European Union

Weekly schedule of President Charles Michel 7 - 13 June 2021

The Council approved two sets of conclusions on the impact of the pandemic, one on internal security and a second on the threat posed by terrorism and violent extremism.

Recent terrorist attacks carried out across the EU have underlined the need to improve the protection of public spaces.

In these conclusions the Council emphasises the unique challenge to security posed by the UEFA EURO championship, since the competition will take place in 11 European cities simultaneously.

Press briefing ahead the G7 summit of 11-13 June2021

The Council today approved conclusions on the protection of vulnerable adults across the EU, with regard to civil and criminal law matters.

This text aims to enhance the agency's mandate and improve its functioning through more efficient procedures.

The main aim of this system is to improve the efficiency of cross-border communication between the competent judicial authorities and facilitate access to justice for citizens and businesses.

The draft regulation aims to ensure greater legal certainty for businesses and citizens when it comes to cross-border transfers of claims, thereby facilitating access to finance and promoting cross-border investment in the EU.

The €17.5 billion Just Transition Fund will focus exclusively on territories dependent on fossil fuels and carbon-intensive industries to support them on the road to climate neutrality.

While the European Union has developed a number of policy commitments and instruments to deal with the nexus between climate change and security, the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) has lagged behind. This study discusses the security implications of climate change in the EU Neighbourhood and makes recommendations concerning how the CSDP might integrate climate factors into its mission and deliverables. The CSDP will need to adopt a place-specific approach that foregrounds the distinctive social, political and economic dynamics through which climate factors makes themselves felt in different partner countries. The analysis looks in particular depth at the Sahel and the Horn of Africa as two regions where CSDP missions already operate or are likely to operate in the future. Countries in these regions are highly vulnerable to the interaction between a degraded environment and climate change impacts, raising the prospects of humanitarian crises due to food insecurity and internal instability due to competition for resources. These problems compound the EU’s prominent security concerns of terrorism and migration. The EU can move to climate-proof the CSDP through better conflict intelligence and foresight, carefully adapted and adequately resourced mandates, climate-change proofing investments in equipment and infrastructure, and better links to local social and institutional dynamics. The European Parliament should deploy its considerable political capital to support such initiatives, through resolutions, engagement with the UN and other inter-parliamentary fora, and efforts to garner political commitment from the Member States.
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

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