World
Over 200 NGOs warn Brussels against possible foreign interference law
In an announcement to Fee chief Ursula von der Leyen, the NGOs warn that such laws may harm the EU’s credibility to defend human rights overseas and embolden repressive leaders.
A deliberate European Union directive to create a register for foreign-funded organisations may have “unintended penalties” and restrict the bloc’s skill to assist human rights defenders globally, scores of NGOs have warned in a joint assertion to the European Fee.
Some 230 civil society organisations together with Transparency Worldwide EU, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty Worldwide signed the assertion despatched on Wednesday to European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen through which they lambasted the plans for a Overseas Interference Regulation.
The EU’s govt has not but launched any proposal to that impact however has reached out to civil society organisations in current months with a name for proof.
In keeping with NGOs contacted by the EU, the Fee argues {that a} new authorized instrument is required “to introduce widespread transparency and accountability requirements for curiosity illustration companies paid for or directed from outdoors the EU, to contribute to the correct functioning of the inner market, and to guard the EU democratic sphere from covert outdoors interference”.
These NGOs warn nevertheless that it may embolden repressive leaders worldwide and undercut the EU’s credibility to talk out about restrictive legal guidelines in third nations.
They are saying, as an example, that such legal guidelines already rolled out in different nations have considerably curtailed the area for impartial civil society and “been deployed as a software to silence essential voices.”
“There are the reason why the Fee has criticised international agent acts overseas and why they took Hungary to courtroom over an identical home regulation,” Nick Aiossa, Deputy Director and Head of Coverage & Advocacy at Transparency Worldwide EU, mentioned in an announcement.
“It’s merely reckless the Fee refuses to do their homework and absolutely assess the actual dangers such a laws poses to civil society and journalists,” he added.
Hungary’s introduction of a international interference regulation in 2017 requiring organisations that obtain at the least 7.2 million forints (€19,000) yearly from international sources to register as such with the courtroom and to supply an annual report on their international funding prompted the Fee to swiftly begin an infringement process towards the nation.
First Vice-President Frans Timmermans mentioned on the time that the regulation didn’t adjust to EU regulation, which the Courtroom of Justice of the European Union confirmed in a June 2020 ruling.
Extra lately, plans by the federal government in Georgia to introduce such a “international affect” regulation had been derailed in March after it sparked days of widespread protests throughout the nation.
The regulation — modelled on a Russian model and which might have required any organisation that receives greater than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as a “international agent” or face substantial fines — was denounced as a “very unhealthy improvement for Georgia and its folks” by the EU’s prime diplomat, Josep Borrell.
In an announcement issued after it handed its first studying within the Georgian parliament, the Excessive Consultant mentioned the regulation as drafted may have a “chilling impact on civil society and media organisations”, that it was “incompatible with EU values and requirements” and will thus result in “critical repercussions” for EU-Georgia relations.
Of their assertion to von der Leyen, the NGOs demanded that the European Fee perform an impression evaluation earlier than they launch any proposal on an EU international interference regulation. These assessments are required earlier than the Fee can put out any laws anticipated to have important financial, social or environmental impacts.
In addition they known as for the Fee to obviously define the authorized case for this regulation, saying the decision for proof issued “fails to determine the precise want that new laws would handle and why an EU directive is a crucial or applicable instrument.”
Euronews has reached out to the European Fee for remark however had not acquired any reply by the point of publication.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the shooting of Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico and new EU anti-money laundering rules have all been the target of misinformation recently.
Ahead of the European elections between 6 and 9 June, EU leaders and the European Union itself are increasingly finding themselves as the targets of misinformation campaigns.
Whether it’s an attempt to discredit political rivals or claims about EU regulations, social media is rife with false narratives.
One such example stems from the dramatic shooting of Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico, which has prompted swathes of politically-motivated misinformation online.
Social media users are claiming that this picture shows Fico’s alleged attacker alongside Martin Šimečka, the father of the leader of the opposition party Progressive Slovakia.
Slovakian media has identified the alleged shooter as self-described writer Juraj Cintula.
However, the picture in the post doesn’t show Cintula and Šimečka together. In fact, the second man in the picture isn’t Šimečka at all, and the photo itself comes from one of Cintula’s book launches in 2019.
Facebook itself has now labelled the post as false information.
The attempted false association of the attack on Fico with his political rivals remains particularly dangerous ahead of the European elections.
Is Donald Tusk ashamed of his Polish identity?
