Latest news with #EUfunding
Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Greece to seek €1.2bil loans under EU's defence fund
Greece spends about 3% of its gross domestic product on defence, which is nearly double the average in the EU. (Wiki pic) ATHENS : Greece will seek to access a big European defence fund to secure cheap loans worth at least €1.2 billion to boost its military capabilities, prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday. EU countries have agreed to create a €150 billion fund, known as Security Action for Europe (SAFE), which will be financed through joint borrowing and give loans to EU members and certain other countries such as Ukraine for projects that enhance their defences and boost Europe's arms industry. 'We will put in an official request tomorrow to be included in the SAFE mechanism, seeking low-interest loans worth at least €1.2 billion to boost our national defence and the Greek arms industry,' Mitsotakis said in a post on Facebook. Greece is spending about 3% of its gross domestic product on defence – nearly double the average in the EU – but has been looking for funds to finance a €25 billion plan to modernise its armed forces by 2030, as it tries to keep pace with its eastern neighbour and historical rival Turkey. Mitsotakis also called on Europe to set up a joint fund to finance a unified continent-wide anti-missile defence shield.
Russia Today
22-07-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
Zelensky complains Western backers too slow to send money
Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky has complained that his country has yet to see any benefits from NATO's plan to ramp up military spending. At a recent summit in The Hague, most members of the US-led bloc committed to raising security-related expenditure to 5% of GDP. Kiev seeks to benefit from the surge, even as reluctance to commit to long-term funding of Ukraine is dwindling in the West. 'The EU has opened access to €150 billion. Member states can assume obligations to draw these funds and then transfer them to Ukraine,' Zelensky told Ukrainian ambassadors on Monday, according to remarks released by his office. 'Ten countries have already expressed readiness to take this money, but we have not yet seen the result – that they have actually taken it and transferred it to us.' Zelensky appeared to be referring to the EU's Security Action for Europe (SAFE), a €150 billion ($175 billion) borrowing instrument introduced in May to support the European Commission's efforts for rapid militarization across the bloc. SAFE offers member states and select partner countries access to low-interest loans for national defense efforts or joint weapons procurement. The program is part of a broader EU strategy to borrow €800 billion for military readiness investment. It is not designed to provide direct financial aid. EU officials say the bloc is preparing for the possibility of Russian aggression – a claim Moscow has rejected as fearmongering based on false assumptions. This month, the US offered to sell weapons to Ukraine, with other NATO nations covering the costs. While the proposal was hailed by Brussels, some major EU economies, including France and Italy, have reportedly opted out citing financial limitations or political reasons. Brussels' handling of the Ukraine conflict has exposed growing divisions within the EU. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a longtime critic of the pro-Kiev approach, denounced the European Commission's draft seven-year budget, saying it appears primarily tailored to Ukraine's needs. 'This budget would destroy the European Union,' Orban said last week, predicting that the Commission will likely have to withdraw or significantly revise the proposal within a year.
CBS News
21-07-2025
- Science
- CBS News
Century-old shipwreck in North Sea is filled with stash of rare oysters in bid to revive marine species
A cargo ship lying at the bottom of the sea off the Belgian coast has been fitted with a new treasure chest: a stash of rare flat oysters. Molluscs have mostly disappeared from the North Sea due to human activity, including overfishing. Now, a Belgian project is trying to reintroduce it in a move scientists believe will help boost other marine species. "We have to bring them back because they are essential elements in our marine ecosystems," Vicky Stratigaki, an engineer working on the restoration project, told AFP. In mid-July, a load of 200,000 oyster larvae attached to biodegradable materials was deposited about 100 feet under the sea in the ship's hull. The environmental project, named Belreefs, aims to turn the wreckage into a biodiversity sanctuary. Flat oysters form reefs that purify water and that other sea animals, from fish to algae, use as breeding and feeding grounds, explained Stratigaki. "There is a lot of predation in the sea, it's a wild environment," she said, with about 30,000 of the oyster larvae expected to survive their first year at sea. "Then they will start reproducing, extending the reef and also supporting the biodiversity of the reef." The laying of the oyster stash is the culmination of two years' work for the Belgian government project, which is supported by European Union funding. "Until around the 1850s, the North Sea and the European waters were full of these oyster reefs," Stratigaki explained. Then overfishing, the spreading of an imported parasite called Bonamia and "climatic adverse effects" caused them to disappear, she said. The 1906 wreckage, located about 20 miles off the coastal city of Ostend, was selected to house the pilot as fishing and other disruptive activities are banned around it. "In Belgium every wreck that is for more than one hundred years on the sea bottom gets protected automatically as cultural heritage, because it's nice for divers to go there," said Merel Oeyen, a marine environment expert at the Belgian ministry of health. "It's also a hot spot for biodiversity." A 2023 paper published in BioScience found that shipwrecks provide important ecological resources for a wide variety of organisms, from tiny microbes to large marine creatures. "Small fish and mobile crustaceans often find shelter in the crevices of the sunken material, and larger baitfish and predators use shipwrecks as feeding grounds and rest stops as they swim from one place to another," according to NOAA, which helped conduct the study. However, scientists also warned shipwreck can also cause damage to existing marine life in the area, or carry harmful cargo, such as oil. Still, the study's author, Avery Paxton, said shipwrecks can have "second lives" as homes to a variety of marine life. "A ship's transformation from an in-service vessel into a thriving metropolis for marine life has a fairy-tale quality to it," Paxton said in an article published by the Washington Post after the study was released.
France 24
20-07-2025
- General
- France 24
🌟The Bright Side: Belgium uses shipwreck to revive rare North Sea oysters
A cargo ship lying at the bottom of the sea off the Belgian coast has been fitted with a new treasure chest: a stash of rare flat oysters. The mollusc has mostly disappeared from the North Sea due to human activity including overfishing. Now, a Belgian project is trying to reintroduce it in a move scientists believe will help boost other marine species. "We have to bring them back because they are essential elements in our marine ecosystems," Vicky Stratigaki, an engineer working on the restoration project, told AFP. In mid-July, a load of 200,000 oyster larvae attached to biodegradable materials was deposited 30 metres under the sea in the ship's hull. The environmental project, named "Belreefs", aims to turn the wreckage into a biodiversity sanctuary. Flat oysters form reefs that purify water and that other sea animals, from fish to algae, use as breeding and feeding grounds, explained Stratigaki. "There is a lot of predation in the sea, it's a wild environment," she said, with about 30,000 of the oyster larvae expected to survive their first year at sea. "Then they will start reproducing, extending the reef and also supporting the biodiversity of the reef." Watch more Oysters in hot water: Pollution and poaching threaten production The laying of the oyster stash is the culmination of two years' work for the Belgian government project, which is supported by European Union funding. "Until around the 1850s, the North Sea and the European waters were full of these oyster reefs," Stratigaki explained. Then overfishing, the spreading of an imported parasite called Bonamia and "climatic adverse effects" caused them to disappear, she said. The 1906 wreckage, located about 30 kilometres off the coastal city of Ostend, was selected to house the pilot as fishing and other disruptive activities are banned around it. "In Belgium every wreck that is for more than one hundred years on the sea bottom gets protected automatically as cultural heritage, because it's nice for divers to go there," said Merel Oeyen, a marine environment expert at the Belgian ministry of health. "It's also a hot spot for biodiversity".
Bloomberg
15-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Trump's Plan for Europe to Foot Ukraine Bill Ups Budget Pressure
By and Andrea Palasciano Save Donald Trump's plan to allow the European Union pay for arms supplied to Ukraine is piling pressure on EU officials negotiating how to finance the bloc's defense-spending ambitions. The deliberations are feeding into the hard-fought talks to draw up the 27-member EU's €1.2 trillion ($1.4 trillion) budget, as member states begin a two-year process for carving out a consensus. While many European capitals want to embrace standard funding for farmers and regions — amounting to two-thirds of the budget — others are keen to divert financing to new and more urgent issues, such as defense.
