European Parliament calls for ‘immediate’ and ‘unconditional’ release of Armenian prisoners

“European flags at the European Parliament” by TPCOM is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

This article was first published on OC Media’s website. An edited version is republished here via a content partnership agreement.

On May 20, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the Azerbaijani government to release all Armenian prisoners of war and civilian captives.

A majority of European Parliament members, 607 of 688, voted in support of the resolution.

The resolution text referred to ‘worrying reports’ that ‘approximately 200 Armenians’ are being held in Azerbaijani captivity — Azerbaijan has only acknowledged that it has 72 Armenians in captivity, who officials claim are not POWs but terror suspects.

‘The release of all Armenian detainees is essential for building confidence and trust and would be an important political gesture’, noted High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, in a speech that was delivered on his behalf during the proceedings.

According to the resolution, the European Parliament ‘demands the immediate and unconditional release of all Armenian prisoners, both military and civilian, detained during and after the conflict, and that Azerbaijan refrains from making arbitrary detentions in the future’.

The resolution also stressed that there’s a need for new efforts ‘to build confidence between both countries and make progress towards sustainable peace’.

The resolution also mentioned the ‘Park of Military Trophies’,  which was opened in Baku in April and displays Armenian military equipment alongside wax mannequins ‘depicting dead and dying Armenian soldiers and models of Armenian POWs’.

The park was condemned on the grounds that it may be perceived as ‘a glorification of violence’ and is ‘thereby perpetuating the atmosphere of hatred and contradicting any official statements on reconciliation’.

Since the end of the hostilities on 9 November, 73 Armenian prisoners have been repatriated while Armenia has released all Azerbaijani POWs captured during the war.

Two Syrian nationals captured by Armenia during the war remain in the country and have been convicted of several charges, including terrorism — the two men have admitted to being mercenaries, but have denied all other charges against them.

After Belarus asked for a change, the European Union called for investigations and arrests of opposition journalists

Source link

European Council to Kick Off In-Person Meeting in Brussels

The Monday meeting is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. local time (17:30 GMT). It is expected to be focused on the European Union’s foreign relations, specifically with Russia and the United Kingdom, but also migration, the Middle East and the upcoming EU-US Summit.

With regard to Russia, the European Council is expected to discuss possible new sanctions related to human rights and cybersecurity, while the UK discussion will be focused on post-Brexit affairs, including the rights and obligations of the respective sides under the recently-concluded EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

The Tuesday meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. local time. Its agenda of the discussion includes climate change and COVID-19, including the state of bloc-wide coordination, the progress of vaccinations, and digital EU vaccination certificates.

European Council President Charles Michel and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are expected to deliver joint press conferences at the end of meetings on both days.

How America became like the European Union and other commentary

Iconoclast: The EU-ization of America

America’s globalist elite views the European Union as the perfect governance model. That is, undemocratic and technocratic — and “now that ‘progressives’ have returned to the White House, aping the EU has become a national policy,” laments Joel Kotkin at UnHerd. Following the EU-besotted left, “President Joe Biden has already sought to federalize many functions — from zoning to labor laws to education — that historically have been under local control.” Yet beware: The EU has a “remarkable record of turning Europe into the developed world’s economic and technological laggard. Overall, nearly a third of Europeans consider Brussels an utter failure.” More than that, “copying Brussels … risks sacrificing the fundamental principles of our country: that wherever it is feasible, control of daily life should be left to local communities, and even individuals.”

Prehistorian: Did Climate Change Spark Farming?

“What if the need for fabric, not food, in the face of a changing climate is what first tipped humanity towards agriculture?” asks Ian Gilligan at Aeon. Yes, it’s “a radical departure from conventional thinking.” But “natural global warming” after the last ice age “prompted people” to “change their clothes from animal hides to textiles” and spawned agriculture. “Fitted garments offer superior protection from wind chill” and allowed our ancestors to “penetrate into the frigid Arctic Circle, further north than cold-adapted Neanderthals had managed to venture,” from Siberia to Alaska, where archaeologists “unearthed the fragile technology that made the journey possible: a 13,000-year-old eyed needle.” 

