As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep most of Europe on pause, the EU aims for a breakthrough in its space program. The continent is seeking more than just a self-sufficient space industry competitive with China and the US; the industry must also fit into the European Green Deal.
‘Strategic autonomy’ in space
“I believe we need a more offensive and aggressive strategy,” said the European Commissioner Thierry Breton as he laid out the main priorities for the EU space program over the next seven years. Breton said that the European Union must move quickly to reduce its dependence on third countries.
“Strategic autonomy” is Brussels’s latest catchphrase that echoed throughout Breton’s and other EU officials’ speeches during the 13th European Space Conference earlier this week. As Europe plans to address economic needs within its borders, its aerospace program is set to focus inwards as well.
Breton mentioned having independent EU-wide internet coverage as another important target. Noting that “attacks on the internet are not fiction anymore”, Breton explained that the EU must construct a secure broadband network.
He also emphasized that the European Commission needs to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in space, while continuing to expand its existing projects. Otherwise, he said, Galileo and Copernicus – Europe’s major satellite projects – will soon become obsolete.
After these plans receive approval from European governments and the European Parliament, €15 billion ($18.2 billion) will fund space sector projects during the 2021-2027 period, in addition to current funding from national governments and private investments.
The EU plans to expand its satellites quickly to secure its place in the space race
Meeting the competition and climate goals
During the past decade, the number of satellite launches and space missions has surged internationally. China’s lunar rover landed on the far side of the moon. Private companies in the US have made rapid advancements too. SpaceX successfully returned two of its reusable rocket cores to Earth.
As vital infrastructure like transportation and communications rely more and more on space technology, there’s a greater sense of urgency for the EU to realize its own space ambitions.
The continent’s other pressing objective is to become carbon neutral by 2050. Expansion of EU aerospace activities – now heavily dependent on the production of metal and fuel – must comply with the European Green Deal.
Alignment of these two goals might not be straightforward, but in the view of EU officials, the space program has a role to play in fighting climate change, fostering green technologies like clean fuels and optimized farming. Additionally, data and services from space are used to constantly monitor the Earth and measure things like CO2 levels.
EU officials and entrepreneurs mentioned clean fuel production and satellite monitoring missions as two promising areas to help achieve Europe’s Green Deal and other environmental targets.
The EU aims to become climate neutral by 2050
Clean energy in space and on Earth
One of the areas in which European space companies have a leg up, is the production of liquid hydrogen as fuel. When liquid hydrogen burns, it produces enough propelling force to launch a rocket, but emits only water vapor and warm air. However, it’s highly energy-intensive to produce, creating a large carbon footprint. The focus of European firms working on this energy option is to mitigate the impact of liquid hydrogen production on the environment.
“Hydrogen (as fuel) is expensive today but tomorrow it will be cheap and green,” said Xavier Vigor, Vice President of Air Liquide, a supplier of industrial gases.
European rockets have used liquid hydrogen as their fuel for decades. ArianeGroupe, the continent’s largest launcher company, aims to launch its carbon-neutral rockets running on hydrogen produced from biomass by 2030. The company also plans to bring the clean fuel to the transport industry. If they succeed, ships and airplanes will be able to travel around the globe, producing no carbon emissions.
“I am really thankful for the decisionmakers in Europe who made the decision to use hydrogen for European launchers. This was a brilliant bet,” said Jean-Christophe Henoux, ArianeGroup’s Vice President of Future Programmes.
Satellites monitoring climate change
EU officials are confident in their satellite program will also help in the fight against climate change. The EU space program will continue to design missions focused on CO2 monitoring and a polar observation by its satellites.
“Satellite programs such as Galileo and Agnus have already had an important contribution to minimizing our environmental footprint,” said Rodrigo da Costa, the head of the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA), in a press briefing.
Copernicus, the EU’s Earth observation system, has monitored climate change since 2017, providing historical data and climate models for the future.
European satellites continue to provide data on climate change
“We believe we can create synergies between navigation and Earth observation,” said da Costa. Better navigation helps shorten transportation routes, which cuts fuel consumption. This is how EU satellite programs can contribute to the implementation of the Green Deal, according to da Costa.
Full details of the European space plan have yet to be worked out. The European Commission will meet to decide on them in the coming weeks. After that, a consortium of aerospace and telecom companies will start working to operationalize the plan.
