Business consultancy EY has identified 1,000 green projects it says will help Europe recover stronger and more resilient from the economic slump caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

The projects require €200 billion of public and private investment to get off the ground, the consultancy said in a report published on Thursday (3 September).

This is a fraction of the €750 billion coronavirus recovery fund agreed by EU leaders in July to help relaunch the European economy after the coronavirus outbreak.

Approximately one-third of the projects are developed by start-ups and SMEs, and will support the creation of 2 million new jobs, EY said, adding those will create immediate social, environmental and economic value.

“This is however only the tip of the iceberg and we believe the value of the entire EU pipeline of green projects could be as high as €1 trillion, with the potential to return the more than 12 million full-time workers lost to COVID-19 into green and productive activity,” said Steve Varley, EY global vice-chair for sustainability.

For EU leaders, this is “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to rethink and refocus the bloc’s post-pandemic economy, Varley said.

Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation, a non-profit group, said that “EY’s work demonstrates that small, midsize and large project developers from Portugal to Poland have green shovel-ready projects ‘ready to go’ that can restore and transform livelihoods and communities in a resilient recovery”.

“There can therefore be no excuse for member states not spending recovery and resilience funds on win-win green investment opportunities,” she said in a statement.

Examples of “shovel-ready” projects identified by EY include HYBRIT – a joint venture between steel company SSAB, mining firm LKAB and utility Vattenfall – to replace coking coal with fossil fuel-free hydrogen in steel production in Sweden which would need €1.5-2 billion, Varley said.

Another project is by Korean chemicals company LG Chem to develop a gigafactory to produce lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles in Krakow, Poland. A third scheme relates to the French government’s plan to renovate Paris buildings to make them more energy efficient, Varley said.

Georg Zachmann, a senior fellow at the Brussels-based economic think-tank Bruegel, applauded the report as “a useful bottom-up contribution to the debate” on Europe’s green recovery.

However, those projects will require “more than cheap interest rates” to get off the ground, he cautioned, saying a wider policy menu is needed to unlock investments.

In a speech on Tuesday (1 September), EU climate chief Frans Timmermans doubled down on the EU’s green objectives, saying “it makes even more sense now” to invest in climate-friendly technologies because they will help reboot the economy after the coronavirus outbreak.

With the long-term EU budget and recovery plan that was agreed by EU leaders in July, Europe will have €1.8 trillion to spend on rebooting the economy in the coming seven years, Timmermans reminded, saying 30% of that sum will be dedicated to climate action.

Spending that money on future green industries “is a moral imperative and a matter of economic good sense,” said the Commission vice-president, who cited offshore wind, energy efficiency and building renovation as examples.

“Offshore wind is taking off like a rocket right now,” Timmermans pointed out, saying wind turbines can be combined with electrolysers to produce hydrogen and store surplus electricity production when the wind blows in times of low demand.

The European Commission is now waiting for EU member states to prepare national recovery plans that will be submitted to Brussels for scrutiny and approval by all EU countries, Timmermans said.

And that will require coordination, the official cautioned, saying there is “a risk that the recovery plans are contradictory” and pull in opposite directions. “We need to tell them exactly which plans go in the direction of a sustainable recovery and which ones don’t,” Timmermans said.

Timmermans defends higher EU goals on climate change

If the European Green Deal made economic sense before the COVID-19 crisis, “it makes even more sense now” because it will help reboot the economy, said Frans Timmermans, the EU Commission vice-president in charge of climate action.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

Canada, the United States, the European Union and Britain are discussing possible sanctions against Belarus over its crackdown against protests following a disputed election, a Canadian source directly familiar with the matter said on Wednesday (2 September).

If sanctions were imposed, they would come “in the not too distant future”, said the source, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.

Protests erupted after a 9 August election that the opposition says was rigged to prolong President Alexander Lukashenko’s 26-year rule. Lukashenko denies electoral fraud and has shown no sign of backing down.

UN human rights investigators say they have received reports of hundreds of cases of torture, beatings and mistreatment of anti-government protesters by police.

“There have been a number of things that have happened since the election that are reprehensible,” said the Canadian source.

“We’ve made it clear the situation cannot stand and that’s precisely the reason we are looking, with other partners, at some sort of sanctions we could put in place.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that Washington and European partners were reviewing imposing targeted punitive measures against anyone involved in human rights abuses in Belarus.

The EU made a half-decision on sanctions meant to mainly target those accused of being responsible for the fraudulent elections and the violent crackdown on peaceful protests.

The EU is looking at sanctioning 10 to 15 Belarusian figures, a US State Department official said on Wednesday.

“My understanding is that the EU … is thinking of about 10 to 15 names,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent during a virtual appearance at the German Marshall Fund think tank. Kent also said the United States was not, “at this point,” suspending sanctions waivers that he said had allowed Belarus to purchase North American crude oil earlier this year.

In the meantime, EU members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania announced their own sanctions in the form of entry bans against Lukashenko and 29 other high-ranking officials.

Lithuania and Estonia have asked fellow EU nations to blacklist Lukashenko , diplomatic sources said.

Any sanctions need unanimity from all members of the EU, which usually does not target top political figures with a view to keeping communications channels open.

Participatory budgeting should be included as part of EU’s COVID-19 emergency fund allocation; Finnish MP Mari Holopainen

Mrs Mari Holopainen, a member of the Finnish Parliament from the Green League, is proposing for Finnish citizens to be included in the decision-making processes of the state resources allocation. According to Mrs Holopainen, it would be beneficial to investigate whether a certain part of the EU recovery package or the future financial framework could be distributed through participatory budgeting in member states on a voluntary basis. The aim of the €750 billion emergency fund is to accelerate the recovery of the European Economic Area.

 “Civic engagement would familiarise citizens with decision-making processes, as well as EU administrative structure, whilst providing the state with innovative ideas for the benefit of the whole society. Hearing directly the voices of locals, not only lobbyists from the corporate sector would also increase the legitimacy of the Union. Citizens also possess valuable knowledge that could be utilized to a much greater extent in financial planning,” Mrs Holopainen stresses. 

In participatory budgeting, citizens are included in the decision-making of local investments and services. Participatory budgeting has been successfully implemented in numerous cities both within and outside of Europe. Between 2018 and 2019 the residents of the Finnish capital Helsinki were able to put forward ideas and vote on the allocation of a budget of 4.4 million euros. Mrs Holopainen believes similar practices should be extended.

“Participatory budgeting enables citizens to define what reconstruction really means for them; is it more libraries and community spaces or more cycle lanes and green parks. We may not have come up with such creative ideas if not for the valuable input from local citizens. Participatory budgeting enhances a sense of community, narrows welfare disparities, and promotes inclusion of marginalised groups,” Mrs Holopainen continues.  

Section 22 of Finland’s Municipal Act encourages municipalities to include local residents in financial planning. Citizen participation improves the quality and transparency of decision-making and strengthens public confidence in governance. It is also in the interest of the European Union to deepen democratic engagement and civic participation. 

MP Holopainen will submit an initiative to extend participatory budgeting from municipal to the state level in Finland. She serves as a member of the Commerce Committee and a deputy member of the Finance Committee in the Parliament of Finland. She holds a master’s degree in economics and is pursuing a PhD at Aalto University in Finland.

Auto component maker Steel Strips Wheels on Tuesday said it has received orders worth over USD 455,000 (about Rs 3.32 crore) for about 42,000 wheels for the US and EU trailer market.

In a regulatory filing, Steel Strips Wheels Ltd (SSWL) said it has received new export orders worth over USD 455,000 from the US and European Union (EU) trailer market to be executed in September and October from its Chennai plant.

The company said orders of similar capacity are anticipated from the same customer base as businesses have picked up speed.

On Monday, SSWL said it has received orders worth over USD 46,000 for about 3,700 wheels for the US caravan trailer market.

Last week, SSWL had received orders worth over EUR 253,000 (around Rs 2.20 crore) for about 37,000 wheels for the EU caravan trailer market.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

(Reuters) – AstraZeneca Plc’s Imfinzi has been approved in the European Union to treat an aggressive form of lung cancer in previously untreated adult patients, the drugmaker said on Tuesday.

The approval will allow the use of Imfinzi to treat patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC).

The approval by the European Commission was based on positive results from a late-stage study in which Imfinzi plus chemotherapy showed a statistically significant improvement in overall survival of patients with ES-SCLC, AstraZeneca said.

AstraZeneca has already carved out a niche for Imfinzi, which enables the immune system to detect and attack certain cancer cells, in the more common non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) types, with approval for tumours that have only spread in the chest.

In small-cell cancer treatments, Astra is seeking to catch up with Roche, whose immunotherapy Tecentriq won U.S. approval for the disease type a year ago.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among both men and women, accounting for about a fifth of all deaths from the disease.

Tehran, Sep 1 (IANS) A top Iranian official has urged the European Union (EU) to put anti-Tehran “terrorists” on trial, while regretting that some member states of the bloc have given these elements shelter.

“Over 17,000 oppressed Iranian citizens have been victimized by terrorist acts and clear and systematic violations of the basic human rights, including the rights to life, security, and health,” the Iranian Parliament’s Human Rights Commission Chairwoman Zohreh Elahian said in a letter on Monday to Maria Arena, the head of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights.

Members of the exiled Iranian Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) were responsible for many of these terrorist acts, Xinhua news agency quoted Elahian as saying in the letter.

“Most of the terrorists have sought asylum in European countries and keep on plotting against the people of Iran,” she added.

The Iranian lawmaker reminded the European governments’ commitments to cooperate “in matters such as the identification and prosecution of offenders, their extradition and the seizure of their assets in order to compensate victims”.

Elahian asked the European Parliament to take action, and hoped that European governments will “support the victims of terror and their family members, deliver justice to victims, and put the terrorists who live in these countries on trial to end impunity”.

Elahian sent a similar letter to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, calling on the Foreign Ministry to make preparations for prosecuting MKO terrorists.

“Unfortunately, today the majority of these terrorists continue to hatch plans against the Iranian people by fleeing the blade of justice and seeking refuge in European countries,” she said in the letter.

According to a report in the state-run Fars News Agency, the MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community.

Its members fled Iran in 1986 for Iraq, where they received support from then-dictator Saddam Hussein.

In 2012, the US State Department removed the MKO from its list of designated terrorist organizations.

–IANS

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… UK’s exit from the European Union. The warning comes despite businesses … for disruption likely through the EU exit. Craig Humphrey, the … of the United Kingdom and European Union
He said: “The high … the transition arrangements with the EU end in December 2020 …

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The UK Government has said the European Union is making <a href="/topic/brexit" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-4536801-/topic/brexit" data-vars-event-id="c23">Brexit</a> talks "unnecessarily difficult" after <a href="/topic/france" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-4536801-/topic/france" data-vars-event-id="c23">France</a> accused the UK of deliberately stalling in negotiations.































It comes as Britain and the bloc remain in a stalemate as they try to agree on future trade ties. 































UK-EU talks ended with little progress last week amid warnings of a no-deal Brexit if key issues are not settled within weeks. 




































With just four months until the transition period ends, both sides have failed to resolve various sticking points, like fisheries and state aid policy. 

French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has now blamed Britain for the deadlock, saying talks are not advancing because of the “intransigent and unrealistic attitude of the United Kingdom”.

He told his country’s ambassadors that the bloc of 27 nations will not buckle under pressure from London.































“On Brexit we always showed unity and proved wrong those who saw signs of an overall implosion of <a class="wpil_keyword_link " href="https://europeantimes.news/category/europe/"  title="Europe" data-wpil-keyword-link="linked">Europe</a>," he said. 


































"It is in staying united that we can stick to our line of a global accord."

But Downing Street hit back, accusing the EU of making it “unnecessarily difficult to make progress”.

A spokeswoman said: “We have been clear from the outset about the principles underlying the UK approach: we are seeking a relationship that respects our sovereignty and which has a free trade agreement at its core, similar to those the EU has already agreed with like-minded countries.























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“However, the EU is still insisting not only that we must accept continuity with EU state aid and fisheries policy, but also that this must be agreed before any further substantive work can be done in any other area of the negotiation, including on legal texts, making it unnecessarily difficult to make progress.

“We will continue to work hard to reach agreement and look forward to the next round taking place next week.”

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It comes after Germany reportedly scrapped plans for Brexit talks at the EU ambassadors summit next week after a "completely wasted" summer of negotiations.























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The German government, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU council, had planned to discuss Brexit during the meeting on September 2, according to the Guardian.































<aside class="inline-block inline-related item-count-4 align-right"><h2 class="box-title">Read more</h2>

</aside>But an EU diplomat told the publication that Brexit has been "taken off the agenda" due to the lack of "tangible progress".































While Angela Merkel had been pegged as a potential dealmaker when negotiations resume and enter a critical stage on September 7, the diplomat said: “Over the recent months Franco-German cooperation has gained new traction.







“Given this new reality it would be futile to wait for a white knight from Paris or Berlin to come to the rescue.”







Both sides have said September is an effective deadline for an agreement to allow time for it to be ratified before Britain leaves EU rules at the end of December.








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