Category: European Union

MIL-OSI Russia: Transcript of Press Briefing on the Completion of the Third Review for the IMF Extended Fund Facility for Sri Lanka

Source: IMF – News in Russian

March 5, 2025

PARTICIPANTS:

PETER BREUER

Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka

KATSIARYNA SVIRYDZENKA

Deputy Mission Chief for Sri Lanka

MARTHA TESFAYE WOLDEMICHAEL

Resident Representative in Sri Lanka

MODERTOR:

RANDA ELNAGAR

Senior Media Officer

TRANSCRIPT:

Ms. Elnagar: Good morning to our participants who are joining us from Asia and good evening to our participants in DC. Welcome to the press conference on of the Third review of Sri Lanka’s Extended Fund Facility Arrangement with the International Monetary Fund. I am Randa Elnagar, with the IMF’s communications department.

I am joined today by three speakers. Peter Breuer, IMF’s Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka; Katsiaryna Svirydzenka, Deputy Mission Chief for Sri Lanka; and Martha Tesfaye Woldemichael, IMF’s Resident Representative in Sri Lanka.

By now you should have seen the press release, which we issued on Friday and the staff report is not on IMF.org. First, Peter will give some opening remarks, and then we will take your questions.

We are kindly asking you to mute your microphones throughout the briefing, unless you are asking a question. Peter the floor is yours.

started transcription

Mr. Breuer: Thank you, Randa. Good morning, all, thank you very much for being here and for your interest in Sri Lanka’s IMF-supported economic reform program.

I am pleased to announce that, on Friday February 28, the IMF Executive Board approved the third review under the 48-month Extended Fund Facility Arrangement with Sri Lanka. This provides the country with immediate access to about US$334 million to support its economic policies and reforms.

It brings the total IMF financial support dispersed so far to about $1.3 billion.
The IMF continues to support Sri Lanka’s efforts to restore and maintain macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability while protecting the poor and vulnerable rebuilding external buffers. Safeguarding financial sector stability and enhancing growth oriented structural reforms, including by strengthening governance.

The IMF Executive Board’s approval to complete the third review recognizes the strong program performance. All quantitative targets for end December 2024 were met, except for the indicative target on social spending.
Most structural benchmarks do by end January 2025 were either met or implemented with delay.

Turning to through the macroeconomic situation, it is encouraging to see that reforms in Sri Lanka are bearing fruit with the economic recovery gaining momentum, inflation remains slow.

Revenue collection is improving and reserves continue to accumulate.
Economic growth averaged 4.3% since growth resumed in the third quarter of 2023.
The recovery is expected to continue in two thousand 2025 now. Despite these positive developments, the economy is still vulnerable.
It is critical to sustain the reform momentum to ensure macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability.

And to promote long term inclusive growth, there is no room for policy errors.
Let me emphasize that sustained revenue mobilization is crucial to restoring fiscal sustainability.

And ensuring that the government can continue to provide essential services.
Boosting tax compliance and refraining from tax exemptions are key to maintaining support for economic reforms.

Let me also emphasize that to ease economic hardship and ensure the poor and vulnerable can participate in Sri Lanka’s recovery, it is important to meet social spending targets and continue with reforms of the social safety net going forward. Social support needs to be well targeted towards the.

Most disadvantaged, so as to promote inclusive growth with limited fiscal space.
Restoring cost recovery, electricity pricing without delay is needed to contain fiscal risks from state owned enterprises.
A smoother execution of capital spending within the fiscal envelope would foster medium term growth.

The recent successful completion of the bond exchange is a major milestone towards restoring debt sustainability, timely finalization of bilateral agreements with creditors in the official creditor committee, and with remaining creditors is a priority now. Regarding monetary policy, I would like to highlight that it should prioritize maintaining price. Stability supported by sustained commitment to prohibit monetary financing and.

To safeguard central bank independence. Continued exchange rate, flexibility and gradually phasing out the balance of payments measures remain critical to rebuild external buffers and facilitate rebalancing.

As for the financial sector, resolving non performing loans, strengthening governance and oversight of state owned banks and improving the insolvency and resolution frameworks are important priorities to revive credit growth and support the economic recovery.

Finally, prolonged structural challenges need to be addressed to unlock Sri Lanka’s long term potential, including steadfast implementation of governance reforms.
I would like to thank the authorities for their commitment and excellent collaboration.

Let me also take this opportunity to announce that as part of a standard staff rotation process, I will soon be transitioning from the role of mischief for Sri Lanka.
And I will be handing over to the next mission Chief Evan Papageorgiou, during the next mission. It has been an honor to accompany Sri Lanka on his journey out of this.

Severe crisis for nearly three years. While there are more challenges ahead, the IMF team will remain a steadfast partner for Sri Lanka and its people on the road to a more sustainable and inclusive recovery.
I will be moving to another assignment soon and wish the people of Sri Lanka continued success with the economic recovery.
With this, let me hand it back to Rhonda. Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you so much, Peter.
Colleagues, please raise your hand and identify yourself if you want to ask your question and turn on your camera, if possible and the mic. Thank you. I see the first hand, please.

QUESTIONER: Thank you, Randa. This is Shihar Anis from economy next.
I hope you can hear you.

Ms. Elnagar: We can hear you well, Shihar. Thank you.

QUESTIONER: OK. So my question is now there is a delay in the SOE restructuring because we don’t see the same speed that the previous government was doing, the SOE restructuring this government has been. Basically, they are not into privatization, but they are looking into a different model. How concerned are you on that? You know, delay or the current restructuring model.
Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you. We’ll take another couple of questions and then answer them in groups.

Ms. Elnagar: The audio. Zulfiq there is a lot of static on your mic.

QUESTIONER: Hope you can hear me. I have two questions. That is, it has come to light that the Sri Lankan Government plans not to proceed with the imputed rental income tax as a revenue measure. So has this been discussed with the IMF and is there any other alternative that is being put forward and at the same time, what is IMF stake on the budget that was presented recently?

Ms. Elnagar: Let’s take another question. Sampath, please.

QUESTIONER: Hi I’m Sampath Dissanayake from BBC Sinhala service.
The government is increasing the tax as per the IMF advice to increase government revenue. The number of people receiving Social Security benefit in benefits in Sri Lanka is increasing annually. So do you believe that the increase in tax burden is increase for reason for this?

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, we can take these three questions.

Mr. Breuer: Yes, thank you very much. So let me answer some of the questions.
On the budget and fiscal, and maybe Katie can answer the question on the.
SOE reforms so the. Imputed rental income tax was a measure proposed by the previous administration as part of a possible revenue package for 2025, and the new authorities have proposed a slightly different package that is aligned with their mandate and priorities. And staff and the authorities have assessed that this package is sufficient to meet the revenue targets under the program. Now of course, should those measures prove insufficient, then additional revenue measures would be needed. And so that also. Ties in with the question on the budget and tax revenues. So yes, we have looked at the budget. And have, of course, disgusted with the authorities. There’s more detailed explanation in the staff report that should be online now, so there’s a table on page 12 that kind of lists some of the main measures needed to. reach the goal for tax revenue for next year. Yeah, reallybthe objective here is as you know tax revenue was a key driver of the crisis in 2022.
Sri Lanka was the lowest that the country with the lowest tax take amongst.
Middle income countries and low income countries in the world, and so it has made significant progress since then. Tax as a share of GDP, he has increased by 5 percentage points from somewhere. You know 7 to somewhere 12.4% or so last year. So that’s a significant increase, but by no means is excessive and. The essential services that the government provides need to be funded and for that reason.
Working on ensuring that there is sufficient tax revenue remains a priority.
And so social services, which was the 3rd question is just a portion of the overall essential services that that the government provides and is just a component on that actually. Maybe Marta can add on that point and cut you a can speak to the SOE reforms.

Ms. Svirydzenka: So should I go first? OK. So on the on the SOE restructuring, the most crucial element is that the state owned enterprises are managed in a prudent manner so as to avoid the accumulation of losses or debts that then would eventually need to be repaid by the taxpayers. And in that sense, the SOEs can be managed prudently while remaining state owned or they can be divested partially or completely.

We are reassured by the authorities commitment to ensure that this enterprises do not become a burden for the budget or for the government debt in terms of other key elements under the program has been the cost, reflective pricing of services provided by so especially in the area of electricity and fuel prices. Other commitments under the program include making SOEs more transparent, in particular by publishing audited financial statements of the largest, SOEs in a timely manner.

And then finally, to allow the economy to grow, it is important that the consumers of services receive the best value for the price of being charged. So this involves running, SOEs in the most efficient manner and ensuring that they are following the best governance principles. So in that sense, we’re quite satisfied with the progress, yes.

Martha Tesfaye Woldemichael: So let me maybe come in then to compliment a bit Peter’s response on the social spending, right. So there’s a question. Why social spending is increasing? I think this is a good opportunity to remind that protecting the poor and vulnerable is really an important component of the EFF program. So the EFF supports this objective through the different reforms through macro stabilization. But importantly, there is also a floor on social spending in the program that we assess on a quarterly basis. So this means the government has to spend a minimum amount to protect the poor and vulnerable.

So in this context, the key commitment is really for the authorities to continue strengthening the coverage, the adequacy and the targeting of social spending. So recent announcement related to the expected decrease in the payments, for instance for the poor and extremely poor categories under a ASWASUMA or the.
Announcement that the payments would also increase for the elderly, the disabled and chronic kidney patients are aligned with the authorities commitments to continue strengthening, strengthening social safety Nets and I think it is also very important to make sure that this coverage under the ASWASUMA program. Is above the poverty rates that are currently observed. I think I will stop here. Thank you very much. Back to you, Randa.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you, Martha. We’re first going to take a question from Kelum.
I think Shihar you had your hand raised, so it’s from the first question. So if you can, please put your hand down because it’s a bit confusing, but we’re going to go to Kellum 1st and then Asante. So Kelum, please go ahead.

QUESTIONER: Thank you. Can you hear me?

Ms. Elnagar: Yes.

QUESTIONER: Yes, I’m Kelum Bandara, from Daily Mirror newspaper. So my question is wanting the overall assessment about the budget, actually that was answered was that next day and the next question is, how important is it for the government to proceed with this Economic Transformation Act to reach the economic targets? Actually in searching by MFN or for the broader infrastructure of the country.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you Asante. If you can, please pose your question.

QUESTIONER: Yeah, so, the government has started the import duty on vehicles, which just knocked out earlier. Yeah, I think all the taxes were kind of like excise taxes. And so have you made any assessment on whether this will lead to an increase in assembled vehicles, which earlier didn’t get this tax protection and how much leakage of revenue might happen to the assembled sector and whether any effect to publish a kind of a tax expenditure statement to say how much of the import duties lost due to any increase or the sales of the assembled vehicles which are like got CKD, I think tax free the parts and also have you had any discuss? With the central bank. On offloading their government securities now that the Treasury bills

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you, Asantha. There is a question in the chat which we’re going to take and then move to the ones online. Amal, you didn’t verify your organization.

QUESTIONER: Oh, and I have actually done that. I’m from AFP, the French news agency, Agence France Press.

Ms. Elnagar: Hi would you like to ask? Yeah, because you post in the in the chat.

QUESTIONER: Oh yeah. I mean, if you want to save time, can just answer that.
I mean basically I was trying to ask Peter how concerned you are about sort of emerging labor unrest, particularly now in the medical field. The doctors are threatening to go on strike from tomorrow, although there is a pay increase that the increase is less than the. Reduction of their allowances. So this is something that affects a lot of not just the medical sector. So how concerned are you that this kind of growing unrest, labor unrest, how it will affect the overall IMF backed program?

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, do you want to take another question?
So they are three. So I think Indiqa is next.

Mr. Breuer: Well, there’s actually an under. It feels like there’s a bunch of questions.
Should we try and answer these?

Ms. Elnagar: OK. Sounds good.

Mr. Breuer: And maybe Katya can speak to the Economic Transformation Act.
And also to the central bank question so. On this important question with respect to the potential for unrest. Well, I suppose there is potential, but I think what really should be remembered is that this budget really sought to address some of the concerns that the government and ourselves have hurt that. You know, civil servants have been concerned about. The wages that they have been receiving and so.
There is for the first time in a long time, an increase in civil service wages, while at the same time the personal income tax regime is were being changed and reducing personal income taxes considerably, at least for some. Income earners, including civil servants, you have to remember who are the ones who earn an income and pay taxes that really is the upper 20% of income earners in Sri Lanka. There has been a massive crisis in 2022 with huge costs to the population of Sri Lanka and in order for the government to keep on providing the essential services that the citizens of Sri Lanka expected, expect the government to provide and in order to bring along the poorer segments of society. Everyone who can needs to make a sacrifice.
This is how the society can pull together and continue to function, and so.
I think we all know how painful this crisis has been there’s no doubt about it.
We have travelled around the country, we have met with many people.
You know the plantation workers in Noro, alia have shown us their income statements and their bills. And it was very, very clear that this is a very severe crisis, but how else to address it. So, sticking with the reforms is really the best way out for Sri Lanka to assure its sustainability, and I think it’s important for everyone in Sri Lanka to recognize that.

If you put it into the broader perspective the adjustment, this is the last budget.
Where there is still a bit of an increase in in revenue is needed 1.5 percentage points of GDP, but all the hard adjustment has already taken place in the previous two years. You know revenue have increased 5 percentage points of GDP over the last two years. This is, you know, the last sort of big push. Not quite as big as in the previous years, and there after it’ll be much easier going forward.

So on the cars I mean that’s a specific question. Does is there some import substitution? I can’t answer that. I would assume that after five years or so of a ban of imported cars that there will be some demand for finished cars from overseas.
I do take your point that it’s possible that there may be some assembly of cars domestically.

Katya, can you answer the other two questions please?

Ms. Svirydzenka: Sure. So on the economic transformation, bill, we understand there was a recent announcement that the new government will propose amendments to the bill. And so we look forward to reviewing the amended economic transformation bill. We expect it to be consistent with program objectives, including for example with the authorities’ commitment to refrain from granting tax.
Incentives until the STP act is revised to provide clear and transparent criteria on the granting of tax incentives on the. Central Bank Securities, I understand the question was that the Central Bank has sold T-bills but has a stock of on marketable bonds. And this is correct. And under the program at this point, because there’s no market for this restructured bonds, we do not envision they unwinding of this stock and over the next 12 months you can see it in the program targets in table one on page 95 of the published report under the category of net credit to the government.
I hope that answers the question. If I understood it correctly.

QUESTIONER: So, I am trying to find out what’s the alternative if you want to sterilize the inflows. I mean, kind of issuing central banks equity or something, but you have reserve target.

Ms. Svirydzenka: Is this more than a question about the operation of monetary policy and how to sterilize reserve accumulation?

QUESTIONER: Yeah. Yeah. Because you don’t you?

Ms. Svirydzenka: Perhaps I misunderstood.

QUESTIONER: You no longer have the tables to sell. What is the alternative securities they can sell to build?

Ms. Svirydzenka: Yes, I understand. Thank you so much for clarifying. Yeah. So there are many alternatives that the Central bank can use. For example, they can engage in repo operations or also issue their own securities. But I guess what is important to highlight for your question is that the Central Bank so far has been able to meet the inflation target and if anything, they’re a little bit undershooting as you saw with the breach of the MPCC clause in June and in December. So in that sense, the central bank is quite effective in terms of reaching the inflation objectives and we think the tools they have in their, in their in their hands should be enough.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you, Katya. We have more questions, Peter.
We have Indika first please.

QUESTIONER: Hi, Randa. Thank you, I think. I hope I’m audible.

Ms. Elnagar: Yes you are.

QUESTIONER: My questions, question to Peter is in the budget, there is a budget proposal to recruit about 30,000 people to the public sector. So we already have a bloated public sector in the country. So what’s your what’s IMF’s opinion on that? And the other question is on their flight, electricity, the price, reflective electricity tariffs. So we were under the impression that that is already happening because the government is already. Adjusting prices periodically, but in the press release that was released on Friday. The sort of insinuated that Sri Lanka S deviated. What is what is the situation there? Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, we can take a couple more questions this round.

QUESTIONER: Randa, I hope I’m audible.

Ms. Elnagar: Yes you are.

QUESTIONER: Great. I just have one question. Peter, could you please outline what are the key goal posts that Sri Lanka has to hit as it moves forward to the 4th review now, right. And when will there be an IMF delegation coming to Colombo?
Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: We can take more questions. There are two questions in the chat, Peter, One is asking, why was the proposed property tax under the IMF program withdrawn, and why wasn’t the existing under taxed Council tax system rebased instead? How much revenue was expected from the input rental tax and why could this be? Couldn’t this be raised adjusting Council taxes? There’s another one we can take, or that’s enough for now this round.

Mr. Breuer: Yeah. Why don’t we get going with these ones? Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Yeah, because Shehar already had a chance at the beginning, so let’s take a different group now. Thank you.

