Article Latest Europe headlines: Ruptures in the hegemony

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MICHAEL HEAVER
https://youtu.be/T9Sb7IU2Rv8

VIDEO EXCERPTS: Well, an announcement from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sending shockwaves right across Europe. And you have to remember right now, you're seeing a big shift across Europe.

[...] she has now made this major announcement that Italy is going to ban face coverings in schools. She says it will require parents of foreign students -- facing serious difficulties integrating into the school system -- to learn Italian. And there will be a ban burqas and niqabs in schools.

They're going to cap the number of foreign students per class. You can see the quote from Meloni that a measure will soon be presented to a cabinet meeting to legally establish a maximum number of foreign students per class.

Also saying there that if there is only one child in a class who doesn't speak Italian, that child will likely be able to learn the language and integrate quickly with the help of classmates and teachers. However, if the number of children who don't understand the language becomes large or even the majority, that is no longer integration. It is neglect.

And Meloni making the point you must go to school with your face uncovered. And that in Italy, no one in the name of a real or supposed tradition can decide that a young woman must hide herself.

Italian bans announced ... https://youtu.be/T9Sb7IU2Rv8

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/T9Sb7IU2Rv8

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Germany's far-right AfD celebrates another state election win
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20...ection-win

INTRO: Cheering and clapping, Germany's far-right AfD celebrated another regional election win Sunday as exit polls placed it narrowly ahead in a Baltic Sea coastal state in the formerly communist east.

"We are the strongest force and have reached the mainstream of the population," said jubilant AfD co-leader Alice Weidel after the first results came in for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state.

"We have displaced the CDU as the people's party," she later added, referring to the centre-right party of embattled Chancellor Friedrich Merz that was hovering around a historic low of five percent in the region.

The AfD scored more than 37 percent against about 35 for the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) of state premier Manuela Schwesig, who had hoped for a last-minute comeback after recently closing the gap with the anti-immigration AfD.

Schwesig nevertheless looked likely to remain in office as a three-way coalition of her SPD with two other left-wing parties -- the Greens and the hard-left Die Linke -- appeared headed for a majority. The other national AfD boss, Tino Chrupalla, described his party's success -- which came two weeks after an AfD triumph in Saxony-Anhalt state -- as a "sensational result", adding that "we clearly have a mandate to govern".

The AfD's hopeful for state premier, former radio host Leif-Erik Holm, 56, immediately claimed that mandate. "We will, of course, invite all parties," he said at the AfD's election party in the state capital Schwerin.

But he also acknowledged that "it's difficult to form a government" as none of the other major parties are willing to form a coalition with the AfD. (MORE - details)

[Syne]

No idea why integration would be a contentious issue. Can't integrate in a Western country? Well, there are tons of majority Muslim/Arab countries you can live in.

[Yazata]

[Image: HSqrUCYXsAIfT4j?format=png&name=small]

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Most Germans want Chancellor Merz to resign, poll says
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/most-ger...ys/4066029

A majority of Germans want Chancellor Friedrich Merz to resign, according to a new survey released Wednesday, as his conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party faced a series of dismal regional election results. The poll, done for private broadcasters RTL and n-tv, found that 55% of respondents want Merz to step down, while 40% said he should remain chancellor.

In eastern Germany, support for his resignation rose to 68%, compared to 53 percent in the western part of the country. Even among supporters of the CDU/CSU alliance, 21% said Merz should leave office.

The chancellor is historically unpopular, as a Forsa trend barometer confirmed again this week. Only 11% are satisfied with Merz's performance in office, while 87% are not. The people’s rejection of Merz may have played a role in the most recent state elections as well.

In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the CDU was ousted from the state parliament. In Saxony-Anhalt, its support plummeted to just over 17%. In Berlin, it suffered a clear defeat at the hands of The Left. Even in the latest poll, the CDU is now polling at only 20%.

The survey tried to get to the bottom of this decline in voter support. Some 66% of voters hold Merz personally responsible for the losses. However, there is another issue that respondents consider even more important: 81% say the CDU no longer cares about people’s everyday concerns.

The CDU leader is often described as out of touch, showing too little empathy for people's concerns, according to the poll. Almost two-thirds of respondents (64%) pointed to another reason for the vote losses suffered by the CDU and CSU, notably the breaking of the election campaign promise not to incur new debt. Furthermore, 57% believe that government policy is not socially balanced.

