INTL Europe: Politics, Economics, Military- December 2021

[Plain Jane]

UK Brexit minister quits as new COVID rules spark anger

A senior member of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet has resigned, adding to a sense of disarray within a government that has faced rebellion from his own lawmakers and voters this week.

apnews.com

UK Brexit minister quits as new COVID rules spark anger
By DANICA KIRKAyesterday

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street in London, Friday Dec. 17, 2021.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party has suffered a stunning defeat in North Shropshire in a parliamentary by-election that was a referendum on his government amid weeks of scandal and soaring COVID-19 infections. (Joshua Bratt/PA via AP)

LONDON (AP) — A senior member of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet resigned Saturday night, adding to a sense of disarray within a government that has faced rebellion from his own lawmakers and voters this week.

Brexit Minister David Frost said in a letter to Johnson that he was stepping down immediately after a newspaper reported that he had planned to leave the post next month.
Frost said the process of leaving the EU would be a long-term job. “That is why we agreed earlier this month that I would move on in January and hand over the baton to others to manage our future relationship with the EU,″ he said in his resignation letter.


However, the Mail on Sunday said earlier that he resigned because of growing disillusionment with Johnson’s policies. The newspaper said Frost’s decision was triggered by last week’s introduction of new pandemic restrictions, including a requirement that people show proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test to enter nightclubs and other crowded venues.

And in his resignation letter, Frost said the UK needed to “learn to live with Covid. ... You took a brave decision in July, against considerable opposition, to open up the country again. Sadly it did not prove to be irreversible, as I wished, and believe you did too. I hope we can get back on track soon and not be tempted by the kind of coercive measures we have seen elsewhere.”

The news follows a stunning defeat for Johnson’s Conservative Party in a by-election Thursday in North Shropshire, a long-time party stronghold. Earlier this week, 99 Conservative lawmakers voted against so-called vaccine passports in the House of Commons, the biggest rebellion in Johnson’s 2 1/2 years as prime minister.

Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the opposition Labour Party, said Johnson isn’t up to the job as the omicron variant drives a spike in coronavirus infections.

“A government in total chaos right when the country faces an uncertain few weeks″ Rayner tweeted. “We deserve better than this buffoonery.″

Even some of Johnson’s own party members piled on.

“The prime minister is running out of time and out of friends to deliver on the promises and discipline of a true Conservative government,″ tweeted Conservative lawmaker Andrew Bridgen. “Lord Frost has made it clear, 100 Conservative lawmakers have made it clear, but most importantly, so did the people of North Shropshire.″

Frost led talks with the European Union as Johnson’s government sought to re-negotiate terms of Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc.

His resignation comes after the UK recently softened its stance in the talks with the EU over post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland. The change of tone from Britain came as a surprise to many because it seemed at odds with the hardline position of the Brexit minister, who was nicknamed “Frosty the No Man.”

Johnson’s government is also under fire over reports that officials held Christmas parties last year when pandemic rules barred such gatherings.

Adding to his problems with the so-called partygate scandal, Johnson’s choice to investigate the claims had to step aside after he also was tied to such parties.

Simon Case, the head of the civil service, stepped aside from from the investigation after the Guido Fawkes website reported Friday that his department held two parties in December 2020.

The scandal erupted when a video surfaced showing a mock news conference at which some of Johnson’s staff appeared to make light of a party that violated the pandemic rules. Until that time, the prime minister had steadfastly denied government officials had broken any lockdown rules.

The Times of London newspaper reported Saturday that one of the events held by Case’s department, the Cabinet Office, was listed in digital calendars as “Christmas party!” and was organized by a member of Case’s team.

The Cabinet Office said Friday that the event was a virtual quiz in which a small number of people who had been working together in the same office took part from their desks.

“The Cabinet Secretary played no part in the event but walked through the team’s office on the way to his own office,” the office said in a statement. “No outside guests or other staff were invited or present. This lasted for an hour and drinks and snacks were bought by those attending. He also spoke briefly to staff in the office before leaving.”

 

[Plain Jane]

Thousands protest COVID measures across Germany – DW – 12/18/2021

Thousands of people have demonstrated against coronavirus rules in several major German cities, including Hamburg and Düsseldorf. Pandemic deniers have become increasingly displeased with virus-related regulations.

www.dw.com

Germany: Thousands protest against COVID measures across country
Thousands of people have demonstrated against coronavirus rules in several major German cities, including Hamburg and Düsseldorf. Pandemic deniers have become increasingly displeased with virus-related regulations.




Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets across Germany to protest government COVID measures

Opponents of vaccinations and the German government's coronavirus policies demonstrated in several German cities on Saturday.

Several thousand people took to the streets in the northern port city of Hamburg, then marched in several blocks through the city center, police said. About 8,000 attendees were registered.

"No to compulsory vaccination!" was written on self-made placards, as well as "Hands off our children."

A protester in Hamburg holds a placard with the words: 'My child is not your superhero, Pfizer!'

In the western city of Düsseldorf, police said an estimated 4,000 protesters marched through the city center. Around 1,000 people were registered.

The alliance "Dusseldorf Takes a Stand" had registered a counterprotest with about 200 participants.

Vaccinations for children are beginning in Germany, following recommendations made by the country's top vaccine body. However, many parents are divided on the issue.

Those who are against vaccinations are also up in arms over the possible introduction of compulsory vaccinations in the upcoming year.


Watch video02:11
Germany ramps up shots for young children
Protests take hold across Germany
Demonstrations also took place in the financial hub of Frankfurt am Main, as well as the southwestern cities of Karlsruhe and Freiburg.

Police said around 3,500 people marched through the center of Freiburg, adding that they sporadically split up groups because some attendees were not wearing obligatory face masks.

Around 900 people took to the streets in Karlsruhe to protest mandatory vaccinations, particularly for health care workers such as nurses.

In Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, nearly 2,000 people demonstrated under the slogan "Basic rights are not negotiable," according to police.

Around 1,900 people attended a protest against restrictions in Schwerin, the capital of the northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, police said. The protesters reportedly marched peacefully through the city center.

Calls for social cohesion
Institutions in the town of Greiz in the central state of Thuringia issued joint calls for social cohesion and respect in the face of the ongoing protests. Last Saturday evening, 14 police officers were injured during coronavirus protests in the town.

