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July 13, 2017; BBC News, Europe

Polands slide toward authoritarianism has been spilling over into the environmental sector, but a new ruling by European Union officials could halt the damage.

According to the BBC, the trouble started when the Polish government increased logging in a conservation area called the Biaowiea Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Europes last ancient forest, to curb a bark beetle infestation. The move faced backlash from by Green activists and others trying to protect the endangered species inside the 350,000-acre preserve that borders Belarus.

The EUs top court issued a ruling this week.

The EU Commission took the unusual step of asking the court to impose an immediate ban on the logging because it takes on average two years to reach a judgment in cases like these, and the EU is worried the logging is already causing irreparable damage If it eventually rules that Poland has infringed EU environmental regulations, it can impose hefty fines on Warsaw.

The New York Times even highlighted the yearlong battle to save the forest.

The protesters, backed by environmentalists, say all invasive operations in the primeval forest endanger its ecosystem The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, is on their side, too. Last week, during a meeting in Krakow, the delegates adopted a decision in which they urged Polish government to halt logging in the forest, especially in old-growth tree stands. UNESCO is also considering adding the forest to theList of World Heritage in Danger, a move usually reserved for land and properties threatened by armed conflicts and natural disasters.

Avid international civil society watchers may note that Poland is one of many countries where illiberal democracy is taking hold, particularly after U.S. President Donald Trump visited the country last week to admonish the creep of government bureaucracy, berate fake news journalists, and spread his nationalist message before the Group of 20 summit in Germany.

EU officials also criticized Polands administration over a new law allowing parliament to appoint judges, arguing that the change will politicize the justice system and undermine the separation of powers, according to the BBC.

Although activists are planning a protest in Warsaw for the weekend, Reuters noted that the opposition has been unable to marshal any real public protest against the ruling partys moves, reflecting Poles frustration with a system in which even simple court cases can last years.

Increasingly, the European Union has stepped up as a watchdog. Just this week, the EU Commission announced plans to open cases against the three states that have failed to take in asylum-seekers per a 2015 plan: Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

Poland and Hungary have refused to take in a single person under a plan agreed in 2015 to relocate 160,000 asylum-seekers from Italy and Greece, which had been overwhelmed by mass influx of people from the Middle East and Africa, Reuters reported. The Czech Republic had initially taken in 12 people from their assigned quota of 2,691, but said earlier in June it would take no more in, citing security concerns.

However, the European Unions internal conflicts could threaten its role in the future.

The blocs divisive migration disputes have come at a time its unity and resolve are already being tested by Brexit, weak economies and higher support for populist, Eurosceptic and nationalist-minded parties on the continent, Reuters reporters Gabriela BaczynskaandFoo Yun Chee wrote. It pits the formerly communist easterners against the wealthy westerners and countries on the Mediterranean coast, with Italy leading calls to punish Poland and Hungary by taking away some of the generous EU funds they benefit from.Anna Berry

Read the rest here:
European Union Steps Up to Save Polish Forest - The Nonprofit Quarterly (registration)

Editor's note: Whether G20 countries embrace responsible climate policy is of critical importance, as together they account for roughly 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and 80 percent of global GDP. German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced responsible climate policy as a goal of this years G20 Summit. In the lead-up to the Summit, WRI took a closer look at G20 countries progress toward meeting their targets under the Paris Agreement.

The European Union is a major player in reducing world emissions.

With a population of about 500 million, the 28 member states account for over 8 percent of total GHG emissions. Per capita, the EU emitted about 7.5 tons of carbon dioxide in 2013, compared to 19.6 in the United States and 8.4 in China.

Uniquely, the EU's member states issue a joint NDC, as environmental affairs are jointly managed as part of the EU's regional and economic integration. The EU's NDC (PDF) includes an economy-wide emission reduction target of 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.

The primary vehicle for achieving this is by decreasing the credits available in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), a cap-and-trade system covering more than 11,000 power stations and industrial plants. Member states also will increase the share of renewable energy and strengthen energy efficiency measures.

The 40 percent target has been made binding by the 2030 climate and energy framework, adopted by EU leaders in October 2014. But it applies to the EU as a whole, whereas at the country level member states' contributions are not binding.

Since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, the EU has crafted several measures to decrease GHG emissions, the latest being the 2013-2020 Effort Sharing Decision and a proposal for a 2021-2030 Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR).

These tools establish annual GHG emission limits per country for the non-ETS sectors, based on their relative wealth. The proposed regulation sets the target of a 30 percent reduction in 2030 compared to 2005.

However, the proposal has attracted criticism for so-called "loopholes" that allow member states to use ETS allowances to achieve targets in the non-ETS sectors. Less ambitious member states could take advantage of loopholes, causing the whole EU to fall short of its climate ambitions.

Nevertheless, there are reasons for optimism both at EU and national levels.

The EU is currently revising directives that could help drive more renewable-based and efficient heating and cooling systems. One of these, theRenewable Energy Directive, proposes a specific target for the transport sector, requiring each member state to guarantee that 12 percent of energy used in all forms of transport is renewable by 2030. States and businesses seem receptive to such measures. Just in the past few days,France has announcedthat will ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040, while Swedish car manufacturerVolvowill only produce electric or hybrid vehicles starting in 2019.

