NewzIntel.com

Category: Politics

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Egypt launches safeguard investigation on hot rolled flat steel

    Source: World Trade Organization

    The notification indicated, among other things, as follows:

    “Interested parties must make themselves known to the investigating authority within 30 days from the date of publication of the notice of the initiation in the official gazette. Any submissions, comments or information must be properly documented.

    Correspondence should be addressed to:
    Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade
    Trade Remedies Sector
    Attention: Mrs. Yomna Elshabrawy
    New Administrative Capital – governmental district
    Phone: +201008880030
    Email: [email protected]  “

    Further information is available in G/SG/N/6/EGY/16.

    What is a safeguard investigation?

    A safeguard investigation seeks to determine whether increased imports of a product are causing, or is threatening to cause, serious injury to a domestic industry.

    During a safeguard investigation, importers, exporters and other interested parties may present evidence and views and respond to the presentations of other parties.

    A WTO member may take a safeguard action (i.e. restrict imports of a product temporarily) only if the increased imports of the product are found to be causing, or threatening to cause, serious injury.

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  • MIL-OSI Economics: WTO, IFC launch joint publication on trade finance in Central America and Mexico

    Source: World Trade Organization

    The report finds that trade and supply chain finance (TSCF) supports 8 per cent of Mexico’s goods trade, 12 per cent of Guatemala’s, and 10 per cent of Honduras’s. In the case of Mexico, only about a quarter of merchandise importers and exporters have any access to financing. These are among the lowest access rates across surveyed economies, despite supply chain finance having made some inroads in Mexico’s economy and, to a lesser extent, in Guatemala and Honduras.

    The report underscores that there is significant potential to grow and diversify the currently concentrated market for TSCF. Model-based projections show that doubling TSCF coverage and aligning costs with advanced economy standards could raise exports and imports by up to 8.9 per cent in Honduras, 7.8 per cent in Guatemala and 7.4 per cent in Mexico – adding more than USD 90 billion in combined trade volume.

    In her opening remarks at the launch, DDG Hill underlined the importance of the WTO-IFC collaboration on trade finance given its key role in enabling trade. Citing the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimation of a USD 2.5 trillion global trade finance gap in 2023, mainly in developing economies, she noted that “inadequate access to trade finance functions in effect as a prohibitive trade cost, holding back trade and closing off economic opportunities for firms and people.”

    This is particularly relevant in the case of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and women-owned businesses that “find it particularly hard to access trade finance,” she added.

    This is the third and last edition of a short series of reports on trade finance in developing economies aimed at improving understanding of the trade finance ecosystem, the constraints to trade finance and gaps in provisions. The first report focused on West Africa (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal) in 2022 and the second on the Mekong region (Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam) in 2023-24.

    The joint WTO-IFC work on trade finance springs from a 2021 joint statement by the WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and IFC Managing Director Makhtar Diop, pledging to enhance cooperation to improve the analytics, identification, and detection of trade finance gaps in order to better direct capacity building and other resources to where unmet demand is greatest.

    DDG Hill stressed that in the countries and regions studied so far, only a limited share of trade is supported by trade and supply chain finance, whereas in advanced economies this share is at least 60 per cent. “In each of the regions we examined, trade finance was heavily concentrated. Too few banks directing too little finance towards a small group of well-established and large traders,” she said.

    Doubling the trade finance coverage of trade would increase trade flows by a significant amount and help diversify trade geographically. “More trade finance means not only more trade integration, but also more socioeconomic inclusion through trade,” she added.

    Looking ahead, DDG Hill emphasized that the WTO will continue its work – whether in the trade finance field, through its investment facilitation efforts or through the implementation of its Trade Facilitation Agreement – to reduce international trade costs. In many emerging economies, reducing the cost of shipping, financing and border clearance is key to being competitive internationally. “The adoption of digital technologies is paramount in this regard,” she noted.

    “We remain at our members’ disposal for promoting trade finance solutions and engaging in expert discussions, such as today’s, with support from multilateral development banks and development financial institutions,” DDG Hill said. She noted that “these efforts help address persistent gaps in trade finance access, especially for small and medium enterprises, and support broader goals of trade inclusion, economic diversification, and digital transformation.” Her full remarks (in Spanish) are here.

    Policy recommendations included in the report point at strengthening supply chain markets through regulatory harmonization, digital innovation, improved risk assessments and better access for small and women-owned firms. International organizations and development banks can also play a key role through capacity building, liquidity support and risk-sharing facilities.

    The launch was followed by a presentation of the report and a panel discussion bringing together representatives of the WTO, IFC, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Mexican government and the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).

    The publication can be found here.

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  • MIL-OSI Economics: Thirty years of WTO accessions

    Source: World Trade Organization

    Since its establishment on 1 January 1995 to oversee the multilateral trade agreements negotiated by its 128 original members, the WTO has seen an ongoing expansion of its membership and continued interest from many economies seeking to join the organization. As a result, the percentage of world trade accounted for by WTO members has risen from 87 per cent in 1995 to over 98 per cent today.

    Over the past 30 years, 60 countries and customs territories have applied for accession to the WTO. Of these, 38 have completed the process, bringing the WTO’s total membership to 166. Meanwhile, 22 economies are currently at various stages of negotiating their accession.

    Although those seeking to join the WTO have followed similar paths of economic reform, WTO accession processes have varied significantly. Some completed the process relatively quickly – for example, after just three to four years of negotiations, the Kyrgyz Republic and Oman joined the WTO, in 1998 and in 2000, respectively. Others, such as Kazakhstan and Seychelles, spent nearly two decades in accession talks before becoming members, both in 2015. These longer timelines reflect the evolving nature of the accession process.

    Unlike accessions in the era of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), WTO accessions require far-reaching structural reforms that go well beyond traditional trade-opening, often encompassing multiple sectors of the acceding economy. Moreover, the process demands a thorough understanding of the applicant’s economic systems, policy frameworks and reform priorities, which must be underpinned by broad-based domestic consensus.

    Why, then, do governments choose to undertake the rigorous demands of WTO accession? For many, the answer lies in a desire to modernize institutions and regulatory practices, enhance the business environment and attract foreign direct investment. These motivations often go hand-in-hand with broader national goals, including market-oriented reforms, poverty reduction and sustainable development.

    Market-opening and structural reforms, for instance, have been central to the evolution of many economies. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in 1991, international trade played a pivotal role in transforming the economies of the newly independent states and in strengthening their ties with the global economy. WTO membership served as a powerful vehicle for the modernization of these economies, as well as of other formerly centrally planned economies, such as China and Viet Nam.

    In addition, least-developed countries (LDCs), beginning with Cambodia and Nepal in 2004, and most recently Comoros and Timor-Leste in 2024 – making a total of 11 LDC accessions to date – have used the accession process to lay the foundations for poverty reduction and sustainable economic growth.

    In the cases of Cabo Verde, Samoa and Vanuatu, WTO membership was soon followed by graduation from LDC status (in 2008, 2014 and 2020, respectively). For others, including the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Nepal and Cambodia, graduation is expected before the end of this decade.

    As many LDCs began their accession processes while classified as “fragile and conflict-affected states”, WTO membership has also played an important role in reshaping perceptions of their economic and development potential.

    Recently, WTO economists quantified the economic impact of undertaking the robust commitments required for WTO accession. Their analysis found that economies implementing reforms and making deeper commitments during accession negotiations grew an average of 1.5 percentage points faster than they otherwise would have done. A review of both completed and ongoing accessions underscores that the WTO accession process serves as a catalyst for domestic reform, helping to create an enabling environment for economic resilience and sustainable growth.

    In the same way that WTO accessions have anchored domestic transformations, accessions have also benefitted the global trading system. Through accessions, the percentage of world trade accounted for by WTO members has risen from 87 per cent in 1995 to over 98 per cent today.

    Despite the proliferation of free trade agreements and the sharp rise in tariff barriers, the vast majority of this trade – still more than 70 per cent – continues to be conducted under the WTO’s most-favoured-nation (MFN) principles. This has promoted the integration of global supply chains and, in so doing, has lowered trading costs for all WTO members.

    The scope of the WTO can also be measured in terms of population. At the time when the WTO was established, the original members represented just 69 per cent of the world’s population. Today, thanks to the accession of new members, that share has risen to 94 per cent. In other words, over the past 30 years, the WTO has extended its reach to an additional 2 billion people – further strengthening the inclusiveness and global relevance of the multilateral trading system.

    Beyond their individual reforms, economies that have joined the WTO since 1995 have made substantial systemic contributions to the WTO. Each accession prompts existing members to reflect on how best to uphold and advance the WTO’s core values. As a result, accessions have repeatedly helped to deepen, clarify and modernize existing disciplines.

    Collectively, acceded members have added more than 1,500 legally binding commitments to the WTO rulebook. These commitments – coupled with guarantees for deeper access to their domestic markets for goods and services – have made the WTO stronger, more dynamic and more responsive to evolving global trade realities.

    In key areas, such as domestic support in agriculture and the regulation of state-owned enterprises, members who have joined over the past 30 years have often taken on more comprehensive and detailed commitments, reflecting an evolution of obligations in relation to existing WTO norms. In several areas – notably trade facilitation, tariff rate quotas and export subsidies – accession negotiations have also achieved concrete results years before the emergence of multilateral trade disciplines, demonstrating the forward-looking nature of the accession process.

    In the area of transparency alone, acceded members have adopted over 250 specific commitments. Some of these members could even be considered to be “transparency champions”, given that they have submitted extensive notifications to the WTO about their trade measures – including in areas where original members have been less forthcoming, or where multilateral disciplines do not yet exist, such as the notification of privatization programmes.

    Today, 30 years after the establishment of the WTO, acceded members account for more than one-fifth of its total membership. Accessions are a force for change – driving re-examinations of the WTO rulebook, steering the trading system away from complacency, and challenging original members to match the benchmarks set by the newer members. This has been especially relevant in recent years, as the multilateral trading system has been facing mounting pressure.
    Acceding members offer a source of hope for the future of the trading system. Even amid global uncertainty and growing challenges, many of them have remained actively engaged, recognizing that no economy’s prosperity is secure in isolation, however large or small that economy might be.

    The admission of new members has been a true success story, but work on WTO accessions is far from complete. Twenty-two governments – a diverse group, whose future membership will further enrich the WTO – remain in the process of accession.

    As an institution, the WTO will try to support these governments by providing targeted technical assistance and capacity-building. As always, a key area of focus will be the accession of the remaining LDCs, all of which are also classified as fragile and conflict-affected states. Supporting these countries in their WTO accession processes, through dedicated programmes and tailored approaches, can serve as a catalyst for economic reform, institution-building and integration into the global trading system. Over time, this can also help to foster lasting stability and peace and to establish a gradual pathway out of fragility and toward greater resilience.

    Over the years, it has become increasingly clear that integration into the multilateral trading system does not end on the date of an economy’s accession. Indeed, the immediate post-accession period presents a distinct set of challenges – particularly for governments with limited institutional and administrative capacity.

    While the WTO recognizes the need for sustained support during this critical phase – when newly acceded members are often required to implement further domestic reforms to fulfil their WTO commitments – it has yet to develop robust institutional mechanisms to provide targeted support during this period. There is scope for improvement in this area, and especially in supporting the effective integration of recently acceded LDCs.

    Thirty years since the establishment of the WTO, accessions continue to renew and enrich the organization. As new members continue to bring fresh perspectives and commitment to the multilateral trading system, WTO accessions will remain a powerful force for reform, international cooperation and global economic integration.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Universal Periodic Review 49: UK Statement on Lesotho

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Speech

    Universal Periodic Review 49: UK Statement on Lesotho

    Statement by the UK’s Ambassador for Human Rights to the UN, Eleanor Sanders, at Lesotho’s Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

    Thank you, Mr Vice-President,

    We thank Lesotho for explaining their efforts to protect human rights.

    We particularly welcome the implementation of existing legislation to address gender-based violence. We urge the government to tackle structural drivers of gender-based violence and extend support services for survivors, particularly in rural areas. 

    We call on the government to protect the rights of those living and working in the vicinity of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. Providing adequate compensation, employment benefits and educational opportunities, and safeguarding women from sexual exploitation are vital.

    Lastly, we encourage Lesotho to address inequities in early years education by supporting children from the ebaPhuti and Xhosa peoples to access educational resources in their indigenous languages.

    We recommend that Lesotho:

    1. Provides communities affected by the Lesotho Highlands Water Project with adequate compensation, and access to related electricity, employment and educational opportunities.

    2. Extends support services for women and girls in both rural and urban areas across Lesotho, including for survivors of sexual violence.

    3. Implements a strategy to support children from the ebaPhuti and Xhosa peoples to access educational resources in their indigenous languages.

    Thank you.

    Updates to this page

    Published 1 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to US-Ukraine Minerals Deal

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Scientists comment on the US-Ukraine resources deal. 

    Dr Gavin Mudd, Director of the Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre at the British Geological Survey, said:

    “Ukraine has important deposits of titanium, rare earths, lithium and graphite – and has also produced gallium and scandium in the recent past. Rare earths are particularly sought after for use in digital technologies, renewable energy, aerospace and the automotive sectors, but also have various applications in military technologies too – such as in laser guidance systems. Titanium metal is often used in aerospace given that it is stronger and lighter than steel.

    “If this agreement paves the way for new supplies of rare earths, that should have a notable impact on the diversification of global mining activities for rare earths – and reduce the dominance of China in the supply of these sought after materials. That would have a positive impact for all countries seeking rare earths, including the UK.

    “While the details of this agreement will still need to be considered closely, it is likely that some developments in terms of mineral production could be achieved quickly – assuming peace and security in the regions of focus. This could apply to titanium, lithium and graphite, while Ukraine may have an increased ability to rebuild some of their former capacity for scandium and gallium under the terms enshrined the deal.

    “However, in the case of rare earths, it will take years to ramp up capacity – studies will need to be completed to assess and determine how best to mine the deposits and process the ores and produce rich concentrate, and a new refinery will be needed to produce high purity metals and oxides for use in numerous technologies. All of this sits alongside the need to actually mine the minerals. We are looking at about a decade or longer for this to come online.

    “I see this deal as the continuation of a recent trend of critical minerals having a central impact on geopolitics and international affairs, and I expect this impact to continue to grow, given the fundamental importance of critical minerals to the energy transition and net zero, national security and the ongoing rise of digitalisation – including AI and the coming rise of quantum computing.

    “Although rare earths currently appear to take centre stage in such negotiations, there are many other critical minerals where China enjoys a dominant position in terms of supply – including gallium, germanium, tungsten. With recent export controls placed on them by China, it is a solid bet that geopolitical interest in securing a reliable supply of these materials will grow over the coming years.

     

     

    Declared interests

    No reply to our request for DOIs was received.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Newsom proclaims Apprenticeship Day 2025

    Source: US State of California 2

    Apr 30, 2025

    Sacramento, California – Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation declaring April 30, 2025, as “Apprenticeship Day.”

    The text of the proclamation and a copy can be found below.

    PROCLAMATION

    National Apprenticeship Day is a nationwide celebration recognizing apprenticeships as a vital career pathway that is key to the prosperity and vitality of our state. We are proud to be a national leader in growing the number and type of apprenticeships, enabling more Californians to pursue rewarding careers while strengthening our economy.

    Apprenticeships are integral to California’s Master Plan for Career Education, a pragmatic strategy for career readiness that prioritizes hands-on learning and real-life skills in career education. Working in coordination with the California Jobs First Economic Blueprint, the Master Plan takes a bottom-up approach to workforce and economic development that is responsive to the emerging needs of the economy and specific to sectors, regions, and individuals’ skills and experience.

    The state has made historic efforts to increase access to apprenticeships across industries, proudly supporting 91,493 active registered apprentices. We are invested in initiatives to sustain and scale registered apprentice programs, through initiatives like Apprenticeship Innovation Funding, which has made $52 million available in its third round of funding to reimburse the program and training costs for growing apprenticeship programs.

    All Californians deserve the opportunity to gain the skills that build a lasting career. Through the California Opportunity Youth Apprenticeship Grant program, the state is committing an additional $16 million to expand access to pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship opportunities for young people. This investment, together with the Equal Representation in Construction Apprenticeship Grant, is expanding pathways into the construction industry and helping ensure that California’s skilled workforce reflects California’s communities.

    Apprentices offer an impactful alternative to traditional education paths that benefit employers as well as workers by filling skill gaps in critical areas and helping businesses grow. Supporting the next generation of skilled workers is how we have built the fourth-largest economy in the world – and a workforce that is the envy of the world.

    NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim April 30, 2025 as “Apprenticeship Day.”

    IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 30th day of April 2025.

    GAVIN NEWSOM
    Governor of California

    ATTEST:
    SHIRLEY N. WEBER, Ph.D.
    Secretary of State   

    Recent news

    Apr 30, 2025

    News What you need to know: The state of California is providing LA City and County a new AI-powered e-check software free of charge to speed the pace at which local governments are approving building permits. LOS ANGELES – Leveraging the power of private sector…

    Apr 30, 2025

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Newsom announces launch of new AI tool to supercharge the approval of building permits and speed recovery from Los Angeles Fires

    Source: US State of California 2

    Apr 30, 2025

    What you need to know: The state of California is providing LA City and County a new AI-powered e-check software free of charge to speed the pace at which local governments are approving building permits.

    LOS ANGELES – Leveraging the power of private sector innovation, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the launch of a new artificial intelligence-driven software to aid Los Angeles City and County in accelerating the approval process for rebuilding permits to help communities recover more quickly from the Eaton and Palisades fires. 

    “The current pace of issuing permits locally is not meeting the magnitude of the challenge we face. To help boost local progress, California is partnering with the tech sector and community leaders to give local governments more tools to rebuild faster and more effectively.”

    Governor Gavin Newsom

    The software, created by Archistar, will be provided free of charge to the local governments and to users through a partnership between the state and philanthropic partners including LA Rises and Steadfast LA with contributions from Autodesk and Amazon.

    “Bringing AI into permitting will allow us to rebuild faster and safer, reducing costs and turning a process that can take weeks and months into one that can happen in hours or days,” said Steadfast LA Chairman Rick Caruso. “Working with our coalition partner Mike Hopkins and Amazon, I’m proud Steadfast LA identified Archistar as the right company to develop and apply this game-changing technology. Now we can work with great philanthropic organizations, including LA Rises, to provide this critical tool at no cost to taxpayers. We will continue bringing forward new technology and ideas to cut through red tape and expedite this recovery.”

    While the state has no direct role in the local permit approval process, Governor Newsom has worked aggressively to cut red tape, remove obstacles, and provide every available resource to local governments so they can fast-track permits and rebuild quickly. 

    The software uses computer vision, machine learning, and automated rulesets to instantly check designs against local zoning and building codes in the assessment process for building permits. This technology will allow property owners to pre-check their building plans before submission to ensure they submit valid plans, thus avoiding frustrating delays and expediting the review process once received by city or county staff.

    Once fully implemented by local leaders, this e-check tool will improve efficiency, accuracy, transparency, and speed of the rebuilding process from the Eaton and Palisades fire while also improving the experience for disaster survivors.

    “Getting residents home quickly and safely is my top priority,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. “Last week, I signed an Executive Directive to spearhead an AI pilot program to streamline the permitting process for Palisades residents. With the announcement of this AI solution, we’re infusing new technologies into City Hall processes to ensure nothing stands in the way of families getting home – and to keep our recovery effort on track to be the fastest in modern California history. I thank Governor Newsom and our County partners for their collaboration on this exciting effort.”

    The County of Los Angeles has also committed to using the software and passed a Board Resolution to establish a unified permitting authority for the Altadena one-stop recovery center.

    “I’m excited to see Los Angeles County embrace innovative technology like Archistar to accelerate the rebuilding process in Altadena and neighboring communities recovering from the Eaton Fire,” said Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger. “This AI tool has the potential to save homeowners valuable time by helping them submit code-compliant plans from the start. I appreciate Governor Newsom’s stewardship of this opportunity and SoCal Grantmakers for their fiduciary support. Their help—along with collaboration from our County’s permitting departments—helped make this opportunity possible. Our collective work will help ensure we’re delivering real, efficient solutions to those working hard to rebuild their lives. Our wildfire survivors deserve nothing less.”

    “Together, government and philanthropy are standing with our community to ensure a safe, swift, and lasting recovery from the Palisades and Eaton Fires,” said Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath. “With new AI-powered tools and LA County’s One-Stop Permitting Centers, we’re cutting red tape to help residents rebuild and return home sooner. I’m grateful to Governor Newsom, Steadfast LA, and LA Rises for their investment in our recovery.”

    The technology is already being used by more than 25 forward-looking municipalities across the United States, Canada, and Australia, including cities like Vancouver, Austin, Houston and Seattle as well as states like Colorado, British Columbia (Canada) and New South Wales (Australia). In addition to providing the software free of charge in Los Angeles, the tool is now available on a statewide contract that any local government can now access quickly to streamline their own plan review process. 

    Today’s announcement is part of a broader effort to cut red tape and harness innovation in the LA fire recovery process. 

    Cutting red tape

    Governor Newsom issued an executive order to streamline the rebuilding of homes and businesses destroyed — suspending permitting and review requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Coastal Act. The Governor also issued an executive order further cutting red tape by reiterating that permitting requirements under the California Coastal Act are suspended for rebuilding efforts and directing the Coastal Commission not to issue guidance or take any action that interferes with or conflicts with the Governor’s executive orders. Additionally, he signed an executive order to cut more red tape and continue streamlining rebuilding, recovery, and relief for survivors. The Governor also issued an executive order removing bureaucratic barriers, extending deadlines, and providing critical regulatory relief to help fire survivors rebuild, access essential services, and recover more quickly.

    Efficient, engaged, effective

    Since the start of his administration in 2019, Governor Newsom has made efficiency and engagement a top priority, implementing new technologies and practices that make government more efficient and responsive to the people it serves. In 2019, the Governor established the Office of Data Innovation to help advance this important work. 

    As the birthplace of tech, California is at the forefront in the study and implementation of AI in government. In 2023, Governor Newsom issued an executive order directing state agencies to utilize Generative AI technologies to improve state services and help solve important issues. Since that time, the state has integrated AI and other efficiency solutions to make state government work faster and even more effective.

