The news that matter in Europe
The news that matter in Europe
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development (OECD) invite representatives of local and regional authorities across Europe to participate in a survey on the Sustainable Development Goals. The consultation is open until Friday 15 May 2021.
A senior European Union official has sounded the alarm over the rapid decline of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef while backing calls for all countries to make more ambitious cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.
The EU’s commissioner for environment, oceans and fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, told Guardian Australia he was deeply concerned by the threats facing the Great Barrier Reef. “As long as we do not change our behaviours, things will not improve,” he said.
Sinkevičius hopes Australia will sign up to the 84-country Leaders’ Pledge for Nature – a document that calls for a “green and just” recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and stronger political will to act against the “crises of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation and climate change”.
The leaders’ pledge backs the objective of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. That is a target the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said is his preference, but he has resisted making a formal commitment amid divisions within his government over climate policy.
Sinkevičius spoke to Guardian Australia after the EU joined the International Coral Reef Initiative, a grouping of countries and organisations that aims to preserve coral reefs and related ecosystems. Australia was one of eight governments that co-founded the initiative in 1994.
“I am deeply concerned by the threats facing the Great Barrier Reef,” Sinkevičius said. “Perhaps no coral reef on the planet is better known, certainly here in Europe, than the Great Barrier Reef.”
Sinkevičius said coral reefs in general, and the Great Barrier Reef in particular, were “emblematic of rich marine life”.
“Yet the rapid degradation of these beautiful and essential underwater worlds is also a very stark reminder of the pressures that human activity is placing on our shared planet, not least our oceans,” he said.
“Coral reefs are under threat because of our activity as humans, our unsustainable ways of living, producing and consuming. As long as we do not change our behaviours, things will not improve. This is in our hands, and we must seize responsibility and rectify these negative impacts.”
The world heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system but is under increasing pressure from climate heating that caused mass bleaching events in 2016, 2017 and 2020. A government report card released in February found the marine environment along the coastline remained in poor health.
Asked whether concerns about the Great Barrier Reef should help motivate all countries to increase the level of ambition in their greenhouse gas reduction commitments, Sinkevičius said: “I would hope so.”
He said the European Commission’s European Green Deal included a pledge to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050 – a goal he described as “ambitious, yet one that is absolutely necessary”.
Sinkevičius said he had been “happy to see its wider impact in engagements with partners around the world” and had been pleased to see that China and the US had set deadlines for net zero emissions – 2060 and 2050, respectively.
But he said it was “also important to acknowledge that our emissions have already had an impact on climate”.
“Such impact will continue for decades, even if global and European efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions prove effective. Hence substantial adaptation efforts are therefore still required. Our cooperation in the International Coral Reef Initiative and other fora will remain essential in this regard.”
Sinkevičius said the EU looked forward to close cooperation with Australia, currently a co-chair of the reef initiative.
He said the EU was already working with Australia on research initiatives, including providing at least €280m ($432m) over three years to a project led by the Institut de recherche pour le développement in France.
The project, in partnership with the Australian Institute of Marine Science, is examining the genetic response of corals to ocean warming.
Sinkevičius said the EU and Australia were “longstanding supporters of conserving the unique ecosystems and rich marine biodiversity of the Southern Ocean, including the reefs of cold-water corals and seamounts that form key habitats for an array of creatures found nowhere else on Earth”.
The commissioner called for an ambitious agreement on a post-2020 global biodiversity framework at the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), due to be held in October in the Chinese city of Kunming.
The EU is pressing for “ambitious, and where feasible, measurable and time-bound targets to effectively address the drivers of biodiversity loss”.
Sinkevičius said the EU was “striving for overarching objectives to galvanise support at the highest political level and among the wider public – similar to the 1.5C target for climate change”.
“We are at a turning point, and the upcoming COP15 must be the Paris moment for biodiversity,” he said.
He said the UN Biodiversity Summit held in September “was an important event to build momentum as well as to foster strategies to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic that are green and consistent with climate and biodiversity objectives”.
“The EU invites Australia to join the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature published in September 2020 and already endorsed by 84 countries,” he said, referring to a pledge whose supporters include Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
“In addition, the EU also invites Australia to join the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, which is raising the global ambition to achieve at least 30% protection of land and oceans.”
The High Ambition Coalition, whose members comprise 57 countries or blocs including the UK and France, calls for that goal of protecting at least 30% of world’s land and ocean to be achieved by 2030.
“Mobilising resources ahead of the COP15 will be of key importance and we also count on Australia to join international efforts to ensure adequate support to developing states,” Sinkevičius said.
Australia’s minister for emissions reduction, Angus Taylor, told an international event late on Wednesday that Australia was “firmly committed to getting to net zero as soon as possible and preferably by 2050”.
But, Taylor said, Canberra’s focus was “very much on the ‘how’” of such a transition. The minister pledged $1m towards a clean energy transitions program overseen by the International Energy Agency.
The <a title="EU" href="/index/eu">EU</a> foreign policy chief on March 30 called for the building of bridges between the bloc and <a title="Turkey" href="/index/turkey">Turkey</a>.
“The EU has a strategic interest in the development of a cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship with Turkey,” Josep Borrell wrote on his blog dedicated to EU foreign policy.
Referring to last year’s tensions over the Eastern Mediterranean, Borrell said “the situation remains fragile, but the EU welcomes these forthcoming developments and gestures on the part of Turkey and has responded by extending its hand.”
During a virtual summit, EU leaders last week discussed a report on the future of Turkish-EU relations, prepared by Borrell and the European Commission, and decided to continue negotiations on a constructive agenda.
According to Borrell, the economy is one of the most important areas of cooperation since Turkish exports to the EU total €69.8 billion ($81.8 billion) and the country receives €58.5 billion ($68.6 billion) of its foreign direct investment (FDI) from EU countries
4 areas of differences
At the same time, he acknowledged that the bloc and Turkey have tensions over four main questions, namely the Eastern Mediterranean, the Cyprus issue, regional conflicts such as Libya and Syria, and democratic standards.
“The old disputes deeply affect security interests of the European Union and can no longer be considered just bilateral matters between Turkey and some member states,” he argued.
Turkey has resisted efforts by Greece to turn the dispute with Turkey over maritime borders into a dispute with the EU.
He also said “democratic standards remain a key element, not just for the EU, but also for the people in Turkey.”
It is time to overcome the differences in a constructive way, and “to build this bridge,” Borrell suggested, adding: “I believe we can do this.”
Implying the possibility of Turkey’s EU accession, he said: “Turkey is an important regional power and its historical destiny could well be to join the rest of Europe in the unique peace project that we are building under the banner of the European Union.”
Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, the heads of the European Commission and European Council, will visit Turkey next Tuesday to discuss with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the future of Turkish-EU ties.
Using low-cost and abundant feedstock, the EU funded project HIGFLY sets out to produce sustainable aviation fuels that can greatly reduce greenhouse emissions from airplanes.
The corona pandemic has delivered a severe blow to the airline industry, but expectations are that flying will remain an important part of our mobility, with all the associated negative impacts on the environment. TU/e scientists, together with researchers from TNO, major aviation players Boeing and SkyNRG, and other partners from Spain, Germany and UK, are launching HIGFLY, a new research project that aims to create cost-efficient sustainable aviation fuels (also known as SAFs) from waste biomass. “We want to contribute to an airline industry that emits lower amounts of greenhouse gas into the environment. Aviation fuels made from second generation feedstocks can play a huge role in this”, says TU/e researcher Fernanda Neira d’Angelo, who is the coordinator of the HIGFLY project.
According to the EU, direct CO2 emissions from aviation account for 3 per cent of the EU’s CO2 emissions. Globally, aviation accounts for 2.5 percent of CO2 emissions. This may not seem like much, but consider that if global commercial aviation were a country, it would rank number six in the national CO2 emissions, between Japan and Germany.
THE PROMISE OF SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUELS
To meet the CO2 emission reduction targets set by the aviation sector (50 percent reduction by 2050 compared to 2005 levels), the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) needs to increase sharply. Although some airlines, including the Dutch flagship KLM, have been experimenting with SAFs, current global consumption is still less than 0.5 per cent of the overall aviation fuel consumption.
While demand for SAFs is expected to increase over the next decade, their uptake is held back by cost as the price of SAFs is approximately two to five times that of conventional aviation fuel.
Another crucial aspect is the sustainability of the feedstocks used, to guarantee that the net impact of using sustainable aviation fuels is far less negative than with fossil fuels. It is key to use resources that do not sacrifice food security, environment or biodiversity.
HIGFLY
The HIGFLY project, a collaboration between TU/e, TNO, SkyNRG, Boeing, and five more partners from Spain, Germany, and the UK aims to change all that. This consortium made up of academia, research institutes, and industry will develop new and more efficient technologies to produce advanced sustainable aviation fuels using low-cost and abundant second-generation (i.e. non-food) biomass from a broad feedstock pool, such as residues from forestry and farming.
The production of SAFs from biomass involves a reactor where the biomaterial is transformed into molecules that can be used as a precursor for sustainable jet fuel, using novel catalysts and solvents. This product is then separated using ceramic membranes, saving around 35 per cent of the energy during the most energy consuming steps of the process.
According to TU/e researcher and project coordinator Fernanda Neira D’Angelo, the approach taken by HIGFLY is unique. “The technology we are proposing is different than that used by others to produce SAFs. We use furanics as a key precursor in the fuel production process. Combined with our novel catalysts, solvents, and membranes, this promises to make the HIGFLY process not only very efficient, but it also has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions far more effectively than other approaches, with expectations of a decrease in the range of 70 to 90 percent.”
EU FUNDED
HIGFLY has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (under grant agreement N°101006618). Of the total 4 million euro EU grant, one million euro will be used to support TU/e in technology development. The project will run for a total of four years and the first preliminary results are expected in 2022.
Besides TU/e, TNO, SkyNRG and Boeing, the HIGFLY consortium brings together the following organizations and companies: Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC-ITQ), Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung, Johnson Matthey, Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung (ifeu), and KNEIA.
Russia is ready to resume cooperation with the European Union is it demonstrates reciprocal interest, the Kremlin press service quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying during videoconference talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday.
In a telephone conversation with European Council President Charles Michel on March 22, the Russian president said that the unsatisfactory situation in Russia-EU relations had stemmed from the partners’ non-constructive and even confrontational policy. The Russian side stressed its readiness to resume cooperation with the European Union if Brussels also wanted it. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said earlier that Russia was a dangerous neighbor to the European Union but channels of communications with it should be maintained all the same. He claimed that Russia had embarked on a path of confrontation with the European Union.
“The leaders discussed the situation in relations between Russia and the European Union. The Russian side once again said it is ready to resume normal depoliticized cooperation with the European Union if reciprocal interest is demonstrated,” the Kremlin said.
The leaders also addressed the situation in Ukraine, Belarus, Syria and Libya, as well as other international issues.
During the talks, Putin stressed the inadmissibility of meddling with Belarus’ domestic affairs, the Kremlin press service said
“When discussing the situation in Belarus, Vladimir Putin stressed the inadmissibility of foreign interference into domestic affairs of a sovereign state,” it said.
Sputnik V prospects
Possible supplies of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to the European Union were among the topics discussed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Kremlin press service said.
“Special attention was focused on the task to consolidate efforts to combat the common threat – the coronavirus pandemic. In this context, the leaders discussed measures to prevent further spread of the disease,” the Kremlin said.
The leaders also looked at “prospects for the registration of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in the European Union and its possible supplies and joint production in EU countries,” it said.
