European Union

Though violence against women exploded around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, as did economic and social inequalities, the number of femicides has been on the rise since 2019. In an interview with EURACTIV France, feminist activist Marguerite Stern spoke about the position of women in French society.

When: Thursday 15 October at 15:30 - Where: Anna Politkovskaya pressroom and via Skype

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

When: Thursday 15 October at 15:30 - Where: Anna Politkovskaya pressroom and via Skype

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The European Commission adopted on Wednesday the EU chemicals strategy for sustainability, aimed at boosting safer and greener chemicals to protect human health and the environment. The controversial strategy includes a ban on the use of the most harmful chemicals in toys, childcare articles, cosmetics or detergents, developing sustainable-by-design criteria and introducing the "one substance, one assessment" principle to make the process simpler and more transparent.

Experts from 10 EDA Member States as well as from Norway and Switzerland recently participated in an online workshop organised by the Agency to assess and discuss technological and operational aspects of High-Power Electromagnetic Munitions (HPEM).

This workshop was part of an ongoing EDA study on High Power Electromagnetic Munitions which aims to compile a comprehensive collection of HPEM concepts, working principles and key components. Launched in April of this year and expected to be completed in October 2021, the study will assess the key technology gaps and associated scientific challenges to develop future HPEM, with the aim to defeat electronics onboard systems deployed to future battlefield. Additionally, it will offer an overview of the European supply chain capabilities in this field, including its possible dependencies. It will also make recommendations how military users could best benefit from the opportunities HPEM will offer for future warfare. Finally, the study will also help to better understand the HPEM-related vulnerabilities of military systems equipped with electronics, and identify areas where improvements are needed to toughen up future military equipment when facing HPEM threats.

Modern military equipment heavily relies on advanced electronic systems, which greatly contributes to optimising and, in most cases, enhancing crucial functions such as detection, identification, communication, engagement and protection. However, the widespread usage of electronics in defence equipment can also make the military forces more vulnerable, especially when facing Electromagnetic Pulse threats. 
 

Follow-up workshop planned

The first workshop on 1/2 October gathered no less than 77 subject matter experts from EDA participant Member States plus Switzerland and Norway (which have concluded Administrative Agreements with the Agency) who had lively discussions and brainstorm sessions in the different virtual tables.  Representatives from the various Ministries of Defence but also from academia, research and technology organisations and industry had the opportunity to share their views and positions which will flow into the upcoming EDA study. 

A second workshop is planned for spring 2021. It will be mainly focused on discussing, validating and complementing the concepts of HPEM and scenarios, as well as on the identification of the requirements of HPEM from a user point of view. 

One of the first tangible results of last week’s first workshop was the establishment of a European network of HPEM experts available to MODs and EDA for potential follow-on activities.  
 

Background

The ongoing EDA HPEM study is expected to inform participating Member States’ MODs on innovative High-Power Electromagnetic Munition (HPEM) concepts able to disrupt military equipment on the battlefield by debilitating critical electronics in numerous mission-critical equipment (e.g. communication systems, radars, unmanned vehicles, electric grid, computers, sensors, …). 

Such HPEM should be able to defeat or destroy electronic systems within a large spectrum of operational scenarios. Depending on these scenarios, Electromagnetic Pulse or Electronic Warfare warheads could be integrated in missiles, munitions and submunitions, or even drones to offer opportunities not available with conventional warheads.

To conduct this study, a contract was awarded to the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Germany, represented by its Institutes INT (Fraunhofer-Institute for Technological Trend Analysis, coordinating) and EMI (Fraunhofer-Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, Ernst-Mach-Institute); the project is expected to run 18 months, from end of April 2020 to end of October 2021.

Voters and the general public need to increase pressure on politicians to act more urgently in order to protect biodiversity, European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans argued on Tuesday (13 October).

EU leaders are set to give the green light for chief negotiator Michel Barnier to intensify talks with the UK, with a view to securing a new trade pact, but the prospects of an imminent breakthrough remain low, according to the draft conclusions of an upcoming EU summit, seen by EURACTIV.

As Germany gears up to transpose the European Copyright Directive into national law by the summer of 2021, the new draft tabled by Justice Minister Christine's Lambrecht (SPD) provides for upload filters, although the government promised to do without them. EURACTIV Germany reports.

The UK government is coming under increasing pressure to convince Brussels regulators that the country's data protection landscape is fit for EU personal data, amid wider concerns that UK surveillance practices compromise the security of EU standards.

In a spirit of compromise, Parliament made a concrete and realistic proposal for an immediate increase of key programme envelopes in the long-term EU budget by €39bn.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

In a spirit of compromise, Parliament made a concrete and realistic proposal for an immediate increase of key programme envelopes in the long-term EU budget by €39bn.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

To fill gaps exposed by COVID-19 and ensure that health systems can face future threats to public health, an ambitious EU health programme is needed, say MEPs.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

To fill gaps exposed by COVID-19 and ensure that health systems can face future threats to public health, an ambitious EU health programme is needed, say MEPs.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The economic consequences of the pandemic are increasingly dramatic: In India and Venezuela there is widespread hunger and across the globe people are losing their livelihoods due to lockdowns and falling demand for goods and services. The World Bank's prognosis reflects the dire situation. Europe's press examines the problems and discusses solutions.

In the EU dispute over whether to impose financial sanctions for breaches of the rule of law, Poland's deputy prime minister and PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński has threatened to veto the European budget for the years 2021 to 2027 and the attached coronavirus recovery fund. Commentators voice concern for different reasons.