Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) President Ekaterina Trendafilova and Registrar Dr Fidelma Donlon took part in an interactive Outreach event with civil society and journalists in Mitrovica today, where they explained the activities of the court and how it is ensuring fair, impartial, independent and secure proceedings.
Participants expressed their views and asked questions during the meeting. The KSC has been conducting Outreach with people in communities across Kosovo since the start of its work.
During their first visit since the start of proceedings, the President and Registrar felt it was vitally important to continue the practice of going to where people live to make the court and its work accessible to the public.
President Ekaterina Trendafilova and Registrar Dr. Fidelma Donlon.
In order to comply with the current COVID-19 measures and ensure safe participation for everyone, participants engaged in the event both in-person and online. At the meeting, the President spoke about the history of the establishment of the court and the current stage of proceedings. The President was grateful to be given the opportunity to talk about the court and answer questions. To this end, she emphasized that the court remains committed to communicating in an open and transparent manner about the work of the institution and its proceedings.
The Registrar spoke about the robust system of witness protection in place, victims’ participation and how the Registry ensures the management of detention facilities in line with all international standards. “Victims can continue to apply to participate in proceedings and I assure everyone that the application process is confidential and secure. The Victims’ Participation Office stands ready to assist and answer any questions in confidence,” the Registrar said.
Today, 8 September 2021, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court composed of Judge Joanna Korner, Presiding Judge, Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou and Judge Althea Violet Alexis-Windsor scheduled the opening of the trial in the case The Prosecutor v. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (“Ali Kushayb”) for 5 April 2022.
Mr Abd-Al-Rahman was transferred to the ICC’s custody on 9 June 2020, after surrendering himself voluntarily in the Central African Republic.
His initial appearance before the ICC took place on 15 June 2020. The confirmation of charges hearing was held before Pre-Trial Chamber II from 24 to 26 May 2021.
On 9 July 2021, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court unanimously, issued a decision confirming all the charges brought by the Prosecutor against Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (“Ali Kushayb”) and committed him to trial before a Trial Chamber.
The 31 charges include intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such, as a war crime; murder as a crime against humanity and as a war crime; pillaging as a war crime; destruction of the property of an adversary as a war crime; other inhumane acts as a crime against humanity; outrages upon personal dignity as a war crime; rape as a crime against humanity and a war crime; forcible transfer as a crime against humanity; persecution as a crime against humanity; torture as a crime against humanity and a war crime; cruel treatment as a war crime; attempted murder as a crime against humanity and a war crime.
Le docteur Stoffel, originaire du Luxembourg et consul honoraire de son pays, nous sauve régulièrement de toutes sortes de maladies tropicales. Il s’y connaissait parfaitement.
Un homme très élégant, il paraissait plus âgé qu’il n’était, quand on passe toute sa vie sous les tropiques, on vieillit plus vite. En sa qualité de consul, il était souvent invité aux réceptions diplomatiques. Il y venait en cravate-papillon au nœud bouffant, à la mode des années trente. Le docteur était marié avec une Congolaise et avait quatre ou cinq enfants. Je crois que c’était un couple heureux.
Une fois, j’ai diné chez lui. Les enfants se conduisaient comme des anges, l’atmosphère était très bourgeoise…jusqu’à ce que la femme du docteur ne commence à rire. Elle produisait des sons indescriptibles, cela me rappelait les hurlements d’une hyène. Le docteur restait imperturbable. L’habitude, sans doute. Par ailleurs, sa femme était un vrai cordon-bleu, le poisson était délicieux.
Le docteur avait un grand avantage, qui était une conséquence de son principal handicap. Le dimanche, tous les médecins s’en allaient, à la plage, à la campagne, voir les amis, impossible de trouver un docteur pour une urgence. Monsieur Stoffel était toujours là, chez lui, au-dessus de la clinique. Parce qu’il était saoul, et s’il ne l’était pas encore, il était en train de se saouler. Tout le monde le savait. Le docteur recevait les patients dans la matinée, dans l’après-midi il passait la barre à son assistant et commençait à boire du whisky. Pourtant, on pouvait compter sur lui en cas d’urgence. Je l’ai vu se dessaouler en une minute, quand je lui ai amené une patiente qui avait déjà perdu connaissance. En descendant l’escalier, il était encore ivre. Puis, cela se passe comme dans les dessins animés, la couleur rouge quitte son visage, comme une marée, de haut en bas. En une minute sa voix devient ferme, les mouvements précis, il donne des instructions aux infirmières, me chasse dehors… et sauve la vie de la dame en question.