Media watch: The Times’ COVID-Paranoia Push

The New York Times is pushing “absurdly cautious” behavior for the vaccinated “in light of the evidence showing how remarkably effective the vaccines are,” fumes Jacob Sullum at Reason. “Some epidemiologists continue to recommend following the golden rules of coronavirus safety,” the paper reports — advice that Sullum notes “is based on something other than rational, context-dependent concerns about virus transmission.” Masks and distancing “have been transformed into rituals that signify membership in a COVID-19 cult of caution.” Science clearly confirms “that COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective,” yet the Gray Lady presents that miracle “by saying vaccinated people face ‘less risk’ than unvaccinated people. To call that an understatement would be an understatement.” 

From the right: Follow DeSantis

After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that fully vaccinated people don’t need masks and distancing, liberals’ outrage proved that they “don’t seem to care so much about exterminating COVID-19 as they do about keeping a vise grip on what people can and can’t do,” scoffs the Washington Examiner’s Eddie Scarry. Progressives are finally starting to see the GOP’s point that a group of scientists shouldn’t be “tasked with steering a country through a pandemic” because “that’s what elected leaders are for.” But “these people have never really been interested in ‘following the science’ anyway.” It’s become a “cliché” that we might do better to replace with “follow DeSantis,” after the Florida governor, who rightly “made the determination early on that the pandemic was too big to micromanage.” Now, “liberals can feel their control over our lives slipping away” with each passing day, and they may not like it, “but that’s where ‘the science’ is taking us.”

Feminist: Welcome the Sexual Counterrevolution

A growing cohort of young elites views sex liberationism “as toxic not just to individual well-being, but even to the long-term health of American society,” cheers Mary Harrington at Spectator USA. These young Americans are far from fundamentalists or dour feminists, yet the female ones express a preference for child-rearing over career-chasing, while the men are keen to settle down for the long term. Their movement comes in reaction to the 1960s sexual revolution, which promised to “unmoor” sexual desire from reproduction and family, but in practice, resulted in alienation, commercial exploitation and the degradation, especially, of women. “Welcome to the sexual counterrevolution.” — Compiled by The Post Editorial Board

EU summit to discuss possible Belarus sanctions

European Union leaders will discuss toughening their … opposition activist.
A spokesman said European Council president Charles Michel “will … occasion.”
…
Originally published as EU summit to discuss possible Belarus …

Data flow: The Parliament of the European Union has called for a non-espionage pact with Great Britain

… Friday, the European Parliament called on the European Union Commission, in … access to information about EU citizens is possible there … espionage agreements” between the European Union countries and the United … now also apply to EU citizens living or planning …

UN gears up for Gaza funding drive as EU chief balks at paying to rebuild

… with Israel, just as the European Union‘s foreign policy chief … IDF-Hamas conflict.
“The EU cannot be expected to finance …

EU Demands Belarus Explain ‘Unprecedented’ Diversion Of Passenger Plane, Detention Of Journalist

… EU to Minsk and the alleged detention of a journalist.”
European Council … aspiring, independent journalists in the European Union‘s Eastern Partnership countries … several Belarusian activists, received the European Parliament‘s 2020 Sakharov Prize …

EU chiefs demand Belarus release flight and passengers

Top European Union officials warned Belarus on Sunday … all passengers be released. 
Top European Union officials warned Belarus on Sunday … passengers and the aircraft,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell …

Home Office and the EU settlement scheme

Rafael Behr’s article (EU citizens made Britain their home – now they face a hostile environment, 18 May) may mislead readers and discourage eligible EU citizens from applying to the EU settlement scheme. I’m delighted that since the EUSS launched in March 2019, more than 5.4m applications have been received. This demonstrates how the government has made the system as straightforward and user-friendly as possible.

It also reflects our investment to raise awareness and support people. We have made £22m available to help vulnerable applicants, spent nearly £8m on public awareness campaigns and have dedicated staff at the EU settlement resolution centre providing support seven days a week.

As the scheme nears the 30 June deadline, it is right that we do everything possible to encourage those who may need to apply to do so. We want to ensure all who are eligible secure the status they deserve under the EUSS.

