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On 31 August 2022, Commission-General Philippe Lazzarini briefed Members of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs about the deteriorating situation of Palestine refugees in the Middle East, including the impact of the Ukraine crisis and the last escalation in Gaza earlier this month. During the exchange of views in Brussels, the Commissioner-General also addressed the critical financial situation of the Agency and thanked the Members of the European Parliament for playing a key role in the fruitful EU-UNRWA partnership.

Thank you, M. McAllister, for the invitation to address this Committee, and sincere thanks to all the Members present.

I value our dialogue and highly appreciate our annual exchanges.

Let me start by stressing how the partnership between UNRWA and the European Union has grown stronger.

Last year we celebrated its 50th anniversary, with the signing of a new Joint Declaration.

The EU is one of the most reliable and strategic donors to the Agency, announcing once again this year predictable funding for three years.

It is also thanks to this House that the EU continues to remain one of the strongest allies of UNRWA.

I, therefore, wish to thank you for the continued shows of support, including through your appeals to sustain and increase EU funding to the Agency.

Dear Members of the Parliament,

The consequences of the war in Ukraine are being felt worldwide.

The countries UNRWA operates in are no exception.

The soaring prices of food and commodities are plunging Palestine refugees in the region into deeper poverty.

In Gaza, the escalation of violence earlier this month was a stark reminder that war can erupt anytime in the absence of a genuine and comprehensive effort to resolve the conflict.

Over three days, 60 Palestine refugee families lost their home. Seventeen children were killed. Eight were students in our schools.

Almost one in two UNRWA student suffers from trauma and needs special assistance to cope with the repeated cycles of violence and the economic hardship that their families go through.

Four of the five fields where UNRWA operates namely Gaza, the West Bank - including East Jerusalem-, Syria and Lebanon - remain in crisis, with over eighty per cent of Palestine refugees in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria living below the poverty line.

Going to school, getting health services, receiving a food parcel are for millions of Palestine refugees their only sources of normality.

They look to UNRWA for that normality.

Dear Members of Parliament,

Today, our collective achievements are at risk.

The chronic underfunding of the Agency over the last decade makes it increasingly challenging for us to fulfil the mandate we received from the UN General Assembly.

Shifting geopolitical priorities, shifting regional dynamics, and the emergence of new humanitarian crises have deprioritized the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.

The Agency has also experienced more than once how a change in domestic politics can suspend support overnight.

Such abrupt changes are deeply unsettling.

Despite immense outreach efforts, funding has stagnated over the last decade, forcing us to operate with a shortfall of around US$ 100 million each year.

This might sound like a big figure, and it is.

But in the larger scheme, this is the figure that will help continue injecting stability and hope among one of the most destitute and desperate communities in the region.

For several years now, we have managed this underfunding internally.

But we have depleted our reserves.

We have run the Agency on repeated zero-growth budgets, despite increasing needs and cost of operation.

We reduced operational costs by over US$ 600 million since 2015.

Today, we have reached the limits of austerity and cost control measures.

To those asking whether the Agency can further reduce its services to match the available funds, I pose the following questions:

How many children are we ready to put in one classroom? In Gaza, it is already 50.

Which refugee patients should be denied life-saving hospitalization?

Which families who already report reducing their food intake should not be included in the next round of food or cash distribution?

Dear partners,

For Palestine refugees, UNRWA remains the last pillar of the commitment of the international community to their right to a dignified life and to a just and lasting solution.

A major aspect of the role of UNRWA in regional stability stems from the predictability of its high-quality services.

But when Palestine refugees see us delaying salaries, decreasing the quality of services and being unable to respond to increasing needs, they see the support of the international community fading.

Despair and sense of abandonment are growing in Palestine refugee camps.

Despair is a threat to peace and stability.

You heard me saying that UNRWA is now facing an existential threat due to the nature of its financial crisis.

This threat is real and should not be underestimated

The Agency is under three sources of intense pressure:

First,

The commitment of the General Assembly to uphold the rights of Palestine refugees and its instruction to UNRWA to deliver a number of public-like services until a just and lasting solution.

Second,

The lack of sufficient funding from UN Member States to implement the mandate and the unpredictability of most of the funding.

And lastly,

The perception that any changes to services or the way they are delivered is an attempt to encroach on the rights of the refugees. Hosts and refugees fear that it may lead to weakening UNRWA and, with time, dismantling it all together.

Failing to reconcile these demands will make the mandate more and more impossible to implement.

It risks pushing over half a million UNRWA students into the streets.

