Arms sales to Israel 'deepens UK’s complicity' in regional war, says British MP

‘Government continues to sell arms to Israel that deepen the UK’s complicity in this regional war & horrific violations of international law,' says Zarah Sultana

Burak Bir |23.09.2024 - 



LONDON

Labour Party lawmaker Zarah Sultana on Monday said that the arms sales to Israel "deepen the UK's complicity” in the regional war and "horrific violations of international law."

Sultana criticized the ongoing arms shipments to Israel and said that Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon have killed many people with hundreds of wounded, including women, children, and paramedics.

"Meanwhile, the government continues to sell arms to Israel that deepen the UK’s complicity in this regional war & horrific violations of international law," she wrote on X.

At least 274 people, including 21 children, were killed and more than 1,000 others injured in massive Israeli airstrikes targeting several areas in Lebanon since Monday morning, according to the health minister.

The Israeli army said that it struck around 800 Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa region, southern Lebanon since early morning, marking the heaviest bombardment since the onset of hostilities last Oct. 8.


Tension has mounted between Hezbollah and Israel following a deadly airstrike on Friday that killed at least 45 people, including children and women, and injured dozens in Beirut’s southern suburb.


Hezbollah confirmed that at least 16 of its members, including senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and top commander Ahmed Wahbi, were killed in the Israeli strike.


The attack came two days after at least 37 people were killed and over 3,000 others injured in two waves of wireless communication device explosions across Lebanon.

Scrap law making schools serve meat, urges Labour donor

Brian Wheeler
BBC Politics
Reporting fromLabour conference, Liverpool

PA Media


Major Labour donor Dale Vince says he wants to talk to the new government about scrapping compulsory meat and dairy in school meals in England.

The green entrepreneur, who has donated more than £5m to Labour, says vegan meals are healthier and better for the environment.

He is campaigning for an end to all farming of animals, which he says is now the biggest driver of the climate crisis.

He told a fringe meeting at Labour's conference that his company, Devil's Kitchen, already supplies vegan food to "one in four" primary schools.

Farmers rebel against plant-based council plan

I’ve not lobbied Labour over Just Stop Oil - donor

But he added: "There are schools which want to go further. They don't want meat and dairy on the menu perhaps every day of the week or even at all.

"But it is the law of the land. I am hoping to have a conversation with the new government to encourage them to change the law."

Government guidance issued to schools in England says they must serve a "wide range of foods across the week".

This must include fresh fruit and vegetables, some milk and dairy and "a portion of meat or poultry on three or more days each week".

Mr Vince said it was now clear that a vegan diet was healthier than eating meat and dairy products, adding: "We shouldn't be forcing these unhealthy products on to our kids."

He told the meeting he also planned to talk to the education secretary about incorporating "climate and sustainability" into the primary school curriculum.

He denied he was against farmers, insisting that he did not want to kill the industry but allow it to be "reborn".

"[Farmers] have to be part of the move to net zero, they have to move away from agriculture, we know that the science tells us that - and they already grow grass to feed to animals."


Dale Vince is publicising his campaign to end animal farming at the Labour conference


Mr Vince has donated more than £5m to Labour through his company Ecotricity since Sir Keir Starmer became leader in 2020.

Asked after the meeting if he planned to make further donations, he said: "It's not the kind of thing I have a plan for. I just do it when I can and when I think they need it, which is usually when there is an election on."

The businessman said he had stopped funding activist group Just Stop Oil, after Sir Keir came under attack over it.

"I eventually felt it was unhelpful, which was why I stopped funding Just Stop Oil and began focusing on stopping the Tories," he said.

Rachel Reeves: a social democratic Margaret Thatcher? 

The New Statesman

We're coming to you from Liverpool where Rachel Reeves has just delivered her keynote speech at this year's Labour Party Conference. 

There were lots of smiles in the Chancellor's speech as well as the commitment to the tough economic decisions that she has to make, but has she managed to turn the page on Labour's rough beginning in government?

Hannah Barnes hears from Andrew Marr, Rachel Cunliffe, and Andy Burnham.

