Following his address to heads of state or government during the EU summit, President Sassoli will hold a press conference on Thursday at 15.30.
Thursday 25 February at 15.30
President David Sassoli is set to convey Parliament’s position and answer journalists’ questions regarding the EU’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on the production and rollout of vaccines as well as on lessons learnt from the pandemic. He will also comment on the
“There was a crisis of information flow between the system and the patients at home,” says Dr Davit Mrelashvili, a neurologist from Georgia, referring to the pressure on his country’s health-care system when COVID-19 took hold. “As the country’s hospitals filled up, it was hard for stay-at-home patients to get timely, expert advice, and the 911 emergency system clogged up for those who truly needed it.”
Based in the United States of America, Dr Mrelashvili decided to return to his home country to try to address the problem and replicate some of the teleworking solutions that he had seen successfully employed in the United States.
He created virtual clinics that could accommodate as many patients as necessary without absorbing hours of doctors’ time. The initiative, named Project Atlas, links up 1 senior doctor, voluntary medical specialists, 2 junior doctors, medical students and patients in a series of virtual, cloud-based chat rooms.
“Individual patients can contact a doctor via their smartphone for tailored medical feedback, while general, protocol-based advice can be uploaded by medical students operating the system,” explains Dr Mrelashvili. “Before, doctors had to make phone calls, write notes and repeat the same basic messages to each patient individually. Now, the doctor’s time is freed up to respond to the most urgent requests.”
This is an example of the European Programme of Work 2020–2025 in action through one of its flagship initiatives, Empowerment through Digital Health. It shows how digital health can accelerate and improve the quality of and access to health services, making them more responsive to people’s needs.
Project Atlas began with just 10–14 medical personnel, including medical students who were enlisted via a callout on social media. Working together, each clinic could carry around 1500 patients, reports Dr Mrelashvili, and by the end of December 2020, over 5000 COVID-19 patients had been “seen” by doctors.
With the support of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the project received a list of new COVID-19 patients every morning, who were then contacted by medical students and invited to join a virtual room. The small minority of patients without smartphones were contacted with traditional calls and still placed in one of the virtual rooms with a doctor.
“We have created a task-force hierarchy, where it is medical students and junior doctors who obtain case histories and complete initial patient screenings, and senior doctors, while screening and monitoring all of them, respond in depth to the most critical cases that need urgent interventions,” explains Dr Mrelashvili.
If a doctor posts a voice message on the forum to say that a patient needs further monitoring, or to be transported to a hospital, the system operators arrange for a pulse oximeter to be delivered to the patient’s door or for an ambulance to collect them.
At the same time, all the messages to patients and protocol-based communication by junior personnel are monitored and quality-controlled by the licensed senior doctor who oversees all the rooms. That, however, takes exponentially less time than the same tasks being done by the senior doctor him or herself, who represents the scarcest resource in the pandemic.
Dr Mrelashvili explains that one of the benefits of Project Atlas is that it can be scaled up very rapidly, even at the unprecedented level needed to respond to COVID-19. It can also provide a platform to train the next generation of doctors, who learn from observing the recommendations and decisions made by leading physicians.
Project Atlas began with a virtual clinic in Georgia’s Kakheti region, and hopes to expand to other regions of the country with support from local governments and the NCDC. Voluntary specialists from all over the country in areas such as cardiology, pulmonology and paediatrics have been dropping into the clinics whenever needed to give their professional opinions.
“As doctors, we can teleport into different emergency rooms and make a decision in 30 seconds using this system,” reports Dr Mrelashvili, “so, why go and visit a doctor in person?” He hopes that the initiative will carry on in the future to optimize and improve health care and medical education in Georgia and elsewhere in the world.
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According to WFP’s report, State of School Feeding Worldwide, 370 million children in 199 countries and territories were suddenly deprived of school meals, when schools closed due to the pandemic. That meal was for many their only nutritious food of the day.
David Beasley, WFP Executive Director, highlighted the importance of school meal programmes.
“That one meal a day is often the reason hungry children go to school in the first place. It’s also a powerful incentive to make sure they’ll come back after lockdown ends”, he said.
“We need to get these programmes running again – even better than before – to stop COVID destroying the futures of millions of the world’s most vulnerable children.”
Towards that end, WFP will build a coalition to support governments scale up their school meals programmes, working with development agencies, donors, the private sector and civil society organizations, according to the agency.
It has also launched a ten-year School Feeding Strategy to strengthen its global strategic role in school health and nutrition. In addition, the agency will promote research on school health and nutrition as a global public good, helping countries to access better evidence for more cost-efficient programmes.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, national school feeding programmes delivered school meals to one in two schoolchildren globally – or 388 million children – more than at any time in human history, making them the most extensive social safety net in the world, according to the WFP report.