Son opinion sur l’alcool était par conséquent différente par rapport aux approches traditionnelles des médecins. Un jour je viens le voir, croyant avoir une bronchite. Sans faire de longues réflexions, il me fait une radio du thorax et se met à étudier les photos. Soudainement : « Je n’aime pas votre foie. Buvez-vous beaucoup, cher collègue ?
Eh…comme tout le monde. – Je suis pris au dépourvu.
Qu’est-ce que vous buvez comme apéritif ?
Un verre de martini.
Un verre?!
Docteur! Avec du tonic! – Je montre qu’il y a pour deux doigts de martini, le reste étant du tonic. – Et puis, j’ai eu le palu, c’est pour ça, que le foie a augmenté.
La vodka, vous en buvez?
Oui, mais pas tous les jours.
Bon, continuez.
Docteur, et la bronchite?
Oui, la bronchite…Tenez la prescription, deux capsules par jour, ça devrait passer dans une semaine .»
Qu’est-ce que je lui suis reconnaissant, il a tant fait pour nous tous.
Se comparte con la comunidad peruana y amigos del Perú residentes en los Países Bajos el segundo podcast realizado por esta Embajada, a cargo la diplomática y abogada peruana Francis Chávez Aco, titulado “El rol de la diplomacia peruana en el reconocimiento de la independencia del Perú por España”. En la referida presentación, la ponente abordará los aspectos históricos, jurídicos, políticos y diplomáticos concernientes al reconocimiento de la independencia del Perú por parte de España. ¡Que lo disfruten!
#BicentenarioPeru #DiplomaciaCulturalPeru #IndependenciadelPeru #ReconocimientodeEspaña
In January 2021, eight months ago, when rumours about the possibility of appointment of Christian Schmidt as the High Representative in Bosnia occurred for the first time, I published the text under the title ‘Has Germany Lost Its NATO Compass?’. In this text I announced that Schmidt was appointed to help Dragan Čović, the leader of the Croatian HDZ party, to disrupt the constitutional structure of Bosnia-Herzegovina and create preconditions for secession of the Serb- and Croatian-held territories in Bosnia and the country’s final dissolution. I can hardly add anything new to it, except for the fact that Schmidt’s recent statements at the conference of Deutsche Atlantische Gesellschaft have fully confirmed my claims that his role in Bosnia is to act as Čović’s ally in the latter’s attempts to carve up the Bosnian Constitution.
Schmidt is a person with a heavy burden, the burden of a man who has continuously been promoting Croatian interests, for which the Croatian state decorated him with the medal of “Ante Starčević”, which, in his own words, he “proudly wears” and shares with several Croatian convicted war criminals who participated in the 1992-1995 aggression on Bosnia, whom Schmidt obviously perceives as his ideological brethren. The question is, then, why Germany appointed him as the High Representative in Bosnia?
Germany’s policy towards Bosnia, exercised mostly through the institutions of the European Union, has continuously been based on the concept of Bosnia’s ethnic partition. The phrases that we can occassionaly hear from the EU, on inviolability of state boundaries in the Balkans, is just a rhetoric adapted to the demands by the United States to keep these boundaries intact. So far, these boundaries have remained intact mainly due to the US efforts to preserve them.
However, from the notorious Lisbon Conference in February 1992 to the present day, the European Union has always officially stood behind the idea that Bosnia-Herzegovina should be partitioned along ethnic lines. At the Lisbon Conference, Lord Carrington and Jose Cutileiro, the official representatives of the then European Community, which has in the meantime been rebranded as the European Union, drew the maps with lines of ethnic partition of Bosnia-Herzegovina, along which the ethnic cleansing was committed, with 100.000 killed and 1,000.000 expelled, so as to make its territory compatible with their maps.
