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European Union (EU)

Energy Communities Are Gaining Ground In Spain

Across the European Union, traditional energy systems are still dominated by centralized fossil fuel power plants, slowing the transition to more ambitious climate targets. Spain is no stranger to this. Today, the country’s electricity generation accounts for nearly 15% of its global greenhouse gas emissions, ranking third after transportation (30%) and industry (18%). The good news is that the last five years have also been crucial for developing new solutions to curb emissions and improve energy efficiency. To reduce greenhouse gases, the E.U. has passed several directives promoting a more decentralized energy system, allowing local initiatives to flourish.

Over 800 Euro Banks Invest In Companies Supporting Illegal Settlements

The Don’t Buy into Occupation (DBIO) coalition has issued its 2024 report highlighting the international companies and financial institutions that are actively involved with illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. The DBIO coalition is a joint project between 24 Palestinian, regional, and European organizations. The newly released report shows that over the past three years, “822 European financial institutions (including banks, asset managers, insurance companies, and pension funds) had financial relationships with 58 companies that are actively involved with illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).”

The Potential Of Cooperatives For Economic Equality

Released on October 17th under the title “Social Development in Times of Converging Crises: A Call for Global Action”, the report is the output of the global call by the GA resolution 77/281 in April 2023 to promote the social and solidarity economy for sustainable development.   Overall, the report estimates that the economic cost of crisis mitigation from 2020 until 2030 will translate into “a cumulative output loss of over $50 trillion”, to the detriment of social development. It is a global plea to prioritise people and the planet over profit, and for public-private social investments to be at the same level as their economic counterparts.  

The Missing Link In Europe’s Sustainable Food Future

As we face increasingly urgent global challenges, including climate change, urbanisation and growing inequality, Europe must transform its food systems to ensure resilience, sustainability and inclusivity. The Strategic Dialogue for Agriculture, convened by President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was designed to depolarise the contentious debates surrounding food and agriculture. It brought together a wide range of stakeholders who unanimously adopted a comprehensive set of recommendations for the future of Europe’s food systems.

EU Accused Of Inviting Fossil Fuel Executives To COP28

The European Commission is facing criticism from politicians and campaigners for giving a free pass for senior oil and gas executives to attend last year’s COP28 summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).  The EU invited five representatives of fossil fuel giants, including executives from BP, ExxonMobil, and Eni, to the flagship climate talks in December last year. More fossil fuel lobbyists were granted access to the Dubai summit than any previous year. EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra explained in late April that the five oil executives were invited to COP28 on the basis of their participation in EU events during the summit. 

Care Crisis In Central And Eastern Europe At Risk Of Deepening Further

The care sector in Central and Eastern Europe is facing a serious crisis, with increasing demands on care services but next to no improvement in care workers’ rights, according to a new report by the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU). The report warns that this situation is leading to high stress, burnout, and problems in workforce retention across the region. Although the need for services such as long-term care (LTC) for the elderly, early childhood care, and support for those needing daily assistance continues to grow, a lack of investment in public care services at the national level persists.

Resetting BRICS For The South Slavs, New Europe And The World

On October 22, in the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, located less than five hours along the M-12 “Vostok” highway from Moscow, the 16th Kazan BRICS summit opens – an association of 10 countries of a new geopolitical format, ahead of all the slow-moving Western alliances that has fallen into recession or stagnation. Already, Kazan is fully ready to host the leaders of more than 33 countries participating in the BRICS summit in a year when Russia is the chairman of the association of leaders of the multipolar world. The Moscow Kremlin noted that Kazan is fully prepared to host more than 20,000 guests and the summit organizers took into account the interests of more than 30 countries planning to receive an invitation to BRICS or become partner states of this association in the near future.

With US Support, Netanyahu Threatens Lebanon With Destruction

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 8 October called on the people of Lebanon to “free [their] country from Hezbollah,” threatening them with “destruction and suffering” if they refused to do so. “You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza. It doesn’t have to be that way,” Netanyahu said as his country’s air force continued to launch non-stop raids across Lebanon. “We have degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities; we took out thousands of terrorists, including [Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan] Nasrallah himself, and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of his replacement,” the Israeli premier added before calling on the people of Lebanon to “take back your country, and return it to a path of peace and prosperity.”

Assange’s Testimony In Strasbourg

Julian Assange appeared before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France on Tuesday morning. He testified to PACE members, passed a resolution last month dealing with Assange’s treatment by both the U.S. and British governments; the need for “urgent” reform of the U.S. Espionage Act; and for the U.S. to cooperate in the Spanish legal case about the U.S. surveillance of Assange. These are highlights of the resolution: “The Assembly considers that the disproportionately severe charges brought against Julian Assange by the United States of America, as well as heavy penalties foreseen under the Espionage Act for engaging in acts of journalism fall within the criteria set out in Resolution 1900 (2012) “The definition of political prisoner”.

Assange To Testify At Council Of Europe

WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, who was released from prison in June, will address the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France on Oct. 1 after he was granted  Status as a Political Prisoner by a rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), WikiLeaks said today. It will be the first time Assange will speak in public since his hearing in U.S. federal court on the North Mariana islands in June, at which he was granted his release after a plea deal. Assange will give evidence before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which will meet from 8.30am to 10am at the Palace of Europe, WikiLeaks said.

Dead Bunnies And PETA Call Out EU For Its Dire Stance On Animal Testing

Campaign group PETA has provocatively highlighted how the EU is still allowing animal testing for human cosmetics. This is despite EU assurances to the contrary, and a so-called ‘ban’ which the group says is not fit for purpose. Once again, corporations are profiting off the back of appalling animal rights. Dressed as bruised and bloodied rabbits, two PETA supporters hung “lifeless” from a gigantic makeup bag outside the European Commission headquarters earlier today to blast the institution for allowing animals to be tormented, poisoned, and killed in cruel, avoidable tests for cosmetics ingredients used in products such as sunscreen, shampoo, and perfume.

Summer 2024 Was World’s Hottest Ever Recorded

According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the summer of 2024 was the planet’s warmest on record for the Northern Hemisphere. The extreme heat of this year’s boreal summer — June to August — means it is more likely that the average global temperature for the entire year will be hotter than that of 2023. “During the past three months of 2024, the globe has experienced the hottest June and August, the hottest day on record, and the hottest boreal summer on record. This string of record temperatures is increasing the likelihood of 2024 being the hottest year on record,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S, in a press release from C3S.

Pavel Durov And The Abuse Of Law

The detention of Pavel Durov is being portrayed as a result of the EU Digital Services Act. But having spent my day reading the EU Services Act (a task I would not wish upon my worst enemy), it does not appear to me to say what it is being portrayed as saying. EU Acts are horribly dense and complex, and are published as “Regulations” and “Articles.” Both cover precisely the same ground, but for purposes of enforcement the more detailed “Regulations” are the more important, and those are referred to below. The “Articles” are entirely consistent with this. Durov was formally charged on Wednesday and prevented from leaving France.

Borders And The Exchange Of Humans For Debt

The jagged shoreline of the island of Lesbos, Greece, which runs into the Aegean Sea just miles from the Turkish coastline, is a site of the macabre and systemic practice of ​“border externalization,” where wealthy states enlist less wealthy states — often indebted ones — to intercept and brutalize human beings destined for their borders. It is here that 23-year-old Ahmed — who left Gaza in 2021 to find refuge from a life behind Israel’s Iron Wall and violence, which promised ​“no future, no work, no possibilities” — was beaten by Greek border patrol and left adrift on a dinghy with a broken engine. It would take five attempts, full of terror and humiliation, for Ahmed to reach Greece, which was just one stop on a longer journey to Germany to reunite with cousins.

Borrell Calls For EU Sanctions Against Israeli Ministers

EU Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell said on 11 August that the bloc must consider imposing sanctions against Israeli far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for “incitement to war crimes.” Borrell urged the Israeli government to clearly dissociate itself from individuals who incite war crimes and to work seriously towards a ceasefire deal. The high-ranking EU official also denounced Ben Gvir for urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt all humanitarian aid and fuel to the Gaza Strip amidst the ongoing genocide. Finance Minister Smotrich’s comments about starving two million Gazans by withholding aid in exchange for Israeli captives as “sinister,” in stark contrast to the Israeli minister’s assertion that the approach is “justified and moral.”

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

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Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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