Mr. Breuer: So thanks so much for these questions. On the size of the public sector, that’s really not for us to judge the government needs to sort of identify the resources it needs to provide the services that it’s expected to provide.
And do all of that within the envelope of the program. So there may be other institutions. The World Bank, for example, you know that can provide some more assistance, technical assistance to help with making the government as efficient as as possible. But. I don’t really have a comment there. The electricity tariff.
So there was a reduction in the electricity tariffs in January, and this is when we feel that the cost reflective pricing was no longer met because on a forward-looking basis. That tariff cut meant that Ceb wouldn’t be able to avoid any losses.
So these cuts. Essentially, at least on a forward-looking basis, implied that losses would be run now of course. These profits and losses by the electricity company depend on many factors, including the weather, the rain and so forth.
So what turns out ex post may be different from what happens ex ante, but this is a concern that we have because it could mean that that starts building up again in the electricity company. That could ultimately become a contingent liability for the government. This is something that, of course, Sri Lanka has experienced before, and avoiding this and making sure that consumers on average pay for how much it costs to generate and distribute the electricity is an important part of the program.

And this actually also goes towards answering the question of what are some of the main goal posts for the 4th review. So ensuring that cost reflective energy pricing is restored is of course a key. Part of what we would like to see for the next.
Review I should say there are some mechanisms that give us hope that this will happen automatically. The SD bulk supply transaction account, which is sort of a mechanism that is supposed to kick in when losses at CB become too large when they are cash balances become. You know, negative beyond a certain value.
Then there’s meant to be an automatic increase in the tariff. That would prevent these losses from accumulating, so so they are already mechanisms in place.
It’s important that these mechanisms be allowed to function, and then, of course, at the next tariff setting, it’s important to ensure that tariffs will once again be set to cover the costs. Another important Issue for the next review will of course be.
The budget that the budget that is finally passed at the end of this month is in fact consistent with the program parameters. So this is something that we will be watching very carefully. So those are two issues that may matter.

The next mission we expect to be visiting Colombo.in the coming weeks or months or so. So the exact dates will be announced closer to the time.
With respect to the property tax. That is a property tax. Is very common in many countries it is a form of wealth tax whereby those who have more wealth, meaning more expensive homes, larger homes that are worth more, need to make larger contributions to the tax coffers and support the government. So, now it’s it had been discussed for quite some time previously, and in fact many preparations have been made under this program for property tax with respect to, you know sales price and rents register, and various databases to estimate the values of homes. So lots of preparations have been have been made. Then there were some concerns and this goes towards the question with respect to the local authorities how this tax could be raised and how it could be shared with at the at the central government level. So some of these issues still need to be resolved and so this is this is something I think that is as yet you know to be addressed. Let me stop there. Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, we can take a couple more questions because we are out of time. So we can take from Sisira, who has been waiting patiently, and then we have a couple of questions in the chat. So Sisira, please go ahead. We can’t hear you.
Sisira do you have a question? You have your hand raised?

QUESTIONER: Yeah. Can you hear me?

Elnagar, Randa Mohamed: Yes.

QUESTIONER: My question is, what is the impact?

Ms. Elnagar: Your mic is a bit muffled.

QUESTIONER: Can you hear me?

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, can you hear him?

Mr. Breuer: It’s very, very soft. I don’t know whether you can bring the mic closer to him.

QUESTIONER: Yeah, my question is what is the projected impact of Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves?

Mr. Breuer: I think the question is what is the impact of the car imports on reserves? Yeah, OK.

Ms. Elnagar: Vehicle import. Yeah. And then we have a couple of questions here.
Amal already asked the question, a supplementary question regarding what Asantha raised about vehicle imports. So it’s the same topic and then we have. One from Ishara. Even though the IMF program has put Sri Lanka’s economy on the right track, a recent poverty study revealed that more than 50% of households are below the poverty line. Additionally, the Central bank mentioned that brain drain could severely impact efforts to accelerate growth. In this scenario, how can Sri Lanka reach its anticipated IMF recovery targets? And these are the last questions of the press conference.

Mr. Breuer::Yeah. Thank you very much. On the car imports. So yes, removing the import restrictions on car imports will allow cars to be imported which means they have to be paid for and so that could have an impact on the balance of payments. But as you know there’s a question to what extent you know the Central bank should intervene to make those reserves available versus allowing the exchange rate to fluctuate in response to market forces. So, that is something that remains to be seen, but maybe just to highlight the fact that reserves have increased. Significantly, so far under the program they have reached about half of the program objective already, which is very impressive.

On the question with respect to the anticipated IMF recovery targets, so. I think it’s quite clear that things really have turned around significantly in Sri Lanka. I mean, you all live there, so you experience it much more than us. But when I first got to Sri Lanka in June 2022. Everybody was standing in a line somewhere in, you know, to get fuel, to get cooking gas to get food or medications and economic activity was was very subdued, I think in real terms. Sri Lanka lost, you know, 10% or so of its economic activity. As a result of this crisis and since then in the short amount of time.
That the program has been there basically since 2023 it has already recovered 40% of the income it has lost. In the preceding five years, so in a very short amount of time, you have already a very significant recovery. You have the most recent growth number of 5.5%.

So I think things are turning around significantly in Sri Lanka and that will have an impact on the indicators that we care about, such as poverty, so.
As economic opportunities return to Sri Lanka. Incomes will increase and poverty will be reduced, and also it’ll be more attractive to remain in Sri Lanka and not leave and emigrate or those who have emigrated may find opportunities back in in Sri Lanka again so. You know, as you look at our projections, we have increased these quite a bit. For 2025 and beyond and so based on these, I would say I’m quite optimistic about the recovery in Sri Lanka.

Ms. Elnagar: I think we’re out of time, Peter. If you guys have any further questions, please, please feel free to send them by e-mail. We are always very responsive or via WhatsApp. With that I would like to thank our speakers Peter, Katia, and Martha, and I would like to thank you all for participating in this press conference.
We’re going to be posting the recording and the transcript by tomorrow.
And we look forward in seeing to seeing you again in the future.
Thank you very much.

Mr. Breuer: Thank you.

Ms. Woldemichael: Thank you.

Ms. Svirydzenka: Thank you.

IMF Communications Department

MEDIA RELATIONS

PRESS OFFICER: Randa Elnagar

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

@IMFSpokesperson

https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2025/03/05/tr-030525-sri-lanka-transcript-of-press-briefing-on-completion-of-3rd-rev-for-eff

MIL OSI

MIL OSI Russia News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Consistently high levels of corruption in Greece – E-000817/2025
Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-000817/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Emmanouil Fragkos (ECR)

According to Transparency International, Greece continues to rank 59th out of 180 countries in terms of its corruption perception, with its score stable compared to last year (49 points out of 100), putting it on a par with Namibia and Slovakia. Unfortunately, Greeks feel let down by by rigged public tenders/competitions, monopolies and the sense that, without connections, applications are not processed in a fair manner. The results of the 2024 Eurobarometer survey showed that 54 % of respondents believe that corruption is the reason they were unsuccessful in a public tender/competition. It should be noted that corruption is a key cause of brain drain and Greece is among the highest-ranking countries for anxiety and depression Europe-wide. The states with the lowest corruption perception among citizens are Denmark with 90 points and Finland with 88 points.

In view of the above, can the Commission answer the following:

1.What action plan does it intend to follow in order to put pressure on the Government to improve the fight against corruption, since it does not seem to be a priority?

2.In its structured bilateral dialogue on the rule of law with the Government, will it examine the timeline for and the deployment of the necessary human and financial resources to ensure the proper implementation of the Code of Criminal Procedure?

3.How is it currently monitoring corruption in Greece?

Submitted: 23.2.2025
Last updated: 5 March 2025
MIL OSI Europe News –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Replacement of Ukraine with Türkiye as Russian gas transit hub – E-000818/2025
Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-000818/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Emmanouil Fragkos (ECR)

In January, Russia exported record volumes of natural gas to Europe via the TurkStream pipeline, exceeding 50 million cubic metres (mcm) a day, following the closure of the gas corridor through Ukraine. Türkiye is now the only transit route for Russian gas to Europe after the five-year transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine expired on 1 January and was not renewed. According to data from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG), in January, Russian gas exports via the TurkStream pipeline increased by 26.8 % year on year. They now stand at 50.6 mcm/day, up from 39.9 mcm/day in January 2024. According to Gazprom data and Reuters calculations, Russia supplied Europe with a total of around 63.8 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas via various routes in 2022. This dropped to 28.3 bcm in 2023 before rising again to around 32 bcm in 2024.

Türkiye is a dictatorial country that is illegally occupying the northern part of the Republic of Cyprus, it attacks neighbouring countries and is responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Christians and Kurds.

In view of the above, can the Commission answer the following:

1.Was it its intention from the start to give Türkiye a strategic boost?

2.Does it not consider that the non-renewal of routes for the transit of Russian natural gas through Ukraine has harmed the Ukrainian economy?

Submitted: 23.2.2025
Last updated: 5 March 2025
MIL OSI Europe News –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: President Nadia Calviño opens third edition of EIB Group Forum, highlighting security and economic prosperity as mutually reinforcing
Source: European Investment Bank
- The EIB Group Forum brings together senior policymakers, business leaders, academics, and civil society representatives to discuss Europe’s prosperity, security and global cooperation.
- President Calviño puts security of our societies at the heart of the EIB Group’s activity, thanks to investments in industries, security and defence, energy grids, green transition, social infrastructure and global partnerships.
- The launch of the flagship EIB Group Investment Report calls for EU market integration, simplification and investments in innovation, echoing the most recent European Commission initiatives.
Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank Group, inaugurated today the third edition of the EIB Group Forum, emphasising the critical role of investment in shaping Europe’s economic future, and the focus on security in everything the EIB Group does.

“In such turbulent times, it’s back to basics – we must safeguard “security” – said President Calviño. This is a big word, with many facets, which includes an environment of freedom and peace for our countries, stability, certainty and opportunities to grow for our businesses and it means an inclusive society where people are confident about the future for themselves and their children… Security and shared economic prosperity are mutually reinforcing and work in tandem. In this sense, every euro invested by the EIB Group is an investment into our collective security”.

Security and Defence

During her speech, President Calviño said that following a comprehensive market testing, the EIB will propose to its Board of Directors later this month that the EIB Group further expands its security and defence financing eligibilities, to ensure that excluded activities are more precisely defined and as limited as possible in scope. This will enable the EIB Group to respond to financing needs in a way which safeguards the EIB’s operations and financial position.

“There is a need to join forces, and have a coordinated approach, where each institution focuses on where it can provide more value. These changes reflect the EIB Group’s readiness to remain responsive and relevant in a shifting global landscape”, added President Calviño.

The EIB Group also intends “to embed the existing eight billion euros programme into a new cross-cutting and permanent public policy goal”.

Please find here the President’s speech and here the full Forum agenda, taking place in Luxembourg from 5-7 March. You can also watch and download the full recording here on EBS / Europe by Satellite.

EIB Group Investment Report

During her address, President Calviño highlighted the EIB Group Investment Report 2024/2025, the flagship economic report of the EIB Group that provides a comprehensive analysis of investment trends based on a survey of about 13,000 European firms.

“The report confirms that there are three main levers to boost Europe’s competitiveness and security: market integration, simplification and large-scale investment in innovation. The EIB Group is playing its part across all three of these levers”- said President Nadia Calviño.

“To secure Europe’s future, we must prioritise structural transformation, innovation, digitalisation, and decarbonisation. Increasing our investments in these vital areas, along with dedicated financing for scaling key technologies, is essential. The findings of our Investment Report serve as a crucial roadmap for policymakers and investors, guiding us through the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. The new geopolitical context only reinforces the urgency to act.” added EIB Chief Economist Debora Revoltella.

Key findings from the EIB Investment Report:

A significant portion of European firms faces challenges due to market fragmentation, emphasizing the need for a unified market.

Additionally, the report highlights Europe’s robust industrial and research base as an opportunity to leverage artificial intelligence and digital technologies in industrial processes, pointing to the substantial productivity gains that can be achieved through the integration of AI into manufacturing and services.

The findings also underscore that Europe’s ambitious climate policies are beginning to bear fruit, with notable advancements in renewable energy and securing Europe as a central node in Greentech patenting global collaborations.

A consistent regulatory framework is presented as a driver for investment in sustainable technologies, with the recent wave of simplification bringing pragmatism, while preserving clarity on long term direction of travel. Moreover, the EIB’s analysis indicates that social investment brings economic returns, particularly in addressing the skills gap.

Enhancing labour force participation, especially among women, could lead to significant economic benefits for Europe. Finally, the report stresses the importance of targeted policy instruments and EU-level coordination in maximizing the impact of public investment. Tailored support mechanisms are shown to significantly enhance the likelihood of firms investing in energy efficiency and innovation.

Additional information on the EIB Investment Report is available here.

Background information

The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. Built around eight core priorities, we finance investments that contribute to EU policy objectives by bolstering climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, cohesion, agriculture and bioeconomy, social infrastructure, the capital markets union, and a stronger Europe in a more peaceful and prosperous world.

The EIB Group, which also includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), signed nearly €89 billion in new financing for over 900 high -impact projects in 2024, boosting Europe’s competitiveness and security.

High-quality, up-to-date photos of our headquarters for media use are available here.
MIL OSI Europe News –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA) vis-à-vis large social network platforms in the light of recent allegations of algorithmic bias and foreign interference – P-000143/2025(ASW)
Source: European Parliament
Democracy is a core value of the EU, with free and fair elections at its heart. Member States are responsible for organising elections according to national constitutional rules, legislation, international obligations, and EU law.

The Commission supports Member States and competent authorities in election matters[1]. For example, ahead of the German federal election in February 2025, the Bundesnetzagentur and the Commission organised an election roundtable[2] and a stress test[3], with very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs), German authorities, and civil society organisations.

Signatories of the EU Code of Conduct on Disinformation, which also contains commitments related to elections, also activated the Rapid Response System (RRS) for the German elections[4].

The Commission has opened four proceedings[5] to address risks to civic discourse and elections focusing on the design and functioning of online platforms’ systems .

The Commission recently ordered the provider of X[6] to preserve documents on future changes to the design and functioning of its recommender algorithms for information on past changes and access to certain technical interfaces to allow fact-finding on content moderation and virality of accounts.

The Digital Services Act (DSA) requires providers of VLOPs and VLOSEs to give researchers access to public data and more far-reaching data to identify systemic risks. For the latter, the Commission is preparing a delegated act[7].

[1] The Commission has published guidelines for providers of VLOPs and VLOSEs on the mitigation of systemic risks for electoral processes, https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/guidelines-providers-vlops-and-vloses-mitigation-systemic-risks-electoral-processes

[2] https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/digital-services-coordinator-germany-hosts-roundtable-online-platforms

[3] https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/german-digital-services-coordinator-tests-platforms-readiness-under-digital-services-act

[4] Previously used in EU, French and Romanian elections, the RRS allows non-platform signatories to swiftly report time-sensitive content, accounts, or trends that they deem to present threats to the integrity of the electoral process and discuss them with the platforms in light of their respective policies.

[5] https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/list-designated-vlops-and-vloses

[6] https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-addresses-additional-investigatory-measures-x-ongoing-proceedings-under-digital-services

[7] Pursuant to DSA Article 40(13).
Last updated: 5 March 2025
MIL OSI Europe News –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Revision of the 2023 Rule of Law Report – E-003078/2024(ASW)
Source: European Parliament
The country chapter for Poland of the 2023 Rule of Law Report mentions the case of Pablo González under the pillar of media freedom and factually reports on his arrest by the Polish Security Services and the charge of illegal espionage on behalf of Russia[1].

The information related to the case included in the report had been brought at the time to the attention of the Commission by different organisations as well as an alert published on the Council of Europe’s platform.

The Commission did not make an assessment about such information and usually refers to such alerts in its Rule of Law Report in relation to all Member States.

The Commission is aware of the subsequent outcome of the case revealed in 2024 and considers it important and pays careful attention to any references to individual cases in the Rule of Law Reports.

The Commission has strongly condemned Russia’s espionage, hybrid threats and disinformation campaigns and there can be no doubt of its position in this regard.

[1] https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/b576c76e-0755-4690-9266-7895c4294433_en?filename=48_1_52627_coun_chap_poland_en.pdf
Last updated: 5 March 2025
MIL OSI Europe News –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Germany: INERATEC secures €70 million financing commitment for Europe’s largest e-Fuel-production plant in Frankfurt
Source: European Investment Bank

Ineratec
- INERATEC agrees up to €40 million venture debt loan with the European Investment Bank and up to €30 million grant from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst to scale-up its e-Fuel production capabilities
- Landmark investment follows EU-Catalyst Partnership initiated in 2021 and supported by the Innovation Fund through the InvestEU Programme.
- Backing demonstrates European commitment to clean energy innovation and follows earlier Horizon 2020 support
Sustainable e-Fuel production pioneer INERATEC today formally agreed a €40 million venture debt loan with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and €30 million grant with Breakthrough Energy Catalyst. The combined €70 million backing will finance construction of Europe`s largest sustainable e-Fuel production plant in Frankfurt and e-Fuel research and development of future, key steps in decarbonising aviation.