Neither Germany nor the European Union have ever distanced themselves from the idea they promoted and imposed at the Lisbon Conference as ‘the only possible solution’ for Bosnia, despite the grave consequences that followed. Nor has this idea ever stopped being a must within their foreign policy circles, as it has recently been demonstrated by the so-called Janša Non-Paper, launched a couple of months ago, which also advocates the final partition and dissolution of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Such a plan is probably a product of the powerful right-wing circles in the European institutions, such as Schmidt’s CSU, rather than a homework of Janez Janša, the current Prime Minister of Slovenia, whose party is a part of these circles, albeit a minor one. To be sure, Germany is not the original author of the idea of Bosnia’s partition, this author is Great Britain, which launched it directly through Lord Carrington at the Lisbon Conference. Yet, Germany has never shown a will to distance itself from this idea, nor has it done the European Union. Moreover, the appointment of Schmidt, as a member of those political circles which promote ethnic partition as the only solution for multiethnic countries, testifies to the fact that Germany has decided to fully apply this idea and act as its chief promoter.
In this process, the neighbouring countries, Serbia and Croatia, with their extreme nationalist policies, can only act as the EU’s proxies, in charge for the physical implemenation of Bosnia’s pre-meditated disappearance. All the crimes that Serbia and Croatia committed on the Bosnian soil – from the military aggression, over war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide, up to the 30 year-long efforts to undermine Bosnia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity – have always had a direct approval and absolute support of the leading EU countries.
During the war and in its aftermath, Great Britain and France were the leaders of the initiatives to impose ethnic partition on the citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and now Germany has taken up their role. In such a context, the increasing aggressiveness of Serbia and Croatia can only be interpreted as a consequence of the EU’s intention to finish with Bosnia for good, and Schmidt has arrived to Bosnia to facilitate that process. Therefore, it is high time for the citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina to abandon any illusions about the true intentions of the European Union and reject its Trojan Horse in the form of the current High Representative.
About the author:
Dr. Zlatko Hadžidedić is the founder and director of the Center for Nationalism Studies, in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina (www.nationalismstudies.org).
Afghan ambassador to Italy, Khaled Ahmad Zekriya, gave an overall message to the nation, stating that the West’s war in Afghanistan is far from over during a recent interview at the country’s embassy in Rome.
“Western forces may have pulled out of the country,” he proclaimed, “but this has only created a new set of issues that U.S. President Joe Biden and others will now be forced to deal with.”
As allied troops were drawing down in August, Taliban militants seized control of Afghanistan in a sweeping offensive. Earlier this month, they announced an all-male interim government of hardline clerics, seasoned fighters and wanted terrorists — immediately ignoring calls from the international community to take a more inclusive approach.
That has left Afghanistan’s foreign diplomatic missions as the final outposts of the now-deposed government erected after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
“The government is exiled, scattered, but it is functioning, working on evacuations and with humanitarian organizations,” Zekriya insisted. “It is business as usual.”
Afghanistan’s foreign diplomatic staff remains loyal to the former government, according to Zekriya, reporting to caretaker President Amrullah Saleh. And they’re trying to rally support to combat extremism in Afghanistan — both within the ruling Taliban and among the terrorist networks they argue will now prosper.
France’s Notre Dame Cathedral is finally stable and secure enough for artisans to start rebuilding it, more than two years after the shocking fire that tore through its roof, knocked down its spire and threatened to bring the rest of the medieval monument down, too.
The government agency overseeing the reconstruction announced in a statement Saturday that the works to secure the structure — which began the day after the April 15, 2019 fire — are at last complete.
The agency is maintaining President Emmanuel Macron’s goal of allowing visitors back inside in 2024, the year Paris hosts the Olympics.
About the author:
Michelle Rahimi is a Diplomacy and International Relation’s Master’s candidate at the School for International Training, located in Brattleboro, Vermont, United States of America.
She obtains an extensive passion for international relations with first-hand knowledge from traveling across many countries and is experienced in working with different teams and individuals from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.
Will America turn back to its historic isolation era? Because, according to Joe Biden “the USA cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war” as “Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.”
