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European Union and United Nations work together to improve lives in more than 170 countries

Partnership between the European Union and the United Nations has benefited millions of people in more than 170 countries across the globe, according to the latest report showcasing the results and strength of the collaboration between the United Nations and the European Union.

From the Millennium Development Goals to the new 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the European Union has worked together with the United Nations to ensure access to education and health, save lives, increase resilience, and promote the values enshrined in the UN Charter of peace and human rights.

EU President Jean-Claude Juncker stressed the need for a greater emphasis on multilateralism and collective action to address global challenges. He emphasized the European Unions commitment to the ``spirit of global solidarity at the heart of the 2030 Agenda in an introduction to the report which covers activities of the partnership between the United Nations and the European Union 2014-2015.

The results of this ambitious and wide-ranging partnership can be seen at country level. The EU and the UN have worked, for example, with Governments in Iraq, the Central African Republic, Thailand, Ukraine and Colombia to integrate human rights in their development plans.

Partnership is crucial to success. According to the report, ``Saving and Empowering Lives, in nearly 40 countries, the EU and the UN have partnered with civil society organizations and national authorities to improve protection for millions of refugees and internally displaced persons.

Training is another fundamental area of cooperation to help countries promote and honour commitments to gender equality, the empowerment of women and end abuse of women and children among others.

Tens of millions of vulnerable people in 49 countries in 2014-2015 benefitted from food assistance provided by the United Nations and the European Union in nations ravaged by war or malnutrition. Despite efforts by the EU and the UN, nearly 800 million people are still undernourished, and tackling hunger is critical to the partnership.

In a world beset by crises, the European Union and the United Nations play a fundamental role in providing relief to the some 65 million people who were uprooted from their homes globally due to armed conflicts, climate change, population growth and unplanned urbanization.

With their immense convening power, the EU and the UN helped coordinate contributions from donors, international organizations, civil society and national authorities to address the needs of refugees and internally displaced persons in Africa, the Middle East and Europe itself.

Innovative initiatives using private sector partnerships and new technologies like biometrics and ATMs provide help quicker and in a more economically efficient manner.

From floods, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and other emergencies, the EU and the UN have expanded cooperation on rapid response to crises, increasing resilience and recovery.

The EU-UN partnership in Peace and Security continued to deepen in 2014-2015, providing a valuable contribution to the increased attention currently being paid to the importance of mediation, conflict resolution and preventive diplomacy now evident in both the European Union and the United Nations.

In 2015, the EU and the UN agreed on priorities for 2015-2018 for strengthening the partnership on peacekeeping and crisis management. The EU-UN Partnership has promoted democracy, the rule of law and good governance in countries across Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Working together, the EU and the UN have expanded global access to essential services, provided training and opportunity for enhanced inclusive, green growth and decent jobs.

The UN and the EU played crucial roles in the historic Agreement on Climate Change in Paris in 2015, paving the way to further develop national climate plans; the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction; the Addis Ababa Action Agenda; Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The historical year of 2015 marked a landmark in continuing to strengthen the partnership between the EU and the UN. The partnership was highlighted during the first-ever European Year for Development in 2015 and the annual European Development Days.

The next edition of the European Development Days in June 2017 will focus on investing in development, marking a new step in forging an ever stronger partnership between the EU and the UN.

Contact information Ludmila Tiganu, Communications Specialist, UNDP Brussels, ludmila.tiganu@undp.org

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Saving and Empowering Lives: Partnership between the United Nations and the European Union in 2014-2015 - ReliefWeb

WHAT WILL become of these? Euros fall off a table after being minted. The EU also may be teetering on the brink.. (photo credit:REUTERS)

After the Brexit referendum, the breakup of the European Union through a collapse or voluntary disbandment can no longer be considered a fully absurd scenario. To create a framework of thought it is worthwhile to start analyzing what that could mean for Israel, even though Israel will not play any role in the process if it develops.

Particularly in the new century, the EU has taken increasingly hostile and occasionally antisemitic positions toward Israel on several issues. This led the Simon Wiesenthal Center to put the EU in third place in its 2015 list of worldwide promoters of antisemitic and/or anti-Israel incidents. It gave as reason: The European Union has chosen to label products from the Golan Heights and disputed territories on the West Bank alone, ignoring the products of other occupied and disputed territories in the world such as Western Sahara, Kashmir, Tibet and products from areas controlled by terrorist Hamas and Hezbollah. This use of double standards against Israel typifies modern anti-Israelism and has been at the core of antisemitism for many centuries.

The above example of discrimination is only one of the many justified criticisms Israel has of the EU. This hostility originates on a continent where the greatest mass murder of the Jews to ever take place occurred less than a hundred years ago. The Holocaust was not a German and Austrian project alone. Many other European authorities and individuals collaborated. Some elements of its impact continue to exist today.

Today there is a large amount of indirect support of Israel-hatred and antisemitism coming from Europe. The European Commission has done nothing to develop selection procedures concerning immigration from Muslim countries with high levels of antisemitism. There is a testimony from the Dutch former EU commissioner Frits Bolkestein that when he raised the issue of Muslim immigration in a meeting of the EC around 2000, his colleagues considered him a racist.

Nor has the EU, with all of its talk about the rise in antisemitism, tried to develop a unified reporting system for antisemitic incidents in its member countries.

One major argument which seemingly favored the existence of the EU from an Israeli viewpoint has been that some member countries could take stronger anti-Israel positions if they were not bound by common EU positions.

In recent months, various actions taken by France have shown that this argument is weaker than often considered.

Presidential elections are due there within several weeks. The presidency of Socialist Franois Hollande has been such a failure that for the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic, a sitting president is not running for a second term. He did the favor to two journalists, Gerard Davet and Fabrice Lhomme, of giving them access to regular private conversations during his time in office.

In their recently released book, they list impotence as the main characteristic of the Hollande presidency.

Recently, Israel became an even more convenient scapegoat for the French authorities. In January, France organized a useless international conference on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The organizers knew that a few days later US President Donald Trump, who holds radically different views from his predecessor, would be inaugurated. France subsequently could not even obtain the adoption of the conferences statement in the EU Foreign Affairs Council, as it was blocked by Britain. It is not far-fetched to assume that the French Socialists hope to attract Muslim voters, of which there are many, with their anti-Israel positions.

WHEN THE new Swedish government, dominated by the Social Democrats, was installed in 2014, one of its earliest actions was to recognize the non-existent Palestinian state. It well knew that if there were free elections among Palestinians in the West Bank, the genocide-promoting Hamas would most likely obtain a majority.

The Swedish government did not feel the need to act in coordination with its EU partners on this issue. The Irish foreign minister, Charles Flanagan, has stated that his government constantly considers recognizing a Palestinian state.

Against this background, the disappearance of the EU would mainly present advantages for Israel. If the office of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy would be abolished, a source of ongoing multilateral incitement against Israel would end.

The disappearance of the European Commissions Legal Service would also be very positive for Israel. It is responsible for the one-sided opinion that the West Bank is occupied territory according to international law and that the settlements are illegal. Many leading international legal experts contest this position.

Whether the EU remains as it is, whether some countries leave it, or whether it is abandoned altogether, should not be of particular interest to Israel. If the EU disappears, the Common Market will most likely remain. So will collaboration in research and a few other fields of interest to Israel. There will also be a common interest in continuing to jointly fight terrorism, mainly that committed by Muslims. When countries will need to guard their own borders, this may make them more sensitive to Israels problems.

Finally, there is one great advantage to the disappearance of the EU. The Israeli population is substantially bigger than that of 14 of the 28 EU member states.

Another six have populations on the same order of magnitude. Only eight have much larger populations. Israels force in bilateral relations will greatly increase if compared to the current confrontation with the EU behemoth with its more than 500 million inhabitants.

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Is a disbanded European Union good for Israel? - Jerusalem Post Israel News

German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern called for European Union (EU) members to close ranks in the face of pressures from the new US administration and from Russia.

Gabriel warned it would be a mistake for European countries to seek individual answers to current challenges, rather than EU-wide solutions.

"We are witnessing a new delineation of the world,"Gabriel said. He was speaking after a meeting with Kern, a fellow Social Democrat, in Vienna.

Kern said USPresident Donald Trump was openly attempting to weaken the EU, while there were similar efforts "in our eastern neighborhood," referencing Russia. He called for a "phase of closing ranks" within the EU.

Gabriel stressed that Europe needed above all a common foreign, defense and security policy, Austrian media reported.

