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quinta-feira, 30 de novembro de 2023
How gang violence took hold of Sweden – in five charts
How gang violence took hold of Sweden – in five
charts
Scandinavian country has second highest gun crime
death rate in Europe, with poverty and inequality among driving factors
Viktor
Sunnemark
Thu 30 Nov
2023 14.52 CET
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/30/how-gang-violence-took-hold-of-sweden-in-five-charts
Sweden is
in the grip of a rise in gang violence and shootings that has taken citizens
and leaders by surprise. In the words of the prime minister, Ulf Kristersson,
this year: “Sweden has never before seen anything like this. No other country
in Europe is seeing anything like this.”
Since 2013
the number of fatal shootings in the country has more than doubled, according
to official statistics, and drug and gun crimes have steadily increased since
the beginning of the 2000s. Kristersson’s remark about Europe was not wrong:
the country is now among the continent’s worst when it comes to gun murders.
Much of the
violence has taken place in the larger cities: Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö and
Uppsala. The gun-murder rate in the Swedish capital was roughly 30 times that
of London on a per capita basis in 2022. However, the unrest has spread to
smaller cities.
Prominent
members of the far-right Sweden Democrats, now the second-largest grouping in
Sweden’s parliament (their support allowed the current centre-right government
to take power in the 2022 election), have been quick to point the finger at
migration.
However,
the data shows a more complex picture, with the social fortunes of those living
in areas most affected by crime falling behind the living standards of much of
the rest of Sweden.
Sweden’s
gun crime death rate is now the second highest in Europe
Sweden now
has one of the highest gun death rates per capita of any European country for
which there are figures, according to the most recent data from the United
Nations office on drugs and crime (UNODC).
In recent
years, the country has overtaken Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia in
terms of deaths per 100,000 population.
It is now
second only to Albania when compared with other European countries with
populations of at least one million, having been in 14th place in 2010.
Poverty is the main driver of crime in violence
hotspots
The Swedish
police have identified a number of “utsatta”, or vulnerable areas, across the
country. These are home to just 5% of the country’s population, but are
connected with the most serious violence.
While these
areas do have high proportions of residents born outside Europe and second- and
third-generation immigrants, they have been shaped by socioeconomic
circumstances over a long period of time, a factor which experts say is of far
greater significance to the current situation.
More than
80% of the underlying statistical areas that make up these “utsatta” are
defined as having socioeconomic challenges, with half of them classed as having
“major” challenges.
Long-term
unemployment rates are above average in the majority of these areas and is
increasing. Meanwhile, the proportion of people at risk of poverty – defined as
an economic standard of less than 60% of the median – is more than twice the
national figure.
“Socioeconomic
factors are what mostly constitute the risks of ending up in crime,” not
ethnicity, says Felipe Estrada Dörner, a professor of criminology at Stockholm
University whose research centres on juvenile delinquency and segregation.
“This is a classic and well known pattern, in Sweden and internationally.”
While some
statistics are going in the right direction – for example, the percentage of
young people not in education or work has decreased over the last 10 years in a
majority of the areas designated vulnerable – more needs to be done.
Estrada
Dörner says accelerating this trend and reversing other aspects of
socioeconomic decline should be prioritised. “In order to slow down the supply
of new recruits to gangs, inequality must be reduced. Harsher punishments,
which the government invests a lot of resources in now, will not overcome those
problems.”
Inequality also plays its part
The income
gap in Sweden has increased in recent decades: according to the latest
statistics, income has not been this unevenly divided for more than 40 years.
This gap
has contributed to the country’s current situation, says Estrada Dörner.
“The
increased inequality in income, health and education over the last decades
leads to the fact that the life chances of children and young people from
different areas will differ more and more,” he said.
Rise in gun
crime accompanied by rise in narcotics offences
“Perhaps
the most important conflicts in organised crime in Sweden are about the
narcotics trade: about who is selling where and what,” Ardavan Khoshnood, a
criminologist and associate professor at Lund University, explains.
He points
to the simultaneous rise in gun crime, bombings and narcotics crimes.
Nearly a third of suspects in gang-related crimes aged
15 to 20
Young
people and children are increasingly being recruited by gangs, authorities say.
Data shows the suspects in crimes connected to gang violence, including
manslaughter, murder and deadly assault, are getting younger.
In 2012,
15- to 20-year-olds made up 16.9% of all suspects for such crimes; by 2022 that
figure stood at 29.7%.
The same
trend is even starker when it comes to gun crime: less than a quarter (23.6%)
of suspects in gun-related murder and manslaughter offences were aged between
15 and 20 a decade ago; in 2022 it was closer to half (45.1%), according to
data from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention.
This trend
cannot be explained by a wider trend towards criminality among young people.
Since 2013, the number of people in the 15 to 20 age group suspected of crime
in general has not changed much and has actually decreased since 2020.
