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EU closer to enabling consumers to defend their rights collectively

European Council - Fri, 11/29/2019 - 08:38
The Council today reached agreement on a draft directive on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers.
Categories: European Union

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the EU on the alignment of certain countries concerning restrictive measures against the leadership of the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova

European Council - Fri, 11/29/2019 - 08:38
Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2019/1789 of 24 October 2019 amending Decision 2010/573/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against the leadership of the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova.
Categories: European Union

EU should adopt German standards on medical cannabis, campaigners say

Euractiv.com - Fri, 11/29/2019 - 08:33
Germany's regulatory approach to medical cannabis is good practice and should be replicated across Europe, according to newly-born European Medicinal Cannabis Association (EUMCA).
Categories: European Union

The climate crisis is our responsibility, not our children’s

Euractiv.com - Fri, 11/29/2019 - 08:23
Many parents are supporting the children who are school striking for the climate, but are they really listening? ask Frida Berry Eklund and Yoca-Arditi Rocha.
Categories: European Union

Slovakia still opposes EU accession to Istanbul Convention preventing violence against women

Euractiv.com - Fri, 11/29/2019 - 08:19
Slovakia will not ratify the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, the country's parliament decided, adding that any decision at EU level needs to be made unanimously. EURACTIV Slovakia reports.
Categories: European Union

UK relies on migration to sustain health system, says new report

Euractiv.com - Fri, 11/29/2019 - 07:55
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) faces increasing demand thanks to historical underfunding and recruitment deficits, according to a European Commission report published on Thursday (28 November). 
Categories: European Union

Progressive businesses support a 55% carbon reduction target in Europe

Euractiv.com - Fri, 11/29/2019 - 07:46
The COP25 climate summit in Madrid needs to lay the groundwork for 2020 when countries and blocs will be measured against their commitment to the Paris Agreement. At EU level, this should translate into an ambitious European Green Deal, writes Eliot Whittington.
Categories: European Union

Poland’s shipyards face uncertain future

Euractiv.com - Fri, 11/29/2019 - 07:45
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has announced reconstruction plans for the country's battered shipbuilding industry. However, there is still no clear strategy and the current ideas have been slow to come go beyond mere concept.
Categories: European Union

Tweets of the Week: VDL Commission, Climate Emergency, and #BlackFriday nonsense

Euractiv.com - Fri, 11/29/2019 - 07:30
VdL Commission gets the okay, it’s a climate emergency MEPs say, and #BlackFriday nonsense, please go away.
Categories: European Union

EU-sponsored Nur-Sultan conference ‘happily coincides’ with Central Asia summit

Euractiv.com - Fri, 11/29/2019 - 07:25
A two-day conference on “Enhanced integration and Prosperity in Central Asia” opened in Kazakhstan's capital Nur-Sultan on Thursday (28 November). Incidentally, it coincided with a summit of the leaders of the five Central Asian countries on Friday in Tashkent, the capital of neighbouring Uzbekistan.
Categories: European Union

Whole Grain Partnership- A unique ‘Stealth Health’ Opportunity [Promoted content]

Euractiv.com - Fri, 11/29/2019 - 07:00
The recent EAT-LANCET report emphasised a ‘plant-forward’ diet where whole grains, fruit, vegetables, nuts and legumes comprise a greater proportion of foods consumed, as a means to improve both human health and the health of the planet. John Athanatos is...
Categories: European Union

Annual Conference closes with call for coherent implementation of EU defence tools

EDA News - Thu, 11/28/2019 - 17:15

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq this afternoon closed the Agency’s 2019 Annual Conference which was devoted to debating the current state of implementation and the future prospects of the new EU defence initiatives. Before that, NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment, Camille Grand, had underlined in his speech the strong relationship, cooperation and complementarity between NATO and the EU, two organisations which are "two sides of the same coin".      

Although it is premature to declare today that the new EU defence cooperation tools (CARD, PESCO, EDF) will deliver on all their promises, they definitely have the potential to be very successful and lead, over time, to a more structured joint European defence planning framework that will enable systematic cooperation, from investment and capability development to the joint operational use of those capabilities, Mr Domecq said in his concluding remarks. However, everything will depend on how efficiently and coherently they are implemented, and to what extent Member States will actually use and embed these tools into their national defence thinking and planning, the EDA Chief Executive stressed, reflecting a general assessment expressed throughout the conference.  

