On the migration and refugee crisis G20 leaders agreed on the need for global efforts to address the effects, protection needs and root causes of the crisis. They called for strengthening humanitarian assistance and refugee resettlement. At the press conference before the summit President Tusk stated that “In light of an unprecedented number of 65 million displaced people all over the world, the G20 community needs to scale up its share of responsibility. Only global efforts supporting refugees and their host communities will be able to bear fruit.”

On the fight against terrorism, leaders reaffirmed their solidarity and resolve and their commitment to tackle terrorist financing.

The summit also highlighted the importance of joining the Paris Agreement on climate change as soon as possible. Before the summit President Tusk recalled that “The G20 has an important role to play in this global struggle. With major emitters around the table we need to make sure that our common priority is to implement the Paris agreement early and in a robust manner. The EU is fully committed to this goal and we want to encourage all G20 members to do the same. ”

In the margins of the summit, Presidents Tusk and Juncker met with Recep Erdoğan, President of Turkey, to discuss EU-Turkey relations and continued cooperation on migration.

Photo: EU Newsroom / From left to right: Mr Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the European Commission; Mr Donald TUSK, President of the European Council; Mr Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN, Turkish President.

Parliament President Martin Schulz went on an official visit to to Ankara on 1 September where he met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and İsmail Kahraman, the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

“The European Parliament remains a committed supporter in advancing and deepening EU-Turkey relations,” said Schulz. He also paid tribute to “all the Turkish citizens who courageously took to the streets to defend democracy in the country” and called for the political dialogue to be set on the right footing once again: “We need to talk to each other rather than at each other.”

In a media briefing afterwards, the Parliament President said: “Essentially we largely agreed on the necessity to openly discuss our different point of views in order to develop common views from this open dialogue that bring us closer to each other again.”

On 30 August the foreign affairs committee discussed the results of the fact-finding mission to Ankara on 23- 25 of August.

MEPs expressed their concerns about the Turkish government response to the attempted coup. Thousands of people – including soldiers, judges and journalists – have been detained for questioning while some of them have also lost their job. Committee chair Elmar Brok, a German member of the EPP group, said: “Even before the coup d’état in Turkey, developments as regards the freedom of opinion were not acceptable and took Turkey farther away from EU.”

MEPs, including Dutch S&D member Kati Piri who wrote a progress report on Turkey’s efforts to become an EU member, agreed that that the attempted coup was an attack on Turkish democracy. However, they stressed that the way the country is handling the aftermath of the coup is a crucial test for the country´s democracy, especially when it comes to respecting human rights and the rule of law. MEPs also said that Turkey must meet all criteria in order to have visa restrictions lifted.

Photo: Official visit of President of the European Parliament to the Republic of Turkey.

We are treating the medical consequences of the journey, including hypothermia and dehydration, but also acute conditions requiring medical evacuation such as septic shock, pneumonia and wounds inflicted by abuse and violence. We are trying to improve living conditions for people stranded in Greece, Italy, FYROM and Serbia. But all of our work amounts to filling the gaps left by states unwilling or unable to fulfil their responsibilities.

Many people are fleeing war, oppression and torture. Others are fleeing poverty, persecution and human rights violations. All want a safer and better life. But their exit routes are growing scarcer, while refugee hosting countries such as Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan become more overburdened. The world is faced with the worst displacement crisis since World War II. The conflict in Syria shows no sign of abating. Yet Europe is closing its borders.

Categorisations of ’migrants; , ’refugees’ or ’asylum seekers’ do not adequately or fairly describe the reality that pushes people to embark on long and dangerous journeys. Every person has a story to tell about why they were forced to risk their lives to reach Europe. When people need medical care, food, water and shelter, they should receive this assistance regardless of their legal status.

When your ministers gather this Monday for yet another summit on the so-called ‘migration crisis’, bear in mind that the decisions adopted in previous summits have so far largely failed to improve the situation. Some measures have made the situation worse: fences and forced fingerprinting only push people to choose more clandestine and dangerous routes. Lives continue to be lost at sea, in the back of lorries and in make shift camps where people live in unacceptable conditions in the heart of the European Union. It is time to put an end to these policies of deterrence. They have turned a foreseeable and manageable influx of people fleeing for survival into a policy-made human tragedy on Europe’s beaches, borders, train platforms and motorways. They are jeopardising the right to seek asylum. The current approach of ’non-reception’ and closed borders is causing death, injury and chaos.