Meanwhile, officials in Berlin banned a demonstration that had 2,000 registered protesters, citing the expectation that demonstrators would violate coronavirus rules such as the obligation to wear a mask and maintain social distance. However, protesters have gathered on many occasions despite police bans.


Watch video00:35
Lauterbach warns of 'massive' fifth wave
'Querdenker' protests banned in Saxony
Police in the eastern German state of Saxony shut down gatherings organized by the Querdenker, or "lateral thinkers" group. People demonstrated in several parts of Dresden, which is one of the cities where the Querdenker movement is most popular.

Meanwhile, in Rathenow in the state of Brandenburg, 360 police officers stopped a protest on Friday evening, citing a lack of people complying with mask requirements.

Germany has a relatively low vaccination rate, with just 70% of the total population inoculated against the virus. Over 6.76 million cases and 108,000 deaths have been reported since the start of the pandemic.
mvb, lc/wd (dpa, epd)

 

[Plain Jane]

Ukraine ex-leader Poroshenko faces 'treason' charges – DW – 12/20/2021

The ex-president is accused of doing business with people in parts of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russia separatists. Poroshenko could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty.

www.dw.com

Ukraine ex-leader Petro Poroshenko accused of 'treason'
The ex-president is accused of doing business with people in parts of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russia separatists. Poroshenko could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty.




Ukrainian investigators say Poroshenko's business dealings could amount to financing 'terrorist activities'

Ukranian state investigators named former President Petro Poroshenko as a suspect in a "treason" probe on Monday involving business dealings tied to separatist-controlled areas.
Poroshenko, who served as president from 2014 - 2019, has faced several investigations in recent years but has not yet been convicted.

What is Poroshenko accused of?
The National Bureau of Investigation has accused the former leader of "committing treason" and supporting "terrorist organizations" — the latter of which is a reference to pro-Russian separatists in eastern breakaway provinces.

Investigators said Poroshenko helped separatists in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions sell around $55 million (€48.7 million) worth of coal to Kyiv. The transactions allegedly took place while he served as president in 2014 - 2015.


Watch video03:10
Russia-Ukraine crisis: Life on the border
The regions came under the control of pro-Russian militia groups around the same time as Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

Poroshenko has been accused of supporting Russian interests in the conflict.

If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison and have his property appropriated.

The case against Poroshenko is related to similar charges that were filed against pro-Russian lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk. He has been under house arrest for several months.

What happens next?
Poroshenko did not immediately respond to the accusations. He left the country on Friday, although his European Solidarity party has denied any wrongdoing.

His party also says that Poroshenko does not pose a flight risk, and that he is slated to return to Ukraine following the New Year holidays.

Former parliament speaker and Poroshenko-ally, Oleksandr Turchynov, said that the ex-president did not intend "to run away" from law enforcement.

He also said that the case against Poroshenko was "fabricated" on the orders of current President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Poroshenko lost an election to Zelenskyy in 2019, who campaigned on a platform of tackling corruption.
rs/aw (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

 

[Housecarl]

Hummm....

Posted for fair use.....

AP Exclusive: Polish opposition duo hacked with NSO spyware

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The aggressive cellphone break-ins of a high-profile lawyer representing top Polish opposition figures came in the final weeks of pivotal 2019 parliamentary elections.

apnews.com

AP Exclusive: Polish opposition duo hacked with NSO spyware
By FRANK BAJAK and VANESSA GERA
yesterday

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The aggressive cellphone break-ins of a high-profile lawyer representing top Polish opposition figures came in the final weeks of pivotal 2019 parliamentary elections. Two years later, a prosecutor challenging attempts by the populist right-wing government to purge the judiciary had her smartphone hacked.

In both instances, the invader was military-grade spyware from NSO Group, the Israeli hack-for-hire outfit that the U.S. government recently blacklisted, say digital sleuths of the University of Toronto-based Citizen Lab internet watchdog.

Citizen Lab could not say who ordered the hacks and NSO does not identify its clients, beyond saying it works only with legitimate government agencies vetted by Israel’s Defense Ministry. But both victims believe Poland’s increasingly illiberal government is responsible.

A Polish state security spokesman, Stanislaw Zaryn, would neither confirm nor deny whether the government ordered the hacks or is an NSO customer.

Lawyer Roman Giertych and prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek join a list of government critics worldwide whose phones have been hacked using the company’s Pegasus product. The spyware turns a phone into an eavesdropping device and lets its operators remotely siphon off everything from messages to contacts. Confirmed victims have included Mexican and Saudi journalists, British attorneys, Palestinian human rights activists, heads of state and Uganda-based U.S. diplomats.

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Water worries in West force sports teams to get creative
AP Exclusive: Polish opposition duo hacked with NSO spyware
But word of the Poland hacking is especially notable, coming as rights groups are demanding an EU-wide ban on the spyware. The 27-nation European Union has tightened export restrictions on spyware, but critics complain that abuse of it by EU member states urgently needs to be addressed.

Citizen Lab previously detected multiple infections in Poland dating from November 2017, though it didn’t identify individual victims then. The Pegasus spyware has also been linked to Hungary, which like Poland has been denounced for anti-democratic abuses. Germany and Spain are reportedly among NSO’s customers, with Catalan separatists accusing Madrid of targeting them with Pegasus.

“Once you start aggressively targeting with Pegasus, you’ll join a fraternity of dictators and autocrats who use it against their enemies and that certainly has no place in the EU,” said senior researcher John-Scott Railton of Citizen Lab.

Former EU parliament member Marietje Schaake of the Netherlands, now international cyber policy director at Stanford University, said: “The EU cannot credibly condemn human rights violations in the rest of the world while turning a blind eye to problems at home.”

The Polish targets see the hack as evidence of a perilous erosion of democracy in the very nation where Soviet hegemony began unraveling four decades ago.

Just hours before Zaryn answered emailed questions about the hack from The Associated Press, a provincial prosecutor filed a motion seeking the arrest of Giertych, the lawyer, in a financial crimes investigation.

Zaryn did not comment on whether the two matters might be related. He said Poland conducts surveillance only after obtaining court orders.

“Suggestions that Polish services use operational methods for political struggle are unjustified,” Zaryn said.

