cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/42228469

Archived link

Norwegian producer of advanced battery materials Vianode has begun site preparation at its new synthetic-graphite facility Via TWO in St. Thomas, ON, Canada. The project is a major milestone in Vianode’s North American expansion plans and set to bring hundreds of new high-skilled jobs to the region.

The site preparation marks the formal start of the project to establish North America’s largest production facility for low-emission synthetic-anode graphite, with operations set to begin in 2028. Anode graphite is a critical component in electric-vehicle (EV) batteries and other strategic industries, including energy storage.

...

The St. Thomas project is structured as a phased multi-billion-dollar investment, with total planned capacity of up to 150,000 tons annually, supporting delivery of synthetic graphite for around two million EVs per year. The plant is expected to create approximately 300 jobs in the first phase, and up to 1,000 at full capacity.

The company plans to invest 3.2 billion, the Ontario government will provide a CAD 670-million (EUR 412 million) loan to Vianode to support the site's construction with a total investment of CAD 3.2 billion (EUR 2 billion).

...

Citing Burkhard Straube, CEO of Vianode, Canada's CSC reports that synthetic graphite from China is being supplied at "unsustainably low prices" to keep North American companies out of the market.

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“St. Thomas is exactly where we need to be, next to major manufacturing hubs and in a region with the skills to scale. We’re committed to being a good neighbor, creating high-quality jobs and working with local partners as we build Canada’s first large-scale synthetic graphite facility,” adds Emanuele Tricca, MD-Vianode Canada.

Vianode started Norwegian synthetic graphite production at its Technology Center in Kristiansand in 2021 and commissioned its first full-scale plant Via ONE at Herøya in 2024. The St. Thomas facility is an important part of the company’s goal to supply advanced materials for up to three million EVs annually by 2030.

...

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/42162913

The first Skyranger 35 self-propelled air defense system mounted on a Leopard 1 tank chassis is set to arrive in Ukraine next week, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger announced during the Rheinmetall CMD 2025 event, according to monitoring project German Aid to Ukraine on November 18.

The system is being manufactured and integrated by Rheinmetall Italia SpA in Italy.

...

Back in September, Rheinmetall confirmed it would supply Ukraine with Skyranger systems under a contract worth several hundred million euros. The deal is funded by an unnamed European Union country using windfall profits from frozen Russian assets.

The exact number and variant of Skyranger systems destined for Ukraine have not been publicly disclosed.

Each Skyranger 35 system can secure a 4-by-4-kilometer area, creating what the manufacturer describes as a fully “drone-free” zone.

...

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/42162217

Germany is moving toward providing Ukraine with new long-range strike capabilities, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirming that technical consultations with Kyiv have been underway for months and are now approaching completion.

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Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, Merz said the government has agreed in principle to supply long-range missile systems to bolster Ukraine’s ability to hit Russian forces far behind the front line. He declined to reveal how many systems are being prepared or when they will arrive, framing the secrecy as a deliberate strategy.

“The Ukrainian army will be equipped with these weapons systems,” Merz said. But he added that Germany will not publicly outline timelines or quantities, arguing that “a degree of ambiguity is necessary, especially for the Russian side” to complicate Moscow’s efforts to gauge Ukraine’s battlefield reach.

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/42161794

• US plan would require Kyiv to give up land, accept curbs to military, sources say
• French minister: peace cannot mean capitulation
• US army delegation is visiting Kyiv

European countries pushed back on Thursday against a U.S.-backed peace plan for Ukraine that sources said would require Kyiv to give up more land and partially disarm, conditions long seen by Ukraine's allies as tantamount to capitulation.

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European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels were careful not to comment in too much detail about a U.S. peace plan that has not been made public. But they made clear they would not accept demands for punishing concessions from Kyiv.

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Moscow played down any new U.S. initiative.

,,,

A U.S. Army delegation ... was in Kyiv [and] met Ukraine's top military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi late on Wednesday. Syrskyi said he told them the best way to secure a just peace was to defend Ukraine's airspace, extend its ability to strike deep into Russia and stabilise the front line.

...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/53028588

European lawmakers have backed the weakening of flagship EU environmental and human rights rules as part of a drive to slash red tape for businesses. The move will free many corporations from the obligation to fix human rights and environmental issues in their supply chains or face EU fines.

the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) was hailed by green and civil society groups but criticised by businesses.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron had called for the CSDDD to be scrapped altogether

After New York City’s race for mayor catapulted Zohran Mamdani from state assembly member into one of the world’s most prominent progressive voices, intense debate swirled over the ideas at the heart of his campaign.

His critics and opponents painted pledges such as free bus service, universal child care and rent freezes as unworkable, unrealistic and exorbitantly expensive.

