Forest fires: EU continues to mobilise assistance for Greece and other countries in region
Forest fires: EU continues to mobilise assistance for Greece and other countries in region

3 firefighting planes (Canadairs) from France, Spain and Croatia in Greece, ready to depart to continue the firefighting operations. © European Union, 2021

The EU Civil Protection Mechanism continues to channel support to help combat unprecedented forest fires in Greece and the rest of the Mediterranean. Following requests from Greece, North Macedonia, Albania, Italy and Turkey, the European Union has now helped mobilise 14 firefighting planes, 3 helicopters, some 1,300 rescuers and 250 vehicles.

In Greece alone, 9 planes, close to 1,000 fire fighters and 200 vehicles are currently being deployed. The latest offers over the weekend came from France, Germany, Poland, Austria and Slovakia, who are sending ground firefighting units. They will join forces already operating in the country: ground firefighting units from Cyprus, France, Czechia and Romania as well as planes from Cyprus, Sweden, France, Croatia and Spain.

This comes in addition to help already deployed last week to help fight forest fires in Italy, Albania and North Macedonia:

  • 2 Canadair firefighting airplanes from France which were sent to affected areas in Italy.
  • 2 helicopters to support operations in Albania which were equally dispatched from Czechia and the Netherlands.
  • Ground forces from Slovenia, Bulgaria and Austria which were deployed to help North Macedonia. On Saturday, Romania sent an additional plane.
  • Ongoing EU-coordinated firefighting operations in Turkey.

Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič said: “We are mobilising one of Europe‘s biggest ever common firefighting operations as multiple fires affect several countries simultaneously. This shows the need to prioritise crisis response also at European level. The EU stands in full solidarity with Greece, North Macedonia, Albania, Italy and Turkey, at this difficult time. I am very thankful to all the countries who have offered help for their tangible solidarity. Our thoughts are with all those affected and with the first responders who are risking their lives to battle the fires.”

In addition, the EU’s emergency Copernicus satellite is helping to provide damage assessment maps of the affected areas in North Macedonia and Greece.

The European Union’s 24/7 Emergency Response Coordination Centre is in regular contact with the relevant national authorities to closely monitor the situation and channel the EU assistance.

Background

The EU Civil Protection Mechanism strengthens cooperation between the EU Member States and 6 Participating States in the field of civil protection, with a view to improve prevention, preparedness and response to disasters. When the scale of an emergency overwhelms the response capabilities of a country, it can request assistance via the Mechanism.Publication date08/08/2021

European Commission Press release Brussels, 08 Aug 2021 The EU Civil Protection Mechanism continues to channel support to help combat unprecedented forest fires in Greece and the rest of the Mediterranean. Following …

EIOPA submits opinion to the European Parliament on discharge for financial year 2019 – Eiopa Commission
EIOPA submits opinion to the European Parliament on discharge for financial year 2019 – Eiopa Commission

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has submitted to the European Parliament its  opinion on the discharge decision.

The document, adopted by the Board of Supervisors, provides an overview of the measures taken by EIOPA in the light of the observations and comments made by the European Parliament in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2019.

In the opinion, EIOPA points out specific actions taken related for example to its workload which is increasingly shifting from regulatory tasks to enforcing and applying Union law, its efforts towards a more coordinated supervisory regime across the European financial system, enhanced cooperation with National Supervisory Authorities and other EU institutions, staff policies and procurement, internal control and audits management. 

Read the opinion

Background

The last revision of EIOPA Regulation introduced Article 64(11) requiring EIOPA to provide a reasoned opinion on the position of the European Parliament and on any other observations made by the European Parliament provided in the discharge procedure. 

State aid: Commission approves €430 million Italian scheme to compensate ski lift operators for damages suffered due to coronavirus outbreak
State aid: Commission approves €430 million Italian scheme to compensate ski lift operators for damages suffered due to coronavirus outbreak

European Commission Press release Brussels, 04 Aug 2021 The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €430 million Italian measure to compensate ski lift operators for the damages suffered due to the restrictive measures introduced by the Italian government to limit the spread of the coronavirus, which prohibited the access of the gen

EIOPA consults on the amendments of supervisory reporting and disclosure requirements – Eiopa European Commission
EIOPA consults on the amendments of supervisory reporting and disclosure requirements – Eiopa European Commission
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published today a consultation on the amendments of supervisory reporting and disclosure requirements under Solvency II.

