UNGA

Taoiseach to meet Palestinian Authority president

It will be the first meeting between Simon Harris and Mahmoud Abbas since Ireland recognised the state of Palestine in May.


Simon Harris is to hold a bilateral meeting with Mahmoud Abbas 

(Brian Lawless/PA)

PA Wire
Jonathan McCambridge

Irish premier Simon Harris is to hold a bilateral meeting with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.


It will be the first meeting between the Taoiseach and Mr Abbas since Ireland recognised the state of Palestine in May.

They will discuss efforts for a ceasefire in the Middle East, efforts to release Israeli hostages and the urgent need for aid to flow into Gaza.

Ireland recognised the State of Palestine to help keep alive the hope of a two-state solution with Palestine and Israel living peacefully side-by-side

Simon Harris

Mr Harris said: “Ireland recognised the state of Palestine to help keep alive the hope of a two-state solution with Palestine and Israel living peacefully side-by-side.

“Today I will be asking President Abbas how we can support him and the Palestinian Authority in making that hope a reality.

“Ireland knows how important it is for a country to take its place on the global stage.”

Also on Tuesday, following the official opening of the United Nations General Assembly, the Taoiseach will hold bilateral meetings with King Abdullah of Jordan and the secretary-general of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres.

Labour Conference 2024

Miliband pledges to lift one million renters out of fuel poverty


Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband speaks during the Labour Party Conference at the Liverpool Arena, September 23, 2024

MORNONG STAR
Monday, September 23, 2024

ED MILIBAND pledged to lift one million renters out of fuel poverty at the Labour Party conference yesterday.

The Energy Secretary said that “we all know that the poorest people in our country often live in cold, drafty homes,” calling it a “Tory legacy.”

He vowed to “end this injustice” and lift one million out of fuel poverty, boosting the minimum energy efficiency standard of all rented homes.

Currently, private homes can be rented out if they have energy performance certificate E, while social homes have no minimum standards.

Under the plans, both will need to meet a minimum rating of C by 2030.

While welcoming the news, Simon Francis from End Fuel Poverty Coalition warned that the government “shouldn’t drag its heels with more consultations.

“There is no time to waste as improvements will take months or years to be felt by tenants and the longer it takes, the more support households will need to stay warm in the winter.”

He called on the government to revoke cuts to the winter fuel payment and commit to more support for vulnerable households.

Mr Miliband also pledged to deliver “clean power” by 2030 through onshore wind, solar power, offshore wind, nuclear, tidal, hydrogen, and carbon capture.

Ahead of his speech, climate activists protested outside the conference demanding no new subsidies for the wood-burning Drax power station.

Katy Brown, from campaign group Biofuelwatch, said: “There’s no point in us saying, come 2030, we’re nearly at net zero on paper, but actually, the temperature has gone up by another degree because Drax is continuing to pump millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

“They need to do their homework before putting investments down blind alleys, dangerous distractions, that are in some cases, going to make the climate crisis worse.”

Labour MP urges pro-Palestine protesters to keep marching as battle intensifies

Bell Ribeiro-Addy was speaking during a fringe event at the Labour conference in Liverpool.


A demonstration for Gaza (Jeff Moore/PA)

PA Wire

Rhiannon Jame

A Labour MP has urged pro-Palestine protesters to continue marching, as she was heckled at the Labour conference.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy told a fringe event called Justice for Palestine that “the conflict is intensifying, so our political lobbying must intensify as a result

During her speech in Liverpool, a heckler called on the MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill to resign from Labour, before accusing the party of being “racist”.

All the marches and the lobbying must continue, all the local meetings must continue, so must the letter writing, take to your local radio station phone-in, write to your local newspaper, canvas outside your local supermarket on a Saturday morning

Bell Ribeiro-Addy

On Monday, Ms Ribeiro-Addy said: “We represent the majority, both the global majority, and the clear majority in this country – the question is how to turn that majority into action and into a change of policy.

“The conflict is intensifying, so our political lobbying must intensify as a result.

“All the marches and the lobbying must continue, all the local meetings must continue, so must the letter writing, take to your local radio station phone-in, write to your local newspaper, canvas outside your local supermarket on a Saturday morning.”

