Future of Europe - Importance of local authorities at heart of European Committee of the Regions’ plenary session
While the European Week of Regions and Cities was in full swing, the European Committee of the Regions closed its 151st plenary session on Wednesday 12 October. The place of regions and cities in COP27, the relaunch of the Cohesion Alliance and the follow-up to the Conference on the Future of Europe were among the topics discussed.
In a debate with EC Vice President for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Šuica, local and regional representatives welcomed the European Commission's support for a Convention to revise the EU Treaties as well as the confirmation that citizens panels will become a permanent feature in the EU's policy-making process.
At the same time, as the 2022 EU annual report on the state of regions and cities shows, Europe is facing multiple challenges from the war against Ukraine to the climate and energy crisis, which is putting democracies as well as solidarity in the EU under greatest pressure In this context, local and regional representatives insist that a concrete follow-up of the conclusions resulting from the Conference on the Future of Europe (COFE) is needed and that regions and cities will play their part, be it with or without Convention.
> More here with the CoR PressRelease (October Plenary) and here with Agence Europe.
> Speech on the State of Regions and Cities in the European Union by President Vasco Alves Cordeiro
War in Europe - Russian missiles pounded more than 40 Ukrainian cities and towns, officials said, as NATO allies meeting in Brussels unveiled plans to beef up Europe's air defenses after committing more military aid to Kyiv. The new pledges prompted Moscow to renew warnings that Western states' help made them "a direct party to the conflict" and that admitting Ukraine to Western military alliance NATO could trigger World War Three.
A Russian nuclear strike would change the course of the conflict and almost certainly provoke a "physical response" from Ukraine's allies and potentially from NATO, a senior NATO official said.
>More with REUTERS here.
The United Nations General Assembly has voted to condemn Russia's attempts to annex 4 regions of Ukraine. The resolution was supported by 143 countries, while 35 states - including China and India - abstained.
>More here, with Euronews.
The State of the War:
A Large-Scale Strike: President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia unleashed a series of missile strikes that hit at least 10 cities across Ukraine, including Kyiv, in a broad aerial assault against civilians and critical infrastructure that drew international condemnation and calls for de-escalation.
Crimean Bridge Explosion: Mr. Putin said that the strikes were retaliation for a blast that hit a key Russian bridge over the weekend. The bridge, which links the Crimean Peninsula to Russia, is a primary supply route for Russian troops fighting in the south of Ukraine.
Pressure on Putin: With his strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine, Mr. Putin appears to be responding to his critics at home, momentarily quieting the clamors of hard-liners furious with the Russian military’s humiliating setbacks on the battlefield.
Arming Ukraine: The Russian strikes brought new pledges from the West to send in more arms to Ukraine, especially sophisticated air-defense systems. But Kyiv also needs the Russian-style weapons that its military is trained to use, and the global supply of them is running low.
Human rights groups say at least 185 people have been killed and thousands injured or arrested, but demonstrations that began after the death of Mahsa Amini have continued nearly a month.
The protests were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police after they arrested her under the country’s rule requiring women to wear dress modestly and cover their hair in public.
>More here with The Economist, here with The Guardian or here with RTBF.be
>Listen to Baraye - Iranian Protest Song.
ENERGY: EU energy ministers meeting in Prague yesterday failed to coalesce around a gas price cap and are still waiting for the European Commission proposals, due next week. We’ll bring you the latest on the debate ahead of the leaders’ summit on October 20-21.
The European Commission will present a package of proposals to tackle rising energy prices on Tuesday 18 October, the Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, announced in Prague after an informal meeting of EU energy ministers. The proposal will include: a “temporary mechanism to limit … prices”; further moves to save energy — “one option” being to make gas demand reduction measures agreed by EU countries this summer mandatory; longer-term EU plans to set up a new gas benchmark to replace the Dutch TTF; “an arrangement” to ensure solidarity between countries; and “bring[ing] forward” a proposal for the joint purchasing of gas to limit prices and limit competition between countries. - Politico PRO - 13 October 2022.
Russia
US: Biden’s National Security Strategy Focuses on China, Russia and Democracy at Home
President Biden declared on Wednesday that the overwhelming challenge for the United States in the coming years would be “outcompeting China and restraining Russia” while focusing on restoring a damaged democracy at home.
In his 48-page national security strategy, which every new administration is required to issue, Mr. Biden made clear that over the long term he was more worried about China’s moves to “layer authoritarian governance with a revisionist foreign policy” than he was about a declining, battered Russia.
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