nEUwsletter 08/03/2020
- European Horizons Bangor
- Mar 8, 2020
- 11 min read
Is Europe facing another migrants' crisis?
By Thomas Lezeau
Last week Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkey would no longer prevent migrants from crossing its borders into Greece and the European Union. This political move was made in order to put pressure on European leaders concerning recent developments in Syria, especially in conflict for the city of Idlib where the pro-government army with Russian support have been putting siege to the whole region where turkey backed rebels are entrenched.
The opening of Turkey’s borders may have serious consequences in Europe in the weeks to come. Indeed, following the migrant crisis in 2015, an agreement was reached between the EU and Turkey in which the latter accepted to host over 3.7 Million Syrian refugees in exchange for financial support from the former amounting to over 6 Billion Euros. Since then, Turkey has been used as a buffer against the flow of refugees that would have poured in from the East following the fighting that has been taking place in northern Syria these past years.
A European Union foreign ministers in Croatia on Friday denounced Turkey’s act, putting fourth that it was using the migrants’ desperation for ‘political purposes’. On the same day, Erdogan announced that he would be headed to Brussels on Monday, where it is assumed that he will try and negotiate a new deal with European states concerning the migrants’ crisis. It has been put forth by Greek authorities that since last week and Turkey opened its border towards Europe, they have thwarted almost 40 000 attempts at crossing the border by refugees. These numbers are susceptible to increase drastically in the days to come if an agreement between the European union and Turkey cannot be found in a near future. Thus, according to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyden a ‘more intensive dialogue with Turkey’ needs to be set up, and fast.
Refugee conflict at Kastanies
By Kieran Jones
Tensions are rising between the EU and Turkey amid the intense clashes between Greek police and Europe-bound refugees amassing at the border crossing near the Greek village of Kastanies as refugees, allowed to travel through Turkey, seek to cross to Europe, while the EU wish to keep Europe’s borders closed.
The Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, demands that Europe should bear more of the burden from the immigration crisis, largely brought about by the raging civil war in Syria. The most recent clash has been between Turkish forces and Russian-backed Syrian government troops in the Syrian province of Idlib. In an attempt to reduce the tensions in Syria, on 5th of March, Erdogan and the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, met in Moscow to sign a ceasefire agreement, effective on the whole line of contact in the Idlib province. This agreement lacks however, any mention of a safe zone for Syrian refugees seeking shelter, thus, though this agreement may reduce the number of refugees fleeing Syria, it could be said that it does little to alleviate the conflict at the Kastanies border crossing.
Greek riot police have taken drastic, controversial actions to drive back the migrants, employing the use of tear gas and water cannons to push them back into Turkey. In an attempt to halt this repulse back into their country, Turkey announced on 5th of March that they are deploying 1,000 police officers to the Kastanies border crossing. Turkey has long been the world’s largest host of refugees, struggling with nearly 4 million for years. The recent conflict, particularly Russian and Syrian government air strikes in Idlib have led to nearly 1 million more fleeing to Turkey’s southern border. This sudden influx of migrants led to Erdogan issuing a statement, where he insists that Turkey would no longer remain to be Europe’s ‘gatekeeper’.
The European Council demanded that Turkey implement the 2016 EU-Turkey agreement, obliging Turkey to prevent illegal immigration into Greece, also promising billions more euros of financial support, but Erdogan was unimpressed and announced on 29th of February that Turkey was ‘opening the doors’ for refugees to enter Europe and would thus no longer enforce the 2016 deal, accusing the EU of inaction over the Syrian civil war refugees. However, the EU’s position appears to remain firm, as the EU foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell announced that refugees should ‘avoid moving to a closed door.’ Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, has since stated that the EU’s ‘first priority is making sure that order is maintained at Greece’s external border, which is also Europe’s border.’ EU officials have now pledged 700 million euros of financial assistance to Greece to help tackle the surge of refugees at the border.
On order from Erdogan, the Turkish coastguards have begun to stop migrants from setting sail across the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece as it is too dangerous, amid footage and reports of the Greek coastguard firing near migrant vessels and having ‘flattened three boats and left them in a half-sinking state.’ Erdogan evidently has no plans of preventing refugees from travelling by land, however.
A statement from Erdogan’s office said that he will travel to Brussels on the 9th of March for a summit. The nature of this summit was not revealed, however, given his demands for Europe to bear more of the burden, and Greece and the EU’s forceful response to this influx of immigrants, he is likely to be enraged over how they have handled the crisis.
Security and money crisis
By Ruiling Zhang
The European Union, which has just been hit by the drop in fiscal revenue brought about by Brexit, has caught up with the outbreak of the new crown virus epidemic and Turkey ’s decision to “send” refugees from the country to the EU. What about security and quarantine? Where does the money come from? The EU faces a crisis.
At the beginning of March 2020, when the new crown virus epidemic was under control in China and the number of infections began to decline, the number of infections in Europe has soared. Almost at the same time as the European Union countries were busy in preventing and controlling the epidemic, the Middle East turmoil led to a new crisis of refugee waves on the border.
A few days ago, dissatisfied with the West's stand by Syria, Turkish President Erdogan announced that he would no longer implement the 2016 agreement with the European Union to prevent refugees from entering Europe. Millions of refugees from Syria and Asian and African countries began to land and sea. The road flocked to Europe.
Turkey states that it currently hosts about 3.7 million refugees. Originally hoping to set up a refugee zone in the Syrian-Turkish border area to accommodate them, but now it has been hit by the Syrian side, the settlement plan has failed, and the EU has turned a blind eye, so it is necessary to send refugees to Europe.
EU Commissioner Vondelion made it clear that he hoped that Greece would become a "shield" at the EU border and immediately promised Greece that the EU would provide a special allocation of seven million euros. Greece has blocked about 25,000 migrants from trying to cross the border into Greece. Some coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Greece, can the EU's shield block the risk that the coronavirus could sneak in with immigrants? UNHCR is also struggling to cope, calling on all parties to remain calm and guarantee humanitarianism.
EU Realities and Prospects
In a report recently released by the European Commission, the European Union listed the top 10 challenges facing the European Union in 2020, including immigration issues that have caused huge social differences within the EU countries; other issues include climate change, transportation and communications, energy, children, and the political direction of the United States. There are no coronavirus in the top ten issues.
However, the epidemic now appears to be the number one issue facing the European Union. By the beginning of March, over 30 countries in Europe have had confirmed cases, mainly in the EU countries. The top cases include Italy, France, Germany, and Spain. On the contrary, after Brexit, losing the former second largest contributor to net fiscal revenue of the European Union, EU seems to have no time to take care of major events such as negotiating with "split".
The Morlais project and how Europe has been making waves in Wales
By Finn Cowan
After the recent conference in Menai Science park (EGNI: A Sea of Opportunities, Thursday the 5thof March 2020) about the Morlais Project, one of the things that came to light was the extent of EU funding in the project and the cooperation between local Welsh businesses and those from Europe.
The Morlais project was set up the Menter Mon, a not for profit enterprise established to try and properly utilise the natural resources in north west wales in a way that benefits the local inhabitants. This is in collaboration with an EU wide programme called LEADER, that has the same aims. Morlais is now developing a 35km2 area of sea, just west of Holy Island, Anglesey, in order to utilise the tidal currents there, which are some of the best in the world, with the planned total producing capacity being 240 megawatts. This conference was the first of its kind; it’s purpose being to bring suppliers together with the project in order to make it a reality.
The EU itself has had a hand in the project with Morlais having so far received £7 million in funding, part of this being from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The hope is that more will be received from the ERDF to help plug the current £37 million shortfall in the project’s funding. However they are concentrating on other sources to fill this, hopefully by 2023 when if the EU funds aren’t spent they will need to be handed back.
Alongside the many Welsh Companies aiming to be a part of the project, such as BIKO, Anglesey Mechanical Solutions and Selkie, there are a number of European companies helping the effort. One such company was represented at the conference by Alejandro Marques; the Business Development Manager of Magallenes Renovables, a company originally from Galicia, Spain. This company is an innovator in the arena of tidal generators, wanting to bring its generators all the way to Holy Island and make use of the zone precured, prepared and protected by Morlais.
Another such company is Minesto. At the conference their Business Development Manager Osian Roberts explained how they had utilised funds from the ERDF to develop technology originally designed by SAAB, the Swedish vehicle manufactures. They have been working in Holyhead for the past four years and plan to deploy their submergible generators into Morlais’ zone when the opportunity presents itself. Thus showing another great collaboration between two British and European companies.
The seas around Holy island have been studied for over a decade and a half, by Selkie, and have shown great potential for development, in terms of profit, clean energy and job creation. Entrepreneurs from Britain and Europe have heeded this news and shown, as usual their appetite for progress and business. With all this work being created and needing to be done, students of Bangor University now should have the opportunity to join the ranks of these companies and projects and provide world class assistance to one of the most promising clean energy production projects in Europe and possibly the world.
One in five Europeans suffer from noise pollution
By Charles Elie-Martin
On Thursday 5th March, the European Environment Agency (EEA) published a report entitlted ''Environmental noise in Europe - 2020'' on the issue of noise pollution. The conclusion is clear: one in five Europeans, namely 113 millions of citizens, are exposed to noises caused by road traffic. While the World Health Organization recommended that the population should not be longly exposed to noises exceeding 53 decibels, in most of the european countries the majority of the urban population is exposed to noises greater than or equal to 55 decibels.
A serious public health issue
The EEA warns against the serious implications of noise pollution on public health. Indeed, a exposition repeated to noise does not only involve discomfort as it directly affects sleep. By way of consequence, there is an unquestioned impact on the individuals' metabolism, cognitive skills and cardiovascular system. As a result, 48,000 people are victims of ischemic heart disease every year. Moreover, the noise pollution was responsible for 12,000 premature deaths.
How to solve the noise pollution issue?
In its report, the EEA proposed a set of solutions in order to reduce the negative consequences of noise pollution. On the one hand, some suggestions require some time to be implemented. As an example, it was proposed to replaced paved roads by asphalt and to regulate traffic flow. On the other hand, some solutions would require less time to be applied, for instance to lower speed limits. Finally, some measures require some involvement from european citizens. Indeed, it has been suggested that prioritising less noisy means of transport, bikes, electric vehicles, would have a great impact on reducing noise pollution.
The hidden fortune of Juan Carlos I, former king of Spain
By Lise Faliu
Along reign sometimes struck by controversy
Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias became king of Spain in November 1975, the one who led the Spanish transition to democracy after the Franco dictatorship. But he was particularly criticized during his reign, especially when he went on an elephant-hunting trip in Botswana, which the newspaper El Pais estimated at a total cost of 44,000 euros, while Spain was at the heart of the financial crisis. Finally, Juan Carlos I since his abdication in 2014 was replaced at the top of the state by his son Felipe VI.
Background to the case: 2018 the first tremors of the Spanish monarchy
In2018, according to thenewspaper Forbes, the German aristocrat princess Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, supposed long time mistress of the former king of Spain, already accusedhimof using the identity of hiscousin Alvaro from Orleans Bourbon to hide money in Switzerland and thus avoid histax obligations. She also accuses him of using her own name to acquire properties in Morocco. 'The German aristocrat claims that Juan Carlos pocketed over €80 million from a contract with Saudi Arabia for a high-speed train running between Riyadh and Medina, planned to start operating in September after years of delays and a cost overrun of 210 million euros, according to TheNewArab.
Acriticism that goes much further according to the magazine Le Pointcited by Forbes, since it attacks the man under the crown, whose wrongdoings were apparently known and tolerated by the Spanish government: ‘good living, friendly, hedonistic sportsman (sailing and skiing), womanizer, friend of the great figures of the world - recommendable or not - unscrupulous hunter (in the 2000s, he shot Siberian bears point blank while drunk on vodka!). But being involved in financial crime and tax evasion to the detriment of his country seriously undermines the reputation of the former king and destroys a myth."
Juan Carlos at the epicentreof the media earthquake
This week as revealed by the Swiss newspaper La Tribune de Genève, this controversy could possibly take on a much larger scale, and again bring the royal family into disrepute. In fact, Juan Carlos has, according to Swiss authorities, an important fortune hidden in several Helvetic banks. In August 2008 when Spain was hit hard by the global economic crisis, the then-king of Saudi Arabia, Abdallah graciously transferred $ 100 million to a discreet Swiss account for the benefit of Juan Carlos, while still in royal office. The process for the discretion of such a transaction was as follows: an account opened at the private Mirabaud bank in the name of the Lucum foundation, a Panamanian entity of which Juan Carlos I was the sole beneficiary. For several years, he withdrew money from this account, then in 2012, most of the remaining amount, some 65 million euros, was given to the former mistress who became “friend at heart” of king, princess Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein. The money was placed in the branch of another Geneva bank in the Bahamas.
The judicial outcome?
Notwithstanding, it remains to be seen what lawsuits the former King may face. while Gabriel Rufian at the head of the Republican Left of Catalonia, rebels at "the opacity of a family paid 8 million euros a year just for his name, which, in addition, does business with satraps Saudi Arabia’4, others like the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) argue that the facts having taken place while the former king was still in office, he is inviolable under Article 56 of the national constitution: 'The person of the King is inviolable and shall not be held accountable.
Sources :
- 'Cecilia Rodriguez, ‘Royal Family In Trouble: Spanish Monarchy Mired In New Scandal’ Forbes 2018 https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2018/08/12/royal-family-in-trouble-spanish-monarchy-mired-in-new-ugly-scandal/
- En24.news , 3 March 2020 <https://www.en24.news/u/2020/03/justice-investigation-uncovers-secret-money-of-ex-king-of-spain-in-geneva-switzerland.html>
- The Spanish Constitution <http://www.congreso.es/portal/page/portal/Congreso/Congreso/Hist_Normas/Norm/const_espa_texto_ingles_0.pdf>
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