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Category: Europe

  • MIL-OSI Security: CEO of Financial Firm Sentenced to Prison for Running a Multimillion Dollar Fraud

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    SAN DIEGO – Carlos Manuel da Silva Santos, the founder and chief executive officer of San Diego-based Ethos Asset Management, Inc., which offered financing to domestic and international businesses, was sentenced to 87 months in prison for tricking borrowers into paying him more than $17 million in up-front loan fees for nothing in return – conduct that U.S. District Judge Robert S. Huie described as “reprehensible.”

    Santos pleaded guilty in January 2025 to wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft in connection with his advance-fee loan scam through his company, Ethos.

    Santos, a Portuguese national, has been in custody since his arrest on November 13, 2023, in Newark, New Jersey, after arriving in the United States from abroad.

    According to his plea agreement, Santos admitted he and co-conspirators held Ethos out to the public as a “full-service project financing” company that offered loans to prospective borrowers in exchange for an upfront fee as collateral for Ethos to use. However, on many occasions when a borrower gave Ethos the upfront fee as collateral, Ethos’ funding never materialized.

    To induce prospective borrowers to send Ethos an upfront fee as collateral and enter into loan agreements, Santos and his co-conspirators lied about Ethos’ history of funding projects, the source of Ethos’ money, the amount of capital available to disburse loans, and how Ethos used the collateral upfront fees. For instance, Santos admitted that he used money from the upfront collateral fees to release collateral deposited by other borrowers and to disburse loans to other borrowers.

    Santos also admitted that he and others altered otherwise legitimate financial account statements to inflate the amount of money Ethos appeared to have at its disposal to finance projects for the purpose of luring prospective borrowers to provide collateral and financial institutions to lend money. For example, in August 2021, Santos successfully induced a borrower to wire money as a collateral upfront fee by sending a bank statement that falsely represented Ethos having $100,304,447.46 when, in fact, it did not.

    In February and May 2023, Santos again induced borrowers to provide collateral upfront fees by emailing a copy of Ethos’ annual financial statements reflecting falsely that Ethos had over $2.2 billion in total assets and that an accounting firm had audited the statements. Indeed, Santos admitted that he knowingly forged the signature of an employee at a bookkeeping firm on Ethos’s 2022 annual financial statement to falsely indicate that the firm had audited the statement. In each noted example, Ethos fraudulently obtained upfront fees and failed to disburse loan payments as promised.

    Santos further admitted Ethos’ project financing scheme was international in nature, with a presence in the United States, Brazil, Turkey, and elsewhere. Santos admitted his scheme resulted in $17,125,000 in losses to certain U.S.-based victims. The plea agreement also explains that the parties will request a restitution hearing allowing the United States to offer evidence that Santos owes significantly more money to various other victims.

    According to the plea agreement, Santos also forged the signature of an employee at an accounting firm to make it appear that the firm had audited Ethos’ annual financial reports.

    “Fraud like this is a calculated abuse of trust,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon. “It strips people of their money under false promises. The impact is real, measurable, and lasting—and it calls for real consequences.”

    “Businesses, large or small are the backbone of our economy yet one wrong or ill advised financial move can result in significant losses or even complete ruin,” said Shawn Gibson, special agent in charge for HSI San Diego. “HSI and our partner agencies are committed to preventing greedy scammers from victimizing and profiting from legitimate businesses. Our country relies on these businesses and law enforcement will continue to protect them from criminals.”

    A restitution hearing will be held at a later date.

    This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys E. Christopher Beeler and Carl F. Brooker, IV.

    If you believe you are a victim of Carlos Santos and his company Ethos Asset Management, Inc., contact Homeland Security Investigations at ethos-victim@hsi.dhs.gov.

    DEFENDANT

    Carlos Manuel da Silva Santos                  Age: 30                                  Portugal

    SUMMARY OF CHARGES

    Wire Fraud Conspiracy – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1349

    Maximum penalty: Thirty years in prison and $250,000 fine

    Aggravated Identity Theft – Title 18, U.S.C. Section 1028A

    Maximum penalty: Mandatory two years in prison consecutive to the term for the underlying felony

    INVESTIGATING AGENCY

    Homeland Security Investigations

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Carter celebrates brownfield funding for Brunswick, Darien

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Earl L Buddy Carter (GA-01)

    Headline: Carter celebrates brownfield funding for Brunswick, Darien

    BRUNSWICK – Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA) today celebrated the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement that it has selected the cities of Brunswick and Darien as recipients of Brownfield Grants to assess, clean up, and revitalize local lands.


    According to the EPA’s press release, the Coastal Regional Commission of Georgia will receive a $1.2 million assessment grant for 20 Phase I and 50 Phase II environmental site assessments, reuse assessment, planning, and community engagement activities. Targeted areas are cities of Darien, Brunswick and Statesboro. 


    “I am thrilled that this necessary funding, which I have long advocated for, is coming to our district. These funds will help revitalize portions of our beautiful coast, bringing jobs and opportunity with them. No one loves the environment more than south Georgians, and we want our home to be a healthy place to live, work, play, and learn. I thank EPA Administrator Zeldin for his outstanding efforts to help get this done on behalf of Georgians,”     said Rep. Carter.


    For more on Brownfields Grants:     https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/types-brownfields-grant-funding

    For more on EPA’s Brownfields Program: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Sen. Islam Parkes Sends Letter to Georgia Attorney General Seeking Answers for Georgia Families

    Source: US State of Georgia

    ATLANTA (May 16, 2025) — Today, Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes (D–Duluth) formally requested a legal opinion from Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr on how Georgia’s abortion law applies in circumstances where the mother is deemed medically brain dead.

    Sen. Islam Parkes cited recent news reports detailing the case of Adriana Smith, a Georgia woman who was declared brain dead and is being kept on life support due to her pregnancy. The letter raises questions about whether Georgia law requires life support to be continued under such circumstances, even without the consent of the woman’s family.

    The full letter is available below.

    # # # #

    Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes represents the 7th Senate District including a portion of Gwinnett County. She may be reached at (404) 463-5263 or by email at nabilah.islam@senate.ga.gov.

    For all media inquiries, please reach out to SenatePressInquiries@senate.ga.gov.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: H-bomb creator Richard Garwin was a giant in science, technology and policy

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Matthew Bunn, Professor of the Practice of Energy, National Security, and Foreign Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

    President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Richard Garwin at the White House on Nov. 22, 2016. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

    Richard Garwin, who died on May 13, 2025, at the age of 97, was sometimes called “the most influential scientist you’ve never heard of.” He got his Ph.D. in physics at 21 under Enrico Fermi – a Nobel Prize winner and friend of Einstein’s – who called Garwin “the only true genius” he’d ever met.

    A polymath curious about almost everything, he was one of the few people elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine for pathbreaking contributions in all of those fields. He held 47 patents and published over 500 scientific papers. A giant trove of his papers and talks can be found in the Garwin Archive at the Federation of American Scientists.

    Garwin was best known for having done the engineering design for the first-ever thermonuclear explosion, turning the Teller-Ulam idea of triggering a fusion reaction with radiation pressure into a working hydrogen bomb – one with roughly 700 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb. He did that over the summer when he was 23. Over the decades that followed, he contributed to countless other military advances, including inventing key technology that enabled reconnaissance satellites.

    Arms control advocate

    Yet Garwin was also a longtime advocate of nuclear arms control and ultimately of nuclear disarmament. Working on nuclear deterrence and arms control, now at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, I got to know Garwin as a tireless and effective participant in dialogues with scientists and current or former officials in Russia, China, India and elsewhere, making the case for steps to limit nuclear weapons and reduce their dangers.

    Garwin was an early participant in the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 for its disarmament work. He was also a founding member, in 1980, of the National Academies’ Committee on International Security and Arms Control, where he continued discussing ideas for reducing nuclear dangers with foreign colleagues throughout his life.

    An excerpt of a documentary about Richard Garwin.

    The deep respect that top Russian and Chinese nuclear weapons scientists had for him was palpable – even though he was often blunt in telling them where he thought their arguments were wrong. Once, at a workshop in Beijing, after listening to the leader of China’s program to develop nuclear “breeder” reactors lay out his program, Garwin started his remarks by saying, “This is a poorly designed breeder program that will fail” – and then laying out why he thought that was the case.

    Because nongovernment experts have a freedom to explore ideas that government negotiators lack, these kinds of dialogues played a key role in developing the concepts that led to nuclear arms control agreements and, I would argue, contributed to ending the Cold War. As an example, one committee team that included Garwin helped convince Chinese weapons scientists that their country had no more need for nuclear tests and should sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty – which it did soon after the discussion.

    Only weeks before his death, he and I and others participated in a Zoom meeting with Russian nuclear weapons experts discussing what initial steps should be taken if U.S.-Russian political relations improved enough for them to resume discussions of nuclear restraint and risk reduction.

    Garwin’s mind seemed to be interested in everything at once – and he had a wry sense of humor that could enliven a dry meeting. When I was directing a National Academies study about dealing with the plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons after the Cold War, he would send an email with a penetrating insight on some issue in the study, followed by an equally long query about the parking arrangements for the meeting.

    We put him in charge of assessing all the especially strange options for dealing with the plutonium. Once, while diagramming on a chalkboard the option of diluting the plutonium in the ocean, he drew the ship that would be doing the work and then began drawing many smaller vessels. Someone asked him what those were, and he said: “Oh, those are the Greenpeace boats.”

    Science, technology and policy

    Garwin’s unbelievable energies focused on three broad areas: fundamental science, new technologies and advising the government.

    In fundamental science, he made major contributions to the detection and study of gravitational waves, and he helped to discover what physicists call parity violation in the weak nuclear force – a discovery that was one of the building blocks for what is now the standard model of the fundamental forces of the universe.

    In new technologies, beyond weapons and satellites, he played a key role in the invention of touch screens, magnetic resonance imaging, laser printers and the GPS technology that enables us all to get directions on our cellphones. He was a researcher at IBM from 1952 to 1993.

    Garwin advised the government on panels ranging from the President’s Science Advisory Committee, to the JASON panel of high-level defense advisers, to leading the State Department’s Arms Control and Nonproliferation Advisory Board (now called the International Security Advisory Board). He made major contributions to thinking about problems ranging from antisubmarine warfare to missile defense. He was a pungent critic of the “Star Wars” missile defense program launched in the Reagan administration, pointing out the wide range of ways enemies could defeat it more cheaply. His range was remarkable: He was called on to offer ideas for capping the blowout of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and on managing the COVID-19 pandemic.

    His curiosity was not limited to important matters. Once, as I was sitting next to him waiting for a meeting to start, he told me that if you took a Superball – a small, extremely elastic rubber ball – and bounced it diagonally on the floor so that it bounced up onto the bottom of the table, it would bounce back onto the same spot on the floor and back into your hand. I said I didn’t believe it for a minute – surely it would keep bouncing forward until it got to the other side of the table. He gave me an explanation I didn’t fully understand, involving energy of forward motion being converted to torque, and then converted into energy of backward motion.

    When I got home, I received an express package from him containing an article he’d written in the American Journal of Physics, titled “Kinematics of an Ultraelastic Rough Ball,” with pages of equations explaining how this worked. The first figure in the paper is a stick-figure drawing of bouncing such a ball, with a footnote: “This was first demonstrated to me by L. W. Alverez using a Wham-O Super Ball.” Luis Alverez was a Nobel Prize winner in physics.

    An oral history interview with Richard ‘Dick’ Garwin.

    An honored life

    Garwin’s brilliance was obvious to all who encountered him and won him wide recognition. In addition to election to all three national academies, he was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2002 by President George W. Bush. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

    Amid all this activity, Garwin was a family man. His marriage to his beloved wife, Lois, lasted over 70 years, until her death in 2018. They have three children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

    The advances Garwin contributed to have enhanced our understanding of the universe and benefited millions of people around the world. And as dark as nuclear dangers may seem today, the world is further from the nuclear brink than it would have been if Richard Garwin had never been born.

    Matthew Bunn is a member of the National Academies Committee on International Security and Arms Control and a board member of the Arms Control Association. He is a member of the Academic Alliance of the United States Strategic Command and a consultant to Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

    – ref. H-bomb creator Richard Garwin was a giant in science, technology and policy – https://theconversation.com/h-bomb-creator-richard-garwin-was-a-giant-in-science-technology-and-policy-256866

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Horses and Bourses: Remarks at the 12th Annual Conference on Financial Market Regulation

    Source: Securities and Exchange Commission

    Thank you for having me here today as part of the 12th Annual Conference on Financial Market Regulation. Before I begin, I must remind you that my views are my own as a Commissioner and not necessarily those of the SEC or my fellow Commissioners. I appreciate the collaboration of the SEC’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis, Lehigh University’s Center for Financial Services, and the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business in hosting this conference. The Commission benefits from economic research on financial regulation.

    Given that the SEC is a market regulator, I am disappointed when deprecation of economic fundamentals slips into the Commission’s work. An incident recounted by Ulysses S. Grant in his memoirs reminded me of a quibble I had with the justification for a recent Commission rulemaking. When Grant was about eight years-old, his father dispatched him to buy a horse: impressive, even if his negotiating skills proved not to be. Grant’s father thought the horse worth only twenty dollars, but told the young Grant—who desperately wanted the animal—that he should start by offering twenty dollars and could work his way up to twenty-five. The future Union general and U.S. president implemented his father’s instructions as follows: “Papa says I may offer you twenty dollars for the colt, but if you won’t take that, I am to offer twenty-two and a half, and if you won’t take that, to give you twenty-five.”[1] He paid twenty-five.

    The incident in which he informed his counterparty to his own detriment was long a source of embarrassment for Grant, but how much more embarrassing it is for a market regulator to suggest that fully informed traders are a prerequisite for fair markets. The Commission took that position in its recent rulemaking to shorten beneficial ownership reporting timelines; it justified faster mandatory reporting of position build-ups on the theory that buyers who voluntarily sell at a price that has not incorporated all available information suffer harm by not having information that other investors have.[2] As I said at the time, the SEC was “invent[ing] investor harm . . . We want to encourage investors to ferret out information and find undervalued companies. Indeed, information asymmetries in this sense—where investors have equal access to disclosure from the issuer and insiders, but come to different conclusions about the long term prospects of a company based on their respective due diligence—are a feature, not a bug, of our capital markets.”[3] The eight-year-old Grant’s horse trade was his tutor on market principles.[4] So too the ninety-year-old SEC needs tutorials—provided by economists like you—to refresh our acquaintance with market principles.

    Economists are essential partners in the difficult task of writing rules to protect investors and market integrity. You can help us analyze whether market behaviors are the natural outcome of supply and demand, innovation, and competition, or whether they are a consequence of the rules that govern that market. In the latter case, you can assist us in assessing whether regulation has changed the markets for better or worse. Economists understand that markets effectively solve problems that look intractable to many a regulatory lawyer, and that regulation often exacerbates problems or creates new ones. Economists, of course, are not perfect. They, right along with lawyers, can get entranced with the power and promise of regulatory lever-pulling. A commitment to basic economic principles, however, helps combat tendencies toward regulatory micromanagement. Accordingly, today, I want to enlist your help in thinking about exchanges.

    Market structure issues are notoriously complicated to diagnose and to resolve, but economic research can help us do both. We have spent a lot of time in recent years tinkering with equity market structure. I have supported some of those changes, including improvements to market data infrastructure, enhanced execution quality reporting requirements, and tick size changes. I have objected to others out of a concern that they would lead to inferior execution and decreased investor choice. As I considered each equity markets initiative, even those I supported, I could not help but wonder: What would the market landscape look like if the SEC were not micromanaging it? Would we have so many exchanges? Would they be more heterogeneous? Would a single exchange offer different trading models? Would they be self-regulating, or would they have outsourced that responsibility? How would they charge for market data? Would off-exchange trading platforms, like ATSs, have developed differently or not at all? Would the internalization of trades be as prevalent? And, most important, would the market be better or worse for issuers, investors, and traders without all the micromanagement?

    My starting point is that people do not need a government regulator to make markets. If one person has something that someone else wants, a market transaction can make both better off. Humans grasp this principle without external prodding; buyers and sellers organically find each other all the time and in all sorts of places. Third parties, from your local farmer’s market to a giant online marketplace, routinely step in to intermediate these sales. Again, their involvement occurs naturally: people, of their own volition, identify and fill a need to establish a market. Markets for bringing together suppliers and consumers of capital also emerge organically. Brokers to help people buy and sell and exchanges where such transactions could occur arose without government orchestration.[5] Innkeepers in Belgium and proprietors of coffee houses in London cultivated exchanges.[6] Eventually, some of these venues transformed into self-regulating exchanges.[7] The storied Buttonwood Agreement of 1792 established the first set of rules for commissions and how stocks could be traded on what would become the New York Stock Exchange, and rival exchanges grew and proliferated. Throughout the 1800s, exchanges—which their members owned—developed an increasingly sophisticated set of rules that governed trading, adjudicated disputes among members, and disciplined members for violations. More recently, we have seen the introduction of autonomous trading protocols to facilitate crypto transactions. Users of these protocols submit to regulation also, albeit by software code. The ability of markets to emerge, expand, and self-regulate without government involvement should keep us all humble.

    Because markets arise and thrive on their own, government should involve itself only where it can improve their functioning. When it first wrote the securities laws, established the SEC, and gave it authority over exchanges, Congress decided that securities markets would benefit from government intervention. Congress recognized, however, the role exchanges played in regulating the markets and feared that too much direct regulation of the securities industry would prove ineffective.[8] Therefore, while the Exchange Act required exchanges to register with the Commission, their self-regulatory nature was retained. Congress charged exchanges with enforcing Exchange Act provisions against their members and disciplining any member that acted “inconsistent with just and equitable principles of trade.”[9] The Exchange Act preserved for them, however, what a later Congress described as “seemingly open-ended authority”[10]to promulgate rules so long as they were not inconsistent with the Exchange Act or state law.[11]

    Four decades later, in the Securities Acts Amendments of 1975, Congress amended the Exchange Act to tighten Commission oversight of exchanges. New section 19(b) of the Exchange Act bolstered requirements for self-regulatory organizations (“SROs”), including the exchanges, to file and seek Commission pre-approval for all rule changes.[12] The “open-ended authority” that previously applied to exchange rulemaking was gone—replaced by an amended section 6(b)(5), which required that any rule promulgated by the exchange be designed to achieve a set of specific purposes and standards and prohibited exchanges from regulating “matters not related to the purposes” of the Exchange Act.[13]

    The 1975 amendments also gave the Commission a new cross-exchange mandate to “facilitate the establishment of a national market system for securities.”[14] Given that a national market already existed, the Commission needed, in the words of the Commission’s then Chairman, to commit itself “to a search for, and the development of, the national market system that the Congress has ordered.”[15] Two years later, the SEC’s new Chairman lamented the “current rate of progress” and warned industry that if it did not take the lead in creating such a system that satisfied his vision for a national market system,[16] the SEC would.[17] The Commission took steps over the years to link markets in response to the 1975 directive,[18] but a fresh push came three decades later in Regulation NMS. Central to the 2005 effort was the controversial Order Protection Rule (“OPR”),[19] which was intended to ensure competition among orders across markets and reward market participants for publicly displaying quotes.[20]

    At first glance, the exchange landscape looks vibrant. Right now, there are 16 operating exchanges that trade equities, and more exchanges are waiting in the wings. In the past half-year, the Commission has approved three new equity exchanges that have yet to commence operations.[21] The Commission currently is considering applications for two new equity exchanges. If all these exchanges are approved and begin operating, the market will have 21 equity exchanges, compared to 11 in 2014 and 8 (plus Nasdaq, which was not yet an exchange) in 2005. If twenty-one seems high, consider that in 1934, when exchanges were first required to register with the newly formed Commission, 36 exchanges operated throughout the country.[22] At that time, regional exchanges had sprung up to raise capital for local industries shunned by New York money. For example, in my hometown of Cleveland an exchange founded in 1900 helped raise capital for local firms in the newly emerging rubber industry and the always-present brewery industry.[23] Since then, however, the number of exchanges had been declining steadily until recently. In the 72 years between 1934, when exchanges were first required to register, and 2006, when Nasdaq registered as an exchange, few new exchanges formed, and fewer survived.[24] My cherished Cleveland exchange lasted only until 1949, when it merged with stock exchanges in Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and St. Louis to become the Midwest Exchange.[25]

    While different types of exchange trading models exist and issuers have several listing options, the exchange landscape feels a bit like a modern subdivision with acres of undifferentiated houses. Some of these new exchanges have been innovative: they have offered new ways to trade, such as speed bumps and extended hours. But many exchanges offer few differences in terms of how stocks trade beyond their pricing and rebate models. Some entrants file applications that display no intent to innovate. Exchanges generally do not serve particular regions or industries as they once did.

    This largely homogenous, proliferating exchange landscape may be a product of government regulation. One cause may be the Order Protection Rule, which generally prohibits transactions on an exchange from executing at a price that is inferior to the best price on any other exchange. In practice, to comply with this rule and with best execution obligations, market participants connect to all exchanges, even those with limited liquidity, on the chance that the best price could be located there. Consequently, an exchange can earn significant revenue through connectivity and market data fees regardless of how much trading volume it attracts or how many issuers choose to list there. Among the sixteen exchanges, half of them capture less than 1% of total market volume each.[26] Many exchanges sit within families operated by a single exchange operator. Each additional exchange brings new connectivity fees, new market data fees, and additional clout on the committee that sets those fees.

    Even with all these exchanges, approximately half of volume takes place off-exchange. Here we see more variety. Alternative trading systems, or ATSs, have proliferated since the turn of this century and are trading venues with functionalities similar to those offered by exchanges. ATSs differ from exchanges largely as a result of regulatory policy, rather than market function.[27] Thirty-three ATSs currently trade equities, [28] and several of them have greater trading volume than some exchanges.[29] These ATSs offer different trading models to cater to different investors. In addition to off-exchange trading on ATSs, wholesalers, which internalize trades, execute a sizable proportion of total retail trades. ATSs and internalizers can do things, such as segmenting retail and institutional order flow, that exchanges cannot do. Statutory and regulatory prohibitions prevent exchanges from treating one set of market participants differently than another or inhibiting access to their quotations, while most ATSs are permitted to choose who can use their venue.[30] Moreover, ATSs and internalizers, which are not subject to Section 19(b) rule filing requirements, can be more flexible than exchanges so they can adopt new technologies more quickly.

    The primary regulatory difference between exchanges and ATSs is that the former are SROs and the latter are not. Exchanges enjoy certain benefits as SROs, chief among which is that they are entitled to absolute immunity with respect to the regulatory functions delegated to them under the Exchange Act. Moreover, exchanges are able to substantially cap their liabilities through rule-based liability limits contained in their rulebooks. But they also face constraints that ATSs and internalizers do not. They have to regulate and surveil their own markets, monitor and supervise the conduct of their members, and enforce their own rules. If an exchange fails to enforce its own rules, the Commission may bring an enforcement action against it.[31] An ATS, even one with a higher market share than an exchange, has fewer and lighter obligations, although an ATS laboring under the burden of Regulation SCI might not feel lightly regulated.

    Section 19(b) rule filing requirements can be particularly constraining on exchanges. Exchanges have to file with the SEC any new rule or amendment to an existing rule, which can lead to a lengthy public notice and comment process. This process makes initiating and changing operations, products and services, technologies, and fees cumbersome and slow, and can make it hard for an exchange to maintain an innovation as a trade secret.[32] Incidentally, this process also is burdensome for Commission staff. Moreover, after the exchange has gone through the costly and time-consuming process of seeking and gaining SEC approval for its innovation, other exchanges can copy it,[33] as has happened several times in the recent past. Exchange operators that have sought to supplement their exchange business with other profit-making activities also have run into the Commission’s broad reading of “facility” of an exchange.[34] If something is deemed to be a facility of the exchange, it is subject to the same regulation and rule filing requirement as the exchange itself, with all its added costs and burdens. Congress, in section 6(b)(5) of the Exchange Act, also prohibited exchanges from “regulat[ing] by virtue of any authority conferred by this chapter matters not related to the purposes of this chapter or the administration of the exchange.”[35] This prohibition is appropriate—allowing exchanges to capitalize on their authority as government-sanctioned SROs to force conduct unrelated to that authority can be very problematic.[36] But this statutory limitation does make it difficult for exchanges to differentiate themselves by catering to a specific segment of the market.

    What, if anything, should be done about this state of affairs? We could consider more targeted changes to the rules governing the equity markets to enhance true competition among trading and listing venues. We could eliminate the OPR, limit its application to exchanges that meet certain thresholds, or modify it in other ways. We could narrow our interpretation of facility or provide exemptions with commercially reasonable conditions. We could offer more flexibility for trading venues to concentrate liquidity for less liquid stocks or more choice by issuers around how their stocks trade. We could consider whether the current liability limitations in exchange rulebooks are appropriate. And we should not be afraid to allow exchanges to try targeted experimentation along the lines of our 2019 effort to facilitate innovative proposals for changes in equity market structure to improve trading in thinly traded securities.[37]

    We could also consider whether changes to exchange SRO status would be appropriate. Throwing out the exchange SRO model in its entirety would be premature, although questions about the model are not novel. The Commission has previously solicited comments about self-regulation.[38] And nearly thirteen years ago, my predecessor Commissioner Gallagher raised many questions about the SRO model, including whether exchanges should still be SROs.[39] Given the increased proliferation of exchanges and the further fragmentation of the equity markets since then, his questions remain worthy of consideration. Changes to the SRO status of exchanges would require Congressional action and demand careful thought and scrutiny before going forward. Exchanges without SRO status would likely no longer enjoy absolute immunity, but would also likely be freed, at least somewhat, of the burdens of the 19(b) rule filing process or the 6(b)(5) limitations on its rules being related to the purposes of the Exchange Act. Any such change would have to be undertaken with consideration of potential effects on market quality.

    Even though our markets are regulated more intensely and with greater complexity than I would prefer, they work remarkably well. Retail investors have easier and cheaper access to these markets than ever. In the face of recent high volumes and volatility, the markets have performed well. Investors and issuers from all over the world look to U.S. markets to invest, raise capital, and trade. Altering the regulatory framework could diminish the quality of our markets, so we must undertake any change with care, proper deliberation, and concern for unintended consequences.

    An audience of economists who appreciate opportunity costs recognizes that time spent on equity market structure is not available for other things. And many other issues clamor for the SEC’s attention. We ought, for example, to spend some time looking at the options markets, where the market and regulatory dynamics are considerably different than the equity markets. But here too we see exchange proliferation: Eighteen exchanges and counting trade options. The Commission has spent relatively little time on options issues, and I would like the agency to hold a roundtable to discuss, among other issues, the opaque and seemingly arbitrarily applied Options Regulatory Fee, strike proliferation, and new types of options. More economic research on these issues, and the options market in general, will help inform any future actions the Commission may take. Other issues that compete for Commission attention include small business capital formation, the decline in public listings, modernization of rules governing transfer agents, regrounding disclosure requirements in materiality, facilitating use of modern technology in communications with investors, increasing fixed income market transparency, and providing regulatory clarity for crypto assets, to name a few. Conferences like this one are so valuable precisely because your research can help us think about how best to spend our limited regulatory resources. Your work can identify problems to solve and weigh different solutions to those problems. Thank you and enjoy the rest of the conference.

    Section 19(b) rule filing requirements can be particularly constraining on exchanges. Exchanges have to file with the SEC any new rule or amendment to an existing rule, which can lead to a lengthy public notice and comment process. This process makes initiating and changing operations, products and services, technologies, and fees cumbersome and slow, and can make it hard for an exchange to maintain an innovation as a trade secret.[40] Incidentally, this process also is burdensome for Commission staff. Moreover, after the exchange has gone through the costly and time-consuming process of seeking and gaining SEC approval for its innovation, other exchanges can copy it,[41] as has happened several times in the recent past. Exchange operators that have sought to supplement their exchange business with other profit-making activities also have run into the Commission’s broad reading of “facility” of an exchange.[42] If something is deemed to be a facility of the exchange, it is subject to the same rule filing process as the exchange itself, with all its added costs and burdens. Congress, in section 6(b)(5) of the Exchange Act, also prohibited exchanges from “regulat[ing] by virtue of any authority conferred by this chapter matters not related to the purposes of this chapter or the administration of the exchange.”[43] This prohibition is appropriate—allowing exchanges to capitalize on their authority as government-sanctioned SROs to force conduct unrelated to that authority can be very problematic.[44] But this statutory limitation does make it difficult for exchanges to differentiate themselves by catering to a specific segment of the market.

    What, if anything, should be done about this state of affairs? We could consider more targeted changes to the rules governing the equity markets to enhance true competition among trading and listing venues. We could eliminate the OPR, limit its application to exchanges that meet certain thresholds, or modify it in other ways. We could narrow our interpretation of facility or provide exemptions with commercially reasonable conditions. We could offer more flexibility for trading venues to concentrate liquidity for less liquid stocks or more choice by issuers around how their stocks trade. We could consider whether the current liability limitations in exchange rulebooks are appropriate. And we should not be afraid to allow exchanges to try targeted experimentation along the lines of our 2019 effort to facilitate innovative proposals for changes in equity market structure to improve trading in thinly traded securities.[45]

    We also could consider whether changes to exchange SRO status would be appropriate. Throwing out the exchange SRO model in its entirety would be premature, although questions about the model are not novel. The Commission has previously solicited comments about self-regulation.[46] And nearly thirteen years ago, my predecessor Commissioner Gallagher raised many questions about the SRO model, including whether exchanges should still be SROs.[47] Given the increased proliferation of exchanges and the further fragmentation of the equity markets since then, his questions remain worthy of consideration. Changes to the SRO status of exchanges would require Congressional action and demand careful thought and scrutiny before going forward. Exchanges without SRO status would likely no longer enjoy absolute immunity, but would also likely be freed, at least somewhat, of the burdens of the 19(b) process rule filing or the 6(b)(5) limitations on its rules being related to the purposes of the Exchange Act. Any such change would have to be undertaken with consideration of potential effects on market quality.

    Even though our markets are regulated more intensely and with greater complexity than I would prefer, they work remarkably well. Retail investors have easier and cheaper access to these markets than ever. In the face of recent high volumes and volatility, the markets have performed well. Investors and issuers from all over the world look to U.S. markets to invest, raise capital, and trade. Altering the regulatory framework could diminish the quality of our markets, so we must undertake any change with care, proper deliberation, and concern for unintended consequences.

    An audience of economists who appreciate opportunity costs recognizes that time spent on equity market structure is not available for other things. And many other issues clamor for the SEC’s attention. We ought, for example, to spend some time looking at the options markets, where the market and regulatory dynamics are considerably different than the equity markets. But here too we see exchange proliferation: Eighteen exchanges and counting trade options. The Commission has spent relatively little time on options issues, and I would like the agency to hold a roundtable to discuss, among other issues, the opaque and seemingly arbitrarily applied Options Regulatory Fee, strike proliferation, and new types of options. More economic research on these issues, and the options market in general, will help inform any future actions the Commission may take. Other issues that compete for Commission attention include small business capital formation, the decline in public listings, modernization of rules governing transfer agents, regrounding disclosure requirements in materiality, facilitating use of modern technology in communications with investors, increasing fixed income market transparency, and providing regulatory clarity for crypto assets, to name a few. Conferences like this one are so valuable precisely because your research can help us think about how best to spend our limited regulatory resources. Your work can identify problems to solve and weigh different solutions to those problems. Thank you and enjoy the rest of the conference.

    [2] See Modernization of Beneficial Ownership Reporting, Release Nos. 33-11253; 34-98704 (Oct. 10, 2023), 88 FR 76896, 76910-11 (Nov. 7, 2023), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-11-07/pdf/2023-22678.pdf (“The informational advantage those ‘informed bystanders’ have over the selling shareholders in these transactions and the associated wealth transfers may be perceived by some market participants to be unfair. Thus, to the extent that a shortened initial Schedule 13D filing deadline would reduce these wealth transfers, thereby addressing this perceived unfairness, this change could enhance trust in the securities markets and promote capital formation.”) (footnote omitted).

    [4] U.S. Grant learned another hard market lesson at the end of his life. One of his business partners turned out to be a Ponzi schemer, whose schemes impoverished Grant and dimmed his view of humanity. Grant spent his last years working to repay his creditors and rebuild his family’s fortunes. See The Failure of Grant & Ward: A Cautionary Tale, available at https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-failure-of-grant-ward-a-cautionary-tale.htm.

    [5] See, e.g., C.F. Smith, The Early History of the London Stock Exchange, The American Economic Review, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Jun., 1929), pp. 206-216, at 206, available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/1807309?seq=1 (“Though the Stock Exchange, as a definitely organized body, was not founded until 1773, it had been in existence in the sense of a continuous and organized market for dealing in securities for about a century before that date. Like so many British economic institutions it owed nothing to deliberate creative action by the government, but it developed autonomously to meet the needs which the progress of industry and finance were creating.”).

    [6] See, e.g., Marianna Hunt, How Belgium Created and Almost Lost the World’s First Stock Exchange, The Brussels Times Magazine (June 28, 2019), available at https://www.brusselstimes.com/59675/how-belgium-created-and-almost-lost-the-worlds-first-stock-exchange (describing the role of the Van der Beurse family, proprietors of the Ter Beurse Inn, in facilitating trades that ultimately led to the creation of an exchange); Edward Stringham, The Past and Future of Exchanges as Regulators, Chapter 9 in Reframing Financial Regulation: Enhancing Stability and Protecting Customers (Hester M. Peirce and Benjamin Klutsey ed. 2016), 232 (describing the role of Jonathan’s and Garraway’s Coffee Houses as places for stockbrokers to congregate). A contemporary play, set, in part, in Jonathan’s Coffee House, brings these informal markets to life: traders in stocks and bonds mingled and lured one another into trades with market-moving, breaking news of questionable veracity. See Susanna Centlivre, A Bold Strike for a Wife (1724), Act IV, Scene 1.

    [7] See, e.g., Stringham at 234 (“Stockbrokers initially relied on the discipline of repeat dealings and reputation mechanisms similar to brokers in Amsterdam. . . . Over time brokers began to create more formal private rules and regulations to deal with unintentional default or intentional fraud. To do this brokers decided to transform coffeehouses into private clubs.”).

    [8] Onnig H. Dombalagian, Demythologizing the Stock Exchange: Reconciling Self-Regulation and the National Market System, 39 U. Rich. L. Rev. 1069, 1074-75 (2005) (internal citations omitted).

    [9] 15 U.S.C. 78f(b) (1934).

    [10] Senate Report No. 94-75, S. Rep. 94-75 at 206 (1975) (describing Exchange Act section 6(c) as it was adopted in 1934).

    [11] 15 U.S.C. 78f(c) (1934) (“Nothing in this title shall be construed to prevent any exchange from adopting and enforcing any rule not inconsistent with this title and the rules and regulations thereunder and the applicable laws of the State in which it is located.”).

    [12] Senate Report No. 94-75, S. Rep. 94-75 at 207-08 (noting new requirements for public notice and comment and to provide justification for the rule change).

    [13] 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5) (“The rules of the exchange are designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, to promote just and equitable principles of trade, to foster cooperation and coordination with persons engaged in regulating, clearing, settling, processing information with respect to, and facilitating transactions in securities, to remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a free and open market and a national market system, and, in general, to protect investors and the public interest; and are not designed to permit unfair discrimination between customers, issuers, brokers, or dealers, or to regulate by virtue of any authority conferred by this chapter matters not related to the purposes of this chapter or the administration of theexchange.”).

    [14] 15 U.S.C 78k-1(a)(2).

    [16] See Harold M. Williams, The National Market System in Perspective (Dec. 1, 1977), at 30, available at https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/1977/120177williams.pdf (“systems which have been proposed as solutions to the problems of a national market system — if they are to survive as permanent elements of a mature system — must be tested for consistency or compatibility with the following criteria: Do they provide for interaction of all orders? Do they contemplate the linkage of all markets and market makers in the same security? And do they provide for and create, or tend to lead to the creation of, a truly national auction based on price and time priorities?”).

    [17] Id. at 22. See also id. at 23-24 (“let me assure you that this Commission will discharge vigorously its full responsibility and authority under the Exchange Act and provide the necessary leadership to assure to progress which is both real and prompt.”).

    [19] The two dissenting Commissioners at the time, one of whom was now Chairman Atkins, pointed out that “[i]n adopting the trade-through rule, the majority has opted for government-controlled competition over competitive market forces to determine the appropriate market structure.” Dissenting Statement of Commissioners Cynthia A. Glassman and Paul S. Atkins to Regulation NMS (June 9, 2005), available at https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/final/34-51808-dissent.pdf.

    [21] See Securities Exchange Act Release Nos. 102853 (Apr. 11, 2025), 90 FR 16207 (Apr. 17, 2025) (File No. 10-244) (order granting exchange registration of Green Impact Exchange, LLC); 102650 (Mar. 13, 2025), 90 FR 12590 (Mar. 18, 2025) (File No. 10-247) (order granting exchange registration of MX2 LLC); 101777 (Nov. 27, 2024), 89 FR 97092 (Dec. 6, 2024) (File No. 10-242) (order granting exchange registration of 24X National Exchange LLC).

    [22] Report of Special Study of Securities Markets of the Securities and Exchange Commission Part 2, H.R. Doc. No. 88-95, at 917 (1963) (explaining that 24 exchanges were registered, 12 were exempt).

    [24] National Stock Exchange (one of three exchanges with this name), which was affiliated with New York Mercantile Exchange, registered in 1960 and ceased operations in 1975. See S.E.C. Acts on Exchange, N.Y. Times, Oct. 18, 1975, available at https://www.nytimes.com/1975/10/18/archives/sec-acts-on-exchange.html; see also Robert Metb, Market Place – A Small Stock Exchange’s Plight, N.Y. Times, Dec. 10, 1974, available at https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/10/archives/market-place-a-small-stock-exchanges-plight.html. Two options exchanges, Chicago Board Options Exchange in 1973 and International Securities Exchange in 2000, also registered during this time.

    [25] Tom Arnold, Philip Hersch, et al., Merging Markets, 54 J. of Fin 1083, 1090 (Jun. 1999). The Midwest Exchange would go on to merge with the New Orleans Exchange in 1959. It changed its name to the Chicago Exchange in 1993, was acquired by Intercontinental Exchange in 2018, and very recently continued its grand tour around the country when it moved to Texas and became NYSE Texas.

    [27] Gabriel V. Rauterberg, Alternative Trading Venues in the United States: Incentives for Innovation in the U.S. Stock Market, in Financial Market Infrastructures: Law and Regulation (Jens-Henrich Binder and Paolo Saguato, eds., 2021), at 200-01.

    [30] 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5) (requiring that the rules of a national securities exchange are “not designed to permit unfair discrimination between customers, issuers, brokers, or dealers”); see also 17 CFR 242.610(a) (prohibiting exchanges from “imposing unfairly discriminatory terms that prevent or inhibit any person from obtaining efficient access through a member of the national securities exchange . . . to the quotations in an NMS stock displayed through its SRO trading facility”) and 17 CFR 242.301(b) (requiring only ATSs that meet certain volume thresholds to “to not unreasonably prohibit or limit any person in respect to access to services offered by such [ATS]”).

    [31] 15 U.S.C. 78s(h).

    [32] Rauterberg at 198.

    [35] 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).

    [36] An example of SRO status being leveraged inappropriately was the Nasdaq diversity rule, which sought to nudge issuers to recompose their boards of directors. All. for Fair Bd. Recruitment v. Sec. & Exch. Comm’n, 125 F.4th 159, 174-75 (5th Cir. 2024); see also Commissioner Hester M. Peirce, Statement on the Commission’s Order Approving Proposed Rule Changes, as Modified by Amendments No. 1, to Adopt Listing Rules Related to Board Diversity submitted by the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, available at https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/peirce-nasdaq-diversity-statement-080621.

    [40] Rauterberg at 198.

    [43] 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).

    [44] An example of SRO status being leveraged inappropriately was the Nasdaq diversity rule, which sought to nudge issuers to recompose their boards of directors. All. for Fair Bd. Recruitment v. Sec. & Exch. Comm’n, 125 F.4th 159, 174-75 (5th Cir. 2024); see also Commissioner Hester M. Peirce, Statement on the Commission’s Order Approving Proposed Rule Changes, as Modified by Amendments No. 1, to Adopt Listing Rules Related to Board Diversity submitted by the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, available at https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/peirce-nasdaq-diversity-statement-080621.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: PM meeting with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen: 16 May 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    PM meeting with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen: 16 May 2025

    The Prime Minister met the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen today.

    The Prime Minister met the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen today.

    The Prime Minister began by reflecting on the success of the European Political Community summit in Tirana.

    The leaders welcomed the close cooperation between the UK and member states ahead of the UK-EU Summit on Monday.

    A closer relationship with Europe – across defence and security, tackling irregular migration, trade and economic growth – would benefit working people on all sides, the Prime Minister said.

    The leaders looked forward to seeing each other on Monday.

    Updates to this page

    Published 16 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Rosstat has preliminary estimated Russia’s GDP growth in the first quarter of 2025 at 1.4 percent.

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    Moscow, May 16 (Xinhua) — Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 1.4 percent year-on-year in January-March this year, according to a preliminary estimate released by the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) on Friday.

    “The index of physical volume of gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2025 relative to the corresponding period of 2024, according to a preliminary estimate, amounted to 101.4 percent,” Rosstat said in a statement.

    In April, Rosstat raised its estimate of Russia’s GDP growth in 2024 to 4.3 percent from its first estimate of 4.1 percent, which was published in February of this year. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: Governor Newsom reassures international partners that Trump’s tariffs don’t represent California

    Source: US State of California 2

    May 16, 2025

    SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom kicked off #WorldTradeMonth with a round of key international interviews with journalists from major broadcast networks in Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. In the interviews, Governor Newsom addressed the Trump Slump’s impact on the state’s economy and assured international partners that the harmful tariff policies from Washington, DC, are not reflective of the views of California.

    United Kingdom

    Interview with BBC

    Speaking with  Paddy O’Connell for BBC Newsnight, Governor Newsom said,

    “The impacts of these tariffs – the recklessness of these tariffs – are disproportionately felt on the tentpole of the U.S. economy. We’re 14% of the U.S. economy, so the success of this country is, in many respects, determined by the success of this state.”

    Facts:

    • British-owned companies employ more than 130,600 jobs in California
    • California exported $5 billion in goods to the United Kingdom in 2024 – making it the state’s 12th largest export market
    • Tourism from the United Kingdom to California was down 22% in March 2025 from the same time last year

    Canada

    Interview with CTV

    Speaking with Vassy Kapelos, Governor Newsom said,

    “Forget Trump’s golden age of success. From our ports to our shopping carts to vacation hotspots, the Trump Slump has already begun. American families shouldn’t have to pay for this administration’s chaotic policies.”

    Facts:

    • Canada is California’s fourth largest source of foreign investment
    • California exported $18.4 billion and imported $16.3 billion in goods from Canada in 2024
    • Canadian tourism to California declined 16% in March 2025 compared to March 2024

    Japan

    Interview with Nikkei

    Speaking with TV Tokyo’s Yifan Yu, Governor Newsom said,

    “California is a stable trading partner. When it comes to trade, we come with an open hand, not a clenched fist.”

    Facts:

    • Japan is California’s second largest source of foreign investment
    • Japan is California’s sixth largest partner in the world for two-way trade
    • California imported $27.7 billion and exported $10.9 billion in goods to Japan in 2024

    Mexico

    Interview with TV Azteca

    In an interview with TV Azteca’s Lucy Bravo, Governor Newsom said,

    “California is now the fourth largest economy in the world. No state has been more affected by these tariffs than California. The effects are being felt in real time. We are seeing reductions in cargo at our entry ports.”

    Facts:

    • Mexico is California’s 13th-largest source of foreign investment.
    • Mexico is California’s top export market, with the state exporting $33.5 billion in 2024.
    • Mexico is California’s second largest import market, with the state importing $64.3 billion in goods in 2024.

    South Korea

    Interview with MBC News Desk

    Speaking with Yoonsoo Park of MBC News Desk, Governor Newsom said,

    “Partnerships, both personally and professionally, are critical to the world we want to build. Your success is our success. This is not a zero-sum game.”

    Facts: 

    • Korean-owned companies in California support nearly 19,000 jobs
    • South Korea is California’s fifth largest partner globally in two-way trade

    California exported $8.8 billion worth of goods to South Korea in 2024, making it the state’s sixth largest export market

    California’s action on tariffs

    Beyond assuring international partners of their value to California’s economy, Governor Newsom has announced first-in-the-nation actions to block President Trump’s chaotic tariff policies. 

    This week, Governor Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to immediately stop President Trump’s unlawful tariffs. This follows the Governor’s lawsuit announced in April against President Trump’s tariffs, citing the president’s lack of authority to unilaterally impose tariffs through the International Economic Emergency Powers Act and noting their harmful effects on Americans and the economy. Following California’s lawsuit, 12 states have also announced similar legal action.

    Recent news

    May 15, 2025

    News Sacramento, California – Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation declaring May 2025 as “Small Business Month.”The text of the proclamation and a copy can be found below: PROCLAMATIONCalifornia’s more than 4.2 million small businesses – the most of any…

    May 15, 2025

    News Sacramento, California — Governor Gavin Newsom today condemned U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for calling on the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct a “complete review” of mifepristone — the safe, effective, and…

    May 14, 2025

    News “We’re done with barriers. Let’s get this built.” What you need to know: Governor Newsom’s proposed budget includes proposals to streamline permitting and accelerate development  —- clearing the path for more housing and economic opportunity.  SACRAMENTO –…

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Sustainability discussions focus on trade policy considerations and practices

    Source: WTO

    Headline: Sustainability discussions focus on trade policy considerations and practices

    Richard Tarasofsky of Canada, a co-convener of TESSD, together with Costa Rica, thanked the facilitators of the working groups for advancing the outcome documents.  “I encourage all of you to engage actively, (as) we are now less than one year away from MC14 ,” he said.
    The four TESSD working groups held technical discussions on their respective topics and exchanged views on the first drafts of possible outcome documents in line with guidance provided by the high-level plenary meeting on 4 December 2024.
    In the Working Group on Subsidies, members explored the role of trade policy and international cooperation in decarbonizing maritime transport. They focused in particular on subsidies and other policy incentives for sustainable marine fuels, port infrastructure and green corridors, as well as on the role of financing and technical assistance to support developing economies in this regard.
    Setting the scene, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) introduced the new IMO Net-Zero Framework with mandatory emission limits. The European Union presented its policies and measures to support sustainable marine fuels, while DNV, a Norwegian private company, and the Global Maritime Forum (GMF), a not-for-profit organization, introduced their work in supporting the establishment of green shipping corridors. MSC Group presented the actions being taken to decarbonize their global fleet and the necessity for regulatory certainty and clarity for private sector investments related to decarbonization. Regarding a possible working group outcome, members considered key design elements in subsidies, including considerations for effective subsidy design and related practices among members.
    The Working Group on Circular Economy – Circularity heard about technical assistance projects offering insights into trade and circular economy, including from the International Trade Centre (ITC) and Mauritius on trade policy and regional cooperation in recycling lithium-ion batteries of electronic vehicles. UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) also shared perspectives on trade-related aspects of circular economy in developing economies, highlighting opportunities for technology transfer for water treatment and textile circularity. In terms of a possible working group outcome, members focused on trade-related practices in priority sectors, such as textiles, batteries, electronics and renewable energy.
    In the Working Group on Environmental Goods and Services (EGS), members shared experiences of identifying and facilitating trade in EGS. Jaime Coghi Arias from Costa Rica, Chair of the Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation, highlighted the link between good regulatory practices and environmental services. Switzerland introduced approaches used for identifying EGS under the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS) undertaken by Costa Rica, Iceland, New Zealand and Switzerland. The United Kingdom shared insights into EGS for climate adaptation in the water sector, and Argentina outlined its work in relation to sustainable agriculture. Members also reviewed suggestions on the working group’s draft outcome document.
    In the Working Group on Trade-Related Climate Measures (TrCMs), members heard presentations on border carbon adjustments (BCAs), with a focus on carbon standards and measurement methodologies. The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) introduced its work on interoperability in its “Global Stakeholder Dialogues”. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlighted the importance of cross-border data-sharing through digitalization and customs cooperation. With regard to the first draft for an outcome, members brainstormed on how to compile policies in relation to climate objectives.
    Concluding the two-day meetings, Ana Lizano of Costa Rica, co-convenor of TESSD, said: “It was very encouraging to see the participation of the private sector and the sharing of experiences by developing economies across all four groups, even from non-co-sponsors. Looking ahead, we have made significant progress on the outcome documents, reflecting members’ inputs. We look forward to your collective support in refining the documents to ensure they are fit for purpose.”
    Presentations and documents related to the working group meetings are available here.
    Guided by their 2021 Ministerial Statement, TESSD seeks to complement the work of the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment and advance discussions at the intersection of trade and environmental sustainability towards identifying concrete actions that members could take individually or collectively. The initiative, which is open to all WTO members, is currently co-sponsored by 78 members representing all regions and all levels of development.

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    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Committee on Market Access marks 30th anniversary amid trade tensions

    Source: World Trade Organization

    30 years of the CMA

    Deputy Director-General Angela Ellard spoke at an event prior to the start of the meeting to mark the 30th anniversary of the CMA. Her remarks were followed by a panel discussion that included remarks from former chairs of the CMA.

    “Market access is one of the cornerstones of the multilateral trading system, and it lies at the heart of what the WTO seeks to achieve: enabling trade to flow as smoothly, predictably and transparently as possible through agreed rules,” DDG Ellard said.

    “This is why the work of the Committee on Market Access is not merely technical; it is foundational to the integrity and effectiveness of the entire WTO framework,” she continued. “Even amid widespread uncertainty these days surrounding tariff levels, this Committee provides stability for governments and traders on a wide variety of nuts-and-bolts issues, such as tariff classification, trade restrictions, and information sharing through databases and other means by operationalizing a durable system of rules and a mechanism to address concerns.”

    Achievements of the CMA include enabling members to make their commitments more accessible and ensuring the legal clarity and comparability of concessions across time and among members through the transposition of commitments into updated versions of the Harmonized System used to classify traded goods. Other achievements include strengthening the transparency around applied tariffs and import data through initiatives such as the Integrated Database and, more recently, the new Tariff and Trade Data platform.

    Linked with this event, a special exhibition was set up at the WTO headquarters to mark the 30th anniversary.  The exhibition highlights key historical milestones of the Committee’s work. In particular, it looks at how technology has shaped the preparation of members’ goods schedules, the development of trade and tariff databases, and the broader work of the WTO Secretariat in making trade information accessible to WTO members and the public.

    Joint work on Harmonized System codes for vaccines

    The interim Chair of the CMA, Nicola Waterfield (Canada), welcomed the progress made in the joint effort by the World Customs Organization (WCO), World Health Organization (WHO) and the WTO to establish new tariff headings for vaccines under the Harmonized System (HS). 

    “The new HS codes, which will be adopted by the WCO Council in June for implementation on 1 January 2028, help better identify and classify goods vital for responding to health crises and support coherence between trade policies and public health objectives, including ensuring global equitable access to vaccines,” the Chair said.

    Gael Grooby, Acting Director of the Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate of the WCO, said the aim of the exercise is to make the covered goods more visible within trade so that they can be tracked and appropriate measures put into place as needed. She emphasized that the work between the CMA and the WCO on this matter “has been unprecedented”.

    The Chair proposed that the CMA invite representatives from the three organizations to discuss the insights gained from this experience and to collectively reflect on the key elements that facilitated such a successful example of collaboration.

    Committee report on supply chain resilience

    The CMA adopted a report on supply chain resilience, the outcome of a series of thematic sessions on the topic held between 2023 and 2025. Specifically, the report defines supply chain resilience, identifies supply chain vulnerabilities, and describes how members measure and monitor global supply chains and what measures support supply chain resilience. The report also examines the role of international and regional cooperation, and the role of the CMA.  

    The Chair observed that the CMA has created a unique approach to thematic sessions, where members have a space to exchange information, learn from each other and produce concrete results that can be used for future reference.

    Trade fragmentation, EU deforestation regulation

    Canada, the European Union and Norway introduced an agenda item addressing fragmentation of global trade through tariffs and the associated global costs. They voiced concerns about the impact of recent tariff measures and the resulting uncertainty on global trade for businesses, consumers and workers. They also underlined the importance of the rules-based multilateral trading system. Ten other members took the floor on this item, with most echoing these concerns. Several also underlined the importance of WTO reform and improvement of its functions so that it remains a central pillar of the global trading system.

    Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru introduced a joint communication regarding the European Union’s Regulation on Deforestation-Free Supply Chains (EUDR). The four members contend the regulation is a quantitative restriction (QR) on imports and therefore should be notified to the CMA as such. They reiterated their belief that the regulation imposes cumbersome obligations and will virtually ban from the EU market the importation of beef, wood, palm oil, soya, coffee, cocoa and rubber that do not comply with the regulation’s requirements.  The EU said the EUDR is not a market access measure but rather an internal regulation measure designed in line with WTO rules.

    Trade concerns

    Members discussed 33 trade concerns, eight of which were raised for the first time. New concerns dealt with exports of coffee beans and macadamia nuts to China, proposed export restrictions on raw minerals by the Philippines and measures equivalent to quantitative restrictions on the import of wooden boards and viscose staple fibre in India.  Other new concerns covered market access issues for agricultural commodities and food products as well as market access issues faced by the pharmaceutical sector in Thailand, and import restrictions on pocket lighters in India.

    New concerns were also raised in relation to reciprocal tariffs and other tariff measures in the United States and the treatment of like products under the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS) concluded by Costa Rica, Iceland, New Zealand and Switzerland.

    The list of specific trade concerns discussed during the meeting is available here.

    Notifications on quantitative restrictions

    The interim Chair drew members’ attention to a new WTO Secretariat report, “Notification Status of Regular/Period and One-Time Only Notifications in the Goods Area (1995-2024)” (G/C/W/859 ). While the document found that there has been an overall submission rate of 68.9% for regular or periodic notifications, compliance with quantitative restrictions notifications, pursuant to the 2012 Decision  on Notification Procedure for Quantitative Restrictions, was the lowest at just over 26%.

    The Chair said she was aware that various initiatives have been undertaken over time by members and the WTO Secretariat to improve the overall compliance record but members still struggle to comply with certain notification requirements. As a result, she invited members to consider what barriers impact compliance and what possible steps could be taken to improve the submission rate and the quality of such notifications. The Committee agreed to hold such discussions at its next informal meeting scheduled in June.

    Next meeting

    The next formal meeting of the Committee on Market Access will take place on 15-16 October.

