BRUSSELS, March 3 (Xinhua) — Trade ministers of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) are broadly positive about the EU’s new trade strategy and the European Commission’s commitment to open, fair and rules-based trade, European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said on Tuesday.
Addressing the media following a virtual meeting of the ministers, Dombrovskis stressed how the EU planned to rely on exports “more than ever” to help it bounce back from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are reaffirming our commitment to open, fair and rules-based trade. It is not just EU idealism. It is an economic and political necessity,” he said.
Focusing on strengthening multilateralism and reforming global trade rules, the commission’s strategy unveiled last month highlights the need for reforming the World Trade Organization and advocates the promotion of responsible and sustainable supply chains.
The study highlights currently insufficient engineering capacities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the internationally agreed blueprint for a peaceful and prosperous planet, as well as the lack of diversity in the field.
“Engineering is one of the keys to the sustainable development of our societies, and to activate its full potential, the world needs more engineers and more equality”, said Audrey Azoulay, the UNESCO Director-General.
The report, entitled Engineering for Sustainable Development: Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals, was prepared in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Engineering; the International Centre for Engineering Education (ICEE), based at Tsinghua University in Beijing; the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO); and other international engineering organizations.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the call for urgent action to deliver on the SDGs, while affirming the relevance of engineering to sustainable development”, the authors said.
Women ‘historically underrepresented’
The report underscores how equal opportunity for all is crucial to ensuring inclusivity and gender balance in a profession that has played an essential role in development and human well-being.
Engineering is critical to mitigating the impact of climate change and advancing the SDGs, especially in Africa and the small island developing States, UNESCO said.
Despite the profession’s importance, the UN agency noted that women have been “historically underrepresented” in engineering, making up only 10 to 20 per cent of workers.
Barriers hampering women include persistent gender stereotypes in the field and inadequate policies or educational environments that do not meet their needs and aspirations.
Transforming and innovating
The report showcases engineering innovations and actions from across the world that are contributing to meeting the SDGs. The 17 goals aim to end poverty, reduce inequality and spur economic growth, while also protecting the natural environment.
Examples mentioned include the increase in digital technology use during the pandemic, such as telemedicine for virtual treatment, while Artificial Intelligence, or “AI”, is helping to make water systems more adaptive and efficient.
The authors said “engineering itself needs to transform to become more innovative, inclusive, cooperative and responsible”, underlining the need for “a new paradigm” that bridges disciplines in order to address complex issues such as climate change, urbanization and preserving the health of oceans and forests.
BUDAPEST — Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party has quit the European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament after the conservative grouping approved new internal rules.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced the move in a letter to EPP parliamentary group leader Manfred Weber on March 3 that was posted on Twitter by one of his ministers.
The decision comes a day after the EPP changed its internal rules to allow entire parties to be thrown out, rather than just individual members — a change that was billed as a way to expel Fidesz from the largest faction in the EU legislature.
‘The amendments to the rules of the EPP Group are clearly a hostile move against Fidesz and our voters…This is anti-democratic, unjust, and unacceptable,’ Orban wrote in his letter.
The EPP group, which includes German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, has been squabbling with Fidesz for years.
The right-wing party, which has held a two-thirds majority in Hungary’s parliament almost uninterrupted since 2010, has been suspended from the EPP since 2018, but it still had 12 lawmakers in the parliamentary faction.
The EU has long accused Orban of undermining democratic freedoms, media, nongovernmental organizations, and the rule of law.
Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Republished with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036
World Obesity Day is on 4 March, and on this occasion WHO/Europe raises the urgent need for promoting healthy eating habits among children. This recommendation is based on the results of round 4 of the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI), which were recently published in an article in the journal Nutrients and in a WHO/Europe factsheet which summarizes the data.
According to the findings, which present the dietary habits of 132 489 children, 78.8% of children eat breakfast, 42.5% consume fresh fruit every day and 22.6% consume vegetables every day. 10.3% of children consume sweet snacks and 9.4% soft drinks on a daily basis. However, there are significant differences between eating habits from country to country.