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Canada’s EU ‘associate membership’: New opportunity or legal, political minefield?
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/canada-s-...ld/4066081

EXCERPTS: Would Canada have a seat at the European Union’s table, contribute to its budget or have voting rights if it became an “associate member”? And would it be subject to EU law? None of those questions has been settled because “associate membership” has no established definition in EU treaties, leaving the legal and political contours of the proposal unclear.

Canada is being offered a place closer to the European Union than any non-European country has previously held. [...] There is currently no "associate membership" category in the EU treaties, meaning neither the rights nor the obligations of such a status have been established.

The European Commission has said the objective is to build an unprecedentedly close relationship covering areas including advanced manufacturing, defense production, the Arctic, energy, critical minerals, batteries, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cybersecurity and economic security.

[...] The absence of an existing legal category could itself become one of the biggest obstacles. ... the EU now needs to determine whether the category is exclusively designed for Canada or whether it could eventually become a general instrument of EU foreign policy.

[...] Boeselager warned against allowing associate membership to become an alternative route for countries already seeking full accession. "But we cannot dilute the benefits and obligations that come with actual EU membership. Associate membership cannot become a consolation prize for countries that have already entered accession negotiations," he said.

Boeselager said the eventual framework would have to preserve a distinction between full EU membership and associate membership. "Nor can this status become an alternative to existing EU membership." (MORE - missing details)

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US to build two military bases in Greenland under new deal with Denmark
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dr74g32g8go

EXCERPTS: The deal amends and updates a 1951 defence agreement between Denmark and the US. The new pact says the US "shall be allowed to establish an additional Defence Area at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig" - referring to locations in Greenland's south and east.

Narsarsuaq is a former civilian airport and World War Two base. It has deep-water access and a large runway which US military engineers were recently surveying, the US North Command confirmed to the BBC. The Mestersvig outpost is remote, far less developed, and used by a Danish naval dog sled unit.

The "modalities and technical details" of the bases are yet to be confirmed, and according to the deal, must be mutually agreed by all parties, This means the US security arrangements are not unfettered and Greenland and Denmark's approval is still needed.

Washington currently operates its Pituffik Space Base in Greenland's north-west, and the new deal allows the US to "modernise and expand its activities" there. It also says that "no state that is not a member of Nato shall be allowed to establish its own manned or unmanned military installations in Greenland nor shall they be allowed a persistent presence of military forces in Greenland".

Although the militaries of non-Nato countries are now explicitly barred from the island, it was highly unlikely that non-allied troops would have been allowed access in the first place.

[...] Despite months of crisis, the mood at Tuesday's signing ceremony appeared strikingly upbeat and friendly. "We going to have a tremendous relationship, a secure relationship," Trump said. "This is tremendous for Europe and for the United States, for everybody, and for Greenland it's going to be incredible."

Meanwhile, Frederiksen described the signing of the deal as a "milestone in our long-standing co-operation". "Seventy-five years ago we entered into an agreement about the defence of Greenland. Today, we're signing an even bigger and better agreement - a deal that can last forever."

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Mamdani’s followers are seizing Berlin?
https://spectator.com/article/zohran-mam...edition=us

EXCERPTS: Last Sunday, Germany saw a tale of two election victories. The right-wing Alternative for Deutschland narrowly edged out the leftish Social Democrats to come first in the backwater state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania north of Berlin. Massive media coverage focused on the AfD’s success, its allegedly extreme views on immigration and the danger it poses to Germany’s democracy.

[...] While the Mecklenburg election saw a strong showing for the far right, there is zero chance the AfD will take power in the state due to the decision of all other parties to build a “firewall” against cooperation. In Berlin, the only realistic coalition government emerging from the elections will see Die Linke joining with the weaker Green party and Social Democrats to take power in the city of 3.9 million.

Die Linke looks likely to become Berlin’s dominant governing force and its 45-year-old leader Elif Eralp, who has Turkish roots and has been dubbed “Germany’s Mamdani,” will therefore become mayor. If that happens, it will represent an earthquake in German politics.

Die Linke’s success in Berlin parallels Mamdani’s in New York. The party paired photos of Eralp and Mamdani in its publicity and cited the New York City mayor as a model. Die Linke activists traveled to New York to get advice from Mamdani’s team. Liza Plaum, head of digital communications for Die Linke, said “we also let ourselves be explicitly inspired” by Mamdani’s campaign. Like Mamdani, Die Linke focused on social media and an army of door-to-door volunteers to turn out the vote, targeting the 42 percent of Berlin’s population with a migrant background (about half of whom are eligible to vote).

Die Linke, however, is much more radical than Mamdani. Its priority is an immediate rent freeze on 400,000 apartments and the expropriation of 200,000 more, acquiring them by paying about 40 percent market value. Many ordinary services would be taken over by the city, the cost paid by higher taxes on property, real estate transfers and a local trade levy. Publicly funded canteens would be set up in every neighborhood to serve cheap cooked meals.

More of everyday life would be put in public or non-commercial hands. Rainer Zitlemann, a historian and real estate analyst, predicts Berlin would gradually slide down the slippery slope to “democratic socialism.”

Economic quackery isn’t the biggest problem with Die Linke. During the election campaign, disturbing ties between the party, anti-Semitic forces and even criminal gangs surfaced. Even establishment media source such as Politico Europe, whose US affiliate has just been banned from the Trump White House, concluded that “the last few weeks have shown that the Left Party’s state branch [in Berlin] is uncontrollable.”

Anti-Semitism within the party is so strong that some key members of Berlin’s left-wing community have denounced it [...] Die Linke even has its own version of America’s Hasan Piker, the virulently anti-Semitic streamer who is best buds with Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan.... (MORE - details)
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Just another Marxist organization, no direct connection to NYC-DSA. (Can't entirely rule out Mamdani being an inspiration, though.) Socialist parties winning cities or countries in Europe is not a new thing; it's the US where it is more a surprising trend -- not directly, but via being under the Democratic Party umbrella.

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"No one is happy about this": Euronews reveals EU mood after Russian oligarch Usmanov sanctions lifted
https://www.eurointegration.com.ua/eng/n...4/7246183/

EXCERPT: Earlier this month, France shocked its colleagues when it unexpectedly joined Slovakia in calling for Alisher Usmanov to be removed from the list. The French ambassador simply cited "national security" concerns. It later emerged that the "national security" issue was an attempt to secure the release of two French citizens detained in Azerbaijan.

The day after Usmanov was removed from the list, Azerbaijan pardoned and released French national Martin Ryan, who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly spying on behalf of the French government.

Although France's efforts to secure the release of its imprisoned citizens have prompted sympathy, there are concerns that Paris has opened Pandora's box and created a dangerous precedent that could encourage oligarchs to buy their way out of sanctions. "The whole affair shows that unanimity hurts everyone, even France. We urgently need to push for a qualified majority in sanctions," another source said.

The next test will come in October, when member states seek to expand the blacklist by adding more than 1,600 names of individuals and companies – the largest addition in its history. It is unclear whether the Usmanov affair will strengthen governments' resolve, make them more cautious at the negotiating table, or open the door to requests similar to Usmanov's.

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REFERENCED ARTICLE: https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-...eu-budget/
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Europe rejects mad EU blueprint (Michael Heaver)
https://youtu.be/B4JlYO-lx3s

VIDEO EXCERPTS: The European Union system is being challenged. It is falling apart. It is coming under severe criticism even from the likes of the German government now. And you've got this sorry state of the European Union where 11 countries are pushing to pause new EU legislation for a year.

Such is the mess that has been created. 13 countries in the EU now calling for a deep cleaning of European laws and saying there that the burdens going on here are out of control and EU legislation cannot be an end in itself and they're clearly worried about over-regulation as ever with the European Union. If you're in it, you get swept up in it, it gets worse and worse. It's never going to change. You have to leave if you don't like it.

But you can see here the extent to which they've totally lost the plot in the European Union. They're now talking about even more taxes for citizens and businesses. These would be EU taxes.

And you've got European Council President Antonio Costa quoted as saying, "If we don't create new own resources, we need to ask for more money from the member states. We know that we need to keep the national contributions at a reasonable limit for this. We need to have a credible basket of new own resources."

So they're looking here at plans to raise an additional 60 billion euro a year in tax. And don't forget this is the European Union that wants a two trillion euro budget. Well, you can see even from the likes of Germany now what they make of this new push. Questioning whether Costa has lost touch with reality, the quote there.

One has to wonder whether Mr. Costa has completely lost touch with reality by now, pointing out the national budgets are already under huge pressure. Everyone knows that the sky isn't the limit.

Indeed, the Germans are actually calling for hundreds of billions of euros in cuts to the European Union budget. The proposed budget is completely unrealistic and unaffordable. But I think that gives you an insight into the utter madness going on inside the European Union.

And we know folks, don't we? It's only going to get worse and worse.

Europe rejects mad EU blueprint ... https://youtu.be/B4JlYO-lx3s

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/B4JlYO-lx3s