People walk through the lobby of the London Stock Exchange in London December 3, 2015. ― Reuters pic
LONDON, Jan 4 — The London stock market jumped more than 1.5 per cent today in a strong start to 2021 on the first trading day since Britain formally left the EU’s single market and customs union.
The benchmark FTSE 100 index rallied 1.54 per cent to 6,560.33 points at the open, having last traded on New Year’s Eve when it had lost 1.5 per cent.
In the eurozone today, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 rose 1.2 per cent to 13,885.07 points and the Paris CAC 40 gained 1.3 per cent to 5,625.44.
The UK formally left the European Union on January 31, 2020 but remained in a standstill transition period up to December 31 as both sides negotiated a post-Brexit trade deal which was sealed only at the last moment on December 24.
Britain formally left the European customs union and single market at 2300 GMT on December 31.
“The finer implications of the UK’s exit remain to be seen but the fact that a deal was agreed prior to the deadline removes some of the overhang which had been haunting the index for some time,” said Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor.
Asian equities also began 2021 in strong fashion on burgeoning optimism about the economic outlook, despite ongoing fears over the coronavirus health crisis.
Investors are hopeful that the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines will offset a surge in infection rates.
With uncertainty over Brexit and a new US stimulus package gone, sights are set on economic recovery from the calamity that was 2020, with a broad expectation that countries will enjoy strong rebounds as life gets back to some semblance of normal. — AFP
San Francisco and Prague are beautiful cities. In San Francisco, it’s the lucent blue of a vast bay, pastel homes climbing formidable hills — and a magnificent bridge spanning the chasm just where bay and ocean meet.
In Prague, it’s the low graceful Charles Bridge spanning the river that winds through a bejeweled city. Cathedral spires pierce the sky above — and Prague Castle looms over the ancient bridge and nearby medieval towers.
Untouched in 20th century wars, Prague (after communism) was a sleeping beauty — waking from decades of enforced slumber.
Two cities, epicenters of change
Both cities, San Francisco in the 1960s, and Prague in the 1990s, were epicenters of change — magnets for idealistic youth longing to be part of building something new.
Bay Area historian Dennis McNally spent two decades as publicist for the Grateful Dead. More recently, he curated a photo exhibit of the 1967 Summer of Love.
“The counter-culture of the 1960s,” he says, “was transformative. It wasn’t just free love and drugs. It was political protest and racial justice, redefining sexuality, organic food, environmentalism, yoga — fringe issues then — mainstream today.”
That counter-culture ranged from Black Panther headquarters in Oakland, to free speech and anti-war protests in Berkeley — to Ken Kesey’s earlier acid trips in Palo Alto.
The Bay Area in the 1960s exemplified freedom. The future promised to be better than the present. “Doing your own thing” embodied a vision that far reaching societal change was coming.
Late, but I was there
I came late to the San Francisco scene. I spent the summer of 1970 in Berkeley. It was there, on June 21st, in the Pauley Ballroom on Sproul Plaza at the University of California, that I attended my first Grateful Dead concert.
It was ostensibly a concert to raise money for an Indian tribe — displaced from land near Mt. Shasta. Stewart Brand, creator of the Whole Earth Catalogue, was there, too.
What I remember most was a giant inflatable, transparent bubble — like a Buckminster Fuller dome, in which people danced and moved freely.
People’s park
On Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, a popular record shop had cleared a section of its display window and placed at the center the cover of the just released “Workingman’s Dead” album.
An understated advertisement beneath the album said simply, “New Dead.”
My sublet apartment at the corner of Ellsworth and Dwight Way was not far from where “People’s Park” had been. It was a block of vacant university property — which radical students had occupied a year earlier.
They christened the space “People’s Park — and turned it into a free speech zone where protesters and hippies gathered promoting alternative lifestyles.
In May 1969, (then-California Governor Ronald Reagan) sent in police and national guardsmen to reclaim the park — and quell the huge demonstrations of students wanting to preserve it.
It was an electric time in Berkeley, the city hailed by Tom Hayden in Ramparts magazine as “America’s first liberated territory.”
Another cultural revolution, this time in Prague
A generation later, on a smaller scale — but at least as significant — another cultural revolution took hold. This time in Prague (in central Europe — behind what was once behind the Iron Curtain).
In November 1989, a self-deprecating playwright, Vaclav Havel, was catapulted from prison to the presidency of Czechoslovakia.
This modest wordsmith — a true master of irony — was an unlikely pied piper. Yet, in the glow of freedom that followed peaceful revolution, the young and committed in the arts and business flocked to Prague — pilgrims seeking something bigger than themselves.
