REGIONAL WARS. INTERCONNECTED
Following Hamas's terrorist attack on October 7, unlike anything Israel has witnessed in decades, the Western world is firmly affirming Israel’s right to defend itself and its right to "go after Hamas".
The world waits for a massive Israeli ground offensive in Gaza strip, recently visited by President Biden and UK Prime Minister following a deadly deadly blast which tore through Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital. Mr. Biden used his trip Wednesday to express firm support for Israel’s war against Hamas but also repeatedly urged Israelis to take care not to harm civilians in Gaza where around half of the population of 2,3 millions is under 18. President Biden also announced that the Israeli government would allow critically needed aid into the besieged Gaza Strip.
Relevant voices below:
> Hamas and Israel at war: what we know on day 13 with The Guardian
> Sunak follows Biden to Israel to show support as bombs hit Gaza and What is Israel’s endgame in Gaza invasion?with REUTERS
> Some differences remain as EU leaders seek cohesion on Israel-Hamas war, with EURACTIV
> Timeline to the Arab-Israeli conflict (contact us if you have difficulties in connecting) - FT
> Gaza : l'aide humanitaire attendue va pouvoir transiter par l'Egypte avec La Tribune
In the meantime, the Arab world is thinking differently about the war. By the time Israel issued its denial about which side carried out the strike against the hospital, details had ceased to matter. The catastrophe had sparked protests in the West Bank and Jordan, and as far away as Tunisia, Europe and the US. That was the maelstrom into which Joe Biden flew when he arrived in Israel on October 18th for a quick visit.
However, compared with past conflicts, a few things seem to look differently now.
> Read The Economist analysis The Arab world thinks differently about this war for more. Contact us if you cannot connect.
> Massacre at Gaza hospital triggers wave of indignation in the Arab world, with El Pais
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Against this background, the EU's efforts to tackle terrorism have re-emerged as a central topic.
In the briefing 'Understanding EU counter-terrorism policy', the EP Think Thank illustrates the role of EU in providing cooperation, coordination and (to some extent) harmonisation tools, as well as financial support, to address this borderless phenomenon.
To understand the EU policy on the radicalisation of terrorists, the in-dept analysis 'Preventing radicalisation in the European Union: How EU policy has evolved' explains the disagreements around the concept of radicalisation and how the EU policy-makers framed their work in order to target this process.
Source: Europol’s annual EU terrorism situation and trend reports (from 2011 to 2022). Figures between 2010 and 2019 include the UK.
TERRORISM-RELATED ARRESTS IN THE EU (2021)
Source: Europol’s annual EU terrorism situation and trend reports (from 2011 to 2022). Figures between 2010 and 2019 include the UK.
>For more, here.
Responding to the evolving nature of terrorism threats in Europe, the Council of Europe adopted in February a counter-terrorism strategy for 2023-2027 which offers new tools and concrete responses to continuous and emerging challenges faced by state authorities.
Representatives of the European Committee of the Rehions (CoR) travelled to Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine, to see how see how cities and regions in the EU can help Ukrainian local and regional governments with their emergency needs, with reconstruction and with EU-related reforms. The mayor of Lviv called for every Ukrainian region and city to have an EU partner.
The development of territorial cooperation between European and Ukrainian local and regional authorities (LRAs) is considered as an important step toward Ukraine’s membership in the EU.
The 'Cooperation between EU cities and regions with their Ukrainian partners' study presents the benefits of and barriers to the collaboration between European and Ukrainian cities and regions and shows the role of the EU programmes and instruments in supporting territorial cooperation. It suggests solutions that can promote cooperation between cities and regions and describes their potential to strengthen the capacities of self-governments and to support civil society in Ukraine.
Source: European Parliament
Source: European Parliament
Source: European Parliament
L'attaque terroriste survenue lundi soir, qui a causé le décès de deux personnes et blessé gravement un ressortissant suédois, tous trois venus assister à un match de football à Bruxelles met en évidence la nécessité d’une coopération européenne renforcée en matière de politique migratoire.
