[Discussion] European Politics Discussion

European Politics discussion

It is a lot easier to accumulate power and money if you don’t care about other people.

This could've gone in "News From Other Places!" but since it's about King Charles, I'll toss it in here:

HON HON HON HON

With the upcoming coronation of King Charles III, the Canadian province of Quebec is reviving a debate on the country's ties to the British monarchy.

On Wednesday, Canadian parliamentarians overwhelmingly voted no to severing ties with the monarchy, after Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet introduced a motion that sparked a conversation in the House of Commons about the monarchy.

His move follows the refusal of 14 recently elected Quebec politicians to recite an oath of allegiance to the King during their swearing-in to the provincial legislature, as required by Canadian law.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Blanchet admitted that he had expected his motion to fail, but he said it would show Quebecers that federal politicians "prefer to support the King than the people".

Something-something "bet they'd be fine with it if it was King Louis XXVIII," lazy French jokes, etc.

Europe now has so much natural gas that prices just dipped below zero

And what was a key factor in causing this sudden abundance of natural gas? Well you have global warming (possibly) to thank for that.

Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president of gas and LNG research at Wood Mackenzie, says unseasonably mild weather is largely responsible for the dramatic change in fortune.

"In countries like Italy, Spain, France, we're seeing temperatures and [gas] consumption closer to August and early September [levels]," he told CNN Business. "Even in countries in the Nordics, the UK and Germany, consumption is way below the average for this time of the year," he added.

Anything interesting happening in Germany or the Netherlands or Denmark? I feel like this thread's been very UK-heavy right now (he says, posting yet another UK story).

Bank of England expects UK to fall into longest ever recession

The Bank of England has warned the UK is facing its longest recession since records began, as it raised interest rates by the most in 33 years.

It warned the UK would face a "very challenging" two-year slump with unemployment nearly doubling by 2025.

Bank boss Andrew Bailey warned of a "tough road ahead" for UK households, but said it had to act forcefully now or things "will be worse later on".

It lifted interest rates to 3% from 2.25%, the biggest jump since 1989.

By raising rates, the Bank is trying to bring down soaring prices as the cost of living rises at its fastest rate in 40 years.

Food and energy prices have jumped, in part because of the Ukraine war, which has left many households facing hardship and started to drag on the economy.

A recession is defined as when a country's economy shrinks for two three-month periods - or quarters - in a row.

Typically, companies make less money, pay falls and unemployment rises. This means the government receives less money in tax to use on public services such as health and education.

The Bank had previously expected the UK to fall into recession at the end of this year and said it would last for all next year.

I know it's not the point here, but this is also bad, bad news for Ukraine.

Well, not very interesting, as of yet, just nail biting.
But Denmarks general election on Tuesday was so close that it sounds like a few hundred votes made the difference, and some weird rule in the mandate distribution math had to be applied for the first time. Heck, it technically hasn’t been certified yet. Just happy to live in a place where the parties aren’t suing each other to change the result. Yet anyway

Might not even matter a lot who won, since the supposed winner, the incumbent prime minister (center-left Social Democrat), want to make a centrist government across the usual left and right coalitions.
Because that always goes so well in other countries that tried such a thing (such as Germany) :/
Going to be a mess. But at least a tiny tiny leftish majority beats the opposite result… I hope.

Our collapsed grand old racist party sadly managed to prolong their fight for survival, at 2.6% of the vote (2% being the threshold to get elected), and we now have 12 parties in parliament, which is a bit absurd to think about.
Sadly the right wing racist parties are still roughly the same size they have been before, just split between three parties now. Which is still better to be fair, likely won’t have the same political force when they are not united.

Prederick wrote:

Anything interesting happening in Germany or the Netherlands or Denmark? I feel like this thread's been very UK-heavy right now (he says, posting yet another UK story).

Bank of England expects UK to fall into longest ever recession

The Bank of England has warned the UK is facing its longest recession since records began, as it raised interest rates by the most in 33 years.

It warned the UK would face a "very challenging" two-year slump with unemployment nearly doubling by 2025.

Bank boss Andrew Bailey warned of a "tough road ahead" for UK households, but said it had to act forcefully now or things "will be worse later on".

It lifted interest rates to 3% from 2.25%, the biggest jump since 1989.

By raising rates, the Bank is trying to bring down soaring prices as the cost of living rises at its fastest rate in 40 years.

Food and energy prices have jumped, in part because of the Ukraine war, which has left many households facing hardship and started to drag on the economy.

A recession is defined as when a country's economy shrinks for two three-month periods - or quarters - in a row.

Typically, companies make less money, pay falls and unemployment rises. This means the government receives less money in tax to use on public services such as health and education.

