BRUSSELS: European Union (EU) negotiator Michel Barnier (pix) vowed on Tuesday to continue to push for a post-Brexit trade deal in the last 10 days before Britain leaves the single market.

“We are really in the crucial moment, and we are giving it the final push,” Barnier told reporters as he headed into a meeting with EU ambassadors in Brussels

“In 10 days the UK will leave the single market and I will continue to work, in total transparency with the European Parliament and the member states,” he said.

If the talks between Barnier and his UK counterpart David Frost fail to reach a breakthrough in the coming days, the UK will leave without a follow-on trade deal.

Tariffs would be reimposed on cross-Channel trade in food and goods, exacerbating the economic shock of a return to a border after 47 years of integration.

But the talks are deadlocked over how to ensure fair trade rules are respected in the future and, especially, over how to assign fishing rights in UK waters.

On Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen held a crisis call to discuss Brexit and the coronavirus crisis.

The call, revealed Tuesday by an EU source, came amid reports that Britain had improved its offer on fish, moving closer to Brussels’ demand for long-term access. But French officials told AFP that the British position had not yet moved far enough.

The two sides are haggling over the cut EU fishermen will take to their catch in British waters and the length of a transition period to phase in the changes.

The eleventh-hour talks have also been overshadowed by the fast-moving crisis over the new coronavirus strain found by London.

Amid reports the new mutation of Covid-19 might spread more quickly than previous ones, 40 countries in Europe and around the world cut travel links to Britain.

The EU is scrambling to come up with a coordinated response after cross-channel traffic was left snarled as France shut down entry for passengers and goods.

Ambassadors from the bloc’s 27 members are to meet later Tuesday to try to hammer out a joint plan to allow cargo to start moving again and EU nationals to return home.

Von der Leyen’s Commission has recommended that blanket bans be discontinued in order to allow essential passenger travel and freight shipments to resume.

But Germany and Ireland have already renewed their precautionary bans and France is in talks with London over instituting virus tests for truck drivers. – AFP

The European Union (EU) has signed an additional contribution of EUR 4.6 million to the 2020 Programme Budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to help address the needs of Palestine refugees during the COVID-19 pandemic through its health and relief programmes.

The announcement was made during a virtual meeting on 11 November between UNRWA Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, and the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi. This contribution comes in addition to the disbursement earlier this year of EUR 82 million to the UNRWA Programme Budget.

The UNRWA Commissioner-General expressed his deep appreciation for the continued EU trust and support: “I am very grateful for the European Union’s partnership with UNRWA and commitment towards Palestine refugees. This additional contribution is highly valued at a time when the Agency is facing an unprecedented financial crisis, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic”.

The European Union Representative in Jerusalem, Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, said “I’m very pleased that we could pay this additional allocation still this year. 2020 has been a very difficult year for Palestine refugees, who are not only badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and UNRWA’s serious financial crisis but also political tensions and the economic downturn in Palestine. This support will help address the much needed services for Palestinians in refugee camps, and notably in the health sector. UNRWA’s work remains crucial for all Palestinian refugees and the viability of the two-state solution, as well as for the stability and security of the region.”

The partnership between the European Union and UNRWA – which will next year mark its 50th anniversary – has evolved with the EU and its Member States becoming the largest multilateral provider of international assistance to Palestine refugees. This steadfast support has enabled UNRWA to provide frontline services to Palestine refugees across the Middle East, in the absence of a just and lasting solution to the plight of Palestine refugees.

Background Information:

UNRWA is confronted with an increased demand for services resulting from a growth in the number of registered Palestine refugees, the extent of their vulnerability and their deepening poverty. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions and financial support has been outpaced by the growth in needs. As a result, the UNRWA programme budget, which supports the delivery of core essential services, operates with a large shortfall. UNRWA encourages all Member States to work collectively to exert all possible efforts to fully fund the Agency’s programme budget. UNRWA emergency programmes and key projects, also operating with large shortfalls, are funded through separate funding portals.

UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5.7 million Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA across its five fields of operation. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip achieve their full human development potential, pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. UNRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, protection and microfinance.

EU AND UNRWA: TOGETHER FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES

Since 1971, the European Union and UNRWA have maintained a strategic partnership governed by the shared objective to support the human development, humanitarian and protection needs of Palestine refugees and promote stability in the Middle East. Today, the European Union is the largest multilateral provider of international assistance to Palestine refugees. This reliable and predictable support from the European Union enables UNRWA to provide core services to more than 5.7 million Palestine refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza, including quality education for roughly half a million children and primary health care for more than 3.5 million patients. Collectively, the EU and its Member States are also among the largest contributors to the Agency’s humanitarian emergency appeals and projects in response to various crises and specific needs across the region. The partnership between the European Union and UNRWA has allowed millions of Palestine refugees to be better educated, live healthier lives, access employment opportunities and improve their living conditions, thus contributing to the development of the entire region.

• EIB signs €100 million (DKK 745 million) loan with Novozymes A/S to further support its research, development and innovation activities regarding biological solutions
• The research focuses on biological solutions that can have a positive climate impact, such as in industrial, household and agrifood applications

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a €100 million (DKK 745 million) loan with Novozymes, the Danish-based world leader in biological solutions. The financing will support the company’s R&D investment plans for the coming years, and will mainly benefit R&D activities for discovering and producing enzymes that can be used in both industrial and home activities, reducing the need for traditional chemical products.

Demand for biological solutions is growing due to their potential for replacing less environmentally-friendly chemicals or more energy-intensive processes. They can, for example, be used to wash clothing at lower temperatures, thus saving energy, or reduce CO₂ emissions in agriculture by adding enzymes to animal feed.

EIB Vice-President Christian Kettel Thomsen stated: “The EIB and Novozymes go back a long way, and we’re glad to continue our support. By bringing down the climate impact of everyday things, the enzymes that Novozymes researches can open the door to new, more climate friendly ways of going about our lives, something that the EIB – as the EU’s climate bank – supports wholeheartedly. Denmark can be proud of having such a world-leading company, and safeguarding this kind of in-house EU-knowledge is very important for us.”

The research, development and innovation activities supported under this financing will be carried out at Novozymes’ R&D facilities in Bagsværd and Lyngby in Denmark. Since 2004, the European Investment Bank has made available €740 million to support Novozymes’ research and development activities and the previous loan was signed in early 2019.

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            Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman has fulminated against the European Parliament for failing to adopt resolutions in condemnation of Washington’s economic sanctions against Iran and Europe’s breach of commitments under the Iran nuclear deal.
        </blockquote>

        <!-- content -->Saeed Khatibzadeh said European lawmakers do not care about human rights violations.

“We believe the European Parliament should have shown earlier that it really cares about human rights. I don’t remember any of the resolutions ever adopted by the European Parliament has condemned the impudent and foul-mouthed US regime for violating the basic principles of human rights, adopting the ‘maximum pressure’ policy against Iranian people and waging an economic war [against Iran.],” he said.

“I don’t remember the European Parliament has ever adopted a resolution which has urged the European governments not to violate the JCPOA under the US pressure and not to get on board with the Trump and not to contribute to efforts that block the path of transfer of medicines and raw materials to Iran,” the spokesman noted.

He said many patients in Iran are suffering due to the United States’ sanctions.
“I don’t remember the European Parliament ever adopted a resolution to condemn the US move to prevent the transfer of drugs made by major pharmaceutical companies of Sweden and other countries and needed by ‘butterfly’ patients (those suffering from epidermolysis bullosa (EB)) and cancer patients in Iran,” he explained.

The spokesman urged European legislators to correct their approach and stop being hypocritical.
“Unfortunately, the European sides, especially the European Parliament, have a very dark record. I ask them to set aside hypocrisy and see for themselves which of their responsibilities they have fulfilled,” he noted.

“Adoption of selective resolutions, support for intelligence campaigns against Iran and, accordingly, the adoption of such resolutions are not only not acceptable, but strongly condemned,” he said.