, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20201207IPR93204/
PM Mitsotakis on EU Summit results: EU made steps to stop Turkish aggression
PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis presented his evaluation of the results of the EU Summit in Brussels in a press conference on Friday.
The Prime Minister expressed his satisfaction for the “unblocking” of the agreement for the Recovery Fund, saying that he “immediately unlocks” an amount of 32 billion euros for Greece.
Mitsotakis summed up his views by saying that Europe made a step forward regarding the Turkish matter. He said that the ‘philosophy’ between the EU and Turkey remains the same at its core, underlining that Turkey is being called upon to change its aggressive behaviour, adding that Europe supports Greece and Cyprus.
He added that if Turkey continued its provocative actions towards Greece more concrete sanctions would be decided in March.
The Greek PM made it clear that Greece would only sit down for preparatory talks with Turkey if the latter stopped its delinquent behaviour in the region.
STATEMENT: European Council Endorses 55% Emissions Cut by 2030, Leads Race Toward Net-Zero Future
Today the European Council endorsed a target for the European Union to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least 55% by 2030 below 1990 levels and committed to updating its climate and energy policy framework to achieve this objective. The target will be reflected in the EU’s new climate commitment under the Paris Agreement.
In the conclusion to the European Council meetings, the body said that the European Union is raising its climate ambition to “spur sustainable economic growth, create jobs, deliver health and environmental benefits for EU citizens, and contribute to the long-term global competitiveness of the EU economy by promoting innovation in green technologies.”
Following is a statement from Helen Mountford, Vice President, Climate and Economics, World Resources Institute:
“The European Union is showing that there’s no time to wait in the fight against climate change. With this new target, the European Union has jumped ahead as a leader in the race to a net-zero future.
“The EU’s target to cut emissions at least 55% by 2030 is significantly stronger than its previous pledge. Indeed, the EU’s new climate plan will have greater impact on global emissions over the next decade than any new 2030 commitment under the Paris Agreement to date.
“Reaching agreement on this ambitious target was a major achievement. Members of the European Union are clearly embracing a new growth strategy that will create jobs, increase efficiencies and bolster the blocs’ competitiveness in the 21st century economy. The plan acknowledges the reality that countries are at different stages in the journey to a net-zero future and that substantial investments are necessary to help some communities transition away from fossil fuels.
“The European Union has come to recognize that addressing the climate crisis is not only essential for our collective survival but is also a huge economic opportunity. That’s why it’s putting climate action at the heart of its economic recovery. Research shows that ambitious climate action can offer a $26 trillion boost to the global economy between now and 2030 and deliver more than 65 million new, low-carbon jobs.
“Now the European Union faces the important task of strengthening its policies and investments to get on a clear path to achieve its 55% reduction target and lay the foundation to reach net-zero by 2050. Throughout this process, it will be essential for citizens to have their voices heard and hold their leaders accountable for pursuing a low-carbon transformation that is fair, improves people’s lives, and leaves no one behind.
“There is growing momentum behind stronger near-term targets. The world will be watching to see whether other major emitters like China and the United States will deliver ambitious 2030 emission reduction targets that set the pace to reach a safe and prosperous, net-zero future.”
Opinion: Hungary and Poland win at Merkel’s last EU summit
It was predictable that Chancellor Angela Merkel would want to prevent the EU’s unity from being undermined under her watch during the last weeks of what has been a rough turn at the presidency of the Council of the European Union for Germany. Merkel’s first instinct is usually to keep the flock together.
And she managed the trick this time with a typical EU-style compromise: one that is not really good but not really bad, either. The result is the delayed implementation of the European Union’s Rule of Law Mechanism, which had been the product of years of bitter debate and was meant to finally be an effective weapon against the anti-democratic tendencies of the governments in Poland and Hungary.
In summer, the Netherlands and other member states had agreed to take on joint debt to finance the coronavirus fund under the condition that governments such as those in Hungary and Poland could no longer use the European Union as a self-service store. For many years, the citizens of other EU member states had wondered why their taxes should be used to finance the corrupt clique surrounding Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban.
But even the governments of EU member states that had pushed for the Rule of Law Mechanism have now voted for the compromise because, without the budget, the European Union would have been unable to take the action needed during the coronavirus pandemic. With their veto threats, the autocrats in Hungary and Poland succeeded in putting a brake to the Rule of Law mechanism, which will continue to guarantee their impunity.
It was always clear that the only way to make any impression on Orban and his kindred spirits in Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party was to hit them in their pocketbooks. The European Court of Justice has handed down a series of verdicts against both governments, but they are simply ignored. The sole method of constraining them is to take away their EU subsidies.
