European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread - Page 1004

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland’s minority government looked set to collapse on Friday after the party propping it up submitted a motion of no confidence in the deputy prime minister, weeks before a summit on Britain’s plans to leave the European Union.

The crisis is likely to lead to an election next month or in January and may complicate the Dec. 14-15 Brexit summit.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar is due to play a major role in the talks, telling EU leaders whether Ireland believes sufficient progress has been made on the future border between EU-member Ireland and Britain’s province of Northern Ireland.

The border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is one of three issues Brussels wants broadly resolved before it decides whether to move the talks onto a second phase about trade, as Britain wants.

Varadkar is now likely to go into the summit as a lame duck prime minister or in the middle of an election campaign.

The head of opposition party Fianna Fail Micheal Martin said his party had submitted a motion of no-confidence in Deputy Prime Minister Frances Fitzgerald over her handling of a legal case involving a police whistleblower.

Martin told state broadcaster RTE an election “can be avoided if the government takes action” by asking Fitzgerald to resign. But the government said this would not happen.

“I think we’re heading for an election before Christmas,” junior finance minister Michael D’Arcy told Reuters.

“The Tainaste (deputy prime minister) cannot resign and should not resign. The only way (to stop this) is to withdraw the motion,” D’Arcy said.

As well as the border, the other issues Brussels wants resolved before talks move on to trade arrangements are Britain’s financial settlement on leaving the bloc and the rights of EU citizens living in Britain.

EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier assured Ireland’s foreign minister on Friday that the EU would defend Dublin’s position in talks with Britain over the coming weeks.

“Strong solidarity with Ireland,” Barnier wrote on Twitter. “Irish issues are EU issues.”

Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told parliament on Thursday the government was not yet ready to allow the talks to move on to trade issues and needed more clarity from London.

Fianna Fail’s Martin said Varadkar could still take part in the EU summit and that parliament would be united in supporting him. But the collapse would inevitably distract Varadkar and could undermine his standing during the talks.

On November 24 2017 05:26 sc-darkness wrote:
No one said the world ended. It's just that France and Germany are the leaders in the EU, so pressure is on them to lead Brexit negotiations.

On November 24 2017 17:57 PoulsenB wrote:

Russia doesn't want stronger Europe, they want Europe to be divided and weak so that they can bully everyone around and regain their old sphere of influence among the ex-communist states. Plus they'd never meet the requirements for joining the EU anyway.

Prosecutors open racism probe into Polish far-right march

Prosecutors have opened a probe into expressions of racism at a far-right march in Warsaw earlier this month. Some fear the surge in support for the far-right shows that their ideas are seeping into mainstream discourse.

A spokesperson for the Warsaw prosecutors office, Magdalena Sowa, told reporters on Monday that an investigation had been launched into the "public propagation of fascism and calls for hatred" during the march on November 11, Poland's Independence Day.

The investigation will focus on the march's organizers and those who carried offensive banners, she said.
It remains to be seen if the move by the prosecutor's office indicates another step in the ongoing standoff between the Law and Justice (PiS)-led executive and a nominally independent judiciary, or perhaps an indication that PiS itself is genuinely politically worried by the strength of the far-right.

Police have reportedly been looking at recordings of the march and analyzing other evidence sent to prosecutors.
Police spokesman Mariusz Ciarka told reporters that in some cases the police had found violations of the criminal code. The offenses carry up to two years in prison.

Rise of Polish nationalism

The ruling Law and Justice party has been vocal in its antipathy towards immigrants, but quiet on the rise in xenophobia in Poland.
Some have argued PiS is trying to avoid a situation where the nationalists can gain a political — perhaps electoral — foothold to the party's right, a situation that some see as happening in Hungary with the ruling Fidesz and far-right Jobbik.

Others see this as a sop to the far-right.

More nuanced?

PiS's refusal to take in refugees has in turn triggered the regurgitation of some old tropes in the Western media, some rehashing the perennial accusations of Polish racism, others the peripheral, backward, "wild" East, others the simple ingratitude of it, after EU funds start to dry up.

An article in this week's Guardian newspaper, however, showed a more complex picture of a marginal movement hoping to seize opportunities provided by the success of the PiS and popular opposition to immigration from Muslim-majority countries.

There are "more girls, fewer skinheads" and an increase in middle-aged and highly educated recruits, the piece noted.

White supremacist Richard Spencer 'banned from 26 European countries'

Far right posterboy Richard Spencer has reportedly been banned from 26 European countries for half a decade.

The far right leader, who is credited with coining the term “alt-right”, has been barred from entering 26 countries in Europe's visa-free Schengen area for five years, according to an unnamed source close to Poland’s foreign ministry.

Poland's state-run news agency PAP said Polish authorities had prohibited Spencer, who rose to mainstream prominence for being punched at an anti-Trump protest, from entering more than two dozen countries.

But Spencer himself said he had yet to receive government confirmation of his purported ban and would attempt to challenge it.

“I'm being treated like a criminal by the Polish government. It's just insane. I haven't done anything. What are they accusing me of?” the white supremacist told the Associated Press.

The 39-year-old, who recently had his blue verification tick revoked due to Twitter launching a crackdown on far right figures, attempted to visit Poland for the annual Independence Day march in Warsaw earlier in the month but gave up after the Polish government said he was not welcome.

Since the collapse of communist rule, Poland has been a surge in nationalist activity and the far right has become increasingly emboldened. The march was initially endorsed by some in the actual Polish government.

At the end of last month, foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski branded Spencer someone “who defames what happened during World War II, defames the Holocaust.”

“He should not appear publicly, and especially not in Poland,” Mr Waszczykowski said.

The foreign ministry said the views held by Spencer were in direct “conflict” with Poland’s legal order.

On November 24 2017 22:50 a_flayer wrote:

How do the German national elections tie in with the European representatives in Brexit negotiations? Which people in the German national government are involved in the Brexit negotiations?


They must be happy with the current Polish government then.

On November 25 2017 03:17 sc-darkness wrote:
Funny Poland is against that guy. From what I hear, there is a lot of anti-foreigner and anti-minorities feelings there. If anything, I'd think he's their ally.

On November 25 2017 03:17 sc-darkness wrote:
Funny Poland is against that guy. From what I hear, there is a lot of anti-foreigner and anti-minorities feelings there. If anything, I'd think he's their ally.

On November 25 2017 22:06 sc-darkness wrote:
Jesus Christ, I can still see Russian trolls under disguise of western name on Facebook. I guess every little ruble helps. Direct support for Putin and calling Ukraine a nazi regime is so obvious...

On November 25 2017 03:17 sc-darkness wrote:
Funny Poland is against that guy. From what I hear, there is a lot of anti-foreigner and anti-minorities feelings there. If anything, I'd think he's their ally.

On November 25 2017 22:06 sc-darkness wrote:
Jesus Christ, I can still see Russian trolls under disguise of western name on Facebook. I guess every little ruble helps. Direct support for Putin and calling Ukraine a nazi regime is so obvious...

On November 25 2017 03:17 sc-darkness wrote:
Funny Poland is against that guy. From what I hear, there is a lot of anti-foreigner and anti-minorities feelings there. If anything, I'd think he's their ally.

On November 27 2017 02:51 TheDwf wrote:
@Nyxisto: does the SPD need a vote from its militants to make a coalition with the CDU again?

On November 27 2017 03:09 LegalLord wrote:

Yeah, I guess when they cry fascist at everything that moves they're bound to find that sometimes it's some other form of nationalism at play.

On November 27 2017 04:59 Buckyman wrote:
Whelp, it looks like a major loss for political free speech in Poland if they're prosecuting people for saying the wrong things.