Overall, the WHO findings from this study highlight that action is urgently needed to promote healthy eating habits among children in all the countries of the European Region, especially to increase daily consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.
“A healthy diet includes high consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, daily breakfast consumption and discouraging routine consumption of nutrient-poor foods that are high in sugars, saturated fats, trans fats and salt,” said Dr Kremlin Wickramasinghe, ad interim Programme Manager, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, WHO/Europe.
Nutrition for a healthy life
Healthy nutrition is one of the pillars of noncommunicable disease (NCD) prevention. Poor diets, overweight and obesity are major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and cancer, the 2 main killers in the WHO European Region.
“A healthy diet is especially important for primary school-aged children. Establishing good nutrition habits early in life can substantially decrease risks of child obesity and overweight, and can lead to better health for years to come,” said Dr Carina Ferreira-Borges, ad interim Head of the WHO European Office for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD Office) and Programme Manager, Alcohol, Illicit Drugs and Prison Health.
To contribute to healthy childhood growth and development in the European Region, the NCD Office created a factsheet to summarize the paper on the dietary habits of children aged 6–9 years. The research drew on data from 23 countries participating in the 2015–2017 4th round of COSI, the largest initiative of its kind globally.
Promoting healthy childhoods
Healthy nutrition during childhood is a fundamental priority for the future of the Region. Policy-makers can promote healthy growth and development among children by:
regulating marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children;
implementing WHO-recommended labelling rules for nutrition producers;
incentivizing reformulation of foods high in sugar, fat and salt;
introducing fiscal incentives such as implementing a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages;
facilitating access to healthy and nutritious food in schools, other public institutions – through implementation of healthy public food procurement and service policies – and in under-served communities;
supporting monitoring initiatives of children’s eating habits, anthropometric measurements and food environments to monitor policy impacts.
Helping countries to promote healthy nutrition as an effective measure to reduce NCDs is one of the priorities of the European Programme of Work 2020–2025, signed by all Member States of the WHO European Region, which promotes united action for better health while ensuring well-being for all at all ages.
On 28 February and 1 March President Hoyer joined EU President Charles Michel on a mission to Moldova and Georgia, underlining the important role the EU Bank plays in Team Europe’s effort to support the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood.
In Tblisi President Michel said, “The European Union remains committed to its partnership with all countries in the region, and that it stands firmly alongside Georgia.” He added, “I am delighted to be accompanied on this visit by Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank. A significant part of EU support is delivered through the European Investment Bank, the EU Bank. The European Investment Bank has provided around €1.8 billion to the local economy since 2007, of which €170 million recently in connection with COVID-19.”
This visit went hand in hand with the opening of a new office building for the EU institutions in Tbilisi. President Hoyer and President Michel were both present at the opening. The Bank’s Tblisi Regional Office is housed within the EU Delegation’s building.
President Hoyer signed a new operation in the presence of President Michel, extending EIB support to Georgian micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The €2.5 million operation will allow Liberty Bank to expand an existing credit line to a total of €17.5 million – a much needed lifeline in the face of the pandemic .
The EU bank has been supporting the economic and social development of Georgia since 2007, providing some €1.85 billion to the local economy to date. The EU bank’s activities in the country have supported key infrastructure projects (€1 billion), MSMEs and mid-caps (€290 million), municipal infrastructure (€280 million) and green energy generation projects (€23.5 million). EIB Group supported COVID-19 recovery activities, as part of Team Europe, in 2020 totalled €170 million.
Georgia is among a few non-EU countries eligible to benefit from European Investment Fund (EIF) operations, designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with risk-sharing instruments. Today, the EIB Group portfolio of guarantees in Georgia covers €382.9 million of SME loans.
