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A senior European Union official has sounded the alarm over the rapid decline of Australias Great Barrier Reef while backing calls for all countries to make more ambitious cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.

The EUs commissioner for environment, oceans and fisheries, Virginijus Sinkeviius, told Guardian Australia he was deeply concerned by the threats facing the Great Barrier Reef. As long as we do not change our behaviours, things will not improve, he said.

Sinkeviius hopes Australia will sign up to the 84-country Leaders Pledge for Nature a document that calls for a green and just recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and stronger political will to act against the crises of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation and climate change.

The leaders pledge backs the objective of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. That is a target the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said is his preference, but he has resisted making a formal commitment amid divisions within his government over climate policy.

Sinkeviius spoke to Guardian Australia after the EU joined the International Coral Reef Initiative, a grouping of countries and organisations that aims to preserve coral reefs and related ecosystems. Australia was one of eight governments that co-founded the initiative in 1994.

I am deeply concerned by the threats facing the Great Barrier Reef, Sinkeviius said. Perhaps no coral reef on the planet is better known, certainly here in Europe, than the Great Barrier Reef.

Sinkeviius said coral reefs in general, and the Great Barrier Reef in particular, were emblematic of rich marine life.

Yet the rapid degradation of these beautiful and essential underwater worlds is also a very stark reminder of the pressures that human activity is placing on our shared planet, not least our oceans, he said.

Coral reefs are under threat because of our activity as humans, our unsustainable ways of living, producing and consuming. As long as we do not change our behaviours, things will not improve. This is in our hands, and we must seize responsibility and rectify these negative impacts.

The world heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef is the worlds largest coral reef system but is under increasing pressure from climate heating that caused mass bleaching events in 2016, 2017 and 2020. A government report card released in February found the marine environment along the coastline remained in poor health.

Asked whether concerns about the Great Barrier Reef should help motivate all countries to increase the level of ambition in their greenhouse gas reduction commitments, Sinkeviius said: I would hope so.

He said the European Commissions European Green Deal included a pledge to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050 a goal he described as ambitious, yet one that is absolutely necessary.

Sinkeviius said he had been happy to see its wider impact in engagements with partners around the world and had been pleased to see that China and the US had set deadlines for net zero emissions 2060 and 2050, respectively.

But he said it was also important to acknowledge that our emissions have already had an impact on climate.

Such impact will continue for decades, even if global and European efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions prove effective. Hence substantial adaptation efforts are therefore still required. Our cooperation in the International Coral Reef Initiative and other fora will remain essential in this regard.

Sinkeviius said the EU looked forward to close cooperation with Australia, currently a co-chair of the reef initiative.

He said the EU was already working with Australia on research initiatives, including providing at least 280m ($432m) over three years to a project led by the Institut de recherche pour le dveloppement in France.

The project, in partnership with the Australian Institute of Marine Science, is examining the genetic response of corals to ocean warming.

Sinkeviius said the EU and Australia were longstanding supporters of conserving the unique ecosystems and rich marine biodiversity of the Southern Ocean, including the reefs of cold-water corals and seamounts that form key habitats for an array of creatures found nowhere else on Earth.

The commissioner called for an ambitious agreement on a post-2020 global biodiversity framework at the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), due to be held in October in the Chinese city of Kunming.

The EU is pressing for ambitious, and where feasible, measurable and time-bound targets to effectively address the drivers of biodiversity loss.

Sinkeviius said the EU was striving for overarching objectives to galvanise support at the highest political level and among the wider public - similar to the 1.5C target for climate change.

We are at a turning point, and the upcoming COP15 must be the Paris moment for biodiversity, he said.

He said the UN Biodiversity Summit held in September last year was an important event to build momentum as well as to foster strategies to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic that are green and consistent with climate and biodiversity objectives.

The EU invites Australia to join the Leaders Pledge for Nature published in September 2020 and already endorsed by 84 countries, he said, referring to a pledge whose supporters include Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

In addition, the EU also invites Australia to join the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, which is raising the global ambition to achieve at least 30% protection of land and oceans.

The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, whose members comprise 57 countries or blocs including the UK and France, calls for that goal of protecting at least 30% of worlds land and ocean to be achieved by 2030.

Mobilising resources ahead of the COP15 will be of key importance and we also count on Australia to join international efforts to ensure adequate support to developing states, Sinkeviius said.

Australias minister for emissions reduction, Angus Taylor, told an international event late on Wednesday that Australia was firmly committed to getting to net zero as soon as possible and preferably by 2050.

But, Taylor said, Canberras focus was very much on the how of such a transition. The minister pledged $1m towards a clean energy transitions program overseen by the International Energy Agency.

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European Union official sounds alarm over threats to Great Barrier Reef - The Guardian

Hungary has vaccinated more of its population than any other country in the European Union, but continues to be among the world's worst in the number of COVID-19 deaths per capita

By JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press

March 29, 2021, 12:37 PM

3 min read

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Hungary has vaccinated more of its population than any other country in the European Union, according to figures from an EU agency, but it continues to be one of the world's worst in the number of COVID-19 deaths per capita.

The Central European country has given at least a first dose of a vaccine to 21.6% of its population, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, just ahead of the small island nation of Malta and surpassing the 27-member bloc's average of 12.3%.

But Hungary's high vaccination rate, a product of a procurement strategy that secured doses from China and Russia in addition to those provided by the EU, has been unable to slow a surge in the pandemic that has given it the highest two-week mortality rate per capita in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister, has been critical of the speed of the EU's vaccine rollout, and pushed for his country to break with the bloc and secure vaccine contracts with eastern countries. Hungary was the first in the EU to approve Chinas Sinopharm and Russias Sputnik V vaccines, boosting supplies and making it an EU leader in the number of distributed doses per capita.

Were in a very good position, right at the head of the queue, and both the Russians and the Chinese are delivering in a timely manner, Orban said in a radio interview on Friday.

Last week, Hungary issued emergency approval to two more vaccines Convidecia, a jab produced by Chinese company CanSino Biologics, and Covishield, a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced in India bringing the total number of approved jabs to seven, the most in the EU.

But while officials have emphasized that only rapid vaccine deployment can bring an end to the pandemic Orban said on Friday that "vaccination is our primary, our only means of defense against the virus Hungary's good standing has been unable to alleviate a third wave that has led to record-breaking new cases and deaths.

As of Monday, more than 20,000 people had died of coronavirus-related causes in the country of fewer than 10 million inhabitants, giving it the third-worst death rate per capita in the world.

While other countries in the region have imposed tough lockdown measures to bring their own surges under control, Hungary on the weekend published plans to loosen pandemic restrictions in coming days despite the spiking numbers, an effort to restart the economy in a country which saw a 5.1% drop in GDP last year.

I have no doubt whatsoever that in Hungary well have a summer of freedom, Orban said Friday.

According to the plans published Saturday in the government's official gazette, nonessential shops will be allowed to reopen with capacity limitations, and an overnight curfew in place since November will be shortened by two hours. The new measures will take effect once 2.5 million people have received a first dose of a vaccine, a government minister announced, which is likely to occur some time next week.

See more here:
Hungary first in European Union for vaccinations, and deaths - ABC News

Posted: Apr 2, 2021 / 02:14 AM CDT / Updated: Apr 2, 2021 / 02:14 AM CDT

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen listens to a question during an online news conference at the end of a EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 25, 2021. European Union leaders struggled Thursday to solve quarrels about the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine shots as they tried to ramp up inoculations across their 27 nations amid a shortage of doses, spikes in new cases and a feud with the United Kingdom. (Aris Oikonomou, Pool Photo via AP)

BRUSSELS (AP) The European Union is struggling to show complete coronavirus vaccination solidarity among member nations, after a week of negotiations over the distribution of extra doses exposed fissures on Friday.

Five EU nations that struggled most to get their vaccination drive going were given extra doses from an alliance of 19 other countries. Three nations werent part of the deal, however, showing the difficulties of compromise politics when COVID-19 cases are surging again.

At an EU summit last week, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz criticized the allocation of shots in the 27-nation bloc, saying that some countries were receiving more than their fair share at the cost of others. EU leaders failed to agree on a correction mechanism, leaving it to their EU ambassadors.

Late Thursday, a deal was reached on how to distribute an early batch of 10 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses with Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia receiving a proportionally large number of doses. Austria, along with the Czech Republic and Slovenia, didnt get additional shots.

We are grateful for the remarkable efforts and solidarity of fellow EU member states, Latvian Prime Minister Krijnis Kari said. He said the extra shots will bring us closer to our common goal a collective immunity across the EU.

Under the joint procurement program set up by the European Commission, doses are allocated on a pro rata basis, but some nations are taking less than their share. A large majority of EU members think the system is working well, but said some nations made a mistake to focus on AstraZeneca shots instead of diversifying their vaccine portfolios.

AstraZeneca shots are cheaper and easier to handle than vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.

Overall, the EU continues to lag well behind nations like the United Kingdom and United States when it comes to vaccinations.

___

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EU nations struggle to full show vaccination solidarity - KLBK | KAMC | EverythingLubbock.com

In a common market, labor costs will look fairly similar across areas.

Sure, there will be some places with differing skill levels, different mixes of industry, and different levels of urbanization, thus leading to somewhat higher or lower labor costs. But over time, workers from lower-pay areas will tend to relocate to higher-pay areas and employers in higher-pay areas will tend to relocate to lower-pay areas. Thus, it's interesting that the European Union continues to show large gaps in hourly labor costs.

