All posts tagged: Germany

Putin ally Schröder avoids Nord Stream 2 inquiry after burnout diagnosis – POLITICO

Putin ally Schröder avoids Nord Stream 2 inquiry after burnout diagnosis – POLITICO

According to his doctor’s statement, sent to the dpa news agency Tuesday, Schröder is suffering from severe exhaustion, lack of energy, concentration and memory problems, and he’s also been diagnosed with sleep disorders and reduced emotional resilience. Although his hearing has been rescheduled for March, his doctor’s statement said that Schröder is “neither currently nor in the foreseeable future able to cope with the physical and psychological stress of a prolonged — especially public — questioning by an investigative committee,” as such a hearing could further cause his health to deteriorate. Schröder, a Social Democrat who governed Germany in coalition with the Greens from 1998 to 2005, is well known for his ties to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin’s regime, having served as a board member of Russian state energy companies after his tenure as chancellor.  As chancellor, Schröder promoted Nord Stream 1, and as chairman of the board of Nord Stream 2 AG — a direct subsidiary of the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom — he promoted the construction of the new pipeline. Source link

Germany Signals Re-Migration Program For Unintegrated Migrants

Germany Signals Re-Migration Program For Unintegrated Migrants

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news, Governing German authorities are suggesting unintegrated migrants from Syria could be sent home if they are not in employment, a policy that could mean re-migration for nearly half a million people. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser suggested during an interview with Funke Media Group that Syrian refugees could have their protections revoked if they didn’t fulfil certain residency criteria. “As our law stipulates, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) will review and revoke protection grants if people no longer need this protection in Germany because the situation in Syria has stabilized,” Faeser said. “This will then apply to those who do not have a right of residence for other reasons such as work or training and who do not return to Syria voluntarily.” Given federal data which revealed that nearly half of the 975,000 Syrians living in Germany remain dependent on state welfare benefits, any policy change could impact large numbers of migrants living in the country. “As of August 2024, 518,050 Syrians were receiving these benefits. While …

Elon Musk and His Megaphone, X, Rattle British Politics

Elon Musk and His Megaphone, X, Rattle British Politics

When Elon Musk asked his 211 million followers on X to vote on whether “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government,” it seemed as if the post could only be tongue-in-cheek. But coming after a barrage of strident posts about Britain by Mr. Musk — assailing the Labour prime minister, Keir Starmer; demanding the release of a jailed far-right agitator; and breaking with a hard-right leader, Nigel Farage — it came off less as a joke than a flex by a powerful man relishing his ability to roil the politics of another country. Mr. Musk’s posts, which popped up on X throughout the holiday like unwelcome guests at a Christmas party, have thoroughly hijacked the political debate in Britain at the start of 2025. On Monday, Mr. Starmer used a news conference about fixing Britain’s National Health Service to deny Mr. Musk’s allegations that he had not acted when he was Britain’s chief prosecutor more than a decade ago against gangs that sexually abused girls. Mr. Farage, for his part, faced …

At the Gates of Fortress Europe | Caitlin L. Chandler

At the Gates of Fortress Europe | Caitlin L. Chandler

Druskininkai is a hilly, forested area in southern Lithuania, near the border with Belarus and Poland. Its name derives from druska, which means salt. Over thirty mineral springs pocket the ground. Since the nineteenth century residents of the capital, Vilnius, have flocked to spas there to bathe in the calcium-rich waters. Today the city of Druskininkai is known for its mud baths and amber therapies. In July 2021 the Lithuanian border security agency, VSAT, set up a makeshift encampment for detained asylum seekers not far from the city. A high metal barrier encircled the site, inside which a second chain link fence enclosed military-style tents. Armed officers patrolled the perimeter; surveillance cameras rotated on high poles. Inmates looking out could see a glimmer of the blue Nemunas River, which divides Lithuania from Belarus. Sajjad Mohammedhasan arrived at the Druskininkai camp on July 25, 2021. A twenty-four-year-old IT professional, he had fled Iraq two days earlier, flying to Belarus on a tourist visa and trekking through pine trees to the Lithuanian border. “I want to claim asylum,” he said …

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz loses confidence vote

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz loses confidence vote

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will undergo a vote of confidence in Parliament on Monday, December 16. Michael Kappeler | Picture Alliance | Getty Images German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday lost a confidence vote in the country’s Bundestag, clearing the path for an early election in February. Scholz was expected — and hoping — to lose the vote, which he had called for himself in November in order to trigger earlier-than-planned elections, which were originally scheduled for the fall of 2025. It marks only the sixth time in Germany’s history that such a vote has taken place, and the fourth time a president has fallen foul of the vote. Scholz said Monday that he had called the vote not only for parliament but the whole of the electorate. “Do we dare be a strong country, to invest powerfully in our future,” Scholz told lawmakers prior to the vote, according to a Google translation. Scholz sacked former Finance Minister Christian Lindner in November, effectively bringing an end to Germany’s ruling coalition which had been in power …

Making Germany Hate Again | Joshua Hammer

Making Germany Hate Again | Joshua Hammer

On September 1—the eighty-fifth anniversary of the start of World War II—Germans went to the polls in two states in the former East Germany, Thuringia and Saxony, to elect members of the state parliaments. Local elections are often regarded as a bellwether of political trends across Germany, and many greeted the results with something close to panic. For the first time since the war, a far-right party, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), came out a winner, obtaining a plurality of nearly 33 percent in Thuringia. (The AfD finished second in Saxony, behind the Christian Democratic Union, the party of former chancellor Angela Merkel; three weeks later it finished second in Brandenburg, with nearly 30 percent of the vote, 6 percent more than in 2019.) Its victory raised the prospect that a German state could soon be governed by a movement that has called for the forced “remigration” of hundreds of thousands of refugees, expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin, and embraced some of the slogans and symbols of white nationalism. Though Germany’s traditional parties vowed to …

Senior European officials facepalm over Scholz’s Putin call   – POLITICO

Senior European officials facepalm over Scholz’s Putin call   – POLITICO

“We need to act unified, we need to coordinate, this call was not coordinated between allies, even [though] we got a very deep brief later on,” said Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna. Scholz said that during his phone call with Putin, he urged the Russian president “to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and to withdraw its troops.” According to a German government spokesperson, Scholz had informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the call beforehand. “The Federal Chancellor urged Russia to be prepared to negotiate with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace,” the spokesperson said in a statement. Asked whether he would speak to Putin, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said: “I don’t think so.” He added: “It doesn’t look like he [Putin] is willing to negotiate, to the contrary.” “What I see in general is that Putin only listens to facts on the ground,” said Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp about the call. Source link

German Industry Calls for Programing Investment by Public Broadcasters

German Industry Calls for Programing Investment by Public Broadcasters

German public broadcasters need to invest more in making better shows or risk losing their democratic legitimacy. That’s the message the German film and TV industry is sending to Germany‘s public channels which face increasing attacks from the country’s surging far right. The guilds and associations representing Germany’s film and TV creative communities, including the German screenwriters guild, the alliance of film and TV producers, the federal acting association, the producers association, and the German directors guild, have called for a commitment by public broadcasters to invest at least 50 percent of their budgets in making shows, and spend less on management and administration. In an open letter to state and government authorities, the groups said their “50+ for Programming” plan would increase public acceptance and the democratic legitimacy of the public broadcasting service. “Every euro invested in programming simultaneously strengthens the stability of Germany’s media democracy,” the letter reads. Germany’s public broadcasting system, which operates national television networks ARD and ZDF as well as numerous regional TV and radio stations across the country, is …

Germany tightens controls at all borders in immigration crackdown

Germany tightens controls at all borders in immigration crackdown

Berlin last year also announced stricter controls on its land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. Those, and controls on the border with Austria, had allowed it to return 30,000 migrants since October 2023, it said on Monday. Ms Faeser said a new model would enable the government to turn back many more – but it could not talk about the model before confidential negotiations with the conservatives. The controls could test European unity if they lead to German authorities requesting other countries to take back substantial numbers of asylum seekers and migrants. Under EU rules, countries in the Schengen area, which encompasses all of the bloc bar Cyprus and Ireland, are only allowed to introduce border checks as a last resort to avert threats to internal security or public policy. Germany shares its more than 3,700-km-long (2,300 miles) land border with Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland. Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told Bild newspaper on Monday that his country would not take in any …

Why the far-right AfD has been so successful in Germany – video explainer | Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)

Why the far-right AfD has been so successful in Germany – video explainer | Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)

The far-right, anti-immigration Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is riding a populist wave across Europe’s largest economy. According to polls conducted this month, the AfD has become the strongest party in Thuringia, a former state of the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR). In Saxony, another former GDR state, the party finished a very close second behind the CDU. The Guardian’s Berlin correspondent, Deborah Cole, explains how the AfD has risen from its eurosceptic origins to a party that is ‘managing to set the agenda’ in German politics Source link