World
European lawmakers issue joint appeal for EU-Taiwan investment deal
The European Union ought to “make haste” and kick off talks to strike an funding cope with Taiwan, a cross-party group of European lawmakers has stated.
The 35-strong group contains nationwide legislators from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Eire, Denmark and Ukraine, along with members from the European Parliament.
The joint letter is addressed to the EU’s management: European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michela, European Commissioner for Commerce Valdis Dombrovskis and Excessive Consultant Josep Borrell.
The Fee negotiates commerce and funding offers on behalf of the 27 member states.
“We’re writing to induce you to make haste with the EU-Taiwan Bilateral Funding Settlement,” say the lawmakers, who belong to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC).
“To deepen our relationship with our democratic Taiwanese pals wouldn’t solely be mutually useful but additionally of nice geo-economic significance, because the EU is significantly depending on extremely superior semiconductors produced in Taiwan.”
In addition to the potential financial advantages from the deal, the lawmakers argue the funding deal may assist strengthen “democratic friendship” and uphold the “rules-based world order.”
Taiwan, a democratic and economically superior self-ruling island, is at centre of tensions between China, which sees the territory as a wayward province, and the West, which depends closely on its cutting-edge semiconductor trade.
The EU, just like the overwhelming majority of nations, follows the so-called “One China” coverage and would not recognise Taiwan as an unbiased nation. Nevertheless, the bloc maintains profitable industrial relations with the island and common dialogue on points comparable to human rights, innovation and local weather change.
In 2021, Taiwan was ranked the EU’s twelfth largest buying and selling companion in items, two spots larger than Canada, a G7 financial system with whom the bloc has a commerce deal in place.
Requires nearer EU-Taiwan cooperation have grown as criticism towards China’s authoritarian and repressive regime intensifies throughout the continent.
Relations between Brussel and Beijing reached an all-time low final 12 months, when China blacklisted democratically-elected European lawmakers in retaliation for Western sanctions.
Nonetheless, no official transfer has been made in the direction of therequested funding settlement.
In an announcement to Euronews, a Fee spokesperson defined that Taiwan, a member of the World Commerce Organisation since 2002, is already an open financial system that presents few to no obstacles for EU traders so signing such a deal wouldn’t make sense.
The Fee has as an alternative “modernised” its dialogue with the island to debate the availability of microchips and different areas “the place our pursuits intersect.”
The EU is the main supply of international direct funding (FDI) in Taiwan, the spokesperson famous.
World
Slovakia PM Robert Fico in ‘very serious’ condition after being shot
Deputy PM Kalinak says Fico is stable post-surgery after being shot five times in an attempted assassination.
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico is stable but his condition remains “very serious”, his deputy has said, after an assassination attempt that shocked the country and drew global condemnation.
Fico, 59, was shot five times in the central town of Handlova on Wednesday. He was in critical condition and underwent several hours of emergency surgery.
“During the night, doctors managed to stabilise the patient’s condition,” Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak said on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, the condition is still very serious as the injuries are complicated,” said Kalinak, who is also the defence minister.
A state security council meeting is scheduled for Thursday following the attack. The alleged attacker, a 71-year-old writer, was taken into custody.
Environment Minister Tomas Taraba told the BBC on Thursday that the operation had “gone well”. He said one bullet went through Fico’s stomach, and the second hit a joint during the attack after Fico left a government meeting.
The shooting was “politically motivated”, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said on Wednesday.
“This assassination [attempt] was politically motivated, and the perpetrator’s decision was born closely after the presidential election,” Sutaj Estok said, referring to an April election won by Fico’s ally, Peter Pellegrini.
Pellegrini described the attack as an “unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy”.
“If we express other political opinions in squares, and not in polling stations, we are jeopardising everything that we have built together over 31 years of Slovak sovereignty,” Pellegrini said.
Following the attack, Fico was rushed to a hospital in Handlova but was transferred by helicopter to the regional capital, Banska Bystrica, for urgent treatment.
Russia said it considered the attack “absolutely unacceptable”.
“This is really a great tragedy,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
Fico’s European counterparts, including Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, condemned the shooting and wished him a complete recovery.
The country of 5.4 million has seen polarised political debate in recent years, including last year’s presidential election that helped Fico tighten his grip on power.
Since returning as prime minister last October, his government has scaled back support for Ukraine while opening up dialogue with Russia, looked to lessen punishments for corruption, and is revamping the RTVS public broadcaster despite a call to protect media freedoms.
World
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World
Chances of Cyprus peace talks restart look dimmer as Turkish Cypriot leader sees no common ground
Chances of restarting formal talks to mend Cyprus’ decades-long ethnic division appeared dimmer Wednesday as the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots told a U.N. envoy that he saw no common ground with Greek Cypriots for a return to negotiations.
Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said that he conveyed to the U.N. secretary general’s personal envoy, María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar, that talks can’t happen unless separate Turkish Cypriot sovereignty in the island’s northern third first gains the same international recognition as the Cyprus republic in the Greek Cypriot south.
CYPRUS’ PRESIDENT CALLS ON EU TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST INFLUX OF SYRIAN REFUGEES FROM LEBANON
Tatar was quoted by Turkish Cypriot media as saying that a permanent Turkish military presence coupled with military intervention rights are prerequisites to any peace deal, despite Greek Cypriot attempts to “remove Turkey” from the settlement equation.
Tatar also expressed irritation with Holguín’s contacts with civil society groups that support an accord that would reunify Cyprus as a federation made up of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot zones, in line with a U.N.-endorsed framework.
The majority of Greek Cypriots reject a deal that would formalize a partition through a two-state deal, the permanent stationing of Turkish troops on the island, the right for Turkey to militarily intervene as well a demand for a Turkish Cypriot veto on all federal-level government decisions.
The Turkish Cypriot leader’s remarks don’t waver from a line that he’s consistently kept since his 2022 rise to power. But the fact that he remains unyielding despite four months of Holguín’s shuttle diplomacy doesn’t bode well for a talks restart.
Holguín was appointed at the start of the year to determine what the chances are of resuming formal talks seven years after the last major push for a deal collapsed amid much acrimony.
An agreement has defied numerous, U.N.-facilitated rounds of talks since 1974 when the island was cleaved along ethnic lines following a Turkish invasion preceded by a coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence, and although Cyprus is a European Union member, only the south enjoys full membership benefits.
Holguín has refrained from speaking at length about her contacts over the last few months, but she noted in an interview with Kathimerini newspaper that it was up to the leaders to “listen to the people” and that she had been surprised at Tatar’s rejection of her proposal for a three-way meeting with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.
Holguín will “soon” prepare a report for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres about her findings over the last five months, according to U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.
Christodoulides struck a more upbeat note on Wednesday, saying that efforts for a resumption of talks continue and that time should be given for diplomacy to work.
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