The new e-Fuel financing was announced at the EIB-Group-Forum taking place this week in Luxembourg and underscores the strategic importance of e-Fuels in decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors such as aviation. The new investment will enable INERATEC to scale up production capacity and commercialize its innovative reactor technology, which converts green hydrogen and CO₂ into synthetic aviation fuel. The committed project funding, confirmed earlier this year, represents a significant step in commercialisation of INERATEC’s Power-to-Liquid technology, accelerating the transition towards a net-zero future.

Transforming the Energy Landscape with e-Fuels

INERATEC’s production process uses hydrogen, which is then combined with CO₂ from biogenic sources like biogas plants or industrial emissions, using INERATEC’s Power-to-Liquid technology. This approach enables the production of synthetic crude oil, which can be processed into a range of synthetic fuels, including Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), marine fuels and e-Diesel. The use of CO₂, which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere, reduces the carbon-footprint of the fuel and will help to cut carbon emissions.

At the production site outside Frankfurt, the main feedstock is supplied from the industrial park: the CO₂ comes from a biogas plant that recycles waste, and the hydrogen is a by-product from an existing chlorine production facility. By utilizing compact and modular production units, INERATEC’s approach ensures efficient scalability and adaptability to different production sites.

Beyond sustainable fuels for aviation, the synthetic oil that INERATEC produces can also be used as a base chemical for different sustainable products like plastics. This extends the contribution of INERATEC’s technology to sustainable supply for the chemical industry.

Scaling Up to Meet Market Demand

After building and operating plants at demonstration and industrial pilot scale, INERATEC now focuses on scaling up production and optimizing commercial deployment. The funding commitment backed by the EIB and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst will enable the company to deliver commercial-scale production, ensuring a steady supply of e-Fuels to meet increasing market demand and is critical in making synthetic fuels economically viable.

The plant will produce up to 2,500 tons of e-Fuel annually that will be delivered to the aviation sector, among others. One long haul flight between Frankfurt and New York uses 80 tons of kerosene. e-SAF from INERATEC could make flying on this route more sustainable by replacing fossil kerosene fully or partially on many flights. This clearly shows the importance of increasing the e-SAF production capacities beyond a pioneer plant.

The political requirement to shift to more sustainable forms of energy is supported by the European ReFuelEU Aviation-regulation which requires Airlines to use a minimum e-SAF blend of 1.2% by 2030, creating market opportunities.

Bridging Innovation and Climate Goals

The collaboration between INERATEC and the EU-Catalyst Partnership demonstrates how public and private sector partnerships can drive the commercialization of innovative and clean climate technologies. By building on past EU grant support and leveraging new investment mechanisms, this partnership provides a blueprint for scaling up other clean energy solutions.

Accordingly, it shows the EU’s commitment to support innovative technologies that will help EU industry becoming cleaner and stay competitive. The lending by the EIB is made possible thanks to the support of the InvestEU programme, which is backed by an Innovation Fund top-up guarantee. The Innovation Fund is financed by the EU Emissions Trading System.

The transformation of the European industry to clean technologies is being driven by a number of technological innovations, including the efficient production of hydrogen. EIB supports the latter by also funding an electrolysis-project by the Dresden-based start-up Sunfire. Sunfire and INERATEC were partners in a research project in 2019, when both enterprises for the first time demonstrated the production of sustainable e-Fuels from air-captured CO2 and solar power in a fully integrated plant.

EIB Vice-President Nicola Beer said: “The EIB is committed to a competitive net-zero economy, especially in hard-to-decarbonize sectors like aviation. Through partnerships such as the EU-Breakthrough Catalyst initiative, we’re enabling a green transition for transport and are ultimately contributing to making prices of e-Fuels more economical.”

Mario Fernandez, Head of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst: “INERATEC is on a promising path towards demonstrating that e-fuels can be economically produced at scale with the support of catalytic funding. Decarbonizing aviation requires real-world projects to drive down costs and crowd in investment. Breakthrough Energy Catalyst is proud to partner with INERATEC to accelerate deployment and unlock the potential to make e-fuels a reality.”

INERATEC CEO Dr. Tim Boeltken commented: “This funding marks a new era for INERATEC. With the funding commitment from the EIB and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, we are accelerating the industrialization of e-Fuel production. This will make a tangible impact in reducing CO₂ emissions in sectors where direct electrification is not feasible. The focus now is on scaling up and deploying our technology where it is needed most.”

Background information

The EU-Catalyst partnership was launched in 2021 at COP26 in Glasgow by EU-President Ursula von der Leyen, EIB-President Werner Hoyer and Bill Gates, with the aim to develop large-scale green tech projects based in Europe and boost investments in critical climate technologies. The Partnership creates a blueprint for public-private support for clean tech innovative technologies.

The European Investment Bank, as implementing partner of the Commission under InvestEU, has been tasked to deploy for the benefit of this partnership up to €420 million, made available from both Horizon Europe (EUR 200 million), and the Innovation Fund, which has committed EUR220 million. Breakthrough Energy Catalyst mobilizes equivalent private capital and philanthropic grants to fund the selected projects. The EU-Catalyst Partnership does not exclude potential additional contributions from EU Member States or other private partners that decide to further support the projects. Interested projects can apply for support through the Breakthrough Energy Catalyst website.

The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. It finances investments that contribute to EU policy objectives. EIB projects bolster competitiveness, drive innovation, promote sustainable development, enhance social and territorial cohesion, and support a just and swift transition to climate neutrality. The EIB Group, which also includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), signed a total of €88 billion in new financing for over 900 projects in 2023.

All projects financed by the EIB Group are in line with the Paris Climate Accord. The EIB Group does not fund investments in fossil fuels. We are on track to deliver on our commitment to support €1 trillion in climate and environmental sustainability investment in the decade to 2030 as pledged in our Climate Bank Roadmap. Over half of the EIB Group’s annual financing supports projects directly contributing to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and a healthier environment.

High-quality, up-to-date photos of our headquarters for media use are available here.

Breakthrough Energy is committed to accelerating the world’s journey to a clean energy future. The organization funds breakthrough technologies, advocates for climate-smart policies, and mobilizes partners around the world to take effective action, accelerating progress at every stage.

Breakthrough Energy Catalyst is a novel platform that funds and invests in first-of-a-kind commercial projects for emerging climate technologies. By investing in these opportunities, Catalyst seeks to accelerate the adoption of these technologies worldwide and reduce their costs.

Catalyst currently focuses on five technology areas: clean hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuel, direct air capture, long-duration energy storage, and manufacturing decarbonization. In addition to capital, Catalyst leverages the team’s energy-infrastructure-investing and project-development expertise to work with innovators on advancing their projects from the development stage to funding and ultimately, to construction. Learn more about Breakthrough Energy and Catalyst at breakthroughenergy.org.

The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with crucial long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds to mobilise private investments for the European Union’s policy priorities, such as the European Green Deal. The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is implemented through financial partners that will invest in projects leveraging the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. To this amount, further guarantees have been added from the EU’s Horizon programme and the Innovation Fund to support initiatives such as the EU-Catalyst partnership.

The entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increase their risk-bearing capacity and thus mobilise at least €372 billion in additional investment.

EIB venture debt is a quasi-equity investment product suitable for early and growth stage ventures, combining a long-term loan with an instrument linking the return to the performance of the company. Since 2015, the EIB has invested €6 billion in Venture Debt, backing over 200 companies and realising over 50 exits. With the backing of InvestEU, the EIB aims to support European ventures and scale-ups in the cleantech, deep-tech and life sciences sectors.

The Innovation Fund: With an estimated revenue of €40 billion from the EU Emissions Trading System between 2020 and 2030, the Innovation Fund aims to support innovative net-zero technologies and support Europe’s transition to climate neutrality. The Innovation Fund contributes a €220 million top-up guarantee to the InvestEU Programme for the EU Catalyst Partnership, having enabled until now more than €100 million in lending from EIB.

INERATEC is committed to defossilizing and decarbonizing the world. The company produces e-Fuels and e-chemicals: carbon-neutral fossil fuel substitutes for use in the aviation, shipping and chemical industries.

Its modular, scalable plants use renewable hydrogen and biogenic CO₂ to produce synthetic kerosene, gasoline, diesel, waxes, methanol or natural gas. It is building what will be the world’s largest e-fuels plant to date, in Frankfurt, which will produce up to 2,500 tonnes of ultra-low-carbon aviation fuel per year. The company is based in Karlsruhe, Germany and backed by diverse international investors.

Ineratec Power-To-X (IEU GT2) – Catalyst
INERATEC secures €70 million financing commitment for Europe’s largest e-Fuel-production plant in Frankfurt
©Ineratec
Download original

Ineratec Power-To-X (IEU GT2) – Catalyst
INERATEC secures €70 million financing commitment for Europe’s largest e-Fuel-production plant in Frankfurt
©Ineratec
Download original

Ineratec Power-To-X (IEU GT2) – Catalyst
INERATEC secures €70 million financing commitment for Europe’s largest e-Fuel-production plant in Frankfurt
©Ineratec
Download original

European Commission logo EN
European Commission logo
©European Commission
Download original
MIL OSI Europe News –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Mandatory relocation of migrants – doubts surrounding the implementation of the Pact on Migration and Asylum – E-000588/2025
Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-000588/2025/rev.1
to the Commission
Rule 144
Piotr Müller (ECR)

Doubts are being raised about the implementation of the Pact on Migration and Asylum as a result of ambiguity about the time frames for migrant relocation and the contents of the pact itself, as well as contradictory statements from government representatives, including the German Foreign Minister. Of particular concern is the question of the forced relocation of migrants, which has been met with resistance from many Member States.

In light of this:

1.Does the Commission have an up-to-date schedule for implementing the Pact on Migration and Asylum, including the stages and time frames for relocating migrants to other Member States? If so, could it please provide details.

2.Is the Commission considering taking legislative action to withdraw from the Pact on Migration and Asylum due to many Member States’ staunch opposition to the forced relocation of migrants and their concerns about security and societal stability?

3.Given that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has repeatedly stressed to the media that Poland would not implement any migration pact or any provisions of that nature[1], does this mean that the Commission has changed its position of 17 January 2025[2], when it stated that no country was exempt from implementing the migration pact?

Please provide detailed responses to the above questions.

Submitted: 9.2.2025

[1] https://tvn24.pl/polska/tusk-o-pakcie-migracyjnym-polska-nie-bedzie-implementowala-st8291869?

[2] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-10-2024-002557-ASW_EN.html
Last updated: 5 March 2025
MIL OSI Europe News –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Agricultural policy comments during Grüne Woche – E-000596/2025
Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-000596/2025/rev.1
to the Commission
Rule 144
Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy (Renew)

During Grüne Woche (Green Week), Commissioner Hansen reportedly said that the time for a one-size-fits-all approach is over: based on available space and population size within each country, different countries should adhere to different rules. He is not open to pleas to reduce livestock. Recently, the Dutch court reprimanded the national government once again for refusing to adopt policies to reduce the nitrogen surplus in the Netherlands, which is damaging the surrounding natural environment beyond the point of no return. Agriculture is responsible for 76 % of Dutch-sourced nitrogen emissions, and the Netherlands has the highest livestock density in Europe. This raises several questions:

1.If EU-wide nature preservation and restoration targets are to be mixed with tailor-made agricultural rules per Member State, can the Commission clarify when the population of an EU Member State is entitled to more or less nature?

2.Can the Commission assess, in relation to harmful ammonia deposits and a manure surplus – both effects of concentrated livestock farming – the capacity of a Member State to sustain its current livestock density without harming EU nature goals and water quality targets?

3.Could the Commission provide us with the scientific basis for rejecting livestock reduction as a policy option?

Submitted: 10.2.2025
Last updated: 5 March 2025
MIL OSI Europe News –
March 6, 2025

MIL-OSI United Kingdom: ESFA Update: 5 March 2025

Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Correspondence

ESFA Update: 5 March 2025

Latest information and actions from the Education and Skills Funding Agency for academies, schools, colleges, local authorities and further education providers.

Applies to England

Documents

ESFA Update further education: 5 March 2025

HTML

ESFA Update academies: 5 March 2025

HTML

ESFA Update local authorities: 5 March 2025

HTML

Details

Latest for further education

Article	Title
Action	Register to deliver T Level and T Level foundation year study programmes for academic year 2026 to 2027
Information	16 to 19 funding arrangements for academic year 2025 to 2026
Information	16 to 19 in-year growth funding for academic year 2024 to 2025
Information	Post-16 budget grant for April to July 2025
Information	16 to 19 subcontracting data for academic year 2022 to 2023
Information	Update to post-16 subcontracting exemption forms for 2025 to 2026 requests
Information	Changes to the financial statements submissions process for independent training providers, special post-16 institutions and non-maintained special schools
Information	Your Apprenticeship app has launched

Latest information for academies

Article	Title
Action	Register to deliver T Level and T Level foundation year study programmes for academic year 2026 to 2027
Information	16 to 19 funding arrangements for academic year 2025 to 2026
Information	16 to 19 in-year growth funding for academic year 2024 to 2025
Information	Post-16 budget grant for April to July 2025
Information	PE and sport premium allocations for 2024 to 2025 academic year
Information	16 to 19 subcontracting data for academic year 2022 to 2023
Information	Improvements to DfE Connect
Events and webinars	Risk protection arrangement (RPA) members only – mock trial
Events and webinars	Hiring supply teachers and agency workers for your school
Events and webinars	DfE energy for schools service – simplified buying of gas and electricity
Events and webinars	Academy finance professionals March power hour – Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool
Events and webinars	Q&A drop-in sessions – academies chart of accounts and automation

Latest information for local authorities

Article	Title
Action	Register to deliver T Level and T Level foundation year study programmes for academic year 2026 to 2027
Information	16 to 19 funding arrangements for academic year 2025 to 2026
Information	16 to 19 in-year growth funding for academic year 2024 to 2025
Information	Post-16 budget grant for April to July 2025
Information	Early years expansion grant 2025 to 2026
Information	Dedicated schools grant (DSG) recoupment guide for 2025 to 2026
Information	PE and sport premium allocations for 2024 to 2025 academic year
Information	16 to 19 subcontracting data for academic year 2022 to 2023
Information	Update to post-16 subcontracting exemption forms for 2025 to 2026 requests
Events and webinars	Risk protection arrangement (RPA) members only – mock trial
Events and webinars	Hiring supply teachers and agency workers for your school
Events and webinars	DfE energy for schools service – simplified buying of gas and electricity

Published 5 March 2025

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

March 6, 2025

MIL-OSI Economics: Transcript of Press Briefing on the Completion of the Third Review for the IMF Extended Fund Facility for Sri Lanka

Source: International Monetary Fund

March 5, 2025

PARTICIPANTS:

PETER BREUER

Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka

KATSIARYNA SVIRYDZENKA

Deputy Mission Chief for Sri Lanka

MARTHA TESFAYE WOLDEMICHAEL

Resident Representative in Sri Lanka

MODERTOR:

RANDA ELNAGAR

Senior Media Officer

TRANSCRIPT:

Ms. Elnagar: Good morning to our participants who are joining us from Asia and good evening to our participants in DC. Welcome to the press conference on of the Third review of Sri Lanka’s Extended Fund Facility Arrangement with the International Monetary Fund. I am Randa Elnagar, with the IMF’s communications department.

I am joined today by three speakers. Peter Breuer, IMF’s Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka; Katsiaryna Svirydzenka, Deputy Mission Chief for Sri Lanka; and Martha Tesfaye Woldemichael, IMF’s Resident Representative in Sri Lanka.

By now you should have seen the press release, which we issued on Friday and the staff report is not on IMF.org. First, Peter will give some opening remarks, and then we will take your questions.

We are kindly asking you to mute your microphones throughout the briefing, unless you are asking a question. Peter the floor is yours.

started transcription

Mr. Breuer: Thank you, Randa. Good morning, all, thank you very much for being here and for your interest in Sri Lanka’s IMF-supported economic reform program.

I am pleased to announce that, on Friday February 28, the IMF Executive Board approved the third review under the 48-month Extended Fund Facility Arrangement with Sri Lanka. This provides the country with immediate access to about US$334 million to support its economic policies and reforms.

It brings the total IMF financial support dispersed so far to about $1.3 billion.
The IMF continues to support Sri Lanka’s efforts to restore and maintain macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability while protecting the poor and vulnerable rebuilding external buffers. Safeguarding financial sector stability and enhancing growth oriented structural reforms, including by strengthening governance.

The IMF Executive Board’s approval to complete the third review recognizes the strong program performance. All quantitative targets for end December 2024 were met, except for the indicative target on social spending.
Most structural benchmarks do by end January 2025 were either met or implemented with delay.

Turning to through the macroeconomic situation, it is encouraging to see that reforms in Sri Lanka are bearing fruit with the economic recovery gaining momentum, inflation remains slow.