Activists ASSAULTED at Labour conference should report it to the cops IMMEDIATELY

 by Steve Topple
23 September 2024
THE CANARY

People are saying two activists who security forcibly ejected from the Labour conference should call the cops themselves – after the extent of their injuries were revealed.
Labour conference: don’t mention the genocide!

As the Canary previously reported, a protester from Climate Resistance disrupted chancellor Rachel Reeves’ keynote speech on the second day of the Labour conference in Liverpool, in protest against the new government’s support for polluters and arms sales to Israel.

The activists from campaign group Climate Resistance infiltrated the Labour conference audience. They unfurled a banner reading “Still backing polluters, still arming Israel – we voted for change”.

“We are still selling arms to Israel! I thought we voted for change, Rachel!” the protestor shouted.

Shockingly, security can be seen getting the guy in a chokehold in an attempt to remove him from the conference floor:

As we also revealed on X, after private security goons ejected him from the conference floor, cops arrested him and a fellow activist. They questioned them both for around 30 minutes. Afterwards, they were driven away from the venue and de-arrested.

Karen wanted to call the manager

However, footage emerged on BBC News that showed in detail how private security dealt with the two activists – with the now-widely shared chokehold incident being on top of goons throwing the other activist into a wall – and dragging the other out while telling someone else to stop filming; like these security bods are fucking cops – not jumped-up blue bibs:

Guardian journalist-turned left-wing troublemaker Owen Jones met the choke-held activist afterwards – and shared the extent of the damage security did to him:

Enter Karen to call the fucking manager:

Meanwhile, others on X were saying what we’re thinking at the Canary: that Climate Resistance should call the cops themselves:

Now, as a media outlet we would never endorse the police. However, on this occasion maybe – just maybe – Labour conference security deserve to feel the (strong-ish) arm of the law around their throats. As a minimum, as a former leader of Labour’s Scottish branch office pointed out:

Argos managers having a meeting at a Holiday Inn

Of course, all this is Starmer’s Labour all over. Authoritarian, intolerant of dissent, and with the air of an area meeting of Argos managers at a Holiday Inn in Reading. Reeves, Streeting – the lot of them – are (much like the Tories) the dregs from the scrapings of the bottom of the political barrel. Talentless, magnolia, yet obsessed with branding.

Moreover, as the donations and gifts’ revelations have shown, they’re all utterly self-serving and borderline narcissistic – to the point where anyone who exposes them for who they really are has to be quickly shut down. Just ask whipless MPs like Zarah Sultana.

Our two Labour conference agitators’ treatment was a prime example of what the party is now. But when Labour’s machinery happily glosses over genocide and war crimes – what hope for Climate Resistance?

Featured image via the Canary

Labour fascism again as objector dragged off by neck for Israel arms embargo call

BySKWAWKBOX (SW)

23/09/2024

Ugly conference scenes reminiscent of abuse of Jewish Walter Wolfgang and Starmer’s use of armed police

The fascism of Keir Starmer’s right-wing Labour has again been on show after a young man was assaulted and dragged out of the hall at the party’s conference today for calling for the UK to end its equipping of Israel’s genocide in Gaza:

A different angle of the incident – Luciana Berger, who actively campaigned against the party in 2019, is allowed in the conference and can be seen at the front



The protester and several others, including one who held up a banner that read: “Still arming Israel, still backing polluters.” were held by police for around an hour after their removal. The scenes were reminiscent of the violent removal of Jewish left-winger Walter Wolfgang during the Blair years and of Starmer’s intimidation tactic in 2021 of putting armed police at the end of each row of seats during his first conference speech.




The principled interruption came during Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s droning speech. In response to the call to stop supporting genocide, she could only must that Labour is not a ‘party of protest’

.

Marks on the protester’s neck after he was dragged out

Injuries to his wrists

Under Keir Starmer and his fellow cowards and sociopaths, it’s not a party of principle or humanity either.

