The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU securities regulator, today publishes its third annual statistical report on the cost and performance of European Union (EU) retail investment products. In the report ESMA finds that the costs of investing in key financial products, such as UCITS funds, retail alternative funds, and structured investment products (SRPs) remain high and diminish the investment outcome for final investors.
Clear and understandable information about the impact of costs on the returns that retail investors can expect to receive is key to allowing investors to make informed investment decisions. Ensuring this information is made available is a key element in meeting ESMA’s investor protection objective.
The main findings in the report are the following:
Fund costs: UCITS costs only marginally declined over time. For one-year investments they were 1.4% in 2019 compared to 1.5% in 2018 on average across asset classes;
Volatile returns: Average gross UCITS fund performance depends on market developments and varies significantly over time. It amounted to 7.7% in 2019, while it reached no more than +0.2% in 2018 for a one-year investment. The market impact of COVID-19 falls outside the reporting period;
Retail investors: Retail clients pay on average around 40% more than institutional investors across asset classes. A ten-year investment of EUR 10,000 in a portfolio composed of equity, bond and mixed funds led to a gross value of around EUR 21,800 and EUR 18,600 after costs. Around EUR 3,200 in costs were paid by the investor;
Risks: Higher risk exposures entailed higher costs irrespective of the asset class;
Active and passive funds: The evidence on cost structure showed that costs were higher for active equity and bond UCITS compared to passive and UCITS ETFs, ultimately implying net underperformance of active equity and bond UCITS, on average, compared to passive and UCITS ETFs. Top-25% active equity UCITS overperformed compared to the top-25% passive and related benchmarks, at shorter horizons. However, the cohort of UCITS changes over time making it complicated for investors to consistently identify outperforming UCITS;
ESG funds: ESG outperformed non-ESG equity UCITS mostly due to sectoral factors. According to the evidence, actively managed ESG funds showed lower costs than non-ESG, not supporting the view that there is systematic greenwashing by ESG funds;
Retail AIFs: Retail AIFs, similar to UCITS, showed high return volatility. While being negative in 2018, gross annualised returns in 2019 were 12% for Fund of Funds (FoFs) and 9% for the residual category “Others” that includes investment primarily focused on equity and bonds. Net returns confirm what has been observed for gross returns, being 11% for FoFs and 7% for Others;
SRPs: The analysis on costs and performance scenarios for SRPs showed that total costs were largely attributable to entry costs and varied substantially by country and payoff type. Moreover, there was little difference in simulated returns between moderate and favourable performance scenarios; and
Transparency: There is limited comparability across Member States. Heterogeneity and data availability issues persisted, as well as lack of harmonisation in national regulation.
This report aims at facilitating increased participation of retail investors in capital markets by providing consistent EU-wide information on cost and performance of retail investment products. It also demonstrates the relevance of disclosure of costs to investors, as required by the MiFID II, UCITS and PRIIPs rules and the need for asset managers and investment firms to act in the best interest of investors, as laid down in MiFID II, and the UCITS and AIFM Directives.
Next steps
EIOPA has also published today its report on insurance-based investments products and personal pension products.A joint ESMA-EIOPA event to share the findings of both reports will take place on 21 April 2021. During this webinar you will see a presentation of the reports, which will be followed by a Q&A session.
“Discussions with the European Commission have progressed well but have yet been completed. There is a lot of technical work, so more time is required to complete the final recovery and resilience plan,” told Minister of Finance Matti Vanhanen (Centre).
Finland is presently estimated to receive about 2.7 billion euros from the recovery package, whereas its contribution toward the facility will add up to 6.6 billion euros in 2028–2058. The country has yet to give its final approval for the package, as the approval process is still ongoing in the Parliament.
The government published a preliminary plan for using its share in March.
Almost half of the funding received from the facility – roughly 822 million euros – is set to be used to significantly accelerate the shift away from fossil toward sustainable fuels. The funding would also be used to promote digitalisation, employment, skills development and social and health care services.
Somalia’s president has defiantly signed into law an extension of his mandate and that of his government as the United States and others threatened sanctions and warned of further instability in one of the world’s most fragile countries.
The standoff prolongs a months-long election crisis after the February national vote was delayed. Critics say President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed’s time in office is over. The international community had objected to a mandate extension and warned that the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group could take advantage of the country’s heated political divisions.
The president late Tuesday signed the controversial law after the lower house of parliament this week voted to effectively extend his mandate for two years while calling for direct elections during that time. Leaders of the Senate, however, called the vote illegal and Somalia’s opposition protested.
The U.S. is “deeply disappointed,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement overnight that threatened the possibility of sanctions, visa restrictions and a reevaluation of “our bilateral relations.” The statement called for Somalia’s federal government and regional states to urgently return to talks on the election crisis.
The European Union had warned that signing this week’s decision into law would divide Somalia and “constitute a grave threat to the peace and stability of Somalia and its neighbors,” and it threatened to consider “concrete measures” in response.
Britain said this week’s move “undermines the credibility of Somalia’s leadership” and it threatened to work with international partners to “reevaluate our relationship and the nature of our assistance to Somalia.”
In Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu frustration deepened.
“What happened can be explained as a coup d’etat executed by a group of people who were hungry for power for so long,” said civil society leader Abdullahi Mohamed Shirwa. “This is just like the craziest political gamble” in a country already wrestling with humanitarian crises driven by instability and the changing climate.
