EPTRofl, the idiots must be stopped.
Also F-35 contract must be ripped up and Arrow-3 system must be postponed.
German bureaucracy is now spending money against german interest.
European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread - Page 1403
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KT_Elwood
Germany922 Posts
Rofl, the idiots must be stopped. Also F-35 contract must be ripped up and Arrow-3 system must be postponed. German bureaucracy is now spending money against german interest. | ||
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Dan HH
Romania9117 Posts
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/09/pro-russia-calin-georgescu-barred-from-romanian-presidential-election-re-run | ||
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KT_Elwood
Germany922 Posts
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CuddlyCuteKitten
Sweden2598 Posts
Hope it inspires more countries. | ||
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Gorsameth
Netherlands21652 Posts
Sentenced to 4 years in jail (2 under probation) and barred from running for public office for 5 years, which will cover the coming French elections in 2027. https://apnews.com/article/marine-le-pen-france-far-right-trial-verdict-f3da0614e9a6fc24c87eb33d5b873409 This will certainly have a considerable effect on the political direction of France in the years to come. | ||
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Nebuchad
Switzerland12161 Posts
On March 31 2025 20:09 Gorsameth wrote: France's far right Marine Le Pen has been found guilty of embezzling millions of EU contributions. Sentenced to 4 years in jail (2 under probation) and barred from running for public office for 5 years, which will cover the coming French elections in 2027. https://apnews.com/article/marine-le-pen-france-far-right-trial-verdict-f3da0614e9a6fc24c87eb33d5b873409 This will certainly have a considerable effect on the political direction of France in the years to come. Hey I didn't think this would come this fast, nice. Obviously this isn't enough to stop the trajectory of France toward the neoliberal electoral mechanism, but in the meantime, let's not rejoice in the suffering of someone who will have to be in prison, no matter how evil a person we think they are, let's remember our humanity | ||
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Dan HH
Romania9117 Posts
On March 31 2025 21:27 WombaT wrote: If anything it’s even more of an indictment on the state of the States than the other way round. Not necessarily Romania specifically but other countries around the place, even those with less-than-stellar reputations for untrammelled democracy, or a lack of corruption can get their shit together on things like barring coup inciters from running for office again. For example. Btw I think I said so at the time, but your general primer of Romanian politics in the Euro thread was much appreciated. That said, while a little more au fait with the basics, don’t feel qualified to comment on the specifics here. IIRC you yourself didn’t want him barred for fear of making a martyr if memory serves? Do you think that’s been the case thus far? Answering you here to not derail the US thread. It hasn't happened to the extent that I thought it would. While there's people decrying it, Georgescu sort of disappeared from public view the day after his candidacy was rejected. His videos stopped being promoted and were replaced by other people with similar views skyrocketing. The problem hasn't gone away, half the country is mentally checked out and just regurgitates whatever nonsese floats around on Facebook and Tiktok. It's a near daily occurence for me to unintentionally eavesdrop on some conversation in public where someone says shit like "it's all Soros fault because he bought everyone". The election rerun is in May, right now one of the extremists is 1st in polls with 35% but I think he has a much lower ceiling than Georgescu and he would struggle in the runoff. But even avoiding that would just be a temporary win, eventually the baboons will get in charge and ruin everything and their voters will be shocked that touching the stove while it's turned on does indeed burn your hand. | ||
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areoryn
5 Posts
On March 31 2025 20:16 Nebuchad wrote: Hey I didn't think this would come this fast, nice. Obviously this isn't enough to stop the trajectory of France toward the neoliberal electoral mechanism, but in the meantime, let's not rejoice in the suffering of someone who will have to be in prison, no matter how evil a person we think they are, let's remember our humanity The interdiction from running for office applies starting today regardless of appeal (could be lifted in appeal), the prison sentence will be suspended until appeal results. Will not be actual prison in any case (home confinement with electronic monitoring) and she still retains her current seat in the assembly (unless the president decides to ask for new elections, I guess). 23 out of 24 people sentenced. Although it is not the only such case in recent history, sentencing is harsher. As far as I understand, this is mainly because of emails/texts chains retrieved and presented by the prosecution detailing that they all knew it to be illegal and made the informed decision to proceed anyway. (in similar cases, we had one or two scapegoats blamed with token sentences, while everyone pleaded they did not realize what was done was illegal or did not know) | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland25078 Posts
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WombaT
Northern Ireland25078 Posts
