Podcasts about european people

The conservative European People's Party (EPP) is meeting in Valencia for the party's triennial congress. During this two-day event, Manfred Weber, who has been leading the EPP party since 2022 and the EPP group since 2014, is expected to be re-elected. What is behind Weber's longevity at the helm of the EU's most powerful political family? And as he is running unopposed, does this vote constitute unanimous support? Euronews' Sandor Zsiros travelled to Valencia to put these questions to Weber himself. Meanwhile, we spoke with our European Parliament reporter Vincenzo Genovese about how to interpret this result.We also look at a closed-door meeting of the EU Ministers for Environment and Climate, focusing on climate disinformation, and the top European countries for property investors in 2025.Radio Schuman is hosted and produced by Maïa de la Baume, with journalist and production assistant Lauren Walker. Audio editing by Georgios Leivaditis. Music by Alexandre Jas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Monday evening, the European People's Party EPP tried and failed to push for a review of how the European Commission funds certain climate NGOs. The text voted by the MEP's in Strasbourg argues that the Commission is basically paying NGOs to lobby for the Green Deal. Or,simply put, hiring cheerleaders for its own policies.But what is the underlying reason the EPP has declared war on NGOs and did the Commission water down the agreement over NGO lobbying transparency?Join us on our journey through the events that shape the European continent and the European Union.Production: By Europod, in co production with Sphera Network.Follow us on:LinkedInInstagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this event, in partnership with the European Parliament Liaison Office in Dublin, constituents have the opportunity to discuss issues of interest with Midland-North-West MEPs. This event offers an opportunity to debate matters of importance including agricultural policy, land use, climate change, housing, transport and other topics. As panellists, the MEPs offer insights into how policies at the EU level play a role in addressing these key challenges. Speakers: Maria Walsh, Group of the European People's Party in the European Parliament, Fine Gael Barry Cowen, Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament, Fianna Fáil Ciaran Mullooly, Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament, Independent Brendan Flynn (Discussant), Lecturer & Head of Politics, School of Political Science and Sociology at University of Galway Dr Orla Flynn (Moderator), President of the Atlantic Technological University.

Germans are heading to the polls, and it looks like Friedrich Merz is on track to become Germany's next chancellor. That should mean a match made in heaven with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as they are both from the same party, the European People's Party. But politics isn't a fairy tale, and this isn't your typical love story. If anything, it's more like a long-running sibling rivalry.But how can this duo shape Europe's politics and what else can we expect from the German elections?Join us on our journey through the events that shape the European continent and the European Union.Production: By Europod, in co production with Sphera Network.Follow us on:LinkedInInstagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The countdown is on to what is perhaps Europe's most important election of this year. On February 23, Germans go to the polls in a parliamentary vote, following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition in November. The conservative CDU-CSU is the favourite, but no party looks likely to win a majority, and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is polling strongly. We sit down with an important player in the CSU: Manfred Weber, who is the president of the conservative European People's Party (EPP) in the European Parliament. We talk about the far right in Germany and Europe, Elon Musk's support for the AfD, the EU's relations with US President Donald Trump, and why the EPP is putting more focus on competitiveness and the European car industry.

Today Radio Schuman looks at how US President Donald Trump policies on climate could impact on the EU with Euronews reporter Robert Hodgson.Last week, Trump's stance on climate and energy had ripple effects in Europe, particularly among the far-right Patriots for Europe and the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) in the European Parliament.Jordan Bardella of the Rassemblement National called for the EU's Green Deal to be suspended, claiming it harms farming, the car industry, and energy policies.Meanwhile, the EPP, the largest European Parliament party, has intensified efforts to roll back key Green Deal legislation.Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk echoed these sentiments, urging a critical review of Green Deal laws and warning that expanding the Emission Trading System could drive up energy prices.Radio Schuman is hosted and produced by Maïa de la Baume, with journalist and production assistant Eleonora Vasques, audio editing by Johan Breton. Music by Alexandre Jas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A letter to Marco Rubio with a list of Ivanishvili's enablers, the European People's Party's emergency resolution on Georgia, the Kotsebi MPs attacking a Georgian citizen in Abu Dhabi, an assault on Gogi Gakharia in Batumi, Amnesty International's call for the release of political prisoners, and much more! Thanks for tuning in!Let us know what you think and what we can improve on by emailing us at info@rorshok.com You can also contact us through Instagram @rorshok_georgia or Twitter @RorshokGeorgiaLike what you hear? Subscribe, share, and tell your buds.The Kotsebi Deputies attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8J0XUpabXAAttack during the strike: https://www.instagram.com/tavisupleba/reel/DE2NZxIp3V7/ We want to get to know you! Please fill in this mini-survey: https://forms.gle/NV3h5jN13cRDp2r66Wanna avoid ads and help us financially? Follow the link: https://bit.ly/rorshok-donate

What implications would Herbert Kickl's rise to Austria's chancellorship, as the leader of the Eurosceptic, anti-immigration, and pro-Russian Freedom Party, have for Brussels and the European Union?Today Radio Schuman answers this question with centre-right European People's Party (EPP) MEP Reinhold Lopatka.After the resignation of Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and the collapse of centrist coalition talks, President Alexander Van der Bellen has tasked Herbert Kickl, leader of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), with forming a new government.The FPÖ, which won 28.8% of the vote in September's elections, is now negotiating with the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), despite the latter's initial reluctance. If successful, Austria would normalize a coalition between centrist and far-right forces, potentially bringing a Eurosceptic, pro-Russian, and anti-immigration leader to the EU stage, aligning closely with Hungary's Viktor Orbán.Today we also take a look at a European court case about data privacy and the most punctual airlines worldwide - spoiler alert: the ranking may challenge your expectations!Radio Schuman is hosted and produced by Maïa de la Baume, with journalist and production assistant Eleonora Vasques, audio editing by Georgios Leivaditis. Music by Alexandre Jas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So, apparently, this never got uploaded. I could, and mentally I am, blaming the platform we use, but really it's my bad for not double-checking. I am sorry. Jean Jennings https://www.motortrend.com/news/jean-jennings-1954-2024/  GM wants to shoot light straight into your eyeballs https://www.motor1.com/news/744262/gm-patent-holographic-campire-cars/ Nissan x Honda kissing and making out maybe????? https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a63217058/honda-nissan-reportedly-considering-tieup/  European People's Party no longer supporting 2035 ICE ban https://www.motor1.com/news/743978/europe-gas-engine-ban-pressure/ Renault Bass https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a63183775/renault-5-turbo-3e-revealed/  VW is not going to close their factories after all https://www.motor1.com/news/745203/volkswagen-saves-german-plants-closure/ Infiniti probably dead https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a63162866/infiniti-dealers-merging-nissan-stores-save-money/  NHTSA new rule for passenger seat belt warnings https://www.motor1.com/news/744752/rear-seat-belt-alert-2027/ Geschwindigkeit Pur https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a63136371/mercedes-amg-purespeed-revealed/  VW VR6 finally dead https://www.motor1.com/news/744935/volkswagen-ends-vr6-engine-production/ Nissan play https://www.motortrend.com/news/2025-nissan-kicks-play-s-old-meets-new/

Newly elected European Commissioner Teresa Ribera criticised the public outcry she received from the European People's Party, which almost brought down her candidacy for the position as executive vice-president for the Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, speaking to Radio Schuman in Strasbourg.She lamented domestic politics being infused into the EU debate and criticised climate deniers among the centre-right European People's Party (EPP).Yesterday, EPP leaders, including chair Manfred Weber, refused to applaud Ribera when European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen congratulated her in plenary in Strasbourg. This gesture was the culmination of a campaign led by the Spanish Partido Popular (PP) aimed at undermining Ribera, who until recently served as Spain's Minister for Ecological Transition and was responsible for responding to the recent floods in Valencia. Ribera defended herself, stating that the regional government—controlled by the PP in Valencia—was responsible for managing disasters.Eventually, von der Leyen received final approval for her new Commission, which will begin its five-year legislative term on December 1st.However, with 370 votes in favour, this marked the narrowest majority in history for a new Commission. The outcome reflects a deeply fragmented European Parliament, which grants the leading EPP even greater flexibility in forming shifting alliances—either with the traditional socialist-liberal bloc, or with the right-wing European and Conservatives and Reformists group (ECR) and the far-right Patriots for Europe (PfE).Following the vote on Wednesday, there were clear concerns among socialists, greens, and other left-wing parties. They feared that the EPP had legitimised the far-right, particularly with von der Leyen's decision to appoint a far-right commissioner, Raffaele Fitto, for the first time in its history. There were also worries that a right-wing coalition could paralyse or derail critical legislation, such as the Green Deal or migration reforms.Besides Ribera, Radio Schuman today featured criticism from other MEPs, such as Marie Toussaint, a French Green MEP, who called the new von der Leyen's team as the “worst-elected Commission”.In the second segment of the podcast, we take a quick look at the Competitiveness Council meeting happening today, where EU ministers are expected to approve conclusions on a crucial topic. Guess what that might be?Radio Schuman wraps up with a ranking of countries most prepared to go cashless - spoiler alert: the top contenders are chilly climes!Radio Schuman is hosted and produced by Maïa de la Baume, with journalist and production assistant Eleonora Vasques, audio editing by Zacharia Vigneron, Georgios Leivaditis and David Brodheim. Music by Alexandre Jas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Wednesday (27 November), the new college of commissioners was approved with 370 votes to 282 against – marking the lowest majority in history. The mandate is filled with uncertainties, except one: the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) enjoys free rein in Parliament negotiations, with master strategist Manfred Weber cosying up and forging alliances outside the centrist majority. How do non-coalition groups view this new, secretive, and unpredictable European Parliament? In this episode, host Giada Santana talks about the rationale behind the vote with two MEPs: Daniel Freund of the Greens and Carlo Fidanza of the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). 

In this episode of Policy Voices, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor in EU Law at HEC Paris, Founder of The Good Lobby, Trustee of Friends of Europe and 2014 European Young Leader (EYL40), about the “horse trading” that delivered Europe its new Commission. This conversation was recorded before the Parliament finally confirmed the last seven commissioners-designate putting and end to the deadlock. It is the end of an era. As the new European Commission is all set to take office on 1 December, prepare to say goodbye to the majority that has been governing Europe for decades. As Alemanno puts it, the European People's Party (EPP) wants to have its cake and eat it: it is being supported by the historical alliance of the Socialists, Liberals, and even the Greens, while slowly but steadily shifting to the far-right. The new team of commissioners features as an Executive Vice President Raffaele Fitto who hails from the far-right European Conservatives and Reformists and the EPP has already voted with the far-right block in setbacks to the green agenda. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

Why has the EU deforestation law become so politicised and what role is Germany is playing? Julia Christian, forests and agriculture campaigner at the Brussels-based NGO Fern, tells Radio Schuman today the centre-right German CDU party - a European People's Party (EPP) member - is seeking to disrupt the implementation of the EU deforestation law as national elections approach, aiming to gain votes.The EU Deforestation law aims to combat global deforestation by imposing due diligence obligations on traders importing raw materials such as beef, cocoa, coffee, and soy into the EU.The legislation is supposed to take effect on December 30, 2024, for large enterprises, and mid-2025 for small and micro-enterprises. In October, the European Commission proposed a delay of 12 months, which EU diplomats immediately backed.However, the European Parliament proposed further amendments, pushed by the EPP, the substance of which are being resisted by EU diplomats.The three EU institutions will now start negotiations and - until they agree - the original deadline remains.In the second segment of this podcast, we provided a quick overview of the contenders in Romania's presidential election.In the final part of the show, Radio Schuman explains why it is so difficult for people who have lost weight to keep it off, according to a new study published in Nature magazine.Today's Radio Schuman is hosted by Sasha Vakulina and produced by the journalist and production assistant Eleonora Vasques. Audio editing by Zacharia Vigneron, Music by Alexandre Jas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The European Parliament is on the brink of finalising the new College of Commissioners after weeks of negotiations, according to a draft seen by Euractiv.Spain's Teresa Ribera fell under scrutiny after October's devastating Valencia floods, and faced fierce opposition from the Spanish wing of the European People's Party (EPP). The political deadlock threatened not only her nomination as vice-president of the European Commission but also the approval of the whole College. But negotiations between parliamentary groups in Brussels appear to have finally ended.What fueled the EPP's resistance, and how was an agreement reached?Join host Giada Santana and reporter Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro as they analyse the fallout from the Valencia disaster and its ripple effects on the Commission's formation.

Doubts are growing over whether the European Parliament be able to approve the new European Commission, the EU's arm executive, on 27 November as planned.On Wednesday, the European People's Party (EPP), set to secure the most European commissioners, threatened to block the appointment of Spain's Teresa Ribera.They demanded the competition commissioner designate explain in a Spanish court why her government failed to anticipate floods in Spain that resulted in over 200 deaths and called for her resignation if she is found responsible.In response, socialists and liberals stated they would not support the Italian candidate Rafaele Fitto, a member of Giorgia Meloni's party, or Hungarian candidate Oliver Varhelyi, due to their far-right affiliations and controversial stances.The political deadlock has prompted EU executive President Ursula von der Leyen to intervene, urging party leaders to reach an agreement before next week's Parliament plenary session.Today Radio Schuman analyses the situation together with Euronews' Gerardo Fortuna.We also take a quick look at the agenda today, with the so-called 'Pfizer gate' hearing at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and EU ministers in Brussels set to make important decisions on the 2025 annual EU budget.On the last part of the show, Radio Schuman looks at how high-speed battery powered trains will change European rail travel.Radio Schuman is hosted and produced by Maïa de la Baume, with journalist and production assistant Eleonora Vasques, audio editing by Zacharia Vigneron and Georgios Leivaditis. Music by Alexandre Jas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The European Parliament hearings of Commissioner-designates will start on Monday afternoon (4 November), but unlike in previous hearings, the European People's Party (EPP) seems to have the upper hand.With 26 nominees lined up for vetting, each committee in the European Parliament will have the opportunity to scrutinise the candidates' expertise and suitability for their roles. While these hearings are intended to assess competence, they are also likely to reflect underlying political alliances, rivalries and strategic timing that could affect the outcome and timing of each appointment.The EPP, the largest group in the European Parliament, is poised to leverage its position to push through favoured candidates and ultimately shape both the composition and agenda of the incoming Commission.To look into the hearings, host Evi Kiorri is joined by Euractiv's politics reporters Magnus Lund Nielsen and Nicoletta Ionta.[Edited by Daniel Eck]