An NSO spokesperson said Monday that the company is a “software provider, the company does not operate the technology nor is the company privy to who the targets are and to the data collected by the customers.” Citizen Lab and Amnesty International researchers say, however, that NSO appears to maintain the infection infrastructure.

The company spokesperson also called the allegations of Polish misuse of Pegasus unclear: “Once a democratic country lawfully, following due process, uses tools to investigate a person suspected in committing a crime, this would not be considered a misuse of such tools by any means.”

In July an investigation by a global media consortium found Pegasus was used in Hungary to hack at least 10 lawyers, an opposition politician and several journalists. Last month, a Hungarian governing party official acknowledged that the government had purchased Pegasus licenses.

In 2019, independent Polish broadcaster TVN found evidence the government anti-corruption agency spent more than $8 million on phone spyware. The agency denied the report but Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was more ambiguous, saying all would “be clarified in due time.”

In the last four months of 2019, Giertych was hacked at least 18 times, Citizen Lab found. At the time, he was representing former Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Civic Platform, now head of the largest opposition party, and former Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, now a European Parliament member.

The “jaw-droppingly aggressive” tempo and intensity of the targeting — day-by-day, even hour-by-hour — suggested “a desperate desire to monitor his communications,” Scott-Railton said. It was so unrelenting that the iPhone became useless and Giertych abandoned it.

“This phone was with me in my bedroom and it was with me when I went to confession. They scanned my life totally,” he said.

Most of the hacks occurred just ahead of an Oct. 13, 2019, parliamentary election that the Law and Justice party of Jaroslaw Kaczynski won by a slim margin, leading to a further erosion of judicial independence and press freedom.

Giertych was also involved representing an Austrian developer at the time who claimed that Kaczynski, Poland’s most powerful politician, stiffed him as a deal to build twin business towers in Warsaw fell apart. Revelations of that deal-gone-sour triggered a scandal because Polish law bans political parties from profit — and the towers were to be built on land owned by Kaczynski’s party.

Giertych also represented Sikorski in an illegal w iretapping case in which the former foreign minister’s conversations were recorded and published; Sikorski alleges the government failed to investigate the possible involvement of Kaczynski allies. Last year, anti-corruption officials searched Giertych’s home and office in a manner a Polish court deemed illegal and the EU called emblematic of how Poland’s government treats hostile lawyers in politically sensitive cases.

When the Lublin regional prosecutor applied for a court order Monday seeking Giertych’s arrest, it said the lawyer had refused to appear for questioning, and seemed to be “deliberately hiding from justice.”

Giertych called this absurd and said the financial wrongdoing investigation was trumped-up, that a Poznan court had already dismissed it for lack of evidence. Prosecutors say he is suspected of money laundering for legal fees he received in a Warsaw property dispute case a decade ago.

Citizen Lab was still investigating how Giertych’s phone was infected but said it expects a “zero-click” vulnerability, which wouldn’t involve user interaction. They believe Wrzosek was similarly hacked. Citizen Lab found six intrusions on her phone from June 24-Aug. 19.

Last year, Wrzosek ordered an investigation into whether presidential elections should be postponed over concerns they could threaten the health of voters and election workers. Almost immediately, she was stripped of the case and transferred to the distant provincial city of Srem with two days’ notice.

“I didn’t even know where the city was and I had nowhere to live there,” said Wrzosek, who was hacked shortly after returning to Warsaw and resuming media appearances critical of the government.

A vocal member of an independent prosecutors’ association, Wrzosek learned she’d been hacked — and tweeted about it -- when Apple sent out alerts last month to scores of iPhone users across the globe targeted by NSO’s Pegasus, including 11 U.S. State Department employees in Uganda. In a lawsuit it filed the same day, Apple called NSO “amoral 21-century mercenaries.” In 2019, Facebook sued the Israeli firm for allegedly hacking its globally popular WhatsApp messenger app.

Wrzosek has filed an official complaint but doesn’t expect prompt accountability, believing “the same services that tried to break into my phone will now be conducting the proceedings, looking for perpetrators.”

___

Bajak reported from Boston. Associated Press reporter Josef Federman contributed from Jerusalem.

 

[Plain Jane]

Bulgarian defense minister rejects possible NATO deployment

Bulgaria's defense minister says he cannot justify a deployment of NATO troops on his territory. Stefan Yanev commented in a Facebook post on the possible NATO response to Russia’s military build-up near Russia's border with Ukraine.

apnews.com

Bulgarian defense minister rejects possible NATO deployment
yesterday


SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria considers a deployment of NATO troops on its territory as unjustifiable, the Black Sea country’s defense minister said Tuesday.

Defense Minister Stefan Yanev commented in a Facebook post about a possible response of the military alliance to Russia’s military build-up near the border with Ukraine.

“Such a decision would not match the allies’ interests or the national interests of Bulgaria,” he wrote.

Yanev confirmed reports that various scenarios responding to Russia’s actions are being considered by NATO, including the deployment of additional troops in Bulgaria and Romania under NATO’s “Enhanced Forward Presence” mission, but added that “these are technical discussions and no decisions have been made.”

He said that such a debate has the potential of causing unnecessary tensions in the region and that at this stage there was no reason to consider Russia’s activities as a direct threat to the alliance and its security.

“In this sense, I see nothing that justifies a decision for deployment of additional troops on our territory,” Yanev wrote.

He added that Bulgaria, a member of NATO since 2004, was ready if needed “to increase the capacity of its own troops on its territory in the context of the allied capabilities for deterrence and defense.”

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Ukraine Holds Provocative Drills Using US Missiles Near Separatist Area

BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, DEC 22, 2021 - 11:20 PM
Ukraine's leaders have made it known that they want Washington to impose new biting sanctions on Russia even before any military offensive materializes. And at a moment that it appears Russia, the US, and NATO are actually ready to enter negotiations on 'security guarantees' related to NATO expansion, it appears Kiev is willing to do whatever it takes to conduct some muscle-flexing, possibly toward derailing the potential for January de-escalation talks.