Grandmother’s First Book for Young Readers Also Helps Others to Share Legacy of Faith
NEWS PROVIDED BY Buoyancy PR Jan. 15, 2021
RESERVE, La., Jan. 15, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ — One gift of getting older is knowing how good God is, after relying on him to carry us through joys and sorrows. Debut author JoAnn Vicknair longed to give that gift to two of her grandchildren so she started telling them stories about what God has done.
Those stories became “It’s Storytime, Memaw!”, a new book of short stories for children ages 4-14 that compels them to draw closer to God.
Saying she’s not a writer, Vicknair, a retired nurse, did have a passion to share with all her grandchildren the faith that sustains her. Intensely praying, she asked God to tell her His story she could share because the children “needed God in their lives.”
She says she never expected the answer to that prayer would become a published book.
“I am not creative, and really never thought to write anything, but I did have family stories of faith and answered prayer,” Vicknair explains. “My grandchildren loved hearing the stories, and continued to ask for more, saying, ‘It’s story time, Memaw!’ How could I say no to that?”
Earlier this year, she created a digital document to preserve the stories.
Then during that process as she prayed earnestly for more to share with her grandchildren, God worked with her directly giving her more stories, guiding their development, then with instructions to publish them.
That started her on her unexpected journey as an author – finding a publisher, illustrator, website designer, videographer, and help with publicity and social media.
“I am an ordinary grandmother stepping out in faith to do that which God has led me to do,” Vicknair explains.
“I would like to tell my story of how this was of God’s doing. How He blesses and answers our prayers above and beyond all we could hope for or imagine! The stories compel a child, and the reader, to celebrate and brag of God Almighty,” she said.
“It’s Storytime, Memaw!” features 44 stories written in a child’s voice, simply told with details children love.
The book is now available at selected book stores, online retailers, and Vicknair’s website. The book trailer is on the website, as well on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxabWGvoBF8.
Vicknair is available for storytelling and speaking events.
“It’s Storytime, Memaw!” (ISBN-10 : 1952025192, $19.99) released in January from Carpenter’s Son Publishing. It is available from selected bookstores and online retailers. For more information, visit www.JoAnnVicknairAuthor.com.
The European Commission (EC) launched the European Year of Rail on January 1 to encourage a modal shift toward railway services and cushion the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on train operators.
“Of course, the European Year of Rail has a symbolic significance, but in 2021 we will undertake both regulatory as well as awareness-raising activities,” EU Transport Commissioner Adina-Ioana Valean, told DW.
In the last months, freight services have been boosted, while the number of passengers has decreased significantly.
“Since the coronavirus arrived in Europe, freight services have continued, with punctuality significantly increasing — less passenger traffic has brought greater capacity. Now that we have seen what is possible, we must ensure that this level of performance is maintained,” said Valean.
Passenger transport has been battered by the sanitary crisis, with numbers plunging in the four most important European markets. According to Eurostat, passenger numbers went down by over 77% in France, Italy and Spain in the second quarter of 2020 year on year , while Germany registered a 59% drop.
The pandemic is threatening to undo progress on greener traffic as people shun public services resorting to their cars again
In the third quarter, the year-on-year plunge ranged from 48% in Italy to 33% in France. The situation was even more dramatic in the United Kingdom. On the other hand, the number of passengers in the Netherlands (traditionally the fifth-largest market in the EU) remained fairly stable throughout 2020.
Reduced passenger volumes pose an existential risk for financially fragile train companies, with possible repercussions on the EU rail market as a whole.
“There is also a risk that small operators suffer more from the effects of the pandemic which may hamper market liberalization,” the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) told DW.
A handful of EU countries, like Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, have supported train operators.
Since December 13, rail operators are allowed to offer passenger services in any other member state. Hence, EU companies enjoying government aid and seeing a more restricted decline in passenger numbers will secure a long-term strategic edge.
The real price of transportation
The EU adopted a Mobility Strategy in December, aimed at modernizing the timetabling process and ticketing, while improving capacity and performance.
“We can better align the price of using transport with its societal costs, including pollution. This would reduce the cost disadvantage of greener transport alternatives, such as rail. As foreseen in our Mobility Strategy, all external costs of transport within the EU shall be covered by the transport users by 2050 at the latest,” said Valean.
The transport sector accounts for around 25% of EU greenhouse gas emissions. Rail carries 7% of all passengers and 11% of all goods in the EU but is responsible for less than 0.5% of the bloc’s transport-related greenhouse gas emissions.