After a number of years of the implementation of Solvency II and the information received by national supervisory authorities it is important to ensure that the regular supervisory reporting remains fit for purpose. The analysis over the last years lead to a number of proposals to amend the Solvency II Directive and its Delegated Regulation. These were put forward by EIOPA in the Opinion on the 2020 review of Solvency II. However, the experience also showed that there is a need to implement amendments to reporting requirements within the current legal framework, without waiting for the Solvency II review.

In this consultation paper, EIOPA proposes amendments to the reporting requirements, which are mainly based on the Report on quantitative reporting templates published together with the 2020 Solvency II Opinion. In addition to those changes, the proposals include simplification of quarterly reporting for all undertakings, elimination of some reporting templates for all undertakings and new thresholds to promote better risk-based and proportionate reporting requirements. This will lead to a reduction of the number of templates to be reported for the majority of the undertakings.

EIOPA proposals on the review of the reporting requirements should bring several benefits, which will ultimately lead to a better protection of policyholders:

  • Reduction of reporting costs for the majority of insurance undertakings;
  • Inclusion of information needed for supervisory purposes focusing on emerging risks and new areas for which supervisors identified a number of data gaps;
  • A more fit-for-purpose reporting, for example reducing and simplifying when possible but also accommodating gaps identified by supervisors.

EIOPA invites all interested stakeholders to provide comments to the amendments by e-mail to CP-21-002@eiopa.europa.eu by 17 October 2021.

Consultation on the amendments of supervisory reporting and public disclosure documents

Background

EIOPA proposals concern the amendments to the Implementing Technical Standards on Disclosure, Implementing Technical Standards on Reporting and to the EIOPA Guidelines on the supervision of branches of third country insurance undertakings as well as EIOPA Guidelines on reporting for Financial Stability Purposes.

The European dilemma, to continue or to play
The European dilemma, to continue or to play

The Western world has dominated international relations. Ever since the appearance of capitalism, ”The West” has dictated the main mechanisms and laws that govern international conduct. Colonialism sealed the fate of many peoples while Woodrow Wilson reshaped the very notion of a free nation. The Marshal Plan shaped our view of the post-world war world in a way that is still visible today in the EU. The Western World, with its most evident incarnation of USA-EU military partnership, has fostered the strongest military alliance, NATO, the strongest economic force and has set the tone, principles, laws, and values for the entire globe.  

Yet 30 years on from its most glorious victory, the fall of communism, this world order has found itself contested by China and, episodically, by Russia. This contestation has seen many declinations in the form of military, economic, and even ideologic affairs (it has been said that authoritarian regimes have had a ”firmer” answer in the face of the pandemic). For the first time in a long time, the mechanisms governing the ”balance of power” have apparently started to produce effects of consequence for the establishment generically named The West.

Naturally, the rise of China and Russia has been quickened by the escalating dissensions between USA and the EU. These have been well exacerbated by the Angela Merkel phone scandal and have continued with tensions generated by the North Stream 2 project and, apparently hit rock bottom with the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Naturally, the American First model of conducting Trump Politics has tensioned relations with most European Union member states. Brexit was another clue that EU-USA destinies would be going on different paths.

Within this ”Ice Age” of EU-USA relations, Russia has dug further in deepening its relations with Germany, while China went all in its efforts to seduce, Hungary, Italy, and Greece

Russia and China figured out that attacking the EU-USA relationship is a core move against the current international establishment. Therefore, both states have worked for decades in order to undermine transatlantic relations, by stimulating Berlin-Moscow economic relations or by fueling the French military ego (and consequent anti-American and anti-NATO sentiment) running wild on the hallways of the Elysee.