What happened to man who heckled UK chancellor? #shorts

Alsobrooks presses the case for national abortion rights in critical Maryland Senate race

Democrat Angela Alsobrooks is prioritizing abortion rights in a key U.S. Senate race in Maryland against Republican Larry Hogan

ByBRIAN WITTE Associated Press
September 23, 2024


GAITHERSBURG, Md. -- Angela Alsobrooks sees the erosion of reproductive freedom for women with her 19-year-old daughter in mind.

“She’s a sophomore, and she literally has fewer rights in this moment than her grandmother and mother,” Alsobrooks said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Alsobrooks' daughter, now entering her second year at Spelman College in Georgia, would have limited options under that state's new six-week abortion ban if she faced a decision about whether to end a pregnancy. Now locked in one of the nation’s toughest U.S. Senate races in Maryland, and with Democrats’ thin Senate majority on the line, Alsobrooks hopes to be able to do something to protect not just her daughter’s autonomy but that of women throughout the United States with a new federal law protecting abortion rights.

Alsobrooks' Republican opponent, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, has said he, too, favors federal legislation to restore abortion rights nationwide. But Alsobrooks says the need to protect women's freedom to make those decisions for themselves is too important to risk giving Republicans a majority by electing the popular former governor in what is typically a reliably Democratic state.

“The question is not whether or not we like Larry Hogan,” she said at a recent campaign stop in Columbia, Maryland. “That is not the question. It’s not even whether or not it’s a good idea to vote for him for governor. The question we are answering is: Who should have the 51st vote?"

Alsobrooks, now the chief executive of Prince George's County in the suburbs of the nation's capital, said Hogan showed his true feelings on the issue as governor when he vetoed legislation to expand abortion access in 2022 by ending a restriction that only physicians provide abortions. Democrats who control the Maryland General Assembly overrode Hogan’s veto.

“I think my opponent’s record is very clear where abortion care is concerned,” Alsobrooks said.

She also said she hears on the campaign trail how much abortion rights matter to voters.

“I hear it not just from women, but I’ve heard from a number of men who say that they want the freedom for their daughters and their granddaughters and that they’re very concerned about the direction we’re heading for people to make reproductive choices,” Alsobrooks said.

Abortion rights in Georgia have been front and center in the presidential election, with Vice President Kamala Harris tying the state's six-week abortion ban to the deaths of two women who were unable to get the treatment they needed there.


Both Alsobrooks and Hogan have said they would co-sponsor federal legislation to codify the standard that existed before Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 into federal law. But Alsobrooks said Hogan's affiliation with his party would have a practical impact on whether that might happen.

“When we think for example about Roe and about codifying Roe, what we recognize is there will never be a vote as to whether or not we should codify Roe in federal law if the Republicans are in the majority," Alsobrooks said, “because they have made it clear, they’ve essentially declared war on reproductive freedoms, and we know that that vote would never happen.”

During his Senate campaign, Hogan has emphasized his support for abortion rights. He said he would not support a federal abortion ban and strongly supports in-vitro fertilization.

“Unlike most of the candidates or most of the people on my side of the aisle who are running, I’ve said I would co-sponsor a bill to codify Roe,” Hogan said in an interview last month.

Abortion rights will be on voters’ minds in Maryland in another sense in November. It's one of at least nine states considering ballot questions to enshrine the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. State ballot initiatives protecting abortion rights have been a winning issue even in conservative states like Kansas and Kentucky since the court turned the matter over to the states with its 2022 decision.

Hogan has won two statewide races, only the second time a Republican governor has been reelected in Maryland’s history. That gave him an advantage in statewide name recognition from the start of the Senate race.

Still, Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1 in Maryland, and the GOP hasn’t won a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland in more than 40 years. Hogan is also running for the first time on the same ballot as former President Donald Trump, who is deeply unpopular in Maryland.

Hogan has sharply criticized Trump over the years. He’s also running with heightened attention from Democrats, due to the rarity of a critical Senate race in Maryland.

The former governor says this is “a tougher race than my two races for governor,” but Hogan says he’s finding enthusiasm for his campaign from voters who see him as a key swing voice to push back “against the extremes of both parties.”

“What I’ve said over and over again, I’m the underdog,” Hogan said. “It’s nearly impossible to do what I’m trying to do, but we’re pleased with where we are.”

But Alsobrooks brings vulnerabilities of her own to the race, including a new report from CNN that she improperly received property tax credits on two homes, which her campaign said she was unaware of and plans to repay.

She's also far less familiar to most Maryland voters than Hogan.

Alsobrooks defeated Maryland Rep. David Trone in the May Democratic primary by 10 percentage points, even after the congressman who co-founded the Total Wine and More liquor store chain spent more than $60 million of his personal fortune on his campaign.

Alsobrooks also has drawn significant audiences at campaign events, where she has expressed confidence while not underestimating Hogan.

“This one is not easy, either, in the general,” Alsobooks said in the AP interview, which took place on Friday, before the CNN report. “And the stakes are even higher, and Marylanders are very engaged and they’re going to make a decision in this race to keep the Senate blue.”

With a victory, Alsobrooks would make Maryland history by becoming the state’s first Black U.S. senator. An Alsobrooks victory would also restore female representation to the state’s congressional delegation. While Maryland has had a long history of female officeholders in the delegation from both parties, Maryland’s delegation to Washington has been all-male since former Sen. Barbara Mikulski retired in 2016 and Rep. Donna Edwards lost the primary to succeed her.

“It is a historic race, and I’m proud of that,” Alsobrooks said. “It was Sen. Barbara Mikulski who said for example that she was the first woman elected but didn’t want to be the only, and so I think that the significance of electing a woman to the Senate is there.”

While Hogan has been campaigning on crime and the economy, Alsobrooks highlights her experience as county executive, focusing on economic development, as well as her work as state’s attorney of Prince George’s County, before she became county executive.

“As I’ve mentioned when I was the elected prosecutor, I oversaw a 50% cut in violence,” Alsobrooks said. “I am also the only person in this race who has prosecuted murderers and rapists and carjackers.”

At the campaign rally in Columbia, Alsobrooks reminded voters that a loss of Senate control by Democrats could impact future nominations to the Supreme Court.

“This is a clear reason why holding the majority is going to be really important,” she said in the AP interview.

Singapore Airlines Still Trying To Spin Flight 321 Turbulence To Lowball Payouts

Tuesday, 24 September 2024, 4:07 pm
Press Release: Carter Capner Law

A leading Australian law firm representing passengers on Singapore Airlines Flight 321, which encountered severe turbulence on May 21 while flying between London and Singapore, has accused the airline of attempting to settle claims against the airline “on the cheap” to the serious detriment of injured passengers.

Director of Carter Capner Law Peter Carter says while inviting passengers to apply for advance payments to cover medical expenses, they are then making an offer that requires them to sign a final release.

“We have seen this happen even with respect to our own clients,” he said, explaining that “the true compensation to which passengers are entitled can only be formulated by reference to their permanent impairment that is then projected over their lifetime.

“Spinal surgeons, neurologists and other medical specialists require patients wait until at least 12 months post-injury before they are prepared to attempt that assessment.”

He said the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes program agreed with the law firm’s investigation that the pilots likely knowingly flew through the top of a thunderstorm or in too close proximity to one as it passed over an area notorious for thunderstorm activity in the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone.

“Other planes took evasive action and changed direction, yet Flight SQ321 headed directly to the area.”

Mr Carter said his firm assembled a team of experts that included two senior airline captains to provide technical advice, and recruited aviation legal experts in the UK, US and New Zealand as co-counsel to help negotiate the resolution of their SQ321 clients’ claims.

Seven figure compensation

“Passengers need to know this was not a freak accident and they are therefore entitled to substantial compensation, not just the expense payments the airline has so far offered.

“We are convinced the true facts will show there was crew responsibility for the accident and that the airline’s compensation liability to passengers is therefore unlimited.

“Many passengers will be entitled to seven figure compensation.”