In Moldova, the two presidents met Moldovan President Maia Sandu to reaffirm Team Europe’s commitment to Moldova and EU support for President Sandu`s planned reforms, which aim to strengthen the rule of law and tackle corruption.
Speaking after the visit, President Hoyer said, “The EU Bank is playing a major role in Team Europe’s efforts in the Eastern Neighborhood: in bolstering recovery, building resilience and encouraging investment. We’re committed to supporting the kinds of initiatives and projects that make the EU a trusted and reliable partner for the region.”
The EU is Moldova’s largest trading partner and principal market for Moldovan exports. During the last ten years, the Union has provided over one billion euros in grants. The European Investment Bank has financed key projects in the energy sector and for SMEs. The European Investment Bank has around €847 million invested around 847 million in Moldova since the beginning of our operations in the country in 2007, supporting all key sectors of the local economy, and SMEs in particular. In 2020 alone the Bank provided € 20 million to aid the faster recovery of Moldovan SMEs from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the press release to find out more about our support to Georgia
Norway: Pilot study reveals staggering amount of unhealthy food and beverage marketing to children and adolescents
According to a new study conducted by the Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet), 8 out of 10 food and drink advertisements aimed at children in Norway violate WHO guidelines and promote unhealthy nutrition. The research used the CLICK framework – a tool that helps monitor and restrict marketing of unhealthy products to children, developed by the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases.
Researchers have mapped the current digital marketing landscape of food and drinks directed at children aged 3–17 years in Norway, revealing that the majority of the products advertised were foods and beverages high in fat, salt and sugar. While most of these should not be promoted to a young audience, according to WHO guidelines, only 9% of them were deemed unacceptable under the guidelines currently in effect in Norway.
“Protecting children and adolescents from marketing of harmful products online is critical,” underscores Professor Knut-Inge Klepp, Executive Director of Mental and Physical Health at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, “This report demonstrates that many children and adolescents are not sufficiently protected by current guidelines in Norway, and the study results can be used to inform and adjust national regulations.”
Digital marketing contributes to unhealthy eating habits in children
The WHO European Region continues to struggle with high rates of childhood obesity in many countries. There is overwhelming evidence that the marketing of foods and beverages high in saturated fat, trans-fatty acids, free sugars or salt (HFSS) influences a child’s knowledge, attitudes and food preferences. Consumption of these promoted products is associated with increased risk of overweight and obesity. Obesity in children is a risk factor for noncommunicable diseases, many of which are preventable if major risk factors and behaviours are addressed during childhood.
Childhood obesity is a growing challenge in Norway, where approximately 24% of boys and 22% of girls in primary school live with overweight or obesity, as do around 25% of adolescents in the country. Moreover, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children has not decreased over the past decade, and health authorities are interested in identifying the role that marketing of unhealthy products plays in this regard.
“Authorities should review the regulations and the age limits,” says Kamilla Knutsen Steinnes of Consumption Research Norway (SIFO), OsloMet. “Norway’s guidelines should be better aligned with WHO guidelines. Today, only children under the age of 13 are protected by current guidelines, whereas it is actually adolescents over the age of 13 who are most frequently subjected to advertising. All children need to be protected online.”
Pilot study with impressive results
The study conducted in Norway uses the CLICK monitoring framework, developed by WHO/Europe, which comprises five steps, adaptable to national contexts. Norway is the first of the participating countries to successfully complete the third step of the framework (Investigate exposure) by collecting data on paid advertisements directly from devices used by children.
“Since the digital landscape is constantly changing, it is difficult to gain good insight without monitoring the children”, says Vilde Haugrønning from OsloMet. “We have used the best method available at present.”
The results of this pilot mapping of advertisement data from the mobile phones of 47 participating children show that 1 in 10 out of the total 5076 captured advertisements promoted food and drink products, primarily unhealthy ones, and that the children spent an average of 13 seconds viewing an advertisement.