The US election is approaching quickly with implications for America's allies in the world. Professors Margarita Šešelgyte (Vilnius University), Daunis Auers (University of Latvia), and Andres Kasekamp (University of Toronto) join a roundtable discussion on the impact that a Kamala Harris or Donald Trump presidency could have on the security and future outlook of the Baltic countries and broader Europe, and how people in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are feeling about the state of democracy in the US. This episode was recorded on September 25, 2024. TranscriptIndra Ekmanis: Thank you everyone for joining me in this discussion today. As we all know, the US presidential campaign has been rather unprecedented on many fronts this cycle. There's been the late change in the candidates at the top of the Democratic ticket from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris. And now we've had already multiple assassination attempts on the Republican candidate Donald Trump.And we know that whatever happens in November will certainly have effects on Americans, but it will also have reverberations around the world. And so I'm very glad to today be in discussion with you all about the potential impacts in the Baltic countries. But before we jump in, I'd like to ask you all to briefly introduce yourselves.Andres Kasekamp: I'm Andres Kasekamp. I'm the Professor of Estonian Studies at the University of Toronto. I used to be the Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute in Tallinn and a Professor at the University of Toronto.Daunis Auers: Hi, I'm Daunis Auers, a professor at the University of Latvia and also the director of a new think tank Certus in Riga.Margarita Šešelgytė: Hello, I'm Margarita Šešelgytė, and I'm a professor of security studies, but also a director of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University.IE: Well, thank you all. So, I'd like to start with what is perhaps top of mind when people are thinking about the impacts of the US elections on the Baltic countries, and that's security, NATO, and Russia's war in Ukraine.So if we start with NATO: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania marked two decades in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization this year. The alliance itself is now 75 years old, celebrating at its summit in Washington, D.C., hosted by president and at that point in time, still beleaguered Democratic candidate Joe Biden, where Biden underscored NATO unity. And during the summit, it was widely reported that the allies were working to “Trump proof” the Alliance as polls showed that Biden was slipping in the presidential race.Trump, of course, is remembered as deriding the Alliance, threatening to pull out entirely during his presidency. And at the same time, he is also somewhat credited with pushing member states to up their defense spending. With Biden out, of course, the calculus has perhaps changed a little bit.Vice President and now candidate Kamala Harris represents some measure of continuity with the Biden administration, though we know that her foreign policy experience is not necessarily as deep as Biden's. But a Harris presidency would be more compatible theoretically with the tradition of America as a stable leader in the transatlantic relationship.And obviously a strong NATO is critical to the security of the Baltic States. So, I wonder how you perceive the candidate stances on NATO and how they align with Baltic interests.AK: All right, briefly, Trump would be a disaster and Harris, indeed, would represent continuity with, with Biden. It goes back to the nature of the candidates, right, that Trump is a purely transactional individual, and doesn't seem to understand how NATO works.He's always said that the NATO countries owe the Americans money. It's not an organization where you pay a membership fee, so he simply doesn't get it. It is sort of partly true that European members who weren't doing enough spending on their own defense budgets, have been frightened into contributing more.Trump has something to do with it, but it has more to do with Russian aggression, in the region. So starting already in 2014 when Russia seized Crimea, European countries started increasing their spending. With the Harris presidency, it would be sort of more of the same, which is better than Trump, but it's certainly not as good as America could do, because Joe Biden has been failing Ukraine recently and placing these unreasonable restrictions on Ukraine's right to strike at Russian targets to defend itself.And hopefully Harris wouldn't continue that weak kneed policy.DA: I agree with what Andres has said, but I think it's quite interesting to look at the perspective also of Baltic Americans who after all will be voting in the election, unlike, I presume, the three of us—Margarita, Andres and I—who, as not being American citizens won't have a vote in the elections.And traditionally, there's been quite a lot of support for the Republican Party amongst the Baltic diasporas, because during the Cold War, the Republicans were seen as having the strongest backbone in defending Baltic interests. And much of this support actually carried over into the Trump era with a significant portion of Baltic Americans, especially from the older generation, still holding out support for Trump.And what I thought was interesting was that after Trump announced J.D. Vance as his vice-presidential candidate, the attitudes of many Baltic Americans actually changed because a lot of the affection for Trump is deeply personal, connected to his charismatic personality, the way he speaks, the way he does business, the way he calls back, sort of an ancient era of essentially a white America, from the 1950s.J.D. Vance doesn't have this affection. And when J.D. Vance was announced as the vice-presidential candidate, people were bringing out his notorious op-ed in the New York Times on April 12th, which was very defeatist in its nature, calling out various quotes that he had of not really caring who won in the war between Ukraine and Russia.And this was the moment that a number of Baltic Americans turned away from the Republicans and turned towards the Democrats. So, I would perhaps highlight the role of J.D. Vance in furthering support for the Democrats at least amongst the Baltic community in the United States.MS: I totally agree to what has been said already, but then I'd like to look from a more systemic perspective, and just to add to what has been said: We live in a very volatile security situation at the moment and this dynamism, security-wise, will not be changing pretty soon because there are some changes in the balance of power the rivalry between autocracies and democracies.So where do we stand as Baltic countries? We are small countries, and we have a major war in our region. And therefore, for us, it is essentially important to have our allies strong and to have our allies helping us. The United States is our main ally when it comes to security. Yes, we are members of NATO, but in terms of deterring Putin, one has to think about deterrence as a psychological concept.Putin is less afraid of NATO as overall organization than he is afraid of the United States of America. So having this in mind, the one who sits in Washington D.C. in the presidential position for us is essential as well. In Athena, we had already two elections this year, presidential and European Parliament elections, and the parliamentary elections are coming in October.But we're joking that the elections in the United States are more important than the elections in Lithuania and the change would be felt stronger of who comes to power in the United States.Interestingly enough, one of our media outlets just recently published a survey asking Lithuanians: Who would be a better president for Lithuania in the United States, Trump or, Harris? The majority of Lithuanians, 66 percent, said Harris and only 12 indicated that that could be Trump. So, for us, it's very important. It matters. We follow this election very, very closely.And I would say there are two points which are particularly important for Lithuania. Yes, NATO and US presence in the region. And we don't know what position Harris will take or if she will be more involved in the Pacific. But it's about stability. That's important.And another very important question, and it's very intertwined, is the war in Ukraine. And we already heard what Trump was saying about Ukraine, that when he becomes the president, he will seek for a certain deal. And for us Baltics, it's clear that no deal with Putin can be achieved at the moment, and it would be dangerous, and it would endanger our situation. So it's not acceptable.IE: You're actually running into kind of my next question here, which is exactly about Russia and Ukraine. And as we know, the Baltic states have been among the most ardent supporters of Ukraine following the full-scale invasion in 2022. Also, we know that the Baltic leadership has been quite hawkish warning about Russia for some time.And as you just mentioned, Donald Trump has refused to say that he wants Ukraine to end the war. He often talks about his rapport with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Harris, on the other hand, has called Putin a dictator who would, “eat Trump for lunch.” She has condemned the Russia's actions in Ukraine as crimes against humanity and underscored the US commitment.But as you also mentioned, there has been a slow roll of US advanced weaponry and providing the ability for Ukraine to hit targets deeper into Russia, something that is actually being talked about right now at the UN General Assembly.Could you say a little bit more on the candidates' stances on Ukraine and Russia and in the war more broadly, what that means for Baltic leaderships and Baltic publics?DA: I think that the presidential debate, which I think looks like being the only debate between the two candidates, pretty accurately sketched in the difference, between the candidates. President Trump very much was hooked into the Kremlin narrative.He said that he was for peace, which we understand here in Europe as meaning you are for Russia because you bought into the narrative. He even mentioned that the United States holds some responsibility for the war as opposed for it to be a decision made by Russia to invade a sovereign country.I think we quite clearly saw that one of the candidates is, despite the macho image, quite soft on Russia. And the other one is fixing more clearly with the governing elites in the Baltic States perspective on, the war on Ukraine. One thing we should mention, however, there is an undercurrent of support for Trump in the Baltic States.In, Latvia, there is a political party named Latvia First—where did they get that name from—which sits in the parliament in opposition and is clearly Trumpian. They managed to have one MEP (Member of European Parliament) elected to the European Parliament. And in one of the debates, he was asked a very technical question about how he would vote on a trade deal with certain countries.He said, “well, I would do whatever Trump does. If it's good enough for Trump, it's good enough for me.” And he pretty much attached this to any other form of foreign policy. Now, this is a minority party, but we should recognize that there is some support for the Trumpian position albeit not in a governing position in the Baltic states. I'll hand over to Andres now.AK: Well, the same applies for Estonia, where the major opposition party EKRE (Conservative People's Party) on the far right is very clearly Trumpian. There's also, more alarming in this case, a lot of the mainstream media, like Postimees and the foreign news desk of the national broadcaster seem to normalize Trump.They don't point out his really deviant and demented behavior but treat him like a normal candidate. So, I also feel that there are plenty of people in Estonia who think that Trump has some good ideas, or at least they're so angry at the woke folks, that they're willing to entertain Trump, not recognizing the great damage that Trump would do to the Transatlantic Alliance and how he would put NATO deterrence, its credibility, in question.And I think that's what Margarita was saying earlier, right? Deterrence is psychological. It's not only what we do, it's what Putin believes, right? If Putin believes that the United States is ready to defend us, then he will be deterred. And that's, that's the bottom line.And with Trump, that's the one thing that's been consistent. I mean, he flip-flops on everything, criticizes everything, but the one thing he's been consistent on, he's never said a bad word about Putin, which really is not just odd, but quite alarming.MS: Well, I just want to add on what has been said in terms of the differences between the Harris and Trump. We don't know exactly what the policies of Harris will be because we don't know her so well, but for us, the most important thing is the stability, because if Trump becomes US president, it's not only what he does, but what kind of messages he sends.Andrus was already mentioning the messages for Putin, what's happening in Putin's head, understanding what Trump's messaging is. But also for the world, we are more secure and stronger together in European Union, in NATO, as transatlantic family and community.If Trump comes to power, the world will become a more dangerous place, because there will be more rifts and disagreements between allies, and we will be seen as weaker as a transatlantic community, not only by Russia, but by China, by Iran, by North Korea. So, it is a very dangerous scenario for us small states, because we cannot change the system. The system affects us.DA: And in the event of a Trump victory, I think there would be a much greater focus from policymakers in the Baltic states on the diaspora community in the United States. The diaspora community played a very important role in the Baltic accession to NATO in the late 1990s, early 2000s. And clearly one thing that Trump does listen to is voters, supporters, and interest groups in Washington. And I think the role of JBANC (Joint Baltic American National Committee) and also the three national lobby groups of American Latvians, American Lithuanian, and Estonian Americans will simply grow in importance, hugely. We can expect them to have quite a lot of communication and cooperation with our foreign ministries and with our embassies, even more so than at the moment.IE: Yeah, that's a really fascinating point too, that the impact of the diaspora lobbying groups in the United States. You all are touching on something that I also wanted to get at, which is the impact of the US elections on European solidarity. You mentioned how Trump's America first agenda has also emboldened right wing politicians in Europe and the Baltics.He has a close relationship with Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary. Who has also even spoken at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference in the United States, but has been in some ways a thorn in the side of the European Union particularly around Russia.During his presidency, Donald Trump also often tried to bypass European institutions, kind of favoring a bilateral approach and personal appeals to national leaders. Harris presidency represents more of a stable transatlantic relationship, but there's also the concern that, as Margarita mentioned, that there's going to be a shift in attention to the Indo-Pacific. The People's Republic of China is seen kind of as this coming-up threat.So, some questions here. What is the situation of the European Union? How united or divided might the block be with either candidate? How is Europe thinking about retaining the focus of the United States as opposed to a shift to other global regions?Where do the Baltic states fit into that? Maybe we start from the Lithuanian perspective this time.MS: It's a very tough question. I think that when the war in Ukraine started, the European Union has surprised itself by its unity. And over the last three years, I think that this unity pertained, and we continue to be united.We sometimes disagree on how fast Europe has to be in providing certain aid for Ukraine. We sometimes disagree on how strict we have to be on punishing Putin in terms of sanctions, et cetera, et cetera. But in general, there is a consensus that we're sitting in the same boat, and this is a European war andI think that this is very important.Therefore, there is an appetite to continue supporting Ukraine until the end of the war, until the victory. But the problem is that there is this unity, which is very strong on the decision takers, decision-makers' level. But if you scratch the surface, you see that there are many different opinions.Businesses, communities, general society, different players do not share the general decision-makers' opinion, not in every country. States of the European Union are facing their own economic, political, and identity problems. And what makes me anxious is the tide of radical populism in certain European countries, and in particular in the biggest countries who matter a lot in the decision-making of the European Union.And maybe in the next two or three years, we won't be seeing those radicals overtaking the government. Well, let's hope fingers crossed that in Germany, the elections will not bring AfD (Alternative for Germany) to power. However, it reduces certain policies, international policies, foreign policies, to a minimal level rather than emboldening them.So there could be some steps back, which might be quite dangerous in these final stages of the war, or what we are seeing now, when at least Ukrainian side is trying to search for certain agreements. So, yes, there is a unity that also benefits the Baltic countries.European countries are listening to what we said more and Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, in her State of the Union speech, said we should have listened more to the Baltic countries. But I guess the appetite to listen to Baltic countries is shrinking a bit for the time and also when we propose certain solutions, they still seem very provocative and more provocative than some of the EU countries would like to take.AK: Let me just add that in American debate, when they talk about Europe, they talk about Europe as kind of lagging behind and being a slacker in support for Ukraine, which is absolutely false, right? The United States is obviously spending more in absolute terms than any other country in terms of military. But as a whole Europe is providing more altogether.And of course, we should really be looking at the contribution in terms of the percentages. And here, the three Baltic states, from the beginning, have been the leaders, along with some other countries like, like Denmark and Sweden, who have given a percentage of their defense budget to Ukraine, which is much greater than the percentage that the Americans are giving.Americans are actually being quite miserly, even though the sums sound huge. And of course, in the American case, the money, which in the US political debate seems that it's just being handed over to Ukraine, is actually going to American manufacturers. And a lot of the money is actually just nominal sums, which are old American armament, equipment, and ammunitions, which were destined to be written off. In any case they're given some monetary value.So, this is something that's really caught on in the narrative in the US: The Americans are paying so much, and the Europeans are doing so little, which is certainly not the case. When you look at the three Baltic states, which have been, continue to be in the lead, and that leads to what Margarita was highlighting.Our establishments, our political leadership in the Baltic States are very firm on Russia, but as a society, there's a cost to that. If we've all raised our defense spending, that means cuts in societal programs, and that leads to dissatisfaction and unrest.So, that's difficult for the governments to keep a check on.DA: Europe is changing. We see this in the European Parliament elections in 2024, that you have this growing support for political parties on the fringes, which we sometimes call as populists, and the support for the centrist mainstream parties, which we typically understand as the liberals, the center right, the Christian Democrats, or the European People's Party and the centrist socialists are declining.Now, they still make up a majority, and we see this in the European Commission as well. The European Commission, which is likely to be approved over the next couple of weeks under Ursula von der Leyen, is still a centrist European Commission, but Europe is changing. And I think it's quite interesting if we look at the Baltic States here.30 years ago, as the Baltic States were just beginning to build democracies and capitalistic systems after 50 years of Soviet occupation, they were quite crackpot, right? I was reading some newspaper articles from the early 1990s, and the one that stayed with me—it's a casual throwaway article written sometime in late 1992 about, oh by the way, 62 prisoners escaped to prison yesterday, and they haven't been caught yet.And the next day, it's not even on the front page of a newspaper, because there's some kind of mafia killing that's being reported on. And that's how things were 30 years ago. Today, the Baltic states are a sea of tranquility. We see that our political systems are actually far more stable, if you look at recent indicators, than the Nordic states.You look at the profile of our governments, the female prime ministers that we had in office in the summer, Europe's first, openly gay president. We have very progressive political systems, and it's Western Europe where democracy is declining in quality, where crackpot political parties are appearing, where you have extremely dodgy political leaders being elected to lead governments and extremely odd parties coming into governments or propping up minority governments.Europe is changing quite a lot, which is unfortunate for the Baltic States in a sense, because just as we have achieved a level of normality. Lithuania is achieving huge economic success as being the fastest growing economy in Europe in the 21st century, the rest of Europe is fraying.Fortunately, there's still a majority, let's say a mainstream majority, which favors support for Ukraine and whose policies broadly align with the very centrist and mainstream policies that all three Baltic governments have long been adopting. But things are changing and there is a risk that the longer the war possibly drags on in Ukraine, the more—I'm sure that opinion in the Baltic states won't change because this is such an existential issue for us—but elsewhere in Western Europe, we might see these radical populist forces rise even further and perhaps begin to fray away at the coalition, which is still broadly supportive of Ukraine. But it is being chipped away at almost monthly, I would say.IE: I want to put a pin in some of the things that you just touched on around the state of democracy, maybe we can turn back to that in a moment.Perhaps we can briefly turn to the impacts of either candidate on US trade policy and energy.MS: It's a global issue. And globally, it is important when it comes to the general situation in transatlantic community, the feeling of trust. But when it comes to Baltics, I don't that it has this direct link to what is important for us. I believe that neither decision-makers nor society are looking in particular what Trump or Harris are saying in terms of energy policy and trade.Okay, he [Trump] can increase tariffs for Latin products, but there are now so many going to the United States.DA: For the Baltic States, our biggest trading partners are our Western neighbors. In the case of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, are one and two. Then the Nordic countries, Poland, Germany, and so on.I took a look at the data for 2022, and the United States was Latvia's 11th biggest trading partner: small, single digits. Latvia for the United States was the 117th biggest trading partner. So, when it comes to economic relations, including also energy, it's not a critical relationship.Politically, the relationship is very, very important. But economically, when it comes to trade, it's marginal.AK: Well, let me just add that for the bilateral relationship, it's not important, but the tone that the US administration sets is not a good direction for the Baltic states. Trump initiated this protectionism, and Biden unfortunately has continued in that same vein.And we don't really know how Harris will continue Biden's legacy on that front. But in any case, the world has become more protectionist. And the three Baltic states have been amongst the biggest champions and beneficiaries of free trade, right? And for an open, globalized economy. This wave of protectionism, which Trump initiated, and Biden has continued in a general picture, is bad for the world and bad for the Baltic states.DA: There is an alternative view to that, Andres, which is that, because of the policies, the global value chains are becoming more compact, they're becoming more localized. And as the global value chains are, let's say, semi-returned to Europe, away from Asia, then the Baltic States together with Poland and other countries are expected to be the big beneficiaries of, say, manufacturing returning to Europe.I don't think it's such a black and white picture, but a collapsing global trade is necessarily bad for the Baltic States. It depends on the domestic policies which are adopted that can seize the opportunity in a sense.MS: And when it comes to energy, if the United States chooses to become the major player in the world in terms of energy supply, it could change and change in general, the picture of the world that we have.But that is a big question: the tracking issue, getting further away from the green plan or implementing this plan. There are advantages and disadvantages of either path.In order to stop climate change, I think fracking would be quite a bad decision because it's increasing dependency on this fuel. But when it comes to changing the power balance, that could be the way to end the war in Ukraine, pushing Russia to the corner, because the bulk of its budget comes from natural resources.This would add more competition: increasing the supply of energy resources in the world's market.IE: For a non-question, that actually was a quite interesting response.But to come back to the idea—Donna you were talking about people's feelings of democracy and the shift in the way that the Baltic states perhaps are perceiving or showing off their strength, in democracy—you all sort of mentioned attitudes on the ground.I'd like to explore that a little bit more. I mean, Margarita noted that people think of the American elections as potentially more consequential than the upcoming elections in Lithuania. Do you feel that on a day-to-day basis? Is it just in surveys or are people paying attention? Do they care?And how do they view the state of democracy in the United States, which I think is a big question on this side of the Atlantic.DA: Well, I think we clearly see that the media in Latvia, at least, are following this election much more closely than previous elections. Certainly, that's because of the nature of the election taking place at a time of war, not so far away from us.But it's also because of the candidates and especially Trump. I mean, Trump is news. He's magnetic. And there is a feeling about, “Wow, look at this guy.” Some people look at him in awe. I would say a majority look at him in confusion as to, as to why is it that he's so attractive to American voters.But certainly, the nature of the candidates, as well as the context of the election, is something which draws public attention. And we see a lot of newscasts, a lot of discussion shows, both on television and online portals, dedicated to the American elections more so than in previous years.AK: In fact, as soon as we finish recording this, I will have to go to an Estonian webcast to discuss the US election. So, indeed, there's plenty of interest and a realization that this matters to us in the Baltic states quite a bit, but that's been the case for previous US elections as well.Trump just adds this more of a circus atmosphere to it that was perhaps not present and a sort of polarizing view. But when you talked earlier about the impact of Trump on Europe, I can remember back to when Obama was elected, right?And the response in Europe was: Western Europeans loved him. Eastern Europeans were a little bit more skeptical, but even the Western Europeans who loved Obama were very disappointed by the man because he was focused on a pivot to Asia. And he didn't give the Europeans the deference and the time of day that his predecessors had.So that's already a shift that's been going on for quite some time and Biden has been the throwback to the way things were, but I think we can expect that Biden will be sort of the last real trans-Atlanticist American president.MS: Yeah, I just want to pick what Andras was mentioning in terms of the policies of the potential US leader, President Harris or President Trump, and the consequences for the Baltic countries. I think that this pivot to Asia is very consequential, and the consequences are increasing with time.And first of all, it was more economic and political, but now it's also related to defense. We've seen, one of the former advisors of Trump, Elbridge Colby, say that Taiwan and the security of Taiwan, would be a more important issue than the security of Europe or Eastern Europe and that he would advise Baltic countries to not stop at 3 percent spending from GDP, but continue spending more for defense and reaching perhaps 10 percent, which is a lot of money.And I don't think it's attainable in the near future. However, the US Pivot to Asia had an effect on Lithuanian policies. If your major ally pivots to Asia, you have to pivot there as well. I think that there is more Asia in Lithuania and there is more Lithuania in Asia in the Indo-Pacific at the moment.First of all, it started with the hosting of Taiwanese representation in Vilnius under the name of Taiwan, which became a major issue for China. A major argument with China ensued on economic, secondary sanctions that China was threatening with political ranting and a lot of other things.But then due to this disagreement, we discovered a lot of potential for cooperation in this area. At the moment, the economic relationships with Indo-Pacific countries are increasing quite speedily. And there are more of those countries, like South Korea and Japan, in Lithuania, both politically, but also economically.And we are also discussing our security corporation, particularly in the era of cyber security. I think that this is an important turn for Lithuania, probably for other Baltic countries to a less extent, but still, and this is also a certain security net for us. If there will be some more speedy pivot to Asia under the Trump presidency, we might also try to ask our friends in Taiwan to say some good words about Lithuania and our security to the ear of Trump, because Trump most likely will listen what Taiwanese are saying.IE: Well, you've kind of tackled the last question head on, which is what are the Baltic States doing to ensure their own futures? Regardless of who ends up in the White House in November. I want to open it up for any last words or thoughts on the subject.Any final conclusions that you'd like to share?DA: Well, I think a big development, possibly a positive outcome from the events in Ukraine, is the additional impetus for Baltic cooperation. Because Baltic cooperation really has lagged for the last 30 years. If we compare the way in which the Baltic states work with each other to our closest neighbors, the Nordics, we don't really cooperate. We've imitated some of the institutions of the North, but we haven't really enacted them. We haven't sort of like full-bloodedly, adopted them. But we can see that when it comes to defense, there are some very serious initiatives, which have moved ahead recently.I think procurement is one of the big areas where we see Latvia cooperating with Estonia, for example, in air defense systems, in buying training grenades. We also have a cooperation between Latvia and Lithuania on respirators. We have the Baltic defense line—although that seems to be being executed individually by each state—but it was still a common announcement with a common aim, and so on. It would be great if this was an impetus for even further Baltic cooperation, because there are many areas where we would benefit from cooperating with each other in a sort of Nordic style politically, economically, culturally, and so on.Because we are an extremely dynamic region of Europe, especially if we look at the Lithuanian economy, which is to an outsider, an amazing story. What's happened there over the last 20 years is a story to tell, and there is a common identity and common political structures which can be built upon, beginning with this enhanced military cooperation, but taking that to various political and economic levels as well.So that's one thing that I would end on attempting to be more positive.AK: I would just add and expand on Daunis, for the regional cooperation, of course, is much wider. It's a Nordic Baltic cooperation, which is the most intense and active at the moment. And the one good outcome of Putin's invasion of Ukraine has been Finland and Sweden joining NATO, which has given a real impetus to Nordic Baltic cooperation, which was already strong in all other fields.But now with defense cooperation also, we're all much closer together in the region and it's one of the most dynamic regions in the European Union.MS: I guess I'm obliged to step even further on the European level. I don't know how strong this political will and commitment in the European institutions and in some European countries will continue to be. I guess it will depend at the end of the day on the level of a threat—but we will not be living in a less threatening environment in the future—and the appetite to build strong defense industry and defense in Europe.That's a very, very important step forward. And if one thing is to come from the Ukrainian War, I would say that this would be a very, very important thing for the future of the European Union as the player in international politics.IE: Well, Professors Kasekamp, Šešelgytė, Auers. Thank you so much for your time for your commentary and we really appreciate you taking the time to speak on this subject. Thank you very much. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fpribalticinitiative.substack.com

