An actress friend has been working as a Tesco delivery driver. She applied online in March, when all her other jobs were cancelled. Far from resenting this emergency role, she has found bringing strangers their groceries a humbling, life-affirming experience. ‘You’re going to people’s homes and bringing them what they need,’ she told me.
The run-up to Christmas should be boom time for the retail sector. Instead, High Street giants such as TopShop and Debenhams have buckled. Tesco and Morrisons deciding to repay £850m of Covid business rates relief has been one of the few happy shopping headlines.
In desperate times for our High Streets, I’ve been wondering what, as a consumer, I can do to keep the businesses I value afloat.
Author Patricia Nicol recommends best selection of books on shops including Chocolat by Joanne Harris (left) and Barbara Taylor Bradford’s A Woman Of Substance (right)
Charles Dickens’s The Old Curiosity Shop is exactly the sort of wilfully eccentric, mismanaged bric-a-brac establishment that would go to the wall in these hard times. It does in the book, too, beggaring Nell and her grandfather. As such it is a story of our times — Dickens shows us that behind every business, however humble, are people. It is not just Nell and her grandfather who suffer when the evil Quilp takes possession, but also their employee, Kit.
As a teenager, I devoured Barbara Taylor Bradford’s rags-to-riches shopkeeper’s saga A Woman Of Substance. It charts the success of single-minded heroine, Emma Harte, from sexually-exploited maid at Fairley Hall to head of a global retail empire. Would she have had the agility to survive these times?
Chocolat by Joanne Harris depicts a high street star. The enigmatic Vianne Rocher’s chocolaterie, La Céleste Praline, is one of those stores nobody thought their community needed until its sweet, attractive wares start to transform lives, and the town, for the better.
Local to us, we have a few imaginative independent stores. They worked tirelessly, through lockdown, to deliver to our community.
Last week I popped in to a few and picked up some one-of-a-kind gifts I might have spent soulless hours scouring for online.
If you have an attractive high street, use it or risk losing it.
Rule of Law Conditionality Preserved, but Implementation Severely Delayed
It smacks of irony that on Human Rights Day, the European Union caved into pressure and granted another concession to Hungary and Poland’s rights-abusing leaders in order to reach a deal on the EU budget. Germany, in one of its last acts as rotating EU president, brokered the compromise with an “interpretative declaration” that ties the European Commission’s hands when it comes to conditioning EU funding upon respect for the rule of law.
The declaration, agreed last night, will likely have the effect of delaying for months, even years, the use of this innovative and once-promising tool. It commits the Commission to draft additional guidelines before applying the conditionality regulation, but then also says that the Commission should wait for a ruling of the EU Court of Justice before finalizing such guidelines, if Hungary or Poland decides to contest the legality of the regulation.
While the new concession won’t be a long-term victory for Hungary and Poland’s leadership, it offers them a chance to buy considerable time and consolidate their autocratic power with little consequences for years.
At the very least, the European Council should insist that any case before the EU Court be expedited to minimize delays in the effective use of rule of law conditionality. The European Commission should also make it clear that it could apply the conditionality regulation right from its entry into force – because the declaration is a non-legally-binding mechanism.
Although the German government had put the protection of fundamental values and rights in its top priorities for its presidency, it failed to propel forward the Council’s scrutiny of Hungary and Poland under Article 7 – the EU’s process to deal with governments putting the Union’s values at risk – and even declined recently to participate in a European Parliament debate on the rule of law in both countries. It is disappointing that Germany’s time in the EU rotating presidency ended with yet another concession to the bloc’s authoritarian-minded rulers.
The last weeks have shown that leaders who violate human rights have no shame in bullying and blackmailing the whole EU to shield themselves from any consequences for their actions. Now that the budget saga is over, EU leaders should urgently give Hungarian and Polish citizens fighting for their rights the attention they deserve, give full way to the new conditionality mechanism, and revive their scrutiny under Article 7.
Fifty-one years ago today, on 13 December 1969; and just a few days before his thirty-third birthday, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was ordained to the sacred priesthood.
Eleven years earlier, on 11 March 1958, he had entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus where, less than four years after his ordination, he made his perpetual profession on 22 April 1973.
The future Pope discovered his vocation in 1953, on 21 September – the liturgical commemoration of St Matthew. On that day, the 17-year-old Jorge Bergoglio, passing by the parish he normally attended in Buenos Aires, felt the need to go to confession. He found a priest he did not know, and that confession changed his life.
