Free Republic

EU Commission Plans The Final Solution To “Disinformation on the Internet” There are growing concerns in Brussels over the disinformation given citizens over the internet. That is why an “expert group” of researchers, journalists and the representatives of platforms is meeting in Brussels, and will eventually present suggestions to the EU Commission for a final solution to avoid disinformation on the internet. “Since the election of Donald Trump as the president of the USA at the end of 2016, there are increasing worries in Europe that fake news on the internet might drastically manipulate public debate. The EU commission therefore...

The relations between Ukraine and Hungary have now shifted from friendly-neutral, as they were in the early 1990s, to a diplomatic war that for Kiev can turn into not only problems in the matter of European integration, but also possible separation of Transcarpathian Ukraine. According to the Kyiv authorities, these processes are related not so much to the violation of the rights of linguistic minorities in Ukraine, but rather to the upcoming parliamentary elections in Hungary. To the current round of confrontation between the two countries, the Law on Education, adopted in September in Ukraine, according to which teaching in...

Berlin must work with Paris to improve and deepen the European Union, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel urged as his Social Democrats weigh renewing a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel. France and Germany, once bitter enemies, “have a joint responsibility to develop all of Europe further,” he told AFP, highlighting “reform of the economic and monetary union” as a top priority. Historically, the two countries have been the powerhouse of the economic integration project that became the European Union; but French President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to shore up the 19-nation euro single currency area and deepen European integration are on...

Britain’s foreign secretary Boris Johnson says it’s time Britain and France were linked by a bridge, calling it “ridiculous” that the two European powers were “only linked by a single rail line”. But is it even possible? And which side of the road would they drive on? The often loose-tongued and bungling Johnson made the eyebrow raising suggestion at Thursday’s Franco-British summit, held at a British army base. Johnson, who along with Theresa May had thrashed out a new summit with French president Emmanuel Macron, championed the idea of a bridge over the English Channel. […] … [T]he idea of...

Switzerland may not be in the European Union, but it could nevertheless face its own “Brexit” if the Swiss people were to vote against the free movement of people. That’s the conclusion of commentators following the launch of the SVP’s new popular initiative, which wants to ask the Swiss public to decide, once and for all, if they wish to maintain the country’s current relationship with the EU or go their own way. The initiative “For limited immigration” proposes that Switzerland manage its immigration policy unilaterally. If accepted at referendum, the Swiss government would have one year to put an...

Horst Seehofer -- the leader of the Christian Democrats (CDU) ally, the Christian Social Union -- is calling on Angela Merkel and Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Martin Schulz to make sure that the talks between Merkel's CDU and Schulz's SPD are successful. Seehofer says the Social Democrats shooting down the results of the talks on Sunday would absolutely be a "catastrophe" for Germany. When asked by German newspaper Bild whether he has faith in the SPD -- which seems to be internally divided on the question whether or not it should form a coalition with the CDU -- Seehofer...

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is considering joining French President Emmanuel Macron at the World Economic Forum in Davos next week in what could turn into an epic clash of competing world views with U.S. President Donald Trump. Merkel, who has been struggling to put together a government since a German election in September, had been expected to skip the annual gathering of leaders, CEOs, bankers and celebrities in the Swiss Alps for a third straight year. But after clinching a preliminary coalition agreement with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) on Friday, German officials said Merkel could travel...

Assaults by inmates linked to Islamic extremism prompted a second day of strikes by prison guards across France on Tuesday, casting a spotlight on the challenges of handling radicalized prisoners. The attacks come as French officials test a range of preventive measures after a string of jihadist attacks over the past two years that have left more than 240 people dead. Some of those responsible were involved in Islamist networks in jail. They include Cherif Kouachi, one of the gunmen who attacked satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015, and his friend Amedy Coulibaly, who killed four at a Jewish...

Subway drivers are refusing to stop at some stations in Paris because of a surge in violent crime at some stops, it has emerged. Frightened drivers say they are not calling at certain stations in the French capital's north east in order to 'protect passengers' and themselves. Some stations are increasingly being used by crack dealers, they say, with Marx Dormoy on line 12 and Marcadet-Poissonniers on lines 12 and 4 said to be among the worst hit.

The progressive billionaire speculator George Soros has said he will ‘fight back’ against the “dominant ideology” of nationalism, whilst admitting that favoured globalist project the European Union is “on the verge of a breakdown”. Wistfully writing that Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF) once ‘epitomised the optimism about the spread of Western-style democracy’ after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Financial Times described the scrutiny the global progressive body is experiencing amidst a wave of patriotism and populism and the ‘wilting’ attraction of the leftist agenda. Soros, alluding to the collapse of the USSR, told the left-liberal newspaper: “It’s déjà...

