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Le Directeur départemental de la Police républicaine de la Donga a lancé un avis de recherche à l'encontre de 25 personnels des Forces Armées Béninoises (FAB).
A la suite d'une correspondance du Directeur général de la Police républicaine, Soumaïla Yaya en date du 4 septembre 2023, le Directeur départemental de la Police républicaine de la Donga, Kassim N'Gobi Yarou, a lancé un avis de recherche à l'encontre de 25 personnels des Forces Armées Béninoises (FAB) qui ont quitté leur unité et ne sont pas de retour depuis plusieurs mois.
« En cas de découverte, les appréhender et les conduire à une unité de la Police républicaine la plus proche », a ordonné le DDPR Donga à tous les Chefs d'unité dans un message radio téléphone-porté.
La liste des 25 personnels des FAB déserteurs.

M. M.

As the EU’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) is approaching its second birthday, director-general Pierre Delsaux told Euractiv in an interview that they are taking transparency of their work seriously despite persisting worries.

Der französische Wirtschaftsminister Bruno Le Maire und sein deutscher Amtskollege Robert Habeck haben die Ankündigung von EU-Kommissionspräsidentin Ursula von der Leyen begrüßt, eine Untersuchung zu unlauterem Wettbewerb Chinas bei E-Autos einzuleiten.

Aujourd’hui dans L’Expresso : enquête de l’UE sur les véhicules électriques chinois, la foumi de feu débarque en Europe, connexion à haut débit dans l'UE d’ici 2030 et règlementation des locations courte durée.

The lake of Prespa, two thirds of which belong to North Macedonia and the rest to Greece and Albania, has lost 7% of its surface area and half of its volume between 1984 and 2020, NASA has said.

Des milliers de migrants secourus par les autorités italiennes et qui attendent d’être relogés se sont heurtés à la police mercredi (13 septembre) après avoir réclamé d’être transférés dans de nouveaux centres d’accueil.

Bisphenol A (BPA), a hormone-disrupting chemical used in food packaging, is present in almost all Europeans' bodies, posing a potential health risk, the European Environment Agency said Thursday (14 September).

Bulgarien führt Gespräche mit NATO-Verbündeten bezüglich der russischen Schwarzmeerblockade. Man möchte klären, ob die Teilblockade der bulgarischen Wirtschaftszone im Schwarzen Meer mit Hilfe des Militärbündnisses angegangen werden soll.

Österreich hat die Forderung von EU-Kommissionspräsidentin Ursula von der Leyen zurückgewiesen, sein Veto gegen den Beitritt Bulgariens und Rumäniens zum Schengen-Raum aufzuheben. Eine Ausweitung der visafreien Zone mache derzeit keinen Sinn.

Credit: UNICEF
 
More than half the world’s population is younger than 25. But the enormous quantity of young people does often not translate into qualitative influence about democratic decision-making processes, according to UNICEF. Meanwhile, a new poll commissioned by the Open Society Foundations finds that young people around the world hold the least faith in democracy of any age group, presenting a grave threat to its future. The Open Society Barometer is one of the largest ever studies of global public opinion on human rights and democracy across 30 countries—painting a picture of the attitudes, concerns, and hopes of over 5.5 billion people worldwide.

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 14 2023 (IPS)

The recent epidemic of coups in Africa — including military take-overs in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Gabon– have triggered the inevitable question: Is multi-party democracy on the retreat?

The Open Society Barometer, an annual global survey from Open Society Foundations, launched September 12, reflects the positive and negative aspects of the state democracy worldwide.

The survey finds that young people around the world (Generation Z and millennials) “hold the least faith in democracy of any age group, presenting a grave threat to its future”.

Over a third (35%) of respondents in the 18-35 age group were supportive of a strong leader who does away with parliament and elections.

A large minority of young people surveyed (42%) feel that military rule is a good way of running a country. A similar number (35%) feel that having a strong leader who does not bother with elections or consulting parliament/congress is a good way of running a country.

This compares to 20% that support military rule and 26% that are in favor of a strong leader in the 56 plus age bracket.

Still, the report, The Open Society Barometer: Can Democracy Deliver? finds that the concept of democracy remains widely popular across every region of the globe, with 86% saying that they would prefer to live in a democratic state.