In what seems its most provocative move thus far, "Ukrainian military forces have conducted combat drills with U.S.-made Javelin anti-tank missiles in a conflict area with separatists in eastern Ukraine as tensions run high with Russia, Ukrainian Dom television channel said on Wednesday," Reuters reports.
Via The Drive

It should be remembered that Ukraine's receiving the Javelin missile since at least 2018 has already been a source of outrage among Moscow officials. Kiev is justifying the exercises as necessary in the face of 'Russian aggression' - given the widespread reports of some 70,000 to 90,000 Russian troops mustered across the border.

Recent reports have suggested that Ukrainian national forces have in past months used the US-supplied javelins in combat with pro-Russian separatist forces in the Donbass region.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and his top officials have charged that the Kremlin is readying a military invasion of Eastern Ukraine by the end of January, something firmly denied by Putin.

Interfax, meanwhile, confirmed that Russia's military held its own drills in the region on Wednesday:

Russia held its own military drills nearby, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday. SU-30 fighter jets and SU-24 bombers from the Black Sea Fleet did aerial refuelling exercises over Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
"The flights were conducted in the sky over Crimea," Interfax quoted Russia's Black Sea Fleet as saying. Around 20 pilots practised complex flight tasks, it said, which included mid-air refuelling at altitudes ranging from 2,000 to 6,000 meters at speeds of around 600 km/h.

Also on Wednesday, Ukraine's Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov revised numbers upward regarding Russian troop estimates Kiev believes are stationed near the border. He stated that 122,000 Russian troops remain within 200 km (124 miles) from Ukraine's border.


Above: Image of one of the Wednesday test launches posted to a Ukrainian news site.
2018 Ukrainian Army test launches of the US-supplied Javelin missiles...

"As regards the number of troops directly. Today, what we see is 122,000 located at a distance of 200 km and 143,500 soldiers of the Russian Federation are at a distance of 400 km in this radius from our border," Danilov said.

 

[Plain Jane]

Hospitalization less likely with omicron: UK data – DW – 12/23/2021

Preliminary data from the United Kingdom has shown that patients infected with the omicron variant of COVID-19 are 50% to 70% less likely to end up in the hospital, in comparison with previous delta variant.

www.dw.com

UK: Omicron variant has 50%-70% less hospitalization rate
The omicron variant of the coronavirus is less likely to land patients in hospital in comparison with delta.




A patient with omicron is between 31% and 45% less likely to attend hospital compared to someone with Delta, and 50 to 70% less likely to be admitted

Preliminary data published by Britain's public health agency suggests that people with the omicron variant of the coronavirus are between 50% and 70% less likely to end up in hospital than those with the delta variant.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) cautioned that its analysis was "preliminary and highly uncertain" due to the small number of omicron patients in hospitals and the fact that most were in younger age groups.

'Encouraging'
Nevertheless, UKHSA Chief Executive Jenny Harries said it was "an encouraging early signal that people who contract the omicron variant may be at a relatively lower risk of hospitalization than those who contract other variants."

"However, it should be noted both that this is early data and more research is required to confirm these findings," she said.
Watch video02:44
Ask Derrick: Will omicron outperform other variants?
The findings are consistent with recent studies from Imperial College London.

Research conducted in South Africa, where the variant was first detected, has also suggested omicron might be milder than first feared.


Watch video05:02
'It is still the right thing to do to become vaccinated': S African virologist
Transmission rates still cause concern
Scientists have warned that although omicron might be less severe, the fact it spreads so quickly could mean it will still overwhelm health systems faster than the delta variant.

The UKHSA also warned of reinfections with omicron, suggesting the variant can circumnavigate antibodies built up through either vaccination or among those who have previously contracted COVID-19.

Initial data showed 9.5% of omicron cases were among those who had already been infected with the coronavirus before.

All eyes are firmly focused on the UK currently, where omicron is rife and COVID cases have surged by more than 50% in the last week.

Britain reported almost 120,000 cases on Thursday, a record-high since the virus first emerged there almost two years ago.



Watch video01:37
UK: Daily infections surpass 100,000 for first time
jsi/aw (AP, Reuters)

 

[Plain Jane]

Greece: 13 dead, others missing in new migrant boat accident

At least 13 people have died after a migrant boat capsized in the Aegean Sea. That brought to at least 27 the combined death toll from three separate accidents in as many days involving migrant boats in Greek waters.

apnews.com

Greece: 13 dead, others missing in new migrant boat accident
By DEREK GATOPOULOSyesterday


ATHENS, Greece (AP) — At least 13 people died after a migrant boat capsized in the Aegean Sea late Friday, bringing to at least 27 the combined death toll from three accidents in as many days involving migrant boats in Greek waters.

The sinkings came as smugglers increasingly favor a perilous route from Turkey to Italy, which avoids Greece’s heavily patrolled eastern Aegean islands that for years were at the forefront of the country’s migration crisis.

The coast guard said 62 people were rescued after a sailboat capsized late Friday some 8 kilometers (5 miles) off the island of Paros, in the central Aegean. Survivors told the coast guard that about 80 people had been on the vessel.

Five coast guard patrol boats, nine private vessels, a helicopter and a military transport plane continued the night-time search for more survivors, authorities said, while coast guard divers also participated.



Smugglers based in Turkey increasingly have packed yachts with migrants and refugees and sent them toward Italy.

Earlier, 11 people were confirmed dead after a sailboat Thursday struck a rocky islet some 235 kilometers (145 miles) south of Athens, near the island of Antikythera. The coast guard said Friday that 90 survivors ‒ 52 men, 11 women and 27 children ‒ were rescued after spending hours on the islet.

“People need safe alternatives to these perilous crossings,” the Greek office of the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said in a tweet.

In a separate incident Friday, Greek police arrested three people on smuggling charges and detained 92 migrants after a yacht ran aground in the southern Peloponnese region.

And a search operation also continued for a third day in the central Aegean, where a boat carrying migrants sank near the island of Folegandros, killing at least three people. Thirteen others were rescued, and the survivors reported that at least 17 people were missing.

Authorities said the passengers originally were from Iraq.

Greece is a popular entry point into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. But arrivals dropped sharply in the last two years after Greece extended a wall at the Turkish border and began intercepting inbound boats carrying migrants and refugees ‒ a tactic criticized by human rights groups.