On March 31 2025 22:22 Dan HH wrote: Answering you here to not derail the US thread. It hasn't happened to the extent that I thought it would. While there's people decrying it, Georgescu sort of disappeared from public view the day after his candidacy was rejected. His videos stopped being promoted and were replaced by other people with similar views skyrocketing. The problem hasn't gone away, half the country is mentally checked out and just regurgitates whatever nonsese floats around on Facebook and Tiktok. It's a near daily occurence for me to unintentionally eavesdrop on some conversation in public where someone says shit like "it's all Soros fault because he bought everyone". The election rerun is in May, right now one of the extremists is 1st in polls with 35% but I think he has a much lower ceiling than Georgescu and he would struggle in the runoff. But even avoiding that would just be a temporary win, eventually the baboons will get in charge and ruin everything and their voters will be shocked that touching the stove while it's turned on does indeed burn your hand. Much appreciated! Hopefully your prediction on the baboons doesn’t come to pass. | ||
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Simberto
Germany11497 Posts
On March 31 2025 23:27 WombaT wrote: Much appreciated! Hopefully your prediction on the baboons doesn’t come to pass. I kinda hope that what is happening in the US will give us a decade or two of people realizing that the stove is indeed hot. Especially if it really turns out the way it seems to. | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland25078 Posts
On March 31 2025 23:30 Simberto wrote: I kinda hope that what is happening in the US will give us a decade or two of people realizing that the stove is indeed hot. Especially if it really turns out the way it seems to. Fingers crossed. | ||
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Nebuchad
Switzerland12161 Posts
On March 31 2025 23:30 Simberto wrote: I kinda hope that what is happening in the US will give us a decade or two of people realizing that the stove is indeed hot. Especially if it really turns out the way it seems to. Unlikely. The parties will argue that you need to be far right yourself in order to defend the country against the evil empires abroad, and people will still vote for the main alternative that is offered to them when they are disappointed with liberal (derogatory) politics. We might win one cycle but probably not a decade. | ||
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Biff The Understudy
France7884 Posts
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Jockmcplop
United Kingdom9615 Posts
On April 01 2025 18:35 Biff The Understudy wrote: I love the Kremlin complaining about Le Pen sentencing. That’s just beautiful. The right has fully come out as Putin fanbois these days so they don't have to pretend they aren't associated with Russia any more. | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland25078 Posts
On April 01 2025 19:37 Jockmcplop wrote: The right has fully come out as Putin fanbois these days so they don't have to pretend they aren't associated with Russia any more. And I still don’t know why. I can understand people being useful idiots in that regard, but many aren’t unwitting enablers anymore but just active fans. Bizarre I imagine Russia’s bot budget is a hell of a lot smaller than it used to be, now real people do their work for them for free. Least in my experience in a few Reddit threads. Quite scary the levels of delusion and lunacy, far exceeding mere disagreement on my end. And they were definitely real folk! | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland25078 Posts
On March 31 2025 23:47 Nebuchad wrote: Unlikely. The parties will argue that you need to be far right yourself in order to defend the country against the evil empires abroad, and people will still vote for the main alternative that is offered to them when they are disappointed with liberal (derogatory) politics. We might win one cycle but probably not a decade. Aye, I mean no country is really an island and all that. The more European countries all start skewing hard right, the more that permeates out and influences neighbours. Once a few dominoes start toppling it enthuses and emboldens other movements. That being said, this can also move in the other direction as well of course. I used to think it would maybe take just one or two places pivoting left and (crucially) somewhat nailing it and making things notably better by solving various problems. I’m less sure now because increasingly it appears that many of these modern hard-right types don’t actually deal in tangible problems and tangible solutions. | ||
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Nebuchad
Switzerland12161 Posts
On April 01 2025 22:02 WombaT wrote: Aye, I mean no country is really an island and all that. The more European countries all start skewing hard right, the more that permeates out and influences neighbours. Once a few dominoes start toppling it enthuses and emboldens other movements. That being said, this can also move in the other direction as well of course. I used to think it would maybe take just one or two places pivoting left and (crucially) somewhat nailing it and making things notably better by solving various problems. I’m less sure now because increasingly it appears that many of these modern hard-right types don’t actually deal in tangible problems and tangible solutions. Yeah it's a bit bleak. There's also a ton of money behind these ideas, in a way that there isn't behind others. To me it's already clear that places that have kept their social democracies are doing much better than the places that are veering into neoliberalism, but let's say that's provably true, what good is that doing if it's not being transmitted to anyone? | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland25078 Posts
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8je0xewlgo Another piece I was reading but subsequently misplaced was also talking rather a lot about AirBnB’s role. Obviously not the sole boogeyman here. Especially its increasing status as a short term, commercial landlord company in a de facto sense, minus any of those obligations due to loopholes, and distorting housing stock towards insecure, short-term rentals. Is there any great groundswell, or indication of government willingness to essentially close the loopholes here? If so, it could be quite big and impactful Europe-wide if they do go that route. Hey, I want my Spanish brothers and sisters to have their rather legitimate gripes addressed, and if it’s just that it’s still a win in my book. But it’s a problem in the UK, it’s a problem in Ireland as well. | ||
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Acrofales
Spain17975 Posts
On April 07 2025 21:27 WombaT wrote: Any Spaniards or just those with more knowledge of the sitch here able to comment on recent developments and these protests we’re seeing? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8je0xewlgo Another piece I was reading but subsequently misplaced was also talking rather a lot about AirBnB’s role. Obviously not the sole boogeyman here. Especially its increasing status as a short term, commercial landlord company in a de facto sense, minus any of those obligations due to loopholes, and distorting housing stock towards insecure, short-term rentals. Is there any great groundswell, or indication of government willingness to essentially close the loopholes here? If so, it could be quite big and impactful Europe-wide if they do go that route. Hey, I want my Spanish brothers and sisters to have their rather legitimate gripes addressed, and if it’s just that it’s still a win in my book. But it’s a problem in the UK, it’s a problem in Ireland as well. As someone who noticed that first-hand, it's definitely true and obviously a problem. I was pretty lucky. I moved away in 2012 and back in 2016. When we rented in 2011, we got a pretty good flat in the center of a very well-to-do satellite town of Barcelona for 900 €. When we got back in 2016 we got an inadequate and bedbug infested flat for roughly that. We were able to get out of the rent and find something else, but not for under 1200 € for a smaller flat than we had had before. We were looking at rent prices and potential mortgages, and renting was a financial trap, but having no credit history for 4 years meant the banks weren't going to give us a mortgage. In 2020, we bought a home, and instead of paying 1300/month in rent, went to 700/month for a mortgage of a far bigger flat. Not quite as popular a location (but better for us). Right now, our neighbour (same building, slightly larger flat) rents for 1800/month. It's a two-bedroom flat, so kinda okay, but cramped for a family with 2 kids.the median wage is roughly 2000/month in Spain (slightly higher in Barcelona region). The cost of renting in "popular" places is absurd. As for doing stuff, the federal government wants to, but not a lot they can do. In the case of Barcelona, the rent caps are horrendously backfiring. I have colleagues complaining they can't get a normal rental, and have to accept a "seasonal" rental contract. Seasonal rental contracts are anything under 1 year, so they set them up for 11 months. They are also not covered by the rent cap law, so a rather massive loophole. The flip side, is of course, that Spain has vast regions where housing is dirt cheap. You want to live in Teruel or Soria or so? Rental for a nice town house is probably about 600/month. But there's no work. And these are pleasant, small cities with all facilities (but no airport). A friend is an avid surfer and we can work remote. He's now renting a (small) house on the beach in Cantabria and he's paying less for the house than he did for a *room* in Barcelona. Airbnb is a part of it, but tourist rental is not the whole problem. I can't tell you what all the issues are, but I'd say the barrier to being able to buy is not helping either. I compare myself to my brother, who bought a flat in 2006 (things were temporarily harder, but I heard they're now back to being like this again) with his then-girlfriend, in the center of Amsterdam. They were both recently done studying and had decent jobs. They got a mortgage for 100% the value of their flat, and a mortgage insurance to cover the case where the value of the flat dropped and they were forced to sell. They could also deduct interest payments from their taxes (since then this has been reduced). In Spain it's highly unusual to get more than 80% of the value, there's no such thing as an insurance, and no tax benefits (there used to be some). This means as an individual, you need more cash, and run a higher risk. Interest payments are similar, because they're all pegged to the Euribor regardless. Part of this is historic and part of it is because 2008 hit Spain exceptionally hard, but it means someone starting a new job *cannot* buy a home. They first need to save up 20-30% of the value of a home. Someone living paycheck to paycheck will therefore *never* be able to buy a home. Now comparing the housing market of Spain and the Netherlands is difficult. The Netherlands is notoriously overheated (at least in the Randstad part). But another thing that is somewhat available in the Netherlands is social housing, which puts some downward pressure on rent prices. It's insufficient, with long LONG waiting lists, but, impossibly, much much better than in Spain. Finally, and anecdotally, I've noticed a serious uptick in foreigners (like me) who seem to live here. I was talking to some friends the other day, and we hypothesised that they're digital nomads (unlike me). Those 11-month rental contracts are perfect for them. They move here for a while, and then when their rental contract is up, move on to Italy... or Indonesia. If there's generally speaking as many around the whole area as there are in my town, that's another group putting pressure on the rental market. | ||
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