He said some passengers believe the airline is there to act in their best interests but “unfortunately that is very far from the truth.”

“The insurers who are calling the shots are the same people I have built a career on fighting, to ensure injured passengers get their full entitlement. Their interest is to minimise payouts.”

Carter Capner Law is Australia’s foremost aviation accident compensation law firm and has represented passengers in many major air accidents including QF72 off Western Australia in 2008; QF32 in Singapore in 2010, MH17 over Ukraine in 2014, and LATAM Airlines over New Zealand in 2024.

Peter Carter bio:

Peter Carter is one of the most experienced lawyers in the Australasian region in the fields of aviation, tourism and travel compensation. He is a former national president of the Australian Lawyers Alliance, and was previously a director of the Civil Justice Foundation of Australia. Peter has also held the roles of Queensland president of the Aviation Law Association of Australia and New Zealand, and governor on the board of the American Association for Justice. He is a member of the Lawyer-Pilot Bar Association (USA) and holds a single engine private pilot’s licence with a command instrument rating.

Meloni’s Atlantic Council award sparks debate over possible shift to Trump

By Alessia Peretti | EURACTIV.it
Sep 23, 2024 

On Monday evening, the Italian Prime Minister received the Global Citizen Award from the Atlantic Council in New York, an award that recognises leaders who have made a significant contribution to strengthening transatlantic relations. 

 [EPA-EFE/MICHAEL REYNOLDS]
 Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>>

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was presented with the Global Citizen Award by billionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk at her request on Monday, a decision widely interpreted by Italian media as a possible step towards rekindling ties with the Republican candidate.

On Monday evening, the Italian Prime Minister received the Global Citizen Award from the Atlantic Council in New York, an award that recognises leaders who have made a significant contribution to strengthening transatlantic relations.

However, Meloni’s decision to have Musk present it has attracted considerable attention in the days leading up to the event, especially with the US presidential election looming. Musk has recently stepped up his financial and political support for Trump, making the timing of the choice particularly sensitive.

Both Italian media and the Financial Times have suggested that the move signals a potential political alignment with Trump. Musk is seen as one of his most powerful supporters and could even head a so-called ‘efficiency commission’ if Trump is re-elected.

Reports from Politico reveal that Meloni’s involvement in the Atlantic Council event was already a matter of internal debate within the organisation. Her decision to have Musk present the award further escalated tensions, with staff members expressing their displeasure in a letter to Atlantic Council CEO Frederick Kempe earlier this month.

Meloni had previously expressed admiration for Trump during her time in opposition when she praised his policies and sought to replicate his ‘America First’ approach in Italy. In 2019, she invited Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, to her party’s Fratelli d’Italia festival. Musk himself attended the same event in 2022.

Since becoming prime minister, however, Meloni has adopted a more pro-European and Atlanticist stance, emerging as a vocal supporter of Ukraine and building strong ties with US President Joe Biden.

But according to the Financial Times, some of her allies believe she could become Trump’s key European partner if he returns to the White House, boosting her standing among European leaders, with whom she has often had strained relations.

While Meloni has been careful not to openly endorse any candidate in the US election, saying she will work with whoever wins, her Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, has been an unabashed supporter of Trump for years.

According to Corriere della Sera, sources close to Meloni insist that the decision to involve Musk was made months ago, long before his support for Trump became public.

Speaking to journalists, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also rejected the idea that Meloni’s choice was politically motivated. Instead, he described it as a strategic decision to boost Italy’s business interests rather than signalling support for Trump.

(Alessia Peretti | Euractiv.it)

EU deforestation law in doubt as Germany pushes for postponement


By Dave Keating | Euractiv's Advocacy Lab
Sep 23, 2024 

To calm growing alarm, the Commission said it would come out with additional guidelines in the Spring. 

 Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>>

Calls for EUDR postponement have created confusion for companies over when and if they will have to comply.

As lawmakers clash this month over whether to stick with rigid enforcement of the EU’s new Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR), with obligations set to take effect in December, companies have been left questioning whether they should move forward with urgent reporting and certification preparation.

