Report 2021, No. 8

Home , Farid Azarkan, Jean Messiha, Lilian Marijnissen, Menno Snel, Pernille Vermund, Stella Kyriakides

News Agency on Conservative Europe

Report 2021, No. 8.

Report on conservative and right wing Europe 20th April, 2021

GERMANY

1. jungefreiheit.de (translated, original by jungefreiheit.de, 19.04.2021)

"Blackfacing"

Bayerischer Rundfunk deletes satirical figure: "Artistic freedom has limits" media

MUNICH. Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) has defended its decision not to show the fictional character “Maxwell Strauss” in the future. “Freedom of art and freedom of expression are undoubtedly very valuable goods, and that is what Bayerischer Rundfunk stands for. However, artistic freedom has limits - namely when people are discriminated or degraded, ”said a BR spokesman on Monday of YOUNG FREEDOM.

Both the director of the public broadcasting corporation, Katja Wildermuth, presented both in the Broadcasting Council on Friday. The BR also decided to "initiate a discussion of values in the house". A BR spokesman said on Friday after the Broadcasting Council of the German Press Agency: "We have agreed that Maxwell Strauss will no longer perform."

Cabaret artist with black make-up

The background was an issue of the program “SchleichFernsehen” from the beginning of April . In it, the cabaret artist Helmut Schleich played the fictional dark-skinned son of the former Bavarian Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss (CSU) and made fun of current politics.

Schleich was made up in black, which caused criticism, especially in social media, and the accusation that Schleich had operated "blackfacing". This means that a white person puts on black make-up to imitate a person with dark skin. Because it was associated with derogatory stereotypes in the past, it is now considered racist for some.

However, the BR initially defended the section. “In a satirical format, however, the artist must also be given a certain amount of freedom for satirical exaggerations. Artistic freedom is a valuable asset, but sometimes it also explores limits. ”The artist also emphasized:“ It is precisely through an invented son Maxwell Strauss that I show the import of neo-colonial structures from the global north to Africa. ”

WDR also comes under fire

However, some employees were not satisfied with this. The representative of the Foreigners, Migrants and Integration Advisory Councils in the Broadcasting Council, Hamado Dipama, criticized "Blackfacing" as a racist practice, according to the editorial network Germany. He did not understand the editorial decision. “Artistic freedom has limits.” According to this, individual broadcasting councils supported him with requests to speak in the digital meeting of the supervisory board.

Other broadcasters were recently confronted with "blackfacing" allegations. The WDR apologized for broadcasting a carnival program in which two men painted black could be seen. He also censored the scene in the media library. (ls)

2. jungefreiheit.de (translated, original by jungefreiheit.de, 19.04.2021)

Toy museum removes exhibits after allegations of racism society

NUREMBERG. The toy museum in Nuremberg removed several toys from its exhibition after allegations of racism. It is about a total of ten pieces that are "clearly racist or at least complicated," said museum director Karin Falkenberg to the portal in Franconia . In addition, there are about 70 other exhibits in the museum depot that are worthy of criticism.

The toy museum reacted to the criticism of a visitor from the USA with Afro-American roots. The stumbling block was a dancing sheet metal wind-up figure with the imprint "Alabama Coon Jigger" on it. “Coon” is a dirty word for black people in the USA, “Jigger” is a parasite from the sand flea family. Falkenberg explained that this portrayed black people in a degrading way as subordinates of the white population.

Illustration of a "jigger"

According to Falkenberg, this complaint was received in the summer of 2017. “That is pure racism that you are showing! This object hurts me and all people with Afro-American roots! ”Said the visitor.

Main exhibition is revised

The toy company Ernst-Paul Lehmann produced the criticized exhibit "Alabama Coon Jigger" around 1912. "The toy manufacturers weren't all racists," Falkenberg told the news portal, but they also reflected the views of their time in children's toys.

In response, those responsible for the toy museum led so-called diversity-sensitive visitors with experiences of discrimination through the entire toy museum in 2017 and 2018. Then it was decided to revise the main exhibition in the Nuremberg Toy Museum.

Everyone carries everyday racism

From July 15, visitors can now view the exhibits on a “racism-sensitive path with five stations”. They are provided with comments or actions on the toy. The museum is convinced 4 that one should show the figures in order to talk about them. After all, everyone carries everyday racism. "I also have divisive thoughts in me, that's normal," said Falkenberg.

At the beginning of March 2020, the museum's employees also took part in an anti-racism workshop. According to Falkenberg, it was important to become aware of the “racism within us”. One should not take the erroneous opinion that one would sufficiently deal with topics such as sustainability, diversity sensitivity or "queer" life. “As a rule, we cannot deal with these issues, especially not as white Germans of the majority society,” she said. (hl)

3. tichyseinblick.de (translated, original by tichyseinblick.de, 19.04.2021)

VOLUNTARY SELF-CENSORSHIP

Hessian Ministry of Culture warns teachers against showing Mohammed cartoons

After several attacks on school staff who showed caricatures of Mohammed, the Hessian Ministry of Education is now drawing a questionable conclusion. Teachers are advised to voluntarily self-censor.

"The fear is there" reports the President of the Bavarian Teachers' Association, Simone Fleischmann, in relation to the threatening consequences for teachers if they show caricatures of Mohammed in class. Since the murder of the Paris geography and history teacher Samuel Paty, who showed his students caricatures of the prophet Mohammed, teachers have been under increasing pressure to simply refrain from addressing them.

The Ministry of Culture in Hesse has now provided further evidence of this dubious development. In an email from the Hessian Ministry of Culture to the 1,800 school principals in Hesse, which WamS first reported on, it says: “Showing the Mohammed caricatures or any graphic representation of the Prophet Mohammed can be interpreted as behavior critical of Islam, which can be emotional and under certain circumstances also mobilizing how radicalizing can have an effect on the group of recipients, including schoolchildren. "

In addition to hostility and nasty remarks, in individual cases there could also be “police- relevant assaults up to and including serious acts of violence”, according to the mail to the school principal. At the request of Welt am Sonntag, the LKA also advised to deal with the topic complex in the educational process in a de-escalating manner, due to the radicalizing effects simply by showing such caricatures.

A British teacher was recently suspended because he had shown cartoons of Mohammed (to demonstrate against racism) and the Muslim community took massive public action against the school. Something similar happened in Belgium ( TE reported in each case). Apparently, more and more school authorities are coming to the conclusion that it is easier to censor your own teachers than to deal with the problem substantially. That should be entirely in the spirit of the violent perpetrators.

4. magyarhirlap.hu (translated, original by Mariann Őry, 17.04.2021)

Back to common sense

A new Austrian news portal, Exxpress, recently wrote about the return of political conservatism

According to Anna Dobler, journalist of news portal Exxpress, while Angela Merkel treated her conservative values in the party she led, Sebastian Kurz, at the head of the Austrian People's Party, took the party's original line and was more successful than the German sister party. Although it is not very welcome from a conservative point of view that Kurz is co- governing with the Greens, Dobler said he had strengthened his own stance to counterbalance the Austrian chancellor's balliberal partner. In Germany, on the other hand, we see that, realistically assessing the possibilities for coalition after the autumn federal parliamentary elections, they are seeking the graces of the left instead of their own image.

Many of the views of the Austrian People's Party are also reflected in the documents of the German CDU's conservative platform, Werteunion. There is a conservative-liberal struggle in the party, one manifestation of which is that - quoting Dobler - the “Berlin bubble” opposes the candidacy of Hans-Georg Maaßen, the former head of constitutional defense, for a 6 parliamentary term, some say that politician criticizing Merkel’s migration policy into the image as they want to see or show the CDU. Merging with liberals, losing an independent image, is not a good idea in either German or EU politics.

The European People's Party is no longer the political home of the Conservatives, no matter how much some politicians in the party family ask themselves that they are the true Christian Democrats. Donald Tusk, the president of the People's Party, has not really been distinguished from balliberal politicians in Brussels in recent days. His Twitter posts could have been written either by Liberal leader Dacian Ciolos, or by essentially anyone on the left.

Tusk has long been unable to say anything new, there are times when he borrows accusations one by one from his liberal friends, and most recently he also drew inspiration from the death campaign of the Hungarian balliberal side. He wrote on Twitter these days that tragic records are being broken in Hungary and Poland - where his political opponents are in power - lo and behold, such are these “illiberal” governments.

Katalin Novák aptly put on the same community page what the problem was with Tusk's post: "You did nothing to stop the virus, yet now you are politicizing deaths while pretending to be a Christian Democrat." And really! Since the beginning of the epidemic, he has heard nothing from Tusk but an attack. As we have just seen, there is no sign of inhibitions or of feeling good in it. Some politicians in the European People's Party, led by Tusk, had nothing more important in the rage of the third wave than to attack and mock Fidesz.

And we have reason to believe that the president of Europe's strongest party family could do something more useful in a situation like this. If you want, of course.

The liberal elite of Europe, to which the People's Party wants to belong so much, has long been in crisis. The European Union is struggling with the insignificance of its own world politics, not sitting in the chair of those who decide the world’s affairs, but away, on the couch. Brussels is completely lost in the Soros network: Vera Jourová is constantly negotiating with representatives of Soros NGOs, and it is telling that the author of the EP report, full of lies, Judith Sargentini is not far from the fire, working in the Doctors Without Borders.

One of the pillars of the European renaissance proclaimed in the Hungarian-Polish-Italian alliance is the return to conservatism - and above all to common sense.

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FRANCE

1. origo.hu (translated, original by origo.hu, 07.04.2021)

Four African immigrants torture and kidnap the deadly Frenchman Bernard Tapie and his wife

Francois Mitterrand’s Minister of Urban Development, and otherwise billionaire businessman Bernard Tapie and his wife were hit by a brutal attack at home, attacked by four burglars in their dreams, tied up and beaten.

Bernard Tapie has been seriously ill for years, had to deal with more tumors after his laryngeal cancer, and in a shocking interview in the fall he talked about not seeing a way out anymore. The international news agency V4NA has compiled a report on the brutal attack.

As Origo reported, billionaire French businessman Bernard Tapie was brutally attacked, with whom he and his wife Dominique Tapie

FOUR BLACKWEAR MEN IN HOOD ATTACKED AT HOME IN THEIR SLEEP. THEY WERE CLIMBED INTO THE HOUSE THROUGH THE REAR WINDOW, BINDED UP, AND THEN THEY WAS Beaten.

Despite several blows to his head, Bernard Tapie, who has been struggling with several cancers for years, did not seek medical attention, HIS WIFE HAS BEEN TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL.

BFMTV reported that two hours and jewelry had been robbed by burglars from a house in Combs-la-Ville, southwest of Paris, and according to THE BUSINESSMAN'S SON, THEY KNEW ACCURATELY WHO THE BURGLESS WERE. 8

Bernard Tapie, 78, was a successful businessman, politician, former minister, and his son said the attackers searched the house for a safe but could not find it. Bernard Tapie was the Minister of Urban Development of the Socialist Government in the early 1990s, winning the Champions League with Olympique Marseille (he owned OM), but at the same time Adidas was his. He has also starred in films such as one of Claude Lelouch’s masterpieces and even in theater. Jack Nicholson played the legendary role of McMurphy in his stage adaptation of Fly to the Cuckoo’s Nest in one of the largest private theaters in Paris.

The weekly Les valeurs actuelles, which reported on the incident, reported, citing police sources, that THE FOUR ATTACKING HIM HAVE AFRICAN MIGRANT BACKGROUND.

Tapie had previously accused the radical right-wing Marine Le Pen (RN) of making a false statement when he said that the increase in migration is linked to the fact that public security in France is deteriorating.

The citizenship of the invading migrants has not yet been disclosed, all that can be known is that three of them may be Black Africans, while one of them may be North African, so presumably Arab.

This was also spoken by Jean Messiha, a former anti-immigration National Conductor (RN) politician on Twitter, wishing the businessman improvement, but added that Bernard Tapie was able to experience reality in person.

Bernard Tapie's son, Stéphane Tapie, responded in an interview to Jean Messiha's Twitter post, which he called "disgraceful," noting that "the attack has nothing to do with migration," Tapie said the former politician was blurring things.

Jean Messiha’s entry sparked much controversy, the former politician has therefore stated that he fully sympathizes with the attacked Tapie couple, but believes that millions of French people who have fallen victim to criminal migrants deserve sympathy in the same way.

2. erdely.ma (translated, original by Sz.J., 14.04.2021)

"Dig the pit wider, let the Christian fit in it!" - A stirring interview with Alexandre Goodarzy

For years, the horrors of the Syrian civil war have been the central themes of news feeds. The war conflict has played and continues to play a key role in the wave of migration that has flooded Europe. Since then, the Islamization of Europe, the destruction of our Christian and traditional world, has continued.

Alexandre Goodarzy went where the whole process started. He toured and got to know the areas where a handful of Christian survivors were still trying to persevere. Their suffering, their cry for help, is a final warning to us as well. Because what happens there will reach us if we don't wake up.

One of the Belgian newspapers had a conversation with Alexandre Goodarzy. The interview was translated into Hungarian by the Belgian correspondent of Transylvania. For everyone to learn.

[The following interview was conducted by Jens De Rycke, a Belgian investigative journalist. He studied at Thomas College in Mechelen (Belgium). In recent years, he has spent much of his time in war-torn Syria. He mainly visited areas that are still under the control of President Bashar al-Assad today.]

When I set off back to Europe in the summer of 2015, I met Alexandre Goodarzy in bombed- out Damascus. Alexandre has spent the last few years in Syria to support Syrian Christians in the midst of war with the help of the French NGO “SOS Chrétiens d’Orient” [SOS Eastern Christians]. He was taken hostage in Iraq last year, after his release he decided to summarize his experiences in the form of a book. The title of his book is “Guerrier de la paix” [Warrior of Peace].

- How does the story of you and the Syrian Christians begin?

- As a university lecturer, I taught about geopolitics in the Middle East. One of my students once mentioned that there is a small group of French people who went to Damascus in Syria to celebrate Christmas. It all seemed surreal. I quickly contacted the tour operator and in 2014 I was already able to travel with them to Ma’loula [Syria] to celebrate Christmas there 10 together. Since the city had already been liberated by the Syrian army, this was possible. When I returned to France after the holiday, I felt that something had changed in me, it had become a new mission in my life. I know this sounds strange, in the liberal West, people are mostly concerned with material things and almost nothing with spiritual ones. I even felt like Syria was calling me back. So I quit my job and when the SOS Chrétiens d’Orient [SOS Eastern Christians] decided to open a mission in Syria as well, I went with them in 2015.

"What was your first impression when you arrived in war-torn Syria?"

"I have been to Syria several times before the war broke out." It was awful to see the devastation caused by the war. Fortunately, the cordial hospitality of the Syrian people has not changed. As strange as it may sound, life even in Aleppo went on almost as usual. Syrian Christians in particular feared the fall of Assad, because in that case the power of the country would be seized by the Islamists. For them, this would be the end of their freedom.

- How did Syrian Christians become a target?

“At the beginning of the Syrian revolution, many Syrians, regardless of their faith, gathered for the same reason demanding a change on the street. This quickly changed when Islamists began to take armed action against Assad. As an example, while at the beginning of the outbreak of the revolution one of the much repeated slogans was "Christians to Beirut, Alavites to the grave!" [The Alavita sect, a branch of the Shiite Islamic religion], which then quickly changed to, "Dig a pit wider, let the Christian fit in it!". During the war, churches and monasteries were deliberately destroyed. The aim was to completely destroy the country’s pre-Islamic history. The persecution of Christians was encouraged by foreign imams and warriors brought to Syria with Western and Turkish support. All traces of Christian existence are removed.

- How can SOS Eastern Christians help?

- In the area between Damascus and Homs, we have rebuilt houses, schools and churches to provide space for Christian communities again. In cities like Homs and Aleppo, we have focused on emergency assistance. We distributed food, dug wells, distributed clothes during the cold winter months ... One of our most beautiful deeds was when we managed to organize a summer camp for 3,000 children around Aleppo in Wadi al-Nasara, the Valley of Christians. With this, too, we were able to create at least a break for the children who were constantly forced to bomb and go with the horrors of war.

- What do you think about the future of Syrian Christians?

- The situation is deplorable. Previously, two million Christians lived in Syria. In the meantime, more than half of them have left the country and the trend has not changed since then. It is becoming increasingly difficult for people of different religions to live together. Many Christians feel betrayed. Their former Muslim neighbors would join foreign Muslims on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood rather than remain in a normal human relationship with their Christian neighbors, with whom they often grew up in a community. Something was permanently broken in Syrian society. And then I didn’t even talk about the country’s economic disaster. I spoke to some Syrian Christians who, in desperation, decided to join a Russian mercenary to fight in Libya and then send them to Venezuela. It is also telling that while at the beginning of the war Christians were still proud to fight for their families and villages, today the same Syrians, as desperate people, regret not emigrating from here when they could.

- You also talk about the hostage situation in Iraq in his book. Can you tell me about this?

- In January 2020, some of my colleagues and I took part in a mission to Iraq. After Trump killed Iranian General Soleimani in Baghdad [the capital of Iraq], the atmosphere became terribly tense. As larger demonstrations were scheduled for Friday, we were afraid that our Saturday flight would be canceled, so we went to an office to request that our flight be changed to a later date. The man in the office disappeared for a long time. Later, when we wanted to leave by taxi, they surrounded us and so that no one could follow our movements, they took our cell phones as well. I was terrified and thought that “IS” [Islamic State] had taken us hostage. Thoughts of martyrdom and the terrible torture that went with it circled in my head. Eventually we arrived at a farm where one of the people behaved as if he was blowing a Passage slice. He was the "colonel." He interrogated us, but he didn’t believe we were working for a Christian NGO. He was accused of espionage and suspected that we were interested in undermining the stability of the country. We fell into the hands of a Shiite militia that claimed to be acting on behalf of the government. Of course, we had no idea who really had taken us hostage, we believed that they could sell us to IS at any time, or they could execute us themselves at any time.

- You were detained for several weeks. How was your life spent as a hostage?

“During our captivity, they tried to break us not so much physically as they were spiritually. One day they said they would be released soon, and the next day they were advised to say goodbye to our family members in thought because we would never see them again. Many times we had to schedule a piece of canned tuna for several days. When we were taken back to Baghdad - because a cell had been set up for us there - we heard in the cells above us that people were being tortured. I still remember a woman’s death bronze clearly, it stays with me until my death (silent silence). All we could do was pray not to break up completely, at least spiritually. After nine weeks in captivity, the colonel returned and said he had a good 12 reputation. You release us because a virus is spreading fast, which is killing many people around the world. This is hard to believe in retrospect, but I am probably one of the very few who owes their lives to the Covid-19 epidemic. Hostage-taking, for higher ransom, usually takes years. The pandemic fuzzy the hostage-takers ’plan. We were released near the French embassy in Baghdad, saying that our hostage was never about money, but was a message to the West: a different fate awaits the nearest French hostage. They wanted to voice their message that Western governments would stop supporting the IS [Islamic State].

"After years in the Middle East, he's home again in France." What are your plans for the future?

- Anyone who knows the Middle East foresees the future of Europe. I will tell all my volunteer colleagues that they know that their mission really begins when they return to France to bear witness to their experience in Syria. I have seen how fanatical Muslims in the Middle East are persecuting Christians and pushing their country to destruction. Now that I see exactly the same Islamic movements strengthening across Europe, my heart is squeezing and I have a hard time thinking about our future. With my book, I want to show people my own personal experiences so that we can try to avoid a similar fate in Europe. However, when I see that even the Arab dictators are giving up the fight once and for all, I have to conclude, unfortunately, that this is the fate of Europe's leaders.

3. hirado.hu (translated, original by hirado.hu, 13.04.2021)

Muslim women want to blow up temple at Easter - Islamic radicalism in Europe

They reopened a mosque in France whose imam shared an inciting video on Facebook last fall, as a result of which radical Islamists executed French history teacher Samuel Paty on the open street. Five extremist Muslim women planned a bombing attack at Easter against a Catholic church in Montpellier. In Sweden, six women of Syrian descent have been arrested on charges of supporting terrorism, but the chances of justice are slim: despite a law passed last year, no one has been held accountable in the liberal Scandinavian country so far.

The mosque in Pantin, France, whose leading imam posted an inciting video on his Facebook page last October, reopened on Friday. 13

The extreme video message led to the beheading of a French high school history teacher, Samuel Paty, on an open street in Paris.

The reopening of the mosque was announced by the prefect of the immigrant-densely populated county of Seine-Saint-Denis after the former head of the mosque and video publisher, Mohammed Henniche, resigned and resigned. This fulfilled the condition of the French Minister of the Interior Gérard Darmanin, who set a goal for the reopening of the mosque, which unites 1,300 Muslim believers, wrote the online edition of Le Parisien.

At Easter, they wanted to blow a Catholic church into the air

Five extremist Muslim women were arrested in Béziers, France, for a blasted assassination attack on a Catholic church in Montpellier at Easter. According to the mayor of Béziers, Robert Ménard, it is a Muslim immigrant family whose members have recently been radicalized. The five women, one of whom is only 18 years old, were captured by French counterterrorism commandos. One of them has been observed for some time, as the Islamic State watched the beheading videos of a terrorist organization on the Internet and tried to contact the organization.

He then sent e-mails stating that Christian Easter should be “celebrated” with an assassination, such as the bombing of a Catholic church in Montpellier Le Parisien reported.

The Le Point news portal learned that counter-terrorists had found explosives during a search of a Muslim family.

Le Figaro in Paris last week released a longer report on another dangerous group of Muslim women sympathizing with terrorists in France.

The paper also mentioned the arrest of two women in the city of Nimes who transferred money to their third sister in Syria, who is registered as a terrorist by the authorities.

Six returning ISIS wives in Sweden are charged with war crimes

Six Swedish women, who are the wives of members of a terrorist organization called the Islamic State, have recently been suspected of involvement in war crimes and have recently returned from Sweden to Sweden. The Swedish anti-terrorism law passed last year has never been applied, as authorities say the allegations were "difficult to prove".

Spain is sending African migrants home with taxpayers' money

Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya has reached an agreement with the Algerian government to eradicate illegal migration from the North African country. Shortly afterwards, the Spanish Ministry of the Interior announced that it was earmarking € 600,000 a month for the repatriation of immigrants, part of which would be covered by the economic aid package expected from the European Union. The resettlements, like in Germany, will take place by plane and will be borne by the Spanish state, ie the taxpayers.

4. mandiner.hu (translated, original by mandiner.hu, 20.04.2021)

Macron: France suffers from racism due to its colonial past

The president says we need to reinterpret their history.

In a way, we need to reinterpret our own history, French Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with American CBS television, in which he spoke, among others, about France suffering from racism due to its colonial past. The politician also spoke about Russia and Ukraine. “It takes a quiet and open dialogue to understand what and how it happened and we need to reinterpret our own history in some way,” Macron put it. According to the French president

the issue of racial discrimination needs to be addressed, and its means is to reinterpret history. As he said, the United States and Europe face common challenges such as inequality, hate speech, social tensions, and the racial issue. He stressed that his country has launched several programs in the fight against discrimination and racism.

American example

The French president explained that he believed the United States had properly addressed the problem of segregation in the 1960s and managed to reorganize its society. But, as he put it, France and America have different histories, different traumas, even if there are common phenomena. In this context, he noted that France was “a colonial country, many people came (to the country) from former colonies, such as the African continent”. He explained racism in 15

France, but, as he said, “we need to go to the root of this phenomenon” and “get rid of racism”. He promised a strong policy based on a calm and open dialogue to this end.

We need to take action against the Russians, but we also need dialogue

Emmanuel Macron called what is happening on the Russian-Ukrainian border counterproductive and unacceptable and, as he put it, Russia should definitely reduce military tensions. He believes the world’s leading powers need to draw a “clear red line” against Russia, and if it (Russia) crosses this, “we need to consider possible sanctions,” he added. According to the French President, diplomatic action on Ukraine needs to be stepped up. “The United States, Europe, all of us must be very clear about Russia,” he said, adding that no further Russian military operations are acceptable on Ukrainian soil.

“This is the only way to be credible,” the French head of state said. He said sanctions alone are not enough, but they are part of the package. However, Macron also stressed that he agreed with US President Joe Biden's intention to enter into a dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I am confident that President Putin is ready to resume dialogue" - stressed the French head of state, who welcomed the "possibility of an open, calm and respectful dialogue" with Moscow.

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ITALY

1. affaritaliani.it (translated, original by affaritaliani.it, 17.04.2021)

Polls: Lega, Salvini beating. Fdi, Giorgia Meloni flies. Pd-M5S .. THE NUMBERS 16

Polls, Lega, Pd, M5S, Fratelli d'Italia, Forza Italia, Italia Viva, Action ... The trends of political parties

Polls, Lega di Matteo Salvini down. Pd by Enrico Letta, slight growth

The League of Matteo Salvini loses half a point in the polls , and falls to 22.4%. The Democratic Party of Enrico Letta takes advantage but not too much: it grows by 0.1%, rises to 18.8% now the gap between the Democratic Party and the Carroccio is just over three and a half points. These are the data from the Supermedia polls of April 15, 2021 created by YouTrend for AGI.

Polls, Brothers of Italy goes up. Giorgia Meloni approaches the Democratic Party. M5S at 17%

If the League falls, Brothers of Italy will take care of holding up the flag of the center-right: Fdl earns it and reaches 17.4%. Giorgia Meloni is ever closer to the Democratic Party (less than a point and a half) and gains ground on the M5S which, however, records a slightly positive trend in the polls and reaches 17% (+ 0.1%). Overall, the top 4 Italian parties are getting closer and closer: between the first League and the 5 Star Movement the gap is only 5.4 points.

Polls, Forza Italia well: Silvio Berlusconi goes up. Ok Calenda action

Well Come on Italy . For Silvio Berlusconi and his blues, 7.7% (+ 0.2%). Behind the same trend per share of Calenda (3.5% and two tenths up), while Italia Viva di Matteo Renzi is stable at 3.1%. Note a certain growth of the Greens , while Art.1-MDP , the party of Minister Speranza , falls(and perhaps recent controversies have contributed to this weakening). In line with the "cooling" of the opinions of Italians towards Mario Draghi and his government (detected by all the institutes), the overall consensus of majority parties also begins to decline, which falls below 77% - even if at this stage the decline appears to be attributable almost entirely to the decline in the center-right component, and in the Lega in particular.

Sondagg, Lega goes down. Fratelli d'Italia and Forza Italia recover. PD-M5s pretty good Lega 22.4 (-0.5) PD 18.8 (+0.1) FDI 17.4 (+0.3) M5S 17.0 (+0.1) Forza Italia 7.7 (+0.2 ) Action 3.5 (+0.2) Italia Viva 3.1 (=) Italian Left 2.3 (+0.1) Greens 1.8 (+0.4) Art.1-MDP 1.5 (- 0.4) + Europe 1.5 (=)

SUPERMEDIA PARLIAMENT AREAS Majority Draghi 76.6 (-0.5) of which: - Giallorossi (PD-M5S-MDP) 37.4 (=) - center-right (Lega-FI-Toti) 31.2 (-0.5) - liberal center 8.0 (=) Right opposition (FDI) 17.4 (+0.3) Left opposition (SI) 2.3 (+0.1) SUPERMEDIA COALITIONS POL18 Center right 48.7 (-0.1) Center-left 26.9 (+0.2) M5S 17.0 (+0.1) LeU 3.9 (-0.1) Others 3.5 (- 0.1)

2. origo.hu (translated, original by origo.hu, 19.04.2021)

The judge hearing the case of Matteo Salvini became infamous for his questionable verdict

A judge hearing the case of Italian right-wing leader Matteo Salvini has previously handed down a remarkably mild verdict on a Libyan migrant woman spreading terrorist propaganda, writes the international news agency V4NA.

As Origo reported, former Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is being prosecuted for not allowing a ship operated by a Spanish fake organization called Open Arms to moor on Italian shores for 21 days in August 2019, with 147 illegal migrants on board.

Unaccompanied minors and patients were allowed to disembark on arrival of the ship, but adult migrants were required to remain on board. The charge against Salvini is, among other things, kidnapping.

PURSUANT TO SATURDAY'S DECISION, THE NEGOTIATION WILL BEGIN ON SEPTEMBER 15, AT THE END OF WHICH SALVINI CAN BE PENALTED FOR UP TO 15 YEARS OF PRISON.

Judge Lorenzo Jannelli, who is hearing the case, explained the reasons for his accusation by saying that "in general, the population tends to fall for mood swings when they hear terrorist crimes, and they believe it is right to take decisive action even if elected leaders do so 18 illegally." According to Jannelli, the series of interior ministerial decrees issued by Matteo Salvini on dealing with the immigration emergency was an excessive intervention.

The Palermo-based judge had previously appeared in the news over a dubious verdict.

Four years ago, a 47-year-old woman with a Libyan migrant background, Khadiga Shabbit, a researcher at the University of Palermo ARRESTED FOR THE ONLINE DISSEMINATION OF ISLAMIC STATE (ISIS) AND ANSAR AL SHARIA TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS.

Then the prosecutor asked him to serve a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence. As the Gi Gialeale recalled, Judge Jannelli handed down a much milder sentence, ONE YEAR AND EIGHT MONTHS SUSPENDED AND IMPOSED OF THE DEFENDANT ON IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

Jannelli justified his decision by stopping terrorism, a wave of fear, not today by dismantling groups, but by a series of condemnations of certain individuals, which he said is not right. According to him, "terrorist attacks at the global level have caused deep wounds not only in human lives but also in the legal systems of the countries concerned, sometimes leading to confusing authoritarian politics".

Similarly, the judge considers the two security ordinances issued by Salvini during his home ministry to curb the wave of illegal immigration to be excessive.

3. index.hu (translated, original by DG, 12.04.2021)

In Rome, police and protesters fell on each other

Protesters and police clashed at another demonstration by traders and caterers in downtown Rome, where demonstrators tried to get to the parliament building on Monday afternoon due to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic, the MTI writes.

Hundreds of protesters occupied one of the central squares of the Italian capital. Participants in the unauthorized movement tried to get to the nearby House of Representatives, but this was prevented by a police cordon. "I'll open it!" The protest was also joined by merchants, caterers, tourism workers and musicians under the direction of Mohamed El Hawi, an 34- year-old Florentine restaurant owner of Egyptian descent. Demonstrators waved Italian flags.

The protest spoke out against the shortage caused by the pandemic. They demanded immediate reopening, state help, an exact date for restarting shops and restaurants. It was argued that epidemic data no longer justify strict restrictions.

Protesters threw objects, smoke bombs, firecrackers at police and nearby buildings. They held their hands high, some handcuffing themselves together. They asked the police to take off their assault helmets and stand on the side of the protesters.

We can't take it anymore

Cried a Sicilian restaurant into the TV cameras. The support they have received so far has been called a tip, voicing that without a summer season, they can never restart again. The departure of Prime Minister Mario Draghi has been called for, stating that nothing has changed since the resignation of former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

A similar demonstration took place on April 6, when demonstrators were pushed back by police in the square in front of the House of Representatives. Other catering organizations announced a demonstration in Rome on Tuesday, and air traffic workers will hold a move on Wednesday. According to previous figures from the Italian statistical office Istat, approximately one million jobs have been lost in Italy in the last year.

4. magyarhirlap.hu (translated, original by U.T., 25.03.2021)

In court, a distinction would be made between rescuing and illegal migration by the people of Lampedusa

More immigrants on the Ocean Viking

One hundred and sixteen immigrants moored aboard the SOS Méditerranée, a French NGO, Ocean Viking, in Augusta, Sicily.

The ship took the group on board in Libyan waters. Six of the immigrants tested positive for coronavirus. Giorgia Meloni, president of the Italian Brothers (FdI), spoke out on the community side because although the epidemic has “closed” Italy, the ports are still open. Meanwhile, Lampedusa residents have announced that they have hired a lawyer and filed a civil lawsuit against Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children NGOs to support illegal immigration.

The island’s residents have been “suffering for years from illegal migration from civilian shores off the Libyan coast,” said attorney Valter Biscotti. Biscotti also spoke to MTI, stressing this was the first time that the court “could clarify the line between mandatory maritime rescue and support for illegal immigration”. He noted that the people of Lampedusa and the whole of southern Italy should receive a “Nobel Prize” for the solidarity and inclusion they have shown for decades.

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SPAIN

1. vozpopuli.com (translated, original by Europa Press, 18.04.2021)

Abascal sees in the 4-M a "crossroads" for Spain: "At stake is the end of Sánchez and Iglesias"

He also cries out against the "useful vote" for the PP and warns that supporting Ayuso is supporting Casado's path to the Palacio de la Moncloa

Abascal raises the 4-M as a "crossroads" for Spain: "At stake is the end of Sánchez and Iglesias"The candidate of Vox to the Community of Madrid, Rocío Monasterio, and the president of the party, Santiago Abascal, at a campaign start rally in Móstoles EFE / Luca Piergiovanni

The leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal , has argued this Sunday that in the elections of next May 4 not only the Government of the Community of Madrid is disputed, but that "the beginning of the end" of the Government of Pedro Sánchez and the political future of the leader of United We Can, Pablo Iglesias .

Abascal has sponsored this Sunday the campaign start act of his 4-M candidate, Rocío Monasterio . And they have done it surrounded by thousands of citizens in the Plaza de Móstoles, in front of the monument to the mayor of the town who encouraged the citizens to rise up against the Napoleonic invasion in 1808, Andrés Torrejón. Vox has already chosen Covadonga (Asturias) to start the campaign for the general elections and has now chosen Móstoles as a symbol of "the strength of the population of Madrid" and their fight for "freedom."

In this sense, he stressed that the elections of next day 4 go beyond regional elections and therefore the objective of Vox is to prevent "the communists" from coming to power. "The 4- M are not regional elections, it is a crossroads for all of Spain. We are risking the beginning of the end of the Pedro Sánchez government and that the one with the bow (in reference to Iglesias) has to withdraw from politics and go to Cuba or Venezuela, "he encouraged.

Criticism of the PP. Will Ayuso accept the support of Vox?

In his speech he has also had criticism for the Popular Party, whom he has asked if he is willing to accept the support of Vox after the elections after its leader, Pablo Casado, broke relations with Vox in the motion of no confidence debated in Congress. in October.

Abascal has stressed that voting for the 'popular' candidate, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, is also supporting Casado, who "implores" Sánchez for agreements after the state of alarm or asks that they be vaccinated together against covid-19. "Some are not clear that with this Government infinite distance," he has proclaimed between shouts of his supporters against the leader of the PP. "We are alone and there is only Vox - he insisted -. We give peace of mind 22 to the Spaniards by being away from Pedro Sánchez. With Pedro Sánchez we neither get vaccinated, nor inherit nor go to a party."

As an example, he has put the recently approved children's law - which he has called the "Herod law" -, which only received the vote against in Congress from Vox and the PNV. "Children can be killed in two ways, by killing the child or by killing his innocence," he accused.

In this context, Abascal has insisted in his speech against a government that he claims is made up of "fools, fools and fools", but who are also "dangerous individuals" because "they do not believe in freedom. He has addressed Iglesias as "cynical, liar and criminal", while Sánchez has been defined as "liar, cynical and psychopath".

