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Press material Friday 7 April 2023

● Council of the EU   07/04/2023 11:27 | Press release | Afghanistan: Statement by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on Taliban banning Afghan women from working for the UN   With profound shock, the EU learned on 4 April that the Taliban had decided to ban Afghan women from working for the UN and its agencies, funds and programmes. This decision follows several previous bans and edicts that have targeted Afghan women and girls, reinforcing and tightening the consistent denial by the Taliban leadership of women’s rights, including their right to secondary and higher education, work, and freedom of movement. This new discriminatory Taliban decision further aggravates the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan and constitutes a violation of international Human Rights Law (including Treaties to which Afghanistan is a party), international Humanitarian Law and humanitarian principles. This decision places women in an increasingly vulnerable position and have direct and life-threatening repercussions, as banning women from work disrupts the delivery of humanitarian aid, basic needs and services to large parts of the entire Afghan population, including women, children and men. This is happening while Afghanistan continues to face one of the worst economic and humanitarian crises in the world, with more than 28 million or two thirds of the population in need of humanitarian assistance and millions of Afghans already on the verge of famine. The EU joins the UN, and strongly supports its efforts, together with other international partners and the many Afghans who condemn these decisions, call on the Taliban to reverse these bans immediately and to ensure women and girls’ equal access to education and to all social, economic and public spheres of life. The EU reaffirms its commitment to staying engaged and delivering assistance for the benefit of the Afghan population, within a principled approach. We urge the Taliban to allow women to equally and meaningfully participate in aid and services delivery, so that women can engage fully and actively in the society, as well as remain beneficiaries of aid. Female staff must not be replaced. As the EU stated in the Council Conclusions of 20 March 2023, where activities cannot be continued in line with the EU’s principled approach, i.e. providing aid in a non-discriminatory way, regardless of gender, support to those activities will be reconsidered. The EU calls upon the Taliban to deliver on their promises and prove their ability to respect and protect the human rights and provide basic services for the entire population of Afghanistan, in line with their earlier statements and promises.

Council of the EU
Press release
5 April 2023
17:35
Fluorinated gases and ozone depleting substances: member states ready to negotiate with Parliament


Member states agreed today on a mandate for the presidency to start negotiations with the European Parliament on two proposals for regulations that aim to phase down substances that cause greenhouse gas emissions and deplete the ozone layer. The proposals aim at limiting global temperature rise in line with the Paris Agreement.



The effects of fluorinated gases on global warming are up to several hundred thousand times stronger than CO2. Ozone depleting substances on the other hand create a hole in the ozone layer, which offers protection from cancer-causing UV rays. It’s now time to make them a thing of the past. We need all possible measures on our side to limit the global temperature rise, in line with our commitments under the Paris Agreement. This will give the right push for the economy to switch to more climate-friendly alternatives.Romina Pourmokhtari, Swedish Minister for Climate and the Environment

While existing EU legislation has already limited the use of these gases significantly, the proposals discussed today will further reduce their emissions into the atmosphere.

Ozone depleting substances, or ODS, are still allowed in laboratories and chemical production and reclaimed (reprocessed) ODS can be used in specialised fire protection equipment like in airplanes.

Fluorinated greenhouse gases, or F-gases, are included in a wide range of products used in everyday life, such as fridges, air conditioning and medicines. They are also used in heat pumps and switchgear devices in electric power systems.
Ozone depleting substances

The proposal for a revised regulation would prevent ODS trapped into products, that date from when the substances were allowed, from being released into the atmosphere. The proposal includes in particular an explicit requirement to recover certain types of ODS foams from construction and demolition waste and destroy or reuse it.
The proposal also aims to remove obsolete quota and registration requirements and some obsolete exemptions to prohibitions, for more legal clarity and to avoid illegal trade. The proposal modernises the licensing system to realign with existing trade rules in the field of environment, that allow for automatic customs controls per shipment.

The negotiating mandate agreed by member states adheres to the principles of the proposal while bringing a few changes:the Council agreed to reduce administrative burden by adapting the provisions on essential laboratory and analytical uses while maintaining the registration requirement to avoid an increase in fraudulent practice
the Council added clarifications like a time limit in the case of imports or exports of recovered, recycled or reclaimed halon for critical uses
the Council also included certain uses of halons essential to national security among the critical uses of halons
the Council made the provisions on penalties less prescriptive in order for them to better fit different national systems.
Fluorinated gases

The proposal for a revised regulation prolongs and tightens the quota system for the placing in the market of hydrofluorocarbons and introduces a new quota system for production. It introduces new restrictions for more types of equipment and products containing F-gases, strengthens provisions on the implementation and enforcement with penalties.

The negotiating mandate agreed by member states amends the proposal’s phase down schedule among other things:the Council proposed to lower the HFCs quota allocation price from € 3 to € 2
the Council agreed to postpone a number of bans compared to the Commission’s proposal, mainly for heat pumps, in order to put the proposal more in line with the targets set under REPowerEU, and high voltage switchgear. The agreement also clarifies on what grounds possible exemptions can be given for safety reasons
the Council proposed to split the ban of certain split heat pumps into an earlier ban for air-to-water systems, for which alternatives are more widely available, and a later ban for air-to-air systems, where it’s more difficult to use alternatives. To balance this, more quotas for placing on the market of HFCs are introduced
the Council agreed to postpone the reduction of the use of HFCs in metered dose inhalers, or MDIs, to guarantee the safety of patients, and increase the number of quotas
in addition, the Council added a safety clause to enable the Commission to react, through delegated acts, to release a limited number of additional quotas if the proposed bans were to endanger the attainment of the heat pumps deployment target required under REPowerEU
the Council included bans on the use of the very potent greenhouse gas SF6, used in electrical switchgear, while adding a number of safeguards in order to avoid that these bans would endanger the functioning of the electric grids
the Council made the provisions on penalties less prescriptive in order for them to better fit different national systems
Next steps

The Council and the Parliament will now enter so-called 'trilogue' negotiations to find an agreement on the final shape of the regulations. The agreement will then need to be formally adopted by both institutions, before it can be published in the EU’s Official Journal and enter into force.
Background

On 5 April 2022, the Commission adopted its proposal for a Regulation on fluorinated greenhouse gases and for a Regulation on ozone depleting substances.

Both proposals intend to realign existing EU legislation on F-gases and on ODS with the objectives of the European Green Deal and the European Climate Law, as well as the Union’s recent international obligations under the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer.

The work on the proposal for F-gases was carried out in parallel with the proposal on ozone depleting substances, within the Council.Mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament on substances that deplete the ozone layer
Mandate for negotiations with the European on fluorinated greenhouse gases

Eurogroup
Press release
3 April 2023
11:20
President of the Eurogroup, Paschal Donohoe, travels to Greece on 3 and 4 April 2023


President of the Eurogroup and Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery, and Reform, Paschal Donohoe, will travel to Athens today to participate in a conference on the Greek economy - “Resilience, Progress, Perspective” on April 4th, hosted by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Minister Donohoe will offer his perspective on the euro area economic outlook and the role the Eurogroup has played in driving the euro area’s recovery from Covid and addressing the challenges coming from the Russian war in Ukraine. It will be an opportunity to discuss Greece’s solid economic performance, with growth above the euro area average at 5.5% real GDP in 2022 and inflation among the lowest in the euro area and falling. While in Athens, Minister Donohoe will meet with Prime Minister Mitsotakis and Minister for Finance Christos Staikouras, who will also speak at the conference.



I look forward to meeting with Prime Minister Mitsotakis and Minister Staikouras while in Athens to exchange views on the euro area economic outlook and our ongoing coordination of fiscal policies, along with upcoming Eurogroup priority work areas. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the resilience of the euro area economies, in particular the Greek economy, and the progress made by Greece in recent years culminating in their exit from enhanced surveillance last year.Paschal Donohoe, President of the Eurogroup