Earlier this month, German Food and Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir asked the European Commission to postpone the regulation’s application by six months to 1 July 2025, saying: “The Commission must finally come out of the summer break and provide clarity,” he wrote. “I take the concerns of companies, agriculture and forestry, and the countries very seriously. Companies need sufficient time to prepare.”

He added: “This also applies to countries with small-scale production structures. Otherwise, supply chains threaten to break at the end of the year – to the detriment of the German and European economy, small farmers in third countries, and consumers.”

‘Bureaucratic monster’

The message has also been carried forward by conservative German members of the European Parliament. “We call on the Commission to immediately delay the implementation of the Deforestation Law,” said Herbert Dorfmann, EPP coordinator in the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, this week. Peter Liese, a powerful member of the Parliament’s Environment Committee, agreed and called the legislation a “bureaucratic monster” which could threaten the EU’s animal feed supply and disrupt trade in many consumer goods.

To calm growing alarm, the Commission said it would come out with additional guidelines in the Spring. But these guidelines have yet to emerge.

Centre-left MEPs are urging the Commission to stick to the original timeline for implementing the law. A group of centre-left MEPs, including Italy’s Brando Benifei and Germany’s Delara Burkhardt, have sent the Commission a letter saying, “It is crucial that the EUDR is applied without delay.” They urged the Commission to quickly finalise the guidelines and FAQs as a matter of urgency and said a “user-friendly IT system” should be created for companies to submit compliance documents.

The EUDR became law in June last year, mandating that any operators or traders engaged in importing or exporting certain commodities within the EU market demonstrate that the products are not linked to deforestation or forest degradation. They will have to start proving this in December.

Products also need to be produced by the relevant legislation of the country of production as well as follow strict traceability requirements set by the regulation. The law applies to soy, oil palm, rubber, wood, coffee, cacao and cattle. To achieve this, businesses will be required to gather geolocation data and carry out due diligence before bringing their products to market.

Due diligence

The due diligence process required of companies will consist of three main components: information gathering, risk assessment and risk mitigation. There are concerns about the impact on European supply chains, in particular, the scale of the requirements has sparked concerns about how smallholder farmers in third countries, who don’t have the resources to invest in their certification systems, will be affected.

The European Parliament elections in June 2024 have led to a more conservative Parliament and Commission, with over half of the new commissioners in Ursula von der Leyen’s college coming from her own conservative European Peoples Party. That has created questions over whether the new term will see a dilution of some of the environment and climate laws that were passed during the previous term.

Progressive parties such as the Greens and Social Democrats have been staunch defenders of strict environmental laws. The EUDR is being seen as one of the key tests for the new term. Will it be watered down or postponed?

Soft launch?

Industry insiders say they don’t expect the core requirements of the EUDR to be weakened, even if the Commission does decide to delay its application start date. What might happen, they say, is a soft launch with a transition period. This would mean that while all requirements officially take effect at the end of December, national governments would start with actual enforcement later, in 2025 or 2026.

In this case, sample verifications and checks would begin at a later stage once countries are ready and have prepared their verification systems.

In any event, people in the certification sector are advising companies to continue for now with the expectation of full enforcement in December.

ISCC, the International Sustainability Certification body, has been preparing tools for companies to ensure compliance. The advice for companies is don’t assume anything about the law that hasn’t yet been decided and proceed as if requirements will come in December. ISCC certification is currently available for oil palm, soy, rubber and wood.

In the meantime, forestry campaigners are urging the Commission to quickly come out with guidelines rather than delaying the law. “Action by the EU is needed, but not the action that EUDR’s detractors want,” Sam Lawson, Director of the campaign group Earthsight, wrote this week.

She said: “Research shows that the destruction being wrought by these commodities in forest countries is almost entirely the responsibility of large companies, not smallholder producers. The EU is already investing in helping to ensure that those smallholders can benefit from their relative lack of complicity by supporting their efforts to prove their compliance. But that EU support must be ramped up.”

