EPTThere are elections in a couple of weeks here in Germany and I'm really looking forward to it, since I'm hoping that the voters will actively turn their back on Merkel. If you ask me, she should've resigned months ago. Germany is a mess right now because of her.
European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread - Page 420
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JoeCool
Germany2520 Posts
There are elections in a couple of weeks here in Germany and I'm really looking forward to it, since I'm hoping that the voters will actively turn their back on Merkel. If you ask me, she should've resigned months ago. Germany is a mess right now because of her. | ||
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lord_nibbler
Germany591 Posts
 1. Cologne police is a shit show: incapable or unwilling to anticipate problems beforehand, then reacting inadequately and then fumble for words. 2. While they will probably never know the exact composition of the cologne group (again shit police there), a lot of them were said to be non-recent immigrants from Morocco that have been conspicuous for years for pick-pocketing and robberies. 3. There is apparently a sort of tradition of surrounding and assaulting women in Northern Africa on large holiday gathering by lower class men. 4. Most Germans apparently never understood the principles of our law and about the reality of their enforcement: Like for example: "Better to let 100 suspects go, than convict one innocent. If there is no hard evidence of a crime for an individual member of a group, he is not punishable. We do not convict whole groups." That means, that even if there are literally hundreds of reports, it is not enough ground to sentence anyone, if nobody gets individually identified. I used to think enlightenment (or at least nazi-horrors) taught Germans that, but apparently not... 5. A group of a hundred violent men (a mob) gathering somewhere unannounced can not be stopped by regular police. They need special riot police and plenty warning ahead of time. Again, I thought that simple fact of life was clear to every German, apparently not. 6. Women can not walk through a dangerous area alone at night without a higher risk of assault. They need to be cautious about their surroundings in large groups and keep a reasonable distance when in doubt. Again, I thought this was common knowledge and that you are a terrible father if you do not teach your daughter these facts of life. But no, for some reason this was news to a lot of Germans. For one side it was the criminal foreigners that brought this 'new danger' for women. For the other side it was a sexist insult from the cologne mayor to even suggest that women have to behave differently than men. | ||
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RvB
Netherlands6274 Posts
On February 16 2016 10:44 JoeCool wrote: Right now there are 73 people under investigation, because of sexual harassment and stealing. Most of them are from Morocco and Algeria. Only three of them are actually germans / from Germany. It's not sure whether these guys came as refugees or have been living in germany before but I'm pretty sure that these events would not have happened if Merkel did not invite millions of people to Germany/Europe ... There are elections in a couple of weeks here in Germany and I'm really looking forward to it, since I'm hoping that the voters will actively turn their back on Merkel. If you ask me, she should've resigned months ago. Germany is a mess right now because of her. Maybe but you can hardly put it on the refugees if they didn't do anything. | ||
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hfglgg
Germany5372 Posts
On February 16 2016 11:33 lord_nibbler wrote: There is no real new news, because there wasn't one in the first place. 1. Cologne police is a shit show: incapable or unwilling to anticipate problems beforehand, then reacting inadequately and then fumble for words. 2. While they will probably never know the exact composition of the cologne group (again shit police there), a lot of them were said to be non-recent immigrants from Morocco that have been conspicuous for years for pick-pocketing and robberies. 3. There is apparently a sort of tradition of surrounding and assaulting women in Northern Africa on large holiday gathering by lower class men. 4. Most Germans apparently never understood the principles of our law and about the reality of their enforcement: Like for example: "Better to let 100 suspects go, than convict one innocent. If there is no hard evidence of a crime for an individual member of a group, he is not punishable. We do not convict whole groups." That means, that even if there are literally hundreds of reports, it is not enough ground to sentence anyone, if nobody gets individually identified. I used to think enlightenment (or at least nazi-horrors) taught Germans that, but apparently not... 5. A group of a hundred violent men (a mob) gathering somewhere unannounced can not be stopped by regular police. They need special riot police and plenty warning ahead of time. Again, I thought that simple fact of life was clear to every German, apparently not. 6. Women can not walk through a dangerous area alone at night without a higher risk of assault. They need to be cautious about their surroundings in large groups and keep a reasonable distance when in doubt. Again, I thought this was common knowledge and that you are a terrible father if you do not teach your daughter these facts of life. But no, for some reason this was news to a lot of Germans. For one side it was the criminal foreigners that brought this 'new danger' for women. For the other side it was a sexist insult from the cologne mayor to even suggest that women have to behave differently than men. there is so much wrong in this post, lol. 2: the police was very aware of who the men were due to arrests made on that day. it was just the head of police lying to the public about the "we dont know who this was!" that most of them are from the maghreb states is true but they arent there for years. most of them arrived within the last year and thats largely because we created a large pull effect with our retarded "everyone can come" policy. 