 

Main takeaways

Mr Domecq singled out a number of commonalities expressed during the conference which could serve as the main takeaways of today's event, such as:

  • the sense of urgency to use the current window of opportunity to push ahead with the Europe of Defence;
  • the need to deliver quick results by ensuring an efficient, coherent and output-oriented implementation of the tools;
  • the importance of following an integrated approach which includes all the actors on EU level (EDA, EEAS, EUMC, EUMS, Commission, Council) as well as national Ministries of Defence;
  • the priority of the operational military needs and requirements which have to guide the industrial needs, not the other way around
  • the need to safeguard and invest in Key Strategic Activities to make the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base more sustainable, as a key aspect of strategic autonomy.   

  

Lively and interactive panel discussions 

Throughout the day, between the various keynote speeches (see other related webnews on the opening speeches and the ministerial debate), conference attendees also enjoyed two lively, interactive and highly interesting panel debates, each of them focusing on a specific aspect of European defence.

Moderated by EUISS Director Dr Gustav Lindstrom, the first panel entitled 'CARD, PESCO, EDF: taking stock and looking ahead' featured Admiral Rob Bauer (Dutch Chief of Defence), Dirk Hoke (CEO of Airbus Defence & Space), Herald Ruijters (Director at the European Commission's DG MOVE), Esa Pulkkinen (Director General of the EU Military Staff) as well as Benedikt Zimmer (German State Secretary for Defence Procurement). The panelist focused on the need to ensure a smooth and hands-on implementation of the new EU defence cooperation tools, and to always keep in mind the armed forces' real capability needs and priorities. The key driver of all cooperation must be the capability requirements and needs of our forces, and nothing else, said Mr Zimmer. He also called for "proper and fair partnerships" between the European defence industries and countries to unleash the full potential of defence cooperation. In this respect, Dirk Hoke (Airbus) raised the importance of solving the sensitive issue of intellectual property rights. "As long this question is not solved, we will see duplication" in the development of capabilities, he said. The current fragmentation of Europe' capability landscape is not sustainable, stressed Admiral Bauer. Capabilities, such as for example military helicopters, can be produced by different industries in different countries "but please build just one type of them, not 28", he said.       

The second panel, moderated by EDA's Industry, Synergies & Enablers Director, Emilio Fajardo, discussed the 'Technological and industrial dimension of the EU's new level of ambition on defence'. It featured Thierry Carlier (Director International Development, Direction Générale de l'Armement), Éric Béranger (CEO of MBDA),  Steven Blockmans (Head of the EU Foreign Policy Unit at the Centre for European Policy Studies CEPS), Micael Johansson (President/CEO of SAAB Group) Paula Queipo Rodriguez (Director of Business Operations, IDONIAL Centro Tecnológico),  Dr Margriet Drent (Senior Research Fellow at Clingendael). A strong focus was put on Europe's so-called Key Strategic Activities (skills, technologies, manufacturing capabilities) which should be safeguarded to maintain and increase Member States armed forces' freedom of action and allow the EU to move towards strategic autonomy.
 

More information:

The Brief, powered by BP – The collective intelligence we need

Euractiv.com - Thu, 11/28/2019 - 16:46
In one of the best moments of the award-winning movie ‘The Barbarian Invasions’, the characters discuss the most unique and talented generation in history. “Intelligence isn’t an individual trait,” one of them argued.
Categories: European Union

Doubts over using EU 'peace fund' to supply arms to Africa

Euobserver.com - Thu, 11/28/2019 - 16:18
EU ambassadors met behind closed doors in Brussels to discuss the possibility of providing arms and ammunition to foreign armies in conflict areas like Mali. Not all were impressed by French-German support for a new EU 'peace fund'.
Categories: European Union

Hungarian media deny claims that Eurovision 2020 is “too gay”

Euractiv.com - Thu, 11/28/2019 - 16:07
Hungary will not take part in Eurovision 2020, the annual song contest that will take place in Rotterdam next year. Reports have emerged that the reason was the high number of LGBTQ+ participants, which goes going against the conservative views of Viktor Orbán's government.
Categories: European Union

