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Category: Europe

  • MIL-OSI Global: Elon Musk is firing thousands of workers – why this could be the biggest jobs cut in US history

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Thomas Gift, Associate Professor and Director of the Centre on US Politics, UCL

    Elon Musk is wielding a chainsaw against US government departments, potentially culling tens of thousands of jobs, as part of a huge plan to shrink the government and slash federal spending.

    This large-scale purge of public servants, coordinated through Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), may end up creating one of the biggest employment cuts in US history. Tech company IBM laid off 60,000 people in 1993, and about 25,000 workers (some outside the US) lost their jobs when Lehman Brothers bank went bust in 2008, but this swathe of job losses could outstrip them both, with numbers predicted to hit around 300,000.

    On Friday February 21, Musk sent a “productivity email” to all federal employees demanding that they summarise the work they’d done in the past week. President Donald Trump hailed Musk’s ultimatum as “ingenious” and echoed that failure to comply would mean that employees would be “semi-fired or fired”.

    By the Monday, chaos reigned in Washington. The bedlam left career civil servants unsure of how, or even whether, to reply, marking the latest flashpoint in a tumultuous last month created by Doge and aimed at trimming the federal workforce. Adding insult to injury, Musk later admitted the email was a ruse to test whether federal workers “had a pulse”. A follow-up email is rumoured to be coming this weekend.

    On X, Musk doubled down, posting an image of the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants looking at a “Got Done Last Week” list that included: “Cried about Trump, Cried about Elon, Cried about Trump and Elon some more.” Days earlier, at the annual gathering of the US right wing, the Conservative Political Action Conference, Musk brandished a chainsaw and screamed “Chainsaw!” to show the uproarious Maga crowd how he intended to eviscerate the federal bureaucracy.

    Political payback?

    Doge’s proposed job cuts are vast and deep. So far, much of Musk’s ire has been directed at the US Agency for International Development (USAid), where 4,700 employees have already been put on leave – with 1,600 of those positions terminated.

    It’s perhaps no surprise that Doge started with this soft target. Although the US spends only about 1% of federal money on development aid, polls consistently show that Americans, especially Republicans, think Washington overspends on foreign assistance.

    The cuts also come amid rising speculation that these firings could be part of a political retaliation by the White House. Influential adviser Stephen Miller claimed, without showing evidence, that 98% of workers at USAid “either donated to Kamala Harris or another leftwing candidate”.

    The Trump administration has also forced out dozens of officials across the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency charged with investigating attempts at foreign interference in US elections.

    Yet it’s not just these institutions where federal jobs are under threat. From the Department of Education to the National Parks Service, Musk is revving up his chainsaw.

    Even the Pentagon, traditionally a “third rail” for Republican presidents when it comes to spending reductions, is feeling the squeeze. The US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has promised to slash military spending by 8% over the next five years from its US$850 billion (£674 billion) annual budget. While US service members in uniform are currently exempt from job losses, many expect civilian workers, especially those in their probationary period, to be shown the door soon.

    There are many thousands of federal jobs across the US.

    Washington DC, which voted for former vice-president Harris over Trump by a margin of 92.5% to 6.6%, is home to the largest number of government jobs: about 2.2 million civilians. However, federal workers are spread across the US. That includes red states where Trump won in 2024. For example, there are more than 129,000 federal jobs in Texas, more than 94,000 in Florida, and more than 79,000 in Georgia.

    For Trump, this complicates the Doge agenda to make a dent in America’s US$36 trillion (£28.6 trillion) debt through mass job terminations. While many Maga supporters cheered campaign pledges to eliminate government “waste, fraud and abuse”, many now confront the stark reality of job losses in their communities (or even their own jobs).

    Trump has promised to get spending by the national government under control, but without addressing reform of essential services – such as Medicare and social security – it’s unclear how he can achieve this goal.

    Backlash and legal battles

    Public opinion towards Musk breaks sharply along partisan lines. According to recent polling by YouGov, 42% of Americans have a positive view of Musk (52% unfavourable), including 79% of Republicans but just 10% of Democrats. The same percentage, 42%, think favourably of Doge, with similar partisan divides. But the number of Americans who rate Musk positively has been dropping in the past few weeks, although he is seen as increasingly influential.

    Contributing to negativity, Musk’s rollout of Doge to oversee cuts to the federal labour force hasn’t come without major flubs. For example, he recently fired (before un-firing) workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration, tasked with overseeing the country’s nuclear weapons stockpiles.

    Even some Trump loyalists are pushing back. After Musk’s “document work or resign” email was blasted to the FBI, newly minted director Kash Patel sent his own message telling employees not to respond, declaring: “The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes.”

    On X, Harvard political scientist Maya Sen called the reaction “probably a good development for the rule of law”, adding: “Musk got a head start but separate & distinct interests of new political appointees over their own workforces will clash more and more w/Musk.”

    The Trump administration now faces mounting legal challenges to Doge’s agenda. An amended lawsuit filed by a cadre of unions, including the nation’s largest federation of unions, AFL-CIO, alleged that mass firings of probationary workers is illegal, and that only federal agencies have control over human resources decisions.

    Beyond legal chokepoints, Musk confronts increasing scepticism – even within Doge itself. On Tuesday February 25, 21 employees from Doge resigned, saying they would not use their professional skills to “dismantle critical public services”.

    Even among some Republican lawmakers, there’s worry about the breakneck speed of firings. Republican representative Jeff Van Drew, for example, said that “we have to be really careful that we’re cutting things that don’t hurt everyday people”. Some have criticised Musk’s flippant attitude toward longstanding public servants. Others think Musk is taking a hatchet to a problem that requires a scalpel.

    Whether a hatchet, a scalpel or a chainsaw, Musk’s slash-and-burn approach carries risks. By the 2026 midterms (when 35 of the 100 Senate seats will be up for election), the picture of Musk gleefully slicing government jobs could be less a symbol of efficiency, more a symbol of Trump-era hubris.

    Thomas Gift does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Elon Musk is firing thousands of workers – why this could be the biggest jobs cut in US history – https://theconversation.com/elon-musk-is-firing-thousands-of-workers-why-this-could-be-the-biggest-jobs-cut-in-us-history-250854

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Foreign powers have long profited from Ukrainian resources – Trump’s minerals grab is no exception

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Victoria Donovan, Professor of Ukrainian and East European Studies, University of St Andrews

    Donald Trump and Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, meet outside the Élysée Palace in Paris. Frederic Legrand – COMEO / Shutterstock

    Donald Trump’s grab for Ukraine’s minerals, which the US president is demanding as compensation for his country’s wartime assistance to Kyiv, might seem like a new low in a week of US-Ukraine relations lows.

    The latest draft of Trump’s “minerals deal” would grant the US substantial control of a new fund that would invest in Ukrainian reconstruction. The fund would receive 50% of the profits from the future monetisation of government-owned Ukrainian natural resources such as lithium and titanium, as well as coal, gas, oil and uranium.

    This deal, despite offering no guarantee of continued US military support, is a slight improvement on Trump’s first offering. That bid would have imposed financial conditions on Ukraine harsher than those forced on Germany after the first world war.

    However, the deal will still require future generations of Ukrainians to shoulder the cost of a war for which they bear no responsibility. Commentators, including British foreign minister David Lammy, have noted that it would be more just to seize frozen Russian assets and use them to cover the cost of repairing the damage Russia has wreaked across the country.

    But, while many in the west have balked at Trump’s barefaced extractivism, his actions are entirely in line with the way western capitalists have approached Ukraine and its resources since the 19th century.

    The Donbas region of Ukraine is a major coal mining and industrial area.
    deniks315 / Shutterstock

    Ukraine’s east, referred to as Donbas, is often thought to have been industrialised in the 1930s, when Joseph Stalin was leading the Soviet Union. At this time, Donbas was marketed to the world as a symbol of proletarian superabundance. It was a place where miners and steelworkers exceeded their production quotas by 30 or 40 times.

    But the development of industrial extraction in eastern Ukraine dates back much earlier and was powered, in part, by European capital and technology.

    In the mid-19th century, when this part of Ukraine was controlled by the Russian empire, the Russian tsars opened the country’s borders to foreign capital investment in the hopes of accelerating its industrialisation drive. A series of fiscal measures were introduced that made it more attractive to foreigners to invest in the empire’s emerging industrial markets.

    This encouraged a wave of economic migration from western Europe to all regions of the multinational state. Foreign capitalists often partnered with Russian business elites based in Saint Petersburg and other major cities and set about generating huge amounts of profit from the extraction of the empire’s valuable resources.

    Donbas, with its wealth of minerals, was a region of particular interest for foreign capitalists. French, Belgian, German, Dutch and British industrialists all relocated to the region in the second half of the 19th century hoping to make their fortunes by excavating the region’s salt, chalk, gypsum, and coal. In fact, there was so much Belgian capital circulating at one point that Donbas became known as “the tenth Belgian province”.

    Despite the paternalism of some foreign managers, the extraction of Ukraine’s minerals did little to improve the life of local communities. Rather, it contributed to the displacement of indigenous people and caused massive environmental and ecological damage.

    Urban planning often replicated the segregated conditions of European colonies in Africa and India. Foreign settlers lived apart from local workers, in privileged housing located in better provisioned parts of town downwind of the toxic fumes of the blast furnaces and the chimney stacks.

    In the settlement of Hughesovka (now known as Donetsk), which was named after the Welsh industrialist John Hughes, Welsh settlers attempted to reconstruct the trappings of British life on the Ukrainian steppe.