There is also widespread disbelief that authoritarian states can deliver more effectively than democracies on priorities both nationally and in global forums.

https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/focus/open-society-barometer

Commenting on the findings, Mark Malloch-Brown, president of the Open Society Foundations, said: “Our findings are both sobering and alarming. People around the world still want to believe in democracy. But generation-by-generation, that faith is fading as doubts grow about its ability to deliver concrete improvements to their lives. That has to change.”

Asked for his reaction, Andreas Bummel, Executive Director of Democracy Without Borders, told IPS: “It is good news that a huge majority of people say they consider it important to live in a democracy”.

At the same time, much less say they believe democracy is preferable to any other kind of government. This is a contradiction that requires more analysis, he pointed out.

“It is a warning that young people appear to be less convinced of democratic government. It must be understood better why this is the case.”

The state of civic education and better ways for political participation may be among the issues to be looked at. In general terms, it is clear that democratic governments need to perform better, Bummel declared.

The survey was described as one of the largest global opinion surveys on the status of democracy and human rights, reflecting the views of over 5.5 billion people.

Comprising public opinion data from 30 countries – including the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, China, Brazil, Japan, Turkey, Russia, South Africa, and India – the survey paints a surprising picture of the generational shift of young people lacking faith in democracy to deliver on their priorities.

The survey also finds that:

• Democracy remains popular across every region of the globe, but the poll found lower levels of support among young people, as the world faces multiple challenges (the ‘polycrisis’)—from poverty and inequality, to climate change—and patchy evidence that democracies are improving the lives of their citizens.

• Just 57% of young people (aged 18 to 36) believe democracy is preferable to any form of government, compared to 71% of older respondents; while 42% of young people are supportive of military rule, compared to 20% of older respondents (aged 56 plus).

• Overwhelming majorities support human rights, with an average of 72% of respondents identifying them as a “force for good in the world.” Yet, a significant minority (42%) believe that they are used by Western countries to punish developing countries.

• 70% of respondents around the world are anxious that climate change will have a negative impact on them and their livelihoods in the next year.

The findings also include:

• People support democracy. Only 20% consider authoritarian countries more capable than democracies of delivering “what citizens want.” At the international level, two-thirds (66%) of respondents feel that democracies contribute more to global cooperation. Respondents also believe firmly in human rights, with an overwhelming 95% rejecting the idea that it’s ok for governments to violate the rights of those who look different from themselves. Countries across every region, income level, and current type of governance maintained strong levels of support.

• As people feel the weight of multiple crises, over half (53%) of respondents think their country is headed in the wrong direction. Young people aged 18 to 35 are the most skeptical of democracy, with just 57% deeming it preferable to other types of government.

• Majorities in 21 of the countries polled fear that political unrest could lead to violence in the next year. Fear was highest in South Africa and Kenya (79%), Colombia (77%), Nigeria (75%), Senegal (74%), and Argentina and Pakistan (both 73%). Large majorities in some high-income countries also share this worry, including two-thirds of respondents in the United States and France. Forty-two percent of respondents believe the laws of their country do not keep people like them safe. This was particularly felt in Latin America, with significant majorities in every country: Brazil (74%), Argentina (73%), Colombia (65%), and Mexico (60%).

• Half of respondents (49%) say they have struggled to feed themselves at least once in the last year—a number that holds in states as dissimilar as Bangladesh and the United States—both with 52% of respondents. Especially large majorities in Sri Lanka (85%), Turkey and Kenya (both 73%) experienced this.

• The climate crisis is a high priority for citizens across low-, middle-, and high-income countries. Climate change was considered the top global issue by 32% of people in India and in Italy, followed by Germany (28%), Egypt (27%), Mexico (27%), France (25%), and Bangladesh (25%). Anxiety that climate change will personally affect respondents and their livelihoods in the next year was felt by 70% of those surveyed, and was markedly high in Bangladesh (90%), Turkey (85%), Ethiopia (83%), Kenya (83%), and India (82%), and lowest in China (45%), Russia (48%), and the UK (54%).

• Across the globe, corruption is considered the chief concern for people at a national level, with an average of 23% saying it is the most important issue facing their country. Countries in Africa and Latin America, such as Ghana (45%), South Africa and Nigeria (both 44%), Colombia (37%), and Mexico (36%) stand in stark contrast with Western Europe. In France and the UK, corruption is viewed as the main concern by just 7% of people; in Germany, just 6%.

• Poverty and inequality rank the highest (21%) among the issues that most directly impact people personally. This holds true in Senegal (the smallest economy surveyed) as well as the United States (the largest). Moreover, a majority (69%) believe that economic inequality between countries is a bigger challenge this year than last. This is most keenly felt in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.

• Migration is highly visible but of low concern. Despite being front and center of political campaigns in many countries, just 7% of respondents said migration was their biggest concern at the global and national level. This suggests the salience of this issue is largely concentrated to political parties, and not among the public at large. The survey found that two-thirds (66%) of respondents want to see more safe and legal routes for migrants.

• A plurality of respondents believe China’s growing influence will be a force for good: nearly twice as many respondents believe this will have a positive impact (45%) on their country as a negative one (25%). However, there is a sharp contrast between the enthusiasm of lower income countries like Pakistan (76%), Ethiopia (72%), and Egypt (71%), and the overwhelming negativity of high-income democracies, where only small minorities register positivity about the rise of China, as is the case in Japan (3%), Germany (14%), Ukraine (15%), and the UK (16%). Somewhere in the middle, a quarter of Americans answered positively, while 48% felt it would be negative.

• People believe that a fairer international system would be more effective. 61% of those surveyed believe low-income countries should have a greater say in global decision-making—though, predictably, lower-income regions were more enthusiastic than Europe and the United States on this front. 75% believe that high-income countries increase their overseas aid, donate more money to the World Bank to support lower income countries (68%), and lead the way in reducing emissions (79%).

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Deutschland hat seit Ende 2022 mehr ukrainische Flüchtlinge aufgenommen als Polen. Die meisten Flüchtlinge ziehen wegen besserer Sozialstandards und Arbeitsmöglichkeiten gen Westen.

This week, EURACTIV’s Beyond the Byline podcast brings you a breakdown of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s annual State of the European Union (SOTEU) speech on Wednesday (13 September).  In her final SOTEU address under the current mandate,...

L’Autriche a rejeté l’appel de la présidente de la Commission européenne, Ursula von der Leyen, à lever son veto contre l’adhésion de la Bulgarie et de la Roumanie à l’espace Schengen, car pour Vienne l’extension de la zone sans visa n’a actuellement aucun sens.

The European Parliament gave the green light on Wednesday (13 September) to new rules that will increase the quantity of sustainable jet fuel in flights departing from EU airports, marking a major step towards reducing emissions from the notoriously carbon-intensive transport mode.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about former Swedish PM accusing the far-right leader of fuelling the Quran crisis, Ukrainian refugees leaving Poland for Germany due to better wages, and so much more.

La Bulgarie consulte ses alliés de l’OTAN pour déterminer si elle doit répondre au blocus partiel de sa zone économique exclusive en mer Noire par la Russie de manière indépendante ou avec l’aide des alliés, a déclaré le ministre de la Défense, Todor Tagarev, à Euractiv mercredi (13 septembre).

Ukraine said it seriously damaged two Russian naval vessels and struck port infrastructure in the Crimean city of Sevastopol early on 13 September, in what appeared to be the biggest attack of the war on the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Mit ihrer Rede zur Lage der EU hat Ursula von der Leyen sich für den Wiederantritt als Kommissionspräsidentin in Stellung gebracht. Dass sie ihre Kandidatur noch nicht offiziell gemacht hat, ist strategisches Kalkül.

La ministre de la Transition énergétique, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, a dévoilé mardi les avancées sur la planification écologique et énergétique française. Son entourage affirme que les objectifs européens seront bien pris en compte. La France accuse un retard sur la mise à jour de son plan national énergie-climat.

In an attempt to counter the rise of the far-right AUR party, coalition partners PSD and PLN are currently in talks about running joint lists in next year’s local elections – an alliance that AUR leader George Simion has already...