    To help provide the Los Angeles community with a stronger voice in the rebuilding and recovery efforts, Governor Newsom launched Engaged California, a new platform that gives Californians a unique opportunity to share their thoughts and connect with other people on topics that are important to them. It creates new opportunities for Californians to connect with their government to inform and shape policy through honest, respectful discussions.

    The program was launched in February with the first use case focusing on the impacts of the Los Angeles wildfires.
     

    Partnerships Key 

    Today’s announcement was made possible through partnerships with philanthropic and community organizations who are aiding wildfire recovery in Los Angeles.

    Autodesk is a global leader in design and make technology, empowering innovators across architecture, engineering, construction, product design, manufacturing, and media.

    Steadfast LA is a civic nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the rebuilding of Los Angeles after the devastating wildfires by bringing together top leaders, bold ideas, and effective solutions to get things done right and fast.

    LA Rises is a unified recovery initiative that brings together private sector leaders to support rebuilding efforts led by the city of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County and the State of California. In January, the Governor enlisted Dodgers Chairman Mark Walter, business leader and basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Casey Wasserman, LA28 Chairperson and President to lead and recruit others to this private sector and philanthropic effort.

    Track LA’s recovery, including the latest air quality results, at CA.gov/LAfires.

    Recent news

    Apr 30, 2025

    News What you need to know: Governor Gavin Newsom and the Department of Housing and Community Development today announced the awards of $118.9 million in federal funding for 29 California rural and tribal communities to create more affordable housing and supportive…

    Apr 29, 2025

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    Apr 29, 2025

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Newsom expands affordable housing and supportive services for rural Californians with $118.9 million in new federal funding

    Source: US State of California 2

    Apr 30, 2025

    What you need to know: Governor Gavin Newsom and the Department of Housing and Community Development today announced the awards of $118.9 million in federal funding for 29 California rural and tribal communities to create more affordable housing and supportive services.

    SACRAMENTO—The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) today announced nearly $118.9 million in awards from three federally funded programs to address homelessness by funding development of 487 affordable rental homes, supporting emergency shelters and homeless outreach, and providing rapid rehousing and supportive services needed to help low-income Californians attain and maintain housing stability.

    “Our nation’s housing crisis doesn’t end at city limits, and we must ensure housing and services are available to all members of our communities. We are grateful for this additional federal funding to ensure that our rural and tribal communities receive the housing support they need and deserve.”

    Governor Gavin Newsom

    In 2021, the U.S. Congress appropriated $5 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act to reduce homelessness nationwide. Of that amount, $512 million was awarded directly to California communities by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Another $155 million went to HCD to implement HOME Investments Partnerships American Rescue Plan (HOME-ARP) programs in California for those non-entitlement jurisdictions—specifically rural communities and unincorporated areas—that did not receive funding directly from HUD.

    HCD’s HOME-ARP Rental Housing (RH) program announced ten awards totaling $89 million, including two awards to Tribal Entities. The Yurok Indian Housing Authority and Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians received a combined $18.7 million to fund 31 HOME-ARP assisted units.

    “Housing affordability and homelessness affect all areas, not just our large, metro areas,” said Tomiquia Moss, Business, Consumer Services and Housing Secretary. “The State works diligently to provide and channel funding to all counties, to provide local providers the support needed to ensure programs in their communities deliver real results. This funding does just that and I pledge our continued support for local governments in their work to lessen and eliminate homelessness and create more affordable housing.”

    “By providing much-needed resources to rural and tribal communities, these awards help address our homelessness crisis and meet the critical needs of these residents,” said HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez. “Federal support ensures the state continues its stride toward providing housing stability and affordability for all.”

    The HOME-ARP RH awards announced today will fund much-needed affordable rental housing in the counties of Del Norte, El Dorado, Kings, Lake, Madera, Mendocino, Merced, Monterey, and Placer. The ten projects awarded will include a total of 487 affordable rental homes, including 184 HOME-ARP funded units for low-income households and other qualifying populations. This includes people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, those fleeing violence or human trafficking, and others at greatest risk of housing instability.

    HCD also announced six awards totaling $26.4 million from its HOME-ARP Housing Plus Support Program (HPSP) to support households who are currently experiencing homelessness, as well as those who will benefit from services designed to prevent homelessness.

    For more information about the awards, visit California Housing and Community Development’s website here.

    Recent news

    Apr 29, 2025

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    Apr 29, 2025

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    Apr 29, 2025

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Newsom announces appointments 4.29.25

    Source: US State of California 2

    Apr 29, 2025

    SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:

    Kristina “Kris” Thayer, of Raleigh, North Carolina, has been appointed Director of The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Thayer has been Director of the Director of the Integrated Risk Information System Division at the United States Environmental Protection Agency since 2019, where she has held multiple positions since 2017, including Director of the Integrated Risk Information System and Director of the Chemical and Pollution Assessment Division. She held multiple positions at the National Toxicology Program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences from 2003 to 2017, including Deputy Director of the Division of Analysis, Director of the Office of Health Assessment and Translation, Director of the Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction, Staff Scientist at the Center for the Evaluation of Risk to Human Reproduction, Deputy Director of the Office of Risk Assessment Research, and Staff Scientist in the Office of Liaison and Scientific Review. Thayer is a member of the Society of Toxicology. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Missouri, Columbia and a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Pennsylvania State University, University Park. This position requires Senate confirmation, and compensation is $217,000. Thayer is a Democrat.

    Jason D. Johnson, of Redlands, has been appointed Undersecretary of Operations at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Johnson has been Acting Undersecretary of Operations since 2024 at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, where he has held several positions since 2006, including Director of the Division of Adult Parole Operations, Chief Deputy Regional Administrator, Parole Administrator I, Parole Agent III Supervisor, Parole Agent II Supervisor, and Parole Agent I. Johnson was a Probation Officer II at San Bernardino County Probation Department from 2001 to 2006. He is a member of the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs’ Association, the Orange County Chiefs’ and Sherriffs’ Association, and the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice. Johnson earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Redlands and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from California State University, Fullerton. This position requires Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $239,796. Johnson is a Democrat.

    Joshua Prudhel, of Ceres, has been appointed Warden of Sierra Conservation Center, where he has been serving as Acting Warden since 2024. Prudhel was Chief Deputy Administrator at California State Prison, Sacramento from 2022 to 2024. He was a Correctional Administrator at California State Prison, Corcoran in 2022. Prudhel was Acting Chief Deputy Administrator at Correctional Training Facility from 2021 to 2022. He was a Correctional Administration at California State Prison, Corcoran from 2020 to 2021. Prudhel was Captain at California Health Care Facility from 2016 to 2020, where he was previously a Correctional Lieutenant from 2014 to 2016. He was a Correctional Lieutenant at California State Prison, Corcoran from 2011 to 2014, where he was previously a Correctional Sergeant from 2008 to 2011. Prudhel was a Correctional Sergeant at Deuel Vocational Institution from 2007 to 2008, and at Correctional Training Facility from 2005 to 2007. He was a Correctional Officer at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center from 2003 to 2005, and at Richard A. Mcgee Correctional Training Center from 2002 to 2003. Prudhel is a member of the California Correctional Supervisors Organization. This position does not require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $193,524. Prudhel is a Republican.

    Megan Mekelburg, of Sacramento, has been appointed Deputy Secretary for Legislation at the California Natural Resources Agency. Mekelburg has been Deputy Appointments Secretary in the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom since 2024. She was Senior Associate at Environmental & Energy Consulting from 2023 to 2024. Mekelburg was Legislative Director in the Office of Senator Aisha Wahab in the California State Senate in 2023. She held multiple roles in the Office of Senator Josh Newman in the California State Senate from 2021 to 2023, including Legislative Director and Acting Chief of Staff. Mekelburg held multiple roles in the Office of Senator Henry Stern in the California State Senate from 2019 to 2021, including Legislative Aide and Executive Assistant. She earned a Master of Arts degree in Public Policy and Administration from California State University, Sacramento and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from University of California, Davis. This position does not require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $160,008. Mekelburg is a Democrat.

    Matthew Sage, of Fair Oaks, has been appointed Commander of the State Threat Assessment Center at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Sage has been the Deputy Commander of Intel/Analysis at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services since 2023. He was an Account Executive at Echo Analytics Group from 2021 to 2022. He was a Supervisory Intelligence Specialist at the Department of the Army from 2015 to 2021. Sage was an Operations and Integrations Officer at Dyncorp International from 2012 to 2015. He was a Staff Officer at Sytera LLC. from 2011 to 2012. Sage was an Atmospherics Manager at AECOM/McNeill Technologies in 2011. He served as rank E-5 in the United States Army from 2006 to 2010. This position does not require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $161,062. Sage is registered without party preference.

    Davina Hurt, of Belmont, has been appointed to the California Water Commission. Hurt has been the California Climate Policy Director at Pacific Environment since 2025. She was an Attorney/Civic Advocate at Davina Hurt Esq. from 2005 to 2024. Hurt held multiple positions with the City of Belmont from 2015 to 2024, including Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Councilmember. She was a Campaign Manager at the Democratic Volunteer Center from 2014 to 2015. Hurt was a Securities Case Assistant at Heller Ehrman White and McAuliffe LLP from 2004 to 2005. She was a Senior Counsel and Civic Advocate at Tyson and Mendes LLP in 2004. Hurt was a Law Clerk at Bay Area Legal Aid from 2002 to 2004. She was a Law Clerk at the United States District Court for Northern District of California from 2002 to 2003. Hurt was a Summer Associate at Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach LLP in 2002. She earned a Juris Doctor Degree from Santa Clara University School of Law and a Bachelor of the Arts degree in History and Political Science from Baylor University. This position requires Senate confirmation, and compensation is $100 per diem. Hurt is a Democrat.

    Peter Stern, of San Francisco, has been appointed to the California Horse Racing Board. Stern has been Chief Revenue Officer at Skedulo and an Advisor at Berkeley SkyDeck since 2025. He held several roles at Authorium from 2024 to 2025, including Advisor and Executive Vice President. He was the Co-Founder of VoiceBrain from 2021 to 2023. He was a Commissioner at California State Lottery Commission from 2019 to 2022. He held several positions at Inxeption from 2017 to 2021, including Executive Vice President of Business Operations and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development. Stern was the Airport Commissioner at the San Francisco International Airport from 2010 to 2019. He was Chief Revenue Officer at Skedulo from 2015 to 2017. Stern was the Chief Revenue Officer at Autopilot from 2013 to 2015. Stern was the Vice President of Sales at Kenandy, Inc. from 2011 to 2013. He held numerous positions at Salesforce from 2007 to 2011, including Vice President of Enterprise Corporate Sales and Corporate Sales Manager. Stern was Regional Manager at Oracle from 2005 to 2007. He was an Account Executive at Macromedia from 2002 to 2004. Stern was an Account Executive at Oracle from 2000 to 2000. This position requires Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $100 per diem. Stern is registered without party preference.

    Dyan Whyte, of Berkeley, has been appointed to the California State Mining and Geology Board. Whyte has been the Chief Financial Officer at Dataway US since 2019. She held multiple positions at the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Francisco Bay Region from 1988 to 1999, including Assistant Executive Officer and Senior Engineering Geologist. Whyte earned a Master of Science degree in Environmental Geology from University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Studies and Geology from California State University, Sonoma. This position requires Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $100 per diem. Whyte is a Democrat.

    Press Releases, Recent News

    Recent news

    Apr 29, 2025

    News What you need to know: California continues to improve efficiency and engagement in state government by advancing its first-in-the-nation project to integrate cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology into state operations. Los Angeles, California –…

    Apr 29, 2025

    News What you need to know: California is filing a lawsuit today against the Trump administration for dismantling AmeriCorps, which puts service and volunteer programs across the country and in California at risk. SACRAMENTO — Today, Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney…

    Apr 28, 2025

    News SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom today issued the following statement congratulating newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney:“Jennifer and I warmly congratulate Prime Minister Mark Carney on his party’s election victory in Canada. California looks…

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Newsom deploys first-in-the-nation GenAI technologies to improve efficiency in state government

    Source: US State of California 2

    Apr 29, 2025

    What you need to know: California continues to improve efficiency and engagement in state government by advancing its first-in-the-nation project to integrate cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology into state operations.

    Los Angeles, California – California continues to implement Governor Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order on Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), today with Governor Newsom announcing the state has entered into three new agreements to utilize GenAI to reduce highway congestion, improve roadway safety, and enhance customer service in a state call center. 

    The announcement today, made at Accenture headquarters in Los Angeles, is part of Governor Newsom’s ongoing strategy to implement technologies and practices that make state operations more efficient and responsive to the people it serves. In 2023, Governor Newsom issued an executive order directing state agencies to utilize GenAI technologies to improve state services and help solve important issues. Since that time, the state has integrated AI and other efficiency solutions to make state government work faster and even more effective.

    GenAI is here, and it’s growing in importance every day. We know that state government can be more efficient, and as the birthplace of tech it is only natural that California leads in this space. In the Golden State, we know that efficiency means more than cutting services to save a buck, but instead building and refining our state government to better serve all Californians.

    Governor Gavin Newsom

    Leading in efficiency 

    California is leading in the effort to implement AI and other technologies into state government operations, quickly adopting projects through its new innovative procurement method, Request for Innovative Ideas (RFI2). RFI2 allows the state to quickly test technology through safe and secure environments, providing the state and the innovator community valuable insights while protecting state data. RFI2 was adopted by the state in 2019, after Governor Newsom sought to improve the onerous state purchasing process and help the state to more efficiently adopt these new technologies.

    Leading in engagement

    Governor Newsom has also implemented new technologies through the Office of Data and Innovation, including the groundbreaking new Engaged California project. This first-in-the-nation digital democracy platform is currently being used to help the community in the Los Angeles wildfire recovery. Today, Governor Newsom will also host a roundtable event in the LA area to meet with stakeholders integral in the Engaged California project — and to discuss projects for expansion statewide. 

    “We are committed to harnessing the latest technologies to better serve Californians. With GenAI, we’re improving government service while also showing the benefits this California-based industry can bring to governments all over the world.” California Government Operations Agency Secretary Nick Maduros

    Projects moving forward today include:

    GenAI to reduce highway congestion 

    The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) released a problem statement to process and interpret complex data to improve its traffic pattern analysis, address bottlenecks, and enhance overall traffic management. To solve this issue, Azure Open AI, GenAI technology developed by Microsoft and utilized by Accenture, LLP, used a vast amount of data from authentic, well-recognized sources to analyze potential transportation scenarios and develop solutions, including reducing traffic congestion, enhancing incident response, and improving transit reliability. 

    The next phase of this project will analyze real-time and historical data from roadways to predict traffic bottlenecks, detect incidents faster, and identify locations for safety enhancements. This cutting-edge solution will empower Caltrans to improve mobility and reduce traffic delays across the state.

    “California is a global leader in GenAI innovation, and the signing of these contracts provides the state an essential tool to help solve some of our most pressing transportation challenges. Under Governor Newsom’s leadership, California is enthusiastically advancing this cutting-edge technology and will now harness its power to help save lives and streamline mobility for all people.” California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin 

    GenAI for traffic safety 

    Caltrans will also be using GenAI to investigate near misses of injuries/fatalities to identify risky areas and monitor interventions designed to increase safety of vulnerable road users, including bike riders and pedestrians. Under the contract, Deloitte Consulting, LLP used Gemini GenAI technology to help identify high-collision locations and recommended targeted safety improvements across the highway system to proactively address road safety risks — especially for vulnerable road users. 

    By analyzing various datasets—including crash records, roadway conditions, and equity indicators—GenAI uncovered patterns, prioritized safety interventions, and delivered data-driven insights to help the department better protect all Californians on the road. In the next phase, the tool will expand upon the datasets to better identify and address locations in need of safety upgrades which will be evaluated by the department prior to taking any actions. 

    “These historic contracts exemplify Caltrans’ commitment to innovation and being a national leader in adopting new technologies to improve lives and communities. Using GenAI through smart, responsible implementation will be a game changer in developing solutions to ease traffic gridlock and reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roadways.” Caltrans Director Tony Tavares

    GenAI to enhance customer service

    The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) will use GenAI to swiftly search more than 16,000 pages of reference materials and assist staff in providing responses to taxpayers via telephone and live chat. 

    During a pilot project carried out over the last 10 months, Claude, a next-generation AI assistant developed by Anthropic, was utilized by Symsoft Solutions LLC to reduce the time it takes to handle an average CDTFA customer inquiry. Typically, during peak tax filing periods, an additional 280 staff from throughout the department are temporarily reassigned to provide backup to the call center. With this new technology, CDTFA will be able to continue providing excellent customer service while limiting the need for disruptions from staff reassignments. 

    “California is demonstrating that GenAI can help us improve the way we do business for Californians.  This project will serve as a proof point moving forward to see if we can scale this technology across state government call centers.” CDTFA Director Trista Gonzalez.

    GenAI, the California way

    California will continue to implement GenAI for the benefit of all Californians, presenting additional challenges and calling for new GenAI projects by AI innovators. The second round brings the state closer to possibly using GenAI for operational efficiencies in housing, workforce planning, and bill analysis. The work is ongoing, and the state anticipates wrapping up this second round by summer 2025.  

    For more information about why California is the home of GenAI, visit GenAI.ca.gov.

    GenAI for productivity

    Also in response to the Governor’s executive order to help implement AI solutions to make state government more efficient, effective, and productive, the state is now implementing additional AI solutions for state departments. The state recently launched a first-in-the-nation State Digital Assistance AI tool through the California Department of Technology, which will be provided to eight state departments through a pilot program. The departments will utilize the tool through a pilot program to test how GenAI can help increase productivity by assisting staff to quickly develop images, and summarize and analyze state data.

    California has also rolled out Microsoft 365 Copilot chat for state departments, which is being offered at no cost to the state for the pilot period. Copilot Chat is a GenAI assistant to enhance staff productivity by streamlining information analysis, assisting with content creation, answering questions, and more. 

    Harnessing the power of AI

    AI is already changing the world, and California will play a pivotal role in defining that future. Home to Silicon Valley and the birthplace of the tech industry, California continues to dominate as the leader in AI. The state is home to 32 of 50 top AI companies worldwide.

    In addition to California’s efforts to deploy GenAI in state government, Governor Newsom co-hosted a GenAI summit in May 2024 with leaders across academia, industry, civil society, and government to discuss how the state can best use this transformative technology on behalf of Californians. 

    First of-its-kind effort with NVIDIA

    In August 2024, the state partnered with NVIDIA to launch a first-of-its-kind AI collaboration. The initiative, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom and NVIDIA founder & CEO Jensen Huang, aims to train students, educators and workers; support job creation and promote innovation; and use AI to solve challenges that can improve the lives of Californians.

    Staying ahead of threats 

    Last year, Governor Newsom also signed a series of bills to crack down on sexually explicit deepfakes and require AI watermarking, protect performers’ digital likenesses, and combat deepfake election content.

    Recent news

    Apr 29, 2025

    News What you need to know: California is filing a lawsuit today against the Trump administration for dismantling AmeriCorps, which puts service and volunteer programs across the country and in California at risk. SACRAMENTO — Today, Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney…

    Apr 28, 2025

    News SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom today issued the following statement congratulating newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney:“Jennifer and I warmly congratulate Prime Minister Mark Carney on his party’s election victory in Canada. California looks…

    Apr 28, 2025

    News Sacramento, California – Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation declaring April 28, 2025 as “Workers’ Memorial Day.”The text of the proclamation and a copy can be found below: PROCLAMATIONOn Workers’ Memorial Day, we acknowledge, remember, and honor…

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: California sues Trump administration for dismantling AmeriCorps

    Source: US State of California 2

    Apr 29, 2025

    What you need to know: California is filing a lawsuit today against the Trump administration for dismantling AmeriCorps, which puts service and volunteer programs across the country and in California at risk.

    SACRAMENTO — Today, Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that California, along with other states, is suing the Trump administration over recent DOGE efforts to dismantle AmeriCorps – the federal agency vital to supporting volunteer and service efforts in California and across the country.  

    As the federal government cuts AmeriCorps programs, the state is recruiting for the California Service Corps program — already the largest service corps in the nation, surpassing the size of the Peace Corps.

    Service sits at the very core of who we are as Americans. California is suing the Trump administration to defend thousands of hardworking service members and the communities they serve.

    These actions by President Trump and Elon Musk not only threaten our funding – they vandalize our values. We’re going to fight to stop them.

    Governor Gavin Newsom

    In the complaint today, the Attorney General Bonta and a multistate coalition argue that by abruptly canceling critical grants and gutting AmeriCorps’ workforce, the Trump Administration is effectively shuttering the national volunteer agency and ending states’ abilities to support AmeriCorps programs within their borders. 

    “AmeriCorps volunteers bring out the best in America and in our communities. By abruptly canceling critical grants and gutting AmeriCorps’ workforce and volunteers, DOGE is dismantling AmeriCorps without any concern for the thousands of people who are ready and eager to serve their country — or for those whose communities are stronger because of this public service,” said Attorney General Bonta. “In California, AmeriCorps volunteers build affordable housing, clean up our environment, and address food insecurity in communities across our state. California has repeatedly taken action to hold the Trump Administration and DOGE accountable to the law — and we stand prepared to do it again to protect AmeriCorps and the vital services it provides.”

    In 2024, at least 6,150 California members served at more than 1,200 locations, including schools, food banks, homeless shelters, health clinics, youth centers, veterans’ facilities, and other nonprofit and faith-based organizations. When the devastating fires struck Los Angeles earlier this year, AmeriCorps members were on the ground, distributing supplies and supporting families. The agency’s shutdown ends these efforts.

    “DOGE isn’t just cutting jobs — they’re attacking the very people who keep California strong,” said GO-Serve Director Josh Fryday. “They’re coming after the service members who responded to the LA fires, the tutors helping our kids and the young leaders caring for our seniors. It’s outrageous, it’s illegal and we won’t back down. In California, we’re not just defending service — we’re strengthening it. California is doubling down, and we trust the courts will strike this down and uphold the values we fight for every day.” 

