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European Union spending of hundreds of millions of euro on promoting agricultural products is at odds with warnings from scientists on the disastrous impact industrial animal farming has on nature, the climate and our health and is an irresponsible use of taxpayers money, according to Greenpeace Europe.

The European Commission spent 32 per cent of its 777 million five-year farm product promotion budget on advertising campaigns for meat and dairy that ran between 2016 and 2020, a Greenpeace report published on Thursday found.

In Ireland, 78 per cent of funded promotions were targeted at meat and dairy consumption over a four-year period up to 2019 the highest proportion of European Union countries analysed by Greenpeace.

Its EU agriculture and forest campaigner Sini Erj said: When all the science is telling us to cut meat and dairy for our health, and the planets health, its unacceptable that the EU spends a quarter of a billion euro to accelerate consumption.

Farming and eating industrial meat and dairy puts us at risk of new pandemics, wrecks the climate and destroys nature its irresponsible for the EU to continue promoting this with taxpayers money.

The research found the commission spent 146 million on campaigns for fruit and vegetables over the five years 19 per cent of advertising spend.

Leaked versions of the EUs flagship Farm to Fork strategy and the Beating Cancer Plan suggested the commission intended to stop funding promotion of red and processed meat, which are particularly harmful, Ms Erj said. The final versions of both strategies contained more vague wording on promoting healthier diets, she said.

The commission is reviewing its policy on the promotion of EU farm products, with a new proposal expected in early 2022. Last month it opened public consultation on promotion policy.

Greenpeace is calling on the EU to end public funding for the promotion of meat and dairy products and recommending it be used to support ecological, small-scale farmers in Europe, and to help conventional farmers to transition to ecological methods.

The numbers for Ireland are even more skewed in favour of meat and dairy products, Ms Erj said, as 78 per cent of the EU spending on projects run by Irish organisations was used to promote exclusively meat and dairy in the period 2016-2019 country-level information isnt yet available for 2020.

This was certainly not in line with encouraging consumption thats better for the environment and public health.

Ireland received 13.4 million in total EU funding, 10.5 million of which was to support meat and dairy promotion projects just 1.4 million was spent targeting consumption of fruits and vegetables. Of nine countries subjected to deeper analysis, Spain and Ireland were found to have spent nothing on promoting organic products.

While there are some differences between countries, the overall picture remains the same, the report concluded, much more funding is being used to exclusively promote meat and dairy products than is used to promote fruits and vegetables.

Objectives in the approved funding applications of several meat and dairy promotional campaigns funded by the EU explicitly state they aim to reverse declines in, or maintain the growth of, meat and dairy consumption in Europe even if this reduction is much needed according to health and environmental research.

More than 70 per cent of EU farmland is used to raise livestock or produce animal feed. Two-thirds of EU farm subsidies currently end up supporting the production of animal products, directly and indirectly, including by supporting feed production, the report said.

Europeans consume about twice as much meat as the global average, and about three times as much dairy. To protect public health and nature, and to tackle the climate emergency, scientists are recommending a reduction of European meat and dairy consumption by at least 70 per cent by 2030, Greenpeace said.

The report featured examples of promotions including a proud of beef campaign, with 3.6 million of EU funding, which promoted the idea of becoming a beefatarian, supposedly to promote balanced, healthy diets.

The campaign fails to make any reference to the widely-recognised health risks or environmental damage associated with red and processed meat, the report said.

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EU funding of meat and dairy promotions irresponsible Greenpeace - The Irish Times

Seeking a fresh start in relations under the Biden Administration, the United States and European Union announced on March 5a four-month mutual suspension of tariffs related to the ongoing Boeing-Airbus trade dispute (March 5 Agreement). The suspension, which will become effective when both sides complete internal procedures, will cover all tariffs related to the dispute on both aircraft as well as non-aircraft products. The four-month suspension paves the way for a negotiated settlement and will allow the U.S. and the EU to address challenges posed by new entrancessuch as China.