Intervening, the heckler shouted: “And resign from the Labour Party, resign.”

This was met with shouts of “shut up” and “nonsense” from other members of the audience.

Ms Riberio-Addy continued: “Horrific things have been happening since 1948, and unfortunately even this phase of the conflict looks like it will be a prolonged one. So we have to be prepared for both an intense struggle and a prolonged one.”

Bell Ribeiro-Addy (BBC/PA)PA Media

Later in the session, the heckler shouted: “The Labour Party is a racist party.”

Speakers at the event also called on the Labour Government to do more to protect Palestinians and ban arms sales to Israel.

Sara Husseini, director of the British Palestinian Committee, said: “If you think about what it means to continue to supply arms to Israel … last week the Gaza Ministry of Health published a list of all the Palestinian bodies, the people that had been killed that they’ve managed so far to identify – only the ones they’ve managed to identify.

“The first 14 pages were babies under the age of one.

“So a partial suspension is absolutely inadequate, it’s inconsistent with international law, and it really confirms the Government and the UK’s repeated failures to fulfil basic obligation of international law.”

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: “A Labour Government should be sanctioning Israel, not promising it an enhanced trade deal.

“A Labour Government should be imposing a two-wave arms embargo on Israel, not purchasing weapons.”

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.

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.

UN members politically pledge cash for peacekeeping amid budget crisis

By Aurélie Pugnet | Euractiv
Sep 23, 2024

“We have a shortfall which is higher than usual, and therefore the cash availability for our mission will be constrained this year,” Lacroix said about 2024. [EPA-EFE/STR]

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Despite strong backing from the UN General Assembly for well-funded peace and security operations, turning words into financial support remains challenging.

The Pact for the Future, adopted Sunday (22 September) by UN members, clearly states that “peace operations can only succeed when political solutions are actively pursued and they have predictable, adequate and sustained financing.”

However, the worldwide acknowledgment of the need for financial resources to continue peacekeeping operations and pay their staff and equipment follows another year of the UN struggling to make ends meet.

Despite UN members endorsing this non-binding declaration, the Pact is unlikely to spur a major change in the financial management of the operations and the UN’s budget in general.

Cash issues are a regular part of the UN’s struggles. Only earlier this spring, the organisation’s officials pressed for the budget gap to be filled, saying the UN ended last year with a “cash deficit of more than $400 million (€360 million).”

“There is currently a sort of cash crisis, particularly for peacekeeping, ” Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN’s under-secretary-general for the peacekeeping operations, told reporters, including Euractiv, earlier this month.

“We have a shortfall which is higher than usual, and therefore, the cash availability for our mission will be constrained this year,” Lacroix said about 2024.

In addition, the peacekeeping chief suggested a contradiction between the political and security interests in maintaining the UN’s Blue Helmet operations and the lack of financial contributions.

“One thing we keep saying is that if [member states] give us a mandate, there has to be adequate financial resources for that,” Lacroix added, calling for “consistency” from member states.

The UN peacekeeping budget amounts to $6.1 billion (€5.9 billion) for 11 operations, according to official data. For the period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, the UN members agreed to spend $5.7 billion (€5.1 billion).

But the money agreed to on paper does not always come into the UN’s coffins.

While the organisation’s budget depends on national contributions, UN members often pay their bills late – including the United States, the largest contributor, Geneva Solutions News reports.

“At the same time, we are aware that the public finances of our member states are under pressure – and most of the biggest financial contributors are under pressure,” Lacroix said.

UN mandates tend to be very long documents and broad in scope. UN officials have regularly said this reduces the impact that few understaffed and underfinanced Blue Helmet operations could have.

For this reason, Lacroix calls for operations’ mandates to be “focused” and with “realistic priorities.”

“We cannot do everything, so tasks must be prioritised.”

[Edited by Martina Monti]

Leading Russian lawmaker threatens to nuke Strasbourg after European Parliament vote

Euractiv.com with Reuters
Sep 19, 2024

 
File photo. Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin attend the 10th BRICS Parliamentary Forum in St.Petersburg, Russia, 11 July 2024. [Kremlin pool/EPA/EFE]

A close ally of President Vladimir Putin warned Western governments on Thursday (19 September) that a nuclear war would ensue if they gave the green light for Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia.

Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower house of parliament and a member of Putin’s Security Council, was responding to a vote in the European Parliament urging EU countries to give such approval to Kyiv.

The resolution, adopted on Thursday with 425 votes in favour, 131 against and 63 abstentions, states that without lifting current restrictions, Ukraine cannot fully exercise its right to self-defence and remains exposed to attacks on its population and infrastructure.

“What the European Parliament is calling for leads to a world war using nuclear weapons,” Volodin wrote on Telegram.

He said Europeans should understand that it would take Russia’s RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, known in the West as Satan II, just 3 minutes and 20 seconds to strike Strasbourg, where the European Parliament meets.

His message was entitled “For those who didn’t get it the first time” – an apparent reference to a warning by Putin last week that the West would be directly fighting Russia if it let Ukraine fire the long-range missiles onto Russian territory.

The Ukraine war has triggered the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which is considered to be the time when the two Cold War superpowers came closest to intentional nuclear war.

In a non-binding resolution adopted on Thursday, the European Parliament asked EU countries to “immediately lift restrictions on the use of Western weapons systems delivered to Ukraine against legitimate military targets on Russian territory.”

The European Parliament underlines that insufficient deliveries of ammunition and restrictions on their use risks offsetting the impact of efforts made to date. MEPs reiterate their call for member states to fulfil their March 2023 commitment to deliver one million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, and to accelerate the delivery of weapons, air defence systems and ammunition, including TAURUS missiles.

Volodin wrote: “If something like this happens, Russia will give a tough response using more powerful weapons. No one should have any illusions about this.” He said it appeared to Moscow that the West had forgotten the vast sacrifices made by the Soviet Union in World War Two.

The outgoing head of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, told The Times this week that the Kremlin leader had declared “many red lines” before but not escalated conflict with the West when they were crossed. Putin’s spokesman said his comment was dangerous and provocative.

(Edited by Georgi Gotev)

CLIMATE CRISIS

Hungary Danube waters reach decade high after Storm Boris

Euractiv.com with AFP
Sep 21, 2024

A photo taken with drone shows the flooded River Danube in central Budapest, Hungary, 21 September 2024. The rise of the water level is expected to peak in the capital city today. 

[EPA-EFE/Zoltan Mathe]

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The Danube peaked at a 10-year high in a heavily fortified Budapest on Saturday (21 September) with the water reaching the steps of parliament, after deadly Storm Boris lashed Europe.

Torrential rains and strong winds have led to widespread flooding in central and eastern Europe since last week, killing 24 people and devastating towns and villages.

As the swollen Danube waters have moved south, Hungarian emergency workers have lugged sandbags to fortify settlements, including Budapest, where the river has flooded the embankment up to the steps of parliament.

The water came close to 2013 record levels before it began to recede on Saturday.

“The last time it was this high I was only 10 or 11,” Beata Hargitai, a 22-year-old student, told AFP in downtown Budapest near the flooded area.

“To move around in the capital is a bit more tricky but manageable. I am happy to see that things seem to go pretty well, in an orderly manner,” she added.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has cancelled all his international travels this week and went to inspect Budapest’s flood protection work on Saturday, said the focus was “on controlling the flood” with some “hard days” ahead to make sure dykes hold.

Just north of Budapest, water has flooded the lower levels of houses near the Danube with people moving around on canoes in Szentendre town.

“The lower parts of our village are under water,” Vilmos Nemet, a 50-year-old cook who lives uphill in nearby Tahitotfalu village, some 25 kilometres north of Budapest, told AFP.

So far, 24 people have died in Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania as the flood waters have demolished houses and fields, and heavily damaged road and rail infrastructure.

The flooding damaged or destroyed more than 18,000 buildings and facilities in Poland, according to the first estimates announced by the government on Saturday.

Swollen rivers continued to threaten several settlements in western Poland, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk promising “massive aid” to the affected regions.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday announced 10 billion euros in funds for EU member nations reeling from the devastation.


Von der Leyen pledges billions of euros for flood-stricken regions

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has pledged EU-funded aid to help repair the damage caused by recent floods as she visited the western Polish city of Wroclaw on Thursday.