MEPs declare 'climate emergency' in Europe

Euobserver.com - Thu, 11/28/2019 - 15:53
The European Parliament approved declaring a "climate emergency", ahead of next week's UN climate conference in Madrid - and three weeks after Donald Trump confirmed the United States' withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.
Categories: European Union

French insurer AXA vows to stop insuring fossil fuel-dependant companies

Euractiv.com - Thu, 11/28/2019 - 15:31
The French insurance company AXA has announced its own plan to help phase out coal production in Europe by 2030, under which it would no longer be insuring companies that are too dependent on fossil fuels. According to NGOs, this plan has "no blind spots". EURACTIV France reports.
Categories: European Union

NATO upgrades its ageing ‘eyes in the sky’

Euractiv.com - Thu, 11/28/2019 - 15:11
Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, signed a $1 billion contract to modernise NATO’s fleet of AWACS surveillance aircraft on Wednesday (27 November), striking a more optimistic note at a time of widening cracks in the transatlantic defence alliance.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Apple maps now 'annex' Crimea from Ukraine

Euobserver.com - Thu, 11/28/2019 - 14:57
US tech firm Apple has begun showing Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as part of Russia in its map and weather apps when these are viewed from inside Russia, but as part of Ukraine when viewed from other locations. "Crimea and Sevastopol now appear on Apple devices as Russian territory," the Russian parliament said in a statement on Wednesday, the BBC reports.
Categories: European Union

AI-driven decision aid project wins EDA Defence Innovation Prize

EDA News - Thu, 11/28/2019 - 14:53

EDA today announced the winner of the 2019 EDA Defence Innovation Prize which, this year, rewards the most innovative idea or application for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in defence. The trophy goes to epic.blue, a young Belgian company specialised in Location Intelligence Systems, for their idea to use AI-driven tactical decision aids to provide commanders of military operations with accurate and seamless positioning data of teams in GNSS-denied environments. The Prize was handed over by EDA Deputy Chief Executive Olli Ruutu at a ceremony in the margins of the Agency’s Annual Conference today in Brussels.

The availability, in all circumstances, of precise, reliable and constantly updated data on the current operational status and environment of an operation is crucial and helps military commanders to speed up and improve their decision-making. The benefits for military operations using new AI-based location intelligence tools are increased situational awareness, safety and operational effectiveness. 

The starting point for the winning idea was the fact that commanders are more and more overwhelmed by a deluge of information, driven by the continuous rise of available sensor data and the increased inter-connectivity of deployed systems. By contrast, a long-standing information gap still exists: accurate positioning of teams in GNSS-denied environments. The solution proposed in the winning project is thus to create a range of AI tactical decision aids (TDA) which, together with humans in the loop, can considerably augment commanders’ thought processes and speed of decision-making, thanks to accurate and seamless positioning of their troops, even in GNSS-denied environments. 

The proposed AI decision aids would use 4D data generated and collected during trainings and operations: movement of forces, time and location of hostile encounters, theoretical planning and movement, etc.. All that 4D data captured by the system is stored with timestamp and location to create a storyboard for post-mission analysis. Using this data, AI can then be made to learn which are normal movement and timing patterns of safe operations. This creates an understanding of the normal situation, without needing a lot of human intervention. If the AI detects deviations of the norm, alerts are raised and alternate courses of action can be proposed. Prediction capacities could also be included in the future. The resulting capability would be an AI-driven tool which can observe current operations and propose alternatives as required by the operational circumstances. 

"We are very pleased to receive EDA’s Defence Innovation Prize. epic.blue’s mission is to ensure the safety, security and effectiveness of field teams. This recognition enables us to further carry our mission into the security domain and create strong partnerships", stated the company’s CEO, Michael Ilsbroux.
 

About epic.blue

epic.blue is a leading technology company providing COTS software for high-performance and highly accurate location intelligence in business critical systems. it is specialised in combining and visualizing so-called 4D data (3D location and Time) and IoT sensor data. The Artificial Intelligence engine the company has developed manages a dynamic digital representation of field operations. It enables to understand, predict and optimise the performance of operations in real-time. This engine also powers ‘Shyn’, the company’s personal location and safety device for seamless positioning in GNSS-denied environments. epic.blue currently serves the First Responder community and the Pharmaceutical and Industry 4.0 markets.

 

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