    They built tennis courts and an Anglican church, arranged tea parties, and even had an amateur dramatics society. Meanwhile, the local workforce lived in abject poverty, often accommodated in barracks or mud dugouts.

    In these dismal conditions, infectious disease and dissatisfaction were widespread. There are several reports of riots following large-scale outbreaks of cholera and local hospitals were reportedly overflowing.

    Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, this period of European capitalist exploitation was drawing considerable interest from researchers.

    The “European” industrial heritage of Donbas was being used to tell different stories about the region and to highlight its complex, multicultural history. This heritage was seen to hold potential as a counter-narrative to the toxic “Russian world” propaganda emanating from the occupied territories, which maintains that Ukraine is an integral part of Russia’s historic sphere of cultural influence.

    But there is a danger in being too romantic about this chapter in history. Foreign capitalist investment in the extraction of Ukrainian minerals was not a classic example of settler colonialism. However, it bore many similarities to western European colonial practices in other parts of the world at this time.

    What this history reminds us is that Ukraine has long been located at the intersection of empires. And these empires have often collaborated to plunder the country’s resources, offering little or nothing in return.

    We can see this kind of predatory collaboration of imperial and neo-imperial regimes once again taking shape. Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, is trying to tempt Trump away from a deal with Ukraine with promises of access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in the occupied territories.

    We must continue to gather and protest, as many of us did on the three-year anniversary of the full-scale invasion this week, to resist such politics of resourcification.

    Victoria Donovan’s research has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2019-2023.

    – ref. Foreign powers have long profited from Ukrainian resources – Trump’s minerals grab is no exception – https://theconversation.com/foreign-powers-have-long-profited-from-ukrainian-resources-trumps-minerals-grab-is-no-exception-250811

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Tatyana Golikova presented the national project “Family”

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova presented the national project “Family” at an extended meeting of the State Duma Committee on Family Protection, Fatherhood, Motherhood and Childhood.

    Tatyana Golikova presented the national project “Family”

    February 28, 2025

    Previous news Next news

    Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, Minister of Labor and Social Protection Anton Kotyakov, Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko, Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Olga Petrova and Deputy Minister of Education Andrei Nikolaev spoke about the prerequisites for the formation, main goals and directions of the new national project.

    As Tatyana Golikova noted, the national project “Family” is comprehensive and was formed taking into account the instructions of the President of Russia and his decree No. 309. It is aimed at achieving three national development goals:

    • preserving the population, strengthening health and improving well-being of people, supporting families;

    • realizing the potential of each person, developing his talents, raising a patriotic and socially responsible individual;

    • comfortable and safe living environment.

    “When developing the national project, we focused on the family in the broadest sense of the word. Therefore, the national project included measures aimed at both stimulating new births and supporting various types of families, including young, large families, and older generations of families,” the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.

    She noted that the national project “Family” replaces the national projects “Demography”, “Culture” and some activities of the national project “Healthcare” and takes into account all the experience of positive decisions accumulated in recent years.

    The national project consists of five federal projects. The Ministry of Labor has been appointed as the head of three projects: FP “Family Support”, “Large Families”, “Older Generation”. FP “Maternity and Childhood Protection” is assigned to the Ministry of Health, FP “Family Values and Cultural Infrastructure” to the Ministry of Culture.

    17.9 trillion rubles have been allocated for the implementation of the national project over six years, including 7.8 trillion rubles over the next three years.

    “The President of the country has set the task of ensuring sustainable growth in the birth rate, increasing the total fertility rate to 1.6 by 2030 and to 1.8 by 2036. The target value can be achieved provided that not only the social sphere, but also all areas of our life – the economy, development of housing and rural infrastructure, improvement of cities and towns – will work towards this goal,” said Tatyana Golikova.

    According to her, preliminary results for 2024 show that, compared to 2023, the total fertility rate, according to Rosstat’s operational data, has remained almost unchanged, decreasing by 0.7% to 1.4.

    At the same time, 18 regions have seen an increase in the birth rate. It is important that among them are regions of Central Russia, the North-West from the cluster “Demographic Winter” – these are Smolensk, Oryol, Ryazan, Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions.

    “The growth dynamics of births of third and subsequent children has been maintained – by 1.1% compared to the previous year. At the same time, Russia, like many developed countries, is characterized by demographic challenges and new trends in the development of the institution of the family. Based on these challenges, we have formed seven key areas,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

    The first direction is the implementation of the “plus one child in every family” approach. The target is large families.

    The second direction is to level out the high regional differentiation in birth rates.

    According to preliminary results for 2024, in 38 regions, excluding new regions, the birth rate is higher than the Russian average, and in two – the Chechen Republic and Tuva – it exceeds the level of simple reproduction – 2.1. In general, the differentiation between regions has not changed – the indicator differs by three times).

    In such conditions, federal umbrella measures with uniform conditions for the entire country must be supplemented in all subjects with regional support measures linked to local specifics and targeted work with individual groups of regions, supporting them from the federal level. It is important that the growth of the total fertility rate in the territory, support for large families, and the reduction of their poverty become a personal project of each governor.

    The third direction is the creation of conditions for the harmonious combination of professional development with the birth and upbringing of children.

    “To do this, we are fine-tuning both state and corporate policies. Together with the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia, we have developed recommendations for the implementation of corporate social policy. Informally, we call them the “corporate demographic standard”. At the end of the year, it was adopted by the Russian Tripartite Commission,” noted Tatyana Golikova. “As you remember, at the final meeting of the State Council, the President supported certain additional measures, including tax incentives for employers, so that there would be an opportunity to support working women and working families. And of course, an important topic here is support for the older generation.”

    The fourth direction is increasing the birth rate in rural areas.

    The village has traditionally been the basis for population growth in the country, large families. Despite the decrease in the total fertility rate in the village by a third in the last 10 years, the fertility rate in the village as a whole is currently maintained at the level that must be achieved throughout the country by 2030. It is important to maintain it at this level and, if possible, increase it.

    “Last year, a pilot project was launched in three regions – Novgorod, Tambov and Penza regions, which is aimed at developing infrastructure. And although not much time has passed, we are already seeing the first positive results. Over the three quarters of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, the number of women registered for pregnancy at antenatal clinics in the pilot regions increased by 15% on average, and the number of women who continued their pregnancy increased by 22% on average,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

    “Another area is improving the well-being of families so that they can make decisions about having another child. These are, of course, new targeted support measures. And here, both within the framework of the national project and within the framework of individual state programs and general policy, we will continue measures aimed at increasing the minimum wage, increasing citizens’ labor incomes, and, of course, keeping inflation low,” Tatyana Golikova emphasized.

    The sixth direction is strengthening reproductive health and developing children’s medicine. It is planned to further increase additional investments in infrastructure and technologies in healthcare.

    The seventh direction is strengthening the values of the family institution. All events related to the national project “Culture” implemented in previous years are concentrated here. These include cultural centers, cinemas in rural areas, modernized theaters and museums, model libraries, renovated and equipped children’s art schools, and new cinemas.

    “There are no trifles in issues such as birth rate. This really should become the business of every governor, so that there are more of us, Russians,” concluded Tatyana Golikova.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Financial news: 02/28/2025 Changes in the parameters of the third deposit auction of the Federal Treasury

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Moscow Exchange – Moscow Exchange –

    Application selection date 02/28/2025. Unique application selection identifier 22025044. Deposit currency rubles. Type of funds – funds of the single treasury account. Maximum amount of funds placed on bank deposits, million monetary units 1,160,000. Placement period, in days 4. Date of depositing funds 02/28/2025. Date of return of funds 03/04/2025. Interest rate for placement of funds (fixed or floating) FIXED. Minimum fixed interest rate for placement of funds, % per annum 20.05. Basic floating interest rate for placement of funds-Minimum spread, % per annum-Terms of conclusion of the bank deposit agreement (fixed-term, replenishable or special)Fixed-term. Minimum amount of funds placed for one application, million monetary units 1,000. Maximum number of applications from one credit institution, pcs. 5. Application selection form (open or closed)Open.

    Schedule of application selection (Moscow time). Venue of application selection: Moscow Exchange PJSC. Application acceptance: from 18:30 to 18:40. Applications in preliminary mode: from 18:30 to 18:35. Applications in competition mode: from 18:35 to 18:40. Formation of a consolidated register of applications: from 18:40 to 18:50. Setting the cutoff rate and (or) recognizing the application selection as unsuccessful: from 18:40 to 18:50. Sending an offer to credit institutions to conclude a bank deposit agreement: from 18:50 to 19:30. Receipt from credit institutions of acceptance of the offer to conclude a bank deposit agreement: from 18:50 to 19:30. The time of transfer of the deposit in accordance with the requirements of paragraphs 63 and 64 of the Order of the Federal Treasury dated April 27, 2023 No. 10n.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect

    HTTPS: //VVV. MOEX.K.M.M.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Five essential strategies to master your habits

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Eike Buabang, Research Fellow, Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN), Trinity College Dublin

    Branislav Nenin / Shutterstock

    We often set ambitious goals, such as going to the gym, adopting healthier eating habits, or reducing our social media use. However, despite our best intentions, staying committed can often feel like an uphill battle.

    A review of evidence published in 2024 highlights why. While understanding the benefits of behaviour change and believing in its value are important, these play only minor roles. The strongest determinant of our ability to shift how we act everyday is our habits.

    As the 19th and 20th-century philosopher William James put it, we are essentially “bundles of habits”. He believed that these habits could hold people back from achieving their full potential. If he were around today, he would probably be concerned at the way some people mindlessly check their phones every five minutes.