Lies, homophobia, anti-Semitism
Why do we have to put up with someone like Orban, with his lying propaganda, insults and anti-Semitic attacks? He and the ever more autocratic Polish government have taken the European Union to its political limits.
Almost every country has problems in the transitional phase to democracy; corruption tends to be widespread, and the fight for an independent judiciary takes time to win. But Poland and Hungary are taking quite another path altogether: Their governments are on the way to becoming autocratic regimes.
They are getting rid of the free press and an independent justice system while systematically curtailing civil rights. In Poland, the government is targeting women and stirring up hostility toward LGBTQ+ communities. There is resistance — but the dramatic example of Belarus has shown us how difficult it is to hold protests when police have been ordered to disperse them by force.
The European Union cannot put up with such governments. It cannot continue to look the other way, or it will erode its common basis. Septicemia starts on one side and spreads to the remaining limbs. Liberal democracies are having a hard enough time of it anyway; we can’t let them be undermined from within.
At some stage, in about two years, the Rule of Law Mechanism might make it possible to indeed take money away from Orban and Poland’s PiS government. But the European Union could already have used long-existing mechanisms and threatened to take away their right to vote. However, cowardliness and a kind of wrongly understood EU esprit de corps among government leaders prevented this from happening.
The governments of Hungary and Poland have now gained time to continue with their dismantling of democracy. They will regularly be reprimanded and sued, but that is water off a duck’s back to them. As long as the European Union does not take serious action against them, Orban and Co. will go on unperturbed. And, in the end, the political debacle will be one that can barely be reined in. The compromise on the EU budget might have been necessary, but, unfortunately, it was a political mistake.
This article has been adapted from German.
EU agrees €1.8 tr budget – but what brought Hungary & Poland onboard?
European leaders have hailed the breakthrough that saw the approval of the EU’s much-delayed €1.8 trillion budget and coronavirus recovery package.
It was held up for weeks because Poland and Hungary opposed a mechanism that would make some funds conditional on a country’s respect for core European values.
Warsaw and Budapest, frequently at odds with Brussels over values like rule of law and judicial independence, called it “political blackmail”.
But they have now agreed on a compromise with other European leaders.
It will see the mechanism suspended while Brussels draws up guidelines for how it should be used and what might trigger it.
Europe‘s top court, the European Court of Justice, is also expected to weigh in on its validity.
EU law expert Alberto Alemanno told Euronews that in compromising with Poland and Hungary, European leaders had “killed a mechanism that is supposed to guarantee the rule of law” by turning it into an “instrument of last resort”.
Alemanno, a professor at Paris’ HEC Business School, said the deal was “the fruit of a political choice made by European leaders” to keep Poland and Hungary “on board” with the budget.
How did Poland and Hungary react?
“We have reached an agreement of a kind that, let me stress it, has accepted all of our preconditions that we have made,” said Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
“We have a budget, together with the reconstruction fund, which means big funds for investment, big funds for supporting the development of Poland’s economy, for new technologies, for many goals that need to be implemented, especially now that we want to quickly come out of the pandemic. That’s important to us.”
Meanwhile, Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, was also in a celebratory mood.
“And we could say modestly, of course, that we saved the unity of the union. So don’t forget that this dispute was not only about the rule of law, regulation, financial issues, it was about the future of the European Union and the question: what is the power centre of the European Union, the European institutions like Parliament, Commission or the member states?
“And today we delivered evidence that the European Union is nothing else, just the community and alliance of the nations and the states. And nobody can circumvent the intentions and the will of the elected governments of any nation neither the European Parliament nor the Commission, nobody, because [the] European Union is the unity of the nations.”
‘Europe’s rule of law is in crisis’
A French official, who was not permitted to discuss the sensitive deliberations on the record, said that the steps taken against any country for failing to uphold the rule of law would apply retroactively from January 1, 2021.
French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that the leaders “adopted a robust agreement on the mechanism to put in place, in respect of the rule of law. Europe moves forward, united, and displays its values.”
While acknowledging that national governments are in dire need of coronavirus funds, some warned of the dangers of delaying action yet again against Hungary and Poland, whose nationalist governments have been accused of undermining judicial independence and media freedoms.
Daniel Freund, the Green group negotiator on the rule of law in the European Parliament, warned that the compromise being discussed would put the system “on hold for 1-2 years.”