While this study focuses only on the impact of paid advertising, the CLICK monitoring framework also offers additional protocols to monitor indirect marketing, such as advertisements made by celebrities and social media influencers. Indirect advertising of unhealthy products to children by influencers with an immense reach is often difficult to recognize as marketing, which makes it highly problematic. It could mean that the extent to which children are being subjected to advertisements of unhealthy products is even greater than described in the report.
“This new study completed by Norway using the WHO/Europe CLICK framework provides some of the most convincing data we have seen so far to demonstrate the extent of this issue,” says Dr Kremlin Wickramasinghe, Acting Programme Manager for Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, WHO Regional Office for Europe. “It reminds us that we must consider how suitable the current policies are for protecting children in the WHO European Region from marketing pressure.”
The report suggests that Norwegian guidelines should be better aligned with WHO guidelines through redefining and improving regulation to protect children from unacceptable promotion of unhealthy products online. In early March the report will be presented to government officials in a meeting hosted by the Ministry of Children and Families in Norway.
The EP Frontex Scrutiny Working Group (FSWG) will meet on Thursday with the agency’s Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri and Commissioner Ylva Johansson.
The fourteen-member working group has been set up to assess the functioning of the European border agency, following media reports that it was allegedly involved in pushbacks of asylum-seekers in Aegean waters. Suspicions of mismanagement led to several inquiries, both internally and by different EU bodies, such as OLAF (the EU’s anti-fraud office) and the Ombudsman’s office.
Chaired by Roberta Metsola (EPP, MT), the FSWG will carry out a fact-finding investigation in its first four months, gathering all relevant information and evidence regarding alleged violations of fundamental rights involving Frontex.
The Covid-19 pandemic – and the measures taken to combat it – have upended many lives. For millions of people around the world, the pandemic has brought about a protracted period of uncertainty, isolation, and hardship, with an end not yet in clear view. And those already in a precarious situation before the crisis have been hit the hardest, with women particularly afflicted.
We have learned the hard way that no one is safe until everybody is safe. In Europe, the detrimental impact of the pandemic on the right to physical and mental health has been compounded by an overreliance on the institutional care of older persons and persons with disabilities. The right to education has come under threat. Unemployment has soared, dealing an additional blow to housing rights.
But the pandemic has also created an unprecedented opportunity to make things right. The recovery effort must address structural inequalities head-on as well as operational deficiencies in the enjoyment of social rights. An approach that places people and their rights at its centre – not as passive recipients of services, but as rights-holders with agency – is the only way to guarantee a sustainable recovery.
While States carry the main responsibility to respect, protect, and fulfil social rights, the role of the EU institutions and local authorities cannot be underestimated. Indeed, the upcoming Action Plan to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights has the potential to trigger a seismic shift.
The Action Plan presents a powerful opportunity for the EU to strengthen its commitment to a truly global system for human rights. This publication calls on the European Commission to situate its efforts within the broader human rights framework, building on the EU’s stated commitment to lead the way in supporting the rules-based international order. The commitment to multilateralism must start at home, with a human rightsbased approach to the Action Plan for the Social Pillar.
Dignity for All: Realizing Social Rights in the EU 2
Accountability, transparency, participation, and non-discrimination should be cornerstones of the Action Plan and its implementation. Human rights are not just normative requirements; they are practical tools that can sharpen the effectiveness of policy interventions. In addition to the EU’s own tools (such as the Social Scoreboard), the findings of international human rights mechanisms can also establish a useful baseline for where States stand with respect to protecting and promoting social rights. As States parties to international human rights treaties, EU member States are, after all, bound to implement these norms. Furthermore, the human rights indicators developed by the UN Human Rights Office, together with the global Sustainable Development indicators, can provide a useful framework for tracking and monitoring the implementation of the Social Pillar.
We have before us a chance to close serious gaps in the enjoyment of social rights across the region. If this opportunity is seized, it will lead to better and tangible outcomes in the Covid-19 recovery and – most importantly – will guarantee a life of greater dignity for all.
