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Europe lights the way for schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

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Europe lights the way for schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

A high-level meeting hosted by WHO/Europe and the Italian Ministry of Health has paved the way for longer term dialogue between Member States on how schools in the WHO European Region can teach in the wake of COVID-19. “Our actions must target the virus not the children. We cannot ask our children to press the pause button on their lives,” said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, on opening up the discussion that sought to create a consensus on how societies and schools can best manage this transition.

Children and adolescents must not be left behind, and their developmental, physical, mental, emotional and social needs must be met to avoid them becoming hidden victims of the pandemic, Dr Kluge emphasized. He went on to state that WHO aims to support the leadership of health authorities while recognizing the concerns of parents and children, and protecting the constitutional rights to health and education for all citizens.

The fact that 1.6 billion children worldwide are losing out on time in school is a generational catastrophe, and more resilient systems are needed to mitigate the longer term impact on children’s health. Thanking WHO/Europe for steering the debate on this crucial issue, Italy’s Minister of Health, Mr Roberto Speranza, proposed sustaining the process through a regular gathering of experts to help marshal the facts, analyse the evidence, and better protect children, their families and communities.

No zero risk: transmission scenarios and mitigation measures

The Minister’s suggestion was warmly welcomed by WHO/Europe, which proposed a framework to support countries as they intervene to make schooling safe. In addition, WHO/Europe committed itself to providing a platform for Member States and partners to share experiences, alert each other, and follow adaptive measures as necessary.

The WHO framework describes a number of transmission scenarios, alongside mitigation measures which could be considered in each instance. Advice includes what to do if no cases are reported in communities and how measures should be escalated if sporadic cases appear or lead to clusters of infections or community transmission. It suggests a stepwise approach with a range of personal, administrative and environmental interventions, including regular handwashing, physical distancing, and ensuring adequate ventilation and masks, and the provision of tailored solutions for children with disabilities, without stigmatization.

WHO stressed that there was no zero-risk approach to schooling during the pandemic, and therefore it is important not to blame schools when infections occur. Instead, it is necessary to prepare for, plan and react appropriately, while ensuring that school closures are used as a last resort.

Education at the forefront of the recovery

The organization of schooling was brought up in presentations by representatives of Member States. Mr Dan Petersen, from Denmark’s Ministry of Health, emphasized the need to collect data and coordinate research to establish whether outbreaks were occurring in schools or elsewhere, as he reiterated the need for schools to function as normally as possible.

“The health system is further along in its recovery, but for schools, the recovery is only just beginning,” cautioned Ms Joanna Herat of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), while urging health authorities to work closely with education and social sectors to place education at the forefront of recovery measures. “This will allow children the confidence and skills to participate fully in society,” she added.

The need for collaboration was also addressed by Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director of the Division of Country Health Policies and Systems, WHO/Europe, who warned that, rather than waiting for the evidence to accumulate and looking at the situation purely through a disease control lens, “teachers, local health authorities, paediatricians and general practitioners, should know what their role is, be well rehearsed and ready to play their part”. She stressed that this is the critical component of success and we must act now to preserve the integrity of education.

More resilient systems, taking into account young people’s voices

Making systems more resilient involves hearing children’s voices when discussing policy-making. In one recent survey, young people reported a desire to see less stigmatization around mental health issues and better psychological support in schools, highlighting a need to prioritize the wider emotional impact of the pandemic when building back.

The role of children as members of families and wider communities was taken up by Dr Kluge, who said, “We must lift them up so they can lift us up. Children are ambassadors for the future of humanity”. As such, vulnerable children and young people were at the heart of discussions, where it was noted that children in violent households and girls at risk of forced marriage and gender-based violence were less likely to return to school.

Mr Parmosivea Bobby Soobrayan, Regional Advisor, Education, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) highlighted the protective role of schools in society, saying that schools needed to catch up on lost learning and ensure that all children were re-enrolled.

Monitoring the infection activity in schools, families and communities, and matching it with the public health and social measures implemented at local level would provide the data that is needed to drive sensible policies.

By holding this meeting and by placing the issue of schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic at the top of its agenda, WHO/Europe showed its commitment to children and adolescents and leaving no one behind as the world continues to grapple with COVID-19.

Cardinal: Pandemic may have accelerated secularization of Europe by 10 years

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Cardinal: Pandemic may have accelerated secularization of Europe by 10 years

CNA Staff, Sep 4, 2020 / 06:00 am MT (CNA).- A cardinal has suggested that the coronavirus pandemic may have accelerated the secularization of Europe by 10 years. 

In an interview with L’Osservatore Romano Sept. 2, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich said he believed that the number of Catholics going to church would decrease as a result of COVID-19.

Asked whether he thought the Church in Europe would emerge stronger or weaker from the pandemic, he said: “I think about my country: we will be reduced in number. Because all those who no longer came to Mass, because they came only for cultural reasons, these ‘cultural Catholics,’ left and right, no longer come. They have seen that life is very comfortable. They can live very well without having to come to church. Even First Communions, the catechism for children, all this will decrease in number, I am almost certain.”

“But it’s not a complaint on my part. We would have had this process even without a pandemic. Perhaps it would have taken us 10 years longer.” 

Stephen Bullivant, professor of theology and the sociology of religion at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, in the U.K., noted that he had made a similar point to Hollerich in his recent eBook “Catholicism in the Time of Coronavirus.”

“At least in terms of church attendance, we’re almost certain to see a ‘jump forward’ along the long-set downward trend,” he told CNA. “Lots of dioceses have done forecasts in previous years along the lines of ‘if present trends continue, we’ll have X number of active priests for Y number of Massgoers by 2040,’ or whatever. Well, they’re going to have to bring those forward.” 

“Whether I’d guess at ‘10 years’ myself, I don’t know — but it’s not outside the bounds of the plausible.”

Hollerich, the Archbishop of Luxembourg and president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), said that the Church in Europe needed to respond to its weakened condition with humilty. 

He said: “But at this point, the Church must be inspired by a humility that allows us to reorganize ourselves better, to be more Christian, because otherwise this culture of Christianity, this only cultural Catholicism, cannot last over time, it has no living force behind it.”

He continued: “I think it is a great opportunity for the Church. We must understand what is at stake, we must react and put in place new missionary structures. And when I say missionaries, I mean both action and word. I also think that in the world after the pandemic, the West, the United States, and Europe, will be weaker than before, because the acceleration brought by the virus will make other economies, other countries, grow.” 

“But we must see this with realism, we must abandon the Eurocentrism present in our thoughts and with great humility we must work with other countries for the future of humanity, to have greater justice.”

Public Masses were suspended across Europe for several months in order to restrict the spread of COVID-19. While public liturgies have resumed, anecdotal evidence suggests that attendance is well down compared with before the crisis. 

In some countries there are strict limits on the number of Catholics permitted to attend Mass at any one time due to concerns about virus transmission. 

There have been 2,304,846 cases of COVID-19 reported in the European Union/European Economic Area and the U.K. as of Sept. 4, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, with 182,358 deaths.

Hollerich, a Jesuit, was appointed Archbishop of Luxembourg in 2011. He received the red hat on Oct. 5, 2019, becoming the first cardinal from Luxembourg, a country with a population of only 626,000.

Hollerich told L’Osservatore Romano that the positive reaction to Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato si’ showed that Christian culture was still alive in Europe.

“There is a great openness to these messages, especially from the Holy Father, even in a lay Europe. Sometimes this lay or secularist Europe also presents itself in Christian clothes. But they are only clothes. It is not the elements of Christianity and the Gospel that are at work, it is only a carnival,” he said.

“Solidarity, the fact of sharing, of wanting to share riches with the poorest, of respecting human rights: these are the distinctive elements of Christianity. But unfortunately I also think that Christianity is becoming weaker in Europe. Even after the pandemic I believe that the number of people going to church will have decreased. We must always think about the evangelization of Europe.”

Emmanuel Macron condemns ‘Islamic separatism’ and defends ‘right to blasphemy’

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France’s President Emmanuel Macron criticised what he called “Islamic separatism” in his country and those who seek French citizenship without accepting the “right to commit blasphemy”.

Mr Macron defended satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which published caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed that helped inspire two French-born Islamic extremists to mount a deadly January 2015 attack on the paper’s newsroom.

The weekly republished the images this week as the trial began of 14 people over the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and on a kosher supermarket.

To be French is to defend the right to make people laugh, to criticise, to mock, to caricature

Speaking at a ceremony celebrating France’s democratic history and naturalising new citizens, the French president said: “You don’t choose one part of France.

“You choose France….The Republic will never allow any separatist adventure.”

Freedom in France, Mr Macron said, includes “the freedom to believe or not to believe.

“But this is inseparable from the freedom of expression up to the right to blasphemy.” French President Emmanuel Macron, left, congratulates an unidentified new French citizen after he was granted citizenship (Julien de Rosa/AP)  

Noting the trial that opened on Wednesday, he said: “To be French is to defend the right to make people laugh, to criticise, to mock, to caricature.”

The 2015 attacks killed 17 people and marked the beginning of a wave of violence by the Islamic State group in Europe.

Mr Macron’s centrist government has promised a law in the coming months against “Islamic separatism” but it is not clear yet exactly what it would police.

Some critics fear it could unfairly stigmatise France’s largely moderate Muslim population, the largest in western Europe.

Emmanuel Macron condemns ‘Islamic separatism”

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Newsdesk
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Emmanuel Macron condemns ‘Islamic sep...

Mr Macron defended satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which published caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed that helped inspire two French-born Islamic extremists to mount a deadly January 2015 attack on the paper’s newsroom.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron criticised what he called “Islamic separatism” in his country and those who seek French citizenship without accepting the “right to commit blasphemy”.

The weekly republished the images this week as the trial began of 14 people over the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and on a kosher supermarket.

Speaking at a ceremony celebrating France’s democratic history and naturalising new citizens, the French president said: “You don’t choose one part of France.

“You choose France….The Republic will never allow any separatist adventure.”

Freedom in France, Mr Macron said, includes “the freedom to believe or not to believe.

“But this is inseparable from the freedom of expression up to the right to blasphemy.”

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, congratulates an unidentified new French citizen after he was granted with French citizenship (Julien de Rosa/AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron, left, congratulates an unidentified new French citizen after he was granted citizenship (Julien de Rosa/AP)

Noting the trial that opened on Wednesday, he said: “To be French is to defend the right to make people laugh, to criticise, to mock, to caricature.”

The 2015 attacks killed 17 people and marked the beginning of a wave of violence by the Islamic State group in Europe.

Mr Macron’s centrist government has promised a law in the coming months against “Islamic separatism” but it is not clear yet exactly what it would police.

Some critics fear it could unfairly stigmatise France’s largely moderate Muslim population, the largest in western Europe.

Macron decries ‘Islamic separatism,’ defends blasphemy

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Macron decries ‘Islamic separatism,’ defends blasphemy

… , AP
Macron decries ‘Islamic separatism,’ defends blasphemy
PARIS … criticized Friday what he called “Islamic separatism” in his country … of violence by the Islamic State group in Europe.
Macron’s centrist … population, the largest in western Europe.

Europe’s Catholic bishops back archbishop blocked from returning to Belarus

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Europe’s Catholic bishops back archbishop blocked from returning to Belarus

CNA Staff, Sep 4, 2020 / 03:00 am MT (CNA).- Catholic bishops across Europe have expressed support for an archbishop who was refused entry to his homeland of Belarus. 

In a Sept. 3 statement, the presidency of the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE) said it hoped that Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz would be allowed to return home immediately.

“While ensuring their own prayers for the beloved pastor and for the whole Belarusian community, they hope for an immediate return home for the Archbishop of Minsk and a resumption of his episcopal ministry,” the statement on behalf of bishops from 45 European countries said.

The archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev was turned back by border guards when he attempted to return to Belarus Aug. 31 following a trip to Poland. He told CNA Sept. 1 that he was “very much surprised” and had demanded an official explanation. 

The incident occurred amid ongoing demonstrations in Belarus following a disputed presidential election Aug. 9. The incumbent, Alexander Lukashenko, claimed victory with 80% of the vote. His challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was detained after she complained to the electoral committee, then fled to Lithuania. 

The decision to stop Kondrusiewicz, a Belarusian citizen, from returning home has provoked international concern. Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, urged the Belarusian authorities Sept. 1 to readmit Kondrusiewicz to the country.

The archbishop had spoken out in defense of protesters following the election. 

He demanded an investigation last week into reports that riot police blocked the doors of a Catholic church in Minsk while clearing away protesters from a nearby square.

He prayed outside of a prison Aug. 19 where detained protesters were reported to have been tortured.

Kondrusiewicz met with Interior Minister Yuri Karaev Aug. 21 to express his concerns about the government’s heavy-handed response to the protests.

He told CNA that he feared the country was heading towards civil war.

“The situation is very, very difficult, very critical,” he said.

Catholics in Belarus will hold a day of prayer Sept. 7 for the archbishop’s swift return to the country.

The CCEE statement was issued by its secretariat in St. Gallen, Switzerland. The organization, which was officially established in 1971, has 39 members, comprising 33 bishops’ conferences, the Archbishops of Luxembourg, the Principality of Monaco, the Maronite archbishop of Cyprus, the bishop of Chişinău, Moldova, the eparchial bishop of Mukachevo, and the apostolic administrator of Estonia.

The group’s statement said: “The CCEE Presidency expresses the closeness of the entire European Episcopate to Msgr. Kondrusiewicz and to the Church in Belarus in this delicate matter and makes their own the appeal of Pope Francis ‘to dialogue, the rejection of violence and respect for justice and law.’ And, together with the Pope, entrust ‘all Belarusians to the protection of Our Lady, Queen of Peace.’”

The CCEE concluded by saying that Europe’s bishops “encourage everyone to commit themselves to peacefully resolve the conflict and to pursue, with confidence, the path of dialogue for the good of man and of society as a whole.”

‘Unique’ Christian artefact uncovered at Hadrian’s Wall

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'Unique' Christian artefact uncovered at Hadrian's Wall



ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw== 'Unique' Christian artefact uncovered at Hadrian's Wall
A fragment with Christian symbols etched across it(Photo: The Vindolanda Trust)

A “unique” discovery at Hadrian’s Wall is offering a tantalising glimpse into early Christianity in Britain.

Archaeologists found “incredibly rare” fragments of a chalice buried in the rubble of a former 6th century church at Vindolanda, a ruined Roman fort that lies just south of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

The 14 fragments date back to the 5th and 6th centuries, and form the only surviving partial chalice from this period in Britain. 

The find is in “very poor condition” as a result of being close to the surface of the ground. Despite this, the Vindolanda Trust said the etchings on the surface of the fragments make the chalice “one of the most important of its type to come from early Christianity in Western Europe“.

It is also the only artefact of its kind to be found in a fort on Hadrian’s Wall. 

The fragments are etched with symbols, each of them representing “different forms of Christian iconography from the time”. 

Although the symbols have faded with time, making them hard to see with the naked eye, they have been brought to light by specialist photography. 

They include well known symbols from the early church, including ships, crosses, the Chi Rho christogram, fish, a whale, “a happy bishop” and angels.

The marks can be found on the outside and inside of the cup, and appear to have been added by the same artist. 

ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw== 'Unique' Christian artefact uncovered at Hadrian's Wall
Specialist photography has made it possible to see the faded etchings(Photo: The Vindolanda Trust)

The chalice forms the centrepiece of a new exhibition at the Vindolanda Museum highlighting Christianity and the last periods of occupation at the fort. 

Ongoing academic analysis of the artefact is being overseen by post-Roman specialist Dr David Petts, of Durham University. 

“This is a really exciting find from a poorly understood period in the history of Britain,” he said.

“Its apparent connections with the early Christian church are incredibly important, and this curious vessel is unique in a British context.

ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw== 'Unique' Christian artefact uncovered at Hadrian's Wall
The chalice is currently on display at the Vindolanda Museum(Photo: The Vindolanda Trust)

“It is clear that further work on this discovery will tell us much about the development of early Christianity in beginning of the medieval period.”

Vindolanda was a Roman fort housing infintry and cavalry, and was in occupation from around 85 AD to 370 AD. 

Vindolanda’s Director of Excavations and CEO, Andrew Birley, said: “We are used to ‘firsts’ and the ‘wow factor’ from our impressive Roman remains at Vindolanda, with artefacts such as the ink tablets, boxing gloves, boots and shoes, but to have an object like the chalice survive into the post-Roman landscape is just as significant.

“Its discovery helps us appreciate how the site of Vindolanda and its community survived beyond the fall of Rome and yet remained connected to a spiritual successor in the form of Christianity which in many ways was just as wide reaching and transformative as what had come before it.

“I am delighted that we can now start to share our news about this discovery and shed some light on an often-overlooked period of our heritage and past.” 

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September 3: Saint Gregory the Great

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September 3: Saint Gregory the Great


St. Gregory the Great, a central figure of the medieval western Church and one of the most admired Popes in history, is commemorated in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Catholic liturgy today, September 3.

Born near the middle of the sixth century into a noble Roman family, Gregory received a classical education in liberal arts and the law. He also had strong religious formation from his devout family, particularly from his mother, Silvia, also a canonized saint. By around age 30, Gregory had
advanced to high political office in Rome, during what was nevertheless a period of marked decline for the city.

Some time after becoming the prefect of the former imperial capital, Gregory chose to leave the civil administration to become a monk during the rise of the Benedictine order. In reality, however, the new monk’s great career in public life was yet to come.

After three years of strict monastic life, he was called personally by the Pope to assume the office of a deacon in Rome. From Rome, he was dispatched to Constantinople, to seek aid from the emperor for Rome’s civic troubles, and to aid in resolving the Eastern church’s theological controversies. He returned to Rome in 586, after six years of service as the Papal representative to the eastern Church and empire.

Rome faced a series of disasters caused by flooding in 589, followed by the death of Pope Pelagius II the next year. Gregory, then serving as abbot in a monastery, reluctantly accepted his election to replace him as the Bishop of Rome.

Despite this initial reluctance, however, Pope Gregory began working tirelessly to reform and solidify the Roman liturgy, the disciplines of the Church, the military and economic security of Rome, and the Church’s spreading influence in western Europe.

As Pope, Gregory brought his political experience at Rome and Constantinople to bear, in the task of preventing the Catholic Church from becoming subservient to any of the various groups struggling for control of the former imperial capital. As the former abbot of a monastery, he strongly supported the Benedictine movement as a bedrock of the western Church. He sent missionaries to England, and is given much of the credit for the nation’s conversion.

In undertaking these works, Pope Gregory saw himself as the “servant of the servants of God.” He was the first of the Bishops of Rome to popularize the now-traditional Papal title, which referred to Christ’s command that those in the highest position of leadership should be “the last of all and the servant of all.”

Even as he undertook to consolidate Papal power and shore up the crumbling Roman west, St. Gregory the Great maintained a humble sense of his mission as a servant and pastor of souls, from the time of his election until his death in 604.

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Lack of EU unity on asylum keeps refugees at the margins

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Juan Sanchez Gil
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Lack of EU unity on asylum keeps refugees at the margins

As the number of displaced people seeking to enter the European Union, primarily via Greece and its Balkan and Mediterranean neighbors, continued to rise in 2015, the Dublin Regulation should have determined which countries would process their applications for asylum. The EU law designates that duty to the member state through which applicants enter the bloc. For the hundreds of thousands of people coming west to the European Union after being displaced by the civil war in Syria, that country was generally Greece.

On August 21, 2015, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees suspended the Dublin Regulation for Syrian nationals allowing displaced people who could reach the borders to apply for asylum within Germany. Domestic opponents of immigration said suspending the rule would encourage more Syrians to make the country their destination. However, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the old regulations were “obsolete” given the scope of the problem. “We can do this,” she told Germans. Before long, the rule was reinstated — and remains in force today.

Read more: ‘The EU’s halfhearted asylum policy has become apparent,’ a DW editor wrote in 2019

There still exists no comprehensive mechanism for distributing displaced people throughout the European Union. It was a missed chance for member states to “learn from the crisis and create systems to act with more solidarity,” Damian Boeselager, a German member of the European Parliament from the blocwide Volt party, which advocates for EU federalism, told DW. “But, no,” he said, “the interior ministers of the member states were not capable of sitting at the same table.”

The EU’s failures are visible in the sprawling Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos

‘Compliance — not reform’

The current system does not need an overhaul, said Catherine Woollard, the director of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), an alliance of more than 100 NGOs with the mission of protecting and advancing the rights of displaced people: It would suffice for member states to adhere to the existing rules. “A lot could be done with the current legal framework,” she said. “So we argue for compliance — not reform. Rather than putting efforts into reforms that would reduce protection for refugees, the EU’s focus should be on ensuring compliance with the law that is in place.”

Read more: ‘I would be out of a job’ with Merkel’s migration policy, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban said in 2018

Hungary and Poland have refused to implement measures agreed to in 2015, and, along with Slovakia and the Czech Republic, have ignored rulings by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that compelled them to take in displaced people. And, after the brief early suspension of the Dublin rules, Germany and certain countries on the Balkan route to the European Union placed restrictions on their borders: Some tried to make them impenetrable. Thomas de Maiziere, Germany’s interior minister at the time, said it was important to regain the “control that had been lost.”
Read more: Refugee policy is EU’s ‘biggest inadequacy,’ German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas says  

Greece had already built a high fence on its border with Turkey in 2012. There is also a fence along part of Bulgaria‘s border with Turkey.

In summer 2015, Hungary started building a fence on its border with Serbia in order to seal the EU’s external border. There were only a few points at which displaced people could enter Hungary to submit their asylum applications. Though the European Commission and the ECJ criticized this model, Hungarian officials were satisfied with the results: The number of people transiting the country en route to more prosperous EU member states dropped significantly.

Woollard said the past five years had shown that countries such as Hungary and Poland could dictate policy with their noncompliance. “One of the lessons that was learned is that certain member states don’t believe in asylum,” she said. “They don’t believe in offering protection to refugees. That means the temporary solidarity mechanism has to be based on a coalition of the willing member states.”   

In 2015, displaced people gathered at EU borders, including Croatia, hoping to enter

A ‘failed’ idea 

By the beginning of 2016, a transit camp at Idomeni in northern Greece, close to the border with Macedonia, was extremely overcrowded. A deal struck in March 2016 between the European Union and Turkey led to a considerable decrease in the number of displaced people who made it to the European Union via Greece. Turkey’s government agreed to take back displaced people who had arrived in the European Union via Turkey but had bypassed the asylum process en route. In return, the EU agreed to accept displaced Syrians who had settled in Turkey. The idea was that they should arrive by plane and be resettled across the European Union. The EU also agreed to give Turkey €6 billion in aid. The deal remains in place today.

In 2016, the European Union also introduced its Hotspot Approach to process asylum applications at the point of entry to the EU in reception centers in Greece or Italy. In April 2016, Merkel said the procedure should take three to six weeks, with displaced people who did not meet EU asylum requirements deported to Turkey. 

Read more: ‘Europe without Angela Merkel is possible’

“The idea of hotspots, of processing asylum applications on the Greek islands, has failed,” Boeselager said. “People are being treated inhumanely” at the Moria asylum center on the island of Lesbos, which he has visited and where there are some 15,000 people living in cramped conditions as they wait for months, sometimes years, for their applications to go through. 

EU border agency Frontex accompanied 91 displaced Algerians to the Spanish coast

Deaths at sea

In 2016, the European Commission proposed changes to the Dublin Regulation and EU migration policy that would have more equitably distributed asylum applicants among member states. That plan was rejected by countries in the bloc’s north and east and has been ever since. “Even though there were positive efforts to respond in 2015, including Angela Merkel’s decision, that more positive collective approach was later abandoned in favor of a strategy that we call externalization: strategies with the objective of keeping people out,” Woollard said. She added that Turkey, Libya, Lebanon and Jordan had taken in the displaced people kept from the European Union.

Read more: Are Germany and the EU prepared for a new influx of displaced people?  

The European Union has almost put an end to its patrol operations on the Mediterranean, relying heavily now on Libya’s coast guard to prevent people from departing from the North African country’s shores and arriving at EU borders by sea. Still, hundreds of people attempt the crossing each week. According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, 514 people have died attempting the crossing so far in 2020. The governments of Italy, Malta, France and Spain are reluctant to open their ports to nongovernmental rescue ships that carry people who have been saved from drowning — doing so only on a case-by-case basis.

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EU Commission pursues attack on low-tax countries

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EU Commission pursues attack on low-tax countries

The European Commission is vigorously pursuing its attack on low-tax countries, despite the slap-down it received when the EU’s second-highest court quashed its €14.3 billion lawsuit against Apple on July 16.

The Commission argued that Apple was receiving unfair state aid, under the terms of the Treaty that founded the EU. The court, however, said that the EU did not prove its case.

At that time, the Commission said that it would “reflect on future steps.”

But the Commission did not take long to reflect. On 31 August 2020, the Commission published the opening of the official procedure laid down in Article 108(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (state aid), against Belgium related to a series of regimes benefiting more than 20 multinational companies.

“We have every reason to believe that despite the Apple debacle, the Commission will continue its aggressive effort against the schemes of Member States offering preferential tax regimes to multinationals under the state aid legislation which gives to it the full executive power to pursue without needing the legislative approval of the Member States,” comments Antigoni Pafiti, an associate with the Elias Neocleous law firm in Brussels.

“But the publication of the official procedure in Belgium — post Apple — demonstrates that the Commission, after some eventual adjustments, sticks to its strategy. One should remember that the Commission has won some of the cases against Member States on this basis, having cut deals with multinationals on taxation,” Pafiti points out.

The Commission had already notified Belgium of its decision to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 108(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union with a letter dated 16 September 2019 (i.e. before the Apple Judgment).

The press release accompanying the letter addresses the issue of “excess profit” tax rulings issued by Belgium between 2005 and 2014 in favour of Belgian companies belonging to multinational groups. Most of these multinational groups are headquartered in Europe.

Belgian company tax rules require companies, as a starting point, to be taxed based on profit actually recorded from activities in Belgium. However, the Belgian “excess profit” tax rulings, relying on the Belgian income tax code (Article 185 §2, b of the ‘Code des Impôts sur les Revenus/Wetboek Inkomstenbelastingen’), allowed multinational entities in Belgium to reduce their corporate tax liability by so-called “excess profits” that allegedly result from the advantage of being part of a multinational group.

“The Commission argues that the excess profit measures provide for a reduction of a company’s taxable base, although there is no legal basis to do so in Belgian tax law. The “excess profit” measures therefore favour them as compared to all other corporate taxpayers in Belgium, who are taxed, as a starting point and notwithstanding possible adjustments provided by law, on their accounting profit,” Pafiti explains.

“On the other hand, even if Article 185(2)(b) BITC could be said to provide a basis to exempt profit allegedly derived from synergies and economies of scale, which the Commission contests, the Commission provisionally considers the measures to discriminate in favour of them, since the ‘excess profit’ exemption is not available to all corporate taxpayers that generate what Belgium deems to constitute ‘excess profit,” Pafiti adds.

So one should understand the Commission’s strategy as an effort to try the limits of the state aid tool in the Court. “Every inch that the Commission gains in this way is considered to be pure benefit, given the very limited competence the Treaties give to the Commission on corporate taxation,” she adds.

The Commission is trying to address a serious challenge. Jurisdiction shopping to get the best tax rate has become endemic among major corporates. In the UK, more than 50 per cent of the subsidiaries of foreign multinational companies reported no taxable profits, according to a 2019 study by Oxford university research fellow Katarzyna Bilicka, the Financial Times reports. In the US, 91 companies on the Fortune 500 index, including Amazon, Chevron, and IBM, paid an effective federal tax rate of zero in 2018.

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