Studies have shown that school meals have a major impact on the lives of children, particularly those from poor families, the agency said, explaining that they stave off hunger, support long-term health and help a child learn and thrive. For girls, these meals are even more important, as they help keep them in school longer, reduce child marriages, and decrease teen pregnancies.
When school meal programmes use locally produced food, they also boost a community’s economy, creating stable demand and market, supporting local agriculture and strengthening local food systems.
The report highlighted that in the post-COVID-19 world, school feeding programmes will be even more of a priority investment, as they help countries to build a healthy and educated population, while supporting national growth and promoting economic development.
Efficient school meals programmes yield returns of up to $9 for every $1 invested, and create jobs, WFP said, pointing to its calculations that about 1,668 new jobs are created for every 100,000 children fed.
“After the turmoil of recent months, we must seize the opportunity to start building the better world we all want to see”, Executive Director Beasley urged, stressing that “WFP is fully committed to working with our partners to ensure that no child, regardless of where they live, goes to school hungry – or worse, doesn’t go to school at all.”
In many cases, unions in Europe have helped nonunionized workers whose jobs are precarious, according to new Cornell research.
In “Dualism or Solidarity? Conditions for Union Success in Regulating Precarious Work,” published in December in the European Journal of Industrial Relations, the researchers surveyed academic articles to see how often they would find evidence of unions helping nonunionized workers or helping only their own members, and which conditions were associated with each outcome.
The paper was co-authored by Laura Carver, M.S. 20, and Virginia Doellgast, associate professor of international and comparative labor in the ILR School.
Unions respond to growing worker insecurity in different ways, Carver said.
In some cases, unions work with management to protect their own members while allowing management to cut pay or otherwise increase insecurity for nonunionized workers, she said. This is called dualism, because it creates a dual labor market where unionized insiders are still paid relatively well and have some job security, and nonunionized outsiders are subjected to increasing insecurity.
Unions also can act in solidarity with nonunion workers by proactively extending union protections and increasing security for precarious workers. Examples of union support include the Unite union support of the “Justice for Cleaners” protests in the United Kingdom and support by the French union CGT for the “sans papiers” movement for undocumented immigrant workers in France.
A third union response is described as “failed solidarity” by Carver and Doellgast.
“Unions’ attempts at inclusivity are not always successful – in other words, attempts to stand in solidarity with nonunion workers sometimes do not actually reduce their experiences of precarity,” Carver said.
After surveying 56 case study-based articles published between 2008 and 2019, they found that:
“The fact that successful solidarity was the most common outcome is notable,” Carver said. “This suggests there is cause for optimism, or that increased precarity is not the inevitable outcome.”
Several factors were associated with each outcome.
“We didn’t find a single set of factors that are associated with successful union solidarity with nonunion workers, because different unions have different tools at their disposal,” she said. “We found that in countries or markets where unions have historically been strong, unions can leverage their existing power resources to extend protections to nonmembers.” When unions lack these resources, they are more likely to mobilize workers and community groups in combative actions such as protests.
In cases showing evidence of labor market dualism, Carver said, “we often saw different unions or labor representatives competing with each other, rather than working together to advance worker interests.” Dualism also occurred more often when unions were at a negotiating disadvantage due to economic conditions, and sought to address that disadvantage by cooperating with labor.
When looking at failed solidarity cases, the authors noticed that they often involved migrant workers. “One primary reason for this is that migrant workers are often at an extreme structural disadvantage – if they came to a country via their employer, that employer may have a lot of leverage over the worker,” Carver said.
Another reason is if migrant workers aren’t given enough voice within a union, this potentially keeps them from seeing a union as representing their interests. Building trust with underrepresented communities is an opportunity area for unions looking to push back against growing worker precarity.
“Unions can and should demonstrate their commitment to understanding and representing the concerns of marginalized workers, including migrant workers and racial minorities that face distinctive barriers to secure employment,” Carver said.
Mary Catt is the ILR School’s communications director.
Former ABC7/WJLA-TV reporter and anchor Greta Kreuz, who covered religion as her main news beat in the Washington D.C. area, was remembered for a great devotion to her Catholic faith and how her deep love for God never failed to shine through in her dedication to family, friends and her craft. She died on Jan. 30 at the age of 63 due to lung cancer.
“Anyone who came in contact with Greta was touched by God through her,” said Father William Foley, pastor of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Washington, D.C. during the homily of a Mass of Christian Burial celebrated Feb. 12 at the parish. “She was such a radiant presence in our midst, especially in her suffering.”
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in-person attendance for the funeral Mass was limited to a few family members. More than 800 mourners viewed the liturgy online.
The priest recalled a visit with Kreuz, who never smoked in her life, during her lengthy cancer battle. He said he did not expect to see her at Mass much more due to the toll the illness had taken, but she surprised him. “The next week she was the lector at the 5:30 Mass,” he said. “She would not give up.”
