Mediaboss Marketing

The European Union's humanitarian aid and development aid programmes are being compromised by EU debts, and budget cuts forecast for 2015. EurActiv France reports.

Europe's unpaid bills are accumulating, and with them fears for development aid and humanitarian aid.

Since 2011, the European budget has been amassing unpaid bills, which continue to rise in value. The budget is currently 26 billion euro in arrears, 23 billion of which are owed to the cohesion policy. This impacts the whole spectrum of European politics.

Unpaid bills

"Unpaid bills in the budget category of "Global Europe", which includes development aid and humanitarian aid, have reached 1 billion euro," according to a source close to the dossier.

Jacek Dominik, the European Commissioner in charge of the budget, has also raised the alarm. In a speech on 24 September, the Polish Commissioner said that the debts of the Financing Instrument for Development Cooperation (DCI) had accumulated to a value of "14 million euro since July".

The European Commission says that these arrears relate to payments to the Multi-Donor Food Security Trust Fund for 2009-2018 in Burma.

The lack of funds has also forced the EU to roll back some humanitarian aid programmes. "Some projects in the Sahel region of Africa, the Horn of Africa and Haiti have been postponed," the budget Commissioner announced.

Paring back humanitarian aid

According to Oxfam, the lack of funding will also affect other humanitarian aid programmes. "The impact of the EUs current constraints on humanitarian aid is already being felt by the beneficiary countries. For example, aid to Iraqi refugees in Jordan has been reduced. We are sending less aid to Yemen (housing, food security, etc.)" says Hilary Jeune, the head of European policy at Oxfam.

More here:
Aid programmes hit hard by EU budget woes

Only one of the EU's proposed digital commissioners seems to be prepared to answer questions on Twitter

The likely next EU digital chief Andrus Ansip invited Twitter users to question him during an hour long Twitter chat

Anyone with a burning question about the European Union's upcoming tech agenda has the chance to get an answer during a Twitter chat on Wednesday with Andrus Ansip, who could soon be the European Commission's Vice-President of the Digital Single Market.

Ansip invited everyone to send him questions and suggestions. "Let me know what should be on my 'to-do-list' for the next 5 years," he tweeted to his rather modest Twitter following of about 3,000. Questions can be tweeted with the hashtag #AskAnsip and Ansip will answer some of them between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. CET on Wednesday.

Ansip is expected to share the Commission's digital portfolio with Gnther Oettinger in a realignment of its oversight of that area when Commissioner Neelie Kroes steps down along with the rest of the Commission on Nov. 1. Both candidates already got the green light from the European Parliament after it held confirmation hearings with the proposed Commissioners.

Although Ansip announced the Twitter Q&A last week, it hasn't have gathered a huge amount of interest so far. Looking at the tweets tagged with #AskAnsip some people seem to be concerned about net neutrality. "How can the EU enforce net neutrality?" asked one Twitter user, continuing -- apparently on a mobile device with autocorrect enabled -- "How can a costumer be sure his provider isn't voluntarily degrading a best effort service?"

Another user wanted to know what Ansip's mandate is "to run, govern and filter the internet."

Meanwhile, lobby groups are also taking the opportunity to question Ansip. The Federation of European Direct and Interactive Marketing (FEDMA) for instance seemed concerned about the upcoming reform of the EU's data protection rules. The organization wants to know if the Commission will consider industry self regulation as an adequate tool to ensure privacy and also asked what Ansip considers being the key principles of ethical personal data management.

Ansip, a 58-year-old former Estonian prime minister, decided to answer questions on Twitter after a suggestion by Julia Reda, a German Member of Parliament (MEP) for the European Pirate Party.

"It is an absolute novelty for designated EU commissioners to face direct questioning by the people ahead of the start of their mandate," Reda said, adding that this represents a further step in the democratization of the EU while giving the Internet community an opportunity to make their concerns heard.

See the original post here:
#AskAnsip: Proposed EU digital chief to answer questions on Twitter

Afghanistan Hangs Five Men Over Gang Rape Despite Concerns Of Rights Groups
Afghanistan hanged five men on Wednesday over a gang rape that had shocked the country, officials said, despite requests from human rights groups for new President Ashraf Ghani to stay the...

By: Nirvana News

See the rest here:
Afghanistan Hangs Five Men Over Gang Rape Despite Concerns Of Rights Groups - Video

Suicide blast hits Afghanistan convoy
For more Breaking News: Please Subscribe: SUBSCRIBE US AT - youtube: http://bc.vc/mn5wQd LIKE US ON Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlineWorldNews Google+ ...

By: World News Online

Continue reading here:
Suicide blast hits Afghanistan convoy - Video

PEACE REMAINS elusive in AFGHANISTAN WORLD BREAKING NEWS 201
PEACE REMAINS elusive in AFGHANISTAN WORLD BREAKING NEWS 2014 PEACE REMAINS elusive in AFGHANISTAN WORLD BREAKING NEWS 2014 For more latest and breaking news : - , bbc ...

By: Beryl C Brown

View post:
PEACE REMAINS elusive in AFGHANISTAN WORLD BREAKING NEWS 201 - Video