But some have hit back, highlighting the quirk of geography that underpins some of this view. “He promised things that Europeans take for granted, but Americans are told are impossible,” said Dutch environmentalist and former government advisor Alexander Verbeek in the wake of Tuesday’s election.

Verbeek backed this with a comment he had overheard in an Oslo café, in which Mamdani was described as an American politician who “finally” sounded normal.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Philippe Aghion explains why innovation is the lifeblood of progress and why Europe needs to up its game to avoid being left behind by the US and China.

Giorgia Meloni's allies are exploring changes to Italy's election laws to boost her reelection odds, as internal polls show she may struggle to retain a majority in the upper house of parliament.

The Danish government will no longer push for chat control!

Here's a machine translation of what the Danish newspaper Berlingske has to say about it.

Fair warning: The journalists in Berlingske don't seem to have the slightest idea what they are talking about, and are enthusiastically gobbling up the Kool-Aid served to them by Danish Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard, a man who is on the record claiming that privacy is not a human right (it is). Don't expect to gain any worthwhile neural connections in your brain by reading the below.

Danish proposal on digital child protection dropped after German criticism

Danish EU presidency could not create support for proposals to scan messages for abuse material.

The government will no longer force tech giants to scan citizens' messages for imagery of sexual abuse of children.

The Danish EU Presidency is thus withdrawing its proposal after Germany and later the ruling Moderates have opposed it. This is stated in a written comment.

"This will mean that the injunction will not be part of the EU Presidency's new compromise proposal and that it should continue to be voluntary for tech giants to track down material with child sexual abuse," Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said.

He sits at the table end in the work to get the CSA regulation adopted under the Danish EU Presidency, which lasts until the New Year.

The regulation was originally proposed by the European Commission in 2022. It will be able to force tech companies to scan the contents of private citizens’ images and videos on encrypted services.

But both Germany and since the Moderates withdrew their support for the proposal because it was too intrusive.

Hummelgaard, however, believes that Denmark's proposal was less intrusive than the EU Commission's original proposal. And he highlights that Save the Children, Unicef, Children's Terms and Digital Responsibility gave their clear backing.

However, the risk of losing an important tool is highly weighted.

"Right now, we are in a situation where we risk completely losing a central tool in the fight against sexual assault against children, because the current scheme that allows for voluntary scanning expires in April 2026," he said.

That's why we have to act no matter what. We owe it to all the children who are subjected to monstrous abuses, says Peter Hummelgaard.

The government's original proposal will break with fundamental freedoms and will potentially result in mass surveillance of citizens in the EU, the critics said. Among other things, they count hundreds of scientists and experts, the Dataetian Council and the tech giants themselves.

Germany has directly called it "mass surveillance" in the past.

"The mass surveillance of private messages must be taboo in a rule of law," the German Ministry of Justice wrote at X.

Save the Children calls the previous volunteer tracing via scanning a "huge success" and is frustrated that there was no backing for a compromise.

"We are deeply concerned and frustrated that there has been no European support for a compromise where tech companies may be required to track down and remove photos and videos with sexual assaults on children," senior adviser at digital child protection Tashi Andersen said in a written commentary.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44658116

Archived

[...]

Negotiations by individual member states with the Chinese leadership are unlikely to create the leverage necessary to force concessions from Beijing or change its current escalatory course. Not even Germany (currently the world’s largest importer of Chinese permanent magnets) has secured sustainable relief since China’s April provisions came into effect, and there is little reason to expect change.

[...]

Europeans need collective leverage to even start a conversation with Beijing—otherwise acceptance becomes the new normal and Beijing will continue to gradually escalate. Contrary to popular belief, the EU has one of the most powerful geoeconomic tools: the 2023 anti-coercion instrument (ACI). Because it leans on the bloc’s strong trade competencies, rather than its much weaker foreign policy ones, the ACI lets the EU hit back hard—with a variable toolkit designed to create real pressure: import tariffs, services restrictions, export controls, suspension of IP rights, curbing access to finance, banking, or public procurement, or restricting foreign investors. It allows targeting entire sectors, single firms, or even individuals. This is the EU’s sharpest weapon against economic blackmail, especially because it does not require unanimity for decisions

To trigger the tool, a qualified majority of member states in the Council must agree that the EU is being subjected to economic coercion. If China’s recent actions do not meet that threshold, it is hard to imagine what ever will. Once activated, the instrument offers a broad, flexible menu of options that can be adjusted to maximise negotiating space. And China has serious vulnerabilities that Europe can exploit.

[...]

Beyond already controlled extreme ultraviolet lithography machines (which the Dutch government blocked in 2019 with significant US pressure to stop China’s access to cutting-edge chip tech), much of China’s semiconductor output still depends on older deep ultraviolet models. These machines are supplied and serviced by European companies whose maintenance and spare parts support could be curtailed in response to coercion, choking China’s chip output.

[...]

