Free Republic

Ursula's new "European Media Freedom Act" permits the arrest of journalists if it is in the "public interest." ... The act also allows surveillance software to be deployed on devices used by media service providers, editorial staff, or related persons in the “public interest. Who decides the “public interest?” Sophie ... The new law also contains numerous provisions that call for action against alleged "disinformation." Ursula von der Leyen, EU Commission President ... "national lists" are to be created listing the owners and addresses of media outlets, as stipulated in Article 6. Despite its intent to strengthen media freedom, critics...

The EU is inching toward the biggest peacetime surveillance experiment in its history, with plans to quietly search every private message before you hit send. The European Union is still wrestling with a controversial plan that would turn private messaging services into surveillance tools. For over three years, talks have stalled over whether providers should be forced to scan every user’s messages for possible illegal material and forward anything suspicious to law enforcement. The European Commission is still pushing for a universal scanning requirement. In contrast, the European Parliament insists any checks should apply only to unencrypted messages from people...

Palestinian statehood comes at the end of negotiations for a two-state solution and that process can no longer be held in abeyance, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Thursday. “A negotiated two-state solution remains the only path that can offer people on both sides a life in peace, security, and dignity,” he said in a statement issued shortly before his trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, as reported by Ynet News. “For Germany, the recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of that process. But such a process must begin now.” Wadephul’s remarks follow a string...

The founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF) has been accused of ordering the falsification of research to make it appear that Brexit was detrimental to Britain’s economy. An internal probe conducted by the Homburger law firm into the alleged misconduct of former WEF Chairman and founder of the globalist Davos institution, Klaus Schwab, has reportedly found that the German-born economist orchestrated the manipulation of economic research to advance his political agendas. According to the Swiss Sonntags Zeitung newspaper, the architect of the Great Reset is accused of personally intervening during the World Economic Forum’s 2017/18 Global Competitiveness Report to...

The Netherlands’ counter-terrorism authority has included Israel in its latest report as one of the state actors assessed to pose a threat to the country’s security. The country is thus placed alongside Iran, North Korea and Turkey, among others. The Netherlands’ National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV) published on July 17, 2025, its annual report “Assessment of threats from state actors 2025” (Beoordeling Dreigingen door Staatactoren 2025), where Israel is listed for the first time as a security-threatening actor. Israel’s placement on the list is linked to assessments that the country uses informal methods to influence public opinion and...

In an interview with Euronews, Plamen Ralchev says: “The euro is a lifeboat that Bulgaria should board!" The scientist at the University of National and World Economics warns against right-wing populist parties exploiting the currency debate. The days of the Bulgarian lev are numbered! Bulgaria wants to introduce the European single currency, the euro, in January. The reform efforts are paying off: The European Commission, central bank and EU finance ministers have given the green light. Bulgaria meets all the conditions for the euro: Consumer prices are rising only slowly The budget deficit is low Public debt is one of...

The orders include the purchase of 20 Eurofighter jets from Airbus, up to 5,000 Boxer armored vehicles from Rheinmetall (ETR:RHMG), and at least 3,500 Patria Oyj armored vehicles, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions. The German cabinet is scheduled to approve its medium-term financial planning on Wednesday. The plan will more than double the country’s annual defense budget to as much as €162 billion ($189 billion) within four years.

Okay, this is a very big win. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen outlines some more details of the U.S-EU trade agreement. The parameters fall similar to the Japanese deal, without the banking aspect. The EU will face (and accept) a 15% tariff rate for most exports to the USA including autos, that’s huge, even with some zero-for-zero tariff sectors outlined. The primary motivating factor was to avoid the 35% tariff rate scheduled for August 1st and provide the EU corporations with certainty in their tariff rate as applied by the USA (15%). WATCH:This is almost full acquiescence to...

France will recognise a Palestinian state in September at the UN general assembly, Emmanuel Macron has said. The French president announced the decision on X on Thursday evening, saying he hoped it would bring peace to the region. Macron published a letter sent to Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, confirming France’s intention to become the first major western power to recognise a Palestinian state. “True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine,” Macron said. “I will make this solemn announcement at the...

“Germany is considering purchasing up to 2,500 armored fighting vehicles and as many as 1,000 battle tanks as part of a joint European effort to create new NATO brigades to deter Russia, according to people familiar with the matter. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has asked Germany to contribute as many as seven combat brigades to the alliance within the next decade. The fighting vehicles and tanks, if approved, would equip these forces, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.” “The order under consideration by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and the Bundeswehr’s top generals would include as...

Irish students seeking US educational and exchange visas will be required to make their social media profiles public to allow officials to review their online activity, the US Embassy in Dublin has said. In a statement on Monday, the embassy said the US State Department is “committed to protecting our nation and our citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process”. “A US visa is a privilege, not a right,” it said. The embassy said visa applicants will be required to list all social media usernames or handles for every platform they...

The EU cloaks supranational tax increases in green.On the hunt for fresh sources of cash, the European Commission has zeroed in on households and motorists. A planned expansion of the EU’s carbon pricing scheme to include home heating and transportation fuels is set to plug Brussels’ gaping budget deficit — at the expense of its citizens. What we are witnessing is a fiscal smash-and-grab dressed up in green. Starting in 2027, private homes, small businesses, and passenger vehicles will be folded into a second emissions trading system (ETS2), placing them under the strict control of EU-level cap-and-trade mechanisms. This bureaucratic...

PARIS/JERUSALEM, June 16 (Reuters) - France shut down the main Israeli company stands at the Paris Airshow on Monday for refusing to remove attack weapons from display, sparking a furious response from Israel and inflaming tensions between the traditional allies. Stands including those of Elbit Systems (ESLT.TA), opens new tab, Rafael, IAI and Uvision were blocked off with black partitions before the start of the world's biggest aviation trade fair. Smaller Israeli stands, which didn't have hardware on display, and an Israeli Ministry of Defence stand, remained open. France, a long-time Israeli ally, has gradually hardened its position on the...

On January 20, 2025, the first day of his second presidential term, Donald Trump signed an executive order: “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship.” The bad old days of the “censorship-industrial complex,” allegedly responsible for suppressing online speech under President Joe Biden, were over.Except they weren’t. The driving force behind online censorship had never been the U.S. government, which meant that freedom of speech could not be restored by the stroke of a president’s pen. Rather, the European Union has wielded its Digital Services Act (DSA) to restrict the speech not just of Europeans but especially of Americans...

MAGA firebrand Steve Bannon called on President Donald Trump to condemn Ukraine’s weekend drone attack on Russian airbases and “pull all support” after reports that the White House was not informed in advance of the offensive. More than 40 warplanes, including Russia’s Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bombers, were reportedly damaged or destroyed across four airbases in Murmansk and Irkutsk, thousands of miles from Ukraine’s border. The operation, which Ukraine revealed it had been in planning for 18-months, came just one day before Monday’s peace talks were set to begin in Istanbul. Axios reported on Sunday that sources within the administration...

Parties opposed to the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) continue to block it from exercising its rights—all in the name of stopping “fascism.”Germany’s self-proclaimed democracy defenders are at it again: blocking a law-abiding party from exercising its rights—all in the name of protecting democracy. The Alternative for Deutschland (AfD), a pro-free market, anti-EU, anti-mass migration party, placed second in Germany’s recent parliamentary elections, earning nearly 21 percent of the vote to the top vote-getter’s, the Christian Democratic Union’s, 28 percent. The AfD placed well ahead of the once-dominant Social Democratic Party (16 percent) and the Greens (11 percent).By longstanding tradition, the...

In the swish hotel conference rooms and cafés of the Brussels EU quarter, the indignation was palpable: Why had poor Henrik been singled out? Henrik Hololei, a gregarious Estonian who had reached the heights of director-general in the EU’s civil service, had been caught accepting freebies from the government of Qatar while his department was negotiating a lucrative aviation deal ― with, ever so coincidentally, Qatar. It was fine, the European Commission said when the matter came to light in 2023: All his free flights had been signed off by a senior person in the department. Trouble was, the senior...

You can find many unusual things in gardens, but stumbling upon a treasure worth millions of Dollars isn’t exactly common. Michel Dupont, a 52-year-old farmer from Auvergne, accidentally discovered a gold deposit on his land valued at 4 billion Dollars. This discovery stands as one of the most significant finds in French history. However, Dupont’s joy was short-lived, as the government soon informed him that everything found beneath his garden legally belongs to the state. The discovery occurred while Dupont was walking along a stream on his farm and noticed a strange shimmer in the water. He dug into the...

For about 30 hours, the illusion of transatlantic unity over Ukraine was maintained. Europe and Ukraine had demanded a deal on the 30-day unconditional ceasefire the Trump administration proposed two months earlier. European leaders said US President Donald Trump had personally backed their plan – and threat of sanctions if Russia declined to sign up by Monday – in a Saturday phone call, a picture of which they posted online from Kyiv. Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, even joined a chorus of US allies demanding Russia adhere to the ceasefire demand. But then Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke,...

Facial recognition technology is creeping into Ireland fast – and not everyone’s grinning about it. Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan has announced that controversial facial recognition legislation will be introduced before the summer, after years of political wrangling, privacy fears and digital drama. The tech – already rolled out across parts of the UK – is being hailed as the Gardaí’s new secret weapon in crime-fighting. But critics say it’s a step too far into Big Brother territory. Are we gradually sliding into that dystopian future? All we can say is, it edges a little closer every day. Back from the...