Get ready for a deep dive into the EU's political epicenter! As the proposed European Commissioners head into their parliamentary hearings between November 4-12, co-hosts Arianna Labasin and Federico Terreni take you through what these high-stakes sessions mean. In this episode, they answer burning questions from listeners: What's the process to become a Commissioner? Can we expect shifts on the Green Deal with the European People's Party now in power? And, are these hearings public? With insider details and some sharp critique, we uncover the key steps each nominee must pass, from addressing policy priorities to proving their commitment and integrity. Get your popcorn—there may be drama ahead!

In our latest podcast, Mikuláš Dzurinda – President of the Wilfried Martens Centre and former Prime Minister of Slovakia – discusses the changes that EU membership has brought to Slovakia; reflects on the recent rightward shift in Europe and how this might influence the EPP's priorities; analyzes potential change in Slovak foreign policy and the relationship with Hungary; and argues for Ukraine's NATO accession.   The conversation was recorded on September 19, at the Budapest Forum for Building Sustainable Democracies.

Will the European Parliament approve the list of Commission nominees that von der Leyen will present next week?According to veteran German MEP Peter Liese, some nominees will struggle to secure their spot, with the Maltese and Hungarian choices most imperilled.Euronews has seen a list of 25 commissioners-designate doing the rounds of Ursula von der Leyen's own European People's Party which earmarks their potential portfolios. It may not reflect what the Commission President finally decides on September 11, but Radio Schuman can give you a peek at the latest on which names will slot into the portfolios.We also take a quick look at the newly elected prime minister in France: Michel Barnier is very well known in EU Brussels circles, as two-time European Commissioner and chief negotiator of the Brexit deal. Will he be able to keep all political sides of France's divided National Assembly together however?On a lighter note, did you know that you can now buy Spaghetti Carbonara out of a tin in the UK? As you can imagine, that doesn't set Italian taste buds tingling...Radio Schuman is hosted and produced by Maïa de la Baume, with journalist and production assistant Eleonora Vasques, audio editing by Zacharia Vigneron and music by Alexandre Jas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clare's MEP believes the sitting European Commission President's "disproportionate response" to the conflict in Gaza is to blame for the level of opposition towards her. The 720 members of the European Parliament will cast their votes tomorrow on who will head up the European Commission for the next five years and Ursula von der Leyen needs the backing of 361 to secure her re-election. Her own party, the European People's Party, as well the Socialists, have already pledged their support, while the Renew Group remains divided. Scariff native and Independent member of the Renew Group, Michael McNamara, says von der Leyen's advocacy for increased defence spending as well as her alignment with Israel has led to division with the European Parliament.

The National Security Hour with LTC Sargis Sangari USA (Ret.) – NATO's nuclear stance and recent EU elections signal challenges for long-term peace in Europe. The European People's Party remains the largest bloc, while far-right gains shake traditional powers. Meanwhile, NATO's nuclear discussions and Putin's threats escalate tensions. Dive into the implications of these developments featuring expert insights on this crucial topic.

The National Security Hour with LTC Sargis Sangari USA (Ret.) – NATO's nuclear stance and recent EU elections signal challenges for long-term peace in Europe. The European People's Party remains the largest bloc, while far-right gains shake traditional powers. Meanwhile, NATO's nuclear discussions and Putin's threats escalate tensions. Dive into the implications of these developments featuring expert insights on this crucial topic.

In today's episode, the European People's Party has included the Cyprus problem in its list of top 10 priorities, President Nikos Christodoulides announced in Brussels on Thursday, amid a flurry of meetings linked to the Cyprus problem, top EU posts and the Middle East. Elsewhere, the council of ministers decided on the retraction of two more “golden passports” issued to Russian oligarchs, it emerged on Thursday. Also, the hearing for Auditor-General Odysseas Michaelides' dismissal was postponed on Thursday, as an expert witness from Intosai (International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions) was unable to attend the court session. All this and much more in today's Daily News Briefing brought to you by the Cyprus Mail.

