Recycled plastic roads ready for rollout after bike paths prove successful

DutchNews, May 28, 2020 

Photo: Plasticroad.eu

Two successful trial runs of cycle paths madefrom recycled plastic waste have paved the way for larger scale projects in the Netherlands and abroad, the developers have said. 

KWS, plastic pipe maker Wavin and Total oil said on Thursday that after a 18 months of testing and developing, they now have a design suited for industrial production and that the technology is ready to be launched on the market in the first quarter of 2021. 

The first plastic cycle paths, which were built in Zwolle and Giethoorn with local council support, have proved to be able manage excessive water from rain, severe drought and everything in between, the makers said. 

The two 30 metre bike paths, which were made using 1,000 kilos of recycled plastic, were also found to have reduced CO2 emissions by some 50% to 70% compared to concrete or asphalt paths, the makers claim. 

Sensors in the paths were also used to monitor wear and tear and the paths were found to stand up well to heavy weights, like refuse and maintenance trucks. 

‘We have proven that our ground-breaking circular concept – a prefab road based on recycled plastic – is feasible in practice,’ Marcel Jager and Anne Koudstaal of the PlasticRoad team said. 

The next generation of roads will be more robust still which will make the concept a viable alternative for asphalt and concrete motorways and car parks as well pavements and school yards, the group said. 

The roll out will initially be focused on clients in the Netherlands and neighbouring countries, after which they expect to scale up to markets in other parts of the world, the makers said.

Artists impression: KWS 

Related Article:

No burning rubber here: plastic road opens in Zwolle

The Netherlands cancels big events, but won’t close schools in corona clampdown

DutchNews, March 12, 2020

Bruno Bruins, Mark Rutte and Jaap van Dissel at the press conference.
Photo: ANP Sem van de Wal

The Netherlands announced a new package of measures to combat the spread of coronavirus on Thursday but stopped short of ordering schools to close. 

In particular, the rise in cases in Noord-Brabant province with no identifiable cause has prompted the rethink in the Dutch approach, prime minister Mark Rutte told a press conference following a crisis meeting with ministers and health officials in the early afternoon. 

Measures introduced earlier in Brabant are now been extended nationwide and will run until the end of March. Brabant itself is expected to announce new tough measures to cover the entire province later on Thursday. 

The new rules mean everyone who has a cold, cough, sore throat or temperature should stay home and avoid all social contacts, and phone their doctor if their condition worsens, health minister Bruno Bruins said. 

In addition, all events involving over 100 people are being cancelled. This includes sports matches, conferences, theatre performances, church services and the like. 

People are also being urged to work at home if possible, and companies are being asked to spread office hours over a longer period to reduce the number of people gathering in the same place. 

Everyone is also being asked to limit contacts with the elderly and people whose health is vulnerable. The elderly are also being urged to avoid travelling on public transport. 

Schools 

Universities have been told to stop hosting large lectures and switch to online teaching instead. Schools, however, will not be closed. 

‘There is no reason to close schools because they have had few infections,’ Rutte said. ‘Youngsters are not a big risk group.’ 

In addition, he said, the social impact of closing schools would be considerable because it would mean much needed healthcare workers would be forced to stay home to look after their children. 

‘Closing schools would contribute very little to combating the crisis, but the impact on the healthcare chain would be major,’ Rutte said. ‘I appeal to teachers and school heads to understand that this is the most sensible option at the moment.’ 

Criticism 

Rutte dismissed criticism that the Netherlands had not been tough enough earlier in the epidemic. ‘We are doing what is necessary now,’ he said. ‘But we all need to do this together. The effect will be maximised if everyone does what we have asked.’ 

‘You never know if you are doing things right, but we are doing this based on expert advice,’ the prime minister said. ‘We have taken this decision based on the latest information and we are not ruling out taking further measures at a later date.’ 

New discoveries 

The new measures have been prompted by overnight discoveries focusing on the virus in Brabant, Jaap van Dissel of the RIVM told the press conference. 

‘The pressure on Brabant hospitals and intensive care units is increasing and they are having more trouble in coping,’ he said. In addition, local health boards are finding it increasingly difficult to check the chains of infection and find out how infections occurred.

There is also now a cluster in southern Limburg which probably came from Germany, Van Dissel said. Researchers at Erasmus teaching hospital in Rotterdam have studied the Brabant clusters and has found they have different sources of infection. 

‘In Brabant, we  no longer have a grip on the disease and the period of containment, of isolating patients and tracing their contacts is over,’ he said. By contrast, in Groningen there are just two known cases so far.

