Okay, dear colleagues, we are now starting again our plenary session after the break with our debate on stepping up climate ambition during the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a great honor today to have with us the German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature, Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Sven Saab Schulze. I would like, dear minister, to welcome you on behalf of our committee and let me thank you for joining us. Germany took over the EU presidency as the pandemic spread throughout Europe. Since then, we have seen member states coming to each other's side during this moment in our history that has affected our lives, our economies, our health and our people. The EU budget and recovery plans also show the same spirit of European solidarity. Nevertheless, I am thankful that the pandemic has not taken our eyes away from the looming climate emergency. I have no doubt that you share the same goal as local and regional governments to live a truly sustainable future for our children. Local and regional leaders understand that making our homes energy efficient, recycling our waste, or making our transport cleaner, makes the environmental and economic sense. Our committee believes in a just and green European recovery for every region, city and village. This is why, in October, we agreed a cooperation with the European Commission to empower, engage and deliver the European Green Deal locally in our communities. Let us work together with Germany's regional governments to make this happen. Together, we now need to show our solidarity in our investment, our resources and our ambition. We call on the EU member states to agree at least a 55% carbon emissions reduction by 2030. This is not only feasible, but it is necessary. It will give purpose and dedication and it will give direction in our objectives at local, regional, national and European level. It will demonstrate that the EU is serious in becoming climate neutral by 2050. We also need to end all public subsidies for fossil fuels. We need to support instead green technologies. Through expanding tools such as the just transition mechanism, we need to support every region reliant on fossil industries today. To make the rapid transition to more sustainable economies, protecting jobs and creating new opportunities. We need to ensure that every coal region is supported in leaving fossil fuels behind. I know that your own home region has successfully moved away from coal. It is definitely an inspiration, showing what can be achieved with the right investment and political leadership. Dear minister, let me propose to you that we hold a conference with our EU institutional partners together, before the COP in Scotland. To discuss how far we have come and how much further we need to go. I would suggest that together with a trio of EU presidencies and European Commission, we also assess the feasibility of measuring local and regional determined contributions. This way, we ensure that the invaluable contribution in cutting climate emissions by our regions and cities is measured and valued, raising our climate ambition at member state and EU level. And allowing minister closing my remarks to stress out the importance that the regions and cities have towards implementing green policies. Without cities and regions who are not only the most affected, but the ones who finally implement the policies on the ground, the green policies will not succeed. And so today I am here and we are all here, governors, mayors, councilors, regional and local, to discuss with you this very important matter for us, our future and the European Union. Dear minister, the floor is yours. First of all, I would like to send a very warm greeting to the regions and cities of the European Union and of course also to Brussels. President, you said it right and I would like to support the communities and regions to begin again. This is our basis on which the EU is standing and that is why I am very happy to exchange with you today. You mentioned it, but I would like to emphasize once again that the German EU Council presidency was under extraordinary conditions with this corona pandemic. We notice that today that we cannot meet, that we use video formats. It is an expression of that. But I think we have shown the environment, the climate protection, it has lost nothing to its urgency and it is important to me that we strengthen the European Union, especially in these difficult times. And I think you can say that we have succeeded in this so far. As in the fight against corona, against the pandemic, we also know in the world and climate policy the very important factors of success. That is, above all, the good cooperation of all political levels, the European, the national, the regional and the communal. I have been a parliamentarian for a long time in a country and was also a member of a national government and therefore I am also convinced of the fighting of our European system of the more level governments. So we decide as Europe-wide as necessary and at the same time as citizen-like as possible. And that is why I am also very grateful to the impact of the region that they have raised our expectations and that they have paid special attention, for example in matters of adaptation to the climate change, the majority of the measures will be implemented on a regional level, on a local level. And that is why I am particularly interested in what you recommend, so that such adaptation measures, local and regional, also really work so that they improve the quality of life of citizens and citizens and at the same time strengthen the resilience, the resistance ability of nature. In addition, of course, I am interested in how you, from your point of view, the European Green Deal, which the European Commission President proposed, evaluate. In my opinion, it is really the future strategy to make Europe more resistant, competitive and life-threatening. The Green Deal is a real orientation framework for the economic new start in Europe. My ministry has accompanied the work of Mr. Makula and Mr. Grilfeuilleng in the name of the position. And now we will of course also check the result very carefully. And I am happy that you, Mr. President, are here to give very concrete suggestions, a joint conference. I would like to talk to the partners in the Trio presidency. We are already third in the presidency and therefore we have to also agree on this. But these are certainly good suggestions that you will give. And Mr. President, Germany has in its presidency very consciously adopted the initiative proposed in the Green Deal and in front of the background of social and economic consequences of the corona pandemic. Of course, this is a absolute central priority and the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 is part of it. This is the road map for the nature protection in Europe and the Council demands the biological diversity urgently involved in all other political areas in the EU, but also in the member states and in all regions and it also applies to the agriculture policy and thus the EU is then strengthened in global negotiations on biological diversity. We will have the CBD COP next year on this topic. The European Climate Act is very important to me. It should make our climate