"There is no helpful vote"

He has also accused both of "inciting and protecting" the violence against Vox in the act of presentation of the candidacy in Vallecas, as well as the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska. But he has celebrated that they have found themselves facing a "brave" party that "does not ask for forgiveness or permission" to visit all the neighborhoods and "raise all the flags that the cowardly right had thrown to the ground."

Abascal has insisted on this point on Sánchez's "betrayal" of his voters, agreeing with "separatists, communists and terrorists", and has recognized that this is not what the "good people" who voted for the socialists in previous elections wanted . "He has lied," he has warned his voters.

In addition, to citizens who may be undecided between Vox and the PP, he has assured them that in these elections "there is no useful vote." "Do not let yourself be carried away by mathematical deception," he has asked, criticizing that the 'popular' already speak about the future composition of the Government before winning the elections. "A little less meanness and more patriotism," he reproached, calling the PP leaders "clumsy" for "selling the bear's skin before hunting it."

2. telemadrid.es 23

(translated, original by telemadrid.es, 13.04.2021)

Vox says that its "only" flag is that of Spain against "those who are involved in the LGTBI or republican"

This training has been presented in Pinto as "the alternative that will get the Spanish out of the economic and social crisis"

The Vox candidate for the Presidency of the Community of Madrid, Rocío Monasterio , has claimed this Tuesday that "the only flag" they have in Vox is that of Spain "against those who" get involved "in the LGTBI or republican.

Rocío Monasterio and the spokesperson for Vox in the City Council, Javier Ortega Smith , have come this morning to visit the residents of Pinto , where they have criticized "the great betrayal of the left" to the workers and have transferred their support to "Spain that gets up early "and greets them" from their vans and is not willing to kneel. "

"They put up flags, but they won't open the health center they promised you"

"In Pinto the mayor intends to hang a republican flag tomorrow (April 14) in the City Hall. They put flags, but they do not open the health center that they promised you," lamented the leader of Vox in Madrid.

Thus, he has insisted that Vox is "the alternative that will get the Spanish out of this economic and social crisis " and has defended his objective of "protecting families." For this, Monastery has indicated that it is "essential to prevent the left from entering the Government of the Community of Madrid."

"Now Gabilondo comes with a moderate face saying that he will not raise taxes. Have you ever seen a socialist who does not raise taxes? What have they done with your money? reduce by half the number of deputies , from 13 to 7 the ministries and lower taxes immediately.

Ortega Smith, for his part, recalled the division of Spain into "17 kingdoms of taifa" that only entail "duplication of expenses, lack of coordination and inequalities among Spaniards. "At Vox we do not distinguish between reds and blues, Catalans and Madrid, men and women, homosexuals or heterosexuals. All Spaniards are the same," he declared.

3. larazon.es (translated, original by Rafael Fernandez, 21.04.2021)

Rocío Monasterio reaffirms her denunciation of the "menas" with news of a violation in Parla

The Vox candidate for the presidency of the Community of Madrid insists on the veracity of her messages in the posters that she has displayed in Sol

The Vox candidate for the Presidency of the Community of Madrid, Rocío Monasterio, has insisted this Wednesday on the veracity of her messages about unaccompanied foreign minors after the controversy created with the posters that the training has deployed at the Cercanías station in Sun.

The leader of Vox affirmed that: “it will not appear in the social gatherings nor will it reach the homes of those who promote immigration. But we have not come to like them, with Vox the neighborhoods will be safe again ”.

Thus, through its social networks, it has published a series of documents with government agreements in the Community of Madrid to demonstrate that it pays "an average of 4,741.24 euros per month per ore."

The spokesman for the Vox Political Action Committee, Jorge Buxadé, has also reacted to this controversy, who has stated that “the worst of all” is that no 'progressive' politician, talkative or journalist “is scandalized that one of our grandmothers, of that generation that Spain raised, I can earn 426 euros / month ”.

“They want to squander everything our grandparents built. We will prevent it ”, he has transferred through his Twitter account, to which he has added in relation to the poster that“ the truth is not a crime ”.

For his part, the president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, visited the Hortaleza neighborhood yesterday afternoon demanding "security and freedom" in the streets "destroyed by the left that imports minerals and illegal while discriminating against Spaniards and destroying their neighborhoods" .

Abascal also asked the PP candidate for the Madrid elections, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who, if she believes that unaccompanied foreign minors need protection, to accept the training proposal: "With their parents, in their countries and, if they are criminals and they are not minors, in the prisons of their countries. But outside of Spain ”, he insisted. Vox has criticized through its Twitter account the graffiti that have appeared on the posters that the formation had deployed at the Cercanías de Sol station in which they compared the amounts received by unaccompanied foreign minors and some elderly from the Community of Madrid.

Thus, the party has reproached that it always acts with "violence". "They do not know how to respond otherwise," he assured, after the controversy created by the Vox cartel in which he maintains that the menas in Madrid are given 4,700 euros, while some elderly receive 426 pension.

“However, we are Vox and we will not take a step back. We will continue to show reality throughout Madrid. We will continue saying that if they are minors, with their parents in their countries. And if they are criminals to their prisons ”, they have expressed since the training.

The Madrid Prosecutor's Office has already opened ex officio proceedings to investigate the alleged commission of a hate crime by Vox in this electoral poster, tax sources have confirmed.

In addition, Rocío Monasterio has criticized that in the Madrid Healthcare "many illegal immigrants who have just jumped the fence throwing lime at the Civil Guard are sneaking in."

In addition, it has also reaffirmed “what is this about Universal Healthcare and that in Madrid everyone is cared for without billing them? It cannot be that the numbers go up, up and up and in 2015 we go from ninety thousand or so immigrants served to this year we can end up with 160,000 ”.

4. portfolio.hu (translated, original by portfolio.hu, 19.04.2021)

Coronavirus: Spain is examining whether two different vaccines can be given

Starting no later than next week, a project called CombivacS will involve 600 volunteers under the age of 60 who were vaccinated more than eight weeks ago with the vector vaccine from the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical plant. As a second vaccine, this time they will receive a vaccine based on Pfizer / BioNTech messenger RNA (mRNA).

The researchers want to prove the effectiveness and safety of the combination with a study whose first results are promised by mid-May. Follow-up of participants will take one year.

The study also aims to make a decision based on scientific results on which vaccine to stop vaccinating more than 2.5 million people who have already received a dose of AstraZeneca.

Spain has been changing the use of AstraZeneca's vaccine for a week and a half and is now using it exclusively to immunize people aged between 60 and 69, compared to previously only those under 65. The government justified the amendment with the very rare cases of blood clots that occurred in people under the age of 60.

Catalan Hipra Pharmaceuticals will begin the clinical trial phase of a new type of coronavirus self-developed vaccine in June at a hospital in Barcelona and a hospital in Girona, research director Elia Torroella told Rac1 radio on Monday.

He said it is a two-dose vaccine based on a so-called recombinant protein, unlike the vaccines already in use, which is scheduled to be ready by the end of the year. The director stressed that after obtaining a license from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), 400 million doses could be produced in 2022.

According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, Spain has so far received 13.7 million doses of vaccines licensed in Europe. Both doses vaccinated 3.41 million people, representing 7.2 percent of the total population and 8.5 percent of the adult population to be vaccinated.

Over the weekend, 21,000 new coronavirus infections were registered, while more than 2,000 cases were diagnosed in the past 24 hours. The number of infections screened since the outbreak has exceeded 3.42 million. In the last week, 240 people died, the number of deaths from the epidemic was 77,102.

Fernando Simón, director of the Spanish Center for Health Alert and Emergency Coordination, confirmed at a press conference on Monday night that the Ministry’s Public Health Committee is studying the possibility of increasing the time between two doses of RNA vaccines beyond the 21 days recommended by the manufacturer.

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PORTUGAL

1. jornaleconomico.sapo.pt (translated, original by Leonardo Ralha, 21.04.2021)

Enough calls into question the approval of the Azores regional budget

The president of Chega, André Ventura, announced on Wednesday that the approval of the regional budget of the Azores, which depends on its two deputies, will not be possible if the regional government led by the social democrat José Manuel Bolieiro persists in what he described as “ the gross violation of the principles ”that allowed the parliamentary incidence agreement with the PSD following the 2020 elections.“ We are facing a delicate scenario ”, admitted the party leader.

Saying that he is “following with great perplexity” the budget proposal prepared by the Regional Government of the Azores, which results from a coalition between PSD, CDS and PPM, with parliamentary support from Chega and the deputy of the Liberal Initiative, Ventura regretted that the document was nothing move forward on matters defended by your party, such as the fight against corruption, the “end of cronyism, influences and family networks”, the “reduction of subsidiary dependence” and the “increase of labor equality” in the autonomous region.

“We continue to have a government with a huge size when we should have fewer regional secretariats, we continue to lack funds and total inefficiency in structures to fight corruption and proposals that are barely visible, not to say non-existent, for the reduction of social insertion income. and subsidization, ”said the president of Chega in a video message.

In addition to underlining that “any scenario of instability” in the Azores is due to the regional government, to whom it points non-compliance with the commitments that were at the basis of its viability, removing the PS from power in the autonomous region for the first time in this century, Ventura suspended “any talks and negotiations ”with PSD-Açores for the next municipal elections. “Either there is a global project or not. Chega will never accept being alongside structures that are doing similar, equal or possibly worse than governments that have been decades destroying the Azores economy and increasing subsidization, inequalities and the corruption gap ”, he said.

2. expresso.pt (translated, original by Lusa, 10.04.2021)

André Ventura presented eight candidates to municipalities in the district of Porto

The leader of Chega today announced eight candidates for the next municipal elections in the district of Porto, where André Ventura believes that the party will have "a great result".

"We made this trip to Porto to announce several candidates for the district of Porto, some of the most populous chambers in the country", declared André Ventura to journalists on arrival at the headquarters of Chega in Porto, opened this Saturday next to Mercado do Bom Sucesso. 29

The leader of Chega promised that "within 15 days" he should return to Porto to announce the candidate for the city council of the city, adding that the process is not "fully closed" yet. And he said he hopes to have "a great result" in the district of Porto in this year's municipal councils, which should take place in September or October.

"We are convinced that in the most populous regions of the country - Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Setúbal - we will be able to have a great result and we will be able to reverse the cycle of these elections in our favor," he added.

For the municipality of Maia, Chega announced today the candidate André Pedro Almeida, president of the Chega municipality. The candidate announced to the Câmara de Matosinhos was Israel Pontes, president of the Chega de Matosinhos council and businessman. For the municipality of Paços Ferreira, the candidate presented was the lawyer Cátia Rafaela dos Santos. For the municipality of Penafiel the candidate announced was Carla Silvestre, lawyer, for the municipality of Santo Tirso the candidate is Joana Guimarães, deputy of the district of Chega in Porto, and for the Câmara da Trofa the candidate is Rui Pedro Costa, businessman. Chega also announced Maria do Carmo Lopes, a civil servant, for the Câmara de Valongo and António Luis Vilela, president of the Chega municipality in Penafiel and real estate consultant for Vila do Conde.

"We are going to present these candidates, because we understand that it was important to give a national signal also that the party is united in the fight that we want to have in these municipalities", said André Ventura, assuming that he wants "a third place" in the municipal elections, thus justifying the party to be "making this effort to be in the whole country".

3. index.hu (translated, original by K.Á., 10.04.2021)

A country where the epidemic was curbed in two months

In Portugal, the restrictive measures against the coronavirus epidemic that had been in place until then have been lifted. Yet in February, news came that the country was on the verge of collapse.

In Portugal, almost the highest number of infections and deaths have been recorded in recent months in proportion to the population. In a country of 10.3 million, the infection spread so rapidly that several hospitals were filled. At the end of January, Politico wrote that a total of seven vacancies remained in intensive care units specializing in the treatment of the coronavirus.

SOMETHING MORE THAN TWO MONTHS LATER, HOWEVER, PORTUGAL HAS NOW RELAXED ITS STRICT.

According to data released by the Ministry of Health in mid-February, hospital utilization was more than 90 percent. At the January peak, the numbers showed more than ten thousand new infections a day, and even death rates above 300 a day were not uncommon.

The explanation may have been that, unlike other European states, the Lisbon government last December did not defend itself adequately against the virus variants that had just emerged at the time - the British mutant infected humans incredibly.

Although the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, ORDERED A NATIONAL SHORT IN THE MIDDLE OF JANUARY, WHICH HAVE LAST TAKEN, THEY HAVE NOT BEEN SOLVED IN TIME TO PROBLEM THEY HAVE TO RESPOND IN DECEMBER.

The Portuguese prime minister said on TVI in late January, expressing his views on the situation, that not bad, but downright awful while hospitals are on the verge of their capacity.

However, the Portuguese epidemic managed to overcome the epidemic dumping in February by the beginning of March. With continued adherence to restrictive precautions and international assistance, the number of people infected per day has already fallen to around 500 per day in March, and the number of deaths due to the epidemic has risen to 20 per day.

The process of reopening

All museums, exhibition halls, gyms, open-air markets, and even shops no larger than 200 square meters are open - but only with constant and strict hygiene rules.

Again, you are free to visit restaurants, pubs and restaurants, although the service is only allowed outdoors.

WITH THE EXCEPTION OF FOOD STORES, THE STORES WILL CLOSE IN THE AFTERNOON IN THE AFTERNOON AND ONLY THOSE WHOSE DOORS OPEN CAN OPEN.

Attendance education is being relaunched in schools, although not yet for all ages. In March, for the first time, primary schools, kindergartens and nurseries were reopened. From April 19, however, high school students can return to grammar schools and university students can also visit.

PLANNED - IN FULL OF THE TWO-WEEK CONTINUOUS RELAXATION DESIGNATED BY THE PORTUGUESE GOVERNMENT AS A PROGRAM - FROM 5 MAY, CLOSED PREMISES CAN ALSO BE OPENED.

According to data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control on 9 April, 27 people per 100 people in Portugal received the coronavirus vaccine, most of which was from Pfizer / BioNTech and the AstraZeneca vaccine.

4. theportugalnews.com (original by theportugalnews.com, 22.04.2021)

PRR: Portugal is the first to deliver a plan

Portugal is the first country in the European Union to deliver the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).

Portugal was expected to submit its plan today or tomorrow.

Spanish press took advantage of Portugal’s president and prime minister being in Andorra, where they participated in the Ibero-American Summit, to ascertain from diplomatic sources that Portugal’s intention is to have a part of the funds available before it completes the presidency of the Council of the European Union before the end of June.

At issue is a value of around 14 billion euros in grants, but to which can be added an amount of 2.3 billion in loans, something that the Government is still analysing.

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AUSTRIA

1. hirado.hu (translated, original by hirado.hu, 11.04.2021)

A teenager threatened Chancellor Kurz with assassinating him and bombing Stephansdom

Police have detained a 15-year-old Viennese boy who has threatened Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz with a live internet video broadcast.

When he was arrested, he said he just wanted to have fun, he didn’t mean it. The juvenile was also threatened with an assassination attempt on Stephansdom in Vienna, so the Austrian police are also investigating possible Islamist motivation.

The Viennese boy made harassing comments on Sebastian Kurz’s Instagram page for the chancellor’s live video check-in, in which he also threatened to carry out an assassination attempt on Vienna’s Stephansdom at one o'clock in the afternoon on April 10 (Saturday).

Austrian police launched an investigation into the threatening man on Thursday morning, and the juvenile offender was already caught on Friday. 33

The investigation was facilitated by screenshots of the comments.

A special unit of the Austrian police called Cobra arrested the 15-year-old boy in his home on Friday night. Police said the offender pleaded guilty when he was detained, but said he was just amused and unaware of the consequences. “He said he didn’t really want to carry out his threats,” a police spokesman told the Austrian news agency APA.

The Vienna Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office will decide on pre-trial detention, the Kurier.at news portal reported.

As the boy also threatened an assassination attempt on Stephansdom, police are also investigating a possible Islamist instigation in the background.

2. erdely.ma (translated, original by T.T., 07.04.2021)

The Slow Dying of Austria - Our Viennese reader writes for the Transylvania.ma portal

In 1918, the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy proceeded rapidly. Austria's death will now be slower.

It doesn’t happen in secret, it happens in front of everyone’s eyes. Let's look at a newspaper last week or two. Let’s start with the Kronen Zeitung, Austria’s most read newspaper. On April 1, page 23, bold title. “Demonstration by left-wing extremists over the return of Afghans. In the presence of 313 police officers, it cost 140,000 euros. ”

What is it about?

Two days earlier, on the morning of March 30, Austrian and German far-left protesters closed the A4 motorway at the height of Schwechat. Among the demonstrators, the former deputy mayor of Vienna, the Austrian Greens, was also there! The article writes about 76 arrests and 238 reports.

They won't be in any trouble!

They are prepared by left-wing lawyers who, helpless police officers, rely on their rights. Hundreds of cars stood for hours as intimidated police one by one took away protesters sitting in the middle of the road and handcuffed to the gateways, filming everything. Why was all this? Because 15 (!) Afghan men were expelled. Of these, 12 are legally convicted robbers, drug dealers, delayers and sexually harassing. (according to the article) Austria's prisons are crowded, with more than half of the detainees being foreigners.

The Österreich (free newspaper) of the day on page 12 also reports on this, and right next to the article, on the fact that Austria is outraged by 3,200 prisons because the prisoners will be vaccinated first and only then. Their leader criticizes the decision-making, also green health minister.

For weeks now, an extremist group led by the Greens has been harassing - with the full help of all the media - and supporting the green part of the government against Chancellor Kurz to bring hundreds of people from Greek refugee camps to Austria immediately. Despite the epidemic, the curfew, few vaccines, massive unemployment.

And the Austrian masses? They listen cowardly.

Yet the article on page 9 of the Kronen Zeitung reports that the number of people unable to pay their rent in Vienna increased to 20% in 2020. This year, 17,000 households could lose their homes. (Most of these are foreigners, most of whom have only been able to pay with aid so far.) Could it be that new, migrants would come to the homes that were vacated in this way? But in order not to completely discourage Hungarians who want to relocate to Austria, I close my browsing with the news of April 1, 2021 with good news.

Heute, the (Kronen Zeitung's free newspaper) announces with a photo everyone was waiting for: the mayor of Vienna's 9th district (Social Democrat) handed over his first trans-Pride zebra in the Lazarettgasse to a Iraqi Kurdish colleague Saya Ahmad to draw attention to the transgender persons.

Finally!! That's why it's really worth moving to Vienna!

3. thenationalnews.com (original by Tim Stickings, 22.04.2021)

Austrian police find 'enemies list' in raids targeting Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas

Raids took place days after last year's shootings in Vienna

Raids on suspected Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas members in Austria last year led to the discovery of an “enemies list” of opponents of political Islam, according to people targeted by the groups.

Austrian police carried out dozens of raids in an anti-terrorism operation last November, which led to 30 arrests. Operation Luxor, took place in the early morning with searches at more than 60 addresses allegedly linked to Islamist extremists in four different regions.

The Styria region prosecutors' office said in a statement it was "carrying out investigations against more than 70 suspects and against several associations which are suspected of belonging to and supporting the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas organisations"

It came days after four people were killed when a gunman who had previously been convicted of trying to join ISIS opened fire in Vienna, although the two investigations were not linked.

Kawther Salam, a Palestinian journalist living in Vienna, told eXXpress that authorities had shown her a list of names, including hers, which was reportedly found in the files of one of the suspects targeted in the raids.

“I have nothing against Islam. But to the Muslim Brotherhood I am apparently an enemy,” she said.

“This list is making its way around. What are these people trying to achieve with it? What is their plan for the future?”

She said that while some of her journalism criticised alleged corruption among Palestinian authorities, most of her work was about Austria.

But, she said, she received a veiled threat after clashing with the organisers of a pro-Gaza demonstration in Vienna in 2009.

On a separate occasion, she disagreed with a university professor who was researching Islamophobia.

She suspected that those two episodes were the reasons for her inclusion on the list.

The list is said to include about 40 names, with photographs of the people mentioned.

Raids follow calls for purge of Islamic extremism

Amer Albayati, an Iraqi-born journalist in Vienna, said his name was also on the list.

He said he was surprised to be on it, because he had been on friendly terms with the owner of the list and attended the same mosque for a time.

“Many well-known people are on the list, respected people, including journalists and a former MP, but also completely ordinary people,” he said.

Albayati is a terrorism expert and a co-founder of a group called the Liberal Muslims’ Initiative in Austria.

He described the list as evidence of a “kind of secret service” and said he thought that photos of the people named were likely to have been passed around.

After the raids last November, prosecutors said more than 70 people were being investigated on suspicion of ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. 37

Prosecutors said they were acting on suspicions of terrorism financing, criminal organisation and money laundering, among other offences.

They said the raids resulted from more than a year of investigations and were not directly linked to November’s shootings.

However, they came amid calls from politicians to clamp down on Islamic extremism after the attack in Vienna.

Longstanding tensions over integration in Austria have grown in recent years as conservative politicians warned of Muslim “parallel societies” emerging in cities such as Vienna.

A report published earlier this year said a leading body overseeing Sunni Muslim affairs in Austria had “long been under suspected Islamist influence”.

Prominent members of the group were of Turkish origin and had links to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party, according to the Policy Exchange report.

The January report cited several surveys claiming to show that a substantial minority of Austrian Muslims sought to maintain “parallel” social structures.

However, it also praised Austria as a “little heralded, but important example” of how democracies could face the extremist threat.

Measures to target Islamism included creating a register of imams and making religious extremism a specific criminal offence.

The 20-year-old Vienna gunman was sentenced to 22 months in prison for trying to join ISIS in Syria. After being released early, he killed four people in the rampage on November 2 before being shot dead by police.

4. kisalfold.hu (translated, original by kisalfold.hu, 23.04.2021)

Coronavirus - Austria opens on May 19th

The government consulted with provincial leaders and social partners on the timing and manner of reopening on Friday. Subsequently, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced that catering units and tourism service providers could reopen on 19 May.

Attendance education can continue in schools from May 17, writes the Hungarian page of volksgruppen.orf.at.

In the case of opening, it will still be possible to visit restaurants and cultural institutions only in accordance with strict regulations.

Negative testing, mask wearing and registration will also be mandatory in restaurants. Up to two households can meet at a table, four adults plus children. The terraces can seat up to 10 adults at a table. Both waiters and guests leaving the table must wear an FFP2 mask. It can only be consumed while sitting at a table. Catering units are open until 22:00.

Hotels are subject to similar regulations as gastronomy. The baths allow one person per 20 square meters. Cultural and sporting events can be attended outdoors, planted at a distance, up to 3,000 people in masks, and indoors up to 1,500 people.

The chancellor also added that if the vaccination campaign is progressing at a good pace, it may be possible to have weddings and other parties by July, without keeping a distance.

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GREECE

1. thenationalnews.com (original by Jamie Prentis, 30.03.2021)

Greek police arrest Syrian refugees disguised as volleyball team

Nine Syrians were trying to board a flight to Vienna with fake travel documents

Nine Syrian refugees pretending to be a volleyball team were arrested in Greece as they tried to travel to Austria. Hellenic Police

Greek police detained nine Syrian refugees pretending to be a volleyball team as they attempted to board a flight for Vienna, Austria, with fake travel documents.

The refugees were wearing matching sports clothing and backpacks, but were stopped late on Sunday when police became suspicious.

Greece is often the first EU country in which refugees and migrants fleeing Syria arrive. They are supposed to remain in the country while their asylum applications are processed.

There were two similar incidents in the past two years, authorities at Athens airport said.

In 2020, a dozen Syrians carrying fake Bulgarian passports and disguised as handball players were stopped while trying to board a flight to Vienna.

The year before, 10 Syrians dressed as volleyball players were detained at the airport after stolen and forged passports were discovered in their possession.

Under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who took office in 2019, Greece has taken on a tougher position on migration.

The asylum process has been fast-tracked, border patrols increased and benefits cut for refugees, including those granted asylum.

2. politic.gr (translated, original by Vassilis Melidis, 23.04.2021)

The President of the Hellenic Solution, Kyriakos Velopoulos, is visiting the Tower of Ilia

The President of the Hellenic Solution, Kyriakos Velopoulos, is visiting the Ilia Tower today, where at 11.00 in the morning he will give a press conference to the local media, while a meeting with local bodies will follow.

His visit is part of a nationwide tour program that he carries out wanting, as he stressed, to talk to the citizens himself and to listen to their problems and not to be limited to inviting regional party representatives to convey the atmosphere of society.

Yesterday, Mr. Velopoulos visited Patras, where in statements he accused the government and the prime minister that with their policy on dealing with the pandemic they harm the economy and society, while he reiterated that the Greek Solution has proposals and solutions for country.

Shots fired against the government

"Has ND understood what damage the ND has done to the Greek economy?" Has he understood that 600,000 Greeks work in catering? The market must be opened immediately. I have confidence in the individual responsibility of every Greek. Economics is psychology. "Which has ruined every businessman who collapses every day", said Mr. Velopoulos.

At the same time, he reiterated the proposal of the "Hellenic Solution" for the abolition of any tax related to an advance payment for next year, while reminding the need to write off debts.

After 6 in the afternoon Mr. Velopoulos will arrive in Kalamata (capital of the Prefecture of Messinia), where he will stay until noon on Saturday, April 24, 2021.

3. voria.gr (translated, original by voria.gr, 02.04.2021)

VELOPOULOS: LOCKDOWN WAS THE FAILURE OF THE GOVERNMENT

The president of the Hellenic Solution described the situation in the ICU as tragic and stressed that the development would have been better if his party had been listened to.

The president of the Hellenic Solution, Kyriakos Velopoulos, spoke about the failure of the measures to deal with the pandemic, speaking from the floor of Parliament during the debate at the level of party leaders to deal with the pandemic. Mr. Velopoulos also described the situation in the ICU as tragic and argued that the development would have been better if the proposals of the Greek Solution had been listened to.

"If you had done what we told you a long time ago, we would not have gotten here," he said, adding: "You told us that the lockdown would be lifted because it is negative for people to be locked in their homes. But a few months ago, when we were shouting not to close the market, you were waving your finger at us from this step and saying that these do not apply. And today ND and SYRIZA follow our line. And the worst part is that we did not hear you apologize. We shouted at you not to close the market universally, we told you that a plan was needed. You did not. Now you say that you will open the retail carefully but you still make mistakes. But I will not say anything. "Because I want to see the results first."

"You have spent 24 million euros and you are celebrating, when you should not. Because it is not ours. They are on loan and will have to be repaid. Borrowing is not a success. On the contrary, you impose debts on the next generations ", stressed the president of Hellenic Solution and added:" You decided to open tourism and TUI a month ago closed tickets for German tourists who are interested in coming to Greece. One month ago! But the Parliament and the Greek people did not know what TUI was doing. And of course Mr. Theocharis once again did the trick to TUI and the Germans. But that way you do not pursue a free and responsible policy. "You are pursuing a caged policy."

The president of Hellenic Solution also criticized the government for the situation in the ICU. "You told us that the situation is being balanced in the ICU. But of course, if we have 80 deaths a day, the situation is balanced - because someone dies and someone else who was waiting takes his place in the ICU. The director of the Papanikolaou hospital in Thessaloniki appeared today on the OREN television station and said that the system in Attica has collapsed. It is not possible to pipe through the chambers. The patient may be harmed. "

Continuing, Mr. Velopoulos reiterated the proposals of the Greek Solution and argued that they have been justified. "We have been shouting since March about the tests. We told you it was wrong not to take the test. We were shouting to you that we need isolation at home for the incidents and not a total lockdown. Now your experts say the same, who then said otherwise. You are wrong with the self-examination test. I have a press release from a medical biopathology / laboratory medicine company that says that any diagnostic test is a medical procedure by law, and the citizen cannot perform medical operations. Nor can the pharmacist perform medical operations. Because there are risks of the sample being mistakenly taken by the self-examinee, we are talking about hazardous medical waste governed by special legislation for the protection of public health, because a false negative result may be due to incorrect sampling. We used to say that universal closure was absurd and experts told you that we would do a lockdown until the cases were reduced - and in the end the cases were not reduced. And now that there are more cases, you decide to open the market. Your own man came out on a TV station and said characteristically: "the lockdown was a failure, but without it the cases would have been launched. But now that we have a record number of cases it does not work". Are you serious? The lockdown was the failure of the government. And that justifies us. We warned you that it would be catastrophic and finally public health, the economy, Greece was destroyed. " We used to say that universal closure was absurd and experts told you that we would do a lockdown until the cases were reduced - and in the end the cases were not reduced. And now that there are more cases, you decide to open the market. Your own man came out on a TV station and said characteristically: "the lockdown was a failure, but without it the cases would have been launched. But now that we have a record number of cases it does not work". Are you serious? The lockdown was the failure of the government. And that justifies us. We warned you that it would be catastrophic and finally public health, the economy, Greece was destroyed. " We used to say that universal closure was absurd and experts told you that we would do a lockdown until the cases were reduced - and in the end the cases were not reduced. And now that there are more cases, you decide to open the market. Your own man came out on a TV station and said characteristically: "the lockdown was a failure, but without it the cases would have been launched. But now that we have a record number of cases it does not work". Are you serious? The lockdown was the failure of the government. And that justifies us. We warned you that it would be catastrophic and finally public health, the economy, Greece was destroyed. " And now that there are more cases, you decide to open the market. Your own man came out on a TV station and said characteristically: "the lockdown was a failure, but without it the cases would have been launched. But now that we have a record number of cases it does not work". Are you serious? 43

The lockdown was the failure of the government. And that justifies us. We warned you that it would be catastrophic and finally public health, the economy, Greece was destroyed. " And now that there are more cases, you decide to open the market. Your own man came out on a TV station and said characteristically: "the lockdown was a failure, but without it the cases would have been launched. But now that we have a record number of cases it does not work". Are you serious? The lockdown was the failure of the government. And that justifies us. We warned you that it would be catastrophic and finally public health, the economy, Greece was destroyed. "

Referring to the issue of vaccines, he said that the Greek Solution was also justified in the issue of sputnik vaccines. "Serbia is building a manufacturing plant. Austria negotiated the purchase of 1 million installments. Germany, through the Minister of Health, was in favor of the vaccine. "The European Medicines Agency says it is examining sputnik because we need to find other sources of vaccine supplies."

Concluding, Mr. Velopoulos asked "how many died from coronavirus and how many of them had underlying diseases" - "I want the number", he said and noted:

"Because here I have a table of EODY where it seems that we count the dead differently and they count them differently in other countries. I submit the table in the minutes. Also, I want to know when someone has an underlying disease and dies is it from the virus or from the disease? When someone gets the vaccine does they transmit the virus or not? Are the virus mutations treated by the vaccine? "

4. hvg.hu (translated, original by hvg.hu, 09.04.2021)

A criminal journalist was murdered in Greece

Police said the murder was apparently carefully planned. Seven projectiles were killed by Jehorios Karaivaz.

A well-known Greek criminal journalist has been killed in Athens, local police said on Friday. Jéorjiosz Karaivaz worked as a commercial channel for STAR TV and was mainly known for 44 reporting on legal and police matters. He was killed by two motorized gunmen near his home in the southern Alimos district of the Greek capital.

Police said the perpetrators fired several shots at the journalist. Karaivaz was killed by seven bullets, while a total of seventeen bullet casings have been found at the scene so far. Since those living in the area said police had not heard anything, it is assumed that the shots were fired from a silenced weapon.

Aristotle Peloni, government spokesman, called the events shocking. “Authorities have already launched an investigation to catch the perpetrators and bring them to justice,” he stressed.

Police say the murder was apparently carefully planned, but the motive for it is not yet known. “It was an expertly executed murder,” said a police officer requesting anonymity.

The events are very reminiscent of the case of journalist Socrates Gioliias, who was assassinated eleven years ago and was also killed 16 times in front of his home. Then a far- left terrorist organization appeared as the perpetrator.

EU Commissioner for Values and Transparency Vera Jourová expressed her condolences on Twitter and expressed concern about what had happened. as he wrote, justice must be given to the matter and the safety of journalists must be guaranteed.

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THE NETHERLANDS

1. rtlnieuws.nl (translated, original by rtlnieuws.nl, 26.04.2021)

Opposition angry about the contents of the minutes of the Council of Ministers, Wilders wants to prosecute the cabinet

Parties in the House of Representatives are shocked by the content of the minutes from the Council of Ministers

MPs react disapprovingly and displeased with the contents of the minutes of the Council of Ministers that have been released. THINK party leader Farid Azarkan speaks of a 'disconcerting picture'. SP leader Lilian Marijnissen calls it 'unbelievable'. "So this is about people being destroyed". PVV leader Geert Wilders wants the cabinet to be prosecuted.

Several ministers complained during the Council of Ministers on 12 July 2019 about critical MPs from coalition groups, including Pieter Omtzigt of the CDA and Helma Lodders of the VVD. D66 Minister Wouter Koolmees of Social Affairs took the lead in this, but he was supported by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, CDA Minister Wopke Hoekstra of Finance and D66 Deputy Prime Minister Kajsa Ollongren.

Azarkan says: "They did not want to ask critical questions and they tried everything, through others, to intimidate and muzzle them. Inexistent," he says. And: "Incredibly sad that people in the Council of Ministers were not concerned with those duped parents, but with themselves, with saving their own skin," he tweeted.

Save your own skin

PvdA Member of Parliament Henk Nijboer is also outraged. "While parents were in deep misery and hunted by the tax authorities, the council of ministers was only concerned with limiting political damage and saving their own skin. Ignoring the problems, killing critical MPs and withholding information became With the approval of the entire cabinet, they are considered more important than finding the truth and helping the victims. They are still empty-handed and live in uncertainty.

Marijnissen calls it 'horrible to read that the Rutte cabinet was more busy hiding it than solving the misery of innocent parents in the allowance scandal'. "Because the House did not receive this information, the misery continued for longer. This cannot be justified. And then to think that Mark Rutte thinks that 'nothing improper' has happened".

The minutes state that any precedent effect can be broader than just for the tax authorities and UWV and should be avoided as much as possible. Marijnissen calls that "unbelievable. So this is about people being destroyed. They don't care. Much to explain Thursday".

Lied, innocent criminalized

PVV'er Wilders wants members of the cabinet to be prosecuted for failing to provide information to the House of Representatives and has therefore sent a letter to the chairman of the House.

Wilders states on twitter: "The House has been lied to. Innocent people have been criminalized. And Rutte, Koolmees, Hoekstra, Ollongren and others criticize MPs who do their work, want to raise awareness, silence and correct them. Kaag wants" frameworks "for MPs. ! ".

Wilders also refers to the fact that CDA minister Ferd Grapperhaus offered in November 2019, together with minister Wopke Hoekstra (also CDA), to think about a way in which the cabinet could satisfy the House of Representatives without providing all the information about the benefits affair. provide what the House requested. Grapperhaus wondered whether State Secretary Menno Snel (D66) would otherwise get away with not fully informing the House. "You know what, says Grapperhaus to Snel, I think along with Hoekstra how you can get away with it and pretend that you have sent a statement of facts."

GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver is shocked by the contents of the minutes. "This provides a disconcerting glimpse into a culture in which the role of parliament is deliberately seriously weakened. As a coalition MP you should not be critical. As an opposition MP it is almost impossible to obtain the correct information. In tackling the benefits affair, the cabinet was mainly concerned with ensuring that "no precedent is created."

