European Union Ministers have pledged to develop more water-saving technologies in agriculture as droughts worsen. Officials from nine southern EU countries said they would work together to mitigate strain on farmers and threats to food security.

The promises came during a gathering in Cyprus of the so called MED9 countries – Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain and Slovenia – to address growing water scarcity as a result of climate change, especially in the Mediterranean region, which they say is being affected to a greater degree than other parts of the 27-member bloc.

The Ministers also pledged to share technical and practical data and launch joint research programmes to make water use as efficient as possible.

“Climate change is a real threat to food production worldwide, and this risk is even more severe in the Mediterranean area,” Spain’s Agriculture Minister Luis Planas told the meeting. “We must both fight climate change and, at the same time, adapt the working conditions of our farmers to this new climate situation.”

Cyprus Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou warned that Europe last year faced its worst drought in 500 years and quoted local examples of “smart” irrigation systems and solar power-related technologies that help protect crops, generate electricity and save water use by 30 per cent.

Portuguese Agriculture Minister Jose Manuel Fernandes urged for more EU funding to help finance new water-saving technologies and create new incentives to attract younger people to revitalise an ageing farming population.

French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau highlighted latest techniques that help create new crops, able to thrive in harsher climate conditions while Fernandes said so-called genomic research is “totally different” from genetically-modified crops that have stirred controversy within the bloc in the past.

The MED9 officials also urged the EU to come up with a common approach to water conservation while taking into account regional requirements.

Von der Leyen urged to overhaul CAP in reform of EU food policy

Announced by von der Leyen in last year’s State of the Union address, the strategic dialogue for the future of EU agriculture was conceived to cope with increasing polarisation in the agriculture and food policy debate.

The group, gathering representatives from 29 farmers’ cooperatives, agribusinesses, NGOs, civil society, financial institutions, and academia, has worked for over seven months to produce a more than 100-page report crafting a vision for the future of European agri-food systems.

The final report agreed by consensus of all its members was presented to Commission chief von der Leyen by the chairman, German Professor Peter Strohschneider.

The report underscores the urgency of reforming food systems and emphasises the need for immediate action. It also highlights cooperation and dialogue across the food value chain as essential to reshaping the EU’s food policy.

“My team and I will, of course, study carefully the recommendations in the report, then will feed into the vision for agriculture and food,” von der Leyen told a news conference.

She has previously committed to presenting a roadmap within the first 100 days of her next mandate.

The report addresses the need to reform the EU’s massive farming subsidies programme, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). It suggests “moving away from current non-degressive area-based payments towards an effective income support approach, financial public support.”

The reference is to the contested direct payments to farmers per hectare which makes up roughly 75 per cent of CAP and, without a capping, are alleged to allow large farms to benefit excessively from EU subsidies.

“The shared opinion of the members of the strategic dialogue is very clear: public money is not to be sent to those who do not need it,” said Professor Strohschneider.

“The recommendation is to make the CAP fit for purpose,” he told Euronews in an interview, putting the focus on enabling lively rural areas but also rewarding sustainable agricultural practices.

One of the report’s most ambitious proposals is the creation of an ‘Agri-food Just Transition Fund’. This one-off investment support, separate from the CAP budget, would provide loans or grants to support farmers in transitioning to more sustainable practices.

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary, Romania launch Black Sea power line

A major mission to install a power line under the Black Sea has been launched by Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary and Romania – a joint venture aimed at bringing more renewable energy into the European Union from the eastern Caucasus.

Approved by leaders of the four countries in 2022, the project gained momentum after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and spotlighted the EU’s reliance on Russian energy as prices sharply rose.

The 27-nation bloc has since pushed to wean itself off Russian energy.

Helsinki is building the world’s largest heat pump to keep its homes warm

The Black Sea power line cable would link Azerbaijan, which is seen as having substantial potential to generate power at Caspian Sea wind farms, to EU members Romania and Hungary through Georgia.

Government ministers from the four countries launched the joint venture at a meeting on Tuesday in Romania’s capital.

The project is intended to help strengthen energy security and drive down electricity prices for consumers.

Romania’s Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja said the project was of strategic importance for his country and the EU. “If you look at the energy map of Europe over the past few months … you see that on the eastern flank essentially we are paying a very high price recently – and that’s because there is not enough diversification,” Burduja said.

Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said the harnessing of renewable energy would help tackle climate change issues.

The undersea line is important for energy security, he said, “but at the same time it is going to provide the green energy … which is very high on the agenda of the international community.”

Bulgaria’s deputy energy minister also joined Tuesday’s meeting, and there were discussions about the EU member joining the infrastructure project.

Burduja and Shahbazov said the next meeting on the project would be at a UN climate change meeting later this year in Azerbaijan.

Russian ex-president threatens Criminal Court judges with death

Reacting to the commotion surrounding Putin’s visit to Mongolia, Russian former President Dmitry Medvedev warned judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague of a possible assassination attempt.

“Their lives will not be worth more than that stupid piece of paper,” he echoed. “The enslaved European Union has expressed its ‘concern’ to Mongolia around Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit,” Medvedev wrote on the messaging platform Telegram. “The Mongols have made it clear to the ICC and depraved Europeans that they are taking the Russian-Mongolian side, which has existed since the 13th century.”

Medvedev additionally claimed that ICC judges should fear for their lives. “If I were a judge or prosecutor of this flawed ‘court,’ my greatest fear would be that some madman would execute the illegal order. In that case, the lives of the judges will be worth no more than that stupid piece of paper,” Medvedev said.

Vladimir Putin is visiting Mongolia, and being a member of the ICC, this Central Asian country is consequently obliged to arrest him under an ICC arrest warrant issued in March.

But it does not look like this is going to happen. Even though Mongolia has signed and ratified the Rome Statute to become a member of the ICC. According to that statute, Mongolia must arrest anyone who enters its territory and against whom an ICC arrest warrant has been issued.

But the Russian leader’s welcome in advance suggests that it will not arrest him. On the contrary, Putin even received a military honour guard at the airport. And that is a thorn in the side of many critics, but obviously pleases the Kremlin.

Dozens killed as Israel continues its offensive in West Bank

At least 33 Palestinians have been killed and 140 others injured in a major Israeli military operation in the occupied northern West Bank since last week, the Gazan Health Ministry said. “Seven children and two elderly people were among the victims,” the ministry added in a statement on Wednesday.

The highest death toll was recorded in Jenin city with 19 fatalities, the ministry said. Jenin Mayor Nidal al-Obaidi on Wednesday declared the northern West Bank city a “disaster area” as the Israeli army continued its operations there. “The Israeli army is continuing to destroy the infrastructure in Jenin and its camp,” he told Turkish news agency Anadolu.

The Israeli army last week launched its largest military operation in the occupied northern West Bank in two decades, causing massive destruction in the area.

Tension has been running high across the occupied West Bank as Israel pressed ahead with its brutal onslaught on Gaza, which has killed more than 40,861 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since October 7 last year.

At least 685 people have since been killed and more than 5,700 injured by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank, according to the Health Ministry.

The escalation followed a landmark opinion by the International Court of Justice on July 19 that declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Record number of deaths in a single week in the West Bank, says UN

The UN has raised the alarm over the escalation of the Israeli offensive in the West Bank, noting that between August 25 and September 2, the “highest number of Palestinians killed in a single week” since November 2024 was recorded.

This was stated by Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), as reported by Anadolu. “In this period, 30 Palestinians were killed, including seven children. Israeli forces must respect international legal standards”.

Concern was expressed by OCHA in particular for the city of Hebron now controlled by Israel, where “the already difficult living conditions are further worsening”.

Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, over 40 people have been killed in the last 24 hours, the Palestinian Ministry of Health writes on its Telegram channel. “Up to 42 people have been killed and 107 others were injured in the last 24 hours alone due to incursions and shelling by Israeli forces,” he said.

“The number of victims of the Israeli aggression to date has reached 40,861, with 94,398 injured,” the ministry recalls.

Iraqi resistance fighters rain hellfire on Haifa

In a dramatic escalation, fighters from the Iraqi anti-terror resistance groups have launched a powerful drone strike on the Port of Haifa in northern Israel.

This bold attack comes as a direct response to the ongoing atrocities in Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed by Israeli forces. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, responsible for the strike, vows to continue its assault on key targets within the occupied territories.

German army activates air-defence system

Germany’s military put a first Iris-T air-defence system into service on its own soil Wednesday having delivered several of them to war-torn Ukraine to intercept Russian rockets, drones and missiles.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the surface-to-air system was part of a build-up of German and European defences launched after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the Ukraine invasion in 2022.

“Russia has been massively re-arming for many years, especially in the field of rockets and cruise missiles,” Scholz said at the inauguration ceremony at a base in Todendorf near the northern city of Hamburg.

Putin had broken disarmament treaties and “deployed missiles as far as Kaliningrad”, a Russian exclave located some 530 kms from Berlin, he added. “It would be negligent not to respond to this appropriately,” the chancellor said. “A failure to act would put peace at risk. I will not allow that.”

Scholz said the system was part of the European Sky Shield Initiative, which also includes long-range defences against ballistic missiles. The German military has ordered six of the Iris-T SLM systems at a total cost of €950 million from manufacturer Diehl Defence, to be delivered by May 2027.

Priti Patel knocked out of Tory leadership race

Former British Home Secretary Dame Priti Patel has been eliminated from the Conservative leadership race, as Robert Jenrick won the first round of voting.

MPs voted on Wednesday afternoon to narrow the list of candidates vying for the leadership to five, ahead of further rounds of voting over the next two months.

Former Immigration minister Jenrick came out on top during the first round, with 28 votes, while Patel received only 14.

Second favourite in the line-up was Kemi Badenoch on 22 votes, followed by James Cleverly on 21, Tom Tugendhat on 17 and Mel Stride on 16.

Following the Conservative Party’s devastating defeat in the election, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stayed on as an interim leader of the opposition, while the party searches for its next leader.

The next rounds of voting will take place throughout September, aimed at whittling the candidates down to four, who will then set out their positions to Tory members at the party’s conference at the start of October. The final two are then voted on by party members in an online ballot, with the winner crowned on November 2.

Photo: Stavros Ioannides/PIO