How to build a post-communist society?
Privileged young Americans, trekking through Europe, were lured to the city by beauty and cheap accommodation. They were among the first to be smitten by Prague — in a time of uncertainty and possibility.
How is a post-communist society built? How do people respond when the shackles stifling all forms of expression are removed? What kind of society should be built…
Would it be Havel’s idealistic land of peace and love, where towns had a pub and sweet shop on every corner? Or the crass, pulsating capitalism favored by Havel’s arch-rival — free-market ideologue Vaclav Klaus?
New newspapers and bookstores
In 1990, five students from Santa Barbara started an English-language newspaper — a bi-weekly called “Prognosis.”
A year later, some broke away to start a rival paper, the Prague Post – which was funded by a wealthy Texas investor.
Alan Levy, an expatriate New Yorker, approaching 60, and living in Vienna at the time, became editor.
He had been expelled from Czechoslovakia in 1968, after Soviet troops invaded to extinguish the Prague Spring — a brief period of freedom during which the arts flourished.
It was Levy who famously said that post-communist Prague was a haven for artists, the “left bank of the 1990s,” — like Paris in the 1920s.
Inspiration from Shakespeare
Other young Americans in 1993 opened The Globe Bookstore and Coffee House — modeled after Shakespeare and Company in Paris and City Lights in San Francisco.
Mark Baker, from Ohio, was a Globe founder — and still lives in Prague. He arrived, he says, “carried away with the optimism unleashed by the fall of communism.” It was, says Baker, an exhilarating time as Prague and all of eastern Europe reopened to the world.
Prague, of course, could not match San Francisco for depth or duration, as there were formidable language and cultural obstacles.
Havel himself in the early 1990s spoke little English. Nonetheless, the Globe prospered for several years — becoming a literary landmark that hosted readings by notable Czechs and Alan Ginsburg, whose poem “Howl” had first been read in San Francisco.
I was fortunate enough to have personally experienced Prague during this magical time. From 1994 to 1997, I lived with my family in a house on the crown of a hill — which gazed down over Prague Castle in the distance.
Expats in winter
I devoured each issue of the city’s English language papers. And on winter nights, coming from the airport and flights from shabby Sofia or Bucharest, it was a huge treat to wind through the cobbled lanes of Holesovice — and stop at The Globe to see what was happening.
No matter how late, there were people inside perusing books and speaking English. A cappuccino — or something stronger — could be had from the cafe and, near the front, there was an overstuffed chair where one could sit and unwind.
Back to old glory — and more
Prague today is more beautiful than ever. It sparkles from badly needed renovation. Privatization removed buildings — and small business from the dead hand of state control.
However, Prague’s artistic scene is a mere shadow of what it was in the 1990s — or the pre-WW1 period of Franz Kafka and Alfonse Mucha.
Not only are Havel and Levy long gone. Political corruption is endemic — and the vibrant expatriate community has shrunk. The Prague Post went bankrupt and, under new ownership, The Globe isn’t doing much matter.
The glorious Prague cultural scene of the 1990s, laments Mark Baker, was largely a media creation. The critical base of intellectuals and artists wasn’t big enough to last.
As goes Prague, so does San Francisco
Sadly, more or less the same thing occurred in San Francisco. Dennis McNally complains that, after the tech giants arrived in the Silicon Valley, the city’s artistic scene choked on money.
He says “young people no longer come for adventure or enlightenment, they come to get rich.” Before that, he continues, AIDS had devastated the gay community — deflating the arts.
Tech is the new magnet drawing the ambitious and well educated of another generation to San Francisco.
Preferring the city to the monotonous Silicon Valley suburbs where they work, the influx of the technocrats drove rents sky-high — and prompted huge developments in the old Mission district — obliterating most of what remained of 1960s hippiedom.
Conclusion
Today, San Francisco and Prague, these once vibrant meccas, cry out for a Vaclav Havel or someone like him.
As Alan Levy said of Havel, “it was his example of intelligence, modesty, artistry and love that drew people to Prague.”
Finland has been given almost EUR 3 million by the European Union to help finance a project aimed at promoting the export of pork and poultry meat to the Chinese market. Premium products that are widely popular in Chinese cuisine.
The campaign will focus on the safety, traceability and good taste of high-quality pork and poultry meat responsibly produced in the EU and Finland targeting Chinese retail and food service customers in both international and local companies in the four major cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou and Chongqing in China.
