Romania’s Defense Minister Ionuț Moșteanu resigned Friday over false claims on his resume, marking the second time in recent weeks that a NATO country close to Russia has had to change its defense leadership. “Romania and Europe are under attack from Russia. Our national security must be defended at all costs. I do not want discussions about my education and the mistakes I made many years ago to distract those who are now leading the country from their difficult mission,” he said. According to local media, Moșteanu wrote in his official resume that he graduated from Athenaeum University in Bucharest even though he never attended the school. He also added the Faculty of Automation at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest to his CV despite dropping out. Moșteanu’s resignation just months into the job follows the ousting of Dovilė Šakalienė as Lithuania’s defense minister over a dispute about the Baltic country’s defense budget — and as Europe mulls how to respond to intensifying Russian hybrid attacks. Romania’s Economy Minister Radu Miruță is expected to take over the defense portfolio on an interim basis, the government said. Moșteanu’s departure comes with Romania facing regular Russian drone incursions. Bucharest is also 48 hours away from a deadline for EU countries to submit a plan to the European Commission for how they will spend money from the EU’s loans-for-weapons SAFE program. Romania is set to be the second-largest beneficiary of the scheme, in line for a €16.6 billion pot of cash.

At New York Climate Week in September, opinion leaders voiced concern that high-profile events often gloss over the deep inequalities exposed by climate change, especially how poorer populations suffer disproportionately and struggle to access mitigation or adaptation resources. The message was clear: climate policies should better reflect social justice concerns, ensuring they are inclusive and do not unintentionally favor those already privileged.  We believe access to food sits at the heart of this call for inclusion, because everything starts with food: it is a fundamental human right and a foundation for health, education and opportunity. It is also a lever for climate, economic and social resilience.  > We believe access to food sits at the heart of this call for inclusion, > because everything starts with food This makes the global conversation around food systems transformation more urgent than ever. Food systems are under unprecedented strain. Without urgent, coordinated action, billions of people face heightened risks of malnutrition, displacement and social unrest.   Delivering systemic transformation requires coordinated cross-sector action, not fragmented solutions. Food systems are deeply interconnected, and isolated interventions cannot solve systemic problems. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s recent Transforming Food and Agriculture Through a Systems Approach report calls for systems thinking and collaboration across the value chain to address overlapping food, health and environmental challenges.   Now, with COP30 on the horizon, unified and equitable solutions are needed to benefit entire value chains and communities. This is where a systems approach becomes essential.  A systems approach to transforming food and agriculture  Food systems transformation must serve both people and planet. We must ensure everyone has access to safe, nutritious food while protecting human rights and supporting a just transition.   At Tetra Pak, we support food and beverage companies throughout the journey of food production, from processing raw ingredients like milk and fruit to packaging and distribution. This end-to-end perspective gives us a unique view into the interconnected challenges within the food system, and how an integrated approach can help manufacturers reduce food loss and waste, improve energy and water efficiency, and deliver food where it is needed most.   Meaningful reductions to emissions require expanding the use of renewable and carbon-free energy sources. As outlined in our Food Systems 2040 whitepaper,1 the integration of low-carbon fuels like biofuels and green hydrogen, alongside electrification supported by advanced energy storage technologies, will be critical to driving the transition in factories, farms and food production and processing facilities.   Digitalization also plays a key role. Through advanced automation and data-driven insights, solutions like Tetra Pak® PlantMaster enable food and beverage companies to run fully automated plants with a single point of control for their production, helping them improve operational efficiency, minimize production downtime and reduce their environmental footprint.  The “hidden middle”: A critical gap in food systems policy  Today, much of the focus on transforming food systems is placed on farming and on promoting healthy diets. Both are important, but they risk overlooking the many and varied processes that get food from the farmer to the end consumer. In 2015 Dr Thomas Reardon coined the term the “hidden middle” to describe this midstream segment of global agricultural value chains.2   This hidden middle includes processing, logistics, storage, packaging and handling, and it is pivotal. It accounts for approximately 22 percent of food-based emissions and between 40-60 percent of the total costs and value added in food systems.3 Yet despite its huge economic value, it receives only 2.5 to 4 percent of climate finance.4  Policymakers need to recognize the full journey from farm to fork as a lynchpin priority. Strategic enablers such as packaging that protects perishable food and extends shelf life, along with climate-resilient processing technologies, can maximize yield and minimize loss and waste across the value chain. In addition, they demonstrate how sustainability and competitiveness can go hand in hand.  Alongside this, climate and development finance must be redirected to increase investment in the hidden middle, with a particular focus on small and medium-sized enterprises, which make up most of the sector.   Collaboration in action  Investment is just the start. Change depends on collaboration between stakeholders across the value chain: farmers, food manufacturers, brands, retailers, governments, financiers and civil society.  In practice, a systems approach means joining up actors and incentives at every stage.5 The dairy sector provides a perfect example of the possibilities of connecting. We work with our customers and with development partners to establish dairy hubs in countries around the world. These hubs connect smallholder farmers with local processors, providing chilling infrastructure, veterinary support, training and reliable routes to market.6 This helps drive higher milk quality, more stable incomes and safer nutrition for local communities.  Our strategic partnership with UNIDO* is a powerful example of this collaboration in action. Together, we are scaling Dairy Hub projects in Kenya, building on the success of earlier initiatives with our customer Githunguri Dairy. UNIDO plays a key role in securing donor funding and aligning public-private efforts to expand local dairy production and improve livelihoods. This model demonstrates how collaborations can unlock changes in food systems.  COP30 and beyond  Strategic investment can strengthen local supply chains, extend social protections and open economic opportunity, particularly in vulnerable regions. Lasting progress will require a systems approach, with policymakers helping to mitigate transition costs and backing sustainable business models that build resilience across global food systems for generations to come.   As COP30 approaches, we urge policymakers to consider food systems as part of all decision-making, to prevent unintended trade-offs between climate and nutrition goals. We also recommend that COP30 negotiators ensure the Global Goal on Adaptation include priorities indicators that enable countries to collect, monitor and report data on the adoption of climate-resilient technologies and practices by food processors. This would reinforce the importance of the hidden middle and help unlock targeted adaptation finance across the food value chain.  When every actor plays their part, from policymakers to producers, and from farmers to financiers, the whole system moves forward. Only then can food systems be truly equitable, resilient and sustainable, protecting what matters most: food, people and the planet.  * UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization)  Disclaimer POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT * The sponsor is Tetra Pak * The ultimate controlling entity is Brands2Life Ltd * The advertisement is linked to policy advocacy regarding food systems and climate policy More information here. https://www.politico.eu/7449678-2

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wants the EU to help front-line countries monitor and defend their borders against potential Russian aggression — backing a long-standing request from Poland and Baltic nations. “There is no doubt: Europe’s eastern flank keeps all of Europe safe. From the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. This is why we must invest in supporting it through an Eastern Flank Watch,” she told European lawmakers in her State of the Union address Wednesday morning. “This means giving Europe independent strategic capabilities. We must invest in real-time space surveillance so that no movement of forces goes unseen. We must heed the call of our Baltic friends and build a drone wall,” the German politician added. Von der Leyen’s comments came only a few hours after Poland scrambled fighter jets to shoot down Russian drones that entered its airspace. Back in June, Romania also sent warplanes to monitor Russian drones approaching its border. Wednesday’s incident over Poland has been perceived by Western allies as a way for Russian President Vladimir Putin to test NATO’s defenses. Front-line countries — especially Poland, Estonia and Lithuania — have long called for the EU to contribute financially to the defense of their borders. They argue their efforts will protect the bloc as a whole against any attack from Russia, as military and intelligence top brass have warned in the past that Putin could target Baltic nations or Poland to test NATO’s mettle. They have successfully pushed for money from the EU’s loans-for-weapons SAFE scheme to be easily available for items including drones and anti-drone systems. Warsaw launched a project last year dubbed East Shield that aims to strengthen the Polish border with Russia and Belarus, while Baltic nations are starting to teach children to build and fly drones. Countries such as Lithuania are also behind the idea of a “drone wall,” which they see as a permanent presence of unmanned aerial vehicles on their borders to monitor threats. A few days before giving her State of the Union address, von der Leyen went on a front-line state tour that took her to countries including Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. “Last week, I saw this for myself when I visited front-line member states. They know best the threat Russia poses,” she told European lawmakers on Wednesday. Von der Leyen also announced the EU will enter into a so-called Drone Alliance with Ukraine and front-load €6 billion from the G7-led Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA). Russia’s war in Ukraine has highlighted the importance of drones in warfare — they can be used for surveillance purposes and as lethal weapons to reach remote or dangerous areas. Ukraine is widely perceived as being innovative with the technology, namely through the use of AI and automation. Von der Leyen gave few details about the defense road map she has to present to EU leaders in October, but did say she wants to launch a so-called European Semester of Defence to monitor capitals’ progress in military buildup.

Greece has presented other EU governments with what it called its strictest plan to deter migrants and is pushing for “return hubs” outside the continent. The country’s newly appointed migration minister, Thanos Plevris, used a meeting of the bloc’s interior ministers in Copenhagen on Tuesday to urge them to prioritize deportations and to create pre-departure holding centers to stem migrant arrivals. He also presented Greece’s draft law on illegal immigration, which has been submitted for public consultation. The bill includes swifter asylum rejections, stricter prison terms, a reduction in benefits, and the possibility of electronic surveillance for illegal entrants. “The new Greek legislation has aroused particular interest among ministers, as it is seen as the strictest ever submitted at EU level,” said a Greek government official, who like others quoted here spoke on condition of anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions. “This has led to numerous requests for bilateral meetings with [Plevris] in order to better understand the new framework.” Plevris had separate meetings with counterparts from Austria, France and Germany as well as with officials from EU border agency Frontex. Discussions focused on the need for more effective management of external borders and measures to deter arrivals. Greece’s government said it plans to introduce “disincentives” for migrants, including reviewing the meals it offers in the camps. “The return of illegal migrants must be our top priority,” Plevris told reporters, adding that “return hubs” in third countries should be located “not just outside the European Union, but beyond the European continent.” According to a senior Greek official, among the countries mentioned as possible hosts for return hubs are Albania, where Italy already has a base, as well as Libya and Tunisia. Asked how such radical solutions could be aligned with EU legislation, Plevris called it “a challenge.” “For our own society, the flows of illegal immigrants are very large. I cannot say that we can manage it,” he said, adding that on the island of Crete “we have every day 1,000 illegal immigrants who want to reach Greece, and in Libya we have 3 million. This means that we have to find solutions within a European framework, but also within our societies.” Some 9,000 people from Libya have arrived on Crete since the beginning of the year, almost double the number that landed on the island in the whole of 2024. Earlier this month the Greek government suspended the processing of asylum applications for those arriving in Greece from North Africa and said it will forcibly return them, without registration, to their country of origin or provenance. The suspension is to last for three months initially. According to another senior Greek official, neither EU ministers nor the Commission raised any objections regarding the suspension. During a joint press conference on Tuesday, the European Commission and the Danish presidency of the Council of the EU emphasized that pushing forward a new migration regulation was at the top of their agendas. “We are pushing for the reform of [the] asylum and migration system with the migration pact as [a] solid basis,” said EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner. But Brunner noted the migration pact still has some “missing pieces” that need to be agreed. “The returns regulation, which presented a review of the safe country concept, and the list of safe countries of origin are all pieces of the puzzle which definitely needed to have a good and solid ground for a better migration automation system,” he said. Danish Integration Minister Kaare Dybvad pointed to the growing need for a coordinated returns policy within the EU. “Every day thousands of people seek asylum, but it’s only around half of the people that actually get protection,” he said. “Of the half that doesn’t get protection, only a fourth of them actually returns.”

European Plastics Converters (EuPC) is the EU-level trade association representing the European plastics converting industry. Plastics converters use plastics raw materials and recycled polymers to manufacture new products. EuPC totals about 45 national as well as European plastics converting industry associations and represents more than 50,000 companies, producing over 50 million tons of plastic products every year. More than 1.6 million people are working in EU converting companies (mainly SMEs) to create a turnover in excess of € 260 billion per year.  > The results are clear: imposing blanket reuse targets for pallet packaging > will do more harm than good — both environmentally and economically.   As part of the EU’s new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), policymakers have introduced mandatory reuse targets for plastic pallet packaging — like stretch wrap and hoods — under Article 29. To understand the real-world impact of this proposal, EuPC commissioned two independent studies:  * A life cycle environmental assessment by IFEU (Germany)1  * An economic impact analysis by RDC Environment (Belgium)2  The results are clear: imposing blanket reuse targets for pallet packaging will do more harm than good — both environmentally and economically.  What the environmental study found   IFEU’s life cycle assessment shows that switching from single-use plastic wrap and hood to reusable systems could actually increase CO2 emissions from 35 percent to up to 1,700 percent, depending on the specific use case. In every application studied, single-use solutions performed better than reusable alternatives across all environmental impact categories — from emissions to resource use.  What the economic study found   RDC’s economic analysis looked at eight key industrial sectors — including retail, agriculture, cement and glass — and found that mandatory reuse systems could result in up to €4.9 billion in additional annual costs just for these eight sectors alone.  Some sectors would be hit particularly hard, seeing potential increased production costs of:  * Retail: up to €400 million   * Glass: up to €780 million  To clarify, these figures refer exclusively to the eight industrial sectors analyzed in the study, which represent only a portion of the product categories transported on pallets in the EU. Since other sectors are not included, the overall EU-wide impact would exceed the €4.9 billion estimated for this limited sample.  Enterprises are likely to face the greatest challenges under mandatory reuse systems. Many lack the reverse logistics or automation needed for reuse systems. For exporters, the burden is even greater, as they would be forced to operate two parallel packaging systems: one compliant with EU reuse requirements and another for non-EU markets. Currently, there are no large-scale reusable packaging systems in place, meaning an entirely new infrastructure would need to be developed within an extremely short timeframe. This raises serious legal, operational and economic concerns, especially for the most vulnerable segments of the market.   What it all means  Both studies agree that replacing recyclable single-use pallet wrap with reusable alternatives is neither greener nor cheaper. If enforced, the proposed reuse targets could undermine PPWR’s goals of creating a truly circular and efficient packaging economy.  That’s why EuPC is calling for the exclusion of pallet wrap and straps from Article 29, using the flexibility allowed through delegated acts under Article 29(18a) and 29(18c).  > If enforced, the proposed reuse targets could undermine PPWR’s goals of > creating a truly circular and efficient packaging economy. The smarter way forward  Single-use, recyclable plastic pallet packaging is already a reality aligned with Europe’s sustainability goals. Solutions that truly work in real-world logistics that are efficient, scalable and sustainable are already an economic reality.  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes Disclaimer: This document reflects EuPC’s independent position and communication. The data and analysis cited are based on studies commissioned by EuPC. 1 Comparative life cycle assessment of various single use and reuse transport packaging  2 Economic impact of switching to reusable options for pallet wrapping