Reflecting on the Gospel of the Mass (Matthew 5: 3-12), Father Foley said Jesus Christ’s Sermon on the Mount describes the core of what it means to be a Christian. Each of the Beatitudes, he said, represented some aspect of Kreuz’s life. “She lived these virtues,” due to her great faith, trust and love, said the priest, who was joined in concelebrating the Mass by Msgr. John Enzler, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington, and Father Emmanuel Magro, parochial vicar of Blessed Sacrament Parish.
As a longtime television news anchor and reporter, Kreuz was highly respected in her field, said Father Foley, adding that her service as a lector at Mass was another equally valuable part of her life. “She was one of the best proclaimers of the Good News, words that truly flowed from her heart,” he said.
In 2015, Greta Kreuz, then a retired ABC7 reporter and anchor, joined Isaiah “Ike” Leggett, then the Montgomery County Executive, and other local leaders and noted professionals in taking a “Walk with Francis” pledge outside the headquarters of Catholic Charities, pledging to pray and serve others in honor of the pope’s visit to Washington. (CS photo/Jaclyn Lippelmann)
A native of Fishkill, New York, Kreuz graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1975. She received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio University in 1979 and a master’s degree in broadcasting and public affairs from American University in 1983. Kreuz joined ABC7/WJLA-TV in 1988 and retired in 2014.
As an on-air news reporter, Kreuz covered countless stories and events, as well as a variety of news beats, including education, transportation and religion. In 1998, she launched the religion beat and became the first full-time religion reporter for a Washington network affiliate. Among her major stories were the events of September 11, 2001; the 2005 death and funeral of Pope Saint John Paul II; the election in 2013 of Pope Francis in Rome; and stories related to the clergy abuse crisis. She briefly came out of retirement in 2015 to anchor ABC7’s coverage of Pope Francis’s visit to Washington, D.C. She won several Emmy, AP and Edward R. Murrow awards for her work.
In addition to her lectoring duties at her parish, Blessed Sacrament, she also taught religious education there for many years. She served on the boards of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington and Mount Carmel House, a transitional housing program in Washington, D.C. She served as an emcee at galas supporting the Catholic Coalition for Special Education and the Special Olympics. Kreuz was also a passionate advocate for LUNGevity, a charity that supports those fighting lung cancer. Throughout her career, she served as a mentor to college students studying broadcast journalism.
Greta Kreuz, shown speaking at a 2019 Catholic Business Network of Washington, D.C, dinner, was a strong supporter of Catholic education. (CS photo/Andrew Biraj)
At a Catholic Business Network of Washington, D.C. dinner in 2019, Kreuz, served as the evening’s master of ceremonies, and noted, “I really am dedicated to Catholic education.” Her two children, who are now adults, attended Catholic school years earlier.
“The kids are so polite and respectful. The teachers are so dedicated. The parents are engaged. (Catholic education) is really an investment we can’t afford not to be a part of,” she said.
In the days following her death, heartfelt tributes from friends and former colleagues filled Kreuz’s Facebook page, such as one from the John S. Mulholland Family Foundation, Inc., a charity that aids in feeding the local needy, of which Kreuz served as a founding director, board member and an emcee of their early galas. “She was a delightful person and that beautiful face, golden voice and huge heart will be missed by so many,” the foundation’s statement said.
At the end of Mass, Kreuz’s daughter, Faith Cerny, delivered a eulogy, in which she spoke of her mother’s faith, courage and resilience. In spite of a tough cancer diagnosis in 2012, she said Kreuz continued to live her life with passion, spunk and humor, describing her mom as the “life of the party” who loved to laugh and possessed a bright smile. The source of all these attributes, she said, was her mom’s deep and abiding Catholic faith.
“Her faith was her rock, her grounding force and her driver,” she said, adding that her mom experienced tough losses over the years in the deaths of her sister, her parents, her first and second husbands, as well as her fellow long cancer patients. And yet, she seemed to blossom in the later years of her life, said her daughter, the elder of Kreuz’s two children. “She taught, volunteered, mentored and shared boundless love for Peter and me,” she said.
Faith Cerny said her mother’s memory will live on in the community she loved and touched. “She was a light in this world,” she said. “May Heaven receive this beautiful soul.”
Kreuz is survived by a daughter, Faith Cerny, and a son, Peter Haley.
In today’s world, digital skills are increasingly important. However, within the EU, little progress has been made in recent years in improving basic digital competence among adult Europeans. The Commission has issued guidance and supported Member States, but there have been relatively few EU-funded projects focusing on basic digital literacy for adults. The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has reviewed what the EU has done to increase digital skills among adults, and what is planned for the 2021-2027 period.
In 2019, more than 75 million European adults of working age did not have at least basic digital skills. This was particularly the case for older people, those with a low level of education and the unemployed. At the same time, over 90 % of jobs already require at least basic digital skills.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the importance of basic digital skills for citizens,” said Iliana Ivanova, the ECA member responsible for the review. “We observe that adults with higher digital competence find jobs more easily; they also earn more than their less skilled peers. Our review shows that the EU has long recognised the importance of basic digital skills for all citizens but there is still a lot to be done. Now is the ideal time to shed light on this issue and I hope that our key stakeholders will find our review useful in their preparations for the start of the new 2021-2027 programme period”.
The European Union is ratcheting up pressure on Zimbabwe over the lack of substantial reforms that has allowed for the humanitarian, economic, and social situation in the country to deteriorate, with persistent violations of human rights and limitations on democratic space.
Barely three weeks after the United Kingdom imposed targeted sanctions on four top Zimbabwe security officials for human rights abuses, the EU on Friday renewed its arms embargo and targeted asset freeze against Zimbabwe Defence Industries, a state-owned military company.
The EU said the restrictive measures were in light of the continued need to investigate the role of security force actors in human rights abuses as well as concern about “a proliferation of arrests and prosecutions of journalists, opposition actors and individuals expressing dissenting views, and the use by high-level officials of speech that could be interpreted as incitement to violence.” It explained that these measures would not affect the Zimbabwean economy, foreign direct investment, or trade, but that their purpose instead is “to encourage a demonstrable, genuine and long-term commitment by the Zimbabwean authorities to respect and uphold human rights and the rule of law.”
The EU urged Zimbabwe’s authorities to ensure that perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses are brought to justice and the recommendations of the Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry are implemented. The commission found that six people died and 35 were injured as a result of actions by the state security forces. It also recommended ensuring perpetrators are held accountable and setting up a special committee to compensate those killed and injured and those who lost property.
Over the past year, Human Rights Watch has documented how Zimbabwe’s authorities used harassment and arbitrary arrests and detention to crack down on critics of the government, journalists, anti-corruption activists, and opposition leaders. In July 2020, authorities arrested, detained, and tortured more than 60 people who participated in the protests.
In the face of mounting pressure from the EU and other international actors, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government should move swiftly to end rights violations, uphold the rule of law, and bring those responsible for abuses to justice. Such actions, coupled with substantial legislative and electoral reforms, could lead to better lives for Zimbabweans and an improved relationship with the EU and the wider global community.
Nuclear power plants in the EU produced about 26% of the total electricity generated in the Union in 2019, according to data from the specialized Eurostat survey.
Thirteen Member States, including Bulgaria, operated a total of 106 reactors, which generated 765,337 GW/h of electricity.
The largest producer of nuclear energy in the EU is France with a total volume of 399,011 GW/h, which is 52.1% of the total amount of nuclear energy produced within the Union.
Germany takes the second place with 75,071 GW/h, or 9.8% of the EU‘s total atomic mix, followed by Sweden (66,130 GW/h) and Spain (58,349 GW/h). These four countries together produce more than three-thirds of the total amount of nuclear energy in the EU.
Bulgaria ranks 8th with 16,555 GW/h, which accounts for 2.2% of the total volume of nuclear energy produced.
Our country is also overtaken by Belgium, which ranks 5th (43,523 MW/h), Czech Republic (30246 MW/h) and Finland (23,870 MW/h).
Behind us are Hungary, in 9th place (16,288 MW/h), Slovakia (15,282 MW/h), Romania (11,280 MW/h), Slovenia (5,821 MW/h) and the Netherlands (3,909 MW/h).
Since 2006, when gross production of 914,08 MW/h was recorded, electricity generated by NPPs has decreased by 16.3%, mainly due to the phased shutdown of nuclear reactors in Germany. The largest volume of 928,435 MW/h was produced in 2004, since Eurostat started recording these data in 1990.
Eleven EU Member States do not have a NPP: Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland and Portugal.
, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20210219IPR98207/
On Wednesday, MEPs will discuss women’s rights and the rule of law in Poland with Commissioner Dalli and civil society representatives.
The hearing is jointly organised by the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality committees. It will focus on the impact of measures and attacks on women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights in Poland, such as the right to access healthcare, the right to privacy, and the right to education. The hearing will also examine how various communities still face discrimination, in conjunction with the deteriorating situation of the rule of law.
On Wednesday, MEPs will discuss women’s rights and the rule of law in Poland with Commissioner Dalli and civil society representatives.
The hearing is jointly organised by the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality committees. It will focus on the impact of measures and attacks on women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights in Poland, such as the right to access healthcare, the right to privacy, and the right to education. The hearing will also examine how various communities still face discrimination, in conjunction with the deteriorating situation of the rule of law.
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