    In a recent academic review, my colleagues and I at Trinity College Dublin illustrated that habits are governed by a delicate balance between two distinct brain systems. One system drives automatic responses to familiar cues in the environment, while the other enables the control of behaviour directed towards goals.

    This interplay helps explain why we might mindlessly scroll through social media when bored, yet still retain the ability to deliberately put our phones away to focus on work. We reviewed decades of research from laboratory studies and real world settings for the study. Here, we share five practical strategies to help you build positive habits and break negative ones.

    1. Forget the 21-day myth

    Forget the 21-day rule – there is no magic number. This rule refers to a popular perception that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Habit formation is different for every person.

    In one study, habit formation such as having a piece of fruit with lunch was estimated to take 66 days on average, but it varied widely between individuals, from 18 days to 254 days.

    It also depends on the specific habit itself. A study demonstrated this using a subset of AI called machine learning. The study analysed more than 12 million gym visits and 40 million instances of hospital handwashing to understand how habits form.

    The research found that forming a gym habit typically takes months, while hospital staff can develop a handwashing habit in just weeks. No matter how long it takes, the key is sticking with it, even if you miss a day here and there.

    2. Make rewards your ally

    Your brain learns to repeat behaviour that is rewarding. One study examining people’s intake of water throughout the day found that it was more of a habit for people who perceived it as more rewarding.

    The habit loop can also be reinforced through external rewards, such as treating yourself to something enjoyable after completing a workout.

    Rewards are also important for breaking habits. If scrolling through social media becomes a way to unwind, try replacing it with an alternative activity that provides a similar sense of relaxation and enjoyment.

    By substituting a positive behaviour, you not only avoid feeling deprived but also create a competing response to the old habit, making it easier to break the cycle.

    3. Stack your habits

    The brain has a natural tendency to combine different actions and respond to contextual cues – the kind that help people understand their surroundings. A strategy called habit stacking takes advantage of this by linking a desired behaviour to something you already do.

    For example, research on flossing found that people who flossed immediately after brushing their teeth were more likely to establish a lasting habit. The existing cue – brushing your teeth – serves as a reminder, making the new habit – flossing – feel like a natural part of your routine.

    So, if you want to start meditating, pair it with your morning coffee. Sip your coffee, then meditate for five minutes. Over time, the two types of behaviour become intertwined, making it easier to stick with your goals.

    4. Watch out for stress

    When life gets overwhelming, many of us find ourselves falling back into old habits, even ones we thought we had moved past. Acute and chronic stress can shift the balance away from controlled goal directed behaviour towards the automatic response system in the brain.

    A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study revealed that prolonged stress in humans leads to an over-reliance on the brain’s circuits that drive habits, while suppressing the prefrontal cortex, which governs deliberate decision making.

    The good news? These effects are reversible. After a six week stress-free period, participants returned to goal directed behaviour, and their brain activity normalised.

    5. Plan for weak moments

    We like to set new ambitious goals when we feel motivated. Motivational changes are often initiated based around time, such as the start of a new year, a phenomenon known as the “fresh start effect”. But it is important to be strategic and prepare for situations when motivation is low and we still want to work towards our goals.

    A powerful strategy for overcoming these weak moments is to plan ahead for specific situations by saying, “If I find myself reaching for a snack when I’m stressed, then I will take a five-minute walk instead.” This strategy is generally referred to as “if-then” plans.

    This approach helps to preemptively trigger a healthier response in those moments when bad habits might otherwise take over.

    So, while it might seem difficult, if you’re looking to rid yourself of a bad habit or replace it with a good one, our research suggests it’s possible to change your behaviour using strategies based on scientific evidence.

    Eike Buabang receives funding from the Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme.

    – ref. Five essential strategies to master your habits – https://theconversation.com/five-essential-strategies-to-master-your-habits-250099

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Miss Austen: the TV show about the Georgian writer’s life embraces her love of fiction

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gillian Dow, Associate Professor of English, University of Southampton

    At the heart of the BBC’s new series Miss Austen is a fictional Cassandra Austen (played by Keeley Hawes). Reviews have stressed that the real life Cassandra’s destruction of her sister Jane Austen’s letters has been considered one of the greatest acts of literary vandalism in history. These letters would have provided an invaluable insight into the author who died so young.

    Why Cassandra destroyed her sister’s correspondence – and what she destroyed – cannot be known. But Miss Austen gives us intriguing speculation. It deals with family relationships, and with what gets passed down to subsequent generations.

    In Miss Austen, Mary Austen is considering encouraging her son James Edward to write a biography of his literary father and aunt. Cassandra must find her sister’s letters before they get into the wrong hands. What happens next is a clever blend of fact and fiction.

    James Edward Austen-Leigh did publish the first full biography of his aunt with the help of his sisters, although not until 1869.

    However, the series also deviates from fact in its depiction of an incident in Jane’s life in the early 1800s. She may have met a young gentleman at a seaside resort in Devon. This young man may have admired Jane and she may have admired him in turn.

    This story was recounted to James Edward Austen-Leigh by his sister when he was preparing a second edition of his Jane Austen memoir. She had been told the story by Cassandra and, though she could not remember the young man’s name, she knew he died shortly after Jane’s encounter with him.

    Miss Austen picks up on the suggestion of Jane’s shadowy seaside encounter, locates the events firmly in Sidmouth, names the gentleman Mr Hobday and gives the encounter an intriguing twist by making it Cassandra’s, not Jane’s, romance.

    Jane Austen might have enjoyed this fictionalisation.

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    A love of fiction and an aversion to history

    In the concluding paragraphs of Mansfield Park (1814), Austen’s narrator purposely abstains from dates, “that every one may be at liberty to fix their own”. In Northanger Abbey, the heroine Catherine Morland has no taste for “real, solemn History.” Instead, the novels of Maria Edgeworth and Frances Burney are championed as “works in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed”.

    Miss Austen’s Jane is played by Patsy Ferran as witty, acerbic and, crucially, devoted to fiction. She is utterly determined to become a published author and her family support her in this pursuit. This Austen is true to the version of the author that scholars and biographers have presented in recent years.

    Jane Austen’s novels are not about the union of one couple. They explore communities and dependence, particularly that of women. Foremost in these explorations are sisterly bonds.

    In Austen’s fiction, these bonds may indeed be mutually supportive and fulfilling. But they are always complex too. It is the truth of these complexities that the series Miss Austen captures so beautifully, via Isabella Fowle and her relationship with her sisters, and of course via Cassandra’s relationship with hers.

    This adaptation should send viewers to read Gill Hornby’s novel, and to read and reread Jane Austen. Miss Austen embraces the possibilities of fiction in rethinking the lives of the past.

    I hope viewers of Miss Austen will think more favourably about the real Cassandra too.

    She kept letters and Jane’s manuscripts, leaving them to her nieces on her death. Jane and Cassandra had six brothers.

    She was not the only one who had letters that gave insight into Jane Austen’s mind. She must have also written countless more to her other brothers and their wives, her nieces and nephews and her friends.

    Many of these are now lost to us. But Cassandra’s curation of her sister’s correspondence can be seen in a positive light when we reflect on what she preserved in relation to what was lost.

    Gillian Dow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Miss Austen: the TV show about the Georgian writer’s life embraces her love of fiction – https://theconversation.com/miss-austen-the-tv-show-about-the-georgian-writers-life-embraces-her-love-of-fiction-249783

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Continuing Defense of Georgia Consumers, Senator Reverend Warnock Questions Nominee to Lead CFPB

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock – Georgia

    Continuing Defense of Georgia Consumers, Senator Reverend Warnock Questions Nominee to Lead CFPB

    Senator Reverend Warnock questioned Jonathan McKernan, the Trump Administration’s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

    In partnership with Senator Reverend Warnock, the CFPB addressed 266,560 complaints from Georgians, including 20,168 from servicemembers in the state

    The hearing followed the recent news of the dissolution of CFPB, one of multiple federal agencies gutted by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

    Senator Reverend Warnock is a member of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, which he chaired last Congress, and which oversees the CFPB

    Senator Reverend Warnock during the hearing: “You’ve [Jonathan McKernan] raised your hand to run the agency. I think you ought to know whether you think it’s a good thing to get rid of”

    Watch Senator Reverend Warnock at Thursday’s hearing HERE

    Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), a member and former chair of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, which oversees the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), questioned Jonathan McKernan and William Pulte, the Trump Administration’s nominees to lead the CFPB and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, respectively.

    Last Congress, Senator Warnock worked extensively with the CFPB to return funds and protect Georgians from future financial hardship, helping to address 266,560 complaints from Georgians, including 20,168 from servicemembers in the state. Additionally, Senator Warnock spearheaded several efforts to return dollars to hardworking Americans, including: remove medical debt from credit reports, rule ending an overdraft loophole, highlighting harmful practices in the private student lending market, safeguard Americans from ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ debts, and much more.

    During Senator Warnock’s line of questioning for Mr. McKernan, he highlighted the recent news of the dissolution of CFPB, one of many federal agencies gutted by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and if Mr. McKernan shared President Trump’s disturbing view that the agency is “a very important thing to get rid of.”

    “President Trump has said the CFPB is, quote, ‘A very important thing to get rid of.’ Yes or no. Do you agree with the President on that point?” asked Senator Warnock.

    “Senator, I think our elected officials decide normative questions like that,” said Mr. McKernan.

    “You’ve raised your hand to run the agency. I think you ought to know whether you think it’s a good thing to get rid of,” said Senator Warnock.

    The nomination hearing followed a special hearing earlier in the week that was organized by Ranking Member of the Banking Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and aimed to highlight the repercussions of dismantling the CFPB.

    Watch the Senator’s full remarks and line of questioning HERE. 

