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UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is issuing the following recommendations ahead of the 1 July meeting hosted by the European Commission. The meeting brings together Member States and key actors to discuss and launch the 2023-2025 pledging exercise for resettlement and humanitarian admission. The recommendations set out UNHCRs key asks to EU Members States and relevant European Union (EU) institutions as they consider their commitments to resettling and admitting refugees through complementary pathways in 2023.

UNHCRs recommendations are in line with the Three-Year Strategy (2019-2021) on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways(the Strategy), the Third Country Solutions for Refugees: Roadmap 2030 (Roadmap 2030),1 and the objective set out in the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) to increase the number of resettlement and complementary pathways admissions globally. The Strategy foresees the resettlement of one million refugees and admission of two million refugees through complementary pathways by 2028.

In the last two years, EU Member States have shown their capacity to respond to a series of challenges by working together and demonstrating solidarity. Despite the important impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on resettlement and complementary pathway admissions of refugees, EU Member States have remained engaged with UNHCR and other partners to find ways to ensure admissions. The EU stepped up following the events in Afghanistan in August 2021 and received tens of thousands of Afghan nationals evacuated from their country in addition to commitments for resettlement and other admission programmes to receive Afghan refugees from neighbouring countries.Since February 2022, the war in Ukraine has forced millions of people to flee, becoming the largest refugee emergency since the end of World War II. From the onset of the emergency, EU Member States demonstrated remarkable solidarity with an unanimous decision to activate the Temporary Protection Directive providing protection, access to rights and assistance to millions of people. The EU has demonstrated its capacity to work together, providing emergency assistance in a very short period of time, and with an unprecedented mobilization of receiving authorities and host communities.The Projected Global Resettlement Needs increased from 1,47 million in 2022 to more than 2 million for 2023. In this context, UNHCR urges Member States to maintain their commitments to refugees and provide solutions to those most at risk, and calls on the EU to:

MAINTAIN AMBITIOUS TARGETS FOR SUFFICIENT RESETTLEMENT ADMISSIONS OF REFUGEES IN NEED

Maintain ambitious targets: while UNHCR acknowledges the great pressure in the past few months with the Ukraine emergency, it is essential to pursue the solidarity efforts and commitments to refugees worldwide. UNHCR recommends that the 27 EU Member States maintain ambitious resettlement targets, and resettle at least 40,000 refugees in 2023, in addition to a minimum of 8,500 places for Afghan refugees to keep pace with a five-year target of 42,500 resettlement departures.

Ensure the incremental growth of resettlement as envisaged in the Strategy with EU targets increasing to a minimum of 44,000 in 2024 and 48,000 in 2025, in addition to an average of 8,500 places per year over the next five years in order to respond to the needs of Afghan refugees.

Adopt flexible case processing modalities to increase the agility and resilience of resettlement and admissions under other legal pathways.

Increase the number of EU Member States participating in resettlement: UNHCR is ready to support capacity building initiatives and work together with partners such as the EU Agency for Asylum (EUAA), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and NGOs to meet this objective.

Increase EU funding for capacity building initiatives, including through the CRISP2 initiative to build solid and quality resettlement programmes and to advance complementary pathways.

See the article here:
Summary of UNHCR Recommendations to the European Union: UNHCR resettlement needs, complementary pathways, and key priorities for 2023 (June 2022) -...

Delivery Hero and Glovo have been targeted for antitrust inspections in the European Union.

The European Commission announced today that it has carried out unannounced inspections of a number of online food, grocery and consumer goods delivery businesses in two Member States citing concerns over potential breaches of EU competition laws against forming cartels and other restrictive business practices.

The Commission has concerns that the companies concerned may have violatedArticle 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which prohibits cartels and restrictive business practices, it writes in a press release.

The investigation concerns an alleged agreement or concerted practice to share national markets for the online ordering and delivery of food, groceries and other consumer goods in the European Union, it added.

The Commission did not name any of the companies that have been inspected and declined to provide more details when asked but Reuters reported that Berlin-based Delivery Hero was one of the inspected companies.

Delivery Hero confirmed this to us when reached for comment, sending this statement:

Delivery Hero confirms that the European Commission conducted an inspection at its offices in Berlin. The fact that the Commission carries out such an inspection does not mean that the Commission has concluded that there has been an actual infringement of competition law nor does it prejudge the outcome of the investigation itself. Delivery Hero is committed to cooperating fully with the Commission.