Related Article:

What the new coronavirus measures in the Netherlands mean for you

Dutch railway firm has paid €32m so far to compensate death camp victims

DutchNews, February 24, 2020

Part of the Westerbork monument. Photo: Blacknight via Wikimedia Commons

Dutch state-owned railway company NS has paid out €32m so far to the victims and close family members of people transported by train to concentration camps during World War II, broadcaster NOS reported on Monday. 

The money has been paid to 4,000 people, of whom 600 are survivors, the NS said. 

The railway group said last year it expected to pay at least €35m to around 6,000 survivors or next of kin: €15,000 to each direct survivor, €7,500 to widows or widowers and €5,000 or €7,500 to children of the victims. 

The NS was commissioned by the Nazis to take an estimated 100,000 Jewish, Roma and Sinti people in special trains to holding camps in Westerbork, Vught and Amersfoort, where they lived before being taken to death camps in the east. It is estimated to have been paid some €2.5 million for this – something it describes as ‘a black page’ in its history. 

The commission to allocate compensation was set up last August after a three-year battle by 83-year-old Holocaust survivor Salo Muller. 

Applications can still be made up to August 5 this year, in English as well as Dutch. Some 700 requests have so far been dismissed for not having the right paperwork or other evidence.

CDA, D66 revive plans for 25,000 home Almere Pampus project

DutchNews, February 18, 2020 

A residential area in Almere. Photo: Leuk2 via Wikimedia Commons 

A plan to build 25,000 affordable homes with a fast metro connection on reclaimed land near Almere will go some way to solving the Netherlands’ acute shortage of housing, according to the plan’s Liberal democrat and Christian Democrat backers. 

The Almere Pampus project was first mooted years ago but shelved in 2013 until at least 2025. Now D66 and the CDA say it should be revived as part of effort to build some 300,000 new homes. 

‘It is a great space on the IJmeer lake, with a view towards Amsterdam,’ D66 leader Rob Jetten said. ‘There are few places in the Netherlands where we can think big. And this area is ready to be developed.’ 

A fast metro link, preferably in a tunnel, is key to the project, Jetten said. 

New city 

The relatively new city of Almere has been the fastest growing part of the Netherlands over the past 20 years in terms of its economy, jobs and population. 

Almere, created on reclaimed land in the 1960s, is a planned city and got its first houses in 1976. It became an independent local authority area in 1984. 

In 2018, the national statistics agency CBS said Almere’s economy grew 144% between 1996 and 2016, compared with average national growth of 50%. Its population has gone up by 75% and the number of jobs by 90% over the same period.

Amsterdam to get metro link to Schiphol within 10 years, at cost of €3bn

DutchNews, December 12, 2019

Amsterdam’s Noord-Zuidlijn metro route will be extended to Schiphol airport and Hoofddorp within the next 10 years, the Volkskrant said on Thursday. 

The city’s new metro line, which is just 10 kilometres long, opened in July 2018 but critics say officials wasted an opportunity to make a link to the airport, which is becoming increasingly difficult to reach by car. 

The Volkskrant says the cost of the extension south will be at least €3bn, in line with the final cost of the current route. 

Seven groups, including local authorities, airline KLM, the airport and rail companies are involved in the plans, the paper said. They plan to invest in the project themselves but are also hoping for a ‘substantial’ contribution from the state. 

‘The state wants to see plans which will make the Netherlands future proof in terms of infrastructure and mobility,’ NS chief Roger van Boxtel told the paper. ‘We have worked on this plan for two years and now the ministry has opened the door.’ 

The plan envisages running the metro above ground, parallel to the A4 motorway, with its own dedicated station at Schiphol. The metro currently ends at Amsterdam Zuid railway station, which is being transformed into an international hub. 

Despite the Volkskrant’s claim, a spokesman for the infrastructure ministry told broadcaster NOS that the plan is ‘far from certain’ and ‘one of the many options currently being looked at.’ 

The Parool reported in January that Amsterdam officials and Schiphol airport had reached agreement on tackling the airport’s public transport problems, including the option of extending the city’s new metro route to the main terminal building. 

The NS also has plans to introduce a special ‘eight trains an hour’ service between Amsterdam’s central station and Schiphol from 2023.

Daytime speed limit to be slashed to 100 kph to cut pollution: NOS

DutchNews, November 12, 2019 

Photo: Wikimedia Commons 

The cabinet is planning to cut the maximum speed limit to 100 kph nationwide between 6am and 7pm, in an effort to cut nitrogen-based pollution, sources have told broadcaster NOS.

