Free Republic

German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht on Thursday warned against drawing a link between the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, meant to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany, and the differences with Moscow over Ukraine. "We should not drag (Nord Stream 2) into this conflict," Lambrecht told the broadcaster rbb in an interview. "We need to solve this conflict, and we need to solve it in talks - that's the opportunity that we have at the moment, and we should use it rather than draw a link to projects that have no connection to this conflict."

In December, while the world’s attention was on the emergence of the omicron coronavirus variant, the German Institute for Economic Research revived a centuries-old idea to help tackle wealth inequality. Universal Basic Inheritance, or Grunderbe in German, would assign €20,000 ($22,720) to each resident upon reaching 18 years of age. The sum would be earmarked to pay for education or training, a property downpayment or for starting a business — not to be squandered. The idea is in a similar vein to the Universal Basic Income, a welfare replacement scheme being trialed by governments around the world, which awards people...

David Sassoli, the president of the European Parliament, died early Tuesday in Italy, his spokesman and the parliament’s office in Washington said. He was 65. ..... No cause of death was immediately available. But he was hospitalized with severe pneumonia during a plenary session of the Parliament in Strasbourg, France, in September. He later returned to Italy to recover, The Associated Press reported. Mr. Sassoli was hospitalized again in Italy on Dec. 26 because his immune system was not functioning normally, his spokesman, Roberto Cuillo, said on Monday on social media.

Landing in jail for fare evasion is still possible in Germany. But the coalition government wants to change this, according to a German news report.You may be surprised to know that, in Germany, riding public transport without a ticket — so-called Schwarzfahren — is a criminal offense which can lead to hefty fines and, in extreme cases, up to one year in prison. But according to a report from Der Spiegel, the new German coalition government is now considering decriminalizing riding on public transport without a ticket. According to the report, government officials are examining whether minor offenses such as...

Italy’s government on Wednesday issued a decree making COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for everyone aged 50 and other, while French citizens pondered President Emmanuel Macron’s assertion – using coarse language – to the effect that he wanted to make life so unpleasant for the unvaccinated that they would submit. After a unanimous vote by the Italian cabinet, Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government did not announce what penalties would be applied in cases of non-compliance. Workers over 50 will have to show passes before entering workplaces, certifying them to be vaccinated or recently recovered from COVID-19. Vaccine mandates will apply, regardless of...

Dublin, Ireland, Jan 4, 2022 / 12:00 pm (CNA). Ireland is preparing to follow France in offering free contraception to women under 25 years of age. The French government introduced the measure on Jan. 1, while the Irish authorities have promised to make contraception free for women aged between 17 and 25 years from August. French officials said that the change would apply to three million young women out of a population of 67.4 million people. Contraception is already free for minors (under 18s). Along with Sweden, France has the highest total fertility rate of the 27 member states of...

Germany’s new foreign minister heads to Washington this week for talks likely to be dominated by the Russia-Ukraine crisis, amid reports that her boss, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, is looking to reset strained relations with Moscow and plans to meet with President Vladimir Putin this month. Germany has just assumed the rotating presidency of the G7 for 2022, and any disunity within its three-party coalition government over confronting challenges posed by Russia or China could have far-reaching implications. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, co-leader of the Greens, favors a tougher approach to Moscow and Beijing than does Scholz of the center-left Social...

The Government decision to introduce minimum unit pricing on alcohol this week has been welcomed by Alcohol Action Ireland. The new law will largely affect alcohol sold in off-licenses, shops and supermarkets. For that past decade, the Government has been seeking to bring in minimum unit pricing as part of a number of measures to help reduce the harm caused by excessive alcohol consumption. The aim is to change dangerous patterns of alcohol behavior particularly amongst young drinkers, who are buying cheap alcohol before they go out in what is known as pre-drinking. This alcohol will now be more expensive...

While EU member states provide financial support to poor households affected by rising energy bills, the European Commission is focusing on long term solutions like energy efficiency and renewables, which have the potential to “eradicate energy poverty” once and for all, an EU official dealing with the issue has said. Energy poverty is “a pre-existing problem” to the current energy price hike, which is linked to the inability of people to pay their fossil fuel bills, said Adela Tesarova, an official at the Commission’s energy department. “We want to avoid that decarbonisation makes this problem worse,” she told a EURACTIV...

French authorities on Sunday removed a large European Union flag attached to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris after right-wing and far-right opponents of President Emmanuel Macron accused him of “erasing” French identity. “Preside over Europe yes, erase French identity no!” tweeted Valerie Pecresse, the conservative candidate for the Republicans. Polls indicate she could be the primary challenger to French President Emmanuel Macron in the upcoming vote. She called on Macron to restore the French flag at the iconic war monument. “We owe it to our soldiers who spilled their blood for it,” she said. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen...

A member of the European Parliament suggested to the European Central Bank (ECB) on Sunday that BioNTech founders Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci be depicted on one of the notes. German Free Democrat (FDP) politician Moritz Körner was the first one to make the suggestion. “Important European figures like the BioNTech founding couple Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci should be printed on the new euro notes,” said Körner, as quoted by German newspaper Welt am Sonntag. “Their work has saved the lives of millions of Europeans. The trajectory of their life is an impressive story about integration, progress, entrepreneurship, scientific...

Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö on Saturday reiterated his country’s right to join Nato if it wants to, in a dismissal of Russian demands for no further expansion of the Western military alliance near its borders. “Finland’s room to manoeuvre and freedom of choice also include the possibility of military alignment and of applying for Nato membership, should we ourselves so decide,” President Niinistö said in his New Year address. Last month Russian President Vladimir Putin sought guarantees that Finland would not join Nato. In a statement released by the Kremlin, President Putin said Russian wants “international legal security guarantees” ruling...

PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of empty, parked cars go up in flames in France each New Year’s Eve, set afire by young revelers, a much lamented tradition that appeared in decline this year, which saw only 874 vehicles burned. The number of cars burned overnight has declined compared to New Year’s Eve 2019 when 1,316 vehicles went up in flames, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Saturday on Twitter. Fewer arson attacks occurred because of massive police presence on cities’ streets this New Year’s Eve, enforcing law and order and restrictions on public gatherings and wearing face masks as infections driven...

Germany on Friday shut down half of the six nuclear plants it still has in operation, a year before the country draws the final curtain on its decades-long use of atomic power. The decision to phase out nuclear power and shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy was first taken by the center-left government of Gerhard Schroeder in 2002. His successor, Angela Merkel, reversed her decision to extend the lifetime of Germany’s nuclear plants in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan and set 2022 as the final deadline for shutting them down. The three reactors now being...

Ever-growing environmental threats are pushing many animals and plants to the brink of extinction — the scale of which hasn’t been seen since dinosaurs died out, the German branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said on Wednesday. The stark warnings came as WWF Germany released its “Winners and Losers of 2021,” an annual list of animals whose existence is now acutely under threat — as well as conservation victories. There are currently 142,500 animal and plant species on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) — 40,000 of which are “threatened with extinction.” It...

France has ordered the closure of a mosque in Beauvais, a town north of Paris The mosque will be closed for six months according to regional government It said the imam's sermons were inciting hatred, violence and 'defending jihad'

More than 100 are deployed in a training and advisory role with Polish, US and Canadian forces. The move to shape an exit strategy follows Defence Secretary Ben Wallace saying it is "highly unlikely" UK forces will fight Russian troops on Ukrainian soil. Satellite images from US firm Maxar Technologies have revealed a new brigade-level unit, consisting of hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles, situated at an army base in Crimea. Moscow has also published changes in regulations to allow military fatalities to be buried in theater rather than be repatriated to Russia. This is widely seen as an attempt...

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday that his country plans to double the number of settlers living in the Golan Heights. The plan was approved by the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday, Bennett’s office said. The move comes nearly three years after the United States, under former President Donald Trump, recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan, which Israel captured from Syria more than five decades ago. Trump’s declaration was condemned by the rest of the international community as the annexation is not widely recognized. […] Israel conquered the Golan Heights in 1967 and 14 years later, in 1981, annexed the...

Poland’s deputy prime minister and the leader of its ruling party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, accused Germany’s new government of wanting to turn the European Union into a federal “German Fourth Reich.” In an interview with far-right Polish daily GPC published on Friday, the head of the Law and Justice (PiS) party said that some countries “are not enthusiastic at the prospect of a German Fourth Reich being built on the basis of the EU.” […] He added that the EU’s Court of Justice was being used as an “instrument” for federalist ideas. […] The agreement forged by the three parties to...

The European Union’s executive Commission is considering whether to include nuclear and natural gas in its “sustainable finance taxonomy”, a rulebook that will restrict which activities can be labelled as climate-friendly investments. “We are going to have most likely a discussion tomorrow in college, which then will lead… to approval next year,” EU environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius told a news conference on Monday, referring to the Commission’s weekly “college” meeting.