Furthermore, the European Parliament just debated scaling up actions to reach the NDC pledge. Dutch MEP Bas Eickhoutproposed several amendmentsto the ESR document, such as closing the aforementioned ETS loopholes. Although not all of Mr. Eickhout's amendments made it through thevote in the Parliament, an important amendment to include long-term goals for 2050 has been adopted.

At the national level, some member states have already increased their national ambitions above their share in the EU NDC. In June, Sweden passeda new climate lawwhich embeds a zero GHG target by 2045, well before the long-term goal of the Paris Agreement. Sweden intends to achieve this ambitious goal by utilizing a carbon tax, which now stands at137 per ton. First introduced in 1991, Sweden's carbon tax is an example of how setting a high price is within the ETS is economically viable, asSwedish GDP has grown by 60 percent since 1991, ahead of the45 percent GDP increase in EU member states as a whole.

In France, newly-elected President Emmanuel Macron aims toupholdthe commitments contained in the2015 Energy Transition and Green Growth Law, while raising the ambition set by president Hollande in 2016 to close all coal power plants in 2023, to within 5 years. Moreover, France's current carbon tax of 34 per ton emitted will progressively increase each year to reach 110 per ton in 2030. These levies targeting non-ETS sectors are much more ambitious than the EU-wide ETS, which taxes a low5.5 per tonand thereby fails to properly incentivize companies to emit less CO2.

The G20 summit this weekend presents an opportunity to showcase the economic and financial policies which can help advance climate action and reinforce support for the Paris Agreement.

Going forward, the European Union should push for binding targets which will help further mobilize member states to action and hold them accountable for reducing their emissions. Although the EU has not yet shown a willingness to increase its climate ambitions, there are a multitude of opportunities in the months ahead to explore that possibility.

Continue reading here:
European Union walks a tightrope to climate leadership - GreenBiz

The U.K. acknowledged for the first time on paper that it will have to pay money to the European Union as it withdraws from the bloc, seeking to damp down a row over the countrys so-called Brexit bill.

The government has been clear that we will work with the EU to determine a fair settlement of the U.K.s rights and obligations as a departing member state, Brexit Minister Joyce Anelay, a member of the House of Lords, said Thursday in a written statement to Parliament that referred explicitly to the financial settlement with the EU. The government recognizes that the U.K. has obligations to the EU, and the EU obligations to the U.K., that will survive the U.K.s withdrawal and that these need to be resolved.

Britains so-called exit bill has shaped up to be one of the thorniest issues in the Brexit negotiations, with media speculation putting the fee as high as 100 billion euros ($114 billion). Prime Minister Theresa May needs to come to an accommodation with her EU counterparts on the payment, because its one of three areas, alongside citizens rights and the border with Ireland that the EU is demanding sufficient progress on before the discussions can move onto Britains future relationship with the bloc.

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Anelays statement contrasts with the more bellicose tone employed by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson just two days ago. Answering questions in Parliament, he agreed with euro-skeptic Tory lawmaker Philip Hollobone who suggested the foreign secretary should make it clear to the EU that if it wants a penny piece more from Britain as part of the Brexit settlement, it can go whistle. Johnson responded that the sums that I have seen that they propose to demand from this country seem to me to be extortionate, and I think that to go whistle is an entirely appropriate expression.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said on April 29 that the sum would be between 40 billion euros and 60 billion euros. While press stories have put the sum even higher than that, EU negotiator Michel Barnier hasnt publicly endorsed a number.

While the language of the statement is dry, its the first time Britain has acknowledged in writing the need to pay a financial settlement. When May wrote to European Council President Donald Tusk in March to officially trigger two years of Brexit discussions, she referred to it obliquely, saying we will need to discuss how we determine a fair settlement of the U.K.s rights and obligations as a departing member state.

See the original post here:
UK Accepts It Must Pay Brexit Bill on Departing European Union - Bloomberg

The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, represented the European Union. Ukraine was represented by its President, Petro Poroshenko. From the European Commission, Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, and Commissioners Johannes Hahn and Cecilia Malmstrm also attended.

Speaking at the joint press conference, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker said: "More steps have been taken in the last three years than in the previous twenty; Ukraine should be proud of what it has achieved".

The EU and Ukraine: stronger together

Since the last EU Ukraine Summit, which took place in Brussels in November 2016, a significant amount of progress has been made, bringing positive change to the lives of Ukrainian and EU citizens.

The ratification of the Association Agreement, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (AA/ DCFTA), two days ago, will mean its full entry into force on 1 September 2017. The Association Agreement provides the blueprint for Ukraine's ambitious reform path and fosters trade and investment between the European Union and Ukraine. After more than one year of provisional application of the DCFTA, trade has grown by 10%, cementing the EU as Ukraine's first trading partner. In addition, leaders welcomed the political agreement to grant autonomous trade measures for Ukraine, which would further boost bilateral trade through the elimination of additional tariffs and customs duties on agricultural and industrial products.

