A President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Christine Lagarde (C) attends a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Dec. 15, 2022. (ECB/Handout via Xinhua/IANS)
The inflation outlook, which has been revised substantially higher, has been the main reason behind the ECB’s move…reports Asian Lite News
The European Central Bank (ECB) has raised its key interest rates by 50 basis points (bps) and explicitly committed to further hikes to tame rampant inflation in the eurozone.
The interest rates on the main refinancing operations, the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will be increased to 2.5 per cent, 2.75 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively, with effect from December 21, Xinhua news agency quoted the bank as saying in a statement.
The inflation outlook, which has been revised substantially higher, has been the main reason behind the ECB’s move.
Interest rates would have to “rise significantly at a steady pace”, the bank said.
After the revision, the Eurosystem staff forecast that inflation in the eurozone would reach 8.4 per cent in 2022, 6.3 per cent in 2023, 3.4 per cent in 2024 and 2.3 per cent in 2025.
Inflation in the eurozone dropped slightly to 10 per cent in November.
Price pressures remain strong across sectors as energy costs stay at high levels, the bank said.
Justifying its decisions, the ECB said that raising rates would reduce inflation by dampening demand over time and guard against the risk of a persistent upward shift in inflation expectations.
European Commission presents toolbox to counter energy price spike. (Credit: Twitter)
BiH is now ready to open negotiations with the EU on the process of becoming an EU member state….reports Asian Lite News
The member states of the European Union (EU) have unanimously adopted a recommendation by the European Commission to grant candidate country status to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
President of the European Council Charles Michel said on Twitter that the move sends “a strong signal to the people, but also a clear expectation for the new authorities to deliver on reforms”, reports Xinhua news agency.
BiH applied for EU membership in February 2016. Subsequently, the European Commission recommended granting candidate status to BiH in October 2022, on the condition that the country take steps to strengthen the rule of law, the fight against corruption and organised crime, migration management and fundamental human rights.
Before the conflict in Ukraine, there were 14 criteria for candidacy status for BiH.
However, the process was accelerated after the EU granted candidacy status to Ukraine and Moldova.
BiH is now ready to open negotiations with the EU on the process of becoming an EU member state.
“I welcome the decision of the heads of the EU member states to recognize BiH as a candidate for membership in the EU,” said Milorad Dodik, President of the Bosnian entity Republika Srpska and the leader of the Alliance of the Independent Social Democrats.
“It is time the EU and BiH with its two entities finalized this process as partners and to our mutual satisfaction”, said Dodik on Twitter.
European Union flags fly outside the European Commission building in Brussels, Belgium, on June 9, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong/IANS)
They said they welcomed the reinforcement of European Union (EU) restrictive measures against Russia, including through the EU’s ninth package of restrictive measures and the international oil price cap, while ensuring a global level playing field…reports Asian Lite News
European leaders gave their seal of approval to the ninth package of sanctions against Russia following a summit here.
The European Council said in its final declaration of the summit that the leaders had discussed how to further increase collective pressure on Russia to end its military operation and to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
They said they welcomed the reinforcement of European Union (EU) restrictive measures against Russia, including through the EU’s ninth package of restrictive measures and the international oil price cap, while ensuring a global level playing field.
“The European Union stands ready to continue to reinforce the restrictive measures. The European Council underlines the importance of ensuring effective implementation and preventing circumvention and its facilitation,” the leaders said in the conclusions of the meeting. An 18-billion-euro ($19.1 billion) package of financial aid to help Ukraine was also on the agenda, but the matter was not greenlighted by the leaders.
Voronkov, who heads the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, stressed the importance of preventive action….reports Asian Lite News
UN Undersecretary-General Vladimir Voronkov has said that addressing the complex conditions driving terrorism requires multi-faceted and integrated responses.
Whole-of-society approaches should be community-based, conflict- and gender-sensitive. Engaging a multitude of stakeholders is indispensable for devising such strategies, Voronkov told the UN Security Council in a briefing, Xinhua news agency reported.
This includes not only civil society organisations, religious leaders, youth and women’s groups, and the private sector, but also victims and survivors of terrorist acts, he added.