Funding applicant Ruokatieto Yhdistys ry, Finnish non-governmental, non-profit inter-trade association that promotes food production and food culture in Finland, will also carry out the project together with its two member companies HKScan, Finnish manufacturer of meat foods and products and Atria, Finnish food industry company, which both currently export pork to China.
HKScan’s Juha Ruohola, EVP, Export, import and meat balance says, “It is great to continue the well-done export promotion work in China with EU funding. Warmest thanks to the partners who contributed to the success of the project. The export promotion support now granted will help us increase the sales and awareness of our products in the very demanding Chinese market.”
Atria was the first Finnish company to secure a license for the export of pork products to China in 2017. HKScan and Zhejiang Qinglian Food have since 2018 commercialized, sold and marketed Finnish HK Rypsiporsas (Omega-3 Pork) products in the local market in China through the commercial enterprise Nordic Lotus Food Inc.
ET AnalysisChina’s trade deal with the European Union should serve as a good hard reminder to India of the speed of competition it’s up against and why it needs to get off the blocks soon, especially on firming up long-term arrangements with the US, UK and also the EU. India’s experience with free trade agreements, as was discovered during the consideration of the RCEP, has shown that it has been at a disadvantage doing such deals with
“Well, Roxane, you’ve got people talking about religion around the dinner table.” The response from the newsroom revealed that, despite my having hit a tender nerve with some, what had begun as a quiet little column behaving itself at dinner parties was emerging as something with more fire and relevance.
<p>Though I hadn’t anticipated the strength of those reactions, I never doubted that religion as a topic of discourse mattered and deserved more airtime. And yet, heading into year eight in 2021, some might ask, “Does religious really matter anymore?” </p> <p>Studies show society becoming less religious by the year, and young people abandoning organized religion like a football stadium during COVID. The pandemic has further revealed that some churchgoers seem so content with online church that even post-COVID, they might continue worshiping God from their easy chairs at home.</p> <p>And then there are the hidden jabs. A recent seasonal frame applied to my Facebook profile picture announced “Merry Chrismas,” and I didn’t notice the missing “T” until a friend pointed it out. She’d seen numerous “Merry Chrismas” memes that week and interpreted this as an intentional “removing” of Christ. </p>
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</div> <p>But just as COVID-19 has shown waning enthusiasm regarding assembled worship, other faithful have become extra appreciative of in-person worship and more fervent in faith, realizing life’s brevity and the importance of getting this one thing right — and soon.</p> <p>We’re being called to make a choice about whether God is real, with consequences never weightier and the moral choices facing us never more critical. Despite disturbing trends, the soul, very much alive, yearns for something more than what this world can give. </p> <p>The importance of faith in our lives won’t disappear, any more than Christ will disappear because someone removed the “T” in a digital frame. </p> <p>We’ve just come through a horrendous year, and truly, the only way we’ll transcend the residue of 2020 well is by continuing to probe the wisdom of the One who transcends all. We still need God and one another. </p> <p>I encourage you, no matter where you’re at with God, keep coming back to think through faith with me. A vaccine might curb the coronavirus, but only the Divine Physician can inoculate and heal our souls. </p>
<p><i>Roxane Salonen, a wife and mother of five, works as a freelance writer and speaker in Fargo. Email her at [email protected], and find more of her work at Peace Garden Passage, https://roxanesalonen.com;
BRUSSELS – The Portuguese presidency of the EU inaugurated its first day of work, replacing Germany whose previous semester was marked by intense negotiations on the Recovery plan, on the rule of law and the post-Brexit commercial agreement with Great Britain. The Portuguese presidency intends to implement the agreements concluded, including the seven-year budget of the European Union. Lisbon’s objective is a recovery that is ”fair, green and digital”.
In a tweet, the Portuguese presidency wrote that today is being held ”the first meeting of coordination Coreper 1 to prepare a week of work”. On the agenda of the Portuguese presidency is the visit to Lisbon tomorrow of the president of the European Council Charles Michel.
LONDON (Reuters) – The biggest shift in European share trading in two decades was proceeding smoothly on Monday, on the first day of business since Britain left the European Union’s single market.
FILE PHOTO: Skyscrapers in The City of London financial district are seen in London, Britain, September 14, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
While a Brexit trade deal agreed last month set rules for industries such as fishing and agriculture, it did not cover Britain’s much larger finance sector, meaning London’s automatic access to EU financial markets came to an end on Dec. 31.
That has meant the bulk of trading in euro-denominated shares has had to switch from London to the EU, as the bloc seeks to reduce its reliance on a finance centre outside its borders.
Many London-based businesses had prepared for the new conditions by setting up units in the EU, and Monday put those new arrangements to the test.
Trading on Cboe Europe and London Stock Exchange’s Turquoise units in Amsterdam, and on Aquis Exchange’s new Paris platform, grew steadily with no glitches reported.
Data from Cboe, Europe’s biggest cross-border share trading platform, showed that two hours after the open, 60% of all of its activity was at its Amsterdam unit.
“All our systems are operating normally, and as expected the majority of activity in EEA-symbols (mainly EU listed shares) is now taking place on our Dutch venue, with activity across all our market segments,” Cboe Europe president David Howson said.
Cboe traded 5.1 billion euros in shares on Monday, the bulk in Amsterdam.
Aquis reported a “clean shift” in euro share trading from its London base to its new Paris unit, with the French capital now the location for most of the group’s business.
Aquis traded 1.9 billion euros of shares on Monday, mostly in Paris.
Trading on Turquoise was more evenly split, with 525 million euros in Amsterdam and 361 million euros in London.
No European trading of note had taken place on the three EU hubs until Monday.
Trading in non-EU listed shares remains in London.
“I don’t think there has been any impact from this switch,” said Keith Temperton, equity sales trader at Forte Securities. “It has been planned for years.”
Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the EU’s European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) had no comment.
FRANKFURT CALLING
Banks and other financial market participants in the EU are also required to trade swaps, a type of derivatives contract, on platforms inside the bloc and stop using venues in London, the world’s biggest centre for trading swaps.
In a last minute intervention on Dec. 24 before markets shut until Monday, the FCA said it would allow UK market participants to trade swaps on EU venues until the end of March to avoid disruption in markets.
Traders said that on Dec. 24 the spread between the 10-year interest rate swap on Deutsche Boerse’s Eurex in Frankfurt and LSE’s LCH swaps clearing unit in London widened.
This signified that it was more expensive to use Eurex Clearing than LCH. A trader said that normally there is little or no spread between the two clearing houses.
Eurex, which is offering customers incentives to attract euro clearing from London, said the spread had widened to 0.4 basis points on Dec. 24, but has since eased to 0.3 basis points.
Christoph Rieger, head of rates and credit research at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, said there was no big disruption in initial trading on Monday.
ESMA on Monday cancelled its authorisation for four trade repositories in London used for reporting derivatives trades, in a further sign of the British capital being locked out of EU markets.
Additional reporting by Thyagaraju Adinarayan and Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Mark Potter
Clothes, footwear and household textiles are responsible for water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and landfill. Find out more in our infographic.
Fast fashion – the constant provision of new styles at very low prices – has led to a big increase in the quantity of clothes produced and thrown away.
Circularity principles need to be implemented throughout all stages of a value chain to make the circular economy a success. From design to production, all the way to the consumer.
It takes a lot of water to produce textile, plus land to grow cotton and other fibres. It is estimated that the global textile and clothing industry used 79 billion cubic metres of water in 2015, while the needs of the EU’s whole economy amounted to 266 billion cubic metres in 2017. To make a single cotton t-shirt, 2,700 litres of fresh water are required according to estimates, enough to meet one person’s drinking needs for 2.5 years.
Infographic with facts and figures about the environmental impact of textiles
Water pollution
Textile production is estimated to be responsible for about 20% of global clean water pollution from dyeing and finishing products.
The way people get rid of unwanted clothes has also changed, with items being thrown away rather than donated.
Since 1996, the amount of clothes bought in the EU per person has increased by 40% following a sharp fall in prices, which has reduced the life span of clothing. Europeans use nearly 26 kilos of textiles and discard about 11 kilos of them every year. Used clothes can be exported outside the EU, but are mostly (87%) incinerated or landfilled.
Globally less than 1% of clothes are recycled as clothing, partly due to inadequate technology.
Tackling textile waste in the EU
The new strategy aims to address fast fashion and provide guidelines to achieve high levels of separate collection of textile waste.
Under the waste directive approved by the Parliament in 2018, EU countries will be obliged to collect textiles separately by 2025. The new Commission strategy also includes measures to support circular material and production processes, tackle the presence of hazardous chemicals and help consumers to choose sustainable textiles.
The EU has an EU Ecolabel that producers respecting ecological criteria can apply to items, ensuring a limited use of harmful substances and reduced water and air pollution.
The EU has also introduced some measures to mitigate the impact of textile waste on the environment. Horizon 2020 funds RESYNTEX, a project using chemical recycling, which could provide a circular economy business model for the textile industry.
A more sustainable model of textile production also has the potential to boost the economy. “Europe finds itself in an unprecedented health and economic crisis, revealing the fragility of our global supply chains,” said lead MEP Huitema. “Stimulating new innovative business models will in turn create new economic growth and the job opportunities Europe will need to recover.”
After a year dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, Parliament will begin work on the recovery.
As the EU continues to deal with the impact of the pandemic, while delivering on priorities such as fighting climate change, here’s what to look out for in 2021.
MEPs will have to finalise the rules on the functioning of all programmes that are part of the EU’s 2021-2027 budget and the recovery plan, which will support people and businesses across the EU.
Making the EU’s 2050 climate-neutrality goal legally binding remains one of Parliament’s priorities, as the EU concludes negotiations on the Climate law. Parliament is advocating a 60% emission reduction target by 2030.
Digital services
2021 will be the year of regulating online platforms. At the end of 2020 the Commission proposed the Digital Services Act to set guidelines for the changing online landscape and ensure a better, safer digital environment for users and companies. Parliament outlined its priorities for the legislation in October 2020 ahead of the European Commission’s proposal.
Artificial intelligence
In early 2021, the Commission will propose new artificial intelligence legislation aimed at dealing with the technological, ethical, legal and socio-economic aspects of AI and ensuring Europe is at the forefront of developments. Parliament wants to make sure legislation helps boost the economy, while considering the impact on people.
Migration
The European Parliament will examine legislation seeking to create a common EU asylum and migration policy. The new measures, proposed by the Commission, aim to change and improve current asylum procedures by ensuring shared responsibility and solidarity among member states, while protecting the EU’s external borders.
Conference on the Future of Europe
The Conference on the Future of Europe is a new initiative looking at what changes could be introduced to better prepare the EU for the future, with direct involvement from citizens. The Covid-19 crisis delayed the initiative’s kick-off: however, the two-year, ongoing consultation process should begin in earnest in 2021.
Agriculture
The Parliament, Commission and Council sare expected to conclude negotiations on reforms to the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy for the period 2022-2027, including alignment with the European Green Deal and environmental objectives. The new Farm to Fork policy, which seeks to look at food more broadly, will also be scrutinised by MEPs.
EU4Health
The new year will see the launch of the EU4Health programme, which aims to help EU countries to better cooperate and coordinate in times of crisis. The priorities are protecting people from serious cross-border health threats, improving the availability of medicines and creating stronger health systems. MEPs will vote in early 2021 on a provisional deal with the Council on the rules for the programme.
EU support for emergencies
Parliament wants to revamp the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to improve the Union’s crisis management and increase preparedness for large-scale emergencies such as Covid-19 and natural disasters. MEPs want to enable the EU to acquire emergency capacities autonomously and advocate more prevention. Parliament will negotiate with the Council on the upgraded system that should become operational in 2021.
Space programme
This year should see the adoption of the EU space programme for 2021-2027, including expanding the scope of the current European GNSS Agency (GSA), renaming it the European Union Agency for the Space Programme.
EU-UK relations
The first day of the new year marked the official end of the transition period between the UK and EU, ushering in the start of a complex relationship between them. The Parliament will be involved in forging new ties with the UK, including the conclusion of ad hoc agreements in key fields such as aviation.
LUX Audience Award: check out the nominated films and vote for your favourite
The three nominated films feature cover-ups and leaps of faith: Another Round, Collective and Corpus Christi.
The three films competing for the 2021 LUX Award are: Another Round, Collective and Corpus Christi.
Parliament’s film prize gets a revamp this year by giving the public a say in who wins the LUX European Audience Film Award together with MEPs.
The three films competing for the prize were announced at a European Film Awards Ceremony on 12 December:
Another Round (a Denmark/Netherlands/Sweden coproduction)
Collective (a Romania/Luxembourg coproduction)
Corpus Christi (a Poland/France coproduction)
Another Round by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg (original title Druk)
Have you heard of a Norwegian psychologist’s obscure theory that a small amount of alcohol in our blood opens our minds, increases creativity and keeps us happy? Four high school teachers experiment with it, but what first seems to offer a cure for a mid-life crisis goes off the rails. Vinterberg‘s movie is not only about drinking. It has a deeper message about how to face life’s highs and lows and be honest about them.
Collectiveby Romanian director Alexander Nanau (original title Colective)
This stirring documentary is titled after a nightclub in Bucharest where a fire killed 27 young people in 2015 and left 180 wounded. The documentary follows a team of journalists who investigate why 37 of the burn victims died in hospitals although their wounds were not life threatening. They uncover terrifying nepotism and corruption that cost lives, but also show that brave and determined people can reverse corrupt systems.