The Bank had previously expected the UK to fall into recession at the end of this year and said it would last for all next year.

I know it's not the point here, but this is also bad, bad news for Ukraine.

Shame on the BBC for repeating the inflation lie instead of labeling what it is, price gouging by the food and energy companies. And then continuing the idea that there is nothing the government can do but raise interest rates. How about serving the people instead of corporations and putting some limits on them?

I'm the earliest days of the universe, it is believed to have expanded at speed faster than light for the tiniest fraction of a second. This theory is called "inflation".

However, the theory has some flaws and in fact very recent findings have led scientists to believe this period was much more likely caused by a combination of unfettered capitalism and authoritarianism, which does a much better job explaining the state of the world today.

Some news from France, at least.

French far-right MP De Fournas suspended for shouting 'Back to Africa'

A far-right MP has been given a 15-day ban from France's National Assembly for shouting "they should go back to Africa" as a black colleague talked about immigration.

Grégoire de Fournas of National Rally (RN) said his remark had not been aimed at Carlos Martens Bilongo but at migrants trying to reach Europe by sea.

Mr Bilongo said he had been born in France and the remark was "shameful".

MPs voted on Friday to suspend him and dock half his allowance.

The decision is described as the harshest sanction available to the Assembly.

Mr Bilongo had been questioning the government about a request by the SOS Méditerranée non-governmental organisation for help in finding a port for 234 migrants rescued at sea in recent days.

The exact meaning of the National Rally MP's remark is disputed, because theoretically he could have referred to more than one person. The official account of the session recorded his off-microphone remark as Qu'il retourne en Afrique - "he should go back to Africa" - but the plural Qu'ils retournent en Afrique sounds exactly the same.

When Mr de Fournas made his remark, the Speaker, Yaël Braun-Pivet, demanded to know who had spoken. Then, as MPs chanted "Out! Out! Out!", she suspended the session, declaring, "This is not possible."

Mr Bilongo, an MP from the the left-wing party France Unbowed (LFI), said: "Today it's come back to the colour of my skin. I was born in France, I am a French MP." Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said there was "no room for racism" and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the MP should resign.

Mr de Fournas was adamant he had been referring to the "boat transporting migrants to Europe", and party leader Marine Le Pen accused her political opponents of fabricating a vulgar outcry.

He later apologised to Mr Bilongo for "the misunderstanding" his comments had caused and if he had been hurt by them.

Prederick wrote:

Sanna Marin: Finland PM partying video causes backlash

IMAGE(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/6D67/production/_126370082_a4424610-cc40-4a47-b14b-29155f289ee9.png)

Refusing not to find this funny.

Sanna Marin: Partying Finnish PM cleared of neglecting duties

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has been cleared of misconduct after video in August showed her partying.

The 36-year-old defended herself after being seen dancing with friends and celebrities in the leaked footage.

Dozens of complaints are understood to have been filed, alleging Ms Marin's behaviour undermined Finland's "reputation and security".

But Chancellor of Justice Tuomas Poysti concluded that Ms Marin had not neglected her duties as prime minister.

There was "no reason to suspect the prime minister of unlawful conduct in the performance of her duties or of neglect of her official duties", he said after an official inquiry.

Ms Marin took a drug test "to clear up any doubts", after some suggested comments heard on the video referred to narcotics. The test came back negative.

At the time, the prime minister said that the video had been filmed on "private premises" and that she had spent "an evening with friends".

When asked about the video, she told reporters: "I am human. And I too sometimes long for joy, light and fun amidst these dark clouds."

The incident led to many women coming out in support of Ms Marin. In Finland, women took to social media to post videos of themselves dancing in solidarity.

Channel crossings: Albanian migrants recruited to the UK by gangs

lbanian drug gangs are using the migrant camps of northern France as a recruitment ground, offering to pay the passage of those prepared to work in the UK drugs industry on arrival, the BBC has been told.

Albanians account for around a third of the almost 40,000 people who have arrived in small boats so far this year, according to UK government figures.

Senior police and immigration officials on both sides of the Channel are worried by the growing role of Albanian middlemen in facilitating crossings.

The BBC interviewed Albanians who travelled to the French coast to make the Channel crossing to the UK in small boats.

They told us about the different people smuggling services on offer, with Albanians acting mainly as middlemen for other networks often run by Iraqi Kurds, who control the small boat operations.

Finding out that Albanians have become the largest group migrating to the UK recently was a surprise.

Prederick wrote:
Prederick wrote:

Sanna Marin: Finland PM partying video causes backlash

IMAGE(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/6D67/production/_126370082_a4424610-cc40-4a47-b14b-29155f289ee9.png)

Refusing not to find this funny.

Sanna Marin: Partying Finnish PM cleared of neglecting duties

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has been cleared of misconduct after video in August showed her partying.

The 36-year-old defended herself after being seen dancing with friends and celebrities in the leaked footage.

Dozens of complaints are understood to have been filed, alleging Ms Marin's behaviour undermined Finland's "reputation and security".

But Chancellor of Justice Tuomas Poysti concluded that Ms Marin had not neglected her duties as prime minister.

There was "no reason to suspect the prime minister of unlawful conduct in the performance of her duties or of neglect of her official duties", he said after an official inquiry.

Ms Marin took a drug test "to clear up any doubts", after some suggested comments heard on the video referred to narcotics. The test came back negative.

At the time, the prime minister said that the video had been filmed on "private premises" and that she had spent "an evening with friends".

When asked about the video, she told reporters: "I am human. And I too sometimes long for joy, light and fun amidst these dark clouds."

The incident led to many women coming out in support of Ms Marin. In Finland, women took to social media to post videos of themselves dancing in solidarity.

I hope she dances out to her next press conference just to poke critics in the eye.

What, like this?

Definitely not.

You mean like this.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/014bqtL.png)

Trump has never actually "danced" in public. His bodily contortions in no way convey any aspect of joyous release; just look at his face as he writhes. It's all "this is what I have to do to f*ck the person I'm with, they expect it, so here goes". That applies to crowds as well, of course.

Norway princess quits royal duties for alternative medicine

Hooo-boy. Well, uh....

Norway's Princess Märtha Louise has relinquished her royal duties to focus on her alternative medicine business with her fiancé, a self-styled shaman.

The Princess will keep her title, but is surrendering official duties to "create a clearer dividing line" between her private and royal role.

Her fiancé, Durek Verrett, has promoted unfounded medical practices, including suggesting cancer is a choice.

The American also claims to have influenced Gwyneth Paltrow.

Hooooooooooooooooooo-boy!

.

Autumn Statement: Jeremy Hunt warns of challenges as living standards plunge

Families face "real challenges", Jeremy Hunt has warned, as government forecasters predict the biggest drop in living standards since records began.

The Office for Budget Responsibility says household income will fall by 7% over the next 18 months.

The chancellor said tax rises and a spending squeeze in his Autumn Statement would help tame inflation which he said had caused the drop.

But Labour said he had picked the nation's pockets with "stealth taxes".

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves described the emergency budget measures as "an invoice for the economic carnage" created by Prime Minister Liz Truss's mini-budget.

Prederick wrote:

Autumn Statement: Jeremy Hunt warns of challenges as living standards plunge

Families face "real challenges", Jeremy Hunt has warned, as government forecasters predict the biggest drop in living standards since records began.

The Office for Budget Responsibility says household income will fall by 7% over the next 18 months.

The chancellor said tax rises and a spending squeeze in his Autumn Statement would help tame inflation which he said had caused the drop.

But Labour said he had picked the nation's pockets with "stealth taxes".

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves described the emergency budget measures as "an invoice for the economic carnage" created by Prime Minister Liz Truss's mini-budget.

They really need to start pointing out the underlying cause of all of it - Brexit - and what they are going to do about it.

Speaking of....

Almost two years since Britain left the EU on 31 December 2020, YouGov data shows support for Brexit is at a record low, with only 32% of the British public saying it was right to vote to leave and 56% saying it was wrong to leave.

YouGov has been regularly asking the public whether they think it was right or wrong to have voted to leave the EU since shortly after the 2016 referendum. Early polling revealed that more people believed that Brexit was the right decision than not up until the 2017 general election.

Since then, with the exception of very brief periods in April 2020 and April 2021, public opinion has swung in the other direction and the latest results show the gap is at its largest yet, with those who think it was wrong to leave 24 points ahead of people saying it was right

EDIT:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FhzQH36WIAE2_7L?format=png&name=small)

Honestly, ya almost gotta respect it.

Worse in Ireland but for the same reasons. Selling of public housing, stop building public housing, incentivise private builders to build public housing (with loopholes of course) and planning laws suited to the current home owners. Similar to the UK and US as we all bought into this model hence our similar outcomes in 2008.

Saying all that, I remain the be convinced that the private sector would do anything for this end of the market even if all the barriers were removed. There is a rumor around Ireland that the private builders know exactly the amount of biulding they need to do a year to maintain their current profits. Anymore could increase profits in the short term but in the longer will reduce margins as demand is met. Basically 10,000 homeless is the number in Ireland that keeps the private builders in the business they are accustomed.

If you are wondering why Sinn Fein is about to become the largest party in Ireland, this is why. Zero to do with their actual politics. Merely resentment at the establishment. And with good cause.