2. dagelijksestandaard.nl (translated, original by Bart Reijmerink, 25.04.2021)

Wilders after the election of Iran in the UN women's committee: 'Was it again cowardly businesslike considerations, such as with Kaag headscarf? 47

Wilders in the debate with former scouts Ollongren and Jorritsma. Source: Screenshot of the House of Representatives.

PVV leader Geert Wilders finds it incomprehensible that Iran has been elected a member of the UN women's rights committee. This choice cannot be explained to Wilders and his party. The country has little to do with women's rights and so the election would make no sense, according to the PVV. They therefore submit a number of written questions to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The PVV leader does not understand at all about the election of Iran to a women's rights commission of the United Nations. How is it possible that Iran, of all people, a country known for imperative moral laws, will be elected a member of this special commission? According to Wilders, the Minister of Foreign Affairs must therefore clarify a number of things, and he is asking parliamentary questions.

The PVV leader and party member Raymond de Roon want to hear concrete answers from the minister. They are curious about what the Netherlands and other EU member states have voted. In addition, they would also like to hear from the minister how he views the issue. Does he recognize that Iran absolutely does not guarantee women's rights and that this is therefore a slap in the face of the oppressed women in the country? Wilders would also like to know whether the appointment of Iran to the committee was also a 'business consideration', as Kaag also chose in the past to wear a headscarf in Iran so that she could speak to dignitaries.

PVV MP De Roon goes a step further, and believes that the women's rights commission can be 'dissolved' now that both Iran and Pakistan are members of the public-law body:

Minister Blok has a few weeks to answer the parliamentary questions from Geert Wilders and Raymond de Roon. The minister's answers will probably not be able to change much in New York: there is no simple mechanism to deny Iran membership of that UN committee on women's rights, not even with the dubious track record that Tehran has.

3. dagelijksestandaard.nl (translated, original by dagelijksestandaard.nl, 28.04.2021)

Forum for Democracy: 'Rutte will not hesitate to reintroduce the curfew in September'

Thierry Baudet on a campaign in Lelystad.

The curfew was last in effect last night. As the Rutte III cabinet announced earlier, it is now off the table and the Dutch are free to go out on the street between 10 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. should they need it.

Opposition party Forum for Democracy has been around since the beginning of the first lockdown against corona measures, and is therefore pleased that the measure will disappear. "Tonight is the last time the tyrannical curfew takes effect" describes the party's abolition of the curfew whatsoever.

Nevertheless, Baudet's movement does not fully trust the disappearance of the measure, and FVD predicts that it will be put back on the table next autumn: "Rutte will not hesitate to pull it out again in September." But even then the party will oppose it again, they promise: "We must never accept that again!"

4. brusselstimes.com (original by Sonja Rijnen, 31.03.2021)

Could ‘Nexit’ be the next Brexit?

This is an opinion article by an external contributor. The views belong to the writer. Sonja Rijnen

All eyes were on the Netherlands when a whopping 82.6% of the Dutch electorate headed to the polls to vote in their general election. Early on, the exit polls already indicated a victory for the incumbent, Mark Rutte, who won 35 of the available 150 seats, despite recent scandals related to child benefits and claims of mismanagement of the vaccine roll-out.

However, the election and recent climate in the Netherlands has sparked speculations about the possibility of a Nexit (the Netherlands exit from the EU), especially now that the UK has left the block. It sounds unlikely but there are some reasons why the idea is not wholly unfounded.

As with all countries, the coronavirus pandemic has had a profound effect on the country, not just economically but also socially. When riots swept across the country earlier this year in protest of lockdown measures, many non-dutch and dutch people alike expressed surprise as these were not typical scenes in the Netherlands. Perhaps these eruptions of violence were, as protests often are, a symptom of underlying discontent amongst the Dutch population.

Like the UK’s Conservative party, the centre-right VVD party, spearheaded by Rutte, has led with an economic policy of austerity. Between 2011 and 2016 in particular, major cuts were made to public spending and, inevitably, these measures have led to inequalities. The Netherlands is one of the OECD countries in which inequality has risen relatively the most since the 1980s and between 2009 and 2019, rates of homelessness doubled. Perhaps it’s utopian reputation among Europeans is less justified than appears at first glance.

Indeed, the increasing popularity of far-right parties on the Dutch political scene seems to reflect the cracks in the utopian facade. As in the UK, the far-right parties of the Netherlands have been addressing these concerns about inequality, as well as capitalising on the feelings of alienation increasingly expressed by citizens.

The PVV (Party for Freedom) lead by Geert Wilders is historically known for being heavily Islamaphobic but has increasingly turned its attention to the EU. In an interview with the BBC in 2013, when asked if he wanted to bring down the EU, Wilders answered “as a matter of fact I do”. He also called for a referendum on EU membership in 2016, citing a poll by TV channel ‘Een Vandaag’, which stated that most Dutch people wanted a referendum on this issue.

Although the PPV lost seats in the election, other newer far-right parties who also campaigned for Nexit made significant gains (the FvD quadrupled their number of seats for example). Together, far-right parties won 29 seats, representing the best combined result for parties of this ideology in recent history.

Another aspect of the British decision to leave the EU was the belief that large amounts of money were being given to the EU with little returns on this investment. Whether this assessment is fair or not, similar sentiments seem to be proliferating in the Netherlands, one of 50 the largest contributors to the EU budget. Even the Netherland’s moderate centrists parties, with their firm conviction in the value of EU membership, have expressed scepticism towards the functioning of the EU, especially when it comes to budget allocation.

Last year, when the EU was negotiating the distribution of the covid recovery fund, the Dutch were true to their stereotype of being frugal and, alongside Sweden, Austria and Denmark (dubbed the “frugal four”), demanded that the money be spent more wisely and that the EU avoid spending excessive amounts. The Dutch were accused by many of the countries harder hit by the pandemic of being overly economically cautious and majorly lacking in European solidarity.

The final factor to consider is the fact that the UK has historically been one of the Netherland’s closest allies in the EU, both in terms of the countries’ cultural similarities, as well as financially and politically. Experts have recently pointed out that the UK’s departure is likely to raise questions for the Dutch regarding their own position in the union because, now that the UK has officially left, it looks like the EU will increasingly be steered by the French-German axis.

This has sparked fears that the Dutch will find it harder for their voice to be heard. Although this is not a problem yet, it may become so in the near future as the European Union starts to recover from the pandemic which will inevitably mean controversial decisions need to be made.

When Britain voted to leave the EU, many were surprised as they believed the movement was limited to a small minority of eurosceptic UKIP voters- this mistake should not be made in the Netherlands. The evidence from the recent riots and popularity of the far-right parties as well as the re-election of the centre-right VVD that makes the continuation of limited amounts of public spending highly likely, makes its population voting to leave the EU seem more feasible, if not in the very near future, perhaps in the next few decades.

Having said this, it should be noted that the Netherlands has a long history of heavy contributions to the European project and it stands a lot to lose by leaving the EU. Approximately 75% of Dutch exports are to other EU countries, the Netherlands is part of the Eurozone which the British were not and, when it comes down to it, most Dutch parties are in favour of staying in the EU. In fact, this election is the first time that the pan-European party ‘Volt’ gained seats in Dutch parliament.

As one of the 6 founders of the original European Coal and Steel Community, it is not likely that the Netherlands will leave the EU any time soon, but we should remember it is not impossible.

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BELGIUM

1. magyarhirlap.hu (translated, original by Mariann Őry, 24.04.2021)

Let Europe remain European

A strong alliance is needed against the balliberals, who would transform our societies through migration and abolish sovereignty, stressed Tom Van Grieken

Tom Van Grieken, President of the Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang), is urging a broad coalition of European right-wing conservative forces. According to the leader of Belgium's most popular party, the balliberal media in his country echo the statements of George Soros, slandering the Hungarian government.

- What is the opinion of Fidesz and the Hungarian government in Belgian politics?

- Democratic parties, which are supported by a large percentage of voters, are considered dangerous to the status quo. The European Union is increasingly acting like the Soviet Union, so it is very worried now. It is especially true of Belgium that, as Flemish Interests are attacked by the media, Fidesz and Viktor Orbán are slandered, almost on a weekly basis.

If I trusted them, I would think that Fidesz and Orbán are the devil themselves, but of course I will not, as I see that the Belgian newspapers and TV channels cannot believe what they say about my own country. Why would I believe what is said about Hungary then? With so much 52 power, I could ask George Soros for his opinion, I would hear the same thing. I think the activities of Fidesz and Viktor Orbán are exemplary. Belgium would also need a leader who defends Christianity and European values the way he does.

- Fidesz has recently joined the Group of the European Conservative and Democratic Alliance (EC / DA) in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, of which you are a member. How does this move change the balance of power in the General Assembly?

- Fidesz's accession to EC / DA somewhat balances the situation, but the fight remains tough. We became the third largest faction in the General Assembly, also ahead of the Liberal ALDE. Today, there are five different political groups in the General Assembly, but in fact only two: realistic conservatives represented by the EC / DA, who love their country and identity, and a scale from left to far left, embodied by four groups, including the People’s Party.

Other groups prefer to benefit from the fragmentation of the right, so we must definitely stick together. As a member of the General Assembly, I look forward to working with the Fidesz Members, but as President of the Flemish Interest, I must add that I hope this is just the beginning and that we will be able to belong to a common group in the European Parliament.

- The members of the EC / DA group belong to different party families. Some are members of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and others, like the Flemish Interest, are members of Identity Democracy (ID). Can Fidesz's withdrawal from the European People's Party give a new impetus to broad-based European cooperation between right-wing parties?

- For my part, I have long felt that Fidesz is sticking out of the People's Couple. Their partners did not show respect for them, some openly attacked them. Yet Fidesz and Viktor Orbán do what they have been authorized to do by the Hungarian people. Fidesz was very patient, the exit was written in the stars. There is an impetus for like-minded parties to work together in the European Parliament, following the example of the General Assembly.

In the Identity and Democracy group, we share many of Fidesz's values and views. Like Hungarians, we want a Europe where our identity, interests and culture are paramount. I hope we can do it together. One thing is for sure: the ID would be waiting for Fidesz with open arms. Unlike other groups, we, as our name suggests, respect Hungarian identity and democracy. Of course, closer cooperation between ECR and ID would be good, as together 53 we would be much stronger. I am convinced that my good friend Matteo Salvini is steering the ship in the right direction.

- The ECR and ID parties are also open to Fidesz, but not everyone wants to cooperate with each other. Is there a solution to this complicated situation?

- Yes. Let’s focus on what connects us, not what separates us. The beauty of Europe is given by the diversity of cultures, languages and views. The individuality of each country is wonderful: in Europe we can travel from one country to another and end up in a completely different world. Of course, this can also lead to difficulties, as sometimes we don’t know each other enough, but there is a solution to this: talking to each other.

In Flanders, as a party chairman, I get used to talking to everyone. I have observed that what people think of each other is often based on misinformation and misunderstandings. For example, believing what the Belgian press writes about Flemish Interests is like believing what Soros says about Hungary, Fidesz and Viktor Orbán. We can defeat this propaganda if we talk to each other.

The European cultures and, consequently, the difference between our parties should not separate us, but unite us, as we are the parties that want to preserve Europe as such. We need to ask ourselves, what is important now? To sustain our differences or form a strong alliance in a globalizing world called progressive, where mass immigration is changing our societies? I know the answer!

- Left-liberal commentators frequently reiterate that right-wing, conservative parties are incapable of uniting. Would that really be the case?

- This is ridiculous. In contrast to balliberals, I see diversity as our wealth. Of course, it’s not the diversity they’re talking about. Let Europe remain European. Balliberals want to turn Europe into a continent from which all individuality and sovereignty would disappear. I want to protect these values. The Flemish Interest and other conservative parties respect each other’s peculiarities.

We respect what unites us, so we accept differences as well. The left could learn from this. It is our job to set a good example for the future. As a little Flemish, I reach out to the Hungarians, Fidesz and Viktor Orbán. Together, we can create the Europe that our citizens deserve. 54

2. hln.be (translated, original by hln.be, 17.04.2021)

Tom Van Grieken can tweet again: “Censorship of MPs and citizens by multinationals must stop”

Vlaams Belang chairman Tom Van Grieken can go back to Twitter.

His account was locked last week after he accused the chairman of Vooruit in the Antwerp district of decorating his house “with posters of mass murderers such as Stalin and other communist propaganda”.

Twitter blocked Van Grieken account "for violating the rules for posting private material of a person from a country with recognized laws on the right to privacy".

“Censorship of members of parliament and citizens by foreign multinationals must stop”, Van Grieken now writes.

His party has already submitted a bill to prevent social media such as Facebook and Twitter from arbitrarily removing users and 'posts'.

3. gva.be (translated, original by gva.be, 11.04.2021)

Mayor Bart De Wever on death at lockdown party in Antwerp: “I am shocked”

Antwerp, Deurne -During a lockdown party in an Antwerp hotel last night, a 21-year-old man from Deurne died.

He fatalized out of the window trying to hide from the police. Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA) reacts shocked to the death. 55

Mayor Bart De Wever: “I am shocked by the death of a young Antwerp resident last night. I want to express my condolences to his family and loved ones. The judicial investigation into this terrible event is ongoing. ”

Long lockdown

“Since the start of the controls at lockdown parties, we have noticed that people try to avoid checks by the police,” says De Wever. “However, the security services have our common interest in mind and are there to help us where necessary. Police officers throughout this country have proven in the past year that they can perform their difficult task professionally and with integrity in exceptional circumstances. ”

“But the death of such a young person painfully confronts us with the consequences of long lockdown periods on the mental well-being, especially of young people. I hope that we will conduct the social debate about this in all serenity, ”the mayor continues.

Victim care

The facts happened in a hotel in the Meistraat, at the Theaterplein, in the city center. To clarify the exact circumstances of the death, the public prosecutor's office will demand an investigating judge. “The other hotel guests, the hotel staff and the police officers involved were deeply impressed by the facts and can count on assistance from the victim care service,” said the public prosecutor's office.

4. erdely.ma (translated, original by Sz.J., 20.04.2021)

Damn Belgians on your knees! - Indigenous Flemings are being terrorized by migrants

A recording in the social media covers an “event” that took place in Hasselt [the Flemish part of Belgium]. The short video shows how young Flemish teenagers are threatened by young people with an immigrant background and how a fight develops between them. 56

"Wollah damn Belgians, all on your knees!" sounds the repeated cry - writes the Belgian correspondent of erdely.ma.

Flemish, Muslim

[Wollah, slang, meaning “I swear to Allah”, is often used only as a stuffing word regardless of its original meaning]

[In the original context, the word “cancerous” is used instead of “damn”, such as e.g. cancerous Belgians, cancerous knees]

The recording was shared on Twitter by Sam Van Rooy, a representative of the “Vlaams Belang” [Flemish Interest Party]. The recording shows a group of young people with an immigrant background following Flemish young people and starting to threaten them. The controversy was caused by a cigarette. One of the immigrants asked the Flemish youth for cigarettes, but since they do not smoke, they did not have them.

“You and your damn friends, all on your damn knees. All to your damn knees! ” The threat sounds. “Wollah damn Belgian, are you a hell? One asks, then immediately adds, "Hasselt is our city." There is also a small brawl at the end of the film, which is coming to an end by the police arriving.

“The most disgusting thing about all this is not even that these teenagers are prone to such an act, but the reaction of the media and politics,” someone replies, commenting on the recording. Just imagine a group of white teenagers walking around the city, attacking immigrants and yelling “this is our city”. An extraordinary meeting would be held immediately and a series of press conferences would condemn the situation. "

***************************************************************************

IRELAND

1. index.hu (translated, original by Ferenc Kovács, 21.04.2021)

After Brexit: Ireland can unite within 25 years

According to the majority of the inhabitants of the island of Ireland, Northern Ireland will secede from the United Kingdom and unite with the Republic of Ireland within 25 years.

On the occasion of the upcoming 100th anniversary of the political division of the island of Ireland, the BBC’s British public service media company also conducted a comprehensive survey in Northern Ireland and Ireland with the polling company LucidTalk.

According to the results presented on Wednesday, there is a majority on both sides of the border who say that the unification of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is not expected within ten years: 55 per cent in Northern Ireland and 59 per cent in Ireland consider this unlikely.

However, when asked what they thought the situation would be 25 years from now, 51 per cent of Northern Irish people surveyed and 54 per cent of Irish people believed that Northern Ireland would leave the UK and unite with the Republic of Ireland by then.

The Good Friday 1998 Agreement, officially known as the Belfast Agreement, which launched the process of resolving the conflict in Northern Ireland, provides for a simultaneous referendum in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland on the reunification of the Irish island if the British and Irish Governments there is considerable social support on both sides of the border.

However, the British governments that have been in power since then have consistently held that a referendum is not justified on the basis of the distribution of public opinion.

Tensions have intensified markedly since the June 2016 referendum on British EU membership. In the referendum, a narrow 51.9 per cent majority of the total UK population left, but in Northern Ireland, 55.8 per cent of voters voted for further EU membership.

2. index.hu (translated, original by Ferenc Kovács, 28.04.2021)

Prime Minister of Northern Ireland resigns

Prime Minister Arlene Foster of Northern Ireland announced his resignation on Wednesday after his party launched a motion of censure against him the night before, due to long-standing dissatisfaction for a number of reasons.

Arlene Foster will leave the leadership of the Crown Faithful Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the largest party in the Belfast coalition government, on 28 May, and at the end of June the North anti-British Catholic movement Sinn Fein, the largest anti-British Catholic movement fighting for British unification and British rule. also the head of the Irish unity government.

Arlene Foster was elected head of the DUP in December 2015 and in January 2016 - as the leader of the largest party in the Belfast legislature - became Prime Minister of the Government of Unity in Northern Ireland. In both positions, she was the first female leader in the history of Northern Ireland.

As a prelude to his intention to resign on Wednesday, about 80 per cent of the members of the DUP factions in the Belfast and London parliaments filed a motion of no confidence against him on Tuesday night.

3. merce.hu (translated, original by Noémi Lehoczki, 10.04.2021)

The unrest in Northern Ireland marks the gradual return of borders in Europe

In 1989, the demolition of the Berlin Wall was a symbolic moment of a new era. The end of capitalized history has come: the horizon has been finally filled by capitalism, which we 59 expected to bring down the walls once and for all and bring to humanity an era of liberal democracy and a world without borders.

The fact that the world is currently going through the dispersal of this illusion cannot be a novelty at all in our country, the country of the outposts of illiberalism. But perhaps we pay little attention to the fact that not only democratization by capital has failed worldwide, but the opening of borders by free trade has also proved transient and fragile.

Yet the European overture to this process also came to mind during the 2016 refugee crisis. But even then, the problem could be solved by the fact that the border is “only” between Europe and the outside world.

Recently, however, a border conflict in Northern Ireland, believed to have ended for two decades, has flared up. Riots broke out, gasoline bombs were dropped, and more than 70 police officers were injured.

The riots are mainly driven by loyalists (including paramilitary groups) who complain that London considered the implementation of Brexit more important than the unity of the union. Part of the Brexit Agreement is the Northern Ireland Protocol, which provides for border controls in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom to control goods entering the EU's common market. The aim of the protocol is to avoid a border between Northern Ireland and Ireland; the former left the EU with Britain, while the latter remained a member.

While the protocol preserves the border peace between Ireland and Northern Ireland enshrined in the Good Friday Peace Treaty (1998), it beats the wedge between Northern Ireland and Britain to which the loyalists in Northern Ireland want to belong. Another twist is that the loyalist-unionist DUP party had previously stood in a coalition with the Conservatives, and former Prime Minister Theresa May had made large-scale promises to the coalition. Boris Johnson, on the other hand, absolutely let down the DUP when it reached an agreement with the EU that puts Northern Ireland virtually closer to Ireland and further away from Britain.

Recently, graffiti threatening to force workers there has appeared in the ports of Northern Ireland. As a result of the threats, controls on cross-border goods were temporarily suspended in February in order to maintain the safety of staff.

The conflict is also fueled by the burial last week of Bobby Storey, the head of the IRA’s former intelligence unit. The funeral was also attended by Michelle O’Neill, vice-president of the Sinn Fein party, which promotes the unity of Ireland. Loyalists complained that Northern Irish police had not dropped off at the funeral, which was attended by more than 2,000 and which violated covid regulations.

The conflict in Northern Ireland is the infiltration within Europe of the global contradiction that while the last corner of the Earth has become involved in global capital flows, more border walls have been built in the last thirty years than ever before in human history. Currently, 6 out of 10 people in the world live in a country bordered by a wall. There are currently 63 border walls in the world, of which there were only 6 in 1989. In 2015 alone, 14 walls were built.

4. bbc.com (original by Shane Harrison, 15.04.2021)

Coronavirus: Ireland 'on course to ease restrictions in May'

Taoiseach (Irish PM) Mícheál Martin has said he expects 80% of the adult population to be offered or to have had a first dose by the end of June and around 55% to be fully vaccinated.

Public health officials have indicated that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was to account for about 20% of vaccinations and Janssen for about 15%.

But Mr Martin has said the European Commission announcement that the Republic is to get an unexpected extra 545,000 Pfizer-BioNTech doses puts the roll-out "on track in terms of key targets".

The taoiseach estimated that the Republic's vaccination programme is about a month behind Northern Ireland's.

Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said that people who refuse the vaccine offered to them put themselves "to the back of the queue".

"If you decide not to take up the vaccine that's offered to you when it's offered, well then you're essentially putting yourself to the back of the queue until everybody else gets vaccinated, which will certainly take quite some time," he told RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne.

He said the safest thing to do is take the vaccine offered.

He said the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was safe, particularly so "for people over the age of 60, in the context of the threats they face from Covid".

From Thursday, those aged between 65 and 69 can begin to register online and by phone to make a vaccination appointment.

The Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) Leo Varadkar has said he believes the state "is still very much on track" to meet its vaccination targets and to reopen society cautiously from the middle of next month.

The Republic has been described as having the longest lockdown in the world.

Also from Thursday those arriving from an additional 16 countries, including France, Italy, the United States and Canada, will have to undergo mandatory hotel quarantine.

There are now over 70 countries or territories on the Republic's list and people travelling from there must pay close to €2,000 (£1,737) for their 14-day-stay in a hotel.

Travellers are encouraged to book in online in advance but because there has been a higher number than expected of "walk-ins" the state has had to temporarily pause its booking system for a number of days.

Opposition parties, including Sinn Féin, believe that all people arriving by air and sea should undergo mandatory hotel quarantine.

But the measure has proved controversial particularly for those who are fully vaccinated and seeking to see sick or dying relatives.

Because the Republic of Ireland shares an unhindered border with no checkpoints, Mr Varadkar said he "envisages" that in future travellers will fly to Belfast and cross the border to avoid a mandatory hotel stay.

All counties in the Republic of Ireland are currently on Level 5 restrictions.

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DENMARK

1. index.hu (translated, original by Necsny, 18.04.2021)

Denmark has begun to repatriate refugees

Denmark would reduce the number of asylum seekers to zero. Copenhagen says the Syrian capital is now safe, so it would deport refugees.

Aja Abo Dáer is preparing for his graduation in Nyborg, central Denmark. He couldn’t wait to celebrate the memorable event with his classmates at the end of June. However, a recent email from the Danish authorities overwrote his dreams.

We will not renew their residence permit - this was stated in an email to a student of Syrian descent and his parents.

I was very desperate. I felt like a stranger after Denmark took everything away from me. I just sat in silence and moaned - Said the 20-year-old student.

Many other refugees from the Damascus area received a similar message in Denmark.

The Danish authorities classified the Syrian capital as safe last summer. Since then, hundreds of Syrians have had their Danish residence permits revoked - or simply not renewed.

“Although the war is not over and his memory is vivid in everyone, the Danish authorities believe that the situation in Damascus is so good that refugees can be sent home,” said Charlotte Slente, general secretary of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC).

Denmark is the only European country to revoke a Syrian residence permit.

The decision is “irreversible”, meaning it cannot be appealed. Returnees need to prepare for attacks, retaliation and persecution against them, Slente said. “In fact, there are no fighting in Damascus. However, this does not mean that the city is safe for returning refugees. ”

There is no cooperation between Denmark and Syria

It is not just human rights organizations - the DRC and Amnesty International - who are questioning the position of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who would reduce the number of asylum seekers in Denmark to zero. Left-wing parties, which often support minority, social democratic governments, are also protesting against the announced measures.

RADIKALE VENSTRE, a spokesman for the SOCIAL-LIBERAL PARTY, called the deportation of students like AJA ABO DAAR “HEARTLESS AND HARMFUL”.

“How does Denmark know if Syria is safe? After all, in view of the precarious situation, he closed his embassy there, ”wrote Kristian Hegaard.

Once ties between the Danish and Assad regimes have been severed, refugees cannot be deported, left-wing parties say. Currently, Syrians whose residence permits have expired or who do not leave Denmark voluntarily are locked up in deportation camps. 64

"Let them work and study"

They can wait for years for the situation in Syria to resolve. They can go crazy for that. During this time, they should be allowed to contribute to the prosperity of Denmark, to be able to work and study, ”says Hegaard, who said that this could bring much more benefits to his country.

Aja Abo Dáer’s classmates wrote an open letter to the Minister of Integration asking him not to allow the deportation of a fluent Danish-speaking Syrian girl, but to allow him to cancel some of his debt to Danish society.

OUR LETTERS FOUND ON DEAD EARS. THE MINISTER, MATTIAS TESFAYE, DECLARED THAT IT BELIEVES IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE AUTHORITIES AND DOES NOT EXCEPT JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE APPEARS ON TV.

Unlike the girl, her two brothers, who fled Syria a year earlier, are not in danger of deportation because they enjoy a higher level of protection as a conscript.

“The decision is irresponsible because it will tear families apart,” Charlotte Slente said.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is pulling to the left when it comes to social policy and to the right when it comes to immigration. It has a long-term plan to stop asylum seekers from Denmark altogether.

Refugees who leave Denmark can count on financial support from the government.

2. gondola.hu (translated, original by Béla Galló/mozgasterblog.hu, 20.04.2021)

For example, the Danes 65

What is unthinkable for the Hungarian “Social Democrats”, seems to be happening in Denmark,

Their Danish colleagues have discovered and even nurture and protect national identity. Once upon a time in Europe, this was once a self-evident socdem (social democrat) value - and at the same time, of course, an ugly “betrayal,” as communists warming from proletarian internationalism kept reading to them. A true proletarian only has a class, he does not have a homeland, and he does not have to have one, or even the world revolution would lag behind…

Today, when the so-called progressive forces replace the proletarian with the bourgeoisie, internationalism with globalism, national identity is again redundant. Moreover, one is most “progressive” when one considers the nation to be a column that is no longer an obstacle on the promenade of the bourgeois “world revolution” rather than the proletarian. As a progressive companion, this baktat is also a third-passenger social democracy that has camouflaged into capital logic, saying that who in the 21st century would hang a twig of national sovereignty among the spokes of global progress would be nothing more than a rag “traitor”.

Of course, there are Social Democrat politicians who are fighting valiantly against this. In Denmark, such is the Prime Minister himself, Mette Frederiksen, and in Germany, Theo Sarrazin and Wolfgang Thierse are the best known. The latter also get it nicely for it, their mainstream immediately slips them into the box of Judas, we don't open a debate, first the judgment, then the trial, familiar right? (This was once called a conceptual lawsuit, today it is a culture of abolition.)

However, Denmark is still a whole country, it cannot be simply erased from a “bad”. Though Denmark is now quite out of line, their current Socdem government seems to have understood that the nation is not at all superfluous, the people radically need the radiant heat of tradition. Moreover, cultural identity is at least as important to them as issues of redistribution. What’s more, the two may be closely linked, especially if both are faced at the same time, say, by the challenge of migration called migration.

It was different, but the Danish Social Democrats proved surprisingly instructive. For years, they could see up close (from behind) how successfully the Social Conservative Danish People’s Party, described by the Neolibic mainstream as “far right,” “populist,” was addressing left-wing mainstream voters. Liberal immigration policy is in stark contrast to the welfare model, the People’s Party said, to which the vast majority of Danes nodded. The Socdems did not adjust their government policies to this in 2015, only in 2019, when the previous 1 per cent rate for immigrants rose to 13 per cent. With this year, Denmark received 66 the largest number of asylum seekers within the Union in proportion to the population, and it was then that the Frederiksen decided to curb the escaping parallel societies. And the other day, a Syrian group was repatriated for the first time in Europe, back to the area of Damascus, which had once again been declared safe. In the meantime, however, they will not be left behind and will even sacrifice heavy sums, creating a serious infrastructure to set up reception centers in North Africa where applications can be processed outside the EU.

Behind their policies lies a serious social organization concept and responsibility ethics considerations. They argue that national and cultural identity should not be confused with ethnic homogeneity, but it is equally dangerous to forget that the cultural rights of the indigenous majority are fundamental to the strength of a given society. Plurality is not good in itself, but in its concrete proportions, that is, when it strengthens society and not when it breaks it down. How is this extremely difficult to achieve? Of course it is. But once a society has disintegrated, it is much more difficult to put it together.

Our “socdems” are very far from their Danish counterparts, but not only because they are also very far from the helm. The bigger problem is that they have no political will for the above, let alone their spiritual horizons.

3. jyllands-posten.dk (translated, original by Berit Ertmann, 27.04.2021)

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will look at the rules for deportation again after a case of rape of a 14-year-old

"In general, when you commit crime of a personal nature, rape and so on, you must be sent out of Denmark, that is my political position," says Mette Frederiksen.

The government is open to looking at the rules for when criminal foreigners must be deported from Denmark.

This was stated by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday in the Folketing Hall.

"In general, when you commit crime of a personal nature, rape and so on, you must be expelled from Denmark, that is my political position," it read.

Mette Frederiksen's report comes on the basis of a case about two foreign young men who were convicted of several criminal offenses in the Copenhagen City Court last week. Including a sexual assault and rape of a 14-year-old girl.

In the case, which has already received much political attention, the two were found guilty in 650 different cases. Nevertheless, they were allowed to stay in Denmark with a "warning of deportation" and with shorter prison sentences. One was given 2 years and 10 months while the other was sentenced to 3 years and 11 months in prison.

"It simply came to our notice then. Is it really this state of law that we want in Denmark ?, «it sounded from Nye Borgerlige's Pernille Vermund in the hall, after she had read out parts of the indictment against the two men.

The Prime Minister replied that she did not want to interfere in individual lawsuits, but that she was affected by the case.

"I am completely and utterly disgusted by this," said Mette Frederiksen, adding that "if it is true - as described here - that on the basis of very, very criminal conditions one is not expelled from Denmark, then I think that there is reason to look at the expulsion rules again '.

The two men were EU citizens, which makes it extremely difficult to deport them from Denmark, even though the prosecutor in court had wanted just that.

In addition, the court's assessment was that the two men, who were 19 and 20 years old respectively, had strong connections to Denmark, as they have lived in Denmark most of their lives.

Jytte Lindgård, chairman of the Association of Immigration Law Attorneys, has previously explained to Jyllands-Posten that it is generally difficult to deport EU citizens in criminal cases.

»EU citizens are almost to be regarded as Danes. That is also what lies in the rules of free movement. This means that there are significantly different rules that apply to non-EU citizens and EU citizens, respectively, and where it is very difficult to deport EU citizens. "

It is the EU Residence Directive, which allows EU citizens to move freely and reside in all EU countries, and that which can slow down deportation.

The Liberal Party's legal spokesman, Preben Bang Henriksen, has announced that he will take up the matter with Minister of Justice Nick Hækkerup.

4. hvg.hu (translated, original by hvg.hu, 15.04.2021)

Latvia would take over the Danish AstraZeneca kit

Earlier, the Latvians were also suspended, but later the use of the vaccine was resumed.

Latvia is ready to take over the coronavirus vaccine stock of the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which Denmark has previously abandoned, the tt health minister said on Wednesday. “We will be contacting Denmark to find out if we can submit our demand for this kit,” Daniels Pavluts wrote on Twitter.

As we wrote, the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine at the pharmaceutical plant AstraZeneca has been completely stopped in Denmark, the decision was announced on Wednesday by Soren Brostrom, director of the Danish Health Authority.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) noted last week that there is a possible link between the vaccine and the very rare cases of blood clots reported earlier, but the benefits of the vaccine still outweigh the risks of possible side effects.

Denmark is the first European country to have completely stopped using a vaccine co- developed by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company and Oxford University, and it was the first on the continent to be suspended there, on 11 March. Incidentally, Latvia suspended the use of the product on 15 March as a precautionary measure.

In other European countries, where the use of the product has been suspended, vaccinations have since been restarted, with its use restricted to certain age groups.

In Latvia, with a population of 1.9 million, 109,088 people have been registered so far, of whom 2019 died from the disease. The vaccination campaign began on December 28 last year, and since then more than 157,000 people have received at least the first dose of one of the coronavirus vaccines, while 26,525 have received the second dose.

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SWEDEN

1. gp.se (translated, original by Anette Holmqvist, 15.04.2021)

Åkesson's rock hard boot to Lööf: Stay in the sandbox

SwedenAnnie Lööf (C) says in a GP interview that it is a security risk to bring SD into the Government Offices.

The words from Annie Lööf, the Center Party's leader, in GP's big interview have created a rift between the party leaders in social media.

Her statement that it would be a security risk to bring the Sweden Democrats into the Government Offices has attracted much attention.

"Giving an open xenophobic populist party influence over the Swedish government is a security risk," she said, among other things.

Åkesson jumps on "Team Löfven"

On Twitter, the Sweden Democrats' party leader Jimmie Åkesson responds to the C-leader's words.

He thinks she can stay in the sandbox, if she thinks it's dignified. And he believes that "Law Löfven 2022", where he places Anne Lööf's Center Party, seems to have decided to make the election campaign about something other than politics and the reality of Swedes.

- It is sad to see what shameless attacks that invertebrate politicians can lift to maintain power and avoid taking responsibility for what they have done with our country, he writes further.

Should be about Sweden

According to Åkesson, SD will ensure that the election campaign will be about Sweden.

GP has previously interviewed Jimmie Åkesson, Ulf Kristersson and Stefan Löfven about the situation before the 2022 election and what can happen next.

2. svt.se (translated, original by svt.se, 14.04.2021)

Jimmie Åkesson: "We lack government experience"

SD leader Jimmie Åkesson points to two things that play a role in the question of whether the party should demand ministerial posts or not if they support a future bourgeois government. 71

The lack of government experience and the fact that they have never before collaborated with M and KD at the highest level.

- You have to have respect for the fact that we are a new party in these contexts, says Åkesson in SVT's 30 minutes.

The Sweden Democrats 'influence over a future government has been discussed extensively after the Liberals' announcement that they will work for a bourgeois government, even if it means that they become dependent on support from SD. In SVT's 30 minutes, party leader Jimme Åkesson points out that the questions about exact ministerial posts are too premature.

- One must have respect for the fact that we are a new party in these contexts, we lack government experience, we have never before collaborated at this level with either the Moderates or the Christian Democrats. There is a lot of relationship building left before we can discuss what a government should look like, says Åkesson.

"January agreement a sea work"

Åkesson admits that there is value in sitting in government and that SD will do what they can to make it so, but it is the impact on policy that weighs the most. The goal is to have an agreement in place before the election to ensure that the party's policies have an impact on a government that is dependent on their support.

- We can see the problems with the January agreement, which is a sea work in all its respects. There, they have deliberately flouted formulations and do not agree today, I do not want to end up in that situation, says Åkesson.

Wants proportional influence

Regardless of ministerial posts, the influence should be proportionate to the votes of the voters. When asked if this means that he believes that they should have a greater influence than the Christian Democrats over a bourgeois government, he answers:

- I do not think you can achieve any millimeter justice in that. My point is that it is reasonable that a party that has 20 percent of the votes has a little more room for negotiation than a party that just manages the parliamentary blockade. 72

3. 888.hu (translated, original by András Bíró, 12.04.2021)

Sweden, the stronghold of multiculturalism

In connection with the failed integration of Muslims, the northern state has come into the spotlight more and more often in recent years.

Prior to the 2015 migration crisis, Sweden was to some extent able to maintain the ideal of a prosperous, stable multicultural state, but, as has since been demonstrated, this narrative has definitively failed. During the migration crisis, Sweden received the largest number of refugees and immigrants per capita, representing more than 1 million people and representing 10 percent of the population.

For this reason, Swedes have preferred to call themselves “humanitarian superpowers” since 2015, but the influx of millions in the Middle East as a result of the crisis has highlighted that previously admitted Muslim immigrants have not integrated properly, making problems that are no longer obscure. Parallel societies formed by Muslims have existed in Sweden for decades, where the monopoly of violence by state bodies simply does not prevail and there is no willingness on the part of the liberal elite leading the country to solve the problem.

The escalation of the process is highlighted by the fact that the narrative of the successful integration of Muslims can no longer be maintained by statistical cosmetology or systematic silence. The over-representation of immigrants in sexual and other serious crimes, regular bombings and gang wars in big cities, and growing anti-Semitism highlight that Sweden is undergoing an unfavorable transformation, despite the distorted image conveyed by the media.

A decade ago, ghetto riots and bomb attacks against the police were exceptional events, while they have become commonplace today.

The no-go zones in Schrödinger

Faced with the failures of integration policy, the Swedish authorities have taken a number of measures in recent decades aimed at cosmeticising reality by transforming the language. The resulting Orwellian “Swedish rhetoric” seeks to suppress social discourse about the serious problems affecting the country in a euphemistic way. 73

The most striking example of this phenomenon is that the northern authorities do not use terms such as “Muslim ghettos” or “Muslim parallel societies”, but in reality labeled areas in this category as “endangered districts”.

In the year of the peak of the migration crisis, 2015, the Swedish police published a list of these so-called “endangered districts”, ie the segregated suburban districts of the country, as part of its annual work. According to the police, these districts are “low socio-economic status, geographically demarcated areas where criminals keep the local population under their influence”.

According to the law enforcement agency, the influence of criminal gangs in these districts is more of a sociological context and there is no real intention to take power and control the area.

The number of “vulnerable districts” in the country has increased to 60, of which 22 are “particularly vulnerable districts”, 10 are “at risk districts” (high risk of becoming particularly vulnerable) and 28 are “endangered districts”.

In the case of “particularly vulnerable districts”, the presence of criminals is so decisive that it makes it largely impossible to carry out court proceedings and the police are unable to maintain their monopoly on violence. This also manifests itself in the form that police officers do not dare to enter a given district without reinforcements and planning alternative escape routes. Due to the volatile situation in these areas, law enforcement officers have to regularly adapt to the methods of local criminal gangs, which has been significantly contributed to the regularization of delayed attacks on police officers, bombs and Molotov cocktails on police cars in recent years.

According to Swedish police, there are eight districts in Stockholm, four in Malmö and Gothenburg, and three in Botkyrka, Södertälje, Eskilstuna and Norrköping.

In an interview with the Financial Times in November 2020, Swedish National Police Chief Anders Thornberg confirmed that Sweden is facing a growing security threat from parallel societies built by Muslims. Shooting and bomb attacks between clan-based rival gangs became regular in immigrant-populated neighborhoods in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. In June 2015, a four-year-old girl died as a result of a blood feud bombing in 74

Gothenburg, and in August 2016, an eight-year-old boy from Birmingham died from a grenade thrown during a gang war, also in Gothenburg.

Ethnic-based gang warfare began to become routine.

He similarly stirred the stagnant water when, in August 2020, a criminal gang set up roadblocks in Gothenburg to catch members of a rival clan. Police arrested some criminals in vain, and none of them could be charged. The tragicomic overtones of the case are that the Gothenburg gang war was not ended by the police, but by a ceasefire between the clans.

Regarding Muslim ghettos, Gordon Grattidge, former head of the health Ambulansförbundet union, and his successor, Henrik Johansson, also confirmed in an interview with Politico that some districts are truly no-go zones and ambulances only dare to enter with police escorts. In these neighborhoods, it was regularly the case that the engine of ambulances was stolen by immigrants.

In the first half of 2020, 163 young men lost their lives in 163 shootings.

A 2018 Springer study found that boys and men between the ages of 15 and 29 are ten times more likely to be shot in Sweden than in Germany. The danger of this is particularly problematic in immigrant-dominated neighborhoods. The shootings have become so common in the country that they are no longer on the front pages of newspapers unless there are fatalities.

In addition, drug smuggling concentrated in the hands of immigrants is also flourishing in the Muslim ghettos of Stockholm, against which the authorities are also proving insufficient in the absence of will. According to Swedish government statistics, in 2019, drug-related gang violence increased the number of bomb blasts by 60 percent.

According to the Swedish National Crime Prevention Council (Brottsförebyggande rådet, BRÅ), 162 bomb attacks were reported to the police in 2018, compared to 257 in 2019.

However, identifying criminals with an immigrant background is far from easy, as Swedish law has banned the recording of the ethnic background of the perpetrators since 2006. According to Stina Holmberg, one of the authors of the book “Crime among people born in 75

Sweden and other countries”, ethnically based statistics have been banned because they are used to oppose immigration and do not serve as a methodology for studying crime.

Due to unsustainable conditions, the Swedish government decided at the end of 2020 to employ an additional 6,000 police officers and four thousand support staff by 2024. However, according to Chief of Police Erik Nord in Gothenburg, ten thousand police officers would be needed in addition to the four thousand support staff, as well as several surveillance cameras.

Among other things, on these issues, Thornberg argued that if Swedish politicians continue to sweep these integration problems under the rug, groups outside society could pose a huge threat to democracy.

The Muslim population makes up 8.1 percent of Sweden’s 10 million population, so there are currently officially 800,000 Muslims living in Sweden.

The number of people with an immigrant background is estimated to be highest in Malmö at 37 per cent, in Stockholm at 25 per cent and in Gothenburg at 20 per cent. The number of people with some kind of immigrant background - that is, not just belonging to the Muslim population - is around 1.8 million, so the statistics may be slightly distorting, but according to official statistics, nearly 70 percent of Swedish Muslims live in the three largest cities or conurbations.

According to 2017 statistics, 25 percent of the total population has some form of immigrant background.

It is important to note, however, that in Sweden, in the spirit of personal freedom, it is legally prohibited to collect personal data regarding the religious or ethnic affiliation of a population in any case involving sensitive personal information. Thus, in the absence of official databases, it is difficult to determine the exact number of the Muslim population in the northern country.

The Swedish Crime Prevention Council last published a study in 2005 on the relationship between immigration and crime. Despite the fact that the northern country has been hit by a huge wave of immigration and the number of crimes has risen, no comprehensive research has been done on the subject. A fifteen-year (2002–2017) study by sociologist Göran Adamson 76 and economist Tino Sanandaji, published in 2020, is the first descriptive scientific study on the subject to be published since 2005. The authors pointed out that

58% of all crimes committed in Sweden are committed by people with an immigrant background.

The perpetrators are 73 percent of murders, murders, and attempted murders, while 70 percent of robberies are perpetrators. Unregistered migrants (whose numbers are difficult to quantify due to their illegal stay, but probably not even one percent of the population) are responsible for 13 percent of all crimes. These figures testify to the extreme over-representation of immigrants in committing crimes, in light of which it is not surprising that the Swedish authorities are using all means to cosmeticize statistics.

Some areas have become so segregated by immigrants that the transformation of the composition of the local community has become quite striking.

As an example, according to 2012 data, in Rinkeby, a district of Stockholm, more than 90 (!) Percent of the population has a migration background, 38.6 percent of the population is from Asia and 40.8 percent from Africa.

Due to the generally low employment of immigrants, the unemployment rate in the district is over 10 percent, well above the average Stockholm rate of 3.4 percent.

In Malmö’s infamous Muslim ghetto, Rosengård, 86 percent of the population is first- and second-generation immigrants, about 60 percent of whom are unemployed and living on welfare state benefits. Even before the 2015 migration crisis, there were no school-age children whose first language was Swedish. The situation in Rosengård is well illustrated by the fact that the U.S. UPS courier service announced in 2019 that it would suspend the delivery of packages in the district as drivers were regularly attacked and robbed by locals.

In parallel societies in Sweden, it can be observed that expectations regarding the integration of young boys with poor language skills and one-sided circle of friends who inherit a weak social status have proved futile. Teenage boys usually don’t even finish school and tend to join gangs that offer them a sense of belonging to a group. This is also supported by the fact that 85 percent of the members of the street crime gangs have an immigrant background. According to research by the daily Expressen, if one parent is born abroad, the proportion of people with a migrant background in criminal gangs in Stockholm will rise to 95 percent. 77

Rampage of sexual violence

The increased number of sexual crimes in the country is also a significant problem. While 424 harassments were reported to the police in 1975, that number rose to 6,620 by 2014.

The Swedish explanation for this is usually based on three arguments: on the one hand, the willingness to report crimes has increased, on the other hand, statistical records have become more accurate over decades, and on the third, the category of rape in Sweden has a broader definition than in other countries. Given that Sweden has a strong feminist ethos, these statements have some truth, but they also make it clear that the spirit of “Swedish retelling” revolves around the phenomenon of sexual violence, which is a growing problem in the country.

The significance of the problem is well illustrated by the fact that in 2014, for example, at the “We Are Stockholm” festival, Afghan refugees molested and raped fourteen-year-old girls. Local police did not even mention the incident in the report on the five-day festival, but rather covered it up. No one was convicted and the media did not talk about the case. However, there was also a case where the Swedish press reported similar, but deliberately twisted the facts. According to the news, a group of “Swedish men” on the ferry to Abo, Finland, raped a woman, but the perpetrators were actually Somalis.

In 2018, the TV show Uppdrag Granskning presented a study that included all attempted or attempted rape between 2012 and 2017. It turned out that 58 per cent of the perpetrators were foreign-born, while the remaining 42 per cent were born in Sweden, but there were also those with a migrant background who already had citizenship.

The show also showed that in cases where the victim and the perpetrator did not know each other, the proportion of foreign-born offenders was 80 percent.

Another 2018 study by the daily Aftonbladet looked at 112 people convicted of gang rape. Between 2012 and 2017, 73 per cent of rapists were foreign-born, and in cases where the perpetrator was already born in Sweden but his parents were immigrants, the proportion rose to 88 per cent.

In light of all this, it is interesting to make statements that deny the seriousness of the rape that is raging in the Nordic country, in fact, they only shed more light on the unmanageable situation in Sweden.

An example of this is Ylva Johansson, a Social Democrat politician who held the Swedish Minister of Labor and Integration between 2014 and 2019.

In a 2018 interview with the British BBC, the politician said the number of reported rapes and sexual harassment was “getting lower, lower and lower”. In reality, however, the numbers are rising, which Johansson was eventually forced to admit. Johansson’s role as Minister of Integration is hard to call a success, yet he fell upwards and in 2019 became European Union Commissioner for Home Affairs.

Despite the inoperability of the Swedish integration system and the associated Swedish situation, in an EU debate in September 2020, he stated that: Europe's aging states need migration, as it makes us rich, […] so the EU needs to develop legal methods to accommodate more immigrants and refugees ”.

That is, a failed minister of integration propagates the continuation of further social experimentation by proving in his own country that a multicultural society composed of different cultures is inoperable.

These facts shed interesting light on the study “Facts on Migration, Integration and Crime in Sweden” published by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the official website of the Swedish government, which set itself the goal of exposing myths circulating in the country. Among other things, the government wants to refute “false claims” such as the increase in gun violence and sexual crimes, the criminal over-representation of immigrants, the existence of no-go zones, the inoperability of integration or the presence of Islamism. However, the responses received to the allegations do not, on the one hand, cover reality and, on the other hand, should be interpreted in the context of the “Swedish rhetoric”.

The proliferation of anti-Semitism

Furthermore, one of the most significant problems is the spread of anti-Semitism in Sweden, the main reason for which is the growing Muslim population.

This is also supported by the 2018 report of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), which presents experiences of anti-Semitic atrocities against the Jewish community. During the preparation of the study, Jews living in Europe were asked about the anti-Semitic incidents that befell them.

As for Sweden, according to statistics, 40 per cent were responsible for hate crimes, harassment and physical abuse against the Jewish community with a “Muslim radical point of view”, 27 per cent with a “left-wing political point of view” and 18 per cent with a “right- wing political point of view”.

In cities where parallel societies built by Muslims are proliferating, the number of Jews is declining in parallel.

The most striking example of this can be seen in Malmö, where attacks on Jewish buildings have become almost regular, including the burning of the Jewish cemetery chapel and the harassment of every tenth member of the community every year. In light of this, it is not surprising that the Jewish community in Malmö practically fled the city, and in 2010 their numbers fell below a thousand.

Conclusion

The Swedish model of integration, no matter how much the Swedish authorities try to distort it by all means together with the mainstream media, is simply not working. Marginalized social groups are emerging that are unable to embed in existing structures and build new, alternative societies where the state’s monopoly on violence is limited or non-existent. In addition to the increasingly frustrating picture of crime statistics, the over-representation of immigrants in serious crime is providing increasingly worrying news about the loosening of social cohesion. The Swedish multicultural desire seems to be collapsing, which is also less and less helped by the cosmeticization of statistics.

The social attempt to integrate Muslims with a foreign culture has provably failed, which native Swedes are forced to live with on a daily basis.

3. mandiner.hu (translated, original by mandiner.hu, 08.04.2021)

Sweden also has the prospect of making immigration more difficult

A new immigration bill was tabled by the Swedish left-wing government in parliament on Thursday.

If the new bill is passed, the bill submitted by the Social Democratic government allied with the Greens will replace the temporary legislation passed in 2016. These were extended in 2019 in the absence of a political consensus.

Work and language

Under the draft, immigrants will receive a three-year residence permit. Once this has expired, however, they can only enjoy the rights of permanent residence if they meet several requirements, such as the acquisition of the Swedish language or a sufficient income to live on.

Prior to the 2016 tightening, refugees were granted permanent housing rights under the law in Sweden, which is considered one of the most inclusive European states. In relation to its population, Sweden received the largest number of migrants from the European Union in 2015. Then 160,000 came to the Scandinavian state, many of them from Syria.

According to Swedish immigration authorities, the country of 10.3 million has granted asylum and family reunification to more than 400,000 people in a decade.

Anti-immigration voices

With the advancement of the Swedish Democrats' anti-immigration party, the major Swedish parties, including the Social Democrats, have tightened immigration policy for five years, which has ultimately manifested itself in the withdrawal of permanent residence permits.

With this draft, Sweden will no longer be as attractive a destination for asylum seekers as it was in 2014 and 2015. ” 81

Johansson defended the bill on Thursday, which “provides a long-term settlement framework,” and makes sure the principle of time-limited residence permits doesn’t have “disproportionate effects”. The extension of a temporary residence permit is possible for both children and adults, especially in “extremely painful” circumstances, under the title of “protection of humanity”.

Other winds in Scandinavia

One and a half years before the September 2022 parliamentary elections, the leader of the radical right-wing Swedish Democrats, Jimmie Akesson, attacked the provision for unaccompanied minors. According to the draft, the latter will be able to stay in Sweden until the end of their studies and will receive "humanitarian protection".

The temporary legislation, last extended in 2019, will expire in the summer. The new should come into force in July if parliament votes on the draft submitted by the government.

This year, another Scandinavian state, Denmark, has also announced further austerity measures to curb immigration. Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Social Democratic head of government, stressed, among other things, that her country’s goal is to “have zero immigration”. As he put it in the Danish parliament, “Danes want to stay Danes”.

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FINLAND

1. uusisuomi.fi (translated, original by Teppo Ovaskainen, 29.04.2021)

Jussi Halla-aho: Isn't this kind of approach embarrassing, Prime Minister Marin?

According to the Prime Minister, he has not taken part in the official debate reported by YLE, nor is he responsible for responding to requests for information.

Jussi Halla-aho, Chairman of the Opposition Party of Basic Finns, raised the warning received by the officials of the Prime Minister's Office about the EU and the Office's decision not to disclose more detailed information about the debate at a parliamentary question time.

On Tuesday , the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation reported how the legal service official of the Council of the European Union warned Finland of “unprecedented damage to reputation” if Finland overturned the stimulus package. The Prime Minister's Office refused to open the parties to the discussion or other details when Iltalehti inquired about the matter .

Halla-aho accused the government of acting in a way that “information appropriate to its own agenda is leaked to the media” while avoiding answering questions in public. The exploitation of leaks and the reluctance of the state administration to the Public Access Act have been on the agenda in the past, as it was taken into account, for example, in Sitra's Government Core in Crisis Report published in January 2021.

According to Halla-aho, it is obvious that the threat of a stimulus package has been leaked to Yle from the Prime Minister's Office with the aim of “intimidating Parliament behind the package”.

“I would ask Prime Minister Marin if you don’t think this kind of approach is embarrassing?” Halla-aho asked.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin (sd) replied that she did not know who had such a debate.

“I haven’t been personally involved in this,” he said.

He said he was “completely caught” in the government’s framework dispute negotiations last week and is therefore unaware of all the details of the state administration’s actions.

"I don't know where Yle got the information he's reported."

The Prime Minister further pointed out that the civil service is assessing which requests for information will be answered and how.

2. is.fi (translated, original by Mika Lehto, 20.04.2021)

Halla-aho finishes the government about the loss of jobs in Finland: “There is something that can be done about it, but the government is not able to do it”

This morning, Stora Enso announced the closure of the Veitsiluoto paper mill in Kemi.

According to Halla-aho, the decline in paper demand is not the only explanation for Stora Enso's decision to close the Veitsiluoto mill.

- Demand for printing paper is declining, but on the other hand, the market for forest industry products, such as packaging materials, is growing all the time. Yes, how investors see the security of raw material availability in the future, which is general legislation and the investment-friendliness of the tax environment, is also crucial in this, says Halla-aho.

- In our opinion, Finland should not pursue the world's most ambitious climate policy. General climate issues affect when companies consider whether to set up a paper mill here or in Indonesia, he continues.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the government of Sanna Marin (sd) will meet in its framework debate, where employment issues will be the most important and difficult issue.

The government should have time to decide on 20,000 to 30,000 new decision-making jobs.

- I do not think that with this composition the government will be able to make any significant reforms, for example in relation to unemployment security. For example, earnings-related staggering is likely to have other positive employment effects. These are ideological issues for governing parties, Halla-aho says.

- I very much fear that there will be a leather decision that will quantify the increase in jobs through various support measures that are not sustainable for public finances. And it will be decided to increase labor migration.

Will the government do anything to ensure that jobs are maintained in Finland and that the right jobs come to Finland with the investments?

- One thing could be done for this, but the government will not be able to do it. We need an affordable energy price. Emissions trading compensation should be fully utilized. Finland is geographically difficult, and we have energy-intensive industry and long transport distances.

- People's cost of living and mobility are so high that it puts upward pressure on wages, which in turn gnaws at the competitiveness of companies. We should intervene in taxation, for both employees and entrepreneurs - lowering the tax burden for all, and compensating for the natural conditions in which our companies operate with lower energy and mobility costs, Halla-aho replies.

3. yle.fi (original by Yle, 29.04.2021)

Indian Covid variant reaches Finland

Overall, the pandemic situation is improving in Finland, said health officials at Thursday's press conference.

The so-called India Covid variant, B.1.617, has been detected in three positive Covid samples in Finland.

All tests found with the variant are from March, according to officials at a press conference by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (STM) and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) on Thursday morning.

Every fifth positive Covid sample in Finland is now a variant. The UK variant is the most frequently detected, followed by that first found in South Africa. Only about 20 percent of positive test results are sequenced to determine their exact type.

It is not yet known if the India variant is more infectious or resistant to vaccines, said THL senior physician Otto Helve.

Improvement overall

Overall, the pandemic situation is improving and Finland is making progress in its vaccination rollout.

Eighty-eight percent of over-70-year-olds and 57 percent of over-50-year-olds have received their first vaccine dose. It is estimated that every person belonging to a risk group will have received the first dose by mid-May, and all those over the age of 16 wanting to be vaccinated will receive their first jab by the end of July.

The officials at the press conference encouraged people to celebrate May Day using the same precautionary measures as usual: social distancing, face masks and hand disinfectant. Ministry of Social Affairs and Health director Pasi Pohjola urged people to celebrate this year's May Day in their own bubbles, to allow for normalcy in summer and beyond.

"If we are able to prevent the spread of the disease and continue on this path, the infection rate in summer will hopefully remain quite low. What we do and how we act now has an impact on the situation in summer," said Pohjola.

4. ilprimatonazionale.it (translated, original by Giuseppe De Santis, 24.04.2021)

“True Finns”, 21% consensus for the anti-EU party

As every month, the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has commissioned the Kantar TNS institute to conduct a survey - carried out between March 15 and April 9 on a sample of over 2 thousand people - to try to understand what the popularity of the different parties.

As in the recent past , once again it has emerged that the most appreciated is the party of the True Finns , which seems to have even managed to widen the range of appreciation compared to the Social Democrats.

Consensus always growing for True Finns

The party, led by MEP Jussi Halla-aho, saw its popularity increase by 0.1% to 21.6% . The Social Democrats, while remaining the second party (and the first for seats in the Helsinki parliament), lost 0.8 points to 19.7%.

The True Finns thus see their consensus increase by four points compared to the last political elections and by 13 compared to the administrative ones. As for the other parties, the National Coalition remains the third party with 16.2% (+ 0.2%) while the Center Party falls from 11.8% to 11.4%. The Greens earn 0.2% and reach 10%, the Left Alliance snatching half a percentage points more and reaching 8%.

An interesting aspect of the poll is that the potentials of True Finns are told about their vote compared to those of other parties. This could mean that their popularity is destined to remain intact. The reasons for this success are many - starting from the aversion towards Brussels and EU policies - and many agree that the municipal elections on 13 June can be considered as a sort of referendum on the government . It is therefore not excluded that, after these consultations, their approval may even grow.

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POLAND

1. portfolio.hu (translated, original by portfolio.hu, 15.04.2021)

Poland is also expelling Russian diplomats

Poland has classified three staff members of the Russian embassy in Warsaw as undesirable, the Warsaw State Department said on Thursday night, citing a similar move by the United States that day as the country’s strategic ally.

In Warsaw on Thursday, they asked the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Ministry and handed him the diplomatic note on deportation.

The Polish side justified the move on the grounds that the persons concerned had violated the conditions of diplomatic status and had engaged in activities detrimental to Poland.

According to the statement, Poland is in full solidarity with the decisions taken by the United States that day in its relations with Russia.

"Jointly agreed, discussed federal decisions are the most appropriate response to the hostile actions of the Russian Federation," the Polish foreign affairs statement reads.

U.S. President Joe Biden signed a decree on Thursday requiring his government to impose financial sanctions on Russia and expel ten Russian diplomats from the country in response to cyber-attacks from Moscow and Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.

2. origo.hu (translated, original by origo.hu, 19.04.2021)

Donald Tusk's statement is part of the witch hunt against Poland and Hungary

Donald Tusk's statement is part of the witch-hunt against the democratically elected governments and political leaders of Hungary and Poland, Zoltán Kovács, Secretary of State for International Communications and Relations, commented on a previous statement by Kalduth Radio on Monday.

The president of the European People's Party (EPP) previously wrote on his Twitter page that "Hungary and Poland are breaking tragic records in terms of deaths and new cases" in the coronavirus epidemic.

According to Zoltán Kovács, Donald Tusk has gone in a "provocative direction" in recent years, and according to his statement, "a liberal could also be a representative". According to the politician, Donald Tusk does not allow the epidemic and its incomparable data to be used for political purposes, which "reveals everything about determination and purpose". He noted that with the means of the first and second waves, it is not possible to effectively defend against a British mutant, the only solution is to vaccinate everyone. This belief, trust, is destroyed by these statements, he noted, adding that

THE LEFT, WHICH IS ABLE TO SAY AGAINST HIMSELF DAY BY DAY OR EVEN DAY ONLY ONLY TO ACKNOWLEDGE TO THE GOVERNMENT OR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT, AND KOTONY, DOES THIS.

According to Zoltán Kovács, Donald Tusk was at the service of these goals. The Secretary of State drew attention to the fact that, contrary to Donald Tusk's statement, Hungary is "somewhere below the European average" in terms of excess deaths.

Zoltán Kovács was also asked about the fact that CNN's technical director for US news television admitted that CNN practices the "art of manipulation" in order to "change the world." The director also explained that news television was engaged in false propaganda because it was intended to remove former Republican U.S. President Donald Trump from office.

The art of systematic manipulation that CNN has developed to perfection is one of the most dangerous developments of recent times.

When it is linked to political goals, the campaign of insecurity in the defense of the coronavirus epidemic, it literally demands life-threatening, human lives, said Zoltán Kovács.

3. precedens.mandiner.hu (translated, original by Gergely Dobozi, 22.04.2021)

Progressive activists can reshape the attitude of Polish society towards Christianity

Progressive activists are asking that as few Poles as possible declare themselves Catholic at the next census. With this, they seek and find the breaking point in a decade of conflict.

In Poland, activists advise that believers do not declare their Catholic religiosity at the next census because doing so will strengthen the Polish government. The Polish government is shaping the direction of its political communication based in part on Christian traditions.

According to The Guardian at the previous census, 96 percent of respondents declared themselves Roman Catholic.

Activists argue that this data is false, for example because they believe the result is skewed by the fact that instead of many children, the parent has “tweaked” the headings referring to identification with Catholic beliefs. That is why activists are already expecting different results from the new census in September 2021.

Activists accordingly encourage citizens to include (instead of) Roman Catholic worldview categories such as “atheist” or “deist” on the curve. The Guardian reported that activists were also joined by the feminist Women’s Strike movement and various LGBTQ movements.

"The ten-year census created a rather monolithic and homogeneous picture of Poland." - says Oskar Żyndul, the leader of the campaign, who says that only 28 percent of Poles go to church regularly. Żyndul assumes that it is already possible to make significant progress in the progressive direction if a narrow minority declares itself to be a worldview different from the Catholic ecclesiastical beliefs in the census.

The Guardian recalls that the Catholic Church played a key role in the overthrow of the communist regime in Poland, resulting in a truly broad social influence today. However, the paper suggests that this role of influence and faith is declining in Poland. Speaking to Monika Mazurek, a sociologist at the University of Gdańsk, he points out that the church only defines 90 public affairs, and in the private sphere people seem to turn away from Catholic beliefs. He explains this by saying that Catholicism in Poland today is mainly cultural in nature.

According to the Pew Research Center, there is a significant proportion of Polish youth who turn away from religion. This is because members of the 'Erasmus generation' are now free to move on the continent and in different parts of the world. This, in turn, both mentally and physically (indeed, given the technological revolution, “digitally”) makes them open to progressive standards - such as gender ideology, abortion liberalization, or LGBTQ rights.

These are all at odds with the Christian vision outlined by the Catholic Church in Poland. That is why, the online portal The Lambert explains,

the Polish youth faces a kind of dilemma: either it participates in shaping progressive developments or it maintains a bond with the Catholic Church. But the two are mutually exclusive.

According to the newspaper, statistics today show that even though the majority of Poles believe in God, they do not attend weekly masses or actively support the Catholic Church or other institutionalized forms of Christianity. Reuters ’analysis states that this is because the church’s political involvement is causing problems for more and more Poles.

Political developments around abortion, a prestigious issue for the Catholic Church, led to mass demonstrations in Poland in late 2020. At that time, the Polish Constitutional Court decided to restrict the possibilities of artificial abortion, finding the regulations in force at the time unconstitutional.

At that time, both government policy and the legislature found themselves in an impossible position.

He had to give a quick answer to a question that had already aroused fierce anger among Poles. Following the decision of the Constitutional Court, the possibilities for abortion were indeed tightened, but at the same time the legislator drafted a bill to protect Polish expectant mothers. This is to alleviate the suffering of women who have to give birth to their severely disabled or non-viable children.

The relationship between the Polish Catholic Church and politics is governed by a 1993 agreement - a concordat - concluded by the Polish state with the Holy See. In this, in addition to stating that ecclesiastical creeding and the formation of secular relations are separate, the parties also agree to work together to preserve, for example, the institution of marriage and the family in their original form within society (Article 11). ).

And although the 1993 concordat law defines Poland as a secular state, the context and provisions do suggest that the de facto state religion of Poland is Christianity, including the institutional role of the Catholic Church (not to mention that the Polish constitution contains specific provisions); Christian values).

4. magyarhirlap.hu (translated, original by Magyar Hírlap, 28.04.2021)

Fidelitas has formed an alliance with Italian and Polish right-wing organizations

On April 27, at the initiative of the Hungarian side, the presidents of the youth organizations of Fidelitas, Lega Giovani and Forum Młodych PiS met online. The topic of discussion was the new European renaissance and the future of the continent.

At the meeting, Illés Boglárka of Fidelitas, Michał Moskal of Forum Młodych PiS and Luca Toccalini of Lega Giovani reviewed the common values and goals of the three youth organizations and believed in the importance of cooperation.

The three politicians reviewed the effects of the epidemic on young people in their countries and agreed to continue the partnership. Representatives of the three organizations will therefore meet again online in May and aim to bring the organizations they lead closer together in person as the virus improves, even with the involvement of additional allies.

During the meeting, a joint call was also agreed:

"We hereby declare our strong commitment to the common values of European heritage, Judeo-Christian culture, the transatlantic alliance and faith in traditional families. The history of Italy, Hungary and Poland has taught us the paramount importance of our national 92 sovereignty and mutual respect for our nations. The Lega Giovani , Fidelitas and Forum Młodych PiS, we are committed to a better and more successful European Union that is closer to its citizens and that serves the people of Europe, so we aim to work together to achieve this. values and we welcome any initiative that promotes them. " - quotes the text of the call on the Fidelitas website.

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CZECH REPUBLIC

1. index.hu (translated, original by Ferenc Kovács, 23.04.2021)

The Russian spy chief rejects the charge of the Czech bombing

It is a lie that Russian special services were involved in an explosion in a military warehouse in the Czech Republic seven years ago that led to the expulsion of Russian diplomats, Sergei Nariskin, head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SZVR), said in Moscow on Friday.

The Czech Republic, a country with rather limited sovereignty in foreign policy matters, has stood out for its decision to sharpen its relationship with Russia and the confrontation, and I confess, it has got its own. Moreover, (Czech Republic) he covered himself with a completely miserable and lowly lie, which might be said to have been invented for people who are not high enough in intellectual development. This is sad

Said Nariskin, at the opening of an exhibition at the Central Museum of the Russian Armed Forces.

According to an MTI report, the Czech Republic announced on April 17 that it would expel 18 Russian embassy employees, whom it classified as an intelligence officer working under 93 diplomatic disguise. Prague justified the decision on the grounds that Russian special services had something to do with the 2014 explosion of an ammunition depot in the Czech Republic, which claimed two lives. On 19 April, the Czech government announced that it would exclude Roszatom from its tender for the expansion of the Dukovany nuclear power plant.

In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry declared 20 employees of the Czech embassy in Moscow undesirable. The ministry told the TASZSZ news agency on Friday that by May 31, the staff of the Russian and Moscow embassies in Prague would be reduced to seven diplomats, 25 technical staff and 19 local staff.

In Moscow on Friday, the Polish ambassador was asked to the Foreign Ministry, who was told that five Polish foreign workers expelled in response to the expulsion of three Russian diplomats would have to leave Russia by midnight on 15 May. Warsaw opted for expulsion in solidarity with the United States.

On Friday, the three Baltic states also announced that they would expel four Russian diplomats in solidarity with the Czech Republic; Lithuania has two, Estonia and Latvia one each. Leonid Slucky, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Parliament, envisaged counter-measures based on the principle of reciprocity. On Thursday, Bratislava declared three Russian diplomats as undesirable, expressing Prague’s solidarity with Iran.

2. index.hu (translated, original by D.G., 25.04.2021)

There will be domestic political consequences if not the Russians blew up at the Czech ammunition factory

According to Czech President Milos Zeman, the incidents at the 2014 munitions depot in Vrbetice, South Moravia, could have happened in two scenarios, and it is up to the police to find out what actually happened.

If Russian agents are proven to be involved in the explosion at the Vrbetice ammunition depot, Russia will have to pay for the terrorist act, for example by excluding Roszatom from the tender for the expansion of the Dukovany nuclear power plant, the president said on a 94

Czech commercial television broadcast. A week after the diplomatic conflict between his country and Russia erupted, the head of state addressed the matter for the first time in public. He justified this by first wanting to find out in detail about the complicated case. He said the second version:

However, if the previous result of the investigation into the case is confirmed, that the explosion was caused by improper manipulation of ammunition, it will have the consequences of a wide-ranging domestic policy.

Czech Prime Minister Andrei Babis and Interior Minister Jan Hamácek announced eight days ago that Russian agents were behind the explosions in Vrbetice, prompting Prague to expel 18 diplomats from the Russian embassy. In response, Moscow sent 20 Czech diplomats home. Subsequently, further mutual expulsions and measures took place, which practically led to the paralysis of the work of the Czech diplomatic mission in Moscow and the Russian diplomatic mission in Prague.

While Andrej Babis and Jan Hamácek clearly blamed Russia for the two human lives and the Vrbetice explosions, which caused material damage of roughly one billion crowns, amounting to about 14 billion forints, Milos Zeman spoke more cautiously and spoke of two possible versions of what happened seven years ago. However, he also said he supported the Czech government’s decision to expel Russian agents.

Zeman believes that Czech citizens have a right to correct and detailed information. He noted that the Czech counter-espionage report also states that there is no evidence of Russian agents breaking into the ammunition depot, although that does not mean that all this could not have happened. According to him, the police are also investigating the information that one of the managers of the company Imex, which operates the ammunition depot, personally introduced the agents to the depots.

It is a telling fact that the person concerned did not want to go on a lie detector, the President added. Imex, on the other hand, said through a spokesman that the head of state's statement did not correspond to reality.

Although I am a believer in fair relations with all important countries, it is necessary for the Russian Federation to pay for this possible terrorist act, for example by refraining from the tender for Dukovany. However, if this suspicion is dispelled, it will turn out to be an intelligence game that could have serious consequences for our domestic political life, the head of state repeatedly. Added by: 95

So let’s wait for the results of the investigations without hysteria and speculation and only then make a decision.

According to Czech opposition politicians, in the interview Zeman relativized and even questioned the information known so far about the Vrbetice explosions, as well as the work of the Czech response, which served Russia well and paved the way for disinformation.

Several also complained that he had not made a statement in the unprecedented Czech- Russian diplomatic debate, the Czech opposition agency summed up the Czech opposition's views on the head of state's speech.

The head of state provided several facts from an ongoing investigation that could affect its outcome and endanger the security of the Czech Republic. However, he withdrew other information

Milos Vystrcil, Speaker of the Czech Parliament, pointed out.

3. mandiner.hu (translated, original by mandiner.hu, 26.04.2021)

Sergei Lavrov says, the Czechs want to pass on their own negligence to the Russians

According to the Russian Foreign Minister, the Czech authorities violated a series of rules in force in the European Union, which eventually led to the Vrbetice incident.

The European Union should find out what happened in 2014 at the munitions depot in Vrbetice, Czech Republic, where an international violation may have taken place, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow on Monday.

“After all these emotionally sober, confusing remarks and statements, I would say that the EU should probably address the issue as well as other issues related to the story. It all happened in his territory, ”Lavrov said.

According to the head of Russian diplomacy, a number of international conventions may also have violated the storage of munitions in Vrbetice.

“Due to experts, it can be assumed that all this may have happened in violation of a number of norms and rules in force in the EU. There have been significant allegations of violations of international conventions, including the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines and the Arms Trade Convention, to which all EU Member States are parties. It is time for Brussels to explain what is happening in the territory of its member states, "said the Russian Foreign Minister.

The Russians are urging an international investigation

Lavrov criticized the reaction of several members of the Czech leadership to Czech President Milos Zeman's statement that the Vrbetice incident should be thoroughly investigated. He believed that he who opposes this has already decided in himself that no version other than Russia's guilt is possible.

He pointed out that according to the Czech prosecutor's office, the investigation is continuing.

A conspiracy was made against President Lukashenko

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Prague had caused extraordinary damage to Czech- Russian relations by suspecting Russian security services of the Vrbetice incident. He said the Kremlin had taken note of a statement by President Zeman in which he acknowledged that the Czech detention report did not mention Russian agents in connection with the ammunition depot that had flown into the air.

Speaking of Belarus, Peskov said the Russian specialist services have evidence that a conspiracy has taken place against President Alexander Lukashenko. He pointed out that several participants had already made confessions.

In comments from the Russian state media, suggesting a connection, he drew attention to the fact that the announcement linking Russia to the explosion seven years ago was made on 97

Saturday night, April 17, just hours after Moscow and Minsk announced a coup against Lukashenko.

4. portfolio.hu (translated, original by MTI, 24.04.2021)

Coronavirus: The situation in the Czech Republic has been tragic recently, but the pressure is easing

The spread of the coronavirus epidemic in the Czech Republic slowed significantly this week: on Friday, laboratories detected less than 2,600 new confirmed infections, the lowest number since September.

In a weekly comparison, about 600 fewer people were infected on Friday than a week ago, according to statistics released on the health ministry’s website on Saturday morning.

The pressure on hospitals is gradually easing and there are more and more free beds. More than a third of the special beds with ventilators have already been vacated. On Friday, 3470 patients were treated in hospitals, the number of serious cases being 765. The last time these figures were so low was in early October last year. The improvement in the situation has allowed institutions to return to their usual treatments, pre-planned surgeries.

An important factor is that the number of daily deaths is constantly decreasing, it has been below one hundred for three weeks. 31 deaths have been reported so far on Friday, but that number usually always rises after subsequent revisions. Since the outbreak last March, a total of 28,920 people have died from Covid complications in the Czech Republic.

MINISTER PETR ARENBERGER EMPHASIZED THAT THE SPREAD OF THE DISEASE CONTINUES TO BE MOVING UNDER ONE (0.8).

However, the vaccination process remains slower than planned, mainly due to vaccine shortages. More than 60,000 doses of the vaccine were administered to doctors in just two days this week, although Prime Minister Andrej Babis said earlier that the number of 98 vaccinations would rise to hundreds of thousands a day after Easter. By Friday, 2.78 million vaccines had been given, with 940,000 receiving both doses. According to the ministry, by the end of April, the Czech Republic will receive an additional 700-750 thousand vaccines, using only vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Although the state of emergency has been lifted, most of the precautions, including mandatory mask use, remain in place. Some primary school students have also returned to classrooms, but the majority are still studying at a distance. The gradual opening of schools is a top priority in the Czech Republic.

A nationwide survey showed that after the end of the state of emergency, public discipline relaxed and people visit each other to a much greater extent than before. The government plans to open shops, restaurants and services in several waves in May. According to the Minister of Health, the relaxation of public discipline and the easing of precautionary measures have no negative consequences yet. Mandatory mask use is expected to be mandatory in the Czech Republic at least until early summer, Arenberger said in an interview on Saturday.

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HUNGARY

1. demokrata.hu (translated, original by demokrata.hu, 25.04.2021)

HUNGARIAN-POLISH ACTION AGAINST GENDERIDEOLOGY SUCCESSFUL

The Hungarian-Polish organization, Let's Stop the Gender Pact! The European Commission may not have played a role in the European Commission's failure to ratify the Istanbul Convention for the time being, said the director of international law at the Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture in Warsaw on Sunday's V4 show on Kossuth Radio. 99

Karolina Pawlowska called the initiative with the Center for Fundamental Rights a very strong signal at EU level as well, as, as she said, 60,000 signatories joined her to protest against the coercion of gender ideology.

He also considers it a success that the European Conservative Movement has begun to develop. The Ordo Iuris agrees with the Center for Fundamental Rights that local cooperation should be developed internationally, he added.

Karolina Pawlowska explained that the Istanbul Convention, which was ratified by Poland as the only Visegrad country (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland - V4), was successfully opposed at home. The exit was supported by 110,000 at the institute's initiative, and was addressed by the Warsaw Parliament. The director hopes that MEPs can agree to another instrument to replace the Istanbul Convention on the Prevention of Violence against Women.

The Ordo Iuris may also have played a role in the Polish Constitutional Court's order prohibiting abortion. Karolina Pawlowska said they had been subjected to many attacks because of this, with hateful statements being made at demonstrations by left-wing civilians. These organizations, he added, used to speak out loud against hate speech at other times, but this time they did not protest. In his view, such manifestations seem to be opposed only in certain cases.

2. demokrata.hu (translated, original by András Bencsik, 29.04.2021)

LET’S DON’T STOP HALFWAY!

James Talarico, a Democrat from the State of Texas, attended a hearing on a bill for transgender athletes. The bill would ban transgender children from participating in school competitive sports.

100

In his speech, Talarico said that “while there are only two biologicals according to the bill, modern science has already identified six biological genders”.

Talarico argues that these six biologics are not very widespread in the world, and in addition to the usual XX - female and XY - male pairing of X and Y chromosomes, four more combinations have emerged: X, XXY, XYY, XXXY. Thus, according to Talarico, because of the newly recognized combinations, “there are no six biologies on the spectrum between which the boundary often blurs”.

Only six? I don't think we should stop halfway. Modern mathematics does not know the impossible, so continuing the line of reasoning of Representative Talarico, let us also consider the possibility of other combinations, such as: XZ, WY, and even WC and so on. Stupidity knows no boundaries.

3. index.hu (translated, original by M.Sz., 28.04.2021)

Péter Szijjártó: We are not planning any action against Russia

We have expressed our solidarity, we do not plan another step yet - Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó answered the question of the RTL Klub newsletter.

At the initiative of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, a text was issued in which they all indicated their solidarity with their Czech friends, but the text included the views of all four prime ministers, said Péter Szijjártó. He reminded that Hungary had already expressed its solidarity with the Czech Republic in a joint foreign ministerial statement last week.

There can be no question of any kind about our solidarity. We have expressed our solidarity, we do not plan another step yet, the Foreign Minister said.

As we wrote earlier, after the Czech Republic expelled 18 Russian embassy employees because they said Russian special services had something to do with the explosion of two lives in 2014 in a Czech ammunition depot.

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In contrast, the head of the Russian External Intelligence Service said it was a lie that Russian special services had something to do with the explosion seven years ago.

The Czech Republic called on its allies to expel Russian diplomats, in response to which Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Romania expelled a Russian diplomat, but Hungary did not commit itself to the move.

The Prime Ministers of the Visegrad countries, Viktor Orbán and the Polish Prime Ministers Mateusz Morawiecki, the Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and the Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger have previously stated:

Together with the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, we strongly condemn the illegal and violent acts of the Russian intelligence services. We will not allow these activities to divide Europe. The countries of the Visegrad Group have decided to work with the other Member States of the European Union to strengthen their resilience.

Neither the demand for action against the Kremlin nor the demand for a halt to the investment in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline connecting Russia with Germany was included in the issued declaration of solidarity.

4. index.hu (translated, original by NTA, 26.04.2021)

Mi Hazánk / Our Country has seized the public spaces of Budapest from Pride

Back in February, Budapest Pride announced that, in accordance with anti-virus rules, the LGBTQ festival would be held this summer as well. However, according to the Our Country Movement, the main public spaces in Budapest have already been seized before the parade, but it is said that there is still a legal dispute about who announced when, when and exactly what.

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The one-month series of events of Budapest Pride starts on June 25 and ends on July 25, and this year's parade would be held on July 24. In February, the organizers wrote that LGBTQ equality would not be achieved by a single campaign or organization, but by plenty of dedicated groups with years of creative and persistent work.

The official motto of this year's Budapest Pride Festival is "Take your future back!", With which they want to reflect on the anxiety and apathy present in society.

“Of course, the health and safety of all of us is paramount to us, so we are constantly monitoring the restrictive measures, rules, opportunities taken to curb the Covid-19 virus, and we plan and organize this year’s festival and parade with these in mind,” reads Pride.

Előd Novák, the vice-president of Our Country, indicated at a press conference in front of the police headquarters on Teve Street and then on his Facebook page that his party had seized the main public areas of Budapest from the Pride parade with dozens of announcements. According to the politician, Pride organizers began announcing their July 24 march “in an illegal manner” even before the police announcement.

However, Előd Novák also reported that they should consult with the police now, because there is a dispute over whether the party or Pride was announced earlier. Our Country also disputes whether the announcement of Pride could have taken place at all at the time of the curfew.

"In addition, we announced the event on July 24, which can be announced three months in advance by law, on the evening of April 24, although the police interpret the three months differently, so the case may go to court," said Előd Novák.

The politician also pointed out that Our Country is the only party demanding a ban on Pride, and he initiated this at the BRFK. He added that neither the supportive nor the tolerant policies of Ferenc Gyurcsány or the tolerant policies of Viktor Orbán will be accepted in the case of the marches “promoting all kinds of sexual deviance”.

According to the party, the event, which is repeated year after year, also involves a number of defiantly anti-community behaviors and humiliations that are likely to cause outrage in others, so the parade “exhausts the definition of harassment”.

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Előd Novák also informed that he had to go back to the BRFK building for questioning in two cases as a suspect, because he was threatened with imprisonment for up to two years due to the involvement of the Újbuda rainbow flag, and he was now summoned again after a night search and the next day's interrogation.

Also because last September he painted an eighteen ring in front of the entrance to the Toldi cinema in Budapest, thus protesting against the “homosexual propaganda” of the capital. Előd Novák said that he had already been interrogated in this case, he had proudly taken action, therefore, in his opinion, it was a clearer case than the sun.

The Index turned questions to the police and the organizers of Budapest Pride as soon as they answered, we will supplement our article.

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SLOVAKIA

1. magyarhirlap.hu (translated, original by Magyar Hírlap, 29.04.2021)

The relationship between Hungary and Slovakia has never been so good

The relationship between Hungary and Slovakia has never been as good as it is now, said Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on Thursday in Gönyű, Győr- Moson-Sopron County, where he was handed over by Igor Matovic, Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. transmission line.

Péter Szijjártó emphasized that the term good neighborly relations can be taken literally between the two countries, because we are not dealing with what separates, but with what connects.

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He stressed that the one-and-a-half-kilometer transmission line between Gabcíkovo and the 23-kilometer transmission line between Sajóivánka and Rimavská Sobota connected the two countries' transmission lines at two points, each with 400 kilovolts.

He added that these transmission lines will improve the security of energy supply not only in Hungary, but in Central Europe as a whole, contribute to the stability of the electricity transmission system, support the north-south flow of electricity from renewable sources and promote the development of the international electricity market.

He said that the amount of the investment on the Hungarian side reached 13 billion forints.

Thanks to the developments, the expanding international connections will ensure the balance of the unified European electricity system on the busiest north-east-south flow route, and will also guarantee the long-term security of supply of the north-east-Hungarian region, said the head of the ministry.

Péter Szijjártó also pointed out that last year the trade turnover between the two countries exceeded ten billion euros, Slovakia is the third most important trading partner of Hungary and the third most important destination country for domestic capital is Slovakia.

He stressed that since 2010, the two countries have developed good relations step by step in a spirit of mutual respect, and the most important goal for both countries now is to develop connections in all possible areas, be it transport or energy.

He also emphasized that Hungary had connected the electricity grid to six of the seven neighboring countries.

He added that the transformation of the automotive industry and the achievement of climate targets also predict that electricity demand will increase in the next period, so it is important that Hungary provides the electricity needed to operate the country and the economy by increasing the capacity of nuclear and renewable energy sources.

Péter Szijjártó thanked the Hungarian and Slovak contractors, Mavir Zrt. And SEPS as, for being able to complete the construction on time despite the coronavirus epidemic, and also indicated that Hungary was prepared for the energy security challenges, the Hungarian people and companies can also feel secure in the field of energy supply. 105

"We will protect the results of the overhead reduction and continue to take measures that provide affordable, stable and cheap energy for everyone," the Foreign and Foreign Minister said.

Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Igor Matovic also spoke about the fact that today the roads, bridges and the two transmission lines already connect the two countries, which indicates that the connection between Hungary and Slovakia is close.

He added that transmission lines also provide a more secure energy supply for Slovakia.

András Biczók, President and CEO of Mavir Zrt., Said that the aim of connecting the two countries was to increase security of supply.

He added that this network runs from Portugal to Turkey and each country understands every change in care.

Peter Dovhun, of Seps a.s. The President and CEO spoke about the fact that the connection of the two countries' transmission lines is also a symbol of the fact that the whole of Europe is embracing the green policy of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

He added that this interconnection, in a pan-European context, represents further steps towards a large energy transmission system where energy can be delivered more securely to people and companies without greater risks.

2. ujszo.com (translated, original by TASR, 30.04.2021)

Slovakia could face punishment for publishing the Sputnik Treaty

The contract of sale concluded by neighboring Hungary for the Sputnik V vaccine does not provide for a penalty such as that which Slovakia may receive for publishing the document. 106

This was highlighted on the social network by the Stop Corruption (Zastavme korupciu) Foundation.

A contract published in the Central Register of Contracts (CRZ) concluded by Slovakia with the producer of Sputnik V allegedly contains a clause stating that Slovakia will face a $ 1 million penalty if the document is made public. The foundation pointed out that there is no such sanction in the public part of the Sputnik Treaty in Hungary.

According to Stop Corruption, there is a suspicion of dishonest treatment and abuse of official authority in connection with the purchase of an unregistered vaccine.

The staff of the foundation warn in the announcement that under Slovak law, public contracts must be published. They do not agree with the statement by the Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OĽANO) that an agreement has been reached in favor of Slovakia.

The Foundation submitted a request for information to the Ministry of Health in order to obtain more detailed information regarding the vaccine consignment and the exemption granted by the former Minister of Health Marek Krajčí (OĽANO). “If this information will support the suspicion of a violation of the law, we will consider further action,” he said.

The nonprofit welcomes the announcement of the Sputnik Treaty by the new Minister of Health, Vladimír Lengvarský (OĽANO candidate). “The steps taken by the Minister so far indicate that he wants to lead the portfolio in a transparent way, keeping the public interest in mind,” the entry concludes.

3. ujszo.com (translated, original by TASR, 30.04.2021)

16 percent of the Slovak population does not want to be vaccinated at all

16% of the Slovak population said in a Eurobarometer survey that they would never vaccinate themselves against Covid-19. The survey was conducted between 12 February and 5 March 2021. 107

By the end of 2021 at the latest, 60 percent of the population will want to be vaccinated - a value 5 percentage points lower than the EU average. In addition, 70% of the population believe that vaccination is the only way to overcome the epidemic.

More than 66% of those surveyed said that the reliability of vaccines was being developed, tested and approved at such a rapid pace. Because of this, 71% believe that coronavirus vaccines can have long-term side effects that we don’t know about yet.

The survey also showed that three-quarters of the population are dissatisfied with the way the government has handled the epidemic. In connection with this data, Ladislav Miko, Head of the European Commission Representation in Slovakia, emphasized that the survey was carried out at the most difficult time when the epidemic peaked in Slovakia. “If people are asked in just such a situation, it will show up in the survey results,” he added.

By the summer of 2020, 30 percent of the population said they would have a hard time tolerating epidemiological restrictions, with 50 percent already in this survey. "Thirteen percent of them said it was already having a bad effect on their mental health," said Alexandra Martináková, one of the authors of a national report based on a Eurobarometer survey.

The Eurobarometer conducts a general survey every two years, mainly on issues related to EU integration, but also on the opinion of the European population on domestic policy and apolitical issues. In Slovakia, 1138 respondents were surveyed.

4. domov.sme.sk (translated, original by SITA, 20.04.2021)

Sme Rodina wants to adjust the custody, according to SaS violated the coalition agreement

The Minister of Justice Kolíková also prepared a proposal that regulates the conditions of collusive detention.

108

BRATISLAVA. The We Are the Family movement has submitted its own proposal to parliament, which regulates collusive detention and the deadlines for other detention.

Shortening the basic period of detention

It follows from the proposed amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code that the basic period of detention is to be reduced from seven to six months.

The legal regulation aims to strengthen the interference with persons prosecuted, ie persons who are treated while maintaining the presumption of innocence as innocent persons.

The proposal is intended to introduce into the legislation the principle of proportionality in criminal proceedings in relation to the interest in respecting the human dignity of the accused on the one hand and the interest of society in investigating anti-social activities with the intensity of crime on the other.

Faster preparatory proceedings

As stated in the Explanatory Memorandum, this change is intended to motivate investigative bodies and competent law enforcement authorities to make more active use of their capacities in order to take advantage of the duration of detention for the acts to be performed.

The change also emphasizes the need to speed up the preparatory procedure and prevent delays. The amendment is proposed to take effect on 1 August.

According to the proposal, the total periods of detention in pre-trial detention are to be shortened, together with detention in court, in a differentiated way. If a criminal prosecution is conducted, the period is reduced from 36 months to 24 months.

If a particularly serious crime is being prosecuted, the period shall be reduced from 48 months to 36 months. Detention periods in pre-trial proceedings are also to be differentiated.

Maximum length of the collusive bond

If criminal proceedings are committed for the offense, the period is reduced from seven months to six months. If a criminal prosecution is conducted, the period is reduced from 19 109 months to 12 months. If a particularly serious crime is being prosecuted, the 25-month period is reduced to 19 months.

The maximum duration of the so-called collusive bond should also be adjusted. "This detention can last for a maximum of five months. The change is approaching the Czech legislation, which has a period of three months, ”states in the explanatory memorandum.

It is also possible to decide, in certain circumstances, to keep an accused person in custody beyond the maximum length of time proposed. This is when the accused was found to be influencing witnesses or co-defendants or otherwise obstructing the investigation.

The Minister of Justice Mária Kolíková (For the People) also prepared a proposal that regulates the conditions of collusive detention.

"We talk about collusive detention when there are reasons for detention for the fact that witnesses may be influenced or investigations may be frustrated. The two regimes are actually based on whether such facts already exist and are unambiguous, or rather they are presumptions, "Kolíková said on Wednesday, April 14, after the government meeting. The new regime limits collusive detention to a maximum of five months.

Violated coalition agreement rules

Spokesman for the party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) Ondrej Šprlák said the coalition agreement by proposals can be submitted only after the consent of all four coalition parties and the relevant Minister, Minister respectively.

"The matter is being negotiated, but the best solution is to follow the rules, whether it was a violation of the coalition agreement, the coalition council will definitely decide," he added.

According to the chairman of the parliamentary club of the Movement Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) Michal Šipoš, they spoke about this topic at the coalition council on Monday, April 19.

"We have agreed with the Minister of Justice on another? the procedural procedure with which it agreed. The result will be a proposal that I believe will support? the entire? coalition. Of course, the fight against corruption is and will be the main pillar of the OL? ANO movement, "he added. 110

His opinion was provided by Peter Dojčan from the movement's media team.

Chairwoman For the People Veronika Remišová proposal We are a family vetoed by Monday's coalition council of party leaders and expects the partners to proceed in accordance with the concluded agreements.

"At present, I see no reason to shorten the length of all types of detention, whether it is collusive, preventive or escape detention. Nor do I think that detention should be reduced in cases of organized crime. At the same time, we saw how the deputies of Smer-SD are trying to get out of custody of 'their people' with various proposals, and in this they definitely help them to refuse, "she emphasized.

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ROMANIA

1. index.hu (translated, original by Ferenc Kovács, 20.04.2021)

The Romanian government crisis is over

Florin Citu remains the prime minister in Romania, and the center-right political formations that make up the government have clarified the rules of their cooperation in an addendum to the coalition agreement to avoid further conflicts, the MTI writes.

This was agreed on Tuesday by the leaders of the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Save the Romania Alliance (USR) and the Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (PLUS) - USR PLUS and the Hungarian Democratic Alliance of Romania (DAHR), after week, USR PLUS announced it was withdrawing its trust from Citu for the dismissal of one of its ministers 111 without their consent. According to the “confidence-building” supplement signed on Tuesday, the prime minister can only reshape his government in consultation with the coalition.

2. origo.hu (Örs Imre Márkos, 28.04.2021)

Romania lags dramatically behind in vaccination

Romania lags far behind in vaccination. The vaccination process is not progressing mainly due to the perpetuated domestic political chaos, there are constant coalition tensions between the three governing parties (which is actually four parties because one is a party alliance).

There is also a shortage of vaccines, political considerations were more important to the governing coalition in Bucharest, as a result of which the strongly pro-Brussels Romanian leadership did not even consider the possible acquisition of eastern vaccines, despite the lack of Western vaccines. And due to rumors of AstraZeneca's vaccines, more than 300,000 people in a week have given up the vaccine from the British-Swedish company. Despite all this, the Bucharest elite naturally got their vaccine, which also caused a scandal. Due to the endless scandals, the Prime Minister and the Head of State replaced the Romanian Minister of Health of the Momentum sister party, Vlad Voiculescu, who was appointed on a political basis. The replaced politician then accused the prime minister and head of state of the party of falsifying statistics on deaths due to the coronavirus, thus "reducing" the number of victims. Two days after the appointment of the new health minister, Ioana Mihăilă, it turned out that the politician he has been punished twice for building without a permit, and he is the fourth Romanian health minister since the start of the coronavirus epidemic.

According to the data of April 25, the proportion of those vaccinated with at least the first vaccine was 15.79 percent in Romania and 37.31 percent in Hungary that day. The EU average was 21.57 percent.

Of the 9.8 million in Hungary, the number of vaccines used was 5.27 million, and in Romania's 19.2 million, that number was only 4.83 million on Sunday.

112

IN ROMANIA, THERE ARE SEVERAL REASONS FOR NOT GETTING THE VACCINATION PROCESS: ON THE ONE HAND, THE PERMANENT DOMESTIC CHAMBER: Sometimes health experts say on various televisions that it needs to be vaccinated, and the Ministry of Health’s Facebook page called RO Vaccinare encourages vaccination, but a real campaign is missing, mainly because of the daily political wars.

Geopolitical interest is more important than vaccinating the population

Presumably, this did not happen because there are few vaccines in Romania, because ROMANIAN LEADERSHIP, STRONGLY IN BRUSSELS, HAS NOT FOCUSED ON THE POSSIBLE PURCHASE OF EASTERN VACCINES, DUE TO THE LACK OF WESTERN VACCINES.

The main reason for not taking Russian vaccines is that both the Romanian political elite and the media see Russia as the main enemy.

THE EFFICIENCY OF THE SPUTNYIK V VACCINE, CONFIRMED BY THE BRITISH LANCET, THE WORLD'S MOST SIGNIFICANT HEALTH PROFESSIONAL, HAS NEVER BEEN TAKEN IN SUCH CONDITIONS. THEREFORE, THE HEALTH CRITERIA WERE NOT THE LOWEST, BUT THE GEOPOLITICITY WAS TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT BY THE ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT.

The Chinese Sinopharm vaccine or other Chinese vaccine could have been considered, as Poland, which is strongly anti-Russian for historical reasons, is also preparing to buy Sinopharm. Polish President Andrzej Duda agreed with Chinese President Xi Chi-Ping on this in March.

However, Romania did not make use of this possibility, also for foreign policy reasons. After the right-wing National Liberal Party (PNL), led by Ludovic Orban, took power from the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in November 2019 following a motion of censure, one of the Romanian government's first major economic measures excluded China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN), a state-owned state-owned company, and a few months later merged with U.S. AECOM Technology Corporation.

THEREFORE, A SERIOUS DISPUTE BETWEEN BEEN BETWEEN BEIJING AND BUCHAREST, AS A RESULT OF WHICH THE ROMANS DIDN'T TRY TO BUY CHINESE VACCINES. 113

In Romania, only the American-German Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine is currently vaccinated to a greater extent, as there are very few American Moderns and the British-Swedish AstraZeneca is extremely unpopular due to Western press coverage (nearly 20 percent of Romanians work abroad as guest workers, almost all families affected). ). Although the use of AstraZeneca was not suspended at all in Romania, 207,000 people withdrew their registration in the first week of April, and 99,000 registered people simply did not get vaccinated. That’s a total of 306,000 people, despite the lack of vaccines.

Valeriu Gheorghiţă, chairman of the CNCAV, tried to save what could be saved by announcing on 13 April that without prior registration, anyone is vaccinated with AstraZeneca who goes to vaccination points and is already 18 years old.

However, the following statistics from a government source show that the willingness to vaccinate with the British-Swedish vaccine has not increased sufficiently since then.

Although the Romanian health authorities say the country’s vaccination capacity would allow 120,000 people to be vaccinated per day, the number of people vaccinated per day has never exceeded 91,000, mainly due to a lack of vaccines. By comparison, in Hungary, which has half the population, the daily record was 166 thousand.

During his visit to Budapest on 22 April, the Regional Director for Europe of the World Health Organization (WHO), Hans Kluge, praised the Hungarian government precisely because BUDAPEST DID NOT CREATE A GEOPOLITICAL ISSUE FROM THE PURCHASE OF VACCINES, BUT TAKEN ONLY HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS, IN ORDER THAT

Despite all this, the Bucharest leaders naturally received the vaccine As Origo reported, on March 10, it was revealed that there were two vaccination campaigns in parallel in Romania: an official but not yet operational one, on the surface of which people over 65 and chronic patients had tried in vain to register. For the privileged, of course, there was another system that worked.

60 PERCENT OF THE VACCINATIONS (!) HAVE ALSO BEEN CARRIED OUT IN VACCINATION CENTERS OUTSIDE THE OFFICIAL SYSTEM.

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At these secret vaccinations AT LEAST 7 THOUSANDS OF UNAUTHORIZED PERSONS HAVE BEEN GIVEN OUTSIDE THE LINE.

They were senior military officers, secret servants, police chiefs, gendarmerie commanders, and family, relatives, and friends. Of these, roughly 4,500 people did not receive the coronavirus vaccine not in the second phase of the vaccination process in February, but in the first, in January, when - officially - only government ministers, the head of state and health workers were vaccinated.

Meanwhile, it was revealed that the out-of-line vaccination was made possible by a secret government decree that included MINORS OF FLORIN CÎȚU (NATIONAL LIBERAL PARTY-PNL) AND VLAD VICULA.

The government decree provided an opportunity for serious abuses, and this was exploited by those concerned. In connection with the scandal, part of the public and the press demanded the resignation of Vlad Voiculescu, but a politician from Momentum's Romanian sister party, USR-PLUS, reacted to this embarrassing case as to others: he said that he will not resign.

Due to the scandals that did not want to end on April 14th ON THE PROPOSAL OF FLORIN CÎȚU, HEAD OF STATE KLAUS IOHANNIS (PNL) REPLACED VLAD VOICULESCUT WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF USR-PLUS.

They report false data on the number of deaths from the coronavirus and are responsible for the biggest “robbery” of the epidemic committed at the state-owned company Unifarm, which sells medical protective equipment.

According to the MTI report, Voiculescu has made it the job of the successor to replace him to clarify these suspicious cases, which he said he inherited from last year’s PNL government.

A USR-PLUS politician said: first studies suggest that due to the methodology introduced by last year’s PNL government, there are significant discrepancies between Covid hospital death reports and actual numbers.

According to Minister Voiculescu there is no part of the health system that is non-political.

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According to the PNL announcement VOICULESCU'S "RETURNED" BECAUSE OF ITS INFRINGEMENT AND DISAPPOINTMENT, HIS REFUSALS ARE FOUNDABLE OR COVER PROBLEMS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SOLVED AS MINISTER.

At a press conference in Cluj-Napoca last Friday afternoon, the prime minister was also asked about allegations of death statistics. Cîțu said: Voiculescu had so far raised no false statistics about coronary virus deaths at any government meeting, and called on Deputy Prime Minister Dan Barna, co-chair of USR-PLUS, to explain at the government meeting and in public what Voiculescu had founded. questioning mortality statistics and what solution it proposes.

The fact that EUROSTAT DATA INDICATES THAT MANY MORE DEATH IN CROWN VIRUS VIRUSES HAVE BEEN DEATH IN ROMANIA THIS YEAR THAN THE NUMBER INCLUDED IN STATISTICS. Compared to the average of recent years, the number of deaths is more than twice as high as in the Covid statistics, and there is no other reason for the deterioration in mortality statistics.

However, Voiculescu has also been embroiled in a number of scandals. Origo has repeatedly written that probably THE POLITICIAN DOESN'T HAVE ANY UNIVERSITY DIPLOMA WHICH HAS BEEN CERTIFIED BY A DIPLOMA PROVIDING AN AUSTRIAN ECONOMIC DEGREE. Voiculescu refused to take political responsibility for the 16 fatal fires at the Matei Balș Epidemiological Hospital in Bucharest, which treats coronavirus patients.

In connection with the politician, many also raise the intelligence thread. In March 2020, it was revealed that his father had collaborated with the infamous Romanian Communist secret service, the Securitate. According to many of his critics, Voiculescu became a minister only to involve his family from obscure backgrounds, and through them the companies of Securitate's successor organizations, in the planned - partial - privatization process of healthcare.

Two days after his appointment, a scandalous case came to light for the new health minister Voiculescu's successor, Ioana Mihăilă, one of the State Secretaries of the Ministry of Health, LAST YEAR, BIHARI COUNTY STARTED FOR THE MAYOR'S CHAIR IN ORAL- PLUS IN THE COLORS OF USR-PLUS, BUT HE GOT ONLY 3.03 PERCENT.

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It is worth mentioning that he is the fourth Romanian Minister of Health since the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic.

3. maszol.ro (translated, original by Agerpres, 29.04.2021)

Romania is still negotiating a recovery plan with the European Commission

There are still differences of opinion between the government and the European Commission (EC) on the National Recovery Plan (PNRR) on some points, the minister responsible for European projects said on Thursday.

Cristian Ghinea said on the Digi24 television show that there were differences of opinion, especially over highways, irrigation systems and culture. He explained that, following a wide- ranging consultation, development needs had been collected from ministries, which resulted in more than € 100 billion. In the first round, more were dropped on the basis of a list of priorities, until the budget was reduced to EUR 40 billion, on the basis of which negotiations with the European Commission began. He explained that there were differences of opinion between the government and the European Commission on several points, such as the amount available for local governments or the amount spent on irrigation systems and culture.

Brussels also objected to the amount set aside for motorways, even though work on the highway linking Moldova to Transylvania could be completed by 2026, Minister Ghinea said. will be defended in Brussels. The head of the ministry confirmed that Romania will submit the national recovery plan on 31 May. (Cover image: Wikipedia) - from the portal Maszol.ro

4. index.hu (translated, original by Ferenc Kovács, 26.04.2021)

Romania has also expelled a Russian diplomat

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After the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Baltic states, Romania also expelled a Russian diplomat on Monday, the MTI writes.

According to a statement by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), the deputy military attaché of the Russian embassy in Bucharest has become an undesirable person in Romania because his activities violate the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges.

The MAE’s decision was communicated to the Russian side on Monday when Russian Ambassador Valery Kuzmin was asked to join the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest on the instructions of Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu. Although the communiqué does not detail the reasons for the expulsion, Romanian media say it is an expression of solidarity with Prague on the one hand, but recalls that Aurescu has recently been embroiled in public controversy over Kuzmin's Russian troops on the Ukrainian border.

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SLOVENIA

1. siol.net (translated, original by BG, 01.05.2021)

On the occasion of Labor Day, Janez Janša announces: We have saved over 200,000 jobs

On today's holiday, the Prime Minister said: "To all, especially those who live from their current or past work and management, sincere congratulations on May 1, International Labor Day and St. Joseph the Worker's Day. Stay healthy and brave. Keep hope. "

"Let us discover so many more values in our work, we must never lose sight of the truth: It is not man for work's sake, but work for man's sake. These words of Pope Paul VI address us especially on this year's Labor Day. the labor market, the challenges of the economy and the 118 problems it is facing due to the epidemic are still comparable only to the most difficult trials in the history of mankind, "Prime Minister Janez Janša wrote in a message on Labor Day .

He pointed out that "the government has done everything this year to minimize the negative effects of the epidemic on the economy and jobs," and that they are aware of the government's responsibilities in difficult situations like this. which will be in our power to help companies and employees even at a time when the worst health crisis is over. "

He emphasized that despite the extremely difficult situation, they had managed to maintain a high level of employment, which had fallen by less than 1.5 percent due to the epidemic. "To date, more than € 560 million has been paid out of the state budget for more than 300,000 workers for measures aimed directly at maintaining jobs. More than € 558 million has been paid for more than 500,000 workers to pay workers' contributions. To help We have allocated more than EUR 300 million in basic income. We have saved over 200,000 jobs through these measures. "

According to the Eurostat methodology, the unemployment rate in the EU increased by an average of two percentage points, and in Slovenia by 0.5 percentage points, which places us at the very top of Europe in maintaining jobs during the epidemic. This is and will always be the best measure of every country's social policy.

They understand the plight of those who lost their jobs due to the epidemic

He added in the message that the government "in eight anti-crown packages and through measures adopted in other laws, has done a lot to minimize the consequences of the epidemic for citizens, the economy and other areas of social life. More than 2.9 We have earmarked EUR 1 billion to ensure the smooth running and recovery of companies in all sectors, to improve the situation of the socially weakest, the elderly and families with more children. "

He wrote that they understand the plight of those who lost their jobs due to the epidemic. "In April this year, a solidarity allowance was paid to the unemployed, which will hopefully alleviate their situation at least somewhat until they get a job again."

As he has repeatedly emphasized, the world is different after a pandemic and that the things we took for granted yesterday are no longer the case. "The challenges we face as a nation and humanity are greater than ever. The changed environment requires us first and foremost to change our thinking and, consequently, to change our performance in all areas.

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Janša: Both today and 30 years ago, knowledge, courage and determination are needed "Slovenia is preparing for the challenges of the time with all seriousness"

In his opinion, the most successful will be those countries that will understand the crisis due to the pandemic as an opportunity. "Slovenia is preparing for the challenges of the time with all seriousness. Step by step we are tackling everything that represents the biggest obstacles to successful development. We will eliminate illogical administrative procedures and bureaucratic obstacles that stifle good ideas and reward work. Only in this way will we stop leaving. Last year we appointed the Strategic Council for Debureaucratization, which proposed its first concrete proposals for the elimination of bureaucratic obstacles, and the government then adopted and sent to the National Assembly a bill on debureaucratization. And that's just the beginning. "

We have no illusions that we will solve all the problems that have accumulated over the decades overnight and quickly. In addition to the Debureaucratization Act, the government also adopted a package of amendments to five tax laws. The tax relief package provides a stable and predictable tax environment that is important for investment as well as for economic progress.

"Everyone who works must earn enough for a decent life"

He added that the government's goal is to create conditions that will "provide all able-bodied people with decent work for decent pay. Everyone who works must earn enough for a decent life, their own and those who support them. work, both in an employment and precarious relationship, must have legal protection. "

"Access to the labor market, education and lifelong learning, equal social protection and social services for all employees regardless of their employment contract, fair working conditions, appropriate education that must respond to labor market conditions - all rights, which must also be provided to employees in the new working conditions. "

They are aware that without a successful economy, all their efforts remain only good intentions, so their biggest challenge at the moment is the successful economic, social and general recovery of Slovenia.

Finally, he added that the epidemic was and still is a test in which we as a society are jointly and severally responsible for protecting the health of our loved ones, colleagues and friends, and as a country for maintaining the competitiveness of our companies and jobs. and a 120 guarantee for the social well-being of all citizens. "The government I lead is aware of this. For us, the words we uttered during the oath in the National Assembly are a commitment that we implement every day with our responsible work for the common good and for the well-being of Slovenia. We are not running away from responsibility. Our decisions and all the measures we have taken so far speak for us. "

2. siol.net (translated, original by STA, PM, 29.04.2021)

Janša and Macron on the Slovenian and French Presidencies of the EU Council

Prime Minister Janez Janša met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris today. The main topics of their talks are the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of the year and the French Presidency in the first half of next year.

In a statement before the talks, Macron said that the Slovenian and French presidencies would take place in exceptional circumstances, as Europe is facing a pandemic while trying to avoid an economic crisis. “Therefore, there is an urgent need for full coordination between us,” he stressed.

Europe must remain united during the health crisis

He said that Europe must remain united in the face of the health crisis, and that vaccination will allow a careful return to normal life. He called for greater investment in the development and production of vaccines.

The French President expressed hope that the process of approving the national recovery plans and ratifying the legislation that would provide funding would be completed by the summer.

He announced that he and Janša would discuss the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU, bilateral relations and regional issues, especially the Western Balkans and the European Neighborhood. 121

Janša emphasized that the main priority of the Slovenian Presidency would be to increase the EU's resilience to crises such as pandemics and the threat of cyber attacks. Janša emphasized that the main priority of the Slovenian Presidency would be to increase the EU's resilience to crises such as pandemics and the threat of cyber attacks. Photo: Guliverimage

Cooperation in many areas

In his statement, Janša emphasized that Slovenia and France cooperate in many areas, from the economy to culture and sports, and within the EU they share the same views on the vast majority of issues. He reminded that ten years have passed since the two countries signed a strategic partnership agreement.

France is one of Slovenia's most important economic partners, with trade before the pandemic amounting to three billion euros and trade to half a billion, Janša said, calling for larger French investments in Slovenia.

The main priority of the Slovenian Presidency will be to increase the EU's resilience to crises He emphasized that the main priority of the Slovenian Presidency would be to increase the EU's resilience to crises such as pandemics and the threat of cyber attacks. Among the priorities, he also mentioned the acceleration of the European perspective of the countries of the Western Balkans. He pointed out that there are many obstacles in this area that need to be overcome. He recalled the EU's commitment at the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003, which guaranteed the countries of the Western Balkans a European perspective when they met the conditions.

"This is something that is the only promising positive solution for this region that we see in front of us," Janša said, according to the Prime Minister's Office.

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The Slovenian and French presidencies will also be connected by a conference on the future of Europe. Janša said that most of the discussions within the conference would take place during the Slovenian presidency. He expressed the hope that France would bring it to a successful conclusion and that we would work together to find answers to the challenges facing the EU.

The Prime Minister's Office also announced that Prime Minister Janša also expressed his condolences to the family of French policewoman Stephanie Monferme, who was killed last week, and said that we would fight together for a zero tolerance for terrorism.

He invited the French president to Slovenia for the events he is celebrating on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his statehood.

3. index.hu (translated, original by László Márkusz, 18.04.2021)

It is unfortunate to open Pandora's box in the Balkans

Bosnia and Herzegovina has recently become the focus of political interest again, which is usually not a good sign. Especially that the issue is the redrawing of the country’s borders and the disintegration of the current state.

Not even thirty years ago, a bloody ethnic war was fought for the brutal disintegration of the Balkan state with its medieval roots (the wife of our King Louis the Great, for example, the daughter of the royal dynasty in Bosnia). The balance of the conflict was one hundred thousand dead, one million refugees and NATO armed intervention.

EXTRATELY TO HUNGARY IN THE YEARS, FOREIGN INVESTIGATION HAVE ALREADY BEEN DIFFERENTLY, WHICH WERE DIFFERENT, BUT THE DECISIONS MADE OF LARGE MONEY ARE RARELY FOLLOWED BY POLISH, AND

The protocol crashed 123

The current events can be traced back to the visit of Slovenian President Borut Pahor to Sarajevo in early March. A meeting of a head of state arriving in Sarajevo with three members of the Bosnian collective presidency is part of a mandatory diplomatic protocol and usually does not count as a particularly exciting political event. The scandal was now stirred by the fact that the Slovenian head of state asked an unfortunate, or at least unfortunate, question, which, moreover, leaked to the public. The protocol was further compromised when Zeljko Komsic, a Croatian member of the State Presidency, little known for his diplomatic tact, confirmed to journalists:

PRESIDENT PAHOR WAS REALLY INTERESTED IN THE POSSIBILITY OF A PEACEFUL DIVISION OF THE COUNTRY.

Even more embarrassing is that members of the Bosnian State Presidency are divided on the answer. Komsic, who as a Croatian himself was personally involved in the military defense of the besieged Sarajevo in the legendary 1990s, and Sefik Dzaferovic, who represents Bosnian Muslims in the head of state, firmly see that the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina can only be changed at the cost of another war. . Milorad Dodik, on the other hand, felt another opportunity and perhaps encouragement on the issue to start campaigning for the peaceful secession of the Republika Srpska from Bosnia, which has been on the agenda since 2006.

Viktor Orbán is also on the scene

The topic was quickly picked up by the regional press, and a polemic soon arose over a number of diplomatic documents called “non-paper”. One of these is linked to Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose piquancy is that Slovenia will hold the presidency of the European Union from July. The non-paper genre can best be described as a kind of informal diplomatic brainstorming or informal testing of ideas, but to put it mildly, it is a rare case when it is about dividing sovereign countries. Nor is it worth clarifying that, since the establishment of the European External Action Service, for a good decade, the role of the presidency has been much more limited in setting the direction of foreign policy than before. Although it has many opportunities to act in a given six months, without the support of the majority of Member States, even a large Member State such as Germany will not have a chance to put its ideas into practice.

In the meantime, the “Jansa document” was published, backed by support from Budapest and Belgrade in the Croatian and Bosnian press, and from which the Slovenian prime minister and Slovenian diplomacy immediately distanced themselves. The content of this English-language writing is based on rather radical, simplistic, and inaccurate assumptions.

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IN ADDITION TO THE DIVISION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, IT IS ALSO INVOLVED IN

It is impossible to build a consensus behind such ideas in the European Union, as the genesis of the organization itself can be traced back precisely to the fact that the desire to fulfill the nation-state ambitions led to suicidal wars in Europe. In NATO, it seems even less likely that anyone will openly put such an agenda on the agenda. Bosnia and Herzegovina's post-war stability and territorial integrity have been preserved for a decade, and Kosovo has been guaranteed by NATO forces for two decades at a huge cost, as stationing 40-60 thousand troops in a post-war environment is not cheap fun.

The United States, especially with a Democratic administration at the helm, it will not nod to a redesign of the Balkan strategy of the last quarter century. There are several reasons for this. One is that Washington does not want to jeopardize NATO's prestige and cohesion. The other is that in a region re-destabilized by border changes, it would open up too much space for its geopolitical rivals like Russia, China, but Islamic fundamentalists can also be listed here. And a great power rarely serves a tray of such a gift. The disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the dismantling of Kosovo would be an extremely serious loss of prestige for U.S. diplomacy, and even more so for the Democratic Party, as these are emblematic foreign policy products of the Clinton era.

The Dayton Peace Treaty, which ended the 1992-95 war, was brought to the roof under the manual control of the White House and the U.S. State Department. In the months leading up to the peace deal, NATO air forces intervened in the war and bombed the posts of Bosnian Serbs, destroying the lines of communication of their forces. The land offensive of Bosnian “Armija” and Croatian regular forces was stopped 20 kilometers in front of Banja Luka by a telephone from foreign affairs in the middle of autumn 1995. U.S. Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke promised the Bosnian and Croatian leadership a fair peace in exchange for an immediate ceasefire.

Don't poke Pandra's box!

It is very difficult to imagine the peaceful division of Bosnia and Herzegovina for those who know the local realities and the history of the country. If Bosnia and Herzegovina could be divided, this would have happened at the latest in 1993, when even some of the Western powers showed some openness at the Geneva peace talks. However, the current Bosnian arrangement is the result of a complex compromise that cannot be easily transformed.

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Without wishing to be exhaustive, I would like to highlight three problems that anyone has to deal with when it comes to redrawing the Bosnian borders. Both the Dayton Peace Treaty and the country’s constitution categorically prohibit the secession of any entity, and this is quite often stated in official statements. It is less common to bear in mind that the territory of the Republika Srpska is not contiguous, and there is some political will in this. During the Dayton peace process, the town of Brčko on the banks of the Sava was separated from it as an independent district, thus breaking the geographical connection between the eastern areas along the Drina River and the western Krajina. This has no practical significance in peacetime, within a state border, but all the more so in a tense situation or when changing borders. Another such critical territorial point is the enclave-like confluence of the Bosnian- inhabited town of Goražde with the eastern areas of Republika Srpska. This city, which forms an independent canton, can only be reached from Sarajevo through Bosnian Serb territories.

Last but not least: What would an excellent Serbian state formation from Bosnia do with the surviving Bosnian Muslim inhabitants of Srebrenica? Today, the city has a population of half Serbs and half Bosnians as a result of the horrific war crime of 1995, in which the Bosnian Serb army executed 8,000 Bosnian men in 72 hours in a UN-protected war zone. . The embarrassment of the international community, and of the Western world in particular, was so great that shortly afterwards, a consensus developed within NATO on military intervention against Bosnian Serbs, and even the UN Security Council, China and Russia, nodded at the time.

WHAT MESSAGE SHOULD THE SANCTIFICATION BECOME THAT THE XIX. CAN A STATE BE ESTABLISHED IN A CENTURY IN EUROPE THROUGH VIOLENT CHANGES IN POPULATION COMPOSITION?

One of the wisdoms of diplomacy is that it is not uncommon for the best negotiation strategy not to negotiate. I feel that it would be wisest for the European Union to leave no room for any negotiations on the redrawing of the borders in the Western Balkans, because it is easier to keep Pandora's box closed than to close it. In my opinion, this would also serve the interests of Hungary best, because it would be a serious risk if the soil were shaken under our Balkan export market, where most Hungarian investments have happened to come in the last 20 years.

The author is a senior analyst at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economics, having previously served as a diplomat in Sarajevo and Pristina.

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4. magyarnemzet.hu (translated, original by Tamás Fricz, 12.04.2021)

Excluding globalist liberals

Founded in 1976, the European People's Party (EPP) defines itself as "a family of center- right political organizations whose roots go deep into the history and civilization of the European continent, but at the same time played a pioneering role in European projects from the very beginning".

Attila Kovács, the EU project manager of the Center for Fundamental Rights, presented in detail in a recent article (Towards ideological emptiness, Magyar Hírlap, March 22) the stages of this People's Party left, documents and important quotations, so I do not want to deal with it. , but with the consequences of the People’s Party Transformation, the Western European political Zeitgeist, the current state of the spirit of the age.

So let’s face it: the People’s Party in the 70s, but even in the early 2010s, called itself a family of center-right political organizations.

In March 2021, in connection with the exit of Fidesz, Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder, on the other hand, said that Fidesz no longer fit into the EPP because the political umbrella organization is “the bourgeois center party and not the right-wing party”. So the People's Party has changed its ideology and values: it is no longer a right-wing, nor a center-right, but a (bourgeois) central party.

On the one hand, this antipodal turn is a characteristic and spectacular symptom of the radical turn of the Western European age spirit, which began in the 1990s and has become really marked in recent years, but at the same time a catalyst and further stimulator of this process. The point is that the Western European balliberal side, called the mainstream, occupies the political center, and political parties currently on the center-right and the right, such as Fidesz, the Law and Justice Party, the Salvini League, the Meloni Italian Brothers Party, Berlusconi Forza Italy, the Bulgarian GERB, the Janez Janša Slovenian Democratic Party, the Swedish Democrats, the Austrian Freedom Party, etc. he shifts to the right’s edge, calling them populist, autocratic, xenophobic.

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That is, they do quite precisely by labeling the above-mentioned and other parties as far-right, and then after a while they also deliberately omit the “extreme” adjective, and usually speak of the right as if it were the same as the far-right. Devilish logic, the ultimate goal of which is to classify every party and politician who and who is slightly to the right of the political center they occupy is simply extremist, anti-democratic, Nazi, racist, anti-union, old-conservative, autocratic and dictatorial, and declares that no cooperation with such parties is possible because they are the enemies of freedom, democracy, tolerance and humanism, solidarity.

And the People's Party's historical sin is precisely that it did not know, and now apparently does not want to preserve its center-right character, which could have prevented the balliberal side, from the extreme right to the Greens and the Social Democrats, from creating a uniformly negative image of the right. in front of the European public in the mainstream media and press. After all, the People's Party had been cooperating with the socialist party family for many years, for example, even in the time of Wilfried Martens, a faithful guardian of values, while preserving and professing the values of a Christian Democrat, a conservative one. As Attila Kovács quotes, the basic principle of the European People's Party, laid down in 1992 but confirmed in 2012, was: “If the European People's Party rejects, forgets, neglects or dilutes its own values, it will no longer be more than a mere without an instrument of power, soul and future. ”

Yes, it was a wise and foresighted sentence from Martens ’time. The People’s Party, if it retained its center-right image in 2010 and 2020, even after the outbreak of the migration crisis in 2015, the balliberals would not have been able to occupy the political center because that center would still have had a left and one right, and the right could not be declared uniformly, furly or furily extreme.

At the same time, the politician who, by reason of his weight and significance, still caused the most damage in this regard and was about to “take away the soul of the People’s Party” by launching the organization towards the embracing arms of the left is none other than Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The fact that the word “right” in the West is slowly becoming a swear word may not even seem natural to Western mainstream intellectuals, as left-wing, balliberalism is the only advanced, humanist and tolerant political way of thinking for them. The younger generations do not realize that the Western way of life and prosperity they are about to disperse and eradicate is due, among other things, to the cooperation of prominent Western Christian Democrats, center-right politicians such as Robert Schuman, Alcide de Gasperi, Konrad Adenauer, Charles de Gaulle, Helmut Kohl, Giscard d'Estaing, Jacques Chirac, Margaret Thatcher and more. And these politicians and their parties were also recognized and appreciated during the Cold War by prominent left-wing politicians like Willy Brandt, Helmut 128

Schmidt, François Mitterrand, these politicians on both sides of the center respected each other and built welfare states in Western Europe by building on each other. - doing everything possible to show their superiority over the communist Soviet empire, left and right together.

This decades-long political formula has been overturned in recent years by the emergence of insane, self-twisted, communist liberalism inspired and funded by globalist old boys such as 83-year-old Klaus Schwab, President of the World Economic Forum, Great Reset (see : global communism) and, of course, the 90 - year - old George Soros, the eminent philanthropist and humanist. And this globalist aspiration was not resisted by the People's Party, but left itself - as in Lee van Cleef, the famous cowboy in the song of Géza Bereményi and Tamás Cseh.

The Western left-liberal, globalist, migrant-friendly and gender-insane intelligentsia, when it practically curses the right from Europe and the Union, is acting in the sense of ‘they don’t know, but they do’. However, we Central and Eastern Europeans have lived through decades of communism and know exactly what they cannot or do not want to understand: that communism was the spirit of the age in eastern Europe, that the right is nothing more than fascism, but at least a political and social system that is infinitely unjust, oppresses workers, beats protesters and blacks in the streets of America, is depraved and immoral, and therefore despicable and an enemy.

In other words, so far communism has been the left-wing system that has called the right- wing incapable and an enemy. We Central Europeans, blessed with a desire for freedom, would never have believed that once we join the free West, it will be the West that will once again brand the right - the builder and guardian of its freedom, prosperity and democracy - incapacitated and enemy. We would not believe this if we did not hear the statements of Western European and, of course, Brussels, EU politicians in the European media every day.

Communism, which cursed the right, was an inanimate and intolerable system. Today, globalist liberalism curses the right. We have a sense of déjà vu: after four decades, leftism again, balliberalism is the only right way of thinking and politics, and the right is from the devil. We Central Europeans know very well what this means - and we will not ask for it again. It is no coincidence that Viktor Orbán said that the People's Party has finally become an annex of the European left, so now the European right must be built without the People's Party.

The author is a political scientist and research consultant at the Center for Fundamental Rights

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CROATIA

1. total-croatia-news.com (original by HINA, 28.04.2021)

PM Andrej Plenković: State Is Functioning Normally, I Am Not Squabbling With President Zoran Milanović

ZAGREB, 28 April, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that the state is functioning normally, dismissing interpretations that he is squabbling with President Zoran Milanović and that their relationship is affecting the state of the country.

"There is no squabbling. What you are saying is misrepresentation of facts and deduction of a conclusion that does not exist," Plenković told reporters in Šibenik when asked if the country can function with him and the president squabbling for months.

There is civilised, polite communication, arguments... listen, watch, follow and you will see who is insulting whom, who is arguing with whom, who is whose target, added Plenković.

"The government has always been constructive and willing to resolve problems and negotiate. But there is no sense in faking some sort of unity that doesn't exist," he said.

"The state is functioning well. There is nothing wrong with the state - everything that needs to function is functioning," he said.

Everyone is receiving their wages, pension allowances, a COVID supplement will be paid to pensioners, tax refunds and job-keeping measures will continue, he said.

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"The election will be held, we need to fix some details regarding vaccination and we are working on enabling the tourism season," he added in reference to his visits to Dalmatia today and yesterday.

Plenković dismissed accusations by the opposition that he and Health Minister Vili Beroš are to blame for the problems in organising vaccination against COVID-19, saying that the opposition, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in particular, were trying to score cheap political points due to their unfavourable approval ratings and likely poor results in the local election.

He said that it was thanks to the engagement of his government and not that of the opposition that COVID-19 vaccines had been secured.

"As of today, with the latest shipment of the Pfizer vaccine, Croatia has received a total of one million doses of vaccines. Thanks to me and my government and not the opposition's, in the next two months more than 3.2 million doses will come. And now it is up to the healthcare system, in coordination with (Health) Minister (Vili) Beroš, to intensify inoculation and ensure citizens' health protection," said Plenković.

2. total-croatia-news.com (original by HINA, 27.04.2021)

PM Andrej Plenković: At The Moment I Don't See That Gabrijela Žalac is Guilty of Anything

ZAGREB, 27 April, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday that at the moment he did not see that former minister Gabrijela Žalac, an official of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), is guilty of anything after the USKOK anti-corruption office expanded its investigation in the windpark scandal.

"I read the press release for my information. Our judicial bodies are independent. You are aware of our position - we have zero tolerance to corruption. I don't what is behind that and I cannot deduct from the press release what exactly it has to do with," Plenković told reporters during a visit to Split-Dalmatia County. 131

I don't have any information about what USKOK and the State Prosecutor (DORH) are doing.

What he does know is that the loan in question was approved, as far as he is aware, in accordance with the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) rules.

"We have to see here what this is about exactly. At the moment I don't know nor do I have any detailed information of what USKOK or DORH are working on. She is a member of the HDZ. At the moment I don't see that she is guilty of anything," said Plenković.

He claimed that he saw Žalac about a month ago but they did not discuss the windpark case.

"She will deal with this situation on her own and as far as our relationship is concerned, it is as it was in any case," underscored Plenković.

3. jutarnji.hr (translated, original by HINA, 29.04.2021)

Andrej Plenković: 'HDZ will win again in Vukovar-Srijem County'

Andrej Plenković held a meeting with candidates for prefect, mayors and mayors at the Jozo Ivakić City Theater

The president of HDZ and the government, Andrej Plenković, said on Thursday from Vinkovci that the party, together with its coalition partners, is ready for the elections in Vukovar-Srijem County and intends to keep the current government.

"I want to give strong support to our candidate for Vukovar-Srijem County Prefect Damir Dekanić and candidates for mayor of Vinkovci Ivan Bosančić and Vukovar Nikola Mažar and candidates in other places in this county.

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We are traditionally the strongest party here and I am convinced that this demonstration of support that our future prefect received during the collection of signatures, and he received as many as 25,000 signatures, is a clear signal of what we will see in Vukovar-Srijem County on May 16, "Plenković said. .

At the Jozo Ivakić City Theater, Andrej Plenković held a meeting with candidates for county prefects, mayors and mayors in Vukovar-Srijem County.

County candidate Damir Dekanić said that his program does not see Vukovar-Srijem County at the bottom or in the middle in terms of development in Croatia, but at the top. "We made the program to take care of all categories in the county and especially to take care of those who are most needed," said Dekanic.

The president of the Vukovar-Srijem HDZ, Minister of Defense Mario Banožić, said that the attempt of the political opponents to portray the schism in the Vukovar-Srijem HDZ proved to be incorrect. "Our membership has strengthened both in numbers and quality," Banozic said, adding that HDZ coalition partners are not those who trade or ask for anything, but want to implement a joint program.

They said the candidate for a new mandate as mayor in Vinkovci Ivan Bosančić who said that the projects Vinkovci for the next four years to get the support of the Government and Prime Minister Plenkovic and candidate for Mayor of Vukovar, Nikola Mazar that is, as he said, collected 2,630 signatures of citizens of Vukovar for candidacy .

"This is a historic figure for the HDZ since returning to Vukovar in 1998. The citizens of Vukovar have thus shown that they want change and Vukovar a secure future and development," Mazar said.

During his stay in Vinkovci, the President of the HDZ and the Government Andrej Plenković also met with members of the war 3rd Guards Brigade "Kunama" who today in Vinkovci marked the 30th anniversary of its formation. Andrej Plenković, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Croatian Veterans Tomo Medved , also visited Vukovar, where he laid a wreath at the Square of the Victims of Ovčara and drank coffee with the citizens.

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4. napi.hu (translated, original by Zsuzsanna Szabó, 02.04.2021)

In Croatia, half of the population can be vaccinated by the end of June

Croatia could vaccinate half of the adult population by the end of June, Health Minister Vili Beros said at a crisis team press conference on Friday, referring to Zagreb receiving an additional 747,459 doses of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine on a solidarity basis, MTI writes.

Beros assessed this: the pressure of Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Brussels was a success. Croatia ordered the most of AstraZeneca's vaccine, a total of 2.7 million doses. However, the British-Swedish vaccine company did not deliver the bound quantity on time and also reduced the quantity.

Without Pfizer / BioNTech’s now-approved vaccinations, Croatia would have been able to vaccinate only 36 percent of the population by the summer. Most EU member states agreed on Thursday to distribute nearly three million doses of Pfizer / BioNTech population-based vaccines in solidarity among the countries most lagging behind in vaccine supplies. Thus, on this basis, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia received more vaccinations, while the remaining 7 million vaccines are distributed among the 27 Member States on a pro rata basis.

Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia have rejected the agreement. Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa wrote on her Twitter page that half of the ten million doses of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines coming in the second quarter of the year should have been distributed among countries in need on a solidarity basis, expanding the current circle. The current solution is acceptable to Austria and Slovenia, but not to the Czech Republic, he wrote, referring to the fact that the Central European state was severely affected by the epidemic.

Like Croatia, Ljubljana ordered the most of AstraZeneca's vaccine and did not withdraw all Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines available to it from the European Union. This is one of the reasons why the center-left opposition parties in Slovenia are launching constitutional prosecution proceedings against Jansa. They announced this at their press conference on Friday.

How are the Croats and Slovenes?

134

In Croatia, 2362 new infections were identified in the last day. Since the beginning of the epidemic, their number has reached 276,416. In the past 24 hours, 29 people have died from complications of Covid-19 caused by the infection, bringing the death toll to 5,996. The hospital cares for 1,464 patients, 153 of whom are on ventilators.

Of the three vaccines authorized in Europe, nearly half a million ampoules have arrived in the country so far, of which 404,000 have been used; 312,000 received the first dose and 92,000 received the second.

In Slovenia, the number of registered infections increased by 1,169 to more than 210,000 by Friday. Nine patients have died in the past day, bringing the death toll to 4,063. Of the coronavirus patients, 515 are in hospital and 118 in the intensive care unit. In about two million countries, 5.6 percent of the population has so far been vaccinated with both vaccines against the coronavirus. The first dose was given to 268,781, the second to 116,616. A total of 430,680 doses of vaccine have been received in Slovenia so far. 285,480 doses of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, 98,400 doses of AstraZeneca and 46,800 doses of Moderna.

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BULGARIA

1. magyarhirlap.hu (translated, original by magyarhirlap.hu, 29.04.2021)

The Kremlin has threatened the Czech Republic and Bulgaria

The Kremlin has threatened the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, which accuse Moscow of blowing up arms factories and warehouses, that it will not tolerate what they are "doing," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday on Rosy 1's television game Bolsaja Igra. 135

Moscow will not tolerate “what the Czechs are doing now, as are the Bulgarians who are joining them, and the Baltics and others who are also joining in the name of the infamous so- called solidarity. And we clearly demonstrate this. And as President Putin has said, that will be the case now, ”he said.

According to Peschov, the Czech and Bulgarian action is provoking irritability, regret and confusion in Moscow, as well as a desire for these countries to change their “schizophrenic position”.

The spokesman called the allegations unfounded, while expressing satisfaction that "aggressive European solidarity" had not prevailed this time and that "the countries on which the EU is founded" were trying to take a sober and balanced position.

In his daily press conference, he foresaw that Russia would not leave unanswered the “unfounded” and “provocative” accusations of the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, but did not want to specify the Russian response to the “absolutely unacceptable” steps.

On April 17, the Czech Republic accused Russia of having its specialist services responsible for the 2014 explosions at the Vrbetice munitions depot and then expelled 18 Russian diplomats. Bulgaria's prosecutor's office said on Wednesday it suspected six Russian citizens of organizing four explosions in the country's weapons factories between 2011 and 2020, which held stockpiles of arms dealer Emiljan Gebrev. Sofia expelled a Russian diplomat on Thursday.

Peschov complained on the TV show that the United States and Europe “stubbornly don’t want to hear” Putin’s message that Russia wants to live in peace with them. He believed that “manipulation of the Allies” stemmed from American strategy, and to counteract this, Moscow should work with “the sober-minded system-building states of the EU” to establish a comprehensive dialogue.

According to the spokesman, Russia's foreign policy is oriented towards the West and the East at the same time. Concerning Europe, he stated that Russia does not want to hit the concrete wall upside down. He added that despite difficult times, he communicates well with French President Emmanuel Macron, met with key players in the French business world on Thursday, and also maintained contact with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

136

As he said, the policy of Washington and “the collective West” to arrest Moscow over the past decade has turned into confrontational manifestations. He believed that the “potential for confrontation” around Russia was showing an increasing trend, which he called very disturbing.

He noted that Russia seeks cooperation with all states, but does not intend to tolerate the confrontational manifestations of the United States and the West, which have always interfered in Russia's internal affairs, economy and elections.

“We have met several times with manifestations of unfriendly, hostile competition. The interests of our companies have been violated in Western countries. Of course, we took action against it, ”he said.

He promised that Putin would “not expect much for himself” and in each case would determine where the boundaries lie in relations with Russia. According to Peskov, the entire Russian leadership has made it clear that it finds "schizophrenia" in the form of "so-called European solidarity" unacceptable and outrageous. He expressed hope that the acts of war in the Donetsk Basin in south-eastern Ukraine will not recur.

He called it an “obvious fact” that U.S. military support to Kiev was “playing into the hands” of the Ukrainian armed forces, which took a “provocative stance”. He could not say whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in control of the army and could distance himself from the influence of nationalists and extremists.

The spokesman said the "double standard" used by the West, which referred to tens of thousands of NATO troops moving near Russian borders as "military exercises" and Russian troops' maneuvers on Russian territory, also contributed to the increase in tensions.

He argued that the concept of an alliance for Moscow, unlike Washington, meant cooperating not against others but for the benefit of its members.

Asked whether Russia and China could consider deepening their co-operation under pressure, Pesskov said the two countries are joint members of several regional groupings, including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which “respond to different trends”.

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2. whbl.com (original by whbl.com, 01.05.2021)

Bulgaria faces fresh elections as Socialists refuse to form a government

SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria will head to the polls in July after the Socialists on Saturday became the third political party to refuse to lead a government following last month’s parliamentary election.

The Socialists, who lost almost half of their seats in the April 4 election, said it would be impossible to build a working majority in a fragmented parliament and would return the mandate immediately after the president hands it to them on May 5.

President Rumen Radev faces having to dissolve parliament, appoint an interim administration and call snap polls within two months – most likely on July 11.

Prolonged political uncertainty could hamper the European Union’s poorest member state’s ability to restart its pandemic battered economy and effectively tap the EU’s 750 billion euro ($896 billion) coronavirus Recovery Fund.

The Socialists’ decision comes after both the centre-right GERB party of outgoing, three-time Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and the new anti-establishment ITN party, led by TV host and singer Slavi Trifonov, both gave up on attempts to form a government.

Popular anger against widespread corruption after almost a decade of Borissov’s governance has boosted support for the anti-elite ITN party and two smaller anti-graft groupings, though the three together lack a majority in the chamber.

The Socialists, who have campaigned to unseat Borissov’s GERB, said the three new parties have refused to enter into alliance with them.

“The three new parties in the parliament showed political immaturity, they could not overcome their ego,” Socialist leader Kornelia Ninova told reporters after a party meeting.

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“In this situation, despite our will for a change a government led by us, even a temporary one, is impossible.”

3. sofiaglobe.com (original by sofiaglobe.com, 30.04.2021)

Covid-19 in Bulgaria: 803 176 jabs so far, 207 667 have had second dose

So far, 803 176 doses of vaccines against Covid-19 have been administered in Bulgaria, including 26 923 in the past 24 hours – the largest number in a single day since the country began its vaccination campaign on December 27.

According to the national information system’s daily report on April 30, a total of 207 667 people have received a second dose, including 17 132 in the past 24 hours.

The figures come as health authorities across Bulgaria offer “green corridors” for vaccinations for all comers, as the Orthodox Easter holiday period starts. There will be a choice between BioNTech-Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.

A spreadsheet, in Bulgarian, with the list of vaccination points can be found on the Health Ministry website at this link.

The daily report said that in the past 24 hours, a total of 90 people in Bulgaria who had tested positive for Covid-19 had died, bringing the death toll linked to the disease to 16 368.

The report said that of 16 259 tests done in the past 24 hours, a total of 1237 – about 7.6 per cent – had proven positive.

To date, 403 728 cases of new coronavirus have been confirmed in Bulgaria, counting in those who have died, those who have recovered from the virus, and the active cases.

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A total of 338 312 people have recovered from the virus, including 2881 in the past 24 hours, the report said.

There are 49 048 active cases, a decrease of 1734 in the past day.

There are 6824 patients with Covid-19 in hospital, a decrease of 344 in the past day, with 682 in intensive case, a decrease of 15.

Twenty-five medical personnel tested positive in the past day, bringing the total to date to 13 170, the report said.

4. 888.hu (translated, original by 888.hu/Magyar Nemzet, 20.04.2021)

They would destroy the Bulgarian right-wing

What did not work with the help of street demonstrations last summer can now be realized after the parliamentary elections in March: Bulgarian President Rumen Radev can overthrow the center-right forces led by Boyko Borisov, Magyar Nemzet wrote on Tuesday.

The organizers of last year’s anti-government demonstrations not only got into parliament, but everyone forged an anti-Borisov alliance with the Bulgarian Socialists and the Turkish ethnic party on an anti-government basis. The main goal of this coalition is to permanently destroy, remove from the map the center-right Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, and to send its president, Boyko Borisov, to the rubbish heap of politics.

As lawyer Nikolai Hadzigenov, who organized last year's protests, put it:

We have already cut off the two heads of the three-headed dragon, now the third one has to be cut off. ”

Another goal is to oust Attorney General Ivan Gesev under the pretext of judicial reform, stop legal proceedings against the oligarchs of the regime change and raise € 30-35 billion for Bulgaria from the next EU budget cycle. Last but not least, by changing the rules of the 140 electoral system to facilitate the re-election of Head of State Rumen Radev at the presidential vote in the autumn.

It was emphasized that the political hysteria in the weeks since the Easter elections was best exerted by Maria Kapon, the old nomenclature and funded by the oligarchs. Stand up, Bulgaria! Gangsters, cover up! was best perceived by a representative of a dwarf party called. “We start with you first! We won’t even let you get some air, and then that’s what we want, ”he told former pro-government MPs.

At the inaugural session of parliament, they were already set to work: one decision said a committee would look at the use of public money back ten years. However, Bojko Borisov, who had previously returned his mandate and submitted the resignation of his government through his deputy, failed to be appointed and put to shame. The politician also made it clear that he would not be head of government again even if his party came to power, but instead proposed the former pro-European and NATO foreign minister Daniel Mitovo instead, the news portal wrote.

President Rumen Radev has already begun talks on forming a government. With the 75 seats won by GERB, it is unlikely to gain a government majority in the 240-member legislature, giving a second party called Van Ilyen Nép (51 MPs) the chance to forge a coalition. If neither the second nor the third party is successful, the early elections may come, the Magyar Nemzet wrote.

Political analysts say the head of state is colluding with, Slavi Trifonov, to form a government only as long as the electoral system can be changed.

In this context, voting by machine and post would be extended, to allow as many liberal Bulgarian citizens living abroad as possible to take part in it, and to transfer to the presidency the appointment of members of the National Electoral Commission, which has hitherto been the responsibility of the parliament.

Political analysts also warn that Rumen Radev is seeking full power, with the ultimate goal of introducing presidential governance.

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LITHUANIA

1. respublika.lt (translated, original by Irena Babkauskiené, 01.05.2021)

Maybe the Freedom Party will "liberate" Mother's Day as well?

Today's attempt by the Freedom Party and the Liberals to "liberate" society from the traditional family and other values echoes the ideas of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, who abolished marriage and other "bourgeois ancestry" by decrees and legitimized same- sex love.

Everything that was associated with religion, the family, according to the Bolsheviks, had to disappear, but it never disappeared. Therefore, Mother's Day was destroyed in Lithuania during the Soviet era and remained quietly celebrated in families.

Why the Soviets tried so hard to erase Mother's Day, "Respublika" asked the historian, Vilnius University lecturer Dr. Algirdas JAKUBČIONIS.

- On the second of May, we will commemorate Mother's Day, which was tried to be removed from our lives during the Soviet era by marching on Soviet Women's Day - March 8. Why wasn't Mother's Day suitable for the Soviets?

- After the October Revolution of 1917, pro-Russian Bolshevism decided to abolish all that was before. One of the popular songs of the year was, "Let's tear the old world out of its foundations and rebuild the new world with it." Because all that was is evil. "For Peace," "For Land," appear Lenin's decrees, "For the Abolition of Marriage," "For the Abolition of the Punishment for Homosexuality," which made it easy to form a "sexual union."

- To seek the abolition of marriage, and hence the family, because the family is bourgeois obsolete?

- That's right. At the time, it was easy to stand out - just send a letter or postcard to the Registration Office. The other partner might not even have known he was already singled out. 142

Turning towards the transformation of the relationship between men and women, even curious solutions have been reached in individual regions. Suppose the Bolsheviks of one city in the Vladimir province at that time made the decision to nationalize women. And the logic is this: the girl belongs to the father. When she marries, it belongs to the husband. Since private property has been abolished, it means that a woman must be nationalized, she cannot belong to either her father or her husband. It was even provided that a woman could be chosen by any man who wished her, and she could not refuse. The woman could also choose a man, but the man could refuse. True, all this soon ended, as complaints began to flow to Moscow that the Bolsheviks with higher positions are taking on younger, more beautiful, and for everyone else - what is left. The principle that a woman is a state has failed.

Some researchers say the first sexual revolution took place in Soviet Russia. At the time, several theories prevailed. On the one hand, pure Puritanism in the approach to sex, when sex is only needed for the birth of children. The second theory is the so-called water glass theory: thirsty, we took a glass of water, got drunk and left. So sex like that glass of water - when you need it, it has, and then - the paths stand out.

But the most important was the ideological emphasis. What is the function of a woman in the Bolshevik system? A woman is a creator, she is an active builder of communism, a worker, a young communist, a communist.

It should be emphasized that Bolshevik free sexual partnership was practiced by the townspeople and those who wanted to pursue a Bolshevik career. The Russian village, as it lived by its own traditions, remained so. There were attempts by the Bolsheviks to reform the family institution, but only a small part of the population obeyed it.

- I read how in Petrograde on December 19, 1918. the march of lesbians was joyfully marked by the anniversaries of the decrees "On the Abolition of Marriage", on the abolition of the ban on homogeneous love. Why did that freedom, that "liberation" from traditions and customs later suppress? The Bolsheviks themselves were frightened by the chaos caused by that freedom?

- Basically yes. That period (1917-1921) was a period of Bolshevik freedom and the transformation of all customs. There was so much deviation that even the destruction of the cemetery began - whoever has to look to the past needs to look to the future. It is said that buried in coffins - is obsolete. In post-revolutionary Petrograd, the first crematorium was opened and a unique slogan was announced: every Bolshevik has the right to be burned. 143

Entertainment sites and cinemas were built on the site of the cemetery. Any privileges in the funeral were abolished - it was said: no exclusive places, no exclusive graves. But the first to "deny" this thing the most was Lenin, who received a special place after his death.

When Joseph Stalin came to power, all reforms went out. The situation in the country required a man to devote his efforts not to sexual amusement but to the construction of communism. The trend towards a "family is a cell of society" and a monogamy at the heart of the order has begun again.

During Stalin's time, a very strict attitude towards sexual minorities prevailed. Sangling a man with a man was punishable by imprisonment from 5 to 7 years for walking against nature. And it wasn’t until about the mid-1990s or later that penal article was repealed.

Attitudes towards women have also changed. It was in Stalin's time that the absolute tradition came into force that no wife, even a top official, could appear in public. When Raisa Gorbachev began to accompany the then leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev on official travels, there was a terrible noise - his wife nearby. Stalin formed the view that a woman must know her place. J. Stalin returned the woman to the place that can be called a traditionally Russian place for a woman - the kitchen, children.

Around the end of the 1930s, when, after all the repression, it became clear that the population had shrunk by tens of millions, one began to wonder what to do? Abortions were banned. Mother heroes began to be advertised.

True, looking at the photos of that time, we see - children in kindergartens, schools, camping in pioneer camps. Their implication is obvious: the state takes care of children.

- In Lithuania, Mother's Day was officially restored only after regaining Independence, but in fact the Soviets did not manage to erase it, did they?

- In Soviet Lithuania, a fairly simple thing happened. First, they tried to reject everything that was at that time, their terminology, bourgeois Lithuania. If there was a mother "near Smetona", now she is a woman. Secondly, it is also related to the fact that the mother, Mother's Day, is associated with the family, with caring for it. It is so far from that ideological model This gave rise to March 8, Soviet Woman’s Day, which may not be bad in reality, but she could not overshadow her mother because woman and mother are not the same thing.

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In Lithuania, even during the Soviet era, Mother's Day is celebrated, but like all old celebrations, it is celebrated quietly. No one caught those going to the cemetery or to their mothers, but no one celebrated or encouraged them.

2. azernews.az (original by azernews.az, 30.04.2021)

Azerbaijan, Lithuania to sign more documents on cooperation

Azerbaijan and Lithuania have so far signed 39 documents and 12 more are under consideration, Trend quoted Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov as saying on April 30.

Addressing the joint presser with his Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielius Landsbergis today, Bayramov said that the two countries must “join efforts to complete this work soon.”

Bayramov said that the meetings were held today with the Lithuanian counterpart both one- on-one and in an expanded format, in which “we stressed the importance of continuing the political dialogue between our countries”.

“Although we have established good cooperation, we believe that it has even bigger potential. In particular, it is important to pay attention to such spheres as agriculture, food industry, alternative energy and others," Bayramov said in the presser.

The minister stressed that his country is ready to cooperate with Lithuania on the basis of the principle of territorial integrity and inviolability of borders, highlighting that “the mutual cooperation can contribute to both regional and global peace.”

In turn, Landsbergis said that “the potential for the development of bilateral economic cooperation is great.”

“Lithuania is interested in cooperation with the countries of the South Caucasus, including, undoubtedly, Azerbaijan… Lithuania is interested in further expanding these ties and intends to strengthen ties not only in the economic but also in the political sphere,” the minister said. 145

Landsbergis stressed that Azerbaijan is Lithuania's biggest trade partner in the Caucasus, adding that his country supports the expansion of political cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan.

Nagorno-Karabakh war

Touching upon the 44-day-war in which Azerbaijan liberated its territories from the Armenian occupation, Landsbergis said it was important to know where the Armenian-planted mines are in Azerbaijan's liberated lands, stressing that he raised this issue during his recent visit to Yerevan. Dozens of Azerbaijani civilians have been killed in mine explosions in liberated lands since November 10.

Bayramov spoke about racial intolerance in the Armenian society, stressing that Armenian radicals attack representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora and the country's diplomatic missions abroad, commit offensive actions.

"This intolerance is directed not only against Azerbaijan and Turkey, it has become broader… Armenia is the country with the biggest number of calls for anti-Semitism. Everyone should have understood the bitter consequences of such an approach when a monument to fascist Nzhdeh and terrorists was erected in the center of Yerevan,” Bayramov said.

He stressed that “the sooner the Armenian people and society get rid of these ideas of their politicians and ideologists, the better for them. It is necessary to look to the future and Azerbaijan supports this. The sooner the people of Armenia understand this, the more opportunities there will be for the regional development, peace, and security.”

Earlier on the same day, Landsbergis was received by President Ilham Aliyev during the meeting in which they discussed bilateral relations as well as the cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union. They expressed hope that the negotiations on a new draft agreement between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the European Union will be completed soon.

3. baltictimes.com (original by baltictimes.com, 27.04.2021) 146

Major breakthrough in dealing with coronavirus in Lithuania expected in June

VILNIUS – A major breakthrough in bringing the COVID-19 pandemic in Lithuania under control is expected in June, Simonas Krepsta, a chief adviser to President Gitanas Nauseda, says.

"We are at a special crossroads and we are really close to that moment when the situation will start improving because of the vaccination gaining momentum," he told after a meeting with members of the council of experts advising the president on Tuesday.

In his words, the UK's example was discussed during the meeting, showing that once a quarter of people are vaccinated, the number of new infection cases and the number of people in hospitals start going down. And "the situation changes dramatically" once at least a half of the population receive one vaccine doze.

"We can expect that in Lithuania in early June. We are definitely close to a major breakthrough bringing the pandemic under control. But until then, lockdown measures and compliance with them are key," Krepsta said.

CALLS FOR CLEAR SYSTEM

Asked about the Health Ministry's recent decision to allocate around half of all new vaccine dozes for all municipalities to Vilnius, the adviser said "the logic behind the decision is understandable".

"But the implementation of this decision is really not appropriate. As we heard that regions were notified about lower vaccine amounts to be delivered only several hours before the fact. And other cities had to cancel planned vaccination, and that, with no doubt, does not add to smooth vaccination," he said.

In his words, a consistent system would help to manage the situation, by clearly saying that the so-called "black" municipalities (with high infection numbers) might get additional vaccines for a certain period of time.

147

"Such a system and its smooth implementation would be much more meaningful and would not cause additional tensions," he said.

Lithuania has so far vaccinated almost a quarter of its residents, Krepsta said, adding that the existing wish is to for Lithuania to get more vaccines and step up the ongoing vaccine rollout. In his words, as of Monday, more than 1 million dozes had been delivered and the country is among the leaders in Europe in terms of vaccination.

"The key thing is that we'll get the second million vaccines faster and we’ll do that over a period that will be three times shorter than we did with the first million," he said.

EXPERT: COVID-19 SPREAD SLOWS DOWN

Professor Mindaugas Stankunas from the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, says Lithuania has been in the "black" zone since April 17 and there are now 534 cases per 100,000 people. But, he says, compared to October and November, the growth rate "is slower and much more different from what we saw before".

In his words, in terms of the Rt (reproduction) rate, Lithuania "is split into two equal parts", meaning that in half of the country's municipalities the rate exceeds 1 and is below 1 in the remaining ones.

GROWTH UNTIL MID-MAY

The expert says the late-March prognosis has materialized as a daily case figure 1,000 was expected in the second half of April under the "medium scenario".

Under the pessimistic scenario, the daily case rate could go up to 2,500 cases but Stankunas says that even if happens so, taking into account the existing situation, such an increase would last shorter than expected before.

The professor believes the daily case average of several hundred could be reached in the first half of June.

"We do believe we are able to avoid that. The most likely scenario is that we will say a moderate increase and it should not exceed 1,500 cases a day. That should be in May, the 148 middle of May. Later on, we believe, vaccination will do its job that and we should see a significant drop in cases. Based on our existing estimates, it's really possible to achieve herd immunity in the first half of July," he said.

RISK DOWN BY 80 PERCENT FOR POST-COVID PEOPLE

Professor Aukse Mickiene, a professor from the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences who also attended the meeting, cited the results of a Danish study which showed that the risk of contracting the coronavirus within six months after recovering from COVID-19 "goes down by more than 80 percent".

The possibility, however, drops to around 50 percent for over-60s.

Therefore, the professor stressed the need to vaccinate elder post-COVID people after six months.

Mickiene also acknowledged the fact that scientists have data yet on what is the re-infection risk for vaccinated people and also the risk of spreading the virus without feeling its clinical symptoms.

4. blikk.hu (translated, original by blikk.hu, 15.04.2021)

Lithuanian Foreign Minister warns Moscow against further confrontation with Ukraine

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis called on Russia in Kiev on Thursday to stop sharpening the situation around Ukraine’s border and return to the path of a negotiated settlement of the conflict.

The head of Lithuanian diplomacy said this at a press conference held with his Ukrainian, Latvian and Estonian counterparts in the Ukrainian capital, according to a report by the Yevropejska Pravda news portal. The foreign ministers of the three Baltic countries paid a joint visit to Kiev on Thursday. 149

"It is up to Russia to stop its aggressive actions, to escalate the situation and return to the only effective path, the path of political negotiations in the Minsk and Normandy formats," Landsbergis said, stressing that the possibility of a political settlement after crossing the "red lines" it will be less possible, and the consequences will be "inevitable." Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba added that for Kiev the "red line" is the state border of Ukraine. “If they cross the state border, it has consequences,” he noted. At the same time, he expressed hope that diplomatic efforts will help prevent the situation from deteriorating further.

The head of Kiev's diplomacy called on the Baltic countries to help convince other EU and NATO members to provide tangible support to Ukraine in the face of growing Russian aggression.

"Words of support are not enough. I have no doubt that Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are always ready to support Ukraine not only in words but also in concrete deeds. I also appealed to my colleagues to talk to other EU and NATO members about the need for practical support for Ukraine. "Kuleba explained. He added that the Baltic partners have reaffirmed their readiness to act together in the UN, the OSCE and other organizations, thus strengthening efforts against Russian aggression. "The world is on the side of Ukraine and international law. This is one of the elements that deter Russia from reckless actions," - stressed the Ukrainian Foreign Minister.

Ceasefire violations have recently become more frequent in the crisis area of the Donetsk Basin, and on March 26, four Ukrainian soldiers were killed. Since then, more than a dozen Ukrainian soldiers have died in the area with them. Kiev and Moscow are making each other responsible for the worsening of the crisis.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Chief of Staff Ruslan Homchak spoke in the Kiev parliament on March 30 that Russia had assembled 28 Russian tactical battalions under the guise of military exercises near the Russian-Ukrainian border and in the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk Basin and Russia's arbitrarily annexed Crimea, and even more units arrive.

Ukrainian President Yulia Mendel's press secretary, Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a TV show last Sunday that Russia had gathered forty thousand troops along the Ukrainian border, and the same number in the arbitrarily annexed Crimea. He stressed that since the beginning of the year, 26 Ukrainian soldiers have already died in the armed conflict, while since the last ceasefire last July, five soldiers have died by the end of last year. He stressed that the Ukrainian armed forces are not planning an offensive operation in the Donetsk Basin.

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ESTONIA

1. baltictimes.com (original by baltictimes.com, 28.04.2021)

Interior ministers of Estonia, Slovenia discuss EU internal security issues

TALLINN - Estonian Minister of the Interior Kristian Jaani discussed key issues in EU internal affairs with his Slovenian counterpart Ales Hojs, who is currently on a visit to Estonia.

Jaani introduced to his Slovenian colleague Estonia's expectations for strengthening police cooperation in the Schengen area and the European Union, spokespeople for the Ministry of the Interior said.

"The European Commission has promised to present its proposals for a reform in the Schengen area at the end of May, and during the Slovenian presidency, discussions will continue over the draft EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and regulation proposals relating to the mandate of Europol announced in December 2020. In December this year, the European Commission is expected to deliver proposals for reforming police cooperation in the European Union," Jaani said, adding that he greatly appreciates the opportunity to discuss priorities in the field with the state holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union during the next period.

Jaani added that Estonia deems it important for the Schengen Borders Code to be amended to include a minimum standard for guarding the external border of the European Union in order to ensure a uniform high level of border control.

"Requirements for border crossing have been described in great detail in the European Union, meanwhile the are no minimum criteria for guarding the external border of the European Union," Jaani said. "We also discussed the reform package for EU police cooperation, the central part of which is the proposal for drawing up a European police code. With regard to the latter, Estonia's preliminary interest is to ensure that the harmonization of regulatory 151 framework should not prevent regional police cooperation that already functions well, such as that between the Baltic states," he said.

Hojs said that addressing the external dimension of migration is important for both Slovenia and Estonia.

"Eliminating the cause of irregular migration as well as improving the return of [third country nationals] is extremely important for Slovenia. As to solidarity, we agree that it should be flexible and include a variety of measures for helping member states under migratory pressure," he said.

Jaani noted that the two ministers discussed that the police cooperation reform could prove an opportunity to start a discussion at EU level on creating an option to include official volunteers in police service in cross-border police cooperation, for instance in joint patrols, responding to events in border areas, improving crisis management and other joint activities.

Participants in the meeting also included head of the office for international cooperation at the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board Reet Zeisig and senior official at the border inspection point in Southeast Estonia Peter Maran, who gave an overview of the planned ESTPOL4 mission to Slovenia. In response to Slovenia's request for help in guarding the border under migratory pressure, the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board will send to Slovenia up to four rotating teams at the interior minister's approval. The teams will be tasked with participating in land patrols near the Slovenian and Croatian border areas.

"Estonia helped Slovenia ensure public order during the 2015-2016 migration crisis, and we're also ready to do so now. By helping and supporting others, we're building good prospects of our allies also supporting us during difficult times, should we need assistance. Working in an international environment also provides our experts an opportunity to gain experience," Jaani said.

Hojs thanked Estonia for responding to Slovenia's request for assistance.

The Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union ends on June 30, after which Slovenia is to take over the presidency for the next six months.

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2. news.err.ee (original by ERR News, 28.04.2021)

Estonia added to Kremlin list of countries deemed 'unfriendly' to Russia

Russian authorities have placed Estonia on a list of states they consider 'unfriendly', a Kremlin-controlled TV channel announced Tuesday evening. Estonia joins the United States, the United Kingdom and several other blacklisted states.

Russia-1 (Rossiya-1), a state-owned TV channel, reported that the list, which Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova says was the result of a presidential decree, had been compiled on Monday.

The other states on the list of countries deemed unfriendly towards Russia are Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Poland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

The last of these is at the center of the furor after ejecting dozens of Russian diplomats last week, in response to a 2014 explosion and an ammunition depot which killed two, thought to be the work of Russian agents.

Estonia followed suit, by opting last Friday to expel one Russian diplomat from its soil, while several other countries, including Latvia and Lithuania, have done the same.

Russian President Vladimir Putin issued the decree in question last week, ERR's online news in Estonian reports, while Russia's foreign ministry has summonsed the Estonian ambassador, along with those of Slovakia and the other two Baltic States, for a meeting Wednesday.

The presidential decree also limits the extent to which diplomatic representations of states on the list can employ people at their missions.

The list and its provisions can also be altered where needed, the decree states.

The organization overseeing participation of Russian participants in this summer's Finno- Ugric World Congress, to be held in Tartu, said at the weekend that representatives from Russia would not be taking part, arguing the event had become politicized. 153

3. news.err.ee (original by ERR News, 22.04.2021)

EKRE introduces 700 amendment proposals to block EU recovery fund

The opposition Conservative People's Party (EKRE) has entered into Riigikogu proceedings 700 proposals to amend to block the bill to approve the European recovery plan.

"Rumor has it EKRE have blocked the approval of the EU recovery fund that stands to bring Estonia ca €1 billion by putting forward around 700 empty amendment proposals," Minister of Finance Keit Pentus-Rosimannus wrote on social media.

"This speaks of two things. Firstly – EKRE members' ultimate cynicism in trying to stop EU crisis aid that the Estonian economy has been looking forward to. Secondly – complete harmony with the goal recently voiced by EKRE leaders to try and take Estonia out of the European Union. Of course, we will not allow them to paint Estonia into a corner," Pentus- Rosimannus added.

Põlluaas: We will not be able to use the people's money freely

Head of EKRE Riigikogu group Henn Põlluaas told ERR that the recovery fund principle sees the EU move toward federalization and that the package entails various dangers.

"We want the EU to remain a union of sovereign states and for decision-making capacity to remain in member state capitals, which is why we have introduced a host of amendment proposals," Põlluaas explained.

"Every single euro will come with a tag. We will not be able to freely use the money where we most need it and will instead have to comply with the Commission's limitations and targets," he said.

The politician added that because loan money is cheap, Estonia could borrow without EU mediation and on better terms.

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"It is a question of the principles agreed upon in the Lisbon Treaty, the capacity of the EU and the European Commission versus that of member states. European founding documents do not allow for this kind of borrowing. All such financial matters belong solely in the jurisdiction of member states," Põlluaas said.

"And secondly, the EU has no right to lay down taxes. What we are seeing, however, is the introduction of a Europe-wide package tax that is in breach of these founding principles. So what that it is referred to as cost-sharing and not a tax there. Basically, we are dealing with a tax."

Põlluaas also pointed to the risk of the Estonian taxpayer having to settle other member states' debts. "If some member states prove unable to service the common loan, the rest will have to pick up the tab."

"We cannot rightly imagine where Estonia could find billions of euros to repay debts that might prove greater than what we stand to receive," Põlluaas remarked.

Põlluaas: 700 proposals to amend completely different than 10,000

When EKRE was still part of the government, the party sharply condemned use of obstruction tactics in the parliament, referring to it as paralyzing the work of the Riigikogu. However, the party wasted no time deploying such tactics upon finding itself in the opposition. Põlluaas said that EKRE's 700 amendment proposals are completely different than tens of thousands previously introduced by the Social Democrats.

"There is a great difference. One would take two years to process, while the other can be done inside a sensible time frame," he said.

"We will only introduce amendment proposals in quantity regarding things that clearly infringe on Estonia's freedom of decision or are contrary to democracy, free speech and freedom of thought in other ways. We will introduce a sensible, limited number of proposals to amend to slow down or reverse these processes," the MP said.

ERR asked Põlluaas what kind of a compromise would see EKRE withdraw its proposals. "We will need to discuss that in the coalition and opposition. Everything is possible," Põlluaas replied. 155

"We are not there yet today. Today, the coalition is still steamrolling the opposition in all these matters, which means it is the only way for us to make ourselves heard," he added.

The previous coalition of the Center Party, Isamaa and EKRE had to contend with 50,000 amendment proposals by the Social Democratic Party (SDE) to block a bill aimed at liquidating the Political Parties Financing Surveillance Committee (ERJK). The Reform Party presented 3,500 and SDE 5,800 amendment proposals to the marriage referendum bill in the winter.

4. news.err.ee (original by ERR News, 28.04.2021)

Party ratings: No real change, rate of Reform support loss slowing

Reform remain the most-supported political party in Estonia according to a recent survey. In ratings which have changed little since the preceding week, the pollsters say, Center, in office with Reform, remain in second place, with opposition Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) in third as before.

While both Reform and Center have been losing support, this has mainly led to a rise in the number of undecided voters, Norstat says.

The poll, conducted by Norstat on behalf of conservative think-tank the Institute for Social Research (MTÜ Ühiskonnauuringute instituut), found 31.1 percent of respondents plumping for Reform, who have been in office with Center since January. Center and EKRE were almost neck-and-neck, at 19.9 percent and 18.3 percent respectively, while Eesti 200, around new year briefly ahead of EKRE, were fourth with 13.3 percent (a slight rise on recent weeks). Eesti 200 currently has no Riigikogu seats. The other two opposition parties, the Social Democrats (SDE) and Isamaa picked up 7.1 percent and 5.6 percent of support respectively.

No party significantly gained or lost support over the past week since Norstat conducted its last survey, with all changes below the one percentage point-mark. Reform had been losing 156 support over the previous seven consecutive weeks, Norstat says, adding this trend seems to have slowed almost to a halt.

The two coalition parties garnered 52 percent of support between them, while the three opposition parties picked up 31 percent, Norstat says.

Researcher Martin Mölder said of the latest figures that the most prominent trend in the ratings landscape since the beginning of March has been the steady decline in the support of the Reform Party, which has declined from about 35.5 percent, to 32 percent.

Other demographic changes, particularly since January's change in government, include those: "Among male voters, for example, where we see a recent situation where EKRE and the Reform Party are competing for the first place, followed by a plot of empty land and only after that the next competing duet – the Center Party and Eesti 200. The support structure has also changed very recently, for example among the lowest income voters," Mölder said, adding this was traditional Center territory.

"This has been a segment of the electorate where the Center Party had had a mountainous lead. At the moment, we can see that among those earning up to €500 per month (the current average monthly wage in Estonia is nearly three times that – ed.), support between the three largest parties has practically equalized. EKRE has greatly improved its position there, while the Center Party has clearly lost support," Mölder went on.

Being in office with Center has accentuated this, he said, though this has led more than anything to a larger proportion of undecided people in the electorate. The trend of a fall away from Reform, however, will likely stabilize in the coming weeks and months, until it reaches the level it was just after the March 2019 election (around the 30 percent-mark – ed.), Mölder went on.

The next elections are to the local municipalities, on October 17.

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LATVIA

1. la.lv (translated, original by la.lv, 18.04.2021)

"By feeding the tourism industry in the summer, we risk not opening schools and shops in September!" A tit on the real reason for the introduction of green passports

"Introduction of Covid-19 secure certificate or green passport - what risks can we face?" Roberts Zīle, Member of the European Parliament, explains in the RīgaTV 24 program “Ziņu top5”.

He believes that at such a low level of vaccination as in Latvia, it is too early to introduce this digital certificate.

"I saw a political goal for the move in the European Parliament: the fast-track goal is to complete the whole process by July, so that Mediterranean resorts and major hotels can accept tourists from all over the world with other forms of the virus mutation," he said.

Can we model a quote that will happen to Latvians after the summer, when some thirsty holidaymakers will return home?

Of course, many people like to travel, but take into account what it means - similarly to those who came from Egypt before, the test was initially negative and then the person turns out to be infected, only now they will be variants of coronavirus from all over the world.

"By feeding the tourism industry, we risk not opening schools, shops, downtime in many industries in September. I think it is much more important for us to wait for this autumn in safety and with a good level of vaccination and only then start thinking about a reasonable travel system, ”Zīle advises the government. 158

2. hvg.hu (translated, original by hvg.hu, 15.04.2021)

Latvia would take over the Danish AstraZeneca kit

Earlier, the Latvians were also suspended, but later the use of the vaccine was resumed.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) noted last week that there is a possible link between the vaccine and the very rare cases of blood clots previously reported, but the benefits of the vaccine still outweigh the risks of possible side effects.

Denmark is the first European country to have completely stopped using a vaccine co- developed by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company and Oxford University, and it was the first to be suspended on the continent there, on 11 March. Incidentally, Latvia suspended the use of the product on 15 March as a precautionary measure.

In other European countries, where the use of the product has been suspended, vaccinations have since been restarted, with its use restricted to certain age groups.

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3. europarl.europa.eu (original by europarl.europa.eu, 26.04.2021)

4/26/2021 B9‑0252 / 2021

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION following the statement by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy pursuant to Rule 132 (2) of the Rules of Procedure Russia, the case of Alexei Navalny, the military march on the Ukrainian border and the Russian attack on the Czech Republic (2021/2642 (RSP)) Anna Fotyga, Alexandr Vondra, Ryszard Antoni Legutko, Jan Zahradil, Jadwiga Wiśniewska, Roberts Zīle, Veronika Vrecionová, Adam Bielan, Ruža Tomašić, Eugen Jurzyca, Dace Melbārde, Evžen Tošenovský, Hermann Tertsch, Elżbiet Ryszard Czarnecki on behalf of the ECR Group See also proposal for a joint decision RC-B9-0236 / 2021

B9‑0252 / 2021

European Parliament resolution on Russia, the case of Alexei Navalny, the military march on the Ukrainian border and the Russian attack on the Czech Republic

(2021/2642 (RSP))

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,

- having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all human rights conventions to which the Russian Federation is a party,

- having regard to the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949,

- having regard to UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262 of 27 March 2014, Resolution 71/205 of the UN General Assembly of 19 December 2016 on the Territorial Integrity of Ukraine. No. 72/190 of 19 December 2017. No. 22/263 of 22 December 2018. No. 74/168 of 18 December 2019. and 75/192 of 16 December 2020. "The situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)" and UN General 160

Assembly Resolution 74/17 of 18 December 2019 No. 75/29 of 7 December 2020. on the problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol in Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov,

- having regard to the Charter of the United Nations and the 1975 Helsinki Final Act of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),

- having regard to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which the Russian Federation is a party,

- having regard to the Protocol on the Results of the Tripartite Contact Group Consultations signed on 5 September 2014 (Minsk Protocol) and the 'Package for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements' adopted and signed on 12 February 2015,

- having regard to Council Decision 2014/145 / CFSP of 17 March 2014 imposing certain restrictive measures in respect of Ukraine, which undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine [1],

- having regard to the Association Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part, and in particular Annex II thereto on political dialogue and convergence in the field of foreign and security policy, to the address [2],

- having regard to the Declaration of the G7 Foreign Ministers of 18 March 2021,

- having regard to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (Chemical Weapons Convention),

- having regard to the Budapest Treaty on Safeguards of 5 December 1994 on the accession of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,

- having regard to the Joint Communication of 6 April 2016 from the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to the European Parliament and the Council entitled 'A Framework for Action on Hybrid Threats - The European Union's Response' (JOIN (2016) 0018),

- having regard to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, in particular Chapter 2 on the rights and freedoms of people and citizens,

- having regard to its previous resolutions on Russia and Ukraine,

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- having regard to Ukraine's proposal of 29 March 2021 to return to a complete ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and to the draft joint action plan for the implementation of the Minsk agreements,

- having regard to the proposal made by Ukraine in the Tripartite Contact Group to return to a complete ceasefire from 1 April 2021,

- having regard to the statement by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Alexei Navalny, on behalf of the European Union of 18 April 2021 on the deteriorating state of health,

- having regard to Rule 132 (2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas there has been an increase in the Russian military presence on the borders and in the occupied territories of Ukraine, nor do they show that Putin's policy towards Ukraine and its neighbors is increasingly hostile; whereas since the ceasefire was introduced in July 2020, more than 15 000 ceasefires have been violated in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, most of which have taken place in the last few months;

B. whereas the Russian Federation has announced that it will suspend the right of innocent passage of warships and merchant ships in the Black Sea from 24 April to 31 October 2021 in violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which Russia is a party, freedom of navigation guaranteed by whereas the areas concerned are located in the territorial waters of Ukraine, which surrounds the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol;

C. whereas Russia's refusal to provide substantive information on large-scale military marches along the border with Ukraine and in the Occupied Territories is also in breach of international law, in particular Russia's commitments under the 2011 Vienna Document on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures ;

D. whereas on 18 April 2021 the Czech authorities announced that in 2014 the Russian Federation had sent active officers to GRU 29155 to carry out a military sabotage operation against the ammunition depot in Vrbětice, which killed two Czech citizens, caused;

E. whereas the blasting and other activities carried out by the GRU Russian intelligence service in the Czech Republic constitute an unacceptable violation of the sovereignty and national security of the Czech Republic and of international law;

F. whereas the Czech authorities have confirmed that the perpetrators are the same two Russian intelligence officers that the UK authorities are still looking for in connection with the 2018 military novice neurotoxic attack in Salisbury;

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G. whereas on 17 April the Czech Republic expelled 18 Russian officials belonging to the Russian intelligence services and enjoying diplomatic immunity as employees of the Russian Embassy in Prague, and Russia expelled 20 Czech diplomats in retaliation; whereas the Slovak Republic, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have also expelled Russian diplomats as an expression of solidarity with the Czech Republic; whereas a few days earlier Poland had expelled Russian diplomats in solidarity with the United States;

H. whereas the health of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who was detained on his return to Moscow on 17 January 2021, has seriously deteriorated and his life is already in danger, and whereas he has not received adequate medical treatment, leading to a three-week hunger strike; whereas nearly 2,000 Alexei Navalny supporters were arrested last week during national protests aimed at giving officials access to adequate medical care under pressure;

I. whereas Russia's political leadership, in response to declining support in the run-up to the forthcoming parliamentary elections, has decided to step up its repressive and authoritarian policies against its own citizens, civil society, the political opposition and the media, who are often the victims of harassment, observation and physical attacks, they are subject to threats, raids and house searches, defamatory and expulsion campaigns, judicial harassment, arbitrary detention and ill-treatment, and violations of their freedom of association;

J. whereas in 2020 Russia ranked 129th out of 180 countries, the lowest in Europe according to the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index; whereas the kleptocratic links between the oligarchs, security officers and Kremlin-related officials have been partly revealed by anti-corruption activists, such as the anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) led by the late Sergei Magnitsky and Alexei Navalny, who have been unexplained over the years; those involved in the innermost circles of power, including Vladimir Putin, have been shown to be involved; whereas the Moscow Prosecutor's Office is seeking to classify the FBK and two other Alexei Navalny-related organizations, the Civil Rights Foundation and the Navalny Regional Center, as 'extreme', which would mean that their staff could be arrested for up to six years, may be sentenced to imprisonment;

K. whereas the poisoning of Alexei Navalny follows a pattern of action against Putin's opponents, involving many opposition leaders, journalists, activists and foreign leaders, including Boris Nyemcoov, Anna Politkovskaya, Sergei Protazanov, Natalya Eszterirova, Alexander Litvinenko, Viktor Litvinenko or led to death;

L. whereas the reactions of Western democracies to these killings and the Russian

4. la.lv (translated, original by la.lv, 27.04.2021)

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"On the existence of the Latvian language and culture!" Will the government hear Levit this time?

Yesterday, President Egils Levits sent his opinion to the government on the strengthening of the Latvian language as the only state language and pointed out, in his opinion, important directions of action in the implementation of the state language policy.

In a letter to the Cabinet of Ministers, the President repeatedly calls for a reduction of the value added tax on Latvian original literature and mass media in the Latvian language.

It should be recalled that three months ago, the Head of State wrote to the government asking it to consider, in cooperation with the publishing and press industry, the possibility of setting a reduced value added tax (VAT) rate of 5% for educational and original literature and printed and electronic newspapers. , magazines, newsletters and other periodicals and their subscriptions.

Then Levits reminded that "Latvia is the only place in the world where the existence and development of the Latvian language and culture can be guaranteed". Defending the reduction of the VAT rate for the mass media, the President emphasized that guaranteeing freedom of expression is not enough to "have a sufficiently large, diverse and high-quality space for democratic discourse", but must also have sources and channels of information. beneficiaries. The Ministry of Finance at the time announced that it would evaluate the proposal of the President.

Press and book publishers have been calling the government and the Saeima countless times for several years for calls to set a reduced VAT rate of 5% for original literature and mass media. Publishers have recalled in their letters that more than a decade has passed since the VAT rate on press publications was raised from 5% to 12%.

The Association of Press Publishers has always stated that such a high VAT rate for the press "is practically nowhere in the European Union". However, the decision-maker has still not heard from the press.