    California Service Corps is the largest service force in the nation, consisting of four paid service programs:   

     Combined, it is a force larger than the Peace Corps and is mobilized at a time when California is addressing post-pandemic academic recovery, rebuilding from the LA fires and planning for the future of the state’s workforce. 

    In the 2023-24 service year, AmeriCorps members in California: 

    • Provided 4,397,674 hours of service
    • Tutored/mentored 73,833 students
    • Supported 17,000 foster youth with education and employment 
    • Planted 39,288 trees

    Members helped 26,000 households impacted by the LA fires and packed 21,000 food boxes.

    Press Releases, Recent News

    Recent news

    Apr 28, 2025

    News SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom today issued the following statement congratulating newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney:“Jennifer and I warmly congratulate Prime Minister Mark Carney on his party’s election victory in Canada. California looks…

    Apr 28, 2025

    News Sacramento, California – Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation declaring April 28, 2025 as “Workers’ Memorial Day.”The text of the proclamation and a copy can be found below: PROCLAMATIONOn Workers’ Memorial Day, we acknowledge, remember, and honor…

    Apr 25, 2025

    News What you need to know: DOGE is ramping up its work to dismantle AmeriCorps. California will sue to stop it. SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today issued the following statement after California received notice from the federal government of termination of its…

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Closure of mines and lignite-fired power stations in Western Macedonia: a great cause of suffering for the people – E-001603/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-001603/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Lefteris Nikolaou-Alavanos (NI)

    Heightened competition between the EU and Russia and competitive planning by the US are paving the way for further increases in the cost of energy and basic commodities. The implementation of the EU’s green strategy is also marked by the closure, by the Greek Government and Public Power Corporation, of the Meliti and Megalopoli coal-fired power stations and the planned closure of the one in Agios Dimitrios and of the mines that supply them. Power plants harnessing a local fuel, lignite, are being replaced by plants running on imported natural gas. This is depriving the people of access to cheap electricity, while fostering unemployment in Western Macedonia and jeopardising national energy security.

    The Commission’s action plan for ‘cheaper natural gas imports’ increases dependence on LNG from the US, which is more expensive, while guaranteeing lower relative energy prices for large industrial groups.

    Can the Commission say:

    • 1.How does it view the fact that the ‘green’ energy strategy pursued by the EU and national governments is determined by the requirements and interests of business groups?
    • 2.What view does it take of the fact that ending dependence on Russian gas, abandoning cheap domestic lignite and shifting towards more expensive LNG from the US and the measures to increase the share of renewable energy sources under the conditions of the ‘liberalised market’ only result in further increases in costs for ordinary households, exploitative labour conditions for workers in the sector and a blight on the people of Western Macedonia?

    Submitted: 22.4.2025

    Last updated: 30 April 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Israeli legislation on registration and visa issuance for international NGOs – E-001532/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-001532/2025/rev.1
    to the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
    Rule 144
    Cecilia Strada (S&D), Marco Tarquinio (S&D), Leoluca Orlando (Verts/ALE), Ilaria Salis (The Left), Rudi Kennes (The Left), Thijs Reuten (S&D), Nikos Pappas (The Left), Daniel Attard (S&D), Carola Rackete (The Left), Marc Botenga (The Left), Hanna Gedin (The Left), Jonas Sjöstedt (The Left), Evin Incir (S&D), Sandra Gómez López (S&D), Annalisa Corrado (S&D), Sandro Ruotolo (S&D), Pierre Jouvet (S&D), Marta Temido (S&D), Damien Carême (The Left), Marit Maij (S&D), Rima Hassan (The Left), Chloé Ridel (S&D), Alex Agius Saliba (S&D), Brando Benifei (S&D), Mounir Satouri (Verts/ALE), Jaume Asens Llodrà (Verts/ALE), Tilly Metz (Verts/ALE), Rasmus Nordqvist (Verts/ALE), Villy Søvndal (Verts/ALE), Mélissa Camara (Verts/ALE), Catarina Vieira (Verts/ALE), David Cormand (Verts/ALE), Tineke Strik (Verts/ALE), Majdouline Sbai (Verts/ALE), Benedetta Scuderi (Verts/ALE)

    On 9 March 2025, new Israeli legislation on registration and visa issuance for international NGOs came into effect[1]. Both Israeli and international observers note that these provisions are aimed at denying access to international NGOs providing assistance to the Palestinian population[2]. Visa requirements are now purposely vague and thus highly discretionary, with the registration applications of international NGOs being evaluated solely by government officials. Consequently, this legislation risks becoming a tool for silencing government critics.

    The Knesset is also considering further financial and operational restrictions for internationally funded NGOs[3], including an 80 % tax on international donations and barring access to justice for NGOs relying on foreign funding.

    These repressive policies will likely obstruct the delivery of humanitarian aid and welfare services to Palestinians. While the EU allocates EUR 1.5 billion for Palestinian assistance, Israel’s policies threaten the operations of many EU-funded humanitarian actors[4].

    Taking into account Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement:

    • 1.Was the new Israeli legislation on international NGOs discussed at the latest EU-Israel Association Council meeting? If so, what was the outcome of the discussion?
    • 2.Will the Commission propose the suspension of the Association Agreement if international NGOs are forbidden access to the Occupied Palestinian Territories?

    Supporters[5]

    Submitted: 15.4.2025

    • [1] https://www.gov.il/he/pages/dec2542-2024
    • [2] Inter alia: https://gisha.org/en/ngos-in-israel-condemn-an-israeli-government-decision-designed-to-deny-registration-and-work-visas-to-international-humanitarian-organizations/; https://www.focsiv.it/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Dossier-Informativo-questione-registrazione-in-Israele.pdf; https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/implementation-new-israeli-ngo-registration-and-visa-regulations
    • [3] S. Sokol, Ministers advance bill levying 80% tax on foreign state funding of Israeli NGOs, The times of Israel, 16 February 2025, https://www.timesofisrael.com/ministers-vote-to-back-bill-levying-80-tax-on-foreign-state-funding-of-israeli-ngos/
    • [4] https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-humanitarian-support-to-palestinians/
    • [5] This question is supported by Members other than the authors: Cristina Guarda (Verts/ALE), Matjaž Nemec (S&D)

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Joint efforts to prevent and combat different forms of hatred against traditional national and linguistic minorities – E-001599/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-001599/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Loránt Vincze (PPE)

    A young man was recently attacked with a knife for using a minority language, Hungarian, in Bratislava, Slovakia[1]. A group of young local supporters were beaten for speaking Hungarian in Cluj-Napoca, Romania[2]. Far from being isolated incidents, hate speech is present throughout Europe and it affects different communities from various regions. Hate speech and hate crimes targeting traditional national and linguistic minorities remain a serious concern in the EU. The Intergroup on Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages[3] has been informed of several such cases[4].

    • 1.How can the Commission improve its actions to prevent and combat hate speech and hatred targeting, in particular, traditional national and linguistic minorities, and ensure their effective support at EU level?
    • 2.As the Commission already pays particular attention to specific forms of hate speech and hate crime experienced by certain communities, would it consider focusing its attention on traditional national and linguistic minorities, who represent 10 % of the EU population?
    • 3.Would the Commission consider including the effort to combat hate speech and hate crimes against traditional minorities in the work programme of the High-Level Group on combating hate speech and hate crime?

    Submitted: 22.4.2025

    • [1] spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/man-attacked-by-knife-in-bratislava-supposedly-for-hungarian-origin.
    • [2] www.mikoimre.ro/en/young-man-attacked-by-cluj-ultras-for-speaking-hungarian.
    • [3] www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/intergroup/details/7895/Intergroup%20on%20Traditional%20Minorities,%20National%20Communities%20and%20Languages.
    • [4] For further cases of hate crime and hate speech committed against traditional national and linguistic minorities see: https://minoritymonitor.eu/.
    Last updated: 30 April 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Notice to improve: Havant and South Downs College

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Correspondence

    Notice to improve: Havant and South Downs College

    A notice to improve, issued to Havant and South Downs College.

    Applies to England

    Documents

    Notice to improve: Havant and South Downs College

    PDF, 296 KB, 5 pages

    Details

    This letter and its annex serve as a written notice to improve at Havant and South Downs College.

    Updates to this page

    Published 1 May 2025

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    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Financial health notice to improve: Mary Ward Settlement

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Correspondence

    Financial health notice to improve: Mary Ward Settlement

    A financial health notice to improve issued to Mary Ward Settlement.

    Applies to England

    Documents

    Notice to improve: Mary Ward Settlement

    PDF, 292 KB, 5 pages

    Details

    This letter and its annex serve as a notice to improve financial health at Mary Ward Settlement.

    Updates to this page

    Published 1 May 2025

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    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Revised notice to improve: Furness College

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Correspondence

    Revised notice to improve: Furness College

    A notice to improve, issued to Furness College.

    Applies to England

    Documents

    Revised notice to improve: Furness College

    PDF, 153 KB, 6 pages

    Closed notice to improve: Furness College

    PDF, 140 KB, 7 pages

    Details

    The revised notice and its annex serve as a written notice to improve quality at Furness College.

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    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Self-selection bias in the composition of citizen panels and youth dialogues – E-002913/2024(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    The Commission is committed to citizen participation and engagement as part of its policymaking process. Citizen engagement is underpinned by a robust methodology, based on established criteria.

    The participants in the European Citizens’ Panels are selected based on a fully randomised selection process with the aim to compose a group representative of EU diversity.

    The following elements are taken into account to ensure diversity: origin from one of the 27 Member States, gender, age (with one third of participants being between 16 and 25 years old), residence in an urban or rural area, level of education, professional activity, and the image held of the EU.

    The last element guarantees that the same diversity of views found in Eurobarometer surveys (negative, neutral, or positive image of the EU) is reflected in the Panel. In addition, the panels are keenly observed by a range of experts and interested parties.

    For the selection of participants in the Youth Policy Dialogues, the Commission also aims for diversity in the groups. It has made efforts to achieve balance in terms of gender, nationality and geography (including from rural areas and cities), and to mix participants from youth networks and from outside such networks.

    Both the Panels and the Dialogues are accessible for people with disabilities.

    Last updated: 30 April 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Did Brussels try to censor Meta? – E-000061/2025(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    The Digital Services Act (DSA )[1] requires providers of very large online platforms (VLOPs), including Meta as provider of Facebook and Instagram , to have mechanisms in place to mitigate the risks posed by the dissemination of illegal content, including illegal hate speech and unlawful discriminatory content.

    The DSA does not impose general monitoring obligations, nor does it regulate online content. It defers to EU or national laws to define what is illegal content, based on which judicial or administrative authorities may issue orders to act against it.

    The DSA sets clear rules for transparency, accountability and user protection, and respects freedom of expression. It requires hosting services to set up notice and action mechanisms for users to report illegal content, including illegal hate speech.

    The DSA also requires providers of VLOPs like Meta to assess systemic risks stemming from their services and put in place effective measures to mitigate such risks related to the dissemination of illegal content, gender-based violence, fundamental rights including the right to freedom of expression and information and to non-discrimination, and civic discourse and electoral processes.

    The Commission opened formal proceedings[2] in relation to Meta’s services Facebook and Instagram to assess whether Meta may have breached the DSA.

    The current proceedings focus on deceptive advertising and disinformation, the over-suppression of political content, the non-availability of an effective real-time election monitoring tool and the notice and action mechanisms.

    The European Media Freedom Act[3] will further strengthen media pluralism and independence in the EU.

    The Commission remains fully committed to upholding freedom of expression.

    • [1] Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market for Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act) 2022 OJ L277/1.
    • [2] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_2373
    • [3] Regulation (EU) 2024/1083 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 establishing a common framework for media services in the internal market and amending Directive 2010/13/EU (European Media Freedom Act) OJ 2024 L 17.4.2024.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Study – European Parliament diplomacy and the end of the Cold War: The integration of central and eastern European countries – 30-04-2025

    Source: European Parliament

    The European Parliament played a fundamental role in reshaping the political landscape of central and eastern Europe during and after the end of the Cold War, setting out an agenda for European enlargement and substantiating European integration. Amid an atmosphere that signalled the triumph of democratic state-building in Europe, Members of the European Parliament also saw an opportunity to advance their own agenda of further democratising and legitimising the governance structures of the European Community. The study examines how the European Parliament strengthened its presence throughout this period in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia (now Czechia and Slovakia), Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the former Yugoslavia. Based on archival research and relevant literature review, the study illustrates the European Parliament’s involvement in these states’ path to full European Union membership, the motivations behind its policies, and the points of tension that arose during this transformative period.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Press release – “Flow” wins 2025 LUX Audience Award

    Source: European Parliament

    The film “Flow”, directed by Latvian Gints Zilbalodis, was awarded the 2025 LUX Audience Award at a ceremony on Tuesday in the European Parliament in Brussels.

    “Flow“, a Latvian, French and Belgian co-production, tells the story of Cat, a solitary animal whose home is devastated by a great flood. In his efforts to adapt to a new world, Cat finds refuge on a boat populated by other animals. The film deals with issues that are central in the European Parliament’s work: climate change, migration, displacement, and resilience.

    “The LUX Audience Award is more than just a prize. It is a testament to the European Parliament’s commitment to democracy, freedom of expression and the role of cinema in reflecting and shaping our societies. It brings European stories closer to people and brings people closer to the work of the European Parliament. This year’s five nominated films represent some of the most urgent and compelling issues of our time, issues that are at the core of the European Parliament’s agenda,” European Parliament Vice-President Sabine Verheyen (EPP, DE) said in a video message shown during the ceremony in the European Parliament hemicycle in Brussels.

    “We have had five compelling narratives and five very different LUX Audience Award nominees: they are an inspiration to filmmakers and the public, not only for celebrating the extraordinary variety of European cinema but also for demonstrating its ability to entertain and elevate at the same time. The cinematic art in Europe is a perfect example of how culture can make a significant contribution to society and advocate for compassion, empathy and change in an otherwise divided world,” Mike Downey, honorary president of the LUX Selection Committee and chair of the European Film Academy, said following the announcement of the winner.

    The four other films shortlisted for the award were: “Animal” by Greek director Sofia Exarchou, “Dahomey” by French director Mati Diop, “Intercepted” by Ukranian director Oksana Karpovych, and “Julie keeps quiet” by Belgian director Leonardo van Dijl.

    The winning film was chosen by combining a public vote and a vote by MEPs, each weighted at 50%.

    Press point

    After the ceremony, a press point with the chair of Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education, Nela Riehl (Greens, DE), representatives of the winning film, and Mike Downey, will take place in front of room SPAAK 03C050. The press point will be webstreamed via the European Parliament Multimedia Centre.


    LUX Audience Award

    Through the LUX Audience Award, a unique pan-European audience film prize, Parliament has supported the distribution of European films since 2007, by providing subtitles in 24 EU languages for shortlisted films. The LUX Audience Award has garnered a reputation for quality by selecting European co-productions that engage with topical political and social issues and encourage debate about European values.

    The European Parliament works with the European Film Academy, the European Commission, and the Europa Cinemas network to reach a wider audience and to continue to strengthen the links between people and politics.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Application of the rule of law conditionality mechanism – Institutional balance and respect for national competences – E-001578/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-001578/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Angéline Furet (PfE), Philippe Olivier (PfE), Tobiasz Bocheński (ECR), Anna Bryłka (PfE), Pierre Pimpie (PfE), António Tânger Corrêa (PfE), Tomasz Buczek (PfE), Julie Rechagneux (PfE), Roberto Vannacci (PfE), Petra Steger (PfE), France Jamet (PfE), Gheorghe Piperea (ECR), Pascale Piera (PfE), Petar Volgin (ESN), Petr Bystron (ESN), Sarah Knafo (ESN), Rody Tolassy (PfE), Mélanie Disdier (PfE), Gerolf Annemans (PfE)

    Since 2021, the implementation of the rule of law conditionality regulation has raised concerns about a possible slide into authoritarianism by the Commission. The mechanism can be used to suspend or condition European funds on the basis of the Commission’s assessment of the internal situation in a Member State. In doing so, the Commission often exceeds its competences and appears to apply the mechanism in a biased manner, targeting governments such as those of Poland and Hungary.

    • 1.How does the Commission ensure that the application of the regulation is not instrumentalised for political purposes against certain Member States, in particular those whose governments take positions which diverge from those of the European institutions?
    • 2.How does it justify its intention to bypass national governments in the event of non-compliance with the rule of law, by distributing EU funds directly to the final beneficiaries, in flagrant disregard for the principle of subsidiarity, the competences of the Member States and the legal limits set by the Treaties?
    • 3.Does it intend to introduce a similar conditionality mechanism which would allow Member States to temporarily suspend their contributions to the EU budget in the event of serious deficiencies or scandals within the European institutions themselves?

    Supporters[1]

    Submitted: 18.4.2025

    • [1] This question is supported by Members other than the authors: Marie-Luce Brasier-Clain (PfE), Nikola Bartůšek (PfE)
    Last updated: 29 April 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: REPORT on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a temporary derogation from certain provisions of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and Regulation (EU) 2016/399 as regards a progressive start of operations of the Entry/Exit System – A10-0082/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

    on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a temporary derogation from certain provisions of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and Regulation (EU) 2016/399 as regards a progressive start of operations of the Entry/Exit System

    (COM(2024)0567 – C10‑0207/2024 – 2024/0315(COD))

    (Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

    The European Parliament,

    – having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2024)0567),

    – having regard to Article 294(2) and Article 77(2) points (b) and (d) and Article 87(2) point (a) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C10-0207/2024),

    – having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

    – having regard to Rule 60 of its Rules of Procedure,

    – having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A10-0082/2025),

    1. Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

    2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

    3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

    Amendment  1

    AMENDMENTS BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT[*]

    to the Commission proposal

    ———————————————————

    REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

    on a temporary derogation from certain provisions of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and Regulation (EU) 2016/399 as regards a progressive start of operations of the Entry/Exit System
     

    THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

    Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 77(2) points (b) and (d) and Article 87(2) point (a), thereof,

     

    Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

     

    After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

     

    Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure[1],

     

    Whereas:

    (1) Article 66(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 of the European Parliament and of the Council[2], establishing the Entry/Exit System (‘EES’), provides that the Commission is to decide the date from which the EES is to start operations, provided that certain conditions are met.

    (2) However, the Commission has not received all notifications pursuant to Article 66(1), point (c), of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226, which is one of the conditions for deciding on the start of operations of the EES.

    (3) Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 only allows for a full start of operations, requiring all Member States to start using the EES fully for all third-country nationals subject to registration in the EES and to use the EES simultaneously at all their border crossing points. However, a full start of operations of all EES functionalities at all border crossing points simultaneously constitutes a risk for the resilience of the EES as a whole and for passenger flows at the external borders.

    (4) In order to ensure a smooth launch of the EES and facilitate its timely roll-out in all Member States, to provide Member States with the necessary flexibility to start using the EES within a clearly defined period of time and to facilitate technical and operational adjustments when starting to operate the EES, it is necessary to lay down rules for a progressive start of operations of the EES during which Member States should be able to opt for a phased roll-out of the EES. To ensure these adjustments take account of potential travel flows and seasonal peaks, such a progressive start should have a duration of 180 calendar days.

    (5) To enable a progressive start of operations of the EES it is ▌necessary to derogate from certain provisions of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council[3] (‘Schengen Borders Code’). Other rules set out in Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 that are not affected by this Regulation apply as provided for in that Regulation. In particular, the data recorded in the EES throughout the progressive start of operations follow the rules set out in Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and are considered reliable and accurate. This Regulation does not affect the validity of the notifications already provided to the Commission by Member States under Article 66(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226.

    (6) Member States that do not intend to use the EES simultaneously at all their border crossing points from the start of operations, should progressively start operating the EES to record, on entry and exit, the data of third-country nationals subject to registration in the EES at one or more border crossing points, or at one or more lanes of such border crossing points. If possible and applicable, Member States should include a combination of air, land and sea border crossing points. To ensure a controlled launch of the EES and to better manage and avoid potential long waiting times at the borders, where relevant, and if necessary, Member States should deploy all the functionalities of the EES progressively and register the data of all third-country nationals subject to registration in the EES gradually. To ensure the full use of the EES at all border crossing points in the Union, where Member States choose a progressive start of operations it should be implemented in phases, which should set the minimum requirements to be reached by Member States. Member States will retain the possibility to accelerate implementation at national level or start operating the EES fully from the start of operations. The gradual processing of data in the EES should be carried out in full respect of the rights of data subjects as set out in Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council1a and should not lead, directly or indirectly, to any form of discrimination or profiling. The Commission, in consultation with the European Data Protection Supervisor, should issue guidelines on the processing of personal data in the EES during the progressive start of operations.

    (7) To facilitate a smooth deployment of the EES, the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA) should develop a high-level roll-out plan to support the effective and continuous operation of the EES Central System, include fall-back procedures for the functioning of the EES Central System and provide guidance to the end-users, including the Member States and Union agencies on planning and executing the EES deployment during its progressive start of operations and should submit it to the European Parliament, the Commission, Member States and Union agencies. ▌

    (8) To facilitate a smooth deployment of the EES, Member States should develop national roll-out plans in consultation with the Commission and eu-LISA and present those plans to the Commission. For each of the phases of the progressive start of the EES operations, the national roll-out plans should include the information on the set thresholds and requirements, in particular: (i) the date from which the EES will operate at each border crossing point; (ii) the percentage of the estimated number of border crossings to be registered in the EES out of the total number of third-country nationals subject to registration in the EES; and (iii) where applicable, the biometric functionalities to be operated at each selected border crossing point. When preparing their respective national roll-out plans, Member States should appropriately coordinate with the operators of infrastructure where border crossing points are located. and inform relevant stakeholders of the border crossing points where they plan to start operating the EES and of their planned use of the biometric functionalities of the EES. To monitor compliance with the progressive start of operations, Member States should provide the Commission and eu-LISA monthly reports on the implementation of their roll-out plans unless and until the EES is used fully for all third-country nationals subject to registration in the EES and is used simultaneously at all border crossing points in the Member State. Such monthly reports should include corrective measures, where necessary, to ensure compliance with the progressive start of operations. The Commission should issue guidelines to facilitate the adoption of national roll-out plans and monthly reports by the Member States that are concise and proportionate.