More than 116,000 asylum-seekers crossed the Mediterranean to reach EU countries this year as of Dec. 19, according to UNHCR. The agency said 55% traveled illegally to Italy, 35% to Spain, and 7% to Greece, with the remainder heading to Malta and Cyprus. ___
Derek Gatopoulos on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dgatopoulos ___ Full AP coverage of global migration at Migration

 

[Plain Jane]

Thousands of Russian troops leave Ukraine border – DW – 12/26/2021

The Kremlin said a number of soldiers are returning to their permanent bases after finishing military drills. Western countries have accused Russia of amassing around 100,000 troops near Ukraine.

www.dw.com

Thousands of Russian troops leave Ukraine border
The Kremlin said a number of soldiers are returning to their permanent bases after finishing military drills. Western countries have accused Russia of amassing around 100,000 troops near Ukraine.




Talks between Russia and the West are set for January

Russia announced on Saturday that 10,000 troops had finished month-long military drills near Ukraine and would be returning to their permanent bases.

The news comes amid accusations from Western countries that Russia is plotting an invasion of Ukraine, something the Kremlin denies.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the operations for the Southern Military District forces had taken place across a stream of southern regions, including Rostov, Krasnodar and Crimea, a peninsula Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.

The West has accused Russia of amassing some 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine.


Watch video01:59
EU warns Russia of 'massive consequences'
Russia adds to NATO pressure
In the meantime, Russia has applied pressure on NATO and the West with a raft of demands, calling for a Russian veto on the admission of future NATO members, with one eye on Ukraine's possible entry to the military alliance.

The United States, among others, have given the Kremlin's request short shrift.

In addition, Russia has called on NATO to withdraw its multinational battalions from Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.


Watch video06:48
Russia analyst: 'War is more probable now'
President Vladimir Putin fanned the flames on Wednesday when he said Russia would take "appropriate retaliatory" steps in response to what he called an "aggressive stance" from the West.

But he turned the volume down the following day when he said he had witnessed a "positive" reaction from Washington to Russia's security proposals.

Talks on the horizon
Talks between the US and Russia, as well as NATO, are scheduled to take place next month.
A senior US official said Washington was "ready to engage in diplomacy as soon as early January," both bilaterally and through "multiple channels."

Talks involving Germany, France and Ukraine under the Normandy Format in the new year have been hinted at.
jsi/rs (AFP, dpa)

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

UK Mulls Door-To-Door Vaccination Squads

BY TYLER DURDEN
SUNDAY, DEC 26, 2021 - 01:45 PM
The UK is considering a plan to send door-to-door vaccinations squads to the homes of unvaccinated Britons in an effort to reach an estimated five million people who haven't taken the jab, according to the Daily Mail.
(Gareth Fuller/PA)
The initiative has been discussed by the Department of Health, NHS England and No. 10 over the past week as part of a nationwide drive to send vaccine teams into areas which have the lowest vaccination rates - and are floating it as an alternative to lockdowns and other restrictions, as well as a solution to 'encourage' vaccination in rural areas or households where people cannot easily travel to a vax center.

"I think anything that encourages the vaccine-hesitant is sensible," said one Cabinet Minister, who then warned: "The mood in the country is hardening against people who refuse to be vaccinated."

In other words, get vaxxed despite the fact that Omicron laughs at the vaccine, and hardly anyone has died of it.

This comes as SAGE warned the UK is about to be hit by a large wave of Covid hospitalisations and the peak could be even higher than last winter despite the reduced severity of Omicron.
In minutes from a meeting on December 23 published last night, the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies warned that the peak on hospital admissions 'may be comparable to or higher than previous peaks' – including the second wave in January.
But MPs and hospitality bosses have warned Boris Johnson not to bring in new restrictions before New Year's Eve or risk 'devastating' businesses. -Daily Mail

While Boris Johnson and crew have said there are no plans to close schools in January, there has been pushback at any hint of lockdowns or other restrictions.

"I am all in favour of free choice but there comes a point when you cannot lock up 90 per cent of the country who are vaccinated for the ten per cent who refuse to be."

NHS England's vaccination push continued throughout Christmas day - while over 220,000 first doses of the vaccine administered in the week leading up to Dec. 21, a 46% jump over the previous week. First doses jumped in the 18-24 year-old age bracket by 85%, and 71% in 25 to 30-year-olds - which Health Secretary Sajid Javid called 'excellent.'

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

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The Leading Candidate In The April 2022 French Election Only Polls 20%

BY TYLER DURDEN
TUESDAY, DEC 28, 2021 - 05:00 AM
Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
Let's take a quick peak at the upcoming French national election.


In the latest French Election Poll, no candidate has over 20% support. Incumbent president Emmanuel Macron is leading the way.

The above table is minus 7 candidates all polling less than 2% in the latest poll. A chart of poll averages better explains what's happening.
Poll Averages

Macron (La République en Marche!) in Yellow is slowly slipping. The meteoric rise is by Valérie Pécresse (Les Républicains) in turquoise.
Meet the Candidates

• Fabien Roussel (French Communist Party)
• Jean-Luc Mélenchon (La France Insoumise)
• Anne Hidalgo (Socialist Party)
• Arnaud Montebourg (L'Engagement)
• Yannick Jadot (Europe Écologie)
• Emmanuel Macron (La République en Marche!)
• Valérie Pécresse (Les Républicains)
• Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (Debout la France)
• Marine Le Pen (National Rally)
• Éric Zemmour (Reconquête)

Marine Le Pen changed her party name from National Front to National Rally. That did not seem to help her any.

How the French Election Works

• The people of France elect their President every five years.
• Contenders must, among other things, be nominated by at least 500 elected representatives (e.g. mayors, deputies).
• Starting April 10, there is an upper limit on spending which is monitored by a committee.
• Once the official campaign has begun, each candidate must have strictly the same amount of airtime on TV and radio.
• April 23 is the 1st round of the election. The French people go to the polls: if no candidate wins over 50% of the vote, a second round is organized.
• The second round is on May 7. Only the two candidates with the most votes qualify for the 2nd round.
• The candidate with the absolute majority of votes cast is elected. Blank or spoilt votes are not taken into account.

The above condensed from French Election Process, in English.
What's Going On?


France 24 reports Conservative Pécresse looks to establish herself as the ‘only threat’ to Macron.