EU’s Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said on March 21 that the European Union did not need Russia’s Sputnik V. Commenting of such words about the Russian vaccine, Putin stressed that Russia never imposed anything on anyone but such statements made one think that EU officials were more interested in supporting certain companies rather than their nationals. Putin said earlier that in terms of combating the coronavirus pandemic “only consolidated efforts can help attain a desired result across the globe and the result must be really global.”
The Kremlin earlier slammed Macron’s statement of March 25 that Russia and China were allegedly using their coronavirus vaccines as an instrument of influence. Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov stressed that Russia was a responsible member of the international community and never sought to politicize vaccine-related topics or use the vaccine as an instrument of influence./TASS
Google will contribute €25 million ($29.3 million) to the newly set up European Media and Information Fund to combat fake news, the company said on Wednesday.
The contribution comes amid criticism that the technology giant isn’t doing enough to debunk online disinformation, which surged during the COVID-19 pandemic and during the U.S. election last year.
The chief executives of Google, Facebook
FB,
and Twitter
TWTR,
were grilled by U.S. lawmakers last week over the proliferation of disinformation on social media platforms.
Google, which is owned by Alphabet
GOOGL,
is the first tech company to contribute to the European Media and Information Fund that was launched last week by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.
The fund, which has a duration of five years, will provide grants to researchers, fact-checkers, not-for-profits and other public interest-oriented organizations working on disinformation research and strengthening media literacy and fact-checking.
“While navigating the uncertainty and challenges of the last year, it has proven more important than ever for people to access accurate information, and sort facts from fiction,” said Matt Brittin, head of Google’s business & operations, in a blog post.
Brittin cited a recent report that showed that fewer than one in 10 Europeans have participated in any form of online media literacy training.
Google’s contribution comes as tech giants face intense regulatory pressure in the European Union over online content. The European Commission — the executive branch of the 27-member bloc — presented sweeping proposals in December 2020 outlining new responsibilities for digital platforms over content they host.
New rules in the Digital Services Act, which requires the approval of the European Council and European Parliament, include the removal of illegal goods, services and content; advertising transparency measures; and obligations for large platforms to take action against the abuse of their systems.
More on this: Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon could face multibillion-dollar fines under new EU tech regulations
Tech companies could face severe fines for noncompliance, with a very large online platform facing fines of up to 6% of global revenue for a serious breach of the rules. An oversight structure will also be established, with the ability to directly sanction platforms that reach more than 10% of the EU’s population of 45 million users.
The Digital Services Act is expected to directly impact Alphabet, which owns the world’s two most popular search engines in Google and YouTube, and Facebook, the largest social media network with more than 2.5 billion monthly active users.
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Angela Merkel last night defended Germany’s decision to ban Oxford/AstraZeneca shots for under-60s as she and Emmanuel Macron made overtures to Vladimir Putin to get Moscow’s Sputnik V jab into the EU.
The chancellor insisted that ‘trust stems from the knowledge that every suspicion, every individual case will be examined’ after 31 cases of a rare blood clot were found among 2.7million people who have had the jab in Germany.
But surveys show that public trust in the vaccine has slumped in EU nations during a months-long back-and-forth over the jab, which experts from the UK, WHO and EU have found to be safe and effective in preventing Covid-19.
With the AstraZeneca roll-out once again mired in chaos, Merkel and Macron last night discussed co-operating with the Kremlin to produce Sputnik V within the EU in what would amount to a major propaganda coup for Putin.
Some politicians in Germany have already called for Sputnik V to be approved as the AstraZeneca row hampers a jab programme already struggling to pick up the pace across the EU.
Merkel, who is 66 and a trained scientist, said she is open to getting the AstraZeneca jab herself, adding that ‘the possibility of me being vaccinated is nearing’.
‘I have said when it is my turn, I will get vaccinated, including with AstraZeneca,’ she said.
Angela Merkel (pictured)last night defended Germany’s decision to ban Oxford/AstraZeneca shots for under-60s, prolonging the EU’s back-and-forth over the shots
France already limits the use of the AstraZeneca jab to those aged over 55 while Canada this week imposed a similar restriction.
But several EU nations are using the jab without such restrictions following the European Medicines Agency (EMA)’s ruling that it is safe, including Italy, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Portugal.
Asked if there was a need to look again at the use of the jab in the UK, cabinet minister Robert Jenrick said today that ‘no, we don’t, we’re 100 per cent
‘That’s borne out by study after study, by our own independent world-class regulators and by recent research, for example, by Public Health England that’s shown that thousands of people’s lives have been saved since the start of this year alone thanks to our vaccine programme,’ he told Sky News.
‘People should continue to go forward, get the vaccine, I certainly will when my time comes, it is a safe vaccine and the UK’s vaccine rollout is saving people’s lives right across the country every day.”
In Italy, Prime Minister Mario Draghi and his wife, who are both 73, have received their first dose of AstraZeneca to show confidence in the vaccine.
The new reports which have spooked German regulators consist of 31 cases of the unusual blood clot known as a sinus vein thrombosis, with nine deaths.
Out of these 31 cases, 29 were in women aged 20 to 63, while two of them were in men aged 39 and 56.
EU regulators say it is not proven whether such blood clots are being caused by the AstraZeneca vaccine, though they say it cannot be ruled out.
But Germany’s vaccine commission, STIKO, recommended that the jabs be halted for under-60s because of ‘currently available data on the occurrence of rare but very severe thromboembolic side effects’.
STIKO’s verdict was accepted by the German government and the health ministers of the 16 states on Thursday, after some areas including Berlin and Munich had already moved to limit jabs.
‘They are findings that STIKO and finally us, cannot ignore,’ Merkel said.
This chart shows how Britain is still racing ahead of the EU in vaccinating its population against Covid-19, more than three months after the continent started its jab programme
Rudolf Henke, an MP in Merkel’s party and member of a health committee in the German Bundestag, told BBC Radio 4 that the commission was ‘checking the cases which have been reported’.
