BRUSSELS —
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that the United Kingdom cannot unilaterally change the EU-U.K. bilateral withdrawal agreement without destroying global trust in the country.
Insisting that chances for a future trade deal are slipping away by the day, von der Leyen told the European Union's legislature that plans by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to renege on parts of the withdrawal agreement signed by both of them dimmed those hopes even further.
What's more, she insisted that Britain is throwing its good name to the wind by not respecting a deal it signed and approved last December.
"It cannot be unilaterally changed, disregarded or disciplined. This is a matter of law and trust and good faith," she said in her State of the Union address.
She rubbed it in by quoting from a 1975 speech by British conservative icon Margaret Thatcher.
"Britain does not break treaties. It would be bad for Britain, bad for our relations with the rest of the world and bad for any future treaty on trade," von der Leyen quoted from Thatcher.
Johnson has called his plan to unilaterally rewrite Britain's divorce deal with the EU an insurance policy against the bloc's unreasonable behaviour.
Johnson said a planned law designed to override portions of the Brexit withdrawal agreement he agreed to was needed because the EU might "go to extreme and unreasonable lengths" in its treatment of former member Britain.
Von der Leyen said, however, that the EU will always respect its signature -- "We will never backtrack on that."
The EU’s most powerful senior official unveiled plans to reboot the bloc’s battered economy with what is being dubbed a “green new deal.”
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said the EU should significantly toughen its emissions-cutting target to at least 55% by 2030.
“I recognize that this increase from 40 to 55 is too much for some, and not enough for others,” she said in a speech to EU lawmakers in Brussels. “But our impact assessment clearly shows that our economy and industry can manage this.”
She suggested that 30% of the bloc’s €750 billion coronavirus recovery package should be raised through green bonds, which are financial instruments aimed at supporting climate-friendly projects.
The EU agreed the stimulus plan in July that will allow the European Commission to raise billions of euros on the global financial markets.
MEPs and EU governments would still need to agree to the plan.
Some countries argue such green targets are harder to meet because they rely on high-polluting energy sources such as coal.
Campaigners say 55% is not enough to hit the EU’s longer-term goal of climate neutrality by 2050.
“The Commission has very good arguments for a new goal of at least 55%,” German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said in response to von der Leyen‘s speech.
Schulze said her EU counterparts would discuss adopting the measure at the end of September: “I hope we at these talks will come closer to an agreement.”
Bavarian lawmaker Georg Nusslein from the Christian Social Union, a sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, said the new climate strategy comes with “high risks” for German industry.
The EU’s climate goals should be met through “fair burden-sharing,” Nusslein was quoted by the DPA news agency as saying.
Germany is already “walking the fine line economically and socially responsible,” he added.
Coronavirus a chance for ‘EU to lead the way’
Speaking at the European Parliament in Brussels, the former German defense minister said that the coronavirus crisis presented the bloc with “a moment for the EU to lead the way.”
She urged EU governments to work on common health care policies, promising a biomedical research agency and a global summit.
Von der Leyen said the coronavirus pandemic had underlined the need for closer cooperation. “The people of Europe are still suffering,” she said.
The speech was set to be held at the body’s Strasbourg seat of the European Parliament but was moved to the Belgian capital after the French government designated the eastern city as a coronavirus “red zone.”
Von der Leyen warns UK
Von der Leyen made only a passing reference to Brexit because talks are being led by the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier.
She warned Downing Street that it would fail to seal a trade deal with the EU if it tried to rewrite last year’s withdrawal agreement.
“With every day that passes, the chances of a timely agreement do start to fade,” von der Leyen said.
She stressed that the Brexit divorce treaty, agreed and ratified by both the UK and EU, “cannot be unilaterally changed, disregarded or disapplied.”
“This is a matter of law and trust and good faith,,” the EU chief said, recalling that British former-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said breaking treaties was “bad for Britain, bad for relations with the rest of the world and bad for any future treaty on trade. The comments drew an enthusiastic response from the Republic of Ireland’s Foreign and Defense Minister Simon Coveney.
EU chief urges bloc to do more on human rights
The Commission president attacked Poland’s government overs its “LGBT-free zones,” which she branded as “humanity free zones.”
“Breaches of the rule of law cannot be tolerated,” von der Leyen said.
On Monday, MEPs called for Poland’s conservative government to lose EU funding over its attack on LGBT+ people and rule of law record.
Von der Leyen told EU governments to work together on tackling the migration crisis, after a fire at a refugee camp in Greece left several people homeless.
“I expect all member states to step up, too,” she told the European Parliament. “Migration is a European challenge and all of Europe must do its part.”
Sustainability is a balancing act. This goes for every sector, but none more so than the livestock sector, one of Europe’s key focus areas in the EU Green Deal.
Roxane Feller is the Secretary-General of AnimalhealthEurope.
Repeating comments by Germany’s Agriculture Minister for Food and Agriculture Julia Klöckner during a July meeting of the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee meeting – “Organic farming isn’t the holy grail and conventional farming isn’t the devil. Organic farming must become more efficient and conventional farmers must become more sustainable. It’s an opportunity for us all to work together.” [taken from the English translation] – I can say that when it comes that desired balance for true sustainability, I couldn’t agree more.
When you take animal health as the pivotal point for livestock farming, the balancing act becomes a much easier task. Any well-established and practised animal health management plan will deliver on the three main pillars of sustainability.
Taking the social aspect first, any sustainable business should have the support of its employees and the community it operates in, as well as the support of the consumers it serves.
Social acceptance is growing in influence and due care must be taken to not let emotion and opinion outweigh what matters: securing a sustainable food supply at affordable prices that is respectful of both the environment and animal welfare.
Animal health is a prerequisite for good animal welfare. Veterinary vaccines and medicines help to prevent and treat animal diseases, as well as reduce pain and discomfort. And in terms of our shared health, healthy animals are the cornerstone of Europe’s high levels of food safety.
Careful animal health management focused on prevention also reduces the occurrence of bacterial infections, and therefore the need to use antibiotics.
Healthy animals also deliver on the environmental pillar. Efficiencies that are beneficial for our environment are most often created when herds or flocks benefit from good health. Innovative tools can be implemented by farmers which help with monitoring factors such as feed intake, weight, temperature, etc. assisting with more targeted management of animals both individually and as a group.
Healthy animals require fewer natural resource inputs like feed and water as they move through the production system, so excess need for such inputs can be avoided. Livestock can also consume crop residues and other by-products that could otherwise become an environmental burden as 86% of livestock feed is not suitable for human consumption.
Well-managed animals can also lead to a 30% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation. And in terms of biodiversity, grazing animals help to maintain grasslands that act as important carbon traps and cannot be used to grow other foods.
And finally on the economic pillar, ensuring the viability of livestock farming is also linked to the creation of efficiencies. This means using the necessary animal health tools and services to reduce animal mortality and avoid any food or other product losses directly at farm level.
Taking parasite infections in sheep for example – which can also apply to other grazing animals – such infections can lead to losses in milk yield, along with slower growth, and even reduced wool production. So by ensuring accurate attention to the animals in their care, farmers can run their farms efficiently and sustainably.
There is not one sole example of a farming system that will deliver optimally on all three pillars of sustainability.
The animal health industry believes that sustainable livestock production systems are those where there are regular veterinary visits, good animal health management plans, use of preventive vaccines where possible, good biosecurity measures and housing, appropriate nutrition and careful attention to animal well-being, on both a group and individual basis.
In short, Animal Health Matters in all different farming systems, no matter the size, no matter the degree of inputs used. All means that support sustainable practices should be both included and incentivised via the EU Farm to Fork Strategy and its subsequent measures if we are to achieve the balance needed for a fair transition.
Progress made so far in Europe deserves recognition. This will go a long way in maintaining not only balance but the continuity of our food supply. Europe’s farmers are in a great majority heading towards senior years.
Eurostat figures state that only 11% of farm managers in the EU were under the age of 40 years in 2018.
So ensuring that all progress is recognised and that farmers can access all the tools they need to perform their job in a sustainable and rewarding manner is an important step in attracting new young farmers to agriculture and ensuring the vitality of Europe’s rural areas.
Just down the road from Belgrade’s historic city centre, gates open for trucks to pass to the banks of the Danube, where they dump raw sewage into Europe’s venerated river.
It’s not a secret operation, but rather a business nobody likes to mention in the Serbian capital — the only one in Europe to spew all of its unfiltered wastewater into the continent’s second-longest river.
A heavy odour rises as the brown stream of faeces flows into the waterway, a far cry from the colours that inspired Johann Strauss to write his famous waltz “On the Beautiful Blue Danube”.
For fishermen who live off the fruits of the Danube and the Sava rivers that join in a beautiful, broad confluence around Belgrade’s old fortress, this daily practice is “disastrous”.
“I want to cry, and nobody cares,” Dragoljub Ristic, a 59-year-old fisherman told AFP.
Around a third of Belgrade, a city of 1.6 million, has no connection to drainage systems and instead relies on the septic tanks that the trucks empty straight into the rivers.
The rest shunt their unprocessed waste into the river through around 100 sewage drains.
Roughly 190 million cubic meters of wastewater — or 60,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools — are poured into the rivers annually, according to estimates made by infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic.
“No big city in Europe commits such a crime towards its rivers,” claims Belgrade Deputy Mayor Goran Vesic, who has called for a proper wastewater treatment system.
The Danube begins in Germany and snakes through nine other countries over 2,850 kilometres (1770 miles) before draining into the Black Sea.
A group of Austrian scientists in 2019 noted a “critical” presence of E. coli bacteria in Serbia’s strip of the river, which local experts say is a sign of the high levels of organic pollution.
If consumed, the bacteria can cause infections, said Igor Jezdimirovic, from the local NGO Environment Engineering.
Thanks to its sheer size and power, the Danube mostly manages to “cleanse itself”, said Bozo Dalmacija, a chemistry professor leading a water quality research team in Serbia.
For most of the year bacterial particles stay below 500 micrograms per millilitre, the level at which they pose a health hazard, he told AFP.
Those who spend their lives on the river say they have already seen it change, with a build up of waste shallowing out the riverbed.
While scientific studies are hard to come by, fishermen say the sewage has altered the variety of fish that end up in their nets.
Whitefish are harder to find whereas bottom feeders like catfish, which eat the waste, are more abundant.
“We have killed all our rivers, we will kill this one too,” lamented Mladen Jovic, a 59-year-old fisherman.
“The Danube is a very strong and powerful river that manages (the pollution), but it can’t do it forever,” he added.
Promises to purify
Serbia is an EU candidate country which hopes to join the bloc by 2025.
Its environmental record is a major obstacle, with the country needing a five billion euro investment to build the necessary eco-friendly infrastructure.
The country has already stated it will not be able to meet the demands, proposing an 11-year transition period after it joins the bloc.
“It can’t be done in five years. We are already late,” Dalmacija told AFP.
In late July, President Aleksandar Vucic announced that 70 municipalities around the country will get “water purifying plants and sewage systems”.
But there has been no news since, with the Ministry of Environmental Protection refusing to comment on the matter or clarify who would finance such a project.
“We can’t do that with our current budget,” said Dalmacija. “Maybe he (Vucic) has other information.”
It wasn’t the first such announcement. Belgrade’s deputy mayor pledged five years ago that a sewage system for the capital would be finished by 2020 — a deadline that has since been extended twice, to 2025 and recently to 2029.
In January, Belgrade authorities signed an agreement with the China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC)to start work on a wastewater treatment plant for the city, but construction hasn’t started as Serbia is yet to allocate money in the budget.
Jezdimirovic, from the environmental NGO, is waiting to see real results.
“As the old Latins used to say — deeds, not words.”
(Photo: Pew Research Center)Family praying at home.
American teenagers and their parents tend to have a lot in common – though not quite as much as the parents may think as they share a religious identity, a new analysis of a Pew Research Center survey data shows.
It shows that most U.S. teens share the religious affiliation of their parents or legal guardians.
Protestant parents are likely to have teens who identify as Protestants, while Catholic parents mostly have teens who consider themselves Catholics, while the vast majority of religiously unaffiliated parents have teens who describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular.”
Yet withing the broad Protestant category there are stark differences.
EVANGELICAL PROTESTANTS
Eight-in-ten parents who affiliate with an evangelical Protestant denomination have a teen who also identifies as an evangelical Protestant.
But among parents who belong to mainstream Protestant denominations such as the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 55percent have a teen who identifies in the same way – and 24percent have an unaffiliated teen.
Among adults, women tend to be more religious than men, but this gap isn’t nearly as pronounced among teens. In the United States, for example, women are more likely than men to say religion is “very important” in their lives (60 percent against 47 percent), according to a 2014 Pew Research Center survey.
Adolescent boys and girls are equally likely to be religiously affiliated, say religion is very important in their lives, pray daily and say they regularly attend religious services. Furthermore, roughly six-in-ten teenage boys (58 percent) and girls (61 percent) say they have ever been in a religious education program.
Girls do stand out, however, on religious youth group participation: 57 percent say they have participated in a religious youth group, compared with 44 percen of boys who say the same.
Generally, U.S. teens attend religious services about as often as their parents.
The survey shows that 44 percent of U.S. teens say they go to religious services at least once a month, almost exactly the same as the share of their parents who say they attend monthly (43 percent).
Parents are more likely than teens to say religion is extremely very important in their lives.
When there are religious differences between adults and their 13- to 17-year-old children, however, it’s usually the teens who are less religious than the parents.
For instance, far fewer teens (24 percent) than parents (43 percent) say that religion is extremely important in their lives.
The survey also asked parents and teens about how important they think religion is in the other person’s life.
It found that, overall, most follow the same pattern.
For example, 73 percent of teens give the same answer as their parent about how important religion is to the parent, and 68 percent of parents give the same answer about how important religion is to their teen.
But among those who do not agree, parents are far more likely to overestimate the importance of religion to their teen than to underestimate it.
MORE IMPORTANCE FOR PARENTS
For example, among all parents who give a different answer than their teen does regarding the importance of religion to the teen, 69 percent think religion is more important in the life of their teen than their teen does.
And 29 percent believe it is less important to their teen than their teens says. Meanwhile, among all teens who give a different answer than their parent on the importance of religion in their parents’ lives, 43 percent overestimate how important religion is to their parent, while 55 percent underestimate it.
Half of teens say they hold all the same religious beliefs as their parent …And of approximately 1,800 teenagers who were surveyed alongside one of their parents, about half the teens (48 percent) say they have “all the same” religious beliefs as their parent.
But among the other half of all teens – those who say they share “some of the same” beliefs or hold “quite different” beliefs from their parent – about one-third (34 percent) say their parent doesn’t know that they differ religiously. And one-in-six (17 percent) say this difference causes at least some conflict in their household.
When asked how many of their religious beliefs they hold in common, most teens and parents give the same answer.
That includes 40 percent of teen-parent pairs who say they hold “all the same” beliefs and 30 percent who agree that they hold “some of the same” beliefs.
But in roughly a quarter of cases (27 percent), their responses do not align – and most of those are situations in which the parent assumes a higher level of agreement.
For example, 12 percent of the pairs consist of a parent who says they share all the same religious beliefs as their teen, but a teen who disagrees. And another 4 percent consist of a parent who says they share some beliefs with their teen, while the teen says their beliefs are quite different.
Four-in-ten teens say they share all the same religious beliefs as their parent – and their parent agrees
Less-religious parents are highly likely to have teens who also are less religious.
Naturally, differences can occur in both directions:
There are nonreligious parents who have highly religious teens, as well as the other way around.
But the survey data suggests that, by some traditional measures of religious observance – religious importance and prayer – highly religious parents are less likely to have teenagers who share their beliefs than nonreligious parents are to have teenagers without strong religious beliefs.
For the first time, the WHO Regional Committee for Europe took place virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Among the highlights of this year’s session was the endorsement by Member States of the European Programme of Work (EPW). The EPW sets down a 5-year vision of how WHO/Europe and Member States will work together to meet citizens’ expectations for health.
At the opening of the virtual session, outgoing President of RC69 Mr Magnus Heunicke, Minister of Health and Senior Citizens of Denmark, handed the position over to Dr Alexey Tsoy, Minister of Health of Kazakhstan, the elected President of RC70.
Other officers elected were:
Dr Søren Brostrøm of Denmark as Executive President
Dr Iva Pejnović Franelić of Croatia as Deputy Executive President
Ms Nora Kronig Romero of Switzerland as Rapporteur.
Address by Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary of Denmark
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, Patron of WHO/Europe, addressed delegates, describing the pandemic as a “tough teacher” and underlining that there can be no health care without the health workforce. “To all the nurses, midwives, health and care workers across the European Region, you have my deepest respect and admiration, and I thank you,” she said.
Re-emphasizing her commitment to advocating for maternal and child health, immunization, and addressing antibiotic resistance, Her Royal Highness concluded, “Working together to make the world a safer and healthier place for everyone is the most fitting of legacies to honour those we have lost as a result of this virus, and an invaluable gift to the children of the future.”
Address by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General
Speaking remotely to RC70, Dr Tedros expressed his support for the EPW on this year’s agenda, and its close alignment with WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work (GPW 13). “Health and well-being, universal health coverage and health security are the legs of a 3-legged stool that provide social, economic and political stability,” he said.
Considering lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Tedros warned that WHO and Member States must follow through on these reviews and recommendations. “Working together in humility and solidarity, we can ensure that a pandemic of this magnitude and severity never happens again,” he concluded.
Address by Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe
The address by Dr Kluge – his first as WHO Regional Director for Europe – had 2 parts: the first focused on laying the foundations for the future beyond COVID-19, and the second on the COVID-19 response. On the first point, Dr Kluge explained that the work is based on 3 axes:
maintaining direct contact with each country for a more targeted response
strengthening partnerships with other organizations working in the WHO European Region
restructuring WHO/Europe to be fit for purpose.
Speaking of the COVID-19 response, Dr Kluge sent his condolences to the victims, families and communities that have been hit hard by the pandemic. He paid tribute to the health and social workers and other front-line workers, such as teachers, who have kept society running.
“The whole world has recognized their merit and bravery,” he said. Dr Kluge also announced that he will extend the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife through 2021.
In addition to his emphasis on providing specific support to Member States and working across WHO and with the international community and civil society to tackle the virus, the Regional Director outlined some key lessons learned from COVID-19 that must be applied now.
He underlined that there is no health without the health workforce. He drew attention to the need to maintain immunization services and health services for people with chronic conditions, including cancer. Further, he called on countries to continue to cooperate in the spirit of solidarity and to review the International Health Regulations (2005) in the light of this pandemic.
Regarding lessons learned from the pandemic, Dr Kluge emphasized the reciprocal relationship between health and the economy, the recognition of which is essential to moving towards an economy of well-being. The recently formed Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development will rethink policy priorities in this context.
In his final comments, the Regional Director spoke of historical precedents for transforming European society in the face of challenges and building back better as examples to the world. “Those successful transformations were based on 4 ingredients. Two we have already: necessity and innovation. What we need to gather now is courage and collaboration.”
Statement by Professor Mario Monti, Chair of the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development
Professor Monti, President of Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, former Prime Minister of Italy and former European Commissioner, spoke to delegates in his capacity as Chair of the recently formed Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development.
Referring to the Commission’s mandate to make forward-looking recommendations on health and social policy, Professor Monti made an appeal to Member States. “The Commission will seek to establish partnerships with countries, and I trust I can count on your valuable engagement and expertise as we are about to sail these uncharted waters.”
Reflections by Member States
Many representatives of Member States and international partners took the floor, offering insights and experiences of the COVID-19 response. Common themes emerged, with many recognizing the value of WHO and its crucial role in global health. Countries thanked Dr Kluge for his transparency in leading WHO/Europe’s response and the constant communication he has maintained.
Many also acknowledged the essential role of health workers, the need to strengthen health systems, the importance of solidarity in vaccine and treatment development, and that health and the economy go hand in hand.
Introduction to the EPW
The Regional Director explained that the proposed EPW for 2020–2025 was developed from the starting point of what people across the Region hold their health authorities accountable for. Under the EPW, European Member States will implement 3 core priorities:
guaranteeing the right to universal access to quality care without fear of financial hardship;
protecting against health emergencies; and
building healthy communities, where public health actions and appropriate public policies secure a better life in an economy of well-being.
The EPW was informed by an extensive consultative process with Member States, non-State actors and other international partners.
Video statement by Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of the Belgians
Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of the Belgians addressed delegates on the subject of mental health, a topic that is the focus of her work as an advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals.
“Good mental health helps us all to achieve our full potential. It boosts our resilience and ability to manage change and uncertainty. Investing in mental health is essential for societies to prosper,” she said. She described the inclusion of mental health in the EPW as “encouraging”.
Video statement by European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Dr Stella Kyriakides
Dr Kyriakides spoke of the renewed collaboration between WHO/Europe and the European Union, particularly in the context of the pandemic. She expressed her support for the EPW, commenting that it provides an excellent framework for improving health in the Region and offers opportunities for synergies in common priority areas, such as immunization.
WHO/Europe and the European Commission released a joint statement outlining closer partnership in 5 areas of shared interest.
Interventions by Member States on the EPW
Countries expressed their support for the EPW, and commended WHO/Europe for the accelerated and inclusive process to develop it. Common themes in interventions included appreciation for integrating COVID-19 and emergency preparedness and response, as well as access to affordable medicines; the importance of emphasizing primary health care; the need to address the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases in the Region; and the need to prioritize health systems strengthening.
Many speakers underlined their support for the 4 flagship initiatives covering mental health, immunization, behavioural and cultural insights, and digital health. Overall, they expressed that the EPW will make WHO/Europe more proactive and that it fully aligns with the GPW 13.
On 14 September 2020, Member States adopted the EPW 2020–2025, “United Action for Better Health in Europe”, by consensus.
Election to the Standing Committee of the Regional Committee (SCRC)
In a private session, Czechia, Kazakhstan, Norway and the United Kingdom were elected as new members of the SCRC for a 3-year term until 2023.
Transformation in the WHO European Region
Dr Kluge explained that for WHO/Europe, the WHO transformation is about enhancing country impact in all 53 Member States while building a safe, respectful and optimal working environment grounded in WHO values.
He explained that the restructuring of WHO/Europe will largely be complete by the end of October 2020. One specific initiative to be piloted by 5 countries is the Pan-European Transformational Leadership Academy, which will offer public health experts opportunities to gain experience at WHO/Europe and exchange knowledge.
Proposed high-level programme budget for 2022–2023
Mr Imre Hollo, Director of Planning, Resource Coordination and Performance Monitoring, explained that the process for developing WHO’s global programme budget for 2022–2023 will be presented for consideration to the Executive Board in January 2021 and for approval at the World Health Assembly in May 2021.
The financial estimates for the GPW 13 anticipated a base budget of US$ 4.254 billion, a 7.8% increase compared to 2020–2021. This increase will need to be reviewed in the light of COVID-19 response activities, WHO transformation initiatives and country-level poliomyelitis-related activities. Mr Hollo therefore asked the Regional Committee to expect that a revised budget will be submitted to the World Health Assembly in May 2022. There will be a proposal to extend the GPW 13 to 2025 in recognition of the impact of COVID-19 on the achievement of the triple-billion targets.
Accreditation of non-State actors
EUROCAM, the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation, the European Stroke Organisation and the Finnish Association for Substance Abuse Prevention were accredited by the Regional Committee.
Future Regional Committee sessions
The 71st session will take place on 13–15 September 2021 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The 72nd session will take place on 12–14 September 2022 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The 73rd session will take place on 11–13 September 2023.
In the future, Regional Committee sessions will be held over 3 days rather than 4.
Closure of the session
In his closing remarks, Dr Kluge thanked all participants for the “free, frank and friendly debates” that prevailed at this virtual Regional Committee session.
“Your adoption by consensus of the EPW is a strong act, and promising for the future. I consider this a contract of trust between you and us – a sign of the solidarity we so frequently refer to these days. Your feedback over these 2 days has provided powerful insight into the future implementation of our vision,” he said.
… resurgent coronavirus pandemic in Europe forced the change of plan … along with European Council President Charles Michel; European Commission President … the council of the EU.
European Council President Charles Michel … practice one’s religion and one’s …
European Union leaders told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday to open up markets, respect minorities and step back from a crackdown in Hong Kong, also asserting that Europe would no longer be taken advantage of in trade.
Anxious to show that the EU will not take sides in a global standoff between China and the United States, German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined the bloc’s chief executive and chairman to deliver a tough-talking message to Beijing.
“Europe is a player, not a playing field,” European Council President Charles Michel, who chaired the video summit, told reporters in reference to a growing sense in Europe that China has not met its promises to engage in fair and free trade.
With more than a billion euros a day in bilateral trade, the EU is China’s top trading partner, while China is second only to the United States as a market for EU goods and services.
China’s Xi was not part of the post-summit news conference and there was no joint statement, but the state-owned Xinhua News Agency reported that Xi rejected any interference in Chinese affairs, particularly on human rights.
“Chinese people will not accept ‘an instructor’ on human rights and oppose ‘double standards’, Xinhua reported Xi as saying during the video summit. “China is willing to strengthen exchanges with the European side based on the principle of mutual respect so that the two sides can both make progress.”
The European Union accuses China of breaking a host of global trade rules, from overproduction of steel to stealing Western intellectual property, which Beijing denies.
European attitudes have also hardened towards Beijing because of the novel coronavirus, which many scientists believe originated in China, and because of a new security law on Hong Kong that the West says curtails basic rights.
“Overall, cooperation with China must be based on certain principles – reciprocity, fair competition. We are different social systems, but while we are committed to multilateralism, it must be rules-based,” Merkel said.
The EU also wants stronger commitments on climate change from China, world’s top polluter.
China yesterday invited EU observers to visit Xinjiang to “truly understand” the situation. Rights groups say over a million Uighurs languish in political reeducation camps, while a campaign of forced assimilation has targeted academics, religious leaders and activists from mostly Muslim minority groups. Beijing describes its Xinjiang camps as vocational training centres where education is given to lift the population out of poverty and to chisel away at Islamic radicalism.
On Monday US customs said it would bar a raft of Chinese products including cotton, garments and hair products, from Xinjiang over fears they were made using forced labour.
“The northern hemisphere just had its hottest summer on record”, said Clare Nullis, WMO spokesperson.
Northern hemisphere had its warmest summer and warmest August on record, per @NOAA. Globally, it was 2nd warmest August. It was 44th consecutive August and 428th consecutive month with temps above 20th-century average. The 5 warmest Augusts have been since 2015.#ClimateChangepic.twitter.com/jicyKeezXk
“It also had its hottest August on record; this is according to figures released last night by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).”
Data indicates that from June to August, temperatures were 2.11 degrees Fahrenheit (1.17 degrees Celsius) above average.
This surpasses previous warmest periods in 2016 and 2019, Ms. Nullis said, adding that the five warmest summers for the northern hemisphere have occurred since 2015.
At a global level, August was the second warmest on record, the WMO spokesperson added, citing NOAA data, at 1.69F (0.94C) above the 20th-century average of 60.1F (15.6C).
The past month was the 44th consecutive August and the 428th consecutive month, with temperatures above the 20th century average. “The 10 warmest Augusts on record have all occurred since 1998”, she said.
The 2020 fire season on the west coast of the US has also been record-breaking in its scale, with some 16,0000 firefighters involved in the effort to protect people and towns in California alone.
16,000 firefighters battling blazes
“The heat has contributed to a very, very destructive fire season”, Ms. Nullis said. “As we know, the states of California, Oregon and Washington have been worst-hit, entire neighbourhoods razed to the ground, forcing the evacuation of hundreds and thousands of people and tragically causing casualties.”
In addition to fatalities and destruction, the fires have impacted air quality for millions of people and turned skies orange, the UN agency warned. Satellite images show clouds of smoke billowing over the western Pacific and likely travelling more than 1,300 miles (2,092 kilometres).
The smoke led to a hazy morning on the opposition coast, as the sun battled to shine through an unusual layer of smog in New York City.
Citing “red flag” conditions in northeastern California for much of this week, Ms. Nullis explained that this was the most dangerous threat level and that it is characterised by a combination of strong winds and tinder-dry conditions.
Of 41,599 fires recorded in the US so far this year, 36,383 were caused by human activity, the WMO spokesperson continued, with more than 2.5 million acres scorched across the United States.
California saw most individual blazes, with 7,072 human-caused fires reported, according to the US National Interagency Fire Center.
Tropical cyclone threat
Ms. Nullis also warned that the US National Hurricane Center issued advisories for “no less than five” tropical cyclones over the Atlantic basin – tying with the record for the highest number of tropical cyclones there at one time.
The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is so active that it is expected to exhaust the regular list of storm names, the WMO spokesperson said. “If this happens, the Greek alphabet will be used for only the second time on record,” she added.
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