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The relationship between Turkey and the European Union has been strained for some time due to disagreements over Cyprus, Europes failure to support Turkeys membership bid, its insufficient response against irregular migration and criticism of Turkey over the state of its democracy.

The Turkish-Greek escalation in the Eastern Mediterranean was the cherry on top. Upon realizing that Greece and the Greek Cypriots attempted to eliminate Turkish influence over the Mediterranean, through a series of agreements and initiatives, it responded with seismic studies and a parallel set of international agreements.

Those tensions spilled over to Libya, as the Turks concluded a maritime delimitation agreement with the Libyans to foil a Greek claim to an unlawful exclusive economic zone. Greece retaliated against that move by throwing its weight behind putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar, a warlord that attempted to overthrow Libyas legitimate and internationally recognized government.

The Eastern Mediterranean balance of power shifted, as the government in Tripoli survived thanks to Turkeys support. In recent months, tensions have de-escalated with the help of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Ahead of the EU leaders summit in December, Ankara and Brussels were not on great terms. Some commentators even talked about European sanctions on Turkey. Last weeks summit, by contrast, yielded positive results for EU-Turkey relations: European leaders asked the European Commission to make an official proposal regarding financial support for Turkey and other nations dealing with the Syrian refugee crisis.

The Europeans are expected to allocate an additional 3 billion euros (TL 3.56 billion) to Turkey. At the same time, they also took note of the preparatory work for high-level dialogues on migration, public health, climate, counterterrorism and regional issues. The start of work at the technical level for the modernization of the customs union, too, was mentioned in the final communique.

The EU leaders summit represented a significant threshold for the pursuit of a positive agenda in EU-Turkey relations. I must mention, however, that the Turks expected more from that meeting. Heres what my sources in Ankara thought about the summits outcome.

Turkish policymakers believe that the EU-Turkey relationship must be rooted in a positive agenda with a focus on Turkeys membership bid. In this sense, sources said that they viewed last weeks summit as generally positive.

Still, they noted that we have demonstrated our commitment to dialogue and cooperation, and lived up to our responsibilities to de-escalate tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean. The European leaders decisions regarding Turkey were nowhere near what was needed.

In other words, the Turks accuse the EU of refusing to make concrete decisions about Turkey. They also downplay the new financial aid package for refugees, warning that Europe must not reduce migration cooperation to money alone. Instead, Turkish officials call for active cooperation and fair burden-sharing between Turkey and the EU in the area of irregular migration.

Some of Turkeys concrete expectations from the EU are as follows: The Turks want the Europeans to support their accession process and launch an effort to modernize the customs union. At the same time, they urge the EU to restore the functionality of cooperation and consultation mechanisms.

Visa-free travel for Turkish citizens, together with a fresh approach to migration cooperation in light of new discoveries, is also a requirement. Finally, Turkish officials expect to work more closely with their European counterparts on counterterrorism.

Continued here:
Turkeys expectations from the European Union | Daily Sabah - Daily Sabah

Sri Lanka has informed the EU about the progress in the reconciliation process and the ongoing efforts to review a controversial anti-terror law that gives police sweeping powers to arrest suspects without trial.

The move came after the 27 member-bloc threatened to withdraw trade concessions for Sri Lanka's exports over concerns that it violates human rights.

The Government of Sri Lanka apprised the European Union (EU) of progress in specific areas of reconciliation, as part of its regular engagement and dialogue with the organisation, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The EU's GSP+ trade concession allows Sri Lankan exports to Europe without taxation. This has been a big boost to Sri Lanka's apparel and fishing industries.

The facility was restored in 2017 after it was suspended in 2010 based on the then government's failure to honour human and labour rights.

The resolution noted that Sri Lanka's GSP+ categorisation was conditional on the implementation of rules under international human rights treaties, in the aftermath of the 30-year-long civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the island nation.

In response, Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry on June 25 informed the EU of action underway to revisit provisions of the PTA with the study of existing legislation, past practice, and international best practices, the report said.

The EU was informed of the decision made by the Cabinet on June 21 to appoint a Cabinet Sub-committee and an Officials Committee to assist the Cabinet Sub-Committee, to review the PTA, and to submit a report to the Cabinet within three months, the statement said.

The EU was also informed of the granting of pardon by the President to 16 former LTTE cadres convicted and serving sentences under the PTA.

To mark a Buddhist festival on June 24, the government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pardoned 94 prisoners, including 16 people convicted under the PTA. The law allows authorities to arbitrarily detain individuals for up to 18 months without charge or trial.

The organisation was also apprised of the process that has been set in motion to release detainees who have been in judicial custody for a prolonged period, under the PTA.