“From a
criminological perspective, one would think … that the trend is the same for
all youth crime. But it doesn’t really look like that,” Estrada Dörner said,
adding that this was a sign of “fewer but worse”.
Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning – December 5, 2023 by Liz Cheney (Author)
Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning Hardcover –
December 5, 2023
by Liz Cheney (Author)
A gripping
first-hand account of the January 6th, 2021 insurrection from inside the halls
of Congress, from origins to aftermath, as Donald Trump and his enablers
betrayed the American people and the Constitution—by the House Republican
leader who dared to stand up to it.
In the
aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump and many around him,
including certain other elected Republican officials, intentionally breached
their oath to the Constitution: they ignored the rulings of dozens of courts,
plotted to overturn a lawful election, and provoked a violent attack on our
Capitol. Liz Cheney, one of the few
Republican officials to take a stand against these efforts, witnessed the
attack first-hand, and then helped lead the Congressional Select Committee
investigation into how it happened. In Oath and Honor, she tells the story of
this perilous moment in our history, those who helped Trump spread the stolen
election lie, those whose actions preserved our constitutional framework, and
the risks we still face.
Fake news-prone Musk embraces another debunked conspiracy theory / Elon Musk has boosted the 'pizzagate' conspiracy theory five times in the last two weeks
Elon Musk has boosted the 'pizzagate' conspiracy
theory five times in the last two weeks
A new iteration of "pizzagate" has focused
on unfounded claims that journalists were part of the conspiracy theory.
Nov. 29,
2023, 12:09 AM CET
By Ben
Goggin
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musk-boosted-pizzagate-conspiracy-theory-rcna127087
Elon Musk
continued to boost a debunked conspiracy theory Tuesday, posting and later
deleting a meme on X that referred to a fringe, far-right claim that sought to
connect members of the Democratic Party with child abuse.
Musk wrote
“does seem at least a little suspicious” alongside a meme drawing from the TV
show “The Office,” which included fake dialogue superimposed on images of a
character arguing that “Pizzagate is real,” a reference to a conspiracy theory
that gained traction in 2016 and culminated with a North Carolina man’s opening
fire in a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant. NBC News reviewed the post before
it was taken down.
In another
post replying to the first, Musk linked to an Associated Press article
published by NBC News about an ABC News journalist’s pleading guilty to federal
child pornography charges. NBC News could not locate any content related to
pizzagate published by the ABC News journalist on his archived author page.
X did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since Nov.
20, Musk has responded to tweets referring to pizzagate four other times. The
posts are a recent iteration of the debunked theory focused on unfounded
insinuations that journalists were part of the conspiracy theory.
Musk
remains embroiled in controversy for an X post this month in which he boosted
an antisemitic conspiracy theory. Since then, he has denied he is antisemitic,
visiting Israel and meeting with government officials, including Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu.
That has
done little to stop advertisers from leaving the platform. On Tuesday, The
Washington Post said it would pause advertising on it, according to The
Washingtonian, citing a Post spokesperson.
Mike
Rothschild, an author who has written several books about the rise of recent
extreme conspiracy theories, said the version of pizzagate that Musk is
promoting is different from and more expansive than the original conspiracy
theory that inspired the 2016 shooting.
That theory
focused on the false claim that a child trafficking ring was being run out of
the Comet Ping Pong pizza restaurant. No evidence has ever been found to
validate that claim.
“Now it’s
just code for ‘bad stuff elites are doing to kids,’” Rothschild said.
“There’s
definitely a risk to him promoting this, even if he thinks it’s a joke,” he
said. “He’s turning a lot of people who weren’t redpilled for pizzagate in 2016
on to hard-core conspiracy theories and antisemitism and giving it a major
platform.”
The ABC
News journalist Musk referred to was folded into online discussion of pizzagate
when a fake New York Post headline circulated that was fabricated to say the
journalist had had a hand in “debunking” pizzagate.
A similar
headline was applied to a different journalist who also became the subject of
posts from Musk. That journalist, who was featured in three pizzagate-related
posts that Musk responded to, was arrested this month on charges of possessing
and transmitting child sexual abuse material; there’s no indication that he had
a central role in debunking pizzagate.
Musk’s
replies included expressions of shock at the charges. He wrote in one post,
“any reporter who is this horrifically evil obviously cannot be trusted.”
Musk, who
has criticized journalists and media outlets for years, has become increasingly
combative with the media and organizations he perceives as his enemies.
He sued
Media Matters for America, which reports on politicians, journalists and media
outlets, on Nov. 20 saying that posts from the outlet reporting on ads and
antisemitic content on the platform were malicious and designed to adversely
affect X’s revenue.
Media
Matters President Angelo Carusone said in a statement that he stands behind the
organization’s work and called the lawsuit “frivolous.”
