Free Republic

Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki has said Germany could begin repaying World War II reparations by financing the development of Poland’s defense industry and military capacity. Nawrocki made the remarks on Tuesday during a press briefing following visits to Berlin and Paris. In Germany, he met with president Frank-Walter Steinmeier and chancellor Friedrich Merz, where they discussed bilateral trade, European Union policy, and the issue of reparations. “I am in favor of Germany paying reparations to Poland,” the president said. He added that he had suggested Berlin could help finance Polish defense as part of a long-term settlement. “I suggested that...

BRUSSELS — U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has called on the EU’s remaining buyers of Russian fossil fuels to drop their campaign against the bloc’s efforts to end dependency on Moscow and buy from America instead. Speaking on Friday at an event in Brussels, where he has held meetings this week with officials on how to increase imports of American liquefied natural gas and cut off the flow of funds for Russia’s war on Ukraine, Wright said it would be preferable for Europe to get its supplies from “its friends.” Asked by POLITICO whether countries like Hungary and Slovakia,...

A total of 84% of people in Ireland are worried about the cost-of-living crisis, while fewer than one in seven believe Government is doing enough to address it. Almost half of 1,243 adults surveyed by Ipsos B&A for the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) said they feared that they would not meet household costs in the year ahead. The poll shows how economic inequality has “eroded trust” amongst the public according to IHREC, with 13% of people believing that Ireland’s wealth is distributed fairly. However, almost three-quarters of those surveyed said it is not. Eight in ten people...

Aerial footage shows a crowd of tens of thousands of people marching through central London on Saturday in a protest organised by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson. The Metropolitan police believe about 110,000 people attended his ‘unite the kingdom’ demonstration and about 5,000 a Stand Up to Racism counter-march

Mr President, thank you. Dear leftists, you have been attacking President Trump for years. Now you are whining about tariffs. You are not happy that he doesn't want to be your private bodyguard. But it's not Trump's decision to spend money on illegal migrants instead of the army or industry. It's not Trump's fault that you restricted European industry because of your green god and because of your sick ideology. It's not his fault! It's time to be a man. It's time to take care of yourself. It's time to stop wearing dresses and be a man. Put on armour,...

Members of the European Parliament dramatically refused a request to honor Charlie Kirk with a a moment of silence in the chamber Thursday. […] Swedish MEP Charlie Weimers of the European Conservatives and Reformists group, asked colleagues Thursday to pause proceedings in the house and to “declare that our right to freedom of speech cannot be extinguished.” Weimer’s wish was supported by members of Germany’s AfD and France’s Identity Liberties movement. But European Parliament President Roberta Metsola denied the request and said procedural rules requiring tributes had to be formally submitted at the opening of a plenary session. Since that...

Dublin City Council is to give its decision on planning permission for a seven-story development featuring a mosque and apartments at Blackpitts, Dublin 8. The project, entitled Al-Bari Mosque and Apartments, is being tendered by Barrett Mahony Civil & Structural Consulting Engineers. The proposed development is on the site of a former warehouse owned by Independent Clothing Holdings and will involve the demolition of the existing two-story structure. The company is owned by Azhar Bari who is from Pakistan, and who was advised on the project by the Clonskeagh Islamic Center, which is currently closed after a series of controversies...

For decades, US firms have enjoyed a strong foothold in Germany, particularly in the country’s western regions, which were under the control of the Western Allies after World War II. In the immediate postwar years, US cigarettes were so highly prized on the German black market that they effectively served as currency. […] Today, however, the climate has shifted. The image of the US in Germany has taken a major beating, raising questions about how US companies can maintain their reputation. Some US firms are now actively marketing their products as “Made in Germany.” […] Coca-Cola, perhaps more than any...

The European Union said on Monday it doesn’t “encourage” aid flotillas heading to Gaza, as vessels carrying humanitarian aid and pro-Palestinian activists including Greta Thunberg sail for the war-ravaged territory. “We don’t encourage flotillas like this, because basically they can escalate the situation, and they also put their participants at risk,” EU spokeswoman Eva Hrncirova said. She said the EU believes the “best way … to deliver the humanitarian aid” is via partner organizations working on the ground. …

Leaders of the MAGA movement have a new warning: Don’t let America become like Britain. That was the howling conclusion at a conference of MAGA-aligned policymakers and think tanks this week in Washington, where elite voices, many with close ties to President Donald Trump, painted a dystopian, misleading and anti-Muslim picture of England as a bastion for dangerous immigrants. Stephen K. Bannon, Trump’s former chief of staff who continues to be an influential adviser, decried the “threat of Islamism in the U.K.,” positioning Britain as a cautionary tale of how mass migration could affect the United States. Others called the...

Beginning Sept. 1, the European Union has banned an ingredient commonly found in gel nail polish. The banned substance, TPO (trimethylbenzoyl diphenylphosphine oxide), gives nails a super glossy sheen and a quick dry time under UV or LED light. However, it has been deemed toxic in the EU after several studies have shown that it can cause fertility issues and adversely affect reproductive health. Gel nail polish, which has gained popularity since the 2000s, is cured under UV or LED light, resulting in a hard, durable manicure.

There has been a steep rise in the number of citizens of the US seeking asylum in Ireland. Fifty-one people from the US applied for international protection in the first half of this year, more than in 2023 and 2024 combined. New figures from the Department of Justice show that 104 American citizens have looked for asylum in Ireland since the beginning of 2022. […] Immigration sources said that any individual seeking international protection from the United States was likely to face an uphill battle. “The number of claims from the US is small in terms of the volume of...

Ransomware hits Sweden: A ransomware attack on Swedish IT supplier Miljödata has paralysed up to 164 councils, four regions and other organisations, with police and cybersecurity teams investigating after hackers demanded 1.5 Bitcoin, around 1.5 million kronor (€128,000). Sweden is still reeling today after a ransomware attack on IT supplier Miljödata left councils, regions, universities and private firms in digital paralysis. Most Read on Euro Weekly News France tells hospitals to be war-ready by March 2026 Lisbon tram derailment leaves 15 dead German AfD suffers multiple candidate deaths Early reports suggested that around 200 municipalities and regional governments were caught...

A key leader in the world economy is warning that undue interference in the Federal Reserve’s operations by President Donald Trump could pose a serious economic risk to the U.S. and the rest of the world. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said in an interview with Radio Classique on Monday that efforts to remove Fed Chair Jerome Powell or Fed Governor Lisa Cook would “represent a very serious danger for the U.S. economy and the world economy.” “If U.S. monetary policy were no longer independent and instead dependent on the dictates of this or that person, then I believe...

ar AL-QATTAA/AFP/AFP More than 250 media outlets in over 70 countries staged a front page protest Monday highlighting the deaths of scores of journalists in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, the Reporters Without Borders media freedom group said. "At the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza by the Israeli army, there will soon be no-one left to keep you informed," the group's general director Thibaut Bruttin said in a statement. The protest was taken up on the website front pages of publications including Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, British news site The Independent, French newspapers La Croix and L'Humanite...

The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in 1949 with a solemn pledge: NATO members would not only defend one another against external aggression, they would safeguard “the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law.” These words matter. They mean that NATO is not simply a military alliance, it is a union of democracies. Its credibility rests on the idea that members govern themselves with the very liberties they claim to defend. Yet in recent years, several NATO states have drifted from these commitments, especially when confronted...

Europe is drawing up “pretty precise plans” for a multinational troop deployment to Ukraine as part of post-conflict security guarantees that will have the backing of US capabilities, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the Financial Times in an interview published on Aug 31. “President Trump reassured us that there will be (an) American presence as part of the backstop,” Dr von der Leyen told the FT, adding that “That was very clear and repeatedly affirmed.” -snip- European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte and von der Leyen are...

There was a 16% decrease in the number of immigrants arriving in Ireland in the 12 months to April 2025 as 125,300 came to live in the State, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office. It was the fourth successive year when there were more than 100,000 people coming to live in the country. It means net migration, the number of people arriving less those leaving, was 59,700, a drop of almost 20,000 on the previous year. Of the immigrants, 31,500 were returning Irish citizens, 25,300 were other EU citizens, 4,900 were UK citizens and the remaining...

Ever since the Europeans signed on to the F-35 program, it has been clouded by one persistent fear: that in some future geopolitical crisis, Washington might seek to exercise leverage by denying software updates or spare parts, thereby rendering the European fleet inoperable. But where does this geopolitical anxiety come from? Is it grounded in historical fact (i.e., have there been precedents in which the United States weaponized its control over advanced weapon systems against its allies)?

On Sunday, August 24th, Ukraine’s Independence Day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the existence of the Druzhba (Friendship) oil pipeline, just like the political friendship between Ukraine and Hungary, is now directly tied to Budapest’s position.During a press conference, a journalist asked if after the strikes on the Druzhba oil pipeline and appeals to U.S. President Donald Trump Ukraine had gained additional leverage over Hungary, especially in terms of the lifting of Budapest’s veto on opening EU accession negotiation clusters.Zelenskyy responded by saying that Ukraine has always supported friendship between the two countries, but its further existence now depends...