Experts say climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activities is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as torrential rains and floods.

France or Finland – whose industrial policy should prevail in Europe?


By Jonathan Packroff | Euractiv
Sep 20, 2024



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When presenting her new team of Commissioners earlier this week, President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted that the whole executive should be “committed” to restoring Europe‘s competitiveness.

Even more tellingly, in von der Leyen’s new team economic responsibilities are spread across numerous comissioners and as many as four executive vice-presidents – reflecting the fact that “around 20 member states wanted a strong economic portfolio,” she said on Tuesday.

In her mission letters to each and every commissioner, von der Leyen asked them to “draw on” the contents of the competitiveness report presented by Mario Draghi earlier this month (alongside the earlier paper by Enrico Letta), which highlighted that Europe must keep its eyes on one prize: increasing productivity.

What can the new picks do to live up to that task?

The choice of Frenchman Stéphane Séjourné as executive vice-president for prosperity and industrial strategy hints at a more dirigiste industrial policy.

But this would require a lot of money, which is why EU officials expect a “big debate on funding” over the next few years – a forecast that chimes with Emmanuel Macron recently piling pressure on Germany to double the EU budget from 2028, to ignite an “investment shock” for the European economy.

However, this week also offered a sobering perspective on how far subsidies can get you.

In Berlin, Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) has already tried out some French-style industrial policy – encouraged by the loosened post-pandemic framework for state aid.

As it turns out, not even the promise of €10 billion in German state aid, the largest subsidy ever for an individual factory, could help secure the €30 billion of total investment needed for chipmaker Intel’s new factory in Magdeburg. The company announced it has “paused” its plans this week for approximately two years due to financial troubles.

Similar problems plague steelmaker ThyssenKrupp and battery producer Northvolt, which were also meant to play a crucial part in the country’s industrial strategy (and are still due to receive €2 billion and €900 million in state aid respectively).

Long-lived criticisms that governments are bad in picking winners were not so wrong after all, it would seem.

What is it, then, that Europe can do to get back on track?

Timo Jaatinen, Permanent Secretary of the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs, advocates a different approach. He believes Europe should secure funding for research and development (R&D), rather than subsidies, if it wants to shore up its economic standing in the world.

“In Finland, we see that research and innovation… are really, truly the heart of industrial policy and competitiveness policies,” Jaatinen said at an industry conference held by umbrella group BDI in Berlin on Wednesday (18 September), arguing that is a vital driver “if [Europe] really wants to solve the competitive gap it is are facing.”

According to Word Bank data from 2022, Finland is among the few EU countries (alongside Germany, Belgium and Austria) that can compete with the US on R&D spending as share of GDP (see Chart of the Week).

But Jaatinen stressed Europe should play a role, too.

“We want the European Union […] to be the champion, and therefore the EU’s competitiveness funding should be seen as the Champions League,” he pointed out, adding that “EU funding should focus on research and innovation based on excellence and open competition”.

Speaking to Euractiv in the margins of the conference, Jaatinen also voiced criticism towards Habeck’s approach.

“Instead of direct state aid and supporting such industries that compete in the marketplace, we should emphasise more research and innovation in new sectors,” he said.

“Why I mentioned this is, of course, because we are now discussing about the coming European budget,” he said, citing discussions on how to balance existing spending with new priorities such as defence.

Early negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), which will start in 2028, have already kicked off across capitals – with several German ministries holding a meeting on the issue on Thursday.

At the moment, European research spending mostly comes through the Horizon Europe programme, which at €95 billion amounts to around 8% of the overall EU budget for 2021-27. But it is currently dwarfed by the two largest funds – the Common Agricultural Policy and Cohesion Policy – and at risk of being squeezed even further.

“In this very complex political puzzle, we have to ensure that there is enough funding for research and innovation,” Jaatinen stressed, before heading off to talks with the German government.

With Germany – as the largest net financial contributor – playing a decisive role in budget talks, Berlin will heavily influence the bloc’s upcoming industrial policy. It will soon have to take a stance on whether the French or the Finnish model should prevail.