The only candidate to have edged Emmanuel Macron in any poll for the all-important second round of the French presidential election, Valérie Pécresse has enjoyed surging ratings since she won the conservative Les Républicains party primary in early December. Analysts say Pécresse poses a formidable threat to the president as she targets his voters on the centre ground of French politics.
For much of Macron’s term France expected – and did not want – a replay of the 2017 Macron vs. Le Pen duel in the 2022 presidential election second round. In this landscape, traditional conservatives Les Républicains (LR) looked trapped in a constricted political space between President Macron and the Rassemblement National's Marine Le Pen, then unassailable as the far-right’s standard-bearer. But new developments have changed the dynamic. As political scientist Jérôme Jaffré put it, just like Eric Zemmour “shook” Le Pen by outflanking her on the extreme right, Pécresse is “shaking” Macron as she encroaches on his territory – the far more vote-rich centre ground.

Pécresse has imposed herself as a major threat to Macron in the second round – as demonstrated by an Elabe survey in early December showing her beating him in the runoff, amid a polling surge after her LR primary triumph. That Elabe poll was like an “electric shock”, an anonymous figure close to Macron told Le Journal de Dimanche.

“One of the biggest threats posed by Pécresse is her party’s ability to wage an electoral ground war,” Shields said. “LR remains a formidable campaigning machine with a deeply embedded presence across the towns, departments and regions of France and a newly energised and expanded membership. This contrasts with Macron, Le Pen and Zemmour, none of whom have anything like the same capacity to mount an extensive ground campaign and rally grassroots support across the country.”

Far Right Split
Marine Le Pan and Éric Zemmour are battling for the far right vote, splintering both of them. The latest polls have their combined effort at about 27%. The poll averages have them closer to a combined 30%.

That's more than Macron but it's not enough to win a French election even if you magically could combine the two.

Why?
All the socialists, communists, greens, etc., would hold their noses and vote for Macron in a two-way runoff.

What About Macron vs. Pécresse?
Macron has more support but it's not very deep.

The far-right candidates may easily prefer Pécresse to Macron. And what about the female vote?

All things considered, I suspect Pécresse would beat Macron in a two-way runoff if the election was held now.

But the election isn't now. It will be held in April-May.

French politicians have a way of flaming out and the public often finds a way to back the most leftist candidate in the final pair.

But the Right sometimes wins and that's my bet right now in the May round 2 runoff.

 

[Plain Jane]

COVID protests put police under 'huge strain' – DW – 12/29/2021

German police are running "at full capacity all the time" and struggling to cope with stress as they deal with violent and aggressive protesters, the police union has said.

www.dw.com

Germany: COVID protests put police under 'huge strain'
German police are running "at full capacity all the time" and struggling to cope with stress as they deal with violent and aggressive protesters, the police union has said.




The head of German police union (GdP) said frequent demonstrations were causing police to neglect other work

German Police Union (GdP) said it was concerned about the psychological consequences faced by police officers deployed at protests against COVID-19 measures.

"The many coronavirus protests are putting a huge strain on our forces," union national chairman Oliver Malchow told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND).

Police officers are deployed from one state to another to deal with the numerous demonstrations taking place across Germany, he said in comments published Wednesday.

Violence against police officers
Malchow particularly highlighted violent encounters where protesters show high levels of aggression against officers. This is making deployments extremely stressful, he said.

Last week, thirteen police officers were injured in the southwestern city of Mannheim as protesters reacted angrily to authorities attempting to end an unauthorized march against coronavirus restrictions.

"Managers are working hard to reduce the stress on their staff, but this is becoming increasingly difficult," the GdP chief said.

"In recent years, the federal states have hired significantly more personnel in the psychological service of the police," he said.


Watch video02:07
Protests as Germany tightens COVID-19 restrictions
Malchow also pointed out that "tressful situations, violence against police officers and also verbal violence and humiliation do not only take place during demonstrations."

'Running at full capacity'
The union chief said that while an increasing number of officers were accepting psychological counseling, they were only helpful when offered soon after the incident.

"When officers are sent from assignment to assignment, it all piles up," Malchow said.

He added that the police needed more personnel to deal with this challenge. "We're running at full capacity all the time right now, and that load is doing something to my colleagues."
Manuel Ostermann, the deputy chairman of the German Police Trade Union (DPoIG) said staff cuts were the main reason for the problems.

"This is now hitting us in all areas, including with coronavirus measures," he told mass-circulation newspaper Bild in comments published Wednesday.

New wave of restrictions prompts more protests
Countless anti-lockdown and anti-restriction rallies were held across Germany since the pandemic started some two years ago. In recent days, another wave of protests saw thousands rally across dozens of German cities to protest coronavirus measures.

These protests came in response to new restrictions on private gatherings and a ban on spectators at public events ahead of New Year celebrations.

In the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania alone, more than 15,000 people took to the streets in 20 cities, according to German police.

In the eastern state of Brandenburg, around 9,000 demonstrators protested, according to police.

The city of Munich has explicitly banned such marches on Wednesday and Thursday.
People taking part in these unauthorized coronavirus demonstrations could now face fines of up to €3,000 ($3,391).
adi/dj (dpa, AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Biden talks sanctions, Putin warns of rupture over Ukraine

President Joe Biden has warned Russia’s Vladimir Putin that the U.S. could impose new sanctions against Russia if it takes further military action against Ukraine.

apnews.com

Biden, Putin to hold call as Ukraine-Russia tension smolders
By AAMER MADHANI20 minutes ago



1 of 2
FILE - President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, arrive to meet at the 'Villa la Grange', June 16, 2021, in Geneva, Switzerland. Biden and Putin are scheduled to speak Thursday, Dec. 30, as the Russian leader has stepped up his demands for security guarantees in Eastern Europe. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin are set to discuss the Russian troop buildup near Ukraine during their second call in recent weeks amid little progress toward ending the smoldering crisis.

Ahead of Thursday’s call, the White House indicated that Biden would make clear to Putin that a diplomatic path remains open even as the Russians have moved an estimated 100,000 troops toward Ukraine and Putin has stepped up his demands for security guarantees in Eastern Europe.

But Biden will reiterate to Putin that for there to be “real progress” in talks they must be conducted in “a context of de-escalation rather than escalation,” according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters ahead of the call. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The call, which was requested by Russian officials, comes as senior U.S. and Russian officials are to hold talks on Jan. 10 in Geneva. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin would speak with Biden on Thursday but provided no details.

