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mishmash europe — sunak and sholz vs macron ... and sholz and macron vs sunak ....

French President Emmanuel Macron mentioned the word "paradigm" roughly 20 times in a speech pushing for more European integration Thursday.

"We have a rendezvous with history — Europe could die," Macron warned, standing in front of hundreds of listeners in the amphitheater of the Paris Sorbonne, one of Europe's oldest universities.

The president called for more European integration; a new, common commercial industry and a proper European defense strategy — possibly with its own missile defense shield.

"It's crucial that Russia doesn't win the war in Ukraine [which Moscow started with an invasion two years ago] — European security is at stake," he said.

"Europe can only be strong if it's prosperous [...] and we need to stop being naive, and better protect our industries," Macron added.

The president called for a system of "European preference" in five sectors of excellence: AI, quantum technologies, space technology, biotechnology and new energies.

How will other EU member states react?

For Sophie Pornschlegel, director of studies at the Brussels-based think tank Europe Jacques Delors, Macron was picking up on a theme he pitched seven years ago in his first Europe speech at the Sorbonne — in which he had called for more "European sovereignty."

"Macron has a good nose for what's relevant in politics. He understands how Europe works and is right to say more cooperation and integration are needed — that's the only way to defend Europe's interests," she said, adding that it was good that one of Europe's main leaders was taking such a pro-European stance.

"It will be interesting to see how other EU members react — will they pick up some of his ideas?" she wondered.

The presidential Elysee Palace underlined in a recent press briefing that more European sovereignty had indeed been attained since 2017. "Under the initiative of France, the EU stood united in support of Ukraine, we came up with joint industrial and technological policies and have changed our view on free-trade agreements to better protect European industries," a spokesman said.

"It's normal for France to make a contribution to the EU's next strategic agenda," the spokesman added. The five-year road map will be discussed by member states in late June.

Pornschlegel agrees with that take — to a degree.

"Some of his 2017 propositions weren't achieved — such as a eurozone budget and much stronger tax cooperation — but at least Macron has new ideas for Europe, as opposed to other countries, such as Germany, that are just blocking things," she said.

 'Not just a European speech'

But Benjamin Morel, a political scientist and lecturer for public law at Paris-Pantheon-Assas University, doubts Macron was only speaking in anticipation of the new strategic agenda.

"Europe is one of Macron's core issues — he's aiming to boost his party's currently bleak prospects ahead of this June's EU parliamentary elections," he told DW.

Current polls predict that Valerie Hayer, the candidate for the president's Renaissance party, will take about 16% of the vote — compared to roughly 30% for Jordan Bardella of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN). Moreover, the socialist-centrist candidate Raphael Glucksmann is right on Hayer's heels.

"A poor result in the EU elections would turn his mandate into a lame duck presidency and destroy what's left of his authority," Morel stressed.

Less then a third of French voters currently have a favorable opinion of President Macron, according to the latest polls.

"But I doubt Macron's speech today will have filled French voters with enthusiasm," said Morel.

Catherine Fieschi, a visiting fellow at the Florence-based European University Institute's Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies and author of the book "Populocracy," seconded that view.

"It's very peculiar because according to opinion polls, most of the French are pro-European and strongly oppose a Frexit, i.e., France leaving the EU," she told DW.

"But they also seem to take Europe and the euro for granted and many of them have no problem voting for the very anti-European RN," she added.

To Fieschi, today's speech didn't feel like a campaign event.

"He was taking stock of what had been done in Europe and saying we needed to do much better — but he wasn't speaking to French voters," she said.

If the current trend continues unabated, the RN could win more seats in the European Parliament than in 2019, when the party took 23% of the vote.

With other far-right movements across Europe also polling strongly, the nationalist block "Identity and Democracy" could overtake Macron's EU group Renew, currently the third-largest bloc in the European Parliament and one that is extremely influential when it comes to EU decisions.

https://www.dw.com/en/sorbonne-speech-will-macrons-european-plea-be-heard/a-68922067

 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced initiatives to boost defense ties between the Germany and the United Kingdom on Wednesday.

The announcement was made in a joint press conference during Sunak's first visit to Berlin since becoming prime minister 18 months ago, and a day after he met NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Poland.

What did Sunak and Scholz say on UK-Germany cooperation?

The plans included the joint development of Remote-Controlled Howitzer 155mm Wheeled Artillery Systems (RCH 155).

The leaders also discussed collaboration on energy and renewables, with Scholz saying Berlin planned to carry out a study on the feasibility of trading hydrogen between the two countries.

"The UK and Germany are European powerhouses," Sunak said in a statement. "Together, we are stronger — whether that is defending against Russian aggression or driving economic growth and technological advance."

During the press conference, Scholz stressed that an aid package approved by the US Senate does not free European countries from the responsibility to continue supporting Ukraine.

He said Berlin sought to work with London on the Europe-wide air defense project called the European Sky Shield Initiative , which is aimed at plugging holes in air defense capabilities.

Scholz added that there was no change in Germany's opposition to sending Ukraine long-range Taurus missiles. Berlin has long opposed the deliveries, arguing that they could hit targets deep within Russia.

Security situation and war in Ukraine high on agenda

Germany is Ukraine's second-biggest supplier of military aid after the US and has been pushing other countries to supply Kyiv with additional Patriot defense systems to repel Russian attacks.

Though Scholz has faced criticism for refusing to send Taurus long-range missiles, he has led efforts to supply Kyiv with more Patriot systems under the NATO framework.

In March, Berlin confirmed a €1.3 billion ($1.38 billion) order for four Patriot air defense systems, with the first one expected to be delivered by the end of 2025. Earlier this month, Germany pledged a third Patriotsystem. 

"Germany and the UK are the two largest defense spenders in Europe and are the two countries which have been at the forefront of providing support to Ukraine," Sunak said in Poland on Tuesday.

"I'm confident that that will continue, and we are actually in the process of strengthening our defense and security cooperation with the Germans," he added.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has prompted many European countries to increase defense spending, with EU officials hoping to see a more efficient collective effort rather than multiple national policies.

Earlier this year, the European Commission unveiled ambitious plans for a €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) defense industry program aimed at boosting weapons production and procurement and reducing reliance on US armaments.

On Tuesday in Warsaw, Sunak announced that the United Kingdom would raise defense spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030, higher than NATO's target of spending 2%.

rm,sdi/sms (Reuters, AP) 

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-uk-boost-defense-ties-after-berlin-talks/a-68905402

 

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assistant spies......

LONDON — A British parliamentary researcher has been charged with spying for China alongside another man.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced Monday that Christopher Cash — who was employed as a researcher by Conservative foreign affairs committee chair Alicia Kearns — has been charged with “providing prejudicial information to a foreign state, China,” alongside another man, Christopher Berry.

Announcing the charges, Nick Price, head of the CPS’ counter terror division, said in a statement that his team had “today authorized the Metropolitan Police to charge two men with espionage offenses.”

Christopher Berry, 32, and Christopher Cash, 29, will be charged with providing prejudicial information to a foreign state, China, and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, 26 April.”

Price added: “Criminal proceedings against the defendants are active. No-one should report, comment or share information online which could in any way prejudice their right to a fair trial.”

In a separate statement, Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met Police’s counter Terrorism command, said his force had overseen an “extremely complex investigation into what are very serious allegations.”

Cash was arrested in March last year and said he was “completely innocent” in a statement released by his lawyers when the arrest became public in September. Both men have been bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, April 26.

https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-conservative-party-researcher-spy-china-christopher-berry-christopher-cash/

 

Jian Guo, a German citizen of Chinese origin, was arrested in Dresden on Monday, 23 April, accused of spying for China.

Guo was a parliamentary assistant for Maximilian Krah, a member of the EU parliament and the AfD’s lead candidate for the upcoming European parliamentary elections on June 9.

Both Krah and Petr Bystron, number two on the AfD list for the June election, are facing investigations over foreign interference. The FBI last year questioned Krah during his trip to the US over alleged payments from sources close to the Kremlin. Bystron was accused of participating – knowingly or unknowingly – in a vast Russian disinformation operation.

Bystron, a Bavarian politician, was very involved with the "Voice of Europe" website at the heart of a Russian disinformation operation uncovered in March that aimed to undermine Western support for Ukraine. Bystron has been accused in the media of having received around €20,000 for his contributions to "Voice of Europe".

Alternative ‘against’ Germany

These mounting scandals give the impression that Germany's far-right party is a revolving door for infiltration by foreign agents, especially from authoritarian regimes such as Russia and China.

“The AfD has become a security risk” for Germany, wrote conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The magazine Der Spiegel also weighed in, asking in its newsletter of Tuesday 24 April: “Is the AfD an Alternative against Germany?"

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240426-has-germany-s-far-right-afd-become-a-gateway-for-chinese-and-russian-spies

 

 

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AfD....

 

AfD Popularity Continues to Ride in Second Place as Crack Downs on Accused Espionage Cases Begin

 

A poll released just two weeks ago showed the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) as the most favorable party with 31% of prospective voters indicating that they would vote for them. However, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) came in second place with 18% according to the Statista poll.

Germany’s right-wing political party the Alternative for Germany (AfD) first gained popularity in opinion polls last spring. It entered the federal parliament in 2017 as the first time that a right-wing party has been elected since the 1950s. Anger swelled as millions protested the party when, in mid-January, politicians from the party reportedly met the head of the rightwing extremist Identitarian Movement and neo-Naxi activists to discuss a “masterplan” for mass deportations in Germany.

On Thursday, Sputnik’s Fault Lines spoke with George Szamuely, a senior research fellow at the Global Policy Institute and author. Szamuely explained that despite Germany’s history with Nazism, there is a growing favorability for the AfD party as a way to confront frustrations surrounding immigration, a suffering economy, and the government’s support of a proxy war in Ukraine.

“Germany is supposed to be the industrial powerhouse of Europe. It's an export-driven economy. And, if Germany is having to pay two, three, four times as much for energy as it has in the past, then basically German manufactured products cease to be competitive, and then Germany ceases to be the economic dynamo that it's supposed to be,” said Szamuely.

 

 

“I think the shift can be explained by Europe essentially losing its independence on sovereignty, of becoming an appendage of the US, and waging a war in Ukraine against Russia,” the researcher added. “So European economies are in very poor shape. European industries are in poor shape. Energy prices are through the roof. And much of it can be blamed on this war that Europe has been pushed into.”

 

“So, I think Germans are getting very anxious about their future,” he added. “The Germans are increasingly realizing that, well, this war is doing very nicely for the US, it's not doing anything for the Germans.”

Szamuely suggested that while the AfD party is primarily concerned with immigration, they also “want peace” including an immediate peace in Ukraine. The party, he adds, has also expressed “considerable skepticism about NATO” and “German participation in NATO”, and more importantly the party wants to address how to make Germany’s manufacturing industry “the powerhouse of the world again”.

“The migrant crisis, it's always been kind of bubbling under the surface in Germany for many years,” he explained. “After the war, they started bringing in Turkish migrant laborers and then the Turks kind of settled down into Germany. So, there was a certain amount of resentment towards that.”

 

 

“And, somehow there is a birth dearth in Europe. There's a shortage of labor in Europe. And the only way of resolving this problem is by importing migrants. I think it's a completely ridiculous argument, but nonetheless, it's an argument that is very fashionable and very dominant in Europe,” he added. “Now, you're right to say that there has been a reaction against that because - the reaction has expressed itself in the rise of the populist right.”

 

Sputnik’s Melik Abdul agreed with his guest’s comment, adding that defense contractors in the US as well as the military industrial complex as whole are “benefitting” from the Ukraine war. The US recently approved about $60 billion in funding for Ukraine, as Kiev looks to replenish its artillery shells and anti-aircraft missiles.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240426/afd-popularity-continues-to-ride-in-second-place-as-crack-downs-on-accused-espionage-cases-begin-1118118801.html

 

 

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macronleon de gaulle.....

Macron unleashes the geographical weapon against Russia

Not long ago the French leader believed the continent was almost as big as Africa. Now he’s reduced it in size by about 75%

By Kommersant FM political observer Dmitry Drize

 

French President Emmanuel Macron has delivered a speech on the future of our shared continent. He’s calling for reform of the Old World, as otherwise it is at risk of dying.

His general impression is that what he calls Europe is too sluggish, too clumsy, and often unable to meet many modern challenges. According to him, it is also essential to continue supporting Ukraine. At the same time, the head of the Fifth Republic formulated the thesis of a single territory of values from Lisbon to Odessa, whereas earlier he spoke of a great Europe extending to Russia’s Far Eastern capital Vladivostok.

Kommersant FM political observer Dmitry Drize does not rule out a final break between the West and Russia.

This is known to be a reference to Charles de Gaulle’s famous phrase about a multipolar world in Europe “from the Atlantic to the Urals.” Russian official sources recalled that Macron said at a joint press conference with President Vladimir Putin in 2020 that he “believes in Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok.”

But now Ukraine is being helped – long-range missiles and other equipment are being transferred, albeit with delays. As for Russia, it appears that we have been somehow excluded from Europe. Geographically, a large part of our country is still there, and it is not possible to change the existing order of things. Mentally, however, in terms of today’s values, they are saying, ‘We will do without you.’

That sounds a little offensive. But there is nothing surprising about it, because not only is the Russian Federation seen as the main threat, but they are claiming that we will attack NATO countries. Some have even named the supposed dates for such attacks.

But the interesting thing is that Russian travel agencies are seeing an increase in demand for the Old World. There are queues for Schengen visas, and consulates are overwhelmed. Italy, Spain and France are still popular destinations. This is despite the fact that the cost of travel has multiplied and these countries are unfriendly, if not downright hostile. Why is that? It’s hard to say. But this strange and supposedly decaying world is still attractive.

Or perhaps we are not enemies at all? Even the West does not fully understand this. 

And here it is time to return to big politics. It is safe to say that we are now in the process of considering how to proceed: whether to separate completely – out of sight, out of mind – or to leave the door slightly ajar.

But there is a strong sense that this door is about to slam shut. And there is not much time left to stop it. So the demand for European tourist trips is justified – you should seize the opportunity while it lasts. Events are moving too fast. Macron has changed, one might say, from a dove to a hawk before our very eyes. It’s hard to imagine now that he was once scolded for his apparent loyalty to Russia.

 

This article was first published by Kommersant, translated and edited by the RT team

 

https://www.rt.com/news/596765-dmitry-drize-macron-europe/

 

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