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    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Philip R. Lane: The communication of monetary policy decisions: incorporating risks and uncertainty

    Source: European Central Bank

    Remarks by Philip R. Lane, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the Second Thomas Laubach Research Conference

    Washington, D.C., 16 May 2025

    In my remarks today I will focus on how the ECB communicates its monetary policy decisions, with a particular emphasis on the integration of risks and uncertainty into the monetary policy decision-making process.[1][2]

    Monetary policy meetings take place over two days. On Wednesday afternoon, there are presentations by ECB Executive Board members: Isabel Schnabel reports on the latest financial market developments and I review the global environment and the latest economic, monetary and financial developments in the euro area. This is followed by a general discussion of these topics by Governing Council members. On Thursday morning, I present a proposal for the monetary policy decision, which is then discussed by the Governing Council. After the monetary policy decision is made (typically by consensus), the monetary policy statement is finalised by the Governing Council, concluding the Thursday morning session.

    In the afternoon, a press release announcing the decision is published at 2:15 p.m. While this press release was quite succinct in the past, a summary explanation for the decision is now included, and — for the quarterly meetings — the main elements of the staff macroeconomic projections are reported.

    At the opening of the press conference at 2:45 p.m., President Lagarde reads out the monetary policy statement. The opening section matches the press release, while further sections go into more detail on economic activity, inflation, the risk assessment and monetary and financial developments. This is followed by a question-and-answer session. After the press conference, the quarterly forecast meetings also see the publication of a staff article that explains the new set of macroeconomic projections. About two weeks later, the Economic Bulletin is published, containing summaries of the preparatory analysis that was made available to the Governing Council prior to the meeting. An account of the meeting is published about a month after the meeting.

    The aim of the monetary policy statement is not only to explain the immediate decision but also to update the underlying narrative in terms of the overall orientation of the monetary stance, the main forces shaping the dynamics of the economy and the inflation process, the evolving risk assessment and monetary and financial developments. The discipline of limiting the length of the monetary policy statement (it was about 1,500 words in April) puts a premium on identifying the main issues that the Governing Council wishes to emphasise. At the same time, this length offers room for a sufficiently broad survey of these themes to underpin the monetary policy decision. Naturally, at the quarterly meetings, there is also considerable external interest in the details of the new staff macroeconomic projections: it makes sense to publish the staff article after the press conference. In that way, the initial focus in the monetary policy statement and the press conference is on the Governing Council’s overall assessment of the situation, whereas the technical details of the staff work follow thereafter.

    The publication of the meeting account summarises the presentations by Isabel and myself and the ensuing discussions among the members of the Governing Council. The account includes a section entitled “Monetary policy considerations and policy options” that provides the main features of the monetary policy proposal that I presented at the meeting. This typically includes considerations of how risk factors were taken into account in the proposal.[3] Especially since the Governing Council’s monetary policy decisions are typically consensual, the summary of the discussion provides valuable insights into the range of views expressed at the meeting.

    Taken together, the press release, the MPS, the press conference, the staff macroeconomic projections article, the Economic Bulletin and the meeting accounts provide a phased sequence of public information releases that helps external audiences to understand how we make our monetary policy decisions. In addition, in pursuing a multi-layered approach to public communication, a visual monetary policy statement is also released, which explains the monetary policy decision in short and easy-to-understand language, accompanied by a set of infographics to illustrate the main messages.[4]

    These decision materials are complemented by speeches and interviews by Executive Board and Governing Council members. The publication of an array of analytical contributions by staff (through the Economic Bulletin, the ECB Blog, working papers and occasional papers) also helps improve understanding of monetary policy formation, including in relation to the staff projections, which form a key analytical input into monetary policy meetings.

    In view of this rich information set, would it be a game changer if the Governing Council additionally published its conditional assessment of the most likely future rate path, as practised by some other central banks? Putting aside the logistical challenge of forming a consensus on the conditional future rate path among the twenty-six members of the Governing Council, it is my view that such an exercise would create unwarranted expectations about the future rate path. Moreover, it would distort the monetary policy decision-making process in view of the potential reputational costs associated with deviations of actual decisions from the previously-flagged path.[5] Procedurally, publishing a conditional rate path would also be awkward in the context of a staff-led projections exercise that is based on the market rate path.

    More fundamentally, publishing a conditional baseline for the future rate path would not well capture the sensitivity of future rate decisions to the evolving macroeconomic environment and shifts in the risk assessment. As part of the meeting preparations, the staff analyse a family of plausible future rate paths and it would convey excessive confidence if any one candidate rate path were to be singled out. In particular, staff simulation exercises show the sensitivity of rate paths to both the point-in-time macroeconomic projections and various underlying assumptions that underpin model-based optimal rate paths as well as “robust” rate paths that seek to minimise the risk of a policy error across a range of plausible scenarios. Importantly, all such rate path analyses are sensitive to the assumptions made about the preferences of policymakers.[6] Even if the rate path simulation exercises are highly valuable inputs into the internal development of the monetary policy proposal, it is preferable to take a meeting-by-meeting approach and focus the public communication on the immediate decision.[7]

    At the same time, to improve external understanding of how we make decisions, it is helpful set out the criteria guiding the reaction function to the main risk factors prevailing at any point in time.[8] This provides “reaction function” guidance in terms of the key inputs driving monetary policy decisions.[9] For instance, during the disinflation process over the last two years, the Governing Council has highlighted that measures of underlying inflation and the incoming evidence on the strength of monetary policy transmission were especially important in guiding decisions, in addition to the “standard” role of the inflation outlook (comprising both the baseline and the risks around it). The prominence of these specific risk proxies reflected the high uncertainty about the intrinsic persistence of the inflation surge (such that measures of underlying inflation provided important insights into the persistent component of inflation) and, similarly, the high uncertainty about the impact of the exceptionally fast pace of the cumulative rate hiking over 2022-2023 (such that monitoring the evidence on the strength of monetary transmission was crucial). Since both inflation persistence and the strength of monetary transmission are first order influences on the calibration of the rate path, the prominence given to these factors in our public communication have helped market participants to understand that the incoming information along these dimensions is central to our data-dependent monetary policy decisions. Looking to the future, the exact articulation of reaction function guidance should be periodically updated in line with the evolving risk environment: there is unlikely to be a fixed, timeless list of risk proxies.

    The risk assessment section of the monetary policy statement provides additional signals regarding the factors that might shape future rate decisions. The meeting-by-meeting list of upside and downside risks to growth and inflation help to shape market pricing of future rate decisions: as the evolution of these risks become more or less prominent between meetings, market participants can revise their views. Naturally, this risk assessment is informed by considerable staff analysis that identifies and calibrates material threats to the growth and inflation projections.

    Finally, alternative scenarios have been included in the staff macroeconomic projections exercise in the context of specific risk constellations. These include the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, the unjustified invasion of Ukraine by Russia in early 2022 and the elevation of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East in autumn 2023. In the near term, the ongoing uncertainty about US tariff policies means that alternative scenarios will also be included in the June macroeconomic projections exercise. These staff exercises are valuable in conveying the scale of revisions to the projected inflation and output paths that would be triggered under the realisation of the alternative scenarios.[10]

    In providing the risk assessment in the monetary policy statement and by staff publishing alternative macroeconomic projection scenarios in the context of specific risk constellations, there is extensive communication on how different risk factors might shape future decisions. Some might wish that the Governing Council lays out specific policy responses to these various risk profiles in order to “fill out” the distribution of future rate paths. However, as outlined above, the rich information set that is attached to each monetary policy decision together with reaction function guidance provides a sufficient foundation for market participants to assess how the realisation of various risks could affect the future rate path.

    An additional potential application of scenario analysis is to construct a limited set of specific “curated” alternative scenarios by combining selected alternative calibrations of the primary economic and financial judgements underpinning the baseline projections. Publishing such alternative scenarios can be helpful in conveying the difficult choices embedded in making forecasts and in capturing possible differences in policy preferences across policymakers. From a communications perspective, this can be particularly helpful in systems where policymakers have a collective responsibility to endorse the published forecast but retain individual responsibility in casting votes.

    Since the ECB relies on a staff-led projections exercise and has a strong preference for consensual decisions, the set of considerations in publishing such curated scenario analyses is different. In making sure monetary policy decisions are robust to non-baseline realisations, it is also not clear whether such a curated approach would be superior to a “many scenario” internal staff analysis (possibly augmented by machine learning algorithms) that explores robustness across the many combinations of shocks and modelling choices that are considered at each meeting. In addition, if the aim is to capture the main risk concerns of policymakers, selecting a limited set of curated alternative scenarios (out of very many possible scenarios) for each meeting would be logistically taxing for a twenty-six member Governing Council. A basic concern is that the selected curated scenarios might turn out to have shined the spotlight on risk factors that proved to be immaterial and might give the impression that the risk analysis was too narrow in scope.

    In any event, the specific methods used to convey how risks and uncertainty are incorporated into the monetary policy decision-making process are less important than the underlying commitment to articulate that policy decisions not only take into account the baseline but also the surrounding risk environment. Moreover, there is an active research agenda in academia and policy organisations on how best to incorporate uncertainty into monetary policy decisions and monetary policy communications: as this research bears fruit over time, central banks should adapt their practices.[11]

    In these remarks, I have focused on how we currently communicate our monetary policy decisions and the associated decision-making framework. How best to integrate risk and uncertainty into our monetary policy decisions and our communication is a key topic for our ongoing assessment of our monetary policy strategy.[12] We will publish our updated strategy in the second half of the year.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Syria: New government must prioritise justice, truth and accountability to prevent further abuse – Amnesty warns

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Syria’s new government faces a crucial opportunity to break with a legacy of grave human rights violations

    Justice for victims of mass enforced disappearances remains one of the most urgent human rights challenges in Syria today

    After the fall of the Assad government, tens of thousands of families hoped their missing loved ones would return. Instead, almost none reappeared – their fate still unknown, their absence a deepening tragedy

    ‘Delaying justice will only heighten the risk of further bloodshed such as the recent mass killing of Alawite civilians in the coastal areas of Syria’ – Kristine Beckerle

    Syria’s new government must take immediate concrete steps towards justice, truth and reparation that address the country’s devastating legacy of abuses and urgently undertake human rights-based reform to prevent further violations, Amnesty International said today.

    Between 2011 and 2024, Amnesty documented widespread crimes under international law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity and gross human rights violations, committed by Bashar al-Assad’s government. Amnesty also documented serious crimes committed by government allies, including Russia, as well as by armed groups opposing the government and their ally Turkiye, and the Kurdish-led de facto authorities and their allies.

    The new transitional government, led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa and formed on 29 March, has a crucial opportunity to break with the past and ensure these atrocities never occur again.

    Amnesty has today outlined the priority steps that the authorities should take to achieve this and to comply with Syria’s obligations under international law.

    On 14 April, Amnesty sent the recommendations to the Syrian authorities, requesting answers to a series of questions and updates on the authorities’ plans, but have not received a response to date.

    Kristine Beckerle, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:

    “To ensure a break with the past, the Syrian government must uphold the rights to truth, justice and reparation for all people in Syria.

    “The authorities have publicly committed to taking justice demands seriously, and key to keeping this promise will be ensuring the meaningful participation of survivors, victims and Syrian civil society organisations throughout the process, as well as maximum transparency.

    “The challenges facing Syria are immense, but ensuring accountability for crimes committed by all warring parties, providing reparation to victims and their families, implementing human rights-based reforms to Syria’s criminal justice and security sectors, and ensuring the families of the disappeared know the truth of what happened to their loved ones are foundational to building a new, more just Syria.

    “It is crucial for the authorities to rebuild trust between the people in Syria and the state. Delaying justice will only heighten the risk of further bloodshed such as the recent mass killing of Alawite civilians in the coastal areas of Syria.

    “It is essential that the authorities, without any delay, ensure that all those suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and enforced disappearance are brought to justice in fair trials before ordinary civilian courts, in accordance with international law.”

    For decades, the former government systematically arrested and disappeared activists and human rights defenders, oppressed local human rights organisations and denied international human rights organisations access to the country. The new authorities have pledged a new approach; it is crucial that they allow Syrian and international organisations to work without interference, consult with Syrian civil society, and grant unfettered access for local and international organisations.

    The authorities are grappling with major economic challenges resulting from a decade-long conflict, compounded by international sanctions and the widespread destruction of infrastructure.

    The international community must support the Syrian people in their pursuit of truth, justice and reparation, and building a more just future after years of suffering.

    While many countries continue to support critical justice efforts for Syria, others have added to its challenges. The United States haphazardly cut foreign funding to those providing crucial humanitarian aid and doing critical human rights work in Syria in early 2025. Since former government’s fall, Turkiye and Israel have also carried out air strikes, killing and wounding civilians and damaging civilian infrastructure.

    Provide justice, truth and reparation

    One of the most urgent issues in Syria today is justice for victims of mass enforced disappearances. After the fall of the Assad government on 8 December 2024, tens of thousands of families hoped their missing loved ones would be released. Instead, nearly none re-emerged; many seemingly vanished.

    While the government announced a National High Commission for Missing Persons on 27 February, representatives of family associations of the disappeared and missing told Amnesty they had not been consulted on the formation of the body and how it would function and have seen no tangible progress five months after the Assad government’s collapse. The new government must immediately rectify this by ensuring full, meaningful inclusion of victims and their representatives in shaping the Commission’s mandate, operational framework, and oversight mechanisms.

    Article 49 of the Constitutional Declaration, adopted on 13 March, establishes a Transitional Justice Commission, tasked with adopting “victim-centred mechanisms…to determine accountability mechanisms, the right to know the truth, and justice for victims and survivors in addition to honouring martyrs”.  Effective truth, justice and reparation processes must be based on nationwide consultations with Syrians, particularly survivors and victims.

    The government must also create reparation programmes informed by survivors and victims’ families that deliver comprehensive remedies that acknowledge victims’ suffering and help rebuild lives. The Syrian government should also seek reparations from states such as Russia, Türkiye and the US, and other actors, including businesses, that are responsible for human rights violations.

    Undertaking human rights-based reforms

    For over a decade prior to the former government’s fall, Amnesty documented systemic violations, including arbitrary arrest, torture, and enforced disappearances, committed by former law enforcement officers and intelligence services, and within the prison system. In addition, Amnesty has documented abduction, torture and summary killings by former non-state armed groups, some now integrated into the ministry of defence and ministry of interior.

    As an immediate priority, and to prevent a repeat of violations and cycles of violence, Syrian authorities must ensure rigorous vetting of all government officials, military leaders, and other appointed figures suspected of criminal responsibility, including post-Assad crimes – such as the massacres of Alawite civilians on the coast. Amnesty documented unlawful killings, including deliberate targeting of civilians from the Alawite minority, which must be investigated as war crimes, on Syria’s coast in March. Syria’s new authorities have taken an important first step toward investigating the killings by establishing a dedicated fact-finding committee. How they proceed will serve as an important signal and a key precedent.

    Reform should also involve repealing laws that are not compliant with international law and enacting legislation that safeguards the human rights of all people, including their rights to a fair trial, truth, justice and reparation; freedom from torture and disappearance, equality and non-discrimination, including in the context of the rights to housing and property. Any reform committee should be accessible, inclusive, and participatory.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Experts of the Committee on the Rights of the Child Praise Iraq’s Child Rights Strategy, Raise Issues Concerning Child Marriage and Corporal Punishment

    Source: United Nations – Geneva

    The Committee on the Rights of the Child today concluded its consideration of the fifth and sixth combined periodic reports of Iraq under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, with Committee Experts praising the State’s national child rights strategy and raising questions about child marriage and corporal punishment.

    Benoit Van Keirsbilck, Committee Expert and Taskforce Coordinator for Iraq, said that Iraq had devoted efforts to improving its situation after periods of violence.  The Committee had seen several improvements in terms of the rights of the child, including the State’s commendable strategy on children’s rights.

    Several Experts expressed concern regarding the amendment in 2025 to the civil status law, which reportedly allowed for children to marry from the age of nine.  They asked whether appeals had been made to nullify the amendment.  Mr. Van Keirsbilck said 28 per cent of Iraqi girls were married before the age of 18 and seven per cent before the age of 15. What measures were in place to prevent child marriage?

    Mr. Van Keirsbilck also said the Penal Code allowed parents and educators to use corporal punishment in family and educational settings.  Some 81 per cent of children had reportedly been subjected to some form of corporal punishment.  How was the State party addressing this?

    In an opening statement, Abdulkarim Hashem Mustafa, Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said the Government placed the rights of the child at the heart of its national priorities, and had adopted the national strategy for child protection, which aimed to create a safe and inclusive environment that ensured the well-being and development of children.

    Khalid Salam Saeed, Minster of Justice of Iraq and head of the delegation, in his opening statement, said Iraq had exerted efforts to comply with the Convention and the Committee’s recommendations, despite the major challenges it had faced due to aggression from the terrorist group Daesh.  As a result of its efforts for children, Iraq had been removed from the United Nations Secretary-General’s list of countries that violated children’s rights.

    On child marriage, the delegation said Iraq considered cultural circumstances when setting the minimum age of marriage.  The amendment to the civil status law had been assessed by Parliament and workshops with civil society.  Marriage from nine years of age was not permitted by the law, which permitted marriages from 18 years, or from 15 years when the children involved petitioned courts directly.  Persons who facilitated marriages outside the legal framework were liable for punishment.

    Regarding corporal punishment, the delegation said the Higher Supreme Court had ruled that the Criminal Code did not allow the use of violence against children or students in any context.  There were many cases in which parents and teachers who treated children violently had been punished.

    In closing remarks, Mr. Van Keirsbilck said the dialogue had revealed areas in which Iraq had made important progress since 2015, as well as issues that needed to be addressed.  The future law on child protection seemed extremely promising; the Committee hoped that it would be adopted soon and fully implemented, he said.

    In his concluding remarks, Mr. Saeed said Iraq had presented its progress in implementing the Convention and the recommendations of the Committee. The State party looked forward to receiving the Committee’s recommendations, which would help to consolidate children’s rights in the country.  Iraq was determined to promote human rights based on the principles of equality and social justice.

    Sopio Kiladze, Committee Chair, said in concluding remarks that the Committee and the State party shared a common goal of improving the situation of children in Iraq.  The Committee congratulated the State party on the progress it had made and looked forward to hearing about the future progress that the State would make for children in the next dialogue.

    The delegation of Iraq consisted of representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office; General Secretariat of the Iraqi Cabinet; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs; Ministry of Justice; Scientific Supervision and Evaluation Agency; Directorate-General for Curricula; Directorate-General of Planning and Follow-Up; Human Rights Directorate; Kurdistan Regional Government; and the Permanent Mission of Iraq to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

    The Committee will issue concluding observations on the report of Iraq at the end of its ninety-ninth session on 30 May. Those, and other documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, will be available on the session’s webpage.  Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here.

    The Committee will next meet in public on Tuesday, 20 May at 3 p.m. to consider the combined sixth and seventh periodic reports of Romania (CRC/C/ROU/6-7).

    Report

    The Committee has before it the fifth and sixth combined periodic reports of Iraq (CRC/C/IRQ/5-6).

    Presentation of Report

    ABDULKARIM HASHEM MUSTAFA, Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said Iraq reaffirmed its commitment to respect and implement its international obligations under the Convention and to include its provisions in national policies, despite the complex challenges that the country had faced during the past decades. The Government placed the rights of the child at the heart of its national priorities, and had adopted the national strategy for child protection, which aimed to create a safe and inclusive environment that ensured the well-being and development of children. The State party had strengthened the national legislative framework by amending several relevant laws to ensure their compatibility with international standards, including the draft child protection law currently before the Parliament.  Iraq affirmed that the protection of children’s rights was both a national responsibility and a humanitarian and moral obligation.

    KHALID SALAM SAEED, Minster of Justice of Iraq and head of the delegation, said Iraq had exerted efforts to comply with the Convention and the Committee’s recommendations. Iraq faced major challenges due to aggression from the terrorist group Daesh, which had led to violations of the rights of the child.  Iraq had undertaken efforts to prevent the spread of terrorism and violence in the country, provide reparation to victims, support the transfer of displaced persons, and prosecute terrorist crimes.  The State party had transferred or rehabilitated more than 17,000 victims of the violence.

    Seeking to bring its legislation in line with international standards, the State party had implemented several laws, including the legal aid act, the amendment to the act on people with disabilities, the health coverage act, the social services act, the act on the integration of minors, and a draft law against domestic violence.

    Several policies and strategies had also been developed, including the technical development strategy.  The State party had developed policies on the protection of families, and had continued work to investigate human trafficking.  It had set up a hotline for reporting gender-based violence and had also established women’s and girls’ welfare units to combat violence against women and girls. The State party had developed strategies to improve the security environment, reduce poverty and support families, which included measures to increase the number of persons receiving social protection assistance, establish family protection units, and expand the provision of vaccinations.

    The Iraqi Government was promoting access to education for all by implementing the act on compulsory education and providing school supplies and scholarships to children in need.  The Government had completed the construction and renovation of 6,500 schools, and construction was continuing.  Iraq aimed to increase the resources and capacities of educational institutions to improve the quality of education they provided.

    The State party had also developed a strategy for the rehabilitation of minors, establishing juvenile rehabilitation units.  The Constitution had been amended and laws established to criminalise prostitution, trafficking in illegal substances, and the sale of children.  Iraqi laws prohibited the conscription of young people under the age of 18, and many policies had been implemented to prevent the involvement of children in terrorist activities.  The State party had also set up a body to monitor the recommendations of international bodies.  As a result of these efforts, Iraq had been removed from the United Nations Secretary-General’s list of countries that violated children’s rights.

    DINDAR ZEBARI, Coordinator of International Recommendations, Kurdistan Regional Government, said Kurdistan had developed a regional development plan for 2021–2025, which included 11 recommendations on children’s rights, of which nine had been implemented.  In 2023, the Kurdistan Council of Ministers approved a policy aimed at protecting children. Kurdistan had raised the age of criminal responsibility to 11 years, banned the death penalty for children, converted detention sentences to rehabilitation programmes, and reactivated juvenile courts. 

    In the fight against human trafficking, a national campaign was launched that had led to the arrest of 79 people and the sentencing of 12 traffickers.  Kurdistan hosted 865,000 internally displaced persons and refugees, and the Government provided this population with shelter, education, and health care. 

    Measures implemented by the Government had led to a 42 per cent reduction in under-five mortality; the rate was now far lower than the global average.  The Government provided social welfare services to approximately 130 children annually, and new care homes for girls had been opened.  Some 550 children from government nurseries and 53 from the surrogacy system had been placed in foster families.  Procedures for issuing parental certificates to children of unknown origin were carried out in accordance with the civil status law, in a manner that respected their privacy and preserved their dignity.

    Questions by Committee Experts 

    BENOIT VAN KEIRSBILCK, Committee Expert and Taskforce Coordinator for Iraq, said that Iraq had devoted a range of efforts to improving its situation after periods of violence.  The Committee had seen several improvements in terms of the rights of the child, including the State’s commendable strategy on children’s rights.  However, challenges remained, and the Committee would address these.

    Iraq maintained its reservation to article 14 of the Convention.  Why did it oppose children having the right to protest?  Was the Convention used by courts and the Parliament?  When would the planned child protection law be adopted? Would this law address all forms of violence against children?  How did legislation on refugees that would soon be adopted address refugee children’s rights?

    Who was responsible for coordinating and implementing the State’s strategy for children?  What budget was set aside for the strategy and how would its implementation be assessed?  How would the State party implement the proposed child protection information management system?  Did it calculate the percentage of the budget dedicated to children’s policies, and was it working on addressing issues with tax collection to increase funds for children’s policies?  How did the State party ensure that the data it collected on children was accurate?

    Did the State party plan to ratify the Optional Protocol on the individual complaints procedure?  Did children whose rights were violated have access to reparations?  How could they lodge complaints?  There were reports that police had refused to register some children’s complaints.

    The Committee welcomed that Iraq’s National Human Rights Commission had “A” status under the Paris Principles. There had been a legal complaint against the former Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission.  What progress had been made in investigating this case?  Were there plans to set up an ombudsperson for children?  How had cuts in international funding affected programmes promoting children’s rights in Iraq?

    Sexual exploitation of children remained a major concern.  What measures were in place to support child victims?  The Penal Code allowed parents and educators to use corporal punishment in family and educational settings.  Some 81 per cent of children had reportedly been subjected to some form of corporal punishment.  How was the State party addressing this?

    Iraqi law still allowed children to marry from age 15, and there had been a draft law that sought to lower the age of marriage for girls to nine.  What was the status of this law?  What measures were in place to prevent child marriage?  Sexual slavery was still practiced in some parts of the country.  How did the State party support child victims of sexual slavery?  How many children who were affected by the activities of Daesh had the State party rehabilitated?

    MARIANA IANACHEVICI, Committee Expert and Taskforce Member, welcomed the State party’s efforts to incorporate the principles of the Convention in its legal and policy frameworks, and to prevent discrimination.  The State party taught minority languages in schools and had implemented measures to prevent discrimination against children with disabilities in schools.  Were there plans to develop exclusive anti-discrimination legislation that addressed discrimination against children?  How would the State promote access to social services for girls in remote communities? How was the principle of the best interests of the child reflected in national legislation?  What mechanisms were in place to ensure that children’s views were considered when assessing what was in their best interests?

    What measures were in place to ensure that no children were sentenced to the death penalty?  How was the civil registration system being strengthened to ensure that all children, including children born in areas formerly controlled by Daesh, were registered?  What measures were in place to prevent infanticide?

    How was the State party ensuring that the views of children were considered in laws, policies and practices?  How was the State party promoting the meaningful participation of children from disadvantaged groups in the development of policies and laws?

    The Expert welcomed efforts to support children returning from northern Syria.  What was the rationale behind 2025 amendments to the personal status law?  There were concerns that these amendments could undermine existing safeguards for women and children.  How did the State party ensure that this legislation was in line with the Convention, and that women-led households would continue to receive adequate social support?  What efforts were being made to harmonise religious court rulings with international standards? 

    What efforts were being made to expand family-based care for children whose parents could no longer care for them, and to make foster care a viable alternative for families? Did the State party pursue systematic family reunification when appropriate?

    RINCHEN CHOPHEL, Committee Expert and Taskforce Member, welcomed legislation from 2006 that allowed women to pass on their nationality to their children.  Did children born to unmarried parents receive birth certificates?  What measures were in place to regulate the registration of children born in armed conflict situations?  The Expert expressed concern about reports that the children of parents who were not of Muslim faith, particularly persons of the Baha’i faith, were not registered.  What measures were in place to prevent this?  What measures had been adopted to protect children from online risks? What was the status of the draft cybercrime law?

    BENYAM DAWIT MEZMUR, Committee Expert and Taskforce Member, said that there had been significant progress for children in Iraq over the last 10 years.  What awareness raising campaigns were being carried out to address negative societal attitudes related to children with disabilities?  What had been the impact of legislative revisions related to persons with disabilities?  How had the State party mainstreamed disability rights?  What progress had been made in developing a central database on children with disabilities?  The Committee welcomed the “disability stipend” for children with disabilities who attended schools.  Were there plans to extend this to children with disabilities who did not attend school? Assessments of children with disabilities tended to focus on medical impairments; were there plans to change this approach?  The Kurdistan Government had introduced a universal stipend for children, but its reach appeared to be limited.  What efforts had been made to extend it?

    Responses by the Delegation

    The delegation said most of the Iraqi population was Muslim, but the Government respected religious plurality and had implemented mechanisms to protect religious diversity.  Iraq had expressed reservations related to article 14 of the Convention as its law was based on the Islamic Sharia, but the State party’s laws promoted the freedom of religion.  There was one case related to the rights of a 15-year-old girl in which the court had referenced the Convention.

    The State party paid salaries to carers of children with disabilities; recently, this salary had been increased. Assistive devices were provided to children with disabilities, who were integrated into public schools.  Mobile teams aided children with disabilities in their homes and smart identification cards facilitated access to social services for children with disabilities.  The State party also provided primary care to children with disabilities in conflict settings.

    The Government had adopted several measures promoting the participation of children in decision-making processes, establishing children’s parliaments in more than 420 schools. Non-governmental organizations promoted the participation of children in decision-making, providing them with training on advocacy.

    Around 30 shelters had been established that provided services to vulnerable children, including orphans and victims of domestic violence.  The shelters provided food and access to education and technical training.  Health examinations were provided for children in these shelters every three months.

    The Constitution included articles that prohibited discrimination and guaranteed protection for women and children. Several laws had been adopted to protect minorities, including a law on reparations for Yezidi refugees who had suffered human rights violations during armed conflict.

    The State party sought to adopt a draft law on anti-discrimination that was currently before Parliament.  The law would prevent discrimination based on religion and other factors.  There were several schools that taught Christian values.  A centre had been established that taught the minority Assyrian language, and several public schools also taught the language.

    The Ministry of Interior accepted complaints from children through a dedicated hotline, which complied with international standards; the children’s support unit; and through hospitals and schools.  A range of legal measures had been adopted to combat sexual exploitation.  State legislation stipulated punishments for violations of children’s rights online.

    Children were guaranteed the right to an identity by the law on identity and other legislative measures.  The State party had sought to identify children with unknown parents born in the Daesh era and provide them with identity documents; 120,000 persons in this situation had been registered to date.

    The State party considered cultural circumstances when setting the minimum age of marriage.  It was re-evaluating the law on child marriage. Marriage could be approved from age 15 if it was in the child’s interests.  There was currently no draft law defining the best interests of the child, but some texts recognised the principle, such as the personal status law, which called for an assessment of the best interests of the child in foster arrangements.

    The State party was proud of its achievements in rehabilitating child refugees.  A centre had been established in 2021 that hosted 17,000 individuals. Currently, 7,000 children resided in the centre, who benefited from cultural activities, education and social rehabilitation services.  More than 6,000 children had been supported to return to their homes.  Most refugees who came from Syrian camps were women and children.  They were provided with various support services, and more than 6,000 of these persons had been supported to return to their homes.

    More than nine trillion dinars had been allocated to the health sector, more than 70 per cent of which benefitted women and children.  Hospital workers had been trained on dealing with victims of violence against women and children, and medical units providing care to victims had been established. In refugee camps, more than 30,000 vaccinations had been provided to children.  There were governorate programmes on sexual and reproductive health and nutrition that benefitted youth.  A draft law on mental health had been developed and programmes were in place to provide psychosocial care for students in schools and universities.

    Training sessions had been organised on the Convention, international humanitarian law, and the rights of children in armed conflict, for members of the armed forces.  The Government had contributed to demining more than 18 million cluster munitions in former conflict zones.

    The Constitutional Court had ruled that article 41 of the Criminal Code did not allow the use of violence against children or students in any context; it aimed only at imposing discipline and rehabilitation.  There were many cases in which parents and teachers who treated children violently had been punished.

    Child benefits were allocated to more than 3.5 million children, while around 3,000 orphaned children also received benefits, and more than two million children received scholarships. Around 154,000 children received disability benefits.  Some 12 trillion dinars were invested in children’s education in 2024.  Children with disabilities were integrated into mainstream education.

    Questions by Committee Experts

    BENYAM DAWIT MEZMUR, Committee Expert and Taskforce Member, said that Iraq relied on external support for health sector financing.  What measures were in place to reduce reliance on external support?  The Committee commended the State party’s efforts in immunisation, but there were low immunisation rates in conflict areas and rural areas.  How was the Government addressing this?

    Obesity rates were rising among Iraqi children, anaemia was an issue for women, and Iraq had low breastfeeding rates. How were these issues being addressed? How was the State party working to reduce the exposure of children to tobacco and unhealthy food marketing, strengthening children’s mental health and reducing health costs for families? The adolescent birth rate was concerningly high.  How was the State party addressing teenage pregnancy?

    Iraqi schools were fully closed for 51 weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic.  What catch-up measures had been implemented?  Access to online services was limited in schools in Kurdistan; how was this being addressed?  Mr. Mezmur congratulated the State party on implementing legislation on pre-primary education.  Enrolment in this education was still at around 10 per cent; how was the Government promoting increased access?  What was being done to identify children who were out of school and encourage their return? How could children without documentation access education and health care?

    MARIANA IANACHEVICI, Committee Expert and Taskforce Member, asked about care being provided for children returning from northeast Syria.  What training was provided to professionals who worked with children coming from abusive family environments?  How were the rights of incarcerated children protected?  Did they have access to education and mental health care?  The Expert welcomed efforts to improve the standards of living for children through social safety net programmes.  Were there plans to strengthen the programmes to support vulnerable children?  How was the Government promoting access to safe drinking water for vulnerable children and families, particularly in conflict-affected areas?

    RINCHEN CHOPHEL, Committee Expert and Taskforce Member, said children in Iraq were exposed to extremely high temperatures.  Were there national initiatives to monitor children’s environmental health, and reduce and monitor air and water pollutants?  What measures were in place to increase children’s preparedness for disasters?

    BENOIT VAN KEIRSBILCK, Committee Expert and Taskforce Coordinator, asked whether the State party was considering ratifying the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons?  What protections were provided to asylum seekers and migrants in Iraq?  Had the State party conducted analysis into the causes of child labour and developed measures to address the issue?  Were labour inspectors trained to deal with child labour?  Why had the number of inspections decreased recently?  What was being done to reintegrate victims of child labour into society and support their access to rehabilitation?  How were children in street situations identified and supported to return to their families?  Were there referral services for child victims of trafficking?  Were the perpetrators of child trafficking brought to justice?  How did the State party ensure that child victims of trafficking were not treated as perpetrators?

    Had the State party assessed legislation on child justice and considered establishing juvenile courts?  The minimum age of criminal responsibility was 11; were there plans to raise this to 14?  What happened to children below 11 years of age who committed crimes? The treatment of children in detention was very worrying.  How many children were detained?  What non-custodial measures were in place?  How did the State party assess the age of children in conflict with the law? Were there still children detained with adults?

    There had been improvements regarding children involved in armed conflict.  How was this issue monitored and how was the recruitment of children criminalised in practice?  Were there military schools in Iraq?  Was the State party considering incorporating the Safe Schools Declaration in national policy?

    Responses by the Delegation

    The delegation said Iraq had taken numerous measures to address child labour, which was prohibited for children under 15 years old, and there were strict measures regulating work for children aged 15 to 18.  Iraq had ratified the International Labour Organization Conventions 138 and 182 on child labour.  The State party was working to raise awareness of the risks of employing children and the punishments imposed.  Social support programmes had been bolstered to reduce the need for children to engage in labour; around 1.5 million households benefitted from these programmes. 

    There was a workplace oversight and monitoring programme that sought to protect children from economic exploitation. Employers could be fined or punished for using child labour.  Children who were authorised to work could only work reduced hours and could not work at night.  These children had the right to equal pay and a safe and healthy workplace.  An exceptional surprise inspection campaign had been carried out since 2019, which had identified more than 600 cases of child labour in total, with several employers of children transferred to judicial authorities.

    The budget for the Ministry of Health had increased to over nine trillion dinars in 2024.  This budget was devoted to health care programmes for women and children, constructing and rehabilitating medical centres, and other areas.  The Government was implementing the national vaccination programme to provide vaccinations to vulnerable populations, including asylum seekers and refugees. The Government provided equal access to health services regardless of religion, ethnicity or other characteristics. In 2023 and 2024, more than 43,000 children in refugee camps received vaccinations against polio.  Iraq had become one of the first countries in the Middle East to become free from polio.  More than 88 per cent of children in kindergarten and 91 per cent of primary school students had been vaccinated.

    Awareness raising campaigns on the importance of healthy diets were carried out in schools.  The nutritional quality of school meals was examined and the safety of schools’ drinking water was tested.  Schools were supported to organise sports activities.  The State party also supported non-governmental organizations working to improve children’s nutrition.  The Government had adopted a law prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to children under the age of 15 and a law prohibited the sale and production of e-cigarettes.  A smoking ban had been imposed in schools.

    The State party promoted exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life, and there had been a 10 per cent rise in breastfeeding recently.  Iron supplements were provided to pregnant women and vitamin A supplements were provided to children, blood test campaigns were carried out to detect anaemia, and awareness raising campaigns on the dangers of anaemia were carried out. Since 2021, there had been a 46 per cent decrease in maternal mortality, influenced by a 96 per cent rise in the number of specialised doctors covering deliveries.

    Iraq’s nationally determined contribution, approved in 2021, spelled out the State party’s goal of developing renewable energy sources and transitioning to a low-carbon economy.  The State party was pursuing climate change mitigation and adaptation measures in its policies and programmes, including the national development strategy.  Projects and programmes to cut pollution and minimise the effects of greenhouse gases were being developed.  A technological action plan on the energy transition had also been drafted.

    All persons from minority groups enjoyed the rights and privileges guaranteed to all Iraqi citizens. Electoral laws ensured quotas for minority representatives, and there were also quotas for minorities in the civil service.  There were nine seats in Parliament reserved for minority representatives, and there were also minority representatives in the Council of Ministers.  The State party had encouraged Yezidi and Christian minorities to return to their places of residence.  There were 79 non-governmental organizations working tirelessly to protect minority children’s rights.  A programme to restore minority religious buildings had been implemented following the destructive campaign of Daesh, which had led to the reconstruction of four Christian churches and more than 20 mosques.

    The Kurdistan Government had provided support to 185,000 children abducted by Daesh.  Around 1,000 survivors were sent to Germany to receive additional healthcare.  Many cases had been submitted related to the crimes of Daesh.

    Follow-Up Questions by Committee Experts

    BENOIT VAN KEIRSBILCK, Committee Expert and Taskforce Coordinator, asked when the child protection law would be adopted.  Some 28 per cent of girls were married before the age of 18 and seven per cent before the age of 15.  What were the rights of former wives after divorce?  Was the State working to prevent the practice of forcing girls to marry their cousins?  Corporal punishment by parents and teachers appeared to be permitted by the Criminal Code. Was there an awareness raising campaign on the prohibition of corporal punishment?  There were reports of female genital mutilation still being practiced in some regions; how was this being addressed?  How was the State party pursuing demining activities to make land safe for children?

    BENYAM DAWIT MEZMUR, Committee Expert and Taskforce Member, asked about the implementation of legislation on illegal drugs, which had increased in prevalence in Iraq in recent years. How was Iraq addressing the impact of drugs on children?

    MARIANA IANACHEVICI, Committee Expert and Taskforce Member, asked about amendments in 2025 to the civil status law and the expanded role of religious courts in family matters.  How did the decisions of these courts affect children?

    Other Committee Experts asked about why Iraq was not present at the Bogota interministerial conference on violence against children; how it was expanding coverage of the hotline for reporting violence; whether marriages between people of different religions were permitted; plans to revise legislation allowing husbands to beat their wives; whether there was an authority monitoring standards in residential homes; whether children incarcerated with their parents benefitted from support programmes; whether there was a disease surveillance system in place; how the State party was combatting tuberculosis in children, obstetric fistula and child obesity; measures to prevent child road deaths; and screening programmes to assess disability in children.

    Several Experts expressed concern regarding the amendment in 2025 to the civil status law allowing for children to marry from age nine.  They asked how the State party determined the best interests of the child in decisions authorising marriages under age 18?  What measures were implemented to protect vulnerable girls from forced marriages? Had appeals been made to immediately nullify the amendment?

    Responses by the Delegation

    The delegation said the amendment to the law on personal status had been assessed by Parliament and workshops with civil society.  Marriage from nine years was not permitted by the civil status law, which permitted marriages from 18 years of age, or from 15 years when the children involved petitioned courts directly, with their parents’ permission.  Such children were required to undergo medical examinations to ensure that they were mentally and physically capable of marriage.  The new civil status law ensured that only judges had the ability to sign minors’ marriage contracts.  There were no religious courts or judges in Iraq. Persons who facilitated marriages outside the legal framework were liable for punishment.

    The Supreme Court had issued a clear verdict on article 41 of the Criminal Code, finding that it did not allow violence against children in any form.  Courts were bound to follow this interpretation of the law.  When parents exercised corporal punishment, they faced legal punishment.  Civil police monitored cases of corporal punishment and had responded to around 100 cases.

    State legislation regulated disciplinary measures imposed against school principals and teachers who harmed children’s health.  Perpetrators of such acts could be brought before the courts.  The Ministry of Education combatted all forms of violence in schools.  School management boards included experts on preventing violence.

    The Ministry of Interior had departments fighting trafficking in persons and supporting victims, and departments supporting poor families and children to keep them out of street situations. The law on trafficking in persons specified that minors involved in trafficking were victims.  The national strategy for 2023 to 2026 on child protection included measures to combat trafficking.  In 2024, the State party had arrested more than 1,000 persons involved in trafficking in persons.  The department combatting trafficking had been linked with the secret services department to strengthen transnational activities to combat the crime.

    The Ministry of Interior had implemented measures to prevent the spread of illegal drugs under the national strategy to combat drugs for 2025 to 2030.  Educational programmes were carried out to strengthen public servants’ capacity to treat drug addicts.  Some 16 rehabilitation centres had been established for drug addicts, who were treated as victims rather than criminals and supported to reintegrate into society. The State party had cooperated with other States to dismantle international drug trafficking networks. The volume of confiscated drugs had increased recently.

    Parliamentary committees were examining the draft law on children’s protection, which promoted children’s rights and prohibited all forms of abuse against children.  The law would ensure that children enjoyed protection from discrimination regardless of their ethnicity, religion or other characteristics, and the right to live in a safe family environment.

    Concluding Remarks 

    BENOIT VAN KEIRSBILCK, Committee Expert and Taskforce Coordinator, said that the size and high level of the delegation showed that Iraq highly valued children’s rights.  The dialogue had revealed areas in which Iraq had made important progress since 2015, as well as issues that needed to be addressed. Based on it, the Committee would develop recommendations to help the State party better implement the Convention. The future law on child protection seemed extremely promising; the Committee hoped that it would be adopted soon and fully implemented.  It was important that children knew their rights and were able to implement them. Iraq still faced many challenges. The Committee looked forward to the future progress that it hoped the State would make.

    KHALID SALAM SAEED, Minster of Justice of Iraq and head of the delegation, said Iraq had presented its progress in implementing the Convention and the recommendations of the Committee.  The State party looked forward to receiving the Committee’s recommendations, which would help to consolidate children’s rights in the country.  The concluding observations would be carefully studied by authorities drafting policies and plans on the rights of the child.  Iraq was determined to promote human rights based on the principles of equality and social justice.  The Government cooperated with various stakeholders to implement the Committee’s recommendations and its international obligations.  Iraq thanked all persons who had facilitated the dialogue.

    ABDULKARIM HASHEM MUSTAFA, Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said the dialogue reflected the Iraqi Government’s resolve to protect the rights of the child pursuant to the provisions of the Convention.  Iraq thanked the Committee for its moral support, which encouraged it to further improve the situation of its children.

    SOPIO KILADZE, Committee Chair, said that the Committee and the State party shared a common goal of improving the situation of children in Iraq.  The Committee congratulated the State party on the progress it had made and looked forward to hearing about the future progress that the State would make for children in the next dialogue.

    ___________

    Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media; 
    not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.

     

     

     

    CRC25.012E

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: NATO Deputy Secretary General visits Estonia

    Source: NATO

    On Friday (16 May), NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska travelled to Estonia.

    She began at the Ämari Airbase, from where the Portuguese Air Force currently helps secure the skies as part of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission.  The Deputy Secretary General was also briefed on the ongoing multinational exercise Hedgehog/Siil. Led by Estonia, the exercise brings together over 18,000 Estonian military personnel and forces from eleven Allied countries, including NATO’s multinational presence in Estonia.  

    At the Lennart Meri Conference later in the day, the Deputy Secretary General outlined NATO’s priorities for the upcoming Summit in The Hague.  She discussed the ways to strengthen deterrence and defence in the face of global security challenges, emphasising the importance of increasing defence spending and defence production. She also discussed NATO’s support to Ukraine.
    Mrs. Shekerinska also visited the Regional Hub of NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), where start-ups work to adapt their innovative technologies to defence, in areas such as sensing and surveillance, energy, and critical infrastructure.

    The Deputy Secretary General met the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Margus Tsahkna, and the Minister of Defence, Mr Hanno Pevkur.  She thanked Estonia for its exemplary commitment to investing in defence, support for Ukraine, as well as for its contributions to defence innovation and cyber defence.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Army Corps Nominee Commits to Sullivan to Prioritize Alaska’s Nome Port Project

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Alaska Dan Sullivan
    05.16.25
    WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee, secured a commitment this week from Adam Telle, nominated to be Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works in charge of the Army Corps of Engineers, to prioritize the Port of Nome project, the nation’s first deep-draft Arctic port, in light of Alaska’s strategic importance constituting the entirety of America’s Arctic.
    “The Port of Nome has bipartisan support,” said Sen. Sullivan. “We don’t have an Arctic port anywhere to push back on the Russian and Chinese aggression in my part of the [country]. That project, it’s really important. We’ve got to get it over the finish line. Can I get your commitment to work with me and the others in this committee on that project?”
    “Senator Sullivan, one of the most strategic issues that confronts the United States of America today is our status as an Arctic…nation,” said Mr. Telle. “This is an area of the world that the Chinese Communist Party is very interested in. The Russians are very active. Your state is front and center to the United States of America’s being an Arctic nation. We must be. It seems to me that, if we’re going to be an Arctic nation, that Alaska ought to be one of the key launching points of that force projection and power projection and economic projection. I look forward to working with you to help make the case for the strategic nature of Alaska and the Port of Nome as it relates to the United States asserting itself as an Arctic nation.”
    [embedded content]
    In his questioning during the EPW hearing, Sen. Sullivan also highlighted President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential,” which directs the Corps to “review, revise or rescind any agency action that may in any way hinder, slow, or otherwise delay any critical project in the State of Alaska.” Mr. Telle reiterated his understanding of and support for carrying out the President’s Alaska order in relation to critical projects, including the Port of Nome.
    Below is a transcript of Sen. Sullivan’s exchange with Mr. Telle on the Port of Nome and the Alaska EO.
    SEN. SULLIVAN: I appreciated our meetings, Mr. Telle and Mr. McMaster. It’s hard to build anything in Alaska. Right? You want to build a road, a sidewalk, you usually get 12 radical far-left environmental groups that sue to stop it. We have the King Cove Road. We’ve only been trying to get that done for 40 years. A nine-mile, single-lane gravel road that every Democrat in the country—including, God rest his soul, Jimmy Carter, writes op-eds [saying] you can’t build a road in Alaska. Then it went so bad, we had the Biden administration’s Last Frontier Lock Up. My great state suffered through 70 executive orders and executive actions from the Biden administration singularly focused on Alaska. I like ripping this up because that’s not the issue anymore. We now have President Trump who issued his day-one executive order called, “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential.” Mr. Telle, as you and I discussed, there’s a lot of great provisions in here. This is all about getting things done in Alaska, not crushing us as the radical left wants to do. There’s a really good provision about the Corps of Engineers. I’m going to read it to you: “The assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works”—that’s you—”shall immediately review, revise or rescind any agency action that may in any way hinder, slow, or otherwise delay any critical project in the state of Alaska.” That’s from the President. Will you commit to abide by that very expansive provision to get things done in my great state after four years of being crushed by the previous administration?
    MR. TELLE: Senator Sullivan, absolutely. When I visited your office, I tattooed the executive order that the President issued on Alaska on my heart.
    SULLIVAN: By the way, that’s a great answer.
    TELLE: I will go ahead and read the second paragraph to you from memory, which essentially says that I shall, if confirmed, coordinate as closely with the Governor of Alaska as a human could possibly coordinate.
    SULLIVAN: Good. And the Senator from Alaska.
    TELLE: Of course.
    …..
    SULLIVAN: The Port of Nome has bipartisan support. We don’t have an Arctic port anywhere to push back on the Russian and Chinese aggression in my part of the [country]. That project, it’s really important. We’ve got to get it over the finish line. Can I get your commitment to work with me and the others in this committee on that project? That’s an interesting project. I mentioned, you had your SASC hearing yesterday. That’s EPW, and that’s very much DoD, to be able to have Navy ships, icebreakers, be able to pull up to the port of Nome. We don’t have a port in the Arctic right now that can handle Navy ships and icebreakers.
    TELLE: Senator Sullivan, one of the most strategic issues that confronts the United States of America today is our status as an Arctic and Antarctic nation. This is an area of the world that the Chinese Communist Party is very interested in. The Russians are very active. Your state is front and center to the United States of America’s being an Arctic nation. We must be. It seems to me that, if we’re going to be an Arctic nation, that Alaska ought to be one of the key launching points of that force projection and power projection and economic projection. I look forward to working with you to help make the case for the strategic nature of Alaska and the Port of Nome as it relates to the United States asserting itself as an Arctic nation.
    Below is a timeline on the Port of Nome expansion project: 
    Water resource projects developed by the Corps undergo a multi-stage process. Standard Corps project delivery consists of the Corps leading the study, design, and construction of authorized projects. However, each stage of that process must qualify for an existing authorization or receive a separate authorization from Congress, as well as receive congressional appropriation at each stage to proceed. Congress authorizes the Corps’ actions through periodic Water Resource Development Acts in the Senate EPW Committee and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.  
    In 2012, the Corps launched the Alaska Deep Draft Arctic Port System Study to evaluate potential locations on the northern and western coasts of Alaska, and to determine the feasibility of constructing navigation improvements as part of a larger system of port facilities in the Arctic and sub-Arctic region. Following the selection of Nome as the location for an Arctic port, the Corps began a feasibility study, assessing the costs of the port versus the benefits. The Corps paused the feasibility study following the departure of Shell Oil Company from the Arctic, which significantly tipped the cost-benefit ratio against the port project. 
    In the 2016 Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act, Sen. Sullivan and the late Representative Don Young (R-Alaska) included two provisions to justify a potential Arctic port based on its value to surrounding communities and its importance to national security.
    In 2017, following enactment of the WIIN Act, senior Corps leaders committed to Sullivan and Young to utilize the new authority to restart the feasibility study for the port.
    On February 2, 2018, the City of Nome and the Corps initiated a cost-sharing agreement.
    On October 23, 2018, President Trump signed America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA), which included Sullivan-Young language to expedite completion of a Corps feasibility study for the Nome port.
    On May 29, 2020, the Corps announced the completion of the chief’s report for the Port of Nome Modification Feasibility Study, making the project eligible for congressional authorization and funding.
    In December 2020, President Trump signed the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2020, which included language, championed by Sullivan and Young, authorizing $379 million for the federal share of the Nome Deep Draft Port Project.
    On November 15, 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law. The bill provided $250 million over five years for the construction of remote and subsistence harbor projects. These projects are in locations that are not connected to a road system, and for ports are vital to the long-term viability of the community.
    On January 19, 2022, the Corps announced that the entire $250 million from the IIJA for remote and subsistence harbor projects will be directed to the Port of Nome.
    On July 28, 2022, the Senate passed the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2022. The legislation included key victories for Alaska infrastructure, including increasing the federal cost-share for the Nome Deep Draft Port Project. 
    On December 15, 2022, the Senate passed WRDA 2022 as part of the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.
    On October 31, 2023, Senators Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) announced an$11.2 million grant for the construction of water and wastewater, fuel, power, and communications infrastructure to expand and deepen the Port of Nome. The grant was made possible by the IIJA.
    On January 25, 2024, the Corps announced a Project Partnership Agreement (PPA) for the Port of Nome expansion project, which includes the construction of a new deep-water basin. The PPA, which legally binds the government and the State of Alaska to execute the project, was marked by a signing ceremony held in Nome.
    On February 12, 2025, several Arctic policy experts testified at a Senate Commerce Science & Transportation Committee hearing in support of increasing infrastructure investments in Alaska, including the Port of Nome expansion.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Israel launches retaliatory airstrikes on Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    SANAA/JERUSALEM, May 16 (Xinhua) — The Israeli military launched retaliatory air strikes on Yemen’s Red Sea ports of Hodeida and As-Salif on Friday, the Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah TV channel reported.

    There are no reports of casualties yet.

    The Xinhua source said the new strikes came as the Houthis were preparing ports to receive fuel shipments. Houthi-controlled areas, including the capital Sanaa, have been suffering from fuel shortages since a previous round of Israeli airstrikes on May 6. The shortage has worsened since then.

    Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed in a joint statement that the Israeli Air Force attacked and “severely damaged” the Red Sea ports of Hodeida and Salif in an effort to disrupt Houthi operations in those harbors.

    The current Israeli airstrikes on Houthi targets in northern Yemen are the eighth since the rebel movement began firing drones and rockets into Israel in November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis also regularly target Israeli-linked commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

    On May 6, the Jewish state shelled Sana’a International Airport, causing significant damage: the runway, a passenger plane, and critical infrastructure were destroyed, rendering the airport inoperable. According to Houthi-controlled health authorities, three people were killed and at least 39 were injured in the strikes on the Yemeni capital and the nearby province of Amran.

    Today’s airstrikes came after the Houthis reached a ceasefire with the United States, brokered by Oman. Under the agreement, the Houthis agreed to suspend attacks on American shipping in the Red Sea in exchange for an end to U.S. airstrikes against their positions. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: IMF and Niger Reach Staff-Level Agreement on the Seventh Review of the Extended Credit Facility and the Third Review of the Resilience and Sustainability Facility

    Source: IMF – News in Russian

    May 16, 2025

    End-of-Mission press releases include statements of IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive Board. Based on the preliminary findings of this mission, staff will prepare a report that, subject to management approval, will be presented to the IMF’s Executive Board for discussion and decision.

    • IMF Staff and Nigerien Authorities have reached an agreement at the staff level on the seventh review of Niger’s economic program under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the third review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
    • Economic growth is expected to remain robust at 6.6 percent in 2025, despite headwinds. Nonetheless, there are significant downside risks, particularly those linked to a tightening of financing conditions, to a reduction in development assistance and to the security situation.
    • The Nigerien authorities remain committed to rapidly implementing key structural reforms under the program, including the adoption of a revised general tax code and the operationalization of the oil revenue management strategy.

    Washington, DC: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team led by Mr. Antonio David held meetings from May 5-16, 2025, on the seventh review of the arrangement with Niger supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the third review of the arrangement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).

    At the end of the mission, Mr. David issued the following statement:

    “The Nigerien authorities and the IMF team reached a staff-level agreement on the seventh review of Niger’s economic program under the Extended Credit Facility and on the third review of the arrangement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility. The staff-level agreement is subject to IMF Management and Executive Board approval. The Board meeting is expected to take place in July 2025. The ECF reviews’ completion would allow the disbursement of SDR 13.2 million (about US$ 17.8 million, or 10 percent of Niger’s quota) to cover external financing needs. In turn, completion of the third review of the RSF would allow for the disbursement of SDR 17.1 million (about US$ 23.1 million, or 13 percent of Niger’s quota).

    “Economic growth is expected to remain robust at 6.6 percent in 2025, despite headwinds. Average inflation should recede to 4.2 percent, supported by a favorable harvest. Nonetheless, there are downside risks around the baseline. The security situation may affect economic activity, while fiscal space could be constrained due to a tightening of financing conditions and a reduction in development assistance.

    “Fiscal consolidation efforts will continue in 2025, while preserving social spending. The projected 1.3 percentage points of GDP adjustment to reach the 3 percent of GDP target will be driven by stronger revenue mobilization, while total expenditure growth is projected to be contained. The Nigerien authorities will continue to pursue a prudent debt policy in light of risks and tight financing conditions, favoring concessional financing and grants.

    “The arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility aims to strengthen macroeconomic stability and lay the foundations for resilient, inclusive, and private sector-led growth. Program performance has been broadly satisfactory against end-December 2024 and end-March 2025 targets. The authorities also made considerable progress in clearing debt service arrears.

    “The Nigerien authorities remain committed to rapidly implementing key structural reforms under the program, including the adoption of a revised general tax code and the operationalization of the oil revenue management strategy. IMF staff welcomed the reinstatement of the supreme audit institution and looks forward to a full resumption of its activities. These reform efforts are essential to achieve the key program objectives of improving revenue mobilization and the quality and efficiency of public expenditures, promoting private sector development, as well as enhancing governance and transparency frameworks.

    “RSF financing supports efforts to advance reforms and investments to address rising risks and challenges associated with climate change, thereby building resilience and safeguarding livelihoods. In the context of this review, the authorities have made good progress in implementing measures to strengthen the planning and budgeting of climate-related spending; and to improve the sensitivity of public investment management to climate-related issues.

    “The mission met His Excellency Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy and Finance, Mr. Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine. The mission also held working sessions with the Deputy Minister in Charge of the Budget, Mr. Mamane Sidi, the National Director of the BCEAO, Mr. Maman Laouali Abdou Rafa, as well as other senior government officials, private sector representatives, and development partners.

    “The team would like to thank the authorities for their cooperation, and for the constructive and productive discussions.”

    IMF Communications Department
    MEDIA RELATIONS

    PRESS OFFICER: Tatiana Mossot

    Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

    https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2025/05/16/pr25149-niger-imf-reach-sla-seventh-review-ecf-third-review-rsf

    MIL OSI

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Sen. Ed Harbison Celebrates Signing of Legislation to Protect Georgia’s Active-Duty Service Members

    Source: US State of Georgia

    ATLANTA (May 16, 2025) – Last week, Governor Brian P. Kemp signed Senate Bill 109 into law—a measure authored by Sen. Harbison (D–Columbus) to safeguard life insurance coverage for Georgia’s active-duty service members.

    The new law, written following the death of Sgt. Brandon Tyrese Fraiser, prohibits group life insurance policies from excluding or restricting coverage solely because the insured is serving on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces, unless the death results directly from an act of war or related hazard.

    “As a former Marine and a long-time advocate for our veterans and service members, I’ve always believed that those who serve our nation with honor should never face undue barriers—especially when it comes to something as essential as life insurance. It was extraordinarily moving to witness this legislation be signed into law alongside the late Sgt. Fraiser’s father and family members,” said Sen. Harbison. “SB 109 offers critical financial protection to Georgia’s military families and ensures our service members are treated with the fairness and dignity they deserve. I want to thank Gov. Kemp, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, my senate colleagues, and my fellow servicemen and women for their hard work in getting this legislation signed.”

    SB 109 received unanimous passage in both chambers of the Georgia General Assembly. Sen. Harbison has consistently aimed to prioritize legislation that honors the service and sacrifices of military families throughout his tenure in the Georgia State Senate.

    More information on SB 109 is available here.

    ###

    Sen. Ed Harbison serves as Chairman of the Senate Committee on State Institutions and Property. He represents the 15th Senate District, which includes Chattahoochee, Macon, Marion, Schley, Talbot and Taylor counties, as well as a portion of Muscogee County. He may be reached at (404) 656-0074 or via email at Ed.Harbison@senate.ga.gov.

    For all media inquiries, reach out to SenatePressInquiries@senate.ga.gov.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Video: Global Event featuring Oscar-winning movie FLOW

    Source: United Nations (Video News)

    UN Movie Society – in Partnership with the Permanent Mission of Latvia to the United Nations – Global Event featuring Oscar-winning movie FLOW.

    As part of the UN Movie Society’s mission to advancing UN global causes through storytelling, an interview with Producer Matīss Kaža of FLOW, will be presented.  The conversation will explore the film’s connection to UN values and its relevance in addressing the global challenges the world faces today.  As FLOW brought Latvia the first Oscar – on this occasion, the event will feature opening remarks by H.E. Sanita Pavļuta-Deslandes, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Latvia to the United Nations.

    FLOW is a dialogue-free animated story about a black cat, dog, capybara, lemur and secretary bird surviving a catastrophic flood in a post-apocalyptic world, as the Earth appears to be reaching its end. As a beacon of hope, the film is about companionship amidst challenges and loss.  Despite their differences, the main characters must navigate the challenges and dangers of adapting to the new environment.

    In a similar vein, the work of the United Nations promotes peace, tolerance, inclusion, understanding and solidarity. Reflecting the themes in FLOW, it emphasizes the importance of embracing differences and fostering the ability to listen to, recognize, respect and appreciate others. These shared values encourage living in a peaceful and united way.  The values and principles upheld by the United Nations focus on cooperation and acting together, united in our differences and diversity. This commitment aims to build a sustainable world rooted in peace, solidarity and harmony.

    Movies have a unique power to convey universal ideals and principles. This include values deeply enshrined by the United Nations – including peace, development, respect for human rights, cultural appreciation, the dignity of the human person, and equal rights for all.  Founded at the United Nations Headquarters by Brenda Vongova, the UN Movie Society is committed to championing UN global causes through the transformative power of storytelling.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxcP0pIPX5k

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Russia and Belarus are obliged to strengthen the common defense space as quickly as possible in the current difficult situation – Russian Defense Minister

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    MINSK, May 16 (Xinhua) — Russia and Belarus are obliged to strengthen their common defense space as quickly as possible in the current very difficult international situation, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said at a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk on Friday. The corresponding information was published by the press service of the Belarusian head of state on the same day.

    “I would like to note that Russia and Belarus are not just allies. We have a common defense space, which we are strengthening due to the very difficult international situation. We are obliged to strengthen it as quickly as possible,” A. Belousov emphasized.

    He also noted that the two countries are working together in a number of key areas to strengthen the defense space. Among them are improving the coordination of troops and the work of headquarters. The key event in this area of cooperation is the joint exercise “Zapad-2025”. It is scheduled for early autumn this year and will be held simultaneously at training grounds in Russia and Belarus. Belarusian military personnel are also being trained in higher educational institutions in Russia. Currently, more than 300 people from Belarus are studying in specialized Russian universities, A. Belousov said.

    Another area includes military-technical cooperation between the two countries. The military departments of Belarus and Russia intend to hold talks on this topic during the current working visit of the Russian Defense Minister to Minsk. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Kazakhstan has begun the second phase of preserving the Northern Aral Sea

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    ALMATY, May 16 (Xinhua) — Kazakh Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Nurzhan Nurzhigitov met with World Bank Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Sameh Wahba at the Kokaral Dam in Kyzylorda region, where they discussed the implementation of the second phase of the North Aral Sea conservation project, Kazinform news agency reported on Friday.

    The Ministry is completing the feasibility study for the second phase of the project. It envisages the reconstruction of the Kokaral Dam and raising the sea level to 44 meters along the Baltic system, as well as the construction of a hydroelectric complex near the village of Amanotkel to stabilize water resources in the Akshatau and Kamystybas lake systems of the Aral district of the Kyzylorda region.

    As a result, the area of the water surface of the Northern Aral will increase to 3913 square kilometers, and the volume – to 34 cubic kilometers. The period of filling the sea to these marks will be 4-5 years. The deadline for receiving an expert opinion on the feasibility study developed by the ministry is December 2025.

    The Northern Aral Sea Conservation Project aims to increase the volume and improve the quality of water in the sea, restore the Syr Darya River delta, reduce the removal of salt deposits from the bottom of the Aral Sea, improve the management of water resources in the Northern Aral Sea, develop the fisheries industry in the Kyzylorda region and improve the living conditions of local residents. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Smithsonian’s National Asian Art Museum Returns Warring States Period Silk Manuscripts to China /more/

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    WASHINGTON, May 16 (Xinhua) — The Smithsonian Institution’s National Asian Art Museum on Friday formally returned two silk manuscripts from the Chu Dynasty from the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.), the Wuxing Ling and Gongshou Zhan (Zidanku Manuscripts), to the National Cultural Heritage Administration of the People’s Republic of China.

    The ceremony of handing over the manuscripts took place at the Chinese Embassy in the United States in Washington.

    These two manuscripts were stolen from a Chu-era tomb in Zidanku District, Changsha City, Hunan Province, central China, in 1942 and smuggled to the United States in 1946. They are currently the only known silk manuscripts from the Warring States period.

    The Zidanku Manuscripts consist of three volumes. The Wuxing Ling and Gongshou Zhan are the second and third volumes, respectively. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Action plan for building digital China released

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) — Chinese authorities have released a 2025 action plan for building a digital China, outlining key initiatives in areas including “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Plus,” infrastructure upgrades, the data industry and cultivating high-skilled digital talent, the National Data Administration said Friday.

    The plan calls for advancing reforms related to market-oriented distribution of data elements, accelerating the formation of a unified national data market, developing a data-driven digital economy tailored to local conditions, and comprehensively improving the overall level of building a digital China.

    According to the document, by the end of 2025, it is expected to achieve significant progress in building a digital China through the continuous expansion of new-quality productive forces in the digital industry, as well as significantly improve the quality and efficiency of digital economic development.

    In addition, the plan calls for the added value of key digital economy industries to exceed 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, and sets goals to make steady progress in building a unified market for data element distribution and increasing China’s computing power to more than 300 exaflops.

    In total, it identifies eight key action areas, including institutional innovation, local brand development and the implementation of “AI Plus.” –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: SED promotes “Study in Hong Kong” brand in Seoul (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

         The Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, today (May 16) continued her trip to Korea and visited Seoul National University (SNU). She exchanged views with the President of the University, Dr Ryu Hong Lim, on deepening higher education collaboration between Korea and Hong Kong, and promoted the “Study in Hong Kong” brand.
     
         Dr Choi said that Hong Kong boasts a highly internationalised and diverse post-secondary education sector. A number of measures have been put in place by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government to enhance Hong Kong’s status as an international education hub. Apart from striving to host international education conferences and exhibitions, the HKSAR Government also encourages local post-secondary institutions to enhance collaboration and exchanges with their counterparts around the world in promoting the “Study in Hong Kong” brand on a global scale, as well as attracting more overseas students to study in Hong Kong through the provision of scholarships.
     
         In addition, the HKSAR Government is developing the Northern Metropolis University Town to encourage local post-secondary institutions to introduce more branded programmes, research collaborations and exchange projects with renowned Mainland and overseas institutions in a flexible and innovative manner.
     
         At the meeting, Dr Choi introduced to the SNU the various large-scale education mega events to be held in Hong Kong, for example the Learning and Teaching Expo to be held during Digital Education Week in July this year, and the Asia-Pacific Association for International Education Conference and Exhibition to be held in February next year. She welcomed representatives from universities in Korea to come to Hong Kong to take part in the events and forge collaborations and exchanges with institutions worldwide. She also welcomed students from Korea and other places to study in Hong Kong or participate in short-term student exchange programmes, and said that she looked forward to further strengthening education ties between Korea and Hong Kong.
     
         Dr Choi also met Hong Kong students studying at SNU to learn about their school life. She encouraged them to return to Hong Kong to develop their careers after completing their studies.
     
         Today and yesterday (May 15), Dr Choi paid courtesy calls on the Chinese Ambassador to Korea, Mr Dai Bing, and the Consul General of China in Jeju, Mr Chen Jianjun, respectively to introduce Hong Kong’s latest education policy.
     
         Yesterday, she also participated in a side event of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Education Ministerial Meeting to visit an elementary school in Jeju to learn about the school’s experiences in promoting AI and digital innovation education.
     
         Dr Choi concluded her visit to Korea today and will depart for a visit to the United Kingdom tomorrow (May 17).

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Video: UK E-petition debate relating to the Income Tax Personal Allowance – Monday 12 May 2025

    Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)

    The Petitions Committee has scheduled a debate relating to the Income Tax Personal Allowance.

    Lewis Atkinson MP has been asked by the Committee to open the debate. The Government will send a Minister to respond.

    Read the petition:
    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/702844

    Find petitions you agree with, and sign them: https://petition.parliament.uk/

    What are petition debates?

    Petition debates are ‘general’ debates which allow MPs from all parties to discuss the important issues raised by one or more petitions, and put their concerns to Government Ministers.

    Petition debates don’t end with a vote to implement the request of a petition. This means that MPs will not vote on the issues raised in the petition at the end of the debate.

    The Petitions Committee can only schedule debates on petitions to parliament started on petition.parliament.uk

    Find out more about how petition debates work: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/content/194347/how-petitions-debates-work/

    Stay up-to-date
    Follow the Committee on Twitter for real-time updates on its work: https://www.twitter.com/hocpetitions

    Thumbnail image ©UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEI8WbYRHCw

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Supporting the EastMed pipeline to reduce energy dependence on non-EU countries – E-000560/2025(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    Following Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the Commission outlined in REPowerEU the strategic necessity to accelerate the clean energy transition and diversify natural gas supplies, including through domestic gas resources[1]. The EastMed pipeline is one of the options to transport gas from Israeli and Cypriot fields to Greece.

    The Commission continuously monitors energy infrastructure developments in alignment with EU policy objectives and available policy instruments. The EastMed pipeline is included in the list of Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) and Projects of Mutual Interest (PMIs), and therefore can benefit from streamlined permitting processes, improved regulatory treatment and funding from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) under certain conditions. The project has received funding under the CEF to carry out a feasibility study. The feasibility of the EastMed pipeline will depend on its commercial viability, including future demand dynamics in line with our climate ambitions, and its potential to contribute to the goals of the REPowerEU.

    The Commission monitors the implementation of the priority projects and works alongside Member States to address emerging challenges. For instance, the EU addresses challenges like cyber threats and physical security to energy infrastructure via the Critical Entities Resilience Directive[2] and the Network and Information Directive (NIS2 Directive)[3], and is reviewing the Union’s energy security framework.

    • [1] https://commission.europa.eu/publications/key-documents-repowereu_en.
    • [2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2022/2557/oj/eng.
    • [3] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2022/2555.
    Last updated: 16 May 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: REPORT on the nomination of Ivana Maletić as a Member of the Court of Auditors – A10-0088/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    ANNEX 1: CURRICULUM VITÆ OF IVANA MALETIĆ

    Ivana MALETIĆ

    Education:

    PhD candidate, Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka (Croatia)

    2012

    Master of Science in Accounting, Auditing and Finance, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Zagreb (Croatia)

    2004 – 2006

    Certified Public Sector Accountant and Auditor (two-year course), CIPFA – Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (United Kingdom)

    1992 – 1997

    Master of Economics and Business, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Zagreb (Croatia)

     

    Professional experience:

    July 2019 – present

    Member, European Court of Auditors (Chamber IV), Luxembourg (Luxembourg)

    July 2013 – June 2019

    Member, European Parliament (ECON, REGI and BUDG Committee), Brussels (Belgium)

    March 2012 – July 2013

    President, TIM4PIN – Center for Public and Non-Profit Sector Development, Zagreb (Croatia)

    February 2008 – December 2011

    State Secretary, National Authorising Officer, Negotiator for Chapter 22 and Deputy Chief Negotiator, Ministry of Finance (Croatia)

    May 2005 – February 2008

    Assistant Minister for Budget Execution and Deputy National Authorising Officer, Ministry of Finance (Croatia)

    September 2004 – May 2005

    Head of National Fund Department, Ministry of Finance (Croatia)

    December 1998 – September 2004

    Advisor, Department for Government Accounting and Financial Reporting, Ministry of Finance (Croatia)

    December 1997 – December 1998

    Trainee, Department for Government Accounting and Financial Reporting, Ministry of Finance (Croatia)

    Work at the European Court of Auditors:

    June 2024 – present

    Member to the Audit Quality Control Committee (AQCC)

    October 2019 – February 2022

    President and Member of the Internal Audit Committee (IAC)

    December 2019 – October 2021

    Member of the Digital Steering Committee (DSC)

    July 2019 – March 2020

    Member of the Strategic Foresight and Advisory Committee

    Published reports:

    Review 05/2020: How the EU took account of lessons learned from the 2008-2012 financial and sovereign debt crises

    Opinion No 6/20 concerning the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Recovery and Resilience Facility (COM(2020) 408)

    Special report 07/2022: SME internationalisation instruments: A large number of support actions but not fully coherent or coordinated

    Special report 15/2022: Measures to widen participation in Horizon 2020 were well designed but sustainable change will mostly depend on efforts by national authorities

    Special report 21/2022: The Commission’s assessment of national recovery and resilience plans: overall appropriate but implementation risks remain

    Special report 23/2022: Synergies between Horizon 2020 and European Structural and Investment Funds: Not yet used to full potential

    Special report 24/2022: e-Government actions targeting businesses Commission’s actions implemented, but availability of e-services still varies across the EU

    Opinion 04/2022 concerning the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2021/241as regards REPowerEU chapters in recovery and resilience plans and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, Directive 2003/87/EC and Decision (EU) 2015/1814 [2022/0164 (COD)]

    Special report 26/2023: The Recovery and Resilience Facility’s performance monitoring framework: Measuring implementation progress but not sufficient to capture performance

    Special report 13/2024: Absorption of funds from the Recovery and Resilience Facility: Progressing with delays and risks remain regarding the completion of measures and therefore the achievement of RRF objectives

    Ongoing audits:

    Labour market reforms in the national recovery and resilience plans. Some results, but not sufficient to address structural challenges.

    Do the design and implementation of the business environment reforms in the national recovery and resilience plans address the main businesses’ needs?

    RRF Review: Opportunities, challenges and risks

    Have the Commission and member states put in place adequate arrangements to ensure an appropriate level of traceability and transparency of RRF funding?

    Publications:

     Books:

    1) Maletić, I., Galinec, D., Japunčić, T., Župan, S., Five years of the Republic of Croatia in the European semester, Office of MEP Ivana Maletić, Zagreb, 2019

    2) Maletić, I., Jakir Bajo, I., Stepić, D., A Guide to Good Governance in the Public and Non-Profit Sector, TIM4PIN, Zagreb, 2018

    3) Maletić, I., Kosor, K., Ivanković Knežević, K., et. al., My EU Project: A Manual for the Preparation and Implementation of EU Projects, TIM4PIN, Zagreb, 2018

    4) Maletić, I., Kosor, K., Copić, M., et al., EU Projects – from Idea to Realization, TIM4PIN, Zagreb, 2016

    5) Maletić, I., Bešlić, B., Copić, M., Kosor, K,., Kulakowski, N., Zrinušić, N., EU Project Management, TIM4PIN, Zagreb, 2014

    6) Maletić, I., et. al., Fiscal Responsibility – Completing Questionnaires, Compiling Plans and Reports, TIM4PIN, Zagreb, 2013

    7) Maletić, I., Stepić, D., Jakir Bajo, I., Knežević, M., Kozina, D., Fiscal Responsibility and Financial Management, TIM4PIN, Zagreb, 2012

    8) Maletić, I., Jakir-Bajo, I., Zorić, A., Fiscal Responsibility, Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Experts, Zagreb, 2011

    9) Maletić, I., Vašiček, D., Jakir-Bajo, I., et al., The Accounting of Budget and Budget Users, Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Experts, Zagreb, 2008

    10) Maletić, I., Jakir-Bajo, I., Budgetary Planning and Accounting, Centre for Accounting and Finance, Zagreb, 2003

    11) Maletić, I., Lončar-Galek, D., Mencer, J., et. al., Application of the Budget Accounting Plan 2003/2004, Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Experts, Zagreb, 2003

    12) Maletić, I., Vašiček, V., Vašiček, D., Introduction to Budgetary Accounting 2002, Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Experts, Zagreb, 2002

    13) Maletić, I., Jakir-Bajo, I., Budgetary Accounting, Informator, Zagreb, 2001

    14) Maletić, I., Vašiček, D., Jakir-Bajo, I., et al., Budgetary system: Accounting, Finance, Audit, Taxes, Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial Experts, Zagreb, 2000

     The author of over 250 articles published in domestic journals.

     A lecturer at numerous conferences, round tables and seminars in the Member States.

     

    ANNEX 2: ANSWERS BY IVANA MALETIĆ TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE

    Questionnaire for the renewal of Members of the Court of Auditors

    Performance of duties: lessons learnt and future commitments

    1. What are your main achievements as a member of the ECA? What were the biggest setbacks?

    I consider all the audits and opinions I have worked on to be an important contribution to the work of the EU and the effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of EU actions. In particular, I would like to highlight my work on the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), where I was reporting Member of both opinions on the draft regulations as well as for several special reports, such as the reports on the Commission’s assessment of the national recovery and resilience plans, the performance monitoring framework, the absorption of RRF funds and the RRF labour market reforms. In all these opinions and reports, I emphasized the importance of good management of public funds, regardless of whether the financing is based on the reimbursement of costs or the fulfilment of set conditions. The rules of sound financial management, which imply legality and regularity of the underlying transactions as well as effectiveness and efficiency, must be at the core of every programme. In addition, transparency of public spending and accountability are the basis for building citizens’ trust in institutions not only at the EU level, but also in each member state. I am proud to have emphasized these values in the audits of the RRF and, together with my colleagues, I have never given up on insisting that the fundamental principles set out in the Financial Regulation should be respected.

    One of the biggest obstacles regarding our work on the RRF was to ensure not only a coherent audit approach across audit teams and audit chambers within ECA but also consistency of our messages. In addition, the novelty of the RRF as such was a challenge, as it required everyone to get acquainted with a new and in parts still changing legal framework in a relatively short period of time. For some of our audits this resulted in the audit reports being published later than we initially planned. In addition, the limited access to information, specifically the limited access to FENIX, was an obstacle for our early RRF audits but we managed to overcome these limitations, at least to a certain degree.

    In addition to my audit work I was also involved in different committees like the Internal Audit Committee or the Audit Quality Control Committee. One of my main contributions as chair of the Internal Audit Committee was for example the revision of the rules of procedure of the committee and the revision of the charter of the internal audit service. My role as Member of the Audit Quality Control Committee allows me to actively contribute to the quality of our audit reports as well as the methodology applied in our work.

    2. What are the main lessons learnt in your field of competences / results achieved in your duties and audit tasks?

    As stated above, the main focus of my audit work in ECA was related to the RRF. The RRF considerably differs in design and legal basis from other EU programmes and thus required us to reflect not only on our audit approach but also the way we work.

    Auditing a “performance-based instrument” to some extent blurs the line between performance audits and audits on the legality and regularity of EU funding. One of my achievements was to significantly contribute to and thereby shape our work on this new instrument and ensure coherence across different tasks. In addition, from the very beginning, I had a very strategic view on the RRF audit work as it was and still is essential, that our audits, taken together, allow us to draw lessons not only for the RRF but also for future similar instruments. The performance audits that I proposed for the RRF after working on the opinion on the regulation enabled us to have a comprehensive overview of the design and functioning of this new instrument a year before the end of the program.

    3. What added value could you bring to the ECA on your second term and/or particularly in the area you would be responsible for? Would you like to change your area of responsibility? What motivates you?

    In my second term I would firstly like to finish my work on the RRF, in particular finalizing the ongoing and planned RRF audits, such as transparency and traceability of RRF funding, public administration, education as well as an audit related to the overall results and impact of the RRF. These audits would build on my experience in this field and would further contribute to improving the design of future similar programmes, and the link with the European Semester including the country specific recommendations.

    In addition, I would like to enlarge my portfolio and get more involved in other policy areas and programs within Chamber IV, such as research and innovation, competitiveness or economic governance, strategic autonomy and economic security. This would allow me to build on the experience gained through my audits on “Synergies between Horizon 2020 and European Structural and Investment Funds” and “Measures to widen participation in Horizon 2020”.

    In more general terms, I believe that, in line with ECA’s rotation policy for auditors and managers, rotation should also be considered for Members, in particular in the case of two terms of office. Consequently, I would not exclude moving to another Chamber.

    4. How do you make sure to reach the planned audit objectives of an audit task? Have you ever been in the situation where you could not realize the audit task and for which reasons? How do you operate in such controversial situations?

    Due to the good cooperation between the audit teams and my office, I was able to carry out all audits successfully and in line with the defined scope. Therefore, I have never been in a situation where we could not finalize an audit or not achieve the audit objectives. The only issue I did encounter was the delay of publication for some audits, due to factors outside our control like temporarily limited access to audit evidence, the complexity of the evidence provided or unavailability of key staff in member states or the Commission.

    In case I ever encountered significant obstacles that would put the finalization of an audit at risk, I would try to overcome these obstacles through open and constructive communication that would allow us to find a solution together. I strongly believe that all of us, as auditors and auditees, have the same goal, which is to deliver work of high quality, and ultimately to ensure legality, effectiveness and efficiency of publicly funded programmes, including those funded by the EU. Therefore constructive communication, trying to understand different perspectives and patience are key elements for successfully resolving any controversial situation.

    5. If you were reconfirmed for a second mandate and hypothetically, if you were elected Dean of a Chamber in the ECA, how would you steer the work to define its priorities? Could you give us two or three examples of areas to focus on in the future?

    The Chamber is managed by all of us together – the Members of the Chamber and the director. To that extent, the role of the Dean is, with the help of the other Members of the Chamber, to take an active role in defining the priorities of our work and therefore the selection of audits.

    In case I was elected as Dean of a Chamber, I would pay particular attention to an effective communication within the Chamber and Court as well as with our main stakeholders, like you, when defining audit priorities. In my view this would allow us to have a comprehensive view of the most relevant areas we should focus on in our work and to ensure that the timing or our audits maximises their added value. Furthermore, a comprehensive audit planning needs to be strategic, going beyond a short-term planning, but should also allow for flexibility, where needed.

    Regarding areas to focus on (in Chamber IV) in future I would consider competitiveness, economic governance and, as a transversal topic, simplification as extremely relevant in the light of the challenges the EU is currently facing.

    For competitiveness, our audits could focus on the areas of research and development and the functioning of the single market, with the aim of strengthening capacity, removing barriers and achieving synergies. This includes reflecting on possibilities for faster and simpler methods of financing research and scientific projects.

    In the field of economic governance, it would be important to include audits specifically related to times of crisis, such as: transfer prices or whether the economic governance model is fit for purpose in this regard.

    Furthermore, ECA’s work could potentially add considerable value in the simplification process, for example by assessing the different simplification procedures and how they could be improved.

    6. If you had to manage the selection of audit tasks in view of the preparation of the ECA annual working programme, on which basis would you make your choice among the list of priorities received from the Parliament and/or the CONT committee?

    What would you do if a political priority does not correspond to the ECA risk assessment of the Union’s activities?

    The planning process within the ECA is very detailed and involves all auditors and managers, as well as all Members and their offices. When planning, we consider several different factors, e.g. policy risks, materiality, timing, audit coverage, the likely impact of an audit and stakeholder interest. These are also the main elements we consider when making our choice among the list of priorities received form the Parliament or CONT committee.

    The selection of audit topics is primarily based on their potential added value, and therefore topics of important political and strategic interest are always taken into account, even though they may not be highest priority in terms of risk. Furthermore, I would like to note that “risk” has many dimensions and should not be reduced to materiality.

    As you are well aware, the number of audit proposals is significantly higher than the number of audits we can carry out each year. Some proposals, while politically very relevant, may not come at an ideal time, e.g. as the implementation of the instrument is at an early stage. Others may not be entirely feasible due to the political or security situation in the audit area or even our audit mandate.

    Maintaining our independence in defining our work programme is essential, and the limited resources inevitably mean that not all audit proposal can be considered or not be considered at that moment in time. However, input from our main stakeholders is extremely valuable to us and will always be considered. It is also important that we communicate very clearly to the stakeholders, especially the European Parliament, why some of the proposals were not included in the programme and whether or not they may be considered in the future.

    Management of portfolio, working methods and deliverables

    7. Producing high quality, robust and timely reports is key:

    – How would you ensure that the data used in an audit are reliable and that the findings are not outdated?

    – How would you improve the quality and pertinence of the recommendations?

    To ensure that data used in audit are reliable it is important to know the sources and understand exactly how the data is collected, compiled and verified. While performing our audits, we always assess the accuracy and completeness of data and cross-reference it where needed, considering the source and nature of the data and the control systems in place.

    I believe that the recommendations in our audit reports are in general of a high quality and pertinence. Any good recommendation is rooted in solid audit work while considering aspects of feasibility as well “value for money”. These aspects have and always will be the guiding principles for the recommendations included in my audit reports.

    In general, a thorough planning, as well as timely and well targeted audits are the best way to ensure that our observations and recommendations come at the right time and have the maximum potential impact. In my view, more focussed and thereby quicker audits should therefore be considered wherever feasible.

    8. The aim of the ECA’s reform is to establish a stronger accountability relationship between the audit team and the rapporteur member:

    – Given your experience, do you think that the role of a member is to be more involved in the audit work?

    – Would you change the way you work with an audit team? If yes, how?

    I believe that the Member is ultimately responsible for the audit, its quality, relevance and objectivity. It is not possible to present the results of the audit work and advocate for the recommendations without a thorough understanding of the audited area and the observations. It is therefore essential that the Member works closely with the audit team and follows the audit work. Personally, I enjoy working with the teams, we always have constructive discussions from the selection and planning of the task to defining the audit scope and approach and finally the drafting of key messages and recommendations. I strongly believe that working together brings the best results and allows us to learn from each other.

    As I have always worked closely with the audit teams, I do not intend to change this approach in the future.

    9. What would be your suggestions to further improve, modernise the ECA functioning, programming and work (audit cycle)? After your first mandate, could you give us a positive aspect of the ECA working and a negative one?

    In an ever faster changing environment, the duration of our audits is something we may have to reflect on. As mentioned above, shorter, more focussed audits should therefore be considered, if the audit topic allows for it.

    Moreover, we should continue to encourage cooperation between audit chambers in particular on cross cutting issues such as the RRF, energy independence and security, or the now increasingly important priority defence. This cooperation across Chambers should include a flexible allocation of resources.

    For me the most positive aspect of the ECA is its staff – they are highly qualified and motivated and work hard to deliver quality audit work and meaningful reports. In addition, the ECA is a very supportive environment that encourages continuous learning, improvement and progress. The fact that audits are carried out in teams, facilitates learning from each other and a culture of togetherness and collegiality.

    10. Under the Treaty, the Court is required to assist Parliament in exercising its powers of control over the implementation of the budget in order to enhance both the public oversight of the general spending and its value for money:

    – With the experience of your first term, how could the cooperation between the Court of Auditors and the European Parliament (Committee on Budgetary Control) on auditing the EU budget be further improved?

    In my experience, the cooperation between the ECA and the European Parliament is already very good. We have established a continuous dialogue with the Parliament, including the Parliament contributing to the selection of audit tasks and ECA Members regularly being invited to present audit reports. This cooperation is key in ensuring that we maximize the added value of our audits, in particular in the context of the discharge procedure.

    While the cooperation is already very positive, we could of course always intensify or explore new ways of cooperation like joint workshops or regular briefings for the MEPs in key areas of interest. In a way, communication is essential and should always go two-way: ECA should know of the challenges the Parliament is facing and the best way ECA can support it in its work whereas the Parliament should be aware of the possibilities as well as boundaries ECA has in its work.

    – Similarly, how to strengthen relations between ECA and national audit institutions?

    Cooperation with the EU SAIs takes place within the framework of the Contact Committee, with day-to-day contacts are maintained through liaison officers appointed by each institution.

    National SAIs are informed about our audit visits and regularly participate in these visits as observer. In addition, the ECA organises five-month internships for auditors from the SAIs of Candidate Countries.

    While the cooperation with SAIs is already very positive, coordinated audit work in key areas of common interest could be encouraged to further strengthen the cooperation and increase the potential impact of our work. Exchange of staff in form of temporary secondment should also be continued to facilitate a continuous exchange of views, and future cooperation.

    11. How will you support the Parliament in the achievement of the shortening of the discharge procedure? What actions can be undertaken from your side?

     Cooperation and commitment of all involved institutions are needed to accelerate the processes and avoid delays. On the ECA’s side we make an effort to give priority to the Statement of Assurance and ensure timely adoption of the documents through flexibility in terms of scheduling additional Court meetings when needed. As a result, we managed to publish our last two annual report more than one month before the legal deadline.

    This is complemented by a similar effort for our performance audits. I always planned my performance audits in a way that we can, in terms of content as well as time, support the discharge procedure. It is however important to note that the timing of our reports depends on several factors, some of which are outside our control.

    Independence and integrity

    12. What guarantees of independence are you able to give the European Parliament, and how would you make sure that any past, current or future activities you carry out could not cast doubt on the performance of your duties at the ECA?

    I think that the best guarantee I can give you is my work at the ECA in which I always advocated for the respect of the basic principles of legality, regularity and sound financial management, no matter the circumstances. I believe that as independent auditors, we must always fight for the transparent use of public funds and warn of any shortcomings that are an obstacle to respecting the basic principles of sound financial management.

    In addition, I will continue to fully adhere to the Code of Conduct for ECA Members. I have no business interests or external activities that could raise any doubt concerning my independence and I would never even consider an activity that may compromise the performance of my duties as ECA Member.

    13. How would you deal with a major irregularity or even fraud in EU funds and/or corruption case involving persons in your Member State of origin? Were you in this situation during your current mandate?

    I can repeat my reply on the same question for nomination for the first ECA mandate, since I was and will remain committed to that: I advocate a zero-tolerance towards fraud and corruption because they are extremely dangerous for any society – they destroy competition and opportunities for growth and development. It is precisely by efficient identification and elimination of corruption that we can provide the best possible assistance to our member states. Rules must be abided by and legality and regularity in using public funds is the foundation from which we should never allow any deviation.

    I did not encounter any cases of fraud, irregularity of corruption during my current mandate.

    14. The existence of conflict of interests can trigger a reputation risk for the ECA. How would you manage any conflict of interest?

    I absolutely agree that a conflict of interest poses reputational risks for the ECA. Avoiding these conflicts is at the core of my work and in line with our Code of Conduct, I avoid any situation that is liable to give rise to a conflict of interest, or that could objectively be perceived as such.

    Should such a situation arise, I would communicate the potential conflict of interest in line with the ECA’s procedures and would not accept any tasks for which a personal interest could influence the independent performance of my duties. I have so far not been in any such situation.

    15. Are you involved in any legal proceedings? if so, what kind?

    No, I am not involved in any legal proceedings.

    16. What specific commitments are you prepared to make in terms of enhanced transparency, increased cooperation and effective follow-up to Parliament’s positions and requests for audits?

      For me, transparency in the performance of public affairs and the use of public money is a fundamental principle and one of my core values, and I fully support efforts that contribute to greater transparency. Your requirements are crucial in this regard, and I have been and always will be ready to listen to you and respond to any requests you may have regarding our audit work. We have a common goal, which is to deliver results and value for money in the implementation of EU policies and programmes, and it is important that we share our knowledge and experience. I look forward to every invitation from the Parliament to present our reports, or to participate in thematic discussions and any other form of cooperation.

    Other questions

    17. Will you withdraw your candidacy to a renewal of mandate if Parliament’s opinion on your appointment as Member of the ECA is unfavourable?

    I consider that the authority of the European Parliament which results from the democratic legitimacy of elected MEPs must be observed in full and their decisions must be applied. In accordance with that, in the event of the Parliament’s negative opinion on my appointment I will withdraw my candidacy.

    18. Being appointed Member of the ECA requires full attention and dedication to the institution itself and to ensure trust for the Union among its citizens:

    – What are your views on the best way to assume these professional duties?

    I completely agree with you that being a Member of ECA requires full attention and dedication. For me, being an ECA Member means to be devoted and work hard. We lead by example and if we are not motivated and committed, we cannot expect that from others. In addition, we owe it to the EU citizens to perform to the best of our abilities and add value not only for the EU institutions but to them. And this is what I tried to do from the very first day and will continue to do so in future.

    – What are your current personal arrangements in terms of number of days of presence in Luxembourg? Do you plan to change these arrangements?

    I moved to Luxembourg, together with my family, when I joined ECA. I work and live in Luxembourg and have no intention to change this in my second mandate.

    ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

    The rapporteur declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

    INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

    Date adopted

    14.5.2025

     

     

     

    Result of final vote

    +:

    –:

    0:

    22

    2

    4

    Members present for the final vote

    Georgios Aftias, Arno Bausemer, Gilles Boyer, José Cepeda, Olivier Chastel, Caterina Chinnici, Tamás Deutsch, Dick Erixon, Daniel Freund, Niclas Herbst, Virginie Joron, Ondřej Knotek, Kinga Kollár, Giuseppe Lupo, Marit Maij, Jacek Protas, Julien Sanchez, Jonas Sjöstedt, Cristian Terheş

    Substitutes present for the final vote

    Maria Grapini, Erik Marquardt, Karlo Ressler, Bert-Jan Ruissen

    Members under Rule 216(7) present for the final vote

    Pablo Arias Echeverría, Francisco Assis, Sunčana Glavak, Csaba Molnár, Michal Wiezik

     

     

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