‘The reports have increased during the last two weeks and that is the reason of that intervention,’ he said.
‘We are looking at all the substances with the same kind of vigilance, we are vigilant to all cases.’
Asked whether the blood clot scares were specific to AstraZeneca’s jab rather than linked to other vaccines as well, he said: ‘That is our knowledge so far’.
One Berlin hospital, the prestigious Charite clinic, had earlier made an even more specific ruling by banning the vaccine for women under 55 because of the blood clot fears.
STIKO now intends to make another recommendation by the end of April on how to proceed with people under 60 who have already received a first dose of the vaccine.
Ministers said people who are due for their second jab can either choose to take it if cleared by their doctor, or they can opt to wait for the commission to deliver its verdict.
Other under-60s can still decide to take the vaccine following consultation with their doctor, the government says.
Health chiefs also looking into the possibility of administering a second shot with a different vaccine.
In Britain, which has been giving out AstraZeneca shots at full steam since December, Downing Street has stressed that the jab is ‘safe, effective and has already saved thousands of lives’.
But confusion has reigned across the EU, with France making similar U-turns to Germany and Spain last night making another change by expanding the use of the jab to over-65s.
With Brussels also complaining about a shortage of AstraZeneca supplies, some politicians in the bloc have warmed to the idea of reaching out to Moscow for its Sputnik V jab.
Named after the Soviet space satellites of the Cold War, the jab was widely ignored in the West after being prematurely registered last year but the tide has turned after clinical trials suggested it was highly effective.
In its readout of the call with Macron and Merkel, the Kremlin said the three leaders had talked about prospects for registering of Sputnik V in the EU and the possibility of joint production inside the bloc.
Merkel and Macron’s offices said they had discussed opportunities for co-operation in an otherwise frosty call, noting that Sputnik V would be evaluated by the same standards as other vaccines.
The EMA started a rolling review of Sputnik V earlier this month, but has yet to reach a conclusion.
Russia has been actively marketing Sputnik V abroad despite a slow pace of its rollout at home, in what was seen as an attempt to score geopolitical points.
Macron (left), Putin (right) and Merkel discussed ‘cooperation’, which would see the Sputnik jab made used in the European Union once regulators give it the go-ahead
The latest German U-turn comes with Merkel already under pressure over chaotic lockdown rules and spiralling infection rates in a country which was once seen as a star performer during the pandemic.
In the space of barely two months, Germany has banned the vaccine for over-65s, then cleared it for all age groups, then suspended it altogether, then resumed it again, only to now scale it back again.
British MPs called the German decisions ‘ludicrous’ and said they ‘reek of total confusion’, adding that regulators have repeatedly said the jab is safe and the rollout is urgent.
Scientists insist the risk of blood clots is no higher than in the general population, but Canada has also pressed ahead with a surprise ban on giving it to under-55s.
Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading, said: ‘There is no evidence that there is a problem but even if there was then you’re reducing what, at worst, is a tiny risk and imposing a bigger one by not giving people the protection of a vaccine.’
He added that people who were more worried about the minute possibility of a blood clot than they were of Covid-19 ‘have their priorities all wrong’.
In a statement, AstraZeneca said that tens of millions of people worldwide have received its vaccines and noted the European Medicines Agency’s conclusion that the benefits of the shot outweigh the risks.
The company said it would continue to work with German authorities to address any questions they might have, while also analysing its own records to understand whether the rare blood clots reported occur more commonly ‘than would be expected naturally in a population of millions of people.’
The 31 clots spooking German officials are the condition that first worried regulators, known as cerebral sinus venous thrombosis (CSVT).
Most of them have been in younger women but the AstraZeneca vaccinations have been stopped for both men and women. People can still get the Pfizer and Moderna jabs that are being used on the continent.
CSVT is a rare clot in a vein draining blood from the brain that, left untreated, can cause a life-threatening brain haemorrhage or stroke.
It was this condition that panicked European drug regulators earlier in March but the EMA found no proof the jab was causing it. Scientists and politicians slammed Germany’s move as a backwards step going over old ground.
Germany, as with many other countries on the Continent, has a spiralling infection rate amid a third wave of the virus
Deaths in Germany appear to still be declining from a second peak but are likely to tick up again within weeks in the wake of surging infection numbers
Dr Clarke told MailOnline: ‘Whenever you do these things you need to have a reason to do them. It’s all a balance of risk.
‘There is no evidence that there is a problem but, even if there was, then you’re reducing what, at worst, is a tiny risk and imposing a bigger one by not giving people the protection of a vaccine.
‘People still get on airplanes and we know that there is a real risk of blood clotting if you’re sat on a plane for hours, but people still do it because they want to go on holiday.
‘So if people are more concerned about blood clots than they are Covid, I’d say they have their priorities all wrong.
‘You have to wonder what the thinking is. Are they being entirely up front? Because it just doesn’t make sense as it is presented. Maybe they know something they’re not letting on.’
Berlin’s state health minister, Dilek Kalayci, said ‘everyone who has already received a first jab of AstraZeneca has very good protection’ but that there were new worries about possible side effects.
As a result, all upcoming appointments for the vaccine would be cancelled in Berlin for the coming days.
Senior Tory backbencher Peter Bone said the decision to ban the drug ‘reeks of total confusion within the European Union’.
‘One thing is for sure, while the majority of our adult population has had its first jabs only a fraction in Europe have,’ he said.
‘None of it makes any logical sense, they seem to be in total confusion. The medical advice is that it does a great job.’
He added: ‘My constituents are very happy to have it and if the Germans don’t want it, send it over to us, we will use it, no problem.’
Another Tory MP said: ‘This is ludicrous. The WHO has said it is perfectly safe. The EMA has said it is safe. Our regulator has said it is safe.
‘It does look very much like a vendetta that the EU is maintaining both against AstraZeneca, because they are adhering to their contract, and the UK, out of spite.’