5: the police is able to field sizeable forces with waterthrowers in no time when needed. i hope you dont really think that our police is so weak that you can do whatever the fuck you want anywhere you want if you just bring a few hundred guys. 6: first, it happend on the most central places of the cities. if those arent safe at night, nothing is. second most cities are completely safe for women at night and it only recently changed for places where a shit ton of uneducated idiots from medieval societies gather. edit: On February 16 2016 09:49 WhiteDog wrote: Any news on Cologne ? Most newspapers in France are arguing that it is now accepted that the event that occured during the night had nothing to do with refugees and that, all in all, the night was not all that exceptionnal considering most feast usually end up with a huge amount of complaints. Can someone share us some of his knowledge on that ? completely wrong. almost all suspects known so far are asylum seekers and the numbers of assaults are considerably higher than at any other event. the cologne carnival started recently and the numbers of assaults are not even comparable. all public events since nye are under extra high security, cologne used double their usual police force and a new security concept especially targeted at sexual harassment/rape to ensure a safe carnival. at least one small town had to cancel their parade because they were unable to field enough police to secure it. there are numbers that half of the immigrants from north africa (between 40% and 60%, depends on the country) have a criminal record within the first year. additionally there are more and more reports in the media of club owners who claim that in the last 12 months they have to use heavily increased security personnel to deal with the refugees because they get a lot more aggressive than the average population and no one wants them anywhere near their clubs anyway. even a left leaning nightclub in a city with a green mayor and almost no cdu-voters thought semi openly about banning all refugees because they are way too much trouble. a public swimming bath also banned all refugees for like a weekend. | ||
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SoSexy
Italy3725 Posts
On February 16 2016 11:33 lord_nibbler wrote: There is no real new news, because there wasn't one in the first place. 1. Cologne police is a shit show: incapable or unwilling to anticipate problems beforehand, then reacting inadequately and then fumble for words. 2. While they will probably never know the exact composition of the cologne group (again shit police there), a lot of them were said to be non-recent immigrants from Morocco that have been conspicuous for years for pick-pocketing and robberies. 3. There is apparently a sort of tradition of surrounding and assaulting women in Northern Africa on large holiday gathering by lower class men. 4. Most Germans apparently never understood the principles of our law and about the reality of their enforcement: Like for example: "Better to let 100 suspects go, than convict one innocent. If there is no hard evidence of a crime for an individual member of a group, he is not punishable. We do not convict whole groups." That means, that even if there are literally hundreds of reports, it is not enough ground to sentence anyone, if nobody gets individually identified. I used to think enlightenment (or at least nazi-horrors) taught Germans that, but apparently not... 5. A group of a hundred violent men (a mob) gathering somewhere unannounced can not be stopped by regular police. They need special riot police and plenty warning ahead of time. Again, I thought that simple fact of life was clear to every German, apparently not. 6. Women can not walk through a dangerous area alone at night without a higher risk of assault. They need to be cautious about their surroundings in large groups and keep a reasonable distance when in doubt. Again, I thought this was common knowledge and that you are a terrible father if you do not teach your daughter these facts of life. But no, for some reason this was news to a lot of Germans. For one side it was the criminal foreigners that brought this 'new danger' for women. For the other side it was a sexist insult from the cologne mayor to even suggest that women have to behave differently than men. Really? Taking out the nazi-card again? You are ridicolous. | ||
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Banaora
Germany234 Posts
On February 16 2016 09:49 WhiteDog wrote: Any news on Cologne ? Most newspapers in France are arguing that it is now accepted that the event that occured during the night had nothing to do with refugees and that, all in all, the night was not all that exceptionnal considering most feast usually end up with a huge amount of complaints. Can someone share us some of his knowledge on that ? It's ridiculous to announce the events in Cologne had nothing to do with refugees. I quote from https://www.yahoo.com/news/cologne-prosecutor-majority-suspects-asylum-seekers-135156726.html "The overwhelming majority of persons fall into the general category of refugees," Bremer told The Associated Press, saying recent reports describing only three of the suspects as refugees were "total nonsense." The suspects included 30 Moroccan nationals, 27 Algerians, four Iraqis, three Germans, three Syrians, three Tunisians, and one each from Libya, Iran and Montenegro, Bremer said. "They have various legal statuses, including illegal entry, asylum-seekers and asylum applicants," he said of the foreign suspects. "That covers the overwhelming majority of suspects." Article in German from FAZ covering the same topic http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/fluechtlingskrise/wegen-silvester-in-koeln-ermittlungen-gegen-asylbewerber-14071659.html | ||