goals European legally binding. It should set a clear course in this field. And in the environmental council we have a wide-ranging agreement. It only tells the height of the 2030 climate goals. They remain open and therefore our state and government leaders decide in a few days. But in the environmental council, it has already enabled us to get into the trilogue with the Commission and the Parliament. Another topic is the circular economy, where there is a variety of initiatives in the future. Next week we want to discuss the action plan of the Commission in the environmental council. I think it is also a very important topic. And a special announcement is the German Council President, the global digitalisation. Not only in videoconferences like this one here, we experience a rasant digitalisation shift. We also observe that it comes to a stronger digitalisation in all areas of life. Therefore, I want to take the context of digitalisation and environmental and resource consumption into the focus. Digital technologies have a great potential for environmental and climate protection. But at the same time, of course, digital infrastructures, applications, devices have to become more sustainable. And here, too, in the next week, the environmental council can and must set a worldwide standard. The environment, the climate, the consumer-friendly digitalisation should become a market sign for Europe. Ladies and gentlemen, the European Union and its member states are taking an enormous public means into their hands for the new start of the economy. It is essential that the member states can soon enter into the multi-year financial framework and also into the construction and resilience facility, i.e. the construction fund. There are really immense expenses for the protection of climate and biological diversity. And this is the chance for an accelerated ecological transformation that we really have to use now. And that's why I'm looking forward to the exchange with you today and to the debate and your questions. Thank you very much, Minister. I would like to give the floor now to our colleagues who might ask for the floor. I would like to start with our reporter, Mr. Markula. Mr. President, Madam Minister, first let me thank you, Minister Schulz on the German presidency on asking us, the Committee of the Regions, to deliver two opinions on these very important climate-related issues. And as one of those rapporteurs, I'm very happy on having this chance to contribute here briefly and deliver the report to you after our couple of the amendments that we will be doing during this plenary. We have learned a lot during the COVID-19 and I need to state strongly that if there is a will and commitment to tackle whatever burning global challenge, the instruments and solutions can be co-created together. We need a strong collaboration on that. In brief, it's time to save the planet and that is, as our President said, this is an emergency as we have tackled and still are tackling the COVID-19. We need to use the same strong commitment in tackling the climate. Let me go to the content by giving just a very few key messages. First, it's clear sustainability should be considered and taken as a new normal for all communities, businesses and individuals and especially use the lessons learned during the COVID-19. Secondly, we need to invest in research and innovation and we need to share knowledge and good practices learning from each other. Learning is the key. Third point is that we need to provide adequate financing for cities and regions in re-skilling and upskilling the labor force. And fourth, we need to integrate mitigation and adaptation to go hand in hand. Fifth is that Green Deal and EU recovery funds give an enormous opportunity for cities and regions in taking a strong transformation in their climate policies. Let me use the example of my own country Finland. We are committed to reach the carbon neutrality already by 2035 and my own city Espo, the second largest city in Finland, we are committed in getting to that level already by 2030. So it's an enormous effort in partnership with industry, in partnership with people. I highlight the importance of increasing European partnerships between regions and cities and we need to use on that smart specialization concepts. I also recommend increasing the role of cities and regions in the climate adapt platform. The CR, we are very keen to deepen cooperation, especially with the European Environmental Agency, the EIT Climate Geek and the Joint Research Center, JRC. Dear Madam Minister Schulz, you personally, you have a long career being a State Minister of Innovation, Science and Research. So you are the right person to take forward many of our political statements to be success all climate actions, including adaptation that needs to be rooted in the best available knowledge. And that means that we need more innovation encouragement, digitalization, climate go and need to go hand in hand. And to conclude, I stress the importance of preventing going further preventive information systems such as Galileo and Copernicus in community-based hazard and risk assessment. This requires more systematic and comprehensive regionally and locally based data mining and processing solutions. So using satellites and sensors and similar. So we need to take the modern technology as well in effective use in our cities and regions and take that through Europe to be active in globally as well. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, President. Let me now give the floor to Kieran McCarthy, please. Yeah, dear Minister, the Green Deal is a golden opportunity to put us back on track to meet climate goals. At the same time, support our green recovery and EU competitiveness. The COVID-19 crisis, though, has severely hit our cities and regions. Our finances are suffering. We actually are the ones that are going to carry most of the climate mitigation, adaptation measures and investments. There will be costs to achieve the transition, but we are convinced that the benefits will be much larger in the long term. If the EU define a policy framework that respects diversity's different starting points and the capacity of innovation within our regions and cities, cities and regions are the core of the climate action and Green Deal. As highlighted in an excellent opinion on Green Deal drafted by my fellow colleague in the European Alliance, Mr Griffoie, on the request of your presidency, the Green Deal must be built bottom-up if we want to achieve climate targets. Centralisation will lead us nowhere. Regions need to be mandatorily consulted and involved in the design and implementation of national plans and areas related to the Green Deal, and cities and regions should be equipped with adequate tools and financing that match the responsibilities. Well, thank you very much for joining us and we look forward to working with you in the future. Thank you. Thank you very much. The floor on behalf of the EPP goes to Rafal Traskowski, please. Yes, minister. First of all, thank you very much for your efforts. They're very much needed. I wanted to tell you that we, the regional and local authorities, are very much committed to the goals that are now established by the European Union. And you have to know that even though our governments, the