Voronkov, who heads the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, stressed the importance of preventive action.
“There is no better and more efficient remedy to the threat posed by terrorism than prevention. The international counter-terrorism experience over the past 20 years demonstrates the limits of focusing on the necessity of security forces responding to imminent or actual terrorist acts without also addressing the conditions that lead to terrorist acts,” he said.
Counter-terrorism measures should be employed in tandem with initiatives to address the drivers of marginalization, exclusion, inequality, injustice and lack of opportunity, he said.
Voronkov also stressed the importance of leveraging regional arrangements.
As the threat posed by terrorism is transnational, so too should be the responses. Regional-based approaches offer an opportunity for tailoring responses to specific contexts, he said.
It is for this reason that the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism is co-organising with Nigeria a summit on counter-terrorism in Africa, which presents an important opportunity to reconsider how the United Nations could further support counter-terrorism efforts in Africa, he said.
Human rights must be at the centre of effective counter-terrorism responses, asserted Voronkov. “Upholding the rule of law and respecting international law, including human rights law, is both a legal and moral obligation, and an operational requirement. Well-established principles, norms and standards should feature front and center in our efforts to counter the threat posed by terrorist acts.”
Despite continuing leadership losses by al-Qaida and the Islamic State, terrorism in general has become more prevalent and more geographically widespread, affecting the lives of millions worldwide, he added.
In recent years, terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaida and their affiliates have continued to exploit instability, fragility and conflict to advance their agendas. This has been the case, particularly in West Africa and the Sahel, where the situation remains urgent, as terrorist groups strive to expand their area of operations. The activities of such groups have also contributed to the deteriorating security situation in other parts of the continent, particularly in central and southern Africa, he said.
In Afghanistan, the sustained presence of terrorist groups continues to pose serious threats to the region and beyond, as some groups maintain ambitions to conduct external operations, he warned.
The persistent global threat posed by terrorism not only requires the Security Council’s continued attention, but also calls for a renewed collective approach, said Voronkov. “And in this regard, I reiterate the secretary-general’s call for strengthening multilateralism as a matter of necessity and not of choice.”
Brussels: Flags of the European Union fly outside the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, May 21, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong/IANS)
An 18-billion-euro ($19.1 billion) package of financial aid to help Ukraine was also on the agenda, but the matter was not greenlighted by the leaders…reports Asian Lite News
European leaders gave their seal of approval to the ninth package of sanctions against Russia following a summit here.
The European Council said in its final declaration of the summit that the leaders had discussed how to further increase collective pressure on Russia to end its military operation and to withdraw its troops from Ukraine, Xinhua news agency reported.
They said they welcomed the reinforcement of European Union (EU) restrictive measures against Russia, including through the EU’s ninth package of restrictive measures and the international oil price cap, while ensuring a global level playing field.
“The European Union stands ready to continue to reinforce the restrictive measures. The European Council underlines the importance of ensuring effective implementation and preventing circumvention and its facilitation,” the leaders said in the conclusions of the meeting.
An 18-billion-euro ($19.1 billion) package of financial aid to help Ukraine was also on the agenda, but the matter was not greenlighted by the leaders.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.(photo:Twitter)
The deal allows Orban to claim victory because he was able reduce the penalties he faced. But he still was slapped with major fines that are likely to impact his struggling economy…reports Asian Lite News
The European Union reached a deal in principle to send an 18 billion euro ($18.93 billion) financial aid package to Ukraine and approve a minimum tax on major corporations in a big move that narrowed a rift between the bloc and recalcitrant member Hungary.
The 27 envoys of the EU nations reached a tentative agreement late Monday in a deal that also sees Budapest getting a bigger part of promised funds that had long been in jeopardy over complaints by the other member states that Prime Minister Viktor Orban had veered away from the democratic rule of law.
“Megadeal!,” the EU’s Czech presidency said on Twitter. The deal is still tentative because it needs to be signed off on but no major obstacles are expected.
Hungary had used its veto up to now to get the two major deals through, amid complaints from others that Orban was abusing his powers so he could get his recovery and aid funds.
The deal comes ahead of Thursday’s summit of EU leaders and a continued rift with Budapest could have turned the meeting into a major standoff.