    See below transcript of the key exchange between Senator Warnock and CFPB Director nominee Jonathan McKernan:

    Senator Reverend Warnock (SRW): “Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – the CFPB – in the wake of the financial crisis, during which Americans saw Wall Street bankers get bailed out, while millions of working folks lost their jobs, their homes, their retirements, their life savings. That’s the situation out of which the CFPB emerged.” 

    “Mr. McKernan, thank you. I enjoyed our meeting yesterday. Good to meet you. And I want to follow up on our discussion about the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the CFPB, the agency you’ve been nominated to run. President Trump has said the CFPB is, quote, ‘A very important thing to get rid of.’ Yes or no. Do you agree with the President on that point?”

    Jonathan McKernan (JM): “Senator as I’ve said, the CFPB is a product of statute. That is a question for our elected official. It’s…”

    SRW: “Yes or no question, do you agree that it’s a very good thing to get rid of?”

    JM: “Senator, I think our elected officials decide normative questions like that.” 

    SRW: “You’ve raised your hand to run the agency. I think you ought to know whether you think it’s a good thing to get rid of.”

    JM: “Well, I will say this. I certainly think that consumer protection is a very good thing, it’s a critical thing. A federal consumer protection role is a very important thing. That’s a lesson I learned from my experience in the 2008 financial crisis. We need to have a regulatory system that works for everyday Americans, and that includes consumer protection.” 

    SRW: “I’ll take that as you agree with the President, that we don’t necessarily need the CFPB. We need consumer protection, but not the CFPB. Is that your answer?”

    JM: “We need, we need to have a strong consumer protection function.”

    SRW: “President Trump and Elon Musk have basically gotten rid of the CFPB, which is why the question is so urgent, and the bureau has seen dozens of key employees fired. They’ve been told not to engage in its core supervisory or examination duties required by the law, and has even had its physical headquarters closed and locked.”

    “I think that’s a pretty clear message. If someone closes down the office that you’ve been nominated to run.”

    “With the CFPB effectively eliminated. How on earth do you plan to lead a shell agency that’s been completely gutted?”

    JM: “Senator, I’m not aware of the situation both this the staffing and resources at the CFPB. Well, what I will point to is just what the administration has said in its filings, and some of the litigation ongoing here, and they have said that we are going to have a CFPB that is streamlined and efficient. And quoting, I think, from the brief here, it says, ‘A predicate of that is there will be a CFPB’ again, though this is a question for our elected officials, my job is to follow the law and execute on my mandate.”

    SRW: “In the last three months alone, the CFPB has received more than 80,000 complaints from Georgians, with the Bureau currently seeking resolution to more than 40,000 of those complaints with the CFPB shuttered by President Trump and Elon Musk, what’s your plan to ensure that the bureau resolves those 40,000 pending complaints from my constituents in Georgia?”

    JM: “Senator like I said, the consumer complaint function is a statutorily required function that’s in 1021c and so my mandate, if I’m confirmed, is to fulfill faithfully, fully that statutory mandate.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Dmitry Chernyshenko: 3 million tourists visited the Russian North and the Arctic in 2024

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Dmitry Chernyshenko during a working trip to Arkhangelsk and the Solovetsky Islands in the Arkhangelsk region.

    The growth in visits to the northern territories is an important result of the development of domestic tourism and the discovery of the potential of the country’s unique regions. This was stated on Arctic Day by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko during a working visit to Arkhangelsk and the Solovetsky Islands in the Arkhangelsk Region.

    The Deputy Prime Minister summed up the results of tourist visits to the regions of the Russian North and the Arctic in 2024.

    “The number of tourist trips around Russia is steadily growing, including in the regions of the Russian North and the Arctic. In 2024 alone, they were visited by 3 million people – this is 7% more than in 2023. This applies to both Russians and guests from abroad. The steady growth of domestic tourism ensures that we fulfill the task set by Russian President Vladimir Putin – to almost double the tourist flow in the country by 2030 – to 140 million people. This is largely due to the implementation of the national project “Tourism and Hospitality” and the interest of the regions in creating places of attraction,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko.

    Of the total number of tourists who visited the regions of Russia, according to the calculations of the Center for Strategic Research, more than 1.3 million tourists visited the Arctic territories (in 2023, according to estimates, about 1.2 million people visited the territory). Among the northern regions, tourists most often visited the Vologda Region and Karelia (about 700 thousand trips), and among the Arctic regions – the Murmansk Region (almost half a million trips).

    Chukotka is the leader in popularity growth, where the number of tourists has more than doubled. There is also a significant increase in tourist trips in the Murmansk Region (18.6% year-on-year), Krasnoyarsk Krai (16.1%) and Yakutia (10.6%).

    The number of foreign tourists has almost doubled, with more than 75,000 trips made. The largest share of foreign tourists is in the Murmansk Region (7.7%); in December, they made 20% of all trips to the region. At the same time, foreign tourists, unlike Russians, are equally active in traveling to the Arctic and the North in both winter and summer. From December 2023 to February 2024, they made 23,500 trips, and in the summer of 2024 – 25,500.

    Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov emphasized that the growing interest in the Russian North and the Arctic is not accidental and that the further growth of tourist trips to these regions is directly related to the development of modern tourism infrastructure.

    “The unique nature and culture of these territories attract more and more Russian and foreign tourists. The development of tourism infrastructure, including the construction of glampings and modular hotels on the coast of the Barents Sea and in Prionezhye, helps to further attract travelers. Over the past two years, more than 570 million rubles have been allocated to regions in the Arctic zone under the national project “Tourism and Hospitality” for the creation of modules. Large hotel complexes with a total number of rooms of about 1.1 thousand are also being built with support. The project of the ski resort “Ray-Iz” in the Polar Urals, which will become a powerful point of attraction for both Russian and foreign guests, was also supported under the preferential lending program,” the head of the Ministry of Economic Development noted.

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  • MIL-OSI Russia: Alexander Novak held a meeting with the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Alparslan Bayraktar

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Alexander Novak held a meeting with the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey, Alparslan Bayraktar.

    February 28, 2025

    Previous news Next news

    Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexander Novak held a meeting with the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Alparslan Bayraktar.

    The main topic of the meeting was cooperation in the oil, gas, coal, electric power and nuclear industries. It was noted that interaction in the energy sector is a strategic area of cooperation between Russia and Turkey.

    The parties discussed further investment cooperation in the fuel and energy sector, issues of supplying Russian energy resources to the Turkish market and increasing the share of mutual settlements in national currencies, as well as the progress of construction of the Akkuyu NPP, four power units of which are planned to be built in the Republic of Turkey by 2028.

    The Deputy Prime Minister noted the good results of trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Turkey in 2024. In 2023, Türkiye took third place among Russia’s foreign trade partners (third in exports and fifth in imports).

    “Political interaction between our countries remains intensive. We appreciate the principled position of the Turkish leadership – to continue developing mutually beneficial bilateral partnership with Russia, despite pressure from Western countries. I am confident that through the channels of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, every effort will be made to achieve new results in the trade and economic sphere,” Alexander Novak emphasized.

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  • MIL-OSI Russia: Financial news: Clarification of the procedure for registering clients during the DSVD

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Moscow Exchange – Moscow Exchange –

    The procedure for registering clients on weekends, previously announced in Developer Newsletter #17, has been clarified:

    Messages with “L” type operations will be processed only for new short trading codes. Messages with “L” type operations for changing market information of current (previously registered) short trading codes will be rejected with an error.

    The news text on the website has been changed to reflect the new registration procedure. Link: HTTPS: //VVV. MEEX.K.M.M.A detailed description of the weekend trading technology is available at the link: HTTPS: //VVV. MEEX.K.M.M..

    Contact information for media 7 (495) 363-3232Pr@moex.kom

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    HTTPS: //VVV. MEEX.K.M.M.

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  • MIL-OSI Russia: Financial news: The deadlines for sending notifications to the Bank of Russia have changed when individual officials of financial organizations change

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Central Bank of Russia –

    From March 1, 2025 the terms are increasing sending to the Bank of Russia notifications of dismissal from office (termination of temporary performance of official duties) of heads of internal control, internal audit and risk management services of a credit institution, special officials responsible for the implementation of internal control rules in a credit institution for the purpose of countering the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

    In addition, the amendments will make it possible to clearly determine from what moment the period for sending to the Bank of Russia notifications of appointment to a position (dismissal from a position), temporary performance of official duties (termination of official duties) of individual officials of credit institutions, insurance organizations, non-state pension funds, management companies of investment funds, mutual investment funds and non-state pension funds, microfinance companies is calculated.

    Preview photo: PATCHARIN.IN / Shutterstock / Fotodom

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    HTTPS: //VVV.KBR.ru/Press/Event/? ID = 23424

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  • MIL-OSI Russia: Financial News: How Weekend Trading Should Work

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Central Bank of Russia –

    The Bank of Russia has defined the conditions for trading on weekends in order to minimize risks for exchanges and their clients. Trading on Saturday and Sunday will not be considered as separate days, but as additional sessions on Monday. This will allow not to conduct clearing and settlements on weekends. The regulator sent the corresponding order to the organizers of trading.

    At the first stage, the exchanges must set the size of the price corridor within 3% (both up and down) of the value of the securities that formed by the end of Friday. The Bank of Russia recommends including highly liquid shares in the list of securities admitted to weekend trading. Such restrictions are aimed at avoiding increased volatility in the market.

    In the future, the Bank of Russia will monitor the trading activity of participants, the quality of pricing, and what financial instruments are traded on exchanges. All this will allow us to assess the possibility of scaling up trading on weekends and will be taken into account when deciding on the need to introduce additional restrictions.