Birgit Van Hout Regional Representative for Europe Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has pulled his rightwing Fidesz party out of the main centre-right political group in the European parliament after the European People’s party (EPP) moved towards excluding it by changing its rules.
The EPP’s 180 MEPs, some of whom have campaigned for years for the expulsion of Fidesz, which they accuse of weakening the judiciary and curbing media, academic and other freedoms, backed the change by 148 votes to 28 with four abstentions.
Orbán, the party’s chairman, said in a letter posted on Twitter soon after the vote that it was “disappointing” that in the midst of a pandemic the EPP was busying itself with curtailing the rights of its own representatives.
He accused the EPP of “trying to mute and disable our democratically elected MEPs”. The vote was “a hostile move against Fidesz and our voters”, he said, as well as “anti-democratic, unjust and unacceptable … Therefore, the governing body of Fidesz has decided to leave the EPP Group immediately.”
A spokesman for the EPP parliamentary group, Pedro Lopez de Pablo, said the Hungarian prime minister’s response to the vote on Wednesday was “his own personal decision” and that the group would not comment.
Dacian Ciolos, president of the centrist Renew Europe Group in the parliament, welcomed what he described as the “long overdue departure of Fidesz and Viktor Orbán from mainstream European politics”.
Under Orbán, Fidesz had “eroded democracy in Hungary and vandalised European values”, Ciolos said. “It is regrettable that the EPP have harboured the slide to authoritarianism in Hungary for so long. There is no space for the toxic populism of Fidesz in European politics.”
Orbán’s decision to walk away from the biggest single voting bloc in the parliament ends years of wrangling between EPP parties over whether or not to kick his rightwing, populist party out of the group or keep its MEPs onboard.
In a letter to the EPP’s leader, Manfred Weber, on Sunday, Orbán had threatened to leave the group, saying the proposed rule changes – to allow entire member parties, rather than just individual MEPs, to be expelled with a simple majority – were “tailor-made to punish Fidesz”.
The EPP suspended Fidesz’s membership in 2019 over growing concerns that the rule of law was being eroded in Hungary and that the party was engaging in anti-Brussels rhetoric and attacking the EPP leadership. The party currently has 12 MEPs.
A Hungarian government poster campaign in 2019 accused the then European commission head, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the liberal US billionaire George Soros – Orbán’s bête noire – of plotting to flood Europe with migrants.
The EPP subsequently sent a delegation to produce an internal report assessing the future membership of Fidesz – a move that drew a highly critical response from Orbán who said the party would make its own decision on its future.
More recently, the EPP suspended Tamás Deutsch, the head of the Fidesz delegation in the European parliament, stripping him of his rights to speaking time in plenary sessions and removing him from his positions in the group, after he compared comments by Weber to the slogans of the Gestapo and Hungary’s communist-era secret police.
Many of the more moderate national delegations in the EPP, which welcomed Orbán’s party in the early 2000s, have pushed for Fidesz to be expelled, arguing that it no longer represents the group’s values.
National delegations from Scandinavia, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands have long campaigned for Orbán’s exclusion, while the Christian Democrat CDU/CSU of Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, has consistently been reluctant.
Othmar Karas, an Austrian EPP member and vice president of the European parliament, said the vote was “a clear sign of our ability to act and our credibility”, as well as “a rejection of a blackmail attempt by Viktor Orbán.”
Petri Sarvamaa, a Finnish EPP MEP, called Fidesz’s departure “a great relief and a historic day”, saying that the party had “trampled on democratic values” and built a system in which “EU funds have been channelled into the leadership’s pockets”.
Orbán’s decision to take Fidesz out of his own volition represents a welcome resolution of a long-standing and increasingly damaging problem for the EPP, as tensions with Hungary and Poland over the rule of law are likely to build further in months to come.
