EU watch

[The39thStep]

They are changing guards at Buckingham Palace
Christopher Robin went down with Alice

Von der Leyen buries report slamming Italy as she seeks Meloni’s vote

European Commission president trying not to stir the pot on media freedom, four officials said.

www.politico.eu

 

[gosub]

EU holds its breath as Hungary’s Orban vows to ‘Make Europe Great Again’

Hungary’s pro-Kremlin leader Viktor Orban takes over the rotating presidency of the European Council on July 1, just weeks after fellow nationalist and populist parties surged across the bloc in European…

www.france24.com

 

[The39thStep]

Some twists in the plot. Meloni abstained on Von Der Leyen's nomination and voted against the nominations of both Kallas and Costa ( these positions are nominated by heads of state rather than the Parliament and I think only Von Der leyens actually goes to endorsement by parliament). This seems to suggest that the abstention is still a chip on the bargaining table placed by Meloni for something for Italy ie herself or that despite some mutterings the Socialist grouping will vote for VDL. It's rumoured that Meloni wanted her grouping, the ECR to be part of the majority 'bloc' with the EPP/Renew and Social Democrats however the Greens may well be courted instead to avoid any voting mishap in the parliament.

.https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2024/06/28/meloni-abstains-on-vdl-votes-no-to-costa-and-kallas_eb946ad5-7816-4244-a036-a14e3ebe8983.html

As Melonis star wanes, perhaps momentarily, a two part investigation into Brothers of Italy which includes allegations of Sieg Heils and Mussolini songs is surfacing in the media despite the first part of the investigation mainly being ignored.

https://archive.ph/3HqBL

 

[The39thStep]

Fascinating insight into the potential horse trading that is required to get Von der Leyen over the line for a second term

Inside von der Leyen’s charm offensive ahead of knife-edge vote on her future

Secret ballot poses extra challenge as European Commission president seeks a second term.

www.politico.eu

 

[The39thStep]

EU's proposed amendments for countries receiving monies from the cohesion fund,ie countries whose gross national income (GNI) per capita is below 90% of the EU average. is going to create some friction.
Currently, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia receive money from it. The rest of the countries are “donors” and do not receive money from the mechanism. The official aim of the EU with the CF is “reduce the economic gap between richer and poorer” EU states.However, the amendments will make the funding conditional on reforms, essentially this is the richer states dictating to the poorer states.

"The proposed conditionality clauses would mimic those attached to the EU’s pandemic-era €800bn fund, which disbursed money based on countries implementing pre-agreed reforms and investments. Those included a labour market reform in Spain, changes to Italy’s justice system and adapting Belgium’s pensions system."

Be interesting to see what these reforms cover and whether they will necessitate changes in pensions, tax or labour legislation.

The FT link below opens for me however the archived version is also below

Subscribe to read

www.ft.com

https://archive.ph/ZZkn1

 

[magneze]

It's ok, the people can vote out the .. oh ..

 

[TopCat]

It's ok, the people can vote out the .. oh ..

The people need to do as they are told.

 

[TopCat]

Described as left wing /right wing in the Guardian. Who are they? What are they? Anti-immigration leftists have potential to upend German political scene

 

[TopCat]

Lie down with dogs…

EU fears for its human rights credibility as Tunisia crushes dissent, leak shows

Document detailing ‘deterioration’ under Kais Saied will fuel concerns about bloc’s migration deal with his country

www.theguardian.com

 

[ska invita]

This is more for the German politics thread but I'm shocked to read that Germany has reintroduced border checks at all borders...supposedly "temporary" but keep being extended....and fuelled by racist anti-migrant sentiment
Neighbour states are furious and not cooperating but IMO this is a serious unravelling of the EU project

https://archive.ph/w1lqb

“Chancellor Scholz, welcome to the club!” wrote Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on X on Tuesday.
“Good idea, we have to do it too!” said the Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders in another post on the site.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

This is more for the German politics thread but I'm shocked to read that Germany has reintroduced border checks at all borders...supposedly "temporary" but keep being extended....and fuelled by racist anti-migrant sentiment
Neighbour states are furious and not cooperating but IMO this is a serious unravelling of the EU project

https://archive.ph/w1lqb

“Chancellor Scholz, welcome to the club!” wrote Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on X on Tuesday.
“Good idea, we have to do it too!” said the Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders in another post on the site.

It has happened before, e.g. France closed the border with Belgium after the Bataclan shooting, also during Covid, but those were temporary responses to a specific threat, what Germany's doing is just keep the German Farages happy, seriously undermining Schengen.

 

[TopCat]

This is more for the German politics thread but I'm shocked to read that Germany has reintroduced border checks at all borders...supposedly "temporary" but keep being extended....and fuelled by racist anti-migrant sentiment
Neighbour states are furious and not cooperating but IMO this is a serious unravelling of the EU project

https://archive.ph/w1lqb

“Chancellor Scholz, welcome to the club!” wrote Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on X on Tuesday.
“Good idea, we have to do it too!” said the Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders in another post on the site.

It’s not that surprising given how many openly fascist people and politicians there are there. So called centrists happy to agree an effective end to Schengen to appease the fash in their midst.

 

[ska invita]

It’s not that surprising given how many openly fascist people and politicians there are there. So called centrists happy to agree an effective end to Schengen to appease the fash in their midst.

Well yeah considering the political state of Europe its not a surprise, but its a massive kick against a central plank of the EU project, namely no internal borders. That it is being led by the German state - previously driving the EU - is shocking to me.

 

[TopCat]

Well yeah considering the political state of Europe its not a surprise, but its a massive kick against a central plank of the EU project, namely no internal borders. That it is being led by the German state - previously driving the EU - is shocking to me.

It’s a massive change. The removal, on a unilateral country by country basis of one of the four pillars of the EU.
I notice von de leyan aint said shit about it.

 

[yield]

The EU as an existential threat to Europe
Sep 28, 2024
Part 2 of a two-part interview I gave to Maike Gosch on my recent report titled The silent coup: the European Commission’s power grab, originally published in German on NachDenkSeiten (part 1 here).

Maike Gosch: In the first part we talked a lot about the background and the history of the EU and also of the power shift from the members states to the EU over time. Let’s now get to the crises that were used, according to your paper, to further shift power to the EU, and especially the European Commission.

Thomas Fazi: In the paper I focus on three historical turning points: the euro crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, and how all these crises have been used by the Commission to radically expand its powers — to the point that now the European Commission (and by extension the EU as a supranational entity) is more powerful than it’s ever been.

The interinstitutional balance of power has massively shifted away from the European Council, where the governments come together, towards the Commission itself. And Ursula von der Leyen has been absolutely critical in promoting this as the Commission president who oversaw both the Covid-19 crisis and then the Ukraine crisis (which, alas, she is still overseeing).

I think clear patterns emerge when you analyse the two crises, in terms of how the Commission deliberately used these crises to concentrate more and more power in its own hands.

This is very concerning, because now we have this undemocratic, unaccountable, unelected institution, which wields huge power over pretty much every area of policymaking — from public health to economic, monetary and fiscal affairs to, now, even foreign policy and military and security policy, which is something that, based on the treaties, the Commission has no competence over.