Steven Maijoor delivers keynote address at Euro Finance Week

The Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), Steven Maijoor, has delivered the keynote address at the beginning of the Governance Risk Management and Compliance Day of Euro Finance Week in Frankfurt.

In his address Mr Maijoor looked back at the implementation of MiFID II highlighting key achievements in both retail and wholesale markets since coming into force in January 2018 such as:

improved transparency in financial markets;
the move of trading onto regulated trading venues;
improved information to clients on the costs of products;
research unbundling; and
the use of product intervention powers on CFDs and binary options.

He acknowledged though that while these were positive developments there are also areas where improvements may need to be considered to ensure that MiFID II delivers on its objectives and is applied in a convergent and coherent manner across the European Union.

The speech also highlighed forthcoming MiFID II related work, aside from its contribution to the many MiFID II follow-up review reports, such as ESMA’s contribution to the Commission’s report on the disclosure of fees, commissions and non-monetary benefits as well as the report on the mechanism for banning certain products; PRIIPS and the consolidated tape.

COPEAM and EIB in Amman for an international journalism workshop on climate change and sustainable development

A greater media visibility of the challenges related to climate change, particularly in the Mediterranean area is the goal of COPEAM (Permanent Conference of the Mediterranean Audiovisual Operators) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), which have launched today in Amman (Jordan) an international workshop for radio and TV journalists on “Climate Challenges and Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean Region”.

The workshop, taking place at the Jordan Media Institute, was launched by H.E. Maria Hadjitheodosiou, Ambassador of the European Union to Jordan, who underlined that the European Union “is responding to climate change through ambitious policies within Europe and close cooperation with partners such as Jordan, within the EU Neighbourhood region. These efforts would not have been achieved without a strong role for Media, as the EU believes that advocacy and public awareness building through different Media routes are instrumental in developing broad understanding of Climate Change consequences and enhancing collective actions to overcome their impact.”

In the past seven years, the EU provided more than EUR 400 million euro in support of Water, Green Energy, and Solid Waste Management sectors, positioning the EU as a key partner for Jordan in fighting climate change.

During a three day period, major experts from the scientific and the information fields will enhance the skills and the knowledge of 20 journalists, coming from 14 radio and TV broadcasters of the Balkans, the South-Mediterranean and the Middle East, with a special focus on the United Nations’ international framework in view of the next COP25 in Madrid. A visit to environmentally-relevant sites in Jordan will also be organized, giving the participants the chance to analyse some case studies on the field.

“Jordan lies in a climate sensitive area that suffers from a net reduction in rainfall. A good example to tackle this is Wadi Al Arab water project. The European Union has financed this climate adaptation project to improve the resilience of communities in the northern governorates to extreme droughts and to overexploitation of the current fragile local groundwater sources. It will withdraw water in the Jordan Valley, treat it and pump it via the Wadi al Arab to supply the governorates of Irbid, Ajloun and Jerash.” Said Sander Van Kooten EIB’s representative in Jordan.

To this regard, COPEAM Secretary General Claudio Cappon has expressed the wish that “such partnership with the EIB – launched in 2015 – can improve the journalists’ reporting skills about these extremely relevant issues, and contribute to raise the general public’s awareness about environment and climate change in the region”.

EIB in the region

Private consumption: Textiles EU's fourth largest cause of environmental pressures after food, housing, transport

The EEA briefing ‘Textiles in Europe’s circular economy’ presents the latest evidence on environmental and climate impacts from the consumption of textile products ranging from clothing and footwear to carpets and furniture in the EU. The briefing is based on a technical report by the EEA’s European Topic Centre on Waste and Materials in a Green Economy (ETC/WMGE).

According to the EEA study, the production and handling of clothing, footwear and household textiles that were sold in the EU in 2017 used an estimated 1.3 tonnes of primary raw materials and 104 cubic metres of water per EU person. About 85 % of these materials and 92 % of the water were used in other regions of the world.

For water consumption and the use of primary raw materials, clothing, footwear and household textiles represent the fourth highest consumption category in the EU, after food, housing and transport. The same product group causes the second highest pressure on land use (after food), and also a considerable amount of chemical and water pollution, including plastic microfibres released through washing, as well as various negative social impacts.

The EEA briefing also shows that the production of clothing, footwear and household textiles for Europeans caused an estimated 654 kg of CO₂ equivalent emissions per EU capita, making textiles the fifth largest source of CO₂ emissions linked to private consumption. About three quarters of these emissions took place outside of the EU.

Circular economy for textiles

Circular economy policies and principles, such as eco-design and reusing, hold potential to mitigate the environmental and climate impacts of textile production and consumption, the EEA briefing states. Current EU policies require Member States to collect textiles separately by 2025 and ensure that waste collected separately is not incinerated or landfilled.

According to the EEA, circular business models in textiles — such as leasing, sharing, and take-back and resale — need to be scaled up with the support of policies addressing materials and design, production and distribution, use and reuse, collection and recycling. This can include policies such as sustainable production and product policies, eco design and durability standards, green public procurement, safe and sustainable materials, waste prevention and extended producer responsibility, and labelling and standards.

More than half a million asylum applications lodged in the EU+ so far in 2019

Per capita applications indicate high pressure on smaller EU+ countries.

More than half a million (515 825) asylum applications have been lodged in the EU+ during the first nine months of 2019, up by 10% compared to the same period a year ago.

The proportion of applications receiving a positive decision (known as “recognition rate”) so far this year was 34%, compared to 33% in the first nine months of 2018.

Most applications were lodged by nationals of Syria, Afghanistan and Venezuela. These three citizenships continued to account for a quarter of all asylum applications in the EU+. For the sixth consecutive month, Afghan applications outnumbered Venezuelan, and peaked in September, when more applications were lodged (> 5 600) than in any month since December 2016.

Data suggest that, so far in 2019, EU+ countries characterised by lower population size were under particularly high pressure. For example, in July the most applications per capita (relative to the countries’ population size) were lodged in Cyprus and Malta, followed by Greece, Sweden and Luxembourg. As of the spring of 2019, Cyprus had been receiving, on average, about 1 500 applications per million inhabitants each month, more than twice as many as Malta (close to 700) and about three times as many as Greece (over 450).

At the end of September, there were some 507 800 applications awaiting a decision in first instance in the EU+. In addition, an estimated 381 700 applications were awaiting a decision at the appeal or review stage at the end of July 2019, amounting to some 890 000 cases pending at all instances overall. This means that currently the pressure is higher on first-instance authorities. One in four pending applications pertained either to Syrian, Afghan or Venezuelan nationals.

For more information and an interactive data visualisation, please visit the Latest Asylum Trends page.

Any further information may be obtained from the European Asylum Support Office on the following email address: press@easo.europa.eu.

Video made with Flourish https://flourish.studio/

Young migrants: Is Europe creating a lost generation?

Delays and serious challenges integrating young refugees who have fled war and persecution risk creating a lost generation, finds a new Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) report. While it identifies some good practices, it urges Member States to learn from each other to give these young people an adequate chance in life.