    Preview photo: ShishkinStudio / Shutterstock / Fotodom

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  • MIL-OSI Russia: Financial news: 02/28/2025, 17-19 (Moscow time) the values of the upper limit of the price corridor and the range of market risk assessment for the security RU000A104TQ2 (EDR 1P-08) were changed.

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Moscow Exchange – Moscow Exchange –

    02.28.2025

    17:19

    In accordance with the Methodology for determining the risk parameters of the stock market and deposit market of Moscow Exchange PJSC by NCO NCC (JSC) on 28.02.2025, 17-19 (Moscow time), the values of the upper limit of the price corridor (up to 100.18) and the range of market risk assessment (up to 1078.43 rubles, equivalent to a rate of 12.5%) of the security RU000A104TQ2 (EDR 1P-08) were changed.

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    HTTPS: //VVV. MOEX.K.M.M.

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  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Former NASA Astronaut Mike Massimino Visits Atal Tinkering Lab at Modern Public School, Delhi

    Source: Government of India

    Posted On: 28 FEB 2025 9:33PM by PIB Delhi

    Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog hosted a special visit by Mike Massimino, former NASA astronaut and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University, to the Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) today in Delhi.

    The visit aimed to inspire young minds and promote scientific curiosity among students by providing them with an opportunity to interact with a veteran astronaut who has been part of two space shuttle missions and played a crucial role in servicing the Hubble Space Telescope.

    The dignitary was received by Ms. Alka Kapur, Principal, Modern Public School, along with students, followed by a presentation on Atal Tinkering Labs by Mr. Shubham Gupta, Innovation Lead, AIM, NITI Aayog.

    During the visit, the students showcased various innovative projects developed within the lab, highlighting the impact of AIM in fostering a culture of problem-solving and critical thinking among young learners. Mr. Mike also interacted with the students who are part of famous AzaadiSat satellite launch, a joint initiative of ISRO & Spacekidz. The satellite is built by 750 girl students of 75 schools across India. The eight-kg satellite has 75 Femto experiments, selfie cameras to click pictures of its own solar panels and long-range communication transponders. Ms. Srimathy Kesan, Founder, Spacekidz also briefed Mr. Mike about this unique initiative promoting Girl students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

    Mike Massimino, addressing the students, shared insights from his experiences as a NASA astronaut, the challenges of space missions, and the future of space exploration. His motivational speech encouraged students to dream big and explore STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields with passion.

    About Atal Tinkering Labs

    Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) are an initiative under Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, designed to cultivate an innovative mindset among school students. ATL is a workspace where young minds can give shape to their ideas through hands on do-it-yourself mode; and learn innovation skills. Young children get a chance to work with tools and equipment to understand the concepts of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). ATL contains educational and learning ‘do it yourself’ kits and equipment on – science, electronics, robotics, open-source microcontroller boards, sensors and 3D printers and computers.

    About Mike Massimino

    Mr. Mike Massimino, a former NASA astronaut, is a professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University and the senior advisor for space programs at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. He received a BS from Columbia University, and MS degrees in mechanical engineering and in technology and policy, as well as a PhD in mechanical engineering, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    After working as an engineer at IBM, NASA, and McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, along with academic appointments at Rice University and at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1996, and is the veteran of two space flights, the fourth and fifth Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions in 2002 and 2009. Mike has a team record for the number of hours spacewalking in a single space shuttle mission, and he was also the first person to tweet from space. During his NASA career he received two NASA Space Flight Medals, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the American Astronautical Society’s Flight Achievement Award, and the Star of Italian Solidarity.

    He is the Senior Adviser for Space Programs at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. He is also a professor in Columbia University’s engineering school, The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.

     

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  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Joint Statement: Second Meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council, New Delhi (February 28, 2025)

    Source: Government of India

    Posted On: 28 FEB 2025 6:25PM by PIB Delhi

    The second meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) took place in New Delhi on 28 February 2025. It was co-chaired on the Indian side by India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar; Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal; and Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw. Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Ms. Henna Virkkunen, Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency Mr. Maros Šefčovič and Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation Ms Ekaterina Zaharieva co-chaired on the EU side.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had established the India-EU TTC in April 2022 as a key bilateral platform to address challenges at the confluence of trade, trusted technology and security. India and the European Union, as two large and vibrant democracies with open market economies, shared values and pluralistic societies, are natural partners in a multipolar world.

    The deepening of bilateral relations and the growing strategic convergence between the EU and India respond to the shifting dynamics of the global geopolitical landscape and a common interest in promoting global stability, economic security, and sustainable and inclusive growth. In that respect, both sides emphasized again the importance of the rules-based international order and the full respect for the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, transparency, and peaceful resolution of disputes. The TTC reflects a shared acknowledgement between the EU and India of the increasingly critical links between trade and technology, the potential of cooperation on these issues to enhance the economies of both partners, and the need to work together on the related security challenges. Both sides note the potential of their partnership to increase resilience, strengthen connectivity and drive forward the development of green and clean technologies.

    The first meeting of the India-EU TTC was held in Brussels on 16 May 2023. The TTC Ministerial Meeting provided political guidance for the way forward. Subsequently on 24 November 2023, a stock-taking meeting in virtual mode reviewed the progress made by the three TTC working groups.

    Working Group 1 on Strategic Technologies, Digital Governance, and Digital Connectivity

    India and the European Union reaffirmed the importance of deepening their digital cooperation in line with their shared values through the Working Group 1 on Strategic Technologies, Digital Governance, and Digital Connectivity. Both sides committed to leverage their respective strengths to accelerate a human-centric digital transformation and the development of advanced and trustworthy digital technologies such as AI, semiconductors, High-Performance Computing and 6G, which will benefit both economies and societies. Both sides committed to work jointly to strengthen EU-India research and innovation for this purpose to further enhance competitiveness, while increasing their economic security. Both sides committed to promoting global connectivity in a cyber-secure digital ecosystem.

    Recognizing the importance of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for the development of open and inclusive digital economies and digital societies, India and the European Union agreed to collaborate on working towards interoperability of their respective DPIs that respect human rights and protect personal data, privacy, and intellectual property rights. Both sides further committed to jointly promote DPIs solutions to third countries and further emphasized the need of mutual recognition of e-signatures to enhance cross-border digital transactions and foster mutual economic growth.

    Both sides emphasized their commitment to further strengthen the resilience of semiconductor supply chains and promote collaboration in the field of semiconductors. To that end, they agreed to explore joint R&D in the field of chip design, heterogeneous integration, sustainable semiconductor technologies, technology development for advanced processes for process design kit (PDK), among others. Both sides shall promote the strengthening of the EU and Indian semiconductor ecosystems to enhance technological capabilities and ensure supply chain resilience by developing sustainable, secure and diversified semiconductor production capacities. Furthermore, they committed to developing a dedicated programme that will facilitate talent exchanges and foster semiconductor skills among students and young professionals.

    The two sides reiterated their commitment to safe, secure, trustworthy, human-centric, sustainable and responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) and to promote this vision on the international level. In addition, with a view to ensuring continued and impactful cooperation on AI, the European AI Office and India AI Mission agreed to deepen cooperation, encouraging an ecosystem of innovation and fostering information exchange on common open research questions for developing trustworthy AI. They also agreed to enhance cooperation on large language models, and to harness the potential of AI for human development and common good, including through joint projects such as developing tools and frameworks for ethical and responsible AI. These will build on the progress made under R&D collaboration on high-performance computing applications in the areas of natural hazards, climate change, and bioinformatics.

    India and the EU welcomed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Bharat 6G Alliance and the EU 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association for aligning research and development priorities and creating secured and trusted telecommunications and resilient supply chains. Both sides will also enhance cooperation on IT and telecoms standardisation with a particular focus on promoting interoperable global standards.

    Furthermore, the two sides agreed to work towards bridging the digital skills gap, explore mutual recognition of certifications, and promote legal pathways of skilled professionals and exchange of talent.

    Both sides agreed to collaborate on the implementation of the Global Digital Compact, agreed by consensus at the UN General Assembly in September 2024, as a key instrument for delivering on their shared objectives. They noted the need to ensure that the forthcoming World Summit on Information Society +20 maintains global support for and enhances the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance.

    Working Group 2 on Clean and Green Technologies

    India and the European Union recalled the importance of the priority workstreams identified under Working Group 2 on Clean and Green Technologies for achieving net zero emissions by 2070 and 2050 for India and the European Union, respectively. Achieving these targets will require significant investment in new clean technologies and standards. An emphasis on research and innovation (R&I) will foster technological collaboration and exchange of best practices between the EU and India. In parallel, supporting technological innovations for market uptake will enhance access to the respective markets by Indian and EU enterprises and facilitate wide adoption of innovative technologies. This opens perspectives for cooperation between Indian and EU incubators, SMEs and start-ups and building human resource capability and capacity in such technologies.

    In this regard, both sides agreed on joint research cooperation through exceptional coordinated calls on recycling of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), marine plastic litter, and waste-to-hydrogen. The estimated total joint budget will be about EUR 60 million from the Horizon Europe programme and from matching Indian contributions. On recycling of batteries for EVs, the focus will be on battery circularity through different kinds of flexible/low cost/easy to recycle batteries. In marine plastic litter, the focus will be on developing technologies for detection, measurement and analysis of aquatic litter and for mitigation of the cumulative impact of pollution on the marine environment. On waste-to-hydrogen, the focus will be on developing technologies with greater efficiency to produce hydrogen from biogenic wastes.

