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European Union countries are divided over whether to delay landmark green investment regulations, with eight heads of government on Tuesday urging Brussels to push back the rules, a day before it is due to publish them.

The European Commissions rules, known as its sustainable finance taxonomy, include a list of economic activities and the criteria they must meet to be labelled as green investments in the EU from next year.

The aim is to steer private capital into activities that will help the EU meet its climate goals.

But the regime has become a battleground for lobbying from governments, who disagree over what should be labelled as green.

A draft Commission proposal, seen by Reuters last week, lays out rules for various sectors, including transport, industry and buildings. But it delays decisions on whether natural gas-fuelled power plants and nuclear energy can be classed as green - two key issues which divide EU countries.

The prime ministers of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and five other countries wrote to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday, opposing the plan to delay gas and nuclear, and urging the Commission to only publish the rules when they can address all energy technologies.

Even if it costs a delay in adopting the legislation, the objective of having good and ambitious rules for all relevant technologies and sources of energy is worth it, the letter, seen by Reuters, said.

It was also signed by the president of Cyprus and the prime ministers of Bulgaria, Malta, Romania and Slovakia.

Separately, seven EU countries including Germany, Spain and Austria wrote to the Commission on April 16, urging it not to delay the rules.

Market participants who must comply with the rules next year need legal certainty now, said the letter, also signed by Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and Luxembourg.

The Commission had hoped to finish the rules in January, but delayed that plan to April after its original proposal -- which denied gas power plants a green label -- triggered pushback from central and eastern states which see the fuel as necessary for them to ditch more-polluting coal.

That view clashes with the position of the EUs expert advisers on the regime, and some generally wealthier western and Nordic states which say labelling gas, a fossil fuel, as green would undermine EU policies to fight climate change.

The Commission could not immediately be reached for comment.

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European Union countries split over whether to delay green investment rules - The Hindu

The European Union (EU) will discuss 5G technology rollouts and the establishment of global security standards when leaders meet with India next month, as concerns grow about the dominance of Chinese telecom giants.

Europe wants to work with democratic partners including India to establish open and transparent standards as nations prepare to move to the new security protocol that should be part of every 5G value chain, Margrethe Vestager, the European Unions antitrust chief said in an interview.

When we have a systemic rivalry, then we must come together to protect what is really important, Vestager said. The way tech is used is a reflection of the system that we prefer, which is democracy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to attend the India-EU summit in Portugal on May 8 to meet leaders from the 27-member bloc of nations for discussions on trade and security issues. The EU is Indias largest trading partner.

India and many European countries, along with the US, have sought to distance their next generation telecom infrastructure from companies including Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. amid concerns over their links with the Chinese government.

Nations including the US, UK, Australia and India have raised red flags about Chinese majors participating in building the networks. Chinese suppliers have been shut out of recent telecom auctions in India. While the US and Japan have announced their intention to invest in 5G research, the UK plans to build an alliance of democracies for safer adoption of the technology thats expected to spur growth post-pandemic and add $1.3 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

Theres renewed focus on building common standards to ensure security across the 5G value chain, Vestager said. Standards would include agreeing on technical aspects like radio spectrum bands and interface technologies to be used by 5G networks and creating level-playing fields for local and smaller companies.

It has been part of discussions we have had so far, she said. And I would hope that this would be a common approach. Standard setting is one of the keys for a level playing field and for speed when it comes to digitalization.

The EU needs to invest $355 billion while India would need to invest over $70 billion to build its 5G network, according to the government.

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European Union looks to align with India on 5G to 'distance' telecom infrastructure from Chinese companies - Hindustan Times

(Credit: Unsplash)

This article is brought to you in association with theEuropean Commission.

While the coronavirus pandemic has been impacting on European daily lives for more than a year, attitudes towards the EU remain positive, according to the latest Standard Eurobarometer conducted in February-March 2021.

The image of the EU and trust in the EU have increased and reached their highest levels in more than a decade.

Europeans citizens identify health and the economic situation as the two top concerns both at EU and national levels.

The survey also indicates an increase in concern about the current state of national economies: 69% of Europeans think that the situation is currently bad and 61% of Europeans fear that their countrys economy will recover from the impact of the pandemic in 2023 or later.

1. Trust and image of the EU

Close to half of Europeans trust the European Union (49%), after a 6-point increase since the Standard Eurobarometer of summer 2020. It is the highest level registered since spring 2008. Trust in national governments (36%) and national parliaments (35%) have lost ground, though both remain at a higher level than in autumn 2019.

In 20 Member States, a majority of respondents say they trust the EU, with the highest levels found in Portugal (78%) and Ireland (74%).

The positive image of the EU (46%) has reached its highest level since autumn 2009, after a 6-percentage point increase since summer 2020. Fewer people have a neutral image of the EU (38%, -2), while 15% (-4) have a negative image of the EU.

A majority of respondents have a positive image of the EU in 25 EU Member States (up from 13 in summer 2020), with the highest proportions found in Portugal (76%) and Ireland (75%).

2. Main concerns at EU and national level

Almost four EU citizens in ten consider health as the most important issue currently facing the EU: 38% of respondents now mention this issue, a steep increase of 16 percentage points since summer 2020. It has taken first place ahead of the economic situation (35%, unchanged), while the state of Member States public finances has slid into third position, (21%, -2). The environment and climate change is in now in fourth place (20%, unchanged), while immigration, at 18% after a 5-point decrease, has fallen out of the leading trio of concerns for the first time since autumn 2014. Unemployment is in sixth position, with 15% of mentions (-2 percentage points).

Regarding main concerns at national level, health is also perceived as the most important issue (44%), after a 13-percentage point increase since summer 2020. The economic situation is in second place, mentioned by a third of Europeans (33%, unchanged), while a quarter cite unemployment (25%, -3).

3. The economic situation and the euro

Perceptions of the national economy have continued to deteriorate: only 29% of EU citizens now think that the situation is good (-5 percentage points since summer 2020, -18 since autumn 2019), the lowest level for this indicator since spring 2013. The proportion of Europeans who consider this situation to be bad has gained ground correspondingly (69%, +5).

Positive perceptions of the current situation of the national economy varies widely between EU Member States, ranging from 86% in Luxembourg, down to 7% in Italy.

Support for the euro remains very high: 79% (+4) of citizens in the euro area are in favour of the euro, the highest point since 2004, with figures ranging from 95% in Portugal to 70% in France and Austria. Overall in the European Union, seven in ten Europeans support the euro (70%, +3), the highest level ever recorded.

4. The coronavirus pandemic

43% of Europeans are satisfied with measures taken so far by national governments to fight the pandemic (-19 percentage points since last summer) while 56% are dissatisfied (+19).

The same proportion is satisfied with measures taken by the EU (43%, -2), while 49% are dissatisfied (+5). However, 59% trust the EU to make the right decisions in its response to the pandemic in the future.

More than six Europeans in ten (61%) think that their countrys economy will recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in 2023 or later. Less than a quarter think that recovery will come in 2022 (23%), and just 5% think that it will be this year, in 2021. Close to one in ten fear that their countrys economy will never recover from the impact of the pandemic (8%).

A majority of Europeans believe that the EU 750 billion euro recovery plan, NextGenerationEU, is an effective instrument for responding to the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic (55%). Close to four in ten think that it is not effective (38%).

Since summer 2020, Europeans personal experience of measures to fight the pandemic, such as confinement, has deteriorated: a majority of EU citizens now consider that it was a difficult experience to cope with (40%, +8 percentage points since summer 2020), while less than three in ten say it was easy to cope with (29%, -9). The proportion who say that it was both easy and difficult to cope with has remained almost unchanged, at 31% (+1).

5. Vaccination against Covid-19

45% of Europeans answered they would like to get vaccinated as a soon as possible or had already been vaccinated at the time of fieldwork, and 20% would like to do so some time in 2021. 21% would prefer to get vaccinated later. Only 12% say that they would never get vaccinated, and 2% that they dont know.

In 21 countries, a majority of respondents would like to get vaccinated as soon as possible or have already been vaccinated, led by Ireland (74%), Denmark (73%) and Sweden (71%). On the other hand, less than one respondent out of five intends to get vaccinated as soon as possible in Bulgaria (19%) and Cyprus (16%).

Background

The Winter 2020-2021 Standard Eurobarometer (EB 94) was conducted through face-to-face and online interviews between 12 February and 18 March 2021 across the 27 EU Member States and twelve countries or territories[1]. 27,409 interviews were conducted in the EU27 Member States between 12 February and 11 March 2021.

For More Information

Standard Eurobarometer 94

[1] The 27 European Union (EU) Member States, five candidate countries (Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey), Bosnia-and-Herzegovina, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom as well as the Turkish Cypriot Community in the part of the country that is not controlled by the government of the Republic of Cyprus, and Kosovo* (*this designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/99 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence).

