European Union

Bulgaria is to face renewed EU scrutiny over a Russia gas pipeline, four years after its previous project, South Stream, failed.

British prime minister Theresa May has vowed to fight for her job "with everything I've got", after Conservative MPs triggered a vote of no confidence in her leadership, set for Wednesday night. May, who this week postponed the crunch parliamentary vote on approving her Brexit deal, also warned any new leader "wouldn't have time" to get Brexit through the UK parliament, so would have to "delay or even stop" Brexit.

Situational awareness is a prerequisite for good decision-making in any CSDP mission or operation. In order to provide operation commanders with optimal capabilities in this domain, EDA Member States in 2014 launched GISMO, the ‘Geospatial Information to Support decision Making in Operations’ project. Since then and working in partnership with the EU Satellite Centre (EU SatCen), GISMO has produced a first operational output in the form of ‘GeohuB’, a software application which allows for the safe and reliable sharing of geospatial information (GI) within a mission’s operational headquarter. 

After a successful field trial, GeohuB was successfully deployed in November 2017 to the Italian Operation Headquarters, Rome, in support of EU Naval Force Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR MED). In practical terms, this means that operation participants with access to the classified mission network of EUNAVFOR MED’s operational headquarters in Rome can upload, share and manage geospatial data related to the operation (GeohuB is accessible through a normal web browser with a user-friendly interface).

Last June, GISMO started the transition of the GeohuB application from the current status of Initial Operating Capability (IOC) to Full Operating Capability (FOC) by the summer. A move much welcomed by Rear Admiral Enrico Credendino, the Commander of EUNAVFOR Med Operation Sophia. “Within the operational activity, the GEOHUB system is an effective service to support geospatial information. We aim to increase the use of this tool more and more with the intention of reaching the full operational capability before summer 2019”, he said. 

Last September, a new milestone was reached when the first training session was provided by EU SatCen staff to OHQ Sophia and training tutorials were handed over to GeohuB users on the ground in the framework of EDA project GISMO. 
 

Interview: “A common geospatial solution is paramount”

After the GeohuB training session, we spoke to Italian Lieutenant Colonel Claudio Panizzi who is GEO Officer at operation ‘Sophia’ (EUNAVFOR Med).
 

GISMO GeohuB is a Content Management System that facilitates the access to space-based information integrated with geospatial data in an Operational Headquarters environment. How important is space-based information and its integration into a common geospatial dataset for EUNAVFOR MED?

Lt.Col. Claudio Panizzi:  Almost all of the information that is managed inside an operation has a geospatial component. Reports are linked to locations, ships are located somewhere, the patrolling routes cover a given area, etc. The need to integrate all this information into a common geospatial solution is paramount to ensure that we are all fighting off the same map in this operation. An integrated approach as provided by GeohuB allows us to combine intelligence from different sources including space assets. Space assets are an operational resource able to provide answers worldwide, reliably within strict time margins. Accessing such resources and combining it with other intelligence sources enhance our capacity for decision making.
 

In very practical terms, what are the main operational benefits of the GISMO GeohuB System, even though it is still only at an initial stage of operational capability, and what kind of impact it has on operation SOPHIA?

Lt.Col. Claudio Panizzi: The highest benefit is to allow all branches of the operation to share a common view, empowering the staff to access data generated by other branches on their own, streamlining processes and easing dec

ision making. In addition, having a common pool of information increases the safety and security of decision relying on geospatial data.
 

Would you recommend other CSDP Missions and Operations or even the European External Action Service (EEAS) to use the system? 

Lt.Col. Claudio Panizzi: The use of a system able to operate inside the classified network allows to have an integrated vision. The use of open sources is important, but it is just another source of information. The real benefit for the operation comes from having all the sources in one tool that allows to mix the unclassified layer of geographical information with the classified information generated by the mission. This can only be achieved with operational tools inside the classified network.
 

One of the main objectives of the GISMO GeohuB is to support the decision-making process on the basis of updated situational awareness informed by space-based information. Based on the experience you’ve made so far with the system, would you say that there is room for new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), to further improve the tool?

Lt.Col. Claudio Panizzi: As said before, the GISMO GehuB is a decision-making process oriented software. It provides, if required, a wide geospatial vision of the Area of Operations related by specific thematic overlapped layers and information.

In addition, to improve the aim of the product, we can suggest to develop remote sensing tools finalized to execute more autonomous analysis, such as change detection (to investigate day by day the development of specific situations) in order to provide more complete answers if specific and more localized crisis situations required it.
 