“Europe’s rule of law is in crisis,” he said, adding that EU members should not be pressing the European Commission to avoid enforcing “existing laws while judicial independence is abolished in Poland or billions of EU funds end up with Orban’s family and friends.”
Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office said the delay “will allow for irreparable damage to the human rights of people in Poland and Hungary, and to the integrity of the rule of law across the EU.”
How did other EU leaders react?
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was a “great relief” that EU leaders passed the delayed €1.8 trillion budget and coronavirus recovery fund.
Charles Michel, president of the EU Council, made of up of leaders of European countries, broke the news of the budget agreement on Twitter on Thursday.
“Now we can start with the implementation and build back our economies,” he wrote. “Our landmark recovery package will drive forward our green and digital transitions.”
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the agreement “underlined indeed Europe’s ability to come together and act” in the face of the “worst crisis” the bloc has faced.
The package includes the Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF), the EU’s seven-year budget, worth just under €1.1 trillion, and the €750 billion COVID-19 recovery fund, known as Next Generation EU.
The Color of Religion
Signifyin’-Sept. 16, 2020—
Ok, let’s suspend reality for a moment and drop ‘45IQ’ (Trump for those not regular readers of my column) from the political equation.
In the presidential slot, insert a referendum on religion.
More specifically, Christianity’s role in the centuries’ long battle for the soul of America.
Let me crystalize.
Voters on November 3rd will make a sociocultural decision that will determine the validity of what many refer to as White Christianity, whether it be the false premise that there are, in fact, races, or that theirs is superior, made in God’s image and ordained to rule and subjugate.
White Christians excused away slavery and ignored that brutal institution, which included rape, torture, and murder based on the idiotic premise that we were the biblical Ham’s cursed descendants.
And except for Quakers and Mormons, who fought for our freedom, White Christians rewrote the Bible for their own benefit, rejecting tenets espousing universal brotherhood and the basic concept of loving thy neighbor as thy self.
The evolution of Black Christianity is in stark contrast to the White Evangelical Right, or what you might call the Christian ‘White-Right.’
Are there two versions of Christianity, two bibles and two Gods? One acknowledges we are all made in Nyame’s image and another permits sins far more insidious than abortion and adultery that the ‘White-Right’ prioritize as campaign issues?
But the real question is, can you indeed call yourself a Christian if you’re a racist?
Can you turn your back on systemic racism (apartheid), injustice, and discrimination and expect to be awarded a key to the narrow doorway to heaven or the ‘new earth’?
In many theologists’ eyes, the COVID-19 pandemic, mass demonstrations against systemic racism, and injustice is not mere happenstance. It is God’s (Nyame) call for reconciliation and appeasement.
This is not just my theory. There is a flood of like-minded Christians who feel similarly. I’ve read a half-dozen articles that posited likeminded assumptions, including a few Evangelicals who now see the light…or dark.
Among the most forthright was issued a few days ago from an Evangelical Christian who gave a call to his fellow Donald Trump supporters to put their concerns about abortion and homosexuality on the back burner and focus instead on tearing down the walls of racism and apartheid.
Well known Evangelical and White-Righter Jim Wallis, president of a Christian organization called Sojourners, issued a call for his fellow ‘White’ Christians to use the elections to start a national healing process.
“We’ve seen far too-long-delayed awakening among many White people about our nation’s systemic racism, sparked by the public killing of George Floyd,” he said in a written appeal.
“An excruciating 8 minutes and 46 seconds has led to a more in-depth conversation about the last 401 years of slavery and racism — partly because the whole nation was home and watching,” he wrote.
These twin crises (racism and the killing of Floyd) proclaim a message that resonates with people of faith, and perhaps even reaching some of Donald Trump’s traditional base: White Christians. We shall see.
Wallis said It might seem like a bold idea that the word ‘Christian’ could become more important than the word ‘White’ when the opposite has been confirmed for a long time.
Since the rise of the so-called ‘Religious Right,’ White Evangelicalism, in particular, has been successfully tied to Right-wing politics indifferent or actively hostile to racial equity, which is a fundamentally religious issue, he continued.
“The Religious Right, in fact, was poisoned from its beginnings with ‘White race,’ ‘White identity,’ and ‘White power’ being prominent among its organizing purposes.”
Eight of ten right-wing White Christians voted for Trump In 2016, despite his apparent flaws, including racism, myogenic, adultery, and vainglory.
Also, 60% of Catholics and 57% of Protestants voted for a candidate who some people of color call the Antichrist.
But that should not be surprising, particularly to those who study history and take note of the Christian church’s role in that ‘Original Sin’ (slavery) and its aftermath.