“For me this was an experience of encounter,” Pope Francis later recounted. Speaking at the Pentecost Vigil on 18 May 2013, the Pope said of that long-ago visit to the church, “I found that someone was waiting for me. Yet I do not know what happened, I can’t remember, I do not know why that particular priest was there whom I did not know, or why I felt this desire to confess, but the truth is that someone was waiting for me. He had been waiting for me for some time. After making my confession I felt something had changed. I was not the same. I had heard something like a voice, or a call. I was convinced that I should become a priest.”
Stamps issued for last year’s 50th anniversary of Pope Francis’ priesthood
Jorge Bergoglio experienced the loving presence of God in his life, felt his heart touched and felt the outpouring of God’s mercy, which, with a look of tender love, called him to religious life, after the example of St Ignatius of Loyola. It was this episode of his life that inspired the choice of his episcopal, and later papal, motto “Miserando atque eligendo,” taken from the Homilies of St Bede the Venerable (Hom. 21; CCL 122, 149-151), who, commenting on the Gospel episode of the vocation of St Matthew, writes: “Vidit ergo lesus publicanum et quia miserando atque eligendo vidit, ait illi sequere me” (Jesus saw the tax collector and, because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him, he said to him: Follow me).
Priests in the heart of the Pope
Pope Francis often addresses priests in his homilies and speeches. This year, in particular, he mentioned them several times in reference to the current pandemic and his commitment to the faithful tried by the health emergency.
When the Chrism Mass was postponed this year due to Covid-19 restriction, Pope Francis penned a Letter to the priests of Rome. The Pope warmly addressed the pastors of the people of God who “touched with [their] own hands the pain of the people,” remained close to them, shared with them and confirmed them on the journey. “As a community of priests,” Pope Francis wrote, “we were no strangers to these situations; we did not look out at them from a window. Braving the tempest, you found ways to be present and accompany your communities; when you saw the wolf coming, you did not flee or abandon the flock.”
The Holy Father urged priests to be wise, far-sighted and committed; and looking to the future, he wrote of the challenge to priests “to develop a capacity for listening in a way attentive yet filled with hope, serene yet tenacious, persevering yet not fearful.” He concludes his letter, noting that “As priests, sons and members of a priestly people, it is up to us to take responsibility for the future and to plan for it as brothers.”
The apostolic spirit of priests
Later, while speaking with doctors, nurses, and health workers from the Lombardy region in France, Pope Francis recalled “pastoral zeal and creative care” who “helped people to continue the journey of faith and not to remain alone in the face of pain and fear.”
“I have admired the apostolic spirit of so many priests, who reached people by telephone, or went knocking on doors, calling at homes: ‘Do you need anything? I will do your shopping…’. A thousand things,” the Pope said. “These priests who stood by their people in caring, daily sharing: they were a sign of God’s consoling presence.” Then he added: “Regrettably quite a few of them have died, as have doctors and paramedical staff too”; and he remembered, too, the many priests who had been ill, but, “thank God,” were subsequently healed. And he thanked all the Italian clergy, “who have offered proof of courage and love to the people.”
Today, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) launched a new partnership initiative to strengthen the capacity of Africa CDC to prepare for and respond to public health threats in Africa. The four-year project ‘EU for health security in Africa: ECDC for Africa CDC’, funded by the EU, will also facilitate harmonised surveillance and disease intelligence, and support the implementation of the public health workforce strategy of Africa CDC.
Commission Vice-President for promoting our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas said:
“The coronavirus pandemic has shown more clearly than ever that health security – a longstanding objective in the cooperation between the African Union and the European Union – must remain a global priority. The new partnership between the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control and the Africa CDC is a crucial step to achieve this common goal. We are acting now, together, to end this crisis and be prepared for future outbreaks. Our AU-EU Commission-to-Commission meeting in February was instrumental in reinforcing the prospects of our cooperation that is now bearing fruit.”
Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, stressed:
“The COVID-19 pandemic shows how crucial it is to invest in health systems to ensure they are prepared to deal with such crisis. The EU supports the continental leadership and coordination of the African Union in responding to the ongoing pandemic, and together we are helping partner countries to strengthen their capacities to prevent, detect and respond to health threats.”
H.E. Amira Elfadil Mohammed, Commissioner for Social Affairs, African Union Commission said:
“As a continent, we recognize the socioeconomic impact that disease outbreaks have had on our people. We know that fighting COVID-19 in Africa is not only about saving lives today, but about the future of the continent, it is about strengthening our health systems to better support preparedness and response to health emergencies in the future. This funding by the EU comes at a very good time and will go a long way in supporting capacity building of our public health institutions and experts.”