Ben Goggin
Ben Goggin
is the deputy editor for technology at NBC News Digital.
Parthenon Marbles row: Sunak under fire over handling of fallout
Parthenon Marbles row: Sunak under fire over
handling of fallout
UK Labour and Greek politicians weigh in on battle
over Parthenon Sculptures.
BY JOHN
JOHNSTON AND NEKTARIA STAMOULI
NOVEMBER
29, 2023 3:05 PM CET
LONDON —
Rishi Sunak was accused of “losing his marbles” over his handling of a major
diplomatic spat with Greece.
Opposition
Labour leader Keir Starmer launched a pun-filled barrage against Sunak at this
week’s session of prime minister’s questions as the row between the U.K. and
Greece over custody of the ancient Parthenon Marbles — known as the Elgin
Marbles in the U.K. — deepens.
Greek Prime
Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reacted separately, saying Sunak’s decision to
abruptly cancel their meeting late on Monday evening was “unfortunate,” but
gave Greece’s demand for the return of the Parthenon Marbles even more
international publicity.
“It was an
unfortunate event,” Mitsotakis said Wednesday during a meeting with Greek
President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, but expressed confidence that it would not
have any impact on bilateral ties.
Back in the
Commons, Starmer accused Sunak of engaging in “small politics” for canceling
the meeting with Mitsotakis over his decision to raise the issue of the
historic artefacts, adding: “Never mind the British Museum — it’s the prime
minister who has obviously lost his marbles.”
The marble
sculptures were removed from Athens by diplomat and art aficionado Lord Elgin
in the 19th century and have been housed in the British Museum since then,
despite high-profile campaigning for their return.
London and
Athens have been locked in a briefing war over the canceled visit all week,
with Sunak’s No. 10 Downing Street claiming the Greek prime minister went back
on a promise not to raise the issue of the sculptures’ return at a bilateral
this week — and Mitsotakis’ team hotly disputing that.
Tory MPs —
some of whom are already concerned with their leader’s handling of the
diplomatic spat — sat glum-faced as Starmer quipped that, in an effort to
distract from his failures, the PM had spent the week “arguing about an ancient
relic that only a tiny minority of the British public have any interest in.”
“But that’s
enough about the Tory party,” he added.
Sunak
defended his actions and accused his Greek counterpart of “grandstanding” over
the issue, before going on to claim it was no surprise that Starmer was
“backing an EU country over Britain.”
Greek tragedy
The dispute
led to No. 10 Downing Street accusing Mitsotakis of using his planned trip “as
a public platform to re-litigate long-settled matters.”
Greek
officials say there was never an “agreement” between the two sides not to
discuss the issue and believe Sunak’s move was driven by political expediency.
“If Hamas
can converse with Israel then Sunak can converse with Mitsotakis too,” Greek
Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said at an event at the London School of
Economics (LSE) on Monday.
Gerapetritis
met the U.K.’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron, at the latter’s request, on the
sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.
“The demand
for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures is a demand that arises from
law, from history and from universal cultural values,” Gerapetritis said on
Wednesday.
“Regardless
of this, it is our belief that bilateral relations between Greece and the UK
should be good and we will work with my counterpart in this direction.”
Sunak and
Mitsotakis will both attend the COP28 climate summit in Dubai later this week.
Nektaria
Stamouli contributed reporting from Athens.
This story
has been updated.
Sunak accuses Greek PM of ‘grandstanding’ over Parthenon marbles
Sunak accuses Greek PM of ‘grandstanding’ over
Parthenon marbles
Prime minister escalates row with Athens counterpart
in first public comments after cancelling their meeting
Kiran
Staceyand Helena Smith in Athens
Wed 29 Nov
2023 17.20 GMT
Rishi Sunak
has intensified his diplomatic spat with his Greek counterpart, accusing
Kyriakos Mitsotakis of using his recent trip to London to “grandstand” over the
issue of the Parthenon sculptures.
The prime
minister told MPs on Wednesday he had cancelled a planned meeting with
Mitsotakis in London on Tuesday because the Greek prime minister had reneged on
a promise not to use the trip as an opportunity to advocate for the sculptures’
return.
In his
first public comments since the row erupted earlier this week, Sunak openly
criticised Mitsotakis, saying: “Of course we’re always happy to discuss
important topics of substance with our allies, like tackling illegal migration
or indeed strengthening our security.
“But when
it was clear that the purpose of the meeting was not to discuss substantive
issues of the future but rather to grandstand and relitigate issues of the
past, it was inappropriate.”
Speaking on
Wednesday morning, Lina Mendoni, the Greek culture minister, accused the UK of
showing “barbarism” in its treatment of the sculptures. “Greece is continuing
to talk with the British Museum … but the sculptures are the product of theft,”
she told Skai radio.