A Government spokesperson said: ‘The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is safe, effective and has already saved thousands of lives in this country. As the UK’s independent regulator has said, when people are called forward, they should get the jab.
‘Over 30million people have already received their first dose of a vaccine, and we are on track to offer jabs to all over 50s by 15 April and all adults by the end of July.’
Vaccine regulators in the UK saw five cases after the first 11million people had been vaccinated – a rate of around one per 2.2million.
This was lower than an estimate by Johns Hopkins University in the US which suggests CSVT affects around five people per million each year.
If left untreated it can cause blood vessels to burst when pressure builds up, causing a haemorrhage and stroke.
Symptoms may include a severe headache, blurred vision, losing consciousness or seizures.
Blood clots are reported as part of a routine system of logging every health problem that someone has after a vaccine to see if there are any trends.
Women under 55 will not get the AstraZeneca jab at a top German hospital because of fears of blood clots, despite EU regulators’ ruling earlier this month that the vaccine is safe
The Charite hospital in Berlin, which employs 19,000 people at its clinics, ordered the new ban along with a handful of other healthcare providers in Germany, including another Berlin hospital group which also operates care homes.
A Charite spokeswoman that none of their staff had suffered any complications after around 16,000 jabs were handed out to hospital workers, mainly AstraZeneca ones.
But the clinic nonetheless claims that the ban is ‘necessary because in the meantime further cerebral venous thromboses have come to light in women in Germany’.
One such case was a 47-year-old woman who reportedly died after developing a blood clot in the brain, although no link to the vaccine has been proven.
There was another case of a 28-year-old woman who developed a thrombosis after having the jab, but was said to be in a stable condition. Again no link to the vaccine was made.
Authorities in the district of Euskirchen said they had informed health authorities in Berlin about the two cases and stopped jabs for women under 55 in the meantime.
Others to have imposed the same women-only ban included university hospital in nearby Cologne, according to media reports.
EU regulators examined a series of reported blood clots across Europe earlier this month and found there was no increased risk, saying the number of clotting problems was actually lower than in the general population.
Safety experts at the European Medicines Agency said that ‘most of these occurred in people under 55 and the majority were women’.
But they did not recommend limiting use of the jab, saying the blood clots were ‘very rare cases’ and that the benefits of preventing Covid-19 were greater than the risks.
France has since broken with the EMA’s guidance and banned over-55s from having the vaccine, in a 180-degree turn from its earlier position.
In addition, Canadian health officials said on Monday that they would stop giving the jab to under-55s and ordered a new analysis of the risks based on age and gender.
‘There is substantial uncertainty about the benefit of providing AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines to adults under 55 given the potential risks,’ claimed Dr Shelley Deeks of Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization.
The Charite hospital in Berlin, a prestigious clinic which has previously treated Angela Merkel and Alexei Navalny among others, announced the ban on Tuesday
The repeated U-turns and doubts raised by top officials have been blamed in part for the low uptake of the AstraZeneca shot, which was approved in the EU in January.
Germany has received more than 3.8million doses of AstraZeneca despite the EU’s ongoing row with the firm over supplies.
But only 2.7million of these have been used, with fewer than 1,000 getting two doses – leaving more than a million shots lying unwanted.
Recognising the jab’s poor image, German officials have sought to boost uptake by reassuring the population that the vaccine is safe and effective.
But a poll published last week showed that some 55 per cent of Germans regarded the AstraZeneca jab as unsafe in the wake of the blood clot row.
The position was even worse in France where 61 per cent said it was unsafe, weeks after Emmanuel Macron claimed it was ‘quasi-ineffective’ in older people.
By contrast, in Britain – which has never suspended use of the jab or limited it to certain age groups – only nine per cent said the AstraZeneca jab was unsafe.
The EU’s jab roll-out remains far slower than Britain’s more than three months after the bloc started vaccinating, leaving it vulnerable to a third wave.
Germany has given a first dose to barely 10 per cent of its population, reaching only 9.2million people compared to more than 30million in Britain.
While Germany has given higher priority to second doses than Britain, it is still barely ahead by that measure with 4.0million people fully vaccinated compared to 3.7million in the UK.
The slow progress means that nearly 90 per cent of Germans remain unvaccinated as infections climb rapidly in a resurgence blamed partly on the British variant.
Millions of Germans are facing tough new restrictions as cases rise, although Angela Merkel is struggling to persuade regional leaders to implement the new rules.
The chancellor last week had to abandon plans for an ultra-strict Easter lockdown which had been widely criticised as impractical.
France is also seeing a rapid increase in cases, which has already forced ministers to throw the Paris region back into full lockdown after months of a nationwide curfew.
The number of patients in French intensive care units yesterday surpassed the worst point of the country’s last coronavirus surge in the autumn of 2020.
Leaders of the European Union, (EU) the World Health Organization ( … the WHO and the EU, signed a commentary published … pandemics, was floated by European Council (the EU’s political arm) President … from Brussels and Geneva, EU Council President Michel and WHO …
Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the prospects of registering the Sputnik V vaccine in the European Union, as well as its delivery and joint production in a phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
“Particular attention was paid to the task of joining efforts in the fight against a common threat — the coronavirus pandemic. In this context, the leaders focused on measures to prevent the further spread of the disease. In particular, the prospects for registration of Russian vaccine Sputnik V in the European Union, as well as possible deliveries and joint production of this drug in the EU countries were discussed,” the statement says.
The approval of Sputnik V within the European Union has been tinged with controversy as various officials and politicians have spoken out against the use of the vaccine for various reasons. Russia, on its part, has raised the issue of possible political bias against the vaccine, outlining that its efficacy has been proven in clinical trials.
Meanwhile, some EU leaders have expressed readiness to purchase the Russian vaccine, given that the EU has been facing certain obstacles concerning the vaccine rollout.
Merkel has said that it was necessary to use Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V in the EU, once approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and if the EU does not order it, Germany will do it on its own. Earlier, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz discussed the possible procurement of Sputnik V with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and said that he was ready to get inoculated with it.
