Latest news with #EuropeanCouncil
See - Sada Elbalad
2 days ago
- Politics
- See - Sada Elbalad
King Abdullah II, European Council President Urge Ceasefire in Gaza, Reinforced Humanitarian Aid
Nada Mustafa Jordan's King Abdullah II, in a phone call with European Council President António Costa, emphasized the urgent need to intensify efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and ensure the uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid. According to Jordan's official news agency "Petra", the two leaders discussed regional developments and ways to enhance the strategic partnership between Jordan and the European Union. King Abdullah underscored the essential role of the European Union in supporting the Palestinian people in securing their full legitimate rights and remaining steadfast on their land. He also reiterated the importance of establishing a political horizon for peace based on the two-state solution. The conversation also reaffirmed the strong cooperation between Jordan and the EU and explored mechanisms to expand their collaboration across various fields. read more Gold prices rise, 21 Karat at EGP 3685 NATO's Role in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict US Expresses 'Strong Opposition' to New Turkish Military Operation in Syria Shoukry Meets Director-General of FAO Lavrov: confrontation bet. nuclear powers must be avoided News Iran Summons French Ambassador over Foreign Minister Remarks News Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Escalation in West Bank News Greek PM: Athens Plays Key Role in Improving Energy Security in Region News One Person Injured in Explosion at Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid News Egypt confirms denial of airspace access to US B-52 bombers News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Arts & Culture Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's $4.7M LA Home Burglarized Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Arts & Culture New Archaeological Discovery from 26th Dynasty Uncovered in Karnak Temple Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War Arts & Culture Zahi Hawass: Claims of Columns Beneath the Pyramid of Khafre Are Lies
Scoop
2 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Roads To War: The EU's Security Action For Europe Fund
As the world was readying for the Second World War, the insightful humane Austrian author Stefan Zweig made the following glum observation: 'Openly and flagrantly, certain countries express their will to expand and make preparations for war. The politics of rearmament is pursued in broad daylight and at breakneck speed; every day you read in the papers arguments in favour of armaments expansion, the idea that it reduces unemployment and provides a boost to the stock exchange.' This is not so different from the approval by European Union countries on May 27 of a €150 billion loan program known as the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) borrowing scheme. A press release from the European Council stated that the scheme 'will finance urgent and large-scale investments in the European defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB)' with the intention of boosting 'production capacity, making sure defence equipment is available when needed, and to address existing capability gaps – ultimately strengthening the EU's overall defence readiness.' The statement also makes a central rationale clear: that SAFE will enable continued European support for Ukraine, linking its defence industry to the program. Despite not being an EU member, Kyiv will be able to participate in the scheme. Interestingly enough, the United Kingdom, despite leaving the EU, will also be able to participate via a separate agreement. Disbursements to interested member states upon demand, considered along national plans 'will take the form of competitively priced long-maturity loans, to be repaid by the beneficiary member states.' The scheme further anticipates the types of weaponry, euphemistically titled 'defence products', that will feature. As outlined by the European Council on March 6, these will comprise two categories: the first covering, amongst others, such products as ammunition and missiles, artillery systems, ground combat capabilities with support systems; the second, air and missile defence systems, maritime surface and underwater capabilities, drones and anti-drone systems and 'strategic enablers' including air-to-air refuelling, artificial intelligence and electronic warfare. The broader militarisation agenda is confirmed by linking SAFE with broader transatlantic engagement and 'complementarity with NATO.' It will 'strive to enhance interoperability, continue industrial cooperation, and ensure reciprocal access to state-of-the-art technologies with trusted partners.' Significantly, the emphasis is on collaboration: a minimum of three countries must combine when requesting funding for SAFE defence projects. There seems to be something for everyone: the militarist, the war monger and the merchants of death. Global Finance, a publication dedicated to informing 'corporate financial professionals', was already praising the SAFE proposal in April. 