“They are
in the British Museum today as the product of theft. Greece is intensifying its
claim, focusing on the barbarism the sculptures suffered not only under Elgin
but during their years on display [in London],” she added, referring to a
number of incidents that had, she said, left the artworks damaged while under
the stewardship of the British Museum. Among these was the infamous attempt in
the 1930s to clean the marbles’ patina.
Downing
Street said on Tuesday the decision to cancel the meeting was taken because
Mitsotakis had used his visit to highlight the issue of the sculptures, which
were made in the 5th century BC and removed from Athens in the early 19th
century at the request of the British ambassador, Lord Elgin.
Greece has
long called for their return, and regularly uses visits to the UK to further
its cause.
Downing
Street said this week, however, that officials had secured an agreement from
Greece that Mitsotakis would not do so during his trip to London this week,
during which he also met Keir Starmer.
No 10
believes Mitsotakis broke that agreement when he gave an interview to the BBC
on Sunday in which he likened the relocation of the sculptures to the Mona Lisa
being cut in half.
Starmer
criticised Sunak during prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, accusing him
of having “lost his marbles”.
The Labour
leader said: “The Greek prime minister came to London to meet him, a fellow
Nato member, an economic ally, one of our most important partners in tackling
illegal immigration. But instead of using that meeting to discuss those serious
issues he tried to humiliate him and cancelled at the last minute.”
Sunak
responded by criticising both Starmer and Mitsotakis, saying: “When specific
commitments and specific assurances on that topic were made to this country and
then were broken … It may seem alien to him [Starmer], but my view is when
people make promises they should keep them.”
Well-placed
Greek insiders described the suggestion “commitments” had been made as
“absurd”, saying not only would Mitsotakis refuse to be gagged on an issue so
close to his heart but that Downing Street was aware, days before, of the
talks’ agenda, which included the topic alongside Gaza, Ukraine, immigration
and the climate emergency.
Despite the
political row, Labour and the Conservatives have similar policies on the return
of the sculptures. Both parties accept the law forbids their permanent return
and say they have no plans to change the legislation.
Labour
officials said, however, that if the British Museum were able to complete the
kind of loan agreement advocated by its chair, George Osborne, then the party
would not stand in its way.
Starmer
said on Wednesday the row was another example of the prime minister’s
incompetence. Starmer said: “It is ironic that he has suddenly taken such a
keen interest in Greek culture when he has clearly become the man with the
reverse-Midas touch.”
The Labour
leader added, with reference to the recent controversy over James Cleverly’s
bad language in parliament: “Everything he touches turns to … perhaps the home
secretary can help me out here.”
Truck chaos on Polish border signals tensions over integrating Ukraine into EU
Truck chaos on Polish border signals tensions
over integrating Ukraine into EU
Thousands of trucks are blocked at the border as Poles
fume Ukrainians are undercutting them in sectors ranging from freight to food.
BY WOJCIECH
KOŚĆ, VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA AND BARTOSZ BRZEZIŃSKI
NOVEMBER
29, 2023 2:11 PM CET
WARSAW —
The first thing a Ukrainian would notice entering Poland last year was
volunteer groups welcoming exhausted refugees with warm food, clothing, offers
of rooms and buses to transport them for free to cities across Poland.
Now, the
first thing Ukrainians notice is an immense line of trucks waiting to cross the
Dorohusk border checkpoint thanks to a blockade by Polish truckers that began
on November 6.
More than
3,000 trucks are now stuck at four border crossings; waiting times are as long
as three weeks and at least one driver has died while trapped. Protesters are
camped out in tents dusted with snow, warming themselves by fires in open
barrels, while drivers, dressed in hi-viz vests, stand by their trucks, many of
them smoking and looking on at the flashing blue lights of police cars
monitoring the situation.
“Drivers
are forced to wait in an open field with no proper food supplies and no proper
restrooms,” Ukraine’s Deputy Infrastructure Minister Serhiy Derkach told
POLITICO. He added the government is preparing to evacuate hundreds of trapped
drivers.
For Kyiv's
relations with Europe, the border blockade is a major crisis, and gives a
bitter foretaste of the impending challenges of integrating Ukraine, with its
huge farming sector and cheap but well-educated workers, into the EU's common
market.
Cross-border
trade flows are imperative to keep Ukraine's economy ticking over in a time of
war, but Polish truckers see Ukrainian drivers as low-cost rivals who are
undercutting their business. They've been joined by Polish farmers, outraged
that Ukrainian grain imports are hurting them by cratering domestic prices.
It's not
just Kyiv that's angry.
The
European Commission issued a blistering criticism on Wednesday of Warsaw's
“complete lack of involvement," in ending the crisis.
