EU Children of Peace: Minister Kurz on the education initiative
The EU Children of Peace initiative has had further funding thanks to the the kind contributions of Luxembourg and Austria. Hear from Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz on why it #39;s...
By: European Union Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection
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EU Children of Peace: Minister Kurz on the education initiative - Video
David Cameron tries to worm out of criticising the EU #39;s fisheries policy.
David Cameron is pulled up over the European Union #39;s deadly Fisheries policy, the likes of which Cameron is secretly in favour of, by one of his own Conservative MP #39;s amidst a sea of crumbling...
By: John Moore
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David Cameron tries to worm out of criticising the EU's fisheries policy. - Video
(Reuters/Finbarr O'Reilly)
People are seen outside closed stores in the Gambian capital Banjul
The European Union is pulling the plug on funding to Gambia because of concerns about its human rights record amid concerns about the Islamification of the region.
It has withdrawn millions of euros of funding, leaving the mainly Muslim West African nation to rely increasingly on donors from the Middle East for development projects.
The shift in soft power is of concern to Western governments in a region where Islamist militancy in northern Nigeria and northern Mali is fuelling instability, diplomatic sources said.
"West Africa has a large, impressionable youth population that have no access to jobs. Their loyalty might be bought through aid, sometimes by those sympathetic to the Islamification of the region," said one diplomat.
Gambia was criticized by the United Nations Human Rights Council in October for restricting freedom of expression and numerous other rights violations.
In November, Gambia cut off dialogue with the European Union after President Yahya Jammeh returned from a visit to Qatar.
The EU decided unanimously in December that systematic abuse of human rights amounted to contravention of the Cotonou Agreement, an international accord that stipulates that aid can be delivered only in return for progress in human rights.
It took the decision weeks after Jammeh signed into law an act that could imprison homosexuals for life. There followed a crackdown on gays and lesbians, causing many to hide or flee into neighboring Senegal.
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While the EU pulls funds from Gambia over its human rights record, the Middle East steps in
The European Union has prepared a list of almost 2,000 candidate projects, with a total value of 1300 billion euros, which could benefit from the 315 billion investment plan. EurActiv France reports.
According to an EU document, more than 2,000 projects across the EU hope to obtain a slice of the several billion plus euro investment plan announced by Commission President Juncker. The member states were asked to submit a list of projects to the European executive, in the hope of gaining funding.
These projects range from building a new terminal at Helsinki airport to upgrading flood defences in Great Britain and improving the energy efficiency of public buildings in France.
A long list
In a press release from 9 December, the European Commission identified "around 2,000 projects across Europe worth some 1.3 trillion of potential investments, out of which over 500 billion worth of projects could potentially be implemented over the next three years".
The candidate projects on this list, which is yet to be finalised, include a programme of building renovation in the Netherlands, the construction of a new port in Ireland, and even the building of a new high-speed railway between Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, worth 4.5 billion.
The European Commission hopes that the first projects it selects will have access to funding starting in June 2015.
>> Read: Juncker's 315bn investment plan unveiled: fifteenfold leverage and solidarity for the south
On 26 November, less than a month after his arrival at the head of the European executive, Jean-Claude Juncker presented his plan for the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), which he hopes will lead to 315 billion euro of (largely private) investment over 3 years.
Deal with ECB
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2,000 projects line up for Juncker plan funding
Claudia: A Colombian refugee family #39;s new life in Ecuador
No refugee camps have existed in Latin America since the mid-1990s. As opposed to other continents, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) live in towns and cities instead. Often,...
By: European Union Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection
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Claudia: A Colombian refugee family's new life in Ecuador - Video