European War 7 Unlimited Resources
Charo Lemucchi
The economy plays a vital role in our lives by providing access to employment, products and services that help us thrive. Unfortunately, with its key sectors like agriculture, energy and transport, our economy also harms the environment and causes climate change. Europe needs a circular, carbon-neutral and zero-pollution economy.
Our highly globalised economy provides us all sorts of products and services from local produce and tropical fruits to inexpensive clothing, from hi-tech gadgets to vacation packages across the planet. The European economy is active in many sectors, including industry, agriculture, energy, transport, construction, manufacturing, tourism and a wide range of services, offering millions of jobs in countless companies, stores and offices.
Despite significant contributions to our living standards, our current production systems are not sustainable. They extract more resources than nature can replenish and release more pollutants than nature and people can tolerate without experiencing harmful effects.
We are consuming too much too. Goods and people are being transported further, piling on greenhouse gas emissions and causing even more pollution. When we are done with those goods, we throw them away, adding to waste and pollution. In our globalised world, Europe's consumption has impacts well beyond its borders.
To achieve true sustainability, Europe needs to transform key systems and their sectors, including agriculture, transport, energy, industry and construction, into a circular economy. Our success will also depend on our ability to finance sustainability.
Using resources for longer, preventing waste and using waste as a resource are core elements of a circular economy. Combined, these practices can help reduce environmental pressure both within Europe and outside our borders.
EU policies related to waste and resources are focused on improving resource efficiency, reducing waste generation and improving waste management. These initiatives will allow the EU to move towards a circular, low-carbon economy and overall carbon neutrality.
The Waste Framework Directive introduces a range of new provisions aiming at reducing waste, including bans on certain plastic items, targets for separation collection and recycled content for plastic bottles, and producer responsibility schemes for cigarette butts and fishing gear.
These policies are framed within and supported by wider EU policy initiatives, in particular the European Green Deal and the zero pollution action plan, and sectoral policies, such as the Common Agricultural Policy and the EU industrial strategy.
The current linear economy continually increases its demands of scarce natural resources. By using and consuming in a more circular way, we can substantially reduce the impacts of human economic activities on the environment, including on biodiversity.
Main laws: Waste Framework Directive and other EU waste laws, Proposal for a Regulation on Batteries, Directive on single-use plastics, Ecodesign working plan 2016-2019, new Fertilising Products regulation, Water reuse regulation
European Resources for Mediation Support (ERMES) III is an EU project established by the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP) under its assistance for conflict prevention, peace-building and crisis preparedness (Art.4).
The project is currently in its third phase, which started in August 2018 and will end in August 2024. The first two phases of ERMES (I and II) were executed from 2014-2016 and 2016-2018. These two phases were implemented by a different consortium of specialized organizations lead by Transtec.
Syria & Yemen: To enhance the role of women in peace processes ERMES organized several workshops and events to promote the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and enhance the role of women in peace processes. ERMES supported a workshop among Syrian women activists and networks to build cohesion and capacities on conflict analysis, negotiation skills and strategic communications. ERMES also organized a high-level dialogue between prominent Syrian and Yemeni female political representatives and representatives from civil society to share experience about the role of women in peace processes, mediation, peace building and conflict resolution.
Central African Republic: In support of the CAR Government and the African Initiative, the EU mobilised a senior expert in process design providing technical advice. The EU also organised several capacity building and strategy workshops on security arrangements, natural resources and process design. Recently, ERMES supported an analytical paper on the 2019 peace agreement.
Global exchange on mediation and dialogue: To enhance exchange on mediation and dialogue processes, ERMES supports biennial workshops, co-hosted by the United Nations (UN) Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and the European External Action Service, which target intergovernmental organizations with existing mediation support capacities. The aim of these meetings is to promote engagement and the sharing of experiences for effective mediation support.
Requests for ERMES support can be triggered by any EU foreign policy actor or mechanism, including EU Delegations, EEAS/DEVCO geographic and thematic divisions, EUSRs and Envoys, as well as Crisis Platforms. As ERMES is funded under the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP), the mobilisation of the service is subject to the principle of subsidiarity, i.e. ERMES shall not be used to respond to needs which could in principle be addressed under other, mainstream geographic or thematic cooperation instruments.
Requests will be treated on a first-come-first-served basis, assessing their cost effectiveness and potential impact. The management will be under the responsibility of the ERMES Programme Manager and the ERMES Key Expert Team. The execution will be in full coordination with the entity requesting the service.
The consortium responsible for implementing the ERMES III facility comprises the College of Europe , as the Consortium leader, and five consortium members: the European Centre for Electoral Support( ECES), the Institute of Research and Education on Negotiation (ESSEC IRENE),Fondation Hirondelle, Interpeace, the European Forum for International Mediation and Dialogue (MediatEUr).
The consortium members have extensive experience in providing mediation and dialogue support in the framework of international projects in volatile and challenging contexts. The consortium members have direct and rapid access to highly skilled experts, who have provided and continue to provide advice and assistance in mediation and dialogue all over the world.
JEREMIE is a joint initiative set up in 2007 by the European Commission (Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy) in co-operation with the European Investment Bank Group and other financial institutions to enhance cohesion across the EU. The JEREMIE instrument was set up to deploy part of the EU Structural Funds allocated to the regional and national Managing Authorities through new risk finance initiatives for SMEs. In this regard, JEREMIE is a predecessor to the current ESIF-backed programmes managed by EIF under the new 2014-2020 programming period.
JEREMIE offered EU Member States, through their national or regional Managing Authorities, the opportunity to use part of their EU Structural Funds to finance SMEs in a more efficient and sustainable way. JEREMIE's financial resources have been deployed through selected financial intermediaries across the EU, which have provided loans, equity and guarantees to SMEs.
At the end of 2015, EIF managed 13 JEREMIE holding funds for a total of EUR 1.1bn, involving 50 financial intermediaries and resulting in 84 transactions. In the course of 2015, additional commitments were made to the holding funds in Romania (EUR 75m) and Slovakia (EUR 40m) with the implementation period of the financial instruments being extended into 2016. Furthermore, given the revolving nature of financial instruments, several Member States and regions have entrusted the management of reflows from initial JEREMIE investments to EIF. Accordingly, EIF will redeploy these legacy funds in the respective markets through existing and new financial instruments targeting the support of SME access to finance.
The entrepreneurs below benefited from JEREMIE support which allowed EIF financial intermediaries to give them the necessary kick-start to launch or expand their businesses and carry out their ambitions.
The Commission supports the creation of a hub that will enable Austria, Belgium and Slovenia and project promoters to navigate through the various programmes and funding instruments in order to identify how they could best use EU support. It will also provide networking, knowledge sharing and guidance and resources services, as well as targeted services to build the capacity of public authorities for reform design and implementation and project promoters for the planning, development and implementation of large-scale health system transformation projects.
Council Conclusions of the Slovenian Presidency, Resolution of the European Parliament on Cohesion policy as an instrument to reduce health care disparities, G20 Rome Declaration of 21 May 2021, National Recovery and Resilience Plans, National Operational Programs.
This cluster aims at reducing environmental degradation, halting and reversing the decline of biodiversity on land, inland waters and sea and better managing natural resources through transformative changes of the economy and society in both urban and rural areas.
It will ensure food and nutrition security for all within planetary boundaries through knowledge, innovation and digitalisation in agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture and food systems and steer and accelerate the transition to a low carbon, resource efficient circular economy and sustainable bioeconomy, including forestry.
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