Revenue collection is improving and reserves continue to accumulate.
Economic growth averaged 4.3% since growth resumed in the third quarter of 2023.
The recovery is expected to continue in two thousand 2025 now. Despite these positive developments, the economy is still vulnerable.
It is critical to sustain the reform momentum to ensure macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability.

And to promote long term inclusive growth, there is no room for policy errors.
Let me emphasize that sustained revenue mobilization is crucial to restoring fiscal sustainability.

And ensuring that the government can continue to provide essential services.
Boosting tax compliance and refraining from tax exemptions are key to maintaining support for economic reforms.

Let me also emphasize that to ease economic hardship and ensure the poor and vulnerable can participate in Sri Lanka’s recovery, it is important to meet social spending targets and continue with reforms of the social safety net going forward. Social support needs to be well targeted towards the.

Most disadvantaged, so as to promote inclusive growth with limited fiscal space.
Restoring cost recovery, electricity pricing without delay is needed to contain fiscal risks from state owned enterprises.
A smoother execution of capital spending within the fiscal envelope would foster medium term growth.

The recent successful completion of the bond exchange is a major milestone towards restoring debt sustainability, timely finalization of bilateral agreements with creditors in the official creditor committee, and with remaining creditors is a priority now. Regarding monetary policy, I would like to highlight that it should prioritize maintaining price. Stability supported by sustained commitment to prohibit monetary financing and.

To safeguard central bank independence. Continued exchange rate, flexibility and gradually phasing out the balance of payments measures remain critical to rebuild external buffers and facilitate rebalancing.

As for the financial sector, resolving non performing loans, strengthening governance and oversight of state owned banks and improving the insolvency and resolution frameworks are important priorities to revive credit growth and support the economic recovery.

Finally, prolonged structural challenges need to be addressed to unlock Sri Lanka’s long term potential, including steadfast implementation of governance reforms.
I would like to thank the authorities for their commitment and excellent collaboration.

Let me also take this opportunity to announce that as part of a standard staff rotation process, I will soon be transitioning from the role of mischief for Sri Lanka.
And I will be handing over to the next mission Chief Evan Papageorgiou, during the next mission. It has been an honor to accompany Sri Lanka on his journey out of this.

Severe crisis for nearly three years. While there are more challenges ahead, the IMF team will remain a steadfast partner for Sri Lanka and its people on the road to a more sustainable and inclusive recovery.
I will be moving to another assignment soon and wish the people of Sri Lanka continued success with the economic recovery.
With this, let me hand it back to Rhonda. Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you so much, Peter.
Colleagues, please raise your hand and identify yourself if you want to ask your question and turn on your camera, if possible and the mic. Thank you. I see the first hand, please.

QUESTIONER: Thank you, Randa. This is Shihar Anis from economy next.
I hope you can hear you.

Ms. Elnagar: We can hear you well, Shihar. Thank you.

QUESTIONER: OK. So my question is now there is a delay in the SOE restructuring because we don’t see the same speed that the previous government was doing, the SOE restructuring this government has been. Basically, they are not into privatization, but they are looking into a different model. How concerned are you on that? You know, delay or the current restructuring model.
Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you. We’ll take another couple of questions and then answer them in groups.

Ms. Elnagar: The audio. Zulfiq there is a lot of static on your mic.

QUESTIONER: Hope you can hear me. I have two questions. That is, it has come to light that the Sri Lankan Government plans not to proceed with the imputed rental income tax as a revenue measure. So has this been discussed with the IMF and is there any other alternative that is being put forward and at the same time, what is IMF stake on the budget that was presented recently?

Ms. Elnagar: Let’s take another question. Sampath, please.

QUESTIONER: Hi I’m Sampath Dissanayake from BBC Sinhala service.
The government is increasing the tax as per the IMF advice to increase government revenue. The number of people receiving Social Security benefit in benefits in Sri Lanka is increasing annually. So do you believe that the increase in tax burden is increase for reason for this?

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, we can take these three questions.

Mr. Breuer: Yes, thank you very much. So let me answer some of the questions.
On the budget and fiscal, and maybe Katie can answer the question on the.
SOE reforms so the. Imputed rental income tax was a measure proposed by the previous administration as part of a possible revenue package for 2025, and the new authorities have proposed a slightly different package that is aligned with their mandate and priorities. And staff and the authorities have assessed that this package is sufficient to meet the revenue targets under the program. Now of course, should those measures prove insufficient, then additional revenue measures would be needed. And so that also. Ties in with the question on the budget and tax revenues. So yes, we have looked at the budget. And have, of course, disgusted with the authorities. There’s more detailed explanation in the staff report that should be online now, so there’s a table on page 12 that kind of lists some of the main measures needed to. reach the goal for tax revenue for next year. Yeah, reallybthe objective here is as you know tax revenue was a key driver of the crisis in 2022.
Sri Lanka was the lowest that the country with the lowest tax take amongst.
Middle income countries and low income countries in the world, and so it has made significant progress since then. Tax as a share of GDP, he has increased by 5 percentage points from somewhere. You know 7 to somewhere 12.4% or so last year. So that’s a significant increase, but by no means is excessive and. The essential services that the government provides need to be funded and for that reason.
Working on ensuring that there is sufficient tax revenue remains a priority.
And so social services, which was the 3rd question is just a portion of the overall essential services that that the government provides and is just a component on that actually. Maybe Marta can add on that point and cut you a can speak to the SOE reforms.

Ms. Svirydzenka: So should I go first? OK. So on the on the SOE restructuring, the most crucial element is that the state owned enterprises are managed in a prudent manner so as to avoid the accumulation of losses or debts that then would eventually need to be repaid by the taxpayers. And in that sense, the SOEs can be managed prudently while remaining state owned or they can be divested partially or completely.

We are reassured by the authorities commitment to ensure that this enterprises do not become a burden for the budget or for the government debt in terms of other key elements under the program has been the cost, reflective pricing of services provided by so especially in the area of electricity and fuel prices. Other commitments under the program include making SOEs more transparent, in particular by publishing audited financial statements of the largest, SOEs in a timely manner.

And then finally, to allow the economy to grow, it is important that the consumers of services receive the best value for the price of being charged. So this involves running, SOEs in the most efficient manner and ensuring that they are following the best governance principles. So in that sense, we’re quite satisfied with the progress, yes.

Martha Tesfaye Woldemichael: So let me maybe come in then to compliment a bit Peter’s response on the social spending, right. So there’s a question. Why social spending is increasing? I think this is a good opportunity to remind that protecting the poor and vulnerable is really an important component of the EFF program. So the EFF supports this objective through the different reforms through macro stabilization. But importantly, there is also a floor on social spending in the program that we assess on a quarterly basis. So this means the government has to spend a minimum amount to protect the poor and vulnerable.

So in this context, the key commitment is really for the authorities to continue strengthening the coverage, the adequacy and the targeting of social spending. So recent announcement related to the expected decrease in the payments, for instance for the poor and extremely poor categories under a ASWASUMA or the.
Announcement that the payments would also increase for the elderly, the disabled and chronic kidney patients are aligned with the authorities commitments to continue strengthening, strengthening social safety Nets and I think it is also very important to make sure that this coverage under the ASWASUMA program. Is above the poverty rates that are currently observed. I think I will stop here. Thank you very much. Back to you, Randa.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you, Martha. We’re first going to take a question from Kelum.
I think Shihar you had your hand raised, so it’s from the first question. So if you can, please put your hand down because it’s a bit confusing, but we’re going to go to Kellum 1st and then Asante. So Kelum, please go ahead.

QUESTIONER: Thank you. Can you hear me?

Ms. Elnagar: Yes.

QUESTIONER: Yes, I’m Kelum Bandara, from Daily Mirror newspaper. So my question is wanting the overall assessment about the budget, actually that was answered was that next day and the next question is, how important is it for the government to proceed with this Economic Transformation Act to reach the economic targets? Actually in searching by MFN or for the broader infrastructure of the country.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you Asante. If you can, please pose your question.

QUESTIONER: Yeah, so, the government has started the import duty on vehicles, which just knocked out earlier. Yeah, I think all the taxes were kind of like excise taxes. And so have you made any assessment on whether this will lead to an increase in assembled vehicles, which earlier didn’t get this tax protection and how much leakage of revenue might happen to the assembled sector and whether any effect to publish a kind of a tax expenditure statement to say how much of the import duties lost due to any increase or the sales of the assembled vehicles which are like got CKD, I think tax free the parts and also have you had any discuss? With the central bank. On offloading their government securities now that the Treasury bills

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you, Asantha. There is a question in the chat which we’re going to take and then move to the ones online. Amal, you didn’t verify your organization.

QUESTIONER: Oh, and I have actually done that. I’m from AFP, the French news agency, Agence France Press.

Ms. Elnagar: Hi would you like to ask? Yeah, because you post in the in the chat.

QUESTIONER: Oh yeah. I mean, if you want to save time, can just answer that.
I mean basically I was trying to ask Peter how concerned you are about sort of emerging labor unrest, particularly now in the medical field. The doctors are threatening to go on strike from tomorrow, although there is a pay increase that the increase is less than the. Reduction of their allowances. So this is something that affects a lot of not just the medical sector. So how concerned are you that this kind of growing unrest, labor unrest, how it will affect the overall IMF backed program?

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, do you want to take another question?
So they are three. So I think Indiqa is next.

Mr. Breuer: Well, there’s actually an under. It feels like there’s a bunch of questions.
Should we try and answer these?

Ms. Elnagar: OK. Sounds good.

Mr. Breuer: And maybe Katya can speak to the Economic Transformation Act.
And also to the central bank question so. On this important question with respect to the potential for unrest. Well, I suppose there is potential, but I think what really should be remembered is that this budget really sought to address some of the concerns that the government and ourselves have hurt that. You know, civil servants have been concerned about. The wages that they have been receiving and so.
There is for the first time in a long time, an increase in civil service wages, while at the same time the personal income tax regime is were being changed and reducing personal income taxes considerably, at least for some. Income earners, including civil servants, you have to remember who are the ones who earn an income and pay taxes that really is the upper 20% of income earners in Sri Lanka. There has been a massive crisis in 2022 with huge costs to the population of Sri Lanka and in order for the government to keep on providing the essential services that the citizens of Sri Lanka expected, expect the government to provide and in order to bring along the poorer segments of society. Everyone who can needs to make a sacrifice.
This is how the society can pull together and continue to function, and so.
I think we all know how painful this crisis has been there’s no doubt about it.
We have travelled around the country, we have met with many people.
You know the plantation workers in Noro, alia have shown us their income statements and their bills. And it was very, very clear that this is a very severe crisis, but how else to address it. So, sticking with the reforms is really the best way out for Sri Lanka to assure its sustainability, and I think it’s important for everyone in Sri Lanka to recognize that.

If you put it into the broader perspective the adjustment, this is the last budget.
Where there is still a bit of an increase in in revenue is needed 1.5 percentage points of GDP, but all the hard adjustment has already taken place in the previous two years. You know revenue have increased 5 percentage points of GDP over the last two years. This is, you know, the last sort of big push. Not quite as big as in the previous years, and there after it’ll be much easier going forward.

So on the cars I mean that’s a specific question. Does is there some import substitution? I can’t answer that. I would assume that after five years or so of a ban of imported cars that there will be some demand for finished cars from overseas.
I do take your point that it’s possible that there may be some assembly of cars domestically.

Katya, can you answer the other two questions please?

Ms. Svirydzenka: Sure. So on the economic transformation, bill, we understand there was a recent announcement that the new government will propose amendments to the bill. And so we look forward to reviewing the amended economic transformation bill. We expect it to be consistent with program objectives, including for example with the authorities’ commitment to refrain from granting tax.
Incentives until the STP act is revised to provide clear and transparent criteria on the granting of tax incentives on the. Central Bank Securities, I understand the question was that the Central Bank has sold T-bills but has a stock of on marketable bonds. And this is correct. And under the program at this point, because there’s no market for this restructured bonds, we do not envision they unwinding of this stock and over the next 12 months you can see it in the program targets in table one on page 95 of the published report under the category of net credit to the government.
I hope that answers the question. If I understood it correctly.

QUESTIONER: So, I am trying to find out what’s the alternative if you want to sterilize the inflows. I mean, kind of issuing central banks equity or something, but you have reserve target.

Ms. Svirydzenka: Is this more than a question about the operation of monetary policy and how to sterilize reserve accumulation?

QUESTIONER: Yeah. Yeah. Because you don’t you?

Ms. Svirydzenka: Perhaps I misunderstood.

QUESTIONER: You no longer have the tables to sell. What is the alternative securities they can sell to build?

Ms. Svirydzenka: Yes, I understand. Thank you so much for clarifying. Yeah. So there are many alternatives that the Central bank can use. For example, they can engage in repo operations or also issue their own securities. But I guess what is important to highlight for your question is that the Central Bank so far has been able to meet the inflation target and if anything, they’re a little bit undershooting as you saw with the breach of the MPCC clause in June and in December. So in that sense, the central bank is quite effective in terms of reaching the inflation objectives and we think the tools they have in their, in their in their hands should be enough.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you, Katya. We have more questions, Peter.
We have Indika first please.

QUESTIONER: Hi, Randa. Thank you, I think. I hope I’m audible.

Ms. Elnagar: Yes you are.

QUESTIONER: My questions, question to Peter is in the budget, there is a budget proposal to recruit about 30,000 people to the public sector. So we already have a bloated public sector in the country. So what’s your what’s IMF’s opinion on that? And the other question is on their flight, electricity, the price, reflective electricity tariffs. So we were under the impression that that is already happening because the government is already. Adjusting prices periodically, but in the press release that was released on Friday. The sort of insinuated that Sri Lanka S deviated. What is what is the situation there? Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, we can take a couple more questions this round.

QUESTIONER: Randa, I hope I’m audible.

Ms. Elnagar: Yes you are.

QUESTIONER: Great. I just have one question. Peter, could you please outline what are the key goal posts that Sri Lanka has to hit as it moves forward to the 4th review now, right. And when will there be an IMF delegation coming to Colombo?
Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: We can take more questions. There are two questions in the chat, Peter, One is asking, why was the proposed property tax under the IMF program withdrawn, and why wasn’t the existing under taxed Council tax system rebased instead? How much revenue was expected from the input rental tax and why could this be? Couldn’t this be raised adjusting Council taxes? There’s another one we can take, or that’s enough for now this round.

Mr. Breuer: Yeah. Why don’t we get going with these ones? Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Yeah, because Shehar already had a chance at the beginning, so let’s take a different group now. Thank you.

Mr. Breuer: So thanks so much for these questions. On the size of the public sector, that’s really not for us to judge the government needs to sort of identify the resources it needs to provide the services that it’s expected to provide.
And do all of that within the envelope of the program. So there may be other institutions. The World Bank, for example, you know that can provide some more assistance, technical assistance to help with making the government as efficient as as possible. But. I don’t really have a comment there. The electricity tariff.
So there was a reduction in the electricity tariffs in January, and this is when we feel that the cost reflective pricing was no longer met because on a forward-looking basis. That tariff cut meant that Ceb wouldn’t be able to avoid any losses.
So these cuts. Essentially, at least on a forward-looking basis, implied that losses would be run now of course. These profits and losses by the electricity company depend on many factors, including the weather, the rain and so forth.
So what turns out ex post may be different from what happens ex ante, but this is a concern that we have because it could mean that that starts building up again in the electricity company. That could ultimately become a contingent liability for the government. This is something that, of course, Sri Lanka has experienced before, and avoiding this and making sure that consumers on average pay for how much it costs to generate and distribute the electricity is an important part of the program.

And this actually also goes towards answering the question of what are some of the main goal posts for the 4th review. So ensuring that cost reflective energy pricing is restored is of course a key. Part of what we would like to see for the next.
Review I should say there are some mechanisms that give us hope that this will happen automatically. The SD bulk supply transaction account, which is sort of a mechanism that is supposed to kick in when losses at CB become too large when they are cash balances become. You know, negative beyond a certain value.
Then there’s meant to be an automatic increase in the tariff. That would prevent these losses from accumulating, so so they are already mechanisms in place.
It’s important that these mechanisms be allowed to function, and then, of course, at the next tariff setting, it’s important to ensure that tariffs will once again be set to cover the costs. Another important Issue for the next review will of course be.
The budget that the budget that is finally passed at the end of this month is in fact consistent with the program parameters. So this is something that we will be watching very carefully. So those are two issues that may matter.

The next mission we expect to be visiting Colombo.in the coming weeks or months or so. So the exact dates will be announced closer to the time.
With respect to the property tax. That is a property tax. Is very common in many countries it is a form of wealth tax whereby those who have more wealth, meaning more expensive homes, larger homes that are worth more, need to make larger contributions to the tax coffers and support the government. So, now it’s it had been discussed for quite some time previously, and in fact many preparations have been made under this program for property tax with respect to, you know sales price and rents register, and various databases to estimate the values of homes. So lots of preparations have been have been made. Then there were some concerns and this goes towards the question with respect to the local authorities how this tax could be raised and how it could be shared with at the at the central government level. So some of these issues still need to be resolved and so this is this is something I think that is as yet you know to be addressed. Let me stop there. Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, we can take a couple more questions because we are out of time. So we can take from Sisira, who has been waiting patiently, and then we have a couple of questions in the chat. So Sisira, please go ahead. We can’t hear you.
Sisira do you have a question? You have your hand raised?

