EU - US relations: US Nuclear Weapons stockpiled in Europe: The New Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty Will Be an Early Trial for Biden - by Miles A. Pomper

With support from nearly half the world’s nations, a new United Nations treaty banning the possession and use of nuclear weapons will take effect early next year. The U.N. confirmed last month that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or TPNW, had been ratified by the required 50 countries. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “a tribute to the survivors of nuclear explosions and tests, many of whom advocated for this treaty.”

Many non-nuclear-armed states, as well as pro-disarmament activists and organizations like the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, have celebrated the agreement, which they see as a milestone in global efforts to prevent nuclear war. However, it has drawn strong opposition from nuclear-armed states, especially the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council: Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Trump administration has called on the treaty’s 84 signatories to back out of it. Its entry into force on Jan. 22, 2021, will pose a thorny diplomatic challenge for the incoming Biden administration.

Still, the treaty could pose a political problem in the future for NATO members and other countries that shelter under the U.S. nuclear umbrella, given the TPNW’s call not to support actions inconsistent with the treaty. That challenge is especially acute for the five NATO members that host an estimated 150 forward-deployed U.S nuclear weapons: Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Turkey. German, Dutch and Belgian disarmament advocates, in particular, enjoy strong mainstream political support among center-left parties in all three countries. And 56 former world leaders, including many from NATO countries, argued recently in an open letter that the new nuclear ban treaty can “help end decades of paralysis in disarmament.”

Note EU-Digest: Five NATO members, including, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey still shelter large numbers of US Nuclear weapons on their soil. Hopefully the UN TPNW Treaty will force the disarmament of these weapons from these countries, which presently makes them a major target for massive destruction and death in case of war.

Read more at: The New Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty Will Be an Early Trial for

EU Counter Measures To Be Taken- Article 7: Hungary and Poland maintain united front blocking EU COVID-19 recovery fund

The leaders of Hungary and Poland have vowed to maintain a united front and uphold their veto of the EU's budget and its massive pandemic relief fund.

They continue to oppose the mechanism that ties funding for countries to rule of law principles, arguing that the EU plan risks derailing the bloc.

" Note EU-Digest: Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union should be applied, which is a procedure in the treaties of the European Union (EU) to suspend certain rights from a member state and consequently stop all funding to these two countries within this legal framework".

Read more at: Hungary and Poland maintain united front blocking EU COVID-19 recovery fund | Euronews

The Netherlands: Dutch flower industry hit hard by the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has plunged the world’s largest flower auction on the outskirts of Amsterdam into chaos. As Europe remains in lockdown, no-one thinks of buying flowers and tons of them land in shredders. 

Read more at: Dutch flower industry hit hard by the pandemic | Business| Economy and finance news from a German perspective | DW | 24.11.2020

EU - Opinion on Hungary and Poland: The E.U. Puts Its Foot Down on the Rule of Law - editorial board

After years of passively watching nationalist governments in Hungary and Poland undermine democratic rule, the European Union finally drew the line this year and declared that disbursements from the E.U. budget and a special coronavirus relief fund would be contingent on each member’s adherence to the rule of law. Hungary and Poland have shamelessly retaliated by threatening to veto the Union’s next seven-year budget, emergency funds and all, unless the condition is scrapped.

The governments in Budapest and Warsaw couched their defiance with their usual plaints that the bloc was behaving like their former Soviet overlords. “This is not why we created the European Union, so that there would be a second Soviet Union,” declared Viktor Orban, the proudly illiberal prime minister of Hungary. But such posturing has long been discredited, especially as both right-wing governments have happily reaped huge subsidies from the European Union.

The cynical reactions of Mr. Orban and the right-wing Law and Justice government in Warsaw demonstrated how far they have strayed from the fundamental principles they signed on to when they joined the European Union. They make no bones about it: Hungarian and Polish officials recently met to set up a joint institute to combat the “suppression of opinions by liberal ideology.”

Mr. Orban in particular has systematically worked to curtail the independence of the judiciary, bring the press to heel and curb civil society. With Fidesz, his nationalist party, in full control of Parliament, he took advantage of the coronavirus pandemic in March to assume broad and open-ended emergency powers that effectively allow him to rule by decree for as long as he wants.

Note EU-Digest: "Hungary and Poland want all the benefits of the EU, but do not want to comply with the rules - it's hight time for the EU Commission to give them an ultimatum- live up to the rules of the EU or lose your membership"

Read more at: Opinion | The E.U. Puts Its Foot Down on the Rule of Law - The New York Times

The Netherlands: Solar parks in Netherlands to be connected at 70% of their peak capacity –

The Netherlands’ renewable energy sector has reached an agreement with the country’s grid operators and power providers for a faster grid connection of solar parks. PV plant operators will be able to connect their projects at 70% of their capacity and, in turn, they will be allowed to connect them without having to wait for more grid availability.

Read more at: Solar parks in Netherlands to be connected at 70% of their peak capacity – pv magazine International

The Netherlands: Bird flu: Nearly 200,000 chickens culled in the Netherlands after multiple outbreaks - by Alessio Dellanna

Dutch authorities slaughtered around 190,000 chickens after a particularly contagious strain of bird flu appeared on at least two poultry farms, agriculture minister Carola Schouten said on Sunday.

Health workers killed 100,000 hens on a farm in Hekendorp, not far from Gouda, in the west of the Netherlands, and 90,000 chickens on a farm in Witmarsum, in the northern Friesland region.

In both cases, authorities suspected "a highly contagious strain of the H5 variant”.

Read more at: Bird flu: Nearly 200,000 chickens culled in the Netherlands after multiple outbreaks | Euronews

The Netherlands: could require travelers to show coronavirus test results at border

Minister Hugo de Jonge of Public Health wants to oblige travelers arriving in the Netherlands to prove that they tested negative for the coronavirus no more than 48 hours prior to arrival, he said in a letter to parliament.

Due to the rules around free travel in the European Union and Schengen area, a legislative amendment is needed to require that travelers from these areas show their test results at the Dutch border. De Jonge expects that this requirement will therefore only be implemented for them in the spring at the earliest. For non-European travelers exempted from the entry EU ban, a test statement can be requested from mid-December, he said.

Read more at: Netherlands could require travelers to show coronavirus test results at border | NL Times