    (8a)  To facilitate a smooth deployment of the EES, it is important that neither the start nor the end of the progressive start of operations of the EES coincide with the peak travel seasons in summer, June to August, or winter, December to February.

    (9) Due to the progressive start of operations of the EES and resulting incompleteness of the data recorded in the EES, travel documents of third-country nationals should be systematically stamped on entry and exit during the progressive start of operations of the EES. National authorities should take into account the possible incompleteness of entry/exit records or of refusal of entry records and should consider stamps as prevailing over the information registered in the EES. In addition, when providing information to third-country nationals about the maximum remaining duration of their authorised stay, national authorities should base their assessment on the stamps affixed in the travel documents. The data recorded in the EES should be used in the calculation of maximum remaining duration only in case a stamp is missing.

    (10) Considering that the data registered in the EES during the progressive start of operations of the EES might be incomplete, national authorities should not take into account the results provided by the automated calculator on the maximum remaining duration of the authorised stay of third-country nationals registered in the EES. Similarly, when carrying out their tasks, national authorities should not take into account the automated mechanism to identify or flag the lack of exit records following the date of expiry of an authorised stay or the records for which the maximum duration of authorised stay was exceeded, as well as the generated lists of persons identified as overstayers.

    (11) To provide Member States with the necessary time to adjust to the start of the EES, for the first 60 calendar days of the progressive start of operations, the use of biometric functionalities at border crossing points should not be mandatory. However, Member States are encouraged to make use of those functionalities during that period in order to support a smooth operational transition and to enable the timely detection and resolution of any potential implementation issues. No later than the 90th calendar day of the progressive start of operations, Member States should operate the EES with biometric functionalities at least at half of their border crossing points. Providing biometric data should not be an entry condition for third-country nationals subject to registration in the EES at the border crossing points where the EES is operated without biometric functionalities.

    (12) To accommodate the need to progressively deploy the EES with biometric functionalities at some border crossing points, the biometric verification of third-country nationals subject to registration in the EES should only be carried out at the border crossing points at which the EES is operated with biometric functionalities.

    (13) To ensure coherence of the operations of the interoperability between the Visa Information System (VIS) established by Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council[4] and the EES, the VIS should only be accessed directly at those border crossing points at which the EES is not operated. At the border crossing points at which the EES is operated, border authorities should make use of the interoperability between the EES and the VIS.

    (14) Third-country nationals whose data are to be recorded in the EES should be informed about their rights and obligations regarding the processing of their data in the form of a template as provided in Article 50(5) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226. The information to be provided to third-country nationals subject to the EES registration should refer to the progressive start of operations of the EES. Third-country nationals should be informed in the template of their obligation to provide biometric data at border crossing points where it constitutes an entry condition. They should be made aware in the template of the consequences of not providing biometric data. They should be informed in the template that it will not be possible for them to verify the remaining duration of the authorised stay by automated means. National authorities should make all reasonable efforts to provide those third-country nationals with details of the duration of their authorised stay based on the stamps in their travel documents.

    (15) To reflect the progressive start of operations of the EES, the Commission should, at least every month, introduce relevant updates on the EES website.

    (16) The aim of raising awareness among third-country nationals on their specific rights and obligations would be best achieved if Member States customise the implementation of the campaign based on how the EES will operate at their borders at which the EES is operated in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226. The information materials developed by the Commission, in cooperation with the supervisory authorities and the European Data Protection Supervisor, and with the support of Member States in the context of Article 51 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 should therefore be adapted to carry out the information campaign accompanying the progressive start of operations.

    (17) During the progressive start of operations of the EES, the web service will not enable third-country nationals to electronically verify the exact duration of their authorised stay.

    (18) This Regulation does not affect the obligations of air carriers, sea carriers and international carriers transporting groups overland by coach as set out in Article 26(1) of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement[5] and Council Directive 2001/51/EC.[6] In this respect, carriers should verify the stamps affixed in travel documents. To ensure effective communication with carriers about the distinct application of the EES at the border crossing points, ultimately benefiting travellers, it is crucial that Member States are transparent about the deployment of the EES at their border crossing points.

    (19) Article 22 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and Article 12a of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 provide for a transitional period and transitional measures referring to the start of operations of the EES. It is necessary to derogate from those Articles to ensure that the transitional period and the transitional measures apply only as of the end of the progressive start of operations. That derogation should cease to apply 5 years and 180 calendar days after the date decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 66(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226.

    (20) To ensure that national authorities and EU agencies, in the performance of their tasks, avoid taking decisions exclusively based on data registered in the EES, they should take into account that individual files registered in the EES may contain incomplete data sets and should in any case not take decisions adversely affecting individuals exclusively on the basis that a registration of an alleged entry or exit is absent in the EES. That derogation should cease to apply 5 years after the date decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 66(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 to reflect the 5-year retention period for data sets for which the exit record is missing as set out in Article 34(3) of that Regulation.

    (21) When ensuring compliance with the provisions in Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 on the amendment of data and advance data erasure, Member States should complete the incomplete data to the extent permitted by the limited availability of the sets of data registered in the EES during the progressive start of operations.

    (22) The European Border and Coast Guard Agency should refrain from using data registered in the EES during the progressive start of operations for carrying out risk analyses and vulnerability assessments due to the incompleteness of the data that could lead to misleading risk and vulnerability assessments.

    (23) To ensure effective management of the external borders during the progressive start of operations of the EES, at the border crossing points at which the EES is not operated, border checks should be carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/399 as applicable [the day before the date from which the EES is to start operations as decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 66(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226]. At the border crossing points at which the EES is operated, border checks should be carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and the Schengen Borders Code. However, specific derogations from these Regulations should apply with regards to the verification at the border crossing points at which the EES is operated without biometric functionalities to enable the progressive start of operations. This should happen without prejudice to verifications of visa holders by using fingerprints, in accordance with Regulation (EC) 767/2008.

    (24) To enable an effective adjustment of technical and organisational arrangements ▌and to address potential exceptional circumstances of failure of the EES Central System, national systems or communication infrastructure, or excessive waiting times at their borders, during the period of the progressive start of operations of the EES, Member States should have the possibility to suspend the operations of the EES at certain border crossing points, fully or partially. In case of partial suspension, the registration of biometric data in the EES should be suspended. In case of full suspension, no data should be registered in the EES. In both cases, Member States should promptly inform the operators of infrastructure hosting border crossing points and carriers. No later than 6 hours after the start of the suspension, Member States should notify to the Commission and eu-LISA the reason for the full or partial suspension and its expected duration.

    (24a)  To mitigate additional risks related to the deployment of the EES with biometric functionalities, Member States should have the possibility, in exceptional circumstances leading to traffic of such intensity that the waiting times at borders become excessive, to suspend the registration of biometric data in the EES after the end of the progressive start of operations. Such a suspension should be possible for a limited period of 60 days after the end of the progressive start of operations of the EES.

    (25) eu-LISA should publish reports on the statistics on the use of the system, which should serve to evaluate the system’s performance, assess Member States compliance with the eu-LISA high-level roll-out plan and the national roll-out plans, identify areas for improvement, monitor compliance with the progressive start of operations of the EES, and support decision-making relating to the system’s further development and optimisation. Furthermore, eu-LISA should continue its regular reporting to its Management Board, which will in turn oversee the gradual roll-out of EES operations.

    (26) The preparatory work related to the roll-out plans should be triggered by the date of the entry into force of this Regulation. Member States which have not yet submitted their declaration of readiness are urged to do so within 30 days after the entry into force of this Regulation. The progressive start of operations should apply from the date decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 66(1) of EES Regulation. As this Regulation provides for temporary derogations, it should cease to apply 180 calendar days after the date decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 66(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226.  However, the derogatory rules on the application of transitional period and transitional measures, access to EES data, verification by the carriers of stamps affixed in the travel documents and the suspension of the EES should apply for a limited period after the end of the progressive start of operations.

    (27) The objective of this Regulation, authorising derogations from Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and Regulation (EU) 2016/399 to provide for a progressive start of operations of the EES, cannot be sufficiently achieved by Member States but can rather, by reason of the scale and impact of the action, be better achieved at Union level. Therefore, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve those objectives.

    (28) In accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of Protocol No 22 on the position of Denmark, annexed to the TEU and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Denmark is not taking part in the adoption of this Regulation and is not bound by it or subject to its application. Given that this Regulation builds upon the Schengen acquis, Denmark should, in accordance with Article 4 of that Protocol, decide within a period of six months after the Council has decided on this Regulation whether it will implement it in its national law.

    (29) This Regulation does not constitute a development of the provisions of the Schengen acquis in which Ireland takes part in accordance with Council Decision 2002/192/EC. Ireland is therefore not taking part in the adoption of this Regulation and is not bound by it or subject to its application.

    (30) As regards Iceland and Norway, this Regulation constitutes a development of the provisions of the Schengen acquis within the meaning of the Agreement concluded by the Council of the European Union and the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway concerning those states association with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis, which fall within the area referred to in Article 1, point A of Council Decision 1999/437/EC.

    (31) As regards Switzerland, this Regulation constitutes a development of the provisions of the Schengen acquis within the meaning of the Agreement between the European Union, the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on the Swiss Confederation’s association with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis, which fall within the area referred to in Article 1, point A of Decision 1999/437/EC, read in conjunction with Article 3 of Council Decision 2008/146/EC.

    (32) As regards Liechtenstein, this Regulation constitutes a development of the provisions of the Schengen acquis within the meaning of the Protocol between the European Union, the European Community, the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein on the accession of the Principality of Liechtenstein to the Agreement between the European Union, the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on the Swiss Confederation’s association with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis which fall within the area referred to in Article 1, point A of Decision 1999/437/EC read in conjunction with Article 3 of Council Decision 2011/350/EU.

    (33) As regards Cyprus, the provisions of this Regulation relating to the VIS constitute provisions building upon, or otherwise relating to, the Schengen acquis within the meaning of Article 3(2) of the 2003 Act of Accession. The operation of the EES requires the granting of passive access to the VIS. As the EES is only to be operated by those Member States that fulfil the conditions related to VIS at the start of the operation of the EES, Cyprus will not operate the EES from the start of operations. Cyprus is to be connected to the EES as soon as the conditions of the procedure referred to in Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 are met.

    (34) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and delivered its opinion on [xx].

    (35) This Regulation establishes strict rules concerning access to the EES, as well as the necessary safeguards for such access. It also sets out the individuals’ rights of access, rectification, completion, erasure and redress, in particular the right to a judicial remedy and the supervision of processing operations by public independent authorities. This Regulation therefore respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in particular the right to human dignity, the prohibition of slavery and forced labour, the right to liberty and security, respect for private and family life, the protection of personal data, the right to non-discrimination, the rights of the child, the rights of the elderly, the integration of persons with disabilities and the right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial. 

    (36) This Regulation is without prejudice to the obligations deriving from the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951, as supplemented by the New York Protocol of 31 January 1967.

     

    HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

    Article 1
    Subject matter

    This Regulation lays down rules on a progressive start of operations of the Entry/Exit System (EES) at the borders of the Member States at which the EES is operated in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and temporary derogations from Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and Regulation (EU) 2016/399.

    Article 2
    Definitions

    For the purposes of this Regulation, the definitions in Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 apply. In addition, the following definitions apply:

    (a) ‘progressive start of operations of the EES’ means the period of 180 calendar days starting from the date decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 66(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226;

    (b) ‘national authorities’ means the authorities referred to in Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226;

    (c) ‘estimated number of border crossings’ means a Member State’s estimate of the number of border crossings of third-country nationals referred to in Article 2(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 in each Member State based on the yearly average of the total number of border crossings of third-country nationals travelling for a short stay in that Member State calculated for the preceding two calendar years from the date of application  referred to in Article 8(1), second subparagraph, of this Regulation.

    Article 3
    Roll-out plans and monthly reports

    1. By [the 30th calendar day after the entry into force of this Regulation], the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA) shall provide the European Parliament, the Commission, Member States, as well as Europol, with a high-level roll-out plan on the progressive start of operations of the EES, taking into account the phases set out in Article 4. That roll-out plan shall support the effective and continuous operation of the EES Central System, include fall-back procedures for the functioning of the EES Central System and provide guidance on the use of the EES to the end-users, including Member States and Europol ▌. 

    2. By [the 60th calendar day after the entry into force of this Regulation], in consultation with the Commission and eu-LISA, Member States shall develop  national roll-out plans on the progressive start of operations of the EES, taking into account the high-level roll-out plan referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article and present those plans to the Commission. Where a Member State does not start operating the EES fully from the beginning of the progressive start of operations of the EES, the national roll-out plan shall specify how the thresholds and requirements set out in Article 4 shall be met. EU-Lisa shall assess whether the national roll-out plans are consistent with the high-level roll-out plan and shall confirm that they do not contain any deficiencies which could further delay the entry into operation of the EES. Member States shall inform relevant stakeholders of the border crossing points where they plan to start operating the EES and of their planned use of the biometric functionalities of the EES.

    3. ▌

    4. From the 30th calendar day after the date from which the EES is to start operations as decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 66(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226, Member States shall provide monthly reports to the European Parliament, the Commission and eu-LISA on the implementation of their national roll-out plans, including corrective measures where necessary to comply with the obligations set out in Article 4.

    5. At the request of the Commission, eu-LISA shall provide the Commission with the statistics necessary for the Commission to monitor the implementation of the high-level roll-out plan and the national roll-out plans, in accordance with Article 63(6) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226.

    5a. The eu-Lisa Management Board shall adopt the high-level roll-out plan referred to in paragraph 1. The Management Board shall also monitor the stability of the EES Central System during the progressive start of operations and suggest additional actions where appropriate.

    5b. The Commission shall issue guidelines to facilitate the provision of concise national roll-out plans and monthly reports by the Member States.

    5c. The Commission, in consultation with the European Data Protection Supervisor, shall issue guidelines on the processing of personal data in the EES during the progressive start of operations.

    Article  4
    Progressive start of operations

    1. By way of derogation from Article 66(6) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 during the progressive start of operations of the EES, the Member States shall use the EES as set out in this Article.

    2. From the first day of the progressive start of operations of the EES, each Member State shall start using the EES on entry and exit at one or more border crossing points with, if possible and applicable, a combination of air, land and sea border crossing points, to record and store data of third-country nationals referred to in Article 2(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226. No later than the 30th calendar day of the progressive start of operations of the EES, Member States shall register in the EES at least 10% of the estimated number of border crossings in that Member State.

    For the first 60 calendar days of the progressive start of operations of the EES, Member States may operate the EES without biometric functionalities, and national authorities may create or update individual files without biometric data.

    3. No later than the 90th calendar day of the progressive start of operations of the EES, Member States shall operate the EES with biometric functionalities at least at half of their border crossing points. Member States shall register at least 35% of the estimated number of border crossings in that Member State. The individual files of third-country nationals referred to in Article 2(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 that are registered in the EES shall contain biometric data.

    4. No later than the 150th calendar day of the progressive start of operations of the EES, Member States shall operate the EES with biometric functionalities at all their border crossing points and shall continue registering in the EES at least 50% of the estimated number of border crossings in that Member State.

    5. No later than the 170th calendar day of the progressive start of operations of the EES, Member States shall operate the EES with biometric functionalities at all their border crossing points and shall register in the EES all third-country nationals referred to in Article 2(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226.

    6. Refusals of entry, decided at a border crossing point at which the EES is operated, shall be recorded in the EES, as set out in Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226. Where the EES is operated with biometric functionalities, refusals of entry shall be recorded with biometric data. Where the EES is operated without biometric functionalities, refusals of entry shall be recorded without biometric data.

    7. From the first day of the progressive start of operations of the EES, Europol shall use the EES as provided for in Regulation (EU) 2017/2226.

    Article 5
    Other derogations from Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and Regulation (EU) 2016/399

    1. In addition to the rules of Article 4, the rules set out in this Article shall apply to all Member States during the progressive start of operations of the EES.

    2. Border authorities shall systematically stamp the travel documents of third-country nationals referred to in Article 2(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 on entry and exit.

    The stamping obligations referred to in Article 42a(1), second subparagraph, and Article 42a(2), (5) and (6) of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 shall apply mutatis mutandis in the Member States operating the EES.

    3. For entering, amending, erasing and consulting the data in the EES, national authorities that are competent for the purposes laid down in Articles 23 to 35 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 shall consider stamps as prevailing over the EES data, including in cases of discrepancy or in cases referred to in Article 16(4) of that Regulation. The data recorded in the EES shall prevail in case a stamp is missing.

    4. In the absence of a stamp affixed in the travel document and of an individual file created in the EES for a third-country national present in the territory of the Member States, national authorities may presume that the third-country national does not fulfil or no longer fulfils the conditions relating to entry or stay in the Member States.

    This presumption shall not apply to third-country nationals who can provide, by any means, credible evidence that they enjoy the right of free movement under Union law, ▌ or that they hold a residence permit or a long-stay visa.

    This presumption may be rebutted where the third-country nationals provide, by any means, credible evidence that they have respected the conditions relating to the duration of a short stay.

    Where the presumption is rebutted, national authorities shall perform one or more of the following tasks at the border crossing points at which the EES is operated, to the extent allowed by this Regulation:

    (a) create an individual file for that third-country national in the EES, if necessary;

    (b) update the latest entry/exit record by entering the missing data;

    (c) erase an existing file where Article 35 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 provides for such erasure.

    5. Border authorities shall make use of the interoperability between the EES and the VIS referred to in Article 8(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 only at the border crossing points at which the EES is operated. Border authorities shall continue accessing the VIS directly:

    (a) at the border crossing points at which the EES is not operated;

    (b) where the EES is suspended in accordance with Article 7 of this Regulation.

    6. National authorities and Europol shall disregard the following:

    (a) the results of the automated calculator that provides information on the maximum duration of the authorised stay referred to in Article 11 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226;

    (b) the automatically generated list of overstayers and its consequences in particular as referred to in Article 6(1), points (c) and (h), Article 12(3), Article 16(4), Article 34(3), Article 50(1), points (i) and (k), Article 63(1), point (e) of that Regulation.

    7. Processing operations by Member States that comply with this Regulation shall not be considered as unlawful or not compliant with Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 for the purposes of Articles 45 and 48 of that Regulation.

    8. Verification of the identity and previous registration of third-country nationals pursuant to Article 23 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 shall be carried out on the third-country nationals referred to in Article 2(1) and (2) of that Regulation at the border crossing points at which the EES is operated with biometric functionalities, including through self-service systems, where available.

    9. In addition to the specific information referred to in Article 50(5) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 that is to be added by the Member States in the template to provide information to third-country nationals about the processing of their personal data in the EES, Member States shall accompany the template to be handed over to third-country nationals at the time the individual file of the person concerned is being created  with the following information:

    ‘The Entry/Exit System is being progressively rolled out. During this roll-out period [from …], your personal data, including your biometric data, might not be collected for the purposes of the Entry/Exit System at all Member States’ external borders. If we need to mandatorily collect this information and you choose not to provide it, you will be refused entry. During this period of the progressive roll-out your data will not be automatically added to a list of overstayers. In addition, you will not be able to check how much longer you are authorised to stay using the website or equipment available at border crossing points. You may address any queries regarding the duration of your authorised stay to the relevant national authorities at the external borders.

    Please note that when the progressive roll-out of the EES is completed, your personal data will be processed according to the information provided in the document accompanying this form.’

    10. The information on the EES website referred to in Article 50(3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 shall be adapted by the Commission to reflect the progressive start of operations.

    11. The information campaign referred to in Article 51 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 accompanying the start of operations of the EES, shall reflect the specific conditions at the border crossing points, ensuring that the relevant information is communicated to those affected, and taking into account the phases set out in Article 4 of this Regulation. The Commission, in cooperation with the European Data Protection Supervisor and national supervisory authorities, shall support Member States in preparing the adapted materials of the information campaign.

    12. The application of Article 12(1) and (2), Article 13(1) and (2), Article 20 and Article 21 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 shall be suspended.

    13. By way of derogation from Article 22 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and Article 12a of Regulation (EU) 2016/399, the transitional period and the transitional measures set out in those Articles shall apply from the first day after the progressive start of operations of the EES has ended.

    14. At the border crossing points at which the EES is not operated, border checks shall be carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/399 as applicable on the day before the date from which the EES is to start operations as decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 66(1) Regulation (EU) 2017/2226.

    At the border crossing points at which the EES is operated, border checks shall be carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and Regulation (EU) 2016/399.

    By way of derogation from the second subparagraph, at the border crossing points where the EES is operated without biometric functionalities, Article 6(1), point (f)(i), and the provisions on the verification of third-country nationals based on biometric data, solely for the purposes of the EES, referred to in Articles 6, point (f) (ii) and Article 8 (3), points (a) and (g) of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 shall not apply.

    For the purposes of this Regulation, Article 9(3) and Article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 shall be suspended.

    Article 6
    Access to the EES data

    1. When accessing the entry and exit records registered in the EES during the progressive start of operations of the EES in the performance of their tasks:

    (a) national authorities and Europol shall take into account that, due to the variable operations of the EES in each Member State during the progressive start of operations of the EES, the data could be incomplete;

    (aa)  national authorities and Europol shall not take decisions adversely affecting individuals solely on the basis that a registration of an alleged entry or exit is absent in the EES;

    (b) national authorities shall take into account that the data could be incomplete when communicating data in accordance with Articles 41 and 42 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226;

    (c) the ETIAS Central Unit shall take into account that the entry and exit records registered in the EES during the progressive start of operations of the EES could include incomplete sets of data for the purpose of verification in accordance with Article 25a(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226. 

    2. Competent authorities, the Commission and relevant Union agencies shall take into account that the data registered in the EES during the progressive start of operations of the EES may be incomplete when accessing data for reporting and statistics as referred in Article 63 of Regulation EU 2017/2226.