QUESTIONER: Yeah. Can you hear me?

Elnagar, Randa Mohamed: Yes.

QUESTIONER: My question is, what is the impact?

Ms. Elnagar: Your mic is a bit muffled.

QUESTIONER: Can you hear me?

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, can you hear him?

Mr. Breuer: It’s very, very soft. I don’t know whether you can bring the mic closer to him.

QUESTIONER: Yeah, my question is what is the projected impact of Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves?

Mr. Breuer: I think the question is what is the impact of the car imports on reserves? Yeah, OK.

Ms. Elnagar: Vehicle import. Yeah. And then we have a couple of questions here.
Amal already asked the question, a supplementary question regarding what Asantha raised about vehicle imports. So it’s the same topic and then we have. One from Ishara. Even though the IMF program has put Sri Lanka’s economy on the right track, a recent poverty study revealed that more than 50% of households are below the poverty line. Additionally, the Central bank mentioned that brain drain could severely impact efforts to accelerate growth. In this scenario, how can Sri Lanka reach its anticipated IMF recovery targets? And these are the last questions of the press conference.

Mr. Breuer::Yeah. Thank you very much. On the car imports. So yes, removing the import restrictions on car imports will allow cars to be imported which means they have to be paid for and so that could have an impact on the balance of payments. But as you know there’s a question to what extent you know the Central bank should intervene to make those reserves available versus allowing the exchange rate to fluctuate in response to market forces. So, that is something that remains to be seen, but maybe just to highlight the fact that reserves have increased. Significantly, so far under the program they have reached about half of the program objective already, which is very impressive.

On the question with respect to the anticipated IMF recovery targets, so. I think it’s quite clear that things really have turned around significantly in Sri Lanka. I mean, you all live there, so you experience it much more than us. But when I first got to Sri Lanka in June 2022. Everybody was standing in a line somewhere in, you know, to get fuel, to get cooking gas to get food or medications and economic activity was was very subdued, I think in real terms. Sri Lanka lost, you know, 10% or so of its economic activity. As a result of this crisis and since then in the short amount of time.
That the program has been there basically since 2023 it has already recovered 40% of the income it has lost. In the preceding five years, so in a very short amount of time, you have already a very significant recovery. You have the most recent growth number of 5.5%.

So I think things are turning around significantly in Sri Lanka and that will have an impact on the indicators that we care about, such as poverty, so.
As economic opportunities return to Sri Lanka. Incomes will increase and poverty will be reduced, and also it’ll be more attractive to remain in Sri Lanka and not leave and emigrate or those who have emigrated may find opportunities back in in Sri Lanka again so. You know, as you look at our projections, we have increased these quite a bit. For 2025 and beyond and so based on these, I would say I’m quite optimistic about the recovery in Sri Lanka.

Ms. Elnagar: I think we’re out of time, Peter. If you guys have any further questions, please, please feel free to send them by e-mail. We are always very responsive or via WhatsApp. With that I would like to thank our speakers Peter, Katia, and Martha, and I would like to thank you all for participating in this press conference.
We’re going to be posting the recording and the transcript by tomorrow.
And we look forward in seeing to seeing you again in the future.
Thank you very much.

Mr. Breuer: Thank you.

Ms. Woldemichael: Thank you.

Ms. Svirydzenka: Thank you.

IMF Communications Department

MEDIA RELATIONS

PRESS OFFICER: Randa Elnagar

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

@IMFSpokesperson

MIL OSI Economics –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: EA Chief Scientist sets out water monitoring vision
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Speech

EA Chief Scientist sets out water monitoring vision

Dr Robert Bradburne outlines a future approach to environmental monitoring at newly refurbished £4 million laboratory in Leeds.
Celebrating our new laboratory capabilities

Welcome, and may I add my thanks to you all for coming today.

I am delighted to be here with colleagues and partners to celebrate the opening of the refurbished laboratory at Olympia House.

Today marks an important moment to take stock of the amazing work our laboratory and field staff do in giving us the data and information we need to help protect and enhance the environment as part of sustainable development.

Understanding environmental data

The Environment Agency is a huge data producer and consumer. That is hardly surprising as we exist to influence a hugely complex system – that of our environment.

It is a system in a constant state of change. We see that change in nearly all of the parameters that we are measuring:

in the air which blows through our cities and countryside

in the materials that flow through our economy

in the water that flows through our landscape and around our coasts

All of these systems have changed hugely in my working life.

Future changes

If the future is anything like the past, we will see a similar amount of change over the coming 25 years, but those changes may all occur at very different rates.

Change may be decadal in nature – we know that the mix of pollutants in the air of our cities and countryside has changed enormously since the 1990s and some levels of some chemicals, such as phosphates, have fallen considerably in many of our rivers over that time period. These shifts will in turn create changes in other parts of the system, such as levels of freshwater biodiversity, all responding at different paces. In the context of a changing climate, that suggests a very dynamic picture for our environment over the coming decades.

That changing climate may also increase seasonal changes across our environment. The blistering heat of July 2022 in England was in stark contrast to the high rainfall and stormy weather experienced in parts of the country in 2023 and 2024. This led to the flow, and therefore quality, of water through our pipes and sewers, our rivers and aquifers, our lakes and coasts being similarly highly variable over the space of just a couple of seasons.

Environmental monitoring

And we must not forget that change can also happen to our environment over very short timescales. Pollution entering a watercourse from an industrial incident or road accident can create rapid changes in water chemistry and longer lasting changes on river ecology. I have seen the damage a single barbecue can cause to acres of peatlands in just an afternoon – impacting decades of restoration work.

That’s why we at the Environment Agency collect data on our environment in such a wide variety of ways, to address these many issues and different timescales. That’s why we need skilled people and powerful analytical capabilities to gather, process and analyse information at the pace required to take action, be that over the space of hours or decades. We cannot stand still as science and the environment changes, and the lab you are about to see brings together some of the latest technology to help us do this information gathering in new and robust ways.

Our monitoring methods

I must point out that our labs are not the only way we monitor the environment. They are very important to us, but only one facet of our overall information gathering activities.

If we focus just on water, we employ:

Continuous monitors for several applications

A network of hydrometry equipment watching river flows and levels

Sea and tide level monitoring

Ground water level monitoring through our ground water monitoring network

Earth observation and other remotely monitored data sources to increase the areas we can collect data from

We bring in others’ data too. We work closely with the Met Office to share data and analytical capabilities. We also expect industries we regulate to monitor and provide us information on their own emissions. In recent years that information flow has increased with more Combined Storm Overflow data becoming available, and this will continue with the requirements for more continuous monitoring under the Environment Act. Citizen Science programmes continue to flourish around the country, and we actively engage in learning from catchment-based research and other academic data collection.

Adapting to change

This laboratory, and the equipment and people in it, is a very important part of giving the Environment Agency the scale it needs to rise to this information challenge, and also to adapt and grow as our needs change.

Why do I say we need to adapt and grow?

As the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said – no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man. That’s certainly true for monitoring. We know that you never monitor the same piece of water twice as it flows through the landscape, but also the techniques and understanding we have at our disposal are changing all the time.

Evolution of monitoring

That’s important because it’s not only the water that changes – but the things that we want to know about it continue to evolve. As an example, to understand the pressure chemicals might put on the environment, we used to look only for 77 priority chemicals. Now we scan for over 1,650, with our labs being at the forefront globally in deriving new techniques for quantifying some of them.

And chemicals is just one issue. Right now we have:

100 different monitoring programmes and themes for water quality and ecological data

42 different legislative reasons for collecting water quality and quantity data

This means we:

Have a network of 13,000 different monitoring sites relating to water quality, and 11,800 looking at water quantity.

Take many samples – increasing from over 65,000 samples in 2022 to 99,000 samples in 2024

Produce a vast quantity of data – over 1.7 million measurements last year

Our dedicated teams

This sheer scale and complexity is a true testament to the expertise of:

Our field teams

Analysis and reporting teams

Hydrometry and telemetry teams

Lab staff

They have to work out ever more efficient ways of reaching the sampling sites we need to visit, to undertake surveys and get samples back to the lab here or in Exeter for rapid analysis. Just for water quality and ecology that amounts to 77,000 tasks being scheduled next year, and I am indebted to their perseverance and professionalism in delivering so many to such a high standard.

Looking to the future

But today we’re really looking to the future. What will the world of water monitoring look like in a few years, and what is the place for this wonderful lab refurbishment in that?

Well first, as a good scientist, I can’t know what the future holds, but today I want to set out a bit of a vision for where I want the Environment Agency to be going over the next few years to keep our data collection and analysis as modern, robust and impactful as it possibly can be in the face of so much change.

The Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme

This refurbishment has been made possible by investment over the last few years through the NCEA. This is an amazing programme of work involving seven different Defra Group organisations all working together in a way that they never have before to create a comprehensive baseline of the state and value of all aspects of our environment. It is driven by two main things.

The first is the Environment Act and the statutory Environment Improvement Plan. The Natural Capital Committee advised the Treasury in 2019 that to assess whether the Government is meeting its legally binding targets on the Environment and so meet the “significant improvement test” it would need to have a baseline from which to work.

I led delivery of the National Ecosystem Assessment back in 2011, which was the first of its kind in the world to take a snapshot of the state and value of a whole country’s environment and the services it provides to people and nature. It showed we have some of the best environmental data in the world. But it also showed potential blind spots.

NCEA objectives

The NCEA was in part created to fill those blind spots, monitoring in places we haven’t done so before, like our smaller streams, lakes and ponds.

It’s there to look at these things in new ways, including:

Exploring eDNA to understand the microbial and other communities in our soils and water

Developing new approaches to understand groundwater ecology and groundwater microplastics

Harnessing the power of remote observations and machine learning to map habitats

Future developments

These new data streams will come online over the next few years, with the full baseline complete by 2028. It will be a far cry from the Dudley Stamp survey of the 1930s using school children that tried to map our land into six broad land use types. It is almost impossible to conceive of the new insight it will give us and the science it will drive.

Understanding what works

The second reason for doing the NCEA is because we need more than ever to know what works. We now have an opportunity to manage our land proactively through substantial change likely over the next few decades. The introduction of the new Environmental Land Management Scheme means we will want to see how this impacts the 70% of our land surface used for farming activities.

Further change may be driven through our transition to Net Zero. The Land Use framework consultation and recent Climate Change Committee reports are both talking about very significant changes to our landscape. These will be needed to make space for nature, water, and emissions reduction, while also delivering new infrastructure and housing and maintaining food production. This will require information on how fast those changes are going and the impacts they are having.

Measuring diverse impacts

Because when we say “what works” we need to be aware that these changes could deliver a wide range of benefits or create other pressures. We will need to know:

Are we capturing the carbon we need to?

Are our water supplies resilient in the face of ever more variable weather patterns?

Are our habitats large enough, linked enough and of high enough quality to adapt to the changing pressures?

Are we investing in our environment in ways that increase the value of our natural capital?

The NCEA is not just about what is out there, but why, and what is driving change. This increase in our need for new knowledge is why we have needed to increase capacity in our labs to deliver these diverse measurements and analyses.

The future of water monitoring

When we then think about the future of how we actually monitor our water, a lot will depend on technological advances, which are challenging to forecast. I think we can expect to see more automated surveillance techniques being used, bringing more real-time understanding.

We will likely see:

More powerful satellites for remote sensing

Artificial intelligence and advanced computing methods in predictive ways

Better analytics unlocking more parameters that can be monitored remotely, such as water levels in soils, habitat structure and condition becoming possible to monitor

Higher resolution, higher time slice data sources

Innovation and science

This will be underpinned by further science, which will include more understanding of the systems so that we know what we need to monitor to detect a range of changes. If we can understand better the important nodes in the real-world systems we are studying, our monitoring points will become more targeted and more powerful.

It will also include more innovative approaches – for example in non-target screening as is being developed in this Lab – so we can understand our changing chemical landscape more quickly and advise on action needed.

Using more of these innovations in monitoring will safeguard the time and resource that will continue to be needed to go and monitor by hand where we need to get immediate or unplanned evidence. Incidents and accidents will continue to happen, and we will need to have the ability to respond.

Integrating new data sources

The big challenge is making best use of the new data sources at our disposal. From the Environment Act via the water industry, we will have potentially thousands of new sampling sites continuously monitored for things like ammonia, dissolved oxygen and pH. That’s not perhaps a huge range of parameters. Nonetheless it should help us to see if these outflows are causing intermittent issues to the river’s chemistry or ecology, and, because of the upstream monitoring, it could also help us to understand how these physicochemical parameters are changing through the rest of our catchments.

Also, the new technology and new sensors will require different approaches to data. DNA technology is becoming available to many. But this provides different information from ecology-based measurements. Our science suggests it can be powerful in detecting non native species, and it could also be a useful part of predicting ecological condition.

But there is so much more we need to do to capitalise on this and other new technologies. Every time as a regulator we invest in a new technology, we need to have high confidence that:

We can trust what we learn from the observations

Quality standards are maintained

We have good data and analytical practices

All of this needs to be based on sound science.

Working with citizen scientists

These technologies are becoming more accessible to everyone, meaning more data will be available from Citizen Scientists. We’ve seen Earthwatch expand into wider emerging chemical testing. And with better kits for some water parameters and expansion of some citizen scientist networks, data integration questions are going to be at the forefront of how we work together better.

As we look forward in this new “data world”, our work with Citizen scientists more than ever needs to be properly complementary. We have statutory duties to monitor in certain places using specific techniques. The involvement of citizen scientists can be incredible in providing deeper investigative input. So, if we accept we’re different in what we are trying to monitor, why we’re doing it, and the scale of operation, working together we can be stronger – as fundamentally we all want an improved environment.

Future collaboration

Later this year we will publish our citizen science guidance, designed collaboratively with our partners. This guidance represents the start of a change – ensuring that citizen scientists know what to consider to maximise the opportunities of their data being understood, trusted and used by the Environment Agency.

We also know we need to do more than simply providing much of our data into externally facing databases, to share the insights from our monitoring evidence. We get plenty of queries about what data we hold, even though so much is already available. So, I have teams looking at new and better ways of presenting this to a wide range of users so that everyone who needs to act to improve the environment has access to the information from us that they need.

Closing remarks

Thank you again for joining us on this journey. It really is brilliant to celebrate reaching this point in this lab refurbishment. I hope you will enjoy looking round to see the new ways of working that it will open up to meet the changing and developing demands of science and operations at the Environment Agency.

We will have our first new baseline from the NCEA in 2028. I expect it will tell us different things from the data we have collected thus far and enable us to consider doing things in new ways in future.

Ultimately, we only have one environment. And I think we all realise that we only have power to change some things.

I have a distinct childhood memory of a prayer written in calligraphy by my late grandfather at my grandmother’s bedside. It read “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference”. Maybe I can update it; hoping that this new lab refurbishment will mean that monitoring will grant us the surveillance to understand the things we cannot change, the insight to change the things we can, and the data to prove the difference.

I hope you will join me on this exciting journey, not just around the lab, but also into the future of environmental monitoring, and will be as excited as I am by the new opportunities ahead.

Thank you.

Updates to this page

Published 5 March 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Growing Trump-Putin detente could spell trouble for the Arctic

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Duncan Depledge, Senior Lecturer in Geopolitics and Security, Loughborough University

vitstudio/Shutterstock

During a wide-ranging 90-minute speech to the US congress of March 4, Donald Trump revisited his determination to “get” Greenland “one way or the other”. Trump said his country needed Greenland “for national security”. While he said he and his government “strongly support your right to determine your own future” he added that “if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America”.

Trump’s ambitions regarding Greenland and its considerable mineral wealth are just one of a raft of issues in the first six weeks of his second term that have plunged European global politics into disarray.

As the White House ramps up the pressure on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to allow the US access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth, the US president is also talking about “cutting a deal” with Russian president Vladimir Putin. That deal would not only mean territorial losses for Kyiv, but would prepare the ground for a potentially far-reaching economic partnership between the White House and the Kremlin.

Currently, Trump and Putin are primarily focused on Ukrainian territory and mineral assets. But discussions have also begun on where else “deals” might be made, including in the Arctic.

A carve up of the Arctic is an attractive proposition for the two countries given the importance both leaders attach to mineral resource wealth. As in the case of Ukraine, such an approach would reflect Trump’s predisposition for transactional geopolitics at the expense of multilateral approaches.

In the Arctic, any deal would effectively end the principle of “circumpolar cooperation”. This has, since the end of the cold war, upheld the regional primacy of the eight Arctic states (A8) that have cooperated to solve common challenges.

Since the Arctic Council was established in 1996, the A8 has worked on issues of environmental protection, sustainable development, human security and scientific collaboration. That harmony has been crucial in an era in which climate change is causing the rapid melting of Arctic ice.