    The two sides recalled the importance of the substantive exchanges between experts in the identified areas of cooperation as the basis for future action. Indian experts have participated in a training and mutual learning exercise on EV interoperability and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) E-Mobility Lab in Ispra, Italy in January 2024. Furthermore, a joint hybrid workshop on EV Charging Technologies (Standardisation and Testing) was organised at the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune, India and online, to deepen the EU-Indian dialogue and the industry’s engagement in charging infrastructure standardisation processes with India. The two sides also concluded a Matchmaking Event to identify, support and organise exchanges between Indian and EU startups in technology for recycling of batteries for EVs. Experts also jointly discussed assessment and monitoring tools for marine plastic litter. Finally, an “Ideathon” fostering EU-India collaboration to co-create practical solutions involving all stakeholders for addressing marine plastic pollution effectively is in preparation.

    Both sides agreed to explore cooperation on harmonising standards for EV charging infrastructure, including cooperative, pre-normative research for harmonised testing solutions and knowledge exchange in the domain of e-mobility. They also agreed to explore how to enhance collaboration in the field of hydrogen-related safety standards, the science of standards as well as the market uptake of wastewater treatment technologies as outcomes of previous jointly conducted research projects.

    Working Group 3 on Trade, Investment and Resilient Value Chains

    India and the European Union noted productive discussions under Working Group 3 on Trade, Investment and Resilient Value Chains with a view to building a closer economic partnership between India and the European Union. In an increasingly challenging geopolitical context, both sides committed to work together for creating wealth and shared prosperity. The work under Working Group 3 complements the ongoing negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), an Investment Protection Agreement (IPA) and a Geographical Indications Agreement which are proceeding on separate tracks.

    Both sides committed to fostering resilient and future-ready value chains by prioritizing transparency, predictability, diversification, security and sustainability. Both sides expressed satisfaction with the progress made on Agri-food, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and Clean Technologies sectors and agreed on work plans in these three fields with the aim of promoting value chains that can withstand global challenges.

    In agriculture, India and the EU intend to collaborate on contingency planning for food security and welcomed common efforts on shared research and innovations needs regarding climate-resilient practices, crop diversification and infrastructure improvements as promoted for cooperation through the G20 framework. In the pharmaceutical sector, both sides aim to enhance transparency and security in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) supply chains by mapping vulnerabilities, promoting sustainable manufacturing, and establishing early warning systems to prevent disruptions. Clean technology cooperation centers on strengthening supply chains for solar energy, offshore wind, and clean hydrogen by exchanging information on sectoral capabilities and investment incentives and Research, Development and Innovation priorities as well as on methodologies to assess vulnerabilities, discussing approaches to minimize trade barriers and exploring possible synergies of the supply chains. Across these sectors, India and the EU are working to foster investment, exchange best practices, and mitigate risks through regular dialogues, research collaborations, and business-to-business engagements, ensuring supply chain resilience and sustainable economic growth.

    Both sides acknowledged that relevant priority market access issues are being addressed through cooperation within the TTC framework. The EU side appreciated the Indian initiatives to approve the marketing of several EU plant products while the Indian side appreciated the listing of a number of Indian aquaculture establishments and taking up the issue of equivalence for agricultural organic products. Both sides agreed to pursue their efforts on these topics, under the TTC review mechanism, and to continue their engagement on remaining issues flagged by each other.

    The two sides noted the exchanges regarding best practices in the screening of Foreign Direct Investments, which is an area of growing importance to foster economic security.

    India and the EU strengthened their commitment towards the multilateral trading system as an anchor in the current challenging geopolitical context. At the same time, they recognized the need to bring necessary reform to the WTO so that it is able to address efficiently and effectively issues of interest to Members. Both sides also recognized the importance of a functioning dispute settlement system. For this purpose, they agreed to deepen their dialogue and engagement to help the WTO deliver concrete outcomes, including at MC14.

    Both sides have held in-depth discussions on trade and decarbonization through several bilateral channels and have engaged jointly with stakeholders, especially on the implementation of the EU’s carbon border mechanism (CBAM). Both sides discussed the challenges arising out of CBAM implementation, in particular for the small and medium enterprises and agreed to continue addressing them.

    The co-chairs reaffirmed their commitment to expanding and deepening their engagement under the TTC and to working together to fulfill the goals laid out in this successful second meeting of the TTC. They agreed to meet again for the third meeting of TTC within one year from now.

     

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  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Leaders’ Statement: Visit of Ms. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission and EU College of Commissioners to India (February 27-28, 2025)

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Posted On: 28 FEB 2025 6:05PM by PIB Delhi

    Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and President of the European Commission Ms. Ursula von der Leyen affirmed that the EU-India Strategic Partnership has delivered strong benefits for their peoples and for the larger global good. They committed to raise this partnership to a higher-level, building upon 20 years of India-EU Strategic Partnership and over 30 years of India-EC Cooperation Agreement.

    President von der Leyen was on her landmark official visit as she led the European Union College of Commissioners to India on 27-28 February 2025. This is the first visit of the College of Commissioners outside the European continent since the start of their new mandate and also the first such visit in the history of India-EU bilateral ties.

    As the two largest democracies and open market economies with diverse pluralistic societies, India and EU underscored their commitment and shared interest in shaping a resilient multipolar global order that underpins peace and stability, economic growth and sustainable development.

    The leaders agreed that shared values and principles including democracy, rule of law, and the rules-based international order in line with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter make India and the EU like-minded and trusted partners. The India-EU Strategic partnership is needed now, more than ever, to jointly address global issues, foster stability, and promote mutual prosperity.

    In this context, they stressed the importance of intensifying cooperation between India and Europe in trade and de-risking of supply chains, investment, emerging critical technologies, innovation, talent, digital and green industrial transition, space and geospatial sectors, defence and people-to-people contacts. They also highlighted the need to cooperate on tackling common global challenges, including climate change, the governance of Artificial Intelligence, development finance, and terrorism in an interdependent world.

    The two leaders welcomed the progress made by the second ministerial meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) that took place during the visit in fostering deeper collaboration and strategic co-ordination at the intersection of trade, trusted technology, and green transition.

    They also welcomed the specific outcomes emerging from deliberations conducted between the EU College of Commissioners and their Indian counterpart Ministers.

    The leaders committed to as follows:

    i. Task their respective negotiating teams to pursue negotiations for a balanced, ambitious, and mutually beneficial FTA with the aim of concluding them within the course of the year, recognizing the centrality and importance of growing India EU trade and economic relations. The leaders asked the officials to work as trusted partners to enhance market access and remove trade barriers. They also tasked them to advance negotiations on an Agreement on Investment Protection and an Agreement on Geographical Indications.

    ii. Direct the India-EU Trade and Technology Council to further deepen its engagement to shape outcome-oriented cooperation in areas of economic security and supply chain resilience, market access and barriers to trade, strengthening of semiconductor ecosystems, trustworthy and sustainable Artificial Intelligence, high-performance computing, 6G, Digital Public Infrastructure, joint research and innovation for green and clean energy technologies with a focus on trusted partnerships and industry linkages across these sectors, including the recycling of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), marine plastic litter, and waste to green/renewable hydrogen. In this context, they welcomed the progress in the implementation of MoU on semiconductors for boosting the semiconductor supply chains, leveraging complementary strengths, facilitating talent exchanges and fostering semiconductor skills among students and young professionals; as well as the signing of MoU between Bharat 6G alliance and the EU 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association for creating secured and trusted telecommunications and resilient supply chains.

    iii. Further expand and deepen cooperation under India-EU partnerships in areas of connectivity, clean energy and climate, water, smart and sustainable urbanization, and disaster management as well as work to intensify cooperation in specific areas such as clean hydrogen, offshore wind, solar energy, sustainable urban mobility, aviation, and railways. In this context, they welcomed the agreement on holding an India-EU Green Hydrogen Forum and the India-EU Business Summit on Offshore Wind Energy.

    iv. Develop new specific areas of co-operation identified during the bilateral discussions between the EU Commissioners and Indian Ministers to be reflected in the future joint Strategic Agenda to drive mutual progress.

    v. Undertake concrete steps for the realization of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) announced during the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi, deepen their cooperation in the framework of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT 2.0), and Global Biofuels Alliance.

    vi. Strengthen people-to-people ties especially in the areas of higher education, research, tourism, culture, sports, and between their youths, and create an enabling environment for enhancing such exchanges. Also to promote legal, safe and orderly migration in areas of skilled workforce and professionals in view of India’s growing human capital and taking into account EU member states’ demographic profile and labour market needs.

    The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to promote a free, open, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific built on international law and mutual respect for sovereignty and peaceful resolution of disputes underpinned by effective regional institutions. India welcomed the EU joining the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI). Both sides also committed to explore trilateral co-operation including in Africa and the Indo-Pacific.

    The two leaders expressed satisfaction at growing cooperation in the defence and security domain, including joint exercises and collaboration between Indian Navy and EU Maritime security entities. The EU side welcomed India’s interest in joining the projects under the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) as well as to engage in negotiations for a Security of Information Agreement (SoIA). The leaders also committed to explore a security and defence partnership. They reiterated their commitment to international peace and security, including maritime security by tackling traditional and non-traditional threats to safeguard trade & sea lanes of communication. They emphasised the need to deepen collaboration in counter terrorism and to strengthen international cooperation to combat terrorism, including cross-border terrorism and terrorism financing in a comprehensive and sustained manner.

    The two leaders also discussed key international and regional issues, including on the situation in the Middle-East and the war in Ukraine. They expressed support for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine based on respect for international law, principles of the UN charter and territorial integrity and sovereignty. They also reiterated their commitment to the vision of the two-State solution with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security within recognized borders, consistent with international law.

