BRUSSELS, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) — Leaders of the European Union (EU) member states on Friday reaffirmed their commitment to increase the EU’s capacity to act autonomously in the context of their strategic debate on European security and defense policy, as well as the need for the bloc to take more responsibility for its security.
Concluding a two-day virtual summit, the heads of state and government agreed to enhance cooperation in beefing up the bloc’s own security by, among others, improving its partnership with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the new U.S. administration.
“A good EU-NATO cooperation remains a top priority for the Commission,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a press conference held jointly with European Council President Charles Michel after the summit.
“We want to increase defense investment, and we want to enhance civilian and military capabilities and operational readiness,” Michel said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg joined the video conference for a discussion on cooperation between the bloc and the defense alliance.
“We share the same population, the same members, the same neighborhood and the same challenges,” Stoltenberg said ahead of the meeting.
“For NATO, the main task during this pandemic has been to make sure that a health crisis doesn’t turn into a security crisis,” he said.
The 27 leaders also discussed ways to increase their countries’ resilience to cyberattacks and hybrid threats. They asked the EU executive to prepare a roadmap for boosting the development of strategic technologies.
The EU’s new ambitious food policy is ready to face tough parliamentary scrutiny from lawmakers who feel being pushed aside by the European Commission.
Since the start of 2021, the European Parliament has been taking the long path to give its contribution to the agri-food part of the Commission’s flagship Green Deal.
Although it might have been somewhat overshadowed by the recent focus on the ongoing negotiations to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy remains a crucial blueprint to test the level of ambition for making Europe’s food systems more sustainable.
The set of measures included in the strategy, as well as targets – for some welcome, for others controversial – represents the vision for European agriculture in the decades to come.
The vote in the two relevant parliamentary committees is provisionally scheduled for early May, but according to an EU source, MEPs are planning on having the final approval at the June plenary.
The European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI) agreed to share the competence on the file with their colleagues on the agriculture committee (COMAGRI), in a sign of appeasement after recent bickering over the reform of the EU’s farming subsidies programme.
Lawmakers on the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee (AGRI) reacted angrily as their colleagues on the Environment Committee (ENVI) decided to halt cooperation on the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) file.
Bad mood
Two joint debates have been already dedicated to the many outstanding issues, but F2F’s main topics continue to pop up in other hearings as well.
The most recent was a debate on the revision of the EU’s agriculture promotion policy, in which COMAGRI chair Norbert Lins publicly complained about the fact that the Parliament was not properly consulted on the strong push on organic farming that the Commission is putting in every policy, and which derives from the F2F.
“You have always told us that the F2F strategy is an open debate, that you wanted to hear out at our arguments, and yet the Parliament has not really spoken to this file as yet,” he told the director-general of Commission’s DG AGRI, Wolfgang Burtscher, in a hearing.
The majority in the European Parliament voted against the inclusion of the F2F objectives and targets in its mandate to negotiate the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), currently in the so-called trilogue talks between MEPs and EU ministers.
Lawmakers of the three biggest groups – Christian-democrats, socialists, and liberals – have repeatedly affirmed the lawmaking competence of the Parliament, stressing that the F2F is a Commission strategy and, as such, represents a political commitment for the coming years, but is not a binding text.
The ‘amendment’ battle
The first hardship lawmakers have to face is the impressive amount of amendments – a ground total of 2,297 – that have been filed so far.
“I guess a lot of them will be identical so the number will be reduced,” Herbert Dorfmann, one of the Parliament’s two rapporteurs on this sensitive dossier, told EURACTIV.
According to an EU source, the first screening showed that over 200 amendments are references to other documents in a clear attempt to slow down the process, but more clarity is expected in the next weeks with a verdict from Parliament’s legal service.
“More than 2,000 is a lot. We will try to deal with it,” Dorfmann said, putting this huge number of amendments down to the fact that the F2F covers many interests, from farmers to the processing industry, to the retailers to the consumers.