2050 targets in sight
“We want high-speed rail traffic to double across Europe by 2030 and to triple by 2050. High-speed rail plays an important role as an alternative to short-haul flights, and we have good examples in this respect,” said Valean.
As awareness about climate change increases, a modal shift from road to rail is more likely. The completion of the core network by 2030, including the Brenner Base tunnel, the Fehmarn Belt link and the Lyon-Turin line, will facilitate the switch.
2021 is also the first year of full implementation of the Fourth Railway Package, a series of policies aimed at creating a Single European Railway Area through simplified procedures and reduced costs for intra-EU trains.
“Our EU Agency for Railways is now the single entry point for the certification of rail vehicles and railway traffic operators,” Valean told DW.
Batteries and hydrogen
The European Commission has singled out digitization as an apt instrument to promote the fast deployment of new railway solutions.
“We are planning a European Partnership on Rail Research and Innovation. As a next step, we will make a proposal for adoption by the Council [of the European Union]. This is part of a broader research initiative under our Horizon Europe program,” said Valean, adding that the future partnership will create synergies with similar EU initiatives to support hydrogen and battery technologies.
Germany’s first hydrogen-powered commuter train, made by French manufacturer Alstom, has entered service in 2018
As ERA calls on politicians to do away with kerosene subsidies and lower rail track charges, train manufacturers foresee an increase in “greener” trains.
“In Europe, 39% of the main railway lines are not electrified (80,000 kilometers, 49,709 miles). Traffic on these lines is provided by diesel trains or locomotives. It is expected that by 2035, more than 4,500 regional diesel trains in Europe will have to be replaced by emissions-free solutions,” an Alstom spokesperson told DW.
The France-based manufacturer currently holds the lead in hydrogen trains vis-a-vis its European competitors. Trains fuelled by hydrogen or batteries are the two top contenders to replace diesel trains. The two technologies will split the market depending on existing infrastructure, terrain, and required range.
Genmab Announces that Janssen has been Granted U.S. FDA Approval for DARZALEX FASPRO® (daratumumab and hyaluronidase-fihj) for Patients with Newly Diagnosed Light-chain (AL) Amyloidosis – Book Publishing Industry Today – EIN Presswire
40 McNuggets for $13.99 sounds like an unbelievable deal. So, maybe it is.
Groups like the Sustainable Food Trust are on a mission to demonstrate how, in the current commodity food system, big corporations can offer shockingly low prices and still rake in profits because they cut corners at every step along the supply chain, offloading long-term costs onto the public while duping them into thinking their dinner was a bargain.
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For example, companies pay wages too low to support families, shifting a portion of their labor costs onto taxpayers (in the form of nutrition benefits and housing subsidies). They concentrate hundreds of thousands of chickens in one place, and when waste pollutes waterways, taxpayers pay to clean them up. Ammonia from the concentration of animals in confinement leads to high rates of asthma in surrounding communities, raising healthcare costs for neighbors.
“When you add up all of these hidden costs, cheaper chicken isn’t so cheap after all,” the narrator says in the video “A Tale of Two Chickens,” produced by the Sustainable Food Trust.
But is it really possible to add those costs up? And even if you could, would it lead to meaningful changes in the system?
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Proponents of “True Cost Accounting,” a framework to holistically evaluate the impacts of food production systems, say the answer to both of those questions is “yes.” And the movement is gaining traction among global non-profits, academics, and forward-thinking businesses. In January 2020, the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future published an academic report on True Cost Accounting that summarized publications and approaches that currently exist and outlined opportunities for further research. In May 2021, an anthology of essays called “True Cost Accounting for Food” that includes real world examples of applying True Cost Accounting to food system change and features prominent contributors like Kathleen Merrigan and Ricardo Salvador will be released. (Fun fact: one of the most high profile proponents of TCA is His Royal Highness, Charles, Prince of Wales. Prince Charles spoke about TCA at a 2013 conference in London and is the “patron” of the Sustainable Food Trust.)
Experts say the framework is a compelling tool that could inform future food policies, business practices and consumer choices in a way that tackles many of the biggest issues of the day — like the climate crisis, racial justice, hunger and obesity and economic inequality — at once. But it also lacks uniform metrics, has yet to be widely applied in real-world scenarios and requires policymakers and CEOs to embrace a complexity and depth of analysis that is far beyond the current norm. And in the private sector, companies externalize their costs for a reason. Getting business leaders to care about their impacts and to make changes that will likely affect their bottom line is almost always an uphill battle.
