UNESCO has sent questions to the Albanian government regarding the ongoing work on the Gjirokaster bypass that is taking place in a UNESCO protected area, but has not yet received a response. Gjiokaster is a World Heritage Site and as such, any work carried out in the area must be considered and agreed to with UNESCO. Answering questions sent by Exit, they said they received information from “civil society” on the current work, suggesting that the government did not fulfill their obligations as required. Mechtild Rössler, Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre told Exit: “The World Heritage Centre received third-party information about the project on 9 March 2021. WHC has contacted the State Party of Albania to verify the information received. No response yet.” In 2020, the Heritage Center noted that “the Gjirokaster Bypass project has been suspended and also requests the State Party to keep the World Heritage Centre informed on such projects.” The Albanian government replied that they would “keep the World Heritage Centre informed on major project proposals within the World Heritage Site and Buffer Zone.” The timeline of the project suggests that when they made this statement, they had already announced the work would commence but had failed to inform UNESCO. UNESCO will meet in July to discuss the matter and could “adopt a decision requesting the State Party to halt the works until a Heritage Impact Assessment is conducted to assess the potential impact”. They confirmed that both Berat and Gjirokaster are on the agenda. Discussions will include decisions and recommendations to ensure the state of conservation of the World Heritage property. Work is currently underway behind the castle to construct a road through an area that is protected under Albanian law, and by UNESCO. It includes land that hasn’t been disturbed for centuries and a total of four Ottoman bridges. The project was previously shelved for being “risky” and “unfeasible” and for potential damage it could cause to the integrity of the castle. Former Minister of Culture and candidate for Girokaster Mirela Kumbaro claimed the project was being financed by the World Bank, something the World Bank has denied. Questions to Kumbaro and the Municipality of Gjirokaster on funding and whether UNESCO were contacted remain unanswered. https://exit.al/en/2021/04/01/albanian-government-didnt-notify-unesco-regarding-gjirokaster-bypass-project/

Three months after Brexit began for real when the EU's rulebook stopped applying to the UK, many areas of life have noticed a difference. The impact has been felt by both people and businesses -- although it has sometimes been hard to distinguish from the overwhelming impact of the pandemic.  British exports to the EU have been hardest hit by new border formalities, despite the last-minute deal struck in December ensuring tariff-free trade. Although some sectors report improvements since the early chaos in January, they also say the problems run deeper than the "teething troubles" the UK government highlighted at the time. Meanwhile, a further UK delay in imposing import checks on EU goods means European exporters have not been affected to the same extent. UK-EU trade overall Official UK figures in March showed the UK recorded a record fall in trade with the EU in January, as the economy struggled with post-Brexit rules and the pandemic. Goods exports plunged by 41% and imports by 29% as the UK's departure from the EU's single market had a major impact, as did additional bureaucracy and sometimes unexpected costs and taxes. Figures released on March 18 by Ireland's Central Statistics Office said imports from Great Britain fell by 65% in January compared to a year earlier. Recent German figures showed imports from the UK dropped by 56%, while exports were down by nearly a third. Trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland has also experienced new barriers under divorce deal arrangements designed to protect an open north-south border on the island of Ireland. The EU has begun legal action against the UK after the British government unilaterally extended a grace period on some food checks. Food and agriculture Euronews listed several examples of early problems food producers and other traders reported. An avalanche of cases airing similar grievances has followed: the pork exporter forced to spend an extra €4,000 per load that still got held up by customs; the Belgian supermarket now looking to Ireland instead of Britain for supplies; the UK beekeeper who can no longer import bees from the EU. A UK parliamentary report on March 23 notes that UK food producers are facing new trade barriers with the EU in the form of health measures, extra paperwork, higher haulage costs and some "outright export bans". Exports of some products such as seed potatoes have come to a halt, says the House of Lords EU Environment Sub-Committee. Small businesses in particular are suffering from red tape and transport costs. The lack of equivalence agreements is adding to friction, it finds. An analysis published on March 23 by the UK Food and Drink Federation of a 75% fall in exports to the EU in January -- salmon collapsed by 98%, beef 91% -- cited COVID-19 and stockpiling. But it said much was "likely due to new non-tariff barriers". The FDF added that the "collapse in groupage movements" -- where different companies send goods in the same load -- had hit small and medium-sized firms in particular. "Dismissing trade disruption at the borders as simply short term ‘teething problems’ is no longer credible," says a Brexit Impact Report by the British Meat Processors Association. "British meat companies are painting a very different picture. They are reporting systemic weaknesses in the current export system, mountains of red tape and a potential permanent loss of trade of between 20 and 50 per cent." Some bureaucratic demands are due to increase: for example, more export health certificates will be needed after grace periods end. The House of Lords committee warns that barriers to trade could become permanent unless the UK government takes action. The UK wine trade has welcomed a second delay announced by the government on controversial import forms for EU wine from July until December 31, which the UK Wine and Spirit Association said would have brought "price hikes, permanently disrupted supply and drastically reduced consumer choice".   https://www.euronews.com/2021/03/31/brexit-three-months-on-uk-eu-trade-trouble-deeper-than-teething-problems-say-producers  

The leaders of France, Germany and Russia discussed the use of the Russian-developed Covid-19 vaccine in the European Union on Tuesday, according to official statements on a conference call that also touched upon issues of global concern including conflicts in Ukraine and Syria and the situation of Moscow critic Alexei Navalny. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed vaccine cooperation and other issues of global concern in a videoconference call on Tuesday evening, Macron’s office said. A statement from the French presidency said the three leaders talked about prospects for the deployment of the Russia-designed Sputnik V vaccine in the European Union, where it is currently under review of medicines regulators. The EU’s European Medicines Agency started this month to review Sputnik V, which Russia has been marketing the vaccine abroad despite a slow rollout at home. France and Germany both said the three leaders discussed possibilities for cooperation in the vaccine sector and assured the EMA would review Sputnik V according to the same standards applied to other vaccines.  Commitments to Ukraine deal Macron, Merkel and Putin also discusses the health and rights of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, namely as pertaining to the European Convention on Human Rights, of which Moscow is a member. Macron’s office also emphasised the need for Russia to act resolutely in securing a routinely violated ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists have been fighting with pro-government forces since shortly after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea. France insisted on maintaining the 2015 French- and German-brokered Minsk accords as a resolution to the conflict. Moscow said Putin insisted that Ukraine honour its obligations under the accords to provide special status to the eastern regions. The leaders also discussed the humanitarian situation in Syria and commitment to dialogue in terms of Iran’s nuclear programme, according to the statement from the Elysée. https://www.rfi.fr/en/international/20210331-france-germany-russia-discuss-vaccine-cooperation-in-conference-call-macron-putin-merkel-sputnik-covid-ukraine-syria-navalny