Mediaboss Marketing

Published on May 19th, 2017 | by Joshua S Hill

May 19th, 2017 by Joshua S Hill

The European Union and 79 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries have committed to defend and implement the Paris Agreement on climate change, amidst the latest UN climate change talks in Bonn, at which the EU tentatively explainedthat tangible progress had been made over the past two weeks.

The latest conference of the UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC) met in Bonn, Germany, between 8 and 18 of May. In a note published on the final day of talks, the European Union declared that tangible progress was made on a number of elements for implementation of the Paris Agreement and welcomed the important technical and practical work carried out at the conference. However, unsurprisingly, despite progress, there is much still that remains to be done to put us on the road to delivering on the Paris commitments.

We came here to Bonn to advance our work on the rules and instruments to implement the Paris Agreement, said Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Caete. We leave Bonn with steadfast progress in many areas. And while much work still lies ahead of us, the cooperative talks and the tangible results show once again the unwavering determination of all of us to turn our commitments into real action.

However, maybe of greater importance was another announcement, in which the 28 (soon to be 27) member state European Union and 79 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) developing countries which together make up more than half of the Paris Agreement signatories pledged that they would seek to ensure full implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Today more than ever, Europe stands by its long-term partners most vulnerable to climate change, said Miguel Arias Caete. We, developed and developing countries together, will defend the Paris Agreement. We are all in, and our joint commitment to this Agreement today is as in Paris: irreversible and non-negotiable.

The European Union has also pledged800 million in support for the Pacific region up to 2020, half of which has been earmarked for climate action.

The longstanding, ongoing cooperation between the ACP Group and the EU shows we are serious about addressing the impacts of climate change, added ACP Secretary General Patrick Gomes. Implementing the Paris Agreement is not only about ensuring the very survival of the 79 ACP countries, but also about building sustainable, resilient and prosperous economies and societies worldwide.

Check out our new 93-page EV report.

Join us for an upcoming Cleantech Revolution Tour conference!

Keep up to date with all the hottest cleantech news by subscribing to our (free) cleantech daily newsletter or weekly newsletter, or keep an eye on sector-specific news by getting our (also free) solar energy newsletter, electric vehicle newsletter, or wind energy newsletter.

Tags: 2015 Paris Agreement, ACP, African, Bonn, Caribbean, EU, European Union, Germany, Pacific, Paris agreement, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC

Joshua S Hill I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

View post:
European Union & 79 Developing Nations Commit To Defend Paris Agreement - CleanTechnica

New York Times

Sadly, The European Union's $122 Million Facebook Fine Seems Justified Forbes I yield to no one in my insistence that the European Union is a bad idea to begin with, that no one should be a member of it, that Britain's absolutely right to leave and that we'd all be better off without the existence of the bureaucratic excrescence ... EU Fines Facebook $122 Million Over Disclosures in WhatsApp DealNew York Times European Union fines Facebook over misleading WhatsApp dataThe News Minute Facebook slapped with $122 million EU fine: Here's what you need to knowCNBC The Mercury News -NDTV -KRQE News 13 -EU News all 167 news articles »

Follow this link:
Sadly, The European Union's $122 Million Facebook Fine Seems Justified - Forbes

European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini on Tuesday announced Emanuele Giaufret as the organizations new choice for ambassador to Israel.

Giaufret, who was posted in Israel in the past, currently serves as head of the Division for Democracy and Electoral Observation within the EUs external action branch.

An Italian diplomat, Giaufret is to replace Lars Faaborg-Andersen, whose term ends in the summer.

Previously, Giaufret served at the European Commission Delegation to the UN in New York as counselor in charge of human rights and social affairs. Before that, he headed the Political and Trade Section at the EU embassy in Tel Aviv.

The EU ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, in his Ramat Gan office, September 21, 2015 (Raphael Ahren/Times of Israel)

Giaufret holds a PhD in the history of international relations from the University of Florence.

Faaborg-Andersen, a Danish diplomat, has represented the union in Israel since 2013.

The EU is by far Israels largest trading partner. But political relations have been frosty in recent years, with Israeli officials accusing the union of a pro-Palestinian bias and an obsession with the Middle East peace process. Jerusalem was especially livid over the EUs 2015 decision to enforce a special labeling system for Israeli goods produced outside the 1967 lines.

On Wednesday, Carlos Moedas, the EU high commissioner for research, science and innovation, visited Israel, meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials to discuss Israels participation in Horizon 2020, a European research and innovation funding program.

EU-Israel cooperation in technology and innovation has never been stronger, Faaborg-Andersen said. Israel benefits greatly from the Horizon 2020 program, not only the researchers, companies and universities which participate, but also Israeli people from the products and services which they develop and design using this funding. This is the real backbone of the start-up nation.

Read the original:
European Union names new ambassador to Israel - The Times of Israel

By Robin Emmott | BRUSSELS

BRUSSELS EU states aim to pool public money into a fund to help pay for joint military projects, a senior EU official said on Thursday, in potentially one of the most significant steps to underpin an emerging European defense union.

The fund would form part of Franco-German efforts to develop a more integrated European defense to respond to threats on Europe's borders, as security becomes a unifying issue for the European Union after Britain's decision to leave the bloc.

Nineteen countries including France, Germany, Italy and Spain will start talks next month on the so-called Cooperative Financial Mechanism, or CFM, which could be running sometime next year, said the official, who briefed EU defense ministers gathered in Brussels on Thursday.