Fidesz’s MEPs could now join either the socially conservative and Eurosceptic European Conservatives & Reformists (ECR) group dominated by Poland’s Law & Justice (PiS) party, or the far-right, nationalist Identity & Democracy group founded in 2019 by France’s Marine Le Pen and Italy’s Matteo Salvini.
Beside Merkel’s CDU, the EPP faction includes Poland’s opposition Civic Platform, Belgian Christian Democrats, France’s Les Republicains and others. It will remain the largest group in the 705-strong chamber even after the Fidesz MEPs’ departure.
The European Sunday Alliance releases statement on synchronised free time in the EU
On the occasion of the International Day for a work-free Sunday, the European Sunday Alliance urges the EU institutions to put synchronised free time as a priority on the social policy agenda, especially “in times where the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated existing challenges of digitalisation by intensifying work and extending working hours, thus putting a healthy work-life balance at risk for more people” – reads the statement.
The Alliance encourages the European Commission to align its upcoming proposal for a directive on a right to disconnect with article 2 of the Council of Europe’s Social Charter, which firmly requires “a weekly rest period which shall, as far as possible, coincide with the day recognised by tradition or custom in the country or region concerned as a day of rest.”
“Regrettably – reads the statement – in 1996 the EU working time directivewas stripped of a provision to include Sunday as common day of rest for workers because the European Court of Justice found that the directivefailed to explain why Sunday, as a weekly rest day, is more closely connected with the health and safety of workers than any other day of the week.”
Establishing a European right to disconnect is currently debated throughout Europe. Work-life balance, as well as healthy, safe and well-adapted work environments, are at the heart of the European Pillar of Social Rights, which all EU institutions and Member States government have committed to implement.
COMECE is member and founder of the European Sunday Alliance. The Alliance is a broad network of more than 100 national Sunday alliances, trade unions, employers’ organisations, civil society associations, churches and religious communities in the European Union. The Alliance is committed to raise awareness about the unique value of Sunday for our society and on the importance of a common day of rest.
In the run up to the International Day for a work-free Sunday, the Alliance carried out a video campaign on social media, raising awareness about the unique value of Sunday for our society and on the importance of a common day of rest.
The European Sunday Alliance calls on EU political leaders “to put synchronised free time as a priority on the social policy agenda”. In a statement released on Wednesday 3 March 2021, the Alliance – of which COMECE is a member – encourages the EU Commission to align its upcoming proposal for a directive on a right to disconnect with Article 2 of the Council of Europe’s Social Charter.
On the occasion of the International Day for a work-free Sunday, the European Sunday Alliance urges the EU institutions to put synchronised free time as a priority on the social policy agenda, especially “in times where the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated existing challenges of digitalisation by intensifying work and extending working hours, thus putting a healthy work-life balance at risk for more people” – reads the statement.
The Alliance encourages the European Commission to align its upcoming proposal for a directive on a right to disconnect with article 2 of the Council of Europe’s Social Charter, which firmly requires “a weekly rest period which shall, as far as possible, coincide with the day recognised by tradition or custom in the country or region concerned as a day of rest.”
“Regrettably – reads the statement – in 1996 the EU working time directivewas stripped of a provision to include Sunday as common day of rest for workers because the European Court of Justice found that the directivefailed to explain why Sunday, as a weekly rest day, is more closely connected with the health and safety of workers than any other day of the week.”
Establishing a European right to disconnect is currently debated throughout Europe. Work-life balance, as well as healthy, safe and well-adapted work environments, are at the heart of the European Pillar of Social Rights, which all EU institutions and Member States government have committed to implement.
COMECE is member and founder of the European Sunday Alliance. The Alliance is a broad network of more than 100 national Sunday alliances, trade unions, employers’ organisations, civil society associations, churches and religious communities in the European Union. The Alliance is committed to raise awareness about the unique value of Sunday for our society and on the importance of a common day of rest.
In the run up to the International Day for a work-free Sunday, the Alliance carried out a video campaign on social media, raising awareness about the unique value of Sunday for our society and on the importance of a common day of rest.
