Energy single Market pointers:

● Cross-border joint auctions for additional renewable energy

● Grid expansion

●Security of supply: gas and nuclear fuels

● Global cleantech competiton and critical raw materials

● Green diplomacy

● Mutual trust but national sovereignty remains

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Letta rapport

The Dutch privacy watchdog AP on Friday said it was recommending that government organizations should stop using Facebook as long as it is unclear what happens with personal data of users of the government's Facebook pages.

"People that visit a government's page need to be able to trust that their personal and sensitive data is in safe hands," AP chairman Aleid Wolfsen said in a statement.

Junior minister for digitalization Alexandra van Huffelen said Facebook parent company Meta had to make clear before the summer how it could take away the government's concerns on the safety of data.

"Otherwise we will be forced to stop using Facebook, in line with this advice," she said.

The Joint Declaration was agreed upon at an informal meeting of the European Chiefs of Police in London hosted by the National Crime Agency on 18 April.

Police Chiefs of all EU Member States and Schengen Associated Countries were invited, alongside Europol’s Executive Director.

Here is the declaration (pdf).

Cross posted from: https://feddit.de/post/11307943

Slovak citizens angered by their government's refusal to provide military aid to Ukraine's fight against Russian invasion have been raising 2.8m euros - and counting.

The fundraising would be open-ended, according to tbe organizers, with proceeds going to the Czech ammunition drive, from which the first deliveries to Ukraine are expected in June.

As Reuters reports, one of the Slovak citizens who spearhead the Slovak crowdfunding campaign is Otto Simko, a 99-year-old Holocaust survivor.

"When I heard about the Czech government's initiative, I was very pleased to hear that all ways are being sought to help Ukraine defend itself against the (Russian) aggressor, because there is no other way," said Simko.

Slovakia halted state military aid to Ukraine last year, arguing the conflict did not have a military solution, and Prime Minister Robert Fico has echoed Moscow's calls for peace talks.

Simko said in a video posted on the crowdfunders' YouTube page that Russia needed to be expelled from Ukraine so that "peace can be spoken of on terms that suit Ukrainian independence".

Fundraisers say the campaign is aimed at showing a majority do not agree with the government's shift in foreign policy since September's election.

Previous governments had provided air defence and fighter jets to Kyiv, whereas Fico's foreign minister met his Russian counterpart in March - a rare high-level meeting involving Moscow and a European Union member.

The EU wants to strengthen its energy security and seeks to avoid an over-reliance on China for strategic clean technologies like wind, and will initially investigate unfair trade practices in Bulgaria, France, Greece, Romania, and Spain.

Announcing to the EU, the large excess capacities of subsidised Chinese wind turbines jeopardises the bloc's economic security. Europe "must not repeat the mistakes it did in losing its solar manufacturing industry", an official said.

"China tries to get hold of technology in the Netherlands in various ways, using a combination of (cyber) espionage, company insiders, acquisitions, circumvention of export restrictions and reverse engineering of technology for which no licenses are required,” the Dutch intelligence agency said.

A new report asserts that Chinese intelligence agencies have broadened the scope, intensity and technical level of their cyber campaigns over the past 12 months. It also suggests that Chinese universities play a vital intelligence-gathering role, noting that [Chinese] scientists employed by western companies often work for China’s security services and state companies.

He said espionage and sabotage were an integral part of the “standard toolbox of Russian geopolitics”. The secret service activities in Germany exposed by this week’s arrests, he said, were “from that point of view no surprise. Rather, it’s the tip of the iceberg.”He said espionage and sabotage were an integral part of the “standard toolbox of Russian geopolitics”. The secret service activities in Germany exposed by this week’s arrests, he said, were “from that point of view no surprise. Rather, it’s the tip of the iceberg.”

Sino-German relations are complicated. But even evaluated against its own metrics, the new German China Strategy, the German chancellor did not achieve its aims. The strategy recognizes China as a security threat and geopolitical competitor from which Germany should “de-risk,” and that the two countries’ relations should be rules-based and values-driven. This broadened Sino-German relations from their traditional focus on improving market access for German industries to a more multifaceted one.

But sadly, the German China Strategy proved to be nothing but hollow words. Germany’s experience with Vladimir Putin’s Russia should have made it clear that abusive governments make unreliable trade partners. Instead of steering Sino-German relations on a new course consistent with its own strategy by publicly promoting respect for human rights, Scholz defaulted to the well-worn path that will not further Germany’s long-term interests nor the basic human rights of the people in China.

[Edit typo.]

[This is a Greens/EFA campaign. This is politicial by nature. I hope that's ok here.]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14439251

The EU's Data Protection Board (EDPB) has told large online platforms they should not offer users a binary choice between paying for a service and consenting to their personal data being used to provide targeted advertising.

In October last year, the social media giant said it would be possible to pay Meta to stop Instagram or Facebook feeds of personalized ads and prevent it from using personal data for marketing for users in the EU, EEA, or Switzerland. Meta then announced a subscription model of €9.99/month on the web or €12.99/month on iOS and Android for users who did not want their personal data used for targeted advertising.

At the time, Felix Mikolasch, data protection lawyer at noyb, said: "EU law requires that consent is the genuine free will of the user. Contrary to this law, Meta charges a 'privacy fee' of up to €250 per year if anyone dares to exercise their fundamental right to data protection."

Austria's Raiffeisen Bank said on Tuesday that it was replacing job ads that contained "misleading wording" implying the bank was expanding its operations in Russia after the Financial Times said it had found dozens of posting for Russia-based jobs, touting its growth plans in the country.

One of the job postings said the bank was "looking for a client manager who will attract clients," the paper reported.

Raiffeisen Bank International said in its annual report for 2023 that it had made 2.4 billion euros in net profits. It paid 464 million euros in income tax in Russia.

Raiffeisenbank has been in Russia since 1996 and employs more than 9,000 people there.

The bank has vowed to reduce its business in Russia following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but has so far not sold or spun off its Russian unit.

Last year, a Czech rights group filed a criminal complaint against the bank's Czech and Austrian units, claiming the bank is financing terrorism with its activities in Russia.

The Financial Times article is behind a paywall here.

Belgium and the Czech Republic have called for new European Union sanctions to counter Russian influence in the upcoming European elections after several countries discovered early interference, an open letter to the EU leadership showed.

The letter, dated April 16 and signed by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo and Czech President Peter Fiala, was addressed to the heads of the European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament.

The two leaders say instances of pro-Russian disinformation and interference had already been found in several member states. In particular, Belgian security services unearthed a network inside Belgium that involved cash transfers that took place in part in the Czech Republic.

The network aimed to forge cooperation between pro-Russian politicians at the European Parliament, help elect more pro-Russian candidates and appoint "people active within this network as employees (of newly elected) MEPs (members of parliament)."