This will be the main task of the two rapporteurs on the file, Dorfmann and German MEP Anja Hazekamp, the ENVI rapporteur.
The two have different personalities and different worldviews: Hazekamp is a member of the Dutch Party for the Animals and keen on topics such as environment and animal protection, while Dorfmann is an agronomist perceived as much closer to farmers’ interests.
What to expect?
The diversity in the rapporteurs is, however, key to ensuring that all sides get heard.
Over the past few months, in the focus of this F2F battle were several specific bones of contention; the targets on pesticide, the possible shift toward more plant-based diets, or the never-ending row over mandatory front-of-pack labelling.
But also the farmers’ role in this transition toward more sustainable food systems is so far being highly considered in the debates among the MEPs.
Although the Parliament is ready to send its contribution, there is a caveat: MEPs are not going to change the strategy itself.
“We do not have this capacity, so the strategy will remain as it is,” explained Dorfmann.
According to the Italian lawmaker, the final report should make clear to the Commission for which ideas there is a majority in the European Parliament.
The main goal of the lawmakers is, therefore, not to influence the strategy, but the 37 pieces of legislation that will come after to implement the strategy in the next years.
Year after year, the Lion’s Club sets up wire-frame Christmas decorations on the lawn of the historic Jackson County courthouse, facing Main Street in Brownstown, Indiana.
The display, which belongs to the local ministerial alliance, glows from dusk to dawn from Thanksgiving until New Year’s Day, with the county providing the electricity.
This led to yet another “Christmas Wars” dispute, with the recent Woodring v. Jackson County court decision offering a precise description of this tableau.
There is a “waving Santa Claus with his sleigh, a reindeer, seven large candy-striped poles, the nativity scene … and four carolers standing in front of a lamppost,” noted Seventh Circuit Judge Amy Joan St. Eve. “Santa Claus and the reindeer are on the left. … To their right are three gift-bearing kings (Magi) and a camel, who look upon the nativity. On the right side of the sidewalk, Mary, Joseph and infant Jesus in the stable are flanked on each side by trumpet-playing angels. To their right are several animals facing the nativity. The carolers stand in front of the animals, closer to Main Street.”
Before the 2018 lawsuit, the Freedom From Religion Foundation warned that the nativity scene needed to come down. County officials responded by moving Santa and other secular symbols closer to the telltale manger. That move was clearly linked to what activists call the “reindeer rules,” in which secular and sacred symbols are mixed to honor guidelines from the Supreme Court’s Lemon v. Kurtzman in 1971. The “Lemon test” asks if a government action’s primary effect advanced religion, as opposed to a secular purpose, thus entangling church and state.
But the majority in a new 2-1 decision in Indiana argued that the “nativity scene is constitutional because it fits within a long national tradition of using the nativity scene in broader holiday displays to celebrate the origins of Christmas.”
This post-Christmas decision in the heartland may have been a turning point.
“To the degree that the reindeer rules were based on Lemon, this decision said that we now have a new Supreme Court precedent. The reindeer rules appear to be gone,” said Diana Verm, senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which filed a brief in the case.
Verm bluntly told the press afterwards: “It turns out the ACLU can’t cancel Baby Jesus.”
Judge St. Eve cited the 2019 American Legion v. American Humanist Association ruling in which the U.S. Supreme Court said a 40-foot cross could remain on public property because it was a longstanding memorial that had become part of a “community’s landscape and identity.”
While the Jackson County holiday display may not be old enough to be truly historic, the display was part of a community celebration of a national holiday. The fact that some people opposed parts of the display didn’t change the essential facts, said the judge.
In his dissent, Judge David Hamilton said the American Legion case should not be seen as a “revolution in Establishment Clause doctrine.” While there is more to this debate than “counting whether there are more shepherds and angels than elves and snowmen,” he added, it’s clear that if a “display is dominated by religious symbolism, with only minor or token secular symbols and symbols of other faiths, the message of endorsement calls for court intervention.”