This includes working with the Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC to identify, and issue letters to, people who may not have applied. We made it clear in these letters that no action should be taken if a person has already applied or already has UK citizenship. Anyone who applies by the deadline will have their existing rights protected, pending the outcome of their application.

I would encourage anyone who still needs to make their application to do so now, with support available online, on the phone and through our network of grant-funded organisations.
Kevin Foster
Minister for future borders and immigration

I am among the recipients of the Home Office letter (Home Office sends letters warning of immigration status to UK citizens, 17 May) urging people to apply for the EU settlement scheme, which in a Kafkaesque manner changed my identity, stating “you are a European Economic Area (EEA) or Swiss National”. I am neither, but a proud British citizen with no other passport. My naturalisation in 1998 was a milestone that finally gave me a sense of belonging after years of being a citizen of nowhere. It shocks when the government redefines one’s identity and there is no way to clarify it. I’ve lived in the UK through my professional life, worked hard, proudly paid my taxes, contributed to charity, and never used any state benefits. The letter appears to be a post-Windrush blunder. Such systemic failures reflect the disdain for immigrants and ex-immigrants in the present-day UK, which is at the root of a hostile environment.
Dr Jolanta Opacka
Croydon, London

EU, NATO Demand Belarus Explain ‘Forcible’ Diversion Of Passenger Plane, Detention Of Journalist

… affront against all [the] EU,” Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis … European Union.
The German and British foreign ministries also expressed alarm, and European Council … Belarusian activists, received the European Parliament‘s 2020 Sakharov …

3 minister: No need for EU talks delay for W. Balkans states

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The foreign ministers of Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia said Sunday there is no reason to delay the launch of accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia.

Austria’s Alexander Schallenberg, the Czech Republic’s Jakub Kulhanek and Slovenia’s Anze Logar, whose country takes over the rotating presidency of the bloc in July, came to Tirana following their trip to North Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, a day earlier.

“We are the three musketeers of the Western Balkans. You can count on us. All for one, one for all,” said Schallenberg, adding: “Only when the six states of the Western Balkans become full-fledged members of the EU will we have overcome the division of the continent after World War II.”

Albania applied for EU membership in 2009 and North Macedonia in 2004. Last year the European Union gave the green light to both for the launch of full membership negotiations after they have fulfilled the required criteria. A date for the first intergovernmental meeting is expected to be set in June’s meeting of the EU’s Council.

However, Bulgaria has blocked the official start of talks for North Macedonia, asking it to formally recognize that its language has Bulgarian roots and to stamp out allegedly anti-Bulgarian rhetoric. Skopje says Macedonian identity and language are not open to discussion.

It would be very dangerous for bilateral issues to block the membership process, said Kulhanek, adding that “It is by merit that you fulfil the criteria and this is, I think, what the EU stands for.”

Slovenia’s Logar said his country would have the Western Balkans at the top of the agenda during its presidency because the “EU enlargement process is a two-way street.”

Western Balkan countries are at different stages of EU membership talks. Serbia and Montenegro have already started negotiating some chapters of their membership agreements. Kosovo and Bosnia have signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement, the first step to membership.

Follow Llazar Semini at https://twitter.com/lsemini

Llazar Semini, The Associated Press

EU denounces Myanmar junta’s electoral body plan to dissolve Suu Kyi party

(Reuters) – The European Union on Sunday denounced a proposal … ,” a spokeswoman of the EU‘s executive Commission said … says it won fairly. The EU echoed the NLD’s … spokeswoman for the EU Commission said. “The EU will continue to …

EU Digital Covid Certificate presented as Spain opens up to Chinese, UK holidaymakers

… Pedro Sanchez presented the European Union’s (EU) planned Digital COVID … travelers) on arrival.”
“The EU Digital COVID Certificate will be … statement on Thursday.
“All EU citizens have a fundamental … free movement in the EU. The EU Digital COVID Certificate, …

President Anastasiades travels to Brussels for the Special meeting of the European Council

… the special meeting of the European Council, to take place 24-25 … of the coordination of the EU`s response to Covid-19 … in the Middle East and EU-UK relations.
Government Spokesman Kyriacos …

Many issues left to countries’ will on EU COVID certificate

European lawmakers have reached an agreement on the EU digital COVID-19 certificate aimed at avoiding conflicting border rules across the bloc during the holiday season, but some issues related to its implementation will depend on national decision-makers.