A British-born man living in Waterford for the past decade has pleaded guilty to charges of receiving or sending money intended for terrorist group Islamic State. Hassan Bal, who is an Irish and British passport holder, on Friday pleaded guilty to the two charges at Waterford Circuit Court. He has been in police custody since May 2017. Bal, 26, was charged with a number of offenses last year, appearing in court on Friday to face two charges relating to the providing of funding to the so-called Islamic State organization. On October 2, 2015, Bal allegedly sent €400 ($487) to Bosnia,...

European Union Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday urged Britain to change its mind about leaving the bloc next year, as time to conclude a Brexit agreement runs short and EU leaders await more details on how the country sees their future ties. Britain is set to leave the EU on March 29, 2019, but the complex negotiations on its costly departure and future EU-U.K. relations must be concluded by October to leave parliaments time to ratify any agreement. […] “If the U.K. government sticks to its decision to leave, Brexit will become a reality, with all its negative consequences,...

(YouTube) Blogs  |  Jan. 15, 2018 Vatican: Papal Honor for Pro-Abortion Politician Not a Sign of Support In a statement, the Holy See Press Office says Dutch militant pro-abortion politician Lilianne Ploumen was given the ancient papal honor as ‘diplomatic practice’ for a visiting official head of state delegation to the Vatican.

The German federal police are expanding its anti-terrorism unit GSG 9 and installing a special squad in Berlin. The move is a reaction to ongoing terrorist threats in the capital. The federal police squad that deals with terrorist attacks is to become significantly larger, and will set up a second base in Berlin. “We’re talking about around a third of the current strength of the unit,” GSG 9 commander Jérome Fuchs told Berlin state broadcaster RBB on Monday, before adding that finding the right personnel would be a “big challenge,” and that “fitness, strength of character, and teamwork” were particular...

Berlin fears the European Parliament’s planned amendment to the so-called Dublin Regulation could see many more refugees settling in Germany, news magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday. The Dublin Regulation requires people seeking asylum to register in the first EU state they enter, and for that state to assume responsibility for processing their claim. But if the proposed reform is passed, responsibility could shift from the arrival state to the EU country where any of the applicant’s relatives live. Under such a change, “Germany would have to accommodate significantly more asylum seekers,” said an Interior Ministry memo, quoted by Der Spiegel....

A promise of a flat tax by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Friday sparked sharp reactions from opponents ahead of a general election and head-scratching among economists. Campaigning ahead of a general election on March 4th at the helm of the conservative Forza Italia movement, Berlusconi said on TV late on Thursday that such a tax would start at the current minimum rate of 23 percent, before being brought down to below 20 percent. The remarks by Berlusconi — who never sought to introduce a flat tax during his three terms as prime minister — immediately drew criticism from...

France does not want to treat its workers like the UK and US, with zero hours contracts and no protection for the unemployed, Philippe Martinez, the head of the hardline CGT, France’s biggest trade union, has said. Last year, Martinez and his leftist union fought an unsuccessful battle with President Emmanuel Macron over a raft of reforms aimed at freeing up France’s rigid jobs market. Those controversial reforms cut into the power of France’s trade unions and made it easier for firms to lay off staff. Martinez believes Macron is influenced by the “Anglo-Saxon” model but he does not want...

When Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the US last January, politicians in Berlin worried that it could have a dramatic impact on relations between the two allies. A year on, there are reasons for optimism, as well as continued concern. […] Top of the list of German concerns about a Trump administration were his insinuations that the US would no longer automatically come to the defense of Europe in the event of an attack on a NATO member. And the fact that he repeatedly barracked Germany for its trade surplus with the US in his...

Theresa May is to announce a war on plastic waste, with proposed policies including plastics-free aisles in supermarkets and a tax on takeaway containers. The prime minister will set out her ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste within 25 years in a major speech on Thursday in which she will promise the UK will lead internationally on environmental issues. But campaign groups said the aspirations would need to be backed up by legislation. They also warned that leaving the EU risked weakening environmental protections, and called for the government to promise it would not water down green standards in...

Donald Tusk, the EU Council president and former prime minister of Poland, warned on Wednesday that Warsaw’s Law and Justice (PiS) government could push the country towards what is already being dubbed in Brussels as “Polexit.” In an interview in Polish weekly Tygodnik Powszechny, Tusk said that “for PiS the benefit of being in the EU boils down to the balance of payments, with a complete disregard for other benefits like the common market, legal order, guaranteed security, etc.” He added: “As long as we’re not a net contributor, the game is worth the candle for them. So I can...