No one expects protesters to stop being offended by public displays of religious symbolism and, thus, to stop filing lawsuits.
But in the future, it will be easier to argue that Americans – secular and religious – celebrate Christmas and that themes and symbols from Christian history are undeniably part of those traditions, said Verm in a telephone interview. Hopefully, there will be fewer fights over whether Jesus is “a little bit too prominent” in community holiday decorations.
“What matters is whether the government can recognize the traditions we have in this country, and that includes symbols from secular culture and religious cultures,” she said. “Americans tend to be religious people and you’re not establishing any particular religion if you acknowledge that fact. … Religion doesn’t need to be scrubbed out of the public square if it has been there a long time and it has become part of our culture’s history and traditions.”
Terry Mattingly leads GetReligion.org and lives in Oak Ridge, Tenn. He is a senior fellow at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi.
LOS ANGELES, CA—24 February, 2021—Celebrating the life and incomparable musical genius of Chick Corea, Scientology Network presents a 3-hour tribute special, including two full-length documentaries, chronicling his legacy with highlights of his storied career and a never-before-seen performance.
The Chick Corea Tribute Special is streaming now on Scientology Network.
Chick Corea, the iconic instrumentalist, composer and bandleader, won 23 Grammy Awards and was known for his awe-inspiring command of the piano. Having pioneered the category of jazz fusion, Chick was an astonishingly prolific composer whose ingeniousness influenced a wide range of top musicians across all genres, from Herbie Hancock and Gary Burton to Bobby McFerrin.
“My mission has always been to bring the joy of creating anywhere I could, and to have done so with all the artists that I admire so dearly—this has been the richness of my life.” —Chick Corea
The 3-hour tribute special features:
Chick Corea: In the Mind of a Master—A one-of-a-kind experience documenting the creative process of Chick Corea as he writes, arranges and records Antidote, the album that earned him his 23rd Grammy Award.
The Musician—A feature-length documentary exploring Chick Corea’s legendary month-long set of performances in the epicenter of the jazz universe, the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City. The film captures the essence of the maestro and Chick’s profound influence on some of the musical giants who join him onstage.
“Future Sweet”—Chick Corea teams up with instrumental virtuosos Béla Fleck on banjo, Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and Carlitos Del Puerto on bass on his never-before-released song, “Future Sweet.” In his inimitable style, Chick takes us on a musical journey where the final destination is impossible to predict but always a delightful adventure to experience when the maestro leads the way.
Watch it here: ChickCoreaTribute.tv/FutureSweet
Both Chick’s approach to creating music and how he handled life left an indelible mark on his friends and fellow musicians he performed with.
Spanish jazz musician Jorge Pardo says in The Musician, “He’s always eliminated barriers. I think he’s a little bit like Miles [Davis] in that regard, that, you know, it’s just music. His energy is amazing. And it’s like this momentum.”
“The thing that I like, working with Chick, probably the most is how music unfolds before our eyes and before our ears, you know? We’re all experiencing this music at the same time, simultaneously. Everyone, whether you’re participating in the music, if you’re just a passive listener and listening to it, we’re all discovering this music at the same time,” said Bobby McFerrin in the documentary.
Grammy Award winner Rubén Blades thanked Chick Corea in an interview after recording and collaborating on Antidote, “Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to learn and to leave my comfort zone and come to a different area of music. Thank you for the respect and for all your kindness, actually.”
Watch the Chick Corea Tribute Special at chickcoreatribute.tv.
—
The Scientology Network debuted on March 12, 2018. Since launching, the Scientology Network has been viewed in 240 countries and territories worldwide in 17 languages. Satisfying the curiosity of people about Scientology, the network takes viewers across six continents, spotlighting the everyday lives of Scientologists; showing the Church as a global organization; and presenting its social betterment programs that have touched the lives of millions worldwide. The network also showcases documentaries by Independent filmmakers who represent a cross section of cultures and faiths, but share a common purpose of uplifting communities.