Corpus Christi by Polish director Jan Komasa (original title Boże Ciało)
The film is based partly on the real story of a young convict who experiences a spiritual transformation and wants to become a priest. By a twist of fate, he ends up taking responsibility for a parish in a remote Polish village. As the story evolves, he confronts a tragic secret that is devouring the community. Through the story of this charismatic preacher, Komasa reflects on what creates a community and what makes us susceptible to both fake and real leaders.
Watch and vote
Interested in the films? Find out where you can watch them (online or in cinemas) on www.luxaward.eu and cast your vote on the website.
How to vote for the LUX Audience Award
Voting is open on www.luxaward.eu until 11 April 2021
You can rate each film with one to five stars
Ratings can be changed an unlimited number of times until voting closes. The last vote counts
The final ranking will be determined by combining the public vote and the vote by MEPs, with each group accounting for 50%. The winning film will be announced during the LUX Audience Award Ceremony on 28 April 2021 at the European Parliament.
With this LUX Audience Award, Parliament teams up with the European Film Academy to reach a wider audience. Through its film prize, Parliament has been providing tangible support for the distribution of European films since 2007 by providing subtitles in 24 EU languages for the films in the final competition. The LUX prize has garnered a reputation by selecting European co-productions that engage with topical political and social issues and encourage debate about our values.
But what exactly does the circular economy mean? And what would be the benefits?
What is the circular economy?
The circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. In this way, the life cycle of products is extended.
In practice, it implies reducing waste to a minimum. When a product reaches the end of its life, its materials are kept within the economy wherever possible. These can be productively used again and again, thereby creating further value.
This is a departure from the traditional, linear economic model, which is based on a take-make-consume-throw away pattern. This model relies on large quantities of cheap, easily accessible materials and energy.
Also part of this model is planned obsolescence, when a product has been designed to have a limited lifespan to encourage consumers to buy it again. The European Parliament has called for measures to tackle this practice.
Infographic
Circular economy: click on the image above for a larger version
Why do we need to switch to a circular economy?
The world’s population is growing and with it the demand for raw materials. However, the supply of crucial raw materials is limited.
Finite supplies also means some EU countries are dependent on other countries for their raw materials.
In addition extracting and using raw materials has a major impact on the environment. It also increases energy consumption and CO2 emissions. However, a smarter use of raw materials can lower CO2 emissions.
What are the benefits?
Measures such as waste prevention, ecodesign and re-use could save EU companies money while also reducing total annual greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, the production of materials we use every day account for 45% of the CO2 emissions.
Moving towards a more circular economy could deliver benefits such as reducing pressure on the environment, improving the security of the supply of raw materials, increasing competitiveness, stimulating innovation, boosting economic growth (an additional 0.5% of gross domestic product), creating jobs (700,000 jobs in the EU alone by 2030).
Consumers will also be provided with more durable and innovative products that will increase the quality of life and save them money in the long term.
Today we Europeans have an opportunity to make the European Union the first democratic, multinational and multilingual power, built by citizens and open to the world.
Let’s seize that opportunity.
The Covid crisis has made us all too aware of both our precarity and our interdependent destinies.
It has shown us the importance of Europe in this new multipolar world, and the need to unite against the immense ecological, economic, social, health and security challenges facing our societies.
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It has revealed the unique character of our economic and social model.
In these unprecedented times, and despite powerful though illusory temptations to turn inwards, the EU has chosen to face outward, and understands the utter vanity of every man for himself.
During the first wave of the pandemic, Europeans dared to invent new forms of solidarity, establishing a collective support system for struggling enterprises and unemployed citizens, as well as conceiving a recovery plan unprecedented in its size, philosophy and respect for rule of law. A Union that takes stock from its crises to strengthen its resilience and better protect its citizens.
While we are pleased about all this, we are also aware that these actions and plans only make sense if they serve the lasting interests of the citizens of the Union and are part of a perspective of regeneration of the European project.
There is a huge risk of having rules and lifestyles imposed on us that we do not want, especially in the digital domain dominated by a few systemic platforms.
What alternative?
First of all, giving us the means to succeed in the concrete implementation of the European recovery plan, while keeping, in the meantime, the economy. support systems; the extension of the coverage of employment and income support for all categories of workers, including those in precarious, atypical or self-employed work.
Its financial magnitude is major but a real reflection on the quality of the investments required to have a strong impact on sustainable and socially inclusive growth has not taken place.