We have also confirmed that Barcelona-based Glovo, which since the end of 2021 has been majority owned by Delivery Hero was also approached by the Commission.

As part of its investigation, we can confirm that the European Commission has approached Glovo, a Glovo spokewoman told us. We are confident that Glovo meets all antitrust and compliance requirements, as defined by the law and the initial investigation does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation itself. We are always collaborating with authorities and are actively cooperating with the European Commission authorities to aid their investigation.

The Commission PR about the raids specifies that companies in two Member States were inspected presumably a reference to Germany and Spain, given those are the home markets of Delivery Hero and Glovo respectively.

Wereached out to a number of other delivery players in those markets to ask if they were also paid a visit.

At the time of writing, Berlin-based Gorillas had confirmed it was not targeted. Regarding this issue, we can confirm that Gorillas has not been targeted by the raids organized by the European Commission, a spokesperson told us.

We also understand that UberEats was not involved in the Commission action.

Berlin-based Flink also told us it was not raided nor sent any requests related to the investigation.

The timing of the inspection is interesting given that the on-demand delivery space is facing particularly challenging operational conditions.

The global economic downturn has made it harder for startups to raise, generally, but the high losses/burn rates of some of these delivery/q-commerce platforms which tend to prioritize growth over profitability in a bid to dominate markets and squeeze out competition over the longer run make them look particularly vulnerable to the end of fundraising good times.

So while quick commerce exploded rapidly in the wake of a pandemic-triggered surge in demand for app-based shopping and delivery, theres likely been a similarly rapid cooling from investors on the sector in recent months as rising interest rates and soaring inflation cause funds to reconsider pouring yet more capital into a scramble for convenience that may turn out to be more flash in the pan than paradigm shopping shift.

Delivery Hero and Glovo are particularly interesting cases here, too given that Glovo had already abandoned its solo run and thrown its lot in with the German rival. (The acquisition was announced on December 31 after 11 p.m. CET which doesnt exactly suggest they were keen to trumpet the news.)

Delivery Heros shares, meanwhile, have taken a battering in recent months plunging almost 60% in Q1, per Bloomberg, whose April news report quoted HSBC analyst, Andrew Porteous, writing: The Glovo deal continues to baffle us and pointing out that Delivery Hero expected Glovo to post a loss of 330 million in 2022, which suggests the acquisition has beefed up its operational challenges, raising questions about wheres the upside?

As well as lots of consolidation, the on-demand delivery space has been characterized by rapid revisions to operational footprints with players typically firing up ops across multiple markets as they scramble for scale, before often, equally quickly pulling out again if they judge the level of expenditure has got too high vs. potential gain.

Startups in the space often talk about wanting to be either the number one or two player in a given market which has led to a patchwork of brands operating piecemeal across Europe, rather than uniform competition between all operators. But in such a high-cash-burn environment dominating the market is not really a nice to have rather its a necessity. And the relative footprints of on-demand delivery players can, at times, appear like coordinated agreements to carve up different markets even if its the burn rate ultimately dictating where they each operate.

Given all these pressures and the wider downturn turning the screw on the sector, the Commission sniffing around Delivery Hero and Glovo now looks interesting.

Although the EU is emphasizing that the inspections it has carried out so far are a preliminary step into suspected anticompetitive practices and the two companies are not facing any formal objections at this stage.

The fact that the Commission carries out such inspections does not mean that the companies are guilty of anti-competitive behaviour nor does it prejudge the outcome of the investigation itself, the Commission adds.

There is no deadline for the EU to complete the inquiries. And it remains to be seen whether any formal charges get delivered.

Its PR points out that the Commission offers a leniency program under which it may offer companies that have been involved in a secret cartel immunity from fines or significant reductions in fines in return for reporting the conduct and cooperating with an investigation. While individuals are also encouraged to report cartel or other anti-competitive behaviour on an anonymous basis via its whistleblower tool.

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Delivery Hero and Glovo targeted for EU antitrust inspection - TechCrunch

As part of the regular political dialogue between the Kingdom of Morocco and the EU, the Commissioner with responsibility for Home Affairs, YlvaJohansson, and the Spanish Home Affairs Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, met with the Moroccan Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, in Rabat on 8 July 2022.

They highlighted the solid results of their cooperation based on shared responsibility in matters of migration, and agreed to renew their partnership in order to work together to tackle human smuggling networks, in particular following the emergence of new, extremely violent, methods adopted by such criminal networks.

The Commissioner and the two Ministers regretted every death of people attempting unlawful entry, including those that occurred during the recent distressing events on 24 June 2022. They also regretted the injuries, including to members of the Moroccan and Spanish border forces. These events put traditional methods of combatting human smuggling under strain.

Besides the human tragedy, they showed how very dangerous and violent human smuggling networks were, and the extent to which they were prepared to take any risk.

Investigations were under way to clarify the circumstances surrounding these events. At the same time, the Commissioner and the two Ministers welcomed the fact-finding commission set up by the Moroccan National Human Rights Council. The protection of fundamental rights is a value shared by Morocco and the European Union.

The new operational anti-smuggling partnership between the Commission and Morocco to tackle human trafficking will cover, in particular, support for border management, enhanced police cooperation (including joint investigations), awareness-raising on the dangers of unlawful migration and enhanced cooperation with EU agencies responsible for home affairs.

Morocco is a strategic and committed partner of the European Union, with which the EU has been cooperating on migration issues for a number of years. Its National Immigration and Asylum Strategy (SNIA) is one of the most well-developed migration management systems today, in both legislative and institutional terms, and has enabled the legalisation of the administrative status of thousands of migrants, and their integration into Moroccan society. Morocco was also one of the founding States of the Rabat process and his Majesty King Mohammed VI was appointed leader for Africa on the issue of migration by African Heads of State.

Morocco's practical efforts have resulted, in the first half of this year, in preventing more than 26,000 irregular departures one tenth of them saved at sea. In the same period, Morocco has dismantled around a hundred criminal trafficking networks.

In connection with the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, the Commission is establishing migration partnerships with the countries of origin, transit and destination, to combat human smuggling networks, but also to address the root causes of migration and improve legal migration routes so that people do not feel the need to risk their lives on dangerous journeys.

See the article here:
European Commission and Morocco launch renewed partnership on migration and tackling human smuggling networks - European Commission

By Sophia WangJul. 7, 2022

President Joe Biden was pressed about his administrations plans to temper rapidly rising oil prices during the U.S. NATO press conference at the Madrid NATO Summit June 30.

Oil prices have risen due to the war in Ukraine, with some analysts believing that prices may reach $200 a barrel.

When asked how long drivers in the U.S. could expect to face the rising prices, Biden answered As long as it takes so Russia cannot, in fact, defeat Ukraine and move beyond Ukraine. This is a critical, critical position for the world.

The European Union (EU) and the U.S. have already taken decisive steps to weaken Russias financial institutions, foremost among them sanctions against the country: for example, the U.S. and United Kingdom have announced total bans on Russian fossil fuels.

More conservative in its measures, the EU plans to cut oil imports from Russia by two-thirds, planning to ban all Russian oil imports arriving by sea by the end of the year. The EU also announced plans to halt Russian coal imports by August.

Russia is a critical supplier to European nations, supplying over 40% of the EUs natural gas. EU negotiations for appropriate sanctions came to a compromise after significant deliberation. The EU continues to import over 800,000 barrels per day of Russian oil imports through pipeline, a temporary measure since countries like Hungary and Slovakia depend heavily on this resource.

Notably, Germany and Poland voluntarily halted pipeline imports, despite significant reliance on Russian gas. According to International Energy Agency Reports, in 2020, Germany made up 42.6% of Russias gas exports; in 2021, 58% of Polands total oil imports came from Russia.

Shipping insurance is critical to the sanctions the EU plans to implement. Following a phase in six month period, EU companies cannot provide technical assistance, brokering services or financing or financial assistance, related to the transport, including through ship-to-ship transfers, to third countries of crude oil or petroleum products from Russia, as dictated by a EU Council Regulation published June 3.

At the Madrid Summit, Biden said that the West would not insure Russian ships carrying oil. We would not provide insurance for them, so they would have great difficulty getting customers.

Taken together, the sanctions would reduce the amount of oil the EU buys from Russia by 90%.

Despite Western sanctions on Russian oil exports, Russias revenue from oil exports has risen as a function of increasing fuel prices felt across the world. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been a key proponent of imposing a price cap on Russian oil sales to Europe; such a cap would allow Russian oil sales in the market, but at a lower revenue stream, especially as several of the EUs sanctions are being phased in by the end of the year.

Supporters of the price cap include Sloan professor Simon Johnson PhD 89, who serves as adviser to the Russian Tanker Tracking Group. Johnson said Theres no other active idea that would impact Putins revenues from fossil fuels over the next five months and that the Russians have been quite cynically manipulating gas markets, so this would be a chance to turn the tables, according to a New York Times article on June 26.

Critics of the approach worry that Russia could refuse to sell at too low of a price cap and utilize its market in India and China for a higher revenue stream.

Biden commented June 30 that we should consider putting a cap on the amount of money that we would pay for Russian oil. Were going to allow you to have a profit on what you make but not the exorbitant prices that youre charging for the oil now. We think it can be done, and it would drive down the price of oil, and it would drive down the price of gasoline as well.

Following the recent G-7 Summit a meeting of the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, and the U.S. the seven countries agreed on sanctions extending beyond oil regulations. All G-7 members announced a ban on imports of Russian gold.

Altogether, the sanctions imposed from resources like natural gas to U.S. bans on debt payments using money held in U.S. banks have dealt notable blows to Russia. For the first time since 1998, Russia defaulted on a debt, a $100 million payment, which sanctions made impossible to pay.

As Ukraine enters its fifth month of war, financial sanctions implemented by alliances in the EU and abroad seek to highlight solidarity with Ukraine and isolate Russia from the global market.

Continue reading here:
European Union to reduce purchasing of Russian oil by 90% - The Tech

IOM Issues Migration Recommendations to the Czech EU Presidency

Brussels The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has shared its recommendations on migration and mobility with the Czech government. Czechia has assumed the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) in a time of war impacting millions of people and with migration implications in the region and across the globe.

Czechia has been a major host country to people fleeing Ukraine, said Ola Henrikson, IOM Regional Director for the European Economic Area, the European Union and NATO. The unprecedented expression of solidarity, reception and support is shifting to a longer-term approach that will need to encompass wider economic and social inclusion.

The challenges and opportunities extend beyond the Ukraine crisis. Comprehensive migration governance, including action to mitigate climate change impacts on human mobility, is needed more than ever in todays setting, Henrikson said.

First, IOM recommends the Presidency to promote flexible and sustainable inclusion and labour mobility pathways. Migrant and refugee inclusion and access to services as well as attracting skills and talent to the EU through enhanced labour migration can help mitigate economic downturn, contribute to shared prosperity, and promote social cohesion.

The recommendations also address the fact that approximately 1 billion people globally live without legal identities and may lack access to basic services and safe movement. IOM, therefore, encourages the Presidency to promote the registration of legal identity and integrated digital tools as enablers of sustainable development and safe, orderly human mobility.

Dialogue and partnerships for migrant readmission, effective return, and sustainable reintegration continue to be crucial elements of comprehensive migration governance. In its recommendations, IOM outlines a whole-of-route policy which promotes assisted voluntary return, sustainable reintegration, and readmission cooperation frameworks that ensure return procedures adhere to international standards.

Finally, with the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in view, IOM urges the Czech Presidency to prioritize increasing support to the countries and people most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In particular, the EU should step up support for climate adaptation and resilience-building for people to move, for people on the move, and for people to stay.

IOM stands ready to continue its support to the Presidency, the EU, and its Member States to implement balanced, comprehensive policies and programmes across the entire migration spectrum and along migration routes.

IOM's full recommendations can bedownloaded here.

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*For more information, please contact Ryan Schroeder at IOM Brussels, Tel: +32 495 25 02 34, Email:rschroeder@iom.int *

*About IOM *

Founded 71 years ago in 1951, IOM is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration. With 174 member states and presence in over 100 countries, IOM is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. The Organization works with its partners in the international community to assist in meeting the operational challenges of migration, advance understanding of migration issues, encourage social and economic development through migration and to uphold the well-being and human rights of all migrants.

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Recommendations to the Czech presidency of the council of the European Union (July - December 2022) - Czechia - ReliefWeb