    3. By way of derogation from Article 13(3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226, carriers may start using the web service referred to in that Article from the 90th calendar day of the progressive start of operations of the EES. Carriers shall verify the stamps affixed in the travel documents with a view to fulfilling their obligations under Article 26(1) of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement and under Council Directive 2001/51/EC for the duration of the progressive start of operations of the EES.

    For a period of 180 calendar days after the end of the progressive start of operations of the EES, carriers shall, in addition to using the web service as referred to in Article 13(3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 continue verifying the stamps affixed in travel documents with a view to fulfilling their obligations under Article 26(1) of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement and Council Directive 2001/51/EC.

    4. When fulfilling the obligations referred in Articles 35 and 52 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 in relation to the completion of personal data recorded in the EES, Member States shall complete the relevant data only to the extent possible taking into account the limited availability of the sets of data collected during the progressive start of operations of the EES. Where applicable, the administrative decision referred to in Article 52(4) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 shall refer to the conditions set out in Article 4 of this Regulation that allow for the registration of incomplete files.

    5. By way of derogation from Article 63(1), second subparagraph, of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226, the duly authorised staff of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency shall not access the data registered in the EES during the progressive start of operations of the EES for the purpose of carrying out risk analyses and vulnerability assessments.

    Article 7
    Suspension of the EES

    1. During the progressive start of operations of the EES, Member States may fully or partially suspend operating the EES at certain border crossing points in case of failure of the EES Central System, national systems or communication infrastructure, or events leading to traffic of such intensity that the waiting time at a border crossing point becomes excessive.

    In case of partial suspension, the data referred to in Articles 16 to 20 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 shall be collected, with the exception of biometric data.

    In case of full suspension, Member States shall completely suspend the EES operations and shall not collect the data referred to in Articles 16 to 20 of that Regulation.

    In both cases, Member States shall promptly inform the operators of infrastructure hosting border crossing points and carriers. No later than 6 hours after the start of the suspension, Member States shall notify to the Commission and eu-LISA the reason for the partial or full suspension and its expected duration ▌. Once the ▌circumstances that led to the suspension cease, Member States shall end the suspension and promptly notify the Commission, eu-LISA and the operators of infrastructure hosting border crossing points and carriers thereof.

    2. For a period of 60 calendar days after the end of the progressive start of operations of the EES, Member States may partially suspend operating the EES as referred to in paragraph 1, second subparagraph, at a certain border crossing point for a limited time of maximum 4 hours within a day and only in exceptional circumstances leading to traffic of such intensity that the waiting time at a border crossing point becomes excessive. Member States shall be relieved of their obligation set out in Article 21(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 as regards biometric data. In those cases, Member States shall promptly and no later than 6 hours after the start of suspension notify the reason for the suspension and its expected duration to the Commission and eu-LISA.

    3. ▌

    4. ▌

    Article 8
    Entry into force and application

    1. This Regulation shall enter into force on the fourth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

    It shall apply from the date from which the EES is to start operations as decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 66(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226.

    However, Article 3 of this Regulation shall apply from the entry into force of this Regulation.

    2. This Regulation shall cease to apply 180 calendar days from the date from which the EES is to start operations as decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 66(1) Regulation (EU) 2017/2226. However:

    (a) Article 5(13) shall cease to apply 5 years and 180 calendar days after the date decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 66(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226;

    (b) Article 6(1), (2), (4) and (5) shall cease to apply 5 years and 180 calendar days after the date decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 66(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226;

    (c) Article 6(3), second subparagraph, shall cease to apply 360 calendar days after the date decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 66(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226;

    (d) Article 7(2)) shall cease to apply 240 calendar days after the date decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 66(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226;

     (e) ▌.

    This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

    Done at Brussels,

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI: Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation Announces Second Fiscal Quarter 2025 Financial Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LOS ANGELES, CA, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (NASDAQ: OCSL) (“Oaktree Specialty Lending” or the “Company”), a specialty finance company, today announced its financial results for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2025.

    Financial Highlights for the Quarter Ended March 31, 2025

    • Total investment income was $77.6 million ($0.90 per share) for the second fiscal quarter of 2025, as compared with $86.6 million ($1.05 per share) for the first fiscal quarter of 2025. Adjusted total investment income was $77.2 million ($0.90 per share) for the second fiscal quarter of 2025, as compared with $87.1 million ($1.06 per share) for the first fiscal quarter of 2025. The decrease was driven by lower interest income, which was primarily attributable to a smaller average investment portfolio, the impact of certain investments that were placed on non-accrual status and decreases in reference rates.
    • GAAP net investment income was $39.1 million ($0.45 per share) for the second fiscal quarter of 2025, as compared with $44.3 million ($0.54 per share) for the first fiscal quarter of 2025. The decrease for the quarter was primarily driven by lower total investment income, partially offset by lower interest expense and income-based (“Part I”) incentive fees (net of fees waived).
    • Adjusted net investment income was $38.7 million ($0.45 per share) for the second fiscal quarter of 2025, as compared with $44.7 million ($0.54 per share) for the first fiscal quarter of 2025. The decrease for the quarter was primarily driven by lower adjusted total investment income, partially offset by lower interest expense and lower Part I incentive fees (net of fees waived).
    • Net asset value (“NAV”) per share was $16.75 as of March 31, 2025, down as compared with $17.63 as of December 31, 2024. The decline from December 31, 2024 primarily reflected losses on certain debt and equity investments.
    • Originated $407.0 million of new investment commitments and received $279.4 million of proceeds from prepayments, exits, other paydowns and sales during the quarter ended March 31, 2025. The weighted average yield on new debt investments was 9.5%.
    • Total debt outstanding was $1,470.0 million as of March 31, 2025. The total debt to equity ratio was 1.00x, and the net debt to equity ratio was 0.93x, after adjusting for cash and cash equivalents.
    • Oaktree Capital I, L.P. purchased $100.0 million of shares of OCSL common stock on February 3, 2025 at the Company’s net asset value as of January 31, 2025, which was $17.63 per share and represented a 10% premium to the closing stock price.
    • The Company issued $300 million of unsecured notes during the quarter ended March 31, 2025 that mature on February 27, 2030 and bear interest at a rate of 6.340%. In connection with the issuance of the 2030 Notes, the Company entered into an interest rate swap agreement under which the Company receives a fixed interest rate of 6.340% and pays a floating interest rate of the three-month SOFR plus 2.192% on a notional amount of $300.0 million. Additionally, the Company repaid $300 million of unsecured notes that matured on February 25, 2025.
    • Liquidity as of March 31, 2025 was composed of $97.8 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and over $1.0 billion of undrawn capacity under the Company’s credit facilities (subject to borrowing base and other limitations). Unfunded investment commitments were $299.8 million, or $272.6 million excluding unfunded commitments to the Company’s joint ventures. Of the $272.6 million, approximately $252.0 million can be drawn immediately with the remaining amount subject to certain milestones that must be met by portfolio companies or other restrictions.
    • A quarterly and supplemental cash distribution was declared of $0.40 per share and $0.02 per share, respectively, payable in cash on June 30, 2025 to stockholders of record on June 16, 2025.

    “Certain challenged portfolio company investments weighed on our results in the second quarter. We are focused on resolving these issues while also positioning our portfolio to deliver more consistent performance going forward,” stated Armen Panossian, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chief Investment Officer.

    “We are focused on further diversifying our portfolio by selectively investing in companies we believe are well positioned to deliver attractive returns given overall market uncertainty caused by tariffs, inflation and high interest rates. Historically, in periods of market volatility, our firm-wide DNA has enabled us to capitalize on opportunities while others are sidelined, and we have ample dry powder for new investments.”

    Distribution Declaration

    The Board of Directors declared a quarterly distribution of $0.40 per share, payable in cash on June 30, 2025 to stockholders of record on June 16, 2025. The Board of Directors also declared a supplemental distribution of $0.02 per share, payable in cash on June 30, 2025 to stockholders of record on June 16, 2025.

    Distributions are paid primarily from distributable (taxable) income. To the extent taxable earnings for a fiscal taxable year fall below the total amount of distributions for that fiscal year, a portion of those distributions may be deemed a return of capital to the Company’s stockholders.

    Results of Operations

      For the three months ended
    		  
    ($ in thousands, except per share data) March 31, 2025
    (unaudited)    		   December 31, 2024
    (unaudited)    		   March 31, 2024
    (unaudited)
    		  
    GAAP operating results:                        
    Interest income $ 70,523     $ 78,422     $ 85,256    
    PIK interest income   4,531       5,728       4,816    
    Fee income   1,742       1,679       2,546    
    Dividend income   772       818       1,411    
    Total investment income   77,568       86,647       94,029    
    Net expenses   38,235       42,082       52,662    
    Net investment income before taxes   39,333       44,565       41,367    
    (Provision) benefit for taxes on net investment income   (278 )     (263 )     —    
    Net investment income   39,055       44,302       41,367    
    Net realized and unrealized gains (losses), net of taxes   (75,304 )     (37,063 )     (32,030 )  
    Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations $ (36,249 )   $ 7,239     $ 9,337    
    Total investment income per common share $ 0.90     $ 1.05     $ 1.18    
    Net investment income per common share $ 0.45     $ 0.54     $ 0.52    
    Net realized and unrealized gains (losses), net of taxes per common share $ (0.88 )   $ (0.45 )   $ (0.40 )  
    Earnings (loss) per common share — basic and diluted $ (0.42 )   $ 0.09     $ 0.12    
    Non-GAAP Financial Measures1:                        
    Adjusted total investment income $ 77,195     $ 87,070     $ 97,340    
    Adjusted net investment income $ 38,682     $ 44,725     $ 44,678    
    Adjusted net realized and unrealized gains (losses), net of taxes $ (75,248 )   $ (37,124 )   $ (35,344 )  
    Adjusted earnings (loss) $ (36,566 )   $ 7,601     $ 9,334    
    Adjusted total investment income per share $ 0.90     $ 1.06     $ 1.22    
    Adjusted net investment income per share $ 0.45     $ 0.54     $ 0.56    
    Adjusted net realized and unrealized gains (losses), net of taxes per share $ (0.88 )   $ (0.45 )   $ (0.44 )  
    Adjusted earnings (loss) per share $ (0.43 )   $ 0.09     $ 0.12    
                             
    1 See Non-GAAP Financial Measures below for a description of the non-GAAP measures and the reconciliations from the most comparable GAAP financial measures to the Company’s non-GAAP measures, including on a per share basis. The Company’s management uses these non-GAAP financial measures internally to analyze and evaluate financial results and performance and believes that these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors as an additional tool to evaluate ongoing results and trends for the Company and to review the Company’s performance without giving effect to non-cash income/gain/loss resulting from the merger of Oaktree Strategic Income Corporation (“OCSI”) with and into the Company in March 2021 (the “OCSI Merger”) and the merger of Oaktree Strategic Income II, Inc. (“OSI2”) with and into the Company in January 2023 (the “OSI2 Merger”) and, in the case of adjusted net investment income, without giving effect to capital gains incentive fees. The presentation of non-GAAP measures is not intended to be a substitute for financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered in isolation.
     
      As of
    		  
    ($ in thousands, except per share data and ratios) March 31, 2025
    (unaudited)
    		   December 31, 2024
    (unaudited)
    		   March 31, 2024
    (unaudited)
    		  
    Select balance sheet and other data:                        
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 97,838     $ 112,913     $ 125,031    
    Investment portfolio at fair value   2,892,771       2,835,294       3,047,445    
    Total debt outstanding (net of unamortized financing costs)   1,448,486       1,577,795       1,635,642    
    Net assets   1,475,113       1,449,815       1,524,099    
    Total debt to equity ratio   1.00 x     1.11 x     1.10 x  
    Net debt to equity ratio   0.93 x     1.03 x     1.02 x  
     

    Adjusted total investment income for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was $77.2 million and included $70.2 million of interest income from portfolio investments, $4.5 million of payment-in-kind (“PIK”) interest income, $1.7 million of fee income and $0.8 million of dividend income. The $9.9 million quarterly decline in adjusted total investment income was primarily due to a $9.9 million decrease in interest income, which was primarily attributable to a smaller average investment portfolio, the impact of certain investments that were placed on non-accrual status and decreases in reference rates.

    Net expenses for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 totaled $38.2 million, down $3.8 million from the quarter ended December 31, 2024. The decrease for the quarter was primarily driven by $2.4 million of lower interest expense due to lower outstanding borrowings and lower reference rates on the Company’s floating rate debt and $1.5 million of lower Part I incentive fees (net of fees waived).

    Adjusted net investment income was $38.7 million ($0.45 per share) for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, which was down from $44.7 million ($0.54 per share) for the quarter ended December 31, 2024. The decline of $6.0 million primarily reflected $9.9 million of lower adjusted total investment income, offset by $3.9 million of lower net expenses.

    Adjusted net realized and unrealized losses, net of taxes, were $75.2 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2025.

    Portfolio and Investment Activity

      As of
    		  
    ($ in thousands) March 31, 2025
    (unaudited)    		   December 31, 2024
    (unaudited)    		   March 31, 2024
    (unaudited)
    		  
    Investments at fair value $ 2,892,771     $ 2,835,294     $ 3,047,445    
    Number of portfolio companies   152       136       151    
    Average portfolio company debt size $ 19,700     $ 22,000     $ 20,100    
                             
    Asset class:                        
    First lien debt   80.9 %     81.8 %     80.8 %  
    Second lien debt   3.4 %     3.0 %     5.4 %  
    Unsecured debt   5.0 %     3.9 %     2.6 %  
    Equity   4.6 %     4.8 %     4.8 %  
    JV interests   6.1 %     6.5 %     6.4 %  
                             
    Non-accrual debt investments:                        
    Non-accrual investments at fair value $ 125,643     $ 105,326     $ 69,128    
    Non-accrual investments at cost   217,401       138,703       127,720    
    Non-accrual investments as a percentage of debt investments at fair value   4.6 %     3.9 %     2.4 %  
    Non-accrual investments as a percentage of debt investments at cost   7.6 %     5.1 %     4.3 %  
    Number of investments on non-accrual   10       9       5    
                             
    Interest rate type:                        
    Percentage floating-rate   89.8 %     87.6 %     85.4 %  
    Percentage fixed-rate   10.2 %     12.4 %     14.6 %  
                             
    Yields:                        
    Weighted average yield on debt investments1   10.2 %     10.7 %     12.2 %  
    Cash component of weighted average yield on debt investments   9.3 %     9.5 %     11.0 %  
    Weighted average yield on total portfolio investments2   9.8 %     10.2 %     11.7 %  
                             
    Investment activity:                        
    New investment commitments $ 407,000     $ 198,100     $ 395,600    
    New funded investment activity3 $ 405,800     $ 201,300     $ 377,400    
    Proceeds from prepayments, exits, other paydowns and sales $ 279,400     $ 352,400     $ 322,600    
    Net new investments4 $ 126,400     $ (151,100 )   $ 54,800    
    Number of new investment commitments in new portfolio companies   24       5       20    
    Number of new investment commitments in existing portfolio companies   8       8       15    
    Number of portfolio company exits   8       13       15    
                             
    1 Annual stated yield earned plus net annual amortization of OID or premium earned on accruing investments, including the Company’s share of the return on debt investments in SLF JV I and Glick JV, and excluding any amortization or accretion of interest income resulting solely from the cost basis established by ASC 805 (see Non-GAAP Financial Measures below) for the assets acquired in connection with the OCSI Merger and OSI2 Merger.
    2 Annual stated yield earned plus net annual amortization of OID or premium earned on accruing investments and dividend income, including the Company’s share of the return on debt investments in SLF JV I and Glick JV, and excluding any amortization or accretion of interest income resulting solely from the cost basis established by ASC 805 for the assets acquired in connection with the OCSI Merger and OSI2 Merger.
    3 New funded investment activity includes drawdowns on existing revolver and delayed draw term loan commitments.
    4 Net new investments consists of new funded investment activity less proceeds from prepayments, exits, other paydowns and sales.
     

    As of March 31, 2025, the fair value of the investment portfolio was $2.9 billion and was composed of investments in 152 companies. These included debt investments in 131 companies, equity investments in 40 companies, and the Company’s joint venture investments in SLF JV I and OCSI Glick JV LLC (“Glick JV”). 21 of the equity investments were in companies in which the Company also had a debt investment.

    As of March 31, 2025, 94.9% of the Company’s portfolio at fair value consisted of debt investments, including 80.9% of first lien loans, 3.4% of second lien loans and 10.6% of unsecured debt investments, including the debt investments in SLF JV I and Glick JV. This compared to 81.8% of first lien loans, 3.0% of second lien loans and 9.6% of unsecured debt investments, including the debt investments in SLF JV I and Glick JV, as of December 31, 2024.

    As of March 31, 2025, there were ten investments on non-accrual status, which represented 7.6% and 4.6% of the debt portfolio at cost and fair value, respectively. As of December 31, 2024, there were nine investments on non-accrual status, which represented 5.1% and 3.9% of the debt portfolio at cost and fair value, respectively.

    SLF JV I

    The Company’s investments in SLF JV I totaled $128.6 million at fair value as of March 31, 2025, down 5.0% from $135.4 million as of December 31, 2024. The decrease was primarily driven by SLF JV I’s use of leverage and unrealized depreciation in the underlying investment portfolio.

    As of March 31, 2025, SLF JV I had $374.7 million in assets, including senior secured loans to 52 portfolio companies. This compared to $344.9 million in assets, including senior secured loans to 42 portfolio companies, as of December 31, 2024. SLF JV I generated cash interest income of $3.2 million for the Company during the quarter ended March 31, 2025, down from $3.4 million in the prior quarter. In addition, SLF JV I generated dividend income of $0.7 million for the Company during the quarter ended March 31, 2025, flat from the prior quarter. As of March 31, 2025, SLF JV I had $73.0 million of undrawn capacity (subject to borrowing base and other limitations) on its $270 million senior revolving credit facility, and its debt to equity ratio was 1.3x.

    Glick JV

    The Company’s investments in Glick JV totaled $47.3 million at fair value as of March 31, 2025, down 4.6% from $49.6 million as of December 31, 2024. The decrease was primarily driven by Glick JV’s use of leverage and unrealized depreciation in the underlying investment portfolio.

    As of March 31, 2025, Glick JV had $125.1 million in assets, including senior secured loans to 41 portfolio companies. This compared to $127.9 million in assets, including senior secured loans to 39 portfolio companies, as of December 31, 2024. Glick JV generated cash interest income of $1.3 million for the Company during the quarter ended March 31, 2025, down from $1.4 million in the prior quarter. As of March 31, 2025, Glick JV had $31.0 million of undrawn capacity (subject to borrowing base and other limitations) on its $100 million senior revolving credit facility, and its debt to equity ratio was 1.3x.

    Liquidity and Capital Resources

    As of March 31, 2025, the Company had total principal value of debt outstanding of $1,470.0 million, including $520.0 million of outstanding borrowings under its revolving credit facilities, $350.0 million of the 2.700% Notes due 2027, $300.0 million of the 7.100% Notes due 2029 and $300.0 million of the 6.340% Notes due 2030. The funding mix was composed of 35% secured and 65% unsecured borrowings as of March 31, 2025. The Company was in compliance with all financial covenants under its credit facilities as of March 31, 2025.

    As of March 31, 2025, the Company had $97.8 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and over $1.0 billion of undrawn capacity on its credit facilities (subject to borrowing base and other limitations). As of March 31, 2025, unfunded investment commitments were $299.8 million, or $272.6 million excluding unfunded commitments to the Company’s joint ventures. Of the $272.6 million, approximately $252.0 million could be drawn immediately with the remaining amount subject to certain milestones that must be met by portfolio companies or other restrictions. The Company has analyzed cash and cash equivalents, availability under its credit facilities, the ability to rotate out of certain assets and amounts of unfunded commitments that could be drawn and believes its liquidity and capital resources are sufficient to invest in market opportunities as they arise.

    As of March 31, 2025, the weighted average interest rate on debt outstanding, including the effect of the interest rate swap agreements was 6.7%, up from 6.2% as of December 31, 2024, primarily driven by the impact of the repayment of the 3.500% Notes due 2025 and the issuance of the 6.340% Notes due 2030.

    The Company’s total debt to equity ratio was 1.00x and 1.11x as of each of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively. The Company’s net debt to equity ratio was 0.93x and 1.03x as of each of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively.

    Recent Developments

    Syndicated Facility

    On April 8, 2025, the Company entered into an amendment to its amended and restated senior secured credit facility (the “Syndicated Facility”), among other things, (1) generally reduce interest rate margins from 2.00% plus a SOFR adjustment (ranging between 0.11448% and 0.26161%) to 1.875% plus a SOFR adjustment of 0.10% on SOFR loans and from 1.00% to 0.875% plus a SOFR adjustment of 0.10% on alternate base rate loans, (2) remove the Consolidated Interest Coverage Ratio covenant, (3) decrease the facility size from $1.218 billion to $1.160 billion, (4) increase the “accordion” feature to allow expansion of the facility to $1.50 billion, and (5) extend the reinvestment period and final maturity date to April 8, 2029, and April 8, 2030, respectively.

    Non-GAAP Financial Measures

    On a supplemental basis, the Company is disclosing certain adjusted financial measures, each of which is calculated and presented on a basis of methodology other than in accordance with GAAP (“non-GAAP”). The Company’s management uses these non-GAAP financial measures internally to analyze and evaluate financial results and performance and believes that these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors as an additional tool to evaluate ongoing results and trends for the Company and to review the Company’s performance without giving effect to non-cash income/gain/loss resulting from the OCSI Merger and the OSI2 Merger and in the case of adjusted net investment income, without giving effect to capital gains incentive fees. The presentation of the below non-GAAP measures is not intended to be a substitute for financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered in isolation.

    • “Adjusted Total Investment Income” and “Adjusted Total Investment Income Per Share” – represents total investment income excluding any amortization or accretion of interest income resulting solely from the cost basis established by ASC 805 (see below) for the assets acquired in connection with the OCSI Merger and the OSI2 Merger.
    • “Adjusted Net Investment Income” and “Adjusted Net Investment Income Per Share” – represents net investment income, excluding (i) any amortization or accretion of interest income resulting solely from the cost basis established by ASC 805 (see below) for the assets acquired in connection with the OCSI Merger and the OSI2 Merger and (ii) capital gains incentive fees (“Part II incentive fees”).
    • “Adjusted Net Realized and Unrealized Gains (Losses), Net of Taxes” and “Adjusted Net Realized and Unrealized Gains (Losses), Net of Taxes Per Share” – represents net realized and unrealized gains (losses) net of taxes excluding any net realized and unrealized gains (losses) resulting solely from the cost basis established by ASC 805 (see below) for the assets acquired in connection with the OCSI Merger and the OSI2 Merger.
    • “Adjusted Earnings (Loss)” and “Adjusted Earnings (Loss) Per Share” – represents the sum of (i) Adjusted Net Investment Income and (ii) Adjusted Net Realized and Unrealized Gains (Losses), Net of Taxes and includes the impact of Part II incentive fees1, if any.

    The OCSI Merger and the OSI2 Merger (the “Mergers”) were accounted for as asset acquisitions in accordance with the asset acquisition method of accounting as detailed in ASC 805-50, Business Combinations—Related Issues (“ASC 805”). The consideration paid to each of the stockholders of OCSI and OSI2 were allocated to the individual assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on the relative fair values of the net identifiable assets acquired other than “non-qualifying” assets, which established a new cost basis for the acquired investments under ASC 805 that, in aggregate, was different than the historical cost basis of the acquired investments prior to the OCSI Merger or the OSI2 Merger, as applicable. Additionally, immediately following the completion of the Mergers, the acquired investments were marked to their respective fair values under ASC 820, Fair Value Measurements, which resulted in unrealized appreciation/depreciation. The new cost basis established by ASC 805 on debt investments acquired will accrete/amortize over the life of each respective debt investment through interest income, with a corresponding adjustment recorded to unrealized appreciation/depreciation on such investment acquired through its ultimate disposition. The new cost basis established by ASC 805 on equity investments acquired will not accrete/amortize over the life of such investments through interest income and, assuming no subsequent change to the fair value of the equity investments acquired and disposition of such equity investments at fair value, the Company will recognize a realized gain/loss with a corresponding reversal of the unrealized appreciation/depreciation on disposition of such equity investments acquired.

    The Company’s management uses the non-GAAP financial measures described above internally to analyze and evaluate financial results and performance and to compare its financial results with those of other business development companies that have not adjusted the cost basis of certain investments pursuant to ASC 805. The Company’s management believes “Adjusted Total Investment Income”, “Adjusted Total Investment Income Per Share”, “Adjusted Net Investment Income” and “Adjusted Net Investment Income Per Share” are useful to investors as an additional tool to evaluate ongoing results and trends for the Company without giving effect to the income resulting from the new cost basis of the investments acquired in the Mergers because these amounts do not impact the fees payable to Oaktree Fund Advisors, LLC (the “Adviser”) under its investment advisory agreement (as amended and restated from time to time, the “A&R Advisory Agreement”), and specifically as its relates to “Adjusted Net Investment Income” and “Adjusted Net Investment Income Per Share”, without giving effect to Part II incentive fees. In addition, the Company’s management believes that “Adjusted Net Realized and Unrealized Gains (Losses), Net of Taxes”, “Adjusted Net Realized and Unrealized Gains (Losses), Net of Taxes Per Share”, “Adjusted Earnings (Loss)” and “Adjusted Earnings (Loss) Per Share” are useful to investors as they exclude the non-cash income and gain/loss resulting from the Mergers and are used by management to evaluate the economic earnings of its investment portfolio. Moreover, these metrics more closely align the Company’s key financial measures with the calculation of incentive fees payable to the Adviser under with the A&R Advisory Agreement (i.e., excluding amounts resulting solely from the lower cost basis of the acquired investments established by ASC 805 that would have been to the benefit of the Adviser absent such exclusion).

    The following table provides a reconciliation of total investment income (the most comparable U.S. GAAP measure) to adjusted total investment income for the periods presented:

      For the three months ended
    		  
      March 31, 2025
    (unaudited)    		   December 31, 2024
    (unaudited)    		   March 31, 2024
    (unaudited)
    		  
    ($ in thousands, except per share data) Amount   Per Share   Amount   Per Share   Amount   Per Share
    		  
    GAAP total investment income $ 77,568     $ 0.90   $ 86,647   $ 1.05   $ 94,029   $ 1.18  
    Interest income amortization (accretion) related to merger
    accounting adjustments    		   (373 )     —     423     0.01     3,311     0.04  
    Adjusted total investment income $ 77,195     $ 0.90   $ 87,070   $ 1.06   $ 97,340   $ 1.22  
     

    The following table provides a reconciliation of net investment income (the most comparable U.S. GAAP measure) to adjusted net investment income for the periods presented:

      For the three months ended
    		  
      March 31, 2025
    (unaudited)    		   December 31, 2024
    (unaudited)    		   March 31, 2024
    (unaudited)
    		  
    ($ in thousands, except per share data) Amount   Per Share   Amount   Per Share   Amount   Per Share
    		  
    GAAP net investment income $ 39,055     $ 0.45   $ 44,302   $ 0.54   $ 41,367   $ 0.52  
    Interest income amortization (accretion) related to merger
    accounting adjustments    		   (373 )     —     423     0.01     3,311     0.04  
    Part II incentive fee   —       —     —     —     —     —  
    Adjusted net investment income $ 38,682     $ 0.45   $ 44,725   $ 0.54   $ 44,678   $ 0.56  
     

    The following table provides a reconciliation of net realized and unrealized gains (losses), net of taxes (the most comparable U.S. GAAP measure) to adjusted net realized and unrealized gains (losses), net of taxes for the periods presented:

      For the three months ended
    		  
      March 31, 2025
    (unaudited)    		   December 31, 2024
    (unaudited)    		   March 31, 2024
    (unaudited)
    		  
    ($ in thousands, except per share data) Amount   Per Share   Amount   Per Share   Amount   Per Share
    		  
    GAAP net realized and unrealized gains (losses), net of taxes $ (75,304 )   $ (0.88 )   $ (37,063 )   $ (0.45 )   $ (32,030 )   $ (0.40 )  
    Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) related to merger
    accounting adjustments    		   56       —       (61 )     —       (3,314 )     (0.04 )  
    Adjusted net realized and unrealized gains (losses), net of taxes $ (75,248 )   $ (0.88 )   $ (37,124 )   $ (0.45 )   $ (35,344 )   $ (0.44 )  
     

    The following table provides a reconciliation of net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations (the most comparable U.S. GAAP measure) to adjusted earnings (loss) for the periods presented:

      For the three months ended
    		  
      March 31, 2025
    (unaudited)    		   December 31, 2024
    (unaudited)    		   March 31, 2024
    (unaudited)
    		  
    ($ in thousands, except per share data) Amount   Per Share   Amount   Per Share   Amount   Per Share
    		  
    Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations $ (36,249 )   $ (0.42 )   $ 7,239     $ 0.09   $ 9,337     $ 0.12    
    Interest income amortization (accretion) related to merger
    accounting adjustments    		   (373 )     —       423       0.01     3,311       0.04    
    Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) related to merger
    accounting adjustments    		   56       —       (61 )     —     (3,314 )     (0.04 )  
    Adjusted earnings (loss) $ (36,566 )   $ (0.43 )   $ 7,601     $ 0.09   $ 9,334     $ 0.12    
     

    Conference Call Information

    Oaktree Specialty Lending will host a conference call to discuss its second fiscal quarter 2025 results at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time / 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time on May 1, 2025. The conference call may be accessed by dialing (877) 507-3275 (U.S. callers) or +1 (412) 317-5238 (non-U.S. callers). All callers will need to reference “Oaktree Specialty Lending” once connected with the operator. Alternatively, a live webcast of the conference call can be accessed through the Investors section of Oaktree Specialty Lending’s website, www.oaktreespecialtylending.com. During the conference call, the Company intends to refer to an investor presentation that will be available on the Investors section of its website.

    For those individuals unable to listen to the live broadcast of the conference call, a replay will be available on Oaktree Specialty Lending’s website, or by dialing (877) 344-7529 (U.S. callers) or +1 (412) 317-0088 (non-U.S. callers), access code 3296634, beginning approximately one hour after the broadcast.

    About Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation

    Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:OCSL) is a specialty finance company dedicated to providing customized one-stop credit solutions to companies with limited access to public or syndicated capital markets. The Company’s investment objective is to generate current income and capital appreciation by providing companies with flexible and innovative financing solutions including first and second lien loans, unsecured and mezzanine loans, and preferred equity. The Company is regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and is externally managed by Oaktree Fund Advisors, LLC, an affiliate of Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. For additional information, please visit Oaktree Specialty Lending’s website at www.oaktreespecialtylending.com.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Some of the statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements because they relate to future events, future performance or financial condition. The forward-looking statements may include statements as to: future operating results of the Company and distribution projections; business prospects of the Company and the prospects of its portfolio companies; and the impact of the investments that the Company expects to make. In addition, words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “seek,” “plan,” “should,” “estimate,” “project” and “intend” indicate forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements include these words. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release involve risks and uncertainties. Certain factors could cause actual results and conditions to differ materially from those projected, including the uncertainties associated with (i) changes or potential disruptions in the Company’s operations, the economy, financial markets or political environment, including those caused by tariffs and trade disputes with other countries, inflation and an elevated interest rate environment; (ii) risks associated with possible disruption in the operations of the Company or the economy generally due to terrorism, war or other geopolitical conflict, natural disasters, pandemics or cybersecurity incidents; (iii) future changes in laws or regulations (including the interpretation of these laws and regulations by regulatory authorities); (iv) conditions in the Company’s operating areas, particularly with respect to business development companies or regulated investment companies; and (v) other considerations that may be disclosed from time to time in the Company’s publicly disseminated documents and filings. The Company has based the forward-looking statements included in this press release on information available to it on the date of this press release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, you are advised to consult any additional disclosures that it may make directly to you or through reports that the Company in the future may file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K.

    Contacts

    Investor Relations:
    Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation
    Clark Koury
    (213) 830-6222
    ocsl-ir@oaktreecapital.com

    Media Relations:
    Financial Profiles, Inc.
    Moira Conlon
    (310) 478-2700
    mediainquiries@oaktreecapital.com

    Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation
    Consolidated Statements of Assets and Liabilities
    (in thousands, except per share amounts)
     
      March 31, 2025
    (unaudited)    		   December 31, 2024
    (unaudited)    		   September 30, 2024
    		  
    ASSETS                        
    Investments at fair value:                        
    Control investments (cost March 31, 2025: $375,317; cost December 31, 2024: $374,509;
    cost September 30, 2024: $372,901)    		 $ 230,904     $ 267,782     $ 289,404    
    Affiliate investments (cost March 31, 2025: $35,295; cost December 31, 2024: $37,358;
    cost September 30, 2024: $38,175)    		   32,475       35,180       35,677    
    Non-control/Non-affiliate investments (cost March 31, 2025: $2,703,644; cost December 31,
    2024: $2,576,053; cost September 30, 2024: $2,733,843)    		   2,629,392       2,532,332       2,696,198    
    Total investments at fair value (cost March 31, 2025: $3,114,256; cost December 31,
    2024: $2,987,920; September 30, 2024: $3,144,919)    		   2,892,771       2,835,294       3,021,279    
    Cash and cash equivalents   97,838       112,913       63,966    
    Restricted cash   10,370       13,159       14,577    
    Interest, dividends and fees receivable   22,768       25,290       38,804    
    Due from portfolio companies   317       408       12,530    
    Receivables from unsettled transactions   18,526       55,661       17,548    
    Due from broker   25,190       21,880       17,060    
    Deferred financing costs   10,196       10,936       11,677    
    Deferred offering costs   161       162       125    
    Derivative assets at fair value   —       6,652       —    
    Other assets   1,030       1,437       775    
    Total assets $ 3,079,167     $ 3,083,792     $ 3,198,341    
                             
    LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS                        
    Liabilities:                        
    Accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities $ 3,451     $ 3,371     $ 3,492    
    Base management fee and incentive fee payable   7,332       8,930       15,517    
    Due to affiliate   1,277       1,508       4,088    
    Interest payable   14,087       17,600       16,231    
    Payables from unsettled transactions   110,202       —       15,666    
    Derivative liabilities at fair value   19,219       24,759       16,843    
    Deferred tax liability   —       14       —    
    Credit facilities payable   520,000       660,000       710,000    
    Unsecured notes payable (net of $7,573, $4,401 and $4,935 of unamortized financing costs
    as of March 31, 2025, December 31, 2024 and September 30, 2024, respectively)    		   928,486       917,795       928,693    
    Total liabilities   1,604,054       1,633,977       1,710,530    
    Commitments and contingencies                        
    Net assets:                        
    Common stock, $0.01 par value per share, 250,000 shares authorized; 88,086, 82,245 and
    82,245 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2025, December 31, 2024 and
    September 30, 2024, respectively    		   881       822       822    
    Additional paid-in-capital   2,367,337       2,264,449       2,264,449    
    Accumulated overdistributed earnings   (893,105 )     (815,456 )     (777,460 )  
    Total net assets (equivalent to $16.75, $17.63 and $18.09 per common share as of March
    31, 2025, December 31, 2024 and September 30, 2024, respectively)    		   1,475,113       1,449,815       1,487,811    
    Total liabilities and net assets $ 3,079,167     $ 3,083,792     $ 3,198,341    
     
    Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation
    Consolidated Statements of Operations
    (in thousands, except per share amounts)
     
      Three months ended
    March 31, 2025 (unaudited)    		   Three months ended
    December 31, 2024 (unaudited)    		   Three months ended
    March 31, 2024 (unaudited)    		   Six months ended
    March 31, 2025 (unaudited)    		   Six months ended
    March 31, 2024 (unaudited)
    		  
    Interest income:                                        
    Control investments $ 4,884     $ 5,226     $ 5,949     $ 10,110     $ 11,954    
    Affiliate investments   159       166       10       325       334    
    Non-control/Non-affiliate investments   63,915       71,809       77,803       135,724       160,524    
    Interest on cash and cash equivalents   1,565       1,221       1,494       2,786       3,858    
    Total interest income   70,523       78,422       85,256       148,945       176,670    
    PIK interest income:                                        
    Control investments   —       830       598       830       1,142    
    Affiliate investments   27       28       —       55       —    
    Non-control/Non-affiliate investments   4,504       4,870       4,218       9,374       7,523    
    Total PIK interest income   4,531       5,728       4,816       10,259       8,665    
    Fee income:                                        
    Control investments   —       —       13       —       26    
    Affiliate investments   —       —       —       —       5    
    Non-control/Non-affiliate investments   1,742       1,679       2,533       3,421       3,822    
    Total fee income   1,742       1,679       2,546       3,421       3,853    
    Dividend income:                                        
    Control investments   700       700       1,400       1,400       2,800    
    Non-control/Non-affiliate investments   72       118       11       190       26    
    Total dividend income   772       818       1,411       1,590       2,826    
    Total investment income   77,568       86,647       94,029       164,215       192,014    
    Expenses:                                        
    Base management fee   7,515       8,144       11,604       15,659       23,081    
    Part I incentive fee   6,733       7,913       8,452       14,646       17,480    
    Professional fees   1,227       1,067       1,213       2,294       2,717    
    Directors fees   160       160       160       320       320    
    Interest expense   28,191       30,562       31,881       58,753       64,051    
    Administrator expense   388       437       326       825       692    
    General and administrative expenses   937       926       526       1,863       1,117    
    Total expenses   45,151       49,209       54,162       94,360       109,458    
    Management fees waived   (183 )     (750 )     (1,500 )     (933 )     (3,000 )  
    Part I incentive fees waived   (6,733 )     (6,377 )     —       (13,110 )     —    
    Net expenses   38,235       42,082       52,662       80,317       106,458    
    Net investment income before taxes   39,333       44,565       41,367       83,898       85,556    
    (Provision) benefit for taxes on net investment
    income    		   (278 )     (263 )     —       (541 )     —    
    Net investment income   39,055       44,302       41,367       83,357       85,556    
    Unrealized appreciation (depreciation):                                        
    Control investments   (37,686 )     (23,230 )     (6,193 )     (60,916 )     (4,854 )  
    Affiliate investments   (642 )     320       93       (322 )     (832 )  
    Non-control/Non-affiliate investments   (28,975 )     (7,198 )     (21,396 )     (36,173 )     (39,011 )  
    Foreign currency forward contracts   (14,720 )     10,494       2,244       (4,226 )     (5,580 )  
    Net unrealized appreciation (depreciation)   (82,023 )     (19,614 )     (25,252 )     (101,637 )     (50,277 )  
    Realized gains (losses):                                        
    Control investments   13       —       —       13       786    
    Affiliate investments   333       (288 )     —       45       —    
    Non-control/Non-affiliate investments   (1,547 )     (17,056 )     (5,433 )     (18,603 )     (18,773 )  
    Foreign currency forward contracts   7,906       34       (1,170 )     7,940       2,931    
    Net realized gains (losses)   6,705       (17,310 )     (6,603 )     (10,605 )     (15,056 )  
    (Provision) benefit for taxes on realized
    and unrealized gains (losses)    		   14       (139 )     (175 )     (125 )     (351 )  
    Net realized and unrealized gains (losses), net
    of taxes    		   (75,304 )     (37,063 )     (32,030 )     (112,367 )     (65,684 )  
    Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting
    from operations    		 $ (36,249 )   $ 7,239     $ 9,337     $ (29,010 )   $ 19,872    
    Net investment income per common share —
    basic and diluted    		 $ 0.45     $ 0.54     $ 0.52     $ 0.99     $ 1.09    
    Earnings (loss) per common share —
    basic and diluted    		 $ (0.42 )   $ 0.09     $ 0.12     $ (0.35 )   $ 0.25    
    Weighted average common shares outstanding —
    basic and diluted    		   85,916       82,245       79,763       84,061       78,797    
     

    1 Adjusted earnings (loss) includes accrued Part II incentive fees. As of and for the three months ended December 31, 2024, there was no accrued Part II incentive fee liability. Part II incentive fees are contractually calculated and paid at the end of the fiscal year in accordance with the A&R Advisory Agreement, which differs from Part II incentive fees accrued under GAAP. For the three months ended December 31, 2024, no amounts were payable under the A&R Advisory Agreement.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Radware Lands Largest Cloud Security Services Agreement to Date

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MAHWAH, N.J., May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Radware® (NASDAQ: RDWR), a global leader in application security and delivery solutions for multi-cloud environments, today announced it recorded a major customer win, securing its largest cloud security services agreement to date. The multi-year, multimillion dollar agreement is part of a renewal and expanded relationship with a global, Fortune 500 financial services and payments company and top 10 U.S. merchant acquirer. To manage business growth and increasing cyber threats, the customer plans to scale its security operations across Radware’s full suite of AI-powered Cloud DDoS Protection and Application Protection Services, safeguarding thousands of applications and billions of digital transactions.

    The company selected Radware for its ability to deliver a fully integrated, high-capacity application and network protection solution that seamlessly scales usage while minimizing the burden of operational overhead. The agreement spans Radware’s Cloud DDoS Protection Service and Cloud Application Protection Service, which also includes its Cloud Web Application Firewall Service, bot manager, and Web DDoS Protection.

    “Our customer’s rapid growth trajectory required an end-to-end cloud security platform that could keep pace with evolving cyber threats without burdening operational resources,” said Neal Quinn, head of North American cloud security services at Radware. “This landmark agreement reinforces Radware’s enormous potential in cloud security and is a testament to our continued investment in the U.S. market. It showcases the trusted partnerships we have built with some of the most demanding digital businesses in the world.”

    Radware’s cybersecurity suite includes application and network security solutions infused with EPIC-AI, state-of-the-art AI and generative AI algorithms which are built to block modern attacks while delivering consistent real-time protections across cloud, on-prem, and hybrid environments. Designed to automatically adapt to changes in the threat landscape, applications and infrastructure, Radware’s EPIC-AI approach to security helps organizations significantly improve attack detection and mitigation, reduce mean time to resolution (MTTR), and meet compliance challenges.

    Radware has received numerous awards for its application and network security solutions. Industry analysts such as Aite-Novarica Group, Forrester, Gartner, GigaOm, IDC, KuppingerCole, and QKS Group continue to recognize Radware as a market leader in cybersecurity.

    About Radware
    Radware® (NASDAQ: RDWR) is a global leader in application security and delivery solutions for multi-cloud environments. The company’s cloud application, infrastructure, and API security solutions use AI-driven algorithms for precise, hands-free, real-time protection from the most sophisticated web, application, and DDoS attacks, API abuse, and bad bots. Enterprises and carriers worldwide rely on Radware’s solutions to address evolving cybersecurity challenges and protect their brands and business operations while reducing costs. For more information, please visit the Radware website.

    Radware encourages you to join our community and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Radware Blog, X, and YouTube.

    ©2025 Radware Ltd. All rights reserved. Any Radware products and solutions mentioned in this press release are protected by trademarks, patents, and pending patent applications of Radware in the U.S. and other countries. For more details, please see: https://www.radware.com/LegalNotice/. All other trademarks and names are property of their respective owners.

    Radware believes the information in this document is accurate in all material respects as of its publication date. However, the information is provided without any express, statutory, or implied warranties and is subject to change without notice.

    The contents of any website or hyperlinks mentioned in this press release are for informational purposes and the contents thereof are not part of this press release.