As they stand, the national recovery plans that are currently being drafted and that will be notably financed by European money, take up old, outdated digital and ecological projects.
There is an urgent need to correct the situation and better involve the social partners and citizens in the choices to be made, while promoting investments with a truly European dimension, capable of forging a New European Deal, including an ambitious Green New Deal.
It is the success of this plan that will break the mistrust between frugal and spending Member States and create the conditions for a real, long term European budget, the only one able to make Europe an economic, ecological and cultural power of the 21st century.
Secondly, it is a question of making the Conference on the Future of Europe an experience of real democratic citizen participation.
Its ambition must be clear: to build a forward-looking, bold and shared vision of our future for the coming decades.
The WeEuropeansexperience, which has reached 38 million citizens in 27 countries and in 24 languages, shows a real appetite of European citizens to participate in defining our common future through a new form of continuous participatory and deliberative democracy, which complements our representative democracies.
Only this new democratic impetus, which engenders genuine European citizenship, can lead to a Union of well-being, of peace and solidarity, providing opportunities for everyone. A Union which, by mobilising citizens, States, public authorities and social partners, will be able to provide concrete solutions to the rise in inequalities and unemployment; which contributes to the preservation of the planet; which guarantees and defends its fundamental values of unity, freedom, solidarity and democracy.
The urgency today is to give us the means to decide in a more legitimate, efficient and rapid way. This decision-making capacity is indispensable at a time when the technological transformations and the rebalancing of the world’s major powers are accelerating.
The current Treaties allow us to move from unanimity to qualified majority voting system in certain areas.
Let us apply qualified majority voting to all the Union’s policies and actions as soon as possible.
Let us move from a system of weak cooperation to a project of common construction!
We regret the departure of our British friends and we are convinced that a special and extremely close relationship will be established with London.
But if there is one lesson to be learned from their accession and departure, it is that the more exceptions are accepted for a Member State, the less it grows in European unity and solidarity.
The time has undoubtedly come to make the unity of our Union a real reality.
Let us be clear: this will only be possible if we truly value our diversity and the cultural, economic, social and historical contributions of each and every one of us.
Let us finally have the audacity to put culture at the heart of European software to once again become this major centre of world creation capable of attracting the best talent in the world.
But once again, this new European stage will only be possible if every citizen takes ownership of the European project through the institutionalisation of a process of deliberative democracy that is continuous, transparent, inclusive and guarantees concrete implementation of the decisions taken. This is an essential condition for making the Union everyone’s project!
The window of opportunity is narrow but the context is favourable at European and global level.
Our collective responsibility is immense.
While there is still time, let us bring together the millions of citizens from the four corners of our Union who are ready to commit themselves.
* Signatories
On the initiative of the co-Presidents of CIVICO Europa, Guillaume Klossa, former sherpa for the reflection group on the future of Europe (European Council) and former Director of the European Broadcasting Union, and Francesca Ratti, former Secretary general of the European Parliament :
László Andor (HU), Economist, former European Commissioner;
Brando Benifei (IT), Member of the European Parliament, S&D group, President of the Spinelli Group;
Massimo Cacciari (IT), Philosopher, former Mayor of Venice, former Member of the European Parliament;
Jasmina Cibic (SI), Artist;
Daniel Cohn-Bendit (FR/DE), former President of the Greens group in the European Parliament;
Jože P. Damijan (SI), Economist;
Axel Dauchez (FR), Founder of Make.org;
Philippe de Buck (BE), former Director General of Business Europe;
Paul Dujardin (BE), Director General of BOZAR;
Pascal Durand (FR), Member of the European Parliament, Renew Europe group;
Anthony Ferreira (FR), Secretary General of CIVICO Europa;
Michele Fiorillo (IT), Philosopher, Coordinator of CIVICO Europa network;
Cynthia Fleury (FR), Philosopher;
Markus Gabriel (DE), Philosopher;
Costa-Gavras (FR/GR), Film Director;
Felipe González (ES), former Prime Minister, former President of the Reflection Group on the Future of Europe;
Sandro Gozi (IT), Member of the European Parliament, Renew Europe group, President of the Union of European Federalists (UEF), former European Affairs Minister;
Ulrike Guérot (DE), Political Scientist, Director of the European Democracy Lab;
Danuta Hübner (PL), former European Commissioner, Member of the European Parliament, EPP group ;
Aleksander Kwaśniewski (PL), former President of the Republic;
