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La « force de réaction aux crises » de l’UE est désormais « opérationnelle » et prête à être déployée après avoir obtenu le soutien politique des 27 États membres de l’UE, a annoncé mardi 20 mai dans la soirée la cheffe de la diplomatie européenne, Kaja Kallas.

The post La force d’intervention militaire de l’UE est désormais « opérationnelle » appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Written by Marketa Pape.

The recent cost-of-living crisis has exacerbated a longstanding problem with housing affordability in the EU. Higher building costs and mortgage rates, together with a related decrease in housing construction, have made access to home ownership more difficult. At the same time, investors use housing as a vehicle for investment. Growing numbers of people are struggling to access affordable housing, whether to rent or to buy, particularly in cities. Across Europe, homelessness is rising.

In addition, many residential buildings need to be made energy-efficient and decarbonised in order to achieve the EU’s energy and climate goals, lower energy consumption and reduce energy bills.

While the EU has no direct competence in the area of housing and only a limited scope of action to address social issues, it provides relevant guidance and funding, and has carried out several initiatives to support housing. Furthermore, certain EU rules have a indirect impact on housing provision, starting with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. In parallel, many sources of EU funding are available for various housing-related purposes in the current financing period.

In the run-up to the 2024 European elections, the lack of adequate and affordable housing, and the need to address it at EU level, emerged as a concern across the whole of the EU and the entire political spectrum. The new European Commission) is giving housing policy visibility and weight by proposing a coordinated approach. For the first time, housing has become a distinct part of a commissioner’s portfolio. Dan Jørgensen, the new Commissioner for Energy and Housing, is responsible for dealing with several complex issues relating to housing.

In 2024, the spotlight was on affordable housing, while 2025 is seeing a scaling-up of housing-related policy developments across the EU institutions, including discussions, consultations and funding initiatives.

This updates a briefing published in January 2025.

Read the complete brifeing on ‘A coordinated EU approach to housing‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

La Commission européenne souhaite instaurer des frais de 2 euros sur chaque colis entrant dans l’Union européenne, en réponse à la forte hausse des importations de faible valeur liée à la popularité croissante des boutiques en ligne.

The post Afflux de petits colis : Bruxelles propose des frais de 2 euros appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Skopje figure chaque année en tête des villes les plus polluées au monde. La Macédoine du Nord avait bien adopté en 2018 un plan de lutte contre la pollution de l'air, mais rien n'a été entrepris depuis. Et le nouveau gouvernement conservateur ne fait même pas semblant de s'intéresser à la question...

- Articles / Prizma, Environnement, Macédoine du Nord, Société, Balkans pollution atmosphérique, Une - Diaporama, Une - Diaporama - En premier

Skopje figure chaque année en tête des villes les plus polluées au monde. La Macédoine du Nord avait bien adopté en 2018 un plan de lutte contre la pollution de l'air, mais rien n'a été entrepris depuis. Et le nouveau gouvernement conservateur ne fait même pas semblant de s'intéresser à la question...

- Articles / Prizma, Environnement, Macédoine du Nord, Société, Balkans pollution atmosphérique, Une - Diaporama, Une - Diaporama - En premier

La Commission européenne s’apprête à assouplir les critères d’application du concept de pays tiers « sûr », selon une nouvelle proposition publiée mardi 20 mai. Cette révision pourrait profondément modifier les règles européennes en matière d’asile.

The post Migrations : la Commission facilite les retours en revoyant la définition de « pays tiers sûr » appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Credit: Joseph Barrientos on Unsplash
 
The Third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) will be held in Nice, France, from June 9 to 13, 2025. This event will bring together world leaders, scientists, and stakeholders to discuss the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans. The conference's overarching theme is "Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean".

By Peter Thomson
NICE, France, May 21 2025 (IPS)

The United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) takes place every three years and in just a few weeks, the international community will gather in Nice, France, at a time when the International Science Council has called for the world to address the new reality of a disrupted Earth system.

Research has found that global human health is intrinsically linked to the health of the ocean, but consequences predicted by science are beginning to confront us, with the current global coral bleaching and mortality event being the most intense on record, sea surface temperatures continuing to skyrocket and microplastics found in 60 percent of fish, it is now impossible to ignore that climate change and associated environmental stressors are impacting the ocean system and human wellbeing.

Credit: Pexels – Pixabay

Despite this linkage, UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14), which is meant to support the conservation and sustainable use of ocean resources, remains the least funded of any SDG—receiving just 0.01 percent of all development funding.

UNOC is therefore a crucial moment for the world to come together and take bold action in support of sustainable ocean economies.

Three special events will be held in the days before the conference: the One Ocean Science Congress which will gather the world’s leading ocean scientists to deliberate on the science we need for the ocean we want; the Blue Economy and Finance Forum, which will focus on transformative financing for ocean action; and the third will launch a coalition of cities and coastal communities to advance global and local response to sea level rise.

Climate change has already led to a four-inch rise in sea level since satellite measurement began in 1993 and the UN has calculated that 900 million people living in low-lying coastal areas are going to be placed in acute danger.

All three special event subjects demand concerted international attention in these challenging times.

Thankfully, important work has already begun. In 2022, the world agreed that in order to prevent a massive loss of biodiversity on this planet, we must set about protecting 30% of the planet by 2030 through the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

In pursuance of that goal, a 30×30 Ocean Action Plan will be presented at UNOC to give attention to new funding models for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), and with the opportunity to ratify the High Seas Treaty enabling of protected areas in the High Seas.