The EU Medicines Agency started a rolling procedure on the Sputnik V vaccine on March 4. Some EU countries, such as Hungary and Slovakia, have already approved the Russian vaccine on a national level, without waiting for the EMA decision.
In total, the Sputnik V vaccine has been approved by 58 countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Mexico, Serbia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. In February, peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet published an interim analysis from Phase 3 clinical trial of Sputnik V, showing its 91.6-percent efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19.
“The state of affairs in relations between Russia and the European Union was discussed. The Russian side reiterated its readiness to restore normal depoliticized interaction with the EU, if there is a reciprocal interest in this,” the statement says.
The leaders also noted the observance of the ceasefire in Libya, called the formation of a single transitional government there as an important step, the Kremlin said.
The parties also noted that the situation in Syria has continued to stabilise and that the issues of providing the Syrian people with humanitarian assistance were now very acute. Moscow has recently said that a lack of political will to settle the Syrian crisis head-on is hampering efforts to return Syrian refugees to their homes. The Russian military has also said that militants operating in Syria have been preventing civilians from leaving through humanitarian corridors, and humanitarian aid does not reach the people there.
According to the Kremlin, the leaders also spoke in favor of preserving and implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program.
The new US administration has vowed to revive the 2015 agreement but has failed to make the first conciliatory move. Iran has insisted that since Washington was one that abandoned the deal under the Trump administration in 2018, the US must first lift sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Tehran has also rejected any efforts to renegotiate the original agreement.
The talks were held in a businesslike and frank atmosphere, it was agreed to continue work on the entire current agenda, the Kremlin added.
The relations between Moscow and the EU have become strained after the latter had sanctioned Russia’s Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin, Federal Penitentiary Service head Alexander Kalashnikov and National Guard chief Viktor Zolotov over the situation with Russian vlogger e Alexey Navalny.
In a coordinated move hours later, the US imposed sanctions on seven senior Russian officials.
Navalny returned to Moscow from Germany in January after treatment for alleged poisoning and was arrested upon arrival at Sheremetyevo International Airport. Shortly after, a Moscow court rescinded Navalny’s suspended sentence in the 2014 Yves Rocher fraud case over multiple probation breaches and replaced it with a 3.5-year prison term.
Even before the sanctions were officially unveiled, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the relations with the EU were at a low point. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, in turn, described the bilateral relationship as being at a “standstill” during his Moscow visit in early February.
BRUSSELS/PARIS: The European Union is set to agree to sanction several Iranian individuals on Wednesday for human rights abuses, the first such measures since 2013, three EU diplomats said.
EU envoys are expected to agree to impose travel bans and asset freezes on the individuals, the diplomats said, and their names would be published next week, when the sanctions take effect. They gave no further details.
The European Union declined to comment.
Like the United States, the European Union has an array of sanctions over human rights since 2011 on more than 80 Iranian individuals which have been renewed annually every April. Those will also be renewed on Wednesday, the three diplomats said.
Asked why the latest measures were being taken now, one of the diplomats said the EU was seeking to take a tougher stance to uphold human rights. This month, the EU sanctioned 11 people from countries including China, North Korea, Libya and Russia.
“Those responsible for serious rights violations must know there are consequences,” an EU diplomat said.
The United Nations has regularly complained that Iran arrests political opponents in a clampdown on freedom of expression. On March 9, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, presented a report documenting Iran’s high death penalty rate, executions of juveniles, the use torture to coerce confessions and the lawful marriage of girls as young as 10 years old.
Iran has repeatedly rejected accusations by the West of human rights abuses. Iranian officials were not immediately available for comment.
Nuclear accord
Despite the human rights situation, no Iranians have been added to that list since 2013, however, as the bloc has shied away from angering Iran in the hope of safeguarding a nuclear accord Tehran signed with world powers in 2015.
The three diplomats said the sanctions were not linked to efforts to revive the nuclear deal, which the United States pulled out of but now seeks to re-join. That deal made it harder for Iran to amass the fissile material needed for a nuclear bomb – a goal it has long denied – in return for sanctions relief. “Tehran has grown increasingly exasperated with Europe, especially in the past several months, as the nuclear issue remains stuck, and the new sanctions will probably further fuel frustrations that Europe is simply falling in behind Washington,” said Eurasia Group analyst Henry Rome.
“For its part, Europe has a very delicate balancing act. It is trying to demonstrate that its desire to revive the nuclear agreement will not come at the expense of human rights, while also trying to ensure that its support of human rights does not come at the expense of the nuclear agreement.”
The EU revoked its broader set of economic and financial sanctions on Iran in 2016 after the nuclear deal was struck, although it did impose sanctions on an Iranian intelligence unit and two of its staff in 2019, alleging Tehran plotted attacks in Denmark, France and the Netherlands. Iran rejects the accusations.
In a rare move last September, France, Britain and Germany summoned Iran’s envoys to admonish them over their country’s human rights record in what France’s foreign ministry said were “serious and constant violations.”
The three European countries had pushed for sanctions over Iran’s missile programme and its involvement in Syria in March 2018, when Britain was still a member of the EU.
But other EU governments feared it could also upset European firms’ chances of winning lucrative contracts in Iran as the country tried to open up after decades of isolation.
The head of the European Council and the European Commission, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen will meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on April 6, Reuters reported referring to an official representative of the EU.
He did not give details of the visit of Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen. But the visit is part of a renewed relationship, endorsed by EU leaders last week after Turkey took steps to reassure the EU over the situation in the eastern Mediterranean.
Turkey, an EU candidate country, last held an official summit with the two EU heads in March 2020, when Erdogan met with Michel and von der Leyen in Ankara. Despite Turkey’s decision to withdraw from a convention that protects women from violence and deterioration in human rights, the EU says it is ready to work with Ankara to expand trade.