Somalia’s government has been unable for months to reach agreement on how to carry out the election, with the regional states of Puntland and Jubbaland objecting on certain issues and the international community warning against holding a partial election. The crisis led to deadly violence against demonstrators who opposed an election delay.
Contentious issues in months of talks on the election process included the formation of the electoral management commission, the selection of commission members for the breakaway region of Somaliland.
Somalia hasn’t had a one-person-one-vote direct election in decades.
The country began to fall apart in 1991, when warlords ousted dictator Siad Barre and then turned on each other. Years of conflict and attacks by al-Shabab, along with famine, left this Horn of Africa country of about 12 million people largely shattered.
Al-Shabab controls large parts of southern and central Somalia and often targets the capital with suicide bombings. The extremist group has been a frequent target of U.S. military airstrikes.
Police patrols and Romani residents in the Fakulteta neighborhood of Sofia, Bulgaria. (PHOTO: BGNES, https://bnr.bg/)
All societies continue to feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the challenges of the present are especially urgent for Romani people, according to a statement released by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE-ODIHR) issued on the occasion of International Romani Day last week. From education to employment, poverty to poor living conditions, Romani people have long been Europe’s most marginalized group.
Surveys conducted by FRA have repeatedly found that Romani people are experiencing the effects of extensive discrimination against them, antigypsyism and social exclusion. “COVID and its related restrictions have summoned a perfect storm of exclusion that has swept through Romani communities across Europe. Even before the pandemic, Romani people were living on the outskirts of society, and now they are facing even greater deprivation and discrimination,” said the director of FRA, Michael O’Flaherty.
“Our governments must put Romani people at the forefront of interest in plans for the return of a ‘new’ normal,” the FRA director said. The many years of disparities between majority societies and Romani people have placed many Roma into an even more vulnerable position during the pandemic, and prejudices against them have further increased.
A monitoring report from ODIHR about the media portrayal of Romani people during 2020 has demonstrated that hate speech against them online sharply grew in frequency, as did disinformation about Romani communities and the role they played during the pandemic. “The time has come to pay more attention to vulnerable communities like the Roma and Sinti who were again the target of attacks and have become the scapegoats blamed for a situation in which they themselves are suffering so much,” said ODIHR director Matteo Mecacci.
“I call on governments to increase their efforts to combat prejudices against Roma and Sinti and to support communities that the pandemic continues to harsly impact,” the ODIHR director added. As for the FRA, its bulletins on COVID-19 are outlining the fact that Romani communities have especially suffered the most as a consequence of the measures adopted in the public health area.
In many countries, Romani children lack Internet access and technology, which prevents them from attending online instruction, and the risk exists that they will fall even more behind. Governments need to aid Romani children with accessing distance education and instructional materials, as the ODIHR recommends in its report on the impact of COVID-19 on human rights.
According to research undertaken by the FRA in six countries, even before the pandemic, many Roma and Travellers were unemployed or were working in precarious conditions. In the year 2019, every other Romani or Traveller youth between 16 and 24 years of age was neither employed nor attending school.
Because governments have instituted movement restrictions in order to stop the spread of the virus, many Romani people who are street vendors or who travel for business were unable to work. In addition, their access to welfare benefits has been informally limited as well.
Successful support for Romani communities requires a dual approach: On the one hand it is necessary to strive to reduce poverty and combat discrimination and racism, while on the other had it is necessary to support strengthening the position of Romani people and making it possible for Romani community members with fully engaging in public life. One such initiative is the annual “Nicolae Gheorghe” Romani Leadership Academy convened by ODIHR.
The academy closely cooperates with Romani people on increasing their “know-how” and skills and maximalizing their influence and impact on policy and decision-making processes. According to the OSCE, governments need to invest more into combating antigypsyism and prejudices, esepcially within the framework of public administrations.
Each participating country in the OSCE should be cooperating, directly and locally, with communities of Roma and Travellers and arranging for Romani individuals and Romani civil society organizations to also be involved in running for elected office. This would provide governments with reliable information about Romani communities and facilitate the development of measures to end or at least ameliorate the negative impact of the pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has put many Romani people into an even more vulnerable position than they already were. Romani communities, therefore, need immediate, urgent aid in order to quickly and effectively recover from the pandemic,” the OSCE website says.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran has summoned the Portuguese Ambassador to Tehran to protest at the European Union’s move to blacklist a number of Iranian officials and bodies over human rights concerns.
“Following the European Union’s impudent move to put the names of several Iranian officials and institutions on its list of human rights sanctions, Portuguese Ambassador to Tehran Carlos Costa Neves, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, was summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry and received a strong note of protest from Tehran over the EU’s illegal action,” a statement by the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday night.
“Accordingly, the director general for the West Europe affairs at the Iranian foreign ministry condemned the EU’s move as politically motivated, dismissing it as a double-standard approach on human rights issues,” it added.
“As we have already announced, Iran will, in reaction, suspend comprehensive talks with the EU and cooperation thereof, including in the domains of [fighting] terrorism, narcotics and refugees,” he said at the meeting.
It was also stressed that Iran is considering imposing reciprocal sanctions as well. The top Portuguese diplomat, in turn, said he will inform Brussels of Iran’s protest.