Under the agreement in principle, Hungary sees a pandemic recovery plan approved worth 5.8 billion euros if Budapest implement 27 “super milestones” on democratic reforms to unlock the funding. Many nations had already said Hungary had made some positive efforts.
And the nations also agreed to decrease the proposed suspension in regular aid funds by about 1.2 billion euros to some approximately 6.3 billion euros in commitments.
The deal allows Orban to claim victory because he was able reduce the penalties he faced. But he still was slapped with major fines that are likely to impact his struggling economy.
“A small but important victory” for the rule of law in the EU, said Petri Sarvamaa, the parliament’s negotiator on the issue.
The EU as a whole will be able to present a united front backing Ukraine after unseemly scenes of political brinkmanship had delayed the process for long and left a needy ally in the lurch and facing a major struggle to make financial commitments next year.
“The European Union reached a deal in principle to send an 18 billion euro ($18.93 billion) financial aid package to Ukraine & approve a minimum tax on major corporations in a big move that narrowed a rift between the bloc and recalcitrant member Hungary.” https://t.co/i1NzvmeDq4
Equally, the EU had been unable to live up to a commitment to stop the race to the bottom in corporate tax rates. With Monday’s measure, the profit of companies with annual turnover beyond 750 million euros will be taxed at 15% or more.
The EU institutions have been in a standoff with Orban for years. They decided to go after Orban for what he calls his brand of “illiberal democracy” but which is seen by others as unfit for the EU’s traditional sense of Western democratic liberalism.
Many divisive issues with Orban remain though, not least his relationship with Russia which is seen as lenient to Moscow compared to those of his 26 partners.
The decision over Eva Kaili, embroiled in a corruption probe that allegedly involves World Cup hosts Qatar, was taken on Tuesday…reports Asian Lite News
Greek MEP Eva Kaili was stripped of her position as a vice president in the European Parliament. The decision over Kaili, embroiled in a corruption probe that allegedly involves World Cup hosts Qatar, was taken on Tuesday morning, according to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.
Her ousting as vice president was rubber-stamped by MEPs who overwhelmingly backed the motion with 625 in favour, one against and two abstentions. A two-thirds majority was needed.
It comes after Belgian police made fresh raids on Monday including one on a European parliamentary office as the corruption investigation widened.
In a statement, Belgium’s Federal Prosecutors Office said that the IT resources of ten parliamentary staff had been “frozen” to prevent the “disappearance of data necessary for the investigation”. They went on to say that the purpose of the search at the European Parliament was “to seize this data”.
The bloc’s top politicians have strongly condemned the corruption scandal that is shaking the EU legislative body. The EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola spoke about the “enemies of democracy for whom the very existence of this Parliament is a threat, will stop at nothing”.
“A total of 20 searches have been carried out since the beginning of the operations, including 19 in private homes and the one in the offices of the European Parliament,” the Belgian investigators concluded.
The sums seized during the searches carried out so far are spectacular: “€600,000 at the home of one of the suspects, several hundred thousand euros in a suitcase in a Brussels hotel room and around €150,000 in a flat belonging to a Member of the European Parliament,” according to the federal prosecutor’s office.
In a strongly-worded speech, Metsola spoke of “malign actors, linked to autocratic third countries [that] have allegedly weaponised NGOs, unions, individuals, assistants and Members of the European Parliament”.
The EU corruption scandal that allegedly linked to #WorldCup-host Qatar is snowballing. Hours after the EU parliament sacked the Greek MEP Eva Kaili as vice president, her lawyer has insisted that she is innocent@AnanyaDutta97 tells you more
Four people arrested, including Kaili, have been charged with corruption and money-laundering.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the EU’s executive arm, said the accusations against Kaili threatened the confidence EU citizens have put in the 27-nation bloc’s institutions.
She said the independent ethics body she proposed establishing would cover lobbying activities at the European Commission, the European Council and European Parliament, as well as at the European Central Bank, the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Auditors.
Doha has rejected any allegations of misconduct saying that “any association of the Qatari government with the reported claims is baseless and gravely misinformed”.