Both sides are also seeking to negotiate new EU support for billions of euros for Syrian refugees in Turkey.
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MORE than one in four small UK exporters have halted sales to the European Union, and the “vast majority” of firms doing business with EU customers and suppliers have been hit with shipment delays or loss of goods, a key survey has revealed.
The survey of more than 1,400 small firms, published today by the Federation of Small Businesses, shows 23% of small exporters have temporarily halted sales to EU customers and a further four per cent have already decided to stop selling into the bloc permanently after new trading rules took affect at the start of this year.
More than one in ten (11%) of exporters are considering halting exports to the EU permanently. The same proportion have established, or are considering establishing, a presence within an EU country to ease their exporting processes. And 9% are thinking about securing, or are already using, warehousing space in the EU or Northern Ireland for the same purpose.
The survey also shows “those selling into the bloc suffering more as a result of new paperwork than importers”.
While small UK importers have also been hit by the new trading arrangements and paperwork, fewer than one in five (17%) have temporarily suspended purchases from the EU (17%).
The majority (70%) of importers and/or exporters have suffered shipment delays relating to their trade with the EU in recent weeks. Nearly one in three (32%) have lost goods in transit, and 34% have had goods held indefinitely at EU border crossings. Of those that have experienced delays, 36% have suffered hold-ups that lasted more than two weeks.
The FSB report, published nearly three months after the end of the Brexit transition period, also reveals that more than half of small UK exporters have sought seek expert help to manage new administration.
The small business organisation noted that the first full quarter of post-transition trading comes to a close on Wednesday, adding: “The day also marks two years since the original Brexit date that firms were told to prepare for in 2019.”
The “Ad Kan” nonprofit organization, together with Israel’s Hebrew-language Channel 13 television news team has announced another expose, this one describing the silent war being waged by the European Union against the State of Israel using the Palestinian Authority to illegally occupy the land of Judea and Samaria in Area C.
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“We want to tell you something that you do not know,” the Ad Kan narrator says in the report. “We are at war.
“In the past year we have infiltrated agents in the Palestinian Authority under false identities and established contacts with EU officials — and what we have discovered is nothing short of shocking.
“Behind the scenes and behind the back of the State of Israel, what we discovered was the European Union’s “Century Project.”
According to the report, the EU has allocated some three billion euros for the construction of a Palestinian state and the construction of its new capital city in Jerusalem. (ed: italics added)
In conversations with senior PA officials and original documents that were unveiled to the architects of the move on the Palestinian Authority and EU sides, the investigators found that the EU is pushing with all its might — all the while knowing this was being done against international law and the Oslo Accords — to build a Palestinian state, all of it behind the back of the State of Israel.
“We have uncovered a well-oiled mechanism in which the European Union secretly provides money, people and planning and legal knowledge to prepare a plan that will isolate Israeli communities in Area C in Judea and Samaria and in Jerusalem, and interrupt a settlement sequence to impose a de facto terrorist state in the heart of Israel,” the Ad Kan representative warns.
“During the activity we discovered that we are already in the middle of the process; about 100 such plans are gaining ground in the field, unhindered, while completely ignoring the law and the Oslo Accords.
“Never before has there been such blatant interference in the internal affairs of any country in the world by the European Union as there has been in ours, whether in funding anti-Israel organizations or in drawing the borders of the Jewish state.”
In the above video (Hebrew language only) the narrator goes on to explain — and to show the documents that prove the claim! — that sources who spoke with the investigative team said the Palestinian Authority government is expected to receive a sum of $952,460 for new Arab construction in the Old City of Jerusalem. The sources also said $778 million is to be invested in the development of areas around Hebron and Bethlehem, and another half a billion dollars ($500 million) earmarked for construction and development in the PA capital city of Ramallah, located in Binyamin section of Samaria.
The sums are to be invested in building that will be carried out in accordance with the EU’s Century Plan.
“This failure (by Israel to end EU interference – ed.) cannot continue, and we will do everything to stop it,” Gilad Ach, CEO of Ad Kan, vowed in the report.
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The European Parliament during a plenary session © Alexandros Michailidis / Shutterstock
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In the plenary session of yesterday, 25 March, the European Parliament passed resolutions on Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia in an enlargement perspective. But many important representatives were absent from the parliamentary debate
The enlargement of the EU, in the words used by Emmanuel Macron when referring to NATO, is clinically dead or is fading into the indifference of the most important capitals of the Old Continent. More proof, should it be needed, came at the plenary session of the European Parliament that preceded the vote on the resolutions for the Balkan countries (Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia) on 25 March.
Among the speakers and participants in the discussion there was not a single important MEP. The lack of interest was also revealed by the almost total absence of representatives of the parties in government in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and all the Scandinavian countries. The only two exceptions confirming the rule were Marion Walsmann (CDU Germany) and Fabio Massimo Castaldo (Movimento 5 stelle).
The discussion was monopolised by MEPs from Eastern European countries, plus Austria, and by sovereign, populist, and Eurosceptic parties. The former sought to promote national agendas and interests in the Balkan region, the latter reiterated their firm opposition to the idea of enlargement. The only novelty was a strong cross-cutting campaign by Bulgarian MEPs to sue North Macedonia for the alleged discrimination of Bulgarians.
On the other hand, all the Portuguese EU presidency and the European Commission could do was to present the wish list that almost always ended with the wording “as soon as possible”: from the opening of negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia to accelerating negotiations with Serbia and visa liberalisation for Kosovo citizens.
The demands and criticisms addressed to the candidate countries have not changed either, as if they were a copy-paste of the various resolutions of the European Parliament: strengthening the rule of law, independence of the judiciary, fight against corruption and organised crime, media freedom, inter-party dialogue, economic reforms, strengthening administrative capacities… The only difference perceived between the various Balkan states lies in the alignment with EU foreign policy: on the one hand we have Albania one hundred percent in line with European foreign policy, and on the other is Serbia, below 50 percent.