 Higher speed limits of 120 kph and 130 kph would be allowed at night – on roads which currently have the higher speed limit, ministers are set to announce Wednesday. 

Ministers hope that cutting the speed limit will compensate for the extra pollution generated by the construction industry – particularly of new homes. A large number of building projects have been put on hold after the Council of State ruled current measures to reduce nitrous oxide and ammonia pollution are insufficient. 

Prime minister Mark Rutte has declined to confirm the speed limit cut, but says he aims to present the package of measures on Wednesday morning. 

Also on the table is a plan to add enzymes to cattle feed so they produce less ammonia in their manure, NOS said.

Ministers outline the government’s plans. Photo: Phil Nijhuis / HH

Related Articles:

Speed limit cut is a ‘rotten’ rule but necessary to build homes, Rutte says
Ministers aim to relax PFAS pollution rules after new limit halts earth-moving work

“Afraid of Love” + “What’s Wrong Today”, Laguna Hills, California, US(2), Dec 9, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Dutch inventors roll out river plastic clean-up barge
Ocean Cleanup move to the Pacific, ‘a milestone’ says Dutch inventor

Photo: The Ocean Cleanup

Pilot in Schiphol security scare was instructing a trainee at the time

DutchNews, November 7, 2019

Military police at Schiphol after the scare. Photo: AP Photo/Peter Dejong via HH 

The pilot who sparked a security scare at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Wednesday night was giving a trainee instructions when he accidently gave a hijacking alert, airline Air Europa has confirmed. 

The pilot activated the hijacking alert code as priority passengers were boarding, putting D pier into lockdown and launching a high-profile military police operation which generated news coverage around the world. 

No disciplinary measures will be taken against the pilot because there is nothing to blame him for, the airline told broadcaster NOS. 

Meanwhile, one of the 26 passengers on board the plane said they only realised the extent of the scare when they were allowed to leave the aircraft. 

‘My family rang when I was in the plane because they heard it had been hijacked,’ Javier Domingo told the Parool. ‘They had seen these messages about people with knives on board but none of it was true. We were just sitting talking. Some people were watching films on their iPad.’ 

Only on leaving the plane, where they were photographed and searched, did passengers realise what had been going on, he said. 

When the passengers were finally let back on board, the pilot was standing in the doorway. ‘He offered every passenger his apologies on behalf of Air Europa,’ Domingo said. ‘But he did not say that it was he himself who had caused it.’

Related Article:

Schiphol security alert is a false alarm, military police alerted by mistake

16 people found in lorry at IJmuiden ferry port, heading for England

DutchNews, November 7, 2019

IJmuiden’s ferry port

Border police at IJmuiden port have found 16 people hiding in the back of a lorry  including four children. 

The 11 men, one woman and four youngsters, one said to be clutching a teddy bear, were found in the lorry on Wednesday and removed as locals and port workers watched. 

‘I have never seen anything like it, it is so sad this is happening,’ one eyewitness told local news website NH Nieuws. 

The driver of the lorry, a 45-year-old Turkish national, has been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking. The group of stowaways had different nationalities, NH Nieuws said. 

The lorry had been due to take the daily crossing to Newcastle. Some 50 people have been caught trying to make that journey this year.

Utrecht station’s bike park is now the biggest in the world

DutchNews, August 19, 2019

Photo: CU2030.nl 

A major extension to Utrecht’s railway station bike park opens on Monday, making it the biggest underground garage for bikes in the world, with space for 12,656 two-wheelers. 

The first phase opened in 2017 with space for 6,000 bikes. 

The completed bike park, over three floors, beats the previous record of 9,400 bikes held by Tokyo. It includes 480 spaces for cargo bikes and other bikes which don’t fit into regular spaces. 

The first 24 hours is free to park, after that the cost is €1.25 per day. Cyclists can follow electronic signs to the nearest empty spaces. 

‘The Netherlands is a very mobile country and the bike plus train are a golden combination,’ junior infrastructure minister Stientje van Veldhoven told the AD. ‘Thanks to this park bike you can cycle practically to the platform. The size of this project shows how many people, primarily commuters, are discovering the bike as a weapon against congestion.’ 

The government’s coalition agreement included a pledge to invest €100m in fast bike lanes and better infrastructure, and this was increased by a further €75m last year.

Pollen, not pollution: Utrecht’s new bus stops are buzzing

DutchNews, August 16, 2019

One of Utrecht’s green roof bus stops. Photo: Mobilane

Utrecht’s bee friendly bus shelters are capturing the world’s imagination with media from across the globe reporting on a solution to urban pollution that is both simple and effective. 

From Mexico City to Melbourne, local officials have been in touch about how to make bus shelters a part of efforts to combat pollution and protect bees, the Volkskrant reported on Friday. 

When Utrecht city council started looking for ways of making the city more sustainable Reclamebureau Limburg (RBL), which specialises in advertising in public spaces, was quick to take up the gauntlet. 

Apart from bamboo seats, RBL’s new bus shelter, of which there are now over 300 in Utrecht, has a green roof . The hardy sedum plants provided by family firm Mobilane reduce the amount of lung-damaging fine dust, store rain water and combat heat. They also promote biodiversity, and the ‘bee stops’, as the foreign press dubbed them, could well play a part in saving this endangered insect. 

With July entering the history books as the hottest ever recorded the shelters were put to the test almost immediately. RBL, which built and maintains the shelters from the proceeds of advertising, told the Volkskrant that the plants survived the heat wave ‘surprisingly well’. Sedum plants need little water and are able to withstand extreme temperatures.

But convincing sceptic Utrechtenaren was not always plain sailing. ‘People in Utrecht initially said “oh not another GroenLinks scheme that will only cost tax money and won’t do anything. And will I be stung by a bee while I’m waiting for a bus?” But it’s become the summer hit of 2019,’ the paper quotes council spokesperson Jacqueline Rabius as saying. 

While the sustainable shelters are not going to save the world, the 2,000 m2 of additional green roofs will contribute to cleaner air in the city and 96 of them have also been equipped with solar panels. 

Stimulus 

They are also proving a stimulus to others because requests for subsidies for green roofs have been multiplying since the bus shelters hit the headlines,’ Utrecht public space manager Maurice Prijs said. Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Hoorn and Apeldoorn are reportedly also looking into replacing conventional shelters with bee stops. 

To put things in perspective, spokesperson for environmental organisation Milieu Centraal Puk van Meegeren told the paper that the effect on air quality of the shelters will not equal that of a number of big trees in a park.

‘But the shelters are a start and other bigger roofs may follow. Green roofs help to store water which would otherwise disappear into the sewage system. For homes with a flat roof they make a good alternative for air conditioning systems.’

Formula 1 racing returns to the Netherlands after 35-year halt

DutchNews, May 14, 2019

Zaandvoort racing track from the air. Photo: Quistnix via Wikimedia Commons

Formula 1 motor racing is set to return to the Zandvoort circuit next year after a 35-year absence. 

The Formula 1 organisation and sponsor Heineken held a press conference at the seaside resort later on Tuesday morning to announce the three-year deal – which has been long expected. 

‘We want to hold another Formula 1 race in Europe and we are happy to come back to Zandvoort,’ said Chase Carey, head of commercial rights holder Liberty Media. 

The race will be held before the Monaco Grand Prix at the end of May but the 2020 calendar ‘has not been finalised’, Carey said. 

The last Zandvoort Grand Prix, which was won by Niki Lauda, took place in 1985. The Dutch fixture dropped off the calendar because it was to expensive to stage. 

Staging a Grand Prix next year is expected to cost €40m, which includes a €20m fee to the Formula 1 organisation. Some €10m needs to be spent on improving facilities at the track, including building temporary stands. The money will come from sponsors and ticket sales. 

The government said earlier it will not contribute financially to plans to bring Formula 1 racing back to the Netherlands because it would not be a justifiable use of taxpayers money. 

The town council has, however, voted to invest €4m in the project, partly because of commitments to ensure the event is as ‘green’ as possible. 

On Monday it emerged that Dutch railway company NS has serious concerns about plans to up capacity on the service to Zandvoort to help bring in the expected 100,000 racegoers.

Amsterdam brings in ‘bizarre’ plan to ban all but electric cars by 2030

DutchNews, May 3, 2019

A charging station in Amsterdam. Photo: DutchNews.nl 

Amsterdam city council has published plans to ban all but electric cars from the city by 2030 in a move that officials hope will extend locals’ life expectancy by three months. 

From next year, diesel-powered cars which predate 2005 will be banned from the area within the A10 ring road and further restrictions will be brought in gradually as the plan is put into practice. The first evaluation will take place in 2022. 

Amsterdammers, says alderman Sharon Dijksma, have their lives cut short by one year because of airborne pollution. 

The most effective way to change this, she said, is to bring in emissions-free transport. ‘This is something the city council has a direct effect on, hence my mission to make Amsterdam the “world capital of emissions free mobility”‘.’ 

Last month junior environment minister Stientje van Veldhoven said she planned to give local authorities the opportunity to ban old diesel cars and vans by setting up ‘environmental zones’. Some 4,100 cars would be affected by the Amsterdam ban. 

Dijksma’s plan envisages this environmental zone being gradually extended and then, once it covers most of the city, bringing in a complete ban on petrol and diesel cars in smaller areas. Nine streets in the city currently break EU pollution standards. 

The city will need 16,000 to 23,000 charging stations by 2025 to make the project a success, she says. There are currently some 3,000 charging stations for electric cars in the city. Grants and subsidies will also be used to encourage motorists to make the switch. 

‘The switch to emissions-free travel will require everyone to contribute: companies, residents and visitors,’ Dijksma said. 

The city has already banned the most polluting vehicles from the area within the ring road and from 2022 buses and coaches will not be allowed in the city centre if they produce exhaust emissions. 

Bizarre 

Reactions to the proposals have been extremely mixed. The RAI Vereninging motoring lobby described them as ‘bizarre and impossible to put into practice’. 

However Maarten Steinbuch, a professor at Eindhoven University of Technology, told broadcaster NOS that the plan should be seen as something to aim at. ‘We’ve still got 11 years,’ he said. 

Electric cars are becoming cheaper and are already cheaper than petrol-driven cars to maintain, he pointed out. 

The plans still have to be approved by the full city council, and before that they will be put out to public discussion.

Related Article:

European alliance to invest up to 6 bn euros in electric car batteries

Uproar over Dutch rail 'victim fashion' warnings

Yahoo – AFP, April 6, 2019

Operator ProRail said it is using the controversial images to show the
potential consequences of straying too close to railway lines (AFP Photo/HO)

The Hague (AFP) - A campaign by the Dutch railway infrastructure operator to shock young people into responsible behaviour near rail tracks using ripped clothes to symbolise the mangled garb of victims hit by trains unleashed uproar on Saturday.

Operator ProRail said it used the controversial images to show the potential consequences of straying too close to railway lines.

But their "Vict_m Fashion - created by accident" strapline, accompanying ripped clothing was widely branded as shocking.

"I have expressed our surprise, displeasure and horror to the management of ProRail," the head of Dutch rail operator NS Marjan Rintel told ANP news agency, while drivers and politicians were also highly critical.

ProRail, which manages Dutch track infrastructure, launched the campaign Thursday, showing replicas of badly ripped garments -- some missing an entire shirt sleeve or trouser leg.

Other photos show shredded shoes and dresses. ProRail says the shocking images are necessary "to wake young people up and give them a shake."

The company said: "Sadly, bad things still happen too often on and around rail tracks because of lack of attention and recklessness," ProRail said.

ProRail's line of damaged apparel named 'Victim Fashion' features replicas 

of torn jackets, t-shirts and and shirts (AFP Photo/HO)

It added it had "deliberately" set out to shock in a campaign aimed at 12- to 18-year-olds.

Deaths on and around Dutch rail tracks have steadily risen in recent years from six in 2016, to 12 in 2017 and 17 last year with minors among the fatalities.

ProRail said many accidents are down to people's attention being fixed on their smartphones.

While NS notably said it felt the nature of the campaign went too far, minister of infrastructure, Stientje van Veldhoven was slightly more measured in his criticism.

"Everyone favours less dangerous behaviour around railway tracks. And communication on this subject is important.

"But the campaign as it has been organised is unduly harsh for drivers (notably those who have witnessed accidents) and the relatives of those killed on the tracks," the minister said.

China's Xi insists new Silk Road runs both ways as Italy signs up

Yahoo – AFP, Charles ONIANS, March 22, 2019

Italy rolled out the red carpet for Chinese President Xi Jinping (AFP Photo/Tiziana FABI)

Chinese President Xi Jinping sought Friday to allay Western unease over his new Silk Road initiative by emphasising the vast infrastructure project's two-way nature as he kicked off a whistlestop European tour in Rome.

Italy has rolled out the red carpet for Xi, who will on Saturday sign a memorandum of understanding for Rome to join the $1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative despite misgivings in Washington and Brussels.

Italy will be the first of the Group of Seven most-developed nations to sign up for the new Silk Road, which critics say is "predatory" and overwhelmingly favours China and Chinese companies.

"Between us, there is no fundamental conflict of interest," Xi told journalists after talks with his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella.

"China wants commercial exchanges to go both ways and for investment to flow in both directions," Xi said.

Mattarella said that business must go "in both directions... with fair competition, respecting intellectual property rights and while fighting counterfeit goods".

Xi said there was "no fundamental conflict of interest" between China and Italy after

talks with his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella (AFP Photo/Handout)

Salvini snub

Around 1,000 extra police have been deployed around Rome for the state visit before Xi heads to the Sicilian city of Palermo, where his singer wife Peng Liyuan reportedly wants to see the Teatro Massimo opera house.

In what some perceived as a snub, Italy's far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said he would not attend Friday's state dinner for Xi at Mattarella's Quirinal Palace.

Salvini has said Italy would be "no-one's colony" and urged caution about using telecom Chinese giant Huawei's next generation 5G mobile technology, while his coalition partner Luigi Di Maio is keener for Chinese partnerships.

The United States has warned European allies that Huawei could use its 5G technology as a "backdoor" for spying, a claim that China has strongly rejected, calling them "abnormal, immoral" attacks.

NATO member Italy's plan to join China's ambitious maritime, rail and road venture has raised eyebrows among Western allies and within Italy.

"Today we say 'Italy first' in trade relations, while remaining US allies, in NATO and in the EU," Deputy Prime Minister Di Maio of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement said on the sidelines of a China-Italy business forum on Friday.

The New Silk Road is a massive Chinese infrastructure project including road, 

rail and ship routes (AFP Photo/Laurence CHU)

'Vanity project'

Debt-ridden Italy is technically in recession and keen to have more business with China.

White House official Garrett Marquis last week tweeted that there was "no need" for Italy to endorse "China's infrastructure vanity project".

Xi's visit comes a week after the European Union released a 10-point plan outlining a shift to more assertive relations with Beijing, warning that China was a "rival" to the bloc as well as its biggest trading partner.

France on Thursday announced that President Emmanuel Macron will hold trade and climate talks on Tuesday with Xi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

In Brussels, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Friday briefed EU leaders about Italy's Silk Road MoU, where Merkel said: "As he (Conte) described it, I don't think I have anything to criticise, for now.

"But we have of course already said that it's better to act uniformly," she said.

Macron, who is at loggerheads with Italy's populist government, said: "It's not a good method to discuss new Silk Road agreements bilaterally."

Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini says he will not attend the state 

dinner for Xi (AFP Photo/Ahmad GHARABLI)

Friday's Brussels summit also laid the foundations for Europe-wide policies ahead of a much-anticipated China-EU summit on April 9 in the Belgian capital.

"For the first time there is a will to coordinate," Macron said.

The European Commission will before the end of the year come up with a broad proposal for the EU's "industrial future", including measures on commerce, competition and hi-tech.

Beijing is particularly interested in investing in Italian ports to help funnel its products into Europe, amid warnings that Rome must avoid the model of the Greek port of Piraeus, which was taken over by Chinese shipping giant Cosco in 2016.

Supporters of the non-binding memorandum of understanding said that it will lead to China complying with European Union standards, including on the environment and intellectual property, and cannot be compared to debt-inducing deals Beijing has signed with developing countries.

Despite apparent warming ties, Xi is not expected to meet Pope Francis.

The Vatican has diplomatic relations with Taiwan and not Beijing, so the encounter would be unlikely despite an agreement on appointing bishops in China signed last year.

Xi heads to Monaco on Sunday and then on to France to cap his European tour.

Related Article:

"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013. They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader. Remember where you heard it... in a strange, esoteric meeting with a guy in a chair pretending to channel. [Kryon being factious... Kryon humor] Then when you hear it, you'll know better, won't you? "Maybe there was something really there," you'll say. "Maybe it was real," you'll say. Perhaps you can skip all the drama of the years to come and consider that now? [Kryon humor again]

These leaders are going to fall over. You'll have a slow developing leadership coming to you all over the earth where there is a new energy of caring about the public. "That's just too much to ask for in politics, Kryon." Watch for it. That's just the beginning of this last phase. So many things are coming. The next one is related to this, for a country in survival with sickness cannot sustain a leadership of high consciousness. There is just too much opportunity for power and greed. But when a continent is healed, everything changes. .."

".. Many years ago, the prevailing thought was that nobody should consider China as a viable player on the economic stage. They were backward, filled with a system that would never be westernized, and had no wish to become joined with the rest of the world's economic systems. Look what has happened in only 30 years. Now, look at Africa differently …”