Broadcast from Scientology Media Productions, the Church’s global media center in Los Angeles, the Scientology Network is available on DIRECTV Channel 320 and can be streamed at scientology.tv, mobile apps and via the Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV platforms.
CONTACT: Media Relations [email protected]
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Brussels, Feb 26 (efe-epa).- The European Union on Friday repeated its goal of becoming more autonomous in military and strategic defensive areas and reducing its reliance on the United States, while also underlining its intentions to continue working closely with Nato and Washington.
“We need to increase our ability to act autonomously and to strengthen our cooperation with our partners. We are committed to cooperating closely with Nato. A stronger Europe makes a stronger Nato,” European Council president Charles Michel told a press conference at the end of the second day of a virtual summit with EU leaders, which focused on defense and security.
The impetus behind pursuing more autonomy in defense took on more importance during the previous four years, when Donald Trump occupied the White House and threatened to destabilize the trans-Atlantic alliance.
The EU still holds onto those plans, despite an expected improvement in their relationship now that Joe Biden has taken over from Trump.
“Last week, President Biden said: ‘America is back.’ We in Europe are ready – to do our part, to be a strong and reliable partner,” Michel said.
Meanwhile the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said cooperation between the EU and Nato is “a top priority” but said that there were several “scenarios where Nato was not engaged” where the EU would need to rely on itself.
“Europe needs to develop its own capabilities,” she said. “That is why we have set up the first building blocks of the European Defense Union.”
“We have the industry, we have the knowledge. What we need is to put this innovation and these talents at the service of common European capabilities.” EFE-EPA
The Council has today requested the European Parliament’s consent to its decision on the conclusion of the EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement and a security of information agreement.
Once the European Parliament has given its consent and once all 24 language versions of the agreements have been established as authentic and definitive, the Council will be in a position to adopt the decision on the conclusion of the agreements, allowing their entry into force. This will be the last step for the EU in the ratification of the agreements.
Background
The United Kingdom left the European Union at midnight (CET) on 31 January 2020 and the Withdrawal Agreement entered into force on 1 February 2020, with a transition period running until 31 December 2020.
Negotiations on the future partnership between the EU and the UK started on 2 March 2020. Negotiators reached an agreement on an EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement and a security of information agreement on 24 December 2020.
On 29 December 2020 the Council adopted the decision on the signing of the EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement and a security of information agreement and their provisional application as of 1 January 2021. The agreements were then signed by the two parties on 30 December 2020. The agreements have been provisionally applied since 1 January 2021.
The agreements provided for a time-limited provisional application until the end of February, unless a later date was agreed by the parties. On 23 February 2021, the EU-UK Partnership Council decided, at the EU’s request, to extend the provisional application until 30 April 2021 to allow sufficient time to complete the legal-linguistic revision of the agreements in all 24 languages.
Croatia is expected to receive a good wealth of EU funds in the coming years. However, the strategic priorities doesn’t appear very bold and clear, and the plan for the use of the Recovery Fund is not ready yet
(This article was originally published by H-Alter, as part of the European Data Journalism Network)
Even more than this summer’s hot sun, the good news warmed the hearts of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, his ministers, economists and journalists. 22 billion euros of EU development funds were secured for Croatia for the 2021-27 period.
This comprise about €12.7 billion intended for development, coming from the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), and about €9.4 billion of pandemic-related transfers from the fund called “Next Generation EU”. There is an additional €683 million from the EU Solidarity Fund, meant at helping Croatia to rebuild after this spring’s earthquake in Zagreb. How Croatia plans to spend such huge sums of money is not much clearer today, months after the happy news of their approval.
In November 2020, the Croatian Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds released its National Development Strategy for public discussion. The document, entangled in bureaucracy since 2017, is claimed to be the basis for future decisions on the aforementioned €12.7 billion of EU funds. In addition to the National Strategy, there is also the so-called National Recovery and Resilience Plan concerning the €9.4 billion from the “Next Generation EU” fund. Going by the prime minister’s latest announcements , this plan will be “ready at the beginning of next year, by April at the latest”.
