Free Republic

Louise Meijer, an MP for Sweden’s centrist Moderate party, apologised to voters for her previous position on open borders. She regrets “making mistakes” by “pleading for openness and refugees [being] welcome”, she says. Meijer says she “changed her mind” over her views, in an opinion piece for Expressen this week. “Now, instead, I am advocating an even stricter migration policy than the one I opposed at the time,” she says. Political sentiments around migration have shifted swiftly in Sweden, with now even leaders of the Social Democrats saying they favour more strict migration policies. Sweden today is a “completely different...

Finland’s center-right National Coalition Party was on course to take power in a general election Sunday after voter concerns about the economic outlook fed dissatisfaction with Social Democrat incumbent Sanna Marin, a star of the European left. With 99 percent of votes counted, the National Coalition Party (NCP) under the leadership of Petteri Orpo had secured 48 of Finland’s 200 parliamentary seats, pushing Marin’s party into third place with 43. The far-right Finns Party was second with 46 seats. The defeat of Marin would represent the latest blow for the European left with Germany’s Olaf Scholz under pressure at home...

Europe to send modern armoured vehicles as Russia prepares new mobilisation Kyiv and allies have been calling on Germany to send Leopard 2 battle tanks Germany has been reluctant, but foreign minister has signalled shift if position Germany would not block Poland sending its Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, its foreign minister said, in a blow for Putin and his invading forces. Ukrainian officials have been calling on Western allies to supply them the modern German-made armour for months, but Germany has held back from sending them or allowing other Nato countries to do so. In apparent shift, Annalena...

The far right appears close to causing an earthquake in Swedish politics, the Sweden Democrats becoming the country’s second-largest party while the wider rightwing bloc that it leads edged towards a slim victory over the incumbent centre-left. Exit polls on Sunday night at first suggested a narrow victory for the Social Democrats and their centre-left allies. But as the votes were counted the tally swung towards the right. With more than 90% of the vote counted, the right bloc of four parties had a share of the vote corresponding to 176 of 349 seats in parliament, with the left bloc...

Pressure was mounting on Germany to up its game over the war in Ukraine on Tuesday as Kyiv snubbed the country's president and Chancellor Olaf Scholz was accused of a weak response to the crisis. On a visit to Poland, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier admitted he had offered to visit Ukraine with other EU leaders, but Kyiv had told him he was not welcome right now. "I was prepared to do this, but apparently, and I must take note of this, this was not wanted in Kyiv," Steinmeier told reporters. Steinmeier, a former foreign minister, has faced growing criticism since Russia...

BERLIN (AP) — Members of Germany's biggest opposition party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, have chosen prominent conservative Friedrich Merz as its new leader, the party said Friday. Merz's election with a strong mandate appears to mark at least a symbolic break with the Merkel era. Making his third run for the CDU's top post, he took 62.1% support in a ballot of the party's membership to beat two centrist contenders. A party convention next month will have to sign off officially on the membership vote, but that should only be a formality. Armin Laschet,...

Germany’s incoming government, led by the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), were pressed to clarify their foreign policy priorities at a press conference on Tuesday. Having officially signed a three-party coalition agreement, Chancellor-designate Olaf Scholz and the rest of his Cabinet members are expected to take office on Wednesday after a vote and swearing-in ceremony in the German parliament. Scholz put Europe in focus as he fielded questions on Russia, China and the United States alongside Greens co-leader and incoming vice chancellor Robert Habeck as well as Free Democrat (FDP) chief and incoming Finance Minister Christian Lindner. Strengthening the European Union...

BERLIN (AP) – Two German state election defeats have put the spotlight on chances of a government without Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bloc after September’s national vote. A possible contender to succeed her said Monday that the center-right needs to raise its game to keep the country’s top job. Final results showed that Merkel´s Christian Democratic Union was handily defeated in Sunday´s elections by two popular incumbent state governors: the Green party´s Winfried Kretschmann in Baden-Wuerttemberg and the center-left Social Democrats´ Malu Dreyer in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Plans to accommodate “unwanted” migrants on Lindholm, an uninhabited Danish island, have been officially scrapped by the Social Democratic government. Minister for Immigration and Integration Matthias Tesfaye gave on Thursday official confirmation that the facility, plans for which were put in place by the previous government, has now been permanently shelved. Tesfaye’s ministry confirmed the decision via email. “It is very expensive to sail criminal foreigners back and forth between Lindholm and the mainland. One night on the island costs the same as one night at a luxury hotel,” read a Tesfaye statement included in the email. “But that is...