The conference panelist from top left: European Parliament member Marina Kaljurand; EAFJD Executive Director Heghine Evinyan; Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan; Member of European Parliament Loucas Fourlas
A virtual conference addressing the legal and political aspects of one of the most urgent humanitarian issues after the 2020 Karabakh war—the fate of Armenian prisoners of war and captives being held in Azerbaijan—took place on Monday. The conference called, “The Fate of the Armenian captives in Azerbaijan,” was hosted by Member of the European Parliament Loucas Fourlas of Cyprus.
The conference called took place in an online format, considering the restrictions due to the global health emergency.
The executive director of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy Heghine Evinyan was one of the keynote speakers of the conference. The other panelists were European Parliament member Marina Kaljurand, the Chair of the delegation for relations with the South Caucasus, and Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan.
Five months after signing the ceasefire statement of the war in Artsakh there are still at least 188 Armenian captives in the prisons in Azerbaijan, despite the obligation of the latter to return all the captives, detainees and prisoners war.
In her presentation, Evinyan stressed that keeping Armenians captive months after the end of the war is an act of prolongation of the war from the psychological perspective by Azerbaijan.
“It is the continuation of the destructive consequences of the war. Human beings even if they are in captivity cannot be used as an object of political trade-off in order to elicit more gains”, said Evinyan.
“The silence and the rather passive stance of governments on the European level concerning a humanitarian issue such as the release of the prisoners of war, has been disheartening for the Armenian diaspora across Europe and in fact for anyone who cares about the issue and about human dignity, ” explained Evinyan.
“Europe can and has to do better, also for the sake of its own credibility, strength and viability. We do hope the European Parliament as an entity finally also expresses its position concerning the Armenian captives and calls on Azerbaijan to immediately release the Armenian captives and prisoners of war,” the EAFJD executive Director concluded.
In his presentation Fourlas, who is also the Chair of the Friendship group with Armenia in the European Parliament, emphasized that “the tragedy of missing persons, like the one affecting Cyprus since 1974, must not be repeated in Nagorno Karabakh. The international community must ensure the return of all the prisoners quickly.”
The speakers stressed that the detention and ill-treatment of the Armenian captives by Azerbaijan is a war crime, as all the Armenian captives are legally considered as “Prisoners of War” in accordance with the 1949 Geneva convention. By blatantly violating the Convention and basic human rights principles, Azerbaijan uses this overly sensitive humanitarian issue for gaining political benefits. The release of all prisoners of war, hostages, and other detainees is stipulated by the ceasefire concluded on 10 November 2020 by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia. The Armenian side has returned all the prisoners of war.
The Finance Ministry has imposed definitive anti-dumping duty on ‘Normal Butanol’ imports from the European Union, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and the US.
Andhra Petrochemicals Ltd — which is the sole producer of N-Butanol in the country — had filed the petition seeking sunset review of the anti-dumping duty on imports from these countries.
Based on the recommendations of the Designated Authority in the Directorate General of Trade Remedies in the Commerce Ministry in end March 2021, the Revenue Department has now imposed definitive anti-dumping duty of $46.27 a tonne on Normal Butanol imports from the EU; $51.42 a tonne from Petronas Chemicals Derivatives, Malaysia; $26.59 a tonne from BASF Petronas Chemicals and $149.31 a tonne from other producers from Malaysia; $35.66 a tonne on imports from Singapore; $13.24 a tonne on imports from South Africa.
In the case of normal butanol imports from the US, the definitive anti-dumping duty has been pegged at $24.16 a tonne.
The anti-dumping duty will be applicable for a period of five years, the Revenue Department said.
Normal Butanol is a primary alcohol and is an excellent solvent for acid-curable lacquers and baking finishes derived from urea, melamine or phenolic resins.
A large part of N-Butanol is converted into derivatives for use as solvents in coating industries and printing inks. Normal Butanol also finds application as extractant in production of drugs and natural substances, additive in polishes and cleaners, solubiliser in the textile industry, additive in de-icing fluids, anti-icing additive in gasoline, humectant for cellulose nitrate, feedstock in the production of glycol ethers and flotation aids (Butyl Xanthate) and as starting material for the production of butyl mono carboxylates, butyl acetate and butyl butyrate.
Head of the European Union Delegation to Liberia, Ambassador Laurent Delahousse, monitors inmates at the Kakata Central Prison vocational training center
Monrovia – Two former prisoners convicted for the alleged commission of the crime rape in Kakata, Margibi County have testified to the adequate acquisition of tailoring skills, which have immensely contributed to their transformation, under the European Union Delegation to Liberia’s funded Strengthening Democracy and Respect for Fundamental Human Rights of Prisoners program.
The program contributes to strengthening democracy and the respect of fundamental human rights for most vulnerable detainees in Liberia, through the provision of vocational skills training (tailoring), support to inmates for reintroduction into the society (offering of sewing machines through reintegration), and improvements of prison facilities with the creation of a reading and hearing rooms.
It also builds the capacity of staff of the Bureau of Corrections, ensures the installation of a solar panel and a computer with an application/database of inmates, pro bono assistance for court hearing and fast tracking of cases, living conditions improvements, and the provision of health materials and improved condition for visiting nurse.
The program which amounts to 750, 000 Euro (US$800,000) is being implemented by Serving Humanity for Empowerment and Development Foundation (SHED) and the Rural Human Rights Activists Program (RHRAP) at the Kakata Prison in Margibi County.
It is said to be improving the conditions and empowering convicts and inmates who are being reprimanded for alleged crimes committed.
John S. Fayiah, a beneficiary of the program and resident of Kakata was convicted for statutory rape in June 2014. He was released in 2020 after serving six of his 10 years sentence at the prison facility.
Prior to his incarceration, Fayiah lost his parents and all of his siblings during the heat of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Liberia in 2014.
According to him, the EU funded program played a pivotal role as evidenced by his recent marriage and the decision taken to open his tailoring shop.
He claimed that though he was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, he managed to pay keen attention to the acquisition of a skill in tailoring while in prison to become a productive citizen after he is released.
“I achieved skill in the prison and today, I am living by the skill. Through this skill, today I am a married man. That woman (pointing) – you see over there, is my wife. The Coordinator for Kakata Prison-even what is on him today is one of my productions”.
He spoke during a recent visit of the Ambassadors of the European Union, Germany, France and Sweden, among others to the Kakata Central prison in Margibi County.
Take skills seriously
Fayiah used the occasion to urge his colleagues and other inmates who remain incarcerated to take the vocational skills training program funded by the EU very serious.
He noted that though it remains the responsibility of the government to ensure the wellbeing of its citizens, inmates and convicts who are being reprimanded from crimes committed should muster the courage to acquire vocational skills in a bid to adequately prepare for life after prison.
“Today, most of us can be crying ‘oh the government-things hard, things hard’ because we don’t want to do things that will help us. Every one of us want to depend on the government and government will not do all. They will do some, but they will not do all. So, the little you learn; when God blessed you-you go out there; you should stand on it and focus to do something on it tomorrow for your future”.
Fayiah told reporters that though he felt “bad” for being in prison for a crime he did not commit, he managed to place keen focus on learning how to sew-a move he claimed-makes him a lovely and respectable person in his community.
A cry for help
Fayiah, however, called on the governments of European Countries that are part of the EU and donor partners to see reason to complement the efforts of those who they have aided while in prison to enable them provide similar training to disadvantaged youths and others in their respective communities.
“I am asking the donors to help us because, the community I am living, lots of people are coming to me and say I should train them. And you can’t learn, and you take what you learned and keep it to yourself”.
He added that the European Union should help provide those who they have trained with materials to be able to impact the knowledge and skills into those who are willing to acquire vocational skills in tailoring.
Fayiah expressed willingness to train disadvantaged youths and other inmates when he is accorded the requisite support to construct a better shop and purchase materials as part of his contribution towards Liberia’s rebuilding process.
He added: “We Liberians are the ones to build Liberia. Liberia cannot be built by different person”.
Nathaniel Manneh is another beneficiary of the European Union Delegation to Liberia’s funded Strengthening Democracy and Respect for Fundamental Human Rights of Prisoners program.
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He was convicted of statutory rape in Kakata on November 25, 2013. He was convicted for 12 years but spent seven years in prison.
He disclosed that following his conviction, he was shortlisted by prison authorities to form part of the program which serves as a mean of survival.
“I want to firstly say thank you to the prison authorities, SHED, Finn Aid and RHRAP for the program at the prison here. I never thought of being a Tailor while I was being confined here; but when the program came, through the Superintendent (of prison)-my name was taken and I participated in the program. I graduated with the skill of tailoring. I am presently out there sewing”.
Manneh, however, vowed to “do the right thing”, be a law-abiding citizen and concentrate on his skills acquired to realize his full potential.
He noted that though he has not been able to open his personal tailoring shop, he remains grateful for the opportunity accorded him to serve as one of the trainers at the tailoring training program at the Kakata Central Prison.
He expressed joy over the consistent trust and confidence reposed in him and others by school authorities in the county to sew the gowns for their graduates for closing programs.
Giving an overview of the project earlier, SHED Executive Director, Mrs. Joyce Qweglay Pajibo, commended the EU Ambassador and others for taking ownership of their various projects being done in the country.
She disclosed that the project started in 2018 with Finn Church Aid to curtail over crowdedness at various prison facilities across the country.
“There are human rights issues in Liberia but the people in pre-trial detention faced graver issues. Before the inception of this project, their rights were violated without any notice or concern. It might not have been the intention of the law enforcement officers to do that, but we have many laws on books in Liberia, but implementation is any issue. And this was no exception also about the human rights issues faced by people in detention in all of the prisons in Liberia”.
“Based on that, SHED, Finn Church Aid and RHRAP thought it wise to advance this project idea to the European Union (EU) to be able to support the prisons particularly with the over crowdedness issue and enforcing and promoting the rights of people in detention and in prison in general”.
Madam Pajibo attributed the over crowdedness of prisons across Liberia to low capacity of prison facilities, slow adjudication of cases and the violations of the rights of pre-trail detainees’ rights who remain behind bars for more than 30 days, adding that, “people were in prison for more than 60 days, more than a year and dashed there for nothing completely”.
“Many of our prisons were built to cater for the small Liberian population that we had before. But right now, as you see, all of the prisons have become overcrowded because our population is growing and the prisons still remain the same. Like this prison that you see here in Kakata-was only built to host 60 inmates. But before this project started in this prison, we had about 190 sometimes.
She disclosed that the population at the prison facility in Kakata has drastically reduced as a result of the fast-tracking of hearings or cases.
Madam Pajibo noted that a psycho-social support component was added to the project to help prevent similar prisoners from being released and returning back to the prison facility on a regular basis.
“We realized in the project that there was no mind transformation process with the work that was being done. So, we added the psycho-social support that is being provided by our lawyers. Secondly, people went into the communities with no skills at all. They saw themselves not being useful to the communities; they felt excluded from the communities. So, we introduced the skill training tailoring program. We have found that component to be very useful”.
“The project also addressed issues of awareness on human rights. We hired the James A. A. Pierre Judicial Institute that comes to do projects on rule of law, respect for fundamental human rights and respect for the rights of prisoners”.
For his part, the Head of the European Union Delegation to Liberia, Ambassador Laurent Delahousse, described prison as a “very delicate matter in every country”.
He emphasized that the rights of prisoners must be protected though they are being reprimanded for alleged acts committed.
He noted that prisoners should also be accorded the necessary support while in prison to enable them become productive citizens in their various communities and the country at large after they are released from these prison facilities.
“For the people who are in this prison-their time here must not be an end; their time here can be a time of new beginning. People have a history; people are here for a reason, but that past must be the past and we must help, through prisons- people to have a future to return to their life or to build a new life”.
Ambassador Delahousse further commended the project’s donors and implementers for helping to “reintegrate people who have paid for what they did in the past.”
He further assured of the European Union’s unwavering commitment and support to “deliver to the people of Liberia and the society”.
He added that the EU will continue to help “even the people who have suffered themselves” in the Liberian society.
Tehran suspends dialogue and cooperation with Brussels on terrorism, drugs, refugees and human rights due to EU sanctions against Iranian persons for human rights violations, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday.
On Monday, the EU Council decided to extend its sanctions it first imposed in 2011 as a response to “serious human rights violations in Iran” until 13 April 2022. These measures include a travel ban and an asset freeze, and a ban on exports to Iran of equipment that may be used “for internal repression and of equipment for monitoring telecommunications”.
The EU Council also added eight persons and three entities to this sanctions list in view of their role in the crackdown of the November 2019 demonstrations in Iran. Currently, there are 89 individuals and 4 entities on the list.
PanARMENIAN.Net – A special discussion of the European Parliament on the issue of the immediate release and return of Armenian captives from Azerbaijan will be held on Monday, April 12 evening, Armenian Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan has said in a Facebook post.
Among speakers set to deliver remarks are MEP Loukas Fourlas, who chairs the EU-Armenia friendship group at the European Parliament, as well as Chair of the delegation for relations with the South Caucasus at the European Parliament Marina Kaljurand, Tatoyan himself and Heghine Evinyan, the Executive Director, EAFJD – European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy.
Several dozen Armenian POWs have returned from Azerbaijan so far, although Armenian officials say many more people were being held in Baku. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev claims, however, that persons being kept in Baku are not prisoners of war but “terrorists and saboteurs”. Officials and human rights advocates from the Armenian side, however, maintain Azerbaijan is still holding hundreds of people hostage, pledging to submit evidence proving the capture of said persons to international agencies and courts.
Today, Europol publishes the European Union (EU) Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment, the EU SOCTA 2021. The SOCTA, published by Europol every four years, presents a detailed analysis of the threat of serious and organised crime facing the EU. The SOCTA is a forward-looking assessment that identifies shifts in the serious and organised crime landscape.
The SOCTA 2021 details the operations of criminal networks in the EU and how their criminal activities and business practices threaten to undermine our societies, economy and institutions, and slowly erode the rule of law. The report provides unprecedented insights into Europe’s criminal underworld based on the analysis of thousands of cases and pieces of intelligence provided to Europol.
The SOCTA reveals a concerning expansion and evolution of serious and organised crime in the EU. The document warns of the potential long-term implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and how these may create ideal conditions for crime to thrive in the future. The report clearly highlights serious and organised crime as the key internal security challenge currently facing the EU and its Member States.
Launched at the Portuguese Police’s headquarters (Policia Judicária) in Lisbon during the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the SOCTA 2021 is the most comprehensive and in-depth study of serious and organised crime in the EU ever undertaken.
THE MOST PRESSING INTERNAL SECURITY THREAT TO THE EU
EU citizens enjoy some of the highest levels of prosperity and security in the world. However, the EU still faces serious challenges to its internal security, threatening to undo some of our common achievements and undermine shared European values and ambitions. As the EU is facing the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most significant crises since the end of World War II, criminals seek to exploit this extraordinary situation targeting citizens, businesses, and public institutions alike.
The analysis presented in the SOCTA 2021 highlights key characteristics of serious and organised crime such as the widespread use of corruption, the infiltration and exploitation of legal business structures for all types of criminal activity, and the existence of a parallel underground financial system that allows criminals to move and invest their multi-billion euro profits.
Serious and organised crime encompasses a diverse range of criminal phenomena ranging from the trade in illegal drugs to crimes such as migrant smuggling and the trafficking in human beings, economic and financial crime and many more.
Key findings of the SOCTA 2021:
Serious and organised crime has never posed as high a threat to the EU and its citizens as it does today.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the potential economic and social fallout expected to follow threaten to create ideal conditions for organised crime to spread and take hold in the EU and beyond. Once more confirmed by the pandemic, a key characteristic of criminal networks is their agility in adapting to and capitalising on changes in the environment in which they operate. Obstacles become criminal opportunities.
Like a business environment, the core of a criminal network is composed of managerial layers and field operators. This core is surrounded by a range of actors linked to the crime infrastructure providing support services.
With nearly 40 percent of the criminal networks active in drugs trafficking, the production and trafficking of drugs remains the largest criminal business in the EU.
The trafficking and exploitation of human beings, migrant smuggling, online and offline frauds and property crime pose significant threats to EU citizens.
Criminals employ corruption. Almost 60% of the criminal networks reported engage in corruption.
Criminals make and launder billions of euros annually. The scale and complexity of money laundering activities in the EU have previously been underestimated. Professional money launderers have established a parallel underground financial system and use any means to infiltrate and undermine Europe’s economies and societies.
Legal business structures are used to facilitate virtually all types of criminal activity with an impact on the EU. More than 80% of the criminal networks active in the EU use legal business structures for their criminal activities.
The use of violence by criminals involved in serious and organised crime in the EU appears to have increased in terms of the frequency of use and its severity. The threat from violent incidents has been augmented by the frequent use of firearms or explosives in public spaces.
Criminals are digital natives. Virtually all criminal activities now feature some online component and many crimes have fully migrated online. Criminals exploit encrypted communications to network among each other, use social media and instant messaging services to reach a larger audience to advertise illegal goods, or spread disinformation.
Portugal’s Minister for Justice, Francisca Van Dunem: “The strengthening of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice requires us all to build a Europe where citizens feel safe, free and protected, a Europe that promotes justice for all, ensuring respect for human rights and protecting victims of crime. Cooperation and information sharing are essential to combat serious and organised crime and terrorism and to tackle the threat the EU is confronted with. Therefore, at a time of transition to the new EMPACT cycle 2022-2025, SOCTA 2021 is of particular relevance in identifying priorities for the operational response to these phenomena”.
Europol’s Executive Director Catherine De Bolle: “With the launch of the SOCTA 2021, Europol has harnessed its position as the nerve centre of the EU’s internal security architecture with its platforms, databases, and services connecting law enforcement authorities across the EU and beyond. The intelligence picture and assessment presented in the SOCTA 2021 is a stark reminder of the dynamic and adaptable adversary we face in serious and organised crime in the EU.”
Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs: “The 2021 SOCTA report clearly shows that organised crime is a truly transnational threat to our societies. 70% of criminal groups are active in more than three Member States. The complexity of the modern criminal business models was exposed in 2020 when French and Dutch authorities supported by Europol and Eurojust dismantled EncroChat; an encrypted phone network used by criminal networks. Organised crime groups are professional and highly adaptable as shown during the COVID-19 pandemic. We must support law enforcement to keep up, offline and online, to follow the digital trail of criminals.”
Minister of Internal Affairs, Eduardo Cabrita: “The EU’s Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (SOCTA 2021), produced by Europol, constitutes an important instrument for affirming the European police partnership. It allows police action to go from pursuing criminal facts and minimising their impact, to anticipating trends in the criminal landscape. By placing intelligence at the service of security, we enable police to be more pro-active and efficient in tackling crime.”
The SOCTA 2021 assists decision-makers in the prioritisation of serious and organised crime threats. It is a product of close cooperation between Europol, EU Member States law enforcement authorities, third parties such as EU agencies, international organisations, and countries outside the EU with working arrangements with Europol. These crucial stakeholders’ involvement is also reflected in the SOCTA’s role as the cornerstone of the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT) in the EU.
The European Union is set to delay legal action against the United Kingdom for breaching the terms of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement in response to violent riots that have taken hold of Northern Ireland over the past two weeks.
The EU began legal proceedings against the UK last month after the Conservative Government unilaterally extended a grace period for goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
The temporary grace period was designed to give businesses time to adjust to the new customs border down the Irish Sea, but the EU claimed that the UK’s unilateral decision to extend the grace period violated the ” duty of good faith” set out in the Brexit Withdraw Agreement.
The EU was poised to push forward with legal action against the UK on April 15 but is now set to delay legal proceedings after violent riots erupted in Northern Ireland over an eight-day period.
Bloomberg reports that the EU is aware that a hardline approach may be inflammatory to unionists in Northern Ireland, who are reportedly rioting in protest to the Northern Ireland Protocol. Some sources claim that unionists believe that the Protocol has undermined Northern Ireland’s position in the United Kingdom.
The EU is now working on a joint plan with the United Kingdom to help restore calm in Northern Ireland after eight days of continuous rioting left at least 88 PSNI officers injured.
On Friday night, four young loyalist rioters hijacked a car before setting it alight and sending it in the direction of police officers gathered at a barricade.
Meanwhile, loyalist rioters in Belfast also hijacked and petrol-bombed a double-decker bus on Wednesday night in the most shocking night of violence in the eight-day period.
The PSNI said that the riots were Northern Ireland’s worst violence in several years and used water cannons for the first time in six years last Thursday after nationalist and unionist youths clashed in East Belfast.
The EU believes that delaying legal action against the UK buys time to resolve and defuse tensions in Northern Ireland and Bloomberg reports that the EU is determined not to deepen divisions with the UK.
Loyalist leaders called off several marches and protests planned for Saturday out of respect for Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who died at the age of 99 on Friday.
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… said, adding the discussion with EU‘s competition unit had … the name of competition, the EU wants (ITA) to free up … debate on the internet. The EU is requesting ITA gives up … , with trade unions claiming the EU was much tougher with Alitalia …
Russia and China are frustrating the international response to the Myanmar crisis, a top European Union diplomat said Sunday, as the death toll from a military crackdown climbed past 700.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military removed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power on February 1.
International efforts to stem the violence have so far failed to yield results, with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell saying Sunday it was “no surprise” that Russia and China were blocking efforts at the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo.
“Geopolitical competition in Myanmar will make it very difficult to find common ground, as we have witnessed again and again… but we have a duty to try,” he wrote in a blog post.
Europe had become a major export market for Myanmar’s garment industry in recent years, he said, suggesting the EU could offer to increase economic ties and investments if the country returns to a path of democracy.
“The Myanmar military is used to international isolation and has a decade-long record of ignoring the needs and the will of the country’s citizens,” he said.
More funerals –
This screengrab from Hantarwadi Media video footage taken on April 9, 2021 and provided to AFPTV shows a protester setting off fireworks from behind a makeshift barricade while a man at left holds a homemade rifle during a clash with security forces during a crackdown on demonstrations against the military coup in Bago.
Handout, HANTARWADI MEDIA/AFP
Borrell’s comments follow days of intense violence in Myanmar, with clashes across the country leaving scores dead.
The weekend saw a steady stream of mourners turn out to pay tribute to loved ones gunned down in the southern city of Bago, where security forces killed at least 82 anti-coup protesters in a brutal crackdown, according to a local monitoring group.
The true number killed may never be known — there are reports security forces took away some bodies.
Ko Thi Ha, 30, a Bago charity worker and eldest of six siblings, was among those fatally wounded.
He was shot trying to escape soldiers by climbing over a brick wall with two others.
“The army shouted at him not to run, but he was afraid the army would shoot him if he didn’t run,” his friend told AFP.
“He was shot in the leg and then he fell down, his head hit the brick wall and he died from the incident.”
His family cremated his body after claiming it from the hospital’s mortuary.
AFP-verified footage shot early Friday showed protesters hiding behind sandbag barricades wielding homemade rifles, as explosions were heard in the background.
The United Nations office in Myanmar tweeted late Saturday that medical treatment had been denied to many of the injured at Bago.
Overall, as of late Sunday, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners revised up its civilian death toll to 706 since the coup. The junta claims a far lower number have been killed.
AAPP also confirmed a man was shot dead on a motorbike on Sunday at Tamu in the Sagaing region and that his female passenger was wounded and close to death. It has also verified four deaths from Saturday.
“We must win” –
Protesters march against the military coup in Launglone township in Myanmar’s Dawei district
Handout, DAWEI WATCH/AFP
Despite the bloodshed, protesters continued to rally across the country Sunday, both on foot and motorbikes.
University students and their professors marched through Mandalay and the city of Meiktila on Sunday morning, according to local media.
Some carried stems of Eugenia flowers — a symbol of victory.
In Yangon, protesters carried a banner that read: “We will get victory, we will win.”
Demonstrators there, as well as in the city of Monywa, took to writing political messages on leaves including “we must win” and calling for UN intervention to prevent further bloodshed.
After sunset protesters lit up their neighbourhoods with flashlights and sang songs.
Meanwhile, Myawaddy Bank’s biggest branch in Mandalay was struck by a bomb blast on Sunday morning and a security guard was injured in the explosion, according to local media.
The bank is one of scores of military-controlled businesses that have faced boycott pressure since the coup, with many customers demanding to withdraw their savings.
Fighting in the north –
Myanmar’s ethnic armed groups
Laurence CHU, AFP
Meanwhile, Sunday saw intense fighting in Momauk township in the northern Kachin state between the Kachin Independence Army, an ethnic armed group, and the Myanmar military.
“They tried to get into our area, but our troops tried to block them on the road,” KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu told AFP, adding clashes had broken out from 8 pm the previous night and that the Myanmar army had deployed airstrikes against them.
“The Myanmar Army used artillery and shell at the area where they believed KIA hide in the jungle. Then, KIA also shot them back.”
He was unable to confirm how many Myanmar soldiers were killed when KIA ambushed two army trucks.
France’s Europe Minister Clement Beaune said Sunday that Turkey had set a “trap” for European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen by forcing her to sit off to the side on a visit to Ankara, in a photo-op faux pas quickly dubbed ‘sofagate’.
The Turkish presidency’s failure to place a chair for von der Leyen alongside President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and EU Council chief Charles Michel was “an insult from Turkey,” Beaune said on RTL television.
“Turkey behaved badly,” he added, calling it “a Turkish problem done deliberately towards us… we shouldn’t be stirring up guilt among Europeans”.
Von der Leyen’s being shunted aside prompted recriminations from European capitals to Turkey, but also within Brussels.
For its part, Ankara insists the incident was down to tangled wires between the Council and Commission, separate EU institutions.
Michel’s staff claimed they had no access to the meeting room before the Tuesday event, but also highlighted that the Council chief comes before the Commission president under strict international protocol.
“It was a kind of trap… between the one who laid it and the one who walked into it, I’d rather place the blame on the one who laid it,” France’s Beaune said.
Echoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who called Erdogan a “dictator” in response to the sofa incident, Beaune charged that there was “a real problem with lack of respect for democracy and an autocratic drift in Turkey” that should prompt Europeans to be “very firm with the Turks”.
Nevertheless, “in future, it would be good if there was one single presidency of the European executive,” Beaune acknowledged.
Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena has met the Colombo-based senior diplomatic representation of the European Union (EU) on Friday, at the Foreign Ministry, and apprised them on political and economic developments in Sri Lanka.
The Minister had updated the envoys of ongoing processes, including the constitutional reform process, the strengthening of democratic institutions, and on progress related to the implementation of reconciliation mechanisms, among other issues.
The meeting was interactive and also entailed a discussion on EU-Sri Lanka cooperation, including trade, investment and development cooperation, and plans underway to convene the scheduled Sri Lanka-EU Joint Commission Sub-committees following the convening of the 23rd Meeting of the Sri Lanka-EU Joint Commission in January 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.
Measures in place for the revival of tourism in Sri Lanka in the COVID-19/post-COVID -19 context, and the Government of Sri Lanka health protocols related to quarantine had also been discussed.
The Ambassador of France Eric Lavertu; the Ambassador Italy Rita Mannella, the Chargé d’Affaires of Romania Ambassador Victor Chiujdea; as well as the Deputy Heads of Mission of Germany, the Netherlands and the EU had participated in the meeting.
G7 Ambassadors at a meeting with Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal stressed the importance of fulfilling the conditions of the stand-by arrangement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and macrofinancial assistance of the European Union.
“G7 Ambassadors met PM Denys Shmyhal yesterday for a wide-ranging discussion. They reaffirmed support for Ukraine’s reform efforts and the importance of meeting the agreed conditions for the IMF stand-by arrangement and EU Macro-Financial Assistance,” the G7 Ambassadors said on Twitter on Saturday.
In addition, the G7 Ambassadors “acknowledged the ongoing challenges of COVID-19.”
They discussed the reforms of Ukraine’s military industrial complex; the importance of good governance across the full range of economic activity.
The diplomats also called on Ukraine to further contribution to global efforts to climate change, the ambassadors said.
The Government has approved plans to add the US and four European Union countries to the mandatory hotel quarantine list despite concerns over the system’s capacity to handle the additional volume of inbound travellers.
<p class="no_name">At an incorporeal Cabinet meeting on Friday night, Ministers added 16 countries to the list including Canada, Belgium, Italy, France and Luxembourg.</p>
<p class="no_name">The list will be expanded from next Thursday, although the inclusion of the US and Canada is subject to there being sufficient capacity in the system. Germany was removed from the list after new advice was received from the Travel Advisory Group.</p>
<p class="no_name">Measures to strengthen home quarantining were also agreed. Passengers flying in from countries not deemed to be of “high-risk” due to the circulation of Covid-19 variants must now have a day five Covid-19 test booked with the HSE, as well as a negative pre-flight PCR test. The Government is also to consider how to approach passengers who are fully vaccinated.</p>
<p class="no_name">The High Court will on Saturday hear an application from a woman who is seeking an inquiry into whether her detention in the system is lawful.</p>
<p class="no_name">The woman, who arrived from Israel this week, says she is fully vaccinated and has tested negative for Covid-19 twice in recent days. She argues that the regime amounts to a form of detention which breaches her constitutional right to liberty.</p>
<p class="no_name">Israel, Albania and St Lucia are to be removed from the list next week.</p>
<aside class="related-articles--instream has-3">
</aside>
<p class="no_name">There are 344 people quarantining in hotels, across 271 rooms. The department said there was 56.3 per cent capacity remaining, but a spokeswoman said there was scope to “significantly scale” the system as needed. There are to be 959 rooms available by April 19th and 1,147 by April 26th.</p>
<p class="no_name">The spokeswoman said hotel operator Tifco Hotel Group would be responsible for ensuring designated facilities were available for the provision of mandatory quarantine.</p>
<p class="no_name">While the precise impact on passenger numbers of adding countries to mandatory hotel quarantine list is difficult to define, analysis by The Irish Times suggests arrivals last week from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) fell by almost 75 per cent when compared with the average of the previous three weeks.</p>
<p class="no_name">The UAE is one of the few countries already on the list with direct flights and substantial traffic into Ireland. Five countries on the newly expanded list – France, Italy, Turkey, the US and Belgium – have recorded significant arrivals into the State in recent weeks on direct flights, for which there is data available. Across the five, 3,345 arrived last week. A similar reduction to the UAE would suggest about 860 arrivals from these countries.</p>
<p class="no_name">The other countries to be added to the list next week are Bangladesh, Kenya, Pakistan, Turkey, Armenia, Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Curacao, Maldives and Ukraine.</p>
<h4 class="crosshead">Blood clotting risk</h4><p class="no_name">Meanwhile, the State’s medicines watchdog has offered reassurances about the safety of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, despite the first reported case of rare blood clotting in the State. It emerged on Friday that the company will reduce its deliveries to EU countries by half this week.</p>
<p class="no_name">Dr Lorraine Nolan, chief executive of the Health Products Regulatory Authority, said its benefits far outweighed the risks, and encouraged people, particularly younger people, to accept the AstraZeneca vaccine. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) concluded this week the vaccine could possibly be linked to rare incidents of clotting.</p>
<p class="no_name">“If you don’t get vaccinated when you are offered it, you have absolutely no protection at all against Covid-19,” Dr Nolan said, adding she would “absolutely take this vaccine if it was offered”.</p>
<p class="no_name">The EMA is now reviewing reports of rare blood clots in four people, three in the US, who received Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine.</p>
<p class="no_name">“At present, no clear causal relationship has been established between these rare events and the Janssen Covid-19 vaccine,” the company said in a statement.</p>
<p class="no_name">The National Public Health Emergency Team on Friday night reported 34 deaths related to Covid-19, three of which occurred this month, and a further 473 confirmed cases of the disease.</p>
<p class="no_name"><em>This article was amended on April 11th to add recent information about arrivals from Turkey</em></p>
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April 12, 2021 – 18:25 AMT