A law on the earthquake reconstruction of Zagreb and surroundings was passed by the Croatian parliament in September. 60 percent of the funds for the renovation of private housing will be provided by the state, 20 percent by the City of Zagreb and the counties, and 20 percent by their owners. The estimated amount needed for reconstruction is just over €1.1 billion , half of which should come from the EU Solidarity Fund.
The minister of Construction, Darko Horvat, announced that the renovation of the buildings will start only in the spring, a full year after the earthquake, dismissing complaints that twelve whole months will have been wasted by then. Reconstruction is a hot topic ahead of the local elections, also due to take place in the spring, with populists trying to buy off voters with public and EU funds.
The National Development Strategy
The National Development Strategy itself has largely disappointed those who believed that it would be key to decisions over the aforementioned €12.7 billion from the MFF. In the public debate so far, the document has been seen as rhetorically ambitious but essentially conservative, a compilation of hollow phrases that its authors believe will have a place in EU forums. Important issues such as immigration policy are completely omitted from it. €4.5 million was nonetheless paid out to the authors of the text.
The document lists 13 strategic goals, including “a competitive and innovative economy”, “an educated and employed populace”, “an efficient and effective judiciary”, “global recognition of Croatia”, “healthy, active and quality life”, “demographic revitalization and stronger families”, national security or “Security for sustainable development”, climate neutrality” to be achieved by “ecological and energy transition”, “food self-sufficiency and development of the bioeconomy”, ” sustainable mobility”, “the digital transition”, development of so-called “assisted areas and areas with development specifics” and “strengthening regional competitiveness”, meaning investment in the development after decades of neglect in the Croatian provinces.
Throughout the document the COVID-19 pandemic is cast regularly as a cause of the slowdown following the “positive trends” that preceded it, such as the alleged fall in unemployment and high economic growth.
Not much to add
This strategy document would probably not exist if its very existence were not a precondition for drawing EU funds. “We want 37 percent of the projects that we will present to be financed out of the European Green Plan, while another 20 percent of them relates to digitalization,” Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said succinctly , demonstrating that the real “development strategy” was in his head and is not too sophisticated.
It turns out that the most interesting part of the Croatian Development Strategy is its analytical part, entitled “Description of development needs and development potentials”. Not a cent of the €4.5 million spent on the shaping of the strategy was invested in researching the statistics here: they were mostly taken from the World Bank, the European Commission, Eurostat and similar bodies. In the cold language of figures and graphs, the section shows how far Croatia lags behind the other EU countries economically and socially.
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As the UK drifts further away from Europe, one of French President Emmanuel Macron’s closest aides wants to convince people in Britain and France that the EU is always the best option.
That involves championing cities such as Frankfurt, Amsterdam and, most of all, Paris as they try to seize as many of the jobs leaving the UK as possible.
So far, the predicted flood of financial jobs has not materialised, though some banks have made a move. “We can do better,” Clement Beaune, junior minister for EU affairs, said in an interview on Wednesday. “It’s not over.”
For Macron and Beaune, the president’s trusted lieutenant for nearly a decade, exploiting Brexit is not just about boosting the French economy. It is about demonstrating to voters the benefits and strengths of the EU at a key moment.
The French leader is gearing up for a fight in next year’s election and with the traditional right and left parties still in disarray, far-right leader Marine Le Pen may well be his main opponent again. Beaune has been leading the attacks against her.
She calls him “the anti Le Pen junior minister.”
EU supporter
Le Pen may have abandoned her unpopular pledge to leave the euro since the last time she and Macron faced off in 2017, but while the president is an ardent EU supporter with a sweeping agenda to enhance integration, Le Pen remains a staunch critic of the bloc. And she is seeking to capitalise on unhappiness over its sluggish vaccine rollout and disorganised response to border closures during the initial stages of the coronavirus crisis.
The debate over the EU is indeed live in France, with one recent poll showing 58% of the French having lost confidence in the union.
The issue can cause tension on the personal level, too. Beaune’s left-wing father, an eminent scientist, is no longer happy with the EU because it is too “neoliberal” and not good enough at protecting social safety nets. Beaune dismisses the criticism, pointing to unprecedented public spending during the pandemic. It is a topic he mostly avoids at dinners.
Back in 2014, Beaune advised Macron when he was economy minister. He was later part of the presidential campaign team and in 2017 helped write the speech in which the French leader laid out his vision for enhanced European integration. Last year, Beaune was at Macron’s side to reach a Franco-German agreement that brought Europeans closer to greater fiscal unity by raising common debt — its success propelled Beaune in July from adviser to the ministerial post.
Now aged 39, Beaune is in the limelight.
Though Macron is broadly centrist, his La Republique En Marche! party includes ministers at opposite ends of the political spectrum. Beaune is seen as representing the Left-leaning faction and could appeal to voters alienated by his conservative peers, and the president’s own tack to the Right.
Beaune says he would probably quit politics if Macron does not win in April 2022, and would leave the civil service altogether if Le Pen becomes president. The risk of her being elected is real, he says. Polls show Macron winning against her in the second round, but the gap is narrower than in 2017 when he won by 32 percentage points.
Close to the president
The minister is known for being accessible as well as close to Macron, and European diplomats and CEOs often reach out to get a sense of the president’s thinking.
In his large office with a 1970s vibe at the ministry of foreign affairs on the Seine’s left bank, Beaune displays an image of Macron’s desk taken the day they negotiated the Franco-German accord.
Beaune often trolls EU critics on social media, calling Le Pen a liar, mocking the English motto of her party, “Save Europe” and reminding UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson that he once promised to protect the Erasmus programme (and did not).
He also posts weekly videos of himself on Twitter explaining how the EU works and has indulged in clubbing diplomacy with Luxembourg’s prime minister in the gay Paris neighbourhood of Le Marais.
As France takes over the rotating presidency of the EU in 2022, Beaune will be at the forefront of Macron’s campaign for the Elysee. He has to resist European demands for the French government to carry out the domestic reforms it promised to rein in public finances. These pledges — including Macron’s flagship pension reform — were halted amid the pandemic to avoid people loosing further purchasing power, and are no longer a priority in Paris.
Beaune is also there to nudge the EU commission to loosen its screening of state aid, and make sure it understands the domestic political constraints in which Macron operates, people close to him said.
Regarding so-called equivalence, Beaune said he thinks the EU may grant some form of rulings to the London financial sector that could allow it to keep operating in Europe, but warned they will be limited.
“Brexit doesn’t weigh on the UK’s competitiveness, nor on its financial sector, I don’t believe in that, but it does create uncertainty,” he said. “By contrast, the EU brings certainty and a form of stability.”
The City of London’s finance industry would be worse off than rival New York under an early draft for a cooperation agreement in financial services between Britain and the European Union, a document, seen by Reuters, showed.
FILE PHOTO: Buildings are seen in the Canary Wharf business district, as a man cycles along a path, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, Britain January 27, 2021. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/File Photo
LONDON: The City of London’s finance industry would be worse off than rival New York under an early draft for a cooperation agreement in financial services between Britain and the European Union, a document, seen by Reuters, showed.
Britain’s financial services industry has been largely cut off from the EU, its biggest customer, since a Brexit transition period ended on Dec. 31 as the sector is not covered by the UK-EU trade deal.
Trading in EU shares and derivatives, for example, has already left Britain for continental Europe.
Both sides are committed to agreeing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) by the end of March on regular, informal talks about financial rules and market supervision.
An early draft of this document, seen by Reuters, has less substance than a deal the EU agreed with the United States in 2016, industry officials said.
“This is the start of a negotiation – the Commission proposed text is clearly more limited than the UK ambition,” said Chris Bates, a financial services lawyer at Clifford Chance.
Brussels can grant direct market access for foreign financial companies if it deems their home market rules are as robust as the EU’s own standards, a system known as “equivalence.”
A person familiar with Britain’s negotiating position said the UK focus is on making sure the MoU provides transparency and appropriate dialogue when it comes to adopting, suspending and withdrawing equivalence decisions.
Currently, the EU can in theory scrap equivalence decisions with just 30 days’ notice.
Under the U.S. deal with the EU, equivalence is treated as “outcomes-based”.
Britain has called for EU equivalence also to be outcomes based, which would ensure that the focus would be on whether financial rules in Britain and the EU produce the same result.
But there is no mention of outcomes-based equivalence in the draft EU-UK memorandum.
The EU text is deliberately more unambitious that the U.S. agreement and does not reflect even the current depth of relationship with bilateral MoUs already signed between individual regulators in Britain and the EU, one financial sector source said.
But industry officials also said that even the draft document now circulating would be a start in rebuilding trust between both sides.
“It is important to establish some framework for a regulatory dialogue even if there are low expectations of any movement on new equivalence decisions any time soon,” Bates said.
The financial industry wants Britain to include a provision for consultations with industry as part of the regulatory dialogue, the first source said.
“The MoU is on the lighter side of what the City wants,” a second financial sector source said, adding that this might make little difference given that Britain is likely to get only limited equivalence.
The European Commission declined to comment on the document. The UK finance ministry had no immediate comment.
Brussels has already made it clear that even an agreed MoU will not automatically lead to more EU access for London’s finance industry beyond time-limited permission to clear EU derivatives trades.
The EU executive is meeting with banks on Friday to ask how they can justify continuing to clear derivatives in London.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said this week that Britain would resist any EU attempts to arm-twist banks into shifting trillions of euros in derivatives clearing from Britain to the bloc.
(Reporting by Huw Jones. Editing by Jane Merriman)
The EIB Group, consisting of the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund, mark a clear acceleration in its SME financing in The Netherlands.
From 2018 to 2020 around €3 billion was made available to Dutch SMEs, which, through a leverage effect from banks and private intermediaries, mobilised some €12.5 billion investments.
Vice-President Kris Peeters indicates that the EIB Group will continue along this line: “The current times call for continued support with access to finance for SMEs, something the EIB Group is definitely committed to.”
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF) see a clear acceleration in European financing aimed at Dutch SMEs. In the years between 2018 and 2020 around €3 billion was made available through intermediary banks and funds in The Netherlands. This European financial injection made sure that, thanks to a leverage effect through the intermediaries, a total of approximately €12.5 billion of financing was allocated to Dutch SMEs.
Especially the EIF, which traditionally focuses on SME financing, saw a significant acceleration in 2020 by making available a record figure of €1,3 billion in guarantees (with a.o. Beequip, Invest-NL), fund investments (e.g. Shift Invest, Rubio Impact Fund) and inclusive finance (Triodos, Qredits). The EIB itself also saw a rise in ‘green’ credit lines, specifically meant for sustainable SMEs, such as the “impact loan” facilities done with Rabobank. Next to this, the Group collaborated with ING to allocate one of the largest credit lines ever, which made available € 1.1 billion in new SME-lending in the country.
Earlier this year, the EIB Group already announced it had signed a record volume in financing for Dutch projects in 2020. By putting the focus on SMEs, Vice-president Kris Peeters wants to signal to Dutch entrepreneurs that Europe is there for them: “Traditionally the EIB finances transport, energy and climate projects, but since the financial crisis the focus on SMEs has been further reinforced. In these difficult times, we wanted to do more, for example through special pan-European initiatives like the European Guarantee Fund. Europe is there for Dutch entrepreneurs, not only through the internal market, but also through very tangible, advantageous financing made available by the EIB Group through local intermediaries. The current times call for continued support with access to finance for SMEs, something the EIB Group is definitely committed to.”