'The initiative has the potential to transform the business models of many top European defense groups – like Saab, which has traditionally relied on contracts from the Swedish state to grow its sales.' What a delight it will be for such defence companies to move beyond the constraints on sales imposed by their limiting governments. A veritable European market of death machinery is in the offing. The fund is intended for one, unambiguous purpose: war. The weasel word 'defence' is merely the code, the cipher. Break it, and it spells out aggression and conflict, a hankering for the next great military confrontation. The reason is traditional, historic and irrational: the Oriental despotic eminence arising from the Asian steppes, people supposedly untutored in the niceties of European good manners and democracy. Not that European manners and democracy is in splendid health. A mere glance at some of the candidates suggests decline in institutional credibility and scepticism. But we can always blame the Russians for that, deviously sowing doubt with their disinformation schemes. The initiative, and its tightening of ties with arming Ukraine, has made such critics as Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán sound modestly sensible. 'We need to invest in our own armies, but they expect us to fund Ukraine's - with billions, for years to come,' he declared in a post on X. 'We've made it clear: Hungary will not pay. Our duty is to protect our own people.' The approval of the fund by the European Commission has also angered some members of the European Parliament, an institution which has been treated with near contempt by the European Commission. European Parliament Presidente Roberta Metsola warned Commission President Ursula von der Leyen earlier in May to reconsider the use of Article 122 of the EU Treaty, which should be used sparingly in emergencies in speeding up approvals with minimal parliamentary scrutiny. Bypassing Europe's invigilating lawmakers risked 'undermining democratic legitimacy by weakening Parliament's legislative and scrutiny functions'. The Council's resort to Article 122 potentially enlivened a process that could see a legal case taken to the European Court of Justice. The European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) has also supported a legal opinion repudiating the Commission's cavalier approach in approving the fund. According to that tartly reasoned view, Article 122 was an inappropriate justification, as the threshold for evoking emergency powers had simply not been met. Ironically, the rearmament surge is taking place on both sides of the Atlantic, at both the behest of the Trump administration, ever aggrieved by Europe not pulling its military weight, and Moscow, characterised and caricatured as a potential invader, the catalyst for decorating a continent with bristling weaponry. The former continues to play hide and seek with Brussels while still being very much in Europe, be it in terms of permanent garrisons and military assets; the latter remains a convenient excuse to cross the palms of the military industrial establishment with silver. How Zweig would have hated it.
Roya News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Roya News
King receives call from European Council president
His Majesty King Abdullah II on Wednesday received a phone call from European Council President António Costa and discussed regional developments, as well as ways to bolster the strategic Jordan-EU partnership. His Majesty stressed the importance of the European Union's role in supporting Palestinians in gaining their legitimate rights, bolstering their steadfastness on their own land, and creating a political horizon to achieve peace on the basis of the two-state solution. The King reiterated the importance of stepping up efforts to reinstate the ceasefire in Gaza and ensure the delivery of aid. The call also covered the strong cooperation between Jordan and the EU, as well as ways to expand it across all fields.
2 days ago
- Politics
EU lifts most Syria sanctions but slaps new ones on alleged culprits in attacks on Alawite civilians
PARIS -- The European Union lifted a wide range of sanctions on Syria on Wednesday, but slapped new ones on people and groups it says participated on attacks on civilians during a wave of violence in the Syrian coastal region in March. The move lifted most sanctions that had been imposed on the country, including on its financial system, while keeping them in place on individuals and organizations in Syria it says violated human rights or for 'security grounds,' like the extended family of former President Bashar Assad or its chemical weapons program, according to the text of the European Council on the decision. The EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas had announced plans to lift the sanctions last week. She said the move was 'conditional' and that sanctions could be resumed if the new government of Ahmad al-Sharaa - a former rebel commander who led the charge that unseated former President Bashar Assad in December - doesn't keep the peace. Kallas said in a statement Wednesday that removing sanctions 'is simply the right thing to do, at this historic time, for the EU to genuinely support Syria's recovery and a political transition that fulfils the aspirations of all Syrians.' Wednesday's decision slapped 'restrictive measures' on two people and three armed groups that were accused of 'targeting civilians and especially the Alawite community' - referring to the religious minority to which Assad belongs - during violence in March on the coast and of torture and 'arbitrary killings of civilians.' Clashes erupted at the time after a group of Assad loyalists attacked security forces near the coastal city of Latakia. Rights groups reported widespread revenge killings as militants from Syria's Sunni majority - some of them officially affiliated with the new government's security forces - targeted Alawites, regardless of whether they were involved in the insurgency. Hundreds of civilians were killed. The new government in Damascus has promised to hold perpetrators accountable, but a body formed to investigate the violence has yet to release its findings. While there have not been large-scale attacks on Alawites since March, members of the community remain fearful and say that individual incidents of kidnappings and killing continue to take place. The two people targeted by the new sanctions are Mohammad Hussein al-Jasim, leader of the Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade, and Sayf Boulad Abu Bakr, leader of the Hamza Division, both armed groups that the EU said had taken part in the attacks. The militias were also slapped with new sanctions, as was another armed group, the Sultan Murad Division. The lifting of the broader sanctions on Syria comes days after the United States granted Syria sweeping exemptions from sanctions in a first step toward fulfilling President Donald Trump's pledge to lift a half-century of penalties on a country shattered by 13 years of civil war. A measure by the U.S. State Department waived for six months a tough set of sanctions imposed by Congress in 2019. The easing of sanctions removes one of the major barriers to reconstruction of the country, which the United Nations in 2017 estimated would cost at least $250 billion. Some experts now say that number could reach at least $400 billion. The United Nations estimates that 90% of Syrians live in poverty and state-supplied electricity comes as little as two hours every day. ———— Sewell reported from Beirut.
Euronews
2 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
EU slaps sanctions on alleged culprits of attacks on Syria's Alawites
The European Union has lifted a wide range of sanctions on Syria but slapped new ones on people and groups it says participated in attacks on civilians during a wave of violence in the coastal region in March. The move removed most sanctions that had been imposed on the country, including on its financial system. But sanctions remain in place on individuals and organisations the EU says violated human rights or for "security grounds." That includes the extended family of former President Bashar al-Assad or the country's chemical weapons programme, according to the text of the European Council on the decision. The EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas had announced plans to lift the sanctions last week. She said the move was "conditional" and that sanctions could be resumed if the new government of Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former rebel commander who led the charge that ousted al-Assad in December, doesn't keep the peace. Kallas said in a statement that removing sanctions "is simply the right thing to do, at this historic time, for the EU to genuinely support Syria's recovery and a political transition that fulfils the aspirations of all Syrians." But Wednesday's decision also slapped "restrictive measures" on two people and three armed groups accused of "targeting civilians and especially the Alawite community." That referred to the religious minority to which al-Assad belongs, during violence in March on the coast and of torture and "arbitrary killings of civilians." The two people targeted by the new sanctions are Mohammad Hussein al-Jasim, leader of the Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade and Sayf Boulad Abu Bakr, leader of the Hamza Division, both armed groups that the EU said had taken part in the attacks. The militias were also slapped with new sanctions, as was another armed group, the Sultan Murad Division. Clashes erupted after a group of al-Assad loyalists attacked security forces near the coastal city of Latakia. Rights groups reported widespread revenge killings as militants from Syria's Sunni majority, some of them officially affiliated with the new government's security forces, targeted Alawites, regardless of whether they were involved in the insurgency. Hundreds of civilians were killed in the clashes. The new government in Damascus has promised to hold perpetrators accountable, but a body formed to investigate the violence has yet to release its findings. While there have not been large-scale attacks on Alawites since March, members of the community remain fearful and say that individual incidents of kidnappings and killing continue to take place. Since seizing power, al-Sharaa's government has struggled to weld a patchwork of undisciplined former rebel factions together into a national army. The lifting of the broader sanctions on Syria comes days after the United States granted Syria sweeping exemptions from sanctions in a first step toward fulfilling President Donald Trump's pledge to lift a half-century of penalties on a country shattered by 13 years of civil war. A measure by the US State Department waived for six months a tough set of sanctions imposed by Congress in 2019. The easing of sanctions removes one of the major barriers to reconstruction of the country, which the United Nations in 2017 estimated would cost at least $250 billion (€221 billion). Some experts now say that number could reach at least $400 billion (€354 billion). The United Nations estimates that 90% of Syrians live in poverty and state-supplied electricity comes as little as two hours per day.