The Summit in Kyiv took place exactly one month and two days after the historic celebrations of visa free travel for Ukrainian citizens with a biometric passport to the Schengen area. With visa free travel now in place, and Ukraine committed to continuing to implement all the benchmarks of its visa liberalisation action plan, European and Ukrainian citizens will have the opportunity for increased interactions and contacts, bringing our populations closer than ever before. In the first month, over 95,000 Ukrainian citizens visited the Schengen area under the new conditions.

The leaders assessed the state of play in Ukraine's implementation of its ambitious reform efforts. The Ukrainian authorities have undertaken intense and unprecedented reforms in many areas, including:

This has been achieved despite severe security challenges caused by the ongoing conflict in the east of Ukraine. At the Summit, EU leaders stressed the importance of continuing such efforts and strengthening the implementation of reforms in crucial areas such as anti-corruption. Fresh impetus to strengthening the functioning and independence of anticorruption institutions, such as the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the removal of the extension of e-declaration of assets to activists of anti-corruption NGOs, setting up a high anti-corruption court and ensuring transparency of the selection of judges to the Supreme Court, are vital in this respect. In this context, the Summit provided the EU and Ukraine to identify further reform priorities for the coming months and years. President Poroshenko outlined the Strategy 2020 and the Government's Action Plan 2017-2020. Both sides agreed on the importance of continuing to accelerate reforms and their sustained implementation.

The European Union is dedicating unprecedented support to Ukraine, which is linked to Ukraine's continued reform efforts. At the Summit, the European Union announced the preparation of 200 million of priority programmes for 2017 to support conflict-affected areas in the east of Ukraine; energy efficiency programmes, including contributions to the Energy Efficiency Fund established by Ukraine; public finance management; support to key reforms; and the implementation of the AA/DCFTA via a technical cooperation facility. The EU's newly-established External Investment Plan provides additional new funding opportunities for Ukraine.

Following the disbursement in April of the second tranche of EU macro-financial assistance, worth 600 million, EU leaders stressed the need for the Ukrainian authorities to accelerate implementation of all outstanding structural reform measures linked to the macro-financial assistance that includes all relevant anti-corruption commitments, the adoption of legislation in the energy and financial sectors, the repeal of the wood export ban, to bring an end to increased export duties on scrap metal, and social assistance and services to internally displaced people (IDPs).

The European Union reiterated its continued and unwavering support to Ukraine's unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. The European Union condemns and does not recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation. Leaders reiterated the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements as the basis for a sustainable and peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. They also discussed the continuing deterioration of human rights situation in non-government-controlled areas of the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as the violation of the rights of persons who do not recognise the illegal annexation, Crimean Tatars, as well as Ukrainians and persons belonging to other ethnic and religious groups.

For more information:

19th EU-Ukraine Summit website

EU-Ukraine relations factsheet

Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine website

European Commission Support Group for Ukraine website

EU-Ukraine trade relations

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EU Ukraine Summit: Ukrainian reforms combined with European Union support delivering positive results - EU News

GETTY

In an undiplomatic outburst the controversial leader said he would find it comforting if Brussels simply cancelled the accession process and boasted that his country did not need the EU to prosper.

The firebrand president has upped his attacks on eurocrats in recent months, safe in the knowledge that they can not hit back for fear of him axing a critical deal preventing migration into Greece.

Last summer Ankara agreed to begin taking back all economic migrants crossing the Aegean into Europe in return for billions of pounds in aid cash and a commitment to re-energise talks on its EU membership.

But since then there has been a failed coup, with president Erdogan brutally cracking down on the police, judiciary, army and the media who he accuses of trying to create a parallel state for exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen.

The EU has been alarmed by his increasingly despotic actions, and has said that a threat to reintroduce the death penalty would be the final straw for the accession talks, but eurocrats have been powerless to act.

That is because the bloc is hugely dependent on the migration deal with Turkey, which has cut arrivals in Greece by 98 per cent, at a time when Italy is under unprecedented pressure due to migration from Libya.

And speaking today president Erdogan showed little sign of worry that his harsh words about Brussels would land him in trouble, taking the opportunity to launch a scathing broadside at the project.

He told the BBC: If the EU, bluntly says, we will not be able to accept Turkey into the EU' this will be comforting for us. The European Union is not indispensable for us. We are relaxed."

In a monumental snub to the bloc he said the majority of Turks do not want the EU anymore and said his country was able to stand on its own two feet without Brussels.

He blasted eurocrats for being insincere in their approach to Ankara, but said he would not suspend accession talks himself, adding: "Despite all this we will continue being sincere with the EU for a little more time.

REUTERS

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Riot police use rubber pellets to disperse LGBT rights activists as they try to gather for a pride parade in central Istanbul

Last week MEPs sitting in the European Parliament voted to formally suspend membership talks with Turkey, although their decision is not binding on the member states.

In a resolution they called on EU leaders to formally suspend the accession negotiations with Turkey without delay if the constitutional reform package is implemented unchanged.

President Erdogan held a referendum earlier this year, which he won, abolishing the office of prime minister and granting him sweeping new dictator style powers.

See the article here:
'Wasting our time!' Turkish leader Erdogan says people don't want to join the EU anymore - Express.co.uk