It is hoped that by the time the Nice conference is underway that the required number of national ratifications of the High Seas Treaty will have been received, thus allowing the treaty to come into force this year.

However, our management of the ocean must be as interconnected as the ocean itself—the 100% Alliance, is a crucial opportunity where countries commit to sustainably manage 100% of their national waters through evidence-based Sustainable Ocean Plans. By joining this initiative, countries can show their ambition and commitment to a more sustainably productive and prosperous ocean economy that benefits both people and nature.

The Alliance’s comprehensive management approach, coupled with the 30×30 goal, will ensure that new MPAs are not only established, but are effectively managed and financed as part of an integrated ocean stewardship agenda.

Meanwhile, a commitment to science-based sustainable management of fish-stocks must extend to the cessation of harmful fisheries subsidies. The latter are largely enjoyed by industrial fishing fleets, busy depleting the ocean of its declining resources.

At the WTO in Geneva the necessary agreement to end harmful subsidies is very close to reality, with the salutary effect of the UN Ocean Conference likely to facilitate the desired WTO consensus.

The conference will work towards the curtailment of marine pollution and will in tandem be urging the attainment this year of a robust, internationally-binding plastics treaty. In this task we must not stumble, for agreement on the proposed treaty is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to control plastic production and pollution.

There is no doubt that control is required, for it is estimated that somewhere between one and three million tonnes of microplastics enter the ocean in a year.

Scientific evidence is clear that these particles can absorb and accumulate toxic pollutants, and that they can cross biological barriers, posing risks to the health of oceanic food webs. I emphasise the word health, for emerging evidence of the harm being done to humans by the unregulated chemicals present in many plastics, is of growing concern to us all.

At the conclusion of the 10th Our Ocean Conference (OOC) in Busan, Korea, at the end of April, it was announced that the annual meetings have generated $160 billion over the past decade in voluntary commitments to improve the ocean. An important achievement in mobilizing the necessary finance, but a much greater global ambition is required to address the urgent challenges.

As we prepare for the 3rd UN Ocean Conference may we all dedicate ourselves to the true course set by multilateralism and the observance of international law. Without further delay, may we commit ourselves to a just transition to net zero, to an equitably electrified world powered by renewable energy.

Let us find hope in progress and allow reason and innovation to overcome the mounting challenges ahead. Let us take the tide while it serves, and through faithful implementation of SDG14, may we bequeath a healthy ocean to our children and grandchildren.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Excerpt:

Ambassador Peter Thomson is UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean

Mardi 20 mai, une majorité de ministres des Affaires étrangères de l’UE s’est prononcée en faveur d’une révision de l’accord d’association UE-Israël dans le but d’accentuer la pression sur le pays afin qu’il lève son blocus humanitaire de la bande de Gaza.

The post Blocus de Gaza : l’UE va réexaminer ses relations commerciales avec Israël appeared first on Euractiv FR.

George Simion will challenge the presidential election results at the Constitutional Court, accusing France and Moldova of interference.

Mentzen, distancing himself from both the government and PiS, has become a wild card whose young, anti-establishment base is now a prize for the final contenders.

The move – aligning Rome with Russia, Iran, and Israel – has sparked backlash, especially given the Meloni government's contentious record on COVID-19 vaccines.

In today’s edition of The Capitals, read about Sweden banning the purchase of OnlyFans content, Rome sitting out the WHO pandemic agreement, rekindling criticism over its COVID stance, and so much more.

Le soulagement prévaut pour tous les Roumains qui redoutaient la victoire du candidat d'extrême droite à la présidentielle, pour les femmes et toutes les minorités, mais ne s'agit-il pas d'un simple sursis ? Reportage.

- Articles / Roumanie vote, Roumanie, Une - Diaporama - En premier, Politique, Courrier des Balkans, Une - Diaporama

Augustin Ponyo Matata is found guilty of his part in embezzling about $245m.

Czech President Petr Pavel warned coordination with the United States is still falling short.

Americas BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services won a $138.5 million deal, which provides engineering services, installation engineering, equipment integration, overhauls, design engineering for airborne capabilities, test and evaluation, user and maintainer training, and on-demand operational support in support of various airborne capabilities for a variety of manned and unmanned airborne platforms for the Navy. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Maryland, and is expected to be completed October 2030. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competed; one offer was received. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Anduril just gave the world a closer look at “Fury,” its next-generation uncrewed fighter jet built to team up with human pilots in the skies. An episode of CBS’s 60 Minutes aired Sunday featured Anduril founder Palmer Luckey walking viewers through the aircraft’s development, offering a rare look inside the hangar where the drone is being pieced together. Middle East & Africa The UK, France and Canada have warned Israel they will take “concrete actions” if it continues an “egregious” expansion of military operations in Gaza. Sir Keir Starmer joined the French […]

The judge orders the migrants to be kept in US government custody, holding the plane on the tarmac if necessary.

Parliament and Council negotiators have reached a provisional agreement to improve the functioning of European Works Councils and strengthen their role.
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Parliament and Council negotiators have reached a provisional agreement to improve the functioning of European Works Councils and strengthen their role.
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Parliament and Council negotiators have reached a provisional agreement to improve the functioning of European Works Councils and strengthen their role.
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP