Right of reply concerning security of Russian nuclear power station in Belarus

In the context of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) for the 2021-2027 period, the Council has adopted Council Regulation (Euratom) 2021/948 of 27 May 2021 establishing a European instrument for international nuclear safety cooperation complementing the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe on the basis of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community. Regulation 2021/948 complements, but is separate from, the new Global Europe Instrument. Regulation 2021/948 replaces Council Regulation (Euratom) No 237/2014 of 13 December 2013 establishing an instrument for nuclear safety cooperation (INSC). It continues to fund the important activities carried out under the previous regulation, namely to support the promotion of a high level of nuclear safety and radiation protection and the application of effective and efficient safeguards of nuclear materials in third countries, building on the activities under the Euratom Treaty. Second edition. The ‘EU Legislation in Progress’ briefings are updated at key stages throughout the legislative procedure.

Source : © European Union, 2021 – EP

The 50-year-old controversy between Japan, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan over the sovereignty of a group of tiny, uninhabited islets and rocks in the East China Sea, administered by Japan and referred to as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, as the Diaoyu Islands in the PRC and as the Diaoyutai Islands in Taiwan has become a proxy battlefield in the growing Sino-US great power competition in the Indo-Pacific, against the backdrop of a widening Sino-Japanese power gap. Since 1971, when the PRC and Taiwan laid claim to the contested islets and rocks for the first time, challenging Japan’s position of having incorporated them into Japanese territory as terra nullius in 1895, possible avenues for settling the controversy have either been unsuccessful or remained unexplored. The PRC’s meteoric economic rise and rapid military modernisation has gradually shifted the Sino-Japanese power balance, nourishing the PRC leadership’s more assertive, albeit failed, push for Japan to recognise the existence of a dispute. Two incidents in the 2010s, perceived by the PRC as consolidating Japan’s administrative control, led to the PRC starting to conduct grey-zone operations in the waters surrounding the islets and rocks with increasing frequency and duration, to reassert its claims and change the status quo in its favour without prompting a war. The EU has held a position of principled neutrality as regards the legal title to the disputed islands. However, the risk of unintended incidents, miscalculation and military conflict arising from the unresolved dispute poses a challenge to regional peace and stability and to the EU’s economic and security interests. The EU’s 2021 Indo-Pacific strategy takes a cooperative and inclusive approach, to promote a rules-based international order and respect for international law. This may include a greater Indo-Pacific naval presence under the strategy’s maritime security dimension.

Source : © European Union, 2021 – EP

Austria’s Green Climate Action Minister Leonore Gewessler presented a proposal on Monday to reform the Euratom nuclear treaty, saying its current version is outdated and that stricter rules for the security and decommissioning of nuclear stations and for the final…

Preserving the ability of banks to continue lending to companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, is key when it comes to softening the economic impact of the pandemic and easing recovery. The Commission believes that securitisation can contribute to this. It also considers that in order to increase the potential of securitisation the EU regulatory framework (Regulations (EU) 2017/2402 and (EU) 575/2013) must be updated, to cater for (i) on-balance-sheet synthetic securitisation and (ii) the securitisation of non-performing exposures (NPEs). The co-legislators amended the Commission proposal, with amendments concerning, among other things, the requirements concerning the credit protection agreement, the third party verification agent and the synthetic excess spread, the macroprudential oversight of the securitisation market, the obligations of the EBA, the reporting on prudential requirements and financial information, grandfathering for securitisation positions and NPE securitisations. The final act was signed on 31 March 2021. Second edition. The ‘EU Legislation in Progress’ briefings are updated at key stages throughout the legislative procedure.

Source : © European Union, 2021 – EP