Whether His-story books continue to disguise it or not, this country was founded on the tenet of White Supremacy under the heading of so-called ‘Manifest Destiny.’
That’s why there is a White church, a Black church, and various shades of churches/religions in between.
Even if you can find White churches who talked about the universality of mankind, or were so bold as to remind the White-Right theologians that the first human beings were African and Black, they too were complicit by their silence and refusal to stand against injustice.
Such African American icons dating back to Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, to Frederick Douglass to Martin Luther King, Jr., called out the ‘White’ Church for its racist underpinnings and refusal to follow God’s mandates.
Most of today’s middle-realm White churches find themselves promenading down a similar path, some using the cover of ‘more important religious concerns’ to ‘mask’ (no pun intended…I think) their real agenda, or lack thereof.
Explained Wallis: “As an Evangelical Christian, I believe that issues such as abortion and religious liberty are important — but I’ve also lived the history and seen how those issues have been skewed and politicized by paper over clear biblical imperatives surrounding poverty and race.”
The 20th and 21st centuries have borne witness to White political leaders also masking their racism, he posited, “subtly stoking White voters’ racial fears, grievances, and hatred, so this isn’t new.
“But now, racist rhetoric and policies have moved from covert to overt in what I believe is a deliberate attempt to increase fear and animosity on all sides,” the former ‘White-Righter’ declared.
Racial fears are now a central campaign issue and campaign strategy, he explained.
“In early 2020, I wrote this election would be a test of democracy and faith. I wish those words hadn’t proven true. Those of us who believe racism is the paramount religious issue in this election must find practical ways to put our faith into action for the sake of our democracy… and of our faith.”
The cleric advised all Christians to return to the Bible for which the foundation of creation and universal brotherhood is the central tenet.
The foundation for all our politics is found in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible: In Genesis 1:26, he explained.
“Our holy scriptures say that God created humankind in God’s image and likeness.
“That passage is central to and affirms Dei’s imago, the image of God, in others and opposes what it denies.”
Appeals to racial fear, grievance, and hate are assaults on the image of God in others. Therefore, every act of racialized police violence, every family separated at the border, every wink or appeasement to White supremacists, and every attempted suppression of even one vote because of skin color, is denying the image of God — imago Dei.
That may be a little too deep for the novice, the unread, and those neo-Christians—White and Black—who accept what is convenient for their lifestyles and reject all else.
They are Christian in name only…and during funerals. Nor can they understand why they can’t remember Nyame’s number during times of distress or fear.
In some respects, they are in the same boat at the White-Right evangelist who worships a ‘White’ God who remarkably looks a lot like Uncle Sam, and a Messiah with blond hair and blue eyes.
“Until White Christians understand that loving their neighbors as themselves means fighting unrelentingly for justice for Black and Brown people and dismantling the oppressive structures of White supremacy, White American Christian claims to understand the heart of the gospel ring exceedingly hollow.”
White-wing Christians will undermine the basic tenets of Christianity if they vote for Trump, Wallis believes. They are also complicit in advancing systemic racism if they don’t come out of their caves to fight for equality and justice for their dark-skinned brethren.
And, of course, that starts with accepting African Americans as brothers and sisters.
“The changing perceptions among Whites of what it means to be a (Black American) and further, what it means to be a Christian in this country amid so much inequality and oppression — is leading to an unprecedented national conversation about the last four centuries of American life and America’s ‘original sin.’
“While Black voters, and especially Black women, are the core of the Democratic Party and are among the most religious people in the country, the party has, in recent decades, been reluctant to talk about faith.
“But when candidates talk about racism as the preeminent religious issue in this election season, it changes the conversation and opens up new space for religious voters to engage with their faith and apply it to their politics.”
People of faith and conscience voting against racism means protecting against the re-entrenchment of White nationalism that has emerged in this country and protecting Black and Brown Americans’ future, he said.
“Our nation and American Christianity as practiced by those identifying as White is at a crossroads. If White Christians once again refuse to treat racism as a political deal-breaker for their support, any chance to regain some of the credibility they’ve lost by their political captivity of recent years will be gone forever,” he concluded.
I agree wholeheartedly. Or almost. I see a subliminal hurdle in Wallis’s message that undermines his premise.
As long as he and other White-Right Christians see the world through a lens that is tinted in Black and White, his message is weakened. Because God sees only one race: the human race. And Nyame doesn’t need glasses.
Hotep.
New volunteering programme for young people in Europe and beyond agreed
News | European Parliament
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Higher quality of activities and better conditions for volunteers
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Mandatory plans to include people with fewer opportunities
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Higher age limit for those volunteering in humanitarian aid
On Friday, Parliament and Council reached a political agreement on the European Solidarity Corps for 2021-2027, worth more than one billion EUR.
“Today’s agreement is excellent news for young people in the EU and beyond. The programme will start in January 2021 and Parliament managed to secure many gains for volunteers. Volunteering will the main activity of the programme, which has been our priority from the very beginning. We are now able to guarantee a higher quality of volunteering activities, by obliging hosts to offer new, useful skills and competences. Similarly, from now on we will be able to include many more people with fewer opportunities”, said Michaela Šojdrova (EPP,CZ), rapporteur on the European Solidarity Corps (ESC).
More value and better conditions for volunteers and target groups
MEPs ensured that host organisations will need to prove the quality of the volunteering activities on offer, with a focus on learning, and gaining skills and competences. Similarly, the organisations will need to prove they comply with occupational health and safety regulations.
Parliament also succeeded in better protecting target groups. Special clearance will be needed for volunteers working with children and people with disabilities. Programmes will also be required to prove that they contribute to positive societal changes in local communities.
Inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities
Thanks to MEPs, the Commission and member states will have to present how they plan to include people with fewer opportunities. Young people will be able to volunteer in their own country, in particular those with fewer opportunities.
Higher age limit for humanitarian aid volunteers
Since humanitarian action poses specific challenges, MEPs insisted that the age limit of humanitarian aid volunteers be extended to 35 with a possibility to hire experts and coaches without the age limit.
Greener volunteering
In line with the European Green Deal, volunteering activities will have to respect the “do no harm” principle and the programmes will later be evaluated taking into account their contribution to the EU’s climate objectives, such as choosing climate-neutral means of transportation.
Next steps
The agreement reached today still needs to be formally approved by both Parliament and Council.
Fri. 8:27 a.m.: EU leaders agree to reduce emissions after all-night talks
… Seco)
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders reached a hard-fought … against climate change,” tweeted EU Council president Charles Michel … recovery clinched Thursday by EU leaders swung the momentum. … be submitted to the European Council in the spring.
The …
Coming up: Sakharov prize, EU summit, Covid-19, drinking water | News | European Parliament
, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/eu-affairs/20201203STO93001/
Pandemic harming freedom from religion in many countries, says report
The Covid-19 pandemic has undermined the rights of people who reject religious norms in many countries, according to the latest Freedom of Thought Report from Humanists International.
This year’s edition of the report, an annual assessment on the rights of Humanists, atheists and the non-religious, was published yesterday – coinciding with International Human Rights Day.
The report found that blasphemy remains a punishable offence in at least 68 countries. People can effectively be put to death for expressing atheism in 11 countries, all of which are majority Muslim.
Impact of pandemic
The report also said countries including Zimbabwe and Kenya have scapegoated the non-religious for the pandemic, with Zimbabwe’s president describing it as “a warning to people to leave their sinful ways”.
Countries including Azerbaijan have used it as a chance for broader crackdowns on freedom of expression.
It has also had a negative impact on the freedom to reject or change religion. Many people questioning their communities’ religious identities have been trapped with their families, while atheist support groups have often been unable to organise activities.
Many people have found themselves unable to access consular or other support services as they have fled harm. Women’s access to abortion has been restricted in some countries.
Other key findings
The report said “the overwhelming majority” of countries fail to respect the rights of Humanists, atheists and the non-religious.
It found that government figures or state agencies openly marginalise, harass, or incite hatred or violence against the non-religious in 12 countries.
And it said dozens of countries engage in discriminatory funding of religion; derive their state legislation in whole or in part from religious law; or use religious courts on family or moral matters.
It also criticised laws which discriminate against the non-religious, for example by not allowing them to marry, or which define citizens by their membership of religious groups.
Non-religious people are barred from holding at least some offices in 26 countries.
Comments
Andrew Copson, the president of Humanists International, wrote the introduction to the report. He said restrictions caused by the virus, “whilst completely necessary”, had “also had the secondary effect of undermining and destabilising the lives of those who are most vulnerable”.
National Secular Society head of communications Chris Sloggett welcomed the report.
“This is a sobering reminder of the restrictions on basic rights which many non-religious people and members of religious minorities face globally, and of the need to defend human rights from religious impositions.
“This year’s report also makes a valuable contribution by specifically highlighting the impact of the coronavirus, and the upheaval it’s caused, on the freedom to reject religious norms.”