    The Leaders recognized the productive and forward-looking nature of the discussions and agreed on the following concrete steps:

    (i) Expedite the conclusion of the FTA by the end of the year.

    (ii) Further focused discussions on defence industry and policy to explore opportunities from new initiatives and programmes.

    (iii) A review meeting with partners to take stock on the IMEC initiative.

    (iv) Engage on maritime domain awareness with a view to promoting shared assessment, coordination and interoperability.

    (v) Convene the next meeting of the TTC at an early date to deepen cooperation in semiconductors and other critical technologies.

    (vi) Enhance the dialogue on clean and green energy between governments and industry, with a focus on green hydrogen.

    (vii) Strengthening collaboration in the Indo-Pacific including through trilateral cooperation projects.

    (viii) Strengthen cooperation on Disaster Management through the development of appropriate arrangements including on policy and technical level engagement for preparedness, response capacities and coordination.

    Both leaders expressed confidence that this momentous visit will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the history of relations and reaffirmed their commitment to further expand and deepen the India-EU Strategic Partnership. They looked forward to the next India EU Summit being organized in India at the earliest mutually convenient time and to the adoption of a new joint Strategic Agenda on that occasion. President von der Leyen thanked Prime Minister Modi for his warm hospitality.

    *****

    MJPS/ST

    (Release ID: 2107015) Visitor Counter : 10

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Lobbying by fake NGOs – E-000123/2025(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    In well-functioning democracies, transparent and accountable interest representation is a legitimate activity. Transparency of information about interest representation activities and entities carrying out such activities is essential for maintaining both EU citizens’ trust in democratic processes and decision-makers’ ability to exercise their responsibilities.

    In 2023, the Commission presented the Defence of Democracy package[1] which includes a legislative proposal that aims to enhance transparency and democratic accountability of interest representation activities on behalf of third countries which seek to influence policies, decision making and the democratic space. The proposal is currently being discussed by the co-legislators.

    At EU level, the EU Transparency Register[2] covers activities carried out by interest representatives with the objective of influencing the formulation or implementation of policy or legislation, or the decision-making processes of the EU institutions. It is up to each EU institution to define the rules on their interaction with interest representatives.

    • [1] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_6453
    • [2] https://transparency-register.europa.eu/index_en
    Last updated: 28 February 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Illegal purchases and sales of Greek Cypriot properties encouraged by the occupation regime – E-002963/2024(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 389/2006 (the Aid Regulation)[1] provides that the Commission shall ensure that in the implementation of actions financed under the regulation the rights of natural or legal persons, including the rights to possessions and property, are respected.

    To this end, the Commission systematically consults the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus to avoid infringing property rights by such actions.

    Outside the scope of the Aid Regulation, the Commission has no competence to ensure that property transactions in the non-government-controlled areas respect the rights of the owners concerned, due to the suspension of the acquis in those areas pursuant to Protocol 10 of the 2003 Act of Accession[2].

    The Commission is aware of civil cases decided by courts of the Republic of Cyprus against EU citizens involved in illegal property transactions and property developments in the areas not under the effective control of the government of the Republic of Cyprus.

    All courts of the Member States are obliged to comply with the judgment of the Grand Chamber in the Case C-420/07 Apostolides v Orams[3].

    • [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32006R0389
    • [2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A12003T%2FPRO%2F10
    • [3] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2023-000070-ASW_EN.html
    Last updated: 28 February 2025

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  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Requests for talks by the outgoing European Ombudsman O’Reilly – P-000027/2025(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    The President of the Commission regrets that it was not possible to convene a dedicated meeting with outgoing European Ombudsman.

    The Commission would like to recall that during the long mandate of the European Ombudsman there have been numerous written exchanges between the President and the European Ombudsman, and that the cooperation between the Ombudsman’s and the Commission’s services have been extensive, daily, and very good.

    The Commission will continue to build on this positive and mutually beneficial relations with the incoming European Ombudsman.

    Last updated: 28 February 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – An end to Ryanair’s abusive fines at the airport? – E-002920/2024(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    Fines for air passengers not having checked in online by a certain time before departure are usually stipulated in the relevant airline’s terms and conditions of carriage.

    Under Council Directive 93/13/EEC[1] on unfair terms in consumer contracts, standard contract terms are regarded as unfair ‘if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, they cause a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer’. Unfair contract terms are not binding on consumers.

    The indicative list of unfair terms in the annex to the directive mentions disproportionately high penalties that consumers are requested to pay when failing to comply with their obligations.

    Under current EU consumer law, the Member States are responsible for the enforcement of consumer law. Whether or not a specific contract term is unfair under Council Directive 93/13/EEC is therefore assessed by national authorities and courts.

    Depending on their assessment, Member State authorities may take appropriate action against the use of such terms. In the event of a suspected widespread infringement of consumer law, Member State authorities may also activate the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network[2] established under Regulation (EU) 2017/2394[3].

    • [1] Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts, OJ L 95, 21.4.1993, p. 29-34.
    • [2] https://commission.europa.eu/live-work-travel-eu/consumer-rights-and-complaints/enforcement-consumer-protection/consumer-protection-cooperation-network_en
    • [3] Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 on cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004, OJ L 345, 27.12.2017, p.1-26.
    Last updated: 28 February 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Recruitment of seasonal firefighters and crackdown – E-002751/2024(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    Acknowledging the important role of firefighters and civil protection services, the Commission respectfully notes that EU law does not require making all seasonal firefighters permanent.

    In particular, the requirement to prevent abuse of fixed-term contracts under the framework Agreement on fixed-term work[1] applies only to ‘successive’ contracts. A contract initiated after a significant lapse of time is not considered successive[2]. Consequently, the employment relationships of seasonal firefighters do not count as abusive.

    The report on Strengthening Europe’s civilian and military preparedness by former Finnish President Niinistö, Special Adviser to the President of the Commission, tackles the topic of comprehensive preparedness, building on a whole-of-government, whole-of-society and all-hazards approach, including also climate-related disasters such as wildfires.

    Noting that prevention and preparedness help mitigating the effects of natural disasters, the report emphasises the key role of firefighters and civil protection services.

    The EU has a supporting competence in civil protection, complementing national prevention and preparedness efforts where a joint approach is more effective than separate actions, and encouraging cooperation under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism[3] to improve the effectiveness of prevention, preparedness, and response efforts against disasters. The functioning and deployment of firefighting services remain the competence of Member States.

    Concerning the clashes between seasonal firefighters and police, the Commission deplores violence but cannot comment on the specific incident.

    It recalls the importance of freedom of peaceful assembly, as guaranteed under the Greek Constitution.

    • [1] Annexed to Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP (OJ L 175, 10.7.1999, p. 43 ), https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/1999/70/oj/eng
    • [2] Case C-362/13, Fiamingo, par. 71.
    • [3] https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/what/civil-protection/eu-civil-protection-mechanism_en

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Music created by artificial intelligence – competition between humans and machines? – E-000733/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-000733/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Catherine Griset (PfE)

    Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence will allow well-trained AI to create music for public consumption.

    The EU wants to ensure fair remuneration for cultural and creative professionals, but competition between humans and machines could undermine those efforts.

    The legislator must therefore protect artists, without hindering either technological development or creative freedom and free enterprise.

    From this point of view, Article 53 of the Artificial Intelligence Act[1] introduces a ‘reservation of rights’ in the area of copyright and related rights, but it is difficult to apply in practice.

    Nor will a label to inform people that music has been generated by AI do anything to protect artists.

    As for the distribution of broadcasting revenues by the public authority, that will be difficult to tax internationally.

    In order to defend the ‘cultural exception’ and safeguard the creation of music by human artists – without hampering the unstoppable march of technology – could the Commission consider quotas for ‘human’ works in the various European music broadcasting markets, even as a precautionary measure?

    Submitted: 18.2.2025

    • [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ%3AL_202401689
    Last updated: 28 February 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – EU strategic autonomy and fertilisers – P-000834/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Priority question for written answer  P-000834/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Esther Herranz García (PPE)

    The latest sanctions announced against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine impose higher tariffs on nitrogen fertiliser imports into the EU from Russia and Belarus. As a result, the price of such fertilisers is expected to rise, increasing pressure on EU farmers.

    In light of both this and the fact that farmers are already facing challenges and are expressing their dissatisfaction at not being considered when such decisions are made, as well as in view of the need to continue to support Ukraine:

    • 1.What action does the Commission plan on taking to compensate EU farmers once these measures enter into force in July 2025?
    • 2.As one of the steps it could take, does the Commission intend to grant derogations under the Nitrates Directive to allow the current limit of 170 kg N/ha to be exceeded when using organic fertilisers (RENURE)?

    Submitted: 25.2.2025

    Last updated: 28 February 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Implementation of the Single-Use Plastics Directive with particular regard to the extended producer responsibility referred to in Article 8 – P-000856/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Priority question for written answer  P-000856/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Alexandra Mehnert (PPE)

    The Commission announced that it would be drawing up guidelines on the harmonised implementation of extended producer responsibility under Article 8 of the Single-Use Plastics Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/904) in order to ensure consistent application in all Member States. Those guidelines have not yet been published. As a result of extended producer responsibility, businesses in all Member States are already required to pay contributions into national recycling schemes.