"Dans le cas de l’attaque terroriste, nous ne négligerons pas le fait que l’immigration clandestine a joué un rôle important dans ces événements tragiques. C’est pourquoi nous devons nous concentrer sur deux dimensions européennes à savoir, une meilleure protection de nos frontières extérieures et, plus important encore, une politique de retour plus résolue et mieux coordonnée pour les immigrés clandestins".
Alexander De Croo, Premier Ministre belge
Source: RTBF
The European Union must radically overhaul its decision-making and funding before it can accept more countries to join the 27-nation bloc by 2030, a paper commissioned from experts by the French and German governments said, polarising EU countries.
Eight countries currently have official EU candidate status - Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia - while two, Georgia and Kosovo, are potential candidate countries.
Source: Report of the Franco-German working group on EU institutional reform
> To read the report, here
> To read some criticism, here
> For more, here
EU Parliament pushes for extra €6.3bn for 2024 budget : The EU budget needs a boost to provide "adequate" financial support to those who need it most and to respond to ongoing and future crises, MEPs agreed at Thursday's (18 October) plenary session in Strasbourg. With 424 votes in favour, 101 against and 102 abstentions, the European Parliament set out its position for the inter-institutional negotiations to amend the EU budget for 2024 — deciding how much more money should be spent and where.
>More with EU Observer here.
The EU is one step closer to its very own digital currency, after the European Central Bank announced yesterday (18 October) that it would start preparations on the digital euro.
To critics who asked whether we even need digital euros the ECB president Christine Lagarde replied : “We need to prepare our currency for the future” adding that adding that a digital euro would "coexist alongside physical cash" while "leaving no one behind".
From China to the United States, Jamaica to Japan, more than 100 central banks worldwide are exploring or preparing to put in place digital currencies as electronic payments grow, changing the way people spend their money.
> A stocktake on the digital euro, ECB Report - 18 October 2023
EU starts investigating Meta, TikTok over Hamas content - The Commission has given the firms until October 25 to provide information about measures they’ve taken to curb the spread of illegal content.
After X, Meta's Facebook and Instagram as well as TikTok are under close scrutiny over potentially breaching the European Union's content moderation law, the Digital Services Act (DSA), for content related to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
> More here, with POLITICO.
RESILIENT KHARKIV
Ukrainian city goes underground to defy Russian missiles: a new subterranean school is part of a plan to entice exiles back to Ukraine’s second-largest city - With the nearest Russian rocket batteries just 40 seconds flight time away and still targeting his city 20 months after Moscow’s full-scale invasion, the grizzled politician has ordered workers to build an underground school for up to 1,000 children by the end of the year.
As part of a shift to a subterranean parallel order for Ukraine’s second city, he has also pledged to build Kharkiv’s first underground depot for metro trains next year; metro stations are already hosting five primary schools.
> More here, with FT or contact us in case of connection issues.
Courtesy of FT
THE STATE OF REGIONS AND CITIES - EU ANNUAL REPORT
The EU Annual Report on the State of Regions and Cities is a snapshot of the most pressing challenges faced by regions and cities across Europe, as well as solutions from the ground to inform EU policy decisions. It provides insights on how regions and cities address crisis, such as climate disasters or the Russian war against Ukraine. It will show how regions and cities contribute to the long-term transformation of our societies, with the green and digital transition, while strengthening cohesion.
Citizens' awareness and perception of EU Regional policy
The results of this new Eurobarometer (October 2023) survey show that the overall awareness of EU funded projects is at 39%, which represents an increase of 5 percentage points compared to 12 years ago. Out of the respondents who are aware of EU funded projects, 79% think that they have a positive impact on the regions. 46% of respondents have heard about the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and/or the Cohesion Fund, and 45% have heard about the European Social Fund while 29% of respondents have heard about REACT-EU or NextGenerationEU.
63% of respondents say that the EU should invest in all its regions, while 33% say the EU should only invest in the poorer regions.
Source: Eurobarometer
Source: Eurobarometer
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