It will deny around two million patients access to health care.

And two million conflict affected refugees will be deprived of cash or food assistance.

Disruption of serviceswould not only be the failure of UNRWA. It would be a collective failure and a failure of multilateralism, so dear to this House.

Only a fully-funded program budget and predictable funding will allow the Agency to fulfill its mandate and continue to play its stabilizing role in a volatile region.

Let me reiterate here my deep gratitude to the EU for leading by example and not only provide predictable financial support but also support our outreach efforts to other UN Member States.

A ministerial event co-hosted by Jordan and Sweden in September, with the participation of the UN Secretary-General, will discuss sustainable solutions to UNRWA financial challenges.

Mister Chair,

Despite this immense challenge, UNRWA is continually looking to adapt and evolve to respond both to the protracted nature of conflicts and to new emergencies, stretching resources to service the greatest need.

Our health services are already largely digitalized, and telemedicine, which started in Gaza as a response to the pandemic, is now being mainstreamed across all fields.

As every child must be able to perform and compete in an increasingly digitalized world, UNRWA is committed to giving Palestine refugees that ability.

We are putting educational technology and increasing digital literacy at the core of our education programme.

And the EU is contributing directly to this goal by giving 3,000 tablets to Palestine refugees.

Let me pause here for a moment to address the value of UNRWA education.

I want to do so because I think we share the same view: that education remains a powerful and fundamental tool in helping every child achieve their full potential and building peaceful societies.

Regrettably, coordinated campaigns by politically motivated advocacy groups, targeting Parliaments of countries supporting the Agency, are increasing in frequency and maliciousness.

They do not have the well-being of Palestine refugee children at heart.

Sometimes, they go as far as actively spreading false and baseless accusations in a sensationalist way.

Their aim?

To underminethe Agencysreputation and itsfunding.

Their end goal?

To undermine the rights of Palestine refugees.

I will repeat what I mentioned last year to this Committee: UNRWA has zero tolerance for hate speech, incitement to violence and discrimination.

But zero-tolerance does not equate to zero risk - especially in the complex and highly politicized and emotional environment in which we operate.

Therefore, we continue to spare no effort to uphold humanitarian principles, including neutrality, and the values of the United Nations:

Ninety-three per cent of our personnel have taken the Agency-mandated training aimed at increasing their understanding of neutrality and of their obligations in that regard.

UNRWA undertakes an independent investigation into every serious allegation. Over the last year, 4 UNRWA personnel were confirmed to have breached their neutrality obligation as UN personnel. Administrative or disciplinary actions will be taken, in line with UN rules and regulations. Another 15 personnel are currently being investigated for alleged neutrality breaches.

Overall this represents less than 0.1% of our 30,000- strong workforce. This low incident rate speaks to the effectiveness of the Agencys preventive system.

Thanks to our centrally managed Digital Learning Platform, all our self-learning material to help students learn remotely upholds UN values and UNESCO standard.

Dear Partners,

Starting this week, our 710 schools are opening their doors to over half a million girls and boys.

We provide an education that enshrines a human rights culture, seeking to instill tolerance in a context where children are exposed to poverty, conflict, displacement and violence.

The World Bank and UNHCR have praised the quality and efficiency of our education, stressing how UNRWA students outperform their peers attending public school by one year of learning.

Success stories are everywhere:

from Ghada, who is among the first women technicians in renewable energy in Gaza,

to Baraa, who joined a medical research team in Spain making groundbreaking progress in the fight against pancreatic cancer,

to Wajeeh, an 11-year-old student in Jordan who won third place in the Worldwide Mental Arithmetic Competition this month,

to Rama in Syria, who was among the best achievers in the national exams last June , despite her protracted displacement due to the conflict.

I am hereby inviting you to come to our schools to witness the eagerness, brightness and sharpness of our school children.

It is truly a success story.

Palestine refugees hold on very tightly to a good education.

They know that this is their passport to a better life and a brighter future.

You must be able to see for yourselves the positive change that your support has helped create.

It is very different from what the detractors seek to promote.

Your investment in the education, dignity and hope of Palestine refugees is an investment in regional stability and peace.

It is an irreplaceable investment and an investment we should all be proud of.

Thank you, Mr Chair.

Link:
Address by UNRWA Commissioner-General to the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs - occupied Palestinian territory - ReliefWeb

France's Loire River is at its lowest level as Europe experiences what is thought to be its worst drought in at least 500 years.