Polish government and, for example, some other governments in the region are quite difficult when it comes to agreeing on those very ambitious goals, we think that these should be met. And most importantly, thank you for sharing the philosophy, which is shared in this House, that recovery and our green ambitions should go hand in hand. If we are to get out of the crisis, we need to do it in synchronity with our priorities when it comes to greening of our cities. If we do not do that, we are going to lose an opportunity of a lifetime and we need to be innovative and we need to do just that. And cities are even more ambitious than the governments because we know that climate change is a disaster and has to be mitigated. We know that if we seriously think about the quality of life, if we seriously think about fighting for quality of air, we need to address these challenges and simultaneously bring about change in all of those areas. Most importantly, we cannot deal with the problem without the cities. Unfortunately, some of our governments, mine included, the government of peace, is redistributing money and according to political criteria. And we need to fight that because if we really want to fight for ambitious priorities, we need to be absolutely certain that the criteria used are as transparent as possible and that they're really effectively used in order to challenge, to fight with the challenge that is before us. And since the cities produce 70% of the emissions, we need to we need to find possibilities which are going to actually help the cities and the regions in fighting for their priorities. And that's why it is so important to include local and regional governments in this debate. And it is so important to have a direct link with the European institutions because at the end of the day, we are close to the people. We've introduced quite a lot of actions in order to increase the awareness. We are, of course, promoting the convenience of mayors and its actions. We have developed a new network. We are developing a network of climate ambassadors. We are also undertaking an initiative Green Deal Goes Local where we are undertaking debates in order to galvanize the public opinion. But I want to leave you with one of our postulates which is very, very important because as you know, right now, the Polish and Hungarian governments are contemplating veto on the budget. By the way, we sent a letter to the President of the Commission and to the other leaders of the European institutions signed by 250 mayors of Hungarian and Polish cities where we say that there is no place for a veto, that we all need the budget to go on. We all need the recovery funds if we want to be effective in fighting post-COVID recession. But at the same time, as the Committee of the Regents, we put on the table an idea to find ways for direct financing of projects within cities so that we have pan-European programs prepared by the European institutions, which are then directly realized by the cities. We do not need the national governments to intervene. And of course, we are talking about 5-10% of the projects. The 90%, the majority will go through national envelopes. But please be innovative because if we take European programs such as, for example, take away all the diesel-powered buses from the streets of the European cities and we start implementing them at home directly in the cities, directly in the regions, that will actually bring about change which is immediately seen by the citizens. And we need that for the awareness. And it would also allow us to get us out of the schizophrenic situation in which some governments are violating the rule of law and then they will maybe meet the consequences. And regional authorities, local authorities should not be penalized for the actions of the irresponsible governments. Thank you very much, Dankeschön. Thank you, Rofau. I would like to give the floor now. We have the PES to Juan Espada Seyes. El pacto verde europeo a lo largo de este semestre. Para nosotros ha sido enormemente importante desde el comité de regiones poder contribuir y cooperar con la comisión y con el Parlamento Europeo fundamentalmente en hacer de este pacto verde europeo una estrategia de impulso al cumplimiento de los objetivos en materia de cambio climático. Creo que la pandemia ha hecho avanzar enormemente el grado de concienciación y de sensibilización de los ciudadanos en relación con la salud pública y con los problemas del cambio climático. Y creo que tenemos una oportunidad por delante de enorme magnitud política para que podamos acelerar los cambios necesarios para luchar de verdad contra el cambio climático y conseguir los objetivos que nos hemos marcado a 2030 si somos capaces de emplear toda la financiación, todos los fondos de recuperación económica diseñados para la salida de la crisis económica de la pandemia los empleamos en la prioridad climática. Ahí hay una enorme posibilidad de generar empleo, de generar nuevos empleos en una nueva economía que consiga los objetivos climáticos. Y por eso como presidente de la comisión ENVE del comité de regiones y del grupo de trabajo que coordina las distintas comisiones del comité, quiero dar las gracias y pedirle, en este caso ministra, que el gobierno alemán culmine su presidencia con un compromiso político en línea con la renovación de la carta de Leipzig que han llevado a cabo, que permita el que de verdad las ciudades en la arquitectura de los gobiernos europeos tengan un papel protagonista en la ejecución de esos fondos de recuperación. De forma que a través de los estados y los gobiernos regionales, las ciudades contemos con los recursos para acelerar la transición y conseguir los objetivos climáticos. Muchas gracias. Thank you very much. The floor now on behalf of the Renew Europe Group, to Vincent Chauvet, please. Madame la ministre, au début de cette année 2020, tout le monde nous prédisait et s'attendait à ce que les élitions de CO2 en 2020 soient un record à la baisse. Et finalement, le rapport récent de l'Organisation mondiale météorologique semble indiquer le contraire. Aujourd'hui, certes hommes politiques demandent de se concentrer uniquement sur la reprise économique, d'autres de concentrer l'ensemble de nos efforts sur le changement climatique. En tant que maire, nous savons bien qu'il faut être pragmatique et que ces deux politiques doivent être menées d'offre. Actuellement, le président de la République, Emmanuel Macron, est en déplacement dans la circonscription pour parler de la transition énergétique et de l'importance dans le mix énergétique du nucléaire puisqu'on fabrique, à côté d'autun, ma ville des turbines pour les centrales nucléaires. Et de manière locale, nous voyons tous les jours l'impact du changement climatique et ses conséquences, notamment sur nos forêts du massif du Morvan. C'est pour cela que je pense que nous devons avoir un débat aujourd'hui ou nous gardons en tête à la fois l'objectif, je l'ai dit, de reprise économique et notre ambition climatique. Mais l'action climatique ne doit pas être une priorité à elle seule. Elles doivent être comprises et c'est le sens, d'ailleurs, de la Commission européenne stepping up our efforts towards neutrality by 2050. Comment nous allons obtenir la neutralité en 2050, en termes d'émissions carbone, par des objectifs intermédiaires en 2030 qui prend bien en compte, justement, ces deux aspects. Et le débat doit être donc aujourd'hui de bien regarder quels sont les objectifs que nous devons obtenir en 2030 pour avoir en 2050 une économie neutre en carbone et pour avoir dès les années 2021-2022 une reprise économique forte en Europe. Vous avez dit, vous avez déclaré, madame la ministre, dans une interview récemment que je cite en anglais, climate protection, innovation and jobs are for you the cornerstone of a good structural policy. Et je voudrais vous dire que je partage entièrement cette déclaration. La question aujourd'hui, et j'en terminerai par là, c'est comment convaincre ceux qui semblent préféder le pour terme au long terme d'adopter des politiques intégrées et de le faire à l'échelle européenne en gardant en tête, comme l'on dit, mes collègues, que si une partie de la solution se trouve à l'échelle européenne ou à l'échelle nationale, je vois mal ma ville de 15 millions d'habitants se mettent à construire des centrales nucléaires. En revanche, la solution se trouve également à l'échelon local, parce que c'est dans nos changements au quotidien sous l'impulsion des maires et des unes locaux que nous atteindrons ces journalistiques en 2030 et 2050. Merci beaucoup. Je vais donner la parole à l'ECR, à l'équipe de l'ECR, pour Aldrich Vlanas. Vlasak, Mr Vlasak. D'ici la parole. Mme le ministre, comme vous le savez, l'importance d'embrasser des sources de l'énergie pour notre futur and for our children's future has never been more vital. Historically, countries like mine have depended on coal as a reliable and cheap form of energy to eat our homes. However, the evidence is them in must move away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy sources. In the Czech Republic, we have six operable nuclear reactors reducing 35% of my country's electricity. Every year, our nuclear capacity has increased and we intend to deepen our commitment to this clean and efficient energy source. The Czech Republic electricity consumption has increased more than 20% compared to 1990. At the same time, total CO2 emissions are down by 32%. This was mostly achieved by increasing our reliance on nuclear power. We are not alone in this. France, Slovakia, Hungary, and Sweden, to name a few, have all seen their emissions reduced by increasing their reliance on nuclear energy. We also see that the rapid nuclear phase out in Germany led to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. This seems to be because polluting clignite plants have to guarantee the electricity supply. In the light of this, I'm surprised that the EU seems skeptical towards nuclear energy. The European Commission didn't even mention nuclear among low carbon electricity sources in its hydrogen strategy from July this year. Nuclear energy is not silver bullet, which will solve the climate problems. However, it, like renewable energy sources, must be part of the solution. The ECR Group has consistently called on the EU institutions to take a more positive stance on the significant contribution nuclear energy can make to our climate goals. Thank you for your attention. Thank you very much. On behalf of the EA Group, I would like to give the floor to Nanette Mont-Pertuis. Nanette Mont-Pertuis, on behalf of the EA Group. Okay. Yes, President. I'm here, President. Come on. Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. Madam Prime Minister. Thank you for your intervention. We are very worried about the current situation. Especially, we believe that the divergences relating to the budget of the EU lead to an impossibility of finding an agreement on the goals for the 2030 climate and to block, in the end, the green investments. We ask, Madam Prime Minister, to exercise your influence within the Council to get a compromise between all member states so that these blockages are raised. We also ask that the regions and cities be at the centre of the Green Deal's implementation, as well as at the bottom, for the recovery and for the resilience. This could not be the case, as it was said earlier, that if we review the governance of these funds, we are in favour of a balanced approach, innovative, flexible, which allows us to keep in mind the diversity, the specificity of European territories, but also, which takes into account the vulnerability of some of them, such as the islands, for example. So, to reduce gas emissions by about 55% by 2030, and thus achieve climate neutrality by 2050, we will need a transformation, obviously socio-economic, in regions that mainly depend on fossil energy and strong emissions industries. Moreover, the regions most exposed to the dangers and consequences of climate change are also, in general, the one in which energy production is less diversified, as is the case in the islands. Indeed, the insular regions are among the regions that have the strongest dependence on fossil fuels, for example in Corsica. The Corsica depends on 90% of fossil energy sources. In order to support the process of energy transition, we ask for the recognition of the constraints that the insularity imposes on us from the point of view of energy production and the energy dependence it engenders. Moreover, the islands are also very exposed to the risks generated by climate change. As a consequence, we hope that in the framework of the next PEO of Next Generation Europe, in the framework of the Just Transition Fund, this vulnerability has grown and these risks of insular territories will be taken into account for the obtaining of additional funds allowing to finance innovative projects in sustainable mobility, in renewable energy fields, but also in the areas of sustainable tourism. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. The floor now to the Green Party, the Green Group to start to happen, please. Mr. Minister Schulz, The Air Force operations are beginning in the village and in the village of Seuduilamme. That's how the Commission of the Vara-Puheenjoht, Timmermans, has completed the mission. Mr. Minister of the Vara-Puheenjoht, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of the Monetary Monetary Development, and the Ministry of the Development of the Vihra, and the Ministry of the National Worker, to the areas and local authorities to clear the scope of the meeting. It is also important that we local authorities to take care of our part and to work with good communities in different ways. In conclusion, the good minister, COVID-19, There have also been good things to think about in the air. We, as Finns, have found a new relationship with nature. The growth of forests and forests has increased. New national parks have been founded. New public transport has been taken into account. The travel, the travel industry has been reduced. And digital communities are being developed. There is also a different goal in communicating with students. I am pleased that the Ministry of Rural Affairs of Germany is now in the middle of the pandemic, because of the pandemic, and because of the many years of health care and health care. We are losing 60% of our income by 2030. And we are in a negative mood to increase the energy supply. Minister Arvoisa, thank you for your good work. And I would like to ask you what good experiences you have given to us Europeans, and what you have offered to your friends. Thank you for your cooperation with the Ministry of Rural Affairs. Minister, would you like at this point to intervene and react to what the political groups have said? I would like to say so far, or should we move on with our members and do it at the end? I would like to react when it is possible. Can you please repeat? I didn't hear you very well. Yes, I would like to answer if it is possible. Yes, go ahead, of course. Of course. Okay. Thank you very much. I would continue to speak in German. First of all, thank you for this encouraging debate. It is very good that you have made it all clear in principle how important the cities and regions are. And you can't repeat that often enough, what Franz Timmermans said, that climate change is starting to take place. It will be visible as soon as possible which climate changes we have. And the measures must also be taken there. And that's why it is so important that we get out of this crisis again better, the beautiful formulation of Build Back Better, so that we have to get out of this crisis better, also from the point of view of climate protection, when we went in here. I think that's very important. And we have to connect the new start of the economy now with climate protection. That's something that can work very well. That has the impact assessment of the EU to the minimum of 55% target year, that if we would take this path, so at least 55% reduction as a target, that this would also offer economic enormous opportunities for the EU. And that's why I believe that the EU Commission has a very good argument for this at least 55% target. Because it's completely clear that if we want to be 20-50 climate neutral and 20-30 then only at minus 40%, that that's too little, then there would be much too strong breaks. That's why you have to do more now. And I'm putting it on that the state of emergency leaders are now making a very wise decision and that we get a target, which is ambitious enough and which can be transmitted to the five-year anniversary of the Paris climate protection agreement in December, so to speak. You have talked several times about the different form of energy. That's why I want to express it again. That for Germany is an important topic and I would like to explain it as a German Council President that we have decided in Germany to get out of coal and out of nuclear energy. Out of nuclear energy, because we don't keep it for a secure technology and because we see, it's integrated in my house here, how expensive it is to deal with accidents. In Germany alone, we pay 1 billion euros every year only to store the accidents. That's why we have decided to get out of nuclear energy and we also get out of coal. We have decided together with a commission where we have the NGOs, the regional representatives, the economy, the workshops, all at the table and have a plan to have a secure energy supply, because that's what we need. At the same time, we get out of coal and that's what we need for climate protection and for the regions' perspectives. Because in the coal industry, in Germany, there were very good jobs, with very good payment, good commercial representation and to create alternatives. That's important for the region and that's what we want to do. I think that's a good way and that's why I'm so happy about the Just Transition Mechanism on the European level. That's something that was raised by the Polish side in the COP in Katowice. That's a Just Transition, a fair transformation towards climate protection and the mechanism that was found on the European level, I think it's good to have a real Just Transition Mechanism. You all pointed out how important it is for money. Yes, we have to invest in climate protection because if we don't do that, then the costs will be much, much more expensive. The adjustment to an unbreakable climate change would cost us infinitely much money because even regions in Europe would have great difficulties to stay comfortable. That's why we all have our own interest to bring the climate change back and to invest in this big topic. You all know that the whole issue of the annual household and the budget plan is currently in the negotiations on the level of the state and government. At the moment, we're working tirelessly to come to an agreement and I hope that this will work out because even for me as a climate protection it's very central that this agreement is coming because it has very welcome elements from this point of view. 30% of the money should be spent by the government. That's really important that we want to develop a way of measuring. I think that can also have an international example. That we want to do more for the biological diversity and also want to combine fixed spending goals with each other. That's also an important point that will be discussed in this several-year financial framework that there should be a do not harm principle. The principle that we want to avoid everything about the environment and climate is very, very important. Also the construction of the new construction and resilience facility is a very important mechanism to help the states and the regions at the end.  We have to invest in sustainable mobility, renewable energy in buildings, in green water, in circular economy, in sustainable agriculture, in biological diversity. These are all things that cost something and which therefore also have to be supported by the European level. This is an organized state and that's why it is so important to us in the Council that we continue this more level principle of the EU. The development of the construction and resilience plans will be discussed at several levels intensively at the moment. I would also like to say thank you again for your valuable introduction, which we will of course have a big role. The goal of the German Council presidency is to close everything as much as possible. I don't have to tell you how difficult it is but we are very tired to take all this with this Just Transition Mechanism because it is also a question of how to make this Just Transition Mechanism clear. We don't leave any states alone. We have to vote together in the EU and finance together. That's why I also want to quote Franz Timmermans. We need a Just Transition because the alternative is that there is Just No Transition and we can't do that. That's why it's so important that we come to an agreement in December and I also put in the states that we can now come to an agreement. We do everything to bring this forward. Thank you very much. Minister, let me now give the floor to some of our members who have asked the floor and would like to say something on that topic. Mr. Bianco Enzo, please. President, thank you. I just wanted to highlight that the topic of climate change in Europe has to do with particular attention in the Mediterranean area. Last year I was entrusted with the relation between a wall that was then approved in Barcelona to the unanimity in which the study clearly shows that one of the most important in our area depends on the Mediterranean. The temperature of the Mediterranean increases by 20% more every year than the rest of the seas in the world. We unload in the Mediterranean an impressive amount of plastic bottles, 25,000 bottles of plastic every minute. Other serious inquiring factors. I would like to thank my colleagues for their insistence in our continent, in the European Union on the subject of climate change. We must be strongly involved with specific actions regarding the Mediterranean. Even in collaboration with the countries of the south of the Mediterranean and of the east which of course also have a great responsibility. The Mediterranean is very much available to make a united battle in this sense. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much, my colleagues. Mr. Minister, ladies and gentlemen, the reduction of greenhouse gas is one of the key to achieving the climate neutrality until 2050. We have another area of the city and we are eliminating the neocological heat. We are developing the climate neutrality. From the perspective of the president of the city, I have to share my concerns. This was a serious challenge before the pandemic. Now, in a difficult economic situation with much less income we need even more money. I support the whole heart of the green direction of the coming out of the COVID crisis. I think that the only way the European Union can go is actually this way. I believe that the plan of the leading Kimmermans, whose key element are the devices to ensure the upcoming effective tools and finances. We have about 40,000 ineffective buildings with almost 20,000 urban resources. The cost of its exchange can reach even 150 million euro. It shows that if as a local authority we should be a motor vehicle of the pro-climate European Machina Union, we need immediate access to funds and support from the European Commission. Thank you. The floor now to Rausio Sari. Thank you. Now, during the COVID crisis, when we are all at home, we have more opportunities to influence the food industry. Let's try to bring all of us to the individual people's choices. Food industry is a big problem in the world, where there are large amounts of poverty, poverty and poverty. Successful, I think, presidents should make the same choices that are needed. Thank you, Joseph Frey, please. Ladies and gentlemen, we are convinced that climate protection measures are necessary. The climate protection measures of the EU are extremely important and climate protection cannot be reached by more nuclear waste. Some devices make it clear that on the national level these goals would be countercarried. In Germany, for example, the end of this year, the first manufacturer of photovoltaic devices was released after the renewable energy bill. And until today, the German government has not yet clarified how this new year will continue with the operation of these devices. In one region, in Baden-Württemberg, up to 30,000 devices have been affected by which the manufacturers do not know until today whether they can still use their devices. How to use our citizens' and citizens' planning security, if it is about a contribution to climate protection. Therefore, the EU needs to make clear recommendations for an honest climate protection. Thank you, Schöhn. Minister, I think it's time for you to give us your final remarks before we thank you for your participation. Yes, I would like to thank you again for the discussion. I think it has become very clear that we now have a really difficult situation in the corona pandemic that climate protection still remains current and that it is important that we now continue the fight against climate protection all together and that it will become clear how important the regional and local level is. I think that we have good means within the EU. It is true that the regions for financing projects and environmental protection can directly be applied through the European Fund for Regional Development in the member states for regional specific needs. And I know that very well because as a national minister we had, I know that in Germany the federal states had a lot of equipment in their hands and we also use in Germany our recovery package to help communities and regions to help with the corona crisis and at the same time to do something for the climate protection. I just started a nice program in my ministry where we help social services, care services help electric vehicles because I know that it is worth it to travel for a short time but at the same time a good contribution for the climate protection. So to allow the means to arrive on site is very central. It must be regulated and decided and the EU has a good mechanism to allow the money to arrive on site again. It is clear and that's why I say again thank you for the discussion today we all need help we need every level to help to reduce CO2 we need clear framework conditions they have to be set on the European level and of course with the European climate protection what we want to bring on the way and both are only the framework and must be executed on site and that's why I continue on the cooperation with you and with many representatives on site. Thank you for the discussion today. Thank you very much Minister it was a great pleasure to have you here with us today to discuss this important issue and climate ambition during especially the pandemic and the COVID 19 pandemic very interesting views all members of the political groups and yourself and I think now that we can say that we are all on board having the same target for the future to come on this aspect so let us continue working together and I'm sure we will have very positive results their citizens lives and for the best of our cities and regions so thank you very much again for finding the time to be with us


Journal of Fine Newspaper. Another Fine Newspaper is of course the New York Times and that's why I'm delighted to have with us the Chief Diplomatic Correspondent in Europe of the New York Times. I'm sure all of you are familiar with his work, with his writing. He was based amongst others in Berlin, Paris, Moscow, London, and now currently in Brussels. Great to have him with us. Please welcome Steven Erlanga, ladies and gentlemen. Now, Steve, nobody needs to tell you about Europe. This is a continent that you've been covering for a very, very long time. That's why I'm particularly curious to hear your take on the future of the EU. Thank you, Ali, and we've been all waiting for Europe to grow up for a very long time. I think I'll be dead before it reaches teenage years, but we'll see. It's always hard to follow Rick, but I want to encourage you, in one thing, if you are troubled by Donald Trump's indifference to Europe, think how troubled you would be if he was really interested in Europe. I think he's basically decided, not liking multilateral institutions, that the European Union and his view is silly, but if you want it, it's okay. And that's kind of the way he feels about NATO. Maybe it's not great, and maybe the US is being taken advantage of, but it seems important and the people around him think it's important, so it's okay. I'm very ambivalent. I would guess right now about the state of the European Union. I think it has gotten some of its mojo back. There's no question. Brexit has been a prize de conscience. It has made sure that no other country will vote to leave the EU, at least not for quite a long time. It has reinvigorated the idea that Europe needs better leadership. The growth is back. Europe is still very slow. As we've heard in the economic and finance panels, unemployment is less, but still bad, particularly for youth. The big problem remains the diversity of 28 countries. What worked at 15 does not really work so well at 28, perhaps soon to be 27. I suspect soon to be 27. But Britain was never really the problem inside the EU. It was an irresistible, but not a problem. What we have is, and my friend Ivan Krustia has written a little essay that got turned into a book called After Europe. His worry is not North-South. It's East-West. It is the conflict in values between eastern members, central members. The one we say central, that always implies that Russia is part of Europe and I'm not sure that it really wants to be or is. These countries which are pretty newly sovereign are still very reluctant to give up that newly-found, re-found sovereignty to Brussels. They really oppose the idea of a stronger European institutional basis. So there's a big debate going on if we need more Europe for the eurozone. It's not clear to me that the argument is won in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, or Slovakia. Not at all clear. They don't like the euro. They don't like Brussels. Now, to some degree, they're very pro-European. They get aid and their citizens can work and travel. But some of these countries like Slovakia, which is a fascinating place, it's five or six million people. It makes more cars per capita than any country honors. And they're all because of EU companies. It's very pro-European, yet it resists taking any migrants and resists this notion that a membership of the EU and costs with it not simply benefits. Now, that's a valuation, but it's also going to take quite a long time to resolve. The other thing we talk about is the Franco-German couple. It's no longer enough for Europe to sign. The Germans are desperate to have a France that is in better shape, partly to share the responsibility and the blame of European leadership because there's a lot of that in German feeling in Southern Europe and in Eastern Europe, feeling that if you think Trump is America first, Germany has been acting as Germany first in Europe for quite a long time, even though its myth is, you know, altruism. But no one in the European Union actually believes in that myth anymore. And America understands that. That's part of the problem. And you see it in defense, which I won't go into much because others will, but already in new ideas of European defense, you have a big fight between Germany and France because Germany wants a big club and France wants capabilities, not surprising. And France wants more money spent on equipment and training and the Germans just want a club. And if you look at German opinion polls, we want Germany to do more. We want Germany to play a bigger role. Germans themselves are extremely ambivalent about doing that. Now, the last point I'll make, and this one really is the last, it's not the penultimate and the third, is Brexit. I've just moved from Britain. I've spent nine years of my life there. Britain has become a country I don't even recognize anymore. And its allies don't recognize it anymore. I've just done a piece that you carry in today's Sunday New York Times about Britain and Brexit, and I'm just going to end by reading you the first two paragraphs, which are many Britons see their country as a brave gallium, banners waving, cannons firing, trumpets blaring. This is how the voluble foreign secretary Boris Johnson likes to describe it. But Britain is now a modest sized ship on the global ocean. Having voted to leave the European Union, it is unmoored, heading to nowhere, while on deck fire has broken out and the captain, Port Theresa May, is lashed to the mast without the authority to decide whether to turn to port or to starboard, let alone do what one imagines she would want to do and knows would be best, which is to turn around and head back to shore. People don't recognize this Britain. We think of Britain as a country of pragmatism, of common sense, political stability, a nation of shopkeepers. It's become nearly unrecognizable. It's no longer the country they understood it to be their whole lives. But I do think the EU and Britain, I really hope some kind of deal will be done because Britain, the trade, is useful for Britain and the EU. Britain is a military power still, the very hollowed out, let's be honest. And to imagine an EU or Britain without some kind of decent relationship shakes me to the core. Thank you.


In this video, we'll take a look at how to deal with a vector dataset in which the coordinate system is unknown. This is extremely frustrating. An unknown coordinate system can be the result of the coordinate system being accidentally deleted, never defined in the first place, or perhaps lost during data conversion, such as moving from CAD to GIS. Let's begin in ArcGIS. I've got a base map loaded in, the World Dark Gray Base Map, and also the Vermont State Boundary. The Vermont State Boundary is in Vermont State Plain coordinates, and because it's the first non-base map layer I've loaded into ArcGIS, the map data frame has adopted the coordinate system from that layer. So the map data frame is set to Vermont State Plain, at 83 meters. This means that any layer that's added into this map document, if it has a defined coordinate system, will be automatically re-projected on the fly to Vermont State Plain. If it doesn't have a coordinate system, ArcGIS will have no idea how to plot it out. Now I'm going to go into ArcCatalog and add an open space layer. This open space layer does not have a defined coordinate system. As a result, when it's added to ArcGIS, all ArcGIS can do is assume it's in the same coordinate system as the data frame, which is Vermont State Plain. Going into the properties of this layer, we see that the coordinate system is in fact unknown. This open space layer is for the city of South Burlington, but zooming into that location shows no evidence of the layer. When we right-click and choose zoom to layer, it zooms us to the location of the open space layer. The good news is that we have polygon data of the open space locations. The bad news is that it's not showing up in the correct location. When we zoom out, we can see that it's appearing somewhere up at the Arctic Circle. This is clearly incorrect. This problem is caused by the fact that we have a map data frame with the coordinate system set to Vermont State Plain at 83 meters and an open space layer, which although it has polygons that have a location, that coordinate system is undefined and it's clearly not Vermont State Plain. Now we need to start the coordinate system guessing game. The way this works is we're going to continually change the coordinate system in the data frame until the open space layer lines up in the correct location. Guessing the correct coordinate system can be really difficult because there's thousands of possible options. Guessing the coordinate system can be really intimidating because there's thousands to choose from. Fortunately for me, someone told me that the open space layer is in the UTM coordinate system. That's not enough information by itself, but it certainly narrows things down because Vermont crosses only two UTM zones. I first tried UTM zone 19, but we can see when I set the coordinate system for the data frame, the open space layer is still not in the correct location. Given that 19 didn't work, I'm going to give zone 18 a try now. So I'm going to go back in and adjust the coordinate system of my map data frame. Once I set the coordinate system to UTM zone 18 and click OK, we see that the open space layer appears where it should in South Bowlington. Now the open space layer still doesn't have a defined coordinate system, but because the map data frame is set to UTM zone 18, it assumes that any layer without a defined coordinate system shares that UTM zone 18 coordinate system. I'm just switching base maps now to an image layer just to confirm that these open space polygons appear in the correct location, and they do. So this is great news. I've been able to determine that the coordinate system is UTM zone 18. Now my next step is to use the defined geoprocessing tool to actually write that coordinate system information into the file. I'm going to run the define tool on my open space layer, setting the coordinate system to match the current map, which as we know is set to UTM zone 18. Because my open space layer now has a defined coordinate system, I'm going to change the coordinate system of my map data frame back to Vermont State Plane, now at 83 meters, and my open space layer will still appear in the correct location. That's because ArcGIS is projecting it on the fly, which is to say it's temporarily transforming the coordinate system from UTM to State Plane for display purposes. Now I can use the project tool to actually transform the coordinate system from UTM zone 18 to State Plane to create a new open space layer that is projected to the Vermont State Plane coordinate system. Now let's review the two open space layers that I have in my ArcGIS Pro project. My original open space layer that originally has an undefined coordinate system now is correctly defined as UTM zone 18. After I define the coordinate system to UTM zone 18 for the original open space layer, I then use the project tool to create a new layer in which the open space polygons were transformed to the Vermont State Plane Natity III coordinate system. I did this final step because the Vermont State Plane coordinate system is the standard for mapping in Vermont, allowing me to do the most accurate measurements and easily integrate it with other geospatial data sets. In this video we showed you how to deal with an unknown coordinate system. The first thing we did was make sure that we have an ArcGIS Pro project with a reference layer with a known coordinate system. A base map works just fine. Then we continually changed the coordinate system of a map data frame until our unknown layer appeared in the correct location. After it showed up in the correct location, we used the define tool to define it to the coordinate system we determined it to be in. Finally, and as an optional step, we projected it to a new coordinate system to allow us to make more accurate measurements and integrate it with other data.


Joey Alexandria in the ThinkWear booth, what do you guys have for us today? For you guys today we have dash cams, so dash cams are specialized on board surveillance devices, so we have cameras that you just attach on a windshield and then plug it into the power LED, turn on the car and go, you don't have to do anything else. So the purpose of having a dash cam in your car is a third eye witness, so a third eye witness if you happen to be in an accident and you want to back up your claim, you don't have to go looking for witnesses, you have it stored in the device. People in Russia love these, right? They're all over Russia and they got that meteor coming in and everything, right? You're right, yeah, so it's really big in Russia and Korea. Actually it's so big in Korea right now that insurance companies recognize this as being reliable products and people do get these counts on the insurances as well. Wow, so it looks like you have a lot of different models here? Yeah, so we have four new models for the year of 2015. The F750 has received an award from the CES show for best design and best engineering, so it does everything it's supposed to do and even better. So it's a very simple design, you put it behind the windshield and it conceals nicely. Oh, so it's actually inside the car, inside the dash? Yeah, that's why it's called a dash cam, and inside the car mounted on a windshield. I don't know why I thought it would be outside. It's okay, some people think that way as well. So tell me, why is this better than having a GoPro mounted inside your car? Oh, excellent question. GoPro is an action cam, so it's actually designed to be outside and to withstand a lot of extreme conditions. But the thing that GoPro can do that a dash cam does is it doesn't have the auto looping function, meaning that when you keep filming on a GoPro, eventually it runs out of space and you can't record anything else. So on the dash cam it has the auto looping section, so it overrides the old files and so it keeps recording and recording. So it's specialized for vehicles. I guess that makes sense. So right after you've just been in a head-on collision, do you have to remember to stop it so it doesn't right over? That's also something that we address by having different folder systems, meaning that when the dash cam records something, it will store it in different folders. For example, if you get into a crash or an accident, it has G-sensor, so it will sense the impact. So G-sensor is meaning that sudden speed changes or an impact or sudden stop, it will sense it, record it and put in a different folder so then you can retrieve it easily afterwards. Wow, that is really cool. So what price point are you going for on these? Price point, those will be available in the US around March. This one, the F750 will be $299. That sounds just about right. This looks really cool. Thank you very much Bill, thank you. Thank you very much.


Thanks to Operation Ednest, Ukrainians have assembled 10,000 FPV drones at record speed. The first batch of 5-0-0-0-plus birds is already in Ukraine. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Digital Transformation on Telegram. The drones will be equipped with Ukrainian-made ammunition and distributed among the brigades of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. After that, they will be sent to the front.as reported, on August 14, the Army Competent Assistance Fund come back alive, the United 24 fundraising platform, and Monobank launched the Operation Ednest project to purchase 10,000 Kamikaze drones for the Ukrainian Defense Forces. Such first-person view, or FPV, drones fast, highly maneuverable and relatively cheap craft flown by an operator wearing a headset receiving the drone's video feed in real time, are now the predominant attack drone in Ukraine. They are filling a gap left by a shortage of Western artillery rounds and precision weapons, soldiers said. And their ability to carry heavier explosives has made them the preferred tool for destroying tanks in some units, allowing a pilot to strike weak points like engines and tracks with rapier precision. Perhaps most important for Ukraine's asymmetric fight against Russia, a far bigger, better armed enemy FPV drones, are bargain bin projectiles, fashioned by hand from a few hundred bucks of material, they can annihilate million-dollar equipment.