"The
Polish authorities are the ones who are supposed to enforce the law at that
border," Transport Commissioner Adina Vălean said in Brussels. "While
I support the right of people to protest, the entire EU — not to mention
Ukraine, a country currently at war — cannot be taken hostage by blocking our
external borders. It’s as simple as that."
Vălean
warned that if Poland doesn't act, the Commission could hit Warsaw with an
infringement for "not respecting the rules or not applying the law."
But Poland
is having a difficult time reacting thanks to the political uncertainty
unleashed by last month's parliamentary election.
Infrastructure
Minister Andrzej Adamczyk wrote an appeal on Monday to his Ukrainian
counterpart, calling on Kyiv to meet truckers' demands. What the Polish drivers
want is for the EU to roll back the favorable treatment it granted Ukrainian
hauliers after the war broke out — allowing them to take loads from Ukraine to
anywhere in the bloc with almost no formalities; the same rule applies to EU
companies taking goods to Ukraine.
European
Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean | Pool photo by Francisco Seco via
Getty Images
Adamczyk
wants Vălean to study the possibility of reinstating international transport
permits for Ukrainian hauliers, and Poland plans to raise the issue at the
December 4 Transport Council.
But Monday
was Adamczyk's last day on the job. He was replaced as infrastructure minister
by Alvin Gajadhur in a Cabinet that is only expected to last for two weeks
before a new opposition-led government headed by former PM Donald Tusk takes
office.
Tusk
denounced the government's inability to resolve the issue.
"Since
they pretend to have formed a real government, they could pretend to deal with
real problems," he said on Tuesday.
Political opportunists
Instability
in Warsaw is opening the door to activists from Poland’s far-right
Confederation party.
“Ukrainians
used to carry out 160,000 trucking operations before the war. This year to date
it’s been nearly 1 million,” said Rafał Mekler, owner of a trucking company
from Międzyrzec Podlaski in eastern Poland.
But Mekler
isn’t simply a rank-and-file trucker. He's also a Confederation politician who
has been heavily involved in organizing the border protests. His Facebook page
is rife with criticism of Ukraine, and his party is Poland's most skeptical of
the alliance with Kyiv.
In one of
the posts, Mekler likened Ukraine to a “spoiled brat.”
“We are
fighting for our transport [business], not against Ukraine. But Ukraine has dug
its heels in and won’t budge an inch, giving us this emotional rhetoric about
the war and how we are blocking medicines from going through,” Mekler said.
Even though
the Polish protesters claim they are letting essential and military cargoes
pass, Derkach said that's very difficult in practice as he saw trucks carrying
fuel and humanitarian aid shipments unable to break through the logjam.
“They let
some 30 trucks a day pass the border. How can we even say they have the right
to do it? What is this, a siege of a war-torn country?” said Oleksiy Davydenko,
owner of a Ukrainian medical supply chain called Medtechnika.
Poland's
new Agriculture Minister Anna Gembicka said allegations that humanitarian and
military is being held up were "not true."
She blamed
the problems on the border on Russia's invasion and on the
"irresponsible" policy of the EU "which does not see the
problems of Poland and [other] border countries." She added she wants to
meet with Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis to explain the Polish
viewpoint.
Kyiv says
two Ukrainian drivers have died while waiting; Polish police say one has.
So far the
Ukrainian government isn't backing down on its demand that the EU stick to the
deal last year that its drivers should be allowed in.
One of the
central bugbears for the Poles is that Ukraine uses an electronic tagging
system for all trucks queuing up at border crossings. The Poles want their
empty trucks exempted from that queuing scheme so they can pass through border
controls more quickly.
“We offered
[Polish truckers] to open more checkpoints and create special road lines for
the empty Polish trucks. But they do not want to register in an electronic
queue system like everyone else. It would be unfair to other countries if we
offer a special treatment,” Derkach said.
“We also
can’t return to the permits system as we lost all our other borders for our
export,” Derkach added, complaining that the Polish truckers were unwilling to
talk. “They didn’t want to listen to that we have to keep the economy running
during the war. Some of them said they already helped enough and now they had
to feed their families. So they just stood up and left the negotiations.”
Border policy
The
importance of Ukraine's border with Poland surged after Russia's invasion last
year, which cut off the country's easy access its Black Sea ports.
Initially,
Poland welcomed millions of refugees, led the way in supplying weapons to
Ukraine and backed its speedy admission to the EU.
But as the
costs of those policies rose, so did political tensions.
Poland,
along with Hungary and Slovakia, closed its market to Ukrainian grain imports,
despite an EU-Ukraine trade deal and in violation of the rules of the European
Union's single market.
Now it's
the turn of Polish truck drivers. Slovak and Hungarian truckers are threatening
similar protests. Ironically, Central European hauliers are making similar
grievances to West European trucking firms — which complained bitterly about
being undercut when those countries joined the EU.
The
truckers have been joined by farmers, who on Monday launched a 24-hour blockade
of the Medyka border crossing in southeastern Poland.