    • 1.Is the Commission still drawing up the guidelines? If it is, what is the state of play and when is publication likely to take place? If it is not, why have the guidelines not been drawn up?
    • 2.In connection with the forthcoming evaluation of the Single-Use Plastics Directive, what measures is the Commission considering in order to cut red tape for businesses and ensure more straightforward and more efficient implementation of the directive, and in this context, is the Commission planning measures for greater harmonisation of national implementation arrangements in order to prevent distortions of competition and additional costs for businesses?
    • 3.How does the Commission view the problem of the same packaging being charged for more than once under parallel recycling schemes, and is thought being given to establishing a standard solution in the EU so as to prevent double charging and minimise costs for businesses?

    Submitted: 26.2.2025

    Last updated: 28 February 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Effectiveness of investigations into alleged pushbacks in Greece – E-000772/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-000772/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Erik Marquardt (Verts/ALE)

    The Commission has stated that it ‘is informed that Greece has taken measures and established independent mechanisms’[1] to investigate pushbacks and other fundamental rights violations through a ‘three tier set-up’[2] involving (a) internal control bodies of law enforcement authorities, (b) the National Transparency Authority (NTA) and the Ombudsman, and (c) prosecution services.

    How does the Commission evaluate the effectiveness of these mechanisms and their compliance with the enabling conditions of the Common Provisions Regulation[3], regarding:

    • 1.Prosecution services, given the serious doubts recently expressed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) as to the effectiveness of criminal investigations into the ‘systematic practice’ of pushbacks[4]?
    • 2.The NTA’s independence and methodology, in the light of recent concerns voiced by the ECtHR[5], and the Ombudsman, in the light of government interference regarding the Pylos shipwreck, including ministerial statements[6] questioning its competence?
    • 3.Internal control bodies of law enforcement authorities, given the Greek Coast Guard’s refusal to conduct an internal investigation into the Pylos shipwreck[7]?

    Submitted: 19.2.2025

    • [1] E-00762/2023(ASW).
    • [2] E-001651/2023(ASW).
    • [3] Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy, OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, p. 159, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/1060/oj.
    • [4] A.R.E. v. Greece (application No 15783/21), paragraphs 198 and 229.
    • [5] A.R.E. v. Greece (application No 15783/21), paragraphs 227-228.
    • [6] https://www.ynanp.gr/el/gr-epikoinwnias-enhmerwshs/anakoinwsh-toy-ypoyrgeioy-naytilias-kai-nhsiwtikhs-politikhs-sxetika-me-to-deltio-typoy-toy-synhgoroy-toy-polith-04022025/.
    • [7] https://www.synigoros.gr/el/category/default/post/deltio-typoy-or-o-synhgoros-toy-polith-ereyna-to-nayagio-ths-pyloy.
    Last updated: 28 February 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – EU-Mercosur: EUR 1.8 billion – genuine support or leverage for negotiation? – E-000776/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-000776/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Angéline Furet (PfE), Marie-Luce Brasier-Clain (PfE), Dominik Tarczyński (ECR), Christophe Bay (PfE), Malika Sorel (PfE), Julie Rechagneux (PfE), Nikola Bartůšek (PfE), Barbara Bonte (PfE), Pierre Pimpie (PfE), Nora Junco García (ECR), Marie Dauchy (PfE), Fabrice Leggeri (PfE), Anna Bryłka (PfE), Sarah Knafo (ESN), Pascale Piera (PfE), Valérie Deloge (PfE), Petr Bystron (ESN), Sebastian Tynkkynen (ECR), Diana Iovanovici Şoşoacă (NI), Tomasz Buczek (PfE), Mathilde Androuët (PfE), Mélanie Disdier (PfE)

    The Commission recently announced that it has allocated EUR 1.8 billion to Mercosur countries as part of the political agreement reached in December. However, the announcement raises multiple questions as, while the funds are officially intended to support Mercosur countries’ economic and environmental transition, some observers think they were possibly a bribe to smooth the way for concluding the agreement. This has cast a shadow over the transparency of the negotiations.

    To clarify things, could the Commission answer the following questions:

    • 1.What specific criteria guided the decision to allocate EUR 1.8 billion to Mercosur countries and how will this amount be distributed and used to ensure a fair transition, particularly on the social and environmental fronts?
    • 2.How is the Commission planning to address allegations of both a lack of transparency and possible conflicts of interest, so as to reassure EU citizens about the integrity of the Mercosur talks?
    • 3.What concrete monitoring, evaluation and control mechanisms will be put in place to ensure that these funds are used for the agreed purposes and that any risk of misappropriation or mismanagement is avoided?

    Submitted: 20.2.2025

    Last updated: 28 February 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Third-party monitoring mechanism in Libya – E-000728/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-000728/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Tineke Strik (Verts/ALE), Erik Marquardt (Verts/ALE)

    In its response to parliamentary question P-001069/2023[1] the Commission refers to a ‘third-party monitoring mechanism’ as the main instrument ‘to effectively monitor the implementation of migration projects through a do-no-harm and human rights compliance assessment’ for EU border management funding in Libya. Another response, to parliamentary question E-003311/2022[2], refers to the mechanism as a ‘third-party and Human Rights monitoring of operations in Libya’.

    However, in a recent letter relating to European Ombudsman case 2089/2023/ACB the Commission stated that the above-mentioned third-party monitoring mechanism does ‘not provide “evidence” that violations of the “do no harm” principle have occurred’[3].

    • 1.Is the ‘third-party monitoring mechanism’ in Libya monitoring whether assets or funding directly or indirectly provided by the EU and/or its implementing partners are contributing to human rights violations by the Libyan coastguard and other border guard entities in Libya?
    • 2.If not, what was the reason for the incorrect information provided to Members of the European Parliament in the context of the aforementioned written questions?
    • 3.What alternative method does the Commission use to monitor the compliance of EU funding provided for border management in Libya with human rights, as required under Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union?

    Submitted: 18.2.2025

    • [1] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/P-9-2023-001069-ASW_EN.html.
    • [2] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2022-003311-ASW_EN.html.
    • [3] https://euobserver.com/migration/arce4e3e46.
    Last updated: 28 February 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Bernard-Henri Lévy/ARTE case – measures to prevent conflicts of interest in Europe’s public audiovisual sector – E-000734/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-000734/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Catherine Griset (PfE)

    The recent investigation against Bernard-Henri Lévy for unlawful conflict of interest has revealed potential abuses in the management of public funds for the audiovisual sector. Over his 30+ years as chair of ARTE France’s supervisory board, he is said to have received EUR 750 000 in funding from the channel for his own film productions.

    This raises concerns over the lack of sufficient checks in the management of Europe’s public media, like ARTE, which is largely financed by taxpayers. Political interference and conflicts of interest have a detrimental impact on the sector’s transparency and independence, and thus undermine plurality and integrity of information.

    • 1.Can the Commission say what measures it will take to ensure that media financed by European public funds comply with strict transparency and ethical rules?
    • 2.Has it received information from the French and/or German authorities on the measures put in place to prevent conflicts of interest and ensure that media receiving public funding are being managed independently?

    Submitted: 18.2.2025

    Last updated: 28 February 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – EU-Mercosur trade agreement – E-000716/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-000716/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Marie-Pierre Vedrenne (Renew), Grégory Allione (Renew), Gilles Boyer (Renew), Saskia Bricmont (Verts/ALE), Borys Budka (PPE), Andrzej Buła (PPE), Benoit Cassart (Renew), Charles Goerens (Renew), Olivier Chastel (Renew), Valérie Devaux (Renew), Laurence Farreng (Renew), Sandro Gozi (Renew), Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz (PPE), Krzysztof Hetman (PPE), Adam Jarubas (PPE), Dariusz Joński (PPE), Nathalie Loiseau (Renew), Ciaran Mullooly (Renew), Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz (PPE), Jessika Van Leeuwen (PPE), Marta Wcisło (PPE), Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew), Bogdan Andrzej Zdrojewski (PPE), Christophe Grudler (Renew), Elisabeth Grossmann (S&D), Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D)

    With the Commission’s decision on 6 December 2024 to conclude negotiations on a trade agreement between the Mercosur countries and the European Union, a number of issues need to be clarified with a view to ratification and potential implementation.

    • 1.Regarding safeguard clauses, these essential mechanisms only offer protection if they are effective. How does the Commission intend to ensure they are activated and properly implemented in the event of market destabilisation?
    • 2.Given that the agreement goes well beyond trade issues, which are inextricably linked to political and legal issues, what ratification procedure does the President of the European Commission intend to use?
    • 3.How does the Commission intend to improve the traceability and ensure the conformity of agri-food products entering the European Union, and what implementation mechanisms does the Commission intend to put in place to strengthen controls on imported products to ensure systematic compliance with the health, environmental and quality standards required by the European Union?

    Submitted: 17.2.2025

    Last updated: 28 February 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Removal of Panama from the list in the annex to Directive (EU) 2018/843 – E-000815/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-000815/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Leire Pajín (S&D), Javi López (S&D)

    In connection with Directive (EU) 2018/843 on combating money laundering and terrorist financing, it is important to have an up-to-date list of countries based on strict and adjusted criteria. The Commission last updated this list on 12 December 2023 under the power delegated to it. On 23 April 2024, Parliament rejected the Commission’s proposal to add Kenya and Namibia to the list and to remove Barbados, Gibraltar, Panama, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates.

    Panama is a key partner for the EU and plays a vital role in leadership and stability in the region. On the subject of removing Panama from the list, the Commission stated that the country has no strategic deficiencies in its fight against money laundering and terrorist financing and that it does not pose a significant threat to the EU’s financial system.

    Therefore, in light of the above:

    • 1.When will the Commission present a new proposal for a delegated act to update the list?
    • 2.Is the Commission considering technical measures to make updating the list more streamlined, such as separating countries into regional areas?

    Submitted: 21.2.2025

    Last updated: 28 February 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –