By Luiz Eduardo and Pedro Abramovay. Soldiers can be angels of mercy or weapons of tyranny. In Brazil, in 2016, when Zika virus swept through Brazil, the country deployed 220,000 soldiers to hand out educational material to citizens on how to combat the new virus that was ravaging the country, a strategy that proved effective in mitigating the spread of the…
The EESC will reward up to 29 solidarity initiatives undertaken in the EU and the United Kingdom to battle COVID-19 and cushion its devastating blows The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is launching a Civil Solidarity Prize, a one-off award with the specific theme of “Civil society against COVID-19”, which this year will be replacing its flagship…
The European Court of Justice decided to cancel the payment of 13 billion Euros of “unlawful” state aid received by Apple. Following the decision, the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament have now called on member states to “take action in order to ensure fairer taxation.” Jonás Fernandez, S&D spokesman on taxation, said “The ruling issued…
Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic has been exploited to undermine democracies across the globe, with governments using this occasion to silence critics, enhance state surveillance and tighten their political grip while taking advantage of the state of emergency to arrest protestors. The EU neighbourhood is no exception to this tendency. Even in countries, such as Armenia,…
In the presence of Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, EESC President Luca Jahier voices full support for Commission COVID-19 recovery package on eve of make-or-break EU summit: “Let there be no backtracking” President Jahier expressed criticism for the recent EU Council proposal to give national governments the power to veto a country’s reform programmes under the package…
The European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee calls for more EU self- sufficiency and better-coordinated strategies to tackle medicine shortages. In a report on the shortage of medicines, adopted by 79 votes to 1 and 0 abstentions, the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee addresses the root causes of medicines shortages….
A crucial annual meeting of the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) has started in New York. The core United Nations platform, with the contributions of 47 countries, will review the state of play of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the implementation of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since…
At a recent EU-UN conference on Syria in Brussels, the Socialists and Democrats urge EU member states for ambitious pledges for the impartial delivery of humanitarian aid to the Syrian people in need through UN agencies and civil society organisations. At the same time, the S&Ds reaffirm that the UN-led political process for Syria, with…
Families struggling to put food on the table during the Covid-19 crisis face a delay in receiving additional help due to needless extra red tape in distributing funding, UK councils warn today. The UK Government last month announced £63 million to provide help directly to households on the breadline to afford food and other essentials…
By Ekaterina Tsaranok The concept of higher education has been well established for well over a thousand years. According to UNESCO and Guinness World Records, the University of Al-Karaouine located in Fes, Morocco, is the world’s oldest existing and continuously operating higher education institution in the world, having been established in 859. With international education…