China relies on Western turbofan jet engines and advanced machine-tooling to build its indigenous aircraft programme. Beijing’s plan is to be independent of international components anyway, but clamping down on European exports would delay this process.

Italian and German machine-tool makers are market leaders in the production of aircraft and engine parts, such as compressor blades, aircraft structures, and navigation systems. High-precision computer numerical control machine tools, used to make everything from jet engine parts to tiny circuit board components, are dominated by German and Japanese firms. Limiting their export or servicing could threaten production issues across advanced Chinese industries.

China’s passenger air travel is dependent on more than 2,000 European aircraft. Restrictions on production and future sales within China could be put on the table for a more direct and immediate impact. Chinese demand for aircraft is growing massively—it is expected to need almost 10,000 new passenger and freight planes in the next twenty years, so such measures would disrupt a rapidly expanding market.

[...]

China is also relying on European (and Japanese) speciality steel products such as high-precision bearings used in turbines, EV drivetrains and machine tools. German and Swedish players lead in this niche. Powdered superalloys, used primarily in aerospace, power generation and industrial sectors, remain significant Chinese imports. Restricting exports or maintenance could create significant pressure points, complicating Beijing’s ambitions for technological self-sufficiency and industrial expansion.

This dependence extends to heavy-duty gas turbines, which power China’s utilities, industry and parts of its grid. The global market is dominated by German and Italian companies, alongside American, British and Japanese peers. Restricting exports or maintenance of these turbines could have strong effects on Chinese industrial centres.

[...]

China’s vulnerabilities are not limited to its imports. Thanks to the American tariffs, its exports face an even bigger problem. Chinese exports to the US have plunged by more than 27% year-on-year, while exports to Europe are up by almost 14%. Retaliatory European tariffs imposed on Chinese steel, wind turbines, electric vehicles, electronics and low-end consumer goods could squeeze Chinese exporters further. There are only so many developed markets in the world, and the EU should aim for reciprocity in areas where European companies face barriers in China.

European leaders should focus on sectors they aim to protect anyway but where political consensus is elusive: wind, electric vehicles, telecommunication equipment, medical devices, machine tools and pharmaceutical products, to name just a few. They should probably exclude areas in which Europe does not aspire to regain industrial leadership, like solar panels. Coordinating measures at the G7 level would multiply the impact.

[...]

To force Beijing to the negotiating table, European policymakers should take a page out of the Beijing playbook and move into offence. The objective of an escalatory response should be a “landing zone”, a negotiated political agreement with China on the basis of mutually assured destruction—akin to an economic disarmament treaty. The agreement would still allow goods for basic industrial needs to flow, but it would protect core European industries. Failure to honour this agreement would trigger wider measures which could go further than the initial ACI response and could include sensitive areas such as China’s financial sector. The goal for Europe is to buy time; time it needs to decouple its industry from Chinese rare earths.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44533384

Op-ed by Daniel Kochis, senior fellow at Hudson Institute.

Archived

**A Facebook post or X retweet will get you jail time in the United Kingdom. But accusations of spying for the Chinese Communist Party result in a lighter touch. **

[...]

If China’s undisguised assistance in support of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine or Chinese intellectual property theft were not enough to deem it a threat to national security, consider two other recent striking examples. In March 2024, the U.K. government publicly accused China of hacking its electoral commission in 2021 and 2022. Or consider the consistent targeting of key civilian systems by China.

In 2024, ministers in the U.K. were even informed that Chinese hackers likely compromised critical infrastructure in the country.

Is the Chinese Communist Party a threat now? If Keir Starmer’s government will ignore such brazen espionage, one must wonders from what else his government is averting its eyes.

All this is, of course, happening with the backdrop of China’s plans to construct a new embassy complex on the site of the former Royal Mint. Plans submitted contain several blacked-out areas within the complex, raising real concerns among China’s dissident community in the U.K. that these areas may be intended to unlawfully detain individuals.

As concerningly, the former Royal Mint site sits astride a treasure trove of key information infrastructure: fiber optics cables servicing London financial firms and a telephone exchange serving the city.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44528628

• Most economically significant sanctions on China entities so far
• Sanctions package expected to be adopted this week
• China denies anything other than normal trade with Russia
• New listings follow UK sanctions on Chinese refinery, ports

The European Union's 19th package of sanctions against Russia will list four companies involved in China's oil industry that circumvent Western restrictions, EU diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.

They said the package lists two independent Chinese oil refineries, a Chinese trading firm and an entity involved in circumvention. The latter is mostly involved in sectors outside oil, they said. The sources declined to provide further details.

The EU has toughened its stance on Beijing as diplomatic efforts have stalled. EU sanctions envoy David O'Sullivan told Reuters earlier this month that China still denies doing anything other than "normal trade" three years into Russia's war in Ukraine. The EU, Ukraine and its allies view China as a central node in Moscow's sanctions circumvention network.