Across the border in Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has been accused of attacking the notion of Polishness as an identity.
A picture posted on TikTok claims that Tusk called Polishness ‘an abnormality’ that comes to him ‘with painful persistence’. However, this is misleading.
The prime minister did state those words, but they come from an article he wrote over 40 years ago.
According to Polish fact-checkers, Tusk’s article critically discusses Poles’ attitudes to reality before confirming that he identifies with his own Polishness, at a time when Poland was a communist satellite of the Soviet Union.
“Despite its oppressive heritage it remains our common conscious choice,” he said.
As a strongly pro-EU prime minister who previously served as president of the European Council, Tusk is a crucial target for misinformation mere weeks before the elections.
Is the EU banning cash payments of over €100,000?
Often, it’s the EU itself that’s under attack from those spreading false narratives.
Some social media users say the bloc has prohibited all cash payments over €100,000.
This is partly true: the EU has approved rules limiting cash transactions to €100,000 as part of a raft of new anti-money laundering measures, but these restrictions don’t apply to all transactions.
Specifically, there’s a limit on professional traders barring them from accepting or paying cash over €100,000.
ADVERTISEMENTTransfers between private individuals in a non-professional context are excluded.
Ahead of the European elections, it’s critical that news is shared accurately and fairly, so that the electorate can vote with the proper information at hand.
World
Images show spectacle of Indonesian volcano eruption as authorities evacuate 7 nearby villages
Indonesian authorities evacuated residents of seven villages within a nearly four-mile radius of a volcano on the remote island of Halmahera in Indonesia after it erupted and spewed ash about 2.5 miles into the sky.
Reuters reported that Mount Ibu erupted on Saturday night, turning the sky into a spectacle of gray ash spewing out of the volcano’s crater with flashes of purple lightning.
A crew consisting of police, military and search and rescue services was sent to the area to evacuate residents from surrounding villages, according to a statement from the disaster mitigation agency.
The joint team reportedly assisted the elderly with evacuating the area while residents were moved out of the area in pickup trucks and taken to emergency tents to spend the night.
INDONESIA’S MOUNT IBU VOLCANO ERUPTS, AUTHORITIES PREPARE TO EVACUATE THOUSANDS
Mount Ibu spews thick smoke in Gam Ici, North Maluku, on May 13, 2024. (AZZAM RISQULLAH/AFP via Getty Images)
The agency did not specify how many people had been moved, though authorities recommended that a seven-kilometer (4.35-mile) radius be evacuated.
Mount Ibu erupted last Monday for about five minutes, just days after it erupted on May 10. The eruptions caused the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation to raise the alert level for the volcano from 2 to 3, which is the second-highest level.
11 CONFIRMED DEAD, INCLUDING STUDENTS, IN INDONESIA BUS CRASH AFTER REPORTED BRAKE FAILURE
Lightning appears amid a storm as Mount Ibu spews volcanic material during an eruption, as seen from Gam Ici in West Halmahera, North Maluku province, Indonesia, on May 18, 2024. (Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation/Handout via Reuters)
Officials advised residents and tourists not to conduct any activities within three miles of Mount Ibu’s crater. More than 13,000 people live within a 3-mile radius of the northern side of the crater, Hendra Gunawan, chief of the Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation agency said.
VIDEO SHOWS LIGHTNING SHOOTING FROM TOXIC ASH CLOUD DURING POWERFUL VOLCANIC ERUPTION IN INDONESIA
Purple lighting is seen near Mount Ibu on May 18, 2024. (Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation/Handout via Reuters)
Mount Ibu is a 4,347-foot volcano on the northwest coast of the remote island of Halmahera.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, has 120 active volcanoes. It is prone to volcanic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.
INDONESIA’S RUANG VOLCANO SPITS MORE HOT ASH AFTER ERUPTION FORCES SCHOOLS AND AIRPORTS TO CLOSE
Mount Ibu spews thick smoke in Gam Ici, North Maluku, on May 13, 2024. A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted on May 13, spewing a huge ash tower more than five kilometers (three miles) into the sky after authorities raised its alert level to the second-highest last week.
On Thursday, the agency raised the alert level to the highest level, following several eruptions.
On May 11, flash floods and “cold lava” flowed from Mount Marapi, one of the most active volcanoes in West Sumatra province, into nearby districts after torrential rains, killing more than 60 people.
North Sulawesi’s Ruang volcano also erupted in recent weeks, prompting authorities to evacuate more than 12,000 people from a nearby island.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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