Poland leverages industrial legacy for wind economic bet


By Nathan Canas | Euractiv


Poland is targeting 5.9 GW of offshore wind by 2030 and 17.9 GW by 2040. [Shutterstock/Voyagerix]
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Poland is leveraging its industrial heritage to reap the economic benefits of offshore wind, but the PiS-era political legacy is hampering efforts to develop the bigger prize of onshore wind.

Spurred by ambitious EU climate targets and the need to move away from Russian fossil fuels and diversify its energy pool, Poland is ramping up its renewable energy capacity.

Poland’s share of renewables in its electricity production has seen quite the uptake, increasing from 15% in 2019 to 27% in 2023, according to a report by NGO Bankwatch CEE.

Poland’s main focus is offshore wind in the Baltic Sea, not only because of the Baltic Sea’s energy potential of 33 GW, or about half of the country’s current installed power generation capacity, but also because of the associated economic and employment opportunities it brings to Poland’s heavily industrialised economy.

Speaking at a Euractiv-organised event on offshore wind in the Baltic Sea on 10 September, Maciej Gorski, COO of Polish state-owned utility Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE), spoke of the role of local companies, noting that they “are able to participate in the whole supply chain across the life cycle of those (offshore wind) projects.“
Sectoral agreement

Poland’s efforts to leverage the economic opportunities of offshore wind date back to 2021, when the government agreed to set up “a permanent platform for cooperation” on offshore wind that brings together the government, local authorities, investors, operators, supply and service chain representatives as well as research bodies to maximise the participation of Polish entrepreneurs in the country’s offshore wind farm supply chain.

The agreement includes explicit local content targets to stimulate local economic activity in the offshore wind sector.

The first offshore wind farms should have 20-30% of their value sourced from Polish companies, rising to at least 50% for projects deployed after 2030. The targets cover all aspects of wind farms, from pre-implementation to installation and operation.

The agreement aims to employ 30,000 Poles in the offshore wind sector by 2030 and generate €470 million in exports from the sector. By 2040 these figures should rise to 60,000 and €1.2 billion respectively.

Particular attention will be paid to Poland’s traditional shipbuilding industry as the agreement aims to reorient shipyards to build and repair vessels dedicated to offshore wind operations.
Offshore opportunities

Over the past year, several major offshore industrial investments have been announced in Poland, including by companies such as the Vestas factory, which will produce nacelles and blades for wind turbines, and factories such as Baltic Towers and Windar.

The only offshore wind farm currently under construction is Baltic Power, with a capacity of 1.2 GW.

More than 20% of the project’s lifecycle value is being sourced locally, including the construction of two offshore substations in the historic shipbuilding cities of Gdańsk and Gdynia, according to the developers.

The components for wind turbines’ steel foundations are being produced at four plants spread across Poland, and the power cables are being manufactured in the northern Polish city of Bydgoszcz.

According to the Polish Wind Energy Association, “the national metallurgical industry is able to supply most of the steel needed for towers and nacelles […] and can fully meet the demand for concrete, aluminium, copper and other essential raw materials.”

With its industry and resources, Poland aims to become a “true Baltic industrial hub for wind energy”, according to the same association.

In addition to Baltic Power, there are currently eight offshore wind projects with pre-construction permits in Poland, WindEurope confirmed to Euractiv.
Obstacles for onshore

Beyond Poland’s offshore potential, the country has even greater potential for the onshore market.

However, the mass deployment of on-land turbines is currently limited by planning restrictions that require turbines to be built at a minimum distance of 700 metres from buildings, compared to the lower EU standard of 500 metres.

While the centre-right government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk is seeking to relax these requirements in 2023, Poland is grappling with the legacy of a 2016 decision to dramatically restrict wind turbines under the far-right PiS government.

“If the government does not significantly improve the regulatory environment in which onshore wind energy operates, not only will the sector not reach 19 GW of (onshore) installed capacity by 2030, but it will also not even reach 16 GW,” warns the Polish Wind Energy Association.

In addition, Poland’s energy mix is still largely dominated by fossil fuels (72.9% in 2023), and its electricity distribution network will need major upgrades to accommodate the energy from wind farms.

As a result, Poland still needs investment and political will if it is to deliver on its green energy aspirations.

[Edited by Donagh Cagney/Daniel Eck]