“I have a strong feeling that the EU is losing the Western Balkans. The momentum created by the decision to open negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia crashed into the Bulgarian veto, and the Covid pandemic has exacerbated some existing trends, amplifying – also due to the geopolitics of vaccines and infrastructures – the role of China, Russia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, ready to take advantage of the political vacuum – at least in terms of the perception of our partners – left by the EU. We need a change of pace, we need decisive actions so that this disaffection does not become real alienation”, warned Fabio Massimo Castaldo, Vice-President of the European Parliament.
Isabel Santos, the European Parliament rapporteur for Albania, made it clear that Tirana, despite the progress and homework done, may see the opportunity to start negotiations with the EU vanish – once again. “We must act by putting European interests above the interests of some countries or some political factions”, declared the Portuguese MEP, addressing in particular Paris and The Hague, which proved to be the most hostile capitals to the opening of negotiations with Tirana.
Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi confirmed that Albania has met the conditions set by the Council to summon the first intergovernmental conference, but could do nothing but wish for the European Council to give the green light “as soon as possible”.
Green MEP Viola Von Cramon-Taubadel, rapporteur for Kosovo, stressed that the countries of the region have a positive attitude towards the EU: “But we cannot take this for granted and forever. If we do not keep our promises, we will lose our credibility and their trust. The Council must liberalise visas and I would like Parliament to put pressure for this decision”, added Cramon-Taubadel.
In this case, Commissioner Várhelyi gave Pristina at least one practical and concrete piece of advice: “The Commission shares the position of Parliament. As you know, however, the decision must be taken by the member states and the Council. We encourage the Kosovar authorities to contact member states so that they can dispel their last doubts”.
Ilhan Kyuchyuk, rapporteur for North Macedonia, called on Macedonian politicians to refrain from nationalist rhetoric that can foment clashes and try to find a bilateral compromise with Bulgaria. The deputy from the Renew Europe group appealed to the Council to open negotiations with Skopje as soon as possible, “otherwise the credibility of the entire accession process is jeopardised”.
The Portuguese presidency of the EU responded by voice of the undersecretary for European affairs Ana Paola Zacarias: “The Portuguese presidency is trying all the ways to summon the first intergovernmental conference as quickly as possible with North Macedonia”. Commissioner Várhelyi encouraged Skopje and Sofia to redouble their efforts to find an acceptable solution to the bilateral issues. Sofia’s veto, motivated by panbulgarism, is the reason why Skopje has not yet opened accession negotiations.
It is on Serbia that the various parliamentary groups, apart from the attacks of Bulgarian MEPs against North Macedonia, have clashed the most. Rapporteur for Serbia Vladimir Bilcik, Commissioner Várhelyi, and several MEPs defended Belgrade or at least tried to smooth criticisms of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s abuse of power.
Bilcik explicitly pointed out that MEPs cannot focus only on specific cases, but must push for a change in the system. The Slovak MEP, recalling some sensational cases of corruption, abuse of power, and attacks on journalists and NGO activists, wanted to specify: “All this is unacceptable, but I hope that all those who criticise the situation of journalists in Serbia will do the same thing when it comes to Malta or my country, Slovakia. We must have the same standards for everyone, what applies to Serbia applies to others”.
Shadow rapporteur for Serbia Cramon-Taubadel takes the opposite view: “The Serbian president can and must use the two-thirds majority in the Serbian parliament to push through necessary and painful reforms. Unfortunately, in recent times we have seen the abuses of power by President Vucic. There are attacks on opponents, journalists, activists. Political debate can be controversial at times, but hate speech and orchestrated attacks are not tolerable”.
The only strong criticism from the speaker of parliament was related to the fact that Serbia is poorly aligned with EU foreign policy and that Chinese and Russian disinformation finds fertile ground in Belgrade. “Facts must follow words. Serbia has to change its foreign policy if it wants to progress towards the EU”, said Bilcik. Even the Portuguese presidency of the EU Council reaffirmed that Serbia must align itself with EU policy. Commissioner Várhelyi insisted that Serbia should be encouraged to accelerate its path towards the EU because it is fundamental for the stability of the region: “There are three complementary things on which we must focus in the relationship with Serbia: reforms, negotiations of accession, and a positive conclusion of the dialogue with Pristina”.
Concluding the discussion on the Western Balkans, Commissioner Várhelyi indicated that the key to the enlargement process is in the hands of the EU member states: “The region is fully committed to the European path. Now the time has come for us to do our part. This Commission is strongly committed, but we need the support of the member countries to be able to make rapid progress”. An invitation that will probably fall on deaf ears, at least until the next presidential elections in France in spring 2022.
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“Of course we will demand more money, but there are no more funds for dealing with emergencies, while the population of migrants we are hosting has decreased significantly and, consequently, so have the needs,” the sources said as quoted by the newspaper.
The officials have also stressed that while the country is facing a “new reality,” it is still vital they maintain the infrastructure, which is needed to host migrants, and prepare for the future.
Nearly 59,000 people are living in migrant facilities in Greece, the newspaper reported, citing the ministry’s data. About 10,000 of them have been recognized as refugees, which means they will soon leave this special housing.
In total, the European Commission looked into 39 countries that systematically “obstruct” the repatriation of their own citizens, according to the German newspaper.
The worst “unsatisfactory” grade was given to 13 countries — namely Iraq, Iran, Libya, Senegal, Somalia, Mali, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Guinea-Bissau.
The countries will face visa restrictions unless they better cooperate on repatriation of their citizens.
The current goal is to launch a “dialogue” to improve this cooperation, but if this does not happen, starting summer, the EU may extend processing time for visa applications from these countries or reduce visa validity for them. Another option is a visa fee increase.
… halted sales to the European Union and 4% have done … had stopped sales to the European Union temporarily, while five reported … establishing, a presence within an EU country, the research, conducted … British goods exports to the EU, excluding non-monetary gold …