Socialist MEPs step down
The socialist group in the European Parliament has asked several of its members to step down from key posts and legislative files as the graft scandal involving, Kaili, continues to widen and send shockwaves through Brussels.
The Socialists & Democrats (S&D), the second largest formation in the hemicycle, has come under intense scrutiny after Kaili was arrested on suspicion of illicit lobbying in favour of a Persian Gulf state, believed to be Qatar, the controversial host of the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup.
The move follows a new update by the Belgian federal prosecutor, who in a press release said the IT resources of ten parliamentary had been “frozen” to prevent the disappearance of data. A total of 20 searches have been carried out since Friday, with more than €750,000 seized.
Four people, including Kaili, remain in custody and will appear before a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday.
“My group and myself are shocked by this corruption case,” S&D President Iratxe García Pérez told reporters on Tuesday morning. “I want to make it clear that our commitment to transparency is, has been and will always be absolute.”
García expressed her “disappointment” and said her main concern was to protect the Parliament’s credibility, which, she said, must not be “tarnished” by the revelations.
“We have decided that the MEPs who are being investigated or those whose assistants are being investigated by law enforcement relinquish any position of responsibility that they exercise in the Parliament and in the S&D group as long proceedings are ongoing,” García said.
It is unclear how many of these MEPs took the decision on their own terms or were asked to step aside by the S&D leadership. Euronews has reached out to all of them asking for comment.
Maria Arena denied any “special relation” with the Qatari government and said her removal as subcommittee chair relates to one of her assistants, who used to work for the NGO Fight Impunity, an organisation involved in the corruption scandal.
The president and founder of Fight Impunity, former S&D MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, was one of those arrested alongside Kaili. The organisation does not appear under the EU’s transparency registry.
“This is a personal decision in the interest of the work of the commission,” Arena told Euronews.
“Temporarily, I will not chair the sub-committee until the investigation clarifies the position of my assistant who, I remind you, is only concerned by this case by the fact she carried out a consultancy for the NGO Fight Impunity as an independent expert specialist in governance issues in Africa and, at that time, she was not my assistant.”
European Commission presents toolbox to counter energy price spike. (Credit: Twitter)
Some 5.8 billion euros ($6.1 billion) will be unlocked as part of the post-pandemic Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funds, and another is the operative program of the Cohesion Funds….reports Asian Lite News
Hungary has concluded a long-delayed deal with the European Union (EU) on several billion euros of frozen funds, a Minister said here.
“All the goals we set for ourselves earlier have been achieved,” Tibor Navracsics, minister for regional development, said on Tuesday.
Late Monday night, the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU announced that a deal had been reached with Hungary related to the blocked funds, reports Xinhua news agency.
The EU member states’ ambassadors approved Hungary’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) and concluded an agreement on the so-called conditionality procedure, the Czech Presidency said on Twitter.
This means that Hungary can access two large packages of EU funds.
Some 5.8 billion euros ($6.1 billion) will be unlocked as part of the post-pandemic Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funds, and another is the operative program of the Cohesion Funds.
Before the agreement, the Czech Presidency confirmed to Politico that Hungary had cancelled its vetoes on both the 18-billion-euro joint EU loan destined at helping Ukraine, and the global minimum tax, which Budapest also opposed.
Earlier, EU officials said that the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban had been using these vetoes as leverage to deblock the frozen funds — charges that the country’s government and Orban himself firmly denied.
Hungary’s Parliament will still have to adopt a package of laws by the end of March 2023, after which the suspension of EU Cohesion Funds could be lifted in April.
The government also said that in the case of the Cohesion Funds, the initial freeze of 65 per cent of the funds had been reduced to 55 per cent.
Later on Monday, Orban announced a 15-per cent pension hike in the country effective January 2023.
Zelensky also “appreciated the help being provided by the US to restore the energy system.” He was referring to the damage done to Ukrainian energy grids due to repeated Russian missile strikes…reports Asian Lite News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a phone call, has thanked his US counterpart Joe Biden for the “unprecedented” help for his war-ravaged country to enhance its defence and financial fronts, media reported.