Here aresome figures recently released by Eurostat(March 31, 2021) on labor costs across countries. As you can see, hourly labor costs are up around 40/hour in Denmark, Luxembourg, and Belgium, but 10/hour or below in some countries of eastern Europe like Poland or the Baltic states like Lithuania. (For comparison, a euro is at present worth about $1.17 in US dollars. Norway and Iceland are not part of the European Union, but they are part of a broader grouping called the European Economic Area.)

Another major difference across EU countries is in what share of the labor costs paid by employers represent non-wage costs--that is, payments made by employers directly to the government for pensions and other social programs. In France and Sweden, these non-wage costs are about one-third of total hourly labor costs. It's interesting that in Denmark, commonly thought of as a Scandinavian high social-spending country, non-wage costs are only about 15% of total labor costs--because Denmark chooses not to finance its social spending by loading up the costs on employers to the same extent.

These differences suggest some of the underlying stresses on the European Union. Given these wage gaps across countries, tensions in high-wage countries about migration from lower-wage countries and competition from firms in lower-wage countries will remain high. The large differences in non-wage costs as part of what employers pay for labor represents some of the dramatic differences across EU countries in levels of social benefits and how those benefits are financed. Proposals for European-wide spending and taxing programs, along with the desire of higher-income EU countries not to pay perpetual subsidies to lower-income countries, run into these realities every day.

For comparison, here are some recent figures fromthe US Census Bureau on average employer costs per hour across the 10 Census "divisions." Yes, there are substantial differences between, say, the Pacific or New England divisions and the East South Central or West South Central divisions. But the United States is much more of a unified market than the European Union, both in wage levels and in the way non-wage labor costs are structured, and so the gaps are much smaller.

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The Spread in Labor Costs Across the European Union - BBN Times

Britain will join China in being locked out of research with the EU on cutting-edge quantum technology, such as new breeds of supercomputers, due to security concerns under a European commission proposal opposed by academics and 19 member states.

At a meeting on Friday, commission officials said the EU needed to keep control of intellectual property on key projects and that working with even close allies such as the UK and Switzerland opened up an unacceptable risk.

Under the UKs trade and security deal with its former partners, the government retained the right to pay into and participate in the EUs Horizon Europe research programme, a seven-year, 95.5bn (82bn) funding scheme. But the commission has now decided to curtail the type of projects in which the UK will be able to take part under a draft proposal discussed with the member states on Friday.

Representatives from Germany, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands were among the 19 member states who voiced concerns over the plan driven by Thierry Breton, the French internal market commissioner, and backed by the French government, among others.

You cant just put the UK and Switzerland in the same box as China and Iran, said one concerned diplomat. If this is what Bretons idea of strategic autonomy looks like, were in for one rough ride. The commission is pulling the rug underneath fruitful collaborations; they need to stay on the carpet.

But commission officials rejected arguments about the importance of working with trusted partners, sources said. The UKs attempt to break international law over the Northern Ireland border was raised by the commission as an example of why there was a lack of trust.

The new eligibility rules proposed by the commission include restrictions on work on a range of sensitive areas such as quantum computers, described in the commissions draft text for its Horizon research funding scheme as an emerging technology of global strategic importance.

In order to achieve the expected outcomes, and safeguard the Unions strategic assets, interests, autonomy, or security, namely, participation is limited to legal entities established in member states, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein. Proposals including entities established in countries outside this scope will be ineligible, the draft says.

According to the draft text, the goal of the changes is to make independent European capacities in developing and producing quantum computing technologies of strategic importance for future computing capacities and applications in security and dual-use technologies.

The decision has also been criticised, however, by senior academic institutions. A letter from Thomas Hofmann, president of the Technical University of Munich, written on behalf of institutions in Switzerland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Israel and the Netherlands, warns of a negative impact on future research.

Opening the scientific borders for the countries outside of the European Union should go hand in hand with strengthening collaboration with our closest partners and not undermine it, Hoffman wrote to the Portuguese presidency of the EU. Cooperation with the aligned countries is vital for the competitiveness of the European Unions economy. The latest proposal by the European commission to exclude longstanding and trustful partner countries like Switzerland, Israel and the United Kingdom from parts of the research programme is not in the interest of Europes research community nor the wider society and could be damaging for the international cooperation.

Hoffman adds: We are deeply concerned that the exclusion of aligned European countries with a long record of cooperation and excellence in research and innovation from parts of the programme will have negative impacts on European institutions and their capability to develop key digital, enabling, and emerging technologies.

Discussions are expected to resume between the member states and the commission on 19 April.

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EU plan threatens British participation in hi-tech research - The Guardian