Philippe Lamberts (BE), Co-President of The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament;
Jernej Lorenci (SI), Theater Director;
Robert Menasse (AT), European Writer in German;
Jonathan Moskovic (BE), former Coordinator of G1000, Adviser for democratic innovation;
Stojan Pelko (SI), former Secretary of State for Culture;
Janez Pipan (SI) Theater Director;
Rossen Plevneliev (BG), former President of the Republic;
Janez Potočnik (SI), former European Commissioner;
Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović(NL/RS), Secretary General of Europa Nostra;
Nina Rawal (SE), Founder of “Emerging Health Ventures”;
Maria João Rodrigues (PT), President of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), former Member of the European Parliament;
Petre Roman (RO), former Prime Minister;
Yvan Sagnet (CM), Writer, Founder of NoCap Association;
Fernando Savater (ES), Philosopher;
Roberto Saviano (IT), Writer;
Elly Schlein (IT), Vice-President of the Emilia Romagna Region, former Member of the European Parliament;
Andreas Schwab (DE), Member of the European Parliament, EPP group;
Gesine Schwan (DE), President of the Humboldt-Viadrina governance platform;
Daniela Schwarzer (DE), Director of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP);
Denis Simonneau (FR), President of EuropaNova;
Claus Haugaard Sørensen (DK), former Director General of the European Commission;
Farid Tabarki (NL), Founder of Studio Zeitgeist;
Danilo Türk (SI),former President of Republic, President of the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid;
Guy Verhofstadt (BE), former Prime Minister, Member of the European Parliament, Renew Europe group;
Boštjan Videmšek (SI), Journalist, EU Climate Pact Ambassador;
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga (LV), former President of the Republic;
Cédric Villani (FR), Mathematician, Fields Medal, Member of Parliament ;
Pietro Vimont (FR), Founder Member of CIVICO Europa;
Luca Visentini (IT), General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation;
Sasha Waltz & Jochen Sandig (DE), respectively Choreographer and Director of the Sasha Waltz Company;
Alenka Zupančič (SI), Philosopher;
Samuel Žbogar (SI),Head of EU Delegation in Skopje, former EU Special Representative in Kosovo, former Minister of Foreign Affairs;
Portugal took over the rotating Council Presidency on 1 January 2021, amidst a health and economic crisis. But what are the Portuguese MEPs’ expectations?
As Europeans continue to face the unprecedented socioeconomic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, Portugal takes over the six-month presidency of the Council of the EU determined to prioritise recovery.
Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa unveiled the programme of its presidency during a remote press conference with European Parliament President, David Sassoli, held on 2 December 2020.
Given the current challenging times, Portugal is committed to promoting a resilient, social, green, digital and global Europe. The slogan of the new presidency is “Time to deliver: a fair, green and digital recovery”.
We asked Portuguese MEPs about their expectations and their views on the priorities put forward by the new Presidency.
According to Paulo Rangel (EPP), the three priorities that will dominate the agenda of the presidency are the “launch of the recovery fund, the vaccination strategy and future EU-UK relations – with or without deal”. He underlines the importance of the social pillar, which “should focus more on health”, and of the EU-India summit. The Conference on the Future of Europe and the new strategy for Schengen along with the EU Migration Pact “deserve more attention” from the presidency, he added.
Portugal is “combining social and climate agendas with the digital transition as engines of the European Union’s resilience and recovery,” said Carlos Zorrinho (S&D). Lisbon “is also committed to repositioning the EU as a multilateral power, namely through the summits with Africa and India,” he said. Referring to “an increased uncertainty” led by the pandemic and Brexit, Zorrinho sees the Portuguese presidency as “a unique opportunity for the EU to rediscover itself and its founding principles”.
Francisco Guerreiro (Greens/EFA) said that Portugal’spPresidency coincides with “the greatest global crisis ever – the one related to the rampant destruction of biodiversity”. In his view, one of the biggest challenges is the completion of the negotiations for the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which retains a major share of the EU budget. “We do not have expectations that there will be any structural changes to the CAP capable of accomplishing the European Green Deal and respecting the ‘ Farm to Fork’ strategy or [with regard] to the preservation of biodiversity,” he said.
Marisa Matias (Greens/EFA) said that “social Europe, the green transition and the digital transition are the right priorities and in line with the challenges” currently being faced by the EU. However, she addedthat “Europe is experiencing moments of deep division” and is struggling to provide solutions to the structural challenges. “There are fewer and fewer opportunities to make sense of the European project and none can be missed,” Matias said, adding that she hopes that “the Portuguese presidency will not get lost behind its intentions”.
Portugal is starting its fourth presidency of the EU. On 1 January, it celebrates 35 years since its accession to the EU together with Spain.