The official said Biden and Putin, who met in Geneva in June to discuss an array of tensions in the U.S.-Russia relationship, were not expected to take part in the coming talks. The two leaders held a video call earlier this month in which their conversation focused heavily on Russia’s troop movements that have unsettled Ukraine and other European allies.
https://apnews.com/article/joe-bide...urope-europe-ae02623d0967b5e292828669b78eefb6

In that Dec. 7 video call, the White House said Biden put Moscow on notice that an invasion of Ukraine would bring sanctions and enormous harm to the Russian economy. Russian officials have dismissed the sanction threats.

Moscow and NATO representatives are expected to meet shortly after the upcoming Geneva talks as are Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which includes the United States.

Earlier this month, Moscow submitted draft security documents demanding that NATO deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and roll back its military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.

The U.S. and its allies have refused to offer Russia the kind of guarantees on Ukraine that Putin wants, citing NATO’s principle that membership is open to any qualifying country. They agreed. however, to hold talks with Russia to discuss its concerns.

As Biden prepared for talks with Putin, the administration also sought to highlight the commitment to Ukraine and drive home that Washington is committed to the “principle of nothing about you without you” in shaping policy that affects European allies.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken “reiterated the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s borders.”

Biden and administration officials also plan to consult with European allies after the president speaks with Putin to offer them a readout of the engagement.

Putin said earlier this week he would weigh a slew of options if the West fails to meet his push for security guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine.

In Thursday’s call, Biden is expected to stress to Putin that the U.S. is united with its allies but will demonstrate a willingness to engage in “principled diplomacy” with Russia, the administration official said.

In 2014, Russian troops marched into the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and seized the territory from Ukraine. Russia’s annexation of Crimea — one of the darker moments for President Barack Obama on the international stage — looms large as Biden looks to contain the current crisis.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan has made clear in public comments that the administration is ready to discuss Moscow’s concerns about NATO in talks with Russian officials, but emphasized that Washington won’t go behind the backs of European allies in shaping policy that affects them.

The two leaders are also expected during Thursday’s call to discuss efforts to persuade Iran to return to the 2015 nuclear accord, which was effectively scrapped by the Trump administration.

Despite differences on Ukraine and other issues, White House officials have said the Iran nuclear issue is one where they believe the U.S. and Russia can work cooperatively.

Biden, who is spending the week in his home state of Delaware, is expected to participate in the call from his home near Wilmington.

 

[Plain Jane]

Germany sees battle over cheap meat flare up – DW – 12/29/2021

Green Party Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir wants to see more organic and less convenience food in Germany. He says food should no longer be sold at bargain prices. But this could place a greater burden on poor people.

www.dw.com

Germany sees battle over cheap meat flare up
Green Party Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir wants to see more organic and less convenience food in Germany. He says food should no longer be sold at bargain prices. But this could place a greater burden on poor people.




Cheap meat is bad for consumers, farms, animals, and the environment, the Agriculture Minister said

Germany's new agriculture minister, Cem Özdemir, knows how to deliver a good soundbite: "Sometimes I get the feeling that a good engine oil is more important to us than a good salad oil," the veteran Green told the mass-circulation paper Bild am Sonntag.

Food quality in Germany is too low, Özdemir said, and so are the prices, and everyone loses out because of it. "There should no longer be any junk prices," he said. "They drive farms to ruin, prevent animal welfare, promote species extinction and burden the climate. I want to change that." The price of food should, he said, reflect the "ecological truth."

The Greens' Cem Özdemir has just been made agriculture minister

Ultimately, he said, consumers also suffer from cheap food with too much fat, sugar and salt in it, pointing out that over 50% of German adults are overweight. "The former government tried for too long to get the industry to reduce these ingredients with voluntary commitments. That's over now. With me, there will be binding reduction targets," Özdemir said.

The new government's declared aim, formulated in the freshly signed coalition contract, is to increase Germany's proportion of "organically farmed" land from the current 10% to 30% by 2030 — though there are few details beyond that.

The agriculture minister's plans immediately drew flak from the conservatives, who are now in opposition. Bavarian State Premier Markus Söder was quick to lash out along familiar lines: The federal government is "not there to dictate to people what or how much they should eat," he told Wednesday's Bild newspaper. Söder, in whose state farming plays a major role and farmers associations have a strong voice, said he doubts whether that is the right "vision" for Germany's agriculture.

None of the new government's plans are news to Christoph Minhoff, head of the Food Federation Germany, an industry association that represents companies all the way along the food supply chain. "Özdemir is ramming open doors that are all already open," he told DW. "It's nice, but at the end of the day, it's no help if a company tries to sell something that just stays on the shelf. They need products that consumers will buy."

Bavaria attracts tourists with images of healthy dairy cows — in reality most are kept in tethers

The cost of meat
Minhoff said the food industry was already doing at least as much as any other industry to make its products sustainable and climate-friendly. "No one wants to produce more meat from tortured animals," he said. "All these aims have been formulated before — the problem is it costs all kinds of money. And the key question is: Who will pay the price?"

In July, a special government commission for the future of industrial agriculture — made up of both environmental groups and farmer groups — set out the same general targets that Özdemir did: reduce meat consumption, increase climate protection. Startlingly enough, it concluded that beef should cost five or six times more than it does now, or over €80 ($90) per kilogram (2.2 pounds), rather than the current €14. This price hike would be necessary to balance out the costs incurred through pollution and the loss of biodiversity, which the commission put at €90 billion a year. By the same calculation, dairy products should cost two to four times as much as they do now.

The commission also recommended that an investment of €7-11 billion a year was necessary to finance the ecological transformation of the agriculture industry. Even so, the report found, there would be no way around reducing the total amount of livestock on German farms, which would inevitably mean less meat on the market, and higher prices.

Watch video04:11
Are influencers encouraging kids to eat junk food?
Same goals, different paths
Farmers and environmentalists are not as far apart as the media debate sometimes suggests. After all, farmers clearly want their food to be valued more.

