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This is the picture that emerges from a joint report released today by the European External Action Service and the European Commission on the partnership between the EU and Lebanon for the period from March 2015 to April 2017. The report comes ahead of the 8th EU-Lebanon Association Council, scheduled to take place on 18th July 2017 in Brussels.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the Commission, Federica Mogherini said: "The European Union and Lebanon have a long-standing strong relationship that is built on joint work and close cooperation in a wide array of areas. We are working together on security, counter terrorism and on the regional crises, but also on growth and job creation which is key to all Lebanese. As we agreed at the Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region in April, the European Union will continue to stand by Lebanon to implement the necessary reforms, support its stability and socio-economic development while promoting Lebanon's example of a pluralistic and democratic society. Lebanon can also count on the EU's support as it moves ahead with its democratic process following the agreement on a new electoral framework".

EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn commented: "The European Union is supporting Lebanon in many different areas, ranging from security to education and health. EU funds, as well as the EU/Lebanon relationship more generally, have contributed to the socio-economic development of the country, helped upgrade Lebanon's infrastructure, created opportunities for the private sector and supported important initiatives at the local level. The EU is determined to continue to support the country's longer term development goals. This is why we are engaging with Beirut on the opportunities that exist for concessional financing via the EU's Neighbourhood Investment Facility and the new European External Investment Plan. The EU is also supporting Lebanon in hosting so many people in need: EU funds help both refugee and vulnerable host communities, ensure that hundreds of thousands of children receive quality education and provide access to healthcare".

While the impact of the Syrian crisis continues to be felt across the region and beyond, Lebanon alone hosts more than 1.1 million registered refugees from Syria. Against the background of these challenges, the partnership between the EU and Lebanon has continuously strengthened and become more strategic and targeted. In line with the renewed European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU-Lebanon Partnership Priorities and Compact EU support and cooperation have been particularly focussed on developing the capacity of security and law enforcements agencies as well as a justice system in full respect of human rights, on achieving progress in the areas of good governance and the rule of law, fostering growth and job opportunities, and promoting a comprehensive and positive approach on migration and mobility.

In the last months, Lebanon has made important steps by electing a new president last October, thereby overcoming a 29-month institutional gridlock, and forming a new government last December. The Lebanese parliament's recent endorsement of a new electoral law (which happened after the closure of the reporting period) provides the basis for parliamentary elections to be held in the coming months. This further contributes to strengthening democratic institutions in the country.

Details

The report refers to the intensive cooperation on the multilateral, regional and bilateral fronts on all the above mentioned key topics and also addresses other areas such as such as education, research and innovation and culture as well as health that form part of the EU-Lebanon Compact. EU assistance to Lebanon in these areas is targeted at having a long-term effects on the country beyond addressing the impact of the Syrian conflict such as promoting public healthcare and education for all.

The European Union has mobilised some 1 billion to assist Lebanon since the beginning of the Syrian crisis. This includes EUR 439 million in humanitarian assistance to support refugees and vulnerable Lebanese, EUR 249.5 million from the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) to enhance the capacities of Lebanese institutions at central and local levels, and to support them in the provision of basic services to Lebanese vulnerable communities, Syrian refugees and Palestinian refugees from Syria. EUR 224.2 million are mobilised via the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis and projects worth EUR 57 million from the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP) will contribute to enhance stability, rule of law and reconciliation in the country.

For more information:

Full country report

EU support to Lebanon

Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon

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Report on the state of EU-Lebanon relations: strengthening our partnership - EU News

Fights over culinary traditions are common in Europe, where countries are fiercely protective of their gastronomical heritage, and the rule books are full of regional food and drink that are protected.

The European Union also has a role in deciding which products may use more generic names like milk and cream.

The rules cover thousands of foods and drinks from arnaki Elassonas (Greek lamb) to Zzrivsk vojky (Slovak cheese). To qualify for a protected name, products are usually required to be made in a specific place. As a result, cheese producers in northern England market a feta alternative as fettle.

Here are some of the more politically charged food disputes.

