Photo : The New York Times/Hollie Adams/Reuters
21 May 2024, Tuesday | NIAS Europe Daily Brief #839
By Neha Tresa George
UK Government apologizes for blood scandal
On 20 May 2024, the government of Britain represented by Rishi Sunak, UK Prime Minister apologized for the worst healthcare disaster on the infected blood scandal between 1970 and 1991. The scam involved the death of thousands of people along with more than 30,000 people getting infected with either HIV or Hepatitis C due to the treatment with unsafe blood products. After a long-running public inquiry with a report that blamed the failures of the health service, officials, and ministers who had ignored to acknowledge their mistakes, apologized and approved packages for compensation. Sunak promised to deliver the costs and also to speak directly to the victims and families. The report chaired by Brian Langstaff claimed that up to 2,900 people, including young children, are estimated to have died by 2019, with many more becoming severely ill. The patients were knowingly exposed to “unacceptable” infection risks as many of them were not told that they had been infected after the blood transfusions. Since thousands of patients who had hemophilia were treated by the National Health Service during the 1970s and 80s, Langstaff slammed both the health service and government for a ‘lack of condor’. He particularly criticised the veteran Conservative politician Ken Clarke, the health secretary in 1980 who insisted that there was “no conclusive proof” that HIV could be spread through blood. The worst scandal was brought out mainly due to the usage of factor concentrate also known as Factor VIII to treat hemophiliacs which involved the pooling of blood plasma from thousands of donors. The officials and doctors ignored the risk factor of the whole component getting infected with one sample and irresponsibly implemented it. Now the victims are looking forward to the compensation promised by the government. (Andrew Mcdonald, “Infected blood: UK apologizes for decades-long healthcare scandal,” Politico, 20 May 2024)
ITALY
Italian Prime Minister triggers criticism for welcoming a convicted murderer
On 20 May, Giorgia Meloni, Italian Prime Minister has sparked questions after personally greeting a convicted murderer at Practica di Mare military airport. She had successfully negotiated his transfer from the US which the previous governments failed to achieve. Chico Forti, the convicted murderer was sentenced to life imprisonment in Florida in 2000 for the murder of hotelier Del Pike. Although the diplomatic coup was widely appreciated nationwide, Meloni’s gesture towards him was not. Walter Verini, a Senator for the center-left Democratic Party (PD) said: “It is a good thing that this government finished the job, but what Prime Minister Meloni did is not acceptable.” The left-wing leaders and newspapers expressed similar concerns as they were puzzled to understand the reason for receiving him with great pomp and honor. (Ben Munster, “Italy’s Meloni prompts bafflement by greeting convicted murderer with open arms,” Politico, 20 May 2024)
INTERNATIONAL
Commissioner for Crisis Management backlashed after expressing solidarity with Iran
On 20 May 2024, Janez Lenarčič, European Commissioner for Crisis Management insisted that he was not offering any kind of political support to Iran as he was getting criticized for a post confirming the provision of Copernicus satellite assistance to the Iranian rescuers with #EUSolidarity. The rescuers were responding to the reports of Sunday saying that a helicopter carrying Ebrahim Raisi, Iranian President and other top Iranian officials had crashed in a mountainous region near the border with Azerbaijan. Raisi along with his potential successor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was confirmed dead Monday morning. Dozens of accounts criticised the post pointing to Raisi’s prominent role in the regime which has executed thousands of Iranians, the country’s sponsorship of terror, the use of Shahed drones to terrorize Ukrainian civilians, and Tehran’s detention of Johan Floderus, Swedish EU official. According to a Commission official, although the tweet was consistent with the EU’s guidelines on humanitarian aid, they found the expression to be “odd.” While the other officials and MEPs expressed their shock and concern over the particular comment, Lenarčič justified by saying that it was simply an expression of the most basic humanity. (Ben Munster And Nicholas Vinocur, “EU official triggers backlash after vowing ‘solidarity’ with Iran,” Politico, 20 May 2024)
European officials differ on ICC arrest warrant bid for Netanyahu
On 20 May 2024, Politico reported that the reactions of the European leaders were split on the arrest warrant of the Israeli top officials. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan filed applications on Monday for arrests of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, along with the commander of Hamas’s military wing and Israel’s defence minister, citing allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Israel and the State of Palestine. While the countries of Belgium, Slovenia, and France expressed their wholehearted support for the ICC’s work, the other EU leaders of the Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany were less favourable as they thought that the arrest warrant for the representatives of a democratically elected government together with the leaders of an Islamic terrorist organization was unacceptable. The countries of the US and the UK completely disapproved as the former promised its full support to Israel while the latter found the warrant to be of no use. The US senators had even threatened to target the ICC Prosecutor by imposing sanctions upon him. The requests for warrants will later be assessed by the pre-trial chamber of the ICC. The prosecutor Mr. Khan claimed that if the warrant was being applied selectively, the connections between all the communities and individuals will be lost. According to law experts, the ICCs decision to apply for the arrest warrant suggests a degree of certainty that it would be successful. (Nathalie Weatherald And Ben Munster, “European leaders divided on ICC arrest warrant bid for Netanyahu” Politico, 20 May 2024)
US to push for its MEGOBARI Act if the foreign-agent bill reversed in Georgia
On 20 May 2024, Politico reported on Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson decision to introduce a draft bill to open “a robust preferential trade regime.” This provides chance to meet key political criteria, with improved access to the US markets, the bill also bids for the liberalisation of the visa regime for Georgian citizens. Moreover, it would mandate officials to develop a military support package for Georgia including the “provision of security and defence equipment ideally suited for territorial defence against Russian aggression and concomitant training, maintenance, and operations support elements.” However, it will only be implemented if: “Georgia has shown significant and sustained progress towards improving its democracy, along with substantially fair and free elections and a balanced pre-election environment.” The bill would also introduce individual sanctions on the politicians from the ruling Georgian Dream party along with the other officials if they implement the proposed ‘foreign-agent bill’ that curbed the rights of civil society by branding them as agents of foreign countries. This Act also known as the MEGOBARI Act (Mobilizing and Enhancing Georgia’s Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence Act) induces warnings from Washington. (Gabriel Gavin, “US to consider major military, trade package to Georgia if anti-democratic drift reversed,” Politico, 20 May 2024)