Regarding progress in ongoing reconciliation mechanisms, the government informed the EU of the release of Rs 79 million to the Office of Reparations in June to settle 1,230 processed claims for reparation.

The main Tamil party, the TNA, has been pressing along with rights groups to seek the release of Tamil political prisoners, who have been held without charges for over 10-20 years.

TNA sources said nearly 100 Tamil political prisoners are being held without charges.

The LTTE ran a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

The Sri Lankan government rejected the claim that the PTA has been systematically used for arbitrary arrests and the detention of the members of Tamil and Muslim minorities.

Read more:
Sri Lanka informs European Union of action to review anti-terror law and on progress in reconciliation - Economic Times

Danish households are the richest in the European Union, according to a data analysis by the country's central bank.

The average household in Denmark had 1.88 million Danish krone ($300,000) in financial assets as of the fourth quarter of 2020.

The data, released Wednesday, was extracted from the European Central Bank's disclosure of financial accounts for the EU's 27 member states.

The figures showed that Danes typically also had higher debts, at 560,000 Danish krone, only beaten by Luxembourg, where people typically had 660,000 Danish krone in liabilities.

However, Danmarks Nationalbank pointed out that the majority of Danes' liabilities were in bank and mortgage debt "with real estate collateral (approximately 86 per cent)."

"Thus, the Danes' debt is largely offset by the value of housing wealth, which is not included in financial wealth," the central bank explained.

Overall Danes had net financial wealth of 1.32 million Danish krone, nearly three times the EU average of 450,000 Danish krone.

Denmark's central bank also stressed that while this wealth was the average, there was a significant difference between individuals.

For instance, the central bank said that Danes with the largest incomes tended to have the more assets and liabilities, while people who were older tended have bigger pensions.

The central bank's analysis showed Danes' wealth had grown even more in the first quarter of this year, to an average of 24,000 Danish krone per person.

Households in the Netherlands had the second-highest amount in financial assets, at 1.58 million Danish krone, followed by Luxembourg (1.59 million Danish krone) and Sweden (1.51 Danish krone).

Meanwhile, households in Romania were found to be the poorest in the EU, with just 80,000 Danish krone in financial assets.

See the original post:
These are the richest and poorest countries in the EU - CNBC

Click here to watch the video.

In this video recap, Kilpatrick Townsend Partner Scott Marah discusses key elements of reporting systems and the importance of culture & language.

--- On March 3, 2021, Kilpatrick Townsend partnered with the Association of Corporate Counsel's Georgia Chapter on "Doing Business in the European Union: Exploring Cross-Border Legal Issues | Anti-Corruption, Ethics, and Compliance." This panel specifically covered recent corporate criminal enforcement in the EU as well as U.S. enforcement of EU-based companies; how privacy laws and governance frameworks affect internal investigations and other compliance efforts, and ways to overcome those obstacles; and what elements or aspects of due diligence frameworks and systems have worked.

Featured panelists for the session include:

- Elizabeth Ames, Compliance Counsel, CRH Americas, Inc.

- Julia Arbery, Partner, StoneTurn

- Scott Marrah, Partner, Kilpatrick Townsend

- Adria Perez, Partner, Kilpatrick Townsend

Original post:
Doing Business in the European Union | Reporting Systems and the Importance of Culture & Language - Lexology

In May 2020, the European Commission (EC) identified Mauritius as a high-risk third country with deficiencies in its Anti Money-Laundering and Counter Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime. Such classification by the EC has been made in light of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) classifying Mauritius in February 2020 under its "grey list" (i.e. jurisdiction with strategic deficiencies). The inclusion of Mauritius on the EU AML List of High-Risk Third Countries (the List) became applicable on 1 October 2020.

Pursuant to its second Plenary for 2021 held from 21 to 25 June 2021, the FATF has made the initial determination that Mauritius has substantially completed its action plan and warrants an on-site assessment (at the earliest possible opportunity, taking into consideration the current COVID-19 situation) to verify that the implementation of Mauritius' AML/CFT reforms has begun and is being sustained, and that the necessary political commitment remains in place to sustain implementation in the future.

It was further noted that Mauritius has made the following key reforms, including:

In the event of a positive on-site assessment, Mauritius will be removed from the FATF grey list (potentially in October 2021), which in turn would lead to its removal from the List by the EU. Such removal from the List would be a justified outcome following progress made by Mauritius from a legal, compliance and regulatory perspective for the purposes of addressing issues relating to the level of effectiveness of its AML/CFT system in place.

Mauritius ranks 1st amongst the African countries, 13th globally in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business 2020 report and remains politically stable and a place of domicile of choice for structuring cross-border investment into Africa and Asia.

Read more here:
Mauritius on track for removal from European Union's list of high-risk third countries after FATF Plenary - JD Supra