BRUSSELS: Britain’s position in talks on Brexit is “far apart” from what the European Union can accept and negotiations need to be urgently shifted into a higher gear, European Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Monday after talks with a senior UK minister.
“The UK’s positions are far apart from what the EU can accept. I have repeated the EU’s request to withdraw the contentious part of the draft Internal Markets Bill by the end of September,” told a news conference in Brussels.
He was speaking after a meeting with UK Cabinet Office Minister Michael in a Joint Committee tasked with implementing Britain’s Withdrawal Agreement and a proposed Internal Markets Bill that would undermine the divorce deal struck last year.
“We maintain that the bill, if adopted in its current form would constitute an extremely serious violation of the protocol and an essential part of the Withdrawal Agreement and of international law,” Sefcovic said.
He added that Monday’s joint committee meeting had shown “the urgent need to move into a higher gear” in the coming days before the next meeting in mid-October.
Analyst John Whitby has shared his point of view on the possibilities of resolutions to the current stalemate between the EU and the UK.
Sputnik: What effect will this visit from Gove have on negotiations between the EU and the UK? Will it change anything at all?
John Whitby: I would doubt it. I think the positions are fairly well-established and the main problem there is, is that we want to be independent and the EU want to retain control. I think the two are completely incompatible.
Sputnik: With talks setting up again and the messaging still remaining the same after four years of talks, is it time for the UK to just walk away?
John Whitby: I think the problem you’ve got is that nobody wants to actually do that, because they know if the UK walks away, then the EU will turn around and say “you never wanted to have a deal in the first place”, etc., etc. – and vice versa. I think the answer is yes, we wanted a deal, but we wanted a deal based upon a free trade agreement between two independent groups – the EU and UK. I don’t think the EU has ever really wanted that, because they can’t afford, in many ways, to let the UK be outside of their control and be successful.
Sputnik: What areas does the UK desperately need to prioritise to avoid chaos and further challenges in January?
John Whitby: I think what they’re doing at the moment in Kent, and I was a little bit peeved listening to the reporting on it, where it was basically: you need to have a passport to get into Kent. Well, no, what they’re saying is you can’t go into Kent if you are planning to go across the channel and you don’t have the right paperwork, because otherwise you will block Kent, effectively. That seems to be very sensible. You wouldn’t go to the airport without your passport and this is very much the same sort of thing.
We need to make sure that we have the right streamlined processes in place and unfortunately that relies on the border force and HM Revenue and Customs, who are not always the quickest at reacting or implementing what would be sensible. I think whatever happens there’s going to be problems. I think there would be problems no matter what you did because I don’t think it’s in some people’s interest to have a smooth transition. There is a lot of time and money invested in the European project.
If you go back to the week after the Brexit vote, where the BBC’s Katya Adler was going around all of the European capitals, she made a very telling point at one of her last points of call – which I think was Rome – where she said “the one thing I’m getting from all these senior EU European leaders is that they are absolutely scared stiff of having a free, independent, flexible UK sitting on their doorstep”.
Because that would then encourage others to think “well, why are we paying for all this bureaucracy? Why are we paying for the European Commission? Why are we paying for the five presidents? Why are we paying for all this? If we could just have a free trade agreement with the UK and everybody else and just go ahead without the European Union infrastructure” – and that I think is the big, big problem.
The views and opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
BEIRUT — The European Union expressed “disappointment and concern” Monday about the resignation of Lebanon’s prime minister-designate over the weekend and urged the country’s leaders to do their best to form a Cabinet that meets the demands of the people.
Mustapha Adib’s resignation during a political impasse came amid Lebanon’s worst economic and financial crisis in decades — made worse by a massive explosion in Beirut in early August that killed and wounded many and caused widespread damage.
Adib, who handed in his resignation Saturday, nearly a month after winning majority support from the Parliament, left Beirut early Monday to return to his post as Lebanon’s ambassador to Germany.
Adib’s resignation was a blow to French President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to break a dangerous stalemate in the crisis-hit country. Macron assailed the militant Hezbollah group and the entire Lebanese political class Sunday, and warned of a new civil war if they can’t set aside personal and religious interests to unlock international aid and save Lebanon from economic collapse.
Macron has been pressing Lebanese politicians to form a Cabinet made up of non-partisan specialists that can work on enacting urgent reforms to extract Lebanon from a devastating economic and financial crisis.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, urged Lebanon’s leaders to “unite and do their utmost for the timely formation of a government that must be able to meet the legitimate needs and demands of the Lebanese people.”
Borrell said the new Cabinet should be “committed to address Lebanon’s acute and multiple challenges — notably its humanitarian, socio-economic and financial crises, the coronavirus pandemic and the reconstruction of Beirut.”
He underlined the EU’s continued support for Lebanon and its people.
The international community has repeatedly said that Lebanon will not get financial aid before carrying out reforms to end decades of corruption and mismanagement by the ruling class that brought the tiny country to the verge of bankruptcy.
Macron on Sunday accused Lebanon’s political leaders of “collective betrayal” and choosing “to favor their partisan and individual interests to the general detriment of the country.”
Lebanon’s two main Shiite parties, Hezbollah and ally Amal, led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, had insisted on retaining the Finance Ministry in the new government and on naming all the Shiite Cabinet ministers. Adib rejected those conditions and stepped down.
On Monday, the dollar was trading at 8,200 pounds on the black market, an 8% drop by the local currency since Adib’s resignation. The official rate remains 1,507 pounds to the dollar.
The crisis is expected to worsen as the central bank’s reserve’s are being depleted in what could force the government in the coming months to end subsidies for medicine and fuel, sharply increasing their prices.
Lebanon defaulted on paying back its debt for the first time ever in March. Talks with the International Monetary Fund on a bailout package have stalled.
The crisis has been compounded by the coronavirus pandemic and more recently by the Aug. 4 explosion at Beirut’s port caused by the detonation of thousands of tons of ammonium nitrates. It killed nearly 200 people, injured thousands and caused losses worth billions of dollars.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Germany, current president of the European Union, has proposed a scheme that links access to EU money, including the 750 billion euro recovery fund, to respecting the rule of law, a document seen by Reuters showed on Monday.
FILE PHOTO: European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium August 21, 2020. REUTERS/Yves Herman
The proposal will underpin negotiations between the European Parliament and the 27 EU governments, which in July agreed to such a mechanism in principle but left out much detail to avoid a veto from Poland or Hungary, whose nationalist governments stand accused of flouting EU democratic norms.
Warsaw and Budapest are under EU investigation for undermining the independence of the judiciary, media and non-governmental organisations, and both could lose tens of billions of euros in funding if the rule of law mechanism is established.
In the recovery fund alone, excluding the linked long-term EU budget for 2021-27, Poland would be at risk of losing access to 23 billion euros ($26.84 billion) and Hungary to six billion.
“The rule of law requires that all public powers act within the constraints set out by law … under the control of independent and impartial courts,” reads the proposed draft regulation, which needs the approval of the European Parliament.
But the vast majority of EU lawmakers want the link between money and the rule of law to be stronger than agreed in July and the German proposal – sticking closely to the leaders’ summer agreement – is all but certain to disappoint the chamber.
Liberal German EU lawmaker Moritz Korner, who leads the chamber’s work on the matter, said Berlin was “cuddling” with eurosceptic, nationalist rulers in Warsaw and Budapest.
“Without an automatic sanction system, Germany’s proposal fails to defend the rule of law and the correctness of the EU budget spendings,” he told Reuters when asked about the scheme.
According to the German document, punishment for rule of law breaches would include suspending the flow of EU money to capitals seen as breaching democratic checks and balances. It would be decided by a majority vote of EU governments on a recommendation by the EU’s executive European Commission.
This could allow other governments to override opposition from Poland and Hungary.
But those seeking a stronger link argue that a majority of EU governments should be needed to decline, rather than endorse any recommendation by the Commission, to suspend funding for those flouting the rule of law.
That formula would make penalties more likely by leaving governments less room for political horse-trading.
“FINGER-WAGGING”
Some have cautioned, however, that seeking too ambitious a solution could backfire, given that Warsaw or Budapest might withdraw their support if the proposal is changed from what they signed up to in July after four days of tortuous talks.
“It is important that all sides stick to the delicate compromise reached. What didn’t find the support of the (leaders) at that time, will certainly not find it now,” said one official working on the matter.
Germany has already called on EU lawmakers to speed up work on approving the bloc’s next budget, the recovery fund and the related rule of law conditions so that money can start flowing, including to the ailing south of the EU, from 2021.
Asked about the Reuters story on Monday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Poland would stick to the July agreement.
“There is no consent in Poland to allow for arbitrary application of various clauses and finger-wagging only because someone doesn’t like our government,” he told reporters.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban threatened to veto a related decision if the July agreement on the rule of law mechanism is not honoured, which would derail the next EU budget and the recovery fun, together worth some 1.8 trillion euros.
($1 = 0.8568 euros)
Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, Additional reporting by Marcin Goclowski in Warsaw, Writing by Jan Strupczewski and Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Mark Heinrich and Nick Macfie
<img class="js-image-replace" alt="File photo dated 12/3/2019 of Union and EU flags flying outside the Palace of Westminster, London" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/E6D7/production/_113359095_55f5f0f0-8efd-4806-8153-0b491ed2827d.jpg" width="976" height="600"/><span class="off-screen">Image copyright</span>
<span class="story-image-copyright">Steve Parsons/PA Wire</span>
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</figure><p class="story-body__introduction">The "window of opportunity" for the UK and EU to resolve how to implement the NI part of the Brexit deal is "rapidly closing," the EU has said.</p>
A joint UK-EU committee held its third meeting on Monday.
The Stormont Executive’s junior ministers Gordon Lyons and Declan Kearney took part by video conference.
The meeting came at the start of the latest round of talks about the UK’s future relationship with the EU.
European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič said he had reiterated the “urgent need” for the UK and EU to accelerate their work in the coming weeks.
“Many difficult issues remain and the UK position is far apart from what the EU can accept,” he told a press conference in Brussels after the meeting.
Mr Šefčovič said the two sides also remain at odds on whether NI businesses will be required to complete a piece of administration known as exit summary declaration forms for goods going to the rest of the UK.
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove is in Brussels for the talks about the UK’s future relationship with the European Union.
The Brexit deal, which was agreed in October, treats Northern Ireland differently from other parts of the UK through what is known as the Northern Ireland protocol.
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</figure><h2 class="story-body__crosshead">What is the Northern Ireland Protocol?</h2><p>The Northern Ireland Protocol is designed to prevent a hard border in Ireland - or any new checks at the Irish border.
It does this by effectively keeping Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market for goods.
This will mean products entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK will be subject to new checks and control – the so-called Irish Sea border.
However, the precise nature of these checks needs to be agreed by the EU and UK and are being negotiated in parallel with the trade talks, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants concluded by the next European Council meeting on 15 October.
But the UK and EU have been engaged through the joint committee to work out the nature and extent of the checks on goods after the transition period.
The protocol is due to come into force on 1 January 2021 – the first day of the new EU-UK relationship.
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</figure><p>The last set of talks between the two sides ended acrimoniously when the UK government introduced the Internal Market Bill to Parliament.
The bill would give UK ministers the power to reduce the amount of paperwork that Northern Ireland firms have to fill in on goods bound for Great Britain, or to remove the need for them entirely.
It would also allow the UK to narrow the scope of EU state aid rules in Northern Ireland.
It is controversial because it would change the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol, a crucial part of the legally-binding Withdrawal Agreement agreed by both sides prior to the UK’s exit from the EU.
The bill has not been withdrawn and is set to be debated by MPs on Tuesday.
Mr Šefčovič said he had also repeated the EU’s demand for the UK to withdraw the legislation.
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Junior Minister Gordon Lyons, who took part on behalf of First Minister Arlene Foster, said he had “emphasised the importance of the UK internal market and the need to secure a deal that works for businesses, citizens and consumers in Northern Ireland”.
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</figure><p>Sinn Féin's Junior Minister Declan Kearney took the place of Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill, who it is understood could not take part in the meeting due to illness.
Mr Kearney said he had made clear to the committee that Downing Street’s Internal Market Bill – which would allow the UK to override parts of the original Brexit deal relating to NI – “does not command the support of the majority of political parties in Ireland, north or south”.
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</figure><p>He insisted that the Northern Ireland protocol must be "fully implemented".
Formal UK-EU negotiations will also resume on Tuesday as the two sides attempt to agree a post-Brexit trade deal.
The EU’s recovery package is the not-to-be-missed opportunity to lead us to a healthier future and should not extend a lifeline to the pollution that is making us sick, writes Peter van den Hazel.
Peter van den Hazel, medical doctor and co-founder, International Coordinator of International Network for Children’s Health, Environment and Safety (INCHES), is the President of HEAL (Health and the Environment Alliance).
It’s every doctor’s first prescription of choice: prevention before cure. Stop smoking, exercise more, eat a balanced diet. Take care of your body, and you will minimise the risks of illness and injury and boost your resilience to whatever ailment you cannot prevent.
The same applies to our planet. If we take care of our planet, our planet will take better care of us. It will reduce the risks from viruses and vector-borne diseases; from the fumes, chemicals and plastics that weaken our bodies; and from the malnutrition and heat stress intensified by climate change.
Investment in the health of our planet is itself a public health tool. It’s an investment in our own health and resilience to future shocks, be it pandemics, floods, wildfires or other catastrophes.
Just this month, a new report by the European Environment Agency underlined the urgency of tackling pollution and climate change in the interest of health, with the worrying number that poor quality environments contribute to one in eight, or 13%, of deaths in Europe.
In the next few months, the European Union has the power to either set us on a path towards that healthier and more resilient future or to turbo-boost polluting industries and infrastructure and exacerbate the global health crisis we find ourselves in.
Europe’s €1.8 trillion seven-year budget and its Next Generation EU recovery package, under negotiation over the next few months between the EU Council and the European Parliament, will set the contours of our long-term recovery from the coronavirus crisis.
EU countries and MEPs therefore have the opportunity — and the duty to the European people — to prioritise public health and rebuild an economy based on jobs and industries that support it.
Political leaders have already committed to zero pollution under the EU Green Deal. As such, the prescription from health professionals to leaders is very simple: put people’s health at the core of whatever you agree.
In doing so, create a list of polluting industries that should be explicitly excluded from future public spending. If a production or service makes us sicker and weaker, it should not benefit from taxpayers money.
Unfortunately, in the budget agreed in July, EU heads of state and government seemingly have not learned the lesson on greater health protection. Their agreement doesn’t even mention the word “pollution”, let alone talk about how to tackle its effects on health.
The European Council wants to reduce the EU4Health budget to a mere €1.7 billion, from the European Commission’s proposal of €9.4 billion, jeopardising the EU’s ability and ambition to strengthen healthcare systems and public health protection.
It has also cut the proposed budget for the Just Transition Fund by €30 billion – meaning less money for the much-needed transformation of regions that are still highly coal dependent towards a healthy energy future.
The European Parliament has made clear that it disapproves of the Council’s cuts, saying they will “undermine the foundations of a sustainable and resilient recovery.” Now it’s up to MEPs to fulfill their promise not to accept the final budget until it is improved.
Pollution from dominant industries such as chemicals and pesticides, petrol and diesel cars, coal-fired power generation and agricultural activities increase the risk of developing pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, heart disease and strokes, make those ailments more severe and affect those most vulnerable the worst — as 40 million health professionals pointed out in an open letter to G20 leaders in May.
From a health perspective, the only logical principle can be ensuring zero pollution and transforming any industry or service that does not adhere to this principle.
The World Health Organization, which also supported the open letter, has set out concrete steps that all governments should take to forge a healthy recovery.
They include protecting nature; investing in essential services including water, sanitation, clean energy and healthcare facilities; and an end to taxpayer-funded pollution, including subsidies for fossil fuel power and polluting modes of transport.
The European Union should take WHO’s recommendation to heart and consult with medical and scientific advisors, the wider health sector and civil society.
Healthcare professionals, scientists and academics are guiding us through this pandemic, and people are listening to them — they are wearing masks, working from home and refraining from hugging their friends and family, to save lives. People trust the experts, and our leaders must too.
By Vatican News English Section – In a recent Pastoral Letter, Cardinal John Tong Hon of Hong Kong addressed the social turmoil and division that rocked Hong Kong over the past year saying, “the public are fully justified in expecting the local government to take action promptly to address their aspirations for justice, democracy and a more decent quality of life.”
However, he also acknowledged that divisions have found their way into the local Catholic community.
The Cardinal pointed out that the faithful are free to have different views given that social and political issues are often complex and do not come up with “simple or ready answers.”
Nevertheless, he said, “differences in viewpoints must not give way to a division in the Church. “We must bear in mind,” he added, “the teaching of Vatican II that all the faithful are to strive to preserve Church communion, and they are to take account of the common good of the Church even when exercising their own rights.”
Cardinal Tong noted one of the consequences of social turmoil in Hong Kong has been a “hatred” of some sectors of the public towards those who do not share their stances or endorse their actions in regard to socio-political reforms.”
The Beatitudes
The Cardinal said that at this present time, “it is fitting to reiterate that the Church gives support to ‘democracy’ as a system of governance.”
Pope Francis, he said, in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium writes “that the progress in building a people in peace, justice and fraternity can be achieved by committed and responsible citizens. However, such a progress is an ‘ongoing process’ which demands that people work slowly but surely, without being obsessed with immediate results. In contributing to building a society of peace, justice and fraternity, we have a twofold role to play as ‘prophet’ and ‘servant’: we have to discern the ‘signs of the times,’ and we have to act like the salt of the earth, the light of the world and the yeast of human society.”
The Cardinal said, “in our endeavours for socio-political reforms and the well-being of society, we should be guided by the social teaching of the Church. We must, above all, put into practice what Jesus teaches in the Beatitudes and in the Sermon on the Mount. Thus we must realise that treating others as ‘enemies’ to be hated and fought against is inconsistent with the Christian faith.”
Christ crucified, he continued, “has set an example for all Christians to follow: whatever might be the conflicts that have to be resolved, love, forgiveness and reconciliation must always prevail, if justice and peace are to be achieved.“The end does not justify the means.””
He went on to say that pastors and priests “should enlighten the faithful and form their consciences with the social teaching of the Church so that they can adopt a balanced approach and take the right course of action while engaging themselves in social concern activities.”
However, he stressed, priests “should not exert their influence in those areas.”
The Cardinal also emphasized that Catholics who arrogantly challenge or criticise the Church or even slander Church leaders are simply setting a bad example and creating a split in the Church. Only by preserving their communion with the Hierarchy can “Catholics truly manifest the ‘sense of faith’ (sensus fidelium) as advocated by Vatican II.”
Hope amid challenges
In his Pastoral Letter, the Cardinal noted that many Catholics “bear a gloomy outlook about the future of Hong Kong. They have based their views on the uncertainties about the rule of law and the political reform, and the almost unbearable impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on our local economy and livelihood”, he said.
“I earnestly call”, he continued, “on these Catholics to place an unwavering hope in Jesus Christ…”
The Cardinal also underlined that the “social turmoil last year and the current pandemic have made great impacts on Hong Kong, and we can foresee new challenges to our evangelising mission in the years to come.”
Cardinal Tong concluded saying that God is “the key to our human destiny, of the need for a stronger sense of solidarity among members of the human family, and of the significance of maintaining Church communion, though allowing for a “diversity” in Church life.”
Ukraine is transforming its health system so that people can get the quality health-care services they need without experiencing financial hardship.
Andrii, a 25-year-old doctor living in the city of Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine began to feel unwell. It was in March 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak had started in the country. Armed with medical knowledge, he immediately self-isolated from his wife and other family members. As his symptoms worsened, he called an ambulance, and eventually tested positive for COVID-19 while in hospital.
“While I was in hospital, testing and examinations were free of charge, but I had to find and buy my own medicines. I am very grateful to the anaesthesiologists of Khmelnytskyi region and other colleagues, who helped me find and buy medicines while my family members were in 14-day isolation. Since then, the availability of medicines in hospitals has improved and medicines are now provided to patients free of charge,” said Andrii.
The transformation of health services to ensure that patients can be tested and treated for COVID-19 free of charge is just one of the many positive steps the Ukraine government has taken. It demonstrates the government’s commitment to universal health coverage (UHC), ensuring that no one is left behind and everyone can access the health care they need without experiencing financial hardship.
This commitment to UHC has been evident since 2015, when the government initiated the reform of its health system to improve the population’s health and ensure financial protection from out-of-pocket payments. The reform aims to increase efficiency, modernize an obsolete service delivery system and improve access to better quality of care.
WHO, through the UHC Partnership, has been walking hand in hand with the government since the very first steps on this road. It provided continued and consistent technical support on health financing and service delivery with a strong focus on strengthening primary care – working closely with national and international stakeholders throughout election cycles and changes in the government. The Partnership, which assists 115 countries in accelerating progress to achieve UHC, is funded by the European Union, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Irish Aid, the Government of Japan, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the United Kingdom Department for International Development and the Government of Belgium.
Ukraine recorded its first case of COVID-19 on 3 March 2020. By the end of August, there had been more than 108 000 confirmed cases and over 2000 people had lost their lives. From the start of the outbreak, WHO has continued to support the Ministry of Health to further develop three key areas of its health system: health financing, service delivery and governance. This strengthens both the emergency COVID-19 response and progress towards UHC.
UHC means health for all
As the world is confronted with one of the most devastating health crises in history, Ukraine’s experience demonstrates the value of reforming health financing, service delivery and governance; the key areas that set the foundations of health systems in all countries. In both ordinary and extraordinary times, UHC principles are at the core of keeping all communities healthy, safe and productive.
Mali’s transitional president Bah N’daw, has appointed former Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Moctar Ouane, as the new Prime Minister of the West-African country.
The appointment on Sunday of a civilian premier was a precondition to the lifting of sanctions imposed on the country by ECOWAS – the West African regional bloc – shortly after the 18 August coup which overthrew former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
ECOWAS had stopped financial flows into Mali and closed its borders in a bid to pressure the military junta that seized power to quickly return the country to civilian rule. The bloc is also seeking the release of all the detainees from last month’s coup.
Transitional government
The country’s transitional President and vice-President were sworn into office on Friday, a little over a month after the coup.
Bah N’Daw – the new President – is a retired colonel and was Mali’s former Defense Minister, while Colonel Assimi Goita, head of the junta that staged the August coup, is the new vice-President.
The new Prime Minister, aged 64, served as Foreign Minister between 2004 and 2011 during the presidency of Amadou Toumani Toure. He also served as Mali’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 1995 to 2002 and later as a diplomatic adviser to ECOWAS.
Mike Pompeo will visit the Vatican to protest against the imminent renewal of a deal between the Catholic church and China, which the US secretary of state claims endangers its moral authority.
Pope Francis has reportedly declined to meet Pompeo during his visit this week, citing the closeness of the US election. However, such a move is likely to be linked to Pompeo’s recent attacks on the Vatican’s perceived soft-pedalling on China’s human rights record as the two sides prepare to extend a historic agreement signed two years ago.
The details of the deal have never been made public, but it gave the Vatican a say in the appointment of Catholic bishops in China. Pope Francis also recognised eight bishops that had been appointed by Beijing without his approval.
In the past two years, two new bishops have been appointed in China after consultation with the Vatican, and Chinese and Vatican officials met publicly for the first time in seven decades.
Critics claimed the deal was a betrayal of millions of Chinese Catholics, most of whom worship in unregistered churches at enormous personal risk, and would cause irreparable damage to the church’s credibility. “They’re [sending] the flock into the mouths of the wolves,” Cardinal Joseph Zen, the former archbishop of Hong Kong, said at the time.
Since the rapprochement with China, Pope Francis has been notably silent on the country’s violations of human rights. Despite advocating for marginalised and oppressed people all over the world, Francis has failed to use his voice to highlight the incarceration of at least a million Uighurs and other Muslims in prison camps, where they are reported to face starvation, torture, murder, sexual violence, slave labour and forced organ extraction.
Earlier this month, Pompeo, who is on a five-day tour of Greece, Turkey, Croatia and Italy, said the Catholic church should deploy its moral authority against the Chinese Communist party’s crackdowns on religious worship.
The criticism is part of a broader pattern of US attacks on China during Donald Trump’s presidency as relations between the superpowers have reached their lowest point for decades. At the UN general assembly this month, Trump accused China of “unleashing this plague onto the world”, referring to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In an article in First Things, a US conservative Catholic magazine, Pompeo wrote: “The Holy See has a unique capacity and duty to focus the world’s attention on human rights violations, especially those perpetrated by totalitarian regimes like Beijing’s. In the late 20th century, the church’s power of moral witness helped inspire those who liberated central and eastern Europe from communism, and those who challenged autocratic and authoritarian regimes in Latin America and East Asia.
“That same power of moral witness should be deployed today with respect to the Chinese Communist party … What the church teaches the world about religious freedom and solidarity should now be forcefully and persistently conveyed by the Vatican in the face of the Chinese Communist party’s relentless efforts to bend all religious communities to the will of the party and its totalitarian program.”
On Twitter he said the party’s “abuse of the faithful has only gotten worse” since the deal was signed. “The Vatican endangers its moral authority, should it renew the deal.”
Pompeo is expected to meet Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s secretary of state, and the archbishop Paul Gallagher, secretary for relations with states.
China’s president, Xi Jinping, has pledged to “Sinicise” all religious practise, insisting that it must be “Chinese in orientation”, with the government providing “active guidance to religions”.
Catholicism is a relatively minor religion in China, with an estimated 10-12 million adherents out of a population of 1.4 billion. Catholics are supposed to worship only in churches approved by the state, but many attend unregistered churches under the authority of bishops who are not recognised by the Chinese authorities.
The extension to the Vatican-China deal is expected to be signed next month.
