European Investment Bank, in cooperation with the Commission, starts disbursing EUR 1.59 billion package to aid Ukraine
Yesterday the European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU bank, disbursed the first tranches of the EUR 1.59 billion package of the Ukraine Solidarity Urgent Response, supported by an EU guarantee and developed in close cooperation with the European Commission. The package was approved on 25 July.This first disbursement of EUR 500 million will help the Ukrainian government cover priority short-term financing needs, ensure urgent repairs of damaged road, bridges and railway infrastructure. It will also support strategic state-owned companies — Ukravtodor, Ukraine’s roads agency, and Ukraine rail company Ukrzaliznytsya. Repairs of the train network, roads and bridges will help Ukraine keep people, goods and grain moving. With Ukraine being one of the biggest exporters of grain in the world, these vital interventions will help its economy recover and improve connectivity with the EU. Further payments are scheduled for the coming days. A press release has been published online.
Circular economy: new EU rules to allow use of recycled plastics in food packaging
Today, the Commission has adopted new rules on the safety of recycled plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food. This Regulation will set clear rules to ensure that recycled plastic can be safely used in food packaging in the EU. It will contribute to increasing the overall sustainability of the food system and achieving the objectives of the Circular Economy Action Plan. Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, said: “To lower our dependency on primary raw materials and build a fully circular economy, we need to boost the market for recycled plastics and significantly reduce plastic waste in the food sector and beyond. Plastics are useful to preserve food, but their use has to be sustainable. Today’s new rules enable food manufacturers to use more recycled plastics in food packaging. This is an important step towards safe and sustainable use of recycled plastics in the food sector.” Commissioner in charge of Health and Food safety, Stella Kyriakides, said: “The EU needs new rules to produce safe recycled plastics that can be trusted by food businesses and consumers. With around 50% of all plastic packaging in the EU used for food products, we need to ensure that this sector can transition towards a more sustainable food production safely and efficiently – using more recycled plastic is key to achieve this. Protecting our environment and the health of our citizens are two sides of the same coin, and our new rules will deliver on these objectives!” The Regulation makes it possible to authorise recycling processes for manufacturing safe recycled plastic materials for use in food packaging. It will also help the recycling industry establish suitable ways for recycling plastics that presently cannot be recycled into food packaging. In addition, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will have a clearer basis to evaluate the suitability of recycling technologies and the safety of the recycled plastic in food packaging manufactured with processes using these technologies. The Regulation will allow granting individual authorisations for more than 200 mechanical PET (polyethylene terephthalate) recycling processes, which will help the industry to meet the binding 2025 target of 25% recycled plastic in PET beverage bottles. In addition, the new Regulation will establish a public register of recycling processes, recyclers, and recycling installations under its scope, providing an increased level of transparency.
International Day of Democracy: Joint Statement by High Representative/Vice-President Borrell and Vice-President Šuica
On the occasion of the International Day of Democracy, High Representative/Vice-President, Josep Borrell, and Vice-President for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Šuica, have issued a joint statement: “The events we have been witnessing over the past year are a stark reminder of the threats that democracy faces across the globe, including on our European continent. They have however also unequivocally proven our citizens’ strong conviction to the values and ideals that underpin democratic societies. By launching a brutal war against Ukraine, President Putin unleashed an unjustified aggression against a free and sovereign democratic European country, and a violent attack on the international rules-based order. The EU has reacted firmly against Russia´s aggression, demonstrating our unambiguous commitment to defend democracy, in the European Union and beyond. Globally, we are working with our partners around the world to defend more assertively democratic values and human rights. We stand with all the courageous people around the world who fight for their civil liberties on a daily basis, for human rights, for the rule of law, for free and independent media, often at great personal risk. Within the EU, we need to shield ourselves from malign interference. The Conference on the Future of Europe concluded its deliberations in May 2022. It was a unique exercise in deliberative democracy, held on a scale never seen before, which provided the opportunity to European citizens to make their voice heard and make a lasting impact on policy-making in the European Union. In response to the Conference on the Future of Europe, President von der Leyen stated in her State of the Union address, that European Citizen Panels will now become a regular feature of our democratic life. Citizens are not an object of democracy. They are primarily participants, across all generations. 2022 is also the European Year of Youth. The present and future of democracy is in the hands of young people. The EU is committed to empower them and to enable them to have this important space to make a difference, to inspire positive change and to shape and steer the future of democracy, everywhere. Democracy itself evolves constantly. We too must evolve with it. Each year on the International Day of Democracy it is useful to take stock of how far we have come in building an ecosystem of democratic innovation and where we want to go. Together, we can build a democracy fit for the future.” The full statement is available online.
Source: Cyprus News Agency