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Tag: Federica Mogherini

  • U.S. measures against Cuba are unlawful – EU

    European Union Foreign Policy Chief, Federica Mogherini, on Thursday said the U.S. law, allowing lawsuits against foreign firms active in Cuba, is contrary to international law and undermines trust in the trans-Atlantic partnership.

    As part of White House efforts to increase pressure on Havana, in April the U.S. announced changes to the so-called Helms Burton Act, which would come into effect on May 2.

    Specifically, Washington decided to lift its suspension of Title III, under which U.S. citizens of Cuban descent can sue foreign firms and individuals using property confiscated from them by the Cuban government after the country’s 1959 revolution.

    “Those who use such property will also face visa restrictions to the U.S.,’’ Washington announced.

    According to Mogherini, the EU deeply regrets the move.

    “The EU considers the extra-territorial application of unilateral restrictive measures to be contrary to international law.

    “The decision to activate Title III is a breach of the commitments undertaken in the EU-U.S. agreements of 1997 and 1998,’’ the statement says.

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    “This will cause unnecessary friction and undermines trust and predictability in the transatlantic partnership.

    “The EU will draw on all appropriate measures to address the effects of the US measures,’’ Mogherini said.

    She cited the bloc’s rights under the World Trade Organisation and the EU’s so-called Blocking Statute aimed at protecting European companies if they are sued.

    Act III of the Helms Burton Act, introduced in 1996, had until now been suspended by every U.S. administration.

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  • Foreign Minister calls for responsibility in migration row

    EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called on member states to take “more responsibility” for migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea, as the issue made its way onto the agenda of an EU defence ministers’ meeting in Vienna.

    Italy’s populist government has taken a hard-line stance on migration, refusing to disembark people rescued at sea unless other EU member states offer to take them in.

    The issue is threatening Operation Sophia, an EU naval operation to fight human trafficking off the coast of Libya, which is set to run until the end of the year.

    When it was established in 2015, member states agreed that any migrants rescued would be taken to Italy.

    Rome is now demanding a change to those rules, threatening to close its ports to Operation Sophia’s vessels otherwise.

    Mogherini, who is Italian, argued that the management of migration flow is a common European issue, not one for a single country.

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    “This is why we have a EU operation at sea and that is why I believe that, even if it’s a very difficult discussion, it would be good if member states consider taking more responsibility in this respect,” she said ahead of Thursday’s informal talks in Vienna.

    German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen appealed to Italy not to hijack Operation Sophia.

    “It is also a question of credibility and reliability of the European mission.

    “We brought it into being. It runs until the end of the year. And it must continue until the end of the year,” von der Leyen said.

  • EU pledges additional 42.5m euros to Palestinian cause

    EU pledges additional 42.5m euros to Palestinian cause

    The European Union has agreed to put an extra 42.5 million euros (52.9 million dollars) towards building a “democratic and accountable” Palestinian state, foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said.

    Mogherini said on WEdnesday that the money will go towards activities in East Jerusalem while also helping to build a Palestinian state through policy reforms, debt reduction, support for businesses and Palestinian civil society as well as access to water and energy.

    The announcement came ahead of talks in Brussels bringing together top Israeli, Palestinian, U.S. and Arab politicians and officials for the first time since a controversial U.S. decision to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

    “Everybody must recognise that the U.S. is essential for any process to realistically have a chance to succeed,” Mogherini said, while warning Washington: “alone it will be more difficult to achieve anything.”

    The news reports that on Jan. 17, the Trump administration cut tens of millions of dollars in money for Palestinian,
    refugees, demanding that the UN agency responsible for the programmes undertake a “fundamental re-examination.”

    In a letter, the State Department notified the UN Relief and Works Agency ( UNRWA ) that the U.S. is withholding 65 million dollars of a planned 125 million dollars funding installment.

    The letter also makes clear that additional U.S. donations will be contingent on major changes by UNRWA, which has been heavily criticised by Israel.

    The State Department said it was releasing the rest of the installment, 60 million dollars, to prevent the agency from running out of cash by the end of the month and closing down.

    The U.S. is UNWRA’s largest donor, supplying nearly 30 per cent of its budget.

    The agency focuses on providing health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

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  • EU foreign ministers signal steadfast support for Iran nuclear deal

    EU foreign ministers signal steadfast support for Iran nuclear deal

    Several Foreign Ministers of the European Union ( EU ) on Monday signalled their resolve to keep the Iran nuclear deal intact after U.S. President Donald Trump cast doubt on U.S. support for the deal.

    “The EU does not see any alternatives to the existing deal,’’ foreign ministers said at the sidelines of a meeting in Luxembourg, after Trump refused to certify the deal on Friday, throwing continued U.S. support for it into question.

    However, EU foreign policy Chief Federica Mogherini has said she is not considering alternatives.

    “I’m not considering alternatives, we do not expect the deal to be finished, we expect the deal to be preserved, continued to be implemented by all sides.

    “This is a strong European Union( EU ) commitment,’’ Mogherini said.

    While Trump’s announcement does not mean that the U.S. has withdrawn from the agreement, it is now up to the U.S. Congress to decide if sanctions on Iran will be reintroduced, which would put the deal at risk.

    “We believe that it is wrong to destroy the agreement,’’ German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel noted.

    French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned that “an act of rupture would be extremely damaging.”

    He noted, however, that there were issues that remained to be discussed with Iran such as its ballistic programme and the way the country behaves in regional issues.

    NAN

  • EU, Egypt hold first council meeting in seven years

    EU, Egypt hold first council meeting in seven years

     

    The European Union and Egypt are meeting for the first time since 2010 on Tuesday within the framework of the so-called association council.

    The last of such meeting took place in April 2010, before the Egyptian uprising.

    The meeting will be co-chaired by the EU’s Foreign Policy Chief, Federica Mogherini, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Hassan Shoukry.

    Both sides are expected to endorse shared priorities and cooperation in areas such as economic reforms, good governance, the rule of law and human rights, as well as migration, security and regional cooperation.

    In the run up to the meeting several rights organisations called on Mogherini to refrain from holding the meeting, due to a deterioration of human rights in Egypt.

    “The EU needs to put itself squarely on the side of Egyptians who courageously stand for basic rights when meeting with a government known for mass killings rather than respect for those rights,” Lotte Leicht, the Brussels Director at Human Rights Watch, said.

     

  • Macedonia president calls for talks after parliament riot

    Macedonian President Gorge Ivanov on Friday invited political leaders to talks after ethnic tensions spiked following the storming of parliament in Skopje by protesters opposed to the election of a new speaker.

    About 100 people, including no fewer than three legislators, received medical treatment after the melee on Thursday.

    Supporters of the nationalist Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO) broke into the main parliament chamber and assaulted members of the opposition Social Democrats (SDSM) as well as ethnic Albanian representatives.

    SDSM leader Zoran Zaev had earlier announced that his party and its partners had elected ethnic Albanian Talat Xhaferi as parliament speaker outside of the regular procedure in order to break through VMRO filibustering.

    Zaev was among the injured, while video from inside parliament showed him with a face bloodied from a gash on his forehead.

    While all of the parties urged for calm, it was unclear whether the SDSM and the Albanians would attend the meeting with Ivanov.

    Report says the president is an ally of the VRMO and had flatly refused to hand Zaev the mandate to form the cabinet in spite of having the majority.

    The European Union swiftly condemned the violence in Skopje and urged the new government to take over.

    “We consider violence always unacceptable, even more so when it happens in the house of democracy, the parliament,” EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in Valleta, Malta.

    Macedonia’s parliament has been deadlocked since December, when snap elections failed to produce a clear winner.

    The VRMO party won the most seats but not enough to govern outright.

    Zaev formed a viable coalition with several ethnic Albanian parties but President Ivanov refused to appoint him prime minister.

    Ivanov accused the SDSM and Albanians of intending to undermine Macedonia’s sovereignty by elevating Albanian to the status of the second official language.

     

  • ‘Historic’ agreement struck on Iran nuclear programme

    ‘Historic’ agreement struck on Iran nuclear programme

    World powers have reached a deal with Iran on limiting the country nuclear activity in return for the lifting of international economic sanctions.

    Iran’s foreign minister called the agreement “historic.”

    The European Union negotiator hailed it as “a sign of hope.”

    The deal reportedly gives United Nations nuclear inspectors extensive but not automatic access to sites within Iran, the BBC reports.

    Negotiations between Iran and six world powers – the United States, United Kingdom, France, China and Russia plus Germany – began in 2006.

    The so-called P5+1 want Iran to scale back its sensitive nuclear activities to ensure that it cannot build a nuclear weapon.

    Iran, which wants crippling international sanctions lifted, has always insisted that its nuclear work is peaceful.

    EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said the deal was “a sign of hope for the entire world.”

    “It is a decision that can open the way to a new chapter in international relations,” she said, ahead of a final meeting between negotiators in Vienna.

    Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the deal was “not perfect for anybody,” but that it was the “best achievement possible that could be reached.”

    Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, tweeted: “With this unnecessary crisis resolved, new horizons emerge with a focus on shared challenges.”

    The text of the deal has not been released but these are some of the details it is believed to contain:

    A compromise over the inspection of sites within Iran, the Associated Press quoted a diplomat as saying – UN inspectors would be allowed to monitor military sites but Iran could challenge requests for access

    Iran has accepted that sanctions could be restored in 65 days if it violates the deal, Reuters cited diplomats as saying

     

  • EU to take 20, 000 refugees

    The European Commission has unveiled a new blueprint for dealing with the European Union’s migration crisis, including a controversial plan for national quotas.

    The EU aims to bring 20,000 refugees to Europe in the next two years, as part of the plan, at a cost of €50million (£36million).

    The Commission is urging EU states to share the burden of processing asylum claims. Italy and Greece, facing a migrant surge, are struggling to cope.

    Under EU law the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark are exempted from the quota plan, the BBC reports.

    There is pressure for tougher EU action to send economic migrants back home.

    The EU is considering naval action in the Mediterranean to intercept boats used to traffic migrants from North Africa, with Libya a particular hotspot.

    But EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said concrete military measures would have to be decided on Monday by EU foreign and defence ministers.

    Any military strike against human traffickers would require United Nations Security Council authorisation, the EU says.

    At a news conference in Brussels, Ms Mogherini called the migration problem in the Mediterranean “unprecedented and “dramatic.”

    More than 1,800 migrants have died at sea this year trying to reach Italy – a sharp rise on last year’s corresponding figures.

  • Boko Haram to dominate region security meeting

    The European Union has condemned the renewed terrorist attack in Northeastern Nigeria.

    The issue, according to EU High Representative and Vice President, Federica Mogherini , will dominate next regional Security Conference to be held in Niamey on January 20.

    In a statement issued in Abuja Friday, Mogherini said, “the renewed attacks in Northeastern Nigeria are another expression of terrorism targeting innocent people. They have led to the destruction of at least 16 villages and reportedly killed hundreds of people, displacing thousands.

    “The Boko Haram insurgency was discussed at the recent EU-Nigeria Ministerial Dialogue. It will also be addressed during the next regional Security Conference to be held in Niamey on January 20.

    “The EU remains committed to providing a comprehensive range of political, development and humanitarian support to Nigeria and its people in tackling this threat and in ensuring the sound development of the country.”