“The EU should also press the large companies through whom smallholder-produced commodities reach Europe to invest their vast profits in that effort,” she added.

Expand not weaken

Lawson believes the law should be expanded, not weakened, to include commodities produced through the destruction of precious non-forest biomes and expand its scope to cover other commodities like cotton.

The balance between environmental ambitions and economic realities will be a key focus in the post-election landscape. For better or worse, the EUDR is now being seen as the first test of whether the building blocks of von der Leyen’s Green Deal will hold firm with the new political realities in the EU’s institutions.

[Edited By Brian Maguire | Euractiv’s Advocacy Lab ]

Swedish battery giant announces redundancies amid EU electric vehicles industry struggles


By Charles Szumski | Euractiv
Sep 23, 2024 

Northvolt, the first EU battery manufacturer to supply to European car manufacturers, had major problems getting battery production up to speed to be profitable and was therefore bleeding money and struggling to raise new capital.

 [Jeppe Gustafsson/Shutterstock]

Swedish battery maker Northvolt announced on Monday (23 September) that it will lay off almost a quarter of its workforce at a time when the state of the electric vehicle (EV) industry is a growing concern in EU capitals.

The redundancies represent almost a quarter of the company’s staff in Sweden, with about 1,000 jobs being lost in the small northern town of Skellefteå, 400 in Västerås, and 200 in Stockholm.

“It’s very difficult but necessary. It is clear that you can personally feel sad about having to make decisions like this. Not least for the people and families affected”, wrote Peter Carlsson, CEO of Northvolt, in a press release.

Northvolt, the first EU battery manufacturer to supply to European car manufacturers, had major problems getting battery production up to speed to be profitable and raising new capital.

Swedish Minister of Economic Affairs Ebba Busch told Dagens Industri, “This means a tough situation and great concern for those who risk losing their jobs. The government is following developments closely and is in contact with the parties concerned.”

Among those affected by the notice are workers who are not EU citizens but worked there on work permits and risk being forced to leave the country if made redundant.

“The government must find solutions so that those with work permits can stay rather than being forced to leave the country. We need to secure skills and labour so that the economy and Sweden do not lose momentum in the green transition”, said Lorents Burman, Social Democratic chairman of Skellefteå Municipal Council, during a press conference.

Decreased demand for electric vehicles

The crisis suffered by Northvolt and its social consequences are part of a particularly troubled economic context for the electric vehicle industry, which is seeing a fall in sales.

“While overall momentum for electrification remains strong, we need to make sure that we take the right actions at the right time in response to headwinds in the automotive market and wider industrial climate.” Northvolt CEO wrote in his press release.

According to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), the number of electric cars sold in the EU in August went down 18% compared to last year’s sales, falling to 643,000 in August.

The pressure of EU car emission rules

In addition to sluggish demand, European carmakers must contend with increasingly stringent European standards, namely the EU car emission rules.

These mandate carmakers to reduce new cars’ average CO2 emissions by 15% by 2025, 55% by 2030 and 100% by 2035 – all compared to 2021 levels – notably by increasing their production of electric cars that are counted as “zero emissions”.

Under EU law, carmakers must meet these stricter targets by 2025 or face steep €95 fines for every extra gram of CO2 each car produces on average.

“The current rules do not account for the profound shift in the geopolitical and economic climate over the past [few] years,” ACEA’s board of directors said in a statement, warning that “the law’s inherent inability to adjust for real-world developments further erodes the competitiveness of the sector.”

Last week, the European Commission even rebuffed calls by parts of the industry to change the 2025 target, arguing the sector “had quite some time to prepare”.

However, with sales of electric cars falling short of expectations, ACEA on Thursday called for a speedier revision of the EU’s car emissions rules, due in 2026, a call also supported by Rome and Berlin, which are keen to protect their car industries.
The Chinese factor

In addition to falling demand and discussions around European rules, the European electric vehicle sector is a bone of contention with China, which has been accused of unfair competition by President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who addressed the subject in her State of the Union speech last year.

As Chinese manufacturers have recently launched their electric models in Europe, the Commission wants to impose new tariffs on Chinese e-cars if necessary.

However, with the prospect of a trade war looming, Beijing and the EU have agreed to re-examine the possibility of setting a minimum price for Chinese automakers selling electric vehicles to avoid definitive tariffs of up to 35.3%.

In a statement released after a meeting between Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis last Thursday (19 September), the Commission said that Brussels and Beijing would “take a renewed look” at so-called price undertakings.

These are agreements where a trade counterparty pledges to set selling price floors on its products to ward off tariffs.



Jonathan Packroff and Thomas Moller-Nielsen contributed to reporting

[Edited by Alice Taylor-Braçe]

EU must step up support for organic market, EU auditors say


By Hugo Struna | Euractiv Est.
Sep 23, 2024 

Between 2014 and 2022, European farmers received around €12 billion in CAP support to convert to organic farming or maintain organic practices, ‘without adequately nurturing the organic sector’, adds the Court of Auditors

. [Attasit saentep/ Shutterstock]
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The European Union will miss its target of 25% organic farmland by 2030 because of weak support for the sector, the European Court of Auditors said in a report published on Organic Farming Day on Monday (23 September).

The EU action plan for the development of organic production in the European Union, adopted in 2021, aims to promote the benefits of organic farming. One of the objectives is to have at least 25% of the agricultural land used for organic farming by 2030, a key element of the EU’s “Farm to Fork’ strategy”.

But this target “seems out of reach,” the Court of Auditors’ analysis of EU support to the sector for 2014-2022 reads. The warning comes after also the European Environment Agency (EEA) explained that it was “unlikely” the EU would meet the target.

It is “far too early” to predict whether the target will be met, the European Commission replied in a set of replies annexed to the report.

“Such an assessment is rather outdated and incomplete, given that it does not take into account recent developments under the current CAP,” Commission spokesman Olof Gill said in an email, adding that while inflation has affected demand, “the long-term trend is positive”.

“The Commission – Gill addedd – encourages Member States to support demand for organic production”.

On the same day, the Commission named the winners of the third edition of the EU Organic Awards, eight individual prizes for “innovative, sustainable and inspiring projects” promoting the production and consumption of organic products.
Developing the market and production

Regarding support for organic farming, the CAP provided €12 billion in CAP support between 2014 and 2022 for farms that converted to organic farming or maintained organic practices “without adequately nurturing the organic sector,” the Court of Auditors added.

And another €15 billion or so are planned before 2027.

The EU auditors also acknowledged that the funds had helped increase the area that is now subject to organic farming. However, to reach the 25% target by 2030, the uptake rate of organic farming practices would have to double, with the auditors stressing that it is not just a matter of land.

“We also need to support the sector as a whole by developing the market,” said Keit Pentus-Rosimannus, the member of the Court of Auditors responsible for the audit, at a press conference presenting the report on Monday morning.

Pentus-Rosimannus also noted the need to increase “supply and demand” to prevent organic production from remaining a niche market – currently less than 4% of the total EU food market – and dependent on EU funding.

Targets after 2030

The EU auditors also stressed the need for a strategic vision beyond 2030 to provide the stability and long-term perspective needed to ensure the sector’s expansion.

“The EU must think beyond 2030. Farmers currently have no guidance and are only using plans beyond 2030,” warned Pentus-Rosimannus.

While the EU’s current action plan for the organic sector is “an improvement” on its predecessor, “it still has neither adequate and quantifiable goals for the organic sector, nor ways to measure progress,” the auditors added.

In addition, the action plan ends in 2027, and the targets are set after 2030.

“Our audit is actually very timely (…) Especially because all the discussions over both the next budget” and “the CAP are just heating,” Pentus-Rosimannus said at the press conference.

The support provided via the CAP to the organic sector, as well as other EU tools such as “the EU’s agricultural promotion policy” and the “research and innovation framework programmes” need to be strengthened, the European Commission said in response.

“However, this remains a prerogative of the next policy cycle”, it added.