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In this section you find short edited videos on the atmosphere behind the scenes during summits and other councils.

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The aim of the EU training mission in Mali (EUTM Mali) is to help improve the military capacity of the Malian Armed Forces in order to allow, under civilian authority, the restoration of the country's territorial integrity.

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Ce mercredi matin, un jeune migrant a trouvé la mort dans le sud de la Hongrie, proche de la frontière avec la Serbie.

Le jeune homme a été percuté par une voiture alors qu’il traversait en courant l’autoroute M5, à proximité du passage frontalier de Röszke, vraisemblablement pour échapper à une patrouille de police, selon les informations du site Index.hu.

L’identité de la personne décédée est encore inconnue, mais il pourrait s’agir d’un Syrien, la police ayant appréhendé un groupe de Syriens à proximité.

« Il ne voulait probablement pas être pris par la police pour éviter de laisser ses empreintes digitales en Hongrie« , écrit le groupe de bénévoles Migszol sur sa page facebook (Solidarité Migrants), pour qui la politique du gouvernement hongrois, mais aussi les régulations de Dublin et de l’Union européenne, sont responsables de l’accident.

Il y a quelques jours, un homme a été grièvement blessé en tombant d’un camion, sur l’autoroute entre Budapest et Vienne.

Une très petite minorité de migrants essaie d’échapper aux arrestations de la police, afin de ne pas laisser de traces de leur passage en Hongrie pour éviter tout futur hypothétique refoulement vers la Hongrie.

As air pollution is responsible for around 400,000 premature deaths in the EU yearly, Environment MEPs on Wednesday tightened up Commission plans and called for more ambitious national caps on emissions of six main pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide, particulate matter and nitrogen oxides in order to cut emissions by 70% across the EU and save €40bn in air pollution costs by 2030. MEPs also want to include emissions reduction ceilings on mercury, and a midpoint target for most caps of 2025.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

As air pollution is responsible for around 400,000 premature deaths in the EU yearly, Environment MEPs on Wednesday tightened up Commission plans and called for more ambitious national caps on emissions of six main pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide, particulate matter and nitrogen oxides in order to cut emissions by 70% across the EU and save €40bn in air pollution costs by 2030. MEPs also want to include emissions reduction ceilings on mercury, and a midpoint target for most caps of 2025.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

As air pollution is responsible for around 400,000 premature deaths in the EU yearly, Environment MEPs on Wednesday tightened up Commission plans and called for more ambitious national caps on emissions of six main pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide, particulate matter and nitrogen oxides in order to cut emissions by 70% across the EU and save €40bn in air pollution costs by 2030. MEPs also want to include emissions reduction ceilings on mercury, and a midpoint target for most caps of 2025.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

La commission des libertés civiles a modifié, ce mercredi, un projet de règles de l’UE sur l’échange et la protection des données des passagers aériens (PNR) en provenance ou à destination de l’UE, et sur leur utilisation par les États membres et Europol afin de lutter contre le terrorisme et les infractions transnationales graves. Selon les députés, ces données peuvent seulement être utilisées pour prévenir et détecter de telles infractions et mener des enquêtes et des poursuites en la matière.
Commission des libertés civiles, de la justice et des affaires intérieures

Source : © Union européenne, 2015 - PE

Draft EU rules on sharing and protecting the Passenger Name Record (PNR) data of people flying to or from the EU, and its use by member states and Europol to fight terrorism and serious transnational crime, were approved by the Civil Liberties Committee on Wednesday. This data must only be used to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute these crimes, said MEPs, inserting safeguards to ensure "the lawfulness of any storage, analysis, transfer and use of PNR data".
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Draft EU rules on sharing and protecting the Passenger Name Record (PNR) data of people flying to or from the EU, and its use by member states and Europol to fight terrorism and serious transnational crime, were approved by the Civil Liberties Committee on Wednesday. This data must only be used to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute these crimes, said MEPs, inserting safeguards to ensure "the lawfulness of any storage, analysis, transfer and use of PNR data".
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Draft EU rules on sharing and protecting the Passenger Name Record (PNR) data of people flying to or from the EU, and its use by member states and Europol to fight terrorism and serious transnational crime, were approved by the Civil Liberties Committee on Wednesday. This data must only be used to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute these crimes, said MEPs, inserting safeguards to ensure "the lawfulness of any storage, analysis, transfer and use of PNR data".
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Az EP ipari szakbizottsága jóváhagyta szerdán azt a Parlament és a tagállamok képviselői között létrejött előzetes megállapodást, amely 2017-re megszüntetné a roaming díjakat. A díjaknak már jövő évtől csökkenniük kell, 2017. június 15-ét követően pedig már ugyanazt az árat fizetjük, ha hazatelefonálunk, vagy online nézzük a meccset külföldön, mintha otthon tennénk ugyanezt.
Ipari, Kutatási és Energiaügyi Bizottság

Forrás : © Európai Unió, 2015 - EP

This is an Oxford Analytica brief that was originally published on April 14, 2015. I’ve restored a few cuts made for space reasons.

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SIGNIFICANCE: Russia’s military is currently undergoing a 700 billion dollar rearmament programme, with Moscow aiming to supply the military with 70% modern equipment by 2020. The reform plan is looking to upgrade Russia’s armoured formations with a new family of vehicles collectively called Armata. The Armata tank variant will be far superior to any tank operating in Russia’s neighbours as well as many NATO armies. However, it is costly and the Defence Ministry is actively trying to force down the price.

ANALYSIS: Impacts

• Defence spending has been largely protected from 10% spending cuts but budgetary pressures will remain.
• It will take time to bring defence and procurement spending in many NATO members up from current low levels below 2% of GDP.
• The Ukraine crisis will force Russia’s defence industry to produce weaponry domestically with less reliance on foreign supplies.

Russia has about 16,000 tanks in its inventory, including 4,000 T-64, 8,000 T-72 and T-90 variants, and more than 4,000 T-80s. Of these, only about 2,400 are in service; the rest are in storage. All T-64 tanks are in storage, although some may have been provided to separatist forces fighting in Ukraine. About 1,000 T-80 tanks were in service in 2013, though all are to be withdrawn from service by end-2015.

The majority of the in-service tanks are of the T-72 and T-90 variants, including 564 modernised T-72B3 tanks (according to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu), and 300 T-90 tanks. The modernised T-72B3 tanks are gradually replacing the other varieties, at a rate of 300 tanks per year.

Tank standardisation

The goal is to unify the types of tanks as much as possible in order to reduce maintenance costs. The modernisation of T-72 tanks costs 50 million rubles (962,000 dollars) each. These new T-72s have a new engine, new control and targeting systems, new armaments, and new active and passive defence systems.

These improvements have made the modernised T-72 less vulnerable to enemy ordnance and improved firing accuracy. However, active defence systems and electronics are still outdated by comparison with the competition.

Armata platform

The Armata is a universal tracked-vehicle platform designed to serve as the basis for a new Russian main battle tank (MBT), a related heavy infantry-fighting vehicle, a combat-engineering vehicle, a heavy armoured personnel-carrier, a tank-support combat vehicle and several types of self-propelled artillery.

Armata tank capabilities

The main armament will consist of a 125-millimetre (mm) smoothbore cannon with 40-48 rounds of ammunition, with an additional 30-mm secondary cannon and a 7.62-mm machine-gun. The main cannon is reported to have a range of 7,000-8,000 metres and the engine has been variously rated at between 1,200 and 2,000 horsepower, with a corresponding top speed in either the 70-75 kilometres per hour (kph) or 80-90 kph range.

The tank is designed so that the engine can be removed in 30-40 minutes in the event of a malfunction. The tank will have a crew of three, but unlike other tanks now deployed the Armata will have an unmanned turret operated by remote control.

Radar system

The tank will be equipped with a Ka-band active phased-array radar system similar to that being developed for the Sukhoi T-50 fifth-generation fighter aircraft. The targeting system is capable of tracking up to 40 targets.

Crew survivability 

Crew survivability appears to be a priority in the design. In addition to the advantages offered by the unmanned turret, the Armata will use a new type of light-weight armour, developed specifically for the tank by the Steel Scientific Research Institute. The armour will reportedly be able to withstand fire from most types of artillery. Furthermore, the armour is said to be able to maintain its defensive qualities in extremely low temperatures, making the tank potentially useful in the Arctic.