Britain had long blocked EU defense integration, fearing the development of an EU army.

The fund, whose monies would be owned by national governments, would be the third part of a financing plan involving a proposed research facility led by the European Commission, the EU executive, and money from the EU's common budget for defense.

The amount of money in the fund has yet to be set and contributions would be voluntary, the official said, but it would allow countries to borrow from it as long as they repaid at a later date. The Commission could also pay into the fund.

"This is about liquidity. Too often, projects cannot get off the ground or are delayed because countries don't have the money available," the official said. "This would ring-fence funds especially for defense."

The steps, if agreed, would mark the biggest EU defense funding and research plan in more than a decade to reverse billions in cuts and send a message to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that Europe wants to pay for its own security.

EU defense ministers on Thursday discussed the wider defense plan that EU leaders will discuss in June to deploy Europe's troops to crisis areas or as peace-keepers abroad.

Proponents of the plan hope that new French President Emmanuel Macron's strong European support will end the isolated way in which EU militaries work and avoid any duplication with the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Defense research spending by EU governments has fallen by a third since 2006, leaving the EU reliant on the United States for advanced fighting equipment.

Trump, who will meet EU leaders next week at a NATO summit in Brussels, unnerved European allies during his election campaign by questioning whether the United States should protect those who spend too little on their defense.

Separately, the European Commission will propose in early June up to 400 million euros ($444 million) from the bloc's joint budget until 2020 to develop new European military equipment and weapons, a second senior EU official said.

A pilot plan is set to get under way this year and the Commission could potentially allocate 3.5 billion euros from the budget between 2021 and 2027.

The official said at least three EU states would have to propose a project together to apply for money from the EU budget, with one potential candidate being a European drone.

"This is the first time in the 60 years of EU history we are allocating common funds to defense," the official said.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska)

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia A new ferry between isolated North Korea and Russia docked for the first time at the Pacific port of Vladivostok on Thursday, in spite of U.S. calls for countries to curtail relations with Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programs.

DUBAI Iranians vote on Friday in a bitter presidential contest between pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani and hardline challenger Ebrahim Raisi that could determine the pace of economic and social reform and Iran's re-engagement with the world.

WASHINGTON The Trump administration plans to impose new sanctions soon on at least half a dozen Venezuelan officials for alleged human rights violations amid U.S. concern over the Venezuelan government's crackdown on unrest, congressional aides said on Thursday.

Visit link:
As Britain steps aside, EU states to negotiate joint defense fund - Reuters

May 17, 2017; Reuters

European leaders are finally pushing back against Hungarys crackdown on civil society as the European Union (EU) parliament condemned the countrys serious deterioration of rule of law and democracy yesterday in an official resolution.

Its unlikely that the process will result in the suspension of Hungarys voting rights in the European Council, but the action sends a signal to Hungarys increasingly authoritarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbn.

As NPQ reported last month, Orbn has been creating and riding a wave of nationalist, anti-refugee sentiment to consolidate power since 2010. Legislation passed by the right-wing Fidesz government as part of their self-proclaimed spring offensive puts the popular George Soros-funded Central European University at risk with tighter regulations.

Thousands of young people protested the new law targeting foreign universities, which was seen as an authoritarian attack on academic freedom, and many called for the EU to respond. Orbns political party saw a sharp drop in voter support following the widespread protests, according to Politico.

According to a press release from the European Parliament, (MEPs) [Members of the European Parliament] say that Hungarys current fundamental rights situation justifies launching the formal procedure to determine whether there is a clear risk of a serious breach of EU values by a Member State.

The resolution calls for:

Article 7 of the EU Treaty allows the member governments to ask a member state to correct a breach of EU values, according to Reuters. If that recommendation is ignored, the other 27 states can decide to suspend its voting rights. However, the vote must be unanimous, and the right-wing government in Poland, which is currently under the EUs rule of law monitoring procedure over its own actions, would be expected to veto any action against Hungary.

Further, Poland has yet to have its voting rights revoked despite being monitored for more than a year. Earlier this year, human rights watchdogs called for the EU Commission to launch the third and final state of the rule of law procedure under Article 7.

The same advocates hailed yesterdays EU vote as a step in the right direction:

Today the European Parliament marked out a clear red line on the protection of rights, which European governments simply cannot cross, Amnesty International said in a press release.

The Hungarian government must hear this loud and clear and bring itself back into line with EU founding principles, and refrain itself from adopting new laws attempting to silence civil society, including the draft Law on the transparency of organizations funded from abroad.

NPQ has reported widely on crackdowns on NGOs with foreign funding in countries like India, Turkey, and many others. And, a recent article in The Conversation makes the case that these happenings are actually part of a documented trend:

Targeting funding is becoming an increasingly widely usedtactic to restrict civil society. The International Centre for Non-Profit Law found that 36 percent of restrictive civil society lawsenacted globally between 2012 and 2015targeted international funding.

A UN Human Rights Council Resolution adopted in 2016 had alreadyexpressed concernsabout the trend in funding restrictions. Thomas Carothers of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, an expert in the field, describes the attacks on foreignfunding as usually being theleading edge of wider crackdowns on civil society.

While is heartening to see the EU to step up in support of civil society, its a very long road ahead for Hungary to receive any sanctions of consequence.Anna Berry

Follow this link:
European Union Puts Hungary On Notice for Civil Society Crackdown - The Nonprofit Quarterly (registration)