Gabriel said people needed to be realistic about the political situations in countries such as Libya and Tunisia and their ability to abide by immigration deals

'Realism' on North African migrants

Gabriel called for more realism amid controversial proposals for refugee holding camps in North Africa.

"I advise people not to paint a world that does not exist," Gabriel said.

On Monday the new President of the EU Parliament Antonio Tajani called for refugee camps in Libya and a billion-dollar "Marshall Plan" for Africa. "Either we are acting now, or millions of Africans are going to Europe in the next 20 years," Tajani told the Funke Media Group.

Gabriel later met with Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz

Early in February EU leaders agreed on a plan to stem the flow of migrants via the Mediterranean including support for setting up safe refugee camps in Libya.

Gabriel said it was dangerous to think that the EU-Turkey agreement on intercepting and inviting migrants was transferable to unstable and politically chaotic countries such as Libya and Tunisia.

In 2016 the EU signed a deal with Turkey to stem the flow of refugees in exchange for increase resettlement of Syrian refugees residing in Turkey and an acceleration of visa-free travel for Turkish citizens.

Gabriel also met with Austria's Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz who said he felt encouraged by these proposals. Kurz said the discussion on the refugees crisis had finally begun to become more honest, saying he had long been seeking to turn back refugees.

More focus on vulnerable members of society

Kern and Gabriel also stressed that the EUshould focus more on the most vulnerable members of society, and on delivering prosperity to all.

They said EU members needed to restore the promise of prosperity as a primary issue and to transform the internal market into a social market economy.

Gabriel's Social Democratic Party (SPD) is hoping for a winning swing in this September's election. Austria will head to the polls one year later.

aw/jm (dpa, KNA, AFP)

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German and Austrian leaders call for European Union to close ranks ... - Deutsche Welle

Rubber crumb fields pose very low risk, says European Union report The Indian Express The report published on Tuesday by the European Chemicals Agency says that based on current evidence, it has found no reason to advise people against playing sports on synthetic turf containing recycled rubber granules. Late last year, Dutch ... and more »

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Rubber crumb fields pose very low risk, says European Union report - The Indian Express

LONDON: The British government promised Tuesday that it won't strip nationals of any rights without lawmakers' approval, as it tries to persuade Parliament to authorize the start of divorce talks with the bloc.

By leaving the EU, Britain will be withdrawing from the bloc's policy of free movement of citizens among member states. That leaves 3 million EU nationals in Britain, and 1 million Britons living in other member countries, in limbo.

Parliament's upper chamber, the House of Lords, plans to try Wednesday to pass a guarantee that EU citizens would be able to stay in Britain after Brexit.

Opposition peers hope to amend a bill authorizing the start of EU exit talks to include the promise, and have enlisted the support of some parliamentarians from the governing Conservatives.

In an attempt to prevent the authorization bill's defeat, Home Secretary Amber Rudd wrote to members of the House of Lords saying "nothing will change for any EU citizen, whether already resident in the U.K. or moving from the EU, without Parliament's approval."

But the letter offers no guarantees of EU citizens' right to remain, saying only that the issue would be a top priority once formal exit talks start.

Prime Minister Theresa May plans to trigger Article 50 of the EU's key treaty, starting two years of exit negotiations, by March 31.

But she can't do that until Parliament passes legislation sanctioning the move. The House of Commons approved the bill earlier this month and the Lords is scrutinizing it this week.

If Lords amend the bill, it will have to go back to the House of Commons for another vote, delaying its passage and potentially threatening May's timetable.

A growing number of politicians and business groups are warning that the schedule already is tight. Former Prime Minister John Major warned Monday that the goal of agreeing on divorce terms within two years is "very, very optimistic."

The British Chambers of Commerce said Tuesday that the break from the EU should be delayed if a post-Brexit trade deal remains incomplete after two years. The business group said Britain must avoid "sudden disruption to our trading relations" with the EU and should extend the negotiating period if necessary.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told the group's conference that he wanted to go "full tilt and get it done within two years."

"I'm not saying there won't be some bumps in the road," Johnson added. But he said the U.K. and the bloc should be able to strike "a fantastic deal" that is good for British businesses.

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UK: European Union citizens won't lose rights without Parliament's nod - The New Indian Express