Ukrainians
“are biting the hand we have extended to them," farm protest organizer
Roman Kondrów told the Polish Press Agency.
The
protests have cost Ukraine's economy more than €400 million, Volodymyr Balin,
vice president of the Association of International Motor Carriers, said at a
briefing in Kyiv.
“I think
our mistake was to rely on Poland so much. We moved our businesses, we pay
taxes logistics fees we used to pay in Ukraine to Poland now. We thought we had
our backs covered,” Medtechnika’s Davydenko said. “Maybe if we were a bit more
cautious, we would not be dependent on Poland so much..”
Veronika
Melkozerova reported from Kyiv.
Von der Leyen flirts with second term, outlines priorities
Von der Leyen flirts with second term, outlines
priorities
EU Commission chief would ‘keep the direction of
travel’ while adapting to a changing world in potential new mandate.
BY JAMIL
ANDERLINI AND NICOLAS CAMUT
NOVEMBER
29, 2023 1:00 PM CET
TERVUREN,
Belgium — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has yet to
announce if she will seek another term in office, seems open to the idea of
another run at the helm of the EU’s executive.
Asked at a
POLITICO event Tuesday evening what she would do differently during a second
mandate, von der Leyen said she would “keep the direction of travel for the big
topics” from her current mandate — namely the Green Deal, the digital
transitions and resilience.
But the
Commission chief also stressed that Europe would need flexibility to adapt to a
changing world.
“The world
is dictating partially what the tasks of the day are,” von der Leyen said. “You
have to integrate [this] in your political life too.”
Since then,
she has decisively steered the bloc through a series of crises, from the
COVID-19 pandemic to Russia’s war in Ukraine, which earned her a reputation for
making major moves without consulting national capitals or, at times, her own
commissioners.
Von der
Leyen, who has also been rumored to be eyeing another top international job at
the end of her term (such as, for example, the NATO secretary-general gig), has
been tight-lipped about her future.
And Tuesday
evening was no exception. Asked directly if she would go for another term as
Commission president, von der Leyen said: “Typically I say ‘nice try’ when this
question comes.”
“So
unfortunately I have to leave you with that big question mark,” the Commission
chief added.
Sunak rejects von der Leyen’s comments that UK could rejoin EU
Sunak rejects von der Leyen’s comments that UK
could rejoin EU
European Commission president said Brexit could be
fixed because leaders had ‘goofed it up’
Lisa
O'Carroll in Brussels and Pippa Crerar
Wed 29 Nov
2023 16.06 GMT
Rishi Sunak
has rejected the suggestion that Brexit could be in peril after Ursula von der
Leyen, the president of the European Commission, claimed that the UK could be
on a path to rejoining the European Union.
At an event
in Brussels on Tuesday night, von der Leyen admitted that European leaders had
“goofed up” over the departure of Britain from the bloc and suggested the
younger generation could “fix” it.
Asked if
the UK could ever rejoin the EU, she replied: “I must say, I keep telling my
children: ‘You have to fix it. We goofed it up, you have to fix it.’ So I think
here too, the direction of travel – my personal opinion – is clear.”
However,
Sunak’s official spokesperson, replied that the British prime ministerdid not
believe that Brexit was in peril. He told reporters at Westminster: “It’s
through our Brexit freedoms that we are, right now, considering how to further
strengthen our migration system.
“It is
through our Brexit freedoms we are ensuring patients in the UK can get access
to medicines faster, that there is improved animal welfare. That is very much
what we are focused on.”
The
spokesperson added: “We have a prime minister that championed Brexit before it
was in his career interests to do so because he believes in it passionately. We
are very focused on making a success of it.”
Von der
Leyen made the comments at an awards ceremony staged by Politico as relations
between the EU and the UK continue to improve following their near-collapse
under Johnson and David Frost, who negotiated the Brexit trade deal.
David
Cameron, the UK’s foreign secretary, made his first official return to Brussels
this week after departing No 10 in the wake of the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Officially
he was in the EU capital to attend a meeting of Nato foreign ministers but he
squeezed in an hour-long meeting with Maroš Šefčovič, a vice-president of the
European Commission who was a chief Brexit negotiator for the bloc.
Although
Cameron had campaigned for remain, nervousness about being back in the embrace
of the EU was evident. He declined to speak to the media on his first day in
the Belgian capital and was refusing any questions on the second.
Coincidentally
he met Šefčovič just as the EU car industry renewed its call for a tweak to the
Brexit deal to suspend looming tariffs on exports of EU vehicles to the UK and
imports to the EU from Britain.
Within the
Conservative party Brexit remains a divisive subject. Sunak and von der Leyen
have enjoyed cordial relations ever since they hatched a deal to improve the
deal for Northern Ireland and the UK returned to the Horizon programme.
However, on
Wednesday, Priti Patel, the former home secretary, said the Windsor framework
that changed the Northern Ireland protocol was not working. In an article for
the Unionist Voice website, she wrote that the UK government needed to act over
the “tentacles of EU control over Northern Ireland”.
“Government
satisfaction with the limited progress the Windsor framework has made should
not act as a block to seeking further progress to fully deliver our 2019
manifesto commitment and the promises made to Northern Ireland,” she added.
There is no
appetite in the EU to return to the toxicity of the Brexit years but Keir
Starmer, the Labour leader, has repeatedly made it clear he wants to improve
relations, with further alignment on issues such as veterinary standards, which
cover farm produce, fresh food, leather goods, fish and timber.
The trade
deal has a built-in facility to have a chapter on veterinary alignment that
means the Brexit deal would not have to be “reopened” and would not need to be
signed off by 27 EU leaders. However, well-informed sources in Brussels said it
would be a “painful negotiation” that could take years to conclude.
Senior
business leaders and trade bodies have backed Starmer’s comments that Britain
should not part from the European Union on standards ranging from the
environment to employment.
The Labour
leader has come under fire from the Conservatives, who accused him of wanting
to “unpick” Brexit after saying that “most of the conflict” since 2016 had
arisen because the UK “wants to diverge and do different things to the rest of
our EU partners”.
In a letter
to the Guardian in September, dozens of business leaders, including the chair
of Virgin, the head of the British Poultry Council and the chair of the
International Chamber of Commerce, said a policy of alignment would enable
businesses to have “confidence” while still allowing the UK to have “regulatory
autonomy”.
EU’s von der Leyen urges youth to reverse Brexit
EU’s von der Leyen urges youth to reverse Brexit
European Commission president says politicians ‘goofed
it up’ in 2016 and the next generation will ‘have to fix it.’ But both Tories
and Labour shun the idea.
BY JAMIL
ANDERLINI AND JON STONE
NOVEMBER
29, 2023 12:20 PM CET
https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-brexit-eu-chief-urges-youth-to-reverse/
The U.K. is
on a clear “direction of travel” toward rejoining the EU, the president of the
European Commission said — as she urged young people to reverse Britain’s
departure.
Ursula von
der Leyen said she had told her children that it was up to the next generation
to “fix” the mistake of Brexit.
Asked
during an interview at the POLITICO 28 awards in Brussels on Tuesday night
whether Britain could ever rejoin the EU, von der Leyen said: “I must say, I
keep telling my children: ‘You have to fix it. We goofed it up, you have to fix
it.’ So I think here too, the direction of travel — my personal opinion — is
clear.”
Von der
Leyen described the Windsor Agreement on Northern Ireland, struck between
Brussels and London earlier this year, as “a new beginning for old friends.”
But her
comments on young people sparked a swift reaction in London, with a
spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak disagreeing that Brexit needs to be
“fixed.”
The
spokesperson said Britain has “a prime minister who championed Brexit before it
was in his career interests to do so because he believes in it passionately.”
The notion
that young people are driving the U.K. towards the EU was also rejected, and
the spokesperson insisted Sunak is “focused on delivering the benefits of
Brexit.”
Polling
consistently shows a majority of voters in the U.K. would back rejoining the EU
if asked to do so at a referendum. The latest survey by Deltapoll published in
late November shows rejoining on 48 percent and staying out on 36 percent — a
12-point lead.
But
broaching the subject is considered toxic in Westminster and no major political
party with a chance of power is suggesting rejoining the bloc.
The
opposition Labour Party, which has a commanding lead according to POLITICO’s
Poll of Polls and is currently on course to form a majority government after
the next election, says it wants a closer relationship with Europe, but has
ruled out rejoining the single market or reintroducing free movement of people.
Responding
to von der Leyen’s comments, a spokesperson for Labour Leader Keir Starmer said
Wednesday lunchtime: “We’re not rejoining the single market or customs union.
We’re not returning to freedom of movement.
“Of course
we want a good working relationship with the European Union, we want to improve
some of the issues there are on subjects like trade, but no, we’re not
rejoining in any form.”
Omtzigt puts policy before partnerships in coalition talks
Omtzigt puts policy before partnerships in
coalition talks
November
29, 2023
https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/11/omtzigt-puts-policy-before-partnerships-in-coalition-talks/
Pieter
Omtzigt, the former Christian Democrat MP whose new party Nieuw Sociaal
Contract won 20 seats in last week’s election, has said he is not yet ready to
start talks on forming a new cabinet.
Omtzigt’s
support is crucial in forming a right-wing coalition with the far-right PVV,
together with the pro-countryside BBB and possibly the VVD. However, he told
Ronald Plasterk, who has been charged with carrying out initial coalition
talks, that he was not ready to discuss forming either a majority or a minority
cabinet.
Instead, he
said, Plasterk should focus on what the policies of the parties are to deal
with the “big problems facing the Netherlands”, which range he said “from bad
governance to financial security and from migration to housing.”
Omtzigt
also said that he still has issues with an alliance with the PVV and the party
must first make it clear what leader Geert Wilders meant when he said some
parts of the manifesto could be “put on ice”.
Wilders
told Nieuwsuur during the campaign he was prepared to put the policies that
have defined his party for 25 years into cold storage, such as a ban on the
Qur’an, a referendum on Nexit and closing Islamic schools.
Omtzigt has
said repeatedly that he cannot support parts of Wilders’ policy which he
considers to be undemocratic, and this remains a problem, he reiterated on
Wednesday.
Plasterk
spoke with leaders of the four biggest parties in parliament as the coalition
negotiations finally started and will report back to MPs next week.
PVV leader
Geert Wilders said he wanted to talk about a four-party coalition that included
the VVD. However, he said, a minority government is not taboo. The four parties
would have 88 seats between them in the 150-seat lower house of parliament.
VVD leader
Dilan Yesilgöz told reporters after her talks with Plasterk that she wants to
help put together a centre-right cabinet made up of the far-right PVV and new
parties NSC and BBB, but as a silent partner, not a full member. “We are ready
to start debating the contents,” she said.
Meanwhile,
GroenLinks/PvdA leader Frans Timmermans told reporters he did not believe
Wilders had softened his stance, despite his claims during the campaign.
“Someone who has put something on ice is planning to keep it fresh and use it
later,” he said.
Omtzigt won’t enter Cabinet talks with Geert Wilders “at this time” in new blow to PVV
WEDNESDAY,
29 NOVEMBER 2023 - 18:06
https://nltimes.nl/2023/11/29/omtzigt-wont-enter-cabinet-talks-geert-wilders-time-new-blow-pvv
Omtzigt won’t enter Cabinet talks with Geert
Wilders “at this time” in new blow to PVV
Pieter
Omtzigt said on Wednesday that he was not ready to negotiate with the PVV “at
this time,” Nu.nl reported. The leader of the New Social Contract (NSC) said
that after his meeting with formation scout Ronald Plasterk. Issues such as the
rule of law, support for Ukraine, and 'Nexit' are among the concerns Omtzigt
finds problematic in any potential collaboration with PVV leader Geert Wilders.
“I do not
want to start negotiations at this time. There are still obstacles related to
the rule of law” Omtzigt told reporters after meeting with Cabinet formation
scout Ronald Plasterk. “The coalition that Wilders wants does not have a
majority in the Senate. Not by a long shot.”
Instead of
continuing negotiations, Omtzigt recommended stepping on the brakes, and
appointing someone other than Plasterk to begin a more informal process of
“exploring along the lines of content, what solutions the parties have for
social problems.” Omtzigt wants a more open discussion where all political
parties give their thoughts about the future of the Netherlands.
Omtzigt
published the letter he gave to Plasterk on X to further explain his point.
According to him, the election program of the PVV contains positions that are
contrary to the Constitution. "Members of Parliament and ministers swear
allegiance to the Constitution upon taking office and promise to safeguard the
fundamental rights of all residents and the democratic rule of law. In recent
months, we have consistently stated that we will not compromise on these
principles. This is where we draw a firm line," he further wrote.
“We note
that Mr. Wilders has said he wants to put the respective positions of his party
‘on ice," Omtzigt continued. "However, the implications of this are
not clear. What is now the status of the PVV's election program? How certain
can we be that members of Parliament and potential ministers will adhere to the
(Constitutional) law in their statements and votes, especially considering the
statement that these positions are 'in the DNA' of the party?”
Omtzigt
added that he believed it was important for the Netherlands to continue
providing civil and military support to Ukraine, and rejected speculations
about a “Nexit." “However, we do see common ground on issues such as
sustainable migration, livelihood security, and agriculture/food security,” he
further wrote.
Earlier in
the day, Wilders said he was open to building a coalition linking the PVV with
the NSC and BBB. This coalition would theoretically be propped up with passive
support from the VVD, led by current caretaker Justice and Security Minister
Dilan Yesilgöz.
The PVV is
projected to have 37 seats in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Parliament,
with NSC taking 20 and BBB winning 7 in the election earlier this month.
Combined with the expected 24 seats of the VVD, the four parties would
represent 88 of the 150 seats in the Tweede Kamer.
However,
the picture is much different in the Eerste Kamer, the upper house of
Parliament. The BBB is the largest party there with 16 seats, and the PVV has
only 4 seats. The VVD would bring 10 more to the table, but NSC did not
participate in the elections which led to the composition of the Eerste Kamer,
leaving the four parties with a combined total of 30 out of 75 seats.
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