And will EU countries decide to support the Commission’s proposal to freeze Hungary’s aid billions? More on the topic at the end of the letter.
Elli-Alina Hiilamo,
Alina Mäkynen
The last matches of the preliminary groups of the World Cup football competitions are played today, but the game addiction is gone. Qatar got the games with corruption and built the stadiums with exploitative labor. The country tramples on the rights of women and sexual minorities. Do you even want to watch such competitions?
Many bench athletes have said that they will boycott the World Cup in Qatar. It has also been considered why even shows matches.
At the same time, however, Qatar’s importance to Europe is greater than ever, and relations only want to be deepened.
Qatar is one of the world’s largest gas producing countries. In the middle of the energy crisis, EU leaders have come knocking on Qatar’s door. President of the European Council Charles Michel visited Doha in September. The message of the visit was clear: the EU and Qatar want to close their ties — especially now that the competition for gas on the world market is fierce.
Last week, Qatar and China were reported to have signed a 27-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply contract. This was interpreted as a great defeat for Europe. But agreements have been signed here as well. On Tuesday, the German economy minister praised the 15-year LNG contract with Qatar.
Why is trade with Qatar acceptable, but sports competitions should not be held there?
The European Union has not decided on the organizer of the World Cup, but the international football association Fifa. The question is still embarrassing for the EU. It is precisely human rights that should play a central role in the EU’s foreign relations, including trade policy. In practice, however, this is not the case. If human rights violations really were an obstacle to trade, would Europe ever have become so dependent on, for example, Russian energy?
It is much easier for Europeans to criticize the World Cup in Qatar than recent energy deals. If they say no to Qatar, where will the gas come from and at what price? If the EU countries do not get to sign new LNG contracts and substitute Russian gas, Europeans’ homes will eventually be left cold.
Elli
PS The World Cup has also been discussed in the European Parliament. Parliament wants Qatar to pay compensation to the families of thousands of migrant workers who lost their lives in construction projects for the Games.
PPS The last half of the letter consists, as usual, of selections about Europe. The tiles were assembled by a colleague Alina Mäkynen.
NEXT WEEK:
ON MONDAY Finance ministers are meeting in Brussels eurogroup (you switch to another service) and transport ministers (you move to another service). Finns are interested in whether questions about track widths will be raised at the meeting of transport ministers. The EU Commission has proposed that Finland should build new railways in accordance with the European standard. Finland, on the other hand, has hoped for an exception to the matter.
TUESDAY EU finance ministers have a ministerial meeting. It’s worth watching what kind of discussion the ministers have about the commission’s historic proposal, according to which they want to withhold billions of EU subsidies from Hungary due to violations of the rule of law. The member states have a key role in the decision, as they must approve the Commission’s proposals with a qualified majority.
EU AND THE WESTERN BALKANS the leaders of the countries will gather on Tuesday for a summit in Tirana, the capital of Albania. The prime minister will be there from Finland Sanna Marin.
THURSDAY at the meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, it is planned to vote on the full participation of Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia in the Schengen area. In November, the Commission called on the Council to accept the countries into the region “without delay”. Finland has given his support (you switch to another service) to the decision.
Here was only part of the content of the Europe letter. You can order the entire letter directly to your email from this link (you will be redirected to another service).
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