European Union

The EU needs around 8 million puppies annually to meet consumer demand - far beyond legitimate breeders’ capacity. As a result, the illegal online puppy trade is booming, and state-of-the-art trafficking networks benefit from a market approximately worth over €1 billion per year, writes Georgia Diamantopoulou.

All European Final of the European Moot Court Competition takes place at the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg on 5 April

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Transport
An air carrier is required to compensate passengers for a delay of three hours or more where an aircraft tyre is damaged by a screw lying on the runway only if it deployed all means at its disposal for limiting the delay of the flight

The following article is a part of a series of brief country profiles for the EU-27 ahead of the European elections in May. Romania, together with Bulgaria, missed the first wave of the EU’s eastward expansion in 2004. The two joined the...

Written by Martin Svášek,

© anawat_s / Fotolia

The European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD) is one of the EU financial instruments that promote a proactive development aid policy. It covers three areas of activity (‘pillars’): financing, providing technical assistance for the development of bankable projects, and helping to improve the business environment in partner countries through dialogue.

The EFSD promotes investment in EU partner countries, especially fragile ones, by making financing capacity in the form of grants, guarantees and other financial instruments available to eligible counterparts. It furthermore seeks to increase access to financing, primarily in Africa and the European neighbourhood countries. EFSD investment seeks to address specific socio-economic root causes of migration, foster the sustainable reintegration of migrants returning to their countries of origin, and strengthen transit and host communities.

Another aim of the EFSD is to contribute to the achievement of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and to the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The fund’s strong environmental focus requires that 28 % of its financing be invested in measures related to climate action, renewable energy and resource efficiency.

Structure of the EFSD

The EFSD includes two regional investment mechanisms – the African Investment Platform and the Neighbourhood Investment Platform. These were established on the basis of two previously existing blending facilities (which combine EU grants with loans or equity from public and private financiers): the Africa Investment Facility (AfIF) and the Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF), whose funds together amounted to €2.6 billion. Under the present arrangement, blending operations are combined with EFSD guarantee operations, which are based, in their turn, on the existence of the EFSD Guarantee Fund. The EFSD Guarantee Fund amounts to €750 million (€350 million from the general budget of the EU and €400 million from the 11th European Development Fund).

The EFSD Guarantee Fund provides liquidity to compensate, if necessary, losses covered under guarantee agreements. It is envisaged that, by 2020, the EFSD guarantee will reach a total volume of up to €1.5 billion and will leverage additional financing by allowing risk-sharing with private investors, international financial institutions and development banks. Depending on the total volume of the EFSD guarantee, it might leverage from an expected €44 billion, up to the double of this amount whenever eligible partners, such as EU Member States, European Free Trade Association states, or others, make important additional contributions.

First results

According to the Commission’s (first) 2017 EFSD operational report, in 2017 the EU agreed to invest nearly €1.3 billion in 52 blending projects in Africa and the European Neighbourhood under the EIP. The EU contribution is expected to trigger around €10.6 billion in public and private investment (24.1 % of the €44 billon target for 2020) after the EFSD’s first year of operation.

The report highlighted that around €400 million of EU investments under the EFSD had gone to Neighbourhood Investment Platform countries (22 projects) and almost €900 million to Africa Investment Platform countries (30 projects). The EFSD leveraged investments worth €5 billion and €5.6 billion respectively. The report reflecting the results for 2018 should be published soon.

Read the complete briefing on ‘How the EU budget is spent: European Fund for Sustainable Development‘ on the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Some Chinese investments entail “macro-economic imbalances and debt-dependency” risk in the Western Balkans and impact EU objectives in the region, an EU spokesperson has said in light of a controversial energy project in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Can you imagine being the only person that has different citizenship from your entire family, just because a bureaucrat at the civil registry made an error? Can you imagine trying to find a solution for decades while bureaucratic conundrum of both countries tirelessly keeps returning you back to the beginning?

Nato's 70th anniversary celebrations are being marred by discord. The foreign ministers of the member states gathered in Washington and Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg praised the alliance's achievements. But before the meeting got underway the White House took Germany to task for its low defence spending. Commentators discuss the challenges facing the alliance.

After months of mass protests Algeria's longstanding president Abdelaziz Bouteflika has announced his resignation. In compliance with the constitution the President of the Council of the Nation Abdelkader Bensalah is to become interim president and then call new elections within 90 days. Commentators discuss who really wields the power in the country and note that its path to becoming a true democracy will be full of obstacles.

On the 500th anniversary of Spain's conquest of Mexico, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has called on Spain, the Spanish king Felipe VI, and the Vatican to apologise for the subjugation of indigenous populations in the region. Not all commentators agree with the demand.