“I thanked for the unprecedented defence and financial assistance that the USA provides to Ukraine,” Zelensky said, news agency Reuters reported, citing his Telegram post.
“This not only contributes to success on the battlefield but also supports the stability of the Ukrainian economy,” he further added.
Zelensky also “appreciated the help being provided by the US to restore the energy system.” He was referring to the damage done to Ukrainian energy grids due to repeated Russian missile strikes.
According to a White House readout, President Biden has assured Zelensky that boosting Ukraine’s defence system was a priority for the US. He also welcomed Zelensky’s “stated openness to a just peace based on fundamental principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter”.
Last week, the US Defence Department announced another military assistance package worth USD 275 million for Ukraine. The package includes additional ammunition for high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), 80,000 155 mm artillery rounds and counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems equipment.
In addition, the assistance package announced by the US includes counter-air defence capability, high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs) ambulances and medical equipment, around 150 generators and field equipment. The announcement comes amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The US Defence Department noted that the United States has provided military assistance worth over USD 19.3 billion since Russia began its military offensive in Ukraine on February 24.
According to the statement issued by the US Defence Department, the military assistance package will provide Ukraine with new capabilities to bolster its air defence. Notably, the US has been providing military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine ever since Moscow launched aggression in Kyiv.
“This security assistance package will provide Ukraine with new capabilities to boost its air defences in addition to providing critical equipment that Ukraine is using so effectively to defend itself on the battlefield,” the US Defence Department said in the press release.
President Joe Biden.(photo:Instagram)
Talks with Macron, Erdogan
Zelensky has said that he had separate conversations with French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Zelensky tweeted on Sunday that he discussed with Macron “the implementation of our ten-step peace formula, cooperation on defense and energy stability” of Ukraine, Xinhua news agency reported.
In the conversation with Erdogan over the phone, Zelensky thanked Turkey for “sheltering Ukrainian children and providing hundreds of generators for our cities”.
Zelensky and Erdogan also discussed the “Grain from Ukraine” programme and the possible expansion of the Black Sea Grain export deal.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that Turkey continued to work towards meeting the humanitarian needs of the Ukrainian people in the “difficult winter months”.
“The grain corridor could be expanded to include different food products and other commodities,” said Erdogan.
He also expressed hope for “approaching a solution” to the issue of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.
Turkey has been evaluating the contributions that can be made for the implementation of the peace plan announced by Zelensky at the G20 Summit, the Turkish President told his Ukrainian counterpart.
Turkish first lady Emine Erdogan was closely involved with the group of 1,033 people consisting of Ukrainian orphan children and their companions hosted in the Turkish capital Ankara, he added.
Not just Ukraine, a looming oil disaster in Red Sea is keeping Washington on tenterhooks.(photo:IN)
While India has many times called for peace negotiations over Ukraine, it has stood firm by its stand that it will keep buying oil from wherever it gets a good deal….reports Asian Lite News
Russia has offered India help in overcoming oil price cap being imposed by western nations amid the war in Ukraine.
“In order not to depend on the ban on insurance services and tanker chartering in the European Union and Britain, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexander Novak has offered India cooperation on leasing and building large-capacity ships,” the Russian embassy in New Delhi said.
Alexander Novak held a meeting with Indian ambassador to Moscow Pavan Kapoor on Friday, it said.
“In the first eight months of 2022, Russian oil exports to India grew to 16.35 million tonnes; in the summer, Russia ranked second in terms of oil shipments to India,” the statement said.
Western nations have been critical of India’s move to keep buying oil from Russia amid the war in Ukraine. While India has many times called for peace negotiations over Ukraine, it has stood firm by its stand that it will keep buying oil from wherever it gets a good deal.
The government does not ask Indian companies to buy oil from Russia but it is a sensible policy to get the best deal in the interest of the Indian people, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told parliament on December 7.
“We do not ask our companies to buy Russian oil. We ask our companies to buy oil, what is the best option that they can get. Now it depends on what the market throws up… Again, please do understand, it’s not just that we buy oil from one country. We buy oil from multiple sources, but it is a sensible policy to go where we get the best deal in the interests of the Indian people and that is exactly what we are trying to do,” Jaishankar had said.