Once the political compromise reached on Thursday (20 May) on the previously known European digital green certificate is endorsed by the European Parliament and the EU Council, it will come into force on 1 July.

However, some crucial implementation aspects remain in the hands of member states. For instance, it will be up to countries to decide whether one vaccine dose is enough to grant the certificate or if a negative test result must be provided when entering the country.

Another powerful tool for member states is the possibility to adopt additional national travel restrictions such as quarantine, self-isolation or testing if necessary and proportionate to safeguard public health.

In this case, such measures should be notified to other member states and the Commission at least 48 hours in advance.

Member states will also have an option to use the certificate for non-travel uses, including retention periods as stressed by EU ministers in their negotiating mandate.

The Parliament was against this stance, and particularly to the use of data stored internally by member states and used, for instance, to give people access to public spaces.

“It will be possible to decide on different kinds of use of the same certificate with national law,” said Commissioner Didier Reynders in a press conference.

Another question left to member states is whether children and teenagers should be tested, but a person could also store certificates of other family members, including children.

The technical side “is going very well” and is “all on track”, an EU official explained, adding that the system will be ready when the legislation comes into force.

Member states have been divided into three groups based on their preparedness to start system testing. As for now, 18 out of 30 countries successfully went through the uploading and downloading of public keys in the common gateway.

The last group of countries are scheduled to run tests in the upcoming weeks and should be concluded by early June.

Another ongoing test on how the system works between countries is made by simultaneously checking how QR codes issued in one country are read in another. 15 countries have been tested on a bilateral basis.

Commissioner Reynders said he was “very proud” at reaching the agreement within only two months.

“The three institutions work together in a very effective manner […] and they’ve reached this historic agreement in record time. And this reflects the determination of everyone involved,” he said.

From 1 July, three types of certificates will be available: a certificate of vaccination, a certificate for a negative test and a certificate of recovery. Certificates will be free of charge for all EU citizens and available in both digital format on a digital device or on paper.

The certificate will not be a precondition to exercise the right to free movement and will not be considered a travel document. The scheme also covers non-EU members of the border-free Schengen zone – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

[Edited by Gerardo Fortuna and Benjamin Fox]

Loss of EU workers due to Brexit will badly affect UK pubs

Bengaluru — British pubs and restaurants reopening after months of lockdown are facing a potential staffing crunch as they look to serve more hungry and thirsty customers over the warmer summer months.

Indoor dining resumed in Britain this week and pub bosses have told Reuters they are now seeing the effects of a post-Brexit exodus of European workers, with a particular concern about finding kitchen staff.

“There is a labour shortage in the UK, but I don’t think people are worried about coming back because of the virus or because they feel the career is unstable,” said Ralph Findlay, CEO of pub company Marston’s.

“The issues are more about Brexit and the shortage of EU labour,” he added as the company, which operates around 1,500 pubs, announced results this week.

Data from research firm Vacancysoft showed that posted vacancies for permanent roles in UK hospitality had more than doubled to 3,387 in April when outdoor dining resumed compared with February when it was 1,309.

Britain plans to lift all Covid curbs on its economy from June 21, including limits on the size of groups in pubs and restaurants, but the spread of the so-called Indian variant has put that timetable at risk.

Phil Urban, the head of Britain’s second-largest pub operator Mitchells & Butlers, said such uncertainty had caused some workers to give up on the sector after a difficult year.

“I think because of the start-stop nature of lockdowns, a lot of the people who have left the sector and gone and got other jobs probably won’t return until there is more certainty that we are out of this,” Urban said.

The pinch point will be in finding workers for the back of house, which typically includes kitchens, offices, and storage rooms, Urban added.

More than one in 10 of Mitchells’ employees were from the EU before the pandemic, Urban said, adding a number had left the country and were not unable to return because of Brexit or pandemic-related travel restrictions.

