Main news from Brussels this week
date: 24/11/2017
New European system to tackle natural disasters
On 23 November, the European Commission revealed new plans to strengthen Europe's ability to deal with natural disasters. A key part of the proposal is the creation of rescEU, a reserve of European civil protection capabilities such as forest fire-fighting planes, special water pumps, urban search and rescue and field hospitals and emergency medical teams. These will complement national assets and will be managed by the European Commission in order to support countries hit by disasters such as floods, forest fires, earthquakes and epidemics. In 2017 alone, over 200 people were killed by natural disasters in Europe and over one million hectares of forest have been destroyed.
Eastern partnership summit
The fifth Eastern partnership summit took place today (24 November) in Brussels. EU Heads of state or government and the six Eastern partner countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine discussed future cooperation. European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker hosted the summit which focussed on four key areas: economic development and better market opportunities; strengthening of institutions and good governance; enhancing interconnections, notably in the areas of transport and energy and increasing mobility and contacts between people.
Better broadband in rural areas
On 20 and 21 November, the European Commission hosted the broadband days, an annual event aiming at promoting broadband development in the EU. At the conference, the Commission launched the Broadband Competence Offices and a toolkit for rural broadband. The latter consists of a five-point action plan to bring more broadband to rural areas. Currently only 40% of rural households have next generation access, compared to 76% of total EU households.
On 20 November Commissioners Hogan (agriculture and rural development) and Creţu (regional policy) praised five European broadband projects for their best practice in planning broadband rollout. Colchester Business Broadband was one of them, offering an open access passive fibre network which now delivers connectivity of up to 1 gigabyte to more than 850 SMEs and 1.100 households in newly constructed buildings that previously had low or no connectivity.
A Europe of equals: women's rights in turbulent times
On 20 November, the Commission held its annual Fundamental Rights Colloquium, with the theme "Women's rights in turbulent times". It presented there a strengthened Action Plan to tackle the gender pay gap. Linked to the Colloquium, the Commission released a special survey on gender equality, showing for example that a majority of Europeans (54%) agree that it is acceptable for men to cry while a minority (44%) think that women's most important role in life is to take care of the home. The findings show a wide variation of gender stereotypes across member states. On the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (25 November), the Commission issued a declarationcalling for stronger global efforts to tackle issues such as human trafficking, female genital mutilation and sexual harassment. This was accompanied by a round-up of what the EU is doing to protect women from these threats.
EU funds for Caribbean countries devastated by recent hurricanes
Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis and Cuba are among the recipients of an EU funding package to remedy the destruction in the aftermath of recent hurricanes Irma and Maria. EU member states' overseas countries and territories, including British overseas territories such as Anguilla and Turks and Caicos are eligible for EU funding. At a High-Level Donor Conference for the Caribbean in New York this week, Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica pledged a €300 million development support package to the Caribbean region. It will help reconstruction in the medium term and rehabilitation efforts at national level.
All this week's key European Commission announcements can be found here