GISMO GeohuB 

So far, the GISMO GeohuB has been deployed: 

• since November 2017 to the Italian Operation Headquarters, Rome, in support of EU Naval Force Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR MED)
• in support of the MultiLayer 2016 (ML16) exercise as a tool for GI sharing among the different actors in the exercise (Brussels, EU OHQ in Postdam, FHQ in Strasbourg and EU delegation in Kampala)
• in support of the EUMM Georgia where the GeohuB is becoming a fundamental piece of the daily work chain within the monitoring mission
• in support of the MILEX 2017 as a tool to access GI by the EU OHQ in Northwood
• in support of EU Parallel and Coordinated Exercise 2018 (EU PACE 18)

On the initiative of the EUMS, the GISMO GeohuB is also being evaluated as the application to share Geospatial Information within the European External Action Service (EEAS) network users.
 

Background

Commanders of CSDP missions and operations constantly need fast, reliable and updated geospatial information covering land, sea, airspace and cyber. Geospatial information is earth-related factual data referenced by geographic position and arranged in a coherent structure. Such data include topographic, aeronautical, hydrographic or planning information but also mapping, geo-referenced imagery, geophysical products, etc. available in either analogue or digital format. Most pieces of information have a location, and knowing and understanding these locations can be decisive in a mission commanders’ decision-making. Ever improving geospatial information has thus the potential to revolutionise the decision-making process within military missions and operations.  

 

The UK was poised for more political chaos on Wednesday (12 December) as Prime Minister Theresa May vowed to ride through a no-confidence vote with “everything I’ve got” after her own Conservative MPs formally launched a move to oust her.

The long and troubled parliamentary procedure to overhaul the current food transparency rules for European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) ended in an unexpected twist as the EPP’s rapporteur Renate Sommer asked to withdraw her name from the report just passed by the Parliament's plenary.

Mubarak v Council
External relations
The General Court upholds the Council’s decisions of 2017 and 2018 to renew the restrictive measures taken against Mr Mubarak, former President of Egypt, in the light of ongoing judicial proceedings relating to the misappropriation of Egyptian State funds

Biogaran v Commission
Competition
The General Court annuls in part the European Commission’s decision finding the existence of restrictive agreements and an abuse of a dominant position on the market for perindopril, a medicine used to treat hypertension and heart failure

Pelham and Others
Freedom of establishment
Advocate General Szpunar proposes that the Court should rule that sampling constitutes an infringement of the rights of the producer of a phonogram when it is done without his authorisation

MEPs and other EU staff hid in restaurants and alleys in Strasbourg during a gunman's rampage in the French city on Tuesday evening.

Conservative MPs will have a no-confidence vote on prime minister Theresa May's leadership on Wednesday night, after at least 48 of her MPs (15 percent) sent letters calling for the vote, automatically triggering a contest. If she loses, the vote could lead to a new Conservative leadership contest in which May could not stand. If winning, she may chose to stay or decide to stand down as party leader.

The European Parliament is scheduled to vote on the 2019 EU budget on Wednesday, after the Council on Tuesday agreed to spending of €165.8bn next year, 3.2 percent more than the 2018 budget. The Horizon 2020 program will get €12.3bn to support research and innovation, up 9.8 percent. The budget is based on the premise that the UK will continue to contribute until the end of 2020.

The European Central Bank's public sector purchase programme (PSPP) does not infringe EU law, the European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday, in a case first brought to the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany by several groups. The ECB has accumulated €2.6 trillion in assets since the programme started in March 2015, which will be reinvested as the scheme comes to a close this month.

The European Commission decided on Tuesday to offer Switzerland six additional months to agree on a new treaty on future relations with the European Union, Reuters reported. Last week the Swiss Federal Council decided to carry out a national consultation with relevant groups such as political parties, cantons, parliament and associations on the draft deal - under which Swiss rules would automatically adapt to be in line with EU law.

French police evacuated the city centre and held back MEPs in the Strasbourg parliament building on Tuesday evening, after three people were killed and 12 others wounded in a shooting close to a popular Christmas market near one of the central squares, Place Kleber. Many MEPs had left the parliament when the shooting began and were trapped in restaurants while police cleared the area.

Italy's deputy premier Luigi Di Maio suggested on Tuesday the European Commission should worry about France's budget plans, not just Italy's. "If the deficit/GDP rules are valid for Italy, then I expect them to be valid for Macron," Di Maio said. After caving in to protesters' demands, the French deficit could be 3.4 percent of GDP next year while Italy is under pressure to reduce its deficit of 2.4 percent.

Despite Donald Trump’s rejection of the Paris Agreement, the US is still very much in the accord and zealously setting the tone of international climate change negotiations. EURACTIV's media partner, Climate Home News, reports.

Greece's parliament on Tuesday (11 December) voted to scrap plans to cut state pensions, in a motion led by the left-led governing coalition hoping to shore up its flagging support ahead of a general election next year.

Farmers from the Baltic countries will gather on 13 December in Brussels to call for a fairer distribution of payments in the framework of the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

It is obvious that Babis´s family is benefiting from the economic success of Agrofert, which in turn is influenced by its receipt of EU funds and subsidies, even if Andrej himself is not named.

The EU should match its rhetoric on sustainable fisheries by leading global efforts to preserve mako sharks, argues Stacy McLennan.