Since the beginning of this century, the USA military has engaged in never ending war against many Asian countries to carry out its divine aspect for flourishing democracy. But the imposing democracy has been rejected, even, by the extreme admirers of democracy in the USA invaded totalitarian countries. At the end of days, the USA divine intervention became aloof from the people in different countries such as Iraq, Libya or Afghanistan. It also proved that the imposed democracy is not better option of the totalitarian system. The USA people became frustrated with such meaning less war and bloodshed.
Thus, the prevailing situation is now demand to re-evaluate the USA foreign policy and look back to the last century’s USA isolation.
During the 1930s, the Great Depression and the tragedy of in World War I pushed American public opinion toward isolationism. Therefore, the USA government put a policy to non-involvement in European and Asian conflicts and even, non-entanglement in international politics.
The Japanese sudden air-raid on the USA- pacific fleets in 1941 shifted public opinions and the USA broke up isolation policy by engaging in the second-world war on the side of the Allies.
During the world war, America was undamaged at home and gradually geared up its global influence.
After the end of war, The USA elevated in the apex of the global economy as it overstepped the global dominance of old colonial countries of Europe.
After the end of second-world war, the eco-political structures of Europe were highly unstable and totally ruined. Although the Axis Powers lost the war but indiscriminately, all the inhabitants of Europe were plunged into immense suffering in the post war era. In this circumstance, the US Marshall Plan Aid made a partial contribution for economic recovery and political integrity of the Western Europe. Besides, the move was clearly intended to strengthen the US economy and consolidated the US role as a greatest global player.
The United States investment in the Europe mitigated the war-fear of continent for centuries. In addition; the United States turned away from its traditional isolationism and got the leadership of the free world.
The war-defeated Japan and Germany welcomed the USA military presence as protection from the Russian retaliation and as a saviour of the capitalism.
The upshot of the USA global role following the world war contributed to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countering the global expansion of communism.
But the USA interferences were rebuffed in Vietnam, Korea and other Asian countries. Ignoring the people’s phycology, the USA engaged in long-term fatiguing war in Asia.
The USA involvement in Korea war failed to creation of the North Korea republic, whereas, the USA evaded from Vietnam in disgraceful way which consolidated the communist regime in Vietnam.
In the beginning of twenty-first century in 2001, Bush’s Operation Enduring Freedom launched to oust the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and wash out Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network.
Two years later, the USA President George W. Bush switched on another Gulf War “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.” The USA regime change mission in Iraq was without approval of the UN and some of its NATO allies including France and Germany.
The people of these countries set aside the USA designated democracy moreover, the US forces became an occupational force to them.
These two incomprehensible wars had no justification for long-term blood-shading of the USA soldiers.
The USA was the allegedly plotters of Arab-spring as it extended all-out supports to the democratic coup-d’état in Egypt, Syria, Libya and Tunisia. The Arab spring made opportunity for the USA to over through its long term foe Syrian president Assad and Libyan leader Gaddafi. So, the USA lead NATO willingly launched air-strike on those countries to up roots the totalitarian regimes. After the end of Arab spring the world people witnessed the series of USA betrayal to the Arab democracy. In Egypt, an elected government from a free and fair election was toppled by the USA supported coup-d’état. Practising democracy is totally prohibited now in this country. The Libyan people are oppressed by some local dictators and the country faraway from democracy. In Syria the USA gave walk-over to Assad in a deal with Russia. The USA moved back from backing up the Arab spring due to pressure from monarchy states of Arab.
Former US President Donald Trump was the pathfinder of 21-century’s American Isolation policy as he adopted his “America First” agenda to retreat from a leading contributor to its traditional allies.
He raised the question of the existence of NATO and pushed the alliance to the verge of break up.
He pulled out from the Paris climate treaty, the Iranian nuclear deal and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. He also reduced the US’ global responsibilities in the UNESCO, the United Nations Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization.
Significantly, he began a large repatriation of US soldiers from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
In October 2019, Trump launched a drive to withdraw the US troops from northern Syria. Trump also restrained from the opportunity to oust Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.
In his tenure, former US President Donald Trump also avoided further direct war.
Joe Biden sticks to the Isolations policy of his predecessor Donald Trump specially, while he deals in Afghanistan issues. `I will not repeat the mistakes we’ve made in the past.’ Biden reaffirmed.