Urban said that the staffing situation will become clearer over the next couple of weeks, as they only find out if workers on furlough are returning when they try to recall them.

UK staff are harder to find as millions are still benefiting from furlough payments.

Rival pubs group Wetherspoon said it was looking for a mix of bar or kitchen workers and front of house staff across its 870 pubs.

Vacancysoft expects vacancies in front of house, including waiters and waitresses, or other service roles, to hit record levels if pandemic travel restrictions continue.

“The government will need to address and reorganise a short-term visa programme by sector — with areas such as hospitality taking precedence as these roles cannot be done remotely,” its CEO James Chaplin said, referring to workers from the EU.

Reuters

Lebanon’s politicians to face sanctions from EU for negligence

France, with the support of the EU Commission, is preparing sanctions against Lebanese politicians, intended to target their unwillingness to form a  government despite the country’s nearly complete collapse.

It has been eight months since Saad Hariri was named prime minister and asked to form a government. Meanwhile  Lebanon’s squabbling politicians, after months of crisis that have left Lebanon facing financial crisis, hyperinflation, electricity blackouts and fuel and food shortages. Nearly half of the total population currently lives under the poverty line.

Lebanon’s caretaker government hasn’t yet met the required conditions for a World Bank $246-million loan for social security programs, despite an upcoming deadline.

The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian has therefore proposed sanctions against Lebanese personalities “involved in the current political blockage or in corruption.”

The EU Commission has declared it will take up these sanctions. “”The level of impatience with the ruling class in Lebanon is growing. They don’t seem to have their peoples’ interest at heart. Expect to see a decision soon,” a senior EU diplomat told Reuters.

The sanctions regime is expected to include travel bans and asset freezes.

“The people are suffering but the political leaders are not taking responsibility while the country is literally falling apart,” EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell told reporters last week.

Professor Habib Malik of the Lebanese American University told Voice of America that the US should step up pressure on entrenched politicians — whom critics describe as a “mafia” — by demanding the recovery of Lebanon’s stolen assets and impose sanctions on them.  Malik says the sanctions would also hit the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.

“Lebanon is hijacked and held hostage by a mafia-militia cartel which is beholden to Iran,” he said. “The ultimate victims are the Lebanese people. The US possesses a great deal of information about the stolen money.” The US can weaken the mafia a lot and pull the rug out from Hezbollah’s feet.”

France may act first with the publication of the list of those penalised and the freezing of the questionable assets they own in France. Requests from the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office in favour of opening a judicial investigation in Paris for “ill-gotten gains” against Riad Salamé, governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, would constitute another signal.

Switzerland has already initiated such an investigation, and another is underway in Lebanon itself.

On May 11, the US on Tuesday called on governments worldwide to take action against Lebanon’s Iranian-backed militant group Hezbozllah, as the Treasury Department sanctioned seven Lebanese nationals it said were connected to the group and its financial firm, Al-Qard al-Hassan (AQAH), Reuters reported.

“The threat that Hizballah (Hezbollah) poses to the United States, our allies, and interests in the Middle East and globally, calls for countries around the world to take steps to restrict its activities and disrupt its facilitation networks,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on the action against the group, designated a terrorist organisation by Washington.

The Treasury Department said in a statement that it had blacklisted Ibrahim Ali Daher, who it described as chief of Hezbollah’s Central Finance Unit, as a specially designated global terrorist, accusing him of acting on behalf of Hezbollah.

The United States also slapped sanctions on six others linked to AQAH, including a man it said was the financial director, Ahmad Mohamad Yazbeck, as well as Abbas Hassan Gharib, Wahid Mahmud Subayti, Mostafa Habib Harb, Ezzat Youssef Akar, and Hasan Chehadeh Othman.

The Treasury accused the six men of using the cover of personal accounts at Lebanese banks to evade sanctions targeting AQAH and transfer $500 million on behalf of the US-blacklisted firm.

MEPs seek to tackle Orbán and Babiš over EU farm funds

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš are in the European Parliament’s crosshairs as lawmakers are pushing to use a high-tech data tool to root out longstanding misallocation of EU farm funds.

A lack of transparency and corruption in EU farm spending, the biggest single plank of the bloc’s regular budget, are being raised as core problems in the run-up to next week’s endgame of negotiations over the €270 billion budget of the new five-year Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The Parliament wants to expand the use of a data-mining tool called ARACHNE to keep a closer check on where CAP funds end up. But the parliamentarians face severe opposition in next week’s talks. The 27 EU countries, as represented in the Council of the European Union, argue against the tool being mandatory in the next CAP, preferring a voluntary approach, where the tool is merely available to countries if they want to use it.

For Ulrike Müller, one of the Parliament’s three main CAP negotiators, that is not good enough. “The Parliament wants to do something against Babiš and Orbán,” she told POLITICO in an interview.

Projects in Hungary and the Czech Republic, along with some in Slovakia and Italy, have triggered major concern about the allocation of agricultural funds. Hungary featured proinently in a 2019 New York Times exposé about EU farm subsidies enriching politically connected kingpins. A European Commission probe into Czech Prime Minister Babiš found he is still pulling the strings of his agriculture empire Agrofert, a big recipient of EU farm funds. Hungary says reports of misspending are biased and politically motivated, while Babiš repeatedly insists he has done nothing wrong.

The European Commission’s ARACHNE system is already used for EU subsidy programs in regional policy — on a voluntary basis. Müller’s proposal would see it included in the CAP for direct payments.

An EU Parliament insider said that the likes of Babiš and Orbán “would not be thrilled” if the use of the tool was made mandatory by Brussels in line with the Parliament’s wishes, but said that the main reason countries are opposing this is because of concerns the tool is simply not sufficiently developed yet.

Müller, the main rapporteur for the CAP file on financing and monitoring, is also concerned about the administrative burden this could create for national authorities. “We don’t want to control each small farmer with the system, which would create a lot of administrative burden,” she said. It is easier to use the technology to track cohesion funds because they tend to be fewer and bulkier payments.

EU countries have already signaled they would only be open to using such a system provided the onus is on beneficiaries to provide the data to them, and it is not mandatory.

The proposal is also bogged down in technical difficulties. “The Commission is not ready to adopt this for all CAP payments now,” Müller said.

However, a European Commission spokesperson replied that the institution is pushing for the tool to be mandatory for governments to deploy in the next CAP. “The Commission is encouraging member states to use ARACHNE as it is useful for checking conflict of interest, fraud and irregularities but it takes time for all member states to harness the full potential of this tool,” the spokesperson said.

European People’s Party MEP Norbert Lins, the chair of the agriculture committee, said: “This system could help indeed to bring the corruption more under control. ” He said that the Parliament’s position as a whole is also to make this mandatory but that he could also understand doubts as to whether it is fit for purpose in the CAP.

According to the European Commission spokesperson, the EU executive will “ensure its obligation” to get the tool up and running for all EU governments to use in the new CAP starting 2023. Brussels also insists that the so-called error rate of funds being misused “remains at a very low level.”

Despite doubts about ARACHNE, the next farm policy does look likely to take a small step toward a more transparent system. Negotiators have agreed to increase the transparency of who is getting farm subsidies by obliging beneficiaries to disclose what broader legal entities they belong to. This could in theory reveal if a corrupt politician secretly controls a swathe of EU farmland, but is still a step short of full transparency about the original owner of every hectare of subsidized land. There is likely to be an attempt by the Parliament to ensure full transparency about CAP recipients during the negotiations next week, the EU Parliament insider said.

The spokesperson confirmed that the European Commission will start collecting and publishing information that governments collect about the legal entities receiving CAP payments.

Müller said: “We have really a huge success, because the information on the groups of beneficiaries will be published.” The Commission is not, however, planning to publish the information ARACHNE tool picks up, but could offer the Parliament a report in 2025 on how well it is working.

Gabriela Galindo contributed reporting.

Want more analysis from POLITICO? POLITICO Pro is our premium intelligence service for professionals. From financial services to trade, technology, cybersecurity and more, Pro delivers real time intelligence, deep insight and breaking scoops you need to keep one step ahead. Email [email protected] to request a complimentary trial.