Guillaume Souvant | Afp | Getty Images

Europe's rivers are running dry after an extended period of extremely hot weather, ratcheting up fears over food and energy production at a time when prices are already skyrocketing due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

A severe lack of rainfall and a sequence of heatwaves from May onward has taken a visible toll on the region's waterways.

In France, it has become possible to cross the Loire River on foot in some places; it is feared that water levels at a key German chokepoint on the Rhine River, one of Europe's key waterways, could once again close to commercial traffic; and the drought-stricken waters of Italy's Po River have revealed artifacts dating back to World War II including a 50-meter-long barge and a previously submerged bomb.

"We haven't seen this level of drought in a very long time. The water levels in some of the major waterways are lower than they have been in decades," Matthew Oxenford, senior analyst of Europe and climate policy at The Economist Intelligence Unit, a research and advisory firm, told CNBC via telephone.

Wreckage of a World War Two German warship is seen in the Danube in Prahovo, Serbia August 18, 2022.

Fedja Grulovic | Reuters

"For some of the main channels, there's very little leeway, sometimes less than 30 centimeters of leeway before the channel is completely inoperable for any sort of shipping," he added.

"So, that's going to have very significant impacts on the economic and human activity that's taking place around these waterways seeing as we're likely to remain in some form of drought for some time to come."

Europe is in the grip of what is likely to be the region's worst drought in at least 500 years, according to a preliminary analysis from the European Union's Joint Research Center.

As of early August, the Global Drought Observatory report said that roughly two-thirds of Europe was under some sort of drought warning, meaning the soil has dried up and vegetation "shows signs of stress."

The analysis found that nearly all of Europe's rivers have dried up to some extent, while water and heat stress "substantially reduced" the summer crops' yields. Forecasts for grain maize, soybean and sunflowers were expected to be 16%, 15% and 12% below the average of the previous five years, respectively.

That comes as food prices remain stubbornly high amid Russia's onslaught in Ukraine, a major producer of commodities such as wheat, corn and sunflower oil.

If you grow up in central Europe, people usually like the sun but now we hope for rain.

Axel Bronstert

Professor of hydrology and climatology at the University of Potsdam

The EU's report warned that the Western Europe-Mediterranean region would likely see warmer and drier than usual conditions persist through to November.

To be sure, the deepening climate emergency has made high temperatures and droughts more intense and widespread. And lower nighttime temperatures that typically provide critical relief from the hot days are disappearing as the planet warms.

"The problem is the severity of this particular drought," Axel Bronstert, professor of hydrology and climatology at the University of Potsdam in Germany, told CNBC via telephone.

"If you grow up in central Europe, people usually like the sun but now we hope for rain," Bronstert said, noting that it had previously been unheard of for some smaller rivers in the region to completely dry up at this time of year.

"Without really strong rainfall in the next few weeks, the probability that the water levels will further decline is high," he added.

Alongside the ecological and health impacts of the drought, Bronstert said parched conditions had resulted in a "very bad" harvest for many different crops in Germany.

In Italy's Po valley, home to about 30% of the countrys agriculture production, torrid heat and exceptionally dry conditions have hurt corn and sunflower production.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Surging food and energy prices have fueled a sharp upswing in inflation, with consumer prices in the 19 countries using the euro rising to a new record high of 9.1% in August.

"I think the larger point that I want to stress is that anomalies like this are in a sense going to become more common over the coming years because of climate change," the EIU's Oxenford said, citing the possibility for more intense droughts, storms, heat waves and floods in Europe.

"So, I think the takeaway for dealing with the economic impact of all of this is that countries are going to need to invest more in preparedness for things that used to be very uncommon but that are now going to become much more common occurrences as climate change upends a lot of patterns of activity that have been built in over centuries."

Oxenford said the economic impact of Europe's evaporating waterways was likely to be "multi-faceted," highlighting the prospect of a halt to shipping along the Rhine River as one of the major risks.

Snaking roughly 820 miles (1,320 kilometers), the Rhine River is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe. It connects the major port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands through the industrial heartland of Germany and further south into landlocked Switzerland.

Water levels of Germany's Rhine River have stabilized above crisis levels in recent weeks. However, forecasts of an extended period of high temperatures and scant rainfall have exacerbated fears that the transport of everything from food to chemicals to energy could soon grind to a halt.

Water levels at Kaub a measuring station west of Frankfurt and a key chokepoint for water-borne freight are forecast to drop to 86 centimeters (around 34 inches) by the end of the week, according to German government data. A normal water level would be around the 200-centimeter mark.