Europe is faced with an increasing number of people seeking assistance and protection. These people are only a small portion of the millions who are fleeing intolerable suffering. No matter the obstacles, they will continue to come. They have no other choice. The current policies are untenable in the face of this situation. The only way Europe can prevent a worsening crisis on its territory is to replace the smugglers by providing a safe, legal and free alternative. We ask you to provide safe passage. Legal crossing of sea and land borders must be authorised for asylum seekers into and inside the EU. All forms of legal avenues allowing refugees to reach Europe must be put in place urgently. Efficient solutions to relocate asylum seekers from one EU member state to another must be found. Effective access to coherent asylum procedures and assistance should be provided at entry points, throughout Europe and along migratory routes. Swift registration and access to temporary protection should be provided upon arrival. Legal migration pathways must be created. Dignified reception conditions must be offered to all.

Make this life vest redundant. Provide humane, dignified and safe alternatives.

Sincerely,

Dr. Joanne Liu

International President

Médecins Sans Frontières

Frederica Mogherini, EU High Representative on Foreign and Security Policy, and Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship made the following remarks following their participation at the Ministerial conferences of the ‘Rabat’ and ‘Khartoum’ Processes in Rome.

High Representative Mogherini stated the following:

”I am very pleased with the results of the Ministerial conferences of the last two days: the ‘Rabat process’ and the ‘Khartoum process’. Thanks to the leadership of the Italian Presidency and the teamwork with Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, these two conferences have been a success; we need to act together and to find solutions for all aspects of migration.

Sometimes we are tempted to deal with this issue as a security matter, but our presence in Rome underlines the commitment of the European Union to have a broader approach. In this regard, within the European Commission, we have started to act in a coordinated way and to work from all different angles, in order to maximise the impact of our policies and projects. It is our responsibility to make sure that all the tools we have are coherent.

We need to tackle the emergencies, to deal with the dramatic conditions of people who put their lives at risk to try to find a better future, to work with countries of transition and to fight migrant smuggling. But we also need to tackle the root causes of irregular migration: poverty, conflicts, lack of resources. That’s why it is essential to develop fully all our European means. We need the impetus, support and political will from Member States and international partners, which we received these days in Rome.”

Commissioner Avramopoulos stated the following:

”During the two Ministerial conferences in Rome, and thanks to the hard work of the Italian presidency and the close cooperation and coordination with High Representative Frederica Mogherini, we achieved a number of tangible results that strengthen our capacity to deal with irregular migration from Africa.

The Rabat Process is a long standing initiative which has created a unique level of consensus and common vision for migration with our partners from North, West and Central Africa. Our support for the implementation of the Rabat Process has been far reaching. We have helped our partners in the region to strengthen their borders. In Mauritania, for example, we helped build the capacity of the border authorities, constructed border posts and provided necessary equipment. We have also assisted authorities in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt to strengthen their criminal justice systems in fighting smugglers of migrants.

The Rabat Process has now entered a new phase. Our ‘Rome Declaration’ underscores two priority areas:  1) strengthening the link between migration and development and, 2) prevention of and fight against irregular migration. The Rome Declaration has also added a new pillar for cooperation: international protection.

For the Khartoum Process, today we laid down the foundations for substantial political cooperation amongst the countries of origin, transit and destination along the EU-Horn of Africa migration route.

We will finance the first projects that will support migrants and refugees stranded along the migration routes from Eastern Africa. Moreover, EU funds have been allocated in order to help strengthen the cooperation with our African partners for the fight against smugglers and traffickers.

What is clear, therefore, is that our dialogue with our African partners is starting to pay off.  Our strength has always been and will continue to be, the way in which we mutually reinforce and complement our cooperation at all levels.

No government soon

As the tradition wants it the next German government will not be formed in a few days. It usually takes weeks and this will not change now. As things stand presently it is more plausible than not that Merkel will seek a government partnership with the SPD’s socialists to form a grand coalition administration as they did during Merkel’s first term in the Chancellery. The last single party government in Germany was in 1957 under Conrad Adenauer, the first post war Chancellor governing the country from 1949 until 1963 and it is most unlikely this to be repeated now.

In any case Germany’s stance will not change regarding the two most important Eurozone issues that stand unresolved for months, the Greek enigma and the bank resolutions. Both of them triggered intense electoral confrontations more so over the Greek affair. The other thorny discussion, namely the structure of the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) for failing banks, didn’t acquire the dimensions of a prime electoral theme. It was debated in more closed circles where Berlin reaffirmed its position for a decentralised SRM, which will not disseminate all over the Eurozone part of the liabilities to be left behind, after a major bank resolution is accomplished.

As for the Greek case, Germany has already accepted that this country will need a third aid package towards the mid of 2014, but this time it won’t be tens of billions. Incidentally also yesterday the auditors representing the troika of Greece’s lenders EU-ECB-IMF were in Athens meeting the Financial Minister Yiannis Stournaras. Reportedly they all agreed that Greece is bound to show this year a positive prime surplus albeit small in its fiscal accounts. They also accepted that the 2013 recession reading will be smaller than predicted.

At this point it must be reminded that on the condition Greece attains this year a fiscal surplus, its Eurozone partners and lenders have undertaken the obligation to cut down the country’s sovereign debt to sustainable levels. This issue was extensively debated during the pre-election period in Germany and it reached even the eight o’clock news bulletins. During this debate both Chancellor Merkel and her Finance Minister Schaeuble repelled the proposal of a straight haircut of the loans Greece owes to its Eurozone partners/lenders. To note here that the largest credits having been accorded to Athens came from Berlin. However both the two leading German politicians didn’t exclude the possibility of cutting down interest rates and extending pay off time, a proposal that amounts to a lesser overall burden for Greece but avoids a reduction of the principal.

All in all the triumphant Angela Merkel in her first comments on the electoral results yesterday night appeared very restricted, about the new government she is expected to present to Bundestag. She was careful not to exclude a possible grand coalition with the socialists of SPD. This prospect however doesn’t seem enough to change Germany’s positions on the two hot Eurozone issues, the Greek problem and the SRM. On the contrary Berlin would rather appear more unbending on its opinions.

Republished by permission from europeansting.com.

MEPs strongly condemn the mass killing of civilians with chemical weapons on 21 August 2013 in the outskirts of Damascus and urge that measures be taken to prevent any further use of chemical weapons in Syria or elsewhere. They say the UN Security Council must get the report of the UN inspection team as soon as possible and they also voice support for the proposal to hand the Syrian chemical weapons to international community for its destruction as soon as possible.

The international community’s ultimatum must be accompanied by a binding United Nations Security Council resolution, which, if not respected, could be imposed on the basis of “all the instruments provided for in the United Nations Charter”, MEPs underline.

Parliament says Russia and China must face their responsibility as permanent members of the Security Council to achieve a common position and a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis. In the event of a persistent blockage in the Security Council, the matter could be referred to the UN General Assembly, MEPs stress.

A lasting solution to the current crisis in Syria can be achieved only through an inclusive political process backed by the international community, MEPs say. They call for President Bashar Assad and his regime to step aside.

The EU must live up to its humanitarian responsibility and step up its assistance to Syrian refugees, MEPs say, urging all sides of the conflict to facilitate the provision of humanitarian aid and assistance.

This is the final part of EU assistance to the Palestinian people in 2013 from the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), bringing the total amount contributed from this instrument this year to €300 million.

The High Representative Catherine Ashton said: ”I am pleased to announce this assistance package to support Palestinian economic development on the day that the Palestinian Prime Minister Hamdallah is here in Brussels. The ultimate objective of the EU’s financial assistance remains the establishment of a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace and security. Today we also discussed the difficult financial situation of the Palestinian Authority and the expectations for the meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) due to take place at the margins of UN General Assembly in New York.”

The High Representative and the Prime Minister also followed up on their discussions held in June during the High Representative’s visit to the Middle East. They talked about the deepening bilateral relations between the European Union and Palestine. The High Representative confirmed the EU’s support for the Palestinian state-building process and stressed the need for a strong and stable Palestinian government committed to reform and the rule of law. In the talks today, Catherine Ashton also expressed full support of the European Union for the ongoing Middle East peace talks.

EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Štefan Füle, said: “We have to look beyond immediate financial help to the Palestinian Authority to provide longer-term sustainable support. We will also continue to support the Palestinian population in East Jerusalem to help ensure their access to services in East Jerusalem.”

The new financial assistance package has the following components:

• Governance: this funding aims to support governance in Palestine by helping municipalities investing in small infrastructure projects and improving management practices for better service delivery and by strengthening the efficiency of the PEGASE Mechanism (an instrument to channel EU and international assistance as a contribution to the building of the Palestinian State). Total value: €13 million.

• Support to the Private Sector: in order to promote sustainable, private sector-led social and economic development. The EU and PA recognise that only a dynamic and growing private sector will be able to create the jobs necessary to face the growing Palestinian population and gradually reduce the public wage bill, while generating the revenues required to fund essential public services. Total value: €11 million.

• Nablus East Water Treatment Plant: By helping to build the new plant, this project will contribute to the protection of water resources in the region and significantly reduce health risks caused by inadequately treated wastewater released in the environment, as well as allowing the re-use of treated wastewater. Total value: €20 million.

• Support to the Delivery of Community Services in East Jerusalem: for a number of years we have provided significant funds to deliver on the EU commitment to maintaining sustainable development, the dignity and welfare of East Jerusalem communities, in order to consolidate the possibility of reaching a future political agreement of the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states.

The actions will focus in particular on improving the living conditions of the Palestinian population living in East Jerusalem, through the protection of rights of vulnerable women and girls and to enhance women’s local employment opportunities.

Specific actions will support the development of the private sector in East Jerusalem, seek to improve living conditions of Palestinian families in the Old City as well as improving quality care and patient safety in East Jerusalem hospitals. These investments complement the €13 million of direct financial support provided to the East Jerusalem hospitals adopted earlier this year and channelled through a new window of the PEGASE mechanism which is now open to all donors. Total value: €8 million.

Information from a wide variety of sources confirms the existence of such an attack. It seems to indicate strong evidence that the Syrian regime is responsible for these attacks as it is the only one that possesses chemical weapons agents and means of their delivery in a sufficient quantity.

In the face of this cynical use of chemical weapons, the international community cannot remain idle. A clear and strong response is crucial to make clear that such crimes are unacceptable and that there can be no impunity. We must prevent creating a dreadful precedent for the use of chemical weapons in Syria again, or elsewhere.

The EU underscores at the same time the need to move forward with addressing the Syrian crisis through the UN process. We note the on-going UN investigation on the 21st of August attack and further investigations on other chemical weapons attacks carried out in this conflict. It hopes a preliminary report of this first investigation can be released as soon as possible and welcomes President Hollande‘s statement to wait for this report before any further action. The EU urges the UN Security Council to unite in its efforts to prevent any further chemical attack. To that effect, it encourages the UNSC to fulfil its responsibilities and take all initiatives to achieve this goal. The EU and its member states intend to play a full and active part in that context.

The EU recalls the individual responsibility of the perpetrators of attacks of this type, who must be held accountable, and the role of the ICC in investigating and judging such acts.

Only a political solution can end the terrible bloodshed, grave violations of human rights and the far-reaching destruction of Syria. An encompassing diplomatic process leading to a political solution is now more urgent than ever. The initiative for a “Geneva II” peace conference must move ahead swiftly. The EU is ready to provide all support needed to achieve a political settlement and work with partners and international actors, particularly the United Nations.

The EU will uphold its commitment, as the largest donor, to provide aid and assistance to those in need due to the Syrian conflict. It will maintain its readiness to help the recovery, rehabilitation and transition in Syria, in accordance with the needs of the Syrian people.”

Rehn said “To beat the crisis, we have taken action to deal with short, medium and long-term challenges. For the short-term, we had to stabilise financial markets so as to avoid the free fall of our economy. For the medium term, we need economic reforms for sustainable growth and job creation. And for the long-term, we needed to redesign the architecture of European Monetary Union”.

Mersch, as a central banker had to concentrate on the capital market. He stressed that “Governments have recognised that certain powers need to be at the European level for a Single Market to function. But what we have seen in the crisis is that we do not yet have the right powers at the European level to support a Single Market in capital…We see Banking Union, therefore, not only as a necessary complement of monetary union but also as a way of putting in place the necessary institutions, rules and instruments to sustain a genuinely single financial market”.

Who is responsible?

Let’s see if they are telling the truth. No doubt they are absolutely right that the EU is still fighting the repercussions of the crisis and tries to fill the institutional holes in the EU’s edifice. Speaking about the crisis the two top EU officials should have said a few words about its causes. None of them however mentioned that the German and the French banks kept lending money to Greece until the spring of 2009 that is almost two years after the first sings of the crisis were quite visible and the ECB had already sounded the alarm, even from September of 2007.

The Greek borrower

The Greek minister of Finance at the time Yiannis Papathanassiou had boast in March of 2009 for his high performance as a borrower. He stated that the Greek exchequer ‘under his guidance’ had borrowed in the first two months of that year €50 billion. This kind of money was of the order that could make or break Greece and as everybody learned some months later the poor country ended up totally broke.

Of course the Greek government wasted the €50bn as they had done with previous loans. Their ‘policy’ was to use the loans to appoint thousands of their political clientele in the public sector. The money was also misappropriated by corrupt politicians. Akis Tsohatzopoulos, the No2 in all Costas Simites governments from 1996 to 2004, is on trial today for money laundering and for taking bribes. From 2004 until 2009 the two Costas Karamanlis governments hired 850,000 more people in the public sector, as Leonidas Grigorakos, the deputy minister of Interior revealed yesterday in Athens.

The bank connection

However the Greek and the other mindless EU governments didn’t do it alone during the party years of the first decade of the new Millennium. All the major EU banks kept lending them hundreds of billions of euro without a second thought. Greece was borrowing at the same interest rate as Germany. No worries if those loans were ever to be repaid. It was enough to write the loans as ‘assets’ in the bank’s balance sheet, thus fattening the bonus of the banker at the end of the year. The bonuses to bankers for approving that kind of lending were so huge, in the area of millions annually, that one year’s take home pay was enough to support a family for a lifetime. Consequently the lenders are equally responsible as the fraudulent and mindless Greek politicians now in the hands of the penal justice. Unfortunately no banker has been put behind bars.

It’s deplorable that a Commission Vice President and a Member of the Executive Board of the ECB didn’t make the slightest reference to such actions of bankers and politicians which caused the worst economic crisis of Europe after the WW II. Not even a word about how dearly the average European pays for the ‘party’ held for years by a handful of people. Both speakers enjoyed the trip and the stay in the Alpine landscape of Alpbach and recited once more the recipe for Eurozone to come out from the crisis, at a dear cost paid by the many.

In short Rehn and Mersch didn’t say a word on their experience from the crisis nor on what caused it neither how much the average European pays for it.

Republished by permission from Europeansting.com.

Andris Piebalgs, Member of the European Commission responsible for Development, is delighted by the launch of this new initiative and states: “This new initiative should make a difference in the lives of women in the DRC. It is unacceptable that so many young girls and women are still victims of violence that goes unpunished and have no access to education. Moreover, any sustainable development is inconceivable without the participation of all stakeholders in our partner countries and we must not forget that women are at the heart of growth in Africa.”

To help with the adoption of a new approach to relations between men and women which hopes to create a more harmonious and prosperous society in the DRC, whilst combatting gender-based violence effectively, the project aims to increase the percentage of children with proper access to education to at least 70 % in the provinces of Kinshasa and Bandundu.

The initiative also aims to increase the capacity of the units in the Congolese national police force specialised in combatting violence against young girls and women in Kinshasa, Bandundu and Maniema. This will help to provide a contact point where victims and witnesses of violence can seek guidance, so that the guilty parties can be prosecuted and their violent crimes will not go unpunished. This approach can in future be extended to the rest of the country.

This programme should make it possible to tackle the roots of the problem by encouraging a new perception of the roles of women and men in society. By turning men as well as women into instruments of change, the initiative will have a better chance of success in the long term.

This initiative will be launched together with UNICEF and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, as well as with the support of the Congolese Government.