The dessert was meant to add a touch of distinction to Christmas dinners.

But the product, Champagne sorbet produced by a Belgian company and sold in Germany at Aldi, a discount supermarket chain was sacrilege for an august French industry.

The Comit Champagne, a trade association, sued Aldi for selling the frozen confection.

The dessert has nothing left of what makes Champagne, Richard Nieder, a lawyer for the association, told a Munich court three years ago.

Since then, the case has made its way to the European Unions highest court, the Court of Justice. A verdict is expected July 20.

Aldi said it had stopped selling the product but declined to comment further. Galana, the Belgian company that makes the product, did not respond to a request for comment.

Plant-based meat and dairy substitutes often use the names of the animal-based products they purport to replace.

But in Germany, this has caused consternation.

Christian Schmidt, the German agriculture minister, has called for a ban on terms like vegan currywurst, a plant-based version of a popular and piquant pork sausage snack, arguing that they confuse consumers.

The Verband Sozialer Wettbewerb, a German advocacy group that promotes fair competition, is not fond of the practice either.

It sued TofuTown, a major German producer of dairy alternatives, for violating European rules by marketing Soyatoo tofu butter and veggie cheese.

This month, the European Court of Justice agreed with the German association.

Makers of coconut milk, peanut butter and cream soda, however, can rest easy: They are among the exceptions already listed in the blocs Official Journal.

Europes rules do not just affect producers in the region, but those in countries that want to trade with the bloc. China agreed this month to respect rules protecting the names of 100 European Union foods and drinks, including feta cheese from Greece.

No such agreement is on the horizon with the United States. Much of the opposition comes from American producers in states like Wisconsin, who insist that their cheeses are just as good as those made by their European counterparts, and just as deserving of the name.

Cheese politics have at times even soured trade talks between the United States and the European Union. During those talks, Paul D. Ryan, the Republican House speaker and a Wisconsinite, insisted that producers in his state should be allowed to make feta and other cheeses for generations to come.

Manolis Kefalogiannis, a Greek lawmaker at the European Parliament, later said that the United States stance created the risk of mass imports of counterfeit feta into the E.U.

Gus, the mascot for the annual British Asparagus Festival, paints his face green and wears a giant asparagus crown headdress.

In a triumph for Gus, locally grown Vale of Evesham asparagus from the west of England was awarded protected status in December.

But with Britain negotiating its exit from the European Union, Gus is emerging as a symbol of efforts by British food producers to maintain the European system of recognizing local produce.

In April, Gus traveled to Brussels to present a huge bundle of Vale of Evesham asparagus to the head chef of the European Parliaments dining room, so lawmakers from other countries could taste its particular qualities.

Sales of British goods with protected names amounted to more than 5 billion (about $5.6 billion) annually, according to the most recent figures available from the European Commission.

Now, some British producers are trying to preserve the boost that Europes protected food names system gives their business.

Even cynics agree this is at least one good thing that has come out of the E.U., Anthea McIntyre, a British member of the European Parliament, said when Gus visited Brussels in April. In my opinion the system is too good to be lost.

Fights over the names of foods and drinks are not the only issue: Their ingredients and appearance can cause controversy too.

The European authorities faced an outcry over regulations that apparently banned bendy bananas (They didnt. Well, not really).

More serious is a case involving Parma and San Daniele ham, and the process of making those well-known products.

Italian investigators were examining whether breeders had used pig sperm from unauthorized sources. The practice may violate European Union rules that require that Parma ham be made from pigs from specified Italian regions.

Follow James Kanter on Twitter @jameskanter.

A version of this list appears in print on June 22, 2017, on Page B2 of the New York edition with the headline: An Olio of E.U. Rules, Leading to Food Fights.

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Take Feta. Add Frites. Stir in European Food Rules. Fight. - New York Times

File photo of a person receiving a flu shot.

LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images

LONDON -- The highest court of the European Union ruled Wednesday that courts can consider whether a vaccination led to someone developing an illness even when there is no scientific proof.