Elections for the European Union happened two weeks ago. Although turnout was just over 50 percent, the elections have already resulted in some dramatic consequences for European politics. The largest single group in the new parliament will be the European People's Party, the main bloc of the center right. Ursula von der Leyen, the German president of the European Commission, is a prominent figure in the EPP. She and the EPP leader Manfred Weber have both indicated that they would be open to forming an alliance with sections of the far right.In France and Italy, far-right parties have already supplanted the traditional conservatives as the dominant right-wing force. The French party of Marine Le Pen came first in the election, prompting Emmanuel Macron to call a snap election for early next month.Jacobin's European editor David Broder joins Long Reads for a conversation about European politics after the election. David has written two books about the rise of right-wing nationalism in Italy, First They Took Rome and Mussolini's Grandchildren. He's also written many articles about European politics for publications like the New Statesman and the New York Times, as well as Jacobin, of course.Find David's coverage on the Jacobin site, including his latest, "Europe's Center Is Holding — by Integrating the Far Right": https://jacobin.com/2024/06/eu-parliament-elections-far-right-centerAlso see the William Bouchardon article mentioned by David, "Marine Le Pen Is Seducing France's Business Elite": https://jacobin.com/2024/06/marine-le-pen-france-business-eliteLong Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine's longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies, music by Knxwledge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we talk about the National Rally, Macron, and the European Union.We also discuss Marine Le Pen, elections, and the French National Assembly.Recommended Book: Pockets by Hannah CarlsonTranscriptThe first week of June 2024, the EU held its parliamentary election, the tenth since it began holding such elections in 1979, and this one was notable in part because the number of MEPs—Members of European Parliament—increased from 705 to 720, due to population changes in the bloc, those new seats given to growing countries, one apiece to Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Latvia, Austria, Poland, Finland, Slovenia, and Slovakia, and two apiece to Spain, France, and the Netherlands—though that figure still a far cry from where it was before the UK left as part of its Brexit withdrawal from the union, which culminated in 2020.These elections happen every five years, so this was the first EU election since the UK left, which means we got to see how things would shake out, post-British-presence in the bloc, a bit of a power vacuum beginning to be filled by those that remain, alliances adjusting somewhat to account for that change.Those few structural items aside though, this election was also notable in its outcome, as, while centrist parties like the European People's Party, or EPP, which is center-right, and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, or S&D, which is center-left, each claimed substantially more seats than any other party—about 190 and 136, respectively, as of the day I'm recording this, though the final votes are still being counted, so some of these numbers are prone to changing a bit in the coming days—and Renew Europe—a fairly center-aligned party—coming in at a distant third with about 80 seats, the Identity and Democracy Group, which is made up of mostly far-right parties, looks to have achieved a strong fifth place; again, the numbers are still being tallied as I record this, so these numbers are still provisional, but it looks like they grabbed about 58 seats, which is 9 more than they had, pre-vote.While centrist politicians and parties still hold the reins, then, their collective majority is shrinking, Identity and Democracy, and a slew of smaller, also further-right parties scooping up quite a few seats in this election, these groups attracting a lot more support from certain demographics, especially young men under 30, and especially in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, and Finland.This shift in ideology is being attributed to many things, including but not limited to the rise in so-called identity politics, which some data suggest is causing young men, in particular, to feel excluded from some aspects of modern social life, the success of far-right groups in spreading their messages on social networks, heightened levels of immigration, which far-right groups seem to have successfully tied to all manner of societal ills, and the general tendency of whatever group is in power to spark discontent, tipping the scale toward their opposition simply because they've been governing, and you can't really govern without upsetting someone about something, and without taking the blame for things that are beyond your control, as well.This surge in votes for far-right groups isn't expected to substantially change the direction of the EU, as a lot of policies, including aspects of the bloc's regulatory apparatus, their pivot toward net zero efforts and renewable energy, and their general position on foreign antagonists like Russia, and by some estimates, China, as well, are basically locked in for the next few voting periods, at the minimum.But there is a chance specific elements of these goals, and other, less central pursuits, will be more difficult to pass and support over the long-haul, and policies that centralize power with the EU, rather than individual countries, will likely have a harder time getting passed, as most of these far-right groups are also quite Euro-skeptical and nationalist.What I'd like to talk about today is the outcome of this election in one EU nation—France—and why French President Macron decided to call a snap vote following the tallying of the ballots.—In 2022, the liberal coalition Ensemble, which includes French President Macron's party, Renaissance, lost the absolute majority it had previously enjoyed in France's National Assembly, its lower house of government, which marked the first time since 1997 the French President hadn't also held an absolute majority in that parliamentary body.That same year, the nationalist, far-right National Rally party gained a bunch of seats, as did the left-wing to far-left New Ecological and Social People's Union. This resulted in a hung parliament, which hadn't happened since 1988, and among other consequences, that meant passing laws and other sorts of governance became a lot trickier, as Macron had to make deals with people and groups he didn't typically ally with, and with whom his party had a lot of disagreements.This sort of setup often leads to creative approaches to collaboration, including, at times, the formation of new coalitions, alongside alliances between existing coalitions—that's the general European model for this sort of thing, and that's why centrist parties tend to do the best, most of the time, because they're often made up of parties that would otherwise be at each others' throats; sharing power tends to result in better outcomes, basically, at least over the long-haul, even if they are simultaneously frustrating and sluggishness-inducing.Some parties are more primed for collaboration than others, though, and Macron's Renaissance and the National Rally, the latter of which is led by former presidential candidate in the country's 2012, 2017, and 2022 elections, Marine Le Pen, have long been at odds, the Renaissance party claiming a broad spectrum of stances across the French political center, while Le Pen's party has scooped up the religious, conservative right, promoting, especially, causes related to anti-immigration, protectionism, and nationalism, in recent years trying to temper her party's reputation for racism, anti-homosexuality, and anti-abortion stances and scandals, among other issues that have made attracting a wider base of votes difficult for her party and party leaders, in the past.The Christian Democrats, which are part of the leading European coalition, shifted some of their platform policies to the right, seemingly to great effect, to stave-off the worst of the attacks they faced related to immigration and climate, leading up to the most recent EU election, but the National Rally managed to attain around 32% of the total vote in that election, crushing Macron's Renaissance party, which only attracted something like 15%.In response, Macron announced what's being seen as a bit of a desperate gambit: he dissolved parliament, which means he's announced a snap national election—so for French parliamentary seats, rather than EU seats—3 years ahead of the next scheduled vote, which will result in the election of a brand new batch of parliamentarians; that vote will begin on June 30, and that initial vote will determine who makes it to the second ballot on July 7 of this year.Macron is framing this dissolution and election as an effort to fight what he calls "unnatural alliances" between far left groups on one side, and far right groups on the other, accusing enemies of teaming up to take out him and his centrist allies, basically. And his argument is that voters need to use this opportunity to preserve the governance of centrist parties in the country, because if his party and allies don't hold onto the reins of power, those who take over will tear France apart, pushing things to greater and greater extremes, left and right, and casting everyday life, and the basic functions of government—which is imperfect but relatively stable—into chaos.Folks may have cast protest votes in the EU elections, in other words—which is a fairly common thing for folks to do across Europe, as many citizens don't pay particularly close attention to the machinations of politics at the Union scale—but at the local level, his argument goes, this is important. And it's important enough that he's willing to risk his position at the top of some aspects of governance, and his party's seats in the Assembly, in order to make that point; vote smart, not angry, essentially.There's a chance this pitch and gamble will work, that voters will rally behind the center, more people coming out to do more than just protest vote, and that things will go back to something like the normalcy of the past decade.But there's also a chance votes will accumulate primarily with far-right and far-left parties, as they did in the EU election that triggered this gambit, which would likely mean Macron would lose a lot of the power he currently wields—France's president is elected separately from parliamentarians, so he would exist in a state of what's called "cohabitation," where he would wield some powers, and the prime minister, put into their position by the dominant group in the Assembly, would wield others—would struggle against each other while a grand realignment of the country's economy, politics, and society, and in turn, that of the EU as a whole, France being one of the most vital and powerful states in that bloc, would play out over the course of the next several years.There are concerns from the currently governing centrists that a victory for Le Pen and her allies might also mean renewed vigor for far-right groups throughout the EU, as while typically those in charge experience a degradation of support eventually, after they've had the chance to govern and fumble things for a while, taking the blame for all the bad stuff that happens, that usually takes years, and the number of bastions for far-right thinking and support throughout the bloc right now indicates that side of the political spectrum has been out of power long enough that folks might support them—even people who wouldn't usually opt for their politics—just to get something different. And it could be a while before they, once more, become the parties folks are scrambling to move away from; they're the underdog rebels right now, and it will take time before they're the unpopular establishment.Polls from just after the snap election was announced suggest that Le Pen's National Rally could win up to 265 seats, just shy of the around 290 required for an absolute majority in France's National Assembly.The dominant further-left alliance, New Popular Front, is in second place, with Macron's party languishing in third; in percentage terms, one of those polls gave the far-right National Rally 35% of all seats, the further-left New Popular Front about 26%, and Macron's left-ish-centrist Renaissance party just 19%.Even lacking an absolute majority, though, the National Rally, which is loaded with young, social media-savvy politicians, in contrast to the aging power players in most of the centrist parties in the region, could set itself up for a series of near-future wins, carving out space as chief-antagonist during Macron's remaining days in office, however long that ends up being, which in turn would give them the chance to make authoritative decisions with fewer perceptual consequences: the bad stuff will still often land on Macron's shoulders, regardless of who made what happen, or disallowed what from happening, but they could still nudge things across the country, and the bloc, to their liking in a variety of less headline-grabbing ways.Macron could of course establish new alliances, as is the European way, though the closer the National Rally gets to that absolute majority, the more desperate and discordant those alliances would have to be, and that would put more power in the hands of non-centrist entities, potentially shoving France to new ideological extremes, even if it's still technically guided by the same, centrist hands; they would have to cater to the desires of those less-than-ideal, from their perspective, allies, basically.At the moment, markets in the country are tumbling on concerns about what might happen if France has something like a Brexit-moment, pulled apart by more extreme parties after a long period of centrism, and there's a larger concern about the EU as a whole, as these sorts of successes for far-right parties in even a handful of countries may portend a wave of anti-immigration, anti-gay rights, anti-abortion, and anti-renewable energy policies, among other policies that tend to make nationalists and harder-core religious folks happy, but which often come with dire consequences for everything from foreign investments to cultural exports, in countries where those sorts of policies are deployed, en masse; great for the folks votes for these sorts of efforts, in other words, but not great for economics and soft-power, cultural influence.On the other hand, some of the policies these groups have supported, including somewhat popular ones, like those related to cutting prices on fundamentals like energy and food, and less popular in practice, but somewhat popular in promotion efforts, like cutting public spending, might find their way into governance across the EU, whomever ends up in power, as any outcome will almost certainly rely on new or edited coalition arrangements, plus some bending on the part of centrist parties—similar to what we saw by the Christian Democrats at the bloc-level. Centrists might lean further right in order to avoid being beaten by further right parties, and that could sway things rightward, even without those further-right parties taking the reins, officially.Which means, through some lenses at least, this aggregation of victories for far-right parties in France and across the EU may have already tallied some practical outcomes, nudging governance toward something more aligned with their preferences, even if further success is limited.It could also have the politically opposite effect, though, pushing centrists toward also burgeoning further-left parties, creating new coalitions on that side of the spectrum to counter the growing ranks of those on the right.France may provide a bellwether for what happens across the rest of the bloc over the course of the next several election periods, though, so what happens on June 30th and July 7th could portend what happens elsewhere in the coming years.Show Noteshttps://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/14/french-leftwing-parties-popular-front-contest-snap-electionhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/cohabitationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_European_Parliament_electionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Le_Penhttps://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/french-finance-minister-warns-financial-crisis-yields-surge-snap-elections-2024-06-14/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_and_Democracy_Partyhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/14/far-right-seduced-young-voters-europe-electionshttps://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/15/macron-gamble-marine-le-pen-france-polls-far-righthttps://results.elections.europa.eu/en/european-results/2024-2029/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/why-you-should-care-about-european-parliament-election-2024-04-24/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/how-far-right-gained-traction-with-europes-youth-2024-06-13/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_to_the_European_Parliamenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_French_legislative_electionhttps://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240612-france-fighting-two-fronts-macron-flags-extremist-fever-right-left-electionhttps://www.npr.org/2024/06/09/nx-s1-4997712/far-right-europe-elections-france-macron-germany-scholzhttps://www.politico.eu/article/eu-european-election-results-2024-emmanuel-macron-dissolve-parliament-france/https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-european-commission-president-european-election-2024/https://sg.news.yahoo.com/frances-far-national-rally-finally-162408806.html?guccounter=1 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes and Transcript Rob Roos, a Dutch politician and member of the European Parliament joins Hearts of Oak to discuss his non-traditional journey into politics and his focus of representing the people over personal gain.  He advocates for free speech, energy security, and national sovereignty while addressing issues like immigration and digital identity.  Rob highlights the complexity of politics, emphasizing compromise and unity among diverse political groups.  He stresses the importance of collaboration to tackle challenges like immigration and the changing European political landscape.  Rob also shares his views on international relations, promoting peaceful resolutions and maintaining dialogue.  As we look ahead, Rob remains dedicated to serving his country and advocating for critical issues, cementing his position as a notable voice in European politics. Rob Roos (1966) has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2 July 2019, until December 2020 this was on behalf of the Forum for Democracy (FVD) and then until August 2023 on behalf of JA21. Mr Roos was a member of the Provincial Council of South Holland for several months in 2019 and chairman of the political group until July 2019. He is an entrepreneur in the ICT sector and worked in business and is the Vice President of the group of European Conservatives and Reformists. Connect with Rob... X/TWITTER         x.com/Rob_Roos WEBSITE             ecrgroup.eu/ecr/mep/rob_roos INSTAGRAM        www.instagram.com/robroos.mep Interview recorded  14.6.24 Connect with Hearts of Oak... X/TWITTER        x.com/HeartsofOakUK WEBSITE            heartsofoak.org/ PODCASTS        heartsofoak.podbean.com/ SOCIAL MEDIA  heartsofoak.org/connect/ SHOP                  heartsofoak.org/shop/ Transcript (Hearts of Oak) I'm delighted to be joined by Rob Roos today, a Dutch politician, was a member of the European Parliament for five years. Rob, it's wonderful to have you with us. Thank you for giving us your time today. (Rob Roos MEP) Yeah, it's wonderful to be here and I try to explain the things that are happening in the European Parliament and in the Netherlands. And I'm honoured to have me in the show. Thank you. Great to have an eye of, as have many, I think, English speakers certainly enjoyed your fantastic short videos on a range of issues and it is, I guess, to see a member of the European Parliament speak sense and speak specifically, I just say what they think, love it. But you obviously were a member of the European Parliament for five years. I'm still am. Still am, yeah. Yes, yes, till July 16. Okay, till July 16 and you were vice chairman of the the ECR group, and we'll get into the groupings, the European Conservatives and Reformist Party. But your background, you were in telecoms, and it made me smile because I know I worked with Gerard Batten, who was MEP for UKIP, UKIP leader, and his background was telecoms as well before he got into politics. Maybe I can ask you just how you ended up being involved in politics. It was an accident. It always is. No, I was never a member of a political party. My background is I'm actually an electrical engineer. But I'm an entrepreneur. I have my own businesses. I had an engineering company in energy. That's what I'm doing for 32 years now. But after a while I started to invest in my own fibre optic networks across the country so, I founded my own telecom company. It started with the infrastructure but after a while I also had I had my own ISP and we did everything, but in 2016 I sold my engineering company. And because I wanted to move on with my telecom company, it was a huge success. But then there was a private equity from London who wanted to buy my shares. And so I did the negotiations for two years in 2018. They bought my shares also of that company. I still have one telecom company. I still own a fantastic gym. I'm also a boxing trainer. But then in 2016, we had a new movement in the Netherlands. It was called Forum for Democracy. Thierry Baudet was very good at that time. And, well, I funded his political movement so he can run for our national parliament. But I didn't become a member at the time. But after a while, they called me. Rob, can you please help us? You live close to Rotterdam. Can you do the campaign over there? I was never involved in politics. I was always interested in politics since I was a child. So I said, okay, let's do it. I'm an entrepreneur. Let's roll up the sleeves and just do it. But it was a success. And from one thing came another. And, well, before I knew it, I was in the office in Amsterdam. To them and yeah, building this organization because that is my background I founded nine companies, our board companies, our merged companies, and so I know how to build organizations. Yeah, from there they said well can you record a video about entrepreneurship and it was so difficult because I was never in front of the cameras really it was maybe 50 takes or something like that it was terrible, but okay, I didn't have that experience, but finally this video was successful and then Rob you should also be on the list and I said absolutely not. I want to help but I'm not going to be on this, but in the end to make a long story short, in the end I was on the list and I was elected as a member of of the European Parliament. And, well, yeah, I did it with love and passion, and I loved what I did. I'm not really a politician. I'm a representative of the people. I think that's a big difference. Most people who go into politics have very good intentions, but once chosen, they make a career of it. And, yeah, I didn't do that. I'm really there for the people. It's sometimes tough, you know. They call you names. But I don't care, you know, it's the right for people to call me names. That's freedom of speech. I don't block anyone on social media. But yeah, I did it with love and passion. And to be honest, I think I'm going to miss it. But there will probably be something else in the future. I keep on fighting for my country, absolutely. And also for Europe. Well I want to get on to what kind of your passions and what you wanted to to bring to that role but let me for our UK and half of our viewers are American and I don't know if we'll be able to explain all of the intricacies and little details in in the politics but obviously I watched Thierry Baudet start his movement and you've got all different letters in Dutch politics. So, that's the Forum for Democratie, the FVD. And then there was, I think, a disagreement. So things were said, as happens, and then you had broken away with some others and started a new group, the J21. And then you had represented that and then as an independent. And I guess there are always difficulties with a new movement or a new group or new party that starts, because it doesn't have the history of what it actually believes and it's evolving and that can lead to clashes I guess. Yeah, that's true you know, but it's always in politics. I was in Bangkok two weeks ago. I was speaking there about food security. I spoke with the the audience that were all kinds of ministers and and members of parliament of all kinds of Asian countries from Kazakhstan to South Korea, Japan, China, everywhere. And it's everywhere the same. You know, politics is just a dirty game. But the point is for new political parties, if someone is, let's say, difficult to handle, there is no job somewhere else. The establishment, if someone is not very favourable anymore in the party, they give them a decent job as a mayor or something else. And this is not possible with a new political party. So, yeah, that is the problem. But there are more problems. Politics also attracts strange people. I agree. It's incredible. And I'm just a simple human being. The only thing that counts for me, I want results. I'm a businessman. man you know and I my my job is to solve problems and to to go straight to the result and I don't want to play all these games, and I don't do it, so it's, I stay, I stick to my principles and then that's why I fight for and if people said you should not speak about this, you shouldn't speak about that, and I said sorry I'm here to represent the people that's why they have chosen me and I will fight for them. For me the party, a political party is just a tool. It cannot be the goal and that is often the thing that they make the political party more important than our country and the people and yeah for me the people and the country is that that's the most important thing that's the highest goal there is. Tell us about you as an MEP you as vice chair of the ECR one of the kind of three groupings on the right and people obviously will know Georgia Maloney her party part of that I think the Law and Justice Party and also I think the Czech Civic Democratic Party are part of that. Tell us what that was, because obviously you were there for five years. So you don't have a track record of being in the European Parliament. That's not your life. Your life, as you say, is service and serving the people. Vice-Chairman of the ECR, that is a key position. How did that come about? And how did you find your time, I guess, working with the groupings in the European Parliament? Oh, I love that. I love to do that. I can be tough on subjects, but I think I'm a very reasonable person and I can bring people together. Even I cooperate a lot of times with, for example, the Greens. I disagree. On 100% on their climate policy, but I was a member of the industry and energy committee and we were responsible, for example, for the digital identity, etc. And in the greens you have these pirates, you know, they are very hard on privacy. So, I made my coalitions with them to create a majority on things. So, there was also a very left liberal lady in the Renew, and she said, Rob, you are such a nice person, but you have such strange people around you. And then I said, you have exactly the same. So you can disagree on subjects, but you can respect each other as human beings. And this is how I work. And that is also that I did it in the ECR. I think, yeah, it's so strange because in my political party, they said, they told me, you should not speak about this and you should not speak about that. And they really disagree with me on the things. And they made my life very tough to survive in that party. But the strange thing is that I can go along with all the people in the group. Even we have, of course, you have a bandwidth and you have the people. We are the conservative, but you have people who are on the left side of this conservative movement and also the hardliners. But I can get along with them very well. And I try to bring people together, because in the end, we have to do it together. Together, you are strong. And of course, you can disagree with each other, but you have to find a compromise on things so that you can show your strength. And being united is very important to achieve the goals. I was in Bucharest, I think it's now four or five weeks ago, I was the keynote speaker there at Make Europe Great Again. Oh, yes. And that was exactly the speech that I gave. We have the elections coming up and we should be united on the right. And I hope there are now negotiations going on to create this. Conservative supergroup. They try it every time we have new elections. But this time I really hope it will work because. We are bigger, if we are united, we are bigger than the socialists in the European Parliament. And then we are the second largest group right after the European People's Party. And then we are strong. We have the best positions. You have the best, yeah, as a rapporteur, you can change things. You have the chairman of all the committees, et cetera. And so, yeah, I think we should respect each other as a human being and be tough on the subject, but we should find compromises and work together. The elections have thrown up some interesting and exciting results. Obviously, Marine Le Pen doing well. I remember meeting Marine 12 years ago in London, the only time I've met her. But Gerrit Fielder is obviously doing very well in Holland, and I've met him a number of times. And you've got two high-profile individuals that really make the left extremely angry. And to me, that's kind of the part that I like, but also you need to come together. But then you've got all these, obviously, where Giorgio Maloney fits in. And then you've got all the conversation about the AFD and the FPO. And it's an interesting mix. And you said politics brings together estranged people. It also brings together people who are extremely ambitious. And sometimes that doesn't work with groupings. But what are your thoughts looking across the landscape at what this election has produced? And how do you see it moving forward with some of those conversations? If we look at the numbers, then EPP is still the biggest group in the European Parliament. But let's say the conservatives, if you count the numbers, then we almost have the same numbers. If I count the numbers, EPP can be around 190. But also the conservatives, the right-wing conservatives, they have also 190 seats if we can merge. And Renew lost a lot, especially in France. It's a chaos over there. But also the Greens in Germany, the Socialists in Germany, they did a terrible job. It was the worst elections for them ever on the European Parliament level. So, this is a very strong signal from the people in Europe that they are fed up with all this climate communist nonsense. All this gender nonsense, because this is what it is. It was so horrible the last five years. Every legislation that we passed was full of gender ideology, climate ideology, and it was absurd, you know. I was in energy for 32 years. I really know what energy is about and how to do it. You cannot do this energy transition with wind turbines and solar panels. So, there is an alternative, and that is nuclear energy. And I was advocating for that for a very long time. I'm not against phasing out Fossil. Partly, you cannot do it completely, but partly you can phase out fossil fuel. But then you need something stable. And nuclear energy is such a wonderful form of energy. It's really a gift from the stars. If you have this uranium, but also the new... New reactors. New reactors, the fourth generation reactors with thorium and other things. There is so much energy in this tiny particle form. And this is really a solution. But this is the problem. They don't want that. So, to come back to the question, the Greens they lost, the Liberals they lost. And, well, it's time to have a real democracy. These people are upset. It was also in the Netherlands, exactly the same when Wilders won the election. These people are upset, but it's their democracy, it's not the democracy, it's their democracy. They have a view of how the world should look like, and this is how everyone should behave. But if it's real democracy, they should start listening to the people. The people gave a very clear signal. We don't want this anymore. We want change. We want a normal life. Of course, we want to take care of the planet, but we don't want to have this absurd laws where we are losing our freedom, where we are paying so much for just normal energy while it's not necessary. Our food security is in danger because of the policy on the farmers. And people start seeing it. And now they want to go back to normal. Well, of course, the farm demonstration, they started in your part of the world, in the Netherlands, and then really, really spread out. But this idea of wanting your own industries, not necessarily relying on the global, of not wanting to, not seeing renewables as the full-on solution may be a part of it, but it can't be. This is where we put everything into. And the gender ideology debate, the mass immigration that Europe has faced. I mean, but which one has it just been those coming together to give the push to to Gerd Willers, to Marine Le Pen, to Maloney, the Swedish Democrats, the FPO coming top and then even the Vox and Chega doing well in Portugal and Spain. I mean, it's across the board where all these parties have come first or second or one or two end up third. But it does seem a change of the guard. I'm wondering which issue is it that actually is concerning Europeans the most? I think it's immigration. You know, we are flooded with people from the Middle East and Africa. And even in my small village here, very close to Rotterdam, it's changing. Our children don't have houses anymore the culture is changing. Well I've seen the videos from London this is not Europe anymore and if these people want the Sharia, if they like to live by the Sharia there are lots of places in the world where you can do that. We should not allow that they are changing our society. I didn't ask for it. Most of the people didn't ask for it. So why is this happening? You know, it's not the will of the people. So, I think immigration is something that is the most important issue at the moment. But the rest, the Green Deal, all this climate policy, the gender policy, changing our identities, taking away our freedom, Yeah, I think we are heading, when I was in Warsaw, I said we are heading to a new kind of communism. And I really think that is the case. You know, if you look at communism, it's all central plant economy. Now, that is exactly what the Green Deal is. As an entrepreneur, I want to make my own decisions. And if we have new legislation and say, OK, we have to improve the environment, etc. Etc. Okay, make your goals. And let me, let the market find out what the best solution is. But they are not only telling you what to do, they are also telling you how to do it. Like the civil servants in Brussels, sitting on the chair of the entrepreneurs and of the chair of the businesses, if they really think they can do a better job, it's so stupid, you know, that's not the case. So, immigration is the most important thing. We feel that everywhere. We see the bomb attacks, we see the violence. You should not speak about it, then you are a racist, of course, they call your names again, but also the women in our cities are not safe anymore. It's just happening. It started, this started in Sweden, but now we have the same problem here in Rotterdam. And that doesn't mean that all the people who coming in are are evil, but it is changing our society and if you have too much of it and you cannot integrate in the society there are people here that live really 30 years in the Netherlands and they don't speak our language that is absurd, you know, that you then you are not a part of the society. I don't believe in a multicultural cultural society, we should have a monocultural society with maybe multicultural people from other countries but multicultural society really means a parallel society you have so but yeah, I think this is this is something that we have to solve and I think the key is now, With Giorgio Maloney. Fratelli d'Italia. I really understand their position. They are my colleagues. They are very good colleagues. I love them very much. But Italy has problems, you know, with their debt. So, they depend on what is happening in the financial market. The financial market can break or they can break the government within months, I think. But also the Commission, because they have this money where they can bribe the member states. They did it with Poland, they do it with Hungary, but they can also bribe Italy, because Italy, I think they still have to receive 85 billion Euros from this next generation EU. EU, so that is serious money. But it should not be the case that the government of Italy, of Giorgio Meloni, that they can hostage our whole group. We in Europe, we have to move on. So, I understand their position, but still I hope there will be a solution also for this big group, including... Fratelli d'Italia. I really hope that. We're talking about Giorgio Maloni and you've seen, I guess, Orban with Fidets in Hungary and the Law and Justice Party in Poland really taking a very hard line against the EU and you posted, I think, on Twitter a day ago or so, Hungary getting fined every day. Giorgio Maloney has taken a softer approach. I think people have seen that as weakness but maybe she just realizes this is a game you need to play and you don't win everything on day one is that a fair assessment because, I would be talking to some people about my frustration with Giorgio Meloni not going all the way and they said patience this this takes time. Is that a kind of a fair assessment that she knows how the game has to be played and to get to your goal It takes a number of steps. Yes, absolutely. If you are in government, you have to take responsibility. You have to make compromises. As long as you have no 51% of the seats, then you have to make compromises. But also, she has to deal with the European Commission. She has to deal with the financial markets. So that is the case. And even we have these elections in France at the end of the month. And I really hope there will be, let's say, a common sense politics, because that is what it is, with conservatives, political parties. But even then, they will lower down the vote. It's always easier to be in the opposition and to raise your voice. But if you have the responsibility and you have to solve the problems, yeah, you have to deal with many problems at the same time. And of course, you have to make compromises, but it is possible. Yeah, but I hope it's not too much and that there will be a solution to create this supergroup. It is really necessary to change things. I'm so happy that we have more and more prime ministers with a conservative background in the European Council, because that's probably the most important thing. To have this blocking minority over there, maybe even if we look further in time, there will be a majority and we can really change things. But I hope Maloney and Orban and Le Pen, they can find a solution because they are the most important, yeah, these are the biggest countries, you know, Italy, France, and Hungary. So, you know, well, I think Orban is at this moment the only Western prime minister with a long-term strategy of the West. No matter what people are saying of him, I agree on a lot of things with him. And I hope he can achieve this super group. Because Orban's sitting, I think, as an independent with Fidets at the moment in the European Parliament. So to me, if he moved one way, if he said, no, I'm going to join Giorgio Maloney and encourage Marine to do the same, him or I'm going to join ID and encourage or if there's coming together he seems to be the figure that is so well respected and because he has led Hungary forever it seems like for me but you've kind of got individuals like that and is he kind of the the kingmaker the one that can bring them together or does it depend on Marine whether she wins the French elections end of this month. And is there enough commonality, because obviously the issue with Russian Ukraine is a split with some people there, but there does seem to be enough commonality between everything else that is happening to actually come together. Yeah, I think if you read the media let's say the mainstream media they blame Orban like Kiefer Hofstad is every day doing of supporting Russia, but that's absolutely not the case. Orban, he wants peace, and I also agree with him on that, because Ukraine cannot win this war. It's just as simple as that. If you look at the numbers, Russia has all the resources to go on with this war, and they have also much more people than Ukraine. That's just facts. Should we reward Russia for the invasion in a sovereign country? Of course not. There are ways to punish him. And I think that's right. So, I'm not saying that we should reward Putin. Absolutely not. It's disgustful what happened. But we have to find a solution. You know, we cannot escalating more and more and more weapons fighting yet. OK, you can use them across the border. It's going on and on and on. And last week I spoke someone from NATO. Then I stay a little bit at this one and I come back to your question. I spoke someone from NATO and they are also becoming very nervous of some politicians who are, for example, Macron. Let me put it this way. Macron, of course, he knows he is, before the election, he knew he was very unpopular. And then he tried to make himself bigger as he was at that moment by saying all these crazy things about the war. We should bring boots on the ground over there. Really incredible, you know. This guy is, he has no roots, you know. He has no children. And then I think my son is 22. He is not going to fight, because Macron wants to set himself in a position as a big leader. Let Macron put on his own boots and go there and fight. Pick up a gun and do your job, you know. But this is, we should, well, this is Ukraine and people are divided. But I think Orban is right. The rest is, of course, supporting Ukraine. I'm also supporting Ukraine. Let there be no misunderstandings about that. But I think also the people in Ukraine want peace. You're never going to get back to Donbass. You're never going to get back to the Crimea. That is now what it is. And I hope that the rest of Ukraine can be part of NATO and that we put sanctions on Russia as long as these parts of the Ukraine is in Russian hands. But let's let's work on peace let's get people to the negotiation table because a war never ended on the battlefield it always ended on the negotiation table and I think the other conservatives also in it like this and they support Ukraine, but I think there can be a solution for that. I think the kingmaker, that's your question, is Orbán the kingmaker. I think Giorgia Maloni is the kingmaker in this. It's her decision and I really know that she has a difficult position because of the financial problems and the market with Italy, but she She has to make the decision. I think the rest will this. Orban, Le Pen, Moranjewski, Kaczynski. They are really ready to create a supergroup. Because it's, I mean, Europe seems to be marching towards greater and greater confrontation with Russia. And I think part of that's Boris Johnson's fault, because he was involved in rejecting the original peace deal. But Europe seemed to have no money left, and yet they're sending it all to Ukraine. And then the talk about conscription, which you mentioned. In Britain, we're talking about conscription. In Britain, it's rumoured that we will be at war with Russia by the end of the year, and that's why the election was called, and Macron calling for conscription. And it is a very frightening situation for Europe. Whenever the battle is not ours, it is to other countries that are neighboring countries. But Europe and partly the US, actually Biden pushing us, we seem to be being sucked further and further into this, which could be a war. Is these elections, are they enough to kind of break away and change that conversation? Because the outcome could be extremely destructive for Europe, for all of us. Yes, I think this is also what the leaders of this country should realize now, that we should unite. We have the problems we discussed already with the migration, with the Green Deal, with the gender policy, etc. But the war in Ukraine is also a big issue. And that's why I hope President Trump will win the election. I think he will choose a different approach than Biden. Of course, we should help Ukraine, but we should not make the weapon industry that should not. Booming weapon industry should not be the goal. And I think this is what's going on right now. It's all about money. And there are people making a lot of money. No, yeah, it can make a difference. And even if we have this big group, and it's so strange, the left, and they were always the one who wanted peace, you know, the symbol, and they wanted to make peace, not war, make love, not war. And now those are the ones who are the warmongers. And the world has changed so much. I really, I really, that's maybe also they try to, yeah, how do I say that? No, let's hope Trump will win the election. I think they make people very afraid of Trump winning the election because they tell the people he's crazy. He is maybe a little bit rude in his conversation, but I think he's done a wonderful job in the time he was the president. He was the only one who didn't start a war. I even recommended him for the Nobel Peace Prize in the European Parliament. Of course, it was rejected. I made a resolution to give him, because of this Abraham Accords. It was a wonderful job and what did the media said? Oh, this is a very bad thing for the Palestinians. No, it was peace. It was peace. It was very good. But yeah, let's hope that How does that, because I've had the privilege of seeing him speak it at three different rallies actually over in the states and there's nothing like a trump rally and for my all my years in UKIP. I've never seen anything like that, but how does it change because in most of your time in the European parliament it's been Biden in charge and with the rise of common sense parties more in the right it could be a different relationship with Europe and Trump. I'm wondering how you see that because you want bloc countries to actually have commonality and work together and not have disagreements. And the Trump derangement syndrome, the hatred of Trump, we've seen in many European governments. That could change now with these elections. How do you see that kind of, is there a better relationship that can be had with the Trump administration and with European Union groupings more on the right? Yeah, I think that relation is very good. Of course, Trump is always saying America first, and that is his job. You know, if he is the president of that country, he should put his country on the first place. That is also what every leader of a country should do. But for example, Orban and Trump, they can work very close. Trump Jr. was yesterday in Hungary also. But Trump was also speaking on the rally of Fratelli d'Italia. So, this relationship is also good. I think, let's say the Republicans and the conservatives here in Europe, they have a very good relation. I have very good relations also in the United States, we can get along very well and it should be something that it is a global fight. You know, this this this globalism is a left wing socialist agenda and we should fight it together. Not we see the problems everywhere in the UK, in Australia, New Zealand. South America and Europe, Canada. We have all this woke ism and there's more warmongers. And so we should unite and and also fight back together and I think this is something, that is happened that happened in the last uh years with for example CPAC and it started in the United States we have CPAC Hungary, we have CPAC in Mexico, in Brazil, in Israel, so yeah. We have a movement and we know how to find each other. And if Trump will be elected, I think there will be a very good relationship with Europe and the United States. Can I just end with you personally, because you will not be an MP soon, but you've used your position as a member of the European Parliament to speak truth and connect with the public. And you touched on energy as being something that you were intrigued about. And I always was confused why Germany would rely through the Nord Stream pipeline on one country. It doesn't matter who the country is to rely on one country. But what are the other issues that you've tried to champion? We've touched a number of them, but your kind of areas of passion and what issues did you want to bring during your five years in the European Parliament? Well, I think most of all is defending free speech. I think this is the most important thing and it's also, I was, I did the negotiations on the digital services act to. To bring some common sense over there also the digital services act is something to control, the the big big tech companies but but actually now the European commission has so much power, because they can fight disinformation and misinformation and then I try to have a definition of that. I try to also have a definition of hate speech and harmful speech. But of course, they didn't make it because you cannot, it's impossible to say this is harmful speech, so this is disinformation. These people who are advocating for this, they say to us that men can have babies and for me that is disinformation, for them, it's the truth. So it's a very dangerous development. We've seen the law in Scotland when you cannot discuss anymore the gender thing about the difference between men and women it's a hate crime. In Canada, we have the same and Europe, the European Union is moving in that same direction. Von der Leyen, two weeks ago, said we have to not debunk misinformation, we have to pre-bank this information. This is really the synonym of censorship and that is what's going on. So free Free speech is also a main topic for me. I think it's the cornerstone of having a healthy democracy, that we can disagree with each other in a decent way. And, yeah, of course, people have different opinions, but that is what politics is about. And this is also the beautiful thing that we have, and it's very precious. It's not in most parts of the world. We don't have this luxury to speak out. But they are taking it away, and that's why I called it also a new kind of communism. Because... Yeah, if you cannot speak out anymore, then we have a real problem. We have seen that during COVID, it was real censorship. It was a horrible time. People were locked up. If you disagreed, then you... So this should never happen again. Digital identity is also a very difficult thing for me. I did the negotiations on that too. I was able to delay that for two years, but finally it was adopted. It's not as bad as it was at the beginning, but still it is there. Central bank, digital currency, all kinds of tools to control people. You know, no one asked for this. No one. It's a top-down approach and it has nothing to do with democracy. There is no problem. Everyone can pay with their debit card or their credit card. It's not an added value. It's a dangerous development because you can control people. These are also very important topics to me. Freedom, freedom of speech, having reliable and affordable energy. Our food security, and, of course, stopping this illegal immigration and the sovereignty of our nations. This is very important. And just to end off, the future for you, when you finish as an MEP, I hope you're not going to disappear and become quiet. What does the future hold for you? I have no idea. Not yet. Not yet. But, you know, when I was an entrepreneur, I started to sell my first cluster of companies in 2016, and I sold a cluster of companies in 2018. It sounds strange, but I really had the idea. I've played that game. I've seen it all and I've done it all. That game is over. I thought I have enough money. That's also very strange if I see Bezos, you know, buying another super yacht. Does that make you happy? I don't think so. I have enough money, so I don't need to do, I don't need to work anymore, so I can use my time to, service my country, to fight for the future of my children, and they're the generation. So, this is what I wanted to do, but I don't have any idea what I'm going to do. But I keep on fighting. My wife, she hates politics. So, I have to convince her. But still, she also recognized that it's very necessary. There are not many voices like me who really speak the truth. Because politicians make a career of it. And yeah, let's see what's going to happen, what the universe wants to do with me. Not many speak to it, but also not many who can do it in English. And I often have struggles talking to the French groupings and saying, could I have someone not speak English? And it's like, no. Rob, I really appreciate you coming on. John, I thoroughly enjoyed your many videos going out and speaking truth in the European Parliament and looking forward to seeing what is the next step for you. But thank you so much for joining us today. Yeah, it was a pleasure. And if I have news, when I know what I'm going to do, Id love to come back. You're welcome anytime. I keep on speaking, I promise. Thank you, Rob. Thank you.

The center-right European People's Party scored a clear victory in the recent European Parliament election, tightening its grip on the chamber. But far-right forces made major gains across the bloc. In France for example, the far-right National Rally raked in nearly a third of the votes, which prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve the National Assembly and call new legislative elections.What factors could explain the rise of the right wing in European politics? What does the 2024 election mean for the EU moving forward? Host Liu Kun is joined by Chen Weihua, China Daily EU Bureau Chief based in Brussels; Dr. George Tzogopoulos, Director of EU-China Programs and Senior Research Fellow at European Institute of Nice; Mike Bastin, China observer and senior lecturer at the University of Southampton.

This week on Top in Tech, Ana Gradinaru is joined by Jack Keevill to discuss the EU elections resulting in a solid win for the European People's Party (EPP), familiar names in tech policy returning to the European Parliament, what this means for the EU's tech and digital agenda, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, Jess, Les, and Bishop discuss the outcome of the European Union's parliamentary elections where 720 seats were up for grabs. After four days of voting, the centrist European People's Party (EPP) was the biggest single winner with 186 seats. However, far-right parties are also set to win 150 seats many of which came from France, Italy, and Germany.What are the implications of this election for the U.S.' trans-Atlantic policy? How does this election impact Europe's support of Ukraine? Do the gains by the far-right in the European parliament foreshadow national election wins?Check out the answers to these questions and more in this episode of Fault Lines.Check out the sources that helped shape our expert's discussion!https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/10/european-parliament-election-results-takeaways/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/10/eu-parliament-election-results-france-germany/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/world/europe/giorgia-meloni-italy-g7.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/european-union-vote-delivers-shift-to-right-in-blow-to-french-and-german-governments-8f1c0f23 https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/10/europe/european-elections-explainer-intl/index.html Follow our experts on Twitter: @lestermunson@BishopGarrison@NotTVJessJonesLike what we're doing here? Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe. And don't forget to follow @masonnatsec on Twitter!We are also on YouTube, and watch today's episode here: https://youtu.be/APanvWqyDdI Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Energy News Beat Daily Standup, the host, Stuart Turley, discussed the significant shift to the right in the EU elections, Europe's move from Russian gas to more expensive LNG, ongoing talks to maintain the Russian-Ukraine gas pipeline, and California's aggressive stance on oil and gas amid its energy challenges. He also highlighted North America's continued increase in rig counts, noting fluctuations in specific regions like Oklahoma and the Permian Basin. Turley emphasized the geopolitical and economic implications of these energy developments and encouraged viewers to stay informedHighlights of the Podcast00:00 - Intro01:00 - 5 things to know about the EU election results03:04 - Europe's Shift from Russian Gas to Pricey LNG05:03 - Europe in Talks to Keep Russia-Ukraine Gas Pipeline Flowing06:56 - California's Impossible War on Oil and Gas09:13 - California set to crank gas power and emissions to keep cool10:13 - North America Continues Streak of Rig Additions12:20 - OutroPlease see the links below or articles that we discuss in the podcast.5 things to know about the EU election resultsJune 10, 2024 Mariel AlumitBRUSSELS — Europe's conservatives are ecstatic. The European People's Party (EPP) scored a clear victory in Sunday's European Parliament election, tightening its grip on the chamber even as far-right groups made major gains across the […]Europe's Shift from Russian Gas to Pricey LNGJune 10, 2024 Mariel AlumitEurope's switch from Russian pipeline gas to LNG has increased energy costs, despite claims of overcoming dependence without adverse effects. Upcoming winters could see higher gas prices due to increased demand and the end of […]Europe in Talks to Keep Russia-Ukraine Gas Pipeline FlowingJune 10, 2024 Stu TurleyRussian gas still goes through Ukraine pipeline despite war Parts of Europe are worried about the end of supply deal European officials are in talks to keep gas flowing through a key Russia-Ukraine pipeline, as […]California's Impossible War on Oil and GasJune 10, 2024 Mariel AlumitDetermined to save the world from climate change, California has nearly shut down its oil and gas industry, though the Golden State currently gets 50 percent of its total energy from oil and another 34 percent from […]California set to crank gas power and emissions to keep coolJune 10, 2024 Mariel AlumitLITTLETON, Colorado, June 6 (Reuters) – Scorching temperature forecasts for the western U.S. over the coming days look set to kick-start the high season for natural gas use in the California power system, when the […]North America Continues Streak of Rig AdditionsJune 10, 2024 Mariel AlumitNorth America added nine rigs week on week, according to Baker Hughes' latest rotary rig count, which was released on June 7. Although the U.S. dropped six rigs week on week, Canada added 15 during […]Follow Stuart On LinkedIn and TwitterFollow Michael On LinkedIn and TwitterENB Top NewsEnergy DashboardENB PodcastENB Substack– Get in Contact With The Show –

One of the biggest exercises in democracy this year is filling 720 seats from 27 countries in the European Parliamentary elections. As results continue to flood in, a split-screen image is emerging. Establishment parties did well in many countries and EU Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen's centrist European People's party will remain the largest group. But in France, Marine Le Pen and her far-right allies won twice as many seats as centrist President Emmanuel Macron's party. Italy's former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, whose centre-left party failed to win any seats, joins the show from Rome, and journalist and author Christine Ockrent joins the show from Paris.   Also on today's show: Former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni; author Ernesto Londoño  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Thursday, June 6th, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Narendra Modi wins re-election in India, but anti-Christian BJP party loses India posted results from its general election on Tuesday. With nearly a billion voters, it's the largest election in the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi secured a third term, extending his hold on power since 2014. However, his Hindu nationalist party, the BJP, failed to win a majority for the first time in a decade. Over that period, Modi has overseen the suppression of religious minorities like Christians and Muslims in the country.  Christians in India have been praying for a change International Christian Concern reports Christians in India have been praying for a change in government for years. It remains to be seen how the recent elections will affect Christians. Edwin Anand, a bishop in central India, warns that churches should brace for more persecution under a third Modi term.  Christians in India have faced over 600 violent attacks each year since 2021. The country is ranked 11th on the Open Doors' World Watch List of nations where it is most difficult to be a Christian.  Europeans electing new members of European Parliament People across Europe begin voting today in the world's second-largest election. About 400 million Europeans will be selecting new members of the European Parliament.  Typically, the two largest parliamentary groups have been the center-right European People's Party and the center-left Socialists and Democrats.  However, right-wing parties are gaining popularity. France 24 reports a coalition of conservative and right-wing groups could be on track to hold a majority for the first time. Daniel 2:21 says God “changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.” Texas Supreme Court affirms ban of abortion In the United States, the Supreme Court of Texas unanimously rejected a challenge to the state's pro-life laws. Between several laws, Texas outlaws nearly all abortions. The challenge sought to allow abortion in more cases like babies with disabilities.  The state's abortion ban went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. Texas reported 67 abortions the following month and three abortions the month after that. The year before, the Lone Star state reported nearly 6,000 abortions in just one month.  21% of Protestant pastors support homosexual faux marriage Lifeway Research reports that support for faux homosexual marriage is thankfully slowing down among pastors. In 2010, 15% of Protestant pastors supported the unbiblical practice. That percentage increased to 24% in 2019, but dropped back down to 21% today. Pastors from mainline denominations were the ones who drove the increase in support for celebrating people living in vile passions. Meanwhile, Evangelical pastors have consistently opposed it since 2010. Sexual perverts are especially proud of their rebellion this month Mainstream American culture is celebrating sexually perverted lifestyles this month.  Over the weekend, 21 out of 32 National Football League teams joined the celebration on social media.  However, 11 of the football teams did not acknowledge so-called pride month. Those teams include the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Tennessee Titans, Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints, and Atlanta Falcons. Exodus 23:2 says, “You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice.” Boeing sent astronauts to International Space Station Boeing sent astronauts to space for the first time yesterday.  NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are headed for the International Space Station aboard Boeing's new Starliner spacecraft.  The program faced years of delays and technical problems.  Since 2020, Elon Musk's SpaceX has been providing NASA astronauts transportation to the International Space Station.  Colorado Christian University secures golf national title Colorado Christian University won the Division II Men's Golf Championship late last month, defeating the University of North Georgia. It's the first national title for the Christian university.  Head Coach Mark Hull said their goal is to “represent Christ in everything we do . . . we're excited to have this platform to do it.”  Adam Duncan led the Colorado Christian University Cougars to victory. Coach Hull recalled the final drive, saying, “Up by one stroke headed to the 18th hole, Adam Duncan did exactly what he needed to do, getting onto the green in two. With the Cougar faithful holding their breath in anticipation, Duncan clearly stepped up and sunk a beautiful putt from distance to birdie the hole and clinch the national championship for his team.” 14 Worldview listeners gave $2,710 And finally, toward our Friday, June 7th goal of raising $28,550 to help keep the newscast on the air, 14 Worldview listeners stepped up to the plate. Our thanks to Bianca in Piet Retief, Mpumalanga, South Africa who gave $10 as well as Jill in Saugerties, New York and Kelly in New Haven, Prince Edward Island, Canada – both of whom gave $25. We are grateful to Danielle in McPherson, Kansas, Jennifer in Evansville, Indiana, and Titus in Omaha, Nebraska – each of whom gave $50. We appreciate the generosity of Eric in Burnet, Texas, Stephen in Adrian, Oregon, and Anthony in Spring, Texas – each of whom gave $100 as well Steven in Coatesville, Pennsylvania who gave $300 and Susana in Helotes, Texas who pledged $25/month for 12 months for a gift of $300. And we thank God for an anonymous donor in Kailua Kona, Hawaii and Heather in La Grange Park, Illinois – both of whom gave $500 as well as Alan in Kalispell, Montana who pledged $50/month for 12 months for a gift of $600. Those 14 Worldview listeners gave $2,710. Ready for our new grand total? Drum roll please. (sound effect of drum roll) $5,940 (audience cheering) We have only two days left to raise $22,610.  I'm looking for 10 Worldview listeners to pledge $100 per month for 12 months for a gift of $1,200. And another 18 people to pledge $50 per month for 12 months for a gift of $600. Just go to TheWorldview.com, click on “Give,” select the dollar amount you'd like, and click on the recurring button if that's your wish. If this newscast has blessed you and your family, please help us finish this first week of June strong! Close And that's The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Thursday, June 6th, in the year of our Lord 2024. Subscribe by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

Nicolas Schmit, the lead candidate for the Party of European Socialists (PES), speaks to FRANCE 24 about the dangers, as he sees them, of a potential alliance between the right and the far right. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called for Italy's Giorgia Meloni and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen to work together – while the conservative European People's Party (EPP) is keeping a door open to Meloni.

Bruegel and the Financial Times partnered up to host a debate featuring lead candidates from major EU political parties on EU economic issues, namely growth, the single market, economic security and the EU budget. The participants of the debate were: Sandro Gozi, Renew Europe Now Ursula von der Leyen, The European People's Party Nicolas Schmit, the Party of European Socialists Anders Vistisen, Identity and Democracy Party In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie sits down with Bruegel Senior fellow Maria Demertzis, FT Brussels bureau chief Henry Foy, also moderators of the debate, to unpack the views they gathered from the event, discuss how the elections are likely to turn out and what will happen afterwards.    Relevant events and publications: Economic choices for Europe: EU leadership debate 2024, Bruegel-Financial Times event, 21 May 2024 Visions for Europe: Economic expert debate for the 2024 EU elections, Bruegel-Financial Times event, 15 April 2024  Saint-Amans, P. (2024) ‘Broader border taxes: a new option for European Union budget resources', Policy Brief 06/2024, Bruegel

Talking Europe hosts the head of the largest political group in the European Parliament, the centre-right European People's Party. Manfred Weber, a prominent German CSU politician, is hoping that the June 9 EU elections will re-confirm the EPP's pre-eminent position, but he is cautious on the possibility of alliances with the hard-right ECR group. We also touch on the "Russiagate" and "Piepergate" controversies, the EPP's contentious plan to reform the EU's asylum system, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron's "unwise" – according to Weber – remarks about potentially sending French troops to Ukraine.

The European People's Party is proposing to deport asylum seekers to countries on the 'safe' list.Cathal Malone, an immigration lawyer, and Daniel McConnell, Editor of the Business Post joined The Last Word.Catch the full chat by pressing the 'Play' button on this page.

Pat Leahy and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:There were some interesting developments during the European People's Party (EPP) congress in Bucharest this week – Ursula von der Leyen was roundly endorsed for another five years as European Commission President, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told delegates that Europe was no longer in a ‘post-war epoch' and that borders had to be defended. The panel discussed whether Ireland's military spending will soon reflect this new sense of urgency.Also on the podcast: Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe's refusal to meet demands on how to spend the continuing surge in corporate tax receipts has left some Cabinet members less than happy after a call to significantly boost the National Development Plan fell on deaf ears.And the panel compare the approaches of the Government and Sinn Féin when it comes to improving the lot of Northern Ireland. During his speech at the Alliance Party conference this week, Tánaiste Micheál Martin pushed the positives to be gained from the Shared Island initiative, whereas Sinn Féin's line has consistently been improvement through a united Ireland. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Will Ursula von der Leyen be President of the European Commission again? She has been confirmed as the European People's Party candidate to continue with her current job and it's pretty sure that the EPP will win the European Parliament elections in June.  But... "For me, it's not obvious that she will stay," Policy Analyst from the European Policy Centre Eric Maurice reacts. Why does he say this and what's next for the EPP after the elections? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/amatisak --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/andrej-matisak/message

The latest developments from the European People's Party Congress in Bucharest with Nina dos Santos. Plus: can Venezuela's opposition navigate the presidential election's tight deadlines? Adam Hancock reports from Kuala Lumpur ahead of the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our guest this week is Deirdre Clune, a Member of the European Parliament for Ireland. We talk about nutritional health claims, and how they are regulated in the European Union. Also in this episode: ⛷️ The Dutch are getting worse at skiing

MEP Sean Kelly tells us why he is voting in favour today in the final vote on the EU Nature Restoration Law, despite being part of the European People's Party which is against it.

Europe has been swept by a wave of protests by farmers, many of whom blame environmental policies for increasing their hardship. In Germany, farmers are angry about the phasing out of tax breaks on agricultural diesel. A policy aimed at reducing pesticide use was one of many grievances fuelling demonstrations in France, Belgium and the Netherlands - prompting the EU to backtrack on the policy. But farmers are worried about more than just pesticide use. From measures to increase biodiversity and soil quality to increased competition from cheap imports, the agricultural sector across Europe - and the world - is feeling the strain. So, can farmers and the environment both prosper? If so, which policies will help encourage a green transition and who will pay for it? Shaun Ley is joined by a panel of expert guests.Natasha Foote - A journalist and podcaster focusing on European agriculture and farming policyPaula Andrés – Agriculture and food reporter for Politico EuropeJulia Bognar - Head of land use and climate at The Institute for European Environmental Policy think tankAlso featuring:Christiane Lambert – A pig farmer and President of the European farmers' lobby COPA-COGECATom Vandenkendelaere - A Belgian member of the European Parliament for the Flemish Christian Democrat CD&V party / European People's Party (EPP)Bas Eickhout - A Dutch member of the European Parliament for the Greens / European Free AllianceProducers: Zak Brophy and Paul SchusterImage: A placard on a tractor reads 'No farmers, no food' during a protest by farmers in downtown Barcelona, Spain, 07 February 2024 - Credit: Enric Fontcuberta/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

How important is the European Union? What is its role in today's world? Is it still too distant from European citizens? How can it better reach out to young people? To answer these questions, José Maria Pimentel interviews the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, in this episode of “It's Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation. As President of the European Parliament (EP), Roberta Metsola is also the Head of the Partit Nazzjonalista (PN) Delegation, one of the political forces within the European People's Party Group in the European Parliament.  A lawyer by profession, specializing in European law and politics, Roberta graduated in 2003, the same year that her country Malta, decided to join the European Union. She was first elected as an MEP for Malta and Gozo in 2013, being re-elected in 2014 and 2019 and becoming in this way, one of the first Maltese women elected to the EP. In 2020, Metsola was elected as the First Vice-President of the European Parliament, during this time, she was responsible for the EP's relations with national parliaments and for the Parliament's participation in the interreligious and non-confessional dialogue. On 18th January 2022 Roberta Metsola was elected President of the European Parliament, becoming the youngest ever person to occupy this role. In this episode, Metsola discusses her efforts to talk with young people in every country she visits, to persuade them to engage with politics and the European Union (EU). She addresses the perception that “Brussels is too far away” and what can be done to change that. Metsola also explains how much Malta becoming a member of the EU changed her country for the better. She then talks about her term as President of the EP and the many crises the EU has had to face during that time. Finally, Metsola considers the specific role of the EP within the EU's institutional framework, and its impact on people's lives, in a conversation well worth listening to. More on this topic Roberta Metsola's State of Europe Speech - 9th November 2023 Roberta Metsola debating the “Future of Europe” with Paulo Rangel and Guy Verhofstadt Roberta Metsola's speech at the World Leaders Forum at Columbia University - 18th September 2023 Other references in Portuguese Essay of the Foundation “O Futuro da União Europeia”, by Eugénia da Conceição Essay of the Foundation “Eleições na União Europeia”, by Nuno Sampaio “Não se abstenha: três razões e mais uma para votar nas eleições europeias”, an essay by Nuno Sampaio Essay of the Foundation “A Democracia na Europa”, by Catherine Moury “Portugal nas decisões europeias”, a study coordinated by Alexander Trechsel and Richard Rose for the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation “Os futuros da Europa”, an essay by Teresa de Sousa “Afinal que Europa é que queremos?”, a debate held by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, with Carlos Moedas, Elisa Ferreira, Eugénia da Conceição and Lívia Franco

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:• Central European University: CEU• The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD• The Podcast Company: scopeaudio Follow us on social media!• Central European University: @CEU• Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks!  GlossaryBruno Kreisky(01:53 or p.1 in the transcript)Bruno Kreisky, (born January 22, 1911, Vienna, Austria—died July 29, 1990, Vienna), leader of the Social Democratic Party of Austria and chancellor of Austria (1970–83). Kreisky joined the Social Democratic Party in 1926; he was active in the party until it was outlawed in 1934. In 1935 he was arrested for political reasons and imprisoned for 18 months. He was imprisoned again in 1938, shortly after graduating as Doctor of Law from the University of Vienna. Persecuted by the Gestapo because of his political beliefs and Jewish birth, he fled to Sweden, where he engaged in journalism and business during World War II. From 1946 to 1950 he served at the Austrian legation in Stockholm and then returned to Vienna to serve at the foreign ministry. From 1956 he was a member of the Austrian Parliament, and in 1959 he was elected deputy chairman of the Social Democrats and became foreign minister. After the party's decisive defeat in the 1966 general election, he took the lead in an intraparty reform movement. He was narrowly elected chairman of the Social Democrats in 1967, and he became chancellor of Austria when the Social Democrats emerged from the 1970 elections as the strongest party; in 1971 they acquired an absolute majority. Kreisky was credited with successfully pursuing a policy of “active neutrality,” smoothing relations with neighboring Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia and seeking cooperation with other nonaligned nations. Under his leadership, the Social Democrats preserved their parliamentary majority in elections in 1975 and 1979. He resigned in 1983. source Occupation of Austria by the Allied Forces (1945-1955)(07:54 or p.2 in the transcript)At the Potsdam Conference in 1945, the Allies agreed that they would jointly occupy Austria in the postwar period, dividing the country and its capital Vienna into four zones as they planned to do with Germany and Berlin. The Soviets also demanded reparations from Austria, a request that was dropped due to the country's nonbelligerent status, but the United States did agree that the Soviet Union would be entitled to any German assets in the Soviet occupation zone. In contrast to Germany, the Austrian government continued to exist in the postwar period and govern, although the Four Powers could veto any new legislation if they unanimously agreed to do so. This arrangement was maintained until the withdrawal of the occupying powers upon the completion of the Austrian State Treaty. The breakdown of the wartime "Grand Alliance" and the emergence of the Cold War led to the Austrian occupation lasting far longer than anyone anticipated. Only on May 15, 1955, representatives of the governments of the Soviet Union, Great Britain, the United States, and France signed a treaty that granted Austria independence and arranged for the withdrawal of all occupation forces. These governments signed the agreement with the understanding that the newly independent state of Austria would declare its neutrality, creating a buffer zone between the East and the West. The Austrian State Treaty was the only treaty signed by both the Soviet Union and United States in the decade after the 1947 Paris Peace Treaties, and it marked the only Cold War era withdrawal by the Soviet Union from a territory it occupied. The Austrian situation was unique in postwar Europe. In 1938, it had been the only nation to be annexed in its entirety by Nazi Germany, a fact that raised consistent questions during the war about the extent to which the country was a victim of Nazi aggression or whether it had been a collaborator. source Freedom Party of Austria(10:37 or p.3 in the transcript)The Freedom Party of Austria (German: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. It was led by Norbert Hofer from September 2019 to 1 June 2021 and is currently led by Herbert Kickl. On a European level, the FPÖ is a founding member of the Identity and Democracy Party and its three Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) sit with the Identity and Democracy (ID) group. The FPÖ was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents (VdU), representing pan-Germanists and national liberals opposed to socialism, represented by the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), and Catholic clericalism represented by the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). Its first leader, Anton Reinthaller, was a former Nazi functionary and SS officer, though the party did not advocate extreme right policies and presented itself as residing in the political centre. During this time, the FPÖ was the third largest party in Austria and had modest support. Under the leadership of Norbert Steger in the early 1980s, it sought to style itself on the German Free Democratic Party. It supported the first government of SPÖ Chancellor Bruno Kreisky after the 1970 election, as well as that of Fred Sinowatz from 1983 to 1986. Jörg Haider became leader of the party in 1986, after which it began an ideological turn towards right-wing populism. This resulted in a strong surge in electoral support, but also led the SPÖ to break ties, and a splinter in the form of the Liberal Forum in 1993. In the 1999 election, the FPÖ won 26.9% of the vote, becoming the second most popular party, ahead of the ÖVP by around 500 votes. The two parties eventually reached a coalition agreement in which ÖVP retained the office of Chancellor. The FPÖ soon lost most of its popularity, falling to 10% in the 2002 election, but the government was renewed. Internal tensions led Haider and much of the party leadership to leave in 2005, forming the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ), which replaced the FPÖ as governing partner. Heinz-Christian Strache then became leader, and the party gradually regained its popularity, peaking at 26.0% in the 2017 election. The FPÖ once again became junior partner in government with the ÖVP. In May 2019, the Ibiza affair led to the collapse of the government and the resignation of Strache from both the offices of Vice-Chancellor and party leader. The resulting snap election saw the FPÖ fall to 16.2% and return to opposition. source Austrian People's Party(13:09 or p.3 in the transcript)The Austrian People's Party (German: Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. The ÖVP is a member of the International Democrat Union and the European People's Party. It sits with the EPP group in the European Parliament; of Austria's 19 MEPs, 7 are members of the ÖVP. An unofficial successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the ÖVP was founded immediately following the re-establishment of the Republic of Austria in 1945. Since then, it has been one of the two traditional major parties in Austria, alongside the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). It was the most popular party until 1970, and has traditionally governed in a grand coalition with the SPÖ. It was the senior partner in grand coalitions from 1945 to 1966 and the junior partner from 1986 to 2000 and 2007–2017. The ÖVP also briefly governed alone from 1966 to 1970. After the 1999 election, the party formed a coalition with the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) until 2003, when a coalition with the FPÖ splinter Alliance for the Future of Austria was formed, which lasted until 2007. The party underwent a change in its image after Sebastian Kurz became chairman, changing its colour from the traditional black to turquoise, and adopting the alternate name The New People's Party (German: Die neue Volkspartei). It became the largest party after the 2017 election, and formed a coalition government with the FPÖ. This collapsed eighteen months later, leading to the 2019 election, after which the ÖVP formed a new coalition with The Greens. source Social Democratic Party of Austria(30:27 or p.6 in the transcript)The Social Democratic Party of Austria (German: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (German: Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) until 1945 and later the Socialist Party of Austria (German: Sozialistische Partei Österreichs) until 1991, is a social-democratic political party in Austria. Founded in 1889, it is the oldest extant political party in Austria. Along with the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), it is one of the country's two traditional major parties. It is positioned on the centre-left on the political spectrum. The SPÖ is supportive of Austria's membership in the European Union, and it is a member of the Socialist International, Progressive Alliance, and Party of European Socialists. It sits with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament; of Austria's 19 MEPs, five are members of the SPÖ. The party has close ties to the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) and the Austrian Chamber of Labour (AK). The SDAPÖ was the second largest party in the Imperial Council of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the 1890s through 1910s. After the First World War, it briefly governed the First Austrian Republic, but thereafter returned to opposition. The party was banned in 1934 following the Austrian Civil War, and was suppressed throughout Austrofascism and the Nazi period. The party was refounded as the Socialist Party of Austria in 1945 and governed as a junior partner of the ÖVP until 1966. In 1970, the SPÖ became the largest party for the first time in post-war history, and Bruno Kreisky became Chancellor, winning three consecutive majorities (1971, 1975, and 1979). From 1987 to 2000 the SPÖ led a grand coalition with the ÖVP before returning to opposition for the first time in 30 years. The party governed again from 2007 to 2017. Since 2017, the SPÖ have been the primary opposition to the ÖVP governments of Sebastian Kurz, Alexander Schallenberg, and Karl Nehammer. source    

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:• Central European University: CEU• The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD• The Podcast Company: scopeaudio Follow us on social media!• Central European University: @CEU• Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks!  GlossaryDemocratic Odyssey (02:19 or p.1 in the transcript)The Democratic Odyssey is a decentralized, collaborative, and transparent exercise of crowdsourcing and co-creation kicked-off by a core consortium composed of The European University Institute's School of Transnational Governance, Particip-Action, European Alternatives, Citizens Take Over Europe, The Democracy and Culture Foundation, Democracy Next, Mehr Demokratie, Eliamep, The Real Deal, Phoenix, The European Capital of Democracy, as well as the Berggruen and Salvia Foundations. This community is open to all who want to be involved. Threatened from within and outside by the rise of partisan hyper-polarization, authoritarian buy-in, disinformation and electoral interference, European democracy is under attack on all sides. As Europe needs to address citizens' sense of disenfranchisement, pathways to renewal are necessary. For the Democratic Odyssey consortium, part of the solution lies in creating a standing European People's Assembly that will become a core part of the institutional landscape of the European Union, made of citizens selected by lot, serving on a rotating basis. This project comes at an opportune moment. In the past five years, in Europe, there have been ten national assemblies and around 70 local assemblies on the topic of climate change alone. The EU itself took a huge leap with the Conference on the Future of Europe which integrated transnational, multi-lingual, sortition-based deliberation into the policy making process. The Conference planted a seed which the Democratic Odyssey wants to make flourish. As James Mackay, the project's coordinator, declared in a recent interview with European Alternatives: “we are not aiming at making a ‘perfect' assembly (whatever that would even mean). Our hope is more modest: to offer a “proof of concept” that, in the window between the EP elections but before the new Commissions convenes, can bring grassroots and institutional actors together to consider how citizens' participation can be institutionalized in the longer term.” source

News from Spain where a far-right political party called Vox lost seats in the recent general election. Vox are culture warriors in the mould of the US MAGA movement: anti-migrant, anti-LGBT+, anti-Islam, anti-feminist and with a predilection for blocking action on EU climate goals. The response in Brussels to Vox's poor showing was triumphalism. But the uncomfortable truth is that Vox could well have been headed into power as the preferred coalition partner for Alberto Feijóo, the leader of the Spanish conservatives. As it turned out, the July 23 election was a stalemate. A coalition with Vox looks less likely, for now. But Vox could yet form part of a conservative-led government in future. And the prospect of conservatives relying on the far-right mirrors a similar dynamic across Europe. Conservatives already partner with the far-right in Italy, Sweden and Finland and at the regional level in Spain and Austria. Even the leader of Germany's conservative CDU has been eyeing such an arrangement. So how to make sense of this courtship of far-right parties? Can conservatives defang those to their right by co-opting them? Or does co-option merely give bigotry a bigger platform and move politics in a more radical direction? Whatever the case, conservatives bear a special responsibility when making alliances to their right. That special responsibility was the topic of our episode with Harvard professor Daniel Ziblatt a couple of years ago. We're re-running an abridged version of that conversation in response to what's happening in Spain — and because we're in the run up to EU election season. The European People's Party, which groups together centre-right national parties, is flirting more openly than ever with potential allies who represent a new era of blood and soil politics, and who balk at modern progressive democracy — including the need to address climate change. Conservative parties "have to deal with and think about and worry about what happens on their right edges," says Dan.  They must "figure out a strategy to distance themselves from these groups, but at the same time not allow these groups to get out of control, and shape politics."Support the show

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Moldova has attempted to forge closer ties with its Western neighbors. Geographically located between the EU and Ukraine, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn't given up on projecting power in the former Soviet republic. To discuss Moldova's shifting relationship with the EU and Russia, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Siegfriend Muresan, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Romania and vice chairman of the European People's Party. What are the biggest threats to Moldovan national security emanating from Russia? What have Moldovan officials done to protect Russian-speaking citizens most susceptible to the Kremlin's disinformation campaigns? To what extent is Moldova's integration into the EU stifled by its unresolved "frozen conflict" with Transnistria? Muresan also offers a primer on Romanian politics and an update on the country's accession into the Schengen Area.Show Notes: Sign up for the Eastern Front's biweekly newsletter here. Follow us on Twitter here.

DPOs must adopt a service mindset with Axel Voss (Member of EU Parliament) E079 S4 Axel Voss shares his views on successful GDPR and the importance of protecting the privacy of the citizens. Axel, a member of the EU parliament and part of creating legislation and laws, shares his perspective on the future of AI & privacy in Europe. He shares that businesses must go ahead with their ideas while DPO must adopt a service mindset. Let's listen to the conversation between Axel Voss and Punit Bhatia. KEY CONVERSATION POINTS GDPR in one word would be "successful" GDPR is essential for protecting the personal information of citizens AI must be trustworthy Businesses must implement their new ideas DPOs must adopt a service mindset ABOUT THE GUEST Axel Voss (CDU) - born in 1963 - studied law at the Universities of Trier, Freiburg, and Munich. Since 1994, he is working as a lawyer. From 1994 to 2000, he was a civil advisor at the EU Commission's representation in Germany. Afterward, he worked for nine years as a lecturer for European Affairs at the RheinAhrCampus of the College of Koblenz. He became a Member of the European Parliament in 2009, where he represents the Mittelrhein area, which includes the cities of Cologne, Bonn, and Leverkusen and the districts Rhein-Sieg and Rhein-Erft. Axel Voss is EPP coordinator for the Committee on Legal Affairs as well as deputy member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and from 2020 to 2022 member and rapporteur in the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence. Besides questions of European Law, his main area of expertise is the digitization of our daily life. For the European People's Party group, he was among others (shadow-)rapporteur for the new Copyright Directive, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Passenger Name Record Directive (PNR) as well as the updated Eurojust Regulation. At the moment, he is a (shadow-)rapporteur for the AI Act and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. Axel Voss is also CDU chair of the regional section Mittelrhein, regional chair of the Europe Union Bonn/Rhein-Sieg, and Vice President of the Mérite Européen Friendship and Assistance Association, Germany. For more information: www.axel-voss-europa.de ABOUT THE HOST Punit Bhatia is one of the leading privacy experts who works independently and has worked with professionals in over 30 countries. Punit works with business and privacy leaders to create an organizational culture with high privacy awareness and compliance as a business priority. Selectively, Punit is open to mentoring and coaching privacy professionals. Punit is the author of books “Be Ready for GDPR” which was rated as the best GDPR Book, “AI & Privacy – How To Find Balance”, “Intro To GDPR”, and “Be an Effective DPO”. Punit is a global speaker who has spoken at over 30 global events. Punit is the creator and host of the FIT4PRIVACY Podcast. This podcast has been featured among the top GDPR and privacy podcasts. As a person, Punit is an avid thinker and believes in thinking, believing, and acting in line with one's values to have joy in life. He has developed the philosophy named ‘ABC for the joy of life' which passionately shares. Punit is based out of Belgium, the heart of Europe. RESOURCES Websites www.axel-voss-europa.de , www.fit4privacy.com , www.punitbhatia.com Podcast https://www.fit4privacy.com/podcast Blog https://www.fit4privacy.com/blog --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fit4privacy/message

This Data Privacy Day, we have a message from Axel Voss. For business owners on Data Privacy Day. Go ahead with your idea. Concentrate on it, and make it as secure as possible from the starting point. It's privacy by design, avoiding a delay in your processes by waiting for the consent of the data protection authority. Concentrate on your product and keep in mind that it is as secure as possible, as privacy protected as possible. By doing so, you will be on the right track from the beginning. For Professionals / Practitioners in data protection. Enable it, then you can move forward with your ideas of achieving the best possible outcome. You need to have service orientated mindset when implementing data protection. As a legislator, I am not trying to reduce your potential. We should be there in aiding businesses and professional practitioners in creating and providing the relevant framework. And, please make sure that you are not overstepping the rights of others. But it's all a matter of mindset and using the potential of what is already there to be more successful as a result. This is a trailer from the full episode of The FIT4PRIVACY Podcast. If you like this, you would enjoy the full episode. If this is your first time, the FIT4PRIVACY Podcast is a privacy podcast for those who care about privacy. In this podcast, you listen to and learn from industry influencers who share their ideas. The episodes are released as audio every Wednesday and video every Thursday. If you subscribe to our podcast, you will be notified about the new episodes. And, if you have not done it, write a review and share this with someone who will benefit from this. RESOURCES Websites: www.fit4privacy.com, www.punitbhatia.com Take advantage of our Free GDPR training: https://www.fit4privacy.com/course/free CONNECT Instagram https://www.instagram.com/punit.world/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/PunitBhatiaSpeaker/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/fit4privacy-podcast --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fit4privacy/message