[...]

The Chinese listings are not the EU's first but they are the most economically significant. In previous packages, the EU listed Chinese entities involved in drone-making and the flow of dual-use goods to Russia. In July, Brussels listed two small Chinese banks, which prompted China to retaliate in August with bans on two Lithuanian banks.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44501310

Archived

The original article in German (by the German newspaper Handelsblatt - here is an archived version)

Georg Maier, the interior minister of the German state of Thuringia, announced that he has evidence suggesting possible espionage activities carried out by Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the interests of Russia. As the German business-focused newspaper Handelsblatt reports, Maier's concerns are shared by Marc Henrichmann, chair of the Bundestag committee overseeing intelligence services, and his deputy, Konstantin von Notz.

According to Maier, AfD consistently uses parliamentary inquiries to gather information about Germany’s critical infrastructure — from transport networks and water supply to digital systems and the energy sector. In Thuringia alone, the party submitted 47 such inquiries over the past year, and their nature, the minister said, has become increasingly detailed. Similar inquiries are being filed at the federal level, which, in Maier’s view, raises suspicions of possible coordination. AfD appears particularly interested in data concerning police IT systems, counter-drone technologies, and the equipment of civil protection and healthcare services.

“It gives the impression that AfD is acting on the Kremlin’s orders in its inquiries,” Maier said.

[...]

Von Notz also adds that AfD “harms Germany by deliberately becoming a mouthpiece for dictators and spreading their narratives in society and parliaments.” He noted that the heads of Germany’s intelligence agencies have long warned about Russia's use of extremist forces and “specific individuals” in pursuit of its interests.

The latest accusations were prompted by the planned trip to Moscow by Markus Frohnmaier, deputy head of AfD’s parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Martin Huber, secretary general of the Christian Social Union (CSU), urged AfD leadership to cancel the visit, warning that otherwise it could be regarded as treason. Frohnmaier responded that he “serves solely the interests of Germany.”

Interior Minister Maier emphasized that the issue goes beyond a single trip, warning that AfD poses “a threat to Germany’s security” because it rejects democratic principles and leans toward an authoritarian model. He said the party spreads disinformation, undermines trust in institutions, and cooperates with far-right organizations and “foreign enemies of democracy.”

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44478706

Archived

Two prominent Conservative MPs who claim to have been spied on by two men working for China have urged Sir Keir Starmer to block Beijing’s plans for a “mega” embassy in London and “protect” the UK’s national security.

Alicia Kearns and Tom Tugendhat called on the prime minister to put China in the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme and impose sanctions on Chinese officials behind the alleged espionage in parliament.

Starmer has come under significant pressure to explain why the Crown Prosecution Service last month abandoned espionage charges against Christopher Cash, a parliamentary researcher and director of the China Research Group, which campaigned for a tougher line on Beijing, and Christopher Berry, who worked as a researcher in China.

Both men have denied any wrongdoing and were formally acquitted. The CPS this month said the case collapsed after the UK government refused to provide evidence that China was a threat to national security.

Starmer has said he is frustrated that the case collapsed and denied that his government sought to undermine it, although critics have suggested his government wanted to prioritise trade with China and to avoid upsetting Beijing.

In their letter on Sunday, Kearns and Tugendhat told Starmer: “Failing to prosecute two men charged with spying for China demonstrates worrying levels of complacency.”

“You’ve repeatedly stated your disappointment that this prosecution did not proceed. You now have the opportunity to do what’s necessary to protect this country,” they added.

The call from Kearns and Tugendhat, shadow national security minister and a former security minister respectively, comes at a challenging time for UK-China relations, with London wary of being labelled as soft on Beijing while seeking greater inward investment to boost the economy.

[...]

Ministers last week delayed their response to China’s application to construct a new embassy on the edge of the City of London, which would be the largest such building in Europe.

[...]

China later warned of “consequences” for the UK for again delaying the decision on the embassy’s planning application, which had been expected this week but will now not come until December 10.

[...]

The prime minister is struggling to counter a perception his government has been soft on China, even as it stresses that national security is its top priority.

This year ministers kept China out of the enhanced tier of the FIRs scheme, adding only Russia and Iran to a register that is designed to track “covert foreign influence” in the UK. China is at present in the lower, second tier.

[...]

Kearns and Tugendhat told Starmer that given the UK security services had “identified the Chinese officials responsible for targeting us . . . you must draw a clear red line and sanction them”.

“We know that you care about our national security. We ask that you back up your words with action.”

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44446772

Archived

Original report is in German, this is paraphrased translation.

The company Clevy Ltd, a logistics partner of Chinese online retailer Temu, stands accused of exploiting migrants across Europe as cheap forces for returns to China. In Vienna, the financial police found in a warehouse.

[...]

The workers in the warehouse of the company Clevy Ltd in Vienna, a logistics partner of Chinese online retailer Temu, reported relentless exploitation. Up to ten hours a day, often without breaks, they would have carried packages with returns of the Chinese cheap shipment Temu and made them ready for shipment, with low wages and without basic security precautions.

[...]

The pay for workers was 9 to 10 euros per hour and. The young men and women came to Austria from countries such as India or Georgia, who in most cases did not have valid work permits nor social and health insurance.

[...]

They had entered Europe on numerous occasions with tourist visas and had made their way irregularly and through undeclared work after their expiration – in Vienna as well as in Eglisau, Switzerland, where another of several Clevy warehouses exist in Europe.

Even at Clevy in Switzerland, the state employee protection was apparently only a waste: People even work on Sunday. It says, 'If you don't want to work, you can stay at home.' But if you stay home, you know they’ll kick you out. So you come, a former Clevy warehouse worker in Eglisau told a journalist from the Swiss broadcaster SRF. He also plans reports on Clevy this week.

[...]

The ruthless work policy is not limited to Austria and Switzerland. In the wake of the massively expanding Chinese order app business, which relies on low prices for often shitty and sometimes even dangerous products, Clevy has rolled out its business model from France to Slovenia: cost-effective business-to-consumer (B2C) parcel deliveries and returns through extreme wage dumping with the help of Graz, Austria-based subcontractor Wherhouse Eleni GmbH, which operates in several countries.

[...]

The Austrian authorities came unannounced in the Viennese warehouse and closed the warehouse [...] However, one source said that the Austrian post office and the parcel service DPD now send return assignment from Temu to an address in the Czech Republic instead of Vienna. A spokesman of Temu logistics partner Cley did not respond to question on that issue.

[...]

During last summer, investigations in Switzerland reveals similar pracices of undeclared work and exploitative, dangerous working conditions at Temu's partner Clevy in Eglisau. A former worker there was told that he had no right to unemployment benefits after his departure there because Clevy had not insured him on social security. Safety shoes, in order to be able to handle the heavy packages safely, did not exist in the warehouse, he was also the only employee with a forklift driver's license.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44445362

Archived

• Notorious hacking group Salt Typhoon has likely been targeting Telecom orgs
• Researchers identified tactics previously used by the group
• Salt Typhoon breached up to 8 US telecom networks in a huge cyber-espionage campaign

[...]

A new report from Darktrace claims the [Chinese hacking group Salt Typhoon] has been observed, "targeting global infrastructure using stealthy techniques such as DLL sideloading and zero-day exploits."

The early stage intrusion activity detected mirrors previous Salt Typhoon tactics, such as the prolific attacks on up to 8 different telecom organizations in a far reaching and potent multi-year campaign which resulted in the group stealing information from millions of American telecom customers using a high severity Cisco flaw to gain access and eventually collect traffic from the networks devices were connected to.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44423305

Archived

[...]

The GCHQ intelligence agency said the data had been stockpiled in an “unrestrained campaign of malicious cyber-activities” by state-sponsored hackers. It includes classified information that could be used to take down the National Grid and spy on individuals at their workplaces.

It is a further blow to the government’s credibility after the collapse of a China spying case after the failure by senior civil servants to formally declare Beijing a “national security threat”.

Dominic Cummings, who served as a senior adviser to Boris Johnson, also revealed last week that China obtained “vast amounts” of classified government information over a period of many years.

Experts believe that much of the data has not yet been decrypted by China, but has rather been gathered for processing later in what experts call a “harvest now/decrypt later” attack. They believe the hackers are relying on quantum computers, which are advancing so rapidly they may become powerful enough to crack even the most secure forms of encryption within months.

[...]

Security officials believe the vast haul of data gathered could allow Beijing to target individuals or employees, such as academics, scientists and civil servants, for espionage purposes in areas which would give the country a competitive advantage, including in tech companies, the defence industry and the energy sector.

Such individuals might be hacked or approached via social networking sites, such as LinkedIn, by Chinese agents. Having someone’s personal data, including bank details, could also make them susceptible to blackmail.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44396570

Archived

Wei Lan Hai Changhua Offshore Wind Project (WLHC), where EDF Power Solutions is the majority shareholder, has become the first to sign a 30-year Corporate Power Purchase Agreement (CPPA) with Taiwan Smart Electricity & Energy Co., Ltd. (TSEE), the newly established government-backed electricity aggregator in Taiwan [...] marking EDF Power Solutions' first CPPA for offshore wind in Taiwan.

[...]

Taiwan is experiencing rapid growth in electricity demand, driven by the semiconductor and AI sectors' needs. The need for renewable energy is expected to surge to 40,000 GWh by 2030, fueled by corporate commitments to sustainability under the RE100 initiative. In this context, the Wei Lan Hai Changhua Offshore Wind Project will contribute to Taiwan's energy independence objective and support its low carbon energy transition, including the 10.8GW target of offshore wind installed capacities by 2030.

[...]

Over 50% of off-takers in Taiwan's renewable energy market are large companies from the semiconductor and high-tech sectors. However, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly embracing renewable energy. Due to challenges in obtaining international credit ratings, these companies are unable to purchase offshore wind electricity.

[...]

[Once operational, WLHC will generate 1,700 GWh of renewable electricity annually, equivalent to a year’s electricity consumption of 460,000 households, according to EDF.]

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44392730

• European Union energy ministers agreed a joint position on plans to ban all gas supplies from Russia by the end of 2027.
• A qualified majority of officials supported the ban, which starts by prohibiting Russian supplies under existing short-term contracts by mid-June, with an exemption for landlocked countries.
• The EU is pursuing a two-pronged strategy to finally end its addiction to Russian fossil fuels after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022.

European Union energy ministers agreed a joint position on plans to ban all gas supplies from Russia by the end of 2027, as the bloc looks to definitively end its reliance on energy from Moscow.

A qualified majority of officials meeting in Luxembourg Monday supported the ban, which starts by prohibiting Russian supplies under existing short-term contracts by mid-June, with an exemption for landlocked countries such as Hungary and Slovakia. A prohibition on long-term deals follows 18 months later. Hungary and Slovakia did not support the ban.

The deal on Monday was a procedural step on the RePowerEU regulation, which aims to permanently end Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Negotiations with the European Parliament, which is calling for a faster exit from Russian gas and a halting of oil imports from the start of next year, can now start. The aim is to reach a final deal before the end of the year.

The EU is pursuing a two-pronged strategy to finally end its addiction to Russian fossil fuels after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022. The second strand involves a separate proposal to impose sanctions on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas from the start of 2027. It requires unanimity and is still being discussed.

[...]

“This is not just for the present conflict,” Dan Jorgensen, the EU’s energy commissioner, said at the start of the meeting on Monday. “It’s for the future. Never again should we make this mistake.”

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44378848

Archived

Some of the world’s biggest food and consumer goods companies have accused the European Commission of jeopardising its own green agenda by proposing to delay a landmark anti-deforestation law for a second time. [...]

The law, known as the EUDR — which requires companies importing commodities such as cocoa, coffee, rubber, palm oil, soy, dairy and timber to prove they do not originate from deforested land — was due to take effect at the start of 2026, having already been postponed by a year.

[...]

But last month, the commission said that it would propose a second delay until the end of 2026, citing problems with its IT system designed to process data from importers.

[...]

EU officials have said the commission will formally propose the delay in the coming weeks. It will have to be agreed by the European parliament and member states.

[...]

Companies ranging from commodity traders to food manufacturers say they have spent millions preparing for the law and are frustrated by what they see as a lack of discipline in Brussels. Many are urging the commission to press ahead without the delay.

[...]

Ferrero, the Italian confectionery group behind Nutella and Kinder, said a delay risked undermining years of preparation and “sending the wrong message” to companies and farmers that had worked to meet the EU’s standards.

[...]

Olam Agri [a commodities trading company], which operates in the rubber and timber sectors, urged Brussels not to postpone implementation, arguing that by doing so, it “risks penalising companies that have invested early in compliance and could erode trust in the EU’s leadership on sustainability”.

[...]

Campaigners fear that if negotiations are reopened it could pave the way to a significant watering down of the law. Rightwing MEPs are lobbying, for example, for a “no risk” category that would exempt EU member states.

Under the law in its current form, countries are benchmarked according to the risk of deforestation within their borders. So far only Russia, North Korea, Belarus and Myanmar are categorised “high risk”.

[...]

In addition, [the companies] want a technical working group of EU officials, national authorities, and businesses to co-ordinate and ensure the smooth rollout of the law.

Archived

Europe is planning a “defence space shield” to protect military and communications satellites from attacks by Russia or China on the battlefields of tomorrow.

The project, to begin next year, follows the stalking of British, German and other military satellites by the Russians, and China’s development of space warfare, which is thought to be more advanced than western capabilities.

A European Union “road map” to prepare Nato allies for war by 2030 identifies a “militarised Russia” as “a persistent threat to European security for the foreseeable future” and sets four priorities: drone, air and space defence, and protecting Europe’s eastern flank.

[...]

"To ensure peace through deterrence, Europe’s defence posture and capabilities must also be ready for the battlefields of tomorrow, in line with the changing nature of warfare ... Those that develop their own technologies will be the strongest and least dependent, notably for the critical systems of modern warfare, such as drones, satellites or autonomous vehicles,” said an EU document published on Thursday.

[...]

Negotiated with Nato since June, the paper talks of Ukraine as “Europe’s first line of defence” and condemns Russian “aggression, which is reaching new heights of brutality and violence”.

The document says: “Reckless provocations and acts of hybrid warfare against member states, from cyberattacks to violation of airspace, are increasing.”

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44322530

[...]

Today, the Kremlin’s strategy increasingly favours hybrid means – drones, cyberattacks, disinformation, and energy blackmail – over warfare. These are not random provocations, but a coherent campaign of testing.

Each incursion and attack serves a diagnostic purpose: Can Europe detect? Can it coordinate a joint response? Can it enact this response swiftly and efficiently?

As Belgian officials admitted after a recent spate of drone sightings, the continent needs to “act faster” in building air-defence systems. Every such admission emboldens Moscow’s conviction that Europe is unprepared and divided.

Back home, these moments are curated into propaganda clips for state television, where pundits mock European “weakness” and frame the continent’s disarray as validation for the Kremlin’s confrontational stance. This manufactured crisis, in turn, is the latest application of a well-honed strategy.

With regard to the West, the aim is exhaustion, not conquest – a “permanent test” designed to drain resources and unity through constant, low-level pressure.

[...]

In a landscape of heightened tension, even a minor incident – a drone shootdown, a cyberattack gone wrong – could spiral into wider confrontation. A deliberate war between Nato and Russia is still improbable, but no longer unthinkable.

[...]

The Kremlin seeks to force the West to accept a redrawn security order through a blend of coercion, probing, and perpetual testing. The tools may vary – from tanks to drones, from overt invasion to a hybrid war of attrition – but the aim endures: to undermine European unity and restore the sphere of influence lost by Russia in 1991.

Europe’s challenge is equally clear. It has to resist the fatigue of endless crisis and demonstrate that resilience, not fear, defines the continent’s future.

Moscow’s provocations will continue until the costs become prohibitive. Only a unified, prepared Europe can make that happen.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44281482

Op-ed by Nicola Casarini, Associate Fellow at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and Senior Research Fellow at the Asia Institute-University of Bologna.

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Europe’s ‘Two-Chinas’ strategy and the prospect for Beijing-Taipei peaceful coexistence: EU-China economic relations continue to grow, while Brussels is gradually integrating Taiwan into Europe’s markets

• The EU is moving towards a ‘Two-Chinas’ strategy: EU-China economic relations continue to grow, while Brussels is gradually integrating Taiwan into Europe’s markets.
• While not questioning the ‘One-China’ policy, Brussels has downgraded political relations with Beijing, while EU-Taiwan ties are being promoted across the board.
• Given Europe’s increasing stakes in peaceful coexistence between China and Taiwan, Brussels must step up efforts to facilitate (unofficial) dialogue between the two.

In recent years, Europe has significantly upgraded its economic and political relations with Taiwan. Officially, the Union and its member states continue to recognise and have formal ties only with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), abiding by the so-called ‘One-China’ policy – Beijing’s position that there is only one Chinese government that Brussels has acknowledged since 1975, when both the PRC and the Republic of China (Taiwan) were under authoritarian rule.

Five decades later, the PRC continues to be ruled by the Communist Party, and while the reforms initiated in the late 1970s have brought about significant socio-economic changes and modernised the country, the political transformation hoped for by the West has not materialised. Under Xi Jinping, in power since 2012, China has become even more nationalistic and authoritarian, with a tightly controlled economy and society, and an assertive foreign policy towards neighbours.

Taiwan has become, instead, a free and open society, with an advanced market economy. No wonder that the island has been embraced by Western countries as a successful example of transition from authoritarian rule (Taiwan endured 38 years of martial law from 1949 to 1987) to full-fledged democracy.

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The push for closer Europe-Taiwan relations across the board has traditionally been led by the European Parliament, which is also the EU institution that has criticised Beijing’s regime the most in recent decades. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are now pressuring the European Commission to finalise an EU-Taiwan Bilateral Investment Agreement (BIA), after having shelved the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) announced in 2020 but never greenlighted by the Parliament due to Beijing’s imposition of sanctions on some MEPs’ (recently lifted).

[...]

Brussels and Taipei are also working on a Resilient Supply Chain Agreement (RSCA) as well as a Capital Markets Link (CML) which would expand investment opportunities, boost market liquidity and improve capital access for companies from both sides. There are plans to connect the Taiwan Stock Exchange with leading European exchanges, including Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam and Milan, giving European investors direct access to Taiwanese equities. This would not only strengthen Taiwan-EU economic ties but also offer a structured pathway for facilitating two-way investments which have grown significantly in recent times.

European companies are attracted by Taiwan as a high-tech hub, while the Taiwanese corporate sector is driven to Europe by a desire to diversify the companies’ global footprint, enhance supply chain resilience, and capitalise on European market opportunities and strategic initiatives like the EU Chips Act, which aims to boost Europe’s semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, and the Green Deal.