The Boeing-Airbus dispute dates back to 2004, when the U.S. challenged EU subsidiesof Airbus that had adverse effects on the United States. The EU filed a retaliatory complaintagainst direct support to Boeing in the form of regional tax breaks and government grants. In 2019, the WTO paved the way for the U.S. to impose tariffs worth up to $7.5 billionannually. In 2020, the WTO authorized the EU to impose tariffs worth up to $4 billionon goods as a countermeasure for illegal U.S. Government subsidies to Boeing (2020 WTO Ruling). The March 5 Agreement results in the temporary suspension of tariffs on a wide range of products, such as European wines, whiskeys, and cheese, and on American items such as tractors, orange juice, cheddar cheese, sweet potatoes, and ketchup.

The March 5 Agreement follows a March 4th announcementby the United States and United Kingdom in which both countries suspended retaliatory Boeing-Airbus tariffs for four months (though, as noted in the joint statement, the U.K. had unilaterally suspended the implication of its tariffs on January 1, 2021). Of course, since the U.K. was not named in the 2020 WTO Ruling, the U.K. might not have been able to impose tariffs even if it had wanted. Reportsindicated that the U.K. was exploring a legal provision that might enable it to argue it would have a right to a share of the $4 billion awarded to the EU, but that issue is now moot.

The four-month suspension will allow the parties to work towards a negotiated settlement, which would greatly benefit all parties and refocus them on new challenges posed by China, which has been developing its own aircraft in an attempt to rival Boeing and Airbus. Chinas aircraft maker, Commercial Aircraft Cooperation of China (COMAC), has developed two new aircraft the C919, a narrow-body aircraft with a layout of 157 to 168 seats and a range of 4,075 to 5,555 km (2,532 to 3,451 miles), and the ARJ21, a short-medium range turbofan regional aircraft with a layout of 78 to 90 seats and a range of 2,225 to 3,700 km (1,382 to 2,229 miles). COMAC is also working with the Russian manufacturer United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) on developing the CR929, a long-range widebody dual-aisle aircraft with up to 280 seats and a range of up to 12,000 km (7,456 miles).

In January 2021, the Trump administration imposed Department of Defense sanctionson COMAC due to its close ties with Chinas military. The sanctions require U.S. investors to withdraw their holdings by November 11 and could threaten the viability of both the C919 and ARJ21 due to their U.S. content.

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U.S., EU, and UK ease trade tensions in Boeing-Airbus dispute and temporarily halt tariffs - JD Supra

A range of European Union institutions including the European Commission were hit by a significant cyber-attack last week.

A spokesperson for the commission said that a number of EU bodies experienced an IT security incident in their IT infrastructure. The spokesperson said forensic analysis of the incident is still in its initial phase and that its too early to provide any conclusive information about the nature of the attack.

We are working closely with CERT-EU, the Computer Emergency Response Team for all EU institutions, bodies and agencies and the vendor of the affected IT solution, the spokesperson said. Thus far, no major information breach was detected.

The attack was serious enough for senior officials at the commission to be alerted, according to a person familiar with the matter. The same person said the incident was bigger than the usual attacks that regularly hit the EU. Another EU official said that staff had recently been warned about potential phishing attempts.

Western institutions have uncovered at least two serious cyber-attacks recently.

The European Banking Authority disclosed last month that its systems may have been compromised following an attack on Microsoft Corp.s email software that was linked to China and exposed the data of tens of thousands of organizations, according to cybersecurity experts. The U.S. government was hit by suspected Russian cyber-attackers last yearafter systems at The SolarWinds Corp. were breached.

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European Institutions Were Targeted in a Cyber-Attack Last Week - Bloomberg

A vision for a healthier European Union

The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us of the foundational importance of our health and has exposed weaknesses in health systems all over the world. For example, in Europe, during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 84% of rare disease patients experienced some sort of disruption of their care. Going forward, it is evident that EU Health needs to be stronger than ever, and in this instance, can ensure that all rare disease patients in Europe have access to the right diagnosis and treatment they need.

This strategy is precisely the plan being adopted by the European Commission as we start to look beyond the COVID-19 crisis. The EU recognises the need to grasp this opportunity to strengthen its healthcare systems in terms of effectiveness, resilience, and accessibility.

The new EU4Health Programme is Europes most ambitious funding programme for health ever and will make an enormous contribution to the post-COVID-19 recovery by helping the European population to be healthier, strengthening the resilience of its health systems, and promoting innovation within the health sector. Furthermore, it will help fill the gaps revealed by the COVID-19 crisis and ensure that EU health systems are stronger if faced with new unprecedented health threats, as part of a future robust European Health Union. It is opening up a new chapter for EU health policy.

Starting with a focus on building a solid foundation of recovery and resilience, the programme will then work to build back better, by boosting and expanding work on urgent health priorities such as successful initiatives such as the European Reference Networks for rare diseases, the fight against cancer, reducing the number of antimicrobial-resistant infections and pursuing international cooperation on global health threats and challenges. The overarching aims of the project are:

Boosting digital health and disease prevention. The ongoing digital transformation of healthcare is a vital tool that must be utilised to improve accessibility.

Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety commented on the impressive funding of the programme, stating that with 5.1 billion, EU4Health will help strengthen our crisis preparedness and management of cross-border health threats as well as reinforcing the EUs healthcare systems overall. EU4Health opens up a new chapter for EU health policy and sends a clear signal to people in Europe that public health is our priority and that we have listened to their concerns.

Through the approval of the EU4Health Programme, it is clear to see that Europe is committed to improving its healthcare sector and meeting its ambitious goals.

On top of this, other EU programmes alongside EU4Health will provide additional investments in the health sector to complement the programme. These consist of:

European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) to support vulnerable groups in accessing healthcare.

European Regional and Development Fund to improve regional health infrastructure.

Horizon Europe for health research.

Union Civil Protection Mechanism/rescEU to create stockpiles for emergency medical supplies.

Digital Europe and Connecting Europe Facility for creating the digital infrastructure needed for digital health tools.

Commissioner Kyriakides made a keynote speech in March 2021 calling to place significant emphasis on having patients at the very centre when re-designing Europes healthcare provision. She firmly stated that while this has been a priority in the past, in European healthcare today, there is still a need for more integration, and more cooperation between patients, informal carers and health professionals. What may seem to be a good result from a doctors perspective may not be the same for a patient. As we strive to build stronger health systems, the patients perspective is invaluable. It complements our knowledge and helps us to improve, she highlighted.

Therefore, the EUs Health Programme has funded initiatives that target this goal, and Europe is well on its way to building back a more sustainable and resilient healthcare system with patients at the heart.

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A vision for a healthier European Union - Open Access Government

The European Union on Sunday called for the departure of all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya, describing it as a precondition for a return to stability in the war-torn country.

At a news conference in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, EU Council President Charles Michel described the appointment of a transitional government earlier this year as a historic moment. The government is meant to shepherd the country through until general elections on Dec. 24.

You have created an opportunity to rebuild your country, but there is one precondition all foreign fighters and troops must leave the country, he said, urging Libyas political and mostly armed factions to seize a unique opportunity to build a united sovereign stable and prosperous country.

A recently released report by U.N. experts accused several foreign governments of turning the oil-rich country into a stage to play out rivalries and ignoring U.N. sanctions and a decade-long U.N. arms embargo, which it said has remained totally ineffective.

The experts identified Turkey and Qatar as the backers of forces loyal to the U.N.-supported administration in Tripoli, to the west, while the United Arab Emirates, Russia, and Egypt have supported Khalifa Hifter, the military commander controlling eastern and southern parts of Libya.

Michel, who met the leaders of the newly appointed government, said the EU was supporting efforts at national reconciliation, following the years of chaos since the 2011 uprising that overthrew and later killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Mohammad Younes Menfi, head of the presidential council, said he and Michel discussed migration and the security of maritime borders between Libya and the EU, according to the office of the Libyan leader. Libya has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East and seeking a better life in Europe.

Other European leaders would be visiting Libya in the coming days, reflecting the importance of EU-Libyan ties, an EU official said, adding that the EU ambassador to Libya would return to Tripoli by the end of April. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

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European Union calls for foreign forces and mercenaries to leave Libya - Haaretz