Here’s what you need to know about True Cost Accounting and how it might contribute to building a better food system in the near future.
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What is True Cost Accounting?
In compiling the Johns Hopkins report, research associate Anna Aspenson found that while most shared values and principles, definitions of True Cost Accounting (which is often referred to as TCA) vary, especially in terms of scope.
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“A good working definition for me is that True Cost Accounting is an initiative aimed at expanding our current economic methods for understanding the diverse impacts of various [food] production systems,” Aspenson said.
Many groups take the idea of “capital” and reframe it to include not just goods and money, but other forms of “capital,” like social, human and natural. And a huge component involves measuring what food companies call “externalities.” These are negative effects of activities within the supply chain, like pollution, biodiversity destruction and worker health issues, which companies are not held responsible for.
“Ideally, what you would have in a True Cost Accounting system is a measure of the cost of doing certain things, and that includes secondary costs. So let’s say you put a bunch of antibiotics into a system. Then, we’re looking at the cost of treating antibiotic-resistant diseases later on and trying to make some cost assessment of that externality,” explains Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D., a sustainable food systems expert and the chief science advisor for FoodPrint. “Assessing what we call ‘externalities’ that are not accounted for in the cost of doing business or in the price tag are important.”
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On the flipside, Barbara Gemmill-Herren, Ph.D., said that measuring and including what she calls “positive externalities” that benefit the public — such as producing nutrient-dense foods, conserving biodiversity, or reducing greenhouse gas emissions — is just as important to TCA.
Gemmill-Herren is a sustainable food systems professor at Prescott College and a senior associate for the World Agroforestry Centre in Kenya. Previously, she joined the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization to coordinate pollinator work globally and then led an initiative to promote agroecology. That initiative led her to TCA, as a possible tool for communicating the benefits of agroecological methods.
“Conventional agriculture produces higher yields . . . through inputs replacing ecosystem services and then a lot of negative externalities,” she said. Many people she encountered in agriculture policy used yields as the primary measure of performance, but what if you looked beyond yields, she thought, especially given yields are higher than necessary in countries like the U.S.? “I know this from pollination, that if you really run an accurate ecosystem on ecological principles, it can generate positive externalities. [It’s true] for pollinators in Kenya, and they’ve found the same in New Jersey, that organic farms can have an incredible diversity of bees, including rare and endangered bees. The crops are full of flowers and full of nectar, and they’re not getting hit by pesticides. So respecting the positive externalities of agriculture, I think, has to be part of the whole movement for change.”
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How does True Cost Accounting work?
Of course, getting from this philosophical idea of accounting for the many impacts — both positive and negative — of various systems to a tool that can actually be applied is tricky. (We should mention that our idea of a FoodPrint is basically a consumer-facing form of TCA, since we encourage people to take into account all of the impacts of their food choices, from animal welfare to social justice and public health.)
In the Johns Hopkins report, Aspenson outlines various frameworks that have been developed, and some of the work overlaps. Many organizations in the field are working to apply the TEEBAgriFood Evaluation Framework, which is the most used (despite its unwieldy name). In September, the Global Alliance for the Future of Food (GAFF) published a report with guidance on how to apply the overarching framework. The same month, guidelines to help businesses use the framework were produced by a coalition including the Natural Capital Coalition, the U.N. Environment Programme, and the European Union, and the Natural Capital Coalition is also doing TCA trainings for businesses in Brazil and Mexico.
Still, a lot of the work is guidance and reports. How is it actually applied on the ground?
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GAFF has funded a few studies that apply the framework, including one on corn production in Minnesota. And Gemmill-Herren cited a few examples that came out of work done by the U.N. Environment Programme and funded by the EU. In Indonesia, a team studied and presented the benefits of investing in agroforestry over palm oil plantations using a TCA framework. “It really did convince the Indonesian government to incorporate a large investment in agroforestry in their five-year plan,” she said.