[...]

In 2023, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) – Taiwan’s largest company – teamed up with Stuttgart-based Robert Bosch, Neubiberg-based Infineon Technologies and Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors to set up the European Semiconductor Manufacturing (ESMC) as a joint venture, receiving financial support from Germany and incentives from the European Commission. ESMC will provide advanced semiconductor manufacturing services to industries such as the automotive and industrial sectors.

Hsinchu-based GlobalWafers has received a development grant of up to 103 million euros from the European Commission and the Italian government for its 12-inch chip plant project in northwestern Italy – an investment largely incentivised by the EU Chips Act. ProLogium, a Taiwanese solid-state battery manufacturer, has made a 5 billion euro investment in France to build a battery factory to take advantage of the EU’s Green Deal.

According to the Taiwanese government, in 2023 alone, Taipei initiated 22 new investment projects in the EU, totalling almost 5 billion US dollars. Europe’s open-door policy to Taiwanese investments stands in stark contrast to the reception given to PRC investors who are increasingly scrutinised when entering the EU and face mounting difficulties in some strategically sensitive sectors.

EU-Taiwan deepening of ties in the areas of investments, supply chains, critical technologies, semiconductors and finance means that Europe’s stakes in peaceful Beijing-Taipei relations have never been so high.

[...]

Brussels should seriously consider what to do if Taiwan is attacked. The continuation of the current status quo would be the best option for Taiwan, the US, the EU and indeed the whole world, though it may not be tenable as the PRC – and large swathes of its population – have embraced the narrative that Taiwan must return to the ‘motherland’, with the Chinese military preparing for that.

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Europe could certainly use its economic weight to exercise pressure on Beijing, though unanimity within the bloc would be difficult as the 27 member states have different approaches towards Beijing. The real added value of the EU lies in its soft power capabilities.

The EU should make the most of its ‘Two-Chinas’ strategy to convince Beijing and Taipei to engage in dialogue. Towards the PRC, Brussels should signal that the EU values cooperation with China on East Asian affairs (and globally) linking the improvement of EU-PRC political relations to the acceptance by Beijing’s leadership to discuss, at least unofficially and behind closed doors, the future of Cross-Strait relations. Towards Taiwan, Brussels should highlight its unwavering support for Taiwanese democracy.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44279650

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Europe, in its trade dealings with China, needs to act "in a more offensive way" to protect its own interests and those of its companies, [Germany's] Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said.

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When it comes to China, let me only say one thing: China needs Europe more than Europe needs China," Nagel, who sits on the ECB's Governing Council, said.

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We are a strong economy. We are four hundred fifty million people... So we should play the European card in a more offensive way."

Nagel said Europe needed to avoid a trade war with China and should maintain a dialogue but also needed to protect its own markets.

"The point that I would like to say here is that Europe should play the cards in a way that we are more convinced about ourselves, because the most important market for the European is Europe itself," Nagel told a financial event.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44221472

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Washington ahead of his meeting with Donald Trump on Friday.

He says Ukraine is "building on the momentum that worked in ending terror in the Middle East, which will help end the war with Russia."

He also suggested that Russia is "rushing to resume dialogue only after hearing about the Tomahawks" - a reference to the imminent decision by Washington on whether to give Kiev access to long-range missiles or not.

[...]

Andrey Kovalenko from the Center for Combating Disinformation at the Security and Defense Council of Ukraine recalls that in 2017 and 2018, "Tomahawks" successfully hit targets protected by Russian air defense during the conflict in Syria.

According to him, the "Tomahawk" uses a complex navigation system, so the opponent, after the radar registers it, has only seconds to react. To effectively intercept such a missile, a dense network of low-range radars, rapid exchange of data on targets and synchronized air defenses are required. "Russian systems then protected Syrian facilities, but without success. 'Tomahawks' are especially effective when fired in bursts - overloading air defenses increases the probability of success. Russian S-400 and Pancir systems are weak against 'Tomahawks,'" says Kovalenko.

[...]

Reports say that US Tomahawk missiles have become an important topic in Washington, Kiev and Moscow in recent weeks.

Andrey Kovalenko from the Center for Combating Disinformation at the Security and Defense Council of Ukraine recalls that in 2017 and 2018, "Tomahawks" successfully hit targets protected by Russian air defense during the conflict in Syria.

According to him, the "Tomahawk" uses a complex navigation system, so the opponent, after the radar registers it, has only seconds to react. To effectively intercept such a missile, a dense network of low-range radars, rapid exchange of data on targets and synchronized air defenses are required. "Russian systems then protected Syrian facilities, but without success. 'Tomahawks' are especially effective when fired in bursts - overloading air defenses increases the probability of success. Russian S-400 and Pancir systems are weak against 'Tomahawks,'" says Kovalenko.