The decision was issued on Wednesday in relation to the case of a Frenchman known as Mr. J.W., who was immunized against hepatitis B in late 1998-99. About a year later, Mr. J.W. was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. In 2006, he and his family sued vaccine-maker Sanofi Pasteur in an attempt to be compensated for the damage they claim he suffered due to the vaccine. Mr. J.W. died in 2011.

France's Court of Appeal ruled there was no causal link between the hepatitis B vaccine and multiple sclerosis, and dismissed the case. Numerous studies have found no relationship between the hepatitis B shot and multiple sclerosis.

After the case went to France's Court of Cassation, it was brought to the European Union.

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On Wednesday, the EU's top court said that despite the lack of scientific consensus on the issue, a vaccine could be considered defective if there is "specific and consistent evidence," including the time between a vaccine's administration, the individual's previous state of health, the lack of any family history of the disease and a significant number of reported cases of the disease occurring following vaccination.

In a statement, the court said that such factors could lead a national court to conclude that "the administering of the vaccine is the most plausible explanation" for the disease and that "the vaccine therefore does not offer the safety that one is entitled to expect." It did not rule on the specific French case.

Sanofi Pasteur did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Some vaccine experts slammed the ruling, saying the court's threshold for linking a vaccine to side effects is too low.

Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccines expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said the criteria used by the court made no sense and are similar to those used by vaccine injury compensation programs in the United States.

"Using those criteria, you could reasonably make the case that someone should be compensated for developing leukemia after eating a peanut butter sandwich," he said. Offit said the courts shouldn't be trusted to make rulings about scientific evidence. "It's very frustrating that they have such a ridiculously low bar for causality," he said, adding that anti-vaccination supporters have long relied on such court judgments to bolster their campaign against vaccines.

Offit said the court's decision was concerning and hoped it wouldn't spur more people to reject vaccines.

"Vaccines save lives and people who choose not to vaccinate their children are putting those children at risk," he said. "To prove whether one thing causes another has to happen in a scientific venue, and the courts are not a scientific venue."

2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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EU court: Vaccines can be blamed for illnesses without proof - CBS News

London: Coincidence or a subliminal message? Queen Elizabeth has stirred up social media as she opened parliament in a hat looking very much like a European Union flag.

Delivering a formal speech in which Prime Minister Theresa May's government laid out its strategy for exiting the EU, the monarch sported a blue chapeau decorated with an arc of blue flowers each with a bright yellow disc at its centre.

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Queen Elizabeth II said the UK government will work to secure the best possible deal on leaving the EU, as she addressed the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday.

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The Australian government is offering support to the Philippines as its military battles Islamist militants aligned with Islamic State. National Security correspondent David Wroe explains.

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In an interview with US magazine Newsweek, Prince Harry has said nobody in his family wants to be king or queen.

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The fatal bashing of a Muslim girl with a baseball bat has sparked outrage in the US, but police say there is nothing yet to indicate it was a hate crime.

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The embattled White House press secretary has not had an easy time in the spotlight, but he could have gotten a few facts (and names) straight.

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There was yoga in Stonehenge and festivals in France, but the bravest celebration may have been in Tasmania.

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On August 21st, for the first time in almost a century, a total solar eclipse will reach across the United States, plunging a strip over 100 kilometres wide, into darkness.

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There are also concerns about the impact of a change of succession in Saudi Arabia on the oil market, David Pollard reports.

Queen Elizabeth II said the UK government will work to secure the best possible deal on leaving the EU, as she addressed the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday.

It was all a bit Brussels and Strasbourg, where the EU flag a blue ensign with a circle of yellow stars on it holds pride of place,

"Queen delivers speech outlining Brexit plans wearing a hat that looks suspiciously like a EUROPEAN flag," the right-wing, anti-EU Daily Mail newspaper tweeted.

Some thought it might have been deliberate on the Queen's part.

"A bit like her insisting on driving the Saudi king! Subtle royal politics," Simon Hix, political science professor at London School of Economics tweeted.

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As head of state, the British monarch refrains from taking public positions on political issues.

A headline published in British tabloid The Sun last year claiming that the Queen "backed Brexit", prompted official denials and a complaint to press regulators, which ruled that it was significantly misleading.

USPresident Donald Trump's proposed visit to the UKlater this year was conspicuous by its absence from the Queen's speech.

Despite Mr Trump accepting an invitation for a state visit during the prime minister's visit to Washington in January, the queen only said she and her husband Prince Philip "look forward to welcoming" the king and queen of Spain in July.

State visits have traditionally been announced by the monarch in her speeches to Parliament.

There were protests after Mr Trump was invited so soon after his inauguration, and Mrs May said on June 6 that the president was "wrong" to criticise London Mayor Sadiq Khan over his response to the London Bridge terrorist attack that killed eight people.

Mr Trump used Twitter to accuse Mr Khan of being "pathetic," in contrast to Mrs May saying that the mayor, a member of the opposition Labour Party, was "doing a good job."

Britain is trying to persuade Mr Trump to sign a post-Brexit trade deal.

While his predecessor Barack Obama said Britain would be "at the back of the queue" if it voted to leave the European Union, Mr Trump initially promised a quick deal with the UKbefore appearing to prioritisean agreement with the bloc it is leaving.

Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said in February that the visit would take place in June and the force was preparing for "lots of protests."

That was before Mrs May called the June 8 election that cost her Conservative Party its parliamentary majority and a fire in a London apartment block killed dozens and led to anti-government protests on the streets.

The prospect of Mr Trump being greeted with demonstrations was only one aspect of planning for the proposed visit by the head of state of a crucial ally to Britain.

The speaker of the House of Commons also made it clear that he would not be allowed to address Parliament.

"I feel very strongly our opposition to racism and to sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons," John Bercow said when explaining his decision in February.

Asked about the state visit earlier this month, the London mayor said: "I don't think we should be rolling out the red carpet to the president of the USA in the circumstances where his policies go against everything we stand for."

The absence of Mr Trump's visit from the speech is a far cry from the way the invitation was announced in the early days of his presidency.

"I have today been able to convey Her Majesty the Queen's hope that President Trump and the First Lady would pay a state visit to the United Kingdom later this year and I'm delighted that the president has accepted that invitation," Mrs May said in a press conference in the White House in January.

Reuters, Bloomberg

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Queen Elizabeth stirs social media with hat resembling the European Union flag - The Sydney Morning Herald

GETTY - REUTERS

Brussels was due to make the comments at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva last week.

But it failed to win the necessary agreement of all 28 member states, after a Greek foreign ministry official refused to agree.

They said the comments were unconstructive and claimed separate talks with the eastern superpower outside of the UN would be more productive.

REUTERS

A statement from the ministry said: Greeces position is that unproductive and in many cases, selective criticism against specific countries does not facilitate the promotion of human rights in these states, nor the development of their relation with the EU.

It marks the first time the EU failed to make a statement at the UNs top rights body, according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

And it also highlights the Brussels blocs uneasy links with China.

GETTY

Greeces position is that unproductive and in many cases, selective criticism against specific countries does not facilitate the promotion of human rights in these states

Greek foreign ministry

The union has welcomed Beijing as an ally in the fight against trade protectionism and climber change.

But as its business has grown, with China now being the EUs second largest trade partner, the bloc has also struggled to criticise the Chinese government.

Hu Jia, a Chinese dissident who was jailed for subversion of state power, claimed the international community is more and more afraid of criticising the Chinese Communist Party because of the need for cooperation in areas like the economy, climate change, security and terrorism.

EPA

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Police investigators inspect a Mercedes car of former Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, after an explosion inside the car caused by a bomb attack in central Athens, Greece, 25 May 2017

Hu added people feel disappointed when Western leaders give in to Chinese pressure and reduce mentions or even remain silent about human rights abuses during meetings with officials.

Sophie Richardson, the China director at Human Rights Watch, added: Its not just Western countries, its Eastern countries and international institutions as well.

China has got much more aggressive.

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Greece blocks European Union statement on China human rights ... - Express.co.uk