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WhiteDog
France8650 Posts
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RvB
Netherlands6274 Posts
At a glitzy event at Dublin’s Guinness Storehouse to promote the Irish coalition’s jobs plan, Lorraine O’Connor stood alongside Prime Minister Enda Kenny and was presented as a living example of the government’s success in reducing unemployment. There was only one problem: O’Connor, who has worked at the Storehouse since last year after a state-sponsored training program she describes as “really good,” said she didn’t plan to vote for Kenny’s Fine Gael party in the next elections. His government is just doing its job by helping the unemployed, she said in an interview last month. “It’s the people who get them into their positions,” said O’Connor, who has always voted for anti-austerity party Sinn Fein and planned to do so again. “Sinn Fein would manage situations in a different way, that wouldn’t turn people against them. ” Ireland holds elections Feb. 26. O’Connor illustrates a wider problem facing Kenny. While he presides over one of the globe’s best-performing economies, many voters feel the government deserves little credit or that the fruits of the recovery aren’t being shared equally. Though Kenny is still most likely to remain as prime minister after the election, his government is set to lose its majority, polls indicate, leaving Ireland at risk of Portuguese-style instability. Tax Cuts? The government has done a “great job” in rescuing the economy, said Tony Smurfit, CEO of Dublin-based Smurfit Kappa Plc, in an interview. Still, if it is re-elected, “something they have to focus on is making it fairer for everyone. Taxes do need to reduce for a certain amount of people, at the medium to lower-end. ” Under Kenny, Ireland has reclaimed its spot as the best-performing economy in the euro-region -- with an estimated expansion of about 7 percent last year -- after nearly collapsing following the global financial crisis. Unemployment has almost halved, and companies like Twitter Inc. and Google Inc. are expanding their Irish workforce. Yet support for his ruling Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition is running at 36 percent, according to a Red C poll published in the Sunday Business Post on Feb. 14, down from the 55 percent the two parties captured in 2011 and from 41 percent a week earlier. The decline in the coalition’s support reflects a “general disillusionment at the existing political system seen in many countries,” said Eoin Fahy, chief economist at Kleinwort Benson Investors in Dublin. In Ireland, while unhappy voters “are not supporting, en masse, a particular protest party, they certainly will not go out and support the incumbent government. To win a second term, the two parties need about 44 percent based on historical patterns, according to Philip O’Sullivan, an economist at Investec Plc in Dublin. Anything below that will probably leave the government dependent on independent lawmakers or smaller parties. Why isn’t the government more popular? For some voters, it’s the new water- and property-levies the coalition imposed to close the deficit. For others, it’s a failure to improve health and education, while many voters point to the inability to deal adequately with surging rents and increasing levels of homelessness. Kenny defends the coalition’s focus on the economy. “Make no mistake; if we have no new jobs, there is no recovery and no investment in new services. It’s as simple as that,” Kenny told reporters in Dublin on Sunday. “Everybody wants to reduce taxes and invest more in public services, but without a growing economy and more jobs their plans are little more than wish lists.” Lorraine O’Connor remains to be convinced. She studied youth work for three years, and was then unemployed between 2011 and 2014. She has worked at the Guinness Storehouse -- Ireland’s most popular tourist attraction -- for the last nine months, in the tasting room or teaching people to pour a pint. “You can see a lot of changes, so they must be doing something right,” said O’Connor. On Kenny, she said, she wasn’t convinced he’s the man to run the country again. "He’s like any normal Joe Soap, very outgoing, very bubbly. But anybody can be like that." www.bloomberg.com edit: Asylum seekers are something else than refugees btw. an asylum-seeker is someone who says he or she is a refugee, but whose claim has not yet been definitively evaluated www.unhcr.org So yes while those Moroccans might be Asylum seekers they're no refugees. An important distinction for policy on Syrian refugees. | ||
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Banaora
Germany234 Posts
On February 16 2016 21:54 RvB wrote: edit: Asylum seekers are something else than refugees btw. www.unhcr.org So yes while those Moroccans might be Asylum seekers they're no refugees. An important distinction for policy on Syrian refugees. In my text I explicitly quoted what prosecutor Bremer said and those were his words according to the article. German media often fails to make a distinction between asylum seekers, illegals, asylum applicants, recognized refugees and economic migrants. | ||
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Yuljan
2196 Posts
On February 16 2016 22:54 Banaora wrote: In my text I explicitly quoted what prosecutor Bremer said and those were his words according to the article. German media often fails to make a distinction between asylum seekers, illegals, asylum applicants, recognized refugees and economic migrants. Since none come directly from Syria but cross different countries and since civil war is no reason for asylum under German law, it does not make a difference if there is no distinction. No matter if they are from Syria or morocco they are not refugees. | ||
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lord_nibbler
Germany591 Posts
On February 16 2016 16:34 hfglgg wrote: 5: the police is able to field sizeable forces with waterthrowers in no time when needed. i hope you dont really think that our police is so weak that you can do whatever the fuck you want anywhere you want if you just bring a few hundred guys. 6: first, it happend on the most central places of the cities. if those arent safe at night, nothing is. second most cities are completely safe for women at night and it only recently changed for places where a shit ton of uneducated idiots from medieval societies gather. Just like I said, some people simply do not want to accept reality (but ironically accuse others of living in 'fantasy land')... | ||
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hfglgg
Germany5372 Posts
On February 17 2016 02:49 lord_nibbler wrote: Just like I said, some people simply do not want to accept reality (but ironically accuse others of living in 'fantasy land')... i dont really know what you want to say here tbh. | ||
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xM(Z
Romania5299 Posts
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/business/energy-environment/european-union-seeks-to-reduce-reliance-on-russian-gas.html BRUSSELS — European Union authorities on Tuesday stepped up efforts to reduce reliance on Russian natural gas as the two sides face off over a litany of geopolitical disputes, from the conflict in Ukraine to the civil war in Syria. The centerpiece of the proposals, presented by the European Commission, the bloc’s executive agency, is a plan to vet energy contracts with countries outside the union like Russia so that member states can compare conditions and look elsewhere for better deals. Energy is a highly sensitive issue for Europe and Russia. The European Union relies on the Russian energy giant Gazprom for about a third of its supplies. Moscow, in turn, earns significant revenue from selling gas to Europe. ... The main measure announced on Tuesday would force member states to give the commission advance notice of gas-supply deals with foreign suppliers. In doing so, they would have to provide information like the maximum daily volumes of gas to be shipped and the conditions under which these deliveries could be suspended. If the commission finds the contracts unfavorable, it can make recommendations that countries must carefully consider or risk being taken to court. The commission also wants to look at gas contracts signed between companies — but only when such an arrangement gives any non-European Union supplier more than a 40 percent share of the market within a single country. | ||
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Sent.
Poland9299 Posts
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Gorsameth
Netherlands22374 Posts
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xM(Z
Romania5299 Posts
On February 17 2016 05:11 Sent. wrote: What's wrong with it? if i want cheap gas i should be allowed to buy cheap gas even if it's russian. i don't know man, this whole we're in the same boat agenda seems stupidly unfair to me. Germany/France/UK/US/whomever, fucks with the russians and the whole EU has to pay the piper. | ||
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Sent.
Poland9299 Posts
On February 17 2016 05:18 Gorsameth wrote: Sounds mostly pointless to me. You won't reduce the reliance on Russian gas by looking at contracts. You do so by opening up other means. The title is a bit misleading because if I understood the article correctly the main purpose of this plan is not to reduce the gas reliance, but to make it harder for Russia to "blackmail" smaller buyers like Lithuania by enforcing solidarity between EU member states. | ||
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Jelissei
193 Posts
On February 16 2016 10:44 JoeCool wrote: Right now there are 73 people under investigation, because of sexual harassment and stealing. Most of them are from Morocco and Algeria. Only three of them are actually germans / from Germany. It's not sure whether these guys came as refugees or have been living in germany before but I'm pretty sure that these events would not have happened if Merkel did not invite millions of people to Germany/Europe ... There are elections in a couple of weeks here in Germany and I'm really looking forward to it, since I'm hoping that the voters will actively turn their back on Merkel. If you ask me, she should've resigned months ago. Germany is a mess right now because of her. The last I read about it, is that only three of them were refugees. Most of them are a known problem in their region. The Moroccan communities actually reported having had problems with them. They were criminals before coming to Europe and they stayed that way. The police answered with making the life of the whole Moroccan community worse instead of listening to them about their problem with those guys. | ||
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LegalLord
United States13779 Posts
On February 17 2016 04:50 xM(Z wrote: looks like a shitty deal to me: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/business/energy-environment/european-union-seeks-to-reduce-reliance-on-russian-gas.html Personally I'd prefer to see Russia curb its gas sales. It doesn't need the money the way it did a decade ago and easy gas money has stalled the modernization of Russian industry. Seems to be a bigger priority right now that it was a few years ago for the government to diversify. | ||
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Gorsameth
Netherlands22374 Posts
On February 17 2016 05:48 xM(Z wrote: if i want cheap gas i should be allowed to buy cheap gas even if it's russian. i don't know man, this whole we're in the same boat agenda seems stupidly unfair to me. Germany/France/UK/US/whomever, fucks with the russians and the whole EU has to pay the piper. This accord is not even about it being Russian or not. Its trying to enforce an equal price across the EU. As for your other statement, let's not pretend like the EU started this. Russia was the one to set this whole thing off by 'not' invading the Crimea. | ||
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