted ‘to act more strategically’ and to increase its ‘ability to act autonomously’ while continuing to deepen partnerships, including though a renewed transatlantic dialogue on security and defence with the Biden Administration.

The EU’s efforts to take more responsibility for its security go hand in hand with the deepening and strengthening of existing partnerships, especially with NATO. Charles Michel stressed that the EU and NATO shared ‘common strategic interests’ but also common threats, such as ‘cyber, hybrid and disinformation’ threats, for which both organisations needed to strengthen their resilience as well as their cooperation. He spoke of a ‘strong partnership which requires strong partners’, while NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg affirmed that EU-NATO cooperation had reached unprecedented levels in recent years, in particular on issues such as resilience and cybersecurity. However, a durable solution to maritime boundary delimitation in the eastern Mediterranean and to the Cyprus problem would allow further normalisation of the EU-NATO relationship. This is key, as the two organisations are developing a new strategic concept (NATO) on the one hand, and a Strategic Compass (the EU) on the other, making information-sharing vital.

The High Representative, Josep Borrell, presented the results of the first ever EU threat analysis, conducted with input from the Member States’ intelligence agencies between June and November 2020. This analysis represents the first step and the foundation for the forthcoming strategic compass. The exercise is entering its second and most sensitive phase, that of developing policy orientations and setting objectives in four areas, namely: i) crisis management; ii) preparedness and resilience; iii) capability development; and iv) partnerships. This second phase, which will last until mid-2021, requires a vision and guidelines from the European Council, which has tasked the High Representative with continuing the work on developing a strategic compass ‘making use of the entire EU toolbox’. In this way, EU leaders would have ownership of the process, something that was missing in 2016 when the European Council ‘welcomed‘, but did not endorse, the EU’s Global Strategy. The third phase of this exercise will be dedicated to developing the strategic compass document, expected by March 2022.

The European Council also recognised that ‘significant steps’ had already been undertaken to boost European defence cooperation, and called for it to be further deepened, not least in the area of crisis management where ‘improved force generation’ is needed. A set of new instruments – the coordinated annual review on defence (CARD), the European Defence Fund (EDF), permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) and the European Peace Facility (EPF) – have become a reality and are about to be implemented. The European Council called for ‘swift operationalisation’ of the EPF and ‘full use’ of PESCO. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasised the importance of these tools in tackling existing fragmentation and the duplication of capabilities, fostering interoperability and building synergies between civilian, defence and space industries. The EU leaders also underlined the importance of countering cyber-threats and building cyber-resilience, and invited the co-legislators to act ‘swiftly’ and ‘take work forward’ on the revised directive on security of network and information systems. Addressing EU leaders, the Parliament’s President, David Sassoli, welcomed ‘the shift from a common defence policy to a fully fledged defence system’ and the initiative to develop a strategic compass by 2022. He reiterated Parliament’s view that the EU must ‘improve [its] understanding of the new threats and build up our common resilience, in order to become strategically autonomous’.

Southern neighbourhood

EU leaders discussed the ‘political and strategic nature’ of the partnership with the southern neighbourhood and reaffirmed their attachment to their previous conclusions from December 2020. They called on the Council to implement the joint communication from the Commission and the High Representative on a renewed and reinforced partnership with the southern neighbourhood, while taking into consideration the ‘common challenges’ and the ‘shared opportunities’. Josep Borrell emphasised that the EU is ‘closely intertwined’ with its southern neighbourhood but that the ‘gap between the two shores of the Mediterranean has been increasing’, heightening the urgent need to deepen cooperation. Charles Michel stressed that the EU and NATO want ‘more stability and more predictability’ in their neighbourhood.

In his address to the European Council, EP President David Sassoli underlined that Parliament welcomed the new agenda, which confirmed ‘the importance the EU attaches to its southern neighbours’. He stated that the Parliament, which holds the presidency of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean, was determined to help strengthen inter-parliamentary dialogue on challenging issues such as fighting climate change and overcoming socio-economic disparities.

Other items

Charles Michel reiterated the European Council’s condemnation of the imprisonment of Alexei Navalny and demanded his release. He stressed that, earlier in the week, the Foreign Affairs Council had agreed to impose restrictive measures against those responsible for the ‘arrest and sentencing’ of Mr Navalny under the newly introduced EU global human rights sanctions regime.

The European Council also condemned the attack on the World Food Programme convoy in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and expressed sympathy for the families of the victims and solidarity with Italy.

Read this ‘at a glance’ on ‘Outcome of the European Council video-conference of 26 February 2021‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about France dissolving a far-right group with links to the Christchurch terror attack, Czechia ordering the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, and so much more.

Près de 3 millions de réfugiés en Afrique de l’Est sont affectés par la malnutrition, suite à la réduction de leurs rations alimentaires par le Haut-commissariat des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) et le Programme alimentaire mondiale (PAM). Le Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM) et le Haut-commissariat des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) lancent […]

L’article Afrique de l’Est : comment le Covid-19 affecte les réfugiés est apparu en premier sur Afrik.com.

“When it comes to appointments, I will not comment on them. But, I am convinced that the Government respects NATO protocols,” said the US Ambassador to Montenegro, Judy Rising Reinke, speaking about the changes in the security sector. Montenegro is...

KYIV, 03 March 2021 — The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Heidi Grau, made the following statement to the press after the regular meetings of the TCG ‎and its Working Groups held through video conferencing:

“On Monday, a convoy with humanitarian aid intended for certain areas of Luhansk region of Ukraine crossed, for the first time, the contact line via the entry-exit crossing point (EECP) Shchastia. This is an encouraging step and good news for the civilian population.

I hope that delivery of humanitarian goods to certain areas of the Donetsk region of Ukraine will soon be resumed too.

Observations by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) indicate that the commitment to the ceasefire in the conflict zone and additional measures to strengthen it are overall respected.

According to the SMM, the average number of ceasefire violations last week was ten times lower than in February 2020. Achieving total silence however requires greater political will by the sides.

In addition, continued restrictions and impediments to the SMM's safe and secure access throughout Ukraine, as well as to the use of its technical means, prevent monitoring from being carried out effectively and in full.

All these issues were the subject of discussion in the Security Working Group. 

Besides, its participants considered procedures related to the functioning of the co-ordination mechanism for responding to ceasefire violations. The requirement to notify the use of disciplinary actions for ceasefire violations, as confirmed by SMM, was emphasized.

The Political Working Group focused on issues related to the implementation of the tasking given by the TCG to develop a draft action plan in full compliance with the Minsk agreements.

The participants of the Humanitarian Working Group discussed outstanding issues that needs to be solved to allow the simultaneous opening and full operation of the new EECPs near Zolote and Shchastia of the Luhansk region.

The issue of mutual release and exchange of conflict-related detainees was also duly considered.

Political considerations should not prevail over humanitarian ones in the search for solutions to these issues.

Participants of the Economic Working Group discussed water supplies across the contact line in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

An extensive discussion on environmental issues took place, including the possibility of setting up an international expert group to assess independently the situation in flooded mines in the conflict zone.”

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Roumanie : les sans-abris enfin prioritaires pour la vaccination
Vaccination contre le covid-19 : la Bulgarie (encore) dernière de l'UE
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/ Courrier des Balkans, Coronavirus, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Kosovo, Albanie, Macédoine du Nord, Monténégro, Moldavie, Santé

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Covid-19 : grâce la Chine, la Serbie vaccine à tour de bras
Roumanie : les sans-abris enfin prioritaires pour la vaccination
Vaccination contre le covid-19 : la Bulgarie (encore) dernière de l'UE
Covid-19 : la Bosnie-Herzégovine divisée même pour la vaccination

/ Courrier des Balkans, Coronavirus, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Kosovo, Albanie, Macédoine du Nord, Monténégro, Moldavie, Santé

Coronavirus dans les Balkans | Les dernières infos • le Monténégro a reçu 30 000 doses de vaccin Sinopharm
Covid-19 : grâce la Chine, la Serbie vaccine à tour de bras
Roumanie : les sans-abris enfin prioritaires pour la vaccination
Vaccination contre le covid-19 : la Bulgarie (encore) dernière de l'UE
Covid-19 : la Bosnie-Herzégovine divisée même pour la vaccination

/ Courrier des Balkans, Coronavirus, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Kosovo, Albanie, Macédoine du Nord, Monténégro, Moldavie, Santé

Coronavirus dans les Balkans | Les dernières infos • le Monténégro a reçu 30 000 doses de vaccin Sinopharm
Covid-19 : grâce la Chine, la Serbie vaccine à tour de bras
Roumanie : les sans-abris enfin prioritaires pour la vaccination
Vaccination contre le covid-19 : la Bulgarie (encore) dernière de l'UE
Covid-19 : la Bosnie-Herzégovine divisée même pour la vaccination

/ Courrier des Balkans, Coronavirus, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Kosovo, Albanie, Macédoine du Nord, Monténégro, Moldavie, Santé