In addition, the Armata is to be equipped with active anti-missile and anti-artillery defenses that will protect the tank from both ground-based and aerial attacks. The ammunition, fuel, and crew are to be separated in order to increase survivability in the event of a successful enemy hit.

Comparison with competition

By comparison with previous Russian tank models, it has a revamped engine, new transmission and improved chassis strength. The Russian media have said that technically it will be four times as capable as the late Soviet T-72B MBT. They also argue that the tank’s capabilities will be superior to those of its main foreign competitors. Its armament and horsepower appear to be comparable to the US Abrams, German Leopard and Israeli Merkava tanks, while the UK Challenger has a less powerful engine.

The Armata‘s armour will probably be thinner than that of the Challenger or Merkava, but thicker than that of the Abrams and Leopard. However, if reports about advances in armour design prove true, it may be that the thinner armour provides comparable or superior protection. Finally, the tank will most probably be lighter than its competitors, all of which weigh in at 62-70 tonnes.

Procurement plans

The State Armament Programme calls for the procurement of 2,300 new MBTs by 2020. While some reports have linked this figure with the number of Armata tanks to be procured, the reality is that the Armata is going to enter the Russian military in much smaller numbers, owing to both production limits and high unit cost.

An initial batch of 20-24 tanks is expected to be provided to the military in time for the May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow. After the parade, these tanks will be sent for field testing, which is expected to take at least a year. The testing programme could take up to three years and full serial production may not start until 2018.

Uralvagonzavod, its manufacturer, has stated that it is ready to produce 40 tanks in 2016, 70 in 2017 and up to 120 per year from 2018. So the absolute maximum number of Armata tanks potentially in service by 2020 is about 330.

High costs could impose limits

However, the high cost of the Armata tank is expected to limit procurement. According to unofficial sources, the cost per tank is approximately 400 million rubles, which is more than double that of the German Leopard-2 and about 60-75% higher than that of the French Leclerc and US M-1 Abrams. Yuri Borisov, the deputy defence minister responsible for procurement, has indicated that the cost is about 2.5 times higher than stated in the State Armaments Programme.

As a result, the Defence Ministry is expecting to reduce the number of Armata tanks it will procure, focusing instead on continuing to modernise existing T-72 tanks in the medium term. According to Russian media reports, Uralvagonzavod has agreed to lower some Armata costs, but the programme will still be expensive.

CONCLUSION: The Armata tank promises to be a formidable but expensive machine, limiting its procurement in the short term. Given Russia’s economic problems, it is unlikely to become the ground forces’ sole tank. The Russian military will continue to deploy upgraded T-72B3 tanks in most armoured units, while Armatas will be reserved for elite units. The first serious unveiling of the Armata tank will be at the Moscow Victory Day parade on May 9.

The West is changing its nuclear strategy. They intend to pull out from the treaty on short and medium-range missiles. The United States will thus be able to deploy medium-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and ground-based missiles in Europe. All this is being done for the so-called decapitating and preemptive nuclear strike on Russia

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Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Comme la pollution de l'air est responsable d'environ 400.000 décès prématurés dans l'UE par an, les députés de la commission de l'environnement ont renforcé les propositions de la Commission mercredi et ont appelé à des plafonds nationaux plus ambitieux sur les émissions de six principaux polluants, comme le dioxyde de soufre, les particules et les oxydes d'azote, afin de réduire les émissions de 70% dans l'UE et d'économiser 40 milliards d'euros de coûts de la pollution de l'air d'ici 2030.
Commission de l'environnement, de la santé publique et de la sécurité alimentaire

Source : © Union européenne, 2015 - PE

Allgemeines : Der Industrieausschuss hat am Mittwoch (15.7.) seine Zustimmung zur Übereinkunft mit der EU-Kommission und den Regierungen der EU-Mitgliedstaaten erteilt, die Roaming-Gebühren abzuschaffen. Die Roamingtarife sollen bereits ab dem kommenden Jahr sinken. Ab dem 15. Juni 2017 ist dann endgültig Schluss. Ab dann soll es keinen kostentechnischen Unterschied mehr geben, ob ein Anruf oder das Versenden einer E-Mail über das Mobilfunknetz im Heimatland oder im EU-Ausland erfolgt.

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2015 - EP