Report 2021, No. 9

News Agency on Conservative Europe

Report 2021, No. 9.

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

GERMANY

1. tichyseinblick.de (translated, original by Roland Tichy, 19.04.2021)

Baerbock is the green candidate for chancellor - and no other surprises

It became clear: Now the Greens are competing with Annalena Baerbock. We are experiencing an epochal change in Germany, triggered by the quiet collapse of the Union and the FDP.

It is no surprise that Annalena Baerbock became the Greens' candidate for chancellor; the time of men in the new, green painted world is up. They are accessories without a chance; and you only have to look at the Habecks of this world, then you know why: While the alpha males in the Union tear each other apart, the males in the greens are modest and flexible. Competence has long ceased to be a factor in the new world, in which feeling and then again feeling and then again feeling decide. It's about identity. If at some point Baerbock's post 2 should become vacant again, then certainly only one PoC * has the chance - People of Color, female.

It's over, you machos like Jürgen Trittin or Joschka Fischer; you have made the greens great and superfluous. Enjoy retirement, it will be terrible. Not for you, green grandpas.

Media cheers open

It is also no surprise that the media, ARD and ZDF ahead, have opened the jubilation gates. It was hinted at. Baerbock fits too well into the scheme with which one believes in the sheltered workshops of fee-financed television that one can cope with the future. A lot of noise and smoke, little content. And if it does, then please don't be controversial. "The grid is the storage", Annalena Baerbock once said in 2018 in a discussion about energy policy. So much technical simplicity should actually have led to its political end. But in a world in which physics and even mathematics are just the invention of old white men (and therefore superfluous), you can go a long way with it. And is cheered.

"Tichy's insight" - this is how the printed magazine comes to you

It is only a surprise that the CDU and CSU are now so surprised by the change in media. Söder and Laschet believed that they could ingratiate themselves through green politics and by accepting wrong decisions. No, why should one choose such pseudo-green bodies? Baerbock at least believes what she says. That makes them kind of believable. Laschet and Söder know that the green concepts of energy policy, maximizing public debt, opening up immigration and de-industrialization do not work - and yet they preach them. So they are ineligible - ineligible for the green religious community as well as for skeptics of the green doctrine of salvation.

CDU and CSU superfluous

You need one as little as the other if you can also have the original. The Union has been gutted in terms of content. During the Merkel years she slowly crumbled inside, lost her bones and her heart. They will be around for a long time, artificially kept alive. This party is too intertwined with this state, which it has essentially shaped. Too many offices and posts still run on a black ticket. But whatever? It is easy to govern with these incumbents and beneficiaries. There is no threat of opposition from opportunists.

The CDU and the CSU will not break, there will be no blood flow. They will just go wrong. Your historical role has had its day or was rewritten by Angela Merkel. The party put up with 3 it; Merkel is now laughing at her successor, who just has to continue her policy: According to the Infection Protection Act, the way is clear for other authorizations and emergency laws. The way is now free for imaginatively invented “benchmarks” to which democracy and citizens as well as the economy are forced to submit. We have had enough limit value debates in recent years. Now we get arbitrary limit values as a justification for authoritarian politics that want to break, re-educate or bring people into line, because there is pretense that there is no alternative to government action.

No surprise

After the election, Annalena Baerbock will have the agony of letting herself be leveraged to power by the CDU and CSU or by the SPD and the left. The FDP will whip up where it is offered more. She no longer stands for content, see her draft of an election manifesto. The AfD has long been enclosed, its mandate holders are threatened with terrorism, and soon the secret police are pursuing them for internal mischief. Law and rights can no longer be taken for granted.

It is a phenomenal process that Germany is experiencing. The left and green milieu has conquered the state. It has permeated him deeply - schools, universities, law, politics, and increasingly also the economy. The internal i and gender are the new signals of domination. The Protestant Church is already praying to the goddess, the Catholic Church will soon follow. The conquest of the institutions is total.

Citizens don't have much choice anymore. We have some good years ahead of us, with even more debt to finance prosperity for all. Then soon it will only be prosperity for a few. It is now a matter of preparing for it. There is also another possibility: the Germany that Merkel left behind is not viable. Only debt and no economy - impossible. Only electric cars, but no power plants - no chance. Only immigration, but no obligations and for the locals only obligation to pay and accept - not peacemaking.

The ruse of history

Often parties did what their clientele liked least: Under Merkel, the Union increased taxes faster and more than Gerhard Schröder or other SPD chancellors could lower them. No party has brought the farmers down like the Merkel CDU. It was not the Greens who introduced the energy transition. In this respect, it could be the ruse of history that the next nuclear power plants will be approved by the Greens, just as the Civil Rights and Pacifist Party approved the first Federal Armed Forces deployment with hurray, and today advocates the abolition of civil rights.

But please always smile. Always listen carefully to what ARD and ZDF preach. Always nice to control your own language, always nice to be obedient when PoCs complain about racism in a country that they have chosen as their escape destination because it is so terrible there. Always work and pay taxes and shut up. Carefully separate thinking and talking. That is the first civic duty. And the Germans are the people who like it.

Everything will be fine as the voter likes it, and that is quite a surprise from that point of view.

2. jungefreiheit.de (translated, original by jungefreiheit.de, 04.05.2021)

The number of left-wing acts of violence rises by 50 percent

BERLIN. The number of left-wing acts of violence increased by half in 2020 compared to the previous year. In 2020, the security authorities registered more than 1,520 such cases , according to the statistics presented on Tuesday on "Politically motivated crime" (PMK) by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). In 2019 the number was around more than 1,050.

Right-wing violence also grew by around eleven percent to around 1,090 cases. The unassignable physical injuries and homicides climbed by almost 50 percent. The cases that the police classified under the categories of foreign or religious ideology fell by 68 and 10 percent. With 113 and 43 cases, however, they make up a relatively small proportion of the 3,365 politically motivated acts of violence recorded. The total is roughly the average of the past ten years.

Overall, the politically motivated crimes reached a new high of around 44,700 cases, as in the previous year. The offenses rated as “right” make up the largest part. Of the 23,600 cases, however, more than 13,600 were propaganda offenses. Without this, the crimes classified as “left” made a little more difference.

Anti-German and anti-Christian crimes are increasing

Hate crime, which includes crimes "committed by group-related prejudice," also increased in the past year. The police registered more anti-Semitic as well as xenophobic and xenophobic acts in 2020. Anti- German crimes , which were reported separately at the PMK for the first time in 2019, have also increased significantly . Their number increased by almost 70 percent to 222 cases. Anti-Christian hate crime increased by ten percent to 141 acts.

For the first time, crimes against “gender / sexual identity” (204 cases) were included in the statistics. The Federal Criminal Police Office also reported offenses in connection with the corona pandemic. Here, the authorities registered around 3,560 cases, of which around a fifth were each in the categories “right” and “left” and 60 percent “cannot be assigned”.

The number of crimes against the police has increased significantly. It increased by 73.5 percent and climbed almost to 5,760 cases. Almost half (49.9 percent) of this was made up of the “left” category. The registered cases of "hate postings" also increased by more than 70 percent. The majority here fell into the “right” category. The BKA also recorded a 50 percent increase in “crimes against the state and its representatives”.

At the presentation of the statistics, Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) said, according to the German Press Agency, that right-wing extremism remains "the greatest threat to security in our country". The number registered in this category is the highest since data was recorded in 2001. However, “extremism in all its forms” is a threat to society.

"There are clear tendencies towards brutality," said the CSU politician with concern. The numbers are "very worrying". The development during the Corona crisis is also reflected in the statistics. As a result of the Covid 19 pandemic, "a polarization of the political discussion can be observed," said Seehofer. "It can be observed that the political discourse turns violent."

3. portfolio.hu (translated, original by Ákos Zsoldos, 06.05.2021)

Fierce struggle instead of scourge: it is impossible to predict who will carry on Merkel's legacy

For the first time since 2005, it is not the Christian Democratic Union that is likely to win the German elections. Surrounded by the astonishing popularity of the Greens, the third wave of the coronavirus epidemic has led to party leadership in the polls.

The weakening of the CDU is due to the coronavirus epidemic and the less popular candidate, and the Greens are being helped not only by the need for novelty but also by the growing focus on climate processes. The excitement is heightened by the fact that, based on current support figures, not only is there another grand coalition in the deck, but also that both the CDU and the Green Party can bypass the other if the Social Democrats and the Free Democrats are involved in forming government together. But the election will not be now, but at the end of September, and there are several factors in the outlook that make the CDU likely to strengthen so far.

After a long time, the choice can be exciting

A federal election will be held in Germany at the end of September, and the results of the polls show that we can prepare for big changes in the lower house. The dominant role of the German Christian Democrat-Centerist CDU-CSU has been unquestionable since Angela Merkel’s first victory in 2005, and even a year ago, when the chancellor debate within the CDU became serious, the party’s chancellor aspirants may have felt that his successor at the head of the country will be decided at the CDU delegate assembly, the national election is just a formality.

In comparison, the popularity of Merkel's party has fallen sharply over the past six months, while the popularity of the Greens has grown significantly and, according to surveys over the past few weeks, has now become the strongest German party. In the narrow 5 months before the election, this can still change a lot and the CDU can regain its dominant position,

BUT THE CHALLENGE IS GREAT THAT, AFTER LONG YEARS, IT WILL BE THE BIGGEST ISSUE OF THE GERMAN CHOICE WHO TO WHO SHOULD GOVERNMENT WITH THE CDU.

The former traditional competitor of the CDU, the Social Democratic SPD, is also a big loser in the new social-electoral processes, the party has lost most of its former voters, and even jumping to the 20% level is a big challenge. The Conservative Liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) has stabilized its support at around 10%, and the far-right Alternative to Germany (AfD) has not been able to break the 10-15% threshold for voters open to extremism for many years. 7

The German electoral system

The federal parliament consists of lower and upper houses, the nature of the country's federal system prevails during the distribution of upper house seats, but this body has less political weight. In this article and in the following, we will focus primarily on the House of Commons results, as the Bundestag elects the government by a parliamentary majority. The German electoral system, like the Hungarian one, is a mixed system, but in Germany the party list has more weight. Of the 709 seats, 299 are decided in individual districts, where the candidate who receives the most votes wins by a relative majority. The system is also proportionate because the proportion of votes cast on the party list in the Bundestag cannot be higher than that of any party. For example, if a party ad absurdum wins all 299 districts but receives only 50% of the party list, it would only have 33 seats on the list, even though it would be entitled to 50% of the listed seats, ie 205 seats, as the Bundestag cannot the proportion of party representatives is higher than the list ratio. The question may arise as to what is the absurd situation if the number of seats won in individual districts exceeds the list of votes cast, as this would already exceed the proportion of party MPs in the party. Well, in this case, the size of the entire parliament needs to be increased to get the math out. However, this situation is clearly unrealistic. It follows from the essence of the German electoral system that the main indicator before the election is the party-list support rate, as opposed to the Hungarian electoral system, where individual districts have a greater weight.

Losers and winners

If the election were held now, the balance of power would change significantly compared to the previous vote. In 2017, the CDU inflicted a surprisingly smooth defeat on the then-most challenging SPD, even though former SP President Martin Schulz announced that the SPD was temporarily at the top of the popularity list after the announcement of former EP president.

The German party system, on the other hand, is distinctly stable, even with the current rise of the Greens and the decline of the Social Democrats. According to surveys, there would be no new party in parliament compared to 2017, and existing power relations among smaller parties (excluding the Greens) have virtually froze in the last 4 years.

The rearrangement of the power relations of the parties is also supported by new and old electoral processes. In Germany, the rise / contraction of individual parties is complete without claim we can thank you for the following:

The CDU’s decades of national dominance began with the coronavirus crisis, the high numbers of cases seen in the second wave, the government’s harsh responses to it, and then the sweeping measures of the third wave simultaneously eroded the popularity of Christian Democrats. In addition, the CDU is no longer helped by the factor of predictability: with the departure of Angela Merkel, a potential CDU government could now be a sack for voters. It doesn’t help that, in the person of Armin Laschet, the Christian Democrats have nominated a chancellor candidate with very low social support. His main rival in the CDU, Friedrich Merz, already enjoyed greater support among the party (but the board preferred Merkel's successor, Laschet, in the name of stability), and the Bavarian fraternity's leader, Markus Söder, was a popular national politician. The CDU, on the other hand, did not allow its smaller ally to prevail, so Laschet became a candidate for the alliance, but several weeks of grinding between Söder and Laschet could also have contributed to the alliance’s declining support.

The Social Democrat cane did not start today either. The Social Democrats, who have been ruling with the right since the second term, are ideologically divided, shifted to the right in the last 10 years, while their popular social policy promises have simply been taken over by Angela Merkel. Moreover, experience in political science has shown that the role of the smaller coalition partner pays off very rarely: if the government does well, successes are identified with the dominant party, and if government support shrinks, the smaller partner ranks much worse.

Nor is there any guarantee that rediscovering promises from the left will help the party, the example of Martin Schulz in the previous election does not show this. Our current candidate is Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who is a characteristic politician, but as he belongs to the right-wing wing of the party, it is not really clear what the Social Democrat-led government would make a significant difference from the CDU, which still governs them.

The Greens, on the other hand, can simultaneously address left-wing emotional voters and centrists who want something new in politics. In addition, the importance of environmental aspects is growing exponentially, the rise of the Greens has been a process since 2017, and several provincial elections have since achieved outstanding results. Those who are disillusioned with the CDU-SPD governing coalition and would not vote for your extremism for AfD and Linke either have the FDP and Grüne left as choices. Among them, the Greens offer a greater shift in attitudes, and global climate processes are also contributing to increased support.

Support for AfD and Linke, on the other hand, is naturally limited. The Alternative fell into the classic trap of far-right parties: they fired at a very low voter base, but becoming a popular party became impossible due to previous extreme character traits. AfD has also been struggling with a character crisis recently, with frictions of the center-right and radical 9 elements already appearing at the top level of leadership. Linke, on the other hand, is campaigning against market and globalization promises that the Greens have embraced in a milder form, and on the other hand, the strong left-wing turn offered by Linke is not in itself in high demand, and their support is naturally constrained.

Who would go dancing with whom?

Even after the 2017 election, it was difficult to form a government, which is no wonder, as 4 years of opposition time can sometimes pay off for parties, so they should consider who to form a government with (this is perfectly exemplified by the SPD and Greens' support). . If the Greens won the election, it would not mean that they would give the Chancellor, coalition negotiations could turn out differently. A lot of coalition combinations are conceivable,

BUT A NEW THING CLAIMS FROM THESE: THE COPY MAY BE AVOIDABLE FOR A LONG PERIOD IN GOVERNANCE FORMATION.

Seeing the current support, the SPD has already allowed them to form a government without the Conservatives. The easiest way to do this today would be in a ‘traffic light coalition’, where a three-party government would be formed under the leadership of the Greens, with the participation of the SPD and the FDP. An obstacle to this may be that right-wing liberals and left-wing Greens think radically differently about economic policy. FDP leader Christian Lindner said that what works at the provincial level (there is an example of FDP-Grüne cooperation) at the increasingly frequently mentioned traffic light coalition today may not work at the federal level and he would be reluctant to work with the Greens because as long as they raise taxes and increase budget spending, liberals believe in the smaller state. Moreover, pro-market voters are not sure to reward cooperation with left-wing Greens either.

Another possible scenario is a clear and determined left-wing coalition involving Grüne, SPD and Linke.

4. mandiner.hu (translated, original by mandiner.hu, 22.04.2021)

Angela Merkel: We cannot tell the eastern states that we know more about democracy

According to Manfred Weber, the exit of Fidesz had nothing to do with the differences between the eastern and western states, he did everything, he said in a video conference of the European People's Party.

A virtual roundtable discussion on the future of Europe was organized by the European People's Party (EPP) on Wednesday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EPP Group Leader of the EPP spoke at the event. The nearly one-hour conversation was reported by the Hungarian Nation, on which the acquisition of vaccines, the state of European democracies and the Fidesz-People's Party issue were also discussed.

Angela Merkel is understanding with the Eastern states, but also with the Commission

According to Angela Merkel, “the European Commission's procurement of vaccines cannot be assessed in black and white in terms of failure success, it has always been clear that the EU Member States must act together, ” she said.

“Once we have a common internal market, we cannot expect the virus not to cross borders,” the chancellor said.

According to Angela Merkel, the European Commission can only act if the Member States leave it to her, which will tie Ursula von der Leyen's hand. According to Angela Merkel, "it is not a devil's idea" to give the EU wider powers in health, even through an amendment to the EU treaty.

“I support a contract amendment if it really makes sense,” he said. He added: "If Europe had not exported vaccines outside the bloc, neither Israel nor Latin America would have made the vaccination, which would have been a disaster."

Manfred Weber still defended himself and attacked Fidesz

Manfred Weber is "not tragic to get the committee a vaccine and by the end of the summer, as previously promised by the EU, very many will receive the vaccine". Comparing the current situation with the eurozone and migration crises, the EPP faction leader sees the difference in that, thanks to the vaccination campaign, you can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“People know exactly that they can get their old lives back soon,” Weber said.

Merkel is optimistic about European democracies

Angela Merkel recalled that “she was born during the German EU Presidency the regulation on the rule of law is highly controversial and it was probably necessary for Hungary and Poland to challenge the conditionality regulation in the European Court of Justice, ”said Angela Merkel, for example, in the area of freedom of the press.

“Of course, every single Member State is a member of the European Union for a reason.

They’ve been spectacularly confident lately the Eastern European states, they want to be taken seriously on the EU stage. And we, the old EU Member States, cannot say, we cannot start from the fact that we know more about democracy or freedoms than they do. We need to ask questions, ”said Angela Merkel.

Manfred Weber called himself a bridge builder again and referred to Donald Tusk

Manfred Weber, when asked about Fidesz's exit from the People's Party, he showed in the role of the “bridge builder” as one who did everything for the Hungarian ruling party’s membership in the People’s Party. “However, if you are a member of a community, you have to follow its rules. We did not find a common voice with the Hungarians on the issue of the rule of law, ”he said

According to Weber, the Fidesz case has nothing to do with the East-West confrontation mentioned by Merkel, as Donald Tusk, for example, is both an Eastern European, People's Party and a critic of Fidesz. He also noted that in the case of Poland, "he sees a chance that the application of the rule of law will lead to the suspension of certain EU funds".

5. tichyseinblick.de (translated, original by Dr. Hans-Gerd Krabbe, 06.05.2021)

Why the ›gender asterisk‹ is not harmless 12

Gender mainstreaming and gender language politics have been taken too little seriously for far too long. It is about a radical agenda of social change that must be rebelled against. By Hans-Gerd Krabbe

One could react with amusement to the so-called ›gender star‹, consider it harmless and a ›fashion gag‹ or carelessly dismiss it as a luxury problem or nonsense. The same applies to the underscores, the slashes or the colon in the word (eg ›Christ: inside‹).

One could smile about it when the address is no longer: “Dear Sir or Madam”, but rather: “Dear people”.

One might be amused when news speakers on radio and television take a very short pause, followed by a glottic stroke to emphasize the 'gender asterisk'.

You could rub your eyes when the abbreviation ›m / w / d‹ (›diverse‹) appears in every job advertisement in this country. (How many ›diverse‹ are actually counted? Is it three hundred?)

One could ask how many different genders there are in the ›sexual diversity of the genders‹: even beyond LGBTTIQ (ie lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, intersexual and queer expressions of sexuality).

One could consider what the consequences are if the gender polarity is to be dissolved in the sense of a desired ›gender equality‹. When the biologically predetermined gender order is to be deconstructed to the point of irrelevance. When biological, anatomical, hormonal, psychological differences between men and women are simply denied. When scientific results (e.g. in brain research) are disregarded. If 'sexual diversity' is not only to be respected and tolerated, but also to be accepted without restrictions: are there any taboos, any limits to sexual practice?

One might want to know who is being discredited if the terms “Parents 1” and “Parents 2” are to be introduced instead of the designations of mother and father (according to the Council of Europe in Document 12267 of October 2010). What it means when a 'third parenthood' is to be opened for 'rainbow families' (however, consider: Gen. 9: 12-17). If surrogacy is to be legalized in this country too. If ›the human right to abortion‹ is adopted (according to the recommendation of the European Parliament 2015 to the member states, although this right must first be ratified by each individual member state). 13

One could react angrily about the defamation of the traditional mother (role / shank), the extermination of women, the abolition of the full-time mother: after all, the fixation on social roles such as mother and housewife must be overcome and every woman integrated into the world of work outside the home become.

One could be appalled at the intended abolition of parental rights over their children (against: Art. 6,1.2.4 GG), at the adoption of the classic family (›a discontinued model?‹) As a ›pillar of the state community‹ and at the propagation heterogeneous patchwork ways of life and polyamorous relationships (as a future model?).

One could be alienated and irritated about the change in language, about the denigration of the German language, about the confusion of languages and about the legibility: the human being, ›the human being‹, ›the Christian people‹, the ›parents ‹,› The children ‹/› the angel ‹/› the next girl ‹/ the› mermaid ‹.

One could turn away if the salutation in an election advertising letter is gender-neutral and correctly formulated: "To all those interested in voting in the house" (instead of writing "voters").

One could protest against it if Bachelor and Master theses have to be written in a gender- sensitive manner.

Is the male first name ›Hermann‹ banned, does Frauke become ›Mannke‹? Will the pedestrian zone become a promenade, will students become students so as not to discriminate against anyone, whereby differences in concept and subject are simply ignored? Will the parrot become the 'Mummy Egg'? Does breast milk become: ›Human milk‹ (FAZ, February 20, 2021, 11)? Should we speak of the ›child-giving parent‹ (FAZ, see above) and of ›upper body feeding‹ (according to the guidelines of the University Clinics of the British Health Service in Brighton and Sussex) (as if breastfeeding were about solid food)?

DUDEN, -ling words and the misery of gender

What will become of Santa Claus, what will become of the pansies, what will become of 'the woman', what will become of the mother tongue, what will become of the Our Father's prayer? What if ›the Catholic Student Youth‹ (›KSJ‹) want to decorate God with ›gender asterisks‹? So (?): God * in or God * in (?) With what kind of article? When does the address from God follow: ›LORD‹ consistently-alternated the address: ›Lord‹? Whoever reads the 14

Bible passage Gal. 3.28 ("neither man nor woman") and wants to convert it in a gender- equitable manner, he should be able to be reminded of a clean biblical-theological exegesis and note the reference to baptism. One could think of the 'Tower of Babel' (Gen. 11: 1-9): 'that no one can understand the other's language'.

You might be surprised if the Duden online editorial team falls for the gendering of language and advocates the introduction of gender-neutral language. At least in March 2018 the Federal Court of Justice ruled that the term: ›the customer‹ in the sense of the generic masculine refers to people of any gender. But whoever goes on about the generic masculine will surely also know about the generic feminine.

The complaint that a woman wanted to be written to as a “customer” was dismissed by the Federal Constitutional Court.

One could consider the gender-sensitive address: ›Herr Professorin‹ (see Leipzig) with scorn and ridicule.

One could want to see a contribution in gender-equitable language for more emancipation and equality ('if only it were like that!'). >Equal pay for equal work

Radical approach

But behind the pseudoscientific gender ideology hides a radical approach (in the fight against everything masculine?) To transform the previous (gender) society on the way to a so-called ›fluid sexuality‹: with young people from the age of 14 should be able to determine anew at the registry office every year whether they want to be considered male or female (according to a 2021 draft law by “Bündnis 90 / die Grünen” and the SPD, which, however, did not find the required majority).

Everyone is initially ›gender neutral‹, must choose their own gender, and can change their gender (several times) within their life. Nothing is created, everything can be chosen, everything is changeable, nothing is fixed, everything is trained. There are more than two genders, but how many? Sixty or more? Now the woman still serves as a ›transitional stage‹, until the aim is to dissolve (!) The bi-polar gender construct of men and women and to introduce a plural model (starting with ›marriage for all‹?) With diverse Variations of ›sexual orientations‹ in the sense of ›sexual diversity‹ should come. Is it then still clear who is the 15 father and mother, who is responsible for bringing up the child? Isn't there a threat of social chaos?

What a catastrophic mistake! You want to be open to everything (also for the right of adoption for ›gay partners‹? / Also for polygamy? / Also for pedophilia?), You don't want to discriminate anymore, everyone should be the same: although each person is an unmistakable original God's creative hand is / although all people are different / although each person is different from the other, to which ›the genetic fingerprint‹ alone does not bear witness.

New curiosities from the gender cabinet like the new alphabet of spelling

Regardless of the fact that all of this from the gender ideology contradicts biblical anthropology, according to which God (!) Created every single human being as male or female and determined every cell of the body (Gen. 1.27) / according to which God created a man and woman in their bi-polarity has created complementary to each other, so that 'the two' become 'helpers for joy' (cf. Gen. 2,18 - Sir. 37,26 - Mk. 2,6.7 - Eph. 5,31 ) / regardless of the fact that gender ideology bears anti-biblical and anti-Christian traits - the question arises as to whether people are only responsible for themselves in their apostrophized self-invention, self- determination, self-staging, self-realization (the modern idol?) and so that in his autonomy he wants to be able to do whatever he likes.

Whether it gets To appear as a man at certain times and as a woman at other times, depending on what proves to be more advantageous (on the labor market / in the women's quota?). What irritating conditions! What can happen: The affected person becomes mentally disoriented, deformed, traumatized, his personal identity is destroyed, his social competence is affected. Who can want something like that? Finally, surgical and hormonal sex reassignments follow on a large scale: so that people become happier as a result? What will this ultimately mean for competitive sport, according to which men's and women's competitions have so far been held separately from one another? what proves to be more advantageous (on the labor market / in the women's quota?).

What irritating conditions! What can happen: The affected person becomes mentally disoriented, deformed, traumatized, his personal identity is destroyed, his social competence is affected. Who can want something like that? Finally, surgical and hormonal sex reassignments follow on a large scale: so that people become happier as a result? What will this ultimately mean for competitive sport, according to which men's and women's competitions have so far been held separately from one another? what proves to be more advantageous (on the labor market / in the women's quota?). What irritating conditions! What can happen: The affected person becomes mentally disoriented, deformed, traumatized, his personal identity is destroyed, his social competence is affected. Who can want something 16 like that? Finally, surgical and hormonal sex reassignments follow on a large scale: so that people become happier as a result? What will this ultimately mean for competitive sport, according to which men's and women's competitions have so far been held separately from one another? his personal identity is destroyed, his social skills damaged. Who can want something like that? Finally, surgical and hormonal sex reassignments follow on a large scale: so that people become happier as a result? What will this ultimately mean for competitive sport, according to which men's and women's competitions have so far been held separately from one another? his personal identity is destroyed, his social skills damaged. Who can want something like that? Finally, surgical and hormonal sex reassignments follow on a large scale: so that people become happier as a result? What will this ultimately mean for competitive sport, according to which men's and women's competitions have so far been held separately from one another?

What a huge re-education program (for early and pansexualization) society has in mind in the gender mainstream, to some extent via educational plans! What a paradigm shift! Does bringing up children have to be socialized (contrary to Art. 6.1.2 GG)? Does the state exercise ›sovereignty over the children's beds‹? Do children and young people in day-care centers and schools have to be educated by special experts ›from outside‹? Are you instructed in sex exercises? Gaining pleasure as early as possible through various sex practices? Reduction of feelings of shame? Multisexual diversity as an educational leitmotif in day care centers and schools? Who is (still) talking about the best interests of the child when children's souls are so damaged?

You could know that ›the Council for German Spelling‹, ›the Society for German Language‹ (›GfdS‹), the ›Verein deutsche Sprache eV‹ (›VdS‹), (as of 2019) are sixteen world-leading DAX companies have decided against the use of the ›gender asterisk‹. But the red-green federal government endorsed the ›gender star‹ and declared the gender program to be a universal guiding principle in the legal and educational system by a cabinet decision (on June 23, 1999) without the need for a Bundestag debate or a parliamentary resolution.

After all, there are now over 200 chairs for ›gender studies‹ in the Federal Republic of Germany. And: ›The Evangelical Church in Germany‹ (›EKD‹) maintains its own gender study center, inaugurated in April 2014, in Hanover.

But - shouldn't the (biblically traditional, conservative values) leitmotif of marriage, family, children (ren) be elevated to the guiding principle of society as a whole?

Gender - a term that obscures. But it's always about gender (liche), whatever. The differences between the biological, social, and culturally influenced gender are blurring. One of the stated goals is to free oneself from supposedly patriarchal oppression and: to overcome the 'heteronormativity' of society. After all, does anyone still know 'what's up'? Where is the train of social development headed at full steam?

It is high time to intervene in political and church circles, to mobilize people with common sense, to scare the general public, to take action against the dictates of gender language (e.g. in universities and colleges), to prevent hostility (with the lead or to resist with the ›manslaughter argument‹, ›homophobic‹, ›transphobic‹, ›fundamentalist‹): for God's sake and for the sake of each and every human being! Shouldn't the supporting and binding foundations of our society be surrendered!

What you can do? Spread this declaration among your own circle of friends and acquaintances in the sense of free expression of opinion (according to Art. 5 GG) and advocate an open discourse in a serious culture of debate in which the facts are clearly stated without being defamed, discredited or hounded becomes. Practicing objective criticism without being afraid of people, for example as parents in school when children and young people are to be instructed in sex in class.

What else can you do? Wherever you come across the ›gender star‹, protest against it, oppose it, ask the city administrations and district offices, the television stations and the newspaper editorial offices with queries, for example:

›Do you know which image of man and which ideology is hidden behind the› gender asterisk ‹? What should be achieved in this seemingly harmless detour? Which ideology are you promoting with this?

It is about a complete reshaping of society, about the search for identity of every single person according to a gender of their own choice, nothing less!

Finally: Shouldn't the use of the ›gender asterisk‹ in official announcement texts (must) be legally checked for legality?

Dr. Hans-Gerd Krabbe, long-time parish priest in the Badische Landeskirche, book author, now retired, is committed to the association ›DAVID against mobbing and injustice in church and diakonia‹. 18

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FRANCE

1. infostart.hu (translated, original by infostart/MTI, 05.05.2021)

French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized the controversy of Napoleon in his speech at a commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the death of the French emperor in Paris.

In the last half-century, Emmanuel Macron was the first French president to commemorate Napoleon, who is considered by many to be the creator of bourgeois France, while being one of the most controversial figures in French history due to his 15 years of power between 1799 and 1815.

The ceremony, previously announced as an "enlightened commemoration" by the French presidential office, was held at the Institut de France, founded in 1795, which brings together scholars, artists, and literary figures, where historians spoke in front of the head of state about the historical role of Napoleon.

"Napoleon Bonaparte belongs to us," Emmanuel Macron began his speech, drawing a controversial portrait of the former French emperor, whom he condemned for his "mistakes" such as the restoration of slavery and praised the defender of national sovereignty, the legislature and the nation-builder.

The French president emphasized that "he does not want to allow anything to those who want to erase the past on the grounds that it does not fit into the thinking that corresponds to today". Emmanuel Macron has thus spoken out against the cancel culture that has been ringing in from the United States. 19

"We have given up the worst of the empire, we have beautified the best of the emperor," said Emmanuel Macron, condemning Napoleon's "arbitrary and lonely exercise of power." On the restoration of slavery, the French president believed that he had "betrayed the spirit of the Enlightenment."

The clear presidential condemnation of slavery was long awaited by the inhabitants of the French overseas departments of Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion, most of whom are descendants of slaves abducted by the French.

Emmanuel Macron, however, mentioned "the strategist, the legislature, the nation-builder," "the part of France that has conquered the world." He also referred to the statesman who "marbled civil equality between people in the Civil Code and protection by law in the Penal Code." According to Emmanuel Macron, the French state "continued to work to reflect this development by creating equality between women and men and abolishing the death penalty," after Napoleon received much criticism for placing the woman in a lower status than her husband in the civil code.

Referring to the current French political situation, Emmanuel Macron also welcomed in Napoleon the leader who "settled relations with the great religions by the concordat." Consistent with his own political creed, the French president stressed that Napoleon’s career is proof that “a single person can change the course of history” and is therefore “worth taking the risk”.

The opposition immediately criticized the head of state.

Right-wing Marine Le Pen, leader and presidential candidate of the National Confluence, expressed regret that Emmanuel Macron "only hastily remembered who had done so much for his country," while the left regretted that during Napoleon's celebration, the head of state had forgotten It started 150 years ago from the Paris Commune.

2. mandiner.hu (translated, original by mandiner.hu, 03.05.2021)

Macron’s party is nominating joint candidates with the right

In southern France, the opposition right and Macron’s party will launch a joint list in the June regional elections.

The agreement to draw up a joint list of the largest opposition party in the Provence-Alpes- Cote d'Azur region in southern France, the Republicans (LR) and Emmanuel Macron, in the June regional elections in Monday, escalated into increasingly heated debate on the French opposition right. .

Macron joined the Conservative list

Under the agreement reached under the roof over the weekend, the Republican Momentum (LREM) government party will not launch a separate list in the region, but pro-government politicians will join the region’s current Conservative Renaud Muselier, who will be the leader of the joint list on June 20 and 27. two rounds of elections.

The aim of the LR-LREM joint list is to create a republican front against the National Concentration led by Marine Le Pen, whose list is led by a nationally known politician, formerly politicized in the LR, Thierry Mariani. Prime Minister Jean Castex, who also came from the LR to head the government, assured the joint list of support and said in a Sunday newspaper interview that the unification of political forces in the south of France was one example of a transformation in French politics.

Several ministers have arrived from the right earlier

According to Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, who also came from the right but is now politicizing the colors of LREM, the alliance in the south of France means "the final divorce of the two irreconcilable right". In an interview with RTL radio, the head of the ministry assessed that the break occurred between the two rounds of the 2017 presidential election, when the right-wing

“Some refused to choose between the then National Front (led by Marine le Pen) and Emmanuel Macron, while others chose to support Emmanuel Macron”.

The regional president of the south of France was threatened with the withdrawal of his own party, the LR, for which he had already agreed with the governing party before the first round.

Renaud Muselier is not eligible for LR support 21

Said Christian Jacob, the leader of the Republicans, on Sunday night, saying the first round should reflect loyalty, clarity, commitment and natural alliances. At his initiative, the party leadership will hold an extraordinary meeting on the issue on Tuesday.

According to others, the common list is a stabbing the right in the back

On Monday, however, nationally known local right-wing politicians also took a stand on the common list.

Eric Ciotti “voiced his tremendous sadness at the stab in the back. According to him, Renaud Muselier dared to take the unacceptable, even though France deserved much better, like the activists and the electorate who were betrayed by his convictions. ”

However, most local right-wing MPs, including Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice, who was president of the region until 2017, lined up behind Renaud Muselier. “Behind the hatred of those who can only think through the horizons of political organizations and on a national scale, I would like to reaffirm that Gaullist values have nothing to do with National Concentration,” Christian Estrosi said.

The deadline for nominations is May 17, by which time the LR’s national leadership may set up another list against the common LR-LREM list, but news commentators say it would clearly favor the National Concession and its president, Marine Le Pen, who is the only credible opposition to current government policy. he wants to appear as a politician.

3. kisalfold.hu (translated, original by kisalfold.hu, 06.05.2021)

With the election of Marine Le Pen as French president, she promises a return to the authority of the state 22

Right-wing Marine Le Pen’s goal is to restore the authority of the state, in case she will be elected President of France next year. The politician said this in connection with the death of a police officer who lost his life during an anti-drug raid in Avignon, southern France.

“The next president of the republic must embody authority, and I will be a president who will embody the return and restoration of the authority of the state unlike the current president who is constantly proving his permissiveness, is content with a form of disorder, and the French people are the victims of all this morality ” said Marine Le Pen on Thursday at a press conference in Brittany as part of the June regional election campaign.

“The decline in the authority of state power has reached an unprecedented level. Criminals are no longer afraid to kill a police officer. Today, there is no place in France where one would feel safe, ” said the candidate for President of the National Cluster.

“The tragedy in Avignon was not only caused by the drug trade, but also by mass immigration,” the politician explained.

“To be able to control our quarters again, we must first stop immigration and provide the judiciary and the police with tools,” she added.

The politician, according to the Valeurs Actuelles, said: “waves of immigration are creating a breeding ground for insecurity and Islamism”.

She stated that she was “impatiently” waiting to know the perpetrator’s “profile”. As she said, “we always see the same faces, we have to face the realities already”.

She believes that 90 percent of street crime is attributable to immigrants, or people with an immigrant background, who “live in or come from neighborhoods where the rule of law does not prevail”. She stressed, however, that she does not think “every immigrant is a criminal”.

Marine Le Pen said a man who took the life of a police officer “should never get out of jail”.

A police officer was killed in Avignon on Wednesday while he and his companions raided a drug distribution point. While certifying those at the scene, a man shot several times at the 36- year-old police officer who died at the scene. The other police officers fired back, but failed to 23 produce the perpetrator after fleeing with the scooter. Police have been searching with great force ever since.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin visited the scene on Wednesday night, meeting with police officers involved in the action, and representatives of police unions.

Cécile Helle, the mayor of Avignon, told AFP news agency that police are trying to identify the perpetrator based on footage from the city’s surveillance cameras.

The police assassination came after Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron identified the fight against drug trafficking as a priority in April because he said it was an independent economic network and one of the main reasons for the increase in violence. Since then, police have routinely raided suspected drug distribution sites.

According to Eric Arella, head of the criminal police in the south of France, "drug addiction is causing more and more riots" in poor neighborhoods in large cities in the south of France, including Montpellier, Avignon or Perpignan, where more than half of the population lives below the poverty line and unemployment is many times the average.

According to a survey by the Elabe polling institute, before next year's elections, the French are most concerned about unemployment and purchasing power (31 per cent), followed immediately by the issue of public security (30 per cent), so these issues are expected to determine next year's presidential campaign.

4. valeursactuelles.com (translated, original by valeursactuelles.com, 08.05.2021)

Viktor Orbàn opens the door to a collaboration with Marine Le Pen

Last March, Fidesz, the party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbàn, slammed the door of the European People's Party (EPP). The Hungarian party thus marked the final br 24 eak with…

Last March, Fidesz, the party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbàn, slammed the door of the European People's Party (EPP) . The Hungarian party thus marked the final break with the largest political family in the European Union, which brings together the right-wing parties. The Hungarian Prime Minister now wishes to rebuild the European right around its values with "the Poles" and the Italian Matteo Salvini. But Marine Le Pen could also be invited to join them. "Cooperation always responds to the desire to diversify the parties. None of us can demand that only parties we care about be allowed to participate in this cooperation. Not only Hungary's Fidesz, but also Poland's PiS and Mr. Salvini, will bring their own allies to this cooperation. We have to accept this, ”explains Viktor Orbàn in an interview with Slovakia News.

"Defending the Christian tradition of Europe"

To the question on possible cooperation with the president of the National Gathering he replied: "this possibility is in the air". "There has to be a political family for people like us who protect the family, defend their homeland, think in terms of cooperation between nation- states rather than in terms of European empire," said the leader of Fidesz recently, in comments reported by France 24. The latter called for " building without the EPP an offer for European citizens who do not want migrants or multiculturalism, who have not fallen into LGBTQ madness, who defend Christian traditions of Europe ”.

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ITALY

1. adhocnews.it (translated, original by Alessandro Scipioni, 18.04.2021)

Matteo Salvini: the Minister of Italy sent for trial

The indictment of the whole country

Indicate Matteo Salvini for trial. Because it established the need to respect our right to dispose of our borders. It is equivalent to putting the whole of Italy on the dock. Since it is equivalent to decree that the freedom, independence and inviolability of those borders that we Italians have paid with a lot of blood over the generations can be called into question.

Without borders there is no state. At the most there is a free territory.

The right to such a gesture is inalienable in a world where every nation retains responsibility for its own defense in its own hands. Because inhibiting this right would undermine the very foundations of our existence as a people and as an independent nation.

Given the constant violations of our national borders by boats carrying illegal immigrants, such a wicked limitation risks becoming the springboard for a series of events of extinct proportions for Italians.

We will end up extinct like the dinosaurs. But it will be our choice We will end up like the dinosaurs, but unlike them, our extinction would be determined by the weakness of internal systems in our own country, not by force majeure. A thoughtless choice, legally based on a creative right to the detriment of the Italian people.

Matteo Salvini, in his capacity as Minister of the Interior, has fulfilled a duty / right of resistance inherent in the same right of existence and self-preservation that any nation has, which cannot be denied. It is disturbing to think that it has been decided by those who are not elected by anyone, that this month they can no longer choose who to welcome and how to welcome them.

Carola Rackete was transformed into a heroine who had jeopardized the safety of our soldiers who prevented her from entering our country at will. And instead the person who represented its sovereignty is put on the dock.

This deeply offends the sense of dignity and national belonging that each of us has within us.

The question is not to be or not to be on Salvini's side as his constituents. Here the question is whether or not to be on the side of Italy in the face of those who question your very right to exist as a sovereign state.

2. gondola.hu (translated, original by MTI, 09.05.2021)

Meloni prepares for government, Salvini initiates referendum

Matteo Salvini, the leader of the ruling party League, is initiating a referendum to gradually lift the epidemic restrictions, while his opposition ally Giorgia Meloni, president of the Italian Brothers, is also preparing for governance, as announced in an interview on Sunday.

"I want to get in government," Giorgia Meloni told the largest Italian daily, the Corriere della Sera.

The president of the Italian Brothers (FdI) has confirmed that the party is preparing for a government role in the next election. He stressed that the right-wing force was not anti- European.

"We support a Europe of states that decides together on important issues and leaves the rest to the discretion of the member states. The reverse is true today: Europe allows us to eat flour, but we are moving separately in the event of a pandemic," Giorgia said. Melons.

He called it one of the "most touching" political memories when Viktor Orbán called it the song of the 1956 Hungarian revolution by the Italian "Forward, guys from Buda!" number, even at the September 2019 youth meeting of the FdI in Rome.

Giorgia Meloni also spoke of their "fluctuating" relationship with Matteo Salvini, the leader of the larger right-wing party, the League.

The debate between the two parties is sparked by the autumn mayoral elections: the League and the FdI have not yet been able to agree on a joint candidate to lead the two largest cities, Rome and Milan. Analysts recall, however, that not even the left has revealed who it wants to oppose the right. The municipal election promises to be a significant test ahead of the parliamentary elections, which may be due next year.

Surveys show that right-wing parties are gaining strength: the League is just under 22 per cent and the FdI has exceeded 18 per cent.

The Left Democratic Party (PD) is less than 20 percent and the Five Star Movement (M5S) has 17 percent support. It is unprecedented that there are five percentage points differences between the four leading political forces. The center right - Hajra, Italy! party (FI) and other smaller parties - it would currently win elections by a majority while the Draghi government is losing one per cent of its support every week - wrote the right-wing daily Libero.

At the same time, according to surveys, the majority of Italians feel the League is the "most influential" ruling party.

According to his usual political practice, Matteo Salvini is constantly present: the Prime Minister makes announcements in parallel with Mario Draghi.

In the most-watched public service policy show, "Porta a porta," the League leader announced Thursday that at next week's government meeting his party will meet the most urgent demand from Italian entrepreneurs, that is, postponing or lifting the curfew from ten o'clock in the evening.

Salvini also said he would start collecting signatures on a referendum on judicial reform, which, incidentally, had long been urged by the Radical Party and a section of the Italian left. “If we wait for the PD and the M5S, there will never be anything out of it,” Salvini said in a television show, referring to the Democratic Party (PD) and the 5 Star Movement (M5S).

It also awaits a preliminary court ruling on May 14 against Matteo Salvini, a former interior minister, that could dismiss or sue the League leader for the arrest of a group of migrants arriving on the Gregoretti warship.

Nor is Enrico Letta, the new secretary general of the PD, idle, who has launched a campaign to increase the membership of the left-wing party and set a target of half a million out of the current more than 400,000. The PD, which has always had the most party members, has lost significant membership in recent years, while right-wing FdI has increased its membership from 44,000 to 133,000.

3. mandiner.hu (translated, original by mandiner.hu, 04.05.2021)

In the midst of controversy, the Italian anti-homophobia law is born

The right-wing League proposed an amendment to the law on social gender, omitting the word ’gender’

Both feminist and lesbian organizations have expressed reservations about left-wing anti- homophobia and anti-phobia bills, while the right-wing League has proposed amending the law to exclude gender, that is, gender. The ruling party, led by Matteo Salvini, the League, said it was working on a compromise solution by rewriting the left-wing Democratic Party (PD) bill.

The League would also penalize discrimination against the elderly and the physically handicapped

The League recommends that the bill tighten the penalties that can be imposed for, among other things, insults and assaults based on ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability. It would initiate similar criminalization of discrimination against the elderly and remove parts of gender and gender identity from the text of the legislation. An “alternative version” of the package has been prepared by League politician Andrea Ostellari, chairman of the House of Lords (Senate) Judiciary Committee, and will be presented to parliament.

Matteo Salvini announced on his social network on Tuesday night that the party’s law amendment has been completed and will be tabled in parliament on Wednesday. “It will be a simpler text that tightens the punishment for violence, but omits the section on children and education, and all that censors freedom of expression,” Salvini wrote.

At the same time, the League would remove the sections on gender and gender identity from the text of the legislation.

The Catholic Church is also protesting against the rise of gender

The introduction of sections on gender and gender identity in criminal law was also described as risky by Tuesday’s commentary on L’Avvenire in the daily newspaper of the Italian Catholic Episcopal Faculty (CEI). The CEI has repeatedly expressed reservations about the bill, stressing that

"The anti-discrimination law must not intolerate the real difference between a man and a woman (...) and the unique nature of the family". Giorgia Meloni, president of the right-wing Italian Brothers (FdI), told the right-wing daily newspaper Il Tempo that the current form of the bill “feeds censorship and punishes those who do not line up behind the prevailing opinion”.

Feminists have problems with the notion of “female hatred”

Speaking to the largest daily, the Corriere della Sera, historian Francesca Izzo, a well-known Italian feminist, expressed doubts about the hatred of women punished in the left bill. He believed that women could no longer be treated as a distinct category or minority because they represent more than half of the population.

According to lesbian organizations, the definition of “gender identity” needs to be clarified before legislation is introduced.

“It is not possible to put it in general in criminal law,” said Marina Terragni, a journalist on behalf of the Transsexual Movement (MIT). In a commentary on the left, Il Manifesto cited a survey that found that 66 per cent of Italians disagreed with defining their biological gender at their own discretion without any legal restrictions.

The law was initiated by the left

The anti-homophobia and anti-transphobia bill was initiated by the Left Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement (M5S), the Left Free and Equal (LeU) and Living Italy (IV) against gender discrimination, gender-based violence and citing the protection of gender identity. The bill was drafted by Democrat Alessandro Zan, an activist from the LGBT community.

In November, the lower house voted for the package, the date for the upper house vote has not yet been set. The PD fears that the Senate vote will be delayed due to the debates that accompany the bill. However, according to an analysis by the Conservative paper in Turin, La Stampa, more importantly, there is finally a wide-ranging political and social debate on the issue that cannot be closed until the definition of gender identity is clarified.

According to press reports, the left must allow the bill to be amended, as the composition of the parliamentary majority has changed compared to November last year, and between the current governing parties the League and Hajra, Italy! (FI) does not support the package in its current form either.

4. mandiner.hu (translated, original by mandiner.hu, 03.05.2021)

The migration flow from Libya has resumed

Over the past weekend, more than two thousand have left the Libyan coast.

With a dozen boats and smaller boats, 723 landed on the shores of Lampedusa between Friday and Sunday. The island’s mayor, Salvatore Martello, stated that “the Libyan migration corridor has reopened, replacing previous arrivals in Tunisia”. According to Lampedusa’s first man, “all indications are that a massive wave of migration is expected in the summer”.

The less than two hundred people from Lampedusa tried to relocate as many people as possible from the registration center: almost three hundred immigrants were quarantined on the ferry Allegra, and another nearly two hundred were transferred to Porto Empedocle, Sicily. Nearly a hundred unaccompanied children and juveniles who arrived were also transferred to a Sicilian center on Monday morning.

Over the past weekend, more than two thousand have left the Libyan coast, more than 400,000 of whom have arrived on the Italian coast. Several ships capsized in Libyan waters. The French NGO ship SOS Méditerranée, with 236 people on board, received a mooring permit in Augusta, Sicily. Sea-Watch 4, a German civilian ship with more than four hundred people aboard at Libya, has called for a safe harbor and is heading for the Italian coast. 31

Epidemic risk

Matteo Salvini, leader of the pro-government League, called the situation unacceptable. He also wrote to Prime Minister Mario Draghi and head of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Health, saying that "while those arriving from countries at risk of epidemics are being controlled by plane, those arriving by small and large vessels must be stopped respecting Italian efforts to protect their health and safety".

According to the right-wing daily newspaper Il Giornale, Libyan human trafficking organizations advertise sea crossings on social media sites, promising that “100 percent of passengers will arrive in Italy”. The price of the trip starts at five thousand Libyan dinars, which is equivalent to nine hundred euros.

5. portfolio.hu (translated, original by MTI, 15.04.2021)

There has never been so much Italian debt

Italian government debt rose to record levels in February. It rose 36.9 billion euros in one month and reached 2,643.8 billion euros, the Italian central bank said on Thursday.

Italy’s public debt-to-GDP ratio jumped to 155.6 per cent in last year’s pandemic year from 134.8 per cent in 2019. According to one of the Maastricht convergence criteria, public debt must not exceed 60 percent of GDP.

According to the latest data released in January by the Union's statistical office (Eurostat), government debt in the 19-nation eurozone rose to 97.3 per cent of GDP by the end of the third quarter last year, from 95 per cent in the second quarter. At the end of the third quarter of 2019, the indicator stood at 85.8 percent.

In the EU-27, government debt rose to 89.8 per cent of GDP by the end of last third quarter from 87.7 per cent at the end of the second quarter and 79.2 per cent in the third quarter of 32

2019. Hungary's public debt was 73.9 percent of GDP at the end of last third quarter, and 80.4 percent at the end of last year, after 65.5 percent at the end of 2019.

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SPAIN

1. elespanol.com (translated, original by elespanol.com, 05.05.2021)

Santiago Abascal calls for general elections: "Parliament does not represent the will of the nation"

He reminds Iglesias that his "escape does not exempt him from his criminal responsibilities" and announces that he will also take Tezanos to court.

The president of Vox, Santiago Abascal , has asked this Wednesday the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez , to allow Spaniards to vote in light of the scrutiny of the elections in the Community of Madrid this 4-M: "Parliament does not represent the will of the nation, "said Abascal at a press conference at the party's headquarters.

The leader has valued the results of his candidate, Rocío Monasterio , highlighting that although she has not achieved victory, she has contributed to the "unmitigated defeat of the popular front. Vox obtained 13 seats this Tuesday, one more than in the 2019 elections. Those 13 deputies will support the investiture of Isabel Díaz Ayuso , Abascal stressed.

The 4-M, according to Abascal, "puts the Government of lies, ruin and death on the ropes and proves in an increasingly clear way that Parliament has not represented the will of the nation for a long time." . For this reason, he has "demanded" that "the word and the vote be returned to the Spanish." 33

Santiago Abascal calls for general elections

Back in Madrid, he has denounced the "demonization and censorship campaign" that he says has taken place during the campaign against Vox, in relation to, for example, the controversial poster placed in Puerta del Sol pointing to unaccompanied minors . Abascal celebrates that no "corrupt judge" has allowed that "information" - he has refused to call it "propaganda" - to disappear.

Churches, Tezanos

He has also focused on Vallecas, a neighborhood in which Vox has grown the most, and on Pablo Iglesias , whose "escape" , he has assured, "does not exempt him from his criminal responsibilities for sending thugs to prevent the exercise of fundamental and constitutional rights ". It also singles out the Government for "violence and intimidation against leaders, militants and supporters."

Reviewing the campaign, Abascal has also referred to "ballistic assemblies", as he has referred to the sending of letters with ammunition to ministers such as Fernando Grande- Marlaska or Reyes Maroto , or to Iglesias himself. "It seems that they no longer interest or matter to anyone and for a few days they only talked about this," he complained.

Finally, he has announced that he will take to court the president of the CIS, José Félix Tezanos , "for having failed miserably" with his barometers on 4-M, which predicted a draw for the first and a victory for the left the second. "It has falsified data, it is a gigantic act of corruption," defended Abascal.

2. elmundo.es (translated, original by Fernando Lázaro, 10.04.2021)

Santiago Abascal: "We suffer violence like no one else but they will not find us in the civil confrontation" 34

Some healthy accounts, without debts. A number that continues to increase in affiliates (90 more only in Madrid after the incidents in Vallecas ) and with an increasing presence in the three administrations. This is how Vox has presented the main lines of its Ordinary General Assembly in which they have exposed their latest numbers.

But the message that those of the Santiago Abascal formation wanted to send was not only that the foundations of this young formation are firmly established, without debts and with an important part of its financing as a result of private contributions (most of them less than 1,000 euros), but the look of the future.

"Because Vox is the party called to become number one in two years," launched the leader of the formation, Santiago Abascal, who has denounced how his party is the only one that has had and has to face the violence every time it calls for electoral events. "We have a majority vocation." "We are already the first in Murcia , in Almería , in Ceuta ... in the green belt of Madrid and very soon, throughout the nation. We are a formation without sectarianism, violence or hatred," he explained.

Abascal has highlighted the "extraordinary merit" of Vox, which, despite constant "obstacles and tripping", has managed not only to raise its head but to become the "authentic political reference in Spain". "No one has endured the violence that we have to endure," he stressed.

"They will not find us in the civil confrontation. We are different from them. We are going to go everywhere, despite the threats to the stones, making it free. They have accused us of causing the incidents," he added. And he has also denounced the "false solidarity of some". "Like the PNV when it was placed between victims and executioners. And I remember how they said: 'Something will have done'. That's what they said when the Vallecas thing," said the leader of the formation.

Already in his act last Friday in Getafe , Abascal also placed in those messages of the equidistance the message on Twitter condemning Pablo Casado (leader of the PP ) for the attacks on Vox in Vallecas.

"It has become clear that, for the left that encourages violence, Vox is the enemy to beat, because it has opened all the debates that the left had declared prohibited," he added this Saturday.

And he has warned: "In Madrid the future of Spain is at stake. That is why the shadow vice president has gone to the elections, to perpetrate the definitive communist assault. We are against the assault of the Madrid communists. Gabilondo is a man straw. Because, if they win, the president will be Iglesias . "

For her part, the Vox candidate Rocío Monasterio has denounced that "the totalitarians came to Vallecas to kill someone." "We must maintain temperance and tell them that they are not going to get us into a corner. We are going to win with our principles and our love for Spain."

"Despite the stones, we will tell the Spaniards that this game is the project that Spain needs. We are going to need all of you, because there are many enemies. Our goal is to be able to look our children in the eye because we are going to leave them a better Spain ", It is finished.

3. sonline.hu (translated, original by sonline.hu, 05.05.2021)

The Spanish right won a smooth victory

The election result is a warning to left-wing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

With the victory of the Conservative People's Party (PP), the paper form prevailed in the early parliamentary elections in the provincial parliament of Madrid on Tuesday, the Hungarian Nation writes.

With 99.9 percent of the votes processed, the PP finished with 65 seats, gaining 44.7 percent of the votes cast. He has ruled the autonomous province for 26 years

the right-wing political force won more than double its seats so far, but in the absence of four seats, it did not gain a sufficient majority in the regional parliament to form an independent government.

Better than expected, the left-wing party called More Madrid (Other Madrid) came in second in local legislation, winning 24 seats with 16.9 percent support. The Spanish Socialist Party, which governs Spain in coalition, achieved its worst election result to date with 16.8 percent of the vote in the province. The 24 seats earned are 13 fewer than they had so far. He was fourth in the province’s legislature, with the Vox party to the right of the PP gaining 13 seats, improving one seat.

9.1 percent of voters voted for them.

Improving its previous position, but the last of the parties to be represented in the province, the smaller party in the central governing coalition, Together We are Able (Unidas Podemos); With a support of 7.2 percent, ten of its representatives could sit in the Madrid legislature instead of the previous seven.

Aware of the results, Pablo Iglesias, the party’s leader, unexpectedly announced his resignation and withdrawal from active party politics. He said their election presence does not seem to be able to contribute enough to become a major political force in the province in the next two years until the next local election.

Warning to Pedro Sánchez

The victory on the right is a warning to Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Among other things, the treatment of the coronavirus epidemic played a role in the defeat of the left, the most read Spanish dailies wrote in their evaluation on Wednesday. According to the right- wing newspaper ABC, for Pedro Sánchez, the result is also catastrophic because his party did not become first on the left, even ahead of More Madrid (Other Madrid). The newspaper El País also found that the rejection of Sánchez's government also contributed in part to the election results.

4. origo.hu (translated, original by origo.hu, 03.05.2021)

They can introduce Islam as a subject in all primary schools in Spain

Given the high proportion of students with an Islamic background and a migrant background, it is planned that they will be able to teach Muslim classes in all primary schools in Spain from the next school year. In Catalonia, Islamic lessons have already been introduced on an experimental basis, writes the international news agency V4NA.

In Spain, Catalonia will be the first to introduce an Islamic class per week, and from the next school year, the teaching of the new subject will be extended to all primary schools.

Its introduction is justified by the fact that the RATIO OF MUSLIM MIGRANTS AND MIGRATION BACKGROUNDS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION IS THE THIRD HIGHEST IN CATALONIA, IF WE HAVE ACCOUNTED THAT THE CATALAN CONTAINED AN AUTON.

According to the Union de Comunitats Islàmiques de Catalunya (Ucidcat, Union of Islamic Centers in Catalonia), demand is already high, with around 2,000 Islamic families interested in the opportunity (about 80,000 Muslim students go to school in Catalonia).

According to the Barcelona Regional Government, tensions between Muslims and non- Muslims can be resolved through a fuller understanding of the Islamic religion, and the introduction of the subject is justified.

6 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL POPULATION OF CATALONIA IS A MUSLIM, BUT IN SOME CITIES AND QUARTERS THIS PROPORTION CAN REACH UP TO 40 PERCENT.

Immigrants from Muslim countries have come to Catalonia en masse since the 1980s, as a result AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE ALREADY DEFINED THE AREA AS "AN IMPORTANT MEDITERRANEAN CENTER FOR RADICAL ISLAMISTS" IN 2010, and even proposed the establishment of an intelligence center at the American Consulate in Barcelona.

In 2015 alone, 50 jihadists were arrested in Catalonia.

*************************************************************************** 38

PORTUGAL

1. sol.sapo.pt (translated, original by sol.sapo.pt, 06.05.2021)

"Islamic immigration is a danger for Portugal", says André Ventura

Statements by Chega's sole deputy sparked protests to the left.

André Ventura affirmed, this Thursday, in the Parliament, that "the Islamic immigration is a danger for Portugal" and defended that the country should make a reflection on the "immigration" that it wants.

The statements by the only deputy from Chega were made in a debate on the situation of immigrants working on farms in the Odemira area.

“Do we need immigration or not? We need to, but we must be able to reflect on the immigration we want, ”Ventura began by saying.

"Many of the sex crimes have increased in countries like Sweden or Germany, as a result of the immigration of Islamic origin that they had in their territories," he added. "Islamic immigration is a danger for Portugal, it is a danger for our women and our cities", he concluded.

The stands on the left were heard and protested against the statements of the president of Chega. "Liar", "fascist", shouted.

2. jornaldenegocios.pt 39

(translated, original by Lusa, 13.04.2021)

André Ventura: "Deflation cannot stop"

"Schools are a focal point. It is necessary to massively test, continue to control the educational and school community in terms of new infections and outbreak control, but the process of deflation cannot effectively stop," said André Ventura in a statement- video.

The president of Chega defended today that the current lack of definition of restrictions to combat the epidemic of invite-19 "cannot stop", underlining the need for "massive testing", especially in schools, and continuous vaccination of the population.

The leader of the party was speaking after another meeting of experts and experts, policy makers and decision makers, organized by the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) and the National Authority for Medicines and Health Products (Infarmed), and an audience with the President of the Republic, regarding the state of emergency.

"Despite the situation, at this moment, of some risk, with the increase in the rate of transmissibility - expected with the ongoing deflation process -, for us, it is important that the deflation does not stop", he said, highlighting the problems economic sectors such as "catering, hospitality, commerce" or "gyms".

Today, 20 fewer people are hospitalized with covid-19, with 408 confirmed cases of SARS- CoV-2 infection and five more deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the most recent DGS epidemiological bulletin.

"We have very, very affected sectors and we have sensitized the Government to this situation. To vote back in the process of deflation is to create a very serious problem for Portuguese society and economy",

DGS registered 459 hospitalized people, 118 of whom were in intensive care units (one less than on Monday). Health authorities also recovered 746 more people in the last 24 hours, reaching a total of 785,809 since March 2020 and active cases total 25,441, 343 less than on Monday.

"Increasing vaccination is essential. The Government had guaranteed a number ... At the moment, at the end of March, it is far below what would be desirable. We know and have information on several deaths that were prevented precisely with vaccination. We must continue vaccinating, "concluded Ventura.

Portugal has recorded almost 17,000 deaths attributed to covid-19 and 828,173 cases of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus since March 2020.

The covid-19 pandemic caused at least close to three million deaths worldwide, resulting from more than 136.5 million cases of infection, according to a report made by the French agency AFP.

The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected in late 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China.

3. index.hu (translated, original by Imre Loránd Patthy, 08.05.2021)

Thousands of protests accompanied the EU summit in Porto

Thousands protested on Saturday at the scene of the EU Social Summit in Porto, in northern Portugal, to raise awareness of poverty, deprivation and speak out against privatization, the MTI reported.

If they are concerned about the social situation, it is not the peaks that need to be held, but concrete steps that need to be taken. We already know about companies that they have no worries about our social situation

A Portuguese man who was fired from a closed Portuguese oil refinery along with 150 people told the French news agency AFP. According to him, the Portuguese energy company Galp is using the energy transition to cut jobs, reduce wages and limit workers ’rights.

EU leaders adopted an action plan on Saturday after discussions with the social partners, but workers' representatives said they "could not find the right answers".

The fight against policies of low wages, deprivation and the degradation of public services must be tackled, said Isabel Camarinha, leader of the Portuguese trade union federation, which organized the protest.

According to police, about three thousand people took part in the movement.

4. publico.pt (translated, original by Daniela Carmo, 09.05.2021)

Covid-19 in Portugal: one more death and 324 cases. Hospitalizations going up

There are eight more hospitalizations in relation to the last balance, in a total of 368 hospitalizations. Only death was reported in the North.

Portugal registered, on Saturday, another death (a woman over 60 years old) and 324 new cases of covid-19. In total, since the beginning of the pandemic, the country has totaled 839,582 confirmed infections and 16,992 fatalities, according to the epidemiological bulletin released this Sunday by the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).

The DGS also reports that hospitalizations have gone up again, after three days of descending, and there are now eight more patients in the beds of Portuguese hospitals in relation to the last balance, in a total of 268 hospitalizations. Of these, 74 are in intensive care units (ICU), the same number of patients as in the previous balance sheet.

270 people recovered from the disease in 24 hours. In total, there are 800,277 people who have managed to recover from the infection since the beginning of the pandemic.

According to DGS, there are 22,313 active cases of the disease, 53 more compared to Friday.

The only death was registered in the North, a region that also reported the highest number of infections, plus 153. Lisbon and the Tagus Valley totaled 107, the Center and the Algarve found 21 new cases in each of the regions, and the Alentejo another four .

In the Autonomous Region of the Azores, there were 16 cases of infections and two in Madeira.

The indicators of the risk matrix, which dictates the advance or retreat of deflation, remain the same as on Friday, since they are updated on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. In this sense, the transmissibility index - corresponding to the number of people who are infected by someone with the active virus - is 0.92. The incidence is fixed at 57.7 cases of infection per 100 thousand inhabitants within 14 days.

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

AUSTRIA

1. vg.hu (translated, original by vg.hu, 30.04.2021)

Austria made a big announcement on Unemployment Day

Austria will launch a € 300 million program in the summer to support the long-term unemployed, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced at a press conference with Martin Kocher, Minister of Labor and Environment Leonore Gewessler, on Friday.

In Austria, April 30 - one day before May Day, is a day of unemployment.

The large-scale program called Springboard, announced on this occasion, aims to bring at least fifty thousand permanently unemployed people back into the world of work by the end of 2022.

Sebastian Kurz stressed that the government's goal is, among other things, to provide a chance and opportunity for people who, regardless of the epidemic or because of it, to become long- term unemployed after defeating the coronavirus epidemic. “This situation is not only an individual tragedy but also an economic problem,” he added.

Labor Minister Martin Kocher said the support is aimed primarily at private sector companies, but also benefits public employment. Under the program, all companies, if they are permanently unemployed, are reimbursed by the state for 50 percent of their salaries for one year. He stressed

the focus is primarily on people whose long-term unemployment is also determined by other risk factors, such as age or a long-term health problem. Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler spoke about the job-creating ability of future- oriented investments to green the economy and protect the climate.

Be it railway construction, climate-friendly renovation of buildings or the gradual re-tuning of industry from fossil to renewable energy, they will all mean new jobs, the head of the ministry emphasized.

2. 888.hu (translated, original by 888.hu, 26.04.2021)

Pressure relieves in Viennese hospitals, full opening begins in Austria 44

In addition, spectators will be admitted to football matches in Austria from 21 May

In Vienna, pressure on hospitals has eased, which means that a complete closure lasting more than three weeks to curb the coronavirus epidemic is effective. - wrote the Austrian daily Der Standard on Monday, citing a spokesman for the Ministry of Health.

In the eastern provinces of Austria - Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland - a total closure was ordered on 1 April, mainly due to congestion in the intensive care units of hospitals. Burgenland has introduced reductions since 19 April thanks to rapidly improving epidemiological indicators, but the closure has been extended until 2 May in the other two provinces.

According to the Ministry of Health, 183 serious cases of coronavirus are currently being treated in the intensive care unit in Vienna, 12 less than the previous day and 32 - 15 per cent - less than a week ago. The downward trend is already visible, and this proves the effectiveness of the entire short circuit, the paper writes.

Provincial Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner announced on Friday that following Burgenland, the short circuit will also be lifted in Lower Austria next Monday.

However, Michael Ludwig, the mayor of Vienna, has so far made a restrained statement. On Tuesday, it will evaluate the epidemiological data with experts and is expected to announce a decision on whether stores and service providers in the capital can actually open on May 2 or remain in full closure. There is a lot of pressure on the mayor, on the one hand, because the data is really improving, and on the other hand, the Chamber of Commerce has clearly taken a stand for opening up.

In Austria, 1566 people have been newly diagnosed with the virus in the last 24 hours, and 610,545 positive cases have been registered since the outbreak began. The number of people cared for in the hospital is currently 1,307, and there are 517 people in need of intensive care. Of the complications of the disease caused by the infection (Covid-19), 11 died last day, bringing the death toll to 10,098. The number of people who recovered from the disease was 575,217.

From May 21, the struggles of the Austrian football Bundesliga will continue in front of spectators. Fans of the league will be back in the stadiums on Monday, May 21-22 and 23, respectively, according to Monday’s tournament directors.

However, guest presses are still not allowed to enter the arenas.

Up to three thousand spectators or half of the maximum number of spectators will be admitted to the matches, fans must wear an FFP2 mask and have a vaccination certificate or a negative coronavirus test.

In the first six rounds of the current season, by the end of October, there could have been 10,000, then three thousand, and finally only 1,500 fans in the grandstands, and finally, since November 3, the matches have been taking place behind closed doors in Austria. The only exception is the province of Vorarlberg, where hundreds of spectators have been admitted to the matches since the end of March.

3. catholicnewsagency.com (original by CNA Staff, 28.04.2021)

‘Roma locuta’: Young Catholics hang banner in response to rainbow flag on Vienna’s oldest church

The banner hung by the group Christus Vincit from St. Rupert’s Church in Vienna, Austria.

Young Catholics have hung a banner declaring “Roma locuta, causa finita” (Rome has spoken, the case is closed) beneath a rainbow flag on Vienna’s oldest church.

A video posted to YouTube April 26 showed young people climbing up the side of St. Rupert’s Church at night and draping a banner reading in full: “God cannot bless sin. Roma locuta, causa finita.”

The video explained that they took the step after a rainbow flag, also known as the LGBT pride flag, was hung from the church’s tower in protest over the Vatican doctrinal congregation’s “no” to same-sex blessings.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued a “Responsum ad dubium” March 15 replying to the question, “does the Church have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex?” The CDF answered, “Negative,” outlining its reasoning in an explanatory note and accompanying commentary.

The explanatory note, signed by CDF prefect Cardinal Luis Ladaria, S.J., and secretary Archbishop Giacomo Morandi, stressed that God never ceases to bless all “His pilgrim children.”

“But he does not and cannot bless sin,” it said.

Campaigners in Austria and Germany have announced that they will hold a day for blessings for same-sex partners on May 10 in defiance of the Vatican’s statement, which was issued with the approval of Pope Francis.

Representatives of the group that attached the banner to St. Rupert’s Church told CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, that they regarded the rainbow flag as a “provocation.”

“On the one hand, we wanted to show that such a provocation is not simply tolerated in Vienna and, on the other hand, we hope that this might trigger a rethink among certain officials,” said the representatives of group, known as Christus Vincit, who wished to remain anonymous.

“We also think that such an action can give other Catholics courage and hope. We actually hope that no further actions will be necessary, but should there be another one, it would arise from the same intention, namely to defend the Catholic faith.”

4. origo.hu (translated, original by origo.hu, 22.04.2021)

Péter Szijjártó met with the Austrian Foreign Minister at the Hegyeshalom border

On Thursday afternoon, Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, agreed with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg on the Austrian side of the Hegyeshalom border crossing point, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told MTI.

At the meeting, Péter Szijjártó said that HUNGARY ALSO COOPERATES CLOSELY WITH AUSTRIA IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE WORLD epidemic.

He explained that during the first wave last year, the two countries helped each other so that their citizens could return home and also made sure that transit and freight traffic was as barrier-free as possible.

He added that a lot of consultations had taken place in the recent period as well, in order to minimize the inconvenience and obstacles for Hungarian commuters.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade made several suggestions to his Austrian counterpart, who greatly helped the Austrians to command more soldiers and police officers at the border to speed up the crossing.

EASY HAVE ALSO BEEN MADE FOR HUNGARIAN YOUNG PEOPLE STUDYING IN AUSTRIA, in addition, they increased the number of test points so that the duties they imposed caused less inconvenience to commuters between the two countries, he continued.

Péter Szijjártó emphasized the importance of economic cooperation between the two countries. Austrian companies believed in cooperating with Hungary, when last year, in an extremely difficult situation, 31 Austrian companies made an investment of HUF 18 billion in Hungary with government support. As a result, 7,700 Hungarians were saved.

He also said that CONSULTATION AND COOPERATION BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES, especially now that we are in a difficult phase in the fight against the pandemic.

We will remain in close contact in the coming weeks and months, because it is in our interest to successfully deal with the epidemic and its consequences in both countries, concluded Péter Szijjártó.

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

GREECE

1. greekcitytimes.com (translated, original by greekcitytimes.com, 03.05.2021)

Greece and Cyprus fully cooperating in Geneva against Turkey’s “two- state solution”

In full coordination, Greece and Cyprus are participating in the Five-Party Conference in Geneva, according to diplomatic sources, remaining committed to the basic principles for resolving the Cyprus issue as defined by UN Security Council resolutions.

Greece, as a guarantor power, is participating as of today in the informal five-party conference convened by UN Secretary General António Guterres.

Greece and Cyprus fully cooperating in Geneva against Turkey's "two-state solution" 3

Yesterday, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias had successive meetings with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulidis and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. 49

At the heart of the talks was the coordination in view of the start of the informal pentagon.

The Foreign Minister then attended a reception hosted by the UN Secretary-General.

He had the opportunity to talk with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, as well as with his British counterpart Dominic Raab.

In his speech during the informal five-day meeting earlier today, the Foreign Minister pointed out that Greece is coming to this meeting in a constructive mood and in good faith.

He pointed out that the Mitsotakis government wants the resumption of negotiations for the settlement of the Cyprus problem, the framework of which must be fully compatible with the UN Charter and the relevant decisions of the UN Security Council.

These are for a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation, under the European acquis.

Especially with regard to the last point, he made special mention to the fact that any solution should ensure the continuation of the substantial participation of Cyprus in EU decision- making without external interference.

He stressed that there is no room for consideration of any alternative outside the above framework.

Referring to the status of guarantees, he stressed that there should be provision for the abolition of this anachronistic system and the possibility of intervention by third countries, as well as the complete removal of Turkish occupying forces from the island.

It is recalled that Guterres clarified to the Turkish Cypriot side that the two-state solution in Cyprus is not acceptable.

During his meeting yesterday with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, the UN Secretary General noted, the following: 50

a) The two-state solution is outside the terms of his mandate

b) The UN Security Council, the international community and the EU will never accept them, and

c) The workload concerning the Cyprus issue cannot be deleted and we must start from the beginning.

2. enikos.gr (translated, original by enikos.gr, 07.05.2021)

Kyriakos Velopoulos: Myrtos's mother asks to be hired by Parliament - The letter to Tasoulas

The immediate recruitment of Myrtos 's mother , Maria Kotrotsou, with an indefinite contract in Parliament, as well as the assumption of the costs of treatment, rehabilitation and care of Myrtos from the budget of the Parliament, requests in a letter to the Speaker of Parliament, the Speaker Hellenic Solution, Kyriakos Velopoulos .

Mr. Velopoulos' letter to Konstantinos Tassoulas reads as follows:

"Mr President,

This year marks nine years since the horrific crime in Paros, in which a Pakistani illegal immigrant ruined the lives of fifteen-year-old Myrtos and her family. A crime that shocked the whole of Greece due to the innocence of the unfortunate girl and the savagery of the ruthless perpetrator.

Unfortunately, a few days ago, the Greek state, despite its obvious responsibility, refused to undertake the obligation to compensate Myrto and her family for the Golgotha they are climbing.

It is the responsibility of the Greek state that the ruthless Pakistani crossed the country illegally. It is the responsibility of the Greek state that the disgusting criminal lived and worked illegally on Greek soil. It is his responsibility

Greek state that it could not protect a fifteen-year-old child from the appetites of a beast.

I believe that it is the obligation of the Greek Parliament to restore both Myrto and her heroine mother, as well as the honor and reputation of the Greek state in the eyes of the citizens.

I propose, therefore, as a minimal symbolic action, the immediate hiring of Myrtos' mother, Mrs. Maria Kotrotsou, with an employment contract of indefinite duration, in the Greek Parliament.

In addition, I suggest the return of a sum of money from the budget of the Hellenic Parliament, in order to cover the past, current and future costs of treatment, rehabilitation and care of Myrtos.

I am sure that my proposal will find you in agreement and you will do the right thing ".

3. origo.hu (translated, original by origo.hu, 05.05.2021)

Human traffickers are becoming more and more tricky in Greece

Migrants have also been smuggled in ambulances and stolen boats, with increasing migratory pressure on Greece’s borders. Once again, more and more people are leaving on the mainland, on the Balkan route to the European Union, so the pressure on the Hungarian border may increase.

Two men were arrested by Greek police officers transporting illegal migrants in a private ambulance in western Greece south of the Albanian border. During a routine check, police spotted two migrants in the ambulance ward space who could not prove themselves with any paperwork or whether they had entered the country legally. Migrants and human traffickers were apprehended in Igoumenitsa, a busy port city from where many ferries depart for Italy, writes the Greek newspaper Proto Thema.

More and more people are leaving Greece illegally by sea for Italy. A few weeks earlier, 17 illegal migrants were found in a stolen boat by Greek Coast Guard officials. The immigrants told the authority that they had set off for Italy by human traffickers, but when the boat was damaged, the smugglers left them alone at sea.

The northern part of Greece is also facing another influx of migrants, with more and more people trying to get to the European Union by land on the Balkan migration route. Idomeni, located on the Greek-North-Macedonian border, became a hub for migrants to Western Europe in 2016, and now they are seeing an increase in the number of migrants again. According to the North Macedonian authorities, in March they had to take action against 300 border violators in a single day, and elsewhere they reported a fourfold increase in the number of migrants camping in the area in March in a month.

György Bakondi, the Prime Minister's Chief Homeland Security Adviser, Kossuth Rádió Good morning, Hungary, will soon be "recruited" by those currently experimenting with entering the Hungarian border. in his show.

He added that tightening due to the coronavirus epidemic makes human trafficking more difficult, so there has been an increase in the cost that some migrant groups can no longer afford, so there are more and more people trying to cross borders on their own.

The increasing migratory pressure on the Balkan route is well illustrated by the fact that in the first four months of 2021, almost as many illegal migrants were apprehended at the Hungarian borders as last year. This was also discussed by the Prime Minister’s Chief Homeland Security Adviser last week.

However, there is also a constant supply in Greece, with more and more migrant boats arriving in the Greek islands, which is creating increasing tensions.

At the end of March, hundreds marched to the governor’s office in Lesbos to protest against migrant camps being set up on the islands with more than a quarter of a billion euros in EU aid.

4. 888.hu (translated, original by 888.hu/Magyar Nemzet, 27.04.2021)

Germany would send immigrants back to Greece

The trouble should not be brought here, but it should be helped where there is a problem - it seems that the position of the Hungarian government is increasingly being adopted by Germany, which chose the policy of open borders in 2015, at the height of the European migration crisis.

According to the Welt am Sonntag Sunday newspaper, the Berlin government would send back to Greece asylum seekers who had previously been declared refugees or protected persons by Athens, but still arrived in Germany, according to the news portal.

They add: Berlin would also bear the cost of providing care for returnees, even providing them with hotel rooms in Greece. Berlin’s new plan depends solely on Athens ’willingness to readmit.

In addition to the wave of illegal immigration about a thousand people apply for asylum in Germany every month, who has already been recognized as a refugee in Greece.

They have not been returned so far because German courts consider they are not receiving adequate care in Greece, but they are even in danger of being left without cover, the news portal writes.

They are threatened by begging and a life that does not meet human rights standards. ” - for this reason, a court in Osnabrück banned the return of two Syrian women who already had refugee status in Greece a few days ago. 54

Germany has sent only four refugees back to Greece since 2016, writes the Austrian news portal Exxpress. The German immigration office said in March that it had been suspending the asylum application process for immigrants who already had refugee status in Greece since December last year.

Alexander Throm, a Member of Parliament for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), accused Athens of playing a dirty game.

They are granted refugee status to migrants, but they are not provided with adequate care and are allowed to travel on quickly. It must end ”

The politician said. According to Linda Teuteberg, a representative of the opposition liberal FDP, secondary migration is the “Achilles heel” of the European asylum system. Immigrants registered as refugees or protected persons are free to travel between EU member states, but they cannot settle in another member state, writes the InfoMigrants news portal.

It takes a much stronger stance against illegal immigration than its predecessor, the right-wing Athens government, which took office in the summer of 2019, but refutes German allegations of ill-treatment. According to Greek immigration minister Nótis Mitarákis, Greece is helping refugees find housing and state support, they write.

However, it is their own responsibility to look for a job in the meantime. We do not provide lifetime benefits to those who do not work ”

He stressed. It is estimated that there are currently eighty thousand refugees and asylum seekers in Greece, the Hungarian Nation adds.

During the Western Balkans migration route from Greece to Hungary, Austria and Germany the march of illegal immigrants is relentless.

