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The European Union and Council of Europe joint programme Partnership for Good Governance II 2019-2022 (PGG) held the third Steering Committee meeting for the Republic of Moldova on Tuesday 3 March in online format. The aim of the meeting was to present the state of implementation and the results of the programme and discuss plans for 2022.

During the meeting, participants assessed the impact of the work carried out by the PGG projects (country specific and regional) during the past year in the fields of judiciary, combating corruption, discrimination and violence against women.

The programme is implementing two country specific projects in the Republic of Moldova for the period 2019-2022 in the field of justice reform.

The first one, with a budget of 600 000 euros, is assisting the Moldovan authorities in strengthening the efficiency and quality of the judicial system. Its aim is to facilitate a system for monitoring the progress of judicial reforms and to allow the adoption of justice sector policies based on evidence. Other objectives are improving the collection, reporting and analysis of data on the efficiency and quality of the courts and the enforcement system, and consolidating the mechanisms for judicial transparency and accountability. In addition, this project aims to improve the system of enforcement of court decisions in civil and administrative cases, as well as to improve the professional capacities of bailiffs and the tools at their disposal. The implementation of the project has been based on the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice's (CEPEJ) methodology and tools for evaluating the day-to-day functioning of judicial systems and the quality and efficiency of the public service of justice.

The second project, with a budget of 655 000 euros, aims to strengthen the Equality Council's practice, to improve the courses provided by the Lawyers Training Centre, and to enhance the capacity of judges and prosecutors to deliver high quality justice in particular in discrimination cases by applying European standards. It has been implemented via training courses, round tables, conferences and other capacity-building activities.

The European Union provides 80% of the funding of the two projects, whilst the Council of Europe provides 20% and is in charge of their implementation.

In addition to these two country-specific projects, the Republic of Moldova is also taking part in four regional projects aimed at fighting against economic crime, strengthening the profession of lawyers, combating discrimination and facilitating access of women to justice with a total budget of 3.7 million euros.

Gintautas Baranauskas, Deputy Head of Operations at the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova, Delphine Freymann, Head of the Programming Department a.i., Office of the Directorate General of Programmes, Council of Europe, and Victor Lapusneanu, Head of Council of Europe and Human Right Unit, Multilateral Cooperation Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova and PGG National Coordinator opened the meeting.

Partnership for Good Governance II (2019-2022) projects in the Republic of Moldova

Partnership for Good Governance II (2019-2022) regional projects

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The Council of Europe and the European Union Delegation presented the state of implementation of the joint projects in the Republic of Moldova in 2021...

At a time when strengthening capacities on cybercrime and cybersecurity is more important than ever, the Council of Europe Cybercrime Programme Office (C-PROC) and the European Commission will organise, from 7 to 11 March in Athens (Greece), a regional cyber exercise involving co-operation between the cybersecurity community (mainly computer security incident response teams - CIRTs) and law enforcement agencies on handling and investigating a malware attack orchestrated by a criminal group.

The training is organised in the framework of the CyberEast: Action on Cybercrime for Cyber Resilience in the Eastern Partnership Region project and the iPROCEEDS-2: Targeting Crime Proceeds on the Internet and Securing Electronic Evidence in South-East Europe and Turkey project, in partnership with the Cybersecurity East project, funded by the European Union.

The Regional Cybercrime Exercise will bring together 50 participants, mostly from four of the six countries of the Eastern Partnership region (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova) and from South-East Europe: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey. The trainers include experts on cybercrime and cybersecurity from the UK, Australia, the Netherlands and Romania.

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Council of Europe and European Commission organise regional cyber training for East and South-East European countries - Council of Europe

With the war between Russia and Ukraine, the power that bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies can have in the financial system has become evident, to the point that the United States and the European Union (EU) desperately seek to regulate the assets. so that Moscow does not benefit from them. Their goal is to block your access to industry-related platforms.

From various US and European sectors the idea of regulating cryptocurrencies gains more strength. Yesterday, the president of the Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell, addressed the issue of Ukraine and Russia in the United States Congress.

Powell said there is a need for a framework in particular, with ways to prevent these unbacked cryptocurrencies from serving as a vehicle for terrorist financing and general criminal behavior tax evasion and the like.

Separately, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Mark Warner, Jack Reed, and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. In the letter they asked for explanations on the actions the Treasury Department is taking regarding cryptocurrencies in the context of sanctions policy, especially against Russia.

The senators expressed that they are concerned that criminals, rogue states, and other actors may use digital assets and alternative payment platforms as a new means of concealing cross-border transactions for nefarious purposes.

They have said that their restlessness continues to grow given the current scenario with Russia. Russian entities are preparing to mitigate some of the worst effects of the sanctions that have been placed on the country by using the variety of cryptocurrency-related tools at their disposal.

The Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also released a document called Russias Harmful Foreign Activity Sanctions Regulations, which came into force yesterday, March 2.

This will allow the United States to take action against transactions, including made with cryptocurrencies by banned Russian entities.

The rule encompasses all deceptive or structured transactions or dealings to circumvent any United States sanctions, including through the use of digital currencies or assets or the use of physical assets.

