Free Republic

The EU’s plan to watch what you spend.and modernization. But, much like the Chinese model that seems to inspire ECB President Christine Lagarde, what is at stake is not just technology: it is the risk of turning a payment instrument into a mechanism of control over every citizen’s transactions. Across the Atlantic, the United States took the opposite path: it legalized stablecoins and banned a centralized digital dollar, strengthening freedom and competition instead of state control.On September 26, the European Central Bank announced what had long been anticipated: it will conduct new experiments on what can be achieved with the...

Swiss voters have narrowly approved a plan to introduce voluntary electronic identity cards. With all votes counted, 50.4% of those who voted said yes to the proposal, while 49.6% rejected it. The closeness of the ballot is a surprise. Opinion polls had suggested up to 60% backