Jul72017

EU boosts aid to drought affected countries in the Horn of Africa

EU

The European Commission has announced additional humanitarian assistance of €60 million to help people in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, who have been facing critical levels of food insecurity due to severe drought.

This additional assistance brings EU humanitarian aid to the Horn of Africa region (including Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Djibouti) to nearly €260 million since the beginning of the year.

“The situation in the Horn of Africa has drastically deteriorated in 2017 and it keeps getting worse. Millions of people are struggling to meet their and their families’ food needs. The risk of famine is real. The European Union has been following the situation closely since the very beginning and progressively increasing aid to the affected populations. This new package will help our humanitarian partners scale up the response further and keep bringing lifesaving assistance to people in need,” said Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides.

The Horn of Africa region has been affected by prolonged drought, particularly severely in south-eastern Ethiopia, northern Kenya and in Somalia where a pre-famine alert has been issued. Some 17 million people are in urgent need of food to survive, while the countries’ coping capacities are exhausted. In addition, all three countries are hit by a cholera outbreak, which has a severe impact on the most vulnerable.

The newly announced EU assistance will support humanitarian partners already responding to the needs of the affected populations to step up emergency food assistance and treatment of malnutrition. Projects addressing water supply, livestock protection and response to outbreaks will also be supported. The bulk of the funding (€40 million) will go to help the most vulnerable in Somalia, while €15 million will go to Ethiopia and €5 million to Kenya.

Background

Millions of people in the Horn of Africa are affected by food insecurity and water shortages. Vegetation is sparse. Livestock deaths, high food prices and reduced incomes are being reported. As a result of the poor performance of the ongoing rainy season, the next harvests will be much reduced and the situation is expected to worsen in the coming months.

The drought comes on the heels of the erratic weather caused by the El Niño phenomenon in 2015-16. In Ethiopia, it prompted the biggest drought response operation in the country’s history.

The region also hosts 2.3 million refugees, notably from Yemen, South Sudan and Somalia account for the majority of refugees, and is struggling to meet their increasing needs.

The EU has allocated over €1 billion in humanitarian aid to its partners in the Horn of Africa since 2011. EU funding has helped provide food assistance, health and nutrition care, clean water, sanitation and shelter to those whose lives are threatened by drought and conflict.

However, aid for the drought-affected populations is complicated by the remoteness of certain areas, as well as by the ongoing violence in Somalia. All parties to the conflict are therefore urged to provide unimpeded access to people in need.

For more information:

Factsheet Horn of Africa

Factsheet Somalia

Factsheet Ethiopia

Factsheet Kenya

Jul72017

EESC launches its 2017 Civil Society Prize

EU

Rewards to go to best projects to integrate people into labour market

The EESC has launched its 2017 Civil Society Prize. This year, the EESC will reward innovative projects to promote quality employment and entrepreneurship for the future of work undertaken by civil society, focusing on young people, migrants and other people who have difficulty accessing the labour market.

A total of EUR 50.000 will be awarded to a maximum of five winners. The deadline for applications is 8 September 2017 while the award ceremony will take place on 7 December 2017 in Brussels.

Almost ten years after the peak of the financial and economic crisis the European Union is still struggling with high levels of unemployment, despite recent improvements. That is why this year the EESC has decided to reward the best innovative projects which promote quality jobs, entrepreneurship or self-employment, and thus fight to reverse the trend.

The prize will be granted to initiatives already implemented or still ongoing which favour non-discrimination as regards labour market integration. Initiatives must target newcomers such as young people, people with a migrant background or requiring specific support such as the long-term unemployed, women detached from the labour market, people with disabilities or living in poverty.

The Civil Society Prize, now in its ninth year, was launched by the EESC to reward and encourage tangible initiatives and achievements by civil society organisations and/or individuals that have made a significant contribution to promoting the common values that shore up European cohesion and integration. In 2016 the Prize focused on migration.

Further details and the application form are available here.

Jul72017

News story: CMA final decision on ICE/Trayport agreement

HM Government

As a result, ICE will now be required by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to end the commercial agreement and must also press ahead with selling the Trayport business.

Following its provisional decision in April, the CMA has found that the loss of competition identified in the original merger investigation (see below) would not be comprehensively remedied if the agreement remained in place.

In particular, the agreement, is a legacy effect of ICE’s control over Trayport and risks the ability of Trayport’s future owner to set its own commercial strategy towards ICE, while also potentially offering ICE beneficial terms as result of that control.

In view of these risks and the low costs arising, the CMA has concluded that termination of the agreement is necessary.

ICE acquired Trayport in December 2015. ICE is the largest operator of exchanges and clearinghouses in the trading of wholesale European utilities. Trayport’s software products form an integrated platform which underpins around 85% of European utilities trading.

The CMA’s investigation into the merger which concluded in October 2016 found that traders, and the brokers, exchanges and clearinghouses that compete with ICE in the trading and clearing of European utilities, depend on the Trayport platform. ICE could have used its ownership of Trayport’s platform to reduce competition between itself and its rivals which could have led to increased fees for execution and clearing, and worse terms offered to traders. In order to resolve this, the CMA directed ICE to sell the Trayport business.

In March 2017, following a challenge by ICE, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) upheld the CMA’s findings that the merger between the two companies was likely to result in a loss of competition and that in order to resolve this, ICE must sell the Trayport business.

However, the CMA was asked by the CAT to reconsider its additional requirement that the companies terminate an agreement entered into during the original investigation and which would significantly expand their commercial relationship.

The requirement for ICE to sell the Trayport business had been put on hold until the remittal investigation was concluded. With today’s decision by the CMA that the agreement should be terminated, the period within which the sale of the Trayport business must complete has commenced.

The final decision is available on the case page.