In Senegal, the government was considering taking out very large loans to intensify rice production using industrialized inputs and irrigation. To convince them otherwise, Gemmill-Herren led a study using TCA to show the impacts of that system compared to investing in alternatives. “They depend very heavily on rice and they import a lot, so you can understand how they want to ramp up production,” she said. But by applying a systems model, she was able to outline what repaying those loans with interest would mean for the country compared to what would happen if they invested the same amount of money in farmer training on agroecological approaches to rice production. “We could really document what the impact would be not just on the production of rice, but on many other aspects like women’s empowerment and youth employment. You look along the whole value chain and look at the idea of investing in smaller-scale rice mills and being able to employ the local community, and the local community being able to take some of the rice byproducts to feed livestock, for example,” she said. “This government has really . . . embraced agroecology and I think not only this one study but these kinds of studies help them to say ‘this is the way we should be going there.'”
These examples all relate to policy making, but TCA can also be applied by private businesses to evaluate their practices and make positive changes within their supply chains.
Eosta, an international organic produce distributor based in Europe, uses a system it developed using a TCA framework to evaluate its growers and communicate their process to consumers. The framework includes social, economic and climate impacts, organized into a “sustainability flower.” Each grower’s practices and scores across the metrics measured in each petal, like biodiversity and health, are then made available online. For example, Hugo Sanchez grows organic apples and pears for Eosta in Argentina. His sustainability profiledetails his use of compost for soil health and calculates what it calls the “benefit for society” that improved soil creates, among other impacts.
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Rangan says other companies, like Danone (makers of Dannon yogurt and other products), are working on some version of this kind of accounting behind the scenes. “Danone is a company that’s really dedicated themselves to this effort. A lot of that is going on in the background. The company wants to know where the real savings are and where the real expenditures are, and in many ways, it’s True Cost Accounting,” she said. Of course, while some companies are truly mission-driven and operate based on principles that drive them to minimize negative impacts, most will externalize costs as often as they can if it helps their bottom line. Except, as consumer attention to how food impacts health, workers, and climate change increases, companies may see accounting for negative impacts and improving their practices as potentially profitable. For example, Eosta specifically lays out the fact that the sustainability flower is used to monitor and manage farmer practices but also to market “the added environmental and social value to help farmers capitalize on their social and environmental performance.”
“I think the question is: When does it go from internal accounting for a company to a marketing plan? It’s really important because that provides an important foundation for them making these kinds of claims to the public,” Rangan said. For example, Chipotle’s recent impact tracker is an attempt to market how the company operates differently compared to others and how it is improving its performance on several different environmental and health impacts. As more restaurants add metrics like carbon labeling to their menus, TCA could make it possible for them to go deeper.
The future of True Cost Accounting
The systemic nature of TCA evaluations can be both a strength and a limitation. One challenge is convincing governments and companies to actually value all of these elements (like fair wages and health outcomes) and another is actually coming up with a number to compare the “true cost” of a food like a McNugget.
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“Being able to put a cost on something can be a valuable tool in getting to change, especially policy change,” Rangan said. “That said, there are some things you just can’t put a value on. Social justice is one of those things that’s pretty difficult to put a dollar value on, so in those cases, it may be that you need to do some other semi-quantitative or qualitative assessments in order to communicate accurately what the value or benefit or the cost is.”
That kind of assessment might be valuable in a policy discussion but is much harder to boil down to a price tag. And then, if you are able to come up with a number, and it’s clear that a system is costing the public on some front, what then?
Waiting around for companies to respond to consumer pressure likely isn’t enough. Some TCA supporters advocate for a “polluter pays” model that would essentially try to get the companies to internalize those “externalities.” But Aspenson said especially when it comes to impact on human lives and on climate change, that kind of model won’t be enough, either. “We might have some money in our bank from the polluter, but this is a question of survival. It’s like our house is on fire and we’re counting which pennies to save,” she said. “We don’t want to get paid for someone’s chance to degrade irreplaceable resources.”
What Aspenson advocates is using TCA evaluations to argue for much deeper structural changes to the food system. “Economic arguments are incredibly useful in our current policy making system, but we need to have this long-term, common goal of economic and cultural change, because capitalism just won’t save us. It got us into this current situation, and I think True Cost Accounting needs to reckon with that. What does an accounting system look like that uses practical economic terms, but also supports that long-term goal of economic change and deep change?” In other words, McNuggets shouldn’t be more expensive, they should be history.
Stupa is a hemispherical structure containing Buddhist relics and place of meditation used by Buddhists monks. In the period between the Mauryas and the Guptas the older stupas were greatly enlarged and beautified. Of these three are noteworthy—those at Bharhut and Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh, and at Amaravati in the lower Krishna valley.
The word ‘Stupa’ is said to have been derived from the Sanskrit root ‘Stu’ meaning ‘to worship’ or ‘to praise’. The Stupa developed as the nucleus of Buddhist faith and worship, but its origin cannot be regarded as Buddhist for evidence of its roots date back to c. 2000 B.C.
Burial mounds containing relics were raised from earth and rock according to an age old custom that had survived from as early as Neolithic times. These burial mounds were also common during the lifetime of the Buddha and he instructed his disciples to erect them at cross-roads to commemorate great kings, sages and heroes.
A budget of Rs 4.47 crore will be spent on developing the mound of ancient Buddhist stupa situated at Kurukshetra University.
As per the PWD (B&R), the site is under the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Haryana, and it has entrusted the PWD to execute the project. As per information, the site is among the state-protected monuments and sites.
The Executive Engineer, PWD (B&R), Arun Bhatia, said, “A tender was floated for the project and it has been received. Its technical bid will be opened at the headquarters and the tender will be allotted this month. The project is set to start in February. Besides the beautification work, pathways, eatery shops, and toilet blocks will be constructed under this project. A budget of Rs 4.47 crore has been received from the Archaeology Department.”
Mound spread over 3 acres
The mound is spread over an area of nearly 3 acres and the height of the mound is around 4 metres
During the archaeological excavation, five burnt brick structures were recovered at the mound
While the first three structures belong to the Kushana phase, one is related to the Gupta period, and the last structure has four successive phases which belong to the Vardhana period to later medieval period
The Deputy Director, Department of Archaeology and Museums, Haryana, Dr Banani Bhattacharyya, said, “Buddhist stupa is an iconic site and it is being developed accordingly. We will preserve the mound and the sanctity of the site. A garden will be developed there and there will gazebo and fountain. There is also a provision to install a statue of Buddha. The tree plantation will be carried out by the Forest Department. The construction work has been handed over to the PWD (B&R).”
Thanesar MLA Subhash Sudha said, “Different projects are being carried out in Thanesar to develop it as a major tourist destination. A proposal to develop the Buddhist stupa situated at Kurukshetra University was sent to the state government and it was cleared. The project will start in February and it is to be completed within a year. Every year, lakhs of pilgrims and visitors come to Kurukshetra. After the completion of the project, it will become a new tourist destination near the Brahma Sarovar and we are hopeful that it will attract more visitors.”
Buddha’s footprints are in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, recent study revealed that Haryana also hosts many Buddhist heritage sites.
One such city is Kurukshetra where upholder of peace Lord Buddha himself came and preached peace and compassion to people in past. Archaeological site of Buddhist stupa is situated on the western bank of holy Brahamsarovar. Buddhist stupa and 1300 year monastery relics on the eastern boundary wall of Kurukshetra campus provide the city a distinct Buddhist character. Very few know that Kurukshetra has had it brushes with Budddhism. The stupa is believed to date back to the 7th century A.D. It was Buddha himself who brought the faith to Kurukshetra where he delivered his discourses in Thullakotthita and Kamasadamma identified by historians as Thanesar and Kaithal. The remains of Buddhist stupa have been written by Huien Tsang, the Chinese traveller.
Buddhism has always been a part of Indian culture and religion. It gained great importance during the reign of king Harshavardhana.
Friday, 15 January 2021, 6:59 am Press Release: Euro Med Monitor
14 January 2021
Today, Euro-Med Human Rights
Monitor published a new report that documents and analyses
the involvement of Frontex in Greece‘s illegal pushbacks of
migrants and asylum seekers to Turkish waters and the
various violations of International and EU human rights laws
entailed.
The report, entitled “Frontex:
Accountability Declined”, highlights a pattern of
the excessive and alarming autonomy of Frontex, as its
budget, role and staff are augmented by the EU without clear
legal boundaries.
In the 10 pushbacks presented,
carried out by the Greek Coast Guard in the Aegean Sea
between March and October 2020, Frontex vessels were either
in close proximity or directly involved. Yet they did not
immediately rescue the migrants in distress at sea nor did
they report the abuses witnessed, as international and
European law, together with the Frontex Code of Conduct
itself, demand. On the contrary, Frontex dismissed the
allegations, discouraged crews from filing reports on
pushbacks, and, in some cases, stopped initial alerts of
violations from being filed.