Reinhard Jung, head of the independent farmer group Freie Bauern (Free Farmers) and a part-time farmer himself, welcomed Özdemir's general approach. "If consumers consciously asked after regional food and food that has been produced in a certain way, that would increase not only the appreciation but ultimately the amount of money that farmers can earn," he told DW.
But Jung doesn't think that food prices must necessarily rise for farmers to be paid fairly. "If we managed to pry a little bit of money from the big supermarkets and the big slaughterhouses and the big dairy factories, the consumer wouldn't have to pay much more."

Freie Bauern have three main ideas on their wish list for Özdemir. Firstly, the group seeks an origin label on all food, so consumers can identify locally produced food more easily. Secondly, the farmers want what Jung calls "fair supply-chain relations" so that the know in advance what they will be paid. As things stand now, the big agricultural companies pay farmers later, determined by the market at the time of sale.

"Especially with milk, it's an unbelievably exploitative system," said Jung. "The farmer only finds out a month later what he's actually being paid: namely, what's leftover" after intermediaries have taken their share.

And, thirdly, Jung wants an "unbundling law" that will break up the monopolies of the big food producers. This, he said, might also lead to lower prices through the power of free-market competition and "allow farmers to play an active part in the competition."

The origin label is in fact in the new current coalition contract, and the issues around the other two are at least addressed: The new government has expressed an ambition to "develop a system which allows agricultural businesses to be compensated for running costs, and at the same time promote investments into agriculture."

But the German Farmers' Association, the largest such lobby group, is skeptical as to whether a monopoly-busting law is politically or legally realistic. "Of course, the farmers are under a lot of pressure, because the retailers negotiate very hard," Udo Hemmerling, the association's deputy general secretary, told DW. "But unbundling is really just a theoretical option: There are very few examples internationally of when competition authorities were able to break up big companies."

Hemmerling's demands are more modest: a state bonus for farmers who offer better conditions for animals or better environmental protection. Such state investment looks unavoidable, given Özdemir's ambitions, but it is also difficult, given that — at the behest of the neoliberal party in the coalition, the Free Democrats (FDP) — the government has already ruled out tax increases and additional borrowing.



Watch video05:41
Making cheese and bratwurst without animal products
Can poor people afford good food?
There is a social aspect to the issue that a government under a Social Democrat chancellor cannot afford to ignore: Higher food prices mean an increase in the cost of living, which would be problematic for Germany's low-income earners. About 3.8 million people receive state benefits.

According to the Paritätische Gesamtverband, an umbrella group for Germany's social welfare organizations, people with lower incomes would need to receive compensation payments for higher food prices.

"The fact is that the necessary ecological transition must go hand in hand with good social policy," said the association's chairman, Ulrich Schneider.

For that reason, Schneider said it was "unfortunate" that Özdemir chose food prices as his main line of argument, rather than ecological issues and sustainable businesses. "People have to get the feeling they're being included," he said.
Edited by: Rina Goldenberg.

 

[northern watch]

Europe's shared notes and coins turn 20 at New Year's
This New Year's the European Central Bank is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the euro's notes and coins
By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer
31 December 2021, 08:59

The Associated Press
A light installation is projected onto the building of the European Central Bank during a rehearsal in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021. The light show will mark the 20th anniversary of the European currency Euro on New Year's Eve. (Photo/Michael Probst)

FRANKFURT, Germany -- The European Central Bank is celebrating the 20th anniversary of euro notes and coins as member countries wrestle with the pandemic's impact on the economy and the European Union forges a new level of financial cooperation to help boost the recovery.

The event is being marked at midnight New Year's Eve with a light display in blue and yellow, the colors of the EU, projected on its skyscraper headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany.

The introduction of notes and coins in 12 countries on Jan. 1, 2002, was a massive logistical undertaking that followed up on the introduction of the euro for accounting purposes and electronic payments three years earlier, on Jan. 1, 1999. Today, the euro is used in 19 of 27 EU countries.

The cash introduction saw the new euro notes and coins quickly replace German marks, French francs and Italian lire in ATMs, cash registers, and wallets and purses. Shop customers who paid in the old currencies received change in euros under fixed exchange rates. That swept the old currencies out of circulation as people spent their remaining national cash.

Warnings of a logistical catastrophe did not come true. ECB President Christine Lagarde — in 2002 an attorney with a global law firm — recalled withdrawing her first euros from a cash machine near her home in Normandy with friends who predicted the switch would overload the machines. “We made a bet: if the machine gave us French francs instead of euro notes, they could keep the money,” she wrote on the ECB's website. “After midnight, we tried the cash machine. It dispensed brand new crisp euro banknotes, and we all raised a glass to the new European currency.”

The bank plans to redesign the banknotes, with a final decision on the new look expected in 2024. The original designs with generic windows, doorways and bridges from various eras that don’t represent any specific place or monument have undergone one relatively minor update since introduction. The bank is also studying a possible digital version of the currency.

The euro has been through its ups and downs since its launch as a major project of European integration. The currency union faced speculation it would break up during an extended crisis over government and bank debt in 2011-2015. European Central Bank head Mario Draghi helped end market turbulence with his July 26, 2012, promise to “do whatever it takes” to preserve the euro, followed by the ECB's offer to purchase the government debt of countries facing excessive borrowing costs.

Under Lagarde, the central bank deployed a 1.85 trillion euro ($2.1 trillion) bond purchase program aimed at keeping borrowing costs down for companies so they can get through the worst of the pandemic.

In response to the pandemic, European Union governments have taken a further step toward economic and financial integration by agreeing to borrow money together for the 807 billion euro Next Generation EU recovery fund. The fund aims to support the post-pandemic recovery by financing projects that help the economy reduce emissions of carbon dioxide in order to fight climate change, and that support increasing use of digital technology.

Finance ministers from euro member countries said in a joint article published in major European newspapers that there’s still work to be done on reinforcing the shared currency, such as improving the way private investments flow across borders and strengthening joint banking oversight to prevent costly crises.

“None of these issues can be addressed by countries acting alone," they wrote. "The euro is proof of what we can achieve when we work together.”

Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, who heads the Eurogroup panel of finance ministers from the member countries, said that the currency “has strengthened its foundations over the last 20 years. It’s proven its mettle in dealing with great challenges and great crises.”

Europe's shared notes and coins turn 20 at New Year's - ABC News (go.com)