    Safe Harbor Statement
    This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements made herein that are not statements of historical fact, including statements about Radware’s plans, outlook, beliefs, or opinions, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “estimates,” “plans,” and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “should,” “would,” “may,” and “could.” For example, when we say in this press release that this landmark agreement reinforces our enormous potential in cloud security, we are using forward-looking statements. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual results, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, could differ materially from Radware’s current forecasts and estimates. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: the impact of global economic conditions, including as a result of the state of war declared in Israel in October 2023 and instability in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, tensions between China and Taiwan, financial and credit market fluctuations (including elevated interest rates), impacts from tariffs or other trade restrictions, inflation, and the potential for regional or global recessions; our dependence on independent distributors to sell our products; our ability to manage our anticipated growth effectively; our business may be affected by sanctions, export controls, and similar measures, targeting Russia and other countries and territories, as well as other responses to Russia’s military conflict in Ukraine, including indefinite suspension of operations in Russia and dealings with Russian entities by many multi-national businesses across a variety of industries; the ability of vendors to provide our hardware platforms and components for the manufacture of our products; our ability to attract, train, and retain highly qualified personnel; intense competition in the market for cybersecurity and application delivery solutions and in our industry in general, and changes in the competitive landscape; our ability to develop new solutions and enhance existing solutions; the impact to our reputation and business in the event of real or perceived shortcomings, defects, or vulnerabilities in our solutions, if our end-users experience security breaches, or if our information technology systems and data, or those of our service providers and other contractors, are compromised by cyber-attackers or other malicious actors or by a critical system failure; our use of AI technologies that present regulatory, litigation, and reputational risks; risks related to the fact that our products must interoperate with operating systems, software applications and hardware that are developed by others;  outages, interruptions, or delays in hosting services; the risks associated with our global operations, such as difficulties and costs of staffing and managing foreign operations, compliance costs arising from host country laws or regulations, partial or total expropriation, export duties and quotas, local tax exposure, economic or political instability, including as a result of insurrection, war, natural disasters, and major environmental, climate, or public health concerns; our net losses in the past and the possibility that we may incur losses in the future; a slowdown in the growth of the cybersecurity and application delivery solutions market or in the development of the market for our cloud-based solutions; long sales cycles for our solutions; risks and uncertainties relating to acquisitions or other investments; risks associated with doing business in countries with a history of corruption or with foreign governments; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; risks associated with undetected defects or errors in our products; our ability to protect our proprietary technology; intellectual property infringement claims made by third parties; laws, regulations, and industry standards affecting our business; compliance with open source and third-party licenses; complications with the design or implementation of our new enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) system; our reliance on information technology systems; our ESG disclosures and initiatives; and other factors and risks over which we may have little or no control. This list is intended to identify only certain of the principal factors that could cause actual results to differ. For a more detailed description of the risks and uncertainties affecting Radware, refer to Radware’s Annual Report on Form 20-F, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the other risk factors discussed from time to time by Radware in reports filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and, except as required by applicable law, Radware undertakes no commitment to revise or update any forward-looking statement in order to reflect events or circumstances after the date any such statement is made. Radware’s public filings are available from the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or may be obtained on Radware’s website at www.radware.com.

    Media Contacts:
    Gerri Dyrek
    Radware
    Gerri.Dyrek@radware.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Impact of automotive industry lay-offs on the EU labour market – E-000523/2025(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    The Commission is aware and concerned about the situation in the automotive industry. Challenges stem, among others, from shifting mobility patterns, increasing competition and global supply chain risks, new technologies and a volatile geopolitical context.

    Underscoring the commitment to safeguarding the future of this vital sector, the Commission President launched in January 2025 the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the European Automotive Industry[1], which brings together industry, social partners and civil society representatives[2].

    The objective of the dialogue is to contribute to policy design, including in the skills and social field, to address the challenges facing the sector.

    This has fed into the Industrial Action Plan for the European automotive sector, published on 5 March 2025. The action plan addresses a broad range of issues to maintain a strong European production base and support a thriving car industry that creates jobs, drives growth and protects the environment.

    While the Commission cannot interfere in company decisions on restructuring, several Directives[3] stipulate minimum requirements on workers’ rights and involvement. This is supported by the Quality Framework for Restructuring and Anticipation of Change[4].

    The main instruments to support workers affected are the European Social Fund (ESF+), which helps in an anticipative way, including by supporting up- and reskilling[5], and the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF)[6], activated by major restructuring events.

    The action plan proposes an extension to the EGF to support companies in restructuring processes to protect employees at risk of unemployment. One in five workers offered EGF support so far belongs to the car industry.

    • [1] https://transport.ec.europa.eu/news-events/dialogues/dialogue-future-automotive-industry_en
    • [2] A list of participating organisations, including representatives of the automotive industry and infrastructure providers, is available here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/attachment/880307/List%20of%20participating%20organisations.pdf
    • [3] Directive 98/59/EC on collective redundancies, Directive 2001/23/EC on transfer of undertakings, Directive 2002/14/EC establishing general framework for informing and consulting employees and Directive 2009/38/EC on European Works Councils.
    • [4] COM/2013/0882 final — 13.12.2013.
    • [5] Upskilling, reskilling, attracting talent, ensuring the right skills at the right place, are among the priorities supported by the ESF+. The funding is available, with a significant budget for skills development, the administration is in place, implementation of the 2021-2027 period is in full swing.
    • [6] See Regulation (EU) 2021/691 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021 on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013, OJ L 153, 3.5.2021, p. 48-70 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2021.153.01.0048.01.ENG

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI: Targa Resources Corp. Reports Record First Quarter 2025 Financial Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    HOUSTON, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE: TRGP) (“TRGP,” the “Company” or “Targa”) today reported first quarter 2025 results.

    First quarter 2025 net income attributable to Targa Resources Corp. was $270.5 million compared to $275.2 million for the first quarter of 2024. The Company reported adjusted earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and other non-cash items (“adjusted EBITDA”)(1) of $1,178.5 million for the first quarter of 2025 compared to $966.2 million for the first quarter of 2024.

    Highlights

    • Record first quarter 2025 adjusted EBITDA of $1.2 billion, a 22% increase year over year
    • Repurchased $214 million of common shares through April 2025
    • Declared an annual common dividend of $4.00 per share for 2025, a 33% increase year over year
    • Continue to estimate full year 2025 adjusted EBITDA between $4.65 billion and $4.85 billion
    • Continue to estimate 2025 net growth capital expenditures of $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion

    On April 10, 2025, the Company declared an increase to its quarterly cash dividend to $1.00 per common share, or $4.00 per common share on an annualized basis, for the first quarter of 2025. This dividend represents a 33 percent increase over the common dividend declared with respect to the first quarter of 2024. Total cash dividends of approximately $217 million will be paid on May 15, 2025 on all outstanding shares of common stock to holders of record as of the close of business on April 30, 2025.

    During the first quarter of 2025, Targa repurchased 651,163 shares of its common stock at a weighted average per share price of $191.86 for a total net cost of $124.9 million. As of March 31, 2025, there was $890.5 million remaining under the Company’s share repurchase program. Subsequent to quarter end, Targa repurchased 532,210 shares of its common stock at a weighted average per share price of $167.28 for a total net cost of $89.0 million.

    First Quarter 2025 – Sequential Quarter over Quarter Commentary

    Targa reported first quarter adjusted EBITDA of $1,178.5 million, representing a 5 percent increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. The sequential increase in adjusted EBITDA was attributable to contribution from the Badlands transaction and higher marketing margin. Volumes across Targa’s Gathering and Processing (“G&P”) and Logistics and Transportation (“L&T”) systems were negatively impacted by winter weather events which reduced system volumes during the first quarter. In the G&P segment, sequential adjusted operating margin was approximately flat as modestly lower Permian natural gas inlet volumes due to winter weather events were partially offset by higher fees. In the L&T segment, adjusted operating margin was also sequentially flat as higher marketing margin offset lower NGL pipeline transportation volumes, which were negatively impacted by winter weather events. Fractionation volumes were lower in the first quarter due to a major planned turnaround at Targa’s Cedar Bayou Fractionation facilities in Mont Belvieu, TX. Higher sequential marketing margin was attributable to increased optimization opportunities. Subsequent to quarter end, Targa’s Permian volumes and associated L&T system volumes have meaningfully increased from first quarter levels.

    Capitalization, Financing and Liquidity

    The Company’s total consolidated debt as of March 31, 2025 was $16,208.7 million, net of $106.7 million of debt issuance costs and $35.2 million of unamortized discount, with $14,534.4 million of outstanding senior unsecured notes, $920.0 million outstanding under the Commercial Paper Program, $600.0 million outstanding under the Securitization Facility, and $296.2 million of finance lease liabilities.

    In February 2025, Targa completed an underwritten public offering of 5.550% Notes due 2035 and 6.125% Notes due 2055, resulting in net proceeds of approximately $2.0 billion. Targa used the net proceeds from the issuance to fund the repurchase of all of the outstanding preferred equity in Targa Badlands LLC (the “Badlands Transaction”) and for general corporate purposes, including to repay borrowings under the Commercial Paper Program.

    Total consolidated liquidity as of March 31, 2025 was approximately $2.7 billion, including $2.6 billion available under the TRGP Revolver, and $151.4 million of cash.

    Growth Projects Update

    In Targa’s G&P segment, construction continues on its 275 MMcf/d Pembrook II, East Pembrook, and East Driver plants in Permian Midland and its 275 MMcf/d Bull Moose II and Falcon II plants in Permian Delaware. In Targa’s L&T segment, construction continues on its Delaware Express pipeline expansion, its 150 MBbl/d Train 11 and Train 12 fractionators in Mont Belvieu, and its GPMT LPG Export Expansion. The Company now expects its Pembrook II plant to begin operations in the third quarter of 2025 and remains on-track to complete its other announced expansions as previously disclosed.

    2025 Outlook

    Targa continues to estimate full year 2025 adjusted EBITDA to be between $4.65 billion and $4.85 billion supported by forecasted growth across its Permian G&P footprint, which is expected to drive record Permian, NGL pipeline transportation, fractionation, and LPG export volumes in 2025 relative to records set in 2024. While the growth is weighted to the second half of 2025, current and expected producer activity levels continue to support an outlook of meaningfully increasing volumes across the rest of 2025 and 2026.

    Targa’s estimate for 2025 net growth capital expenditures remains unchanged in a range of $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion, and its estimate for 2025 net maintenance capital expenditures also remains unchanged at approximately $250 million.

    Conference Call

    The Company will host a conference call for the investment community at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time (10:00 a.m. Central time) on May 1, 2025 to discuss its first quarter results. The conference call can be accessed via webcast under Events and Presentations in the Investors section of the Company’s website at www.targaresources.com/investors/events, or by going directly to https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/waa5bt3q. A webcast replay will be available at the link above approximately two hours after the conclusion of the event.

    An earnings supplement presentation and updated investor presentation are available under Events and Presentations in the Investors section of the Company’s website at www.targaresources.com/investors/events.

    (1)    Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted operating margin (segment) are non-GAAP financial measures and are discussed under “Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”


    Targa Resources Corp. – Consolidated Financial Results of Operations

      Three Months Ended March 31,            
      2025     2024   2025 vs. 2024
      (In millions)
    Revenues:                      
    Sales of commodities $ 3,884.4     $ 3,942.4     $ (58.0 )     (1 %)
    Fees from midstream services   677.1       620.0       57.1       9 %
    Total revenues   4,561.5       4,562.4       (0.9 )     —  
    Product purchases and fuel   3,257.8       3,218.0       39.8       1 %
    Operating expenses   303.6       278.0       25.6       9 %
    Depreciation and amortization expense   367.6       340.5       27.1       8 %
    General and administrative expense   94.5       86.5       8.0       9 %
    Other operating (income) expense   (5.3 )     —       (5.3 )     (100 %)
    Income (loss) from operations   543.3       639.4       (96.1 )     (15 %)
    Interest expense, net   (197.1 )     (228.6 )     31.5       14 %
    Equity earnings (loss)   5.5       2.8       2.7       96 %
    Other, net   0.3       1.7       (1.4 )   NM  
    Income tax (expense) benefit   (72.2 )     (82.7 )     10.5       13 %
    Net income (loss)   279.8       332.6       (52.8 )     (16 %)
    Less: Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests   9.3       57.4       (48.1 )     (84 %)
    Net income (loss) attributable to Targa Resources Corp.   270.5       275.2       (4.7 )     (2 %)
    Premium on repurchase of noncontrolling interests, net of tax   70.5       —       70.5       100 %
    Net income (loss) attributable to common shareholders $ 200.0     $ 275.2     $ (75.2 )     (27 %)
    Financial data:                      
    Adjusted EBITDA (1) $ 1,178.5     $ 966.2     $ 212.3       22 %
    Adjusted cash flow from operations (1)   970.0       738.4       231.6       31 %
    Adjusted free cash flow (1)   328.2       2.8       325.4     NM  

    (1)    Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted cash flow from operations and adjusted free cash flow are non-GAAP financial measures and are discussed under “Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”
    NM    Due to a low denominator, the noted percentage change is disproportionately high and as a result, considered not meaningful.


    Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 Compared to Three Months Ended March 31, 2024

    Commodity sales are relatively flat reflecting lower NGL, natural gas and condensate volumes ($217.9 million), the unfavorable impact of hedges ($256.1 million) and lower condensate prices ($15.2 million), offset by higher natural gas and NGL prices ($431.2 million).

    The increase in fees from midstream services is primarily due to higher gas gathering and processing fees, and higher export volumes, partially offset by lower transportation and fractionation fees.

    Product purchases and fuel are relatively flat reflecting higher natural gas and NGL prices, offset by lower NGL and natural gas volumes.

    The increase in operating expenses is primarily due to higher labor, taxes and maintenance costs, partially offset by lower rental costs.

    See “—Review of Segment Performance” for additional information on a segment basis.

    The increase in depreciation and amortization expense is primarily due to the impact of system expansions on the Company’s asset base.

    The decrease in interest expense, net is due to recognition of cumulative interest on a legal ruling associated with the Splitter Agreement in 2024, partially offset by higher borrowings in 2025.

    The decrease in income tax expense is primarily due to a decrease in pre-tax book income.

    The decrease in net income attributable to noncontrolling interests is primarily due to the Badlands Transaction in 2025 and the acquisition of the remaining membership interest in Cedar Bayou Fractionators, L.P. in 2024.

    The premium on repurchase of noncontrolling interests, net of tax is due to the Badlands Transaction in 2025.

    Review of Segment Performance

    The following discussion of segment performance includes inter-segment activities. The Company views segment operating margin and adjusted operating margin as important performance measures of the core profitability of its operations. These measures are key components of internal financial reporting and are reviewed for consistency and trend analysis. For a discussion of adjusted operating margin, see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures ― Adjusted Operating Margin.” Segment operating financial results and operating statistics include the effects of intersegment transactions. These intersegment transactions have been eliminated from the consolidated presentation.

    The Company operates in two primary segments: (i) Gathering and Processing; and (ii) Logistics and Transportation.

    Gathering and Processing Segment

    The Gathering and Processing segment includes assets used in the gathering and/or purchase and sale of natural gas produced from oil and gas wells, removing impurities and processing this raw natural gas into merchantable natural gas by extracting NGLs; and assets used for the gathering and terminaling and/or purchase and sale of crude oil. The Gathering and Processing segment’s assets are located in the Permian Basin of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico (including the Midland, Central and Delaware Basins); the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas; the Barnett Shale in North Texas; the Anadarko, Ardmore, and Arkoma Basins in Oklahoma (including the SCOOP and STACK) and South Central Kansas; the Williston Basin in North Dakota (including the Bakken and Three Forks plays); and the onshore and near offshore regions of the Louisiana Gulf Coast.

    The following table provides summary data regarding results of operations of this segment for the periods indicated:

      Three Months Ended March 31,                
      2025     2024     2025 vs. 2024
      (In millions, except operating statistics and price amounts)
    Operating margin $   602.2     $   556.4     $   45.8       8 %
    Operating expenses     208.2         188.1         20.1       11 %
    Adjusted operating margin $   810.4     $   744.5     $   65.9       9 %
    Operating statistics (1):                            
    Plant natural gas inlet, MMcf/d (2) (3)                            
    Permian Midland (4)     2,985.6         2,746.1         239.5       9 %
    Permian Delaware     3,020.3         2,648.9         371.4       14 %
    Total Permian     6,005.9         5,395.0         610.9       11 %
                                 
    SouthTX     295.1         304.9         (9.8 )     (3 %)
    North Texas     171.5         184.5         (13.0 )     (7 %)
    SouthOK (5)     318.0         357.2         (39.2 )     (11 %)
    WestOK     200.1         210.1         (10.0 )     (5 %)
    Total Central     984.7         1,056.7         (72.0 )     (7 %)
                                 
    Badlands (5) (6)     136.9         127.1         9.8       8 %
    Total Field     7,127.5         6,578.8         548.7       8 %
                                 
    Coastal     398.8         524.7         (125.9 )     (24 %)
                                 
    Total     7,526.3         7,103.5         422.8       6 %
    NGL production, MBbl/d (3)                            
    Permian Midland (4)     429.5         392.8         36.7       9 %
    Permian Delaware     366.4         307.0         59.4       19 %
    Total Permian     795.9         699.8         96.1       14 %
                                 
    SouthTX     28.8         28.9         (0.1 )     —  
    North Texas     21.0         21.9         (0.9 )     (4 %)
    SouthOK (5)     33.1         28.1         5.0       18 %
    WestOK     15.2         11.7         3.5       30 %
    Total Central     98.1         90.6         7.5       8 %
                                 
    Badlands (5)     16.4         14.6         1.8       12 %
    Total Field     910.4         805.0         105.4       13 %
                                  
    Coastal     32.7         39.1         (6.4 )     (16 %)
                                 
    Total     943.1         844.1         99.0       12 %
    Crude oil, Badlands, MBbl/d     107.1         94.4         12.7       13 %
    Crude oil, Permian, MBbl/d     29.0         27.6         1.4       5 %
    Natural gas sales, BBtu/d (3)     2,592.8         2,650.5         (57.7 )     (2 %)
    NGL sales, MBbl/d (3)     570.2         498.8         71.4       14 %
    Condensate sales, MBbl/d     18.1         19.1         (1.0 )     (5 %)
    Average realized prices (7):                            
    Natural gas, $/MMBtu     2.24         1.50         0.74       49 %
    NGL, $/gal     0.50         0.48         0.02       4 %
    Condensate, $/Bbl     72.32         77.22         (4.90 )     (6 %)

    (1)    Segment operating statistics include the effect of intersegment amounts, which have been eliminated from the consolidated presentation. For all volume statistics presented, the numerator is the total volume sold during the period and the denominator is the number of calendar days during the period.
    (2)    Plant natural gas inlet represents the Company’s undivided interest in the volume of natural gas passing through the meter located at the inlet of a natural gas processing plant, other than Badlands during 2024.
    (3)    Plant natural gas inlet volumes and gross NGL production volumes include producer take-in-kind volumes, while natural gas sales and NGL sales exclude producer take-in-kind volumes.
    (4)    Permian Midland includes operations in WestTX, of which the Company owns a 72.8% undivided interest, and other plants that are owned 100% by the Company. Operating results for the WestTX undivided interest assets are presented on a pro-rata net basis in the Company’s reported financials.
    (5)    Operations include facilities that are not wholly owned by the Company.
    (6)    Badlands natural gas inlet represents the total wellhead volume and includes the Targa volumes processed at the Little Missouri 4 plant.
    (7)    Average realized prices, net of fees, include the effect of realized commodity hedge gain/loss attributable to the Company’s equity volumes. The price is calculated using total commodity sales plus the hedge gain/loss as the numerator and total sales volume as the denominator, net of fees.

    The following table presents the realized commodity hedge gain (loss) attributable to the Company’s equity volumes that are included in the adjusted operating margin of the Gathering and Processing segment:

        Three Months Ended March 31, 2025     Three Months Ended March 31, 2024  
        (In millions, except volumetric data and price amounts)  
        Volume
    Settled    		     Price
    Spread (1)    		     Gain
    (Loss)    		     Volume
    Settled    		     Price
    Spread (1)    		     Gain
    (Loss)    		  
    Natural gas (BBtu)     7.7     $ 0.96     $ 7.4       14.4     $ 1.27     $ 18.3  
    NGL (MMgal)     97.5       (0.07 )     (6.6 )     134.1       0.01       1.7  
    Crude oil (MBbl)     0.7       1.00       0.7       0.4       (7.25 )     (2.9 )
                    $ 1.5                 $ 17.1  

    (1)    The price spread is the differential between the contracted derivative instrument pricing and the price of the corresponding settled commodity transaction.

    Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 Compared to Three Months Ended March 31, 2024

    The increase in adjusted operating margin was predominantly due to higher natural gas inlet volumes in the Permian. The increase in natural gas inlet volumes in the Permian was attributable to the addition of the Roadrunner II plant during the second quarter of 2024, the Greenwood II plant during the fourth quarter of 2024, the Bull Moose plant during the first quarter of 2025, and continued strong producer activity despite severe winter weather events which impacted volumes during the first quarter of 2025.

    The increase in operating expenses was primarily due to higher volumes and multiple plant additions in the Permian.

    Logistics and Transportation Segment

    The Logistics and Transportation segment includes the activities and assets necessary to convert mixed NGLs into NGL products and also includes other assets and value-added services such as transporting, storing, fractionating, terminaling, and marketing of NGLs and NGL products, including services to LPG exporters and certain natural gas supply and marketing activities in support of the Company’s other businesses. The Logistics and Transportation segment also includes Grand Prix NGL Pipeline, which connects the Company’s gathering and processing positions in the Permian Basin, Southern Oklahoma and North Texas with the Company’s Downstream facilities in Mont Belvieu, Texas. The Company’s Downstream facilities are located predominantly in Mont Belvieu and Galena Park, Texas, and in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

    The following table provides summary data regarding results of operations of this segment for the periods indicated:

      Three Months Ended March 31,              
      2025     2024     2025 vs. 2024
      (In millions, except operating statistics)
    Operating margin $   646.7     $   532.1     $   114.6     22 %
    Operating expenses     95.5         90.0         5.5     6 %
    Adjusted operating margin $   742.2     $   622.1     $   120.1     19 %
    Operating statistics MBbl/d (1):                          
    NGL pipeline transportation volumes     843.5         717.8         125.7     18 %
    Fractionation volumes     979.9         797.2         182.7     23 %
    Export volumes     447.7         439.0         8.7     2 %
    NGL sales     1,186.4         1,227.6         (41.2 )   (3 %)

    (1)    Segment operating statistics include intersegment amounts, which have been eliminated from the consolidated presentation. For all volume statistics presented, the numerator is the total volume sold during the period and the denominator is the number of calendar days during the period.

    Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 Compared to Three Months Ended March 31, 2024

    The increase in adjusted operating margin was due to higher pipeline transportation and fractionation margin and higher marketing margin. Pipeline transportation and fractionation volumes benefited from higher supply volumes primarily from the Company’s Permian Gathering and Processing systems, the addition of Train 9 during the second quarter of 2024, the in-service of the Daytona NGL Pipeline during the third quarter of 2024, and the addition of Train 10 during the fourth quarter of 2024. Marketing margin increased due to greater optimization opportunities.

    The increase in operating expenses was predominantly due to system expansions.

    Other

        Three Months Ended March 31,        
        2025     2024     2025 vs. 2024  
        (In millions)  
    Operating margin   $ (248.8 )   $ (22.1 )   $ (226.7 )
    Adjusted operating margin   $ (248.8 )   $ (22.1 )   $ (226.7 )

    Other contains the results of commodity derivative activity mark-to-market gains/losses related to derivative contracts that were not designated as cash flow hedges. The Company has entered into derivative instruments to hedge the commodity price associated with a portion of the Company’s future commodity purchases and sales and natural gas transportation basis risk within the Company’s Logistics and Transportation segment.

    About Targa Resources Corp.

    Targa Resources Corp. is a leading provider of midstream services and is one of the largest independent infrastructure companies in North America. The Company owns, operates, acquires and develops a diversified portfolio of complementary domestic infrastructure assets and its operations are critical to the efficient, safe and reliable delivery of energy across the United States and increasingly to the world. The Company’s assets connect natural gas and NGLs to domestic and international markets with growing demand for cleaner fuels and feedstocks. The Company is primarily engaged in the business of: gathering, compressing, treating, processing, transporting, and purchasing and selling natural gas; transporting, storing, fractionating, treating, and purchasing and selling NGLs and NGL products, including services to LPG exporters; and gathering, storing, terminaling, and purchasing and selling crude oil.

    Targa is a FORTUNE 500 company and is included in the S&P 500.

    For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.targaresources.com.

    Non-GAAP Financial Measures

    This press release includes the Company’s non-GAAP financial measures: adjusted EBITDA, adjusted cash flow from operations, adjusted free cash flow and adjusted operating margin (segment). The following tables provide reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures.

    The Company utilizes non-GAAP measures to analyze the Company’s performance. Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted cash flow from operations, adjusted free cash flow and adjusted operating margin (segment) are non-GAAP measures. The GAAP measures most directly comparable to these non-GAAP measures are income (loss) from operations, Net income (loss) attributable to Targa Resources Corp. and segment operating margin. These non-GAAP measures should not be considered as an alternative to GAAP measures and have important limitations as analytical tools. Investors should not consider these measures in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the Company’s results as reported under GAAP. Additionally, because the Company’s non-GAAP measures exclude some, but not all, items that affect income and segment operating margin, and are defined differently by different companies within the Company’s industry, the Company’s definitions may not be comparable with similarly titled measures of other companies, thereby diminishing their utility. Management compensates for the limitations of the Company’s non-GAAP measures as analytical tools by reviewing the comparable GAAP measures, understanding the differences between the measures and incorporating these insights into the Company’s decision-making processes.

    Adjusted Operating Margin

    The Company defines adjusted operating margin for the Company’s segments as revenues less product purchases and fuel. It is impacted by volumes and commodity prices as well as by the Company’s contract mix and commodity hedging program.

    Gathering and Processing adjusted operating margin consists primarily of:

    • service fees related to natural gas and crude oil gathering, treating and processing; and
    • revenues from the sale of natural gas, condensate, crude oil and NGLs less producer settlements, fuel and transport and the Company’s equity volume hedge settlements.

    Logistics and Transportation adjusted operating margin consists primarily of:

    • service fees (including the pass-through of energy costs included in certain fee rates);
    • system product gains and losses; and
    • NGL and natural gas sales, less NGL and natural gas purchases, fuel, third-party transportation costs and the net inventory change.

    The adjusted operating margin impacts of mark-to-market hedge unrealized changes in fair value are reported in Other.

    Adjusted operating margin for the Company’s segments provides useful information to investors because it is used as a supplemental financial measure by management and by external users of the Company’s financial statements, including investors and commercial banks, to assess:

    • the financial performance of the Company’s assets without regard to financing methods, capital structure or historical cost basis;
    • the Company’s operating performance and return on capital as compared to other companies in the midstream energy sector, without regard to financing or capital structure; and
    • the viability of capital expenditure projects and acquisitions and the overall rates of return on alternative investment opportunities.

    Management reviews adjusted operating margin and operating margin for the Company’s segments monthly as a core internal management process. The Company believes that investors benefit from having access to the same financial measures that management uses in evaluating the Company’s operating results. The reconciliation of the Company’s adjusted operating margin to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is presented under “Review of Segment Performance.”

    Adjusted EBITDA

    The Company defines adjusted EBITDA as Net income (loss) attributable to Targa Resources Corp. before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and other items that the Company believes should be adjusted consistent with the Company’s core operating performance. The adjusting items are detailed in the adjusted EBITDA reconciliation table and its footnotes. Adjusted EBITDA is used as a supplemental financial measure by the Company and by external users of the Company’s financial statements such as investors, commercial banks and others to measure the ability of the Company’s assets to generate cash sufficient to pay interest costs, support the Company’s indebtedness and pay dividends to the Company’s investors.

    Adjusted Cash Flow from Operations and Adjusted Free Cash Flow

    The Company defines adjusted cash flow from operations as adjusted EBITDA less cash interest expense on debt obligations and cash tax (expense) benefit. The Company defines adjusted free cash flow as adjusted cash flow from operations less maintenance capital expenditures (net of any reimbursements of project costs) and growth capital expenditures, net of contributions from noncontrolling interests and including contributions to investments in unconsolidated affiliates. Adjusted cash flow from operations and adjusted free cash flow are performance measures used by the Company and by external users of the Company’s financial statements, such as investors, commercial banks and research analysts, to assess the Company’s ability to generate cash earnings (after servicing the Company’s debt and funding capital expenditures) to be used for corporate purposes, such as payment of dividends, retirement of debt or redemption of other financing arrangements.

    The following table reconciles the non-GAAP financial measures used by management to the most directly comparable GAAP measures for the periods indicated:

      Three Months Ended March 31,  
      2025     2024  
      (In millions)  
    Reconciliation of Net income (loss) attributable to Targa Resources Corp. to Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Cash Flow from Operations and Adjusted Free Cash Flow          
    Net income (loss) attributable to Targa Resources Corp. $ 270.5     $ 275.2  
    Interest (income) expense, net   197.1       228.6  
    Income tax expense (benefit)   72.2       82.7  
    Depreciation and amortization expense   367.6       340.5  
    (Gain) loss on sale or disposition of assets   (0.5 )     (1.1 )
    Write-down of assets   2.0       1.0  
    (Gain) loss from financing activities   0.6       —  
    Equity (earnings) loss   (5.5 )     (2.8 )
    Distributions from unconsolidated affiliates   4.9       6.3  
    Compensation on equity grants   17.6       14.6  
    Risk management activities   248.8       22.0  
    Noncontrolling interests adjustments (1)   3.2       (0.8 )
    Adjusted EBITDA $ 1,178.5     $ 966.2  
    Interest expense on debt obligations (2)   (193.2 )     (224.9 )
    Cash taxes   (15.3 )     (2.9 )
    Adjusted Cash Flow from Operations $ 970.0     $ 738.4  
    Maintenance capital expenditures, net (3)   (47.3 )     (49.8 )
    Growth capital expenditures, net (3)   (594.5 )     (685.8 )
    Adjusted Free Cash Flow $ 328.2     $ 2.8  

    (1)    Represents adjustments related to the Company’s subsidiaries with noncontrolling interests, including depreciation and amortization expense as well as earnings for certain plants within Targa’s WestTX joint venture not subject to noncontrolling interest accounting.
    (2)    Excludes amortization of interest expense. The three months ended March 31, 2024 includes $54.9 million of interest expense on a 2024 legal ruling associated with an agreement, dated December 27, 2015, for crude oil and condensate between Targa Channelview LLC, then a subsidiary of the Company, and Noble Americas Corp.
    (3)    Represents capital expenditures, net of contributions from noncontrolling interests and includes contributions to investments in unconsolidated affiliates.

    The following table presents a reconciliation of estimated net income of the Company to estimated adjusted EBITDA for 2025:

      2025E  
      (In millions)  
    Reconciliation of Estimated Net Income Attributable to Targa Resources Corp. to    
    Estimated Adjusted EBITDA    
    Net income attributable to Targa Resources Corp. $ 1,555.0  
    Interest expense, net   860.0  
    Income tax expense   485.0  
    Depreciation and amortization expense   1,525.0  
    Equity earnings   (20.0 )
    Distributions from unconsolidated affiliates   25.0  
    Compensation on equity grants   70.0  
    Risk management and other   250.0  
    Estimated Adjusted EBITDA $ 4,750.0  

    Regulation FD Disclosures

    The Company uses any of the following to comply with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD: press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, or our website. The Company routinely posts important information on its website at www.targaresources.com, including information that may be deemed to be material. The Company encourages investors and others interested in the company to monitor these distribution channels for material disclosures.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Certain statements in this release are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our projected financial performance, capital spending and payment of future dividends. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events and are subject to a number of uncertainties, factors and risks, many of which are outside the Company’s control, which could cause results to differ materially from those expected by management of the Company. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, actions taken by other countries with significant hydrocarbon production, weather, political, economic and market conditions, including a decline in the price and market demand for natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil, the timing and success of our completion of capital projects and business development efforts, the expected growth of volumes on our systems, the impact of significant public health crises, commodity price volatility due to ongoing or new global conflicts, the impact of disruptions in the bank and capital markets, including those resulting from lack of access to liquidity for banking and financial services firms, changes in laws and regulations, particularly with regard to taxes, tariffs and international trade, and other uncertainties. These and other applicable uncertainties, factors and risks are described more fully in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, and any subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. The Company does not undertake an obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

    Targa Investor Relations
    InvestorRelations@targaresources.com
    (713) 584-1133

    The MIL Network –

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    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

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    Are Sugar Daddy Apps That Send Money Without Meeting Real?

    Searches for sugar daddy apps that send money without meeting have grown recently. Many people are curious whether receiving financial support through a sugar daddy app is possible without meeting in person. While the idea is appealing to some users, especially those who prefer virtual connections, it’s essential to understand how these situations work.

    Users sometimes form genuine online-only arrangements, but these are the exception, not the rule. Most sugar daddies want to build some level of connection before offering support.

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    What’s Real and What’s Not

    Legitimate sugar dating often involves a mutual agreement between both parties. This could include financial support, mentorship, or shared time. However, when someone offers money right away without verifying their identity or getting to know the other person, it’s a sign to pause and ask questions.

    A real sugar daddy app will not promise instant payments or guarantee financial rewards just for signing up. Be careful with users who offer large amounts of money too quickly or try to take the conversation off the platform right away.

    There are real sugar dating arrangements that happen entirely online, but they usually involve clear communication, gradual trust-building, and the use of verified features within the app.

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    Recognizing Red Flags

    You must stay aware of common scam tactics when using any sugar daddy dating app. Here are some warning signs to watch out for:

    • A user offers money before any real conversation takes place
    • They avoid video calls or ID verification
    • They ask for your Cash App, PayPal, or personal banking details early on
    • They claim to have sent you money and ask for a “refund” of the extra amount
    • They want to switch to text or messaging apps immediately after matching

    These are often signs of scam activity. A trustworthy online sugar daddy will take the time to verify their identity, respect boundaries, and follow the normal flow of conversation within the app.

    Safe Practices for New Users

    If you’re new to sugar dating, take steps to stay protected. Use apps with built-in safety tools like identity checks, secure messaging, and moderation. Stick to communication inside the app until you’re sure the person you’re speaking with is real.

    It’s also smart to set clear boundaries. Let the other person know what you’re comfortable with, and don’t feel pressured to move too fast. If someone offers to send money right away, ask questions and be cautious.

    While some sugar daddy apps do support long-distance or online-only arrangements, the safest and most rewarding connections usually come from people who are upfront, respectful, and interested in building trust over time.

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    Why Millionaire Sugar Daddies Prefer Apps in 2025

    Time, Privacy, and Precision

    Many millionaire sugar daddies have demanding schedules and limited time for traditional dating. In 2025, sugar daddy apps have become a preferred tool for those who want to connect quickly and quietly. These users often seek arrangements that respect their time and offer clear expectations.

    A sugar daddy app allows busy professionals to browse, match, and communicate without extended small talk. It saves time by focusing on users who are upfront about what they’re looking for. That directness appeals to people who are used to working with structure and efficiency.

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    Lifestyle Matchmaking

    Sugar daddy apps are also popular among high-income individuals because they offer matches that align with specific lifestyles. Whether dining out, luxury travel, or intellectual connection, the app format makes finding someone with shared interests easier.

    Some users prefer arrangements that are travel-based or seasonal. A sugar daddy might spend part of the year in another city or travel often for work. The app format makes it possible to connect with people in different locations, schedule time in advance, and communicate discreetly while moving.

    Discretion as a Key Feature

    Privacy is vital to many high-net-worth individuals. Using a sugar daddy dating app gives them more control over what they share when they respond, and how they present their profiles. Features like photo blurring, private messaging, and verification options create a more secure experience.

    These tools are handy for those who want to keep their personal lives separate from their business or public profiles. Many apps have built-in moderation to limit fake profiles and increase user trust.

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    Sugar Daddy Sites vs. Sugar Daddy Apps

    Both sugar daddy websites and apps serve the same purpose—helping people connect for mutually beneficial arrangements—but how users interact with them can differ.

    Apps are built for convenience. They’re ideal for users who want access to matches on the go. Whether during a lunch break or while traveling, a sugar daddy app offers quick access to profiles, chat tools, and updates. The layout is simple and designed for mobile users who prefer efficiency.

    On the other hand, sugar daddy sites often provide a more detailed experience. Longer bios, full-size photo galleries, and expanded search filters are common on the desktop version. Users who like to explore profiles more deeply or want to manage their matches from a larger screen may prefer this format.

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    Hybrid Use Is Common

    Many users switch between both. Someone might use a sugar daddy website at home and rely on the app when they’re out. This hybrid approach gives users flexibility, allowing them to maintain conversations and update their profiles from anywhere.

    For someone trying to find a sugar daddy, or for a sugar daddy hoping to connect with someone who understands their lifestyle, having access to both formats can be helpful.

    Online Connections That Fit Real Life

    Whether through a mobile app or a desktop site, sugar dating platforms in 2025 are designed to fit into people’s daily routines. From a quick match to a long-term connection, these tools help people make decisions based on clarity, preference, and availability.

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    How Sugar Daddy Apps Prioritize Safety in 2025

    Verified Profiles Build Trust

    Safety is one of the top concerns for anyone using a sugar daddy app in 2025. The best sugar daddy apps now require verification steps to protect users. These can include ID checks, selfie verification, and even income confirmation for sugar daddies. Verified profiles reduce the risk of scams and help people feel more secure when they start a new connection.

    Verified accounts are easier to trust when using a sugar daddy dating app. Users can see who is serious about finding an arrangement and who might be trying to mislead others. Verification makes a real difference in the overall experience.

    Photo Privacy and Secure Messaging

    Modern sugar daddy apps also provide tools to keep personal information private. Features like photo blurring, hidden albums, and profile controls let users decide who sees what. These privacy settings give both sugar babies and sugar daddies more control over their visibility.

    In-app messaging systems are designed to prevent spam and keep all conversations within a secure space. Some platforms also offer keyword filters to block suspicious messages. Together, these features help create a safer, more respectful environment.

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    Scam Prevention and Moderation

    Scam filtering has improved across many top sugar daddy websites and apps. Newer technology helps flag fake profiles and detect suspicious behavior early. When users report something that feels off, moderators can quickly review and act.

    The presence of active moderation is part of what separates legit sugar daddy sites from platforms that allow anything. A well-managed community supports safe dating and keeps the experience real.

    Why Verified Sugar Daddy Apps Matter

    Choosing a verified sugar daddy app matters. These apps aren’t just more secure and attract more serious users. People are less likely to run into fake profiles, time-wasters, or scammers when verification and moderation are part of the platform.

    Anyone looking to find a sugar daddy or connect with a real online sugar daddy should prioritize safety first. Verified apps are built to support that goal.

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    Final Thoughts

    Choosing the best sugar daddy app for your needs requires clarity about what you’re looking for—be it companionship, mentorship, or a luxurious lifestyle. The apps listed above each cater to different preferences and relationship styles. Explore the options, protect your privacy, and enjoy the journey of sugar dating in 2025.

    FAQs

    What are the best free sugar daddy apps?

    Some platforms like sugardaddy.com offer free basic memberships with optional paid upgrades.

    Can sugar babies get paid without meeting in person?

    Yes, some arrangements are entirely virtual. However, these are based on trust and clear agreement.

    Are sugar daddy apps safe to use?

    Reputable sugar daddy apps use encryption, profile verification, and fraud detection tools to keep users safe.

    Is sugar dating the same as escorting?

    No. Sugar dating is about mutually agreed-upon relationships that may or may not include intimacy. Escorting is transactional and often illegal.

    Are sugar daddy apps free?

    Many sugar daddy apps allow users to create an account and browse for free. However, to unlock full features, such as sending messages, viewing full profiles, or accessing premium filters, there’s often a paid membership option. Some sugar daddy apps free do exist, but they may have limited tools or fewer privacy features. Premium versions typically offer more security and better results.

    Do sugar daddies send money without meeting?

    It’s possible, but it’s rare. Most real sugar daddies prefer talking and building trust before offering support. While the idea of sugar daddy apps that send money without a meeting is popular in searches, many of those offers are linked to scams. If someone offers money immediately without real conversation or identity verification, it’s best to be cautious.

    How can I avoid scams on free sugar daddy apps?

    Always use verified sugar daddy apps with built-in security features like ID checks and profile moderation to stay safe. Avoid users who ask for personal financial information early on, and be wary of anyone who refuses to video chat or verify their identity. Don’t move conversations off the app too soon. If something feels off, trust your instincts and report the account.

    Where can I find a sugar daddy?

    You can find a sugar daddy using platforms specifically designed for sugar dating. The best way is through sugar daddy websites or apps that allow you to set preferences, filter by lifestyle or location, and communicate safely.

    Are sugar daddy relationships only about money?

    No. While financial support can be part of the arrangement, many sugar relationships are based on emotional connection, shared interests, or mentorship. Some sugar babies are looking for guidance or companionship more than anything else. Likewise, sugar daddies often seek someone who understands their lifestyle and values honesty and communication.

    Can sugar dating lead to long-term relationships?

    Yes, it can. Some sugar dating arrangements stay short-term, while others grow into longer commitments, including serious relationships or even marriage. Every arrangement is unique, and both define its meaning to them. What matters most is that both parties clearly understand their expectations from the start.

    Can men be sugar babies?

    Yes, men can be sugar babies, too. While most platforms have more women using them in that role, many sites and apps support a wide range of gender identities and relationship preferences. The sugar dating space is becoming more inclusive, and more men are finding arrangements that work for their lifestyle goals and personal needs.

    Media Contact

    Company: Sugar Daddy LLC

    Contact Person: Christopher A. Waldo

    Email: support@sugardaddy.com

    Address: 5820 Sunset Ridge Ave, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

    URL: https://www.sugardaddy.com/

    Phone: +1 (888) 841-4235

    Content Accuracy Disclaimer

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    It is the responsibility of the reader to verify product information directly through the official website or manufacturer prior to making a purchasing decision. Any reliance placed on the information in this article is done strictly at your own risk.

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    The publisher only promotes products that have been independently evaluated and deemed potentially beneficial to readers. However, this compensation may influence the content, topics, or products discussed in this article. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliate partner or product provider.

    All product reviews and descriptions reflect the author’s honest opinion based on available public data, user feedback, and scientific references at the time of writing. The inclusion of affiliate links does not influence the objectivity or integrity of the content. However, readers are encouraged to independently verify product information and consult with healthcare professionals prior to purchase or use.

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  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Participation of social stakeholders in the European Contact Group on Search and Rescue – E-000574/2025(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    The European Contact Group on Search and Rescue consists of Member States and Schengen Associated Countries and provides them with a space for dialogue as well as a framework to liaise with relevant stakeholders, including private entities owning or operating vessels for the purpose of search and rescue activities, such as non-governmental organisations[1].

    The Commission holds regular meetings with non-governmental organisations on search and rescue related issues, which have also informed the work of the Contact Group.

    • [1] Commission Recommendation (EU) 2020/1365 on cooperation among Member States concerning operations carried out by vessels owned or operated by private entities for the purpose of search and rescue activities, points (16) and (2), OJ L 317, 1.10.2020, p. 23-25.
    Last updated: 29 April 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Aromatic and medicinal plants from Greek producers – E-001584/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-001584/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Emmanouil Fragkos (ECR)

    Lavender, oregano, rosemary, sage and mountain tea are among the aromatic and medicinal plants that can have great export potential due to the growing demand for an increasingly advertised – especially on social media – way of life based on natural products. They can be used for drinks, cosmetics, aromatherapy and pharmaceutical preparations, as well as in cooking.

    These crops are especially advantageous for Greek farmers due to their xerophytic nature, allowing for cultivation with minimal water – an increasingly critical factor in a region facing growing water scarcity. In addition, semi-mountainous/mountainous soils are not suitable for many intensive crops, but they are ideal for plants such as oregano and mountain tea, as these are inherently organic products that do not require pesticides and fertilisers. Lavender and mountain tea have the highest export value per kilo, especially if standardised or processed (essential oils, premium packaging). Most of them can be grown organically, greatly increasing the final price. The benefit increases significantly if there is drying/standardisation or collaboration with a cooperative. Unfortunately, although there are many opportunities to enhance the value of these products, often producers throughout the province are not effectively informed of these.

    What policies would the Commission recommend to the Greek Ministry of Rural Development and local government agencies to increase these Greek crops, especially those of small producers?

    Submitted: 21.4.2025

    Last updated: 29 April 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –