State of the Union: Antisemitism rises, low COP28 expectations & EU-China summit

Last month, the Netherlands recorded an 800% increase in antisemitic incidents and Austria a 300% rise.

In the second half of October, the number of anti-Muslim incidents in Germany increased to three a day on average.

In response this week, the European Commission urgently unveiled a set of measures and policy recommendations to tackle the dark demon of hate.

But that’s not all. Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, also announced new funding.

“With the war between Israel and Hamas and the polarisation it causes in our society, with the upcoming holiday season, there is a huge risk of terrorist attacks in the European Union,” she told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday.

“We will now make available an additional €30 million of protection.”

That money is allocated specially for the protection of churches during the Christmas period, but also of synagogues and mosques.

And then there is the public discourse. Politicians are having to weigh their words carefully in order not to be accused of bias and taking sides with either Israel or the Palestinians.

Otherwise, there could be an immediate backlash, as EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, found out this week when members of an audience he was speaking to left the room, seemingly in response to what he said about the war.

For many, talking about the conflict in the Middle East, at home or in public, has become a frustrating exercise.

And the EU’s answer to the war is being seen as disappointing, one way or the other.

COP28 goes on

Disappointing is also the word that best describes the mood of climate activists who are following the COP28 conference in Dubai.

Not only are they angry at the fossil fuel dealmaking of the host country, but they generally believe that the conference has not lived up to its ambitions.

While climate change is a global crisis, it impacts poorer countries in the global south particularly.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), founded at the call of Albert Einstein, has made lobbying on behalf of those countries the core of its climate work.

Euronews spoke with the IRC’s president and CEO, David Miliband, who described his organisation’s report,‘Climate Action for the Epicenter of Crisis: How COP28 Can Address the Injustices Facing Conflict-Affected Countries’, and what needs to be done to help vulnerable regions.

“Our report is specifically focused on the countries that are combining high levels of climate vulnerability with high levels of conflict. There are 15 or 16 countries in the world that represent about 60% of humanitarian needs. And they’re marked by conflict and by the climate crisis,” the former UK foreign secretary said in an interview.

“Somalia would be an example. Central African Republic, Ethiopia. These are climate-stressed countries that in the main have contributed very little to overall carbon emissions, but are suffering from very high levels of climate vulnerability and very low levels of investment in climate resilience.”

“We need proper risk mapping. We need real investment in innovation about what adaptation means. How can farming communities sustain livelihoods? How can urban communities be insulated from the dangers of the climate crisis? 

“Thirdly, fragile and conflict states need you to work through civil society, through community, not just through traditional government mechanisms. And then there’s a final aspect to this. These countries need humanitarian aid, but they need climate finance.”

Brussels heads to Beijing

For the first time in over four years, an in-person EU-China summit was held, this time in Beijing.

European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, who travelled alongside European Council President, Charles Michel, labelled it a summit of choices and it did not produce much beyond that.

By far the biggest issue of the day was the huge trade imbalance Europe faces with the Asian giant, which currently stands at nearly €400 billion.

Von der Leyen told reporters in the Chinese capital that the EU will no longer turn a blind eye to this deficit.

“Politically, European leaders will not be able to tolerate that our industrial base is undermined by unfair competition,” she said on Thursday.

“We like competition, it makes us better, it lowers prices, it’s good for the consumers. But competition needs to be fair. We insist on fair competition within the single market. Therefore, we also insist on fair competition from companies that come to our single market.”

Tensions between Brussels and Beijing have steadily risen over the past year, as the EU seeks to de-risk its economy from China.

In September, the Commission opened up a probe into subsidised Chinese electric cars entering the bloc’s market, riling Beijing in the process.

At the summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping himself warned Europe not to implement protectionist trade policies, but at the same time, the door was left open to a deepening of ties.

For Grzegorz Stec, an analyst from MERICS, a think-tank currently sanctioned by China, the summit may not have delivered much, but it has set the EU’s tone for Beijing that if it does not take action, then Europe will respond.

“It seemed that the EU has put on the table the fact that it really wants China to engage constructively, and if not, it’s going to take action,” Stec told Euronews.

“It’s very much a signal that the EU side is expecting action to happen soon. On the Chinese side, if not, then our relationship might get a little bit more complex in terms of European responses.”