Actions streaming from China or Russia seem to have a common source. However, in reality, they serve very different objectives, by operating on quite different channels. A truly functional Balance of Power alliance between Russia and China does not exist. Their actions are however overlapped, in a very punctual manner, on specific themes. Most of the time, these two counter players have their own interests to look after in Europe.

The new Curtain

The European Union is under siege and, apparently, more divided than ever. The economic games played by China and the tactic performance of Russian interests, often put into play by proxy, have already shaped an image of a weak European Union, often lacking perspective.  The old ideological conflict placing nationalism and globalism on the opposite sides of a truly representative cleavage is now overlapping the old Iron Curtain scheme. This is obvious in the way the European member states have positioned themselves in regard to Hungary’s anti LGBTQ law.

Foto - https://twitter.com/DaveKeating

What is genuinely interesting about this reshaping of old theoretical walls is the fact that Europe is undergoing a process of replicating the ongoing ideological conflict raging in the United States. As always, when dealing with radical arguments, both teams are right, and both are terribly wrong.

Viktor Orban and the Visegrad group seek to promote the vision of a European Project based on national states with full sovereignty. Of course, the issue with this sort of project is that it is equivalent with the destruction of the EU. Turning the EU into a mere alliance of states inconvenient for both Russia and China, since this means that the common Western EU project, of promoting a union of shared values and ideology, has failed, which leaves way for the reincarnation of Old Europe – easy to command, riddled with conflict and war.  

Europe has to face more tangible threats than ideology. The lack of proper military capacities in the face of dwindling relations with Turkey and the United States signals weakness. France, with all its efforts of portraying itself as the defender of Europe, is not at all a believable option. Because it lacks a sufficiently large army but also because France cannot guarantee peace of mind to the countries out East, in the improbable event of direct military conflict with Russia. Europe has, for an exceptionally long time, relied on military support from the United States. This may make some wonder if the European Union is or is not a great power, since it ”boroughs” the military potential of a third party. Europe undoubtedly remains an economic and, even more so, a cultural power irradiating values across the globe. But without a military power to match, it has remained far behind the United States, China and Russia.

The future of the European Union is played in Paris and Berlin

The new Biden Administration has been viewed by Brussels as a breath of fresh air. And even if this is the case, one has to take into account that the Trump phenomenon is not something intrinsically linked to Donald Trump. It is a mechanism set in place and validated, electorally, by a significant portion of the American citizens. So, to be sure, Trump’s major defeat and subsequent withdrawal should not be confused with the disappearance of his America First agenda.

So even if the European Union is looking forward for more relaxed diplomatic dialogue with Washington, it is clear that some continuity will be there. There are obvious signs to be seen already. The EU-China positioning will cause tensions and the 2% for defense is likely a win that the US will not want to step back on, since USA efforts are clearly disproportionately bigger in terms of NATO participation (it’s not just about the money, it’s about technology, military outreach, and presence). Biden is forced to keep addressing the uncomfortable China issue in Asia, where Beijing is growing in influence. In Europe, Washington will forever find friends in The Baltics, in Poland, and in Romania, states which are sure of the fact that American security guarantees are the only viable deterrents in the face of increased Russian assertiveness. Regardless of how Germany and France will play their hands, the US has firm support among EU states.

We should also remember that elections will be ongoing in Germany and France. The strategy adopted by the leaders in Paris and Berlin will show us if the European Union will bet on the band-wagoning game or if we’ll witness a new design of USA influence across Europe. If the European Union will play the Chinese or Russian card, the project will most probably drown in dissolution. Because the diverge interests of all three great players – USA, Russia, and China, will pull in irreconcilable directions, thus breaking the European fabric. Each power will seek to secure its zone of influence and the EU will become the mere turf in a foreign fight for dominance.

The EU has a tough decision to make. If it pushes for the continuation of the status quo, it knows the ropes: it will be safe, dependent upon American protection, but also free to occasionally play its cards when needed. If it decides to play the contender card, then she will have to deal with increasing nationalism, a strong sense of division, and a powerful conflictual perspective. Of course, the European nations have been decent at this game too. But even in the age of (re)nationalism, populations are weary in the face of war and fall-out conflict.