Month: June 2023

Most opposition parties have called on supporters to join the march against the nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS), led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Among those attending are former Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and former President Lech Walesa.

The PiS has condemned the gathering as a “march of hate”.

The mayor’s office for Warsaw has estimated half a million people attended the event, which fell on the 34th anniversary of Poland’s first partially-free elections.

Many travelled from across the country to take part, and simultaneous demonstrations have been held in other Polish cities like Krakow.

A wide variety of issues brought protests together, including frustrations over inflation, costs of living, and rights for women and LGBT.

Concerns have also been raised against new law accused of undermining Poland’s democracy.

The law, criticised by the EU and US, sets up a commission to investigate undue Russian influence in Polish politics, and has the power to ban people from assuming public office for 10 years.

The government denies it is subverting democracy and President Andrzej Duda has proposed amendments to remove these powers.

But critics say it could still be used against people, including Mr Tusk – Poland’s main opposition leader and head of the centrist Civic Platform (PO) party.

Opponents say it could also bolster the PiS’ standing in this year’s parliamentary elections.

Crowds of people have been pictured waving Polish and EU flags and holding placards, and participants told the BBC that protesters were chanting “democracy” and “we will win”.

“I came here to defend democracy because I can’t stand how our parliament, the constitutional tribunal are destroyed, the European Union is diminished,” one protester told Reuters news agency.

Donald Tusk, a former head of the European Council, also welcomed supporters during the “record” march.

“Democracy dies in silence but you’ve raised your voice for democracy today, silence is over, we will shout,” said Mr Tusk.

Ahead of the event, the PiS accused organisers of of hypocrisy, tweeting a video that police brutality and violence against the media while Mr Tusk was in office.

Wojciech Przybylski, editor of Visegrad Insight, told the BBC that these protests show Poland’s opposition groups can unite over common causes, despite their political differences.

But PiS is still ahead in opinion polls, he adds, and “this is going to mobilise them, because they know the opposition is for real”.

Other members of Opec+, a group of oil-producing countries, also agreed to continued cuts in production in an attempt to shore up flagging prices.

Opec+ accounts for around 40% of the world’s crude oil and its decisions can have a major impact on oil prices.

In Asia trade on Monday, Brent crude oil rose by as much as 2.4% before settling at around $77 a barrel.

Opec+ said production targets would drop by a further 1.4 million bpd from 2024.

The seven hour-long meeting on Sunday of the oil-rich nations came against a backdrop of falling energy prices.

Oil prices soared when Russia invaded Ukraine last year, but are now back at levels seen before the conflict began.

In October last year Opec+, a formulation which refers to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, agreed to cut production by two million bpd, about 2% of global demand.

In April this year the group agreed to a further cuts, which were due to last to the end of this year. But Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that Sunday’s talks led to “the extension of the deal until the end of 2024”.

On Sunday, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that his country’s cut of one million bpd could be extended beyond July if needed. “This is a Saudi lollipop,” he said, in what is seen as a bid to stabilise the market.

Before the two-day Opec+ meeting started, it was widely expected the oil cartel would make production cuts to prop up prices. It appears most members were against the idea, as any cuts would impact oil revenues, which are crucial to keep running their economies.

Saudi Arabia’s decision to make a voluntary reduction of one-million barrels per day was unexpected but does not come as a huge surprise. As the leader of the pack, and also the largest exporter of oil, it was the only one in a position to be able to lower output.

From Riyadh’s point of view, it is crucial the price of crude remains over $80 a barrel for it to break even. Saudi officials want elevated prices to keep spending billions of dollars on ambitious projects spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as he tries to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil.

The move by the Saudis also underlines the uncertain outlook for demand for fuels in the months to come. Concerns about the global economy, especially recessionary fears in the US and Europe are expected to put further pressure on crude prices.

Oil producers are grappling with falling prices and high market volatility amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The West has accused Opec of manipulating prices and undermining the global economy through high energy costs, according to Reuters. It has also accused the group of siding with Russia despite sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

In response, Opec insiders have said the West’s monetary policy over the last decade has driven inflation and forced oil-producing nations to act to maintain the value of their main export.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the decision but did not give more details.

Railways-led investigations have already started and preliminary reports say a signal fault led to the crash.

The three-train collision on Friday night has been described as India’s worst rail accident this century.

More than 1,000 suffered injuries and were taken to hospitals. Some families are still searching for their loved ones.

It’s not clear why the Railway Board, the ministry’s top decision making body, has recommended a separate investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) when other inquiries have already started.

The CBI investigates high profile criminal causes, including serious financial frauds and murders.

Mr Vaishnaw said on Sunday that “the root cause” of the accident and people responsible for the “criminal act” had been identified.

He added that a “change in electronic interlocking” was the likely cause of the accident. The minister urged people to wait for the final report.

A report by the Commissioner of Railway Safety would be made public soon and it would reveal the cause, he said.

Meanwhile, the railways said on Sunday that the Coromandel Express’s engine and coaches crashed into a goods train due to a signal fault and a “change in electronic interlocking”.

In railway signalling the electronic interlocking system sets routes for each train in a set area, ensuring the safe movement of trains along the track.

The impact of the crash threw coaches of the Coromandel Express onto a third track and they rammed into the rear carriages of the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express that was coming down the line at a high speed.

More than 3,000 passengers are thought to have been on board the two passenger trains.

Atul Karwal, chief of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), said the force of the collision left several coaches crushed. Rescuers had to cut through the wreckage to reach the passengers.

Hundreds of ambulances, doctors, nurses and rescue personnel were sent to the scene and worked for 18 hours to rescue passengers and pull out bodies.On Sunday night, Mr Vaishnaw said train movement had been restored on the railway tracks where the accident took place.

Reports say several passengers are still missing.

Opposition leaders have called on Mr Vaishnaw to take responsibility for the tragedy and resign.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has responded by asking them not to politicise the accident.

UK ministers have made the exclusion of glass a condition of their support.

First Minister Humza Yousaf has said the scheme is in jeopardy if the UK government does not make the necessary concessions.

Mr Yousaf has written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, asking him to include glass, and wants a response by Monday.

He told BBC Scotland this deadline was “effectively” an ultimatum.

The UK government wrote to the Scottish government last week granting a partial exemption to the Internal Market Act which would exclude glass containers from the DRS – which is due to go live in Scotland in March next year.

Glass has been excluded mainly because the UK government said deposit return schemes should be consistent across the UK.

Mr Yousaf has urged a rethink from the UK government, citing concerns from businesses.

In his letter to Mr Sunak, the first minister said: “The removal of glass fundamentally threatens the viability of Scotland’s DRS with reduced revenue for the scheme administrator.

“Removing glass will also have a significant impact on business.”

He also said that, apart from threatening jobs and investment, excluding glass would also put companies at a competitive disadvantage.

In an interview on the BBC’s The Sunday Show, Mr Jack strongly defended the UK government’s position.

“We’ve given the exclusion and there are four conditions in that exclusion which allow the schemes to work across the United Kingdom,”

He said there would be a single bar code system and membership of just one scheme would be needed instead of multiple schemes so there would be no extra costs.

He added that having no glass in the scheme “makes sense” as “that’s what industry have asked us to do”.

“I haven’t had a single letter from a business supporting the proposed scheme that Lorna Slater brought forward whereas I have had over 1,000 letters of concern,” he said. “And it’s those concerns that we’ve taken into account when we’ve come to our conclusion because we believe the deposit charge should be the same and reciprocated across the UK.

“If I get off the train in Carlisle and buy some recyclable material and it’s 10p in Carlisle and 20p in Dumfries I double my money. That makes no sense.”

Mr Jack added: “You have to protect internal markets and not have disruption to the drinks industry. French wine producers have told us they wouldn’t be relabelling just for Scotland for glass. It was too small a market so they would sell their wine elsewhere.”

He added that the British Glass Industry had written to the UK government saying the glass was not recycling glass and that Circularity Scotland [the administrator of the scheme] was going to crush it and put it into roads, adding that it should instead be melted and recycled into bottles.

However, this was later disputed by Circularity Scotland which said the aggregate claims were “totally inaccurate”.

The organisation, which represents drinks producers, retailers and trade bodies who are backing the DRS scheme, said it had set a high target for remelting glass so it could be reused to make new drinks containers.

A spokesman said: “Circularity Scotland has consistently stated that the Scottish Deposit Return Scheme has set a target of 90% for the remelting and reuse of glass from the scheme’s launch, rising to 95% post-launch. Any claims to the contrary are totally inaccurate.

“These claims have seriously jeopardised a £10m investment in glass recycling planned for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme

Scottish government wants to include glass bottles in its plans

The Scottish secretary also said there were issues with contamination because if a bottle was broken and had a shard of less than 10mm, it would contaminate all the recyclable material in the bin and it would have to go to landfill.

Mr Jack said the UK government had listened to the drinks industry, including the Scotch Whisky Association which said having glass in the scheme would cost it jobs.

In his letter to the prime minister, Mr Yousaf had cited concerns raised by C&C Group – one of the country’s biggest brewers and the company behind Tennent’s Lager – but, in correspondence Mr Jack received from the firm, seen by the BBC, the company said it had been “misrepresented”.

Reading a section of the letter, Mr Jack said: “Please find enclosed the letter we sent to Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, setting out our position following last weekend’s UK Internal Market announcement.

“Regrettably, specific passages of this letter were leaked to the media misrepresenting C&C’s position on DRS.

“C&C Group/Tennent’s is actively seeking and supports a UK-wide scheme introduced at the same time across the four UK nations.”

The letter went on to say that the removal of glass would leave the company at a “competitive disadvantage with the rest of the UK” and the firm “cannot therefore support a stand-alone Scottish DRS that excludes glass”.

Circularity Scotland previously urged the UK and Scottish governments to “get round the table” to deliver the programme.

It said it had invested about £300m to develop the deposit return scheme.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack’s comments can be taken to mean the UK government will not agree to what Humza Yousaf described to the BBC as an “effective” ultimatum.

Mr Yousaf wants the UK government to allow glass bottles to be part of the Deposit Return Scheme and wants them to agree to this by Monday. He says he struggles to see how it can go ahead otherwise.

The Scottish government is expected to decide on the future of the scheme this week.

But as things now stand, it would seem there is very little prospect of it going ahead next March as planned.

Supporters of the Scottish government will present the UK government’s position as an attack on devolution and the powers of Holyrood.

The issue will be less the rights and wrongs of the scheme itself – and more the principle that a scheme backed by a majority of MSPs cannot go ahead.

The UK government, on the other hand, would also mount a strong argument.

It would argue it is listening to the concerns of businesses about the scheme and ensuring there are no barriers to trade within Britain.

This increasingly feels like a story about constitutional politics rather than the rights and wrongs of the Deposit Return Scheme itself.