The president of the United States himself promoted a measure to prevent exchanges from helping Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to be an escape valve for sanctioned Russian individuals and organizations, as reported by CriptoNoticias.

Along the same lines as the United States, the European Union (EU) is also discussing measures that block the use of cryptocurrencies in Russia. This, at a time when the economy of the Eurasian country receives great blows, to the point that the European subsidiary of Sberbank, the main Russian bank, would be in bankruptcy or probable bankruptcy, according to statements by the European Central Bank (ECB).

French Finance Minister Bruno le Maire said that the EU wants to prevent Russia from circumventing the sanctions imposed by using cryptocurrencies.

We are taking measures, in particular on cryptocurrencies or crypto assets, which should not be used to circumvent the financial sanctions decided by the 27 EU countries, the French official commented.

He added that the sanctions have had an effect on Russia, hitting the financial structure of that country and leaving its central bank with no opportunity to protect the ruble, the Russian national currency.

According to an investigation by CriptoNoticias, it was possible to determine that the ruble has fallen 24% against the US dollar in a week. Taking into account that bitcoin has rallied in the last seven days, the total currency of rubles now has a dollar value lower than the market capitalization of bitcoin.

For his part, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said the G7 is also considering taking further action to prevent listed individuals and institutions from switching to unregulated crypto assets. We are working to achieve this in the context of the German presidency of the G7, according to the Reuters agency.

The sanctions that may arise with the passing of days from Europe and the United States, are born after, on February 28, Ukraine requested support to round up cryptocurrency users located in Russia. In addition, he called for all Russians to be blocked from cryptocurrency exchanges, Visa, MasterCard payment systems, and even metaverses.

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The US and the European Union use the conflict with Russia and create a regulatory fence over Bitcoin - D1SoftballNews.com

European Union lawmakers have removed a controversial paragraph that would have made all proof-of-work (PoW) based cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) illegal.

The Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, headed by Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) rapporteur Stefan Berger was originally scheduled for February 28. However, due to the vehement opposition over the language on the passage, fearing that it would be misinterpreted as a de facto Bitcoin ban, the vote was delayed last week.

According to the new report by a German news outlet, paragraph 61 (9c) has been scrapped. The vote for the much-anticipated market regulatory act targeting the crypto industry is yet to be rescheduled. Further clarifying the development, Berger tweeted,

The paragraph is no longer in the text. The report has yet to be voted on in committee. In this vote, we will see where the majorities lie. The decision has not yet been made #MiCA.

The passage in question argued that no cryptocurrencies could be created, sold, or traded within the European Union region that does not follow environmentally sustainable consensus mechanisms.

It also mandated that all assets would have to meet minimum environmental sustainability standards. If the latest version of the draft passes the required number of votes, it will then face trilogue debates, including the European Commission and Council, in addition to the Parliament.

Despite the latest move, global cryptocurrency regulations continue to wrestle with the growing concerns surrounding the environmental impact of PoW-based assets.

Its a similar story for Europe as well. 2021 witnessed debates and discussions around crypto mining like never before. To that extent, several industry players have come forward in support of less energy extensive PoS networks while others have stayed away from adopting Bitcoin and other PoW blockchain-based crypto-assets.

Last year, Swedens financial services regulator, Finansinspektionen (FI), stated that cryptocurrency assets are a threat to the climate transition, and energy-intensive mining should be banned. The regulator also noted that Sweden requires renewable energy as cryptocurrency mining threatens its ability to meet the Paris Agreement.

More recently, Erik Theden, vice-chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), also called for a prohibition on PoW crypto mining based on the industrys high energy demands.

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The European Union Is No Longer Banning Bitcoin and Other PoW-based Assets - CryptoPotato

AUSTIN, Texas, March 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Vyopta, the leader in digital collaboration user experience management, today announced its plans to further expand into Europe with the launch of its new European Union Vyopta cloud. This is in addition to the company's existing US Commercial and FedRAMP Government clouds in the U.S. The new European cloud will enable Vyopta to better serve its European customers.

"As we continue to support and expand our client base in Europe, we want to ensure that they are confident we can support secure data residency needs," said Alfredo Ramirez, CEO of Vyopta. "We chose to house the Vyopa EU Cloud in Germany because of their well-known high-security standards."

One of the world's leading car and truck manufacturers and a global leader in next-age digital services and technology consulting are two large enterprises that are among those that will be the initial group using Vyopta's EU Cloud. Other clients in the region include organizations in education, enterprise, finance, government, and healthcare.

Vyopta currently has an office in the UK and offers 24-hour customer service support to enterprises around the world.

About Vyopta IncorporatedVyopta, the leader in digital collaboration user experience management, has helped 40 million people collaborate better. Its Collaboration Performance Management and Workspace Insights applications have helped identify and address over 9 million issues. Vyoptahelps organisationsdeliver the best UCuser experience and optimisetheir UCand real estate investments. Hundreds of organisationsworldwide spanning 20+ industries use Vyoptato monitor 6 million endpoints and over 20 billion meeting minutes a year.

SOURCE Vyopta Inc

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Vyopta Expands its Cloud Services Footprint in the European Union - PR Newswire