Notably, the Arctic Council played an instrumental role in negotiating several legally binding treaties. These include agreements on search and rescue (2011), marine oil pollution preparedness (2013) and scientific cooperation (2017). It also supported the Central Arctic Ocean fisheries agreement (CAO) signed in 2018 by the Arctic Ocean states with Iceland, the EU, China, Japan and South Korea.

The Arctic Council – and more broadly, circumpolar cooperation – withstood the geopolitical aftershocks of Russia’s seizure of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine between 2014 and 2015. But Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine left trust teetering on the precipice.

Within a month, European and North American members had pressed pause on regular meetings of the Arctic Council and its scientific working groups, isolating Moscow. Some activity eventually resumed at the working group level in virtual formats, but full engagement with Russia has remained conditional on a military withdrawal from Ukraine. Meanwhile, hefty sanctions were imposed by the US and Europe, including targeting Russian Arctic energy projects.

Russia’s response was to enhance its relationships with others. Countries such as Brazil, India, Turkey and Saudi Arabia now work with Russia in the Arctic on commercial and scientific projects. This pivot raised concerns among Nato allies about a stronger and challenging Russia-China presence across the Arctic. But the second Trump administration has changed the calculus. There’s now the threat of a new Arctic order based on the primacy – not of the A8 – but on a reset of US-Russia relations.

Change of focus

Trump’s signing of an executive order on February 4 to determine whether to withdraw support from international institutions may lead the White House to conclude there is no place for the Arctic Council. Its longstanding focus on climate change and environmental protection is anathema to the Trump administration, which has already withdrawn from the Paris agreement and is destroying domestic climate-related science programmes.

Climate change is bringing increased competition for access to valuable resources.
Peter Hermes Furian/Shutterstock

The longstanding commitment of the A8 to circumpolar cooperation, or even a narrow A5 (Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the US) view of the primacy of the Arctic Ocean coastal states, is likely to be dismissed by the White House, which favours the embrace of great power politics. While many have warned that the Arctic Council can’t survive without Russia, losing US interest and support would surely be its death knell.

In this landscape of “America first”, the prospect of Washington and Moscow dividing the Arctic and its resources seems increasingly realistic. In such a situation, the international treaties signed by the A8, and the CAO may also be at risk. Denmark may find itself excluded altogether from Arctic affairs if Trump gets his way over Greenland. At any rate, all the Nordic Arctic states are likely to struggle to make their voices in the region heard.

A key question for European Nato and EU members is whether Trump would worry about Russian dominance in the European Arctic if it brought US-Russia economic cooperation to extract the region’s wealth? Might Trump even be supportive of Russian attempts to revisit the terms of the 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty, which ultimately gave Norway sovereignty over the Arctic archipelago (albeit with some limitations), if that too meant jointly unlocking Svalbard’s mineral resources let alone the wealth of the Arctic seabed?

What room, if any, would a deal leave for Indigenous people to be heard, or for international scientific collaboration on critical challenges related to climate and biodiversity?

If we have learned anything in the tumult of recent weeks, it is that European countries, individually and collectively, struggle to exercise strategic influence over contemporary geopolitical events. If Trump and Putin do begin negotiations over the Arctic, Europe may simply have to accept the end of the Arctic Council and circumpolar cooperation.

Climate science, environmental protection, sustainable development and the ability of Indigenous people to decide their future would all suffer. The UK and Europe meanwhile will be left to consider what, if anything, can be done to defend Arctic interests.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Growing Trump-Putin detente could spell trouble for the Arctic – https://theconversation.com/growing-trump-putin-detente-could-spell-trouble-for-the-arctic-251386

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Advice Plymouth contract extended to support local people
Source: City of Plymouth

We’re extending the contract for Advice Plymouth so that thousands of people can get the help they need to navigate issues such as benefits and tax credits.

The Council has agreed to extend the contract for the health, social care, wellbeing and financial inclusion advice and information service which is currently delivered in partnership by Citizen’s Advice Plymouth and Improving Lives Plymouth.

Last year the service supported Plymouth residents with a total of 18,647 issues, with the most common topics being benefits and tax credits, housing, employment, food banks, legal issues, relationships and families, debt and health and social care.

The service also supports residents with ‘Blue Badge’ and bus pass applications.

A decision is being signed today to extend the contract for two years from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2027, with an option to extend this for another year if required, to give the Council time to fully explore how we can best help with residents’ advice and information needs for the future.

NHS Devon Integrated Care Board contributes approximately 10 per cent of the current funding, which enables the service to go into clinical settings such as Derriford Hospital, the Glenbourne Unit and Plym Neurological Rehabilitation Unit, so that people can benefit from information, advice and support before they are discharged.

Advice Plymouth is also commissioned by the Council’s Public Health team to contribute to key financial inclusion work in the city, including:
- developing strong connections with ‘Community Builders’ and other partners to make sure information and advice is available in neighbourhoods, as part of the Council’s Community Resilience Project.
- Distributing the Central Government Household Support Fund to eligible people to help with the cost of food, fuel for cooking and heating and other household essentials.
Councillor Mary Aspinall, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care said: “We are committed to making Plymouth a great place to grow up and grow old and to minimising the impact of the cost-of-living crisis – and this is a service that helps us with these priorities.

“In the last financial year, the Advice Plymouth service helped people to successfully claim an incredible £5 million in previously unclaimed welfare benefits – that’s making an enormous difference, helping to make thousands of residents’ lives that bit better during difficult times and unlocking money they are entitled to.”

Residents can find out more about help available from the Advice Plymouth service by visiting the Plymouth Online Directory Citizens Advice Plymouth – Plymouth Online Directory or by phoning 0808 278 7910
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Aberdeen filmmaker inspired by story of soprano supported by Lord Strathcona A film created by an Aberdeen academic exploring the life of a soprano whose musical rise was supported by a former University chancellor has won awards and been included in the official selection of a number of international film festivals.

Source: University of Aberdeen

Pauline Donalda c1906A film created by an Aberdeen academic exploring the life of a soprano whose musical rise was supported by a former University chancellor has won awards and been included in the official selection of a number of international film festivals.
Madame Donalda by Professor Alan Marcus, Chair in Creative and Cultural Practice, examines the life of Pauline Lightstone, who performed as Madame Donalda. Filmed in Montreal, London and Aberdeen, it has generated much international interest.
Donalda’s stage name was a tribute to Donald Smith, who became Lord Strathcona (1820-1914) a Scottish-born Canadian businessman who became a leading philanthropist after making his fortune from investments in land, railways, and banking.
Born in Forres, Moray, in 1899 he was appointed Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen and later became its Chancellor.
As a 15-year-old, the purity of Pauline’s voice was recognised during musical rehearsals at a synagogue and she was then awarded a place at the Royal Victoria College (RVC), originally the women’s college at McGill University.
Lord Strathcona was a champion of women’s education at McGill and was a proponent of the education of women and furthering women’s opportunities.
He agreed to support Pauline’s ‘fully rounded musical education’ including study at Conservatoire de Paris.
Lord Strathcona’s second benefaction to the College was made under his middle name of Donald and the women supported by ‘the Donalda Endowment’ proudly called themselves ‘the Donaldas’ – a tradition adopted by Pauline Lighthouse who appeared on stage as Pauline Donalda.
After a successful debut in Nice, France, in 1904, her artistic career quickly took off. In 1905, she sang at London’s Covent Garden for the Queen and at The Brussels Royal Opera House.
These performances earned her tremendous acclaim and for many years she sang the leading operatic roles at Covent Garden and the great opera houses of Europe. She also toured Britain and sang at Aberdeen’s Musical Hall. When World War I broke out, she suspended her international career and organised benefit concerts to support the war effort.
From 1922 she devoted herself to teaching voice and in 1942 founded the Opera Guild of Montreal, which went on to stage the first Canadian performances of many operas.
Professor Marcus, whose own father Rudy Marcus received his degrees from McGill including an honorary doctorate, and at 101 is the oldest living Nobel laureate (Chemistry, 1992) in North America, said he was inspired by a story which pulls together many threads of his own life.
“I was told the story of Madame Donalda aka Pauline Lightstone by a great uncle of mine some 35 years ago when I learned that she was a relative of ours, and it made a sufficient impression on me that I was hopeful one day I might be able to tell it in film form,” he added.
“The key elements of the story involving a daughter of European immigrants to Montreal, who against the odds rose to become in her early-20s one of the great sopranos of her day, adapts well to film, because through moving image and sound one can provide a more vivid impression and sense of presence.
“During the years of research and drawing upon archives in London, Montreal and Ottawa, I was able to piece together through news items and her personal correspondence and much archival imagery, the various components of Donalda’s life.
“What was unexpected was the Aberdeen connection and the fact that her patron, from whom she took her stage name, Madame Donalda, was a keen proponent of women’s education and served both as Chancellor of McGill, where she studied, and the University of Aberdeen. The personal connection I and my family have with Aberdeen and McGill added an immediacy to the story.”
The film has received Best Documentary and Best Editing awards at the Experimental Dance and Music Film Festival 2024 in Toronto, the Best Classical Music film award at the Buenos Aires 11th Music Film Festival 2025, and official selection at ten other film festivals including the Los Angeles Film and Documentary Awards 2024.
Professor Marcus said: “It is gratifying that the film has been included in various international film festivals and won awards, but what I hope is that when people view the film they not only learn of Donalda’s talents and be intrigued with her extraordinary accomplishments, but also be enthralled by the short performances in her old recordings, and more recently through the participation in the film of Bulgarian soprano, Sofia Dimitrova, who brings the musical pieces to life with great passion.”

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Press Release – Connaught Inquiry Wednesday 05 March 2025

Source: Channel Islands – States of Alderney

Press Release

Date: 5^th March 2025

Commencement of the Connaught Extension Inquiry

The General Services Committee has agreed to launch an independent inquiry into the Connaught Care Home Extension project in a bid to understand the delayed project completion and associated costs.

The Committee has sought expertise from off-island and the inquiry will be led by Martin Thornton, who is a Judge in the Guernsey Magistrates Court.

Chair of the General Services Committee, Iain Macfarlane, stated:

“This will not be just a tick-box exercise. The inquiry will thoroughly examine key processes and procedures relating to the project, ensuring that overall accountability for the perceived failings is identified. The findings will be made public in due course. Additionally, the Committee has requested that the report includes recommendations for future projects to prevent similar issues from occurring.”

The General Services Committee recognises the community’s frustrations over the delivery of this project and it’s perceived shortcomings and remains committed to transparency and responsible management of public funds.

Further updates will be provided as the inquiry progresses.

Ends

States of Alderney media enquiries:Publications@alderney.gov.gg

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: ‘Run Safe, Run Well’ information event in Craigavon

Source: Northern Ireland City of Armagh

(L-R) Diane Cordner (World Triathlon Level 2 Coach and Advanced Sport Nutrition Advisor.); Gail McComiskey (Movement Matters NI); Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr Kyle Savage; Constable Victoria Elliot (PSNI); Patricia Gibson (PCSP Manager); Constable Diarmuid Sands (PSNI) and Lynette Cooke (PCSP Development Manager).

Over 100 people attended the ‘Run Safe, Run Well’ event to highlight personal safety while running and the importance of good nutrition to support performance, injury prevention and recovery.

The event was organised by Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP) along with Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council’s Sports Development team and PSNI.

Whether it’s for fun, to be active or to run competitively, running is a hugely popular activity for people of all ages and abilities across the borough. Each week hundreds of people join a running community to take on the local parkrun at Armagh, Craigavon and Lurgan.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Lord Mayor Councillor Kyle Savage said:

“One of the Council’s key goals is to create ‘a happy, healthy and connected community’. This event is an important step towards achieving that vision, however personal safety while out running remains a real concern, particularly for females.

“Tonight’s event has been a great opportunity to raise awareness about staying safe and how to report issues and concerns. The nutrition advice and tips will also go a long way to supporting people in their journey to lead fitter and healthier lives.”

Representatives from Lurgan and Armagh Neighbourhood Policing teams and PSNI were on hand to offer advice and guidance on risk aversion, particularly when running alone.

Local World Triathlon Level 2 Coach and Advanced Sport Nutrition Advisor Diane Cordner shared tips and advice on the importance of a healthy balanced diet and its role in performance and recovery.

Gail McComiskey from Movement Matters NI, shared valuable insights into how to reduce injuries while running and how to support recovery.

Closing the event, Chair of PCSP, Alderman Mark Baxter said: “It has been fantastic to welcome everyone along to this event. I wish to extend a very special thank you to our guest speakers who delivered lots of key messages on the importance of staying safe, healthy and active, and our local independent retailers and exhibitors who generously sponsored spot prizes.”

The event was supported by local business including McKeever Sports, Armagh Sports and Trophies, Donaghy’s and support service Start 360!

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: No More Knives tour visits city’s secondary schools

Source: City of Coventry

Four secondary schools in Coventry have been taking part in a national No More Knives tour provided by The Message Trust.

The No More Knives tour is an award-winning initiative aimed at tackling knife crime among young people and is making a powerful impact in schools across the UK.

The project has been touring some of the city’s secondary schools this week.

Sessions are run which allow students to listen to first-hand stories from those who have been involved in knife crime. It also combines storytelling with music and education for an impactful session that highlights the devastating impact of knife crime. Each session provides students with the knowledge and confidence they need to say “no” to knives and make positive choices.

The schools taking in the tour include, Blue Coat Church of England, West Coventry Academy, Coundon Court and Sidney Stringer.

Partners involved include the Council, Coventry Police, Hope Coventry – representing local churches and The Message Trust, and the West Midlands Violence Reduction Partnership.

The work forms part of Coventry’s campaign to be a child friendly city – called Child Friendly Cov – and to enable children and young people to have their voice heard in matters that affect them.

Cllr Pat Seaman Cabinet Member for Children and Young People at the Council, said:

“We are really ambitious for Coventry to be the best city in the UK for children to grow up in. Child Friendly Cov aims to create a child and young person friendly city, ensuring that Coventry is a place where children and young people are valued, supported, and enjoy themselves.

“The No More Knives tour tackles such an important issue for young people, and it is a chance for them to explore the issues and help put into practise the positive messages highlighted in the tour.”

Paul Drover, Police Commander, Coventry Local Policing Area, added:

“Knife crime has hit the headlines in recent years and all the communities in Coventry must work together to protect our children and young people from becoming involved, the police cannot tackle this problem alone.”

The Message Trust is a Christian charity with over 30 years’ experience of school’s work, who are passionate about young people knowing their true worth and identity.

Sam Ward, CEO of the Message Trust, said: “Knife crime and its devasting impact is sadly never far from the headlines today, but we know there is a better way. Though the No More Knives tour we want to tell young people how knives aren’t the answer, equip them with the skills they need to say ‘no’ and let them know there is hope.”

Steve Elton, HOPE Coventry, added: “It has been wonderful to partner with the local police, council, churches and schools in being able to bring the Message Trust and their No More Knives tour into the city for the second time!

“The 2024 tour was a great success, with students and teachers in the three schools commending the empowering message and engaging delivery around the emotive, challenging and important subject of knife crime. We are expectant that this years tour will have the same notable impact as it plays its part alongside the excellent work already taking place in this area, as we stand together, with young people across Coventry to say ‘No More Knives’ in our city!”

Funding was provided for the tour by the Council, Hope Coventry and The Message Trust.

Feedback from schools so far:

Lou Peet, Blue Coat School Chaplain, said:

“Seeing our young people so engaged and interactive today has been a joy… To see our students genuinely contemplative, reflecting, and willing to pledge to never carry a knife is a precious and potentially life-saving thing.”

“I feel a lot more safer knowing that a lot more kids would agree to not carrying a knife.” – Olivia, Year 7 student.

“I really enjoyed it. The music was exciting and gave a positive spin on a difficult topic.”- Holly, Year 7 Student.

“What a wonderful, inspiring, interactive experience for our students. The buzz around school was heart-warming! The messages were loud and clear and so well received by all students and staff. Thank you so much for this fantastic opportunity.” – Mrs Claire Franklin, Safeguarding Lead

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: NPT Safeguards Agreement with Iran: Quad statement to the IAEA Board, March 2025

Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

Speech

NPT Safeguards Agreement with Iran: Quad statement to the IAEA Board, March 2025

UK Ambassador Corinne Kitsell’s statement on behalf of France, Germany, the UK and United States (the Quad) to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board meeting about Iran’s implementation of its obligations under its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Safeguards Agreement

Chair,

France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States commend the Agency for its continued efforts to engage Iran to clarify the outstanding issues related to the implementation of Iran’s NPT-required Safeguards Agreement. We thank the Director General for his report on these issues, which are critical to understanding the nature of Iran’s nuclear programme.

We deeply regret that, for more than five years, Iran has refused to provide required clarifications regarding nuclear material detected at multiple undeclared locations in Iran. The Director General and the Board have made clear repeatedly that Iran is legally required to provide this cooperation. Iran has failed to do so despite the concerted efforts of the Director General and this Board to provide Iran every opportunity. As a result of Iran’s longstanding denials, the Agency is still unable to provide critical assurances that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful and that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran. These issues are fundamental to Iran’s safeguards obligations and the broader non-proliferation regime. No State can be allowed to violate its safeguards obligations with impunity. Iran must fully cooperate, or the Board must be prepared to find Iran in noncompliance. Until now, Iran has made its choice. Let us be clear: unless Iran changes course, it will force the Board to make its own choice. Time is not on Iran’s side.

This report recalls the IAEA’s assessment of some of the deeply concerning activities that Iran did not declare, at Turquzabad, Varamin, Marivan and Lavisan-Shian. It is of significant concern that due to the lack of information being provided by Iran, the IAEA concluded it would be unable to continue its efforts to resolve the safeguards issues at Lavisan-Shian. We note that the IAEA’s technical assessment of the activities at Marivan has not changed, that Iran has not provided technically credible information, and therefore the issue remains unresolved. We also want to highlight the lack of progress towards resolving the discrepancy issue at Jaber Ibn Hayan Laboratory, which still has to be explained by Iran. Iran continues to reject and challenge the IAEA’s technical assessment of the activities at these undeclared sites rather than engaging the IAEA constructively towards resolving the outstanding issues. We reiterate our support for the IAEA’s critical work. We underscore the value of the IAEA’s technical expertise and authority to investigate these issues to address concerns around the possibility of undeclared nuclear material and activity in Iran today.

Chair,

In his latest report, the Director General reiterates that Iran continues to refuse to provide design information for new nuclear facilities as legally required under modified Code 3.1. This is in contravention of Iran’s safeguards agreement. Iran’s unwillingness to provide the Agency with this information should be especially concerning given Iran’s history of building covert nuclear facilities. We also note that Iran has refused to accept the designation of four additional experienced inspectors. We recall the Director General’s statement that Iran’s previous decision to withdraw the designations of inspectors seriously affects the Agency’s ability to conduct its verification activities in Iran. We echo his deep regret that Iran did not accept these new designations.

Iran’s refusal to cooperate with the IAEA and its refusal to abide by its obligations under its safeguards agreement is deeply concerning in the context of Iran’s continuous escalation of its nuclear programme to levels with no credible civilian justification. Our concern is intensified by the increasing number of senior Iranian officials who have publicly claimed that Iran has the technical capability to build a nuclear weapon and called for a change to Iran’s so-called “nuclear doctrine”. We recall that the Director General assessed in his report in May 2024 that such remarks increased his concerns about the correctness and completeness of Iran’s safeguards declarations.

We commend the Agency’s efforts to engage Iran to seek progress. However, after years of delay, Iran must finally and fully meet its commitments and obligations rather than dangle promises of discussions in the future which we have heard many times before.

Chair,

It is important that the Board supports the IAEA by the strongest means necessary to pursue clarity on the nature of Iran’s nuclear programme. The Board adopted two resolutions in 2024, which once again urged Iran to cooperate. Iran ignored these, as it has ignored opportunities in previous years. We reiterate our call on Iran to resume urgently full cooperation with the IAEA and to implement fully its safeguards agreement.

We recall that this Board, in its last resolution of November 2024, mandated the Director General to produce a comprehensive and updated assessment of the possible presence or use of undeclared nuclear material in Iran in connection with past and present outstanding issues. This document will provide a clear, technical and objective foundation to assess Iran’s compliance with its safeguards agreement. As the resolution sets out, it will include the Agency’s assessment of its ability to verify the implementation of Iran’s safeguards obligations and the non-diversion of nuclear material. The assessment will also include a full account of Iran’s cooperation with the Agency on the issues to date.

It is up to Iran to provide the technically credible explanations and substantive cooperation needed to inform the Agency. We regret that despite having the time and opportunity to do so, Iran has not made any progress in the four months since this resolution was adopted. In recognition of the Director General’s last report, which states that “the Agency is at an impasse” with regard to resolving these issues, we believe the comprehensive assessment should be delivered as soon as possible. It should be based on all information available to the Agency to provide the full picture, in order to inform the Board’s next steps on these issues. Iran has had many opportunities to resolve the issues.

Chair,

Our patience has been long, but it is not unlimited. We underscore, if there is no concrete, technically credible progress reported by the Director General, the Board must be prepared to consider finding Iran in non-compliance with its safeguards agreement.

We do not take such a course lightly. We reiterate that our efforts are intended to provide resolute support to the Agency in its safeguards investigations in Iran, for the sake of international security and the integrity of the global non-proliferation architecture.

More than ever, there is an urgent need to address the lack of transparency and assurances on the nature of Iran’s advancing nuclear programme. Iran’s full cooperation with the IAEA on its safeguards obligations is long overdue. Iran has had many chances over many years to cooperate, but Iran has instead chosen a path of escalation, obfuscation, and delay. Iran must be held to account if it continues along this path.

We again express our thanks for the IAEA’s continued efforts and ask for the report to be made public.

Thank you, Chair.

Updates to this page

Published 5 March 2025

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Why Trump’s plan to cut national debt by selling ‘gold card’ visas for US$5 million each won’t work

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Amalendu Misra, Professor of International Politics, Lancaster University

The US president, Donald Trump, is set to introduce a “gold card” visa that would allow wealthy foreigners to buy permanent US residency – and a path to citizenship – for US$5 million (£3.9 million).

Speaking at the Oval Office on February 25, Trump said: “I think it’s going to be very treasured. I think it’s going to do very well. And we’re going to start selling, hopefully, in about two weeks.”

US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick has touted the plan as a way to raise revenue to bring down US national debt, which currently stands at over US$36 trillion. As Trump put it when answering questions from reporters at the White House: “We’ll be able to sell maybe a million of these cards, maybe more than that. And if you add up the numbers, they’re pretty good. As an example, a million cards would be worth US$5 trillion.”

Trump has also suggested that the gold-card holders can help stimulate the US economy. “They’ll be wealthy, and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes,” he said. When asked whether Russian oligarchs would qualify for the visa, Trump responded: “Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people. It’s possible.”

The idea that wealthy foreigners can address a nation’s faltering economy is not new. Trump’s gold visas will themselves replace the current EB-5 immigrant investor visa, which offers permanent US residency in return for job-creating investments of at least US$1 million.

In the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, various European nations also floated similar golden visa schemes as a means of reversing their economic downturns. The visas offered by Spain, Greece, Hungary and Portugal, for example, all cost significantly less than Trump’s proposed scheme.

A Spanish gold visa, which will no longer be available from April 2025, is granted in return for €500,000 (£417,000) in real estate investment. The required investment in Greece and Hungary is €250,000. And people looking to obtain a gold visa in Portugal have two options: a €250,000 donation to the restoration of national heritage, or a €500,000 property investment.

There is little data to support the argument that such policies boost the national coffers. Some experts have suggested that golden visa schemes typically bring in no more than 0.3% of GDP in revenue. So, it’s no surprise that there is plenty of scepticism around whether Trump’s gold card scheme can reduce US national debt.

Critics of the plan argue that the scheme will not add trillions of US dollars to the economy, as Trump has claimed. This is because demand for any such programme is likely to be limited to thousands of people.

In a recent poll conducted by Forbes, 18 billionaires were asked if they would like to take advantage of an American gold card visa. Most of them (13) said they would not be interested. Many of the ultra-rich foreigners interviewed simply did not think they needed American citizenship and don’t want it.

“If you’re a billionaire, you don’t need it,” said one Canadian billionaire. “I don’t have to come to the United States to invest in the United States.”

Marginal benefits

The global rich are unlikely to be queuing up for Trump’s gold cards. At about US$5 million per application, it is “the most expensive” golden visa option in the world. Any potential buyer will carry out cost-benefit analysis prior to committing to such a deal.

Two reasons a wealthy person might invest in a second or third passport are to ensure greater mobility and protect their wealth.

US tax laws have traditionally reduced the attractiveness of American residency or citizenship for the global rich. American citizens and residents are required to pay income tax on their US earnings as well as any income they earn overseas.

Trump has said that gold-card holders would not be subject to taxes on their overseas income. This tax loophole could open the door to more wealthy foreigners looking to protect their wealth. However, many details about the scheme remain unclear.

Notwithstanding this, golden visas in many other nations provide better opportunities than those offered by a Trump gold card. In terms of mobility, the US passport ranks eighth on an index of 198 different passports. American passport holders can travel to 171 countries without needing a visa.

Spain ranks second, with a Spanish passport allowing access to 177 countries without a visa. And Portugal, Greece and a host of other European nations follow closely behind, with their passports allowing visa-free travel to 176 countries.

The most powerful passport in the world is offered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), allowing access to 179 countries visa-free. The UAE government introduced a golden visa in 2019, offering long-term residence in exchange for roughly US$550,000 of investment.

The US passport is ranked eight in the world by the 2025 Passport Index.
KieferPix / Shutterstock

An American passport also has its own inherent limitations and hazards. A US-born colleague of mine who acquired Irish citizenship through lineage has never used his American passport while out of the country.

He believed that in a crisis situation, such as being taken hostage, a US citizen was far more vulnerable and exposed to danger than a non-American counterpart. In his opinion, people were far more prejudiced and hostile towards a US citizen than those belonging to other nations.

The return on investment of a Trump gold card remains unpredictable. The asking price is extremely high and the benefits it promises buyers are – at best – marginal. The offer comes with enough holes to sink a ship.

Amalendu Misra is a recipient of British Academy and Nuffield Foundation fellowships.

– ref. Why Trump’s plan to cut national debt by selling ‘gold card’ visas for US$5 million each won’t work – https://theconversation.com/why-trumps-plan-to-cut-national-debt-by-selling-gold-card-visas-for-us-5-million-each-wont-work-251183

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Two great war leaders united by American isolationism: Charles de Gaulle and Volodymyr Zelensky

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tim Luckhurst, Principal of South College, Durham University

Difficult relationship: Franklin D. Roosevelt, with Charles de Gaulle, and Winston Churchill at a conference in Casablanca January 1943. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Eighty-five years before Volodymyr Zelensky visited Downing Street in search of support for Ukrainian democracy, a Frenchman arrived in London with a similar request.

Charles de Gaulle was not the French prime minister. That job belonged to Paul Reynaud. De Gaulle had been undersecretary of state for defence in Reynaud’s government for less than two weeks.

He started June 1940 as commander of a tank squadron fighting to stem the German advance. But his decision later that month to leave France rather than surrender – and to proclaim himself the leader of all Frenchmen who wished to fight on – was the foundation of his political career.

French citizens became aware of de Gaulle as a wartime political leader through his broadcasts on the BBC. The most famous of these, the “Appeal of 18th June”, was actually heard by very few in France – but for those that did listen, it contained the core of de Gaulle’s message of defiance.

He arrived at the BBC at 6pm to record the four-minute speech which was transmitted by the BBC at 10pm. De Gaulle said: “Nothing is lost for France.” He insisted that: “She has a vast Empire behind her. She can align with the British Empire that holds the sea and can continue the fight. She can, like England, use without limit the immense industry of the United States.”

Transmission of this speech is widely regarded as the moment when French resistance was born. The BBC describes it as “one of the most remarkable pieces in the history of radio broadcasting”.

Had the US president, Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), responded positively to Churchill and Reynaud’s impassioned pleas in June 1940, to actively support France and Britain, de Gaulle might have remained a dynamic and courageous military officer. But Roosevelt refused, Reynaud resigned, and Marshall Henri Philippe Pétain led France into collaboration.

FDR was a Democrat and author of the new deal, the economic policy that helped America recover from the Great Depression. He had little in common with Donald Trump, but they shared one instinct: a reluctance to spend American blood and treasure in foreign wars.

When Churchill honoured his promise to Reynaud and told the 32nd US president now “is the moment for you to strengthen Reynaud the utmost you can, and try to tip the balance in favour of the best and longest possible French resistance”. Roosevelt replied that he was not committed to military participation. He reminded Churchill that only Congress could declare war.

When Zelensky arrived at the White House on February 28, he hoped to sign a minerals deal and secure continued American support for his country’s battle for freedom and independence. Instead he found himself accused by Trump of risking a third world war and showing too little gratitude to the US.

In an extraordinary failure of diplomatic norms, Trump and his viscerally isolationist vice-president, J.D. Vance, berated and humiliated Zelensky before a worldwide television audience.

Roosevelt’s contempt for de Gaulle was less bluntly expressed, but it was real. The US recognised Pétain’s regime and granted Vichy France, the collaborationist regime which governed southern France during the German occupation of northern France, full diplomatic recognition.

Roosevelt agreed when his ambassador to Vichy, Admiral William D. Leahy, described de Gaulle as “an apprentice dictator”. There is a chilling echo in Trump’s description of Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator” who refuses to have elections and has done “a terrible job”.

US and France: ‘difficult’ relationship

At the end of June 1940, Roosevelt decided that France was beaten – and that Britain was likely to follow its ally and neighbour into defeat and collapse. He dismissed de Gaulle as an irritation with no democratic credentials.

His opinion did not change when the US entered the war in December 1941. Indeed, Roosevelt believed France could not have a recognised leader until it had been liberated by American arms and helped to organise fully democratic elections.

When he needed someone to represent French interests, Roosevelt preferred to choose senior French military officers who would obey US orders. His choices included Admiral François Darlan who had served Marshall Pétain as Vichy’s minister of foreign affairs and minister of national defence. Darlan, who was loathed by the Free French and scorned by Churchill, nevertheless attracted favourable coverage in the US.

De Gaulle’s June 22 broadcast to the free French people.

Well aware of Roosevelt’s hostility, de Gaulle never gave up. The BBC microphone allowed him to reach a growing audience in Vichy and German occupied France. He ended his initial June 18 talk by announcing that he would broadcast again.

The BBC had not actually made any commitment to a second broadcast – but the ruse worked, and de Gaulle made a second appeal to French public on June 22. This broadcast was heard more widely (in fact very few people heard the June 18 speech and no recording survives). Soon the Free French were given five minutes per day on BBC radio.

De Gaulle was a soldier who used radio to inspire hope and organise resistance. When he returned to France in 1944, many of his countrymen recognised his voice before they became familiar with his appearance.

Zelensky began his career as a comedian and appeared as a fictional president of Ukraine in a TV series called Servant of the People. He was widely recognised before he became a war leader.

Both have provoked the enmity of US presidents and reminded different generations that America first isolationism is a deep-seated and enduring instinct that can cross political divides.

Tim Luckhurst has received funding from News UK and Ireland Ltd. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the Society of Editors and the Free Speech Union.

– ref. Two great war leaders united by American isolationism: Charles de Gaulle and Volodymyr Zelensky – https://theconversation.com/two-great-war-leaders-united-by-american-isolationism-charles-de-gaulle-and-volodymyr-zelensky-251328

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Town and Parish Council Elections to go ahead on Thursday 1 May 2025 5 March 2025 Town & Parish Council Elections to go ahead on Thursday 1 May 2025

Source: Aisle of Wight

Although “all-out” Isle of Wight Council elections have been postponed until 2026, voters are being reminded that town, parish and community council elections will go ahead as planned on Thursday 1 May 2025.

To take part in these elections, voters should ensure they are on the electoral register, especially if they have moved home recently. Any new applications to be on the register should be made by Friday, 11 April to be able to vote in an election on 1 May.

Anyone who cannot get to a polling station can apply for a postal vote – this deadline is Monday 14 April, 5pm.

Photographic ID will be required at these elections. For those without acceptable IDs, such as a passport or driving license, the deadline to apply for a free “Voter Authority Certificate” is Wednesday, 23 April, 5pm. More information about voter IDs can be found on the Council’s Photographic Voter ID page.

For those who wish to stand in town and parish council elections, nomination packs are now available from Isle of Wight Council Electoral Services via the Town, Parish and Community Council Elections 2025 page and the deadline for returning completed nomination forms will be Wednesday, 2 April, 4pm.

More information about postal voting, being added to the Electoral Register and elections on the Isle of Wight can be found via the council’s Electoral registration page.

At present there is one vacancy on Isle of Wight Council, which will be filled through a by-election in Central Rural ward, which includes the villages of Godshill, Merstone, Arreton and Rookley. This by-election will also take place on 1 May 2025.

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Continued appeal following death of man in Islington

Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

Officers investigating the death of Fredi Rivero in Islington last week are continuing to appeal for witnesses.

Police were called to Seven Sister’s Road, close to the junction of Holloway Road at 23:35hrs on Thursday, 27 February following reports of Fredi being located with serious injuries.

Fredi, 75 was taken to hospital where he sadly died on Friday, 28 February. His family continue to be supported by specialist officers.

Three teenage girls, aged 14, 16 and 17 have been charged with manslaughter in connection with Fredi’s death.

Investigating officers are now in the positon to release a CCTV image of Fredi Rivero, showing what he was last seen wearing.

Detective Inspector Devan Taylor from Specialist Crime North said:

“Fredi Rivero was a much loved father, whose family are devastated by his death. I also know his death has also shocked this tight-knit community.

“Three girls have been charged in connection with this investigation and we continue at pace with our enquiries.

“If you remember seeing Fredi or have any information which could support with the investigation, please contact us.

Information can be submitted via the Major Incident Public Portal using the following link: https://mipp.police.uk/operation/01MPS25X45-PO1

Alternatively, please call police on 101 with the reference CAD8184/27 Feb.

You can also contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 if you want to remain anonymous.

MIL Security OSI –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI: Tokio Marine HCC President Mike Schell Retires After Five Decades in Insurance

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

HOUSTON, March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Tokio Marine HCC, based in Houston, Texas, today announced that Mike Schell will retire from his role as President of the company on March 31, 2025. Barry Cook, CEO of Tokio Marine HCC International, will additionally assume a newly created position of Deputy CEO, effective April 1, 2025.

Mr. Schell joined Tokio Marine HCC in 2002 and retires after more than 50 years in the insurance industry, including 25 years at St. Paul Companies and five years at Insurance Company of North America.

“Mike’s contribution to our leadership team, to our culture, to our business and to our industry has been immense. For 23 years, he has been a central figure at Tokio Marine HCC. He has guided us through market cycles, helped us overcome industry challenges and been a key player in the growth and success of our business,” said Susan Rivera, Tokio Marine HCC’s CEO. “His experience, insights and expertise have been invaluable assets to me, my colleagues on the leadership team and throughout Tokio Marine HCC. We will miss him and his counsel dearly.”

Ms. Rivera continued, “As we close out another record year, Mike can be proud of his contributions in making Tokio Marine HCC one of the best-performing specialty insurers.”

Reflecting on his time at the company, Mr. Schell said, “I am proud of what we have achieved at Tokio Marine HCC over the past 23 years. The business is unrecognizable from the company I joined due to its expanded product offering and global reach. It has been a privilege to be a part of its countless successes, to work with such talented and resolute people, and to be part of the journey.”

Mr. Cook commented, “Mike is a market stalwart who has made an exceptional contribution to Tokio Marine HCC and to our industry. His dedication and commitment throughout an incredible career have set a standard which few will match.”

About Tokio Marine HCC
Tokio Marine HCC is a member of the Tokio Marine Group, a premier global company founded in 1879 with a market capitalization of $70 billion as of December 31, 2024. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Tokio Marine HCC is a leading specialty insurance group with offices in the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. Tokio Marine HCC’s major domestic insurance companies have financial strength ratings of ‘A+’ (Strong) from S&P Global Ratings, ‘A++’ (Superior) from AM Best, and ‘AA-’ (Very Strong) from Fitch Ratings; its major international insurance companies have financial strength ratings of ‘A+’ (Strong) from S&P Global Ratings. Tokio Marine HCC is the marketing name used to describe the affiliated companies under the common ownership of HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc., a Delaware-incorporated insurance holding company. For more information about Tokio Marine HCC, please visit www.tokiomarinehcc.com.

Contact: Doug Busker, Vice President – Public Relations
Tokio Marine HCC
713-996-1192

The MIL Network –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Membership Updates for March 2025
Source: International Association of Drilling Contractors – IADC

Headline: Membership Updates for March 2025

IADC welcomes 21 new Members:
- APEX WELLS B.V. – Velp, The Netherlands
- JFETC UK – Westhill, Aberdeenshire, UK
- LAST MILE ENERGY, INC – Odessa, Texas, US
- NANCE UNIVERSAL HVACR TECHNICAL SCHOOL INC – Beaumont, Texas, US
- RED FORT PPE INDUSTRIES PVT LTD – Mumbai, India
- SEATAG AUSTRALASIAN SERVICES PTE LTD – Singapore, Singapore
- SMARTCHAIN – Houston, Texas, US
- WELL GUIDANCE B.V. – Obdam, North Holland, The Netherlands
- CRESTON ENERGY GROUP – Bryan, Texas, US
- INGERSOLL RAND – Davidson, North Carolina, US
- NANCE INTERNATIONAL INC – Beaumont, Texas, US
- SURVIVAL SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST LLC – Dubai, UAE
- ZELIM LTD – Edinburgh, UK
- GRACIANO RODRIGUEZ – Madrid, Spain
- ALAQ AL- EZDEHAR CO. – Basra, Basra, Iraq
- ASET – ABERDEEN SKILLS AND ENTERPRISE TRAINING LTD – Altens, Aberdeen, UK
- PT NEOTEK INOVASI GLOBAL – BSD City, Indonesia
- SEED BUSINESS GROUP LTDA – Macae, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- LIBYAN GROUP FOR OIL AND ENERGY SERVICES LLC – Tripoli, Libya
- SEQ DRILLING INC – Hanover, Virginia, US
- CONSTRUCCIONES Y PROYECTOS DEL NORTE C.A – Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela
MIL OSI Economics –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Councils announce next major step in Waste Treatment Facility Project
Source: City of Derby

Three major waste management firms have been selected to progress to the next stage of the procurement process to appoint a contractor to fix and operate Sinfin waste treatment centre.

Following a first stage selection process, Biffa, Thalia and Viridor have been identified by Derby City Council and Derbyshire County Council as the most suitable qualified companies to move forward to the Competitive Dialogue phase.

This marks a significant step in the councils’ joint project to secure a long-term waste management solution for Derby and Derbyshire, ensuring efficiency, sustainability, and value for residents.

The timeline for the next steps in the procurement are:
- Competitive Dialogue – October 2025
- Contract award (Cabinet decision) – December 2025
- End of due diligence and commencement of rectification phase – June 2027
- Start of commissioning – June 2028
- First waste acceptance – November 2028
- Completion of commissioning and transition to normal operations – Winter 2028 – Winter 2031
Over the next six months the councils and selected bidders will enter ‘Competitive Dialogue’ – structured discussions designed to provide equal treatment of all three companies to clarify, specify and enhance their proposed solution to fix and operate the facility.

The process enables both the Councils and bidders to assess approaches and ensure opportunities that strike the right balance between cost and quality are explored.

Both councils remain committed to a transparent and thorough process to ensure the best possible outcome for waste management in Derby and Derbyshire.

A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council said:

We were confident we had developed a procurement process and commercial proposition that would be attractive to the right companies. Shortlisting three major players in the UK waste market proves there’s a competitive market for this project, and operators with the skills and experience to successfully deliver it and its expected benefits.

Fixing and operating the facility was found to be the most viable, cost-effective, and sustainable long-term solution to manage household waste which residents in Derby and Derbyshire either cannot or choose not to recycle.

A spokesperson for Derby City Council said:

This is an important milestone in our commitment to securing a sustainable and cost-effective waste management solution for Derby and Derbyshire. Reaching this stage with three leading waste management companies demonstrates both the strength of our approach and the level of industry interest in this project.

The council is keen to ensure a sustainable way to dispose of residents’ waste in the long term and seeks to find the most cost effective solution.

The decision to fix and operate the facility takes into account the councils’ ongoing commitment to encourage residents to reduce, reuse and recycle more of their waste.
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: GAD’s interest rate advice for the Ukraine loan
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government Non-Ministerial Departments

News story

GAD’s interest rate advice for the Ukraine loan

GAD advised HM Treasury on the interest rate to be charged on the UK’s £2.26 billion loan to Ukraine.
Credit: Max Kukurudziak, Unsplash

We analysed and advised HM Treasury on the options around setting an interest rate on UK’s loan to Ukraine.

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Ukraine’s Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko signed the UK-Ukraine Bilateral agreement at the beginning of March, witnessed by the Prime Minister and President Zelenskyy at a ceremony in Downing Street.

GAD assessed financial considerations for setting an interest rate on the loan of £2.26 billion to Ukraine. It will be paid back using the extraordinary profits generated on sanctioned Russian sovereign assets held in the EU.

This is the UK’s contribution to the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loans to Ukraine scheme, through which G7 countries will collectively provide $50 billion to support Ukraine.

Repaying the loan

The loan is novel in that its repayments will be drawn from a future income stream derived from the profits on immobilised Russian sovereign assets. This means that careful consideration of the potential income stream of these assets had to be considered in our calculations.

Our analysis and supporting assumptions formed the basis of our advice to HM Treasury around the level and structure of the interest rate on the loan.

Credit: iStock Photo

UK commitment

Deputy Government Actuary Matt Gurden said: “The work we undertook to advise on the interest rate played a key part in ensuring the suitability of the UK government’s loan contribution to Ukraine.”

The funding will be delivered in 3 equal annual payments of £752m. The announcement of the loan agreement is on top of the £3 billion a year commitment by the UK to provide military aid for Ukraine.

Share this page

The following links open in a new tab

Share on Facebook (opens in new tab)

Share on Twitter (opens in new tab)

Updates to this page

Published 5 March 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Buffer zones protect patients and keep protests at bay

Source: Scottish Greens

05 Mar 2025 Health

Abortion rights are healthcare.

More in Health

Scotland’s safe access zones have protected patients and staff and kept protesters at bay, says Scottish Green MSP Gillian Mackay.

Ms Mackay was commenting on the first day of anti-choice protests near the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow. At present there are no signs of protesters breaching the safe access zone.

Ms Mackay introduced the bill that secured 200 metre wide safe access zones, or buffer zones, around abortion service providers to stop the intimidating anti-choice protests that have taken place across Scotland.

Ms Mackay said:

“Safe access zones were introduced to protect patients and staff at our hospitals and to keep the protesters at bay, and that is what they have done.

“The fact that only a small number of protesters turned up and they have been consigned to roads that are further from the hospital is an important step forward.

“Nobody should have to pass graphic banners and placards to access healthcare, and I hope that these protests will become a thing of the past.

“I urge the protesters to read the testimony of the many women who have felt intimidated and judged by their actions and to ask themselves if they really want to be responsible for such hurt.

“Over the days ahead we will learn from the implementation of the Act and how we can best protect people accessing healthcare.

“I encourage anyone who has been badly impacted by today’s protests to get in touch with myself or the Scottish Government so that we can consider what else we can do going forward.”

Ms Mackay added:

“Abortion rights are human rights. The ignorant claims from the US Vice President have emboldened trolls on social media, but the vast majority of people in Scotland support the right to go to hospital without harassment.”

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Two men charged with murder of man in 1984

Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

Two men have been charged with murder in connection with an investigation into the death of Anthony Littler in 1984.

Anthony Littler, 45 was found with serious injuries close to East End Road, Each Finchley on 1 May 1984. He sadly died at the scene.

Enquiries into Anthony’s death have remained ongoing within Met Police’s Specialist Crime Unit and his family continue to be supported.

Two men were originally arrested on Thursday, 21 March 2024.

Michael Stewart, 55 (11.04.1969) of Station Road, EN5 and Anthony Stewart, 59 (19.11.1965) of Old Farm Road, N29 have since been charged with murder.

They have been remanded into custody and will appear at Willesden Magistrates Court on Thursday, 6 March.

Three men who were previously arrested on suspicion of murder remain under investigation.

MIL Security OSI –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Updates to National Technical Specification Notices for rail interoperability

Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Written statement to Parliament

Updates to National Technical Specification Notices for rail interoperability

Following a comprehensive review, the government will publish updates to 7 NTSNs.

The government will shortly publish updates to 7 National Technical Specification Notices (NTSNs) for Great Britain’s (GB) railway. This follows a comprehensive review aimed at improving standards for the safety, reliability, technical compatibility, accessibility and environmental protection of our railway.

NTSNs set mandatory technical requirements and procedures for the design, build, operation and maintenance of rail vehicles, infrastructure and components. NTSNs apply to both passenger rail and freight on both the conventional mainline and high-speed rail networks (HS1 and HS2) as well as the UK section of the Channel Tunnel.

NTSNs replaced EU regulations called Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs). Britain’s railways were built with significant technical differences from those of continental Europe, meaning that full alignment with TSIs was never possible. In several cases, while an EU member state, we had to make use of national specific cases and exemptions from TSI requirements, both of which are permitted within the EU framework.

The European Commission updated these regulations in 2023, prompting the UK to consider the benefits of adopting similar requirements or taking a different approach. This also presented an opportunity to fix many issues within the current NTSN requirements.

Department for Transport (DfT) officials worked closely with industry through working groups and consultations facilitated by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) to review the newly published TSIs, so that our decisions on NTSNs could be informed by those who will apply them. RSSB submitted recommendations for change in 2024, reflecting the balance of views of its industry members.

RSSB’s review found benefits in maintaining consistency with TSIs on technical requirements for the design and manufacture of rail products. This will be critical in ensuring that the rail industry continues to benefit from international supply chains and from the deployment of new rail technology being rolled out across Europe. Additionally, the review identified some areas where taking a different approach from TSIs would reduce or avoid costs, improve clarity, and deliver a safer, more interoperable and accessible railway in Great Britain.

The previous government committed to informing Parliament through a written ministerial statement if it planned to diverge substantively from TSIs, and we intend to honour this commitment. However, it is in the interest of Britain’s rail industry that we retain the ability to act quickly to correct problems, for example where requirements prove unworkable, stakeholders find errors or where safety authorities identify an urgent need for change.

I should therefore clarify that, for the purpose of that commitment, we are now defining substantive divergence as any new difference between TSIs and NTSNs that could prevent a product from complying with both sets of standards. We understand that this was Parliament’s concern when this commitment was made, and that Parliament wished to avoid placing additional costs on manufacturers operating in both the UK and EU markets by requiring separate production lines for each market.

Five NTSN specifications will meet the definition of substantive divergence from EU TSIs. Two will maintain higher accessibility requirements for train doors and seats, and one will maintain a higher safety requirement for a key train driving component. This will mean that meeting the TSIs’ specifications will not necessarily mean that the NTSNs’ higher specifications are met. The other 2 changes will set more pragmatic requirements for freight wagon brakes and electric train pantographs, meaning that products meeting the NTSNs’ specifications will not necessarily meet the requirements in the TSI.

We will also make other changes that will differ from TSIs but do not meet our definition of substantive divergence. These changes mainly concern operational requirements, processes and responsibilities for building, enhancing and maintaining the GB mainline railway, or for integrating equipment within the rail system. Differing from the TSIs in these areas will reduce or avoid regulatory burdens and costs. They also concern areas where British technical requirements already differ from TSIs due to the distinct historic legacy of Britain’s railways and take account of differences between the UK and EU regulatory frameworks, for example by referring to UK rather than EU legislation and to UK bodies rather than EU institutions. These changes have unanimous support from the GB rail industry, including manufacturers.

We are satisfied from the evidence of the industry review and consultation that differing from TSIs in these areas will not increase costs and remains consistent with the essential requirements of Britain’s rail interoperability framework.

My officials have thoroughly assessed industry’s proposals in discussion with RSSB, Network Rail and key industry bodies, and we intend to incorporate them within the updated NTSNs, with minor modifications to ensure they work in practice and are legally robust. We have also revised the introductory sections to clarify their intended purpose and scope, to ensure that these standards are applied proportionately, effectively and as intended, for example by clarifying the scope for alternative solutions where there may be better ways of achieving the same outcomes. My officials have prepared a de minimis assessment of the changes, which was cleared by the government’s Better Regulation Unit.

Our approach is fully compliant with our international obligations, which include the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) and the Windsor Framework, which requires continued application of TSIs in Northern Ireland. We are also assured that this approach is consistent with formal arrangements to ensure international rail traffic through the Channel Tunnel.

Publishing these updated NTSNs is an important first step in improving Britain’s rail standards framework, but there remains much more to be done. The public consultation that informed the NTSN revisions identified further areas for NTSN changes that could improve efficiency and reduce cost, including on rail electrification. We are keen to explore these and anticipate further updates to the NTSNs over the coming months and years. We are also considering options for reforming the rail technical standards framework itself to create a system fit for the improved railway this government will deliver through Great British Railways. We will consult on these options in due course.

Updates to this page

Published 5 March 2025

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

March 6, 2025

Category: European Union

IMF Communications Department

MEDIA RELATIONS

ESFA Update: 5 March 2025

Applies to England

Documents

Details

Latest for further education

Latest information for academies

Latest information for local authorities

Updates to this page

Sign up for emails or print this page

IMF Communications Department

MEDIA RELATIONS

EA Chief Scientist sets out water monitoring vision

Celebrating our new laboratory capabilities

Understanding environmental data

Future changes

Environmental monitoring

Our monitoring methods

Adapting to change

Evolution of monitoring

Our dedicated teams

Looking to the future

The Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme

NCEA objectives

Future developments

Understanding what works

Measuring diverse impacts

The future of water monitoring

Innovation and science

Integrating new data sources

Working with citizen scientists

Future collaboration

Closing remarks

Updates to this page

Change of focus

NPT Safeguards Agreement with Iran: Quad statement to the IAEA Board, March 2025

Updates to this page

Marginal benefits

US and France: ‘difficult’ relationship

GAD’s interest rate advice for the Ukraine loan

Repaying the loan

UK commitment

Share this page

Updates to this page

More in Health

Updates to National Technical Specification Notices for rail interoperability

Updates to this page