Supporting health security in Africa
This project illustrates the engagement of the European Union to help scale up preparedness for global health emergencies and to strengthen support to health systems in Africa.
Through this partnership, Africa CDC and ECDC will be able to exchange experiences and lessons learnt from working with African and European Member States on the continental harmonised surveillance of infectious diseases, data sharing, and early detection of threats, as well as on preparedness, risk assessment, rapid response, and emergency operations, and on how to adapt these to their needs. Capacity-building components in these areas of work will be integrated into the existing Africa CDC initiatives and strategies to support the African health security framework.
Funded under the European Development Fund, the project includes a contribution agreement with ECDC of €9 million and a complementary grant to Africa CDC of €1 million to cover staffing costs. This agreement will come into effect on 1 January 2021.
Background
Like the rest of the world, African countries face immediate healthcare needs and will bear economic and social consequences of the global coronavirus pandemic. From the overall ‘Team Europe‘ coronavirus response package, at least €8 billion will support actions in Africa. In healthcare, support focuses on strengthening preparedness and response capacities of countries with the weakest healthcare systems.
Already before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, €2.6 billion of the EU’s sustainable development funding for the period 2014-2020 had been allocated to health. Part of these funds have directly targeted health security while also strengthening health systems, including with €1.1 billion in 13 African countries: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea (Conakry), Guinea Bissau, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Sudan, Zimbabwe.
Through the ‘Health Systems Strengthening for Universal Health Coverage Partnership Programme’ with WHO, the EU invests in building health care systems that provide quality services to everyone in more than 80 African, Caribbean, Pacific, and Asian countries. The EU contribution to the UHC-Partnership in the period 2012-2022 is €197.7 million.
The pandemic has amplified the need for global solidarity, multilateral cooperation and partnerships to tackle epidemics. In the longer term and throughout the recovery phase, this partnership-focused approach should also be brought to bear in revitalising initiatives for strengthening health systems and advancing universal health coverage, particularly through primary health care approaches that aim to meet the needs of the most.
ECDC is an independent agency of the EU whose mission is to strengthen Europe’s defences against infectious diseases. The Centre was established in 2004 and is located in Stockholm, Sweden. The Commission recently presented a proposal to significantly strengthen the mandate of the ECDC.
The Africa CDC was established in 2017 as a specialized institution mandated to support African Union Member States in their preparedness and response to diseases threats in Africa. Its headquarters are located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
European Council President Charles Michel speaks during a press conference at the end of a European summit in a video conference format, in Brussels August 19, 2020. — AFP pic
PARIS, Dec 13 — Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, said today the EU would not lose its composure as make-or-break talks with Britain over a Brexit trade deal approach their climax.
Michel, who chairs EU summits, told France Inter radio that the European Union wanted a good deal that respected the integrity of its single market.
Asked about Britain’s planned deployment of naval patrol ships to protect its fishing waters in the event of a no-deal outcome to talks, Michel said: “On the European side, we will keep our composure.”
Michel said there were no rifts among EU member states as London and Brussels face a make-or-break decision on an elusive trade agreement.
“You cannot put a cigarette paper between (us),” he said, “because there are important matters. We want to preserve, to protect the single market. We are reasonable. We want to maintain close relations (with Britain).” — Reuters
Throwing overboard Sunday’s self-imposed deadline, the European Union and Britain said they will “go the extra mile” to clinch a post-Brexit trade agreement that would avert New Year’s chaos and cost for cross-border commerce.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had set Sunday as the deadline for a breakthrough or breakdown in negotiations. But they stepped back from the brink because there was too much at stake not to make an ultimate push.
“Despite the exhaustion after almost a year of negotiations and despite the fact that deadlines have been missed over and over, we both think it is responsible at this point in time to go the extra mile,” von der Leyen said.
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</div> The negotiators were continuing to talk in Brussels at EU headquarters.
European Council President Charles Michel immediately welcomed the development and said “we should do everything to make a deal possible,” but warned there could be a deal “at any price, no. What we want is a good deal, a deal that respects these principles of economic fair play and, also, these principles of governance.”
With less than three weeks until the U.K.’s final split from the EU, key aspects of the future relationship between the 27-nation bloc and its former member remain unresolved.
Progress came after months of tense and often testy negotiations that gradually whittled differences down to three key issues: fair-competition rules, mechanisms for resolving future disputes and fishing rights.
Brexit: ‘We don’t want the no-deal outcome, but we have to prepare for it,’ says Irish Taoiseach
Brexit: ‘We don’t want the no-deal outcome, but we have to prepare for it,’ says Irish Taoiseach
It has been four and a half years since Britons voted by 52%-48% to leave the EU and _ in the words of the Brexiteers’ slogan _ “take back control” of the U.K.’s borders and laws.
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</div> It took more than three years of wrangling before Britain left the bloc’s political structures on Jan. 31. Disentangling economies that have become closely entwined as part of the EU’s single market for goods and services took even longer.
The U.K. has remained part of the single market and customs union during an 11-month post-Brexit transition period. That means so far, many people will have noticed little impact from Brexit.
On Jan. 1, it will feel real. New Year’s Day will bring huge changes, even with a deal. No longer will goods and people be able to move between the U.K. and its continental neighbours.
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Exporters and importers face customs declarations, goods checks and other obstacles. EU nationals will no longer be able to live and work in Britain without a visa _ though that doesn’t apply to the more than 3 million already there — and Britons can no longer automatically work or retire in the EU.</p><div class="l-article__part" data-shortcode="readmore" readability="3.8681318681319"> <p class="c-readmore">
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Liberals plan to table Canada-U.K. trade deal this week as Brexit deadline looms </a>
</div>There are still unanswered questions about huge areas, including security co-operation between the U.K. and the bloc and access to the EU market for Britain’s huge financial services sector.
Without a deal U.K. will trade with the bloc on World Trade Organization terms, with all the tariffs and barriers that would bring.
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</div> The U.K. government has acknowledged a chaotic exit is likely to bring gridlock at Britain’s ports, temporary shortages of some goods and price increases for staple foodstuff. Tariffs will be applied to many U.K. goods, including 10% on cars and more than 40% on lamb.
Still, Johnson says the U.K. will “prosper mightily” on those terms.
To jumpstart the flagging talks, negotiators have imposed several deadlines, but none have brought the sides closer together on the issues of fair trading standards, legal oversight of any deal and the rights of EU fishermen to go into U.K. waters.
While both sides want a deal on the terms of a new relationship, they have fundamentally different views of what it entails. The EU fears Britain will slash social and environmental standards and pump state money into U.K. industries, becoming a low-regulation economic rival on the bloc’s doorstep, so is demanding strict “level playing field” guarantees in exchange for access to its markets.
The U.K. government claims the EU is trying to bind Britain to the bloc’s rules and regulations indefinitely, rather than treating it as an independent nation.
Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said a no-deal Brexit would be a “double whammy” for economies already battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
U.K. PM Boris Johnson says Brexit deal hopeful, but unlikely
U.K. PM Boris Johnson says Brexit deal hopeful, but unlikely
“It is clear when you do a trade deal that you are a sovereign nation; they are made to manage interdependence,” she told Sky News. “The U.K. and the European Union are interdependent so let’s do a deal which reflects the need to manage this interdependence.”
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</div> Britain’s belligerent tabloid press urged Johnson to stand firm, and floated the prospect of Royal Navy vessels patrolling U.K. waters against intruding European vessels.
But others, in Britain and across the EU, urged the two sides to keep talking.
Brexit: Londoners on edge as trade negotiations show few signs of progress
Brexit: Londoners on edge as trade negotiations show few signs of progress
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, whose economy is more entwined with Britain’s than any other EU state, said he “fervently” hoped the talks wouldn’t end Sunday.
“It is absolutely imperative that both sides continue to engage and both sides continue to negotiate to avoid a no-deal,” Martin told the BBC. “A no-deal would be very bad for all of us.
“Even at the 11th hour, the capacity in my view exists for the United Kingdom and the European Union to conclude a deal that is in all our interests.”
Iran has summoned the ambassador of Germany, current holder of the European Union’s rotating presidency, over EU criticism of the execution of an Iranian journalist, Iranian media reported on Sunday.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry also plans on Sunday to summon the French envoy to Tehran, the semi-official Fars news agency said. France also strongly criticised the execution on Saturday of dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam, who had been based in Paris before he was captured while on a visit to Iraq in October 2019 and forcibly returned to Iran, where he faced trial for his activism.
Zam was convicted of fomenting violence during anti-government protests in 2017. Founder of the popular Telegram channel Amadnews, feed had more than 1 million followers. The Supreme Court of Iran upheld the verdict on December 8.
The EU said in a statement after his execution: “The European Union condemns this act in the strongest terms and recalls once again its irrevocable opposition to the use of capital punishment under any circumstances.”
The French Foreign Ministry called the execution a “barbaric and unacceptable act”, saying in a statement: “France condemns in the strongest possible terms this serious breach of free expression and press freedom in Iran.”
Amnesty International and press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also condemned the execution.
Iranian officials have accused the United States, as well asTehran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia and government opponents living in exile, of stoking the unrest that began in late 2017as regional protests over economic hardship spread nationwide.
Officials said 21 people were killed during the unrest and thousands were arrested. The unrest was among the worst Iran has seen in decades, and was followed by even deadlier protests last year against fuel price rises.
HCMC – The European Union is funding a biodiversity protection and environmental sustainability project in central Vietnam, which will focus on the establishment and operation of a conservation foundation and finance 21 biodiversity conservation initiatives.
With the EU’s contribution of 600,000 euros, the “Establishing a funding foundation for biodiversity protection and environmental sustainability” project is being jointly implemented by GreenViet and the Gustav-Stresemann Institute until the end of 2023.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has again shown us the importance of living in harmony with nature. We are convinced the project will bring tangible results on biodiversity conservation through the effective operation of the foundation,” Jesus Lavina, deputy head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Vietnam, said at the launch ceremony last week.
The project will help diversify financing resources for Vietnamese entities including 50 groups and organizations working in biodiversity conservation and environmental protection and fund 21 biodiversity conservation initiatives.
It will also help build capacity for raising awareness and cooperation among businesses and individuals to provide sustainable funding for conservation, communication and education, patrolling and monitoring to protect the red-shanked douc langurs, the endangered primates in the Son Tra Peninsula.
According to Bui Thi Minh Chau, representative of the Gustav-Stresemann Institute, the project offers a unique initiative that researches and develops feasible mechanisms for businesses, the local community and domestic and international tourists to participate in the conservation of nature and environmental protection in the central region.
The project is carried out in collaboration with the Vietnam Nature Conservation Fund, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Danang City, the Management Board of Son Tra Peninsula and Danang Tourism Beaches and Danang City’s departments of Tourism, Natural Resources and Environment and Agriculture and Rural Development.
BEIJING: The European Union has urged China to release all journalists and citizens held in connection with their reporting, following the detention of a Bloomberg News employee.
Haze Fan, a Chinese citizen, was taken from her home by plain-clothes security officials last Monday (Dec 7), Bloomberg said, and Beijing said she had been detained on suspicion of endangering national security.
“All those arrested and detained in connection with their reporting activity should be immediately released,” an EU spokesperson said in a statement Saturday.
The statement mentioned that “other Chinese journalists or citizens have disappeared this year, or been detained or harassed after engaging in reporting”.
“We expect the Chinese authorities to grant her (Fan) medical assistance if needed, prompt access to a lawyer of her choice, and contacts with her family,” it added.
The Chinese foreign ministry said earlier that Fan’s case was under investigation.
Bloomberg said it was “very concerned for her” and was continuing to seek more information.
READ: Bloomberg news Chinese staff member detained in Beijing
Chinese citizens are forbidden by the government from working as reporters for foreign news organisations in China, but are allowed to work as news assistants.
Fan, who joined Bloomberg in 2017, has been credited as a contributor on numerous business stories.
Her detention comes months after China held a high-profile Chinese-born Australian journalist, citing similar suspicions.
Cheng Lei, a TV anchor at Chinese state-owned outlet CGTN, has not been seen in public since being held.
Two other Australian reporters – Bill Birtles and Michael Smith – fled China shortly after being interrogated about Cheng.
Britain is bringing out the big gunships in case of a no-deal Brexit.
Four of the Royal Navy’s vessels are being deployed to protect UK waters from European Union fishing boats if the two sides can’t reach a nearly $1 trillion trade agreement by the Dec. 31 deadline, the Sun reported.
Two will be at sea by Jan. 1; the other two are on standby, ready to head out with only a few hours’ notice.
Fishing — especially France’s right to fish in British waters — has been a key sticking point during months of on-and-off negotiations. On Friday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the EU’s top official, Ursula von der Leyen, acknowledged the chances of striking an agreement are slim to none.
The gunships will patrol the English Channel and Irish Sea, and — if no pact is inked — will intercept any EU boats. The navy’s vessels, in the most serious cases, would seize and then escort an EU boat to the nearest British port.
“Nobody is going to be firing warning shots against French fishermen,” a navy insider told the Guardian. “Firearms are only used when there is danger to life.”