In 2018, water levels of the Rhine dropped to just 30 centimeters in places, forcing ships to temporarily stop hauling cargo.

An unloaded inland barge moves along the Rhine River at low water level in Duisburg, western Germany, on Aug. 9, 2022.

Ina Fassbender | Afp | Getty Images

Andrew Kenningham, chief Europe economist at consultancy Capital Economics, said in a research note that if the fall in the Rhine's water levels persists, it could subtract 0.2 percentage points from Germany's gross domestic product in the third and fourth quarters of this year.

Kenningham said the fall in the Rhine's water level was a relatively minor issue for German industry when compared to the region's deepening gas crisis, however.

Elsewhere, the warming temperatures of France's rivers have in recent weeks threatened to reduce the country's already low nuclear output. Summer heatwaves have further warmed rivers such as the Rhone and Garonne that state-owned energy supplier EDF uses to cool its nuclear power plant reactors.

The French nuclear power regulator has since extended temporary waivers to allow five power stations to continue discharging hot water into rivers ahead of a looming energy crisis, Reuters reported.

And, in Norway, a northern European country that relies heavily on hydroelectric power, the lack of rain has meant the amount of electricity generated by dams has dropped precipitously. As a result, the Norwegian government announced in early August that it plans to limit power exports.

European governments are scrambling to fill underground storage facilities with gas supplies in order to have enough fuel to keep homes warm during the coming months.

Russia which supplied roughly 40% of the EU's gas last year has drastically reduced flows to Europe in recent weeks, citing faulty and delayed equipment.

CNBC's Emma Newburger contributed to this report.

Excerpt from:
Europes evaporating rivers wreak havoc for food and energy production ahead of winter - CNBC

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At a time when the attention of the European Union is focused on preventing Russia from conquering Ukraine, Poland is reigniting a conflict from the past with the countrys de facto ruler on Thursday calling for Germany to pay 6.2 trillion zoty (1.3 trillion) in reparations for its 1939-1945 occupation.

This is our goal, Jarosaw Kaczyski, the head of Polands ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, said on the 83rd anniversary of Nazi Germanys invasion of Poland.

I know that we are embarking on a path that will take a long time and will not be easy. We do not promise quick successes, Kaczyski said in a press conference to publicize a report prepared by Law and Justice.

Poland was ravaged by Germanys invasion and occupation, with about 6 million deaths a fifth of the population (including almost all of its Jewish people). Warsaw was left a smoking ruin. Thursdays news conference was held in Warsaws royal castle, a building destroyed during the war and only rebuilt in the 1970s.

The Germans invaded Poland and did great damage to us. The occupation was extremely criminal, incredibly cruel and caused effects that in many cases continue to this day, Kaczyski said.

But Polands post-war communist government a satellite of the USSR agreed to drop demands for reparations against East Germany in 1953, making it legally complicated for Warsaw to file any claims. Poland also gained large territories from Germany after the war, while losing about a third of pre-war Polands lands to the Soviet Union.

The position of the Federal Government is unchanged, the reparations issue is closed, said Germanys foreign ministry. Poland renounced further reparations a long time ago, in 1953, and has confirmed this renunciation several times. This is an essential basis for todays European order. Germany stands politically and morally by its responsibility for the Second World War.

There is no chance for reparations, Radosaw Sikorski, a member of the European Parliament from the opposition Civic Platform party and a former Polish foreign minister, said in a radio interview, warning that the only impact will be to worsen relations between Warsaw and Berlin. Its pure propaganda, a fairy tale for the nave.

Donald Tusk, the leader of Civic Platform and a former Polish prime minister and president of the European Council, accused Kaczyski of playing politics with his demand.

This is not about any reparations from Germany, this is about a political campaign, he said. Jarosaw Kaczyski is not hiding it, that they want to rebuild support for the ruling party with this anti-German campaign.

PiS hopes to win an unprecedented third term in power in next years parliamentary election. Although the party is still leading in opinion polls, it has been losing ground to the opposition as the country deals with high inflation, slowing economic growth and soaring energy prices.

Kaczyski has long seen Germany as Polands historic enemy, despite both countries being in NATO and in the EU, and Germany being by far Polands largest trading partner. Hes suspicious that Berlin is using the EU as a cover to build the Fourth Reich.

Polands relationship with Germany has taken a further battering thanks to Russias invasion of Ukraine. Warsaw has been one of the most enthusiastic backers of Kyiv, sending money and weapons to Ukraine, while leading the charge to cut off imports of Russian energy and to block Russian tourists from visiting the Continent. Berlins caution in moving rapidly in the same direction has aroused Polish anger.

Kaczyskis demand is still not official government policy, and Warsaw hasnt issued any formal request to Berlin.

We are obliged today to calculate these losses as accurately as possible and present a proper account to those who owe it, said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Berlin feels that the 1990 deal allowing West and East Germany to unify ended all outstanding issues related to the war, and rejects demands for reparations.

Germany has paid compensation to individual victims of the Holocaust and to people forced to work as slave laborers, but not to other countries; Greece has an outstanding claim estimated at 289 billion, but the German parliament found it does not have legal merit.

Wilhelmine Preussen contributed reporting.

This article has been updated with comment from the German foreign ministry.

Read more from the original source:
Poland to Germany: Pay up! - POLITICO Europe

Within the framework of monthly programmes monitoring meetings, the ECOWAS Commission received the European Union delegation in Nigeria, at its premises in Abuja on 23 August 2022.

The main objective of this bilateral meeting is to review key ongoing programmes as well as those identified under the new EU funding instrument.

The meeting was attended by the Head of Cooperation of the European Union in Nigeria, Ms Ccile Tassin-Pfizer accompanied by her collaborators, in particular the Deputy Head of Delegation and Head of Political Section, the Head of the finance, contracts and audit, project managers, as well as ECOWAS staff, in particular the Director of External Relations (Session Chairman) and Directors in charge of Peacekeeping and Regional Security; Energy and Mines; Humanitarian and Social Affairs; Political Affairs; Finance/Financial Reporting and Donations; and Transport.

Several items on the agenda were the subject of intensive discussions, in particular those relating to the activities planned under the New Instrument for Cooperation of the European Union (NDICI), the Annual Action Plan (PAA) 2022 and 2023, Blue Economy, Stabilization, Peace and Security, Climate Change, Human Development and Gender Issues.

During the exchanges, the two parties expressed current concerns related to democratic and security challenges, and indicated the need to continue the programmes already underway in these areas.

In the field of Climate Change, the parties shared the same points of view relating to the strengthening of actions to the definition of joint action plans in order to face the various climate challenges of the West African Region.

The issue of human development captured the attention the EU and ECOWAS, which agreed to finalize the action plan initiated in this area and which should help in the formulation of relevant projects to be initiated in this area.

Within the framework of Institutional Support to ECOWAS, the Directors present at the meeting indicated the need to maintain the Support Cell for the Regional Authorising Officer (RAO Support Cell) which

provides essential and necessary assistance for the validation of the EU pillars by ECOWAS, hence the importance of finding the necessary support for the sustainability of its operation.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

This Press Release has been issued by APO. The content is not monitored by the editorial team of African Business and not of the content has been checked or validated by our editorial teams, proof readers or fact checkers. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Read more here:
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the European Union organise their monthly Coordination meeting at the ECOWAS headquarters in...

In Genbeta we have already told that the Publications Office of the European Union gives away gigantic maps and printed publications. We were impressed when we received them, because yes, they comply and if there is availability, they do not take long to send them. Now, along with everything we had mentioned, we have discovered two other materials.

For children, we had already talked about Pac-Man, a publication designed for children to learn about the European Union while playing. There was also the Europe, Better Together! educational kit. Now weve foundIn the farm Y Treasure hunt on the farm.

13 TRICKS to get the MAX out of GOOGLE MAPS

First of all, the Office offers On the farm, a free coloring book where we will find animals, bushes, tractors, trucks and the typical elements of some rural environments.

If instead of ordering them we want to color them on the computer itself or print them, as always we can save the PDF and choose which pages we want to see in full color. The edition they send is from 2019, but if we are interested in having more variety, there are others from 2006 and 2010 that we can find in the All editions (3) button that appears like this if we have selected that the language of the web be Spanish.

To request it, no registration will be necessary, just fill in our contact information and address.

With Treasure hunting on the farm we are indeed facing a 2021 and printed story that tells an educational story. As with On the farm, it is educational material with which children will learn about food processes and production, health, the importance of bees in agriculture, habitat, etc.

It has 40 pages and can be ordered in both Spanish and English, along with other official languages of Member States. As on other occasions, the system only allows us to request one copy of each publication per person.

In this case, the website says that there is only one copy available, but that message appears with books in any language, so it seems more like a way to control that the submission of publications is not abused than the fact that there is little stock.

Link:
The European Union gives away these stories and coloring books, along with large maps: so you can receive them for free - Gearrice