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Eurobarometer: Trust in the European Union has increased since last summer - The European Sting

For organic and sustainable agriculture, farmers must have access to high-quality organic seeds. Yet in Europe there is still a shortage of these kinds of seeds. In the LIVESEED project, the European Union wants to do something about this. New breeding materials brought in by projects such as LIVESEED help reduce dependence on synthetic seed treatments through breeding varieties that are resistant to seed- and soil-borne diseases. This in turn enables more environmentally friendly cultivation, the EU said in an interim report released yesterday on the project that was launched back in 2017.

This EU-funded project also looks at aspects of the market and the corresponding regulations. This includes a new quality strategy for organic seeds, a Europe-wide seed database and sustainable breeding techniques that are adapted to specific conditions.

Experts from 18 European countries are collaborating on the project, which also involves an overview of existing national databases on the availability of organic seeds. Since the seed that is to be used has to be adapted to local conditions, the scientists also wanted to see how the availability of organic varieties with specific characteristics could be broadened as well. These include, for instance, higher tolerance to stress, or resistance to pests and diseases.

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We are also developing a new strategy for the health of organic seed stocks and a roadmap for using only organic seeds by 2036, said Project coordinator gnes Bruszik. This strategy will take into account seed cultivation conditions and look at the maturation, microbiome and effect of sanitation treatments of organic seeds.

The project team has also developed new experimental models for organic varieties that can be used in daily practice. This will allow farmers to test these themselves and see how they could be improved to adapt to local conditions.

It is expected that by 2030, about a quarter of all agricultural land in the EU will be used for organic agriculture. LIVESEED can help to meet this goal. The benefits of this project for farmers include better access to a wider range of high-quality seeds, a more thorough knowledge of seed cultivation and an opportunity to test new or promising varieties in their native climatic conditions, Bruszik said.

Also read other IO articles on sustainable agriculture by following this link.

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European Union lays the groundwork for sustainable agriculture - Innovation Origins

U.S. President Joe Biden will embark on his first overseas trip in office in June, the White House announced Friday, with the aim of demonstrating his administration's commitment to the transatlantic alliance and re-engagement with key allies.

Biden will attend the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, England, set for June 11-13, followed by a visit to Brussels, where he will hold meetings with European Union leadership and attend the June 14 summit of leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The meetings with the United States' closest allies come as Biden has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to a summit in the coming months in a third country, though no date has yet been set.

Most recent American presidents have selected North American neighbors for their first cross-border trips, though former President Donald Trump, whose penchant for unilateral action and open skepticism of the NATO alliance unsettled American allies, made his first overseas stop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. For Biden, the first trip is meant to turn the page from Trump's approach to alliances.

Its both a practical chance to connect with key allies and partners on shared opportunities and challenges," said Yohannes Abraham, the chief of staff and executive secretary of the National Security Council, in an interview with the AP. "But also its an illustration of something that the president has been clear about that the transatlantic alliance is back, that revitalizing it is a key priority of his, and that the transatlantic relationship is a strong foundation on which our collective security and shared prosperity are built.

Biden, for his part, held virtual bilateral meetings with the leaders of Canada and Mexico in February and March, respectively. The June trip will follow after Biden's first in-person bilateral meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at the White House last week and next month's planned visit by President Moon Jae-in of South Korea.

In Cornwall, Biden will hold bilateral meetings with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other leaders. He will hold additional one-on-one meetings in Brussels with NATO allies, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

This trip will highlight his commitment to restoring our alliances, revitalizing the Transatlantic relationship, and working in close cooperation with our allies and multilateral partners to address global challenges and better secure Americas interests, she said in a statement.

The announcement comes shortly after the conclusion of Bidens two-day virtual climate summit, in which he received praise from leaders, particularly those in Europe, for returning the U.S. to the Paris Climate Agreement and reengaging on a host of other issues of shared concern.

The trip will mark the most ambitious travel schedule yet for Biden since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, as the president has sought to model safe behavior for the nation.

It comes as the U.S. has stepped up its travel warnings for much of the world due to the virus. Both the U.K. and Belgium are listed by the State Department under level four, the highest, do not travel advisory, and are the subject of specific prohibitions preventing most travel to the U.S. by noncitizens.

The White House said it is working closely with host countries to ensure the safety of all attendees at the summits.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month lifted quarantine guidance for international travel for those fully vaccinated for COVID-19, but still recommends that vaccinated individuals returning from overseas monitor their symptoms and take a test 3-5 days after returning to the U.S.

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Biden to make first overseas trip in office to United Kingdom, European Union - The Hindu