I'm sure something similar is now happening in the US and UK now.

I can’t find it right now but looking at
U.K. data for house building separating the council building from the private building. The number of private building is broadly the same now as it has been since WW2, with dips during recessions.

The economics for private house builders doesn’t change much by removing the public house builders. They build using bank credit, have to buy land at market rates and see a reasonable profit. As such their customers are now and remain the higher wealth households.

One important factor in the U.K. house building data is when the councils built, they built during recessions. This allowed a constant pipeline of training of new tradespeople. This is huge for the skills shortage, U.K. tradespeople are older than the population, missing generations of apprentices from the slow years. The private builders only train when labour is tight.

Germany arrests 25 accused of plotting coup

Twenty-five people have been arrested in raids across Germany on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government.

The group of far-right and ex-military figures are said to have prepared for a "Day X" to storm the Reichstag parliament building and seize power.

A man named as Heinrich XIII, from an old aristocratic family, is alleged to have been central to their plans.

According to federal prosecutors, he is one of two alleged ringleaders among those arrested across 11 German states.

The plotters are said to include members of the extremist Reichsbürger [Citizens of the Reich] movement, which has long been in the sights of German police over violent attacks and racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories.

They also refuse to recognise the modern German state.

Other suspects came from the QAnon movement who believe their country is in the hands of a mythical "deep state" involving secret powers pulling the political strings.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser assured Germans that authorities would respond with the full force of the law "against the enemies of democracy".

Reichsbürger: German 'crackpot' movement turns radical and dangerous

The Reichsbürger were, for years, a source of national derision, dismissed as crackpots.

But they're increasingly a source of concern for the security services who say they're becoming more radical and more dangerous.

Members don't recognise the post-war German state and reject the authority of its government. Despite the name, which translates to Citizens of the Reich, this is no organised national movement - rather a disparate set of small groups and individuals scattered across the country who are united in that shared belief.

Some print their own currency and identity cards and dream of creating their own autonomous state.

Earlier this year for example, a group calling itself the Königreich Deutschland (Kingdom Germany) bought two pieces of land in Saxony upon which they intended to create their own self-administered state.

Others refuse to pay tax or intentionally clog up the administration of local authorities by sending large volumes of, often abusive, letters.

And many have guns - legally or otherwise.

Since 2016, when a Reichsbürger shot and killed a policeman as officers raided his stash of weapons, the German authorities have revoked more than a thousand gun licences of people they believe to subscribe to the ideology. But at the end of last year around 500 still had valid gun licences.

Government figures show that Reichsbürger and so-called Selbstverwalter - a "grouping" with similar beliefs that translates as self-administrators - committed more than 1,000 extremist criminal acts in 2021, double the number in 2020.

Of the 21,000 people in the Reichsbürger "scene", around 5% are believed to be right-wing extremists and 10% potentially violent.

They also have links to the German military, says Miro Dittrich, an expert who tracks the group as well as other conspiracy theorists.

The pandemic, he believes, has served to further radicalise the group as well as increase support.

Well Denmark finally has a government. Only took 1.5 months to get it together since the election. Will be interesting to see how things all pan out with the "red-blue" compromise.

By some neighboring countries standards 1.5 month is quick, but close to a record here I think.

Also a very rare case of having a majority government, who in theory could rule on their own.

Can’t say I am a fan of the result (cutting educations is just bad, in nearly all cases ever). Though it also isn’t devastating.
In general my biggest worry with these types of broad coalitions across the usual political spectrums is that they will accomplish the exact opposite of what they wanted; emboldening the “extreme left and right”, since people unhappy with the government (and people are always unhappy with governments) won’t have any of the centrist parties to go to.

Oh I hate two of their bigger proposals, cutting education and cutting taxes on the rich. I'm actually hoping that instead of driving those voters to the fringes it will drive them to the other small central parties (although some of those are lacking in leadership).

Didn't post this when it broke but it could prove to be a long running saga over how the EU Parliament protects against corruption. It does appear to be moving quickly but indepentent enforcement is the only way to really address this issue, I suspect.

To give a little background, the Parliament was the least powerful chamber in the EU for quite some time. It was a bit of a running joke that becoming an MEP wasn't a real job. Recently, since the Lisbon Treaty, though it has become far more influenical and the lobbying that has sprung up has been substantial. Unfortuately the oversight has not. While all three institutions do have the same systems their implementation is administered by the institutions' Secertary-General. Apparently to very different degrees.

The Dutch government is apologing for the slave trade. Did not see Mark Rutte doing this I have to say. Shadout or Zaque do you know the background here? Was this a coalition member getting it into the programme for government?