The episodes presented in
the report stand out for the severity of the violations
committed, the detailed evidence reported, and the reactions
provoked so far at the European level. The allegations
led the EU Ombudsman to open an inquiry and the EU Home
Affairs Commissioner to call for two extraordinary Frontex
Management Board meetings and to establish a Working Group
on fundamental rights. It will verify the allegations and
deliver its first report next meeting, on January 21, 2021.
In the meanwhile, several European MEPs have called for the
immediate resignation of Frontex Executive
Director.
Euro-Med Monitor’s report aims to
contribute to increasing the momentum and pressure on the
European Commission to take concrete actions towards ending
Frontex’s violations and increasing its
transparency.
“As the role and the powers of Frontex
grow alarmingly, with an increasing budget of over 460
million Euro and new and controversial
military drones to surveil the Mediterranean, its
involvement in Greek pushbacks increases, and so should its
accountability,” Michela Pugliese, Legal Researcher at the
Euro-Med Monitor.
The report stresses the need to hold
Frontex into account. While return decisions and asylum
applications are the responsibility of Member States,
Frontex has the competence to ensure human rights’
compliance at the European external borders, to prevent
violations from occurring and to report it when it witnesses
one.
In the report, the Euro-Med Human Rights
Monitor formulate several recommendations calling inter alia
on:
Frontex to
immediately halt the illegal pushbacks of migrants to
Turkey; to conduct a transparent investigation and prosecute
all officials involved; to ensure that its operations and
partners are consistent with human rights’ obligations;
and to significantly enhance the information available about
its operational activities at
sea.
Europe to hold
Frontex, as well as Greece, accountable for their pushbacks
and other violations committed at the European external
borders; to impose more stringent transparency and
accountability measures over Frontex’s practices; to
ensure that Frontex activities fully respect international
human rights and refugee law, as well as the law of the sea;
and to quickly put in place an independent monitoring
mechanism.
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ATHENS: Greece called on Thursday on European Union authorities to better enforce a landmark 2016 migrant deal and ensure that Turkey take back nearly 1,500 people whose asylum requests were rejected.
Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said his government had submitted a “request” to the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, and the Frontex border agency “for the immediate return to Turkey” of just under 1,500 “third country citizens who are not entitled to international protection.”
Under an EU-Turkey 2016 pact that sharply stemmed the flow of migrants to Europe, Ankara had undertaken to take back migrants not entitled to international protection, in return for billions of euros in aid. But Ankara has long accused the EU of not fulfilling its end of the bargain while it continues to host more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees.
“Europe needs to establish a common mechanism to address this issue within the new Migration and Asylum Pact, as well as implementing the necessary legal and operation mechanism for achieving returns,” Mitarachi said in a statement.
Among asylum claimants whose applications had been “conclusively” rejected on appeal, 995 are in Lesbos, 180 in Chios, 128 in Samos and 187 in Kos, the migration ministry said.
Britain turned down an EU proposal for visa-free travel for performers and journalists in post-Brexit talks, the European Union’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said in a briefing published Thursday (14 January).
His assertion, backed up by a copy of the proposal, deepens a row with London over the issue.
British pop stars, including Radiohead’s frontman Thom Yorke, have denounced the British government for not securing visa-free rights.
But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told UK lawmakers Wednesday “that’s not true… we wanted to have reciprocal rights for musicians to tour”.
In his briefing to a group of reporters, including from Belgium’s L’Echo newspaper, Barnier emphasised that Britain was determined to do away with freedom of movement during negotiations.
“I very much regretted that the British didn’t have more ambition for people’s mobility,” he said.
“From last March, we made fairly ambitious proposals in terms of mobility, including for specific categories such as journalists, performers, musicians and others. But you need to be two to make a deal,” he remarked.
Under the EU-UK post-Brexit deal struck last month, only workers on a short list are permitted to visit the other’s territory without a visa to carry out certain duties, subject to national laws in some EU countries.
They include businesspeople attending meetings or trade shows, transfers within a company and tourism personnel.
Musicians, actors and other performers, and journalists, are not on the list, meaning in some EU countries they would have to obtain visas, permits and/or customs clearance for any equipment.
As they would be carrying out paid work, in most cases the 90-day visa-free access for tourists and other short-stay visitors would not apply.
Yet Johnson appeared to confuse the two systems when he told MPs: “What we have is the right for UK musicians to go to play in other European countries, in EU countries, for 90 out of 180 days.”