In a letter sent by the president to the government yesterday, he also mentioned several other areas of concern. For example, discrimination in the labor market by unreasonably requiring knowledge of the Russian language: “I expect concrete measures and a model of action to 164 eliminate meaningless foreign language requirements in the labor market languages as the sole language of the State. "

At the end of the letter, the President summarized the following priority work that he would expect in the near future in the field of state language policy:

'(1) to prevent discrimination in the labor market by unreasonably requiring knowledge of the Russian language;

2) to develop a differentiated policy regarding the English language, promoting its wide acquisition, but at the same time preventing its destructive influence on the Latvian language;

3) to ensure the acquisition of the official language of the European Union as a second foreign language in Latvian schools;

4) to strengthen the role of the Latvian language in higher education and science so that the potential and prestige of the Latvian language as a language of science is not diminished;

5) to provide the necessary support for the availability of quality content in the Latvian language and the quality of the use of the Latvian language in public space by reducing value added tax (VAT) on Latvian original literature and mass media in the Latvian language, as well as allocating grants for Latvian language editors

6) to pay attention to ensuring the sustainability of the Latvian language in the digital environment by reducing the digital language gap with a well-thought-out policy and supporting the development of artificial intelligence in the Latvian language in this field;

7) to support the development of the Latgalian language as a variant of the Latvian language and the preservation of the Liv language by promoting the acquisition of these languages, their use in public space and mass media, as well as to promote the preservation of dialects and dialects in historical lands;

8) to designate October 15 as the State Language Day and to form the traditions of celebrating this day in various groups of the society;

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9) to provide for the annual report of the Cabinet of Ministers regarding the situation of the state language and its discussion in the Saeima. ”

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LUXEMBOURG

1. wort.lu (translated, original by Marc Hoscheid, 28.04.2021)

Luxembourg: Significantly fewer corona vaccinations

The Santé weekly report shows that there was a decrease in Covid-19 vaccinations between April 19 and April 25. The number of new infections remains stable.

Between April 19 and April 25, there were 1,231 positive corona tests in Luxembourg, according to the Santé's weekly report published on Wednesday. This puts the number at the level of the previous week when there were 1,261 new infections. However, 60,364 tests were carried out between April 12th and 18th, compared to “only” 54,044 last week. The number of deaths has decreased from eight to five.

It is positive that the number of people hospitalized is falling. While there were 133 between April 12 and 18, the number fell to 118 the following week. However, the number of intensive care patients rose from 33 to 36. The number of positive cases fell from 2,692 to 2,622. The number of those cured, on the other hand, rose from 61,666 to 62,962. The reproduction value remains at 0.90.

Sharp decrease in vaccinations

The sharp decline in vaccinations is striking. While 33,816 doses were administered in the 15th calendar week, the figure was 14,714 in the 16th week . 12,480 people received their first vaccination between April 19 and 25, and 2,234 the second. It was less recently in the 166 twelfth calendar week. In the Covid-19 advice centers in Kirchberg and Esch / Alzette, 495 passages were recorded last week.

The Ministry of Health and the University of Luxembourg also refer to an article published on April 23 in the medical publication “The Lancet Regional Health” . In this, Professor Paul Wilmes, spokesman for the Covid-19 Task Force, as well as Doctor Joël Mossong and Doctor Thomas Dentzer from the Direction de la santé, advocate not only using the incidence number as a criterion when classifying a country as a risk area internationally.

New infections remain stable at a high level

The differences between the states are due to the different test strategies. The doctors explain that in Luxembourg every resident was tested at least 3.6 times on average. At 2.6 percent, the positivity rate is low compared to other European countries. The efficiency of the large scale testing is also praised. Only 0.8 percent of the cases were not discovered, compared to 62.3 percent in Belgium . The influence of the vaccination campaigns and the frequency of the various virus variants should also be taken into account. The above figures cover the period up to January 15th.

2. today.rtl.lu (original by RTL, 24.04.2021)

Frank Engel officially leaves the Christian Social People's Party

The split happens one day ahead of CSV's national congress.

After 26 years of active membership, during which Engel filled a variety of official roles, the former CSV president announced his departure from the conservative party on social media.

Engel also stated that he intended to address his former colleagues on Friday, but that the CSV leadership denied his request: "This refusal explains, I believe, why I no longer can or want to stay a member of this party."

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The politician further announced that the issues of the country, Europe, and its people will continue to be on his mind. He is now looking forward to new challenges ahead.

Engel recently conveyed in an RTL interview that he is in fact considering to launch a new political movement with like-minded people. However, at the moment he is still the subject of a preliminary investigation, which was launched by his former colleagues a few weeks ago.

On Saturday, a new party president will be elected during the CSV national congress. MP Claude Wiseler is expected to win the race in absence of any formal opposition.

3. today.rtl.lu (original by Pierre Jans, 29.04.2021)

Opposition parties criticise government's stability and growth programme

Too optimistic, out of touch with reality, and not ambitious enough: The opposition parties did not hold back their criticism during Thursday morning's debate in the Chamber of Deputies.

The majority parties stated that they were proud of the fact that Luxembourg's economy has survived the crisis rather well compared to other countries. However, opposition MPs had a lot to criticise when it comes to the details of that analysis.

MP David Wagner from the Left Party (Déi Lénk) said that Minister of Finance Pierre Gramegna had reminded him of Donald Trump when he presented the Stability and Growth Programme, with the MP calling it "a major denial of reality".

Overall, the opposition parties do not think that the country is doing as well as the government thinks it is. Inequalities continue to be on the rise, and the new deputy head of the Christian Social People's Party's (CSV) parliamentary group, MP Gilles Roth, pointed out that 122,000 people are currently living below the poverty line. During the recent crisis, the younger generations had been given enough attention, with many of them struggling to find an affordable home on the housing market. Since the inception of the coalition of Democratic 168

Party (DP), Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP), and the Green Party (Déi Gréng), housing prices had increased by more than half.

Roth stated that former Minister for Housing Maggy Nagel announced big changes, but the only change that happened was that she was "sacked and literally sent to the desert". Apart from that, Roth continued, nothing had changed. As an example, he stated that in 2007, 5,000 housing units were built, the same number as in 2020.

MP François Benoy from the Green Party acknowledged that the housing crisis "is a problem". However, he is not in favour of the CSV's suggestion to expand the development plan. On the other hand, Benoy expressed his satisfaction regarding the fact that austerity measures had been avoided, in Luxembourg and on a European level.

The MP stated that the Relaunch Pact proved that European leaders have recognised what the current situation requires. While the plan is "not perfect", it is "exceptional and historic". The plan is worth €750 billion, a majority of which will be distributed through national relaunch plans to the individual member states. Benoy also praised the solidarity of the plan, with countries hit particularly hard by the pandemic receiving additional funds.

MP Roy Reding from the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (adr) rejected Benoy's argument, stating that it is "a mistake" to give more to those "who simply mismanaged". Reding stressed that his party is against a "debt union" and in his eyes, this was nothing more than that and constituted a "breach of contract".

LSAP MP Claude Haagen on the other hand praised the way Luxembourg had come out of the crisis from an economic point of view.

€45 million in the first three months of the year for partial unemployment alone, an investment well worth it in the eyes of the MP as "all of the measures have worked well". Unemployment had not skyrocketed as some had feared it would. And the economy had suffered less than initially projected at the beginning of 2020.

MP André Bauler from the DP attributes this to Luxembourg's financial centre, with Bauler stating that it had made sure that Luxembourg's economy continued to grow "even in lockdown". This is why the Grand Duchy's GDP for 2020 is expected to decrease not by 6%, but by only 1.3%.

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For MP David Wagner, this is no reason to be optimistic. Wagner points out that the growth of the financial place does not necessarily correspond to the economic realities in the real economy. The MP advises caution in this area.

One of the few topics, which seemed to unite the MPs across party lines was the lack of skilled workers in the healthcare sector. MP Sven Clément from the Pirate Party accused the government of not investing enough money to solve the problem in the long-term.

4. wort.lu (translated, original by Morgan Kuntzmann, 30.04.2021)

More freedom through vaccinations and self-tests

Health Minister Paulette Lenert (LSAP) and Prime Minister Xavier Bettel (DP) presented the new vaccination list on Friday. Guy Jallay .Vaccination successes, rapid tests and a stable positivity rate could soon lead to more relaxation of the corona measures.

“The situation is still stable. We have had a stable positivity rate of around two percent over the past few weeks. Around 200 new infections per day, ”said Bettel on Friday at the press conference after the government council. The vaccinations are also starting to show their effects, added Bettel. Otherwise, the majority of hospitalizations concerned people over 65 years of age - this is no longer the case for the first time. “The situation has turned. There are now more under 65-year-olds in the hospitals than people over this age limit, ”said Bettel.

Minister of Health Lenert on Luxembourg's rapid test strategy:

New voluntary vaccination list

From over 90,000 vaccine doses up to now a maximum of 5 percent of the vaccine was left at the end of the day, so Bettel. Since Friday, vaccination volunteers have been able to register on another list on vaccfen.lu . "At the current point of view, 4,100 people have already registered on this waiting list," said Bettel on Friday afternoon.

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In this case it is about the unused vaccination doses that are available in the evening in the vaccination centers. The government wants to avoid that excess vaccine has to be thrown away. Allocation on this list is based on new criteria: The volunteers must be available between 6.30 p.m. and 7 p.m. and - if they are contacted - present at the center within 20 minutes. For this reason, this list is reserved for residents of Luxembourg, cross-border commuters are excluded.

The volunteers can receive the invitation on their cell phone or landline number. “The offer is aimed at people between 18 and 54 years of age. It is vaccinated according to age. Older people come first, ”says Bettel. The entry is valid for one week, whoever has not been contacted after seven days must register again.

Less chance of getting there

However, the chance of being vaccinated via this list is lower than with the first volunteer list of the Astrazeneca vaccine. "There are around 4-5 doses left over per vaccination center in the evening," says Bettel. 81 percent of all vaccines delivered have already been vaccinated. If the announced vaccination deliveries arrive in Luxembourg as promised, 164,000 more people can soon be vaccinated. The vaccine from Johnson & Johnson can be recommended without reservation for all people over 30, so Bettel about the recommendation of the Conseil supérieur des maladies infectieuses.

Anyone who is vaccinated with a residual vaccine will immediately receive an invitation for a second vaccination appointment with the same vaccine. There are no mixed vaccinations in Luxembourg, explained Bettel. There are currently around 30,000 people on the first waiting list for the Astrazeneca vaccine. Bettel himself will be vaccinated with Astrazeneca on Thursday - he too was on the waiting list.

If the situation does not worsen, new easing in the private sphere could be announced on Wednesday , so Bettel.

14.5 million rapid tests of the latest generation

"Tests are still one of the most important protective measures against the spread of the virus," said Health Minister Paulette Lenert on Friday. At the beginning of the year, the government ordered 14.5 million rapid tests of the latest generation. The majority of this goes to nursing homes and old people's homes as well as schools and companies.

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“The goal remains the same as it was back then with the masks. We want to distribute this across the population, ”says Lenert. "If these are used regularly, you can filter out positive cases again and again in the population." Accordingly, these should be used systematically when entering hospitals and old people's homes.

How Europe is loosening up despite the third wave

There are two types of rapid tests - one you can do yourself, and the other requires medical personnel to take samples from the back of the nasal cavity. One is currently working towards the fact that tests can be carried out twice a week in the school. Rapid tests are also an important means of allowing more freedom in sport and in the horesca area. The positive results of the medical rapid tests must be reported and confirmed with a PCR test . "Rapid tests give a small guarantee, but not one hundred percent security," added Prime Minister Bettel.

The government also has an emergency reserve of rapid tests which, in the event of a rapid deterioration, would allow the entire population to be tested twice within a week .

India - caution and help

“ India shows us that the pandemic is still a reality and how the situation can turn from one day to the next . We're not out yet, ”warned Lenert. The virus is currently spreading very quickly in India.

Three cases of double mutation detected in Luxembourg

It is important to protect the Luxembourg population from the Indian variant and at the same time to help the country . Therefore, Luxembourg is sending 58 ventilators to India , explained Bettel. "The main concern remains the different virus variants," added Bettel. Both the Brazilian and the Indian variant were in Luxembourg using the genome sequencing curbed . “With our resources, we can quickly identify the different variants and break the transmission chains,” Lenert explained.

As a precaution, the entry requirements for travelers from India are being tightened , Lenert said. A negative test must be submitted before departure. On arrival you are then obliged to go into quarantine for seven days. After this period, a new test must confirm the negative result.

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MALTA

1. timesofmalta.com (original by Ranier Fsadni, 29.04.2021)

The new political moralism – Ranier Fsadni

“Can we agree,” Robert Abela asked, “that passport sales have been fundamentally good for us? In the pandemic, the passport scheme enabled struggling people to be subsidised. All the scheme needs is fixing.”

I’ve paraphrased, of course but that’s the prime minister’s take: not just on passport sales but also on political morality.

Morality? Yes, for Abela also condemned the Passport Papers revelations as another “targeted attack” on Malta “that has to stop”. If that’s not moral condemnation, what is?

It’s easy to retort in several ways. Were the Luxembourg Leaks (2014) an attack on Luxembourg, the Swiss Leaks (2015) an attack on Switzerland, the Panama Papers (2016) on Panama?

No, they revealed corruption and many states around the world are grateful. What makes the Passport Papers different? That they only target Malta? We’ve also had revelations about Cyprus. Do we really know that revelations on other jurisdictions won’t follow, even in one or more years down the road? Would the Luxembourg Leaks have been “bad” if they had not been followed up by the Panama Papers?

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Other criticisms have been made of Abela’s defence of the scheme. The opposition has challenged the claim that passport sales have funded pandemic-related subsidies: the figures don’t add up.

Other critics argue the scheme cannot be fixed even if you remove the lax standards and inbuilt attractions for crooks. The scheme sells what should never be put up for sale. Citizenship is not a consumer item; it’s an organic moral bond. Selling passports should be as taboo as selling kidneys.

Other critics say that even if passports can be treated as goods, here we’re selling goods that are only partly ours. The Maltese passport is bought because it’s an EU passport too. Selling such a passport is like cheating family members of a piece of land held in common.

All these counter-arguments are based on two ideas. One is that some behaviour can be prohibited on principle. The other is that, in judging what is good for us, we mustn’t take a narrow view of ourselves. We are not just consumers or welfare recipients. There are some things that money cannot buy: honour, dignity and a fulfilling life.

Such ideas were once dominant under administrations of both major political parties. They no longer are. They have been replaced by a utilitarian morality.

Like all moralities, this one has a moral community, the nation. It has moral values, including justice and equality, but they are measured by looking at the general happiness of the nation, calculated in terms of the pleasures and pains of “the people”.

It’s no coincidence that our politicians routinely speak of the ‘hurts’ and ‘whines’ of ‘the people’ (il-weġgħat tan-nies, il-karba tal-poplu). Politicians promise to heal such hurts with more welfare measures or steps to maximise the satisfaction of consumer desires.

Dignity – the guarantees of law for the fundamental rights that enable us to flourish as persons – takes second place, as you might expect in a public discourse that speaks of “the whines of the people” without pausing to consider how it patronises the public.

Selling passports should be as taboo as selling kidneys - Ranier Fsadni

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To privilege dignity is to say that any moral code has to have some values that are non- negotiable since without them we degrade ourselves. But the dominant political utilitarianism says there are no taboos. There are only consequences that need calculating.

Only those consequences that touch the nation are worth calculating. Do we really need to calculate the possible negative consequences of minimising the risk of rape and torture? Yes, if rape and torture are risks run by foreigners, asylum seekers. We should weigh them against the general happiness of the nation.

“I too feel the hurt of the people,” Abela said last year, referring to popular resentment of irregular migration.

Let no one say he hasn’t done his best to assuage that hurt. Yes, foreign lives are lost at sea but can we agree that the balance of national hurt was reduced because we have leaders brave enough to take “difficult decisions”?

The final twist of this moral code of consequentialism is who decides what’s morally relevant and what’s not: the dominant leader of the day.

“Don’t talk to me about morality,” Joseph Muscat is reported to have said, when someone raised the matter in connection with the then planned IVF law. He then proceeded to moralise himself, drawing on his own personal experience to declare that not approving it would be immoral.

“I never understood the logic of this divorce law,” Abela said, dismissing the logic of his own foreign minister, who had lobbied for a divorce law based on prudence. For it’s not logic as such that counts; it’s the leader’s logic.

The old moral consensus, especially under Nationalist administrations, often confused the moral teachings of the Church with the moral duty of the State. The new utilitarianism has put aside Church morality but replaced it with the political leader as arbiter.

Nor is this a leader who decides on the basis of an ethics of conviction. The leader decides on the basis of the calculation of utility.

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Politicians will always struggle to find the right balance between the ethics of personal conviction and the politics of state responsibility. In the past, adult contentment – the exercise of choice in private life – had to take a back seat to considerations of public welfare and the common good.

In seeking to correct that imbalance, we have created a new one. Welfare and contentment are measured only in terms of the satisfaction of consumerist desires. Our discourse cannot handle goods that transcend the market, like the environment or citizenship.

It can handle welfare and limited versions of contentment. But its utilitarianism cannot handle the fundamental values that guarantee dignity.

Welfare and contentment, without dignity: a life fit for well-housed, well-fed slaves.

2. independent.com.mt (original by independent.com.mt, 02.05.2021)

Covid-19: Malta’s coronavirus reproduction rate remains at 0.5

The Coronavirus reproduction rate in Malta has remained the same from last week’s figures as the rate stands at 0.5, statistician Vincent Marmara said.

In his weekly blog for The Malta Independent on Sunday, Marmara said that statistics are showing that Malta experienced a further decrease in Coronavirus cases during the past week.

When looking at the number of daily cases being reported, Marmara noted that the numbers stand at relatively low levels especially when comparing and considering the last Coronavirus cycle in Malta.

Marmara noted that when one compares the number of positive cases to the total number of swabs done, the number of cases has dropped considerably. This week a decrease from 2.1% to 1.3% was noted. He said that this a very positive outcome because this means that far fewer people are testing positive to Covid-19. 176

This positive trend also resulted in a substantial decrease in deaths, as only one person died due to Covid-19 in the past week.

With regard to the number of people who recovered from the virus, Marmara said that this remained on the same level. He noted that this is also a positive outcome because this means that the number of active cases is declining. In fact, Malta is currently experiencing more patients who are recovering from the virus when compared to the new cases of Covid-19 being registered.

Marmara also confirmed that the rate of vaccines being given is a steady and positive one. 22% of the Maltese population were given two doses of the vaccine and almost half of the population got the first vaccine shot.

When looking at other European countries, statistics show that France, UK, Germany and Italy are experiencing a substantial decrease in cases. The cases in Spain have also decreased slightly when compared with last week.

Meanwhile, in non-European countries, statistics show that the Coronavirus numbers in the United States are also decreasing. However, when looking at the situation in India, reports have shown that there is an exponential rise in cases there. This is also being experienced in Brazil as they still have high numbers.

Marmara noted that when looking at the Covid-19 cycles experienced by Malta, these were dependent on certain factors of mass activities, on other social activities taking place in the country and during holidays.

Even though the health authorities are slowly easing Covid-19 related restrictions due to a steep decrease in infection rates, we must make sure to abide by all regulations, he said.

3. timesofmalta.com (original by Giulia Magri, 28.04.2021)

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Malta aims to be 'among first' EU countries to issue vaccine pass

Denmark has already developed a pass, Estonia due to launch this week

Malta aims to be among the first countries in the EU to issue digital vaccination certificates, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo has said.

During Friday’s press conference announcing the cancellation of tourism license fees, Bartolo said that Malta is waiting for the outcome of the EU’s discussion on the Green Pass.

“Whilst there are current discussions on the Green Pass, we will definitely be one of the first countries to adopt a certification system, ideally before June 1.”

Within the EU, Denmark already has a 'coronapas' scheme that shows via an app whether a person has been vaccinated, has tested positive within the last two weeks, or negative within the last 72 hours.

And Estonia is developing its own vaccine passport in conjunction with the World Health Organisation, with the first version of version due out by the end of the week, according to media reports.

Malta is pushing a range of incentives to entice travellers to Malta, including discounts off hotel stays, diving trips and sport tourism. It has set June 1, as the target date for fully reopening to tourism.

Last month, the European Commission detailed how its Digital Green Certificate would work, with the "certificate" displaying a QR code containing a certified vaccination, recent negative test or recovery.

Earlier this month, Bartolo said that Malta and the UK begun bilateral talks on creating a digital vaccine certificate and “will not be limited”, by EU negotiations.

He said that the certificate, which is being developed by the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) would be ready in June and would include dates of the first and second dose of the vaccine.

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Health Minister Chris Fearne has also pushed for the introduction of the vaccine certificate.

Last week, Fearne said that the vaccine certificate will come into force next month. He said that anyone travelling to the island will be required to either provide an approved vaccine certificate or a negative test result before boarding a plane.

4. index.hu (translated, original by NA, 29.04.2021)

EP urges speeding up prosecution for Maltese journalist murder

According to the European Parliament (EP), it is of particular concern that ministers and other political actors may be linked to the assassination of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia

In their resolution, MEPs called for the speeding up of accountability and for a reform of the Maltese judiciary, said the EU parliament on Thursday.

Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has uncovered a number of cases related to corruption and money laundering related to organized crime, involving several senior Maltese politicians and government officials.

In a resolution passed with 635 votes in favor, 46 against and 12 abstentions, the European Parliament called on the Maltese government, above all, to bring to justice those responsible for the murder of the journalist as soon as possible, writes MTI. Referring to the ineffectiveness of the ongoing investigation so far, MEPs warned that the former prime minister's former chief of staff and other government officials

MAY ATTEMPT TO ATTEMPT TO HIDDEN EVIDENCE OR HIDE DETAILS to obstruct investigations and court proceedings.

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They acknowledged the steps taken by the government to protect independent journalism, but stressed that further efforts were needed.

In the resolution

REPRESENTATIVES ALSO REQUESTED THE TERMINATION OF MALTA CITIZENSHIP AND ESTABLISHMENT PROGRAMS FOR INVESTORS arguing that they involve the sale of EU citizenship and run counter to money laundering and cross-border crime efforts and weaken the unity of the Schengen area.

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CYPRUS

1. origo.hu (translated, original by origo.hu, 27.04.2021)

Under suspicious circumstances, EUR 4 million appeared in the account of the Brussels Commissioner for Health

According to media reports in Cyprus, EUR 4 million (more than 1 billion HUF) unexpectedly appeared in the account of EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides. Assessing what happened in several local press products as passive bribery suggests that large vaccine manufacturers may have bribed a politician who signed EU vaccine contracts. There is a huge scandal unfolding in Brussels.

Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, a signatory of the late, corrupt EU vaccine contracts, has been embroiled in an unacceptable corruption scandal. Many are already certain that it has been bribed by vaccine manufacturers - declared Miklós Ómolnár in his new video.

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There was a lot of money in the account

She claimed this on the basis of news published in the Cypriot press: it turned out that more than 1 billion forints, or exactly 4 million euros, had unexpectedly been transferred to the EU health commissioner's joint account with her husband.

The money landed through Kyriakides ’family account through the state-owned Cooperative Bank of Cyprus. The EU politician explained the transaction by saying that it was just a loan.

According to Miklós Ómolnár, the horse's foot is very sticking out, because the health commissioner has no cover for taking out such a loan. As a report from the Cypriot Court of Auditors states: Stella Kyriakides will not be able to repay this huge amount from her salary or other sources,

“That is, it is clearly a camouflage loan, a disguise for corruption,” they commented on the Black and White blog.

She began to explain

Stella Kyriakides, after falling into a multi-million euro transaction, tried to explain what had happened.

She claims the money has nothing to do with EU vaccine contracts. Yet - according to Miklós Ómolnár - "the bribe money was, according to all indications, thrown together by the vaccine companies, for the contracts concluded on favorable terms, which enabled the delayed, stuttering delivery".

This seems to be supported by the fact that several Cypriot papers rated what happened as a passive bribe.

Bad brand name in Cyprus

As Bors points out in his article, the EU Health Commissioner and his family were not the first to be involved in a health care corruption scandal. Years earlier, hiding behind a bank, they privatized all oncology treatments on the island of Cyprus and then significantly raised the price of the treatments. 181

Incidentally, the case was later brought before the Cypriot Parliament. All MPs voted to reduce prices for the nationalization of oncology treatments, except for one MP - Stella Kyriakides.

Brussels is still silent on the scandal, but in any case, the EU politician should sooner or later explain how she has spent € 4 million.

2. hu.euronews.com (translated, original by Efi Koutsokosta & Ádám Magyar, 29.04.2021)

Despite UN mediation, there is no agreement on the future of Cyprus

A delegation of Greek and Turkish Cypriots in Geneva failed to reach an agreement on the political future of the island. The Turks are thinking in two equal states, but this plan is unacceptable to the Greeks.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, after talks since Tuesday, could only say so much encouragement that informal talks could resume in two to three months.

"The truth is that, despite our efforts, we have not found enough common ground to hold formal negotiations to resolve the situation in Cyprus," the head of the world organization summed up the situation.

A Euronews correspondent was also present at the scene.

“For the first time, the Turkish Cypriots have submitted a written proposal to split the island, but this cannot be decided by the UN Secretary-General, and of course the proposal is not acceptable to either Greece or the Greek Cypriots. Moreover, not to the EU, which has included Cyprus since 2004, "said Efi Kucokosta.

The positions are far apart 182

The President of the Republic of Cyprus complained that the Turkish side had not agreed to the permanent presence of a UN envoy in Cyprus:

“The Security Council has been given a mandate to move closer to a solution. The Turks reacted because they felt that this would reduce demand for the version they were aiming for, the two independent states, ”said Nasos Anastasiadis.

However, according to the leader of the Turkish Cypriots, the two-state solution is the only way forward:

“It would not make sense to sit at a table and start formal negotiations under the old circumstances without acknowledging the equality of the parties,” Ersin Tatar said.

Turkish troops landed in the northern part of Cyprus in 1974, and the island nation has since been divided - the northern part has a Turkish majority and the government of the territory is recognized only by Turkey, and the Greek-majority southern part is independent. The lane separating the two zones also passes through the capital, Nicosia, between the two halves of the city only by presenting a passport.

3. cyprustimes.com (translated, original by cyprustimes.com, 11.04.2021)

Christos Christou in CT: ELAM is the alternative against the established

"ELAM is moving forward with clean hands, against the establishment, asking for the support of the people," said its President, Christos Christou, who in an interview with the Cyprus Times said that the stakes in the parliamentary elections are whether the people will support corruption and he will show tolerance by abstaining, or if he will oppose scandals, corruption and what is happening, turning his back on those who have destroyed our homeland ". The President of ELAM emphasizes that Turkey's goal is to become an autonomous international player and hegemonic power in the region.

Why not accompany the President to the informal five-party meeting? The adversary says to go and try to influence him. 183

I must remind you that the Pentameris, as the Turkish press confirms, as well as the Turkish Foreign Minister, was a constant Turkish pursuit. I imagine that everyone remembers, when the five-party conference was first put on the table, the Cypriot government declared that it was an international conference, with the Turkish side denying it, saying that it was a five- party conference. In the end, the Turkish side was right. But to come to the character of the "five-party", as the word itself says, consists of 5 parts, which are known as Greece, Turkey, Britain, the Greek Cypriot community and the Turkish Cypriot. It therefore degrades the President of the Republic, at the level of community leader, as well as the very nature of the Cyprus Problem, to an internal difference between two communities.

Even the basis on which the Pentamer will take place is the Bi-zonal Bicommunal Federation, hence the National Popular Front (ELAM) as the only political party that really disagrees with the ICC, could not agree to talks based on Turkish aspirations. Regarding the argument that those who will attend will try to influence, let me remind you that during the previous five- party conference, those who accompanied the President of the Republic, finally took very expensive vacations in luxury resorts, away from the negotiating area. After all, party delegations are never involved in the negotiations, but the official representatives of the "stakeholders". Therefore, the presence of the other parties in Switzerland can offer nothing, on the contrary, they give legitimacy and permanence to the Turkish aspirations.

How will the Cyprus issue be resolved, if not through dialogue?

The Cyprus issue will not be resolved overnight, that is for sure. That is why we need a long- term policy with a clear goal, not compromise with the occupation, but liberation. All the means we have in our quiver should be used, as a recognized UN state, as a member state of the European Union, as a country with an important geostrategic position and a rich energy future. Above all, however, the Cyprus issue must be repositioned on its proper footing as an international problem, that is, as a problem of illegal invasion and ongoing occupation. A new national strategy must be devised, with the creation of a "Greek arc" of deterrence that will start from Evros and end at Apostolos Andreas. At the same time, the policy of compromise and appeasement must be abandoned, finally standing up and claiming the inalienable historical and legal rights of our homeland and our people.

What do you think is Turkey's goal? The annexation of Cyprus or its political control through the Bi-Zonal Bicommunal Federation?

Turkey's foreign policy goal is to become an autonomous international player and hegemonic power in the region. Regarding the Cyprus issue, Davutoglu clearly states in his book that "A country that ignores Cyprus cannot be active in global and regional policies. It cannot be active in world politics because this small island has a position that (can) directly affect the 184 strategic links between Asia-Africa, Europe-Africa and Europe-Asia. " Turkey's goal is not the annexation, nor the two states, but the control of the whole island, so that it can serve its aspirations. Therefore, what is being heard lately by Turkish officials is a ploy to lead us to a loose - decentralized federation, as the Government will call it, or a confederation, as the Turkish side will call it.

What are the targets? ELAM for the parliamentary?

ELAM, as in any electoral process, has clear goals that are none other than the increase of voters and the percentages it receives. However, it is also the only political party that succeeds in this, in every electoral process. Indicatively to mention that from 663 votes in almost a decade, it has climbed to 23 thousand voters. In the upcoming elections, our goal is to make the National Popular Front a regulator.

What do you consider to be the stakes of this match? What will be judged? Do you think it is a referendum for approval or disapproval of the government?

At stake is whether the people will support corruption by voting for the political establishment for the umpteenth time, or whether they will tolerate abstention, or whether they will oppose scandals, corruption and what is happening, turning their backs on those who have destroyed our homeland. Therefore, the upcoming parliamentary elections are not a referendum of approval or disapproval of the Government, but of the political system, the parties of corruption and impunity.

The National Popular Front is moving forward with clean hands, against the establishment, asking for the support of the people. As everyone knows, what bothers the political establishment is the rise of ELAM, so the people know what choice they have and what to do.

The fight against corruption dominates the political agenda and has priority in your pre-election positions. But in essence, how is this problem dealt with?

Zero tolerance in cases of corruption, scandals, unworthiness and bribery is our approach. That is, everything that the established parties have cultivated for decades. This is what is clearly reflected in the conclusion for the Co-operation, where he clearly mentions the four traditional parties as to blame for its collapse. DISY, AKEL, DIKO, EDEK. ELAM's firm position is to imprison those who embezzled public money, to confiscate the property of those who have stolen and to return the money back to the state coffers, for the benefit of society and the people as a whole.

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On a personal level, if we were to ask you for an assessment of your parliamentary term, what would you suggest as the most important thing you have to show?

Undoubtedly, the presence of ELAM in its first five years is considered successful. But I can not choose more topic is the most important we have highlighted. But surely everyone will remember that ELAM was the only political party that spoke about the Co-operation scandal, with names, receipts and numbers, when everyone else was hiding behind a guilty silence.

At the same time, however, I remind you that we submitted some of the most important proposals as ELAM:

Abolition of the real estate tax

Abolition of the 350 euro fee for companies

- introduction of a minimum wage at 1200 euros

- we requested a cut in the allowances given to illegal immigrants

- proposal for the trustees and holders of securities

- the teaching of the anniversary of the Union Referendum, which was subsequently abolished by the Akinci law brought by DISY and supported by AKEL

- we voted against the sales, while with a new draft law we requested their cancellation

Early retirement for heavy and unhealthy occupations at 58 instead of 65

- We have submitted a proposal for the complete abolition of the fan card

- we suggested the complete conversion of RIK2 into a channel for the disabled

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- immediate abolition of 12% for pensions in the Public and Private sector

- amendment to receive a widow's pension for all men and not just those who became widowed after 1/1/18

- Reduction to 5% of the tax on special motorcycle protective equipment that includes helmet, jacket, gloves and motorcycle boots

- the only political party that clearly opposed abortion.

- We proposed the treatment of Greece and Cyprus as a single tourist area through ferry connection and elimination of airport taxes

- We asked for zero tax exemption on wheelchairs and medical equipment for people with disabilities

However, in addition to our proposals and suggestions, there are also our actions such as the voluntary participation of ELAM executives and members in firefighting, the provision of firefighting systems to communities in need, the prevention of hundreds of sales with our physical presence, the return of party sponsorship through our social - charitable work, as well as the valuable contribution to dog shelters.

And what bothers you the most and would you like to change?

There are many things that concern me, after all, that is why I have been involved in politics and despite the violent war we are accepting as a Party, we have not kept silent, nor have we compromised. On the contrary, we are more stubborn. Many may, at times, urge us to stop, to consider it a utopia to put up with the status quo, say telling us that we can not change anything. But we managed and took the first step, we entered the Parliament. Now we hope in the upcoming parliamentary elections to take the next step, not to change something, but to change Cyprus for the better, to improve Cyprus for the benefit of the citizens, because we owe it to the next generations.

The policies of the previous years, as they were followed by the parties of the establishment, dissolved the small and middle class, moved solely to serve the interests of the banks, turning against the people, who burdened them with enormous debts on their loans. They have 187 dismantled the country's social fabric, flooding Cyprus with thousands of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, leading to the ghettoization of specific areas, creating insecurity through the rapid rise in crime.

ELAM is the alternative to the parties of the establishment, if the people want to make the change. We have a vision for the place and a strategy for the future.

4. france24.com (translated, original by france24.com, 26.04.2021)

Holiday destination Cyprus is opening up to vaccinated tourists from 65 countries

Cyprus said Monday it will open up to vaccinated tourists from 65 countries starting May 10, with visitors allowed entry without needing a negative Covid test or undergo quarantine.

"We will notify our partners in around 65 countries that from 10 May entry will be facilitated for travellers who have completed their vaccination with no need for negative Covid tests or quarantine," Tourism Minister Savvas Perdios said.

He told the Cyprus News Agency countries included on the list are Armenia, Bahrain, Canada, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Switzerland.

European Union member Cyprus will accept tourists who had completed their vaccination, regardless of when they took the second jab.

Perdios said the new move would help revive a flagging tourism sector decimated by the pandemic.

Cyprus agreed over a month ago that vaccinated Israeli and British tourists could visit the east Mediterranean holiday destination without entry restrictions.

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Britain is the island's largest market for tourists making up a third of nearly four million arrivals in 2019, while nearby Israel is its third-biggest source.

Authorities are waiting for the UK government to announce when they will allow Britons to take holidays abroad.

At the moment, Russia -- the island's second-largest tourist market -- has put chartered flights on ice until further notice due to Cyprus' worsened epidemiological data.

"We are confident that once our epidemiological picture improves, charter flights will be allowed, something we expect to happen in the coming weeks as the vaccination rollout progresses," said Perdios.

Cyprus went into a two-week lockdown on Monday, following a record surge in coronavirus cases.

The island's key tourism industry has been devastated by the pandemic and travel restrictions, with arrivals slumping by more than 84 percent last year.

Tourists must also comply with health protocols such as mandatory mask-wearing and social distancing.

Tourism contributes around 15 percent of GDP but earnings plunged 85 percent in 2020.

The island has recorded a total of 298 coronavirus deaths and 61,576 infections.

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