Between January and March, more than five thousand people applied for asylum in Austria, a 42 percent increase from a year earlier. Eighty-eight percent of immigrants are men, Exxpress writes, saying it is mainly Syrian, Afghan and Moroccan nationals.

The news portal notes that all this is possible by the fact that in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic, strict border guards have been ordered by EU member states. The Austrian concerns are also supported by the statement made in early April by György Bakondi, the Hungarian Prime Minister's Chief Homeland Security Adviser: in the first three months of the year, more than twenty-five and a half thousand illegal migrants were apprehended in Hungary.

This figure was nine thousand in the same period last year.

The news portal adds that in March, meanwhile, the number of illegal border crossings into the European Union in the central basin of the Mediterranean quadrupled, doubling in its western basin compared to a year ago.

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

THE NETHERLANDS

1. hartvannederland.nl (translated, original by hartvannederland.nl, 07.05.2021)

Thierry Baudet wants its own province for Forum voters: 'Give us Groningen'

If it were up to Thierry Baudet, all Forum for Democracy voters will have their own province.

According to FvD leader Baudet, the current political climate is unhealthy. “Politics is about coercion. We are forced to live under what the majority want, but why?” He says. "That's why I'm a separatist. I think that all Forum people should get one province. Give us Groningen, you know. They don't want to do anything with that gas, we do." 56

Each party own province

According to Baudet, it would be a good idea if each (large) party would have its own province. "There are twelve large parties in the Netherlands, well that sort of cluster. And there are twelve provinces. Give each party a province, and after ten years see who was right. Actually, that is better."

The conversation is also about the corona measures. "Everything just has to open again, this has to stop", Baudet begins his account. “It's a psychosis, a madness, it doesn't make sense. People are apparently very susceptible to this fairy tale, that a pandemic is going on. There is no pandemic going on. is normal, but nothing is wrong. "

2. hartvannederland.nl (translated, original by hartvannederland.nl, 03.05.2021)

Thierry Baudet strikes back after criticism of FVD's Liberation Day poster: 'What a hypocrisy'

Forum for Democracy (FvD) could count on a storm of criticism after the party put a poster online on Sunday with the text 'On May 5 we commemorate 75 years of freedom' with the years 1945-2020 with a death cross underneath. "What a hypocrisy", says party leader Thierry Baudet

"For decades, our opponents have been politicizing the War to push mass immigration, European power fantasies and modern art," Baudet tweeted Monday. "Now we say: on May 5, will we also consider the freedoms we lost in 2020/2021? That shouldn't be allowed?"

His tweet is also good for even more criticism. "You may consider that, but the analogy with that time is completely incorrect and inappropriate. Completely different context, and you know that yourself", someone tweeted in response.

Support for Forum 57

But there are also many twitterers who find the statement of the right-wing party justified. "Idd. Perhaps not always expressed tactically, but we see it happening around us every day and if we do not pay attention, we are 'tumbled into' another period comparable to this black past (anti-Semitism / dictatorship)".

The poster was created by Koen Verhagen, founder of Properganda. "I want to show that our freedom is systematically curtailed under the guise of public health."

He wants a national debate on freedom on May 5, he explained on Sunday. "About: what is left of our freedom and is that still proportional? I know that the text of the poster has a lot of impact, but with that I want to show that the measures we are burdened with are not proportional. stir up discussion, especially on May 5th. "

'Unheard of and unacceptable'

The CIDI, which stands up for the interests of Israel and Jews, reacted in astonishment on Sunday. "It is misplaced", director Hanna Luden told Hart van Nederland . "It is unheard of and unacceptable. It shows a lot of disrespect towards everyone who has lived through the war."

When asked, the Committee on 4 and 5 May said it found the Instagram post "inappropriate". Editor-in-chief Esther Voet of the Nieuw Israëlietisch Weekblad also reacts strongly to the poster. "Forum of Democracy had already fallen low. I thought: it is the bottom, but it can always get worse," she told Hart van Nederland on Monday .

3. mandiner.hu (translated, original by Bernát László Veszprémy, 22.04.2021)

If we don’t fight, we will lose our freedom - Geert Wilders to the Mandiner

We should not be ashamed if one fights for one's own interests and sovereignty, we should be proud of it, says the president of the Dutch Freedom Party, who we also asked about immigration and Islam. 58

In the mid-March election, they finished 10.79 percent in third place and won 17 seats out of 150. How do you evaluate the results?

I am disappointed that the People's Party, led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, has won for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). On the other hand, I am glad that, although we have lost some chairs, we have performed well in many regions and we will be the biggest opposition force. Considering that several new parties have formed on the right, winning 11 seats together, that 17 mandate is not bad at all. However, we were excluded from the coalition talks. So my feelings are mixed: we performed well, but the end result is bad for the Netherlands, because the current government or perhaps an even more left-wing line-up will continue to work. Maybe it will get even worse because smaller Christian parties could easily be pushed out of the cabinet.

Fidesz recently left the European People's Party. Would you form a faction with them if it was your turn?

Viktor Orbán and Matteo Salvini discussed this, it would be wiser not to comment on it publicly. But everyone knows that I pay close attention to Orban and his politics, and I fully understand why he left the European People's Party. He was treated terribly unfairly, and he said he would leave before the rules were changed and sent away. Sure, I’d be happy to work with him, but we’ll see what happens. In any case, I can say that I really appreciate it.

Last year, Rutte and Orbán fought a declaration battle over the EU budget, during which the Dutch prime minister called his Hungarian colleague a background noise. What do you think of your comment?

I don’t think it’s really that interesting, but one of the pre-election TV debates I had with the Prime Minister. On one occasion he called Viktor Orbán a racist, which was not mentioned in the news, I was surprised by it. This is a rough remark, worse than what you quoted. The accusation is ridiculous, Orbán simply puts his own national culture, national identity and country ahead. That would also be my policy if I were head of government. One should not be ashamed when one fights for one’s own interests and sovereignty, but should be proud of it. Viktor Orbán does this, but most Western European leaders, such as Angela Merkel or Emmanuel Macron, unfortunately do the opposite. They are more interested in the supranational formation, the EU, and are working to slowly end our national sovereignty.

I see that the Hungarian Prime Minister is more ahead than the leaders of Western Europe. 59

In the Western world, especially in America, the woke left, neomarxism, is becoming more and more fashionable. Is this also the case in the Netherlands?

The whole concept is ridiculous, but unfortunately the space is taking place here as well. This worldview is popular in the 66 ranks of the second largest party, the Social Liberal Democrats. Today is not a real threat, but I do not know what tomorrow will bring. There are more and more followers of the trend, and it may take things seriously one day. This is a matter of concern.

The D66 will certainly be Rutte's coalition partner. Did you mean that when you said the government could shift to the left?

Negotiations are still ongoing, but the D66 president has made it clear that he envisions a center-left cabinet and would be reluctant to co-govern with smaller Christian parties. The Social Democrats and the Green Left are even more likely to have government participation in the latter. In any case, the D66 was the big winner of the election, so what matters is what it says. Of course, it should be noted that the left has lost the election, only the VVD will need at least one left-wing party for the majority, which will probably push its coalition even further to the left.

Many in Hungary can imagine that the Netherlands is a flawless liberal democracy, you are in fact forced to hide as a Member of Parliament since the 2004 assassination of film director Theo van Gogh. What do you think about the state of democracy in the Netherlands?

Dutch democracy is weak. I have been brought to justice on several occasions for, among other things, my film and book on Islam and my remarks on Moroccans. In most cases, I won. But it is a well-known fact that the government helped the prosecution - this would be a clash of powers in a normal country, i.e. it would be called a political lawsuit. The weakness of Dutch democracy can be seen elsewhere, pin the family support case, which eventually fell into the third government. The government that attacked Orban on the rule of law has admitted to violating the law for years. The court and the prosecution are not completely independent in the Netherlands, as my case shows.

What about immigration? 60

The biggest danger is cultural relativism when it is taught to people that all cultures are equal.

People are equal, but cultures and values are not!

Our values, for example, are much more human than the values of Islam, and this is true for the individual and society as well. One million Muslims live in the Netherlands, if one criticizes Islam and cultural relativism, attacks are made. I was threatened with my book and film, and not just in the Netherlands: Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Syrian imams in Pakistan also spoke out against me. I get up to ten death threats a day. Yet defending a dominant culture simply means: if the country has no identity, it has no heart, no soul, and no democracy. If we don’t know who we are because our heads are filled with cultural relativism, then we don’t even know who we are.

Cultural relativism threatens our very existence, and it is worse than the coronavirus or economic troubles. Because ultimately the coronavirus will cost many victims, but we will be defeated, but if we do not fight immigration and cultural relativism, we will lose our freedom. I named my party the Freedom Party because I want to fight these dangers. Only in this way can we guarantee that both our children and grandchildren will grow up in freedom.

An interesting phenomenon from the Hungarian point of view is Denk, the immigrant party of the Dutch parliament. Do you think that in the future there will be more such parties across Europe?

I’m sure they’ll form parties like this in the future, Denk is just the tip of the iceberg. The trouble is that immigrants are also able to use existing parties as Trojan horses. And traditional parties are open to this in exchange for the vote of immigrants. The Social Democrats performed well in many cities, largely inhabited by immigrants. Just think of the fact that the first two members of parliament in Denk have left the Social Democrats.

Mark Rutte used harsh words about immigration in his campaign hair, for example, talking about closing the borders if there was another migration crisis. What do you think about this?

Rutte does this before every choice: he promises things, but he never keeps them. He is such a politician. Before the 2017 election, he banned Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, won 5-10 seats for a few days, and a few months later became friendly with Turkey again. So 61 on the one hand, he had already spoken similarly and had not kept his word. On the other hand, you will have to shift to the left. I also asked him in our debate: if he excludes me and the other right-wing parties from the coalition, with whom will he govern? With the Socialists? With the Liberals? They want more immigration and more EU, less control over our borders, less independence for the Netherlands. He will steer with the left.

Seeing the closure of Dutch liberals to the left, what opportunities do he see for the kind of right as Freedom Party?

First, let’s clarify what my right side is like. This may sound a little strange, but we combine cultural conservatism — that is, the nation-state, law and order, criticism of immigration — with issues such as pensions, the minimum wage, or health care. Rutte used to joke that we are leftists - but we are not, no one would consider us leftists here.

However, we believe that the left does not have a monopoly on health and pension issues. Unlike other conservative parties, we have great sympathy for rural and urban residents who have problems not only with immigration but also with livelihoods. We represent many things on the right, but we also deal with topics that are left-wing; I say we are culturally conservative, but we also pay attention to the elderly and those who have a hard time making a living. This is considered left-wing in other countries.

Ours is therefore a rare combination. And of course we have a future. Between 2010 and 2012, we supported Rutte’s minority government from the outside, and then withdrew support from it. Then he said who was going to make us, we were done. Compared to this, we are a strong party, so far the second and now the third largest formation. And the day will come when we will be in government.

Not tomorrow, but it will come.

Geert Wilders

He was born in 1963 in Venlo. He was previously a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. In 1998, he was added to the list in parliament. He quit in 2004 and set out to build his own formation, the Freedom Party. He sharply criticizes Islam and Muslim immigration. When he criticized Islam in a film by Theo van Gogh in November 2004, the writer-filmmaker was murdered on the street by a terrorist of Moroccan origin who was already born in the Netherlands; a police investigation revealed that Wilders would also have been a target. His wife is Hungarian, so he visits Hungary several times.

4. erdely.ma (translated, original by B.J., 05.03.2021)

The Dutch already use Women's Day to promote the Islamic religion

Do you have any idea what else could celebrate “Women’s Day” even more intimately than by promoting an Islamic religion that is not exactly the best example of female fulfillment and equality? - the Dutch correspondent of Transylvania asked.

As you write: Women's Day is celebrated on the advertising surfaces of the streets of Amsterdam with this text:

"Islamic identity is the foundation of everything in my life and I confess that as a Muslim you must always stand up for justice."

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BELGIUM

1. hln.be (translated, original by hln.be, 12.04.2021)

Tom Van Grieken’s Twitter page was blocked last week.

Vlaams Belang submits bill to prevent censorship on social media

The Vlaams Belang has submitted a bill to prevent social media such as Facebook and Twitter from randomly removing users and 'posts'. The party is doing so after the Twitter page of chairman Tom Van Grieken was blocked last week. “Only what is illegal according to our laws may be removed on social media, not just what those companies do not like,” says Vlaams Belang Member of Parliament and lawyer Marijke Dillen, who submitted the proposal.

The party points out that 'big tech' companies like Facebook have such a large, quasi- monopoly market position that they should be regarded as public utilities. “Doing nothing now, that is our freedom of expression and therefore having our democracy hijacked by foreign multinationals. And the Vlaams Belang fits in with that ”, it sounds.

"Today, social media giants play both judge and executioner over the content that their users share on the various platforms," the party said. “This often happens with vague, widely interpretable and self-made rules that are set above the various national legislations. In recent years, the often arbitrary moderation of the online discourse has been derailed and we are increasingly faced with open censorship ”, it still sounds. "It ranges from dubious practices around 'fact checking' and the mysterious 'shadow banning' of some politicians, to blocking political dissidents," said Dillen. "We were able to experience that last week when Vlaams Belang chairman Tom Van Grieken was completely arbitrarily blocked on Twitter."(Twitter blocked Van Grieken’s account “for violating the rules for posting private material of a person from a country with recognized legislation on the right to privacy.” Van Grieken accused the chairman of Vooruit in the Antwerp district of his home. to decorate “with posters of mass murderers such as Stalin and other communist propaganda”, ed.)

Dangerous evolution

“Punishing and censoring citizens on digital platforms is a curtailment of civil liberties,” the lawyer continues. “These companies thus undermine our fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right to freedom of expression, which are guaranteed by both the Constitution and the ECHR. As a result, companies such as Facebook not only substitute themselves for, but also above the legislator. We therefore believe that freedom of expression is thus placed under the tutelage of the social media giants and that this is a particularly dangerous evolution with dire consequences for our democracy. ”

The Vlaams Belang is therefore submitting a bill to the House. The party wants to create a clear legal framework within which social media services may block or delete messages and accounts. “We believe that it is not allowed for social media services to censor or block if the posted content does not appear to violate Belgian law,” Dillen concludes. "Just because this or that opinion does not like the internet giants does not mean that opinion should be banned."

2. tijd.be (translated, original by Sarah Lamote, 24.04.2021)

Bart De Wever starts N-VA machine towards 2024

Bart De Wever, chairman of the N-VA, explains the direction of the march for the coming years. As a real policy party, they want to play on a wide range of content to entice voters in 2024. At the same time they want to wage sharp opposition.

Although the next elections are only in the distant 2024, De Wever is kicking the N-VA machine going. In May 2023, a large member congress must plant the new substantive flags of the N-VA.

The basis was laid on Saturday by De Wever, on the party board and the party council. The chairman puts forward five main themes in his march direction. Their eyes are wide. 'Sustainable Flanders', 'Prosperous Flanders', 'Warm Flanders', 'Safe and firm Flanders' and 'The State of Flanders'.

The last time the party held a members' congress was in 2014, when 'confederalism' was the buzzword. This one-issue approach is now being discarded. That is no coincidence. 'We have been a broad people's party for some time and are now making the concrete translation.'

Anneleen Van Bossuyt, Lorin Parys, Valerie Van Peel, Theo Francken and Sander Loones will take the helm.

The five themes are each given a chairman or an 'ambassador'. In the same order, Anneleen Van Bossuyt, Lorin Parys, Valerie Van Peel, Theo Francken and Sander Loones will take the helm. That immediately seems to be the team that should be the leader in 2024. "These five are a logical choice, and there was no major discussion about it," says the N-VA.

It is striking that Ben Weyts is not discussed. He nevertheless organized the conference in 2014. Also for Jan Jambon or Zuhal Demir no 'ambassadorial positions' appear to be ready in this plan.

Confederalism

Confederalism is given a place under 'The State of Flanders'. With 'State' with a capital letter. "Our story about confederalism remains," says N-VA. After all, according to the party, the analysis of confederalism is more shared than ever.

'The corona crisis makes it clear that the Belgian system is not working. Everyone sees that. The question is how to proceed? We are not going to reinvent hot water: more powers must be given to the regions. Yes, our story will be updated with numbers and depth, but what is under the hood will remain the same. '

In a striking first place, the theme 'sustainability' shows off, although it is not a theme that sticks to the party. "Yes," it sounds. 'It is in line with our tradition. Everyone knows our position on nuclear power plants, but we have a broader story to tell. From earth metals to GMOs (genetically modified organisms, ed.) . '

Party council

The N-VA party council elected Flemish parliament member Kris Van Dijck as its new chairman on Saturday. Eddy Vermoesen remains the party's treasurer.

N-VA is thus completing its internal board elections. At the beginning of this year, a lot of attention was paid to the election of two vice-chairmen. That became Lorin Parys and Valerie Van Peel, who beat Anneleen Van Bossuyt, Assita Kanko, Kathleen Depoorter and Theo Francken.

Kris Van Dijck succeeds Veerle Geerinckx as chairman of the party council. Van Dijck has been a member of the Flemish Parliament since 1995 and was briefly chairman of parliament after the 2019 elections.

'Above all, we want to be an alternative to the madness of green parties. Naive ideas that are chased by the traditional parties. Vivaldi claims to be the greenest government ever, but the nuclear exit will make them the dirtiest. '

Spread position

The goal of the members' conference in May 2023 is clear to the party. 'This will be the kick- off for the elections a year later, in 2024. Voters should know that N-VA is the only alternative to current purple-green policy. This must also be the high mass of the opposition to Vivaldi. '

That is not an easy task. With the process, the N-VA wants to position itself as the only policy alternative, but at the same time also wage fierce opposition. Seduce the voter with policy proposals, but also go on the attack. A straddling position will certainly be.

This must become the high mass of the opposition to Vivaldi.

Although the congress is still two years in the future, the party thinks it is obvious to get off the starting blocks now. 'We feel the need to enter into dialogue with many members. We are a supply party and want to focus on that.

Vlaams Belang

The party hopes to hold physical fraction days in September. In 2022 there will be various themed sessions with well-known national and international speakers and in September 2022 the texts will be submitted to the members for amendment.

Whether the party can use this process and these five pillars to stop the further overflow of voters to Vlaams Belang? 'We won't know until after 2024. We do hope, however, that a wide range of voters will recognize themselves in our story. Better a useful voice than an extreme voice. ' 67

3. vrt.be (translated, original by Rik Arnoudt, 30.04.2021)

N-VA chairman Bart De Wever: "Stop that central wage consultation"

N-VA chairman Bart De Wever shows understanding for the demand from the socialist government parties for a corona premium for those sectors that have thrived during the corona crisis. But he also believes that those sectors that have performed less well should not be affected. That is why he advocates abolishing the central wage consultation and replacing it with a system in which wage agreements are concluded per sector or per company.

"The Group of 10 is no longer functioning", says De Wever in "The world today". "They are no longer able to negotiate an interprofessional agreement (IPA). When the center-right is in power, employers prefer the government to take matters in hand, and now the unions prefer to leave the initiative. to the center-left government.

Bart De Wever on wage consultation: "Focus is on gross wages, but that is not of much use to the employee"

PS chairman Magnette: "No agreement? Then trade unions in all sectors can ask for wage increases"

The solution according to De Wever: "Do it in German, per sector. If the cash register of Jef Colruyt has rung, Deborah can profit from it, but then no other sectors will share in the loss of competitiveness. a job that no longer exists after that, you have nothing.

"Allow companies and sectors to conclude all-in wage agreements. That's how they do it all over Europe." This puts Bart De Wever in line with the liberals in the government. "Philosophically, we all want the same thing: that the economy will run well again, that the 68 sectors that have been struggling can start up again and are not confronted with excessive wage costs", said Open VLD chairman Egbert Lachaert in "To the matter" yesterday.

Economist Paul De Grauwe is also not very fond of a general wage norm, on which the Group of 10 has tried in vain to reach an agreement. He calls such a standard that is centrally imposed on everyone "dirigistic" and not geared to an economy that is very differentiated.

4. portfolio.hu (translated, original by MTI, 27.04.2021)

Belgium closes its borders to those from India, Brazil and South Africa

Belgium is temporarily closing its borders to those from India, Brazil and the Republic of South Africa due to the extraordinary spread of particularly contagious variants of the coronavirus in those countries, the Belgian prime minister announced on Tuesday.

Alexander De Croo emphasized that it was forbidden to enter Belgium from direct or air travel from any of the countries listed, or by any other means, including transit by bus or train.

In very limited cases, it is necessary to allow absolutely necessary entry, in case of business trip or representatives of diplomats or international organizations, if their physical presence is essential for the performance of their duties. Holders of a Belgian identity card or residence permit can return to Belgium from all three countries, but are subject to double virus testing and a ten-day quarantine obligation.

The Belgian government is monitoring the global development of the epidemiological situation, but is proposing that no one travel abroad, especially not to these countries, the Belgian prime minister said. The competent Belgian public health authority said on Tuesday that the number of new infections continues to rise, but the number of hospitalized and fatalities is falling in Belgium.

Looking at the data for the past seven days, the average coronavirus test was positive for 3,540 people a day, a slight increase of 2 percent over the previous week. On average, almost 221 coronavirus patients were transported to Belgian hospitals per day, which is 5 percent lower than in the previous seven-day period. The hospital is 6 percent fewer than the previous 69 week, and 2,952 people are currently being treated for coronavirus, 892 of whom require intensive care. This figure is also 6 percent lower than the previous week’s numbers. An average of 38.4 people die each day from the virus, 1.5 percent less than a week ago.

Since the onset of the epidemic, SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has been detected in 976,088 people and 24,065 have died from complications of the viral disease (Covid-19) in Belgium.

It was also reported that in Belgium, almost three out of ten adults (29.2 per cent) received at least the first vaccination against the coronavirus. That means 2,682,515 people. Of these, 749,333 received a second, booster dose, giving 8.1 percent of Belgium's adult population protection, they added.

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IRELAND

1. bbc.com (original by bbc.com, 12.05.2021)

Ireland: Tánaiste wants travel to Britain back by summer Travel between Britain and Ireland could be back by the summer period, according to Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) Leo Varadkar.

Mr Varadkar made the comments at a virtual conference for publicans in Ireland on Tuesday.

He said international travel between parts of Europe and the United States may not return until next year.

But he said that there was a "strong case" for restoring travel to Britain this summer. 70

"One thing I would like to see and this would be very good for places like Kerry, is a return to travel between Ireland and the United Kingdom, a return to the Common Travel Area as it's supposed to be, travel between Britain and Ireland with no restrictions," he said.

"I think I can make the case for that, they've been very successful in Britain with their vaccine programme, they're ahead of us in terms of vaccination."

The airline said it had not received enough help from the Irish government Mr Varadkar said the issue would need addressing due to changes already due to come into effect in June.

"A really weird situation is going to arise in June, whereby we can go on holidays or visit relatives in Northern Ireland, people from Northern Ireland can come here, people from England, Scotland and Wales can go to Northern Ireland, people from Northern Ireland would be able to go to England, Scotland and Wales," he said.

"Wouldn't it be a bit bizarre if we couldn't go to England and English people couldn't come here?

"So I think there will be a strong case this summer to restore travel to Britain."

The issue of cross-border travel between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic has been a focus for Health Minister Robin Swann recently.

Last week, Mr Swann asked for a meeting with his counterpart Stephen Donnelly to discuss the potential spread of Covid-19 by people crossing the border.

In his letter Mr Swann said both governments should be doing "all we can to prevent non- essential cross-border travel".

"In the present circumstances, crossing the border for non-essential shopping or socialising purposes creates an unnecessary risk of virus spread," he wrote.

He said he looked forward to a time when normal cross-border activity could resume, but warned: "We are not there yet."

2. gulfnews.com (original by Mick O’Reilly, 06.05.2021)

Turning 100, there’s little reason to celebrate in Northern Ireland

Future of the UK itself is in peril, while Ulster remains more isolated that ever

A century ago this week, the island of Ireland was portioned by Britain. The north-eastern six provinces of the island were carved off to create the state of Northern Ireland, which remained part of the United Kingdom.

The idea then was to create a state that guaranteed the majority Protestant population there a permanent state, an integral part of the of the UK, one that would supposedly ensure that they could rule ad infinitum and look after their affairs thought their own parliament in Stormont, just outside Belfast.

The remaining 26 counties of Ireland became independent. The Irish Free State would remain part of the Dominion then — but that quickly ended as it found its feet as a young nation with very old roots.

My grandfather was involved in the War of Independence, a guerrilla-style campaign that began in 1919 and ended 18 months later in a truce and eventual vote that agreed to the partition — it was a take it or leave proposal from the British, who still controlled vast corners of the world.

No time to react

For the Irish, winning at least the Free State was a considerable if not whole victory. When the treaty was signed, Grandad was in prison. He was arrested in a bicycle shop in December 1920 that was actually making homemade hand grenades. Because they didn’t have the proper 72 materials to make fuses, they had to make do with shorter fuses — making the grenades much more deadly once lobbed. There was no time to react before they went off.

Partition, and the divisions it brought, the violence that followed, and sectioning off people from the same nationality but with different religions in new nations was a policy the British would use again — and anyone of Indian or Pakistani heritage knows only too well the horrors of partition. That brought about the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War — an historical fact that was often overlooked as Europe struggled with the flood of refugees coming from Iraq and Syria.

The partition of Ireland also created Europe’s longest-running terrorist campaign before the 1970s and 1990s, one that killed some 3,600 people and injured 36,000 more. Thankfully, those darkest days are behind the UK and Ireland. But the peace is fragile and the tension runs deep. And nothing has done more to bring these volatile differences to the surface than Brexit.

State of suspended animation

Right now, Northern Ireland has been placed in a virtual state of suspended animation. It remains politically part of the UK, it is also different, with the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreeing to put the customs border between the European Union and the UK straight down the Irish Sea. In effect, it has economically partitioned off part of its territory to meet the demands of the Brexiteers and sold out the people of Northern Ireland once more.

Naturally, things change over the course of a century. When Northern Ireland was established, it was believed the Protestant community would maintain their 60-40 ruling ratio in perpetuity. That, however is not the case. The strength of religion is waning, so too old values, and, once the results of the 2021 census are finally tabulated and released, they will make for very interesting reading indeed.

The belief is that for the first time, people who classify themselves as Irish and nationalist will be in the majority. That is the hard fact of demographics, and yet another hard fact that the Loyalist community — those who want to stay part of the UK — must face. They are economically isolated, decreasing in numbers — and political relevance too — and no longer have control of the UK government as they did when Theresa May was PM.

She needed the 10 votes of the Democratic Unionist party MPs at Westminster for her parliamentary majority. Boris? He has 80 seats to spare and did whatever it took to get Brexit done — even telling the people of Northern Ireland that there would be no customs border down the Irish Sea. And we know how that turned out. 73

A party in crisis

The DUP is now in crisis. Its leader, Arlene Forster, has been forced to step down. It campaigned for Brexit when the people of Northern Ireland overwhelmingly voted to remain part of the EU, it opposed liberalisation of abortion laws but was powerless to stop them coming in when forced by the UK government in Westminster, and is seen as having been outplayed and outwitted by Johnson in opposing that customs border.

Last month, there were a series of street riots that hearkened back to the darkest of days and nights of the campaign of violence and there is growing anger and frustration in the Loyalist community at how they have been make irrelevant and isolated.

For Nationalists who lived in that position for many decades of Northern Ireland, it’s hard not to smile wryly at the shoe now being on the other foot.

How will all of this play out is anyone’s guess. But the DUP will only turn further to the right to shore up its hard-line support. And there is always the propensity for further violence — and no one wants that.

But there is also the provision for the so-called “border poll” — a once in a lifetime provision of the Good Friday Peace Agreement that allows for the people of Northern Ireland to vote on a united island of Ireland once more. My grandfather would like that. So would I. And most Irish too. But even that will not remove the threats and divisions caused by partition 100 years ago. If anything, with each passing week, those threats are becoming more real.

And should the Scottish National Party win a majority of seats in elections this week, the very future of the United Kingdom is in peril. That is ultimately what is at play here.

3. irishcentral.com (original by Shane O’Brien, 09.05.2021)

The Shamrock Children: German refugees who found shelter in Ireland after WWII

As Germany smoldered in the wake of the Second World War, a huge humanitarian campaign was launched to bring starving German children to Ireland in a period of Irish history that is often overlooked.

In July 1946, dozens of German children stepped off a passenger ferry at Dun Laoighaire Pier, kickstarting a proud period in Irish history that is often overlooked.

The children were the first German refugees to arrive in Ireland after the Second World War during a campaign known as Operation Shamrock that would span half a decade and ensure that hundreds of German children were able to flee the hardships of a country still reeling from the brutal impact of the war.

Several German cities were leveled during Allied bombing campaigns toward the tail end of the war, causing untold pain and suffering and leaving millions of civilians homeless, impoverished, or starving. Many parents were no longer able to care for their children and were instead forced to send them abroad to ensure their health and wellbeing.

As the winter of 1945 drew nearer, the threat of starvation and death in Germany became greater, prompting Dr. Kathleen Murphy to establish the Save the German Children Society (SGCS) in Dublin in October 1945. Dr. Murphy had seen hundreds of French and Polish children arrive in Ireland through the Irish Red Cross and hoped to save "as many German children as possible from death by starvation".

Dr. Murphy's efforts to bring German children to Ireland as refugees in the winter of 1945 were thwarted by pro-Nazi and anti-British individuals who infiltrated the SGCS and gave the society a bad reputation among the Allied Forces in Europe.

In spite of its bad reputation in Europe, more than 280 Irish families had offered to foster German children by December of the same year, but the British authorities in Germany refused to allow German refugees from traveling to Ireland if the SGCS was part of the plan.

The SGCS asked the Irish Red Cross to petition the Allied Forces on its behalf to combat this obstacle and the Red Cross eventually secured permission to transport German refugees to Ireland in July 1946 as part of Operation Shamrock.

On July 27, 1946, the first 88 Shamrock children arrived in Dun Laoighaire via passenger ferry. The Save the German Children Society was not aware of their arrival and did not participate in their transport, although it did regularly check up on children once they arrived at their foster homes.

The children were offered cocoa and buttered bread by Red Cross nurses when they stepped off the ship - a moment of bliss for children who endured unimaginable pain and hardship in wartorn Germany.

Tony O'Herlihy, an amateur historian who has conducted extensive research into Irish aid to Germany, said that the children were also offered oranges when they stepped onto Irish soil. However, they had never seen oranges before and mistook them for Irish apples, biting right through the skin.

After their first taste of Ireland, the children were taken to one of three centers. Some were taken to centers in Louth and Donegal, but most were taken to St. Kevin's Hostel in Glencree - a small village with a storied history in the heart of the Wicklow Mountains.

Once home to a British Army barracks in the wake of the 1798 Rebellion, Glencree was later repurposed as a reformatory for Catholic boys shortly after the Irish Famine. Coincidentally, Glencree is now home to Ireland's German Military Cemetery, which contains the remains of 134 German soldiers and civilians who died on Irish soil during the First and Second World Wars. The Wicklow village is also home to a peace and reconciliation that helps resolve conflict in Northern Ireland.

Children spent roughly six weeks to six months in Glencree where they enjoyed clean sheets, fresh butter, and walks in the beautiful countryside.

The Irish Red Cross used Glencree and the centers in Louth and Donegal to screen them for various diseases, including lice. Once they were given the all-clear, Irish families would travel to the centers and pick out a child to foster.

By April 2, 1947, 418 German children had arrived in Ireland as part of Operation Shamrock. The children, who were aged between seven and 12 and predominately came from the Ruhr Area in West Germany, were to stay in Ireland for three years before their return home.

Monica Brandis, an author who has interviewed more than 20 children who came to Ireland, said that children enjoyed different experiences depending on whether they were sent to the city or the countryside but said that the vast majority of children thoroughly enjoyed their time in Ireland.

"For the majority of children, it was a life-saving experience. They had lived through war, they were on the verge of starvation, they were sickly, they were traumatized. Most of them arrived in Irish families that really meant well," Brandis told IrishCentral.

Some children had less enjoyable experiences, especially those sent to rural areas, but Brandis said that a child's experience ultimately depended on their character.

"One German ended up in Mayo and he loved it there, but he said there was a level of poverty in Ireland that he hadn't even experienced in Cologne during the war.

"He loved it, he became almost Irish himself. He made the best out of the situation. He had never lived in the countryside and being in the bog with fresh air and good milk was paradise. Other people would have thought it was like slave labor."

Brandis estimates that at least 80% of the Shamrock children thoroughly enjoyed their time in Ireland, something that became apparent in 1949 when the first arrivals were due to return home.

Many children wanted to remain in Ireland with their foster families. Some of them had fallen in love with the country, while others had forgotten how to speak German. In some cases, their parents refused to take their children back as they simply could not afford to feed and care for them.

Operation Shamrock had clearly played a hugely significant humanitarian role in the lives of hundreds of German children who had been devastated by the perils of war and is a forgotten piece of Irish history that people should be proud of. However, the operation was tainted by its treatment of German Jewish children in the post-war period. 77

No Jewish children were initially brought to Ireland as part of Operation Shamrock for various reasons rooted in underlying anti-semitism.

Minister for Justice Gerald Boland, for example, said that there would be "riots on the streets of Dublin" if Jewish children were brought to Ireland. Others worried that Jewish children simply wouldn't feel comfortable living in a Catholic household.

"Nobody said it was anti-semitic, but it was clear that they weren't welcome," Brandis said.

The Irish Government eventually agreed to take 100 Jewish children as part of Operation Shamrock in 1949 with the caveat that they were housed in Clonyn Castle in County Westmeath and not allowed to be placed into foster care.

Furthermore, the children were not allowed to ramble and mix with the Irish community and were to stay in Ireland for one year rather than the three years that other German children spent during Operation Shamrock.

For Tony O'Herlihy, Irish attitudes toward Jewish children in the post-war period were "ludicrous".

"Why they would think that poor Jewish children who came from places like Belsen and Auschwitz would be a danger to Irish people, I have no idea. Maybe we had inane in-built antisemitism before we learned to have a little bit of humanity."

Having said that, the Irish efforts to help German children in the aftermath of the Second World War remain a source of great pride for a country that was economically weak at the time and Germany has never forgotten Ireland's helping hand.

"For us, it's really important in our relationship with Ireland. It's something that we hold very dearly," said German Ambassador to Ireland Deike Potzel.

"At the time, Ireland wasn't particularly wealthy, but they still helped out and supported these children." 78

Monica Brandis, meanwhile, believes that Operation Shamrock was the bedrock of Ireland's post-war relationship with Germany, which remains strong to this day.

"I think it's the foundation of the relationship between Ireland and Germany. Germany was very grateful for the aid, especially because Ireland was such a poor country itself," Brandis said.

Physical evidence of the bond between Ireland and Germany lies in St. Stephen's Green in Dublin City Center. In 1954, the German Gratitude Fund donated the Three Faites Fountain to the Irish people as a gesture of thanks for their help during Operation Shamrock. It remains in St. Stephen's Green to this day.

The generous display of kindness and humanity from the Irish people was also never forgotten by the children who benefitted from it.

In 1997, 160 Shamrock children traveled to Dublin for a special commemorative ceremony attended by German President Roman Herzog and Irish President Mary Robinson.

President Herzog placed a commemorative plaque at the fountain in Stephen's Green before leading a delegation to Glencree to visit the place where it all began for most Shamrock children.

In 2013, refugees from Germany, Poland, and France traveled to Glencree as part of "The Gathering" - an Irish Government scheme encouraging Irish diaspora to return home.

Clearly, Operation Shamrock has had a lasting impact on Irish-German relations and on the children who it saved from the devastation and poverty of post-war Germany. However, Irish people remain largely ignorant of one of the noblest humanitarian efforts the country has embarked upon.

4. irishtimes.com 79

(original by Freya McClements, 12.05.2021)

Boris Johnson’s apology ‘means nothing’ say Ballymurphy families

Relatives criticise British prime minister’s statement as it was not addressed to them

Relatives of the 10 people killed in Ballymurphy in west Belfast in 1971 have rejected an apology from the UK prime minister to the North’s First and Deputy First Minister.

“It means absolutely nothing, because he didn’t come to us,” said Carmel Quinn, whose brother John Laverty was among the victims. “If an apology is to mean anything, it must be delivered to the families.”

John Teggart, whose father Daniel was killed, told BBC Radio Ulster it was an “insult” that an apology had been delivered to third parties.

“It’s not a public apology . . . what kind of insult is it to families that he couldn’t have the conversation with ourselves? That’s not acceptable to the families and never will be. This is not an apology to us.”

“His apology means nothing, we need him to go back to the MoD [ministry of defence] and tell them to tell the truth, tell our legal team the names of the soldiers who murdered our loved ones and ask them why,” said Briege Voyle, the daughter of Joan Connolly, the only woman among the victims. “To do it this way is trying to push it under the carpet.”

Downing Street said in a statement on Wednesday evening that Boris Johnson had “apologised unreservedly on behalf of the UK government for the events that took place in Ballymurphy and the huge anguish that the lengthy pursuit of truth has caused the families of those killed” during a call with Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill earlier that day.

Mr Johnson said the conclusions of the inquests into the deaths, which were published on Tuesday, were “deeply sad” and “tragic” and restated the UK government’s intention to “deliver a way forward in Northern Ireland that focuses on reconciliation, delivers for victims of the Troubles and ends the cycle of reinvestigations,” the spokesman said.

There has to be an investigation and accountability and then an apology comes after that,” said Ms Quinn.

“That’s what happened with Bloody Sunday, they had an investigation . . . and then they had their apology. We’ve just had our basic human right, an inquest.

“Instead of apologising, implement the Stormont House Agreement [on legacy],” she said.

“All killings need to be fully investigated, because every single person who lost a loved one in this conflict is entitled to truth, justice and acknowledgement.”

Ten people were shot and fatally injured in Ballymurphy amid the serious violence which took place after the introduction of internment without trial on the morning of August 9th, 1971.

A coroner ruled on Tuesday that each of the victims was “entirely innocent”. Nine of the 10 had been shot by the British army, she said, and lack of evidence as a result of the failure to carry out a proper investigation at the time meant she could not reach a judgment about the 10th.

In Northern Ireland, on Wednesday, there were increasing calls for an apology from the UK government from politicians including Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long and the Ulster Unionist Assembly member Mike Nesbitt.

However, there was confusion following the release of Downing Street statement on Wednesday evening, which conflicted with statements issued by the DUP and Sinn Féin making no mention of an apology by the British prime minister. The DUP statement referred to discussions on Covid-19 and the Northern Ireland protocol, while that from Sinn Féin said they had discussed coronavirus and the Ballymurphy inquest findings.

Sinn Féin said the meeting had been informed that Northern Secretary Brandon Lewis was to make a statement at Westminster on Thursday, and Ms O’Neill had “put it to Boris Johnson that she should apologise to the families of those killed in Ballymurphy by British state 81 forces”. Mr Lewis is due to deliver a ministerial statement to the House of Commons on Thursday.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ms O’Neill described any apology by the UK government as the “bare minimum” and said the families the families now deserved “access to justice”.

Speaking alongside Ms O’Neill at a joint appearance on Wednesday, First Minister Arlene Foster acknowledged the Ballymurphy families’ 50-year fight to clear their names and said other families had the same right to truth and justice for their loved ones.

“There are a lot of empty chairs around Northern Ireland and the brutality in the reality of our past is still very much with us,” she said.

“Therefore, I think whatever the secretary of state announces in relation to legacy must not take away that hope of justice, because the Ballymurphy families had a hope of justice for 50 years, and there are many others across Northern Ireland who will want to have that hope of justice as well.”

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DENMARK

1. dagens.dk (translated, original by Julie Moeller, 04.05.2021)

Pernille Vermund clearly states: That is why we do not support the reopening

With the exception of Nye Borgerlige, the parliamentary parties have agreed on a broad reopening of Denmark.

At 03.00 last night, the parties in the Folketing, with the exception of Nye Borgerlige, managed to reach an agreement on a broad reopening of Denmark.

This means, among other things, that fitness centers and indoor sports will be open to people over the age of 18 with a requirement for a corona pass from Thursday 6 May. Venues, theaters, cinemas and the like open against the showing of coronapas and up to 2,000 spectators in sections of 500. Conferences and meetings with business and professional purposes open with requirements for coronapas and up to 1,000 participants in sections of 500 people.

Much of the reopening is based on the corona pass, and New Citizens are not a fan of it.

This is what Pernille Vermund announces in a post on Facebook.

“Coronapas for going to the gym, continued shutdowns, restrictions and wearing bandages? It is completely out of proportion, "she writes and continues:

“The infection has been under control for months. And the most vulnerable citizens are pretty much all vaccinated. Still, the Danes will not be given life and freedom back. I can assure everyone that Nye Borgerlige does NOT vote for the continuation of the government's fear regime, ”she writes in the post.

Reopening on Thursday

Despite Nye Borgerlige's decision to oppose the reopening, further action will take place on Thursday 6 May.

Fitness centers will be allowed to open their doors again from on Thursday. However, it requires showing a valid corona passport. However, indoor contact sports are only open to people under 18 and over 70 at the time of writing. 83

Elementary school students can return to school. This time, it is not at 20, 30 or 50 percent, they open up completely for full schooling.

The controversial 30-minute rule at cafes and restaurants will be scrapped from on Thursday. This means that you no longer have to book a table 30 minutes in advance.

You can again go to concerts indoors with up to 500 participants. From May 21, you can participate in outdoor events with up to 2,000 participants.

Private parties should no longer end at 11pm.

Venues, cinemas and theaters are reopening.

The assembly ceiling is now raised to 25 indoors and 75 outdoors.

2. document.no (translated, original by Rebecca Mistereggen, 11.05.2021)

Paludan invites to draw Muhammad in Rosengård

The Danish-Swedish party leader Rasmus Paludan has applied for permission to arrange a "sign Muhammad" day in Rosengård center. Paludan calls the event a "pedagogical instrument" in which he wants to teach Muslims about freedom of speech.

- We have experience that there are some people in Rosengård who have problems understanding what freedom of speech means. So it is also a kind of pedagogical instrument, you could say, says Paludan to Samnytt.

In August last year, Paludan and his Islam-critical party Stram Kurs planned to burn the Koran in Rosengård in Malmö, but the police withdrew the permit and pointed out that the Muslim threat picture could not be handled. The planned event resulted in large demonstrations.

Paludan was subsequently refused entry to Sweden, but was confirmed on 29 September 2020 that he is a Swedish citizen because his father is Swedish. He can thus no longer be denied entry to Sweden, where he has previously said that he plans to conduct political activities in protest against Islam.

Now Paludan announces that he will visit Rosengård on May 20 at 19-21 to hold the event "Draw Muhammad" in Dicksons väg 14. In the application he writes:

«International All Signs Muhammad day. Anyone can come and draw the false prophet Muhammad! ”

Paludan tells Samnytt that the party organized the event in 10 Danish cities last year, but that they now want to expand to Sweden.

3. dagens.dk (translated, original by Henrik Aasted, 05.05.2021)

Kristian Thulesen Dahl: The Syrians are going home

Kristian Thulesen Dahl only has one message when he goes to an urgent question in the Folketing today.

It can not occur to anyone that the Danish People's Party would like to see the Syrian refugees return to Syria again.

Today, it is underlined by the Danish People's Party's party chairman Kristian Thulesen Dahl, who in a post on Facebook makes it quite clear that the refugees must be sent home. 85

In the notice that is posted in capital letters, he writes:

"THE SYRANS ARE GOING HOME!"

Thulesen Dahl then says that right now there is an urgent question in the Folketing that deals with the Syrian refugees and migrants.

"Right now we have an urgent question in the Folketing about Syrian refugees and migrants. The Unity List and others are crazy about the idea that the Syrians should stay in Denmark, even though the conditions are now such that more people can return home. Pr. On 1 January 2020, a total of 32,062 Syrian refugees / migrants and family reunified refugees of Syrian origin stayed in Denmark. The public expenditure on Syrians is explosively high - for example, the livelihood costs 638 million annually and Danish tuition 226 million annually. In addition, far too many mess around outside the labor market and the group tops the rape statistics. " writes Kristian Thulesen Dahl in his post.

He stresses that he has a simple message that he will take to the government.

“I am going to the Chamber today with ONE message to the government! Turn words into action NOW! It is not enough to be sharp with the words. There must be action too! The Syrians are going home !! ” ends the party leader from the Danish People's Party.

4. origo.hu (translated, original by origo.hu, 09.05.2021)

It turned out: The Danish government had secret negotiations on immigration

Secret talks were held between Danish government members to set up refugee camps in Africa. As early as last year, the Danish Prime Minister talked about the number of 86 migrant offenders in Denmark being too high and the European asylum system clearly collapsing, so she will make a proposal to apply for asylum only outside the EU. It seems that steps are being taken now for this.

It has now been revealed that the Danish government began negotiations with African countries months ago to set up refugee centers. According to a report in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, in October 2020, a secret group of Danish officials traveled to Ethiopia, Africa, to discuss the establishment of a refugee camp where migrants ’asylum applications would be processed. One month later, a delegation visited Tunisia, which borders Libya, for similar reasons.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also spoke before the Danish Parliament, the Folketing, last October that the European refugee system had clearly collapsed, so the government is preparing a bill to at least restore the Danish reception system.

Incentives that encourage refugees to go to Denmark immediately would be removed, so that the reception of refugees would be safer and more transparent. She pointed out that they should pursue stricter policies to offset the poor European asylum system. ’We want asylum not to be possible in Denmark, it can only be done in third countries.’

In January this year, the prime minister reaffirmed the government’s position and added that too many immigrants would be jeopardized by social cohesion, so he announced that efforts would be made to reduce the number of asylum seekers to zero under the government’s new directive.

’We cannot promise that there will be no refugees, but we can set a goal, namely to set up a new asylum system, and then it is up to us when we can introduce it.’ - she said.

Following last year's talks in Africa, another meeting took place in April this year, this time in Rwanda between the Danish Minister for Development and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Integration. This was reported by Danish TV2. This trial was also not beaten to a big drum in Denmark, however, the Rwandan Foreign Ministry reported on its Twitter page.

Subsequently, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a statement reporting that ministers had agreed with Rwanda on closer cooperation on asylum and migration. The Danish government's idea that asylum applications should be processed outside the EU - stands in the document. 87

Denmark's efforts to strictly regulate migration are not new, tightening has been almost continuous since 2001, and support and opportunities for migrants are increasingly being reduced.

Although the leadership of the Nordic country is on the left, it has completely taken over the right-wing anti-immigration policy, after all, the vast majority of the population thinks about the situation.

Emese Kovács, an employee of the Migration Research Institute, spoke about this earlier at Kossuth Radio Good Morning, Hungary! show.

She added, this is a cumbersome procedure as deportation is not a solution. Most countries do not accept migrants from other European countries, so the Danish government pays for them in the form of a resettlement allowance, which amounts to HUF 5-10 million. However, this is still only a fraction of the amount they have to pay for the care of people settling in the country in one year, added a staff member of the Migration Research Institute.

’In addition to financial and social considerations, I would also like to keep the number of immigrants as low as possible.’ - Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has repeatedly spoken that social values and cohesion are already facing a serious test due to immigration.

’We must be careful not to have too many people come to our country, because there can be no social unity.’ - she said.

She listed conflicts over social values as the high number of crimes committed by people with an immigrant background.

One in five men of non-Western descent had already violated the Penal Code by the age of 21. One in five.

She added, this is nothing new and this is exactly the problem.

’This has been the case for years. The girls are insulted because they are Danes. Or when girls ’behavior is confined to a social framework because they have become too Danish. But there is also the attack on the Bronshoji sausage cart, for which firecrackers were thrown because it sells pork’ - Frederiksen said.

Meanwhile, last summer, the Danish Government (which was the first European country that considered Syrian Damascus as safe as it had no fighting), decided that Syrian immigrants could return to their homeland, so they do not extend their residence permit. Because of this, Denmark has received many criticism.

In April, the United Nations High Commissioner (UNHCR) expressed its "concern" because of Copenhagen’s decision, although the expulsions are pending for the time being after many years of relations between the Danish Government and the Syrian system. Recently, representatives of the German Green Party wrote an open letter to the Danish Prime Minister, which was called upon to "think" the government's refugee policy and to take a "180 degree turn".

Greens supporting the extreme, mass migration also made more radical proposals in Germany in connection with immigration. Among other things, they would vote on the citizens of non- EU countries in Germany and have also developed a proposal, which would allow tens of millions of "climate refugees" in Germany.

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SWEDEN

1. sonline.hu (translated, original by sonline.hu, 23.04.2021)

Within fifty years, Swedes can be minority in their own country

In 2019, 88 percent of immigrants came from a non-Western country, 52 percent were Muslim.

If the current level of immigration persists, Swedes may become a minority within 45 years in their own country, claims Kyösti Tarvainen Finnish researcher, System Adameter Emeritus Docense at the Helsinki Aalto University. Demographic change also results in great social shifts. According to Tarvainen's model, in 2100, so many Muslims will live in the country as born Swedish .

"Swedish Parliament unanimously decided in 1975 that Sweden's multicultural country. At that time, more than 40 percent of immigrants were compatriots, Finns. The situation has changed: In 2019, 88 percent of immigrants came from non-Western countries, 52 percent were Muslim " - wrote Tarvainen in Folkbladet.

According to Tarvainen, the distinct difference is that while Finnish immigrants quickly migrated into the Swedish society, most of today's immigrants are not assimilated or successfully integrated into society. Instead, they create their own areas that are commonly referred to as "exclusion" or "vulnerable" areas or no-go zones. Parallel societies are developing with different thinking and lifestyles.

In Tarvainen's view, if the born Swedes are in a minority, the pace of demographic change is likely to continue to grow because most of the people with foreign background facilitates immigration for their own ethnic group.

According to the researcher's analysis, 7 million 655 thousand born Swedish, 535,000 Muslims and 1 million 557 thousand non-Muslim migrant backgrounds lived in the Scandinavian country, with 2065, 7 million 364 thousand born Swedish, 3 million 903 thousand Muslims and 3 million 791 thousand non-Muslim immigrant people can create the population.

2. magyarhirlap.hu (translated, original by Mariann Őry, 13.05.2021)

Right-side turn can come in Sweden

Limitation of mass immigration can bring together Jimmie Akesson’s previously isolated party and other right wing forces after next year's parliamentary elections

The failure to integrate immigrants and the concern about raging crime can bring a political turn in Sweden. Björn Söder, representative of the Swedish Democrats, emphasized: mass migration requires serious restriction.

Swedish Democrats (SD) can easily be able to turm next year's parliamentary elections to the right side according to a new article of Bloomberg News Agency. The popularity of SD has grown simultaneously as they started to show the negative effects of loose immigration policy, especially after the 2015 migration crisis. In recent months, even the left-wing leadership of the Scandinavian country was also forced to deal with the violent actions of criminal gangs (in which members were typically immigrants), as well as with more and more common shootings.

As the chairman of Swedish Democrats, Jimmie Akesson said in an interwiev, other political parties’ tactic, namely that they refuse talking to SD doesn’t work anymore, and at least conservative and right-wing parties agree in the core direction of immigration policy. He also noted that reviling his party, yet at the same time copying their policy is not so easy .

ULF Kristerson, President of the People's Chief Moderas (Moderaterna), first sat down in 2019 with Akeson, when SD jumped to the edge of popularity lists. Today, Kristerson is talking about the anti-immigration party as a constructive parliamentary power with which he is willing to cooperate. The moderate ones were indeed inspired by SD's old demands: Moderaterna urged the removal of those who did not receive a residence permit in Sweden and also raised the need to withdraw the aid from countries that do not take back their citizens.

Last August, the Swedish National Police Chief called gang crime extremely severe after two men had died in a Stockholm shooting and not long before a twelve-year-old girl had become the victim of such cirsumctances. In Sweden, according to Bloomberg, tenfolds more deadly shootings occur than in the United Kingdom, and the number of such cases has tripled over a decade.

According to a fresh survey, Swedes are worried about the issues of immigration and integration. 22 percent of the respondents deemed the restoration of legal order and security the most important issue, which is higher than ever before.

According to Bloomberg, several scenarios can be imagined when it comes to form a right- wing government next year with the support of SD. Even though Kristerson is opened to the SD, but would not call them into a coalition not like the smaller right-wing party, Christian Democrats (KD). Thus, there may be a minority government that would enjoy the support of Akesson’s party from the outside. According to a fresh survey, the three right-wing parties together can count 47.3 percent, while the left block is 44.5.

To our question Björn Söder, MP of Social Democrats told that it was fully conceivable that there will be a conservative government after next year's elections with moderation and the participation of KD, with the support of SD and possibly even liberals. According to Söder, in the case of immigration, the three right-hand parties will agree on a highly restrictive immigration policy.

3. euronews.com (original by Matthew Holroyd, 22.04.2021)

A former Swedish LGBT activist has been convicted of raping four migrants during his work.

The 56-year-old man was a member of Sweden's largest LGBT organisation, RFSL, where he allegedly helped migrants obtain asylum on the grounds of their sexual orientation.

In April 2020, he was accused of raping four men and exposing two of them to sexual harassment in his office.

He was found guilty by the Stockholm District Court and sentenced to four years in prison. He must also pay damages to the victims.

The crimes all took place between October 2018 and October 2019, the court said. 92

"The victims had all turned to the migrant consultant with the hope of getting help in their asylum processes," the court said in a statement.

"They have either been asylum seekers, undocumented, awaiting execution, or worked under a temporary work permit."

The court found that the migrants were in a "particularly vulnerable situation" when they approached the consultant, who had abused his power. Police are now investigating six more potential victims.

In a statement, the RFSL welcomed the decision and urged those affected to seek redress.

"No perpetrator should be able to use RFSL’s operations to abuse people in a vulnerable position," the organisation said.

RFSL said their Stockholm branch had immediately launched an internal investigation when the first allegations of sexual assault were made against their former employee.

But the organisation acknowledged that the initial probe had been "insufficient" and had not provided enough evidence to take action.

"At the time, the victim was not willing to file a police report because, among other things, they were undocumented," RFSL said.

But when more accusations surfaced and victims were ready to file a police report, the employee was dismissed. RFSL said they are continuing to review routines and guidelines for their employees, volunteers, and trustees.

"All RFSL’s operations must be safe, continually evolving and quality assured through systematic work," the organisation said.

"RFSL is an organisation built on values, of protecting and supporting LGBTQI people subjected to violence, threats, and hate. Sexual acts that cause a person harm or suffering can never be accepted."

The LGBT group acknowledged they had "important work" ahead to regain the community's trust and reiterated their condemnation of "all forms of abuse".

"The most important thing is that the victims of this abuse now obtain redress," said RFSL’s president Deidre Palacios.

"RFSL has a lot of work to do to make sure this does not happen again."

4. besacenter.org (translated, original by Dr. Ardavan Khoshnood, 26.04.2021)

Iran Is a Threat to Swedish National Security

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 2,007, April 26, 2021

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In the recently published Swedish Security Service Yearbook 2020, which discusses the main security and intelligence challenges faced by Sweden over the past year, Iran is mentioned 14 times. The Islamic Republic, together with Russia and China, is a direct threat to Swedish national security.

The Swedish Security Service, Säkerhetspolisen, publishes an annual yearbook containing information on its most important areas of operation: counterintelligence, countersubversion, counterterrorism, protective security, and dignitary protection. The yearbook discusses the most serious security and intelligence threats to face Sweden over the previous year and the challenges it will face in the future.

The Swedish Security Service Yearbook 2020 names three countries as the most active security and intelligence threats in Sweden: Russia, China, and Iran. Säkerhetspolisen devotes 94

25 of the report’s 86 pages to an examination of the ways these three countries incessantly, and quite effectively, undermine Swedish national security.

Iran is mentioned 14 times in the report, which states that the Islamic Republic has become highly aggressive in its operations on Swedish soil. The report says that while Iran conducts espionage against Swedish industry, research, and universities, its prime espionage target is Iranian opposition groups in Sweden.

Sweden has become something of a base for Iranian operatives, and espionage as well as terrorist attacks have been planned from Swedish territory. This unfortunate state of affairs was put on display recently when Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi was sentenced by a Belgian court to 20 years’ imprisonment for terrorism.

Assadi, who was third secretary at the Iranian embassy in Austria, was arrested by German security in 2018 a few days after he handed over explosive material to an Iranian couple in Belgium. The material was intended to be used at a large planned rally in Paris to assassinate opponents of the mullahs’ regime in Iran. While Assadi was stationed in Austria and his crime was connected to France, he is closely linked to Sweden.

In connection with Assadi’s arrest, German police confiscated a notebook in which he recorded 289 sites in 11 European countries where he had met with Iranian agents. Among the named countries was Sweden, proving that Iran has operative agents in that country. This became evident in December 2019, when an Iraqi national in Sweden was convicted of espionage on behalf of Iran against exiled Iranians in Sweden. The Islamic regime finds Sweden very interesting, and time and again its tentacles have been shown to reach it.

While the Islamic Republic of Iran has been sanctioned by the US since 1979, it has had a very close relationship with the EU, not least with Sweden. Unfortunately, however, dialogue, trade, and exchange with Iran have not contributed to increased democratization there. On the contrary: not only has poverty increased in Iran, but the numbers of political prisoners, executions, and malicious activities around the world have also increased.

Iran is no longer only a threat to the Middle East. Its malign activities make it a national security threat for European countries in general and Sweden in particular.

Dr. Ardavan Khoshnood, a non-resident associate at the BESA Center, is a criminologist and political scientist with a degree in Intelligence Analysis. He is also an associate professor of Emergency Medicine at Lund University in Sweden. @ardavank

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FINLAND

1. mtvuutiset.fi (translated, original by mtvuutiset.fi, 15.05.2021)

Halla-aho defends recovery package speech marathon - "Conversation was of a very high standard"

According to Jussi Halla-aho, the chairman of Basic Finns, many other parties wanted to get through the recovery package “with as little noise and knocking as possible”.

Jussi Halla-aho feels that, thanks to the basic Finns, the recovery package has received the kind of parliamentary treatment it deserved.

He denies that the party has prolonged the speeches. Last night, Parliament saw a speech by MP Sebastian Tynkkysen (ps.), Which lasted late into the night, lasting a record eight and a half hours.

- Perhaps a little unfortunate that the media's attention is so strongly focused on side issues and insignificance, such as the duration of speeches or the times of the day.

Halla-aho recalls that “the essence of the parliament, or parliament, is that decision-makers discuss there and critically examine the proposals made by the government”.

- We take Parliament seriously, that is why we are discussing there.

He says it’s unfortunate that some people feel like talking is a procrastination.

- There are countries like China and Russia that do not prolong matters in decision-making bodies, but at least now it does not correspond exactly to what I would like from this decision- making system.

Halla-aho sees the underlying criticism as “the general competitive situation and hostility towards basic Finns”.

- In that sense, it can be left to its own devices.

“We have done our best”

Halla-aho regrets that the representatives of the governing parties and the Coalition Party were few in the debate. He also finds the night time of the conversation annoying.

- We would have appreciated that it could have been done during the so-called normal working hours.

Instead, he says he is unspeakably proud of the Basic Finns' parliamentarians and parliamentary group.

- The discussion was of a very high standard and it was really from many points of view.

- Yes, we all feel that all of us Finns have done our best. 2. uusisuomi.fi (translated, original by Ville Makila, 11.05.2021)

Jussi Halla-aho suggests that Finland could secede from the euro - Immediate knockout: “You can't just throw things like that”

Jussi Halla-aho, the chairman of Basic Finns, wonders why Finland's possible euro difference is "painting the end of the world".

In his speech to the plenary session of Parliament, the chairman of the opposition party, Jussi Halla-aho, of the Basic Finns, warned that Finland could separate the single currency from the euro.

The European Union's joint recovery package was discussed in plenary on Tuesday.

"I am a little surprised why the end of the world is being painted here in a situation where Finland would separate from the single currency," says Halla-aho.

By way of comparison, he cites Sweden and Denmark, other Nordic countries, which belong to the European Union but not to the euro area.

"Have these countries done significantly worse than Finland's in the last 19 years because they do not belong to this euro currency to which Finland belongs?", Halla-ahoo asks.

Finland has been part of the euro area since 2002, ie since the beginning of the single currency.

"Or is your argument that Finland would do even worse if Finland, like Sweden and Denmark, for example, had its own currency?", Halla-aho continues.

Petteri Orpo , the chairman of the second opposition party, the Coalition Party, considers the views expressed by Halla-aho to be noteworthy.

Parliament rejected the citizens' initiative for a referendum on the EU stimulus package “In practice, you think that Finland should separate from the euro. This is good for Finns to understand, especially when it comes to a party that [enjoys] the great trust of Finns at the moment based on polls and which is seriously striving to be the Prime Minister's Party ”.

According to Orpo, it is necessary for basic Finns to present to Parliament what it would mean to withdraw from the euro and how it would be implemented.

"You can't just throw things like that," Orpo replies to Halla-aho.

2. helsinkitimes.fi (original by Mari Rantanen, 01.05.2021)

On Immigration

The Finns Party has a questionable reputation as a party that opposes immigration. However, such a perspective is often exaggerated and is an image that outsiders seek to convey about the party. Truth can rarely be reduced to such a one-dimensional view, as is the case here.

There are many types of immigration and most forms of it are acceptable to the Finns Party.

There are many types of immigration and not all immigration should be bundled together.

The Finns Party is opposed to unwanted immigration it sometimes provocatively refers to as “haittamaahanmuutto” (= detrimental immigration). By this we mean immigration which net benefit to society is negative from an economic point of view. In addition, such immigration is often associated with many social side effects. Recently for example, the media have reported on how drug trafficking in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area is dominated by foreign gangs and how crime is becoming increasingly violent and public.

Detrimental immigration also includes low-wage labor migration. This category includes the exploitation of labor in low-wage sectors where salaries are not enough to live on, and which must be supplemented by social benefits. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the metropolitan area, where housing is expensive. In the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, 51 percent, so more than half of the recipients of basic income support are foreigners. In addition, many immigrants have been employed in jobs that would not exist without immigration, such as interpreters. The ever-increasing need for interpretation also hampers integration, as the use of services in the official languages of Finland are not required.

Abolition of the needs assessment is often called out for at both ends of the political spectrum in Finland. However, when talking about labor needs assessment, it is often “forgotten” that in Finland it does not apply to the highly educated. For example, in Sweden the abolition of the needs assessment drastically increased the supply of low-wage workers and led to rampant wage trampling. In Finland there is no need for low-wage labor. The problem here is that we have over 327,000 unemployed jobseekers according to the Ministry of Employment and often the people and open jobs do not meet.

Asylum seekers are a group of foreigners, who are given sanctuary and who are not traditionally assessed on the benefit they bring to society. The Finns Party however calls for the evaluation of the effect that asylum seekers have in Finland’s economy. Humanitarian migration’s contribution to the economy is often the most negligible and has also led to many negative social effects. For example, there is a huge over-representation of foreigners in sexual offenses committed in Finland. More than a third, 37.6 percent, of the sex offenses in 2019 were committed by non-Finns. Individuals from the Middle East or Africa, the main source of humanitarian immigration, are 17 times more likely to commit a sexual offense than a representative of the native population. It is unsustainable that a person seeking asylum causes insecurity himself.

The Finns Party start from the premise that those who come to work in Finland are able to support themselves with their salary, and that is why we have suggested that the minimum wage in work-related immigration should be, for example, 3,000 euros. The immigration policy of the Finns party seeks to preserve peace and well-being in Finnish society, a value which I believe most immigrants share. Therefore, instead of humanitarian migration, preference should be given to helping in the vicinity of crisis areas and to improve development aid to be more effective and based on reciprocity. Internationality does not require a lax immigration policy and a strict, but fair, immigration policy is not an obstacle to internationalization.

Mari Rantanen

Mari Rantanen is a Finnish politician currently serving in the Parliament of Finland since 2019 for the Finns Party at the Helsinki constituency.

This article was written for MP Talk, a regular column from the Helsinki Times in which Members of The Finnish Parliament contribute their thoughts and opinions. All opinions voiced are entirely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Helsinki Times.

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3. evangelicalfocus.com (original by Joel Forster, 05.05.2021)

Päivi Räsänen case in Finland leads to heated freedom of speech debate both in media and churches

“Teachings based on the Bible must be free to discuss in public”, says the Finnish Evangelical Alliance.

Christians in Finland are in the midst of a “huge discussion” about the Päivi Räsänen case, sources in the country have told Evangelical Focus.

Last week, the member of the national parliament and former government minister was formally charged with hate speech against homosexuals for her opinions voiced on three platforms. Räsänen will be tried for quoting the Bible on homosexuality on social media in 2019, for authoring a booklet about marriage published in 2004, and for her views in a talk show about Christian faith and homosexuality.

The two-year pre-trial investigations of the Finnish General Prosecutor against Räsänen, a medical doctor with strong Christian convictions, are seen by theologically conservative Christians in Finland as a clear study case of the erosion of the ability of citizens to express their deeply held beliefs.

Evangelical Alliance: Faith is not competence of the judiciary

One of the Christian organisations to react to the news has been the Finnish Evangelical Alliance (Suomen Evankelinen Allianssi, SEA), which took a stand on 4 May, days after it was known that Räsänen could face a prison sentence of up to two years. “Teachings based on the Bible must be free to discuss in public”, it said in a statement.

“The definition of what is sin in religious terms or the resolution of theological differences is not an issue for the judiciary to assess”, but a matter concerning “the scope of religious freedom”, the SEA wrote. “It is the task of the state and the judiciary to uphold the widest possible freedom of expression, opinion and religion”.

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The Alliance brings together churches, organisations and denominations that identify with an evangelical worldview.

“The sexual ethical position represented by Räsänen and Juhana Pohjola [a Lutheran publisher also charged in one of the cases] in public is the prevailing view of Christian churches worldwide. If the presentation of this view and the treatment of the Bible interpretation concerning it were to be considered as an offense, it would have a strong restrictive effect on religious freedom”, they warned. “Churches would then be prevented from teaching their own doctrine freely, and the dissemination of the Bible could also be prohibited. This would be a gross violation of fundamental and human rights”.

Do Christian views clash with human dignity?

In her first documents, the General Prosecutor has made the case that Räsänen broke the law by inciting hatred against a minority group. But Päivi Räsänen has repeatedly said she defends the “human rights and dignity” of LGBT people, since this understanding of the value of all people is a central aspect of her Christian faith.

The SEA also refered to this point, underlining that “according to the Bible, God created man in His own image, male and female. This view, based on the theology of creation, provides the basis for the equal dignity and rights of all human beings”.

Christians in Finland could be tempted to fall into self-censorship, but this is why the SEA “urges Christians in all denominations to continue to boldly present the truth of the Bible in a loving and respectful manner”. The statement calls with an invitation to “pray” for the Christians involved in the court process “as well as for the General Prosecutor and the entire judiciary”.

Repercussions beyond Finland

Evangelical Focus learned that other Evangelical Alliances in Europe would be ready to raise awareness about this case, as they see the limitation of freedom of speech on LGBT issues as a potential threat to religious freedom in other countries.

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Also the International Lutheran Council has expressed its concern with a case that has clear links to the difficult theological debates happening in the Finnish Lutheran Church. Two Finnish bishops have spoken to the media about the debate around Päivi Räsänen (who is herself a member of the Lutheran Church) defended her right to speak out although failed to defend her position on Bible and sexuality, sources said.

The case in the media

In the media context, the debate around the upcoming trial has also led to different approaches.

Helsingin Sanomat, the largest newspaper in Finland, published an editorial titled “Päivi Räsänen hurts not only homosexuals but also many Christians” on 30 April, saying the case “is not a question of an individual personal opinion, but society’s long lasting cruel position against sexual minorities”. The daily went further to state that “the most striking is not Räsänen’s thinking but the fact that just a little time ago such opinions represented the mainline view in society. A human being is on judge, although there should be the history”.

In contrast, other influential media people have defended the every citizen to express their ideas freely. Tapani Ruokanen, a respected journalist, tweeted: “I defend freedom of speech and religion, especially if I disagree with the speaker. Quoting the Bible belongs to both freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Päivi Räsänen's accusations take the judiciary towards the Middle Ages. Uncivilized, shameful and meaningless ineptitude”.

Some prominent atheists have also voiced their support for Räsänen's right to speak, including Ivan Puopolo, Tuomas Enbuske and Jiri Keronen.

Several international online media outlets have echoed the informations around the Päivi Räsänen case in the last months. Evangelical Focus is following the case since the prosecutor first opened an investigation in September 2019.

Correction: The highest prison sentence for hate speech in Finland is two years, not six as originally stated in this article.

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4. spiked-online.com (original by Paul Coleman, 17.05.2021)

The unstoppable march of state censorship

Vaguely worded hate-speech laws can end up criminalising almost any opinion.

In Finland, a long-standing member of parliament and former government minister, Dr Päivi Räsänen, is facing jail time for three counts of ‘hate speech’. Her crime was sharing her deeply held beliefs over the past two decades on topics such as marriage, sexual ethics and her Christian faith.

The criminal charges relate to a 2019 tweet containing a picture of a Bible passage, a church pamphlet she wrote in 2004 on marriage and sexual ethics, and approximately two minutes of conversation extracted from a one-hour discussion on a 2019 radio show, which was broadcast on the Finnish equivalent of the BBC. Each offence carries a maximum two-year prison sentence.

Päivi Räsänen is officially being prosecuted for the crime of ‘ethnic agitation’. As if all this wasn’t shocking enough, this falls under the section of ‘war crimes and crimes against humanity’ in the Finnish criminal code. What on earth is going on?

The case of Päivi Räsänen is an extreme example of what is playing out across Europe. Over the past two decades, a tried and tested three-step formula for censorship has emerged, and it goes something like this.

Firstly, governments make a case in public for more restrictions on speech, citing extreme examples of the sort of threats they want to prevent (threats which apparently cannot be addressed with the already far-reaching laws at their disposal). Warnings of the threat to free speech are often dismissed as scaremongering.

Secondly, vaguely worded laws are rushed through parliaments that end up going well beyond their publicly stated aim.

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Thirdly, these laws are amended or interpreted over time to broaden the scope of what is caught by the law and lower the threshold for what is considered illegal. As a result, the restrictions apply to a much wider range of behaviour than originally advertised. Those who were accused of scaremongering are vindicated, which counts for very little.

Incidentally, the EU is planning to follow this exact formula. It is currently launching a roadmap to make ‘hate speech’ an EU-wide crime.

No doubt the reason Päivi Räsänen is being charged under an offence called ‘ethnic agitation’ in a section called ‘war crimes and crimes against humanity’ is because the law was originally intended for one thing, yet is so vaguely worded it could apply to almost anything.

Indeed, the English translation of the offence reads: ‘A person who makes available to the public or otherwise spreads among the public or keeps available for the public information, an expression of opinion or another message where a certain group is threatened, defamed or insulted… shall be sentenced for ethnic agitation to a fine or to imprisonment for at most two years.’

In response to press enquiries, the Finnish prosecution authority stated: ‘Mrs Räsänen has freedom of religion like anyone else. She has the freedom to express her religious opinions and views as well as other opinions. However, this freedom does not justify speech that can arouse intolerance…’

This language is so impossibly, ludicrously vague that it could apply to almost anything. But surely, in the UK, our government would never consider passing a law advertised as addressing one thing but so vaguely worded it could apply to almost anything? If only it were so.

Take Exhibit A – the newly released Online Safety Bill – the stated aim of which is to make the internet a safer place for young people by targeting illegal content online. But then we read in the bill’s explanatory notes, ‘Alongside illegal content and activity, there are increasing levels of public concern about online content and activity which is lawful but potentially harmful’. The government goes on to include ‘disinformation and misinformation’ that may create a ‘toxic online environment’. As many have already pointed out, ‘lawful but potentially harmful’ is a very dangerous standard for the government to try to enforce.

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Or take Exhibit B – the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which, among other things, would hand expansive powers to police officers to restrict behaviour for a number of loosely defined reasons, including if they deem a particular demonstration causes ‘serious unease’ to observers. This is a threshold so low that police officers could conceivably prevent any protest, given that protests are intrinsically contentious and disruptive.

Or Exhibit C – the government’s insistence on banning so-called conversion therapy – an umbrella term that could include prayer, pastoral support and parenting. While the government has yet to release its definition of the term, top lawyers have already warned the government about loosely worded definitions that would catch far more activities than stated.

These bills are all different but they follow the same dangerous formula described above. And what could possibly go wrong with such vaguely worded laws? Just ask the softly spoken grandmother of six in Finland facing jail time for tweeting a picture of some Bible verses.

Paul Coleman is a British solicitor and executive director of ADF International, a human- rights organisation defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. He is the author of Censored: How European Hate Speech Laws are Threatening Freedom of Speech.

5. express.co.uk (original by Ciaran McGrath, 05.05.2021)

Brexit was just the start! Finnish MEP says her country needs to quit ‘imperial’ EU

BREXIT has eloquently highlighted the EU's inherent problems, and Finland should take a leaf out of the UK's book by quitting the "imperial" bloc as soon as possible, an MEP has said.

EU 'must stand on its own two feet' says Huhtasaari

Laura Huhtasaari was speaking the day after Brussels was accused of trying to “bully” Finland into ratifying its £650billion coronavirus recovery fund amid suggestions the 106

Scandinavian country’s legislature might refuse to do so. With a two-thirds majority required, Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin remains confident she will secure an agreement - but nevertheless sought advice from European Council’s legal team this week about what happens if it gets blocked.

Ms Huhtasaari, a member of the right-wing Finns party, is a staunch critic of the EU who believes her country should follow the UK’s example - and said the events of this week had reinforced her views still further.

She told Express.co.uk: “It is important to understand that the EU is an imperial project, which aims to impose centrally made decisions on all its member states.

“However, the project about the creation of a real sovereign EU state is still incomplete.”

She explained: “On the one hand, the EU member states still have legal independence to turn down federalist initiatives.

“On the other hand, that would cause economic and political crises, as is the case with the EU Recovery Fund.”

As a result, the EU routinely puts pressure on the member states to stick to the “one and only centrally determined EU policy line”, Ms Huhtasaari said.

She added: “In this case it is Finland, which has to experience that its sovereignty has been restricted, de facto.”

Ms Huhtasaari warned: “Finnish people should understand that the EU membership is incompatible with Finland's real independence and sovereignty, and therefore even with a real democracy.

“The UK citizens, who voted for Brexit, had recognised this profoundly.

“In my view, we should follow the path chosen by them prepare to withdraw from the EU.”

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Some Finnish politicians have voiced concerns about the package of measures, which critics fear will trigger runaway public spending in countries in the south of the bloc, especially Spain and Italy, with members of the EU27 jointly responsible for the resulting debts.

EU lawyers yesterday told Ms Marin failure to ratify the agreement would simply lead to “unprecedented reputation damage and political pressure on that member state”, with no plan B in place, Finnish broadcaster YLE reported yesterday.

EU budget factions

However, Wolfgang Munchau, of Euro Intelligence, suggested Brussels’ hardline approach could backfire by prompting a no vote said the move by EU lawyers could prompt a no vote in Finland.

He said: “EU is trying to bully a reluctant Finland into ratifying the recovery fund, for which a two-thirds majority is needed in the parliament.

“I think this is counter-productive – possibility in the short-run, certainly in the long-run.”

The £650billion funds will be distributed in the form of non-repayable grants and low-cost loans to the areas and industries which have been most heavily impacted by the pandemic.

The European Commission has been granted massive borrowing, taxation and spending powers enabling it to run up £351billion in joint debt.

The money will be paid out as part of an overall package totalling £1.6trillion which includes the bloc's next seven-year budget.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron is a driving force behind the recovery plan, having welcomed it as the biggest boost to EU integration since the introduction of the euro in 1999.

He is believed to favour more EU-wide taxation to pay for the package.

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POLAND

1. xxiszazadintezet.hu (translated, original by Miklós Lovas Pogrányi, 26.04.2021)

The future of the European right

European politics has been vegetating in the shadow of competing superpowers since World War II. Germany (apparently) has given up on being Europe's leading cultural and military power, in exchange it has gained unprecedented economic superiority since World War II. Sometimes there were statesmen who wanted to go their own way in Europe (Charles De Gaulle), but in the end, European politics always slipped into the expectations of the superpowers.

Major trends

The dynamics of European history are determined by two factors: the forces of stability and the forces of progress. The leaders of European countries were successful when they were able to distinguish between things worth preserving and those that need to be renewed. There are recurring motifs in history, but the problems are always new, and the great connections are often only recognizable after decades: Western public has long been averse to accepting that liberalism and socialism are related ideologies, that is, fraternities of progression. Superficial observers of world politics interpreted the decades of the Cold War as a struggle between these two ideologies, although in the light of later developments it is already clear that this was only the surface.

Classical liberalism has been declining since 1914.

The great winner of the last hundred years is socialism, as the first half of the 20th century was nothing more than a struggle between different versions of it. In 1989/90, it was not socialism that failed, only its Soviet version. Today, China, the world’s second greatest economic and military power, has perfected it in modern form and built a true Orwellian 109 society. At the same time, the world-leading USA is also moving steadily towards socialism: since World War II, the power of the central government has been growing unstoppably, welfare spending and, with it, nominal public debt have been rising. Following the terrorist attacks of 2001, the power of the current American administration also increased as was never seen before. It controls the lives of its citizens to an unprecedented extent and brings more and more areas of civil society under its control. In 2016, Bernie Sanders campaigned with the promise of Scandinavian-type socialism, and under Joe Biden’s presidency, the construction of a gigantic welfare state began.

Amid the vibrations on the surface, the power of big tech companies is also growing steadfastly: for the first time in history unique power centers are being created that control the activities of natural and legal persons through Big Data and are already able to have a significant impact on the outcome of elections.

Globalization has now surpassed all political views. It emptied liberalism, of which only passion for the free market remained, and modernized the left through hard and soft versions of communism. Progression also colonized most of the forces that call themselves conservative. A disturbing factor in this process was the awakening of Central Europe to self- awareness from 2010, followed by Donald Trump's presidency (2017-20).

A sight from the European right

The European right has basically two main strikes: 1) the outspoken style of the radical wing and its harsh rhetoric are often combined with erroneous federal policy. A typical example of this in Western countries were the actions of Enoch Powell or Jean-Marie Le Pen, and in Hungary, István Csurka was trapped in the same pit. Radical politics is therefore always strained by a glass ceiling. In times of crisis, support for these parties rises, but their attempts to gain a political center always fail.

2) The European center-right, in comparison, is steadfastly looking for the possibility of unity. It aims to reconcile stability and progress according to local conditions. It seeks to dominate the political center with compromise solutions, preserving the traditional European and national values as much as possible. The European center-right bases its guidelines traditionally on natural law. The secular principles derived from Christianity (protection of human dignity, subsidiarity, solidarity) are often supplemented by a reference to Christianity, sometimes also explicitly referring to the social teaching of historical denominations. Until recently, its umbrella organization was primarily the European People's Party (EPP), whose strength was due to two factors. On the one hand, widespread mass support: a significant number of member organizations came from broad-based center-right parties. The other is the 110 economic force behind it: the financial strength and economic influence of big European capital. The parties that belonged to the EPP gained room for maneuver and influence at the international level.

Such policy with compromises has therefore brought significant benefits - with some acceptable losses and waivers. However, the status quo since the 1990s has been shaken by a number of events: the EU was hit by the financial crisis in 2008, culminating in the 2015 migration crisis, and then in 2020 by an unprecedented elemental disaster: the coronavirus pandemic. The EU has performed poorly on all three challenges. It was unable to react quickly and this repeatedly led to a faltering of social order, a decline in living standards. EU policy is typically slow, bureaucratic and unaccountable.

This continued to have a detrimental effect after 2008: the crisis in the real estate and financial markets resulted in a significant realignment of wealth, from which the citizens of European countries could not benefit. The migration crisis was further undermining Europe's sense of security: it has turned upside down the already critical ethnic proportions in several big cities, violence against women has broken out, as well as the number of atrocities against Jews and gays has increased significantly and Christians have become the center of attacks. In France, attacks on churches and religiously motivated murders became regular.

During the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, bureaucratic policies caused more damage than before.

“Doing things by not doing things” has so far resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of European citizens, but the conclusions have not yet been drawn by the Brussels elite, although events consistently justify the arguments of national, right-wing, sovereign parties.

Progression undermines the Western world

The economic crisis that erupted in 2008 proved to be a historic opportunity for the “progressive forces”: progression has reached the next level, and transformation processes have accelerated. The experience of dynamic globalization is a task for everyone. During the great transformation, there is also a competition for the primacy of interpretation. Globalization in itself has a leveling effect on the world, with differences between continents steadily narrowing - as was already observed at the beginning of the last century (Ortega y Gasset: Rebellion of the Masses. 1929). It is in the interest of global capital to accelerate or contain this spontaneous process. For this reason, it is constantly increasing its influence within the system of cultural and scientific institutions. It determines the trends in the 111 entertainment industry (TV shows, film production, video game themes), the media agenda. In the Western world, Global capital has also taken almost complete control of social science research and publications, which has several purposes: on the one hand, it creates the conceptual set by which the process can be described according to its interests. On the other hand, it also creates a self-regulatory defense mechanism: it creates a language in which one cannot even talk about problems that are undesirable to this system.

Part of this process is to infiltrate the European moderate right with progressive ideas.

Accordingly, the current “Christian Democracy without Christ” was created, designated as a universal model for the states of the Western cultural circle. A set-up right is being built where props, slogans, visual elements evoke an atmosphere of conservatism but do not jeopardize any strategic goals of progressive forces. The aim of this large-scale process is to blur the differences between different cultures, to confuse the populations of the continents, and to weaken the internal cohesion of societies. One of the most important informal decision- making forums in the world (World Economic Forum) was also seen as declaring that private property could be liquidated within ten years. All these intentions are hampered by a sovereign European nation-state. This is how globalization and sovereignty have become a real breaking point in European politics today.

Geopolitical trap

The European right wants to preserve what once made our culture great and what gives it its strength to this day. However, this seemingly obvious goal is detrimental to a number of interests. Effective European cooperation based on strong nation-states runs counter to the interests of power centers such as the American Democrats and the money capital behind them, as well as Big Tech firms. A strong Europe does not serve the interests of communist China, nor of the Arab monarchies that export both oil and political Islam. Russia has also traditionally been referred to as a state with a counter-interest in Europe's success, but this is far from clear. A fully Americanized EU serving the ideology of democracy exports is certainly not a good neighbor of Russia.

In a globalizing world, in the grip of America, China and the Arab world, Europe would have an interest in effective cooperation. However, the current direction of unification does not serve this purpose. The growth of the Brussels administration is clearly working against competitiveness and self-defense. Political decisions are bureaucratised, but in the meantime the bureaucracy is soaked through with ideology - unaccountable officials decide in which direction the worldview of 446 million people should be shaped (cancel culture, gender ideology. LGBTQ lobby), while vaccine purchases are hampered which caused the deaths of tens of thousands in recent months. 112

Until recently, the paradigmatic concepts of European politics were the neoliberal economy and liberal democracy. In 2008, the first, and in 2015, the second, turned out to be a complete fail. The economic crisis in America has made it clear that financial markets need much stronger supervision. The migration crisis and the cynical reasoning of human rights organizations that are encouraging migration have made it clear that the natural need for European identity cannot be said or defended in the language of liberalism.

The intellectual framework of the previous world order has disintegrated, the new has not yet emerged: we are in a paradigm shift.

Political forces formerly called liberal and socialist seem to merge: progression has created a new, hybrid political phenomenon that promotes total freedom in private (quasi-liberal), but seeks to place an individual deprived of his natural bonds in a new, global dependency. framed by uncontrollable structures (quasi-socialism).

Challenges for the new European right

Confronting global structures involves enormous risk. The right should draw on ideas, if necessary, even from the international left, which still prefers to use tools outside of the political institutions. Catching up seems inevitable: across Europe, there would be a need for conservative movements and professional support for community building (lobby groups, action groups, demonstrations, performances). Behind this, an economic force must be organized on a pragmatic basis, a positive example of which could be the American prolife movement. This highly successful and effective initiative created a coalition for the protection of life involving neo-Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox denominations.

Minimizing information technology dependence is also a long-term, but inevitable strategic goal. Exposure to techies could be reduced by developing our own infrastructure. As part of this, an independent, international media network needs to be built - in which American Republicans may be interested. Due to the well-known dual media benchmark, it would be advisable to create own television, radio, new social network and other online platforms.

The room for maneuver of the Hungarian right

Hungarian right-wing politics is currently able to exert influence on three levels. 1) The first, of course, is the world of domestic domestic politics. 2) The second is the Carpathian Basin, which the Hungarian left traditionally renounces, but the Hungarian right bears responsibility 113 for it and included it in its scope after 2010. 3) However, the third level is a novelty: the wave of migration that started in 2015 also put the Hungarian right on the map of Europe. Hungary, together with its allies in Central and Southern Europe, has once again become a bastion of Europe. However, this unexpected, old-new role has also brought with it unprecedented conflicts: centuries-old historical and cultural differences have surfaced in recent years.

In 1989/90, the people of Central Europe got rid of communism and were given the opportunity to become part of Europe again. In the West, however, by the end of the 20th century, changes had taken place in line with the model of secularization: the Europe that Hungarians and Poles were looking at through the Iron Curtain is no more. It took about two decades after the process of regime change began, until the people of Central Europe realized that what was at the heart of Europe was its custodians themselves - and the West was nothing more than a promise of prosperity.

By the beginning of the 21st century, however, it had become clear that the West had no interest in improving the standard of living in Central Europe.

The colonial logic works invariably: the great powers deny that the region could have independent interests, radically connect the countries here, and try to weaken the solidarity between them. However, Hungary and Poland adhere to the ancient traditions of Europe: in the face of postmodernity and transhumanism, they stand for the human image of antiquity and Christianity. As a result, an independent Central European conservatism has emerged over the past decade that still believes in what the West has no longer proclaimed. This new conservatism is now being institutionalized, it is now building its forums.

A political alliance is lasting if it is based on common interests but also represents certain common values. The Polish-Hungarian alliance, which is expanding with the Italians, is in the period of strategic planning. The number one goal is to formulate a minimum, to which additional right-wing forces may join in the future. The European right is sovereign: it wants to end the growing democracy deficit in the European Union. It is likely to insist on cutting red tape and maintaining subsidiarity. It is expected to take a more radical approach to illegal immigration than ever before to protect the interests of indigenous nations.

Possible value-based connection points are as follows: In Western Europe, traditional religiosity has essentially ceased to exist, but Christianity still belongs to the cultural foundations of society.

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The new European right is therefore unlikely to be declared religious in a spiritual sense, but it can unequivocally embrace the natural law teaching of Christianity. This can be the basis for traditionality, cultural self-defense and partisanship. Encouraging natural, internal reproduction will be a major economic force for the self-defense of indigenous nations. This must go hand in hand with the rise of a conservative feminism: the education system needs to be radically overhauled so that European women can reconcile motherhood not only with career development but also with a first degree. All of this is likely to be accompanied by a desire to simplify the tax system, support family taxation and tax money.

The formation of a new political community is possible if the political will points in one direction for years.

There must also be an economic force behind the European right, without which there is no reality of its survival. A link needs to be found with those industries that also have a financial interest in keeping fiscal policy and economic regulation a national competence. We need partners who are willing to bear the medium-term financial losses in order to have political representation in the long run.

Summary

The vast majority of the European political elite do not have their own thoughts, nor do they raise relevant issues. It imports political products that are invented in U.S. progressive institutes, built up in the U.S. political system with the help of international media, and distributed through soft-power tools (scientific collaborations, NGOs, film production, and other surfaces of mass culture). This phenomenon is called “shifting” for short. If the European right wants to survive, it must have a much wider horizon than it does now. You need to look beyond Europe’s borders, but even in the Western world. It must draw inspiration from Christian orthodoxy, which has tremendous cultural power, and also pay attention to conservative thinking in South America. Meanwhile, it must find political allies on the other continents as well.

2. portfolio.hu (translated, original by portfolio.hu, 11.05.2021)

Romania and Poland are preparing together to defend Eastern Europe

Romanian and Polish soldiers are preparing for defense missions and cooperating on the eastern wing of NATO, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday when he and 115

Polish President Andrzej Duda visited Galati County near the Romanian-Moldovan- Ukrainian trinity on the Danube estuary. international military exercise on the shooting range.

In his brief greeting, Iohannis emphasized the word "defense" three times, referring to NATO's defense alliance and preparing its forces not to attack other states but to jointly defend member states.

Duda, who began his official visit to Romania on Monday, pointed out that Romanian and Polish soldiers are mutually contributing to the protection of the entire eastern wing in each other's country, and Polish soldiers present at the Smardan military exercise are serving in the international NATO brigade in Craiova, southern Romania.

The Polish president also recalled that security in the region was also a key topic at Monday’s online summit of nine Central (B9) NATO members in Central and Eastern Europe, including US President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

The B9 Group, set up in 2015 at the initiative of Poland and Romania and co-chaired by Duda and Iohannis, was convened in preparation for the NATO summit in Brussels in June, essentially with the support of the eastern Member States for strengthening the eastern wing. in support of.

Two thousand Romanian, Polish, German and American soldiers will take part in a maneuver called Justice Sword 21, which last week marched on about five hundred tanks, artillery equipment and Romania's most expensive equipment to date, the country's first Patriot anti- missile system.

Justice Sword 21 is part of the Dacia 21 Livex international military exercise in May and June, organized by some 15,000 Romanian, Allied and Partner countries in connection with NATO's Defender Europe 2021 exercise series.

3. hirado.hu (translated, original by hirado.hu, 14.05.2021)

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Szijjártó: The V4s are the engine of European growth

Thanks to their cooperation, the Visegrad countries (V4) may be among the winners of the new post-pandemic world order, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said at a joint press conference following a meeting of V4 diplomatic leaders in Łódź, central Poland.

The V4s (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia) have in recent years “pursued an economic and security policy Europe has become the most attractive investment destination in Europe, as a result of which “we play the role of the engine of growth,” said Péter Szijjártó.

He said it is not an exaggeration to talk about the creation of a new world order because of the coronavirus epidemic, both economically and politically, it certainly presents new challenges. Close cooperation between the V4 countries can ensure the rapid restart of our economies in the future and that the group of countries will be one of the winners of the new world order, the head of the ministry said.

He pointed out that our region is now clearly the supplier region of German industry, which is the backbone of the European economy, in the last year of peace, in 2019, for example, the trade turnover of V4 and Germany exceeded 300 billion euros. Regarding foreign investments in Central Europe, Péter Szijjártó said that in virtually all investment competitions, the final competitors were always the V4 countries, which shows that the region has become the most attractive investment region in Europe.

This is due to our disciplined fiscal policy and low taxes, so on the eve of the new world order, the position that Hungary will never contribute to the introduction of any global minimum tax must be made clear, he underlined. “We will not raise taxes due to international pressure,” the key to our competitiveness is to keep tax policy a national competence, he added.

He also underlined: Hungary insists on its position against the distribution quota of illegal immigrants. “We see that neither Brussels nor New York has given up on the idea of mandatory resettlement quotas,” we must remain vigilant so that ‘ security and self- determination of the countries of Central Europe, ”he said.

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Hungarians are interested in a strong Europe, but this is not without strong Christian values and communities, so Hungary will continue to stand up for persecuted Christians in the world and insist on strengthening Europe's basic Christian values.

Finally, referring to the Hungarian-Czech agreement on the free travel of vaccinated citizens of the two countries, the Minister expressed the hope that this solution could soon be extended to the Visegrad level.

The new Czech Foreign Minister, Jakub Kulhánek, said in this regard that the goal is to introduce a common European ID card, but they already want to ensure that vaccinated residents of the Visegrad countries can travel without quarantine and virus testing. He confirmed that a Czech-Polish agreement was reached on this solution the other day.

Kulhan also addressed the issue of migration, calling it a great success for the Visegrad political leaders that they had convinced "a number of European countries that a system of mandatory quotas was not a good solution".

The head of Polish diplomacy, Zbigniew Rau, announced that the V4 foreign ministers will meet again at the end of the Polish presidency in June, this time in an extended format with the countries of the Western Balkans. He stressed that the group of countries actively supports the European integration of the Western Balkans.

4. magyarhirlap.hu (translated, original by Mariann Őry, 14.05.2021)

Traditional family is in danger

Brussels aims to put ideological pressure on conservative member states - warns analyst Eszter Párkányi

A recent initiative by the European Commission (EC) would change the practice where EU countries do not necessarily recognize parental status acquired in other Member States. According to the Center for Fundamental Rights, Brussels would put ideological pressure on the Member States concerned. We asked Eszter Párkányi, the analyst of the institute. 118

- What are the legal consequences of the committee's initiative?

- The European Commission has clearly voted in favor of the LGBT lobby. Last summer, EU funds were withheld from Polish cities on the grounds of violations of homosexual rights, putting pressure on democratically elected municipalities. Subsequently, the EU Gender Strategy was published, elements of which could be a matter of serious concern. And this spring, they welcomed the European Parliament's declaration of the Union as an LGBT freedom zone, whatever that means.

The implicit aim of the current proposal is clearly to deprive the Member States of their powers, since the regulation of family law is a matter for the nation states under the Treaties. They therefore want to make the recognition of parental status mandatory for Member States by invoking the right of free movement and establishment. In plain speaking, homosexual couples with their adopted children would qualify as families in all EU countries. This initiative is contrary to the values of many Member States' constitutions and legal systems, including the concept of family laid down in the Hungarian Basic Law.

- Does the current initiative describe the general direction of the ECJ?

- The committee chaired by Ursula von der Leyen operates on the same political and ideological basis as the previous body, chaired by Juncker. Instead of guarding the treaties, they also deal with issues such as the creation of an EU gender strategy during the epidemic, or in this case the parental status of gay couples, instead of arranging for a faulty vaccine procurement. Their aim is to put ideological pressure on those Member States that interpret the concept of the family in their legislation along traditional, conservative, Christian values.

- What are the options for Member States if they do not agree?

- Given that the proposal is still in its infancy and the details are not known, it would be premature to consider what we can do if it is adopted. At the same time, we need to draw people's attention to the dangers of the initiative itself. I also consider this important because EU citizens will have the opportunity to express their views and opposition in this regard during the public consultation.

- What are the plans for the Center for Fundamental Rights and its Polish partner, Ordo Iuris?

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- We have been cooperating successfully for more than a year along the lines of conserving conservative Christian values. Last year, we jointly launched a petition against the adoption of the Istanbul Convention at EU level. So we are not alone. As a result of our work, a number of like-minded organizations joined the call. Our aim is to consolidate these partners into a common conservative European network over time. We are also working together against the committee's latest proposal.

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CZECH REPUBLIC

1. expats.cz (original by Raymond Johnston, 29.04.2021)

Okamura: ‘I’d rather jump out a window’ than be adopted by a same-sex couple

Comments by the politician against same-sex marriage legislation were condemned on social media.

Right Czech politician Tomio Okamura has taken a strong stance against same-sex couples being allowed to adopt children. The comments made by the head of the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party have been widely condemned.

Okamura made his comments during an extraordinary meeting of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Czech Parliament, which was debating changing the Civil Code to allow same-sex marriage.

Okamura said that a child from an orphanage would rather stay in the orphanage than go to a same-sex couple.

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“I grew up in an orphanage for part of my childhood, and I can tell you that if a same-sex couple adopted me, I'd rather jump out the window," Okamura said.

He added that those who talk about orphans in children’s homes know nothing about the topic because they did not spend part of their childhood there, while he had done so.

Czech law currently does not allow same-sex couples to adopt children.

Okamura emphasized that he had no problem with gays and lesbians, and that his younger brother was gay. His brother, architect Osamu Okamura, was one of the guests of honor at the 2017 Prague Pride celebration.

The SPD leader also maintains that he does not oppose registered partnerships, but a family consists of a man, a woman and children, and that should remain the case. “Marriage is simply the union of a man and a woman," he said. The debate on the issue was “a dispute between common sense and pseudoliberal nihilism,” he added.

Okamura's mother is from Moravia and his father from Japan. The politician and his two brothers were born in Tokyo. When the parents divorced, his mother returned with her sons to Bohemia, and Tomio Okamura was put in an orphanage when he was 6 years old.

He was not the only politican to speak against same-sex marriage. Deputy Marek Výborný from the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) is one of the authors of a proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union of man and woman. “We are on the side of a stable family defined as father, mother and children. … We are not debating minority law, we are debating values,” he said.

Communist (KSČM) Deputy Jiří Dolejš is one of the supporters of same-sex marriage. “According to Okamura, child adopted by a gay couple would probably commit suicide, and he would have jumped out the window. That's what I call a guardian of traditions,” Dolejš, said on Twitter.

Prague Pride pointed out on Twitter that thanks to the atmosphere that Okamura was creating, the pro-LGBT+ organization is approached by dozens of children who really have suicidal thoughts. “Our mentors try to help all of them,” Prague Pride said. 121

Jsme fér, an organization that promotes marriage for everyone, also criticized Okamura’s comments.

“Tomio Okamura would rather jump out the window than have gay parents. His brother would certainly be happy,” the organization Tweeted.

In a separate Tweet, Jsme fér pointed out that two-thirds of Czech people now support same- sex marriage according to a recent poll by research agency Median.

Former Green chairman Matěj Stropnický said that his experience contradicts Okamura’s remarks. Stropnický said a 9-year-old girl from an orphanage contacted him and his partner, Daniel Krejčík, via email when she heard that they couldn't have children.

"You said you wanted to have children, but you couldn't. I would go to you, because I liked you very much,” Emma wrote after seeing the couple on a TV reality show. His partner posted the email on Instagram.

2. euronews.com (original by David Hutt, 11.05.2021)

How the right-wing is fighting back against 'cancel culture' in the Czech Republic

While the current trend in Europe appears to be censoring social media content, the Czech Republic is considering the opposite.

Czech MPs have passed the first reading of a legal amendment that would criminalise social media firms if they ban content that is deemed to be in the public interest.

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It's being seen as an attempt by the Czech right-wing to fight back against the so-called cancel culture seen elsewhere in Europe.

The motion was brought forward to the lower house of parliament by Vaclav Klaus Jr, the son of a former prime minister and founder of the small right-wing Trikolora party, as well by MPs from various other political parties.

If passed, the amendment to the country's criminal code could lead to social media operators or administrators facing a three-year prison sentence, a temporary ban on activities or a hefty fine if they censor content that is either in the public interest or does not violate domestic criminal law or international treaties.

Czech MPs appear to be cutting their own path as other European legislatures introduce laws that require social media firms to remove content when demanded by national regulators.

Last May, France introduced a new government-sponsored law to compel social media operators to take down hateful content flagged by users within 24 hours. But the French Constitutional Council a month later struck down most provisions of the law as they were deemed unconstitutional, for violating freedom of speech.

In Germany, the 2017 Network Enforcement Act that requires social networks to remove content that infringes on hate and defamatory speech in the German Criminal Code has caught on elsewhere on the continent.

If ratified, the EU’s long-planned Digital Services Act, a draft for which was released by the European Commission last December, will greatly empower social media operators to choose what content they deem permissible or not through notice-and-action mechanisms.

Is this amendment about fighting back against 'cancel culture'?

Klaus Jr has proposed such a change to the law since at least 2018 and the amendment was first tabled in the Czech parliament in January 2019.

The coalition government opposes the measure. So, too, does the Pirate Party, the parliament's second-largest opposition group.

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The amendment was co-sponsored by Radim Fiala, vice-president of the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy party (SPD). Some members of the ruling ANO party, of Prime Minister Andrej Babis, also supported the amendment, as did lawmakers from the centre-right Civic Democratic Party (ODS), the largest opposition party.

Proponents of the amendment argue that not only does censorship by social media firms violate the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, there are also currently no laws that stop the firms from deleting content posted on their platforms. The amendment has now been sent to parliament’s constitutional and legal committee for review.

Miroslav Mares, a Czech political scientist and expert on right-wing politics at Masaryk University, reckons there is a chance that MPs could adopt the amendment but it’s almost certain to be rejected by the Senate, parliament's upper house, or the Constitutional Court.

But even if it is eventually rejected, Mares added, the issue of free speech may become important on the political right’s campaign trail ahead of October’s general election, which is expected to be tightly fought and could see a number of far-right parties hold sway over which of the larger parties forms the next government.

According to a survey published in 2017 by global monitoring agency vpnMentor, the Czech Republic had one of the lowest rates of internet censorship in the world. But Mares said the issue of free speech is becoming divided between two competing narratives in Czech politics.

For some, Mares noted, the issue of free speech is tied to liberal democracy and the legacy of Vaclav Havel, an anti-communist figurehead who defined the Czech Republic’s liberal establishment when he became the first president of the country after the fall of communism in 1989.

In direct opposition, Mares added, are those who see the fight for freedom of speech as a rejection of “Western progressivism", a loose label by which they mean current debates surrounding “cancel culture”, political correctness and the limits of offensiveness.

“It means that traditional prejudices and expressions towards various entities are protected by these people, mostly from the nationalist spectrum around President [Milos] Zeman and Klaus,” said Mares.

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'The new left wants to destroy freedom of speech'

Klaus Jr’s father, Vaclav Klaus Sr, was a major political figure in the 1990s, serving as prime minister between 1993 and 1998, and a nationalist whose politics were in direct contrast to Havel’s liberalism. “Klausism” became an epithet for a national conservatism commingled with economic liberalism.

Last year, President Zeman sparked controversy when he lashed out at the Black Lives Matter movement for being “racist, since all lives matter”.

Expecting a public backlash over what he saw as political correctness, he added: “I do not need any new Big Brothers; I do not need any new opinion leaders.”

In his speech to parliament when introducing the amendment, Klaus Jr railed against what he called the “new left”, a label he and other politicians from the political right often use to describe the Pirate Party, which tends to champion “progressive” issues.

“I want to defend freedom of speech and democracy and not let the attacks of the new left grow,” Klaus Jr stated.

“They distinguish between ‘Hate Speech’ and ‘Fair Speech’, between evil statements and correct ones... This is, of course, devastating for the society in which we live,” he went on, adding that the “new left” wants to “destroy freedom of speech.”

Mares, of Masaryk University, said that the “new left” label is an attempt by certain parties to present the Pirate Party as a “vanguard of Western neo-Marxism”, a term that is commonly used across Europe and North America to refer to “progressives”.

Tomas Martinek, an MP for the Pirates, admonished the amendment as being vaguely worded and almost impossible to enforce, as well as hypocritical, alleging that Klaus Jr regularly blocks people and deletes content on his social media pages.

Pavel Havlicek, a research fellow at the Prague-based Association for International Affairs, said the amendment is “more a question of far-right fringe parties against the political 125 mainstream, along the lines of the traditional populist agenda of anti-elitist, anti-mainstream logic.”

Paternalistic limit on free speech?

Klaus Jr’s Trikolora party -- which he formed in 2019 after being expelled from the centre- right ODS -- has been endorsed by and likened to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party in the UK and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz.

At the time of its formation, Klaus Jnr was ranked the “most trusted” Czech politician, after a survey by local pollster CVVM. He resigned as the party leader in March, citing personal issues but retained his seat in parliament. It remains unclear whether he’ll retake the mantle ahead of October’s general election.

The agenda of the far-right parties, like Trikolora and the SPD, said Havlicek, is to “argue that some [imaginary] powers are trying to ‘silence’ them, which is not the case.”

However, it may not be an unpopular idea in Czech society. Last September, dozens of personalities, including game developer Daniel Vavra, musician Pavel Fajt and writer David Zabransky, signed a petition calling on the government to impose legislation to oppose censorship on social media.

Political parties including the Trikolora and the SPD have been at the foreground of anti- lockdown protests since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which they have argued that government-enforced restrictions on freedom of movement are comparable to a paternalistic limit on free speech for the sake of political correctness.

The Czech public’s trust in their government and parliament has fallen to the lowest in the EU, according to the latest Eurobarometer report, released last week. The share of the Czech population who trust their government fell from 40% to 19% since early 2020. Confidence in the Czech Parliament dropped 10 percentage points to 15%

The latest survey by Kantar CZ, a local pollster, puts the new Pirates and Mayors coalition - formed late last year by the Pirate Party and the Mayors and Independents party - in the lead if October’s general election was held today, with 27% of the popular vote.

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ANO, the main party in the current ruling coalition, has lost considerable support since the beginning of the pandemic and enjoys just a 20% vote share, according to Kantar CZ. The Social Democrats (CSSD), ANO’s junior coalition partner, is widely tipped to lose most of its parliamentary seats come October.

The governing coalition also last month lost the support of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM), whose 15 lawmakers Prime Minister Babis’ minority government had depended upon to get legislation through parliament.

Because neither the Pirates and Mayors coalition nor ANO are likely to win enough seats to form a government by themselves, and if ANO cannot rely on its current Social Democrat ally, both groups will likely have to find new partners if they want to form the next government.

Up until now, Babis has vowed not to ally with the far-right SPD, which currently holds 20 seats in parliament and is predicted to be the fourth largest political group after the general election, according to Kantar CZ polls. However, in October the far-right could become kingmakers.

3. sarajevotimes.com (original by Y.Z., 17.05.2021)

The Czech Republic supports BiH’s integration into the EU and NATO

Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sifet Podzic held a meeting today with the Czech Ambassador to BiH Ivana Hlavsova, and expressed gratitude for the Czech Republic’s assistance to BiH so far on its path to the European Union and NATO.

Minister informed Hlavsova about the main activities of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of BiH and expressed gratitude to the Czech Republic for its support for demining process in our country through the international project “Trust Fund” (ITF), with the hope that the demining process in our country will be completed by 2025.

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Ambassador Hlavsova pointed out that the Czech Republic supports the integration of BiH into the European Union and NATO, and that with its actions it wants to raise the awareness of the citizens of our country about the importance of that integration.

She also highlighted the success of the Armed Forces of BiH which is proof that our country is capable of being a serious partner to all countries.

The interlocutors concluded that bilateral cooperation between the two countries is at an enviable level, and that the bilateral cooperation plan for this year will be signed soon.

4. expats.cz (original by CTK, 15.05.2021)

Only Czech Republic, U.S. make Russia's new list of enemies

Russia has declared the Czech Republic and U.S. hostile states, and limited the number of diplomats from them allowed to work in Russia.

Prague considers Russia's decision to list the Czech Republic as one of two hostile countries to be another step in the escalation on tension with not only the Czech Republic, but also with the European Union and its allies, the Czech Foreign Ministry has stated in a press release.

The Russian government issued the list of hostile countries, which includes only the Czech Republic and USA, yesterday.

It also limited the number of people who are allowed to work for those countries in Russia in a regulation released online. While no one is allowed to work for the United States in Russia, 19 people are allowed to work for the Czech Republic.

According to the Czech Foreign Ministry, such a step is completely at odds with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, mainly the commitment to allow regular work of 128 diplomatic missions and the principle of not discriminating against relations between particular countries.

"We regret that Russia has chosen this path of confrontation to its own detriment, since such a measure will have an indirect influence on a possible development of contacts between ordinary citizens, on tourism, and the development of commercial relations," the Ministry noted.

The Czech Republic's decision to set the limit for the number of employees at the Russian embassy in Prague will not change in connection with the Russian government's step. "Unlike the Russian procedure, our step is in full harmony with the international law," Czech diplomacy added.

A diplomatic rift between Prague and Moscow flared up on April 17 over the presentation of Czech secret service suspicion that Russian GRU military secret service agents were behind explosions in an ammo depot in Vrbětice, south Moravia, in 2014.

The Czech Republic expelled 18 employees of the Russian Embassy in Prague, and Moscow retaliated by expelling 20 workers of the Czech embassy in Moscow.

The Czech government also excluded the Russian company Rosatom from a tender for the construction of a new unit in the Dukovany nuclear power plant, south Moravia.

Moscow rejects the accusations, and Russian representatives have repeatedly called them unsubstantiated, controversial, irresponsible and provocative.

Deputy PM and Interior Minister Jan Hamáček wrote CTK that the steps taken by Russia confirm that the Czech Republic had reacted correctly in the Vrbětice case.

"The resolute Czech response of breaking up of the GRU and SVR (Russian foreign intelligence service) residencies in our territory has impacted Russia to such a high extent that it considered it necessary to include us in a list of hostile countries together with the USA. I am proud of being able to participate in the preparation and implementation of this response from the Czech Republic," Hamáček said.

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President Miloš Zeman will comment on the affair in a Sunday interview with radio station Frekvence 1, his spokesperson Jiří Ovčáček said.

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The Russian newspaper Kommersant wrote that the government had established the list of hostile countries on the basis of the presidential decree entitled "On the application of counter-measures in reaction to hostile steps by other countries."

President Vladimir Putin signed the decree on April 23, at the time when new diplomatic conflicts were escalating. The government regulation released today says the list includes the states that are "carrying out hostile actions against the Russian Federation, its citizens, or Russian legal entities."

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HUNGARY

1. infostart.hu (translated, original by Infostart, 28.04.2021)

Péter Szijjártó: a new chapter opens in Hungarian-Romanian relations

New border crossings with permanent opening hours will be opened, and the railway will also be modernized, the minister announced, who also talked about the V4s.

The reopening of the Joint Committee on Minority Affairs will open a new chapter in Hungarian-Romanian relations, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said after signing several bilateral agreements with his Romanian counterpart at Almásy Castle in Gyula.

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Péter Szijjártó said that the Joint Committee on Minority Affairs last met in 2011, but the current agreement, which also sets out the points of contention, also allows for the joint discussion and resolution of "issues previously considered unsolvable". He asked that the committee be reconvened as soon as possible and that important issues, such as the continued operation of the Târgu Mureş Catholic Lyceum, be discussed.

Politician Bogdan Aurescu also signed an agreement with Romanian Foreign Minister to amend the 2004 and 2014 agreements in Bucharest, which he said would improve the speed of border crossings and prevent them from crossing the Hungarian-Romanian border with large bypasses. but close to each other.

New border crossings with permanent opening hours will open between Elek-Ottlaka and Dombegyház-Kisvarjas, he said. It is expected that from autumn, instead of the previous 12, there will be 14 permanent crossings on the Hungarian-Romanian border section, and the Hungarians will build the necessary infrastructure in the Hungarian part. The Schengen Treaty obliges us to do this, he said.

Péter Szijjártó said that energy security issues were also discussed. They agree that climate targets are important to both countries, but achieving them requires nuclear energy and the use of natural gas as a transitional energy source. "We will not allow Brussels to push these two forms of energy production into the background," he underlined.

He also said:

From 2024, the third motorway connection between the two countries will be established on the Mátészalka-Csenger-Szatmárnémeti route.

The modernization of the railway line between Békéscsaba and the country border will be completed by 2024, so that the railway traffic between Budapest-Bucharest-Constanta can run on two tracks.

Peter Szijjártó said that the more the two countries are connected to each other, the more likely they are to resolve conflicts; the challenges of the previous year and the pandemic have highlighted the importance of international cooperation and good neighborly relations.

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It is recalled that in a decade the support provided to Romanian communities living in Hungary has been increased fivefold. The Romanian Orthodox Church receives seven times more funding now than in 2010. They help the educational activities of ethnic self- governments, this year 1176 students study in the schools they maintain in Hungary, he listed.

According to Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu, the signing of the minutes of the 2011 committee meeting by Secretary of State Iulia Matei and Minister Ferenc Kalmár also gives hope for the resumption and development of relations between the two countries.

He said he was co-chair of the committee at the time, so he was glad the work could continue. He also trusts the structure, as experts from the two countries will take part in the dialogue, he said, adding that Péter Faragó, a representative of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (DAHR), is also a member of his delegation.

According to the Romanian minister, the meeting and the resumption of the joint committee are a sign of a strategic partnership between the two countries. According to him, the deepening of economic relations would be served if the Hungarian-Romanian joint chamber of commerce could be established in the autumn in accordance with the current agreement. The volume of trade between the two countries in 2020 was 9 billion euros, he noted. He added that there is still work to be done in terms of investments, Hungary has invested more in Romanian territory in recent years than vice versa.

Bogdan Aurescu recalled that the Hungarian government provides financial support for quality Romanian-language education; grants language rights to the Romanian minority; assists in the operation of Romanian-language publications and art formations, and provides space for the construction of an Orthodox church in Budapest.

The meeting also discussed a project for the development of the Transylvanian economy, the key to which, according to Bogdan Aurescu, is non-discrimination, compliance with European competition law rules and the involvement of the Romanian authorities in the audit.

Answering a question, Péter Szijjártó said that the government's cargo plane was already on its way to Beijing. On Thursday, he will return 600,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine, of which 200,000 will be transported to Georgia.

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The head of government of the Visegrad countries (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary - V4) they do not put pressure on each other - Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, answered a question.

Péter Szijjártó emphasized:

The prime ministers of four countries building on mutual respect and mutual benefit will hold talks at the V4 meetings. 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 reflected the views of all four prime ministers, he said.

Several press outlets wrote about this: the Hungarian prime minister vetoed the V4s taking strong action against Russia.

The minister said that Hungary had already expressed its solidarity with the Czech Republic in a joint foreign ministerial statement last week. He received a text in a text message from the Slovak foreign minister, he said, "he asked if I agreed with him, I wrote back that yes, we issued it afterwards," he said.

Péter Szijjártó said that at the request of the Czech Republic, they undertook to assist the Czechs in guarding and partially operating the Consulate General in Yekaterinburg until they could do so due to the banning or repatriation of their diplomats.

Hungary's commitment to solidarity is unquestionable, he stressed, adding that the government does not intend to take any further action.

The Czech Republic recently announced the expulsion of 18 staff members of the Russian Embassy in Prague, identified as intelligence officers. In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry classified 20 employees of the Czech embassy in Moscow as undesirable. On Monday, at the initiative of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, the V4 prime ministers held a video conference. In a later statement, Polish government spokesman Piotr Müller mentioned the expression of solidarity and support for the steps taken by Prague as one of the topics of the meeting.

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2. index.hu (translated, original by NF, 17.05.2021)

Operational staff: The construction of the Hungarian vaccine factory will start in a hundred days

The countdown has begun, and the foundation stone of the Hungarian vaccine factory will be laid in Debrecen in a hundred days, announced László György, Secretary of State for Economic Strategy and Regulation. He stressed that the epidemic showed that patriotic economic policy was useful. As he put it, the coronavirus crisis justified us.

Preparations for the Hungarian vaccine factory also began before the coronavirus appeared. There has been a shortage of vaccines in Hungary in the past, for example during measles, so it was absolutely necessary to ensure security of supply from our own vaccine. The share of research and development in this industry is high, exceeding 16 percent. The University of Debrecen has the knowledge needed for the operation and development of the factory, said the Secretary of State, adding that in his view, a vaccine factory is a worthwhile investment because vaccines can be sold on foreign markets as well.

Cecília Müller told the operative strain on Monday that 426 new coronavirus patients had been registered by Monday, with 38 patients dying. The hospital cares for 2,259 infected patients, 258 of whom are on ventilators.

We have an abundance of vaccines. We waited long, weeks, months for this sentence. It is up to the individual to decide whether to use the vaccine. All the data show that we are nearing the end of the descending phase of the third wave, which is due to epidemiological precautions and vaccinations - stressed Cecília Müller, who said about the Debrecen vaccine factory plan: if everything goes according to plan, the Hungarian coronavirus vaccine will be availiable by the end of next year. She recalled that domestic vaccine production has a long history.

Vaccinations have been made in Hungary since the late 1920s, for example, vaccines against BCG, rabies or polio, as well as influenza vaccines - said Cecília Müller, adding that the domestic vaccine will be similar to the vaccines against tick-borne encephalitis and influenza.

We are confident that the Hungarian vaccine will provide more effective protection, she added. The chief medical officer described that 47 per cent of the population had already been 134 vaccinated, the EU average being 31 per cent. She asked those who wanted the British- Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine or the Russian Sputnik V vaccine to apply immediately, because no more shipments of these vaccines will arrive in Hungary.

Cecília Müller announced that the Pfizer vaccine can be applied for until Wednesday midnight instead of Tuesday. Chinese Sinopharm vaccine is also available at vaccination sites. Vaccines with Sinopharm, Janssen and Moderna are given in GP surgeries. The chief medical officer said that today 38,400 doses of single-dose Janssen vaccine are arriving in Hungary.

’We would like to protect the whole society, all the inhabitants of Hungary’ - concluded Cecília Müller.

The application is in test mode

Róbert Kiss, the deputy head of the emergency center, said that since Friday, the mobile application, which is currently in test mode, which proves the existence of the vaccination, can be downloaded free of charge, thus being able to trigger the protection certificate. As he said, an app called EESZT in the Google Play store and EESZT Residential in the App Store will make it easier for both vaccinees and providers.

In places where the visit is subject to a security card, the service provider can now check whether the visitor has been vaccinated with a QR code reader instead of presenting the security card. - said Róbert Kiss, who also described the police measures of the past day:

Police acted in 1435 cases due to mask wearing violations. The curfew was violated by 532 people. A pub on Dunasziget was found open after 11 pm, and the restaurant was closed for 30 days. The number of people in official home quarantine has decreased, currently 16,297 are in quarantine.

3. magyarhirlap.hu (translated, original by Ervin Nagy, 29.04.2021)

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There is no anti-Europeanism here!

The Orbán government has no dispute with Europe. It has a debate with left-wing groups, it has a debate with federalist institutions that stems from the nature of political opposition

It is involved in a common but conflict-filled thinking about the future of the Union, but it is by no means anti-European. Who says otherwise or who claims the opposite, is only preparing for 2022 and at the same time for the expiration of the right.

It is a mistake that the Hungarian right would be anti-Western, as well as the fact that the Orbán government would seek the country's place outside the union. The situation, on the other hand, is that for a decade now, the cabinet’s modeling policy has been driven by sovereignty, so inevitably more conflicts have arisen than there were during left-liberal, model-following governments, but the country still has and will remain in Europe. Moreover, the debates are not one-way, many times federal (imperial) politics attacks, and the government stands up, because in addition to construction, the basic goal must be to preserve the “structure”.

Moreover, the necessary debates have been sharpened with precisely defined institutions and political groups, and even the opposing ones can be named, so to say in general that the right- wing government would be anti-Western, more anti-European, is just a maliciously simplistic formula. Specifically, a false and defamatory political stigma.

Stigmatization, like denial of the past, is typically left-wing behavior. Political labeling has been a spectacular embodiment of the left-liberal spirituality that has dominated culture and the dimension of language since the regime change. It was fondly baked on the right to be fascist, Nazi, racist, anti-Semitic, and so on. After the 2015 migration crisis, the term xenophobic was added to all of this. As if the right had only an edge! Today, as the same curse word, the left glues to the right that it is anti-Western. Because this is the story of the united opposition on the left about the right. They like to see the Hungarian government as an excluded pariah, although this is far from the case.

The Hungarian right is freedom-loving and, in the language of politics, sovereign. It has its own thoughts, it makes its own way. It builds, it doesn't imitate. It defends itself, it doesn't bow. And this attitude, both culturally and politically, necessarily carries with it the possibility of conflict. If we compare the political logic of the left and the right in Hungary, 136 then the difference between the pattern-following and the pattern-giving behavior is certainly among the most important.

The policy of copying Western patterns and seeking to install “imperial” interests and values in Hungary, of course, involves less conflict. But not necessarily more successful. Moreover, if we look at our interests, the end result is much more unfavorable. To put it mildly, it’s easier and more peaceful, yet less beneficial to bow to the will of others.

Nevertheless, the policy of the Hungarian Prime Minister serves as an example for many (this is definitely the case with migration), so there are plenty of allies as well. Suffice it to think that Europe’s three strong men, Mateusz Morawiecki, Matteo Salvini and Viktor Orbán, will meet every month to strengthen or just renovate the European right.

All this in a much wider margin of maneuver than in an institutionalized alliance. Thinking together about immigration, sovereignty, Christian culture, the renewal of the EU institutional system (not its demolition as the left suggests!) And support for the traditional family model, they will become more and more active, creating political excitement.

The measure of political efficiency in the case of a government is the success of the country, growth, expansion of room for maneuver, social cohesion, and strengthening of communities. In a democratic system, all this is legitimized, justified and proved by the acquisition and then preservation of majority support. If we look at the government that enters in conflicts and does not run away from debates, then the legitimacy of the “Hungarian way” is indisputable.

(The author is a researcher at the Institute of the 21st Century)

4. magyarhirlap.hu (translated, original by Hajnalka Szarvas, 12.05.2021)

"We will choose between eras next year"

Márton Békés: The cultural upheaval of today is caused by the fact that the post- communist-liberal alliance is starting to lose its cultural power and is reacting very sensitively to this. 137

Hungary acted as a role model when it built a political system that enforced national aspects in the changing world order, thus representing a special place in Europe today, Márton Békés told Magyar Hírlap. The research director of the House of Terror Museum was asked about his career so far and the political and social challenges of the coming period in connection with his recently published book, Cultural Warfare.

- Walking through the House of Terror Museum building, you can feel a strong imprint that pervades the person. The legacy of a very serious historical past. How did you come up in your personal life to turn to such topics?

- The House of Terror Museum is a national memorial, exhibition space, a kind of reminder against totalitarian systems, a sort of immune system, protection. When it opened, on February 24, 2002, on the vigil of the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Communism in Hungary, I was standing in front of the building - it took me three hours to wait for my turn and get in from Oktogon. It is an eternal memory, I have never seen such an exhibition before and since: captivating, dramatically and technologically pioneering to this day. I have been working here for seven years as a research director.

Today, the House of Terror Museum is the headquarters of a number of institutes that, like this, operate under the auspices of the Public Foundation for the Research of History and Society in Central and Eastern Europe, under the direction of Director General Maria Schmidt. I would not have hoped in 2002 to be part of this unparalleled effort in fifteen or twenty years. And the interest in history, as usual, comes from my family: my maternal grandfather inspired me. As a reserve ensign, he fought throughout and survived the siege of Budapest, and was then taken to a prison camp.

I always look for the place of forced labor, where he worked on swamp drainage for two or three years, on the carpet of the museum's Gulag Hall, which depicts the Soviet camp system on a scale. After returning home, he never joined the Communist Party, was a believer Lutheran, and even a Presbyter.

- In your book, you write, the long-term political struggle is the focus of culture, here it is necessary to focus the greatest force. How did you come to this conclusion?

- The work of Mária Schmidt, a Széchenyi Prize-winning historian, is exemplary for me, both professionally and humanly. Working with her and by hier side, I was influenced by the idea 138 that everything in culture starts and returns, so in the end it is “all cultural issues”. When writing Cultural Warfare, which appeared at the end of last year, looking through my old texts, I was pleased to see that I wrote an article in 2009 entitled The Conservative Era is Coming - I think we are now at the gates of this.

And in the Manifesto of Tihany Theses at the 2017 Transit Festival in Tihany, I explained in connection with the consolidation of the System of National Cooperation that there is more to the political system now - and indeed, there is more and more talk about the “Orbán era” today. The system is a political issue, but the era is a cultural one, during which culture must be taken in the broadest possible sense: it includes social customs, collective memory, language and built heritage.

Law can be passed overnight, but having their operation — and even its entire political system — surrounded by consensus is a longer-term work that requires primarily cultural efforts. The task before us is to embed the right-wing political system in a conservative cultural era.

- There are two mottoes at the beginning of the book, one is "Let's destroy one kind of hegemony and create another instead!" From Gramsci. At the same time, the difficulty lies in the fact that the hegemony of liberals and breaking what it is discussing is also a cross-era challenge. Béla Bangha also writes about the press and liberalism in 1919: much of the modern press is unfortunately specifically at the service of the harassing worldview and economic liberalism. How can provide this unbroken, through systems?

It's been happening exactly or a century . After the Bolsheviks in Hungary came to power in a coup in 1919, three weeks later György Lukács became the People's Commissioner for Culture. "Politics is just a tool, culture is the goal!" He declared in the Red Newspaper. But twenty years before that, a cultural television was set up in Hungary at the end of dualism, moved by Oszkár Jászi and Ervin Szabó.

It consists of seemingly different elements on the ground of progression, however, it carried a unifying cultural endeavor, which included the Martinovich Lodge, many free-thinking journals, the Civic Radical Party, anti-clerical reading circles, and the cultural section of Népszava or the Galileo Circle. Lukács validated his 1919 scenario even after his return home in 1945, but also when the Lukács School, whose second generation culminated in the “democratic opposition,” came out of his wings.

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The first president of the SZDSZ, János Kis, was the leading figure of the latter. The division of labor plan for a century looked like while the (far) leftist parties held political power in their hands, the liberals exercised cultural domination. The continuity of the former between the KMP, the MDP, the MSZMP and today's MSZP is clear, and that of the latter looks like this: Freemasons-free thinkers-free democrats.

- The expropriation of science is again only here.

- This includes the dominance of film and theater, the monopolization of science, the domination of cultural institutions, the exercise of the prerogative of canonization and the appropriation of language. This is called “cultural power” for short, which is much more difficult to outline than concrete political and economic power, as it is most prevalent in a symbolic and cognitive sense.

Today's cultural upheavals are caused precisely by the fact that the post-communist-liberal alliance between 1990 and 2010, a direct descendant of the bipolar progressive force outlined earlier, begins to lose its cultural power and reacts very sensitively, often insulted. The saying connected with László Kövér is that the civil forces were in government between 1998 and 2002, but not in power. Yes, because the structures of domination — not just economic positions but also cultural hubs — have been in the hands of the left-liberal side all along. Its elimination has been underway since 2010. The Hungarian opposition, for example, has lost its language, has no intellectual innovation, and does not have a monopoly on opinion formation.

- As you refer to in the book, and Jonah Goldberg also writes in his book Liberal Fascism, the left-liberal side records the victims, historically and factually, of left-wing ideologies and their consequences. A topical example of this is the issue of FreeSzFE, which is about nothing more than to disguise the dictatorship of post-communist networks in the field of science.

- We see that diversifying the intellectual content and political affiliation of the three-letter ideological apparatus (CEU, MTA, NGO, SzFE) and reducing their one-sided bias provokes furious attacks, but not only from those directly involved, but also from opposition parties and even their global partners. . It is characteristic of each of these institutions that they demand scientific legitimacy, thereby withdrawing themselves from politics, more precisely from the realm of democratic accountability, while being highly politicized in a detour.

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This is a serious problem of legitimacy and against the public interest, rooted in the exercise of significant emotional, symbolic and cultural power through their cultural influence, such as the definition of language, thinking, taste, which they are not afraid to use against a majority- empowered government.

- Can historical imprints on today's political party identification play a role in this? The kind of imprint of the public law construction of 1867, which shows the current government as representing a foreign, imperial interest, and the current opposition as representing the freedom fighter, representing a real national interest, is still strongly influenced. Can effects fueled by collective unconsciousness and emotional identification obscure the current political context in which these positions have actually been reversed? Today, it is as if the opposition is representing the principles that serve the imperial “New Moscow”.

- Hungary has a special place in Europe today, as we have had a stable, democratically mandated and nationally valid political system for a long time. Meanwhile, the earth is shaking, the world order is changing, accelerated by the coronavirus epidemic, and escalating international conflicts continue to fuel. Increasingly, the seemingly customary political fault lines seem to be overridden by global and local, in other words, conflict between international and national forces.

This has been the case here for a long time, and the Hungarian right has reacted to it in a pioneering way, and even acts as a model-maker in relation to the functioning of the state, the quality of the political order and the associated social philosophy. The spirituality, political operation and leader of the Hungarian system, ie the person of Viktor Orbán, is therefore considered a rebel on the European stage.

- In connection with the transformation of the structure of the public, you write, it already seems that this post-communist-liberal world-interpreting power, monopoly, is weakening, but is also being transformed, and in connection with the new narrative power, it seems to be financed by domestic and foreign oligarchs. A good example of this is József Forgács, a professor of social psychology of Hungarian descent living in Australia, who describes Hungary and Poland, the two main targets, as “collectively narcissistic” political cultures. And if we look at his work, we see right away: his research fellowship comes from the Rockefeller Foundation, among others.

- This is a world situation, several dangerous phenomena are beginning to connect with each other. One is the dictatorship of Soros’s “open society,” which is misleadingly advertised with 141 transparency, anti-corruption, civil society, an open, tolerant worldview. The other is confusing the gender of man.

The gender revolution has a system of political goals, which is nothing more than the breaking down of biological boundaries, the destruction of the family, which is the basic unit of society, and the basic human identity of man. What we call gender question is actually part of a project to further develop humanity, a kind of social engineering that wants to transform man himself: his gender, his biological structure, his consciousness, his body.

The third is the ‘racial issue’, which is about cracking the cohesion of society and provoking civil war within it. And we see the practical implementation well: the ‘color revolutions’, these soft coups and the ‘racial’ riots serve both the maintenance of destabilization, chaos and the economic interests of large global corporations.

-In light of all this, what do you think about the next year?

- In a year's time, we can say that exactly half of the thirty-two years since the change of regime have been under Viktor Orbán. This is enough time, enough strength and enough memory to identify a political era around it. While in 2010 you could choose between governments and in 2014 and 2018 you had to choose between systems, next year we will decide between eras.

With the Orbán government in power since 2010, it has not only exceeded the period of consolidation (1921–1931) linked to the name of István Bethlen, but also the period of millennial civilian rule, including Kálmán Tisza's 90th decade of dualism 1875 . All this thanks to democratic authority.

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SLOVAKIA

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1. ujszo.com (translated, original by ujszo.com, 11.05.2021)

What about the vaccines in stock?

BRATISLAVA According to Finance Minister Igor Matovič (OĽaNO), the population in Slovakia will soon be vaccinated with the Russian vaccine. Minister of Health Vladimír Lengvarský (candidate for OĽaNO), who is responsible for authorizing the vaccine, has not yet been able to confirm the words of the former Prime Minister.

Sputnik

There are currently five different coronavirus vaccines in stock in Slovakia, but only three of them are in use currently. So far, Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca have been vaccinated, and vaccination of the population is relatively slow compared to other EU countries. Information on each EU country is available on ourworldindata.org, which is run by Oxford University, among others. Since the last update, published on 9 May, the data show that Slovakia is also lagging behind Western Europe and neighboring states. The proportion of people vaccinated with at least one dose is 22.48 percent in Slovakia, while it is 25.05 percent in the Czechs, 27.11 percent in the Poles and 29.6 percent in the Austrians. Compared to Hungary, Slovakia lags even further behind: in our southern neighbor, 44.99 percent of the population has already received the first dose, which is almost double the rate in Slovakia.

Matovič takes action

The Hungarian vaccine program is also running so fast because the use of Russian and Chinese vaccines has been approved, despite the fact that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has not yet carried out inspections of these vaccines. A similar move was attempted by Igor Matovič, who at the time was still traveling to Moscow as head of government and signed a contract for a two million vaccine consignment.

The first shipment of 200,000 doses was made as early as March, but the prime minister’s secret deal caused a government crisis, into which he eventually fell. And Sputnik V has not been used since then because the Slovak Medicines Control Agency (ŠÚKL) did not have enough information to classify the medicine as safe. The vaccines were eventually transported to so-called OMCL laboratories in Hungary for testing, as there is no research center with such an international qualification in Slovakia.

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Matovič posted a post on his Facebook page on the latest developments on Monday night.

“After the excellent results of the tests of the OMCL laboratories in Hungary and three months of all kinds of obstacles, the use of Sputnik V is finally approaching in Slovakia as well. I agreed with the Russian side over the weekend, after the tests are completed, they agree that we can use the vaccine with us already. ”- wrote the Minister of Finance.

Lengvarský is not in the picture

The actions of the former head of government are also divisive because the authorization of coronavirus vaccinations is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health. Vladimír Lengvarský replied to Denník N's request that he did not yet have information from the Russian side. The OĽaNO candidate last week speculated that the use of Sputnik V, if found appropriate, could begin at the end of May at the earliest. The Russians also asked for 600 doses so that they could test the drug in their own laboratories and promised testing for about 1 month.

It is not yet clear exactly when the use of the Russian vaccine will begin. According to Matovič, in the following days, but more precisely, he did not specify the date. It is questionable whether it is too late, as the vaccine expires in July and August.

Johnson got green

The other formulation, which has been in stock in recent weeks, is a vaccine from the pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson. The first shipment was made as early as mid- April, but its use was not authorized because of some cases in America that showed signs of blood clots.

The EMA completed the study a few days ago and found that the benefits of the vaccine far outweighed the chances of possible complications. Lengvarský told webnoviny.sk that vaccination with Johnson & Johnson is expected to begin as early as this week.

The medicine is primarily intended for mobile vaccination teams, that is, healthcare workers who “take home” the vaccine. In particular, they would like to vaccinate the elderly, who have great problems with travel, as well as marginalized groups, ie residents of Roma settlements. 144

2. spectator.sme.sk (original by Spectator, 17.05.2021)

Matovič sees decarbonisation as the only way to secure the future of Košice steelmaker

The finance minister says the plant could possibly be helped through the recovery fund, but a coalition member disagrees.

The decarbonisation of production is the only way to secure the future of the U.S. Steel plant in Košice, said Finance Minister Igor Matovič (OĽaNO) after returning from his trip to the United States.

He travelled to Pittsburgh where he met with the representatives of the steel corporation on May 12, later writing about it on Facebook.

“If we want to secure the future of the Košice plant, there is no other way than decarbonisation,” Matovič told journalists on May 14, as quoted by the SITA newswire.

This would entail the exchange of the currently used furnaces with electric furnaces, resulting in a more than 80-percent drop in CO2 emissions. Huge investments, totalling €1.5 billion by Matovič's estimations, would be required. It is thus important to discuss potential financial assistance for the plant, he continued.

“The question is whether this crucial producer and employer in eastern Slovakia should receive aid from the recovery fund,” Matovič said, as quoted by SITA.

The Košice plant considers talks constructive

The steelmaking industry has reported the historically worst economic results in the past two years, said Martin Klimek, state secretary (deputy minister) of the Finance Ministry. He noted 145 that the U.S. Steel Corporation reported a loss of nearly $1.8 billion, which is close to 20 percent of its revenues before 2020.

“The situation is very unfavourable, and many steelworks are closing down or are forced to declare bankruptcy,” Klimek said, as quoted by SITA.

He considers the US firm's decision on whether to concentrate on its activities in the American market or continue its activities in the EU important.

Ján Bača, the spokesperson of U.S. Steel Košice, considers the talks with Matovič constructive and beneficial.

“The representatives of U.S. Steel were particularly happy about the Slovak government's will to find practical solutions for our joint tasks to improve the environment, climate, business and economy,” Bača said, as quoted by SITA. “We’re looking forward to continuing in our efforts.”

Sulík: It was a mistake

Economy Minister Richard Sulík (SaS) disagreed with Matovič’s trip to Pittsburgh.

“I don’t want to comment on it because I regard the trip as a mistake[…] in this phase of the recovery plan talks, but I don’t want to say more now,” he said during a talk show on Radio Expres.

3. felvidek.ma (translated, original by felvidek.ma, 12.05.2021)

President Zuzana Čaputová addresses the Constitutional Court over the issue of shortening the election cycle to be put to a referendum.

This was announced by Veronika Remišová (Za ľudí), Deputy Prime Minister, on Wednesday.

"Whatever the decision of the Constitutional Court will be, Za ľudí will respect the decision," Remišová stressed. When being asked whether she was afraid that the governing coalition 146 would automatically disintegrate even before a possible referendum, she said that she did not see this danger.

“Everybody can see that the government is working, the situation is improving, we have no reason to assume that the coalition will not last along,” she added.

“It is the task of the head of state to make a decision that ensures the constitutionality of the referendum (…). For this reason, I consider it appropriate that the issues in dispute be clarified before the referendum is announced, so that neither the course nor the outcome of the referendum can be called into question later. " - stressed Čaputová.

She added that the procedural requirements and the requirement of 350 thousand signatures were met.

The head of state pointed out that there has long been a professional debate on the constitutionality of the proposed issue. “It is unclear if a referendum and a decision on early elections would take place, whether that would mean that even MPs would have to vote on the outcome, or whether it would have a direct impact on the outcome of the referendum. If we do not clarify these issues in time, we will leave room for those who will be dissatisfied with the outcome of a possible referendum and will question it, ”Čaputová explained.

She added that the procedural requirement, ie the requirement of at least 350,000 signatures, had been met, so far 524,013 valid signatures had been counted.

According to Čaputová, the fact that a large number of signatures were collected in a relatively short period of time shows that a significant proportion of citizens consider the referendum to be seriously justified.

The head of state has stated that she will not waste time and will forward her questions to the Constitutional Court as early as Thursday (May 13). “The Slovak Constitutional Court has 60 days from service. I would like to state in advance that in case of a positive resolution of the robed body, I do not plan to wait for the deadline provided by the constitution, and I will announce a referendum so that it can take place in September, ” she added.

More than 585,000 people have signed a petition calling for a referendum on early elections. The members of the Committee on Petitions handed over the petition sheets to the 147

Presidential Palace on Monday, 3 May. Čaputová then said she would inform about the next steps after it was proven that the petition met all the constitutional requirements.

4. felvidek.ma (translated, original by TASR, 18.05.2021)

The head of government discussed the future of the EU with Merkel

Slovakia is also interested in contributing to a green, digital and innovative future within the European Union (EU).

Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OĽANO) spoke about this with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday.

Opportunities for mutual co-operation were discussed at the meeting, as well as the fight against the pandemic, vaccination and the domestic political situation in Slovakia and Germany. The Prime Minister informed about the discussion on the social network, which took place by videoconference.

Heger called Germany a key partner within the region, and not just economically. He stressed that the goal is to deepen cooperation in the fields of automotive innovation, digital technology, research and development, and the green economy.

According to a statement from the Slovak government office, the German chancellor appreciated the government's anti-corruption measures.

He added that the cooperation between the two countries had always been excellent and that Slovakia had always been one of the Member States looking for a solution.

A significant part of the discussion was about the vaccination strategy used in the two countries, the ordering and delivery of vaccines, and the precautions in place.

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“I thanked her for her solidarity during the pandemic. I appreciate the open dialogue and look forward to the forthcoming summit in Brussels, the main topic of which will be climate, ”Heger added.

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ROMANIA

1. rgnpress.ro (translated, original by Romanian Global News, 14.05.2021)

Sociologist Vladimir Ionas: AUR surpassed USR-PLUS in polls

Another sounding institute in Romania confirms the rise of AUR. Exclusively for Ziare.com, sociologist Vladimir Ionas, from the Avant-Garde Socio-Behavioral Studies Group, revealed that the party led by George Simion ranks 3rd in the voting intention, thus surpassing the USRPLUS Alliance, writes https: // ziare .com , taken over by Romanian Global News . "I can confirm that AUR outperformed USRPLUS in the polls. I can't say percentages at the moment, but indeed, AUR is the 3rd party in Romania, after PSD and PNL. There is not a big difference between AUR and USRPLUS, but it managed to surpass in the USRPLUS voting intention ", Vladimir Ionas declared for Ziare.com.

The sociologist explained that the rise of GOLD in polls comes against the background of the declining trust that Romanians have in the old political parties. According to Ionas, AUR manages to break more and more from the USRPLUS electorate, reason for which the Alliance registers decreases in the voting intention.

"The increase in GOLD comes strictly from the lack of trust of the citizens in politics. USRPLUS is no longer the novelty that brought him success in previous elections. GOLD took this place. 149

The estimated low turnout manages to make GOLD the 3rd party in Romania. In addition, AUR succeeds in something that many did not expect: to break even from the USRPLUS electorate. A certain part of the AUR electorate overlaps very well with the USRPLUS electorate, especially when it comes to people with a higher education ", he detailed.

It is not, however, the first sounding institute to confirm the sudden rise of GOLD. We remind you that an opinion poll conducted by INSCOP in March announces that George Simion's Party - the Alliance for the Union of Romanians - came in third place with the intention of voting for Romanians.

Specifically: according to a research chart presented by the head of INSCOP, Remus Stefureac, on his Facebook page, on the first place in the Romanians' options is PSD, with 30.6%, followed by PNL, with 26.3% and AUR, with 15.3% , followed by the USR-PLUS Alliance, with 14.2%.

We remind you that AUR managed to outperform older parties like PRO Romania and PMP in the parliamentary elections of December 2021, obtaining a score of almost 10%, which secured him a seat in the Romanian Parliament.

"Gold can reach right in 2nd place"

Contacted by Ziare.com, sociologist Gelu Duminica, associate professor at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Bucharest, recently said there is a good chance that George Simion's party will become the second largest political force in Romania in the next elections, and even to witness in the future a Government of which AUR will be part.

"The future of AUR depends a lot on those who are behind this party, and I do not mean the voters, but those who thought of this political party. I do not have in mind Mr. Tarziu, Simion and those in front. From my point of view, this political party has the engine elsewhere, but I can't tell you where. But it is completely different from what we see as leadership.

Personally, I think GOLD will grow until the next election and will have a good result. AUR will continue to catalyze all the grievances of those in Romanian society and those who 150 experience lehamite. I would not be surprised at all that in the next GOLD elections the party will become the number 2 in Romania, not necessarily the number 3.

Everything is possible (no - asked if we could attend a Government with GOLD). History has shown us that, unfortunately, things like this can be possible ", says the sociologist Gelu Duminica.

2. romania.europalibera.org (translated, original by Cristian Andrei, 05.05.2021)

"We do not negotiate principles" | Why USR PLUS voted for Piedone's budget, but not for Nicusor Dan's

USR PLUS councilors voted for the Sector 5 budget, even though the estimated revenues for 2021 are almost 50% higher than those obtained last year. They motivate the political decision by accepting several amendments.

"We negotiate anything, but we do not negotiate principles . " This is how the last posting of USR PLUS Sector 5 begins before voting on the budget proposed by Mayor Piedone. However, the fragment from the text of USR PLUS refers to the budget of the Capital City Hall, not to the budget of Sector 5.

" The reason why Bucharest went bankrupt de facto is a lie. The practice of increasing spending in the shadow of fictitious income. We are still increasing the expenses, but because we know that we do not have room for them in the budget, we officially lie to everyone by increasing the revenues from the pen ”, say those from USR PLUS.

The councilors from Sector 5 voted the budget together with PSD and Piedone's people, even if their votes were not decisive. The estimated revenues in the 2021 budget for Sector 5 are almost one billion lei, while previous years have shown that revenues have not exceeded 620 million lei. In 2017 the revenues were 585 million lei, in 2018 they increased to 540 million, they reached 600 million in 2019 and the maximum was reached last year - 620 million lei.

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" The budget is very realistic, we started from 1.8 billion, Florea's budget, and we reached 900 million Piedone's budget. Extrapolating on the capital's budget, Nicusor Dan should make a budget of 3.5 billion lei, not 7 billion like Firea. If you look in depth, the revenues are not overestimated, they are half compared to a year before. Secure budget revenues are around 700 million lei and are also based on some European funds around 200 million lei. Given that we have just set up a European Fundraising Department, we will be very close to this target. Revenues are not overestimated at all ", said for Free Europe, the USR PLUS advisor from Sector 5, Cristian Laslo.

According to him, " much higher revenues from the broken down revenues from the Government" are expected , and the budget is defined as " the most realistic budget possible" .

" We have tabled many amendments that have been accepted, almost all of them. Nursery construction amendments, school construction amendments, voucher amendments for poor children, participatory budgeting, financial audit. That's why I voted for the budget. It would be totally pointless to propose amendments to the budget, to vote for you and in the end not to vote for the budget ", said the USR PLUS councilor.

Regarding the wave of criticism from the public space after the vote for the mayor's office led by Cristian Popescu Piedone, convicted in the first instance in the Collective case, Cristian Laslo claims that they come right from inside USR PLUS.

" We did not vote with Piedone, we fulfilled our program. We are there to fulfill a program we have undertaken. We are not there to be Gica Contra. It's a bubble that constantly criticizes us, that's their job: to criticize. Everything you do is against you. It's a small bubble, but very noisy, unfortunately, for USR projects. I mean internal opponents more. Our biggest enemy is internally, not externally, inside USR PLUS ", said the USR PLUS representative in the Local Council of Sector 5.

Cristian Laslo told Free Europe that he was surprised by the decision of his PNL colleagues who did not vote for the budget and claimed that they " were incorrect . " He acknowledged that all USR PLUS amendments passed with the Liberal votes.

Asked why USR PLUS does not vote for the budget of the Capital City Hall, the councilor explained.

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" You can't come to Bucharest with a budget of 7 billion after you blamed Firea. We need to discuss more, we need a more realistic budget. He did not delegate any duties to the deputy mayors. When you understand each other at the beginning and clap your hands on a certain program, respect, do not throw away. I joined the party for Nicusor Dan. Things have gone wrong. Nicușor Dan has not changed, but the people around him have changed " , was Cristian Laslo's position.

PNL: The budget of Sector 5 has unrealistic revenues

The Liberals also submitted amendments to the budget, but the one aimed at rectifying the budget of the "Ștefan Iordache" Cultural Center with 8 million lei did not pass.

"As a result, we decided to abstain from voting , " said George Agafiței, PNL councilor in Sector 5.

" Budget revenues are overestimated. We are talking about a budget of almost one billion lei, given that last year's budget was almost 620 million lei ", added the liberal.

Asked about the 200 million lei from European funds, Agafiței claims that he is not aware of such a thing.

" I don't know if any or more European projects will be contracted for this amount or more. I also have no information about the broken down quotas coming from the Government ", added the PNL councilor.

George Agafiței says that he cannot understand why sometimes it is good to overestimate the budget, and other times it is not good. He made the statement in the context of the USR PLUS opposition to the Capital's budget, but after the Sector 5 budget was voted.

" In Sector 5 it was okay that the budget was overestimated, in the Capital City Hall it was not okay ", stated Agafiței.

Prime Minister Cîțu: We will not support a slippage with the budget in Bucharest The capital's budget was not voted due to the fact that USR PLUS accused the revenues of being overestimated, just like during Gabriela Firea's term.

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Nicusor Dan said that he negotiated with USR PLUS advisers and was surprised by their decision.

" It is very important to have a budget in Bucharest as soon as possible. My message is clear: we will not support delays from the national budget that will lead to inability to pay, to pay more. The national budget will not support a skid in Bucharest. That is why I am sure that they will find a solution as soon as possible, the budget will be voted and we will go further " , Prime Minister Florin Cîțu declared yesterday.

The USR PLUS councilors also reproached the mayor Nicușor Dan for not delegating attributions to the deputy mayor Horia Tomescu.

3. rfi.ro (translated, original by Cosmin Ruscior, 10.05.2021)

Emanuel Ungureanu (USR PLUS): What would it be like to have a vaccination center in the People's Cathedral?

Emanuel Ungureanu would like a greater involvement of the Church in the vaccination campaign

The church should get involved in the vaccination campaign, because it is a public health issue, USR PLUS deputy Emanuel Ungureanu, member of the Health Commission, told RFI: “Unfortunately, I have not seen Patriarch Daniel vaccinating yet. ”

Emanuel Ungureanu says that the vaccination marathon in Bucharest was a very successful action, but insufficient: “It takes much more than these marathons, it takes an exemplary mobilization in villages, caravans of doctors to go to villages, it is need mayors, priests. Unfortunately, I have not yet seen Patriarch Daniel vaccinated, I have not seen many priests to make this gesture, to urge as much as possible the elderly population with comorbidities to be in the first places ".

The fear of injections keeps Romanians away from vaccination 154

The USR PLUS deputy would like the Church to be more involved in the vaccination campaign: “Let me give you an example: in France, I saw vaccination centers in all kinds of churches, I saw in mosques, in Catholic cathedrals. What would it be like to have a vaccination center in the People's Cathedral? What would it be like to see Patriarch Daniel coordinating such a campaign? After all, the influence of the Church in society is very great and we should see this involvement for a public health issue ”.

The mask may be dropped in offices where all employees are vaccinated. When could we get rid of the mask on the street?

Emanuel Ungureanu points out that in villages there are big problems with vaccination: "It takes a lot of effort in rural areas, there we have big problems with vaccination, we have big problems with informing citizens and a consistent involvement of the Church in this campaign would help enormously" .

4. makronom.mandiner.hu (translated, original by mandiner.hu, 19.05.2021)

Romania would exclude China from 5G upgrades

On Wednesday, the Bucharest House of Representatives passed a bill on the deployment of 5G technology, as proposed by the government, to exclude China and Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from building 5G telecommunications networks in Romania.

Legislation to be ratified by the Senate states that only manufacturers with national security approval approved by the Prime Minister on the basis of the Supreme Defense Council (CSAT) may supply technical equipment and software for the construction and operation of 5G networks to Romanian mobile operators.

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The draft enshrines in law the principles for the deployment of fifth generation (5G) mobile networks agreed between US President Donald Trump and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis at the White House in Washington in August 2019.

The technology used for Romanian 5G networks can only be supplied by companies with a transparent ownership structure, free from unfair business practices, not controlled by a foreign state (unless the country has an independent judiciary) and subject to legislation requiring transparent corporate practices.

The House Committee had previously rejected opposition proposals that would have included technical conditions that would presuppose the approval of the European Commission (EC) and thus delay the launch of the 5G tender. Earlier, Economy Minister Gabriel Nasui also indicated that the draft should have been communicated to the EC before its parliamentary debate. As his position was not shared by Prime Minister Florin Citu, the minister said the ministry he headed supported the passage of the legislation.

The bill was discussed under an urgent procedure so that the 5G frequency auction could be announced as soon as possible, from which the Romanian government hopes to receive 600 million euros in revenue.

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SLOVENIA

1. vg.hu (translated, original by VG/MTI, 17.05.2021)

Brussels must view the Western Balkans geopolitically

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The presidents of the countries participating in the Brdo-Brioni process called on the European Union (EU) to see the Western Balkans as a "whole" in the European integration process, rather than as separate countries negotiating membership, the initiative's Slovenian summit said following Monday's plenary session, attended by the heads of state of Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, northern Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania.

Slovenian President Porut Pahor said at a joint press conference with Croatian President Zoran Milanovic: Brussels the Western Balkans geopolitically.

The EU will be whole if it integrates this area, which is surrounded by EU member states, he stressed. He added that the European Commission (EC) should speed up the accession process and the candidate countries should implement reforms.

Concerning the joint statement, Pahor and Milanovic highlighted: a compromise agreement was reached which sought to reconcile the positions of Kosovo and Serbia.

According to the Slovenian press, there was a minor debate in plenary between Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic over the inclusion of Kosovo as a country in a joint statement. Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade has since refused to recognize it and continues to see its predominantly Albanian territory as its southern province.

A dialogue to normalize relations between the two sides began in 2013, but no progress has been made, although resolving the relationship is key to the European integration of both parties.

Vucic later told the press that changing borders was one of the main issues on which the countries of the region could not agree. Serbia supports the principle of inviolability of borders, which is also enshrined in the UN Security Council resolution, he said. He added that his proposal to include this in the joint statement was rejected, but he was satisfied with the rest of the document.

In addition to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo has not been recognized by five EU Member States, Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Spain and Slovakia. 157

The Croatian head of state indicated that Croatia and Slovenia want to help the countries of the Western Balkans, especially in the integration process.

That’s our only motive, we don’t want to be mentors or build a career - underlined that it was also in the interest of Slovenia and Croatia for the countries of the region to join the EU.

It is not good to highlight the problems between them in the integration process - added Milanovic, pointing out that Slovenia had repeatedly delayed Croatia's EU accession negotiations due to a border dispute.

The establishment of the Brdo-Brioni Forum was initiated in 2010 by Croatia and Slovenia. The first meeting at Head of State level was held in 2013 in Brdo, Slovenia, with the participation of French President Francois Hollande. German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2014 in Dubrovnik, Austrian President Heinz Fischer in the summer of 2015 in Budva, Montenegro, then US Vice President Joe Biden and Donald Tusk, President of the European Council in 2016 in Zagreb, German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in 2017 again in Brdo, Tusk and Bojko Borisov, the head of the Bulgarian presidency of the EU, were the guests of honor in 2018 in Skopje, northern Macedonia.

French President Emmanuel Macron was invited to this year's summit of the Brdo-Brioni process, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of its founding, but was unable to attend due to his other busy schedule. No meetings were held in 2019 and 2020.

2. gov.si (original by gov.si, 17.05.2021)

Prime Minister Janez Janša in talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Prime Minister Janez Janša had a videoconference talk today with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. They discussed the state of pandemic, which is slowing down in both countries, the vaccination process as well as future challenges.

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Of particular importance among the latter are combating the new mutations, facilitating the logistics of vaccine distribution and implementing vaccination in less developed countries when there is a plentiful supply of vaccines, a situation which is expected towards the end of this year.

The officials agreed that it is necessary that the EU member states ratify as soon as possible the Own Resources Decision – both countries have already done this – and that the national recovery and resilience plans are discussed and confirmed as soon as possible. This would enable the drawing of the funds agreed by the EU leaders last year and the necessary support for recovery and kick-starting the economy.

The Prime Minister acquainted the Chancellor with the priorities of the Slovenian presidency of the EU Council. They also separately discussed the Conference on the Future of Europe. To this end, Slovenia will dedicate the entire Bled Strategic Forum this year to debates on the future of the EU, which will be attended by numerous European leaders. They also talked about the Western Balkans. As part of the Slovenian presidency of the EU Council, an EU- Western Balkan summit will be organised in Slovenia in October.

Prime Minister Janez Janša and German Chancellor Angela Merkel also discussed the agenda of the upcoming session of the European Council, which will again be discussing climate change and adopt additional guidelines to the European Commission before it publishes a revised Fit for 55 climate-energy legislative package.

3. greekcitytimes.com (original by Greek City Times, 19.05.2021)

Ties between Greece and Slovenia "go deep into history"

“Greece does not threaten anyone, but it does not allow anyone to threaten it,” stressed Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in his joint statements with his Slovenian counterpart Janez Janša, following their meeting at Maximos Palace.

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“Our countries share common values in Europe and NATO. Slovenia’s maritime front may be small but its role is large. We support Slovenia’s accession to MED7,” the Greek PM added.

Regarding the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum, Mitsotakis stressed that Greece, as a host country, can not alone face the burden of a problem that affects the entire European continent.

Ties between Greece and Slovenia "go deep into history"

On his part, Janez Janša, congratulated Kyriakos Mitsotakis for managing the pandemic in Greece, while emphasising that the ties between Greece and Slovenia are deeply rooted in the past: “Many elements are lost over the centuries and others are recent.”

Both leaders also strongly support the European decision on the ‘green pass‘.

The certificate proposed by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, aims to open a fast lane for travel, without the restrictions caused by rapid tests and mandatory quarantine.

Janša stressed, in fact, that citizens are entitled to such a thing “after the pain they experienced with covid-19”.

The two PM’s also discussed the European perspective of the Western Balkans, with the Slovenian Prime Minister claiming that the implementation of EU reforms and standards has begun in his country. He acknowledged that there was “evidence of fatigue” during the process, but said that enlargement was the first issue on the agenda, adding that “the old vision for a free and peaceful Europe must be fulfilled”.

He also thanked Mitsotakis for his support in the accession of Slovenia to MED7 and referred to the Greek Independence bicentennial: “We saw that in Greece, when a nation gains its independence, this is a historic, holy moment. Whichever EU member state celebrates its independence, all this wealth is European,” Janša added.

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4. hungarytoday.hu (original by MTI – Hungary Today, 07.05.2021)

Coronavirus: Orbán and Jansa Discuss Pandemic Measures, Vaccination

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán discussed with Janez Jansa, his Slovenian counterpart, coronavirus protection measures and the importance of vaccination, in Porto on Thursday evening, Orbán’s press chief told MTI.

They agreed that vaccination against Covid-19 was the only measure of halting the third wave of the pandemic, Bertalan Havasi said.

Orbán told Jansa that a gradual reopening of Hungary was made possible by the availability of vaccines to a broad circle of people. He noted that services can again be used by those holding a vaccination certificate.

The two premiers however underlined that the pandemic is not yet over which is why Hungarians and Slovenes must behave responsibly both in their own interest and in the interest of others.

They advised those who have not signed up for vaccination to register, Havasi said.

Orbán and Jansa are attending an EU summit in Porto.

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CROATIA

1. total-croatia-news.com (original by HINA, 17.05.2021)

161

Andrej Plenković: HDZ Will Have Most County Prefects, Mayors, Municipal Heads

17 May 2021 - Prime Minister and HDZ president Andrej Plenković said that the party's result in local elections was very good and victorious on Sunday night. In the next four years, the HDZ would have the most county prefects, mayors, and municipal heads.

"Our result is very good, victorious. Looking at the overall results, the HDZ will again be the party which will have the most county prefects, mayors, and municipal heads in the next four years," he said in the HDZ's campaign headquarters in Zagreb.

He congratulated everyone who took part in the elections and especially citizens who voted for the candidates of the HDZ and its partners.

Plenković said he was pleased that four HDZ candidates for prefects had won in the first round and that its candidates would be in runoffs with convincing leads in eight counties.

He singled out the results of Gari Cappelli and Anđelko Stričak in Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Varaždin counties. He congratulated Ivan Radić and Vice Mihanović for their results in Osijek and Split.

As for Davor Filipović, the party's mayoral candidate in Zagreb, Plenković said he was a new asset for the party. He did a fantastic job during the campaign, and that he was a first-class politician for big elections.

"The HDZ is the second slate in Zagreb, which is extremely good. It's a new generation of HDZ politicians in Zagreb, and I'm confident that in the years ahead, they will gain more experience and offer even better solutions for Zagreb."

Filipović, who ranked fourth in the Zagreb mayoral race with less than 10% of the vote, congratulated Tomislav Tomašević on receiving the largest number of votes in the first round and apologized; to the other candidates if, during the campaign, he said "one word too many."

162

He said his own result was almost twice as good as the HDZ mayoral candidate's four years ago and twice as good as in 2013. "Therefore, we have reason to be optimistic, and that's a pledge for the future to work for the good of Zagreb."

2. sarajevotimes.com (original by Y.Z., 12.05.2021)

Covic meets with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic expressed support in reaching a consensus of all political parties and institutions when amending the Election Law, issues that will guide the European future and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s reform path, it was said after his meeting with HDZ BiH President and Vice Speaker of the House of Peoples BiH by Dragan Covic.

The key topic of yesterday’s meeting in Zagreb was the upcoming reform period and the accelerated resolution of electoral legislation and limited constitutional reforms in BiH, the HDZ BiH Headquarters said.

It is stated that, after the end of the elections in Mostar, the BiH election law remained the next political precondition, as required by the decisions and recommendations of the European Commission and the European Parliament.

Plenkovic reminded that the legitimate representation of the constituent peoples is built into the Dayton Peace Agreement and is an integral part of the BiH Constitution.

Covic stressed that with the support and mediation of international representatives and organizations, political actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina should find a solution on the basis of the Agreement on the Principles of Amendments to the Election Law signed in June 2020 in Mostar.

The working meeting also discussed current issues affecting Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the context of all challenges facing both countries in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and in the vaccination process, as well as current EU level, as well as concrete economic cooperation between the two countries. 163

3. portfolio.hu (translated, original by MTI, 04.05.2021)

Croatia's population has plummeted and the government is preparing to take action

The Croatian government has been preparing a sixth demographic strategy since 1996, while none of the pervious ones has been implemented in the country with severe demographic problems, the Croatian daily Jutarnji List wrote on Tuesday.

According to the latest figures from the Croatian statistical office, 20,721 more people died in Croatia, nearly four million, than last year. This is the largest natural population decline since World War II.

The current document will be an adaptation of an existing strategy developed in 2019 under Nada Murganic, Minister of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Affairs, for demographic renewal. The document was in the account for two years and has expired in the meantime. Only family allowances and benefits after the 3rd and 4th children increased during this time, the paper wrote.

Croatia has since had to face the coronavirus epidemic and two strong earthquakes. The latter also contributed to the large-scale emigration of the population of Sisacko-Molsovacka County in December last year. The right-wing government, led by Andrej Plenkovic, now wants to set up a committee again to draw up a new population growth plan by the end of the year for a ten-year period.

Demographers said the previous document also took a long time to develop and was ultimately not validated. Therefore, it would not be good to have to start all over again, because time is an important factor. If, on the other hand, the government has set itself the goal of carrying out the process that has already begun, it will be fine, they said.

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In 1996, the first national program to help demographic development was completed under the leadership of demographic professor Stjepan Sterc. It was a complex project that included a number of measures, ranging from a gradual increase in family allowance and helping families to making kindergartens free for large families. Seven years later, the Social Democratic government developed a new strategy called National Family Policy, but a few months later there was a change of government.

In 2006, the government of Ivo Sanader adopted a new draft called National Population Measures, but achieved only two objectives: women on maternity leave in the first six months receive 100 percent of their pay, and families receive support after the third and fourth children. they get.

In 2015, Social Democratic Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic instructed the preparation of a draft family policy, which was developed by seven prominent experts. However, the ten-page document was never released because the government found it too costly to implement. In 2016, the government of Tihomir Oreskovic also set about developing a new program, but the cabinet has since failed, the paper summed up the previously adopted population plans.

4. thedubrovniktimes.com (original by Mark Thomas, 13.05.2021)

Croatia considering further relaxation of Covid measures with two test projects announced

The Croatian Interior Minister and Head of the National Civil Protection Headquarters, Davor Bozinovic, announced at a government session on Thursday that epidemiological measures could be relaxed from June 1st, reports N1.

"Given that the number of coronavirus patients has been declining in recent days, appropriate preparations are being made for a possible easing of epidemiological measures from June 1, so pilot projects of various events will be implemented in the coming days," Bozinovic said.

The first pilot project is a business reception in which people who have been vaccinated with two doses of the vaccine would attend, and it will be held today from 6 to 8 p.m. 165

The second project is a wedding ceremony that would bring together about 120 participants and will take place on May 15th. It will be attended by people who have received two doses of the vaccine, who have recovered from Covid within 180 days, or people who have a negative PCR test or a rapid antigen test no older than 48 hours.

One week after the event, participants will be tested by PCR tests and if it turns out that there was no transmission of the infection, ways to relax measures for such events will be considered, says Bozinovic.

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BULGARIA

1. fakti.bg (translated, original by Maria Atanasova, 17.05.2021)

Vоlеn Sidеrоv dоеs nоt rulе оut а соаlitiоn with IMRО

Thе сhаirmаn оf Аtаkа аdmittеd thаt hе hаd hеld tаlks with Krаssimir Kаrаkасhаnоv's party

Thе сhаirmаn оf thе Аtаkа pоlitiсаl pаrty, Vоlеn Sidеrоv, prеdiсts а rеpеаt оf thе rеsults оf thе upсоming еаrly pаrliаmеntаry еlесtiоns, but As well as there, there will be "at least" two еаrly vоtеs, in addition to thе оnе in July.

Sidеrоv аgаin соmmеntеd оn thе prоblеms thаt lеd tо thе split оf thе Unitеd Pаtriоts.

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Unit Patriots did not share an internal problem. I mаdе а gеsturе tо my pаrtnеrs, bringing in аt lеаst MPs in 2017. Thе prоblеms саmе whеn Simеоnоv аnd Kаrаkасhаnоv bесаmе dеputy primе ministеrs, аnd оnе bеnе bеnе bеnе bеnе bеnе bеnе bеnе bе I сritiсizеd thеm fоr insulting thе mоthеrs оf сhildrеn with injuriеs аnd F-16s, but thеy did nоt hеаr. I did nаgrее with thеsе pоliсiеs аnd lеft thе pаrliаmеnt in 2019, “Sidеrоv еxplаinеd.

Sidеrоv rеvеаlеd thаt hе hаd tаlks with IMRО, but will еntеr intо а соаlitiоn with thеm in thе implеmеntаtiоn оf сеrtаin pоints оf his prоgrаm. Thе lеаdеr оf АTАKА еxplаinеd thаt thе dесisiоn fоr а brоаd pаtriоtiс соаlitiоn hаs nоt bееn mаdе.

"Lеt's unitе аnd еntеr, but fоr whаt purpоsе? Tо suppоrt GЕRB?" Hе аskеd rhеtоriсаlly.

"Slаvi's pаrty dоеs nоt diffеr frоm GЕRB's pоliсiеs. Whеthеr it will bе Bоykо Bоrisоv оr Slаvi Trifоnоv is оnly а mаttеr оf tаttооs," thе Аtаnа сhairman said.

2. moderndiplomacy.eu (original by Fabio A. Telarico, 15.05.2021)

A leaderless ship: The Bulgaria’s political crisis and the storm to come

Internal and international tensions

Politics tends to develop in a complex conundrum in all Balkan countries. Thus, never can observers take their eyes off the ball, investors feel completely safe or international partners express enduring satisfaction. In effect, this is the case also for bits of the region that have joined the European Union in the last decade. Recently, Bulgaria has been the most interesting hearth of, popular outrage, institutional instability and international tensions amongst the latter countries.

Actually, the atmosphere began simmering back in Summer 2020, when thousands of people took to the streets for several weeks. Arguably, the combination of the umpteenth high- echelon corruption scandal involving andthe pandemic-induced recession was only the most immediate cause. Swiftly, dissatisfaction led to vigorous calls for the Prime Minister’s and the Attorney General’s resignation and early election. Even the President of the Republic, Rumen Radev, broke with his supposed non-partisanship and joined the protestors gathering vast 167 support. However, the winter suppressed street protests and Boyko Borisov, the Prime Minister, exploited the pandemic to justify his indifference.

In the meantime, the cabinet embroiled Bulgaria in a dispute which the country had refrained from ever since 1991. The so-called ‘Macedonian question’predates the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s independence, but only then turned into a crisis. Indeed, the hardest- fought issue was that surrounding the use of the name ‘Macedonia’, which Greece opposed until the Prespa Agreement. But the newly named Republic of North Macedonia has failed to acknowledge the deep historical and cultural connection with Bulgaria. Eventually, the former’s lack of real cooperation led Sofia to veto the opening of negotiations on EU membership. Thence, scholars have criticised the country’s government while foreign politicians tried to persuade Borisov to lift his veto.

Against the background of such a delicate, multifaceted domestic and international circumstances Bulgaria celebrated regular election on April 4. The country needed everything but being left leaderless, but this is exactly what happened.

Election results: Who to form a cabinet?

The most recent elections speak volume about the difficulty in understanding Bulgarian politics and understanding what the popular sentiment is. For a start, GERB, Borisov’s party, lost about 300,000 votes falling from 33.65%in 2017, to 26.18% this year. Moreover, the nationalist collation United Patriots, GERB’s reliable allies, split up and failed to clear the 4% threshold. Thus, with his 75 MPs in the 240-seat Parliament Borisov had no more a majority and desperately needed a partner.

At the same time, the elections produced an unusually hostile environment for GERB. In fact, a number of new leaders and formations emerged — all of which declared GERB a “most toxic party”. Still, opposing Borisov’s “model”, as they use to say, was not enough to form a government. Neither the protest party There is such a people (ITN) nor the establishment Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) even tried. Therefore, the two smaller protest parties – Democratic Bulgaria (DB) and Stand Up! Bastards Out (ISMV) – and the Muslim Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) had to accept new elections in July.

In effect, once the elections results became clear, no one nurtured many hopes for a stable government. The BSP had offered it external, conditional support to an ITN cabinet as the DPS and even GERB did. Perhaps, members of DB and ISMV could have joined the project to ensure wider representation. But all attempts failed in front of ITN’s leader, the showman- 168 turned-politician SlaviTrifonov, display of “political fearfulness”. The ultimate result of these developments was the shortest parliamentin Bulgaria’s two-century history.

What the parliament produced

Without a fully-functioning political government and with a lame-duck Parliament, Bulgaria is traversing a difficult period. The legislature has yet to approve the Recovery and sustainability plan towards which the EU has granted €6bln ($7.3bln). Without these funds, it will be harder for the country’s economy to rebound after the last recession. At the same time, no one is in charge of managing the ongoing feud with the Republic of North Macedonia. Hence, Sofia can neither substantiate its claims and pretences vis-à-vis Skopje nor backtrack and let membership negotiations start. Finally, in the last weeks tensions between Bulgaria and Russia have risen with mutual expulsion of several high-ranking diplomats. In fact, Czech authorities have found out about a “Bulgarian connection” in the incidents allegedly blamed on Russian security services.

On the offense: ITN, DB and ISMV against GERB

Yet, the parliament has found not time to address any of these really pressing issues. As it often happens after the elections, foreign policy has disappearedfrom the order of the day. There was no discussion of either the bilateral relations with Russia nor the North Macedonian issue.

Representative from ITN, DB and ISMV wrapped up the Recovery plan into their wider attempt to publicly discredit GERB. Thus, they refused to let the competent executive official introducing the bill and pretended Borisov himself did it.

Meanwhile, the three parties and the BSP also forced a vote on the cabinet’s resignation. Hence, the government is officially in charge only of managing current affairs: it cannot update the budget or adopt new economic measures. The opposition also blocked the automatic renewal of key concession for Sofia’s airport and some highways to Borisov’s closest allies.

So-called ‘Protest parties’ also formed a parliamentary commission to investigate Borisov governments’ misdeed. However, the legislature will soon dissolve, so nothing will come out of it besides some gossipy kompromat. The only real change is a new electoral law,remedying to some of the previous legal framework’s most evident fallacies. The hope is that it will curb the purchase of votes and other instances of fraud.

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Wait-and-see: Borisov’s unkind defence

Borisov’s loyalists in the government, in the Parliament and, more importantly, in the media are repelling this frontal assault vehemently.

Figure 1 Acting Prime Minister Boyko Borissov called the Parliament “a show” in a video on his Facebook page.

Acting foreign minister Ekaterina Zakharieva has spoken out against the supposed attempt to make 850,000 GERB voters ‘disappear’. The chair of GERB’s parliamentary group, Desislava Atanasova, accused other parties of having “failed to fulfil society’s interests”. Borisov himself went out for the biggest prey: President Radev.On Facebook he declared

I hope that Radev is not proud [of the result of last year’s protests …]: This parliamentary show costs 19 million [leva, €9.5mln] a day. It is better that they closed it because we would have gone bankrupt.

The opposition motto offers no way forward behind the idea that “What GERB did must be cancelled”. Yet, GERB is not less destructive in its agenda. Currently, Borisov’s clique is challenging both the moratorium of concessionsand the electoral reformin front of the constitutional court. According to many experts, the justices could strike down or rescale at least one of these two measures. Hence, all hopes for a real democratic change will likely evaporate as long as GERB holds the levers of power.

Forecast: A leaderless ship in a stormy sea

Some have been talking about the rebirth of parliamentarism. But partisanship, anger and personal hatred currently dominate Bulgaria’s politics. Thus, a disenchanted observer could only see the dismaying polarisationand personalisation of the mainstream political discourse. At this time, Bulgaria is like a ship whose crew has mutinied, but whose captain refuses to jump off. Fortunately, the peaks of the economic and sanitary crisis seem over — for now. But the international setting conspires against the vessel. A storm is mounting from the East and the West. Winds of reprisal spire from Russia, whereas the EU is increasingly discontent with Bulgaria’s management of the North Macedonian issue. Assuming that the next elections will produce a working government, either the mutineers or the old captain will be just in time to manage the gale. But should this not happen, the country may soon regret the current lull.

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3. reuters.com (original by reuters.com, 19.05.2021)

Bulgaria's GERB party keeps small lead ahead of July snap poll

Bulgaria's centre-right GERB party has kept a small lead over the anti-elitist ITN grouping ahead of a July 11 snap parliamentary election despite waning popularity over its failure to uproot graft, a new opinion poll showed on Wednesday.

Bulgarians were asked to vote again after an election on April 4 resulted in a deadlocked parliament that failed to produce a government. The president has appointed a caretaker Cabinet to lead the Balkan country until the July poll.

After dominating Bulgarian politics for most of the past decade, three-time Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's GERB remains the most popular party with 22.8% support, the opinion poll by Sofia-based Gallup International showed.

But it is also the only party whose support has fallen since the April vote, when it won 26.2%, said the survey, which was conducted from May 7 to 14 among 812 people.

GERB won most votes in the April election but not enough to govern alone and other parties refused to enter into coalition with it amid widespread public anger over high-level corruption in the European Union's poorest member state.

The newly formed ITN (There Is Such a People) party of popular TV talk show host and singer Slavi Trifonov is a close second, with 20.1% backing, up from 17.7% in the April poll.

The survey put the Socialists in third place on 16.1%, while the anti-graft Democratic Bulgaria alliance and the ethnic Turkish MRF were seen winning 11.6% and 11.2% respectively.

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Another protest party, Rise Up! Mafia Out!, will also get into the next parliament, the survey showed. If several nationalist parties decide to unite and run together, they too could win seats.

Neither GERB nor ITN will win an outright majority in the next parliament, which again is expected to be fragmented, thus complicating the process of forming a stable government.

4. euronews.com (original by Milla Ivanova, 18.05.2021)

In Bulgaria, even doctors aren't sure COVID-19 vaccines are a good idea

When Plamen Radomirsky, 68, had his first COVID vaccine dose in Canada early this year he was shocked to be told he’d have to wait two months for the second one. Keen to make sure he was 100% protected, he got on a plane for his native Bulgaria.

After ten minutes of queuing at a vaccination centre in Sofia, Radomirsky said, he had received his second dose.

“The rumours that elderly people have not been able to get vaccinated in Bulgaria are not true,” he told Euronews.

“As you see, it was fast, easy, and well organised. Canada's strategy is to immunise as many people as possible with the first dose and this lengthens the whole process,” he said.

The statistics, however, might suggest otherwise.

Only 6% of over-80s in Bulgaria have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. It's around 10% in the 60-69 and 70-79 categories. The small Balkan country is one of the EU’s worst countries when it comes to vaccination rates, with just 13.5 % of the population immunised.

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Much of the reason for that, experts say, is scepticism about vaccines, particularly amongst older, more conservative Bulgarians.

“Bulgarians are very conservative, and elderly people are even worse. Most are not educated and it is hard for them to understand the value of the vaccine,” said Tihomir Bezlov, an analyst at the Democracy Study Center in Sofia.

Bezlov, as a pro-vaccination activist, has tried to lead by example. He volunteered to be vaccinated with both Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines just to prove that it is efficient and safe.

A shortage of vaccines has also played a role - Bulgaria has only received one-fifth of the 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca it ordered in December 2020 - but Bezlov blames the government for not making the case for vaccination strongly enough.

This was particularly problematic in the run-up to Bulgaria’s elections in April, with politicians not willing to publicly back something that remains a divisive issue to voters.

“The lack of united solid political message for the profit with the vaccination gave this negative effect too,” Bezlov said.

The recent initiative of allowing “green corridors” at which anyone in any age group can get vaccinated is a step forward, he said, and had led to an uptick in vaccinations over the last month.

Losing faith

But in Bulgaria, even doctors struggle to persuade elderly people to get vaccinated.

”It is a hard job with uneducated people and even those who decide to get the dose don't come on their fixed day and time. Others get infected meanwhile and lose their faith,” Maria Vlahova, a general practitioner, told Euronews.

The process isn’t helped, she said, by serious shortcomings when it comes to the distribution and storage of vaccines.

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Doctors receive 20 doses per day which have to be kept in coolers and are expected to collate and organise the appointments of those who want to be vaccinated.

They are expected to organise these vaccination drives in addition to treating regular patients and to keep those attending clinics for vaccination apart from those who are sick. In return, they receive a paltry f€5 for every two vaccinations that they administer.

Vlahova, a doctor for 42 years, is herself sceptical. Of her 2,000 patients, only seven have died from COVID-19, she said, a rate of just 0.35%. She, therefore, considers the pandemic less of a risk than heart attacks or cases of cancer. And her patients tend to agree.

“I, as a medical practitioner, have to protect my patients` interests, and I can not guarantee anybody they will not get worse or develop new diseases after the vaccination,” she said.

“Most of my patients are elderly people with many chronic illnesses. I did not read a statement from the pharmaceutical companies what side effects could be expected.”

She said that many of her patients ask her how it was possible for pharmaceutical companies to come up with vaccination for COVID-19 and not cancer.

It may be this scepticism on the part of doctors - as well as long waiting times - that explains why upwards of 1,000 Bulgarians per day are being vaccinated at green corridors rather than with their GPs. The government wants 70% of Bulgarians vaccinated by the end of the summer.

The dream was that a vaccination drive could have saved the country’s 2021 tourist season, but - Bezlov says - that looks increasingly unlikely.

“There were hopes that the new summer tourist season could be better than 2020 but with this tempo of vaccination, it is a fantasy,” he said.

But while it may not save Bulgaria’s tourist industry, at least it will enable Bulgarians such as Plamen Radomirsky, armed with their green vaccination passports, to travel as normal.

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Update: Bulgaria's health minister said on Tuesday a new plan would see green corridors restricted to those over 60 and would only be held between Friday and Sunday.

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LITHUANIA

1. respublika.lt (translated, original by Vitas Tomkus, 19.05.2021)

Vitas Tomkus: FOR REAL MEN, REAL MEN NOT JUST ONLY IN BEDS!

I can probably state with a clear conscience that I was born a "vatnik" and a "homophobe" - and I will die one. I have lived my life the old-fashioned way, as a village "muzhik". I did not wear a skirt or tights. I did not try to have sex with goats, with children or with 'pederasts', as they were called then. In a word, very uninteresting.

And how will my children and grandchildren live if they follow in my footsteps? Do they have a chance of survival? This is a vital question, or rather a rhetorical question, more relevant than ever for the participants and supporters of the Great Family March 2021.

With me, everything is already clear. Only a "grab" will straighten me out... Unless, of course, my "miserly" relatives decide to save up and cremate me themselves. In that case, I will not be straightened out after death. And how will my children and grandchildren live if they decide to follow in their father's or grandfather's footsteps? I have a feeling that they will secretly envy me for my peace of mind, because they will not have a life on earth, but hell.

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The same goes for those who bring up their children as I bring up mine. So, while I am still alive, I must warn everyone publicly about this. I have the moral right to do so. Because 20 years ago I was declared the world's biggest anti-Semite and homophobe.

Twenty years ago, I published in Republika a series of articles entitled "Who Rules the World?" and placed a cartoon by the talented Rimas Valeikis on the cover of the newspaper, in which a Jew and a homosexual (there were no official gays in Lithuania in those days) hugged the globe as if they were athletes on their shoulders, my life was turned upside-down. I will not mention the trials in which rabbis from Israel forced Lithuanian judges to confiscate my printing press as an "instrument of crime"; the interrogations by prosecutors, who relied on anonymous experts, according to Deputy Prosecutor General Jasaitis, "chosen from the phone book"; the public Sorosian civic actions in which I was publicly condemned and the entire Soros- anointed "elite" distanced themselves from me and my publications. Nor will I mention the hierarchs of the Church, whose ministers cursed the readers of my "Republic".

I must confess that I am not angry with anyone and I am grateful to everyone. And the worst thing is that if I could go back in time and do things differently, I would do exactly the same. Because otherwise I would not be able to warn my like-minded contemporaries now about what awaits our offspring if we decide that young people should blindly follow in my, yours or your grandparents' footsteps.

I am sorry to alienate you, but I am in a hurry to share my experience. There is no time for nice manners. Especially since we, the "Kurdish people", no longer have them: even if you get every manicure and pedicure possible, wear a crown or paint your lips, you will not be accepted by the elite until you have sniffed your anus ("Pardon", a priest's term!) with "cologne". As you were, you will remain miserable urban "vatniks" and country bumpkins. Like lepers, or, as they call them now at Vilnius University, toxic and very dangerous to others.

Like me, for example.

Pushed to the margins of political and social life. Excluded from the guest lists of all events. Erased from history. Photographs and documentary film footage. Named by the Lithuanian Union of Journalists as the greatest "shame of journalism". High-ranking and distinguished guests who still dared to visit the editorial office or the once-famous "Republic" balls were publicly branded as "sh... "pieces of shit" such as Ramanauskas Greitai, or today - Malinauskas and Tapinas, whose image of power is taken care of by all the TV stations, inviting them to their programmes. By phone calls, well-paid homosexual propagandists attacked day and night my employees, advertisers, and friends and associates, including many famous actors, musicians and directors, who were unequivocally warned that if they did not 176 stop communicating with me, they would be excluded from the elite and would be out of a job.

Only a few of them stood up to that insane pressure. To be more precise, personalities that even LGBT dogs were powerless to bite: Vytautas Kernagis, Dalius Mertinas, Kostas Smoriginas, Rimas Tuminas, Ovidijus Vyšniauskas, Gytis Paškevičius, Andrius Narbekovas, Arvydas Sabonis... I don't see any need to introduce them all to my readers. Only maniacs are not interested in the culture and history of their own nation.

I am not going to thank my loyal friends and comrades for their loyalty. In my opinion, there is no heroism in it that they are real men, real men not necessarily only in bed... Although... When you think about it and calm down, I have to thank my friends for their loyalty not to me but to Lithuania and to their principles. Even though not every LGBT bastard dared to approach my friends, and they harmed them as much as they could from ambush.

"The gay-loving "pederasts", like true jackals, have been nipping at their heels as best they could: the Vagnarius government, under pressure from the "pederasts", gave the first-place prize money for Zalgiris, which is supported by the basketball legend Sabonis, to the basketball team of Lietuvos rytas; the Olympic champion footballer Narbekovas has been driven out of the world of football, and the legend of stage music, Tuminas, has been made to move to Moscow, and so on. With everyone!

The first violin in the blackening of my friends was played by the Komsomol, the self- proclaimed statesmen, from the former Komsomol Pravda, the LRT electrical panel and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and now the baton has been taken up by the "Laisvės" and "Lietuvos ryto" TV and its satellites, the Soros troubadours, the blue-eyed SSD officials and judges, the cheap clowns from the world of shows... But most of them were helpless in the face of my friends' talent and sporting fame, and were lowlifes and crybabies.

I must also apologise to my other, less famous friends and former colleagues, who, because of me and my "Republic's" stance towards traditional families, have been unable to find jobs for a long time and have been subjected to psychological abuse. A number of them have been attacked by relatives and acquaintances, explaining how they came to be involved with a scumbag like Tomkus. Some of my employees have even received phone calls at night at their homes, trying to tell them what awaits each of them if they do not refuse to communicate with me and my 'Republic'. And if that didn't work, they threatened that neither they, nor their children, nor their wives, would get a normal job in Lithuania for the rest of their lives, and that they would be forced to emigrate from Lithuania.

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These are just a few small episodes of the attacks by "pederasts" and paedophiles that my circle and former "Republicans" have received. Will there still be those who want to ask me and my comrades from the "March for the Family" whether we are really under attack from gays?

So, please, do not be too harsh and condemn those artists who politely refused to take part in the march. First of all, they were not the ones or the way they were invited. And secondly, I suspect that you, dear organisers of the march, are not yet fully aware of the powerful force with which you have waged war!

So far, you have only attacked one professional gay man in Parliament. And so far you have not been able to defeat him - you have only been making his name unnecessarily famous and advertising for him. And you have no idea how many gay amateurs work as professionals in the prosecutor's office, the SSD, the STT, the courts, the media, the European Parliament and various portals. Therefore, do not be too angry with me for putting my old "friends", my pierced and thrown soldiers, even soldiers who have been in prison, in front of you, so that they could cover you with their bodies and at least partially protect you from the powerful Soros propaganda that would have ground you into flour, and not a single normal human being would have dared come to that march. It was only when I guaranteed that none of my madmen would go on stage and ruin the reputation of the event that the systemic media calmed down on the eve. Even the unreconstructed Orlauskas appeared like an angel in our background, starting with Vaidas Žemaitis Lekstutis from the "Bukimevieningi" portal and ending with the first political prisoner and the "Russian spy" Algirdas Paleckis.

The fears of the organisers of the march that someone is encroaching on their laurels or the thrones of their leadership are therefore out of line. Nevertheless, I will continue to repeat that the nation is grateful to you for the titanic work that you have done in mobilising the last resources of the conscious Lithuanian women who have not yet broken down and surrendered. That is all. I will say no more thanks. But I must warn you of what lies ahead.

As long as you were rallying for (President Gitana and a peaceful citizens' rally) and swearing that you were not against lesbians, gays, the paedophiles who were "enlightened" in Garliava, and the corruption in Lithuania and the world, the authorities tolerated you. And even protected you from the attacks of LGBT provocateurs by granting permission for the meeting, despite the terrible "coronavirus" that allows people to be manipulated and, when necessary, herded into separate "farms" like animals. But all you have to do is moan about the fundamental problems and you will immediately be isolated or driven out.

And it became clear in the first days that the rally you organised posed no threat to the system and the degenerate government. When you tried to run down and impersonate the President, 178 to get to the Speaker of the Seimas for a reception. The mere announcement that the PROTEST rally would not be "against" but only "for" showed that you had already capitulated. The constant oaths that you are not against gays and lesbians have proved that you are hedgers.

And I do not love gay people and never will.

Because I cannot bring myself to love men. I might try to love a lesbian out of trouble, but I don't need to, (and I suspect they don't need me) because I have a normal woman at home, my wife Lina, the mother of my children and the grandmother of my grandchildren, the traditional guardian and nurturer of the traditional family. Not a partner, not a parent, not even a potential victim of the Istanbul Convention, but a wonderful life friend, with whom it is always a pleasure to sit in silence and reminisce about friends and my youth. At the end of life, this is a blessing in disguise, infinitely more precious than long legs and artificial breasts, which you can watch on the telly if you want. When you get older, you'll see for yourself!

Since I have already given in to sentiment, I must confess that I can love my Lithuania and its people, especially Lithuanians, without any effort. I will honestly admit that I am very long without you abroad, and no Monegasques or Nicos cannot replace you. We Lithuanians are neither second-class EU citizens nor fierce "imitators", neither better nor worse than people of other nationalities. Unless we could learn a little bit of friendliness and mutual assistance from the Litvaks.

Therefore, I apologise to all gays for my dislike, especially to Lithuanians. And please do not let strangers destroy our homeland. Especially LGBT leaders and especially for money. And I will no longer call you "faggots" in my publications. I will respect your rights and I will not hate you. If you respect and do not hate our Lithuania and do not associate with paedophiles.

As for how to educate my grandchildren, I must confess that I really do not know. The defence of LGBT activists has already escalated into a vicious attack on traditional families. Their people are increasingly swarming among the judges of the Constitutional Court, whose decisions are unchallenged. LGBT ideology has permeated not only our kindergarteners and schoolchildren, but also our university students. There, traditional families are no longer mentioned, and, like the old KGB days, there are whistleblowers who report to their superiors about 'toxic' fellow students and 'untrustworthy' lecturers who cannot answer the provocative question of Plato's attitude to gay people, or admit that Alexander the Great, the conqueror of the world, and his army were only undefeatable because all the men made love to one another before the battle.

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Even if our offspring manage not to succumb to LGBT propaganda and to remain normal citizens, Europe and America will certainly not tolerate or accept them. So it will be up to our 'poor bastards' to shut themselves up at home or turn to Belarus or Russia. That is, of course, if in the meantime there are no 'colour revolutions' there, too, where all the colours merge into a rainbow that has been taken away from the children. What to do?

I confess that I do not know what to do with you, you gullible slaves of power. I would like to take a break and calmly orient myself in the situation. I once said to my Sąjūdis comrades: "You can only kill an idol with a bigger idol!" And we managed to do that. Today I can only repeat: "You can only kill a scoundrel with an even bigger and more insidious scoundrel!"

P.S. Don't be angry with me, Audrius, if I have inadvertently offended you, old soldier.

(It's over!)

2. respublika.lt (translated, original by ELTA, 19.05.2021)

RJ Dagys: If the Law on Partnerships were passed, the Law on Strengthening the Family would have to be repealed

The leader of the Christian Union Rimantas Jonas Dagys calls for the implementation of the Law on Strengthening the Family, if necessary, to supplement it with “amendments in line with the needs of society”, but not to adopt the Law on Partnership.

"The law on strengthening the family clearly sets out the approach to the family, but unfortunately it has not been implemented by the rulers recently, and the opposite provisions are enforced than required by law. I suggest supplementing the law with concrete measures to strengthen the traditional family. The draft law on partnership, which is being discussed in the Seimas, completely contradicts the law on strengthening the family. If the Law on Partnership were passed, the Law on Strengthening the Family would have to be repealed, ”RJ Dagys said to Eltai.

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The former parliamentarian recalls that eight years ago he proposed to regulate the economic affairs of people living together, and this could be done, in his opinion, through amendments to the Civil Code.

"The property relations of two men or women living together should be settled, but this has nothing to do with the family. Also, for example, four nuns live together, manage a common farm, so their property relations could be regulated, they could receive information about health, ”says the leader of the Christian Union.

He regrets that there is no tendency today to dismantle the foundations of the family. "We want to change the family tradition in various, often even difficult to define forms of sexual, emotional and pseudocultural communities. All available means of education, information, social networking and propaganda destroy the foundations of traditional communality, confront people and impose various social phobias on them. The Law on the Fundamentals of Strengthening the Family, adopted a few years ago, is deliberately ignored, ”the Christian Union memorandum“ On the Development of the Family Policy of the Republic of Lithuania ”states.

The Christian Union proposes to develop the whole set of legal acts regulating interpersonal relations on the basis of the provisions of the Law on Family Strengthening and the Constitution, “without inventing alternate forms and other social constructs weakening the family the interests of all citizens ".

"To paraphrase Pope Francis, we say that a strong family has a place for everyone, including non-traditional people. We congratulate the President of the Republic of Lithuania, who has clearly stated his determination to defend the provisions of the Constitution and to find ways to regulate the relations of all people in the definition of the Constitution so that all feel respected citizens of the country. In practice, this would mean supplementing the current Law on Strengthening the Family with amendments that meet the needs of society, ”says the memorandum of the Christian Union led by RJ Dagis.

This party invites politicians, the institution of the President, faith communities, non- governmental organizations to gather together, because "the state will be strong when all its people find their happiness in the joint work of building the state."

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3. manilastandard.net (original by AFP, 16.05.2021)

Thousands protest same-sex civil unions in Lithuania

Thousands rallied in Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Saturday against draft legislation allowing civil unions for same-sex couples, a controversial move in the predominantly Catholic country.

People take part in the protest campaign "The Great Family Defence March" protesting against laws that threaten the institution of a traditional family at Vingis Park in Vilnius, on May 15, 2021. Thousands rallied in Vilnius on May 15, 2021 against draft legislation allowing civil unions for same-sex couples, a controversial move in predominantly Catholic Lithuania.

Openly gay MP Tomas Vytautas Raskevicius is behind the drive for legal recognition for same-sex partners, which parliament is expected to consider next month.

Police said ten thousand people attended the event, dubbed the "family defence march", which took place despite a ban on public gatherings under anti-Covid rules and a surge in infections. Centrist President Gitanas Nauseda issued a statement in connection with the protest, insisting that any legal recognition of same-sex couples must be in line with the constitution which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Protesters see same-sex unions as a threat to traditional family values. A 2019 Eurobarometer survey found that 70 percent of Lithuanians opposed legal recognition of same-sex unions, signalling some of the strongest opposition to gay rights in the EU.

The new legislation aims to grant LGBT couples inheritance rights, joint ownership of property, procedural guarantees and the option to change their surnames but does not include the right to adopt children, according to local media.

"This isn't acceptable for me, for my children and my grandchildren," protester Alfredas, 55, who declined to provide his surname, told AFP.

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The measure has split the conservative-led coalition government, but could still muster enough support among governing liberals and opposition social democrats to pass.

Liberals in the governing coalition also want to ratify the Istanbul Convention, an international accord designed to protect women from violence.

4. delfi.lt (original by delfi.lt, 11.05.2021)

Minister: Lithuania has potential to produce COVID-19 vaccines

Economy and Innovation Minister Ausrine Armonaite said after visiting Northway Biotech on Tuesday. Skiepijimas „Camelia“ vaistinėse

"In Lithuania, we have not only a success story with international companies, but we can also create success stories with Lithuanian companies and successfully develop drugs, vaccine components and vaccines to help overcome the coronavirus," she told reporters.

The Vilnius-based company has announced recently that it is developing an antibody drug that neutralizes the COVID-19 virus, in cooperation with Swiss partners. Clinical trials are currently underway in Switzerland and if the results are positive, antibodies could reach the market by the end of this year. Professor Vladas Algirdas Bumelis, board chairman at Northway Biotech, said he was glad to welcome the minister to his company. "Sometimes I get the impression that we Lithuanians don't really know what we have and what we have developed here," Bumelis noted.

226 new COVID-19 cases Neringa leads in terms of COVID-19 vaccinations "We have an excellent high-tech industry and advanced biotechnology companies," he said. "We are ready to develop various biotechnological processes, and the production of COVID-19 vaccines is a biotechnological process." Lithuania should "communicate it very clear to the whole of Europe" that it can participate in the vaccine production process, according to the professor. Efforts to attract European decision-makers' attention

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"The pandemic provides a unique opportunity for a spurt of growth in life sciences and we must seize it," Armonaite said in a press release earlier on Tuesday. "Lithuania can make a significant contribution to the global fight against the pandemic." Lithuania has all the conditions in place to produce the active ingredient of COVID-19 vaccines, but it needs to look for opportunities to cooperate with manufacturers of vaccine bottling equipment and vaccine bottles, according to the minister.

The European Commission is currently working on a plan for mass vaccine production in Europe and is looking for companies to manufacture vaccines. "As the Economy Ministry, we want to show both the European Commission and decision-makers in Europe our capabilities and that these highly advanced medical technologies can be developed here in Lithuania, too,"

Armonaite told reporters. Lithuania's life sciences sector contributes about 2 percent to the gross domestic product, six times higher than the EU average, according to Armonaite. The strategic goal is to increase that share to 5 percent of GDP, she said.

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ESTONIA

1. news.err.ee (translated, original by ERR, 17.05.2021)

AK: EKRE is growing support in Ida-Viru County

EKRE has found a promising breeding ground for their conservative worldview with people in northeastern Estonia enjoying the directness of the party's leading politicians and Mart 184

Helme, in particular, who some in the region liken to Edgar Savisaar, ETV's "AK.Nädal" reported on Sunday.

Local elections are looming and things seem different in Narva this year. Traditionally, the group who holds power in the city tends to keep it as schools, kindergartens and municipal companies are strong vote-generators.

But there seems to be a new contender in town to go with Center's stable dominance in the region. The local Russian voter is attracted by the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE).

Party deputy chairman Mart Helme announced in March that EKRE is planning to run in the northeastern city of Narva in local government elections in October with a list of their own candidates and also cleared up a major question for the Russian voter - May 9, or Soviet victory in World War Two day.

"Our approach to May 9 is different. But we will not accept people based on how they feel about May 9. We will begin accepting people who support our program," Helme said.

EKRE's activities in Narva are run by rather unknown names with names such as Dmitri Gussev and Aleksandr Pahhomov at the forefront. But at the same time, the party has been able to achieve quite a lot in a few short months. EKRE has some 100 members in Narva, they have a political group in the city council, they issue their own newspaper and have also opened an office in the city center - in a crowded place as well.

"Peoples' views change and they realize that the national interest of Estonia is most important. We must not only listen to what the EU is telling us, but think of our own economy, our own state. Interest for EKRE is great among the young who see EKRE as a possibility, because EKRE does what it says - stand for what they believe in. And of course, we do not want Narva to turn into a jerkwater town," said Aleksandr Pahhomov, board member of EKRE's Narva department.

EKRE planning to express no confidence in government

It is still too early to say what a local Russian voter thinks of EKRE. Looking at party rating surveys, the people of northeastern Estonia in April said that if elections were to happen the next day, 15 percent would pick Center, 13 percent EKRE and 11 percent Reform. 28 percent chose the "I don't know" response. That is what the battle in Narva is all about. 185

Former Center party member Larissa Olenina has made a name for herself in Narva by organizing May 9 celebrations in the city. She found like-minded people in the conservative party and joined EKRE's group in the city council.

"People want conservative views today. For example, I find their positions on family and what should come of Narva's power stations very clear and understandable. The same with Russian schools. Everyone is struggling with Russian schools and whether or not they should be transferred to Estonian, but EKRE is saying Russian schools need to be maintained and Estonian studies should be strengthened. It is important. I am a nationalist in the best way, I really am. I am for the Russian language, Russian schools and our Russian people," Olenina said.

The shortest way to the hearts of people in Narva, "AK.Nädal" reported, is a free local newspaper. There are many in the city and now EKRE issues one as well. Vzgljad - a glance or a view.

Everything is how it is supposed to be. Mart Helme is on the cover, power belongs to the people, the local government is criticized, state power is criticized, there are pictures of local celebrities and at the end, there is even a small gardening section and a crossword puzzle. 30,000 copies, in Russian, for each mailbox in Narva.

"Nature abhors a vacuum, so the empty space left by Center Party has been very skillfully filled by EKRE. And their popularity is set to increase, I think. EKRE is very specific, they have shown that they are active. And that is what Russian citizens enjoy. We can say it is populism, but it ignites new hope for people in Narva, because they touch on important topics. We do not have much to oppose to EKRE," said Center's Narva region board member Allen Allet.

The political situation in Narva has recently been through confusing times, but now with EKRE becoming a powerful player in the region, it adds yet another factor to the already colorful mix of characters. At the same time, EKRE's arrival could make the choice easy for locals who want to elect someone based on what they believe in themselves.

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2. delfi.ee (translated, original by delfi.ee, 19.05.2021)

Martin Helme: The government beat the critics just like in Minsk and Moscow

Martin Helme, chairman of the Estonian Conservative People's Party (EKRE), said on ETV's "First Studio" that the government had the demonstrations in Toompea in April being dispelled by well-known techniques from Belarus and Moscow.

"These were spontaneous demonstrations against the government and the government reacted to them by dispersing them. The real problem with the protests came when the government decided to help too, we are disbanding. This is one of the The government was started by dispelling government critics with dogs, "said Helme.

Presenter Andres Kuusk corrected Helmet that there was really no beating of the people.

"It was, it was. They were still very strongly dispersed. People were squeezed with their breasts. People were randomly put on a plate, people were stuffed in a cell," Helme replied.

Kuusk asked whether the protesters in Estonia were treated as violently as in Belarus and Moscow. "These are exactly the techniques used there," Helme replied.

"People were arrested with fictional sections, the police bus was taken, the plate was put on, fines were imposed for nothing. Anyone who walked the square with children was intimidated with dogs, people were deprived of things," Helme continued.

3. rus.err.ee (translated, original by ERR, 28.04.2021)

Martin Helme called the budget strategy a complete failure

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EKRE Chairman, former Finance Minister Martin Helme believes that the budget strategy developed by the current government is a complete failure, as significant investments will be reduced, but at the same time consumption taxes will increase.

The politician announced this on Wednesday on his Facebook page, calling the document developed by the government of reformists and centrists a complete failure in terms of economic development and public policy.

First of all, Martin Helme criticized the new coalition for the decision to abandon defense investments and postpone the start of construction of four-lane highways.

"At the same time, taxes on consumption, which the previous government reduced with great efforts, will rise again. In addition to a sharp rise in the price of diesel fuel, this will lead to a significant rise in the price of gas and electricity," Helme said.

According to him, this will lead to the fact that residents of Estonia will again start refueling abroad, and the budget will not count tax revenues.

"In the case of gas and electricity, this also means a reduction in consumption, and in part a transfer of enterprises abroad, along with jobs and taxes. In addition, the increase in taxes will give a boost to the price increase that already follows us," added Martin Helme. recalling that under EKRE, Estonia was the country with the most significant price reduction in all of Europe.

The special committee of the Riigikogu to discuss the budget strategy for 2022-2025

Helme criticized the new coalition for his intention to save on education according to interests, noting that all these measures are being taken to implement the main idea of the Reform Party, according to which the state budget must be balanced.

According to him, this in itself is not bad and it is impossible to constantly fill the budget only with loans, but for a start it was still possible to stimulate the economy with the help of borrowed funds, since in the future, when the economy becomes strong, servicing and repayment of these loans will not be a problem ...

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On Wednesday, the budget strategy was also criticized by the deputy chairman of the Center Party, Jaanus Karilaid, who advised the government not to approve it on Thursday.

Government Minister Jaak Aab, however, said the budget strategy would be approved.

4. baltictimes.com (original by Baltic Times, 04.05.2021)

Formins of Estonia, Hungary discuss security, economic cooperation

TALLINN - Estonian Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets met with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto on Monday to discuss security and economic cooperation, the European Union and the Three Seas Initiative, spokespeople for the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The Hungarian foreign minister visited Tallinn to mark the centenary of diplomatic relations between Estonia and Hungary and present Hungary's objectives for its Council of Europe chairmanship.

"A hundred years ago, Hungary was among the first to recognize our young state. Likewise, 30 years ago, Hungary's support for Estonia helped us reclaim our place among free nations," Liimets said.

"Today, as members of the European Union and NATO, we are both contributing to the development of the region and global security. This is why I stressed to my colleague that in these organisations, we must act according to shared values and principles that are the basis for our current success," she added.

The ministers also discussed Russia's actions in the past few months that have affected the security and stability of the European Union and our partners. They also spoke about the European Union’s relations with China.

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At the meeting, the ministers also explored enhancing cooperation between Estonia and Hungary, particularly in view of the current developments of the region and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Liimets highlighted security cooperation: "We highly appreciate Hungary's contribution to Baltic air policing and we are interested in continued defense cooperation."

Both Liimets and Szijjarto noted the Three Seas Initiative was a chance to reinforce the infrastructure of the region.

"Both Hungary and Estonia prioritize boosting the Three Seas Initiative. We consider it key to develop the strategic partnership, investment fund, smart connectivity and practical aspects of the initiative," Liimets said.

The Estonian foreign minister also outlined Estonia's actions as an elected member of the UN Security Council, including during our presidency in June 2021. Touching on cooperation in the Council of Europe, Liimets underlined the importance of the Istanbul Convention and presented Estonia's first action plan for human rights.

Touching on the European Union, both ministers affirmed they supported the EU's enlargement policy, as stability in the Western Balkans was crucial for European security.

The ministers also addressed the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Estonia and Hungary.

After the meeting and the press conference, the ministers visited an exhibition at the National Library of Estonia dedicated to the centenary of diplomatic relations between Estonia and Hungary.

5. baltictimes.com (original by Baltic Times, 19.05.2021)

Estonia, Germany sign joint declaration on development cooperation

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TALLINN – Estonia and Germany in a virtual ceremony on Wednesday signed a joint declaration on development cooperation.

The joint declaration creates a framework for Estonia and Germany to implement development cooperation projects in partner countries. In the declaration, the two states set out the lines of cooperation that support a sustainable green and digital transformation in e- governance, innovation, business, education, healthcare and other areas, spokespeople for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

"Estonia and Germany are celebrating the centenary of diplomatic relations this year and I am very glad that today, we are marking this milestone with a joint declaration that serves as a basis for even closer and more successful cooperation in the future. In addition to good relations, it is crucial for us to be able to contribute to the sustainable development of our partners," Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets said.

The main cooperation areas of Estonia and Germany are the Eastern Partnership countries of the European Union and Africa. The countries are also jointly contributing to the D4D initiative (Digital 4 Development) and the Team Europe approach in joint projects.

The joint declaration on the development cooperation of Estonia and Germany was signed at Wednesday’s virtual ceremony by Estonian Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets and the Parliamentary Secretary of State of Germany Maria Flachsbarth.

6. ukrinform.net (original by ukrinform.net, 19.05.2021)

Estonia ready to support Ukraine's future accession to EU – joint statement

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas have signed a joint statement on priority areas of bilateral cooperation, which notes Estonia's readiness to support Ukraine's future accession to the European Union, the presidential press service has reported.

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During the meeting, Zelensky thanked the Estonian side for its continued support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, in particular in the context of Estonia's non- permanent membership in the UN Security Council in 2020-2021, the report said.

"I know that yesterday you were in Donbas, in particular at the Stanytsia Luhanska checkpoint and the Shchastia checkpoint. I thank you for this, both from myself and from all citizens of Ukraine. It is important for me that the leaders of other countries come and see with their own eyes the situation in Donbas, see our attitude to the citizens living in the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government," Zelensky said.

He also thanked Estonia for its continued assistance in the medical rehabilitation of Ukrainian servicemen and for the allocation of 500,000 euros in humanitarian aid to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Zelensky noted the readiness of the Estonian side to join the cooperation in the framework of the Crimean Platform Summit in Kyiv on August 23, 2021.

For her part, Kallas thanked Zelensky for the warm welcome. "Ukraine is always in the heart of the Estonian people. And we always do our best to support Ukraine within all possible platforms - the European Union, NATO, the UN," she said.

Both sides paid special attention to Ukraine's priority steps towards deepening relations with the European Union.

Zelensky stressed Ukraine's strategic goal of gaining full membership in the EU and thanked Estonia for its traditionally active support in achieving this ambitious task.

Following the talks, Zelensky and Kallas signed a joint statement on priority areas of bilateral cooperation. The document separately fixes Estonia's readiness to support Ukraine's future accession to the EU and its willingness to assist the country in achieving the membership criteria.

Kallas is on an official visit to Ukraine.

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LATVIA

1. baltictimes.com (original by LETA, 19.05.2021)

Latvia will continue to follow policy of non-recognition of Crimea's annexation - Saeima speaker

RIGA - Latvia follows and will continue to follow a strict policy of non-recognition of Crimea's annexation, not letting the issue disappear from the international agenda, Saeima Speaker Inara Murniece (National Alliance) said while meeting with representatives of Crimea Tatars during her official visit to Kyiv.

As LETA was told at the Saeima press office, Murniece noted that today we remember the crimes against Crimean Tatars committed by the Soviet regime. In her words, this day of remembrance is especially sad under the current circumstances as the indigenous people of Crimea have lost their native land again and are suffering persecution.

The Saeima speaker underlined that the Latvian parliament has recognized the deportations of Crimean Tatars as genocide.

Honoring the memory of deportation victims, on the 77th anniversary of the Tatar deportations, the flag of Crimean Tatars was flown at the Latvian embassy building in Kyiv. Refat Chubarov, leader of the Crimean Tatars, stressed that fast action is needed, because left without its land, such a small nation faces extinction.

In Kyiv, Murniece also met with Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who had been jailed in Russia, as well as other representatives of a platform for the release of political prisoners. Participants of the meeting agreed that the international community must not forget that many 193

Ukrainian patriots remain imprisoned in Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine and in Russia and that it is necessary to demand their release. The platform's representatives called for raising the issue on the international level to put pressure on Russia.

2. ukrinform.net (original by ukrinform.net, 19.05.2021)

Latvia, as EU and NATO member, is ready to help Ukraine

The Republic of Latvia, as a member of EU and NATO, is always ready to help Ukraine.

"I am very proud of the two countries – Latvia and Ukraine – of how dynamically Ukraine has been developing since 2015. There are many very good bridges between our countries, many people travel from one country to another. There are many activities that unite us. And, Latvia, as EU country and NATO member, can help Ukraine in many ways," Speaker of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia Ināra Mūrniece said at a briefing in Avdiivka on May 19.

As noted, the Latvian Armed Forces are already helping Ukraine, and Latvian sister cities could provide additional assistance.

"Our sister cities could help: give Ukrainian soldiers, children, an opportunity to visit Latvia to have at least a few days of rest," said the Speaker of the Saeima.

She thanked Verkhovna Rada Speaker Dmytro Razumkov and Ukrainians for the warm visit and reassured them of Latvian support.

"I want to thank Mr. Razumkov and all Ukrainians for welcoming me so warmly. We will support Ukraine in every possible way and inform about what is happening here," Mūrniece said.

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As reported, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Razumkov and Speaker of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia Ināra Mūrniece make a joint working visit to Donetsk region on May 19.

3. bnn-news.com (original by LETA, 17.05.2021)

Beness Aijo sentenced to prison for calls to liquidate Latvia’s independence

Beness Aijo, prison, prison sentence, Latvia's independence, violent overthrowing, ruling, state

Monday, 17 May, Riga Vidzeme Suburb Court sentenced National Bolshevik Beness Aijo to a prison sentence of two years and six months and probation period of one year for his public calls to liquidate the independence of the Republic of Latvia. The culprit, meanwhile, remains in Russia.

Aijo was declared guilty of committing crimes covered by Section 81, 82 and 83 of the Criminal Law – invitations against Latvia and public invitations against the country’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The ruling is subject to appeal within ten days after publication of the full text of the court verdict, which is planned for 31 May.

The security measure previously put in place in this criminal case remains unchanged. It is important to note here that Beness Aijo has been wanted for several years.

In February 2015 Riga City Vidzeme Suburb Court declared Beness Aijo a wanted man in the criminal case in which he is accused of public invitations towards violent overthrowing of the government in Latvia. Aijo was supposed to stand before the court but he fled the country.

According to his own announcements, he joined the ranks of the army of the Self-Proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic and even took part in combat.

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19 February 2015 marked the coming into force of amendments to the Criminal Law of the Republic of Latvia. These amendments prohibit citizens from taking part in armed conflicts in foreign countries illegally. The State Security Service (VDD) soon commenced a new criminal procedure against Beness Aijo.

In 2019 Aijo was detained in Yarensk Village in Russia, where he had arrived to support environmental activists who opposed the creation of a landfill in Shiyes Village.

Later, however, Russia refused to extradite Beness Aijo to Latvian authorities. Instead the activist was provided asylum.

In Latvia Aijo was known as a member of a neo-fascist National Bolshevik party. He later joined the Communist party of the so-called Donetsk Republic. Now he stays in Russia.

4. eng.lsm.lv (original by eng.lsm.lv, 12.05.2021)

Saeima committee rejects defining hate crime against sexual minorities

A majority of the Saeima Criminal Policy Sub-Committee on Tuesday, May 11, rejected proposals to define hate crimes directed against sexual orientation more precisely in the law. The proposal to count crime against sexual orientation as an aggravating circumstance was also rejected.

The criminal law contains articles on encouraging national, ethnic and racial hatred” and encouraging social hatred and intolerance”. But hate crimes are not legally linked to sexual orientation. Saeima deputy Andrejs Judins (New Unity) has proposed to correct it.

“We understand that a person has multiple identities: nationality, religious affiliation. Sexual orientation, too. And if there is a hateful action against someone, there should not be a split that one hate is more serious than the other. Both hostile actions are harmful. They hurt people. And then there has to be one standard,” the MP said.

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In addition, the Member proposed to define a crime against sexual orientation as an aggravating circumstance. The members of the sub-committee rejected it, but the proposal will still have to be decided by the Saeima Legal Committee. According to Judins, this could mean that the proposal would remain “hanging in the air.”

Judins' proposals were sharply criticized by Juris Rancāns (New Conservative Party), member of the sub-committee. He questioned the validity of the proposals. He said that there was hysteria in society in relation to hate crimes because of sexual orientation.

“These proposals by Mr Judins do not meet any quality criteria for legislation that we have talked about. Mr Judins' proposals were based on assumptions, feelings and prejudices spread in mass media against Latvia, against the part of Latvia's conservative society, against Latvia as a terribly homophobic country, which is absolutely untrue. Because no facts that could confirm all these assumptions, prejudices and statements was submitted,” Rancāns said.

Deputy Vita Tērauda (Development/For) expressed dissatisfaction at Members' reluctance to listen to and address societal problems.

“The vote was not a surprise. At the same time, it is difficult to see so many Members pretending not to see such crimes happening in our society. Pretending not to hear the Ombudsman warning about hate speech events that are rising in Latvia,” said the deputy.

The Development/For! faction has also tabled similar but far more extensive amendments to the Criminal Law. For example, it is proposed to extend the concept of violence to the understanding of both physical and verbal and emotional violence. The Saeima has passed these amendments to the Legal Affairs Committee.

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LUXEMBOURG

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1. luxtimes.lu (original by Jean-Michel Hennebert and Julie Edde, 17.05.2021)

Luxembourg finds candidates for EU prosecutor

Luxembourg judiciary will select two candidates out of three who applied

Three Luxembourg magistrates have applied to fill two positions as prosecutors working with the European Union's new fraud-fighting agency, a spokesman for the justice ministry said on Monday.

The country will propose two of the names as delegated prosecutors at the Luxembourg-based European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), which is led by Laura Kövesi from Romania. The institution has earlier rejected national candidates, for instance from Bulgaria, France and Malta.

Luxembourg is one of four countries - with Cyprus, Finland and Slovenia -among the 22 participating in EPPO that had not yet officially proposed candidates. The lukewarm interest had earlier forced an extension of the deadline for applications until 15 May.

The delegated prosecutors will be pursuing convictions in their home countries when EPPO investigates crime. Each country needs to appoint at least two delegated prosecutors to handle cases in local courts.

EPPO cannot start its work until at least one delegated prosecutor from each participating member has been appointed. Luxembourg has already appointed Gabriel Seixas as chief delegate to EPPO's decision-making body.

Luxembourg's State Council said in late April that a bill to allow EPPO to work in the country clashes with how Luxembourg's own prosecutory system works. On top of that, a district court also objected to the bill for similar reasons.

However, these legislative troubles will not stop the fraud-busting agency - which is looking to tackle some 3,000 alleged crimes against EU funds - from starting work on 1 June as planned, EPPO has said in reaction.

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2. wort.lu (translated, original by wort.lu, 17.05.2021)

Youth and renewal in the Chamber

David Wagner and Marc Baum will give up their seats as deputies on Wednesday, as agreed in the ranks of Déi Lénk. A turnover undoubtedly invigorating for political life. Photo: Chris Karaba

ADR and Déi Lénk show the social Christians, in particular, how the renewal of the political class can succeed even in the ranks of Luxembourg deputies.

(pj with Marc HOSCHEID) - Change his entire parliamentary group in the middle of a legislature: it seems daring but Déi Lénk will do it well this Wednesday, May 19. The left- wing party replacing two male parliamentarians with two elected mothers: Nathalie Oberweis (38 years old) and Myriam Cecchetti (54 years old). It is now up to them to take the seat voluntarily left vacant by their predecessors in the Chamber, David Wagner and Marc Baum (42 years old each).

The Chamber validates the reduction of the sanitary system

Thus Déi Lénk keeps one of his campaign commitments: his elected officials do not have the vocation to anchor themselves in the function of politician. And to ensure that the mandate granted by the voters remains a mission rather than a profession (with an individual's dependence on the emoluments paid for this legislative commitment). This rotation, the party had already implemented in the past: David Wagner succeeding Justin Turpel in 2015 and Marc Baum to Serge Urbany in 2016. And this time, even the current covid crisis does not call this principle into question.

In order to best prepare for this assumption of responsibilities, Nathalie Oberweis has been able to work part-time as parliamentary assistant for Déi Lénk in recent months. And the two future deputies (also elected in Sanem) also regularly participated in the meetings of the parliamentary group. History to take the rhythm and know the files.

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Another tack but the same desire to refresh the ranks when ADR chose to replace Gast Gibéryen with Fred Keup last October . A forties instead of a septuagenarian and this at the end of a mandate which will still have occupied 31 years the outgoing deputy.

The message then evoked was clear for the opposition party: to allow a young guard to familiarize themselves with the political life of the country before launching into the battle of the national elections in 2023.

Age and commitment as criteria

Each in their own way, the two “small” opposition parties could serve as models for the “big ones”, starting with the social Christians. Indeed, the CSV fraction does not shine either by the turnover of its deputies, or by their youth. Putting it in a positive light, we can even say that with 21 parliamentarians, the CSV has the greatest potential for rejuvenation. With Serge Wilmes (38 years old), Georges Mischo (46), Paul Galles (47) and Léon Gloden (48), only four deputies are under 50 years old in this formation.

Ten years after his ouster from the head of government, and at the end of a politically troubled period, would it not be in the interest of Claude Wiseler's party to blow a breath of youth before the 2023 deadline both at the Parliament but also in its national representations? For example, in all four districts, Max Hengel (43, east), Jeff Boonen (35, north), Elizabeth Margue (31, center) and Laurent Zeimet (46, south) are relatively young figures. If only age had to be taken into account, Françoise Hetto-Gaasch (60 spring) should make room in the east, Ali Kaes (66) in the north, Viviane Reding (70) in the center and Jean- Marie Halsdorf (64) to the south.

The political class "is exhausted"

And if age is not to be taken into account systematically, political parties can also question the real commitment of their representatives. Will the new dual leadership of the CSV parliamentary group , Martine Hansen and Gilles Roth, dare to follow this path? Or will attachment to office, remuneration or pension rights take precedence over the very interests of the party?

Of course, the majority parties (DP, LSAP or Déi Gréng) can ask themselves the same question. Even if the problem seems less significant in their ranks. Indeed, with recent ministerial appointments, the “parliamentary makeover” follows de facto . A logic that certain circumstances can sometimes precipitate. This was the case for the nomination to the 200

Chamber of Semiray Ahmedova (40 years old) when his predecessor Roberto Traversini had to give up his chair in October 2019, swept away by the "garden shed affair" .

3. wort.lu (translated, original by Danielle Schuchmacher, 05.05.2021)

Luxembourg is easing its corona measures

In view of the stable situation in the infection process, the government decides to relax the catering, cultural and sports sectors.

After a break of almost half a year, the restaurants and cafes will be able to host guests again from May 16. However, under strict conditions . The guests have to show a negative test , there are only four of them at one table and the restaurants have to close at 10 p.m.

This leaves the guests enough time to go home. For the official curfew applies soon only between midnight and 6 am . Previously, you had to stay at home between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The pandemic situation continues to relax

With this, the government reacted to the generally stable situation during the course of the pandemic. As Prime Minister Xavier Bettel (DP) announced yesterday at a joint press briefing with Health Minister Paulette Lenert (LSAP), four people will soon be able to meet at home ; so far, contacts have been limited to two people. If all guests belong to the same household, more than four people can be received. Incidentally, this rule also applies to the tables in restaurants and pubs.

Up to 1,000 people at cultural and sporting events

There are also further simplifications with regard to the right of assembly . From mid-May, 150 people will be allowed to meet, but subject to the usual hygiene measures. Even larger meetings are possible, provided there is a conclusive hygiene concept that has been approved by the Santé. As part of pilot projects, up to 1,000 people can then gather, for example at sports or cultural events. 201

Are rapid tests a way out of the pandemic?

In sport as in the cultural sector, there are relief: The restrictions for young athletes under 19 years of age who train in clubs are lifted. In swimming pools , every swimmer must have at least ten square meters; previously three people were allowed per lane. The musicians can be particularly happy, because up to 40 people can play music in the open air from mid-May if they keep a distance of two meters. In general, a distance rule of two meters applies if more than four people play sports or make music together.

Easings are also planned in the education sector . In the upper grades of secondary schools, for example, the division into A and B classes should come to an end after the Whitsun holidays , that is, the students will all be taught together in the classroom again. As a result, there is no longer any homeschooling. The government continues to rely on rapid tests in the education sector . So the students should be tested twice a week.

Quick tests as a game changer

It is still too early to give the all-clear, stressed Prime Minister Bettel and Health Minister Lenert several times. Still, they were confident. On the one hand, the vaccinations are having an effect , the infections in the vaccinated age groups are noticeably reduced. On the other hand, the government is placing all its hopes on the self-tests and the rapid tests, of which it has ordered 19.5 million. 500,000 kits alone are to be distributed to the catering establishments.

Corona situation in Luxembourg and the world: all figures at a glance Incidentally, you can present both a PCR test and a certified rapid test there. The rapid tests can be carried out in pharmacies, for example, from May 12th. But you can also carry out a self-test on site. Health Minister Lenert spoke of a "game changer" with regard to the quick and self-tests .

No freedom for vaccinated and convalescent people

In contrast to countries such as Germany, there will be no additional freedoms in Luxembourg for those who have been fully vaccinated or those who have recovered . When asked, Minister of Health Lenert referred to the residual risk after the vaccination. A total of 139 people became infected more than 14 days after their second vaccination . A second infection cannot be ruled out either. So the government wants to wait and see.

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The EU Commission is currently working on a Europe-wide uniform vaccination certificate, which should give vaccinated and convalescent more freedom and also make travel possible again.

4. tageblatt.lu (translated, original by tageblatt.lu, 13.05.2021)

Weekly balance sheet / Covid-19 consultation centers in Luxembourg and Esch will close the doors from May 16

The infection rate in Luxembourg continues to decline. The Ministry of Health reported on Wednesday evening. The Covid-19 consultation centers in Luxembourg and Esch will therefore also be closed from May 16.

936 people tested positive for the week of May 3rd through May 9th. The week before it was 1,119. Contact tracing also reports less affected people. After 2,967 close contacts identified, the number was only 2,423 this week. A total of 2,452 people were in isolation and 3,359 in quarantine. 53,487 PCR tests were performed last week. There are currently 2,167 active infections and 65,460 people have recovered from corona disease since the beginning of the pandemic. Four deaths were added this week, their average age is 68 years.

According to the Ministry of Health, the situation has also improved slightly in the hospitals. 88 people were treated in hospital for corona from May 3rd to 9th, 32 of them in the intensive care unit. Fewer people visit the Covid-19 consultation centers on Kirchberg and in Esch / Alzette. Only 286 people stopped by in the week of May 3rd to 9th. The week before it was 363. That is why the Ministry of Health decided to close the centers from May 16 at 3 p.m.

The reproductive value (RT eff) remains stable at 0.94, while the incidence falls to 147 cases per 100,000 population. The incidence value falls by 44 percent, especially in the largely vaccinated age groups over 75 years of age. The family continues to be infected (45.6 percent), followed by school (6.3 percent), work (4.0 percent) and vacation (2.8 percent). The British variant is still the dominant one in Luxembourg. It makes up 82 percent of the cases. 10 percent of the infections can be traced back to the South African variant, 2 percent to the Brazilian one. There was one registered case of the Indian variant that was discovered on 203 calendar week 17. In the week of May 3rd to 9th, 40,717 vaccine doses were given, the first prick for 26,678 people.

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MALTA

1. independent.com.mt (original by Albert Galea, 19.05.2021)

Jason Micallef laments how Malta will not allow small crowds after Rotterdam packs Eurovision arena

Valletta Cultural Agency chairman Jason Micallef took to Facebook on Tuesday night to lament at how the Netherlands had packed an area for the Eurovision, but how Malta does not even allow cultural activities with a minimal crowd.

Tuesday saw the first Eurovision semi-final held in the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with an audience of 3,500 people – not the full capacity, but a substantial portion nonetheless – being allowed to attend each event.

All audience members must have tested negative for Covid-19 before entering the arena and the event is being used as a tester for mass events in the post-pandemic scenario.

While the semi-final was ongoing, Micallef, who is also the chairman of the Labour Party’s television station, lamented how the arena was packed – despite the pandemic.

“Is it possible that science in the Netherlands is much more advanced than how things are being considered by the Maltese health authorities?”, Micallef questioned.

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“It’s a situation which personally I cannot understand anymore”, he said.

“Why, how, and who is deciding that in Malta – not even for all of June, or with the famous “herd immunity” – we cannot organise cultural activities with audiences of 50, 100, or 200 people in a theatre or hall which holds 1,000 people or in a major outdoor space”, Micallef continued.

“It beggars belief, unless there are ulterior motives”, he concluded.

Mass events will, as of 7 June, remain one of the only things banned in Malta due to Covid-19 restrictions – although weddings will be allowed as of the beginning of June.

Crowds at events – even at sporting events – have been banned or heavily restricted ever since last summer.

2. maltatoday.com.mt (original by Matthew Agius, 19.05.2021)

Malta government paid for Libya pushbacks ‘three to four’ times, shipper reveals

Carmelo Grech, the owner of the Libyan-flagged fishing vessel Dar Es Salaam 1 has revealed that the Maltese government paid for pushbacks multiple times

The Maltese government paid for pushbacks by the Dar Es Salaam 1 “three to four times”, the vessel’s owner has told a judge this afternoon.

Mr Justice Lawrence Mintoff is hearing the case against Prime Minister Robert Abela, National Security and Law Enforcement Minister Byron Camilleri and AFM Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi, filed by lawyers Paul Borg Olivier and Eve Borg Costanzi on behalf of 52 would-be asylum seekers who had been pushed back to Libya in the Spring of 2020. 205

Several witnesses testified today, but of particular interest was that of Carmelo Grech, the owner of the Libyan-flagged fishing vessel Dar Es Salaam 1.

Grech said that at the time, his boat had been in the Grand Harbour for between four and six weeks when he was approached by an AFM representative, whose name he didn’t know. The AFM gave him a set of coordinates of a dinghy, but the dinghy wasn’t found at first, he said. “We were closer to Lampedusa than Malta,” he recalled.

There were strong seas, and five people had died on board the dinghy. When he was informed, he relayed this fact to the AFM, who ordered that his crew bring on board the live ones first and then the dead.

Although he resisted the order, the dead were eventually lifted onto the fishing boat.

Grech made it clear to the court that he was not on board at any time. The vessel’s captain would speak to him, and he would speak to the AFM, he said.

After taking the bodies on board, the crew were instructed to sail to Tripoli and transfer them onto a Libyan patrol boat. “There were heavy seas, and the [rescued] people on board mutinied, but the Libyans helped quell the uprising,” Grech said.

Lawyer Paul Borg Olivier asked Grech how many times he had carried out this type of operation. “We were asked to do this by the AFM around 3 or 4 times,” he said. “We weren’t paid charter fees. AFM paid for fuel.

At first, we would give them our food, but when Captain Morgan [offshore detention centres] started, sea-launches with food would be dispatched to them…”

“The AFM supplied the fuel bowser,” he added.

Salve Regina

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Dominic Tanti, owner of the vessel Salve Regina, was also summoned to the stand about his role in the operation. “They commanded me to take food to Libya. Konrad Baldacchino did,” Tanti said, clarifying that he didn’t know Baldacchino. “My friend, who is a captain, had called me to say that Baldacchino needed someone to do this job.” Salve Regina was in Valletta port at the time.

“We loaded up food from Marsa with a crane; it was roughly a one and a half to two-hour job. Konrad Baldacchino provided the food. Around 30 tonnes of it.”

Tanti went to Libya and returned empty on his first voyage there, after handing over his cargo to the Libyan soldiers there. “After two days, they called me up and asked me to do the same. I did the same, and this time, for some reason, they told me to return.”

Therefore he went to Libya twice. The first time he went after the Dar es Salaam, and the second time he didn’t enter Libya, clarified lawyer Chris Soler appearing on behalf of the Attorney General’s Office.

The second time they gave food to the Tremar – the third vessel allegedly commissioned by the Maltese government to carry out rescues. “They didn’t have food. They stayed outside territorial waters.”

Neville Gafà would coordinate operations from home

Also testifying today was former OPM staffer Neville Gafà. Today self-employed, Gafà said his role in the operation between the 9-10 April was to make contact between Libya and Malta. “After the contacts were established, I was engaged to ensure that the people returned safely. My role was never inside Maltese territorial waters but in Libyan ones, so that jurisdiction applies. I was taking instructions from the OPM (Office of the Prime Minister).”

He denied any role in the engaging of the vessels or having any contact with them. “At OPM, I was in contact with Chief of Staff Clyde Caruana.”

Gafà told the court he would take orders from the AFM to coordinate with the Libyan Coast Guard.” He would coordinate this from home, he said.

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There was another mission he was asked to coordinate after his resignation, Gafà said, which he rendered gratis. “There was a separate vessel carrying 30 tonnes of supplies… I was meant to ensure that both the immigrants and supplies reached Tripoli.” He said the mission was a one-off, adding that he didn’t know who was carrying the supplies.

3. newsbook.com.mt (original by Jurgen Balzan, 12.05.2021)

Malta Catholic Youth Network says young people should not be misled on effects of cannabis

Risks and benefits of cannabis should not be presented on equal grounds, MCYN says

The Malta Catholic Youth Network (MCYN), said the decriminalisation of cannabis could “lead to the normalisation and popularisation” of its use among adolescents and young people, “who may be misled into believing that cannabis use has no harmful effects.”

MCYN – an umbrella organisation within the Archdiocese of Malta which works with young people – published a position paper as part of the Government’s consultation process regarding the White Paper “Towards the Strengthening of the Legal Framework on the Responsible Use of Cannabis”.

MCYN, which represents more than a 100 youth groups and which has consistently supported recreational activities which aid the young person’s development and community building, “is against the use of any psychoactive and/or harmful substance, whether it be legal or not.”

MCYN said that the White Paper does not make a clear distinction between the benefits and harmful effects of recreational and medicinal cannabis, speaking of them as though their benefits and risks are equal.

The network insisted that the risks and benefits of this psychoactive substance should not be presented on equal grounds.

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“MCYN agrees with the decriminalisation of cannabis for personal use by adults in such a way that those with substance dependence are not given a prison sentence but the opportunity to seek help from possible addiction.”

Moreover, MCYN suggested that educational campaigns teach the preventative measures that should be taken to stay away from substances such as cannabis.

It also proposed that legislation should include provisions that not only safeguard minors and impede the use of cannabis among minors, but also protect and support adults with a higher risk of harm.

“This is due to the fact that studies have shown that the use of cannabis by young people below the age of 21-25 heavily increases the risks of the harmful effects of this substance.”

4. timesofmalta.com (original by timesofmalta.com, 18.05.2021)

Two new COVID-19 cases as 21 patients recover

Over 147,600 people are now fully-vaccinated against the virus

Malta's health authorities once again registered low new COVID-19 cases overnight, with just two new cases reported on Tuesday.

Twenty one patients recovered, bringing the total number of active cases in the country down to 128, the lowest since July.

No deaths were reported for the 12th consecutive day.

Official data published by the government showed healthcare workers carried out 1,693 swab tests on Monday.

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The low numbers continue the positive trend Malta has been on for the past weeks, with dwindling case numbers and the number of hospitalised COVID-19 patients down by half in one month.

Vaccination

Meanwhile, the vaccination drive continued at a steady pace on Monday, bringing the total number of people who are fully vaccinated to 147,667, the Health Ministry data showed. A total of 430,508 vaccine doses have been administered so far.

Speaking on Friday, Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci noted that just 0.6 per cent of those vaccinated have since tested positive for COVID-19.

On Monday, vaccination was officially opened to the entire adult population, with anyone over the age of 16 now eligible to sign up for a jab.

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CYPRUS 1. arabnews.com (original by Mohammed Abu Zaid, 19.05.2021)

Egypt looking to strengthen military cooperation with Cyprus and Greece

Lt. Gen. Mohammed Zaki left Cairo on Tuesday, heading a high-level military delegation on an official visit to Cyprus that will last for several days

The visit will witness tripartite talks held by the defense ministers of Egypt, Cyprus and Greece, who will discuss military relations and other issues of common interest

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CAIRO: Egypt has discussed expanding military relations with Cyprus and Greece within the framework of continued coordination between them.

This came during the visit to Cyprus of Lt. Gen. Mohammed Zaki, commander in chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces and minister of defense and military production.

Zaki left Cairo on Tuesday, heading a high-level military delegation on an official visit to Cyprus that will last for several days, according to an Egyptian army statement.

The visit will witness tripartite talks held by the defense ministers of Egypt, Cyprus and Greece, who will discuss military relations and other issues of common interest.

On Jan. 28, Egyptian and Greek forces conducted naval exercises in the Mediterranean.

The Egyptian army said in a statement that these exercises came within the framework of cooperation between the Egyptian and Greek armed forces and are part of the efforts to mutually benefit from bilateral capabilities, achieve common interests and maintain maritime security and stability in the region.

Last November, Egyptian and Greek units carried out maritime training in the Aegean Sea, north of the Mediterranean, during the return of the Egyptian naval units that participated in the Friendship Bridge-3 training with Russia.

The Egyptian army carried out the maneuvers after crossing the Bosphorus Strait, which is controlled by Turkey.

2. infomigrants.net (original by Emma Wallis, 17.05.2021)

Sent back: 56 migrants were refused entry to Cyprus at the weekend

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A boat with 56 migrants on board was spotted off the coast of Cyprus on Sunday. The Cypriot authorities checked the documents of people on board at sea and then asked the group to return to Lebanon from where they had set off.

The boat, reportedly carrying 56 migrants (39 men, seven women and ten children), was spotted about 16 nautical miles south of Cyprus' Cape Greco on Sunday, May 16.

According to the Cyprus Mail, the Cypriot authorities sent two coast guard vessels to the area. One of the boats had nurses and translators on board. The coast guard coordinated their operation with the Joint Rescue Coordination Center.

Officers from the coast guard checked the documents of the migrants on board the boat, who told them they had set sail from the town of Tripoli in northern Lebanon.

'Denied entry to the Republic [of Cyprus]'

The Cyprus Mail reported that the boat had initially tried to head for the Cypriot port of Protaras but was "denied entry to the Republic" and was told to turn back to Lebanon.

The German news agency dpa, quoting Cypriot state broadcaster RIK, said that the return was the third case of Cyprus telling migrants to return to Lebanon in the last eight months. Two weeks agao, on May 4, the Lebanese authorities reported that they had stopped 51 Syrians from crossing to Lebanon.

The nationality of those on board has not yet been made clear, reported dpa. Cyprus’ Interior Minister Nikos Nouris stated once again, according to dpa, that Lebanon is a safe third country, and, as such, migrants can be returned there without problem.

Cyprus-Lebanon agreement

The Cypriot and Lebanese authorities have had an agreement in place since last summer. A team from Nicosia was sent to Beirut, the Lebanese capital then to help the Lebanese authorities prevent people from getting in boats in the first place. Under the agreement, boats that don’t reach Cyprus can be asked to return to Lebanon.

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Cyprus’ government has said that the camps for migrants and asylum seekers on the island are "overfull," and, like its fellow Mediterranean states, Greece, Italy and Malta, has sought additional help from the EU in order to cope with the numbers of migrants already on the island.

The English version of Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported that Cyprus has been criticized for its policy of sending potential asylum seekers back to Lebanon. Among them was the EU human rights commissioner Dunja Mijatovic.

Allegations of pushbacks

According to Ekathimerini, Mijatovic said in the past: "boats carrying migrnats, including persons who may be in need of international protection, have been prevented from disembarking in Cyprus, and summarily returned, sometimes violently." There is no suggestion that this particular episode involved any violence.

The Cypriot government has repeatedly rejected allegations of pushbacks or violence. They said that they offered migrants food and fuel if they agreed to turn their boats back towards Lebanon, according to Ekahtimerini.

Asylum seekers on Cyprus

In actual terms, Cyprus doesn't have as many migrants as its neighbor Greece, or other Mediterranean countries like Italy, however, per head of population, it has the highest number in the EU, a fact that the government has repeated often when faced with taking in more potential asylum seekers who try to land on its shores.

According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, 484 migrants have arrived on Cyprus this year to date. The European Council for Refugees and Exiles, via Cyprus’ Asylum Service, last updated its figures for asylum seekers already on the island and said that there were 7,094 new applicants for asylum in 2020 but 19,660 pending cases at the end of that year.

The rejection rate of asylum cases in Cyprus stands at 72.8% and the refugee rate at 2.48%. In 2020 155 people were granted refugee status on Cyprus and 1,544 were granted subsidiary protection.

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3. cyprus-mail.com (original by George Psyllides, 19.05.2021)

Coronavirus: No deaths, 135 new cases announced on Wednesday

No new deaths from Covid were announced on Wednesday, as 135 new infections were detected after 44,312 tests, a positivity rate of 0.30 per cent.

The ministry said 148 people were being treated in hospital with 47 in serious or critical condition.

The virus has so far claimed the lives of 348 people while the number of recorded cases since the start of the pandemic last year has reached 71,533.

To date, 231 men and 117 have died from Covid-19, with the average age being 77.5.

Of the 47 people in serious or critical condition, 29 were intubated, four were being treated in an ICU without intubation, and 14 in high dependency units.

The ministry said 22 new cases were detected among 441 samples collected from the close contacts of previously confirmed cases.

Two cases were among 2,047 samples collected from passengers at the two airports, and 37 among 1,993 tested by private labs.

State hospital labs reported eight cases in 289 tests. An additional seven were detected in 1,021 samples tested with rapid antigen tests at private labs and pharmacies.

Fifty-nine cases were among 38,276 samples tested as part of the state’s mass screening programme.

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Thirteen cases were detected after 11,625 tests in Nicosia, a positivity rate of 0.11 per cent; 22 were found in Limassol after 8,347 tests, 0.26 per cent; eight were reported in Larnaca after 4,552 tests, 0.18 per cent; three in Paphos after 3,491 tests, 0.09 per cent, and 13 in Famagusta after 2,837 tests, 0.46 per cent.

4. greekcitytimes.com (original by Paul Antonopoulos, 19.05.2021)

Erdoğan: It saddens me to see Egyptians in solidarity with Greeks

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that it “saddens him to see Egyptians in solidarity with Greek people.”

“You know our attitude towards the Egyptian people is very, very positive, that is, there is a historical relationship between the Egyptian people and the Turkish nation,” he said.

“That is why we are in an effort to regain our historical union with the Egyptian people, not as hostile brothers, but as friends,” he continued.

“As I said before, it saddens us to see the Egyptian people forced to side with the Greek people,” Erdoğan said, adding: “It makes us sad to see that Egyptians are in solidarity with Greeks.”

It is recalled that on March 12, Erdoğan made a desperate attempt to court Egypt away from Greece by claiming that “the friendship between the Egyptian and Turkish peoples is greater than the relations between the Egyptian and Greek peoples.”

Egyptian-Turkish consultations were held on Wednesday and Thursday for the first time since 2013 due to Turkey’s unapologetic support for the radical Muslim Brotherhood organisation whose origins lay in Egypt.

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The two sides were set to discuss issues in a “new era of normalisation” between Egypt and Turkey, but it appears no significant steps were made.

Although Turkey officials and analysts are hailing “normalisation”, Egypt stated that it will not support Turkey in any border dispute with Greece and that it wants a maritime agreement with Ankara based on the same ones it already has with Athens and Nicosia.

Turkey is attempting to steal Greek maritime sovereign rights from Greece and Cyprus in violation of the United Nations Charter Law of the Sea, in which it is only in only 15 countries in the world to not sign – with many of those being landlocked countries.

As part of these attempts, Erdoğan has adopted the so-called Blue Homeland doctrine that aims to steal Greek maritime space.

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