Free pass for Europol

 "The EU is expanding the authority's mandate and legalizing questionable practices in the handling of personal data.

It is not the core business of the European law enforcement agency Europol to send off officials and hunt down criminals. The thousand employees in The Hague are mainly occupied with obtaining, viewing and sorting data. By preparing situation analyses, they help the EU member states to combat serious forms of international crime. The more crime shifts to the Internet, the more extensive their work becomes - and that also arouses suspicion: the authority was recently referred to as a "data octopus" and "data monster" because its work is now on the verge of legality. Now Europol seems to have received a kind of free pass from the European Union.

Representatives of the European Parliament and the 27 EU states agreed on Tuesday to significantly expand the mandate of Europol - founded in 1998 and officially an agency of the European Union since 2010 - also in the handling of personal data. The EU Commission had already made the original proposal for this in 2020, also under the impression of several terrorist attacks. The final approval of the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament is considered a formality, despite protests from data protection officials.

 

The authority should therefore become an innovation driver in the field of data analysis and develop artificial intelligence applications for investigative work. It should get more skills in the analysis of large data sets. 

 

When it comes to terrorism and child abuse, Europol should also be allowed to intercept data from third countries, regardless of the data protection regulations that apply there, as well as data from private companies. This could be, for example, social networks that provide chat logs from suspicious users. Personal data should also be accepted by Europol.

Retroactive Legitimation of Illegal Practices?

Data protectionists see the new regulations as giving a retrospective legitimacy to illegal practices. A few weeks ago, the European data protection officer, Wojciech Wiewiórowski, asked Europol to delete masses of personal data - apparently four petabytes from ongoing and completed investigations - that had been sent to the authority by the member states.

 

Actually, data from people should be deleted after six months if no connection to criminal activity can be proven. It looks as if the authority itself had lost track of the jumble of information. Wiewiórowski's office launched an investigation into how Europol handles personal data in 2019 and has since asked the agency to make changes several times. The data has not been deleted to this day and may apparently continue to be used under the new rules. The new deletion period should be 18 months.

 

The EU Commission and member states are now claiming that they would ensure legal certainty. "Europol needs modern means to support the police in their investigations," - commented EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson on Tuesday evening. The agreed mandate reaffirms the agency's role as a global pioneer in the development of new technologies for law enforcement, prevention and investigation of crime - but also in the protection of fundamental rights such as the protection of personal data. This is now being hotly debated.

In order to monitor Europol's new power, the European Data Protection Supervisor is to be given insight into the way the authority handles personal data, but only retrospectively. "The expansion of Europol's powers does not go hand in hand with increased control of the agency's actions," - current incumbent Wiewiórowski said, according to the news portal Euractiv. The provisions contained in the proposal are a "direct threat" to the role of the supervisory authority."

Vokietijoje įstatymais nustatytas minimalus atlyginimas spalį turėtų padidėti iki 12 eurų

 

"Šiuo metu yra 9,82 euro. Tuomet ypač mažmeninės prekybos ir paslaugų sektoriaus įmonės turės mokėti jų darbuotojams daugiau.

 

Beveik kas antrai Vokietijos įmonei spalį teks koreguoti atlyginimus dėl planuojamo įstatymo nustatyto minimalaus atlyginimo didinimo iki 12 eurų. 

 

Tai matyti iš Miuncheno Ifo instituto personalo paslaugų teikėjo Randstad apklausos, kuri buvo paskelbta trečiadienį. Apklausta apie 1000 personalo vadovų iš įvairaus dydžio ir pramonės šakų įmonių.

44 procentai įmonių turi koreguoti atlyginimus į viršų. Kita vertus, pusė įmonių jau moka bent 12 eurų. Jokios informacijos nepateikė 6 proc. Rezultatai taip pat rodo, kad neplanuotas augimas skirtingai veikia skirtingus ekonomikos sektorius. 

 

54 procentai mažmeninės prekybos įmonių teigė, kad turi pakoreguoti atlyginimų struktūras, o apie 42 procentai – paslaugų sektoriuje. Pramonėje, kuri tradiciškai moka didesnius atlyginimus, keliančių atlyginimus, įmonių dalis yra mažiausia – 37 proc.

 

Įstatymo nustatyto minimalaus atlyginimo padidinimas iki 12 eurų – esminis kampanijos pažadas, kurį davė BPD, Vokietijos valdančiosios koalicijos lyderiai. Tai sulaukia daug darbdavių kritikos, nes minimalaus darbo užmokesčio komisija, kurią sudaro darbdavių, darbuotojų ir ekonomistų atstovai, faktiškai sprendžia dėl įstatyme nustatyto minimalaus atlyginimo dydžio. Bavarijos verslo asociacija trečiadienį kalbėjo apie „nepriimtiną įsikišimą į kolektyvinių derybų autonomiją“.

Įstatyme nustatytas minimalus atlyginimas šiuo metu yra 9,82 euro, o liepos pradžioje kils iki 10,45 euro. Pagal federalinio darbo ministro Hubertuso Heilo (SPD) įstatymo projektą, padidinus iki 12 eurų, 6,2 mln. dirbančiųjų gaus daugiau. Per rinkimų kampaniją buvo kalbama apie dešimt mln.

 

 Ifo tyrimo duomenimis, paslaugų įmonėse daugiau uždirbs trečdalis, kituose sektoriuose – ketvirtadalis dirbančiųjų."

 

 Kai kurių Europos šalių darbdaviai už lengviausius darbus dažnai skiria mažiausią atlyginimą. Jei esate sugebantis siekti tikslų savarankiškai, galite imtis tokio lengvo darbo Vokietijoje už minimalų atlygį 12 €, o laisvą laiką ir tai, kas liko iš jūsų energijos, panaudoti studijoms ir užimti geresnes pareigas. Sėkmės lietuviams, norintiems ir galintiems pasinaudoti šia galimybe Vokietijoje.

The statutory minimum wage is set to rise to €12 in October in Germany

 

 "It is currently 9.82 euros. Businesses in the retail and service sectors in particular will then have to pay their employees more.

Almost every second company in Germany will have to adjust their salaries in October due to the planned increase in the statutory minimum wage to EUR 12. This emerges from a survey by the Munich Ifo Institute for the personnel service provider Randstad, which was published on Wednesday. Around 1,000 HR managers from companies of different sizes and industries were surveyed.

44 percent of companies have to adjust their wages upwards. Half of the companies, on the other hand, already pay at least 12 euros. 6 percent did not provide any information. The results also show that the unscheduled increase affects different sectors of the economy to different degrees. 

 

54 percent of retail companies said they had to adjust their salary structures, and around 42 percent in the service sector. At 37 percent, the proportion of companies affected is lowest in industry, which traditionally pays higher wages.

 

Increasing the statutory minimum wage to 12 euros is a key campaign promise made by the SPD, leading partners of German ruling coalition. It causes a lot of criticism from employers, since the Minimum Wage Commission, made up of representatives from employers, employees and economists, actually decides on the amount of the statutory minimum wage. The Association of Bavarian Business spoke on Wednesday of an "unacceptable intervention in collective bargaining autonomy".

The statutory minimum wage is currently EUR 9.82, and will rise to EUR 10.45 at the beginning of July. According to the draft law by Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD), 6.2 million employees are to benefit from the increase to 12 euros. During the election campaign there was talk of ten million. 

According to the Ifo survey, a third of the workforce in the affected service companies will earn more, in other sectors it is a quarter of the employees."

Employers in some European countries often give the lowest pay for the easiest jobs. If you are a self-starter, you can take such an easy job in Germany for minimum pay of €12, and use free time and what is left of your energy to study, and to move on to a better valued position. Good luck for the Lithuanians willing and able to use this opportunity in Germany.

Ukrainos lyderis Zelenskis panaikino šauktinių tarnybą armijoje

 "Vladimiras Zelenskis nusprendė panaikinti šauktinių tarnybą Ukrainoje. Ukrainos lyderio dekretu šalies kariuomenė iki 2024 metų turėtų visiškai pereiti prie profesionalių karių, tuo pačiu padidindama jos pajėgas 100 tūkst. žmonių".

Ukrainian leader Zelensky cancels conscription

 "Vladimir Zelensky decided to cancels conscription in Ukraine. By decree of the Ukrainian leader, the country's army should completely switch to a contract basis by 2024, simultaneously increasing its strength by 100 thousand people."