Joe Biden declared the end of the 20 years USA invasion in Afghanistan war worth $2.26 trillion — the longest war in American history.
But the USA pull-out from Afghanistan annoyed its Asian allied specially Israel furthermore, the Asian power balance extensively tilts towards China.
“Matters in Asia ultimately must be taken care of by Asians. Asia’s problems ultimately must be resolved by Asians and Asia’s security ultimately must be protected by Asians.” The Chinese President Xi Jinping said in Shanghai on 21 May 2014. Indicating the USA’s interference in Asia, Xi called upon Asian countries to be united and forge a way together, rather than get involved with third party powers. The Taliban got a prompt clapping from China after conquering Kabul, even before forming Taliban-government in Afghan capital. There is nothing to hide the Chinese desires to be a head honcho in Asian.
The USA core allies of the Asian-pacific regions became frustrated with the back out as the USA left the territory to China for implementing the Chinese-dream.
However, the USA Vice President Kamala Harris assured the allies in Asia-pacific regions as saying the US would “stand with our allies in the face of threats” during a speech made in Singapore on the first leg of a South East Asian tour recently.
She perceived a hint of consolidating the USA military presence in the region to counter any Chinese offence.
The stance of Ms Harris has contradicted the perception of the USA isolation in 21st century.
Moreover, Joe Biden in his speech clarified the USA overseas mission in future as saying “we can strike terrorists and targets without American boots on the ground — or very few, if needed.”
He also hinted that the USA might transmute the conventional war-strategy and introduce cyborg or star war technologies as like as in the science-fictions. The USA administration can assign multi-billionaires like Elon Musk of SpaceX or Jeff Bezos of aerospace to invent weaponries for star-wars in a bid to destroy the enemy of the USA in Afghanistan or elsewhere of the world “without American boots on the ground.’
Therefore the USA repatriation from Afghanistan or Asia regions is not meant that the USA would be isolated from the global politics or be restrained from further military invasion.
About the author:
Sazzad Haider, Photographer Habib Raza.
Sazzad Haider is a writer, journalist and filmmaker living in Bangladesh. He edits The Diplomatic Journal.
We all know The Hague as our elegant city; on one hand our tulipes, bikes, beaches, herring and “stroopwafels” and on the other hand as a centre of diplomacy and negotiations.
Then Covid appeared and it was hard; it surprised and shocked the entire world, communities, families and individuals. Suddenly time stood still, diplomats were united in isolation, business and negotiations were done from a distance and online, bowing and waving to each other at distance instead of shaking hands, washing them 20 times a day, wearing masks and gloves.
Thanks to technology we all managed to connect virtually and keep in touch but offices, cafes and restaurants were empty, no hugging among friends, no more spontaneous get-togethers and almost alienated from the rest of the world. And the big question: how long will it last ?
Of course all the above had impact on the housing market.
We had numerous clients, already residing in The Hague, buying properties more than ever. Times could not have been more busy than during the last 1 ½ year. Everybody needed more space, space where they could work quietly and having online meetings but also family life became more and more important because of social restrictions.
A lot of properties were purchased from a distance and purchase prices went through the roof. The purchase market is now more tensed than it has been in 30 years. About 6 years ago consumer confidence found its way and since the beginning of Covid prices increased even more. Buying for the asking price is not possible anymore, the value is in most cases already higher than the advertised price and on top of that a buyer needs a lot of own capital to secure the house they want.
The rental market however, with respect to family houses, was at a very low point. Home owners decreased their monthly prices, just to cover the mortgage and expenses, hardly anybody new crossed the borders to start a new adventure in another city. Since one month this also has changed, houses and apartments in each price range rent out again and we are having more and more requests from new clients to find them a nice home.
We are extremely happy that more and more diplomats and expats are coming to our city again. Restrictions are still there but we see a change, a change that gives us hope for a more “normal” way of life.
We have missed them and are very much looking forward to give them A WARM WELCOME AGAIN TO OUR ELEGANT CITY.
Meike Buma
That is what our goal is for our diplomates, a warm welcome in your new home city.
When you are coming to The Hague, a house is the first thing you are looking for, for you and your family. A home where you feel safe, in an area where each member of your family feels comfortable, where you can also go out for diner with your family and (new) friends and with nice elegant shops and cafes.
You probably do not speak the language, you do not know where to start, what are the nice areas, how do you know you are making the right decisions and what about legal matters such as contracts and other documents etc. You will have a lot of questions and you need professional guidance with personal involvement. We will be this person for you, we will be your guide and advisor.
We guide you from the very start until the moment you will have the key of your new home (and beyond). In most cases we have contact with our clients already the moment they take the decision to move to The Hague. We will guide you on your new adventure, a flawless process without worries, finding the right area, giving you advice and tips on all subjects and secure your perfect home. We are your partner in The Hague.
Apart from our standard services we offer tailormade packages depending on your specific needs. We can discuss this during our personal meeting, online or at our office.
An innovative community project has brightened buildings, ‘brought people together’ and provided an emotional outlet after traumatic journeys.
As the pandemic drives global migration, 39,000 have reached the country by boat since the start of the year – double the number during the same period 12 months ago. Unaccompanied minors – under-18s who arrive without their parents – account for a nearly a sixth of the total. Experts predict the turmoil in Afghanistan could result in more arrivals.
Launched in 2019, the city of Matera’s Atelier d’Arte Pubblica (MAAP) is one of the few initiatives in Italy using public art to integrate newcomers to the country. For its most ambitious project yet, Barcelona-based street artist Mohamed L’Ghacham joined forces with migrants in three towns in Basilicata, a rugged region in southern Italy, for three consecutive projects over 17 days. The objective was to transform one building in each location with a towering mural.
“The beauty of this scheme is that it brings people together,” says Karim*, 17, from Egypt. “We may not stay in San Chirico forever, but now we have left our mark.”
Ahead of a global summit on biodiversity in France, President Emmanuel Macron has called for better protection of the high seas, which largely don’t fall under any national jurisdiction but are threatened by fishing and other human activities.
Macron will formally open later Friday the World Conservation Congress in the southern city of Marseille, on France’s Mediterranean coast.
He is expected to urge world leaders and institutions to safeguard biodiversity as they work to curb climate change and support human welfare. Thousands of people are set to attend the event, both in person and virtually, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The conference, held every four years, focuses on urgent action needed to protect wildlife. Several recent studies have reported that many of the planet’s ecosystems are severely strained by global warming, overuse, and other threats.
About the author:
Michelle Rahimi is a Diplomacy and International Relation’s Master’s candidate at the School for International Training, located in Brattleboro, Vermont, United States of America.
She obtains an extensive passion for international relations with first-hand knowledge from traveling across many countries and is experienced in working with different teams and individuals from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.
Human progress has always gone hand in hand with our energy development. However, it is nowadays unequivocally considered that our energy development and particularly our energy consumption is gradually leading more and more to the phenomenon of climate change. Looking at various studies, we can see that in the last 150 years, as our energy consumption has gradually been increasing, our global surface temperature over land and water has also risen by about 1.5 degrees Celsius.
In the last couple of years, these developments have rung several alarm bells internationally, so that as a result, various treaties, agreements, etc. have been concluded on a global stage.
One of the best known and most extensive ones is probably the Paris Agreement. Following its magnitude and ambitious realization, the European Union then concluded the Clean Energy Package in 2019, in order to help push the implementation at the Union level.
The core content of the Clean Energy Package
Already in 2016, the European Commission presented the “Clean Energy for all Europeans Package” for the first time. It consists of four regulations and four directives, each of which were adopted by the European Parliament in the time frame from the end of 2018 to early summer of 2019. The package aims to make a significant contribution to stopping climate change, but above all, to usher in a new era of energy policy and to focus on individual citizens, by giving them a great deal of flexibility but also an impetus to take action themselves.
Among other things, the Clean Energy Package should simplify the process of switching electricity suppliers (in up to 24 hours). In addition, dynamic pricing and intelligent electricity meters will help to save costs and energy. However, in the event of impending energy poverty – quasi-droughts – the member state should then have the authority and it should also be able to regulate market prices at short notice and actively support and protect affected households. Furthermore, a support cap for environmentally harmful power plants in Europe is to apply from 2025. This measure will include all power plants that use fossil fuels.
The member states are also instructed to assess the risk of capacity bottlenecks, draw up national plans and to cooperate and support each other on a regional level.
Thus, ultimately, by 2030, in addition to the goal of gaining 32% of energy demand from renewable sources, greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced by 40%.
At the same time, energy efficiency should increase by at least 32.5% and at least 15% of the networks should be interconnected on a Union-wide level.
However, in achieving these ambitious goals, the European Clean Energy Package envisages that one of the key segments should be the new format of so-called energy communities – which have been defined in the Renewable Energy Directive 2018/2001 and are to be implemented nationally in the same way as the other directive topics according to Art 288 TFEU.
Two concepts of energy communities
The EU has set two similar concepts of energy communities through its directives – the “renewable energy communities” (Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001) on the one side and the “citizen energy communities” (Internal Electricity Market Directive (EU) 2019/944) on the other side. The idea behind both of them is to push the creation of communities that organize collectively and of citizen-driven energy actions, which will help to pave the way for a much-needed clean energy transition while moving the individual citizens to the fore.
Let’s take a deeper look at their respective structure.
Art 2 sec 16 of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) defines a renewable energy community as a “legal entity”,
which, in accordance with the legislation currently in force, is based on open and completely voluntary participation, is autonomous/independent and is under the effective control of the members or shareholders established in the immediate vicinity of the renewable energy projects owned and operated by that legal entity,
whose members or shareholders are natural persons, local authorities or municipalities, or small and medium-sized enterprises,
and whose aspiration is not primarily based on financial gain, but is to provide economic, social community and/or environmental benefits to its shareholders or members in which it is active.
Those communities have the right to collectively generate, consume, sell and store renewable energy. In addition, those entities shall generate a wider adoption of renewable energies, active participation in the energy transition, local investments, a reduction of energy consumption, lower supply tariffs, an improvement of energy efficiency and, in view of that, lead to the elimination of any energy poverty.
On the other hand, there is the citizen energy community, which was introduced by the Electricity Directive (ED II). It is defined in art 2 sec 11 as a legal entity,
which is based on open and completely voluntary participation and which is actually controlled by its members or shareholders, who may be natural persons, but also legal entities (like local authorities or small businesses);
whose main focus is not based on a financial return, but rather on offering community, economic or environmental benefits to its members/shareholders or to the local areas in which it operates;
and may additionally operate in the areas of generation, supply, distribution, consumption, aggregation, storage and services (in the energy sector) for its shareholders/members.
At first sight, they both seem quite similar, but there are some fundamental differences. In short, citizen energy communities are communities that operate on a supra-regional basis and jointly use, store or sell their generated energy, and are not limited to renewable sources.
Additionally, any actor can participate in such a community as long as shareholders or members, which are engaged in large scale commercial activity and for whom the energy area is constituting a primary field of economic activity, do not exercise any decision-making power. Renewable energy communities, on the other hand, are regionally active players that are spatially limited to the generation, use, storage and sale of renewable energy, but will additionally benefit from lower local grid tariffs and presumably from a tax exemption, as they can operate on lower levels of the grid due to their geographical regionality.
The renewable energy communities must be capable of staying autonomous, and also the participation of the members mustn’t constitute their primary economic activity. As a practical example, one could outline the following simple scenario: If 10 households in a locality join together to form an independent society, invest jointly in a suitable photovoltaic system and use the energy generated from it together, this will be known as a renewable energy community.
The idea behind the energy communities seems promising on paper, but the EU`s goals behind them are ambitious and require, in addition to the legal framework, a social rethinking of the European population, a steady backing of the state (at least initially) and, last but not least, the support of power-generating companies, without which the plan to generate 100% of the total electricity demand from renewable energy sources in the near future (and fulfilling the goals set for 2030 and 2050) will not be feasible.
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges in this regard will be solving the question on how to create as many incentives as possible for every individual to ensure the establishment and participation in energy communities, as they are supposed to have such a large contribution to the energy transition.
One of these incentives could be that the energy communities would also be regarded as companies for tax purposes and thus become entitled to deduct input tax. The rules for when a community is considered a business/or has entrepreneurial status for tax purposes vary somewhat from state to state. However, most of them follow the principle of the three fundamental pillars – permanence, self-sufficiency and intent to generate revenue. The new energy communities are fulfilling all three of these conditions. Especially the critical third point, namely the intention to generate revenue is met, since an energy community is subject to an exchange of services – electricity for reimbursement of costs – which altogether should ultimately suffice for the status of entrepreneurship, regardless of whether the revenue generation is in the foreground or not. So in my opinion the option for input tax deductibility should be affirmative. In such a scenario, a community could at least be reimbursed, (depending on the respective state) in Austria or Germany, for example, with 20% of the costs for maintenance, repair, purchases and thus make the model of energy communities even more economically attractive.
Another issue is the choice of the corporate form. When the EU announced the Clean Energy Package including the energy communities, it also stipulated that an easy entry and exit from the community must be possible for each individual. Of course, this also raises the question of which legal form to choose. The choice of legal form ultimately determines the organizational effort, the costs and the liability regime to a large extent. The legal form of public limited companies will probably be too expensive for small energy communities of private means and superstructure. In the case of limited liability companies, the strict formal requirements could result in difficulties with flexible changes of members, and in the case of associations and cooperatives, the ideational purpose must be clearly in the foreground, which could also become problematic in the instance of larger communities. Here, I think that real-life practice will show which legal form will prevail.
Likewise, the question of benefits vs. expenses is a valid one. From a purely economic and technological point of view, the entire power grid benefits from the fact that local energy communities are to consume the electricity where it is generated. This means that the electricity does not have to be transported over wide and higher-ranking network levels. This should also save the customers/members of such local energy communities a significant amount of money in grid fees for higher-level grid tiers. However, the question that is actually arising during the first implementation, is who and how exactly one would set up a simple, functioning platform where everyone from young to old, from technology aficionados to technology muffles can participate in this new way of energy consumption and exchange.
Several research projects are currently underway to solve these initial problems. It is already clear that a separate support and funding office is to be set up nationally (maybe even on a European stage), which is to serve as a kind of contact point for any questions from interested parties and is also to help and encourage the founding of energy communities in this regard. With this in mind, many countries are considering the use of additional limited funding, for example, through special quotas and funding opportunities that are only granted for a limited initial period. In this way, first movers would ultimately generate advantages and, as an additional effect, it would likely be possible to achieve a greater influx to the energy communities right from the start.
Opportunities
Energy communities will allow us to combine technological innovations. The goal is to turn a user not only into a consumer but also into a producer, a so-called prosumer.
Energy communities could soon be expanded to include other energy services, such as e-mobility concepts, where electric cars could also be used jointly as part of a car sharing system. In a further step, these e-cars could also serve as additional electrical storage units that can be supplied to the community via an intelligent e-charging station in the event of energy shortages.
Blockchain is also currently experiencing a big buzz in the energy sector. Just to name one example: This technology could be combined with digital platforms (apps) for energy communities in order to achieve better traceability and documentation by visualizing individual energy consumption, for example, and to create an additional incentive for the individual members of an energy community to save energy (competitions, prizes).
Through the implementation of energy communities on a large scale, the cityscapes will also have to change so that the broad masses will be involved as well. This opens up an opportunity to develop new innovations through broad public input and, subsequently, to work as a community on a sustainable city, community and region of the future.
Lastly, it is important to note that the Clean Energy Package and the goals it enshrines will also create many new jobs. Installations of megawatt solar farms on rooftops over agricultural land or between crops will provide additional revenue streams for farmers. The recycling of photovoltaic systems with a service life of 20-30 years will also offer a large, yet almost untapped, market with considerable potential. Experts expect up to 4 million new jobs to be created in the next 15-20 years in connection with the energy turnaround in the European Union alone.
As one can see, the goals are set high – it remains to be hoped that as many of these subpoints as possible can be implemented to finally achieve the great goal of the energy transition and the associated reversal of climate change in the upcoming decades.
About author:
Mak A. Bajrektarevic
Mak A. Bajrektarevic of the Vienna University of Economics. Besides researching legal and energy aspects of the contemporary world (authoring numerous articles and co-authoring the book on the topic for the US publisher), he is a cofounder of the largest university sports platform in Europe, ACSL.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own