Germany’s Social Democrat (SPD) Environment Minister Svenja Schulze presented three independent studies on possible carbon tax schemes in Berlin on Friday. Insisting such a tax would not unduly burden the poor, she said, “those who decide to live a more climate-friendly life could actually get money back.” The plans Schulze presented suggested an initial €35 ($39.50) tax on each metric ton of CO2, to be increased to €180 by 2030, the idea being that the more expensive petrol, natural gas, and heating oil become, the less people will use. Schulze told reporters that those who consume less, including children, will...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s grand coalition government was plunged into turmoil Sunday when the leader of the Social Democrats resigned abruptly under pressure after her center-left party suffered a humiliating defeat in last week’s European Parliament elections. Andrea Nahles, the first woman to head Germany’s oldest party, announced she would quit as party chairwoman, parliamentary floor leader and even give up her seat in the German parliament after her attempt to snuff out a brewing rebellion over the party’s frightening slide backfired.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has lost a confidence vote in parliament, removing him from office over a political scandal that brought down his coalition government. The no-confidence motion on May 27 was backed by lawmakers from the Social Democrats and the far-right Freedom Party, which was in coalition with Kurz until the chancellor ended their alliance last week. The political crisis was triggered last week by a 2017 video purportedly showing his vice chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, offering contracts to a potential Russian benefactor in exchange for political donations. Strache, with the Freedom Party, announced his resignation from the government on...

A Swedish government agency has launched an investigation into the youth wing of Malmö’s center-left Social Democrats after one of its activists chanted the words “Crush Zionism” during the party’s procession on labor Day. The SSU Malmö group could be partially stripped of its funding if the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society rules that it broke acceptable standards. “According to our guidelines, we launch investigations like this when we receive information which might affect the possibility of continuing an existing grant,” Lotta Persson, the agency’s legal head, told Swedish state broadcaster SVT. The chant, which SSU initially claimed...

Slovakia will not have a representative at the December 10 UN meeting in Marrakesh where the Migration Compact will be signed. Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini stated this as a final decision, given that the cabinet approved the parliamentary resolution about the Marrakesh Pact on December 5. At the same time, the prime minister indicated he will send a letter with Slovakia's comments on the document. The Migration Compact has been at the centre of the conflict between the ruling coalition Smer and Slovak National Party (SNS) and the Smer-nominated Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajãák. The minister defended the compact and insisted...

Sinan Selen, a 46-year-old Istanbul-born counter-terrorism expert, will be the first Muslim to fill a top leadership position within Germany's intelligence community. Throughout his government career, Selen has been resolute in confronting Islamic fundamentalists in Germany. He also led efforts at the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) to monitor the Turkish nationalist Milli Görüs, an influential Islamist movement strongly opposed to Muslim integration into European society. The leadership changes at the BfV were spurred by a cellphone video that purportedly showed right-wing mobs attacking migrants over the murder of a German citizen in Chemnitz by...

After Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, Estonia has also left the UN migration pact. “In forming the governing coalition, we agreed that we make decisions only by consensus. The government has today failed to reach agreement at the Cabinet meeting on support for the UN migration pact. Therefore, the government will not join the agreement, “wrote Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (Center Party) on Thursday on Facebook.The comprehensive management of immigration is important for all countries, emphasised Ratas. However, the laws of Estonia are already in line with democratic and European principles. This also applies to the future. For the...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will allegedly fire the head of the country’s domestic intelligence service after he countered claims of “migrant hunts” during one of the many Chemnitz protests. Government sources claim that the German leader has decided to relieve Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) chief Hans-Georg Maassen of his post following a number of incidents including his rejection of a video that allegedly showed angry demonstrators in Chemnitz “hunting” migrants following the murder of Daniel Hillig, Die Welt reports. The sources claim that Merkel decided the fate of the spy chief over the weekend, telling...

In Sweden, the influx of 163,000 asylum seekers in 2015 - the most in Europe in relation to the country’s population of 10 million - has polarized voters and fractured the political consensus. The ruling center-left Social Democrats and Greens and their Left Party parliamentary allies were seen winning 39.4 percent of the vote, while the opposition center-right Alliance were seen at 39.6 percent. “I think we are going to top 20 percent and maybe a bit more than that, so I am still hopeful it can go up even more than we see now,” Sweden Democrat party secretary Richard...

Exit poll projects center-left party will win Swedish election, far-right party with white supremacist roots coming in second. STOCKHOLM (AP) — An exit poll indicated that Sweden's first general election since the Scandinavian country accepted a significant number of asylum-seekers was likely to have the center-left party governing now as its winner, but an anti-immigrant party with white supremacist roots placing second in balloting Sunday. Public broadcaster SVT said immediately after polls closed that its exit poll indicated the ruling Social Democrats would remain Sweden's largest party, but making its worst-ever showing with 26.2 percent of the vote. The exit...

“Keep calm and carry on.” In the wake of a disastrous G7 summit where US president Donald Trump all but broke off the Western alliance, the EU should stay cool and prepare to take over global leadership. That is the message on Monday (11 June) by a former member of the EU leaders club, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. “The US is leaving a vacuum. And who should step in? For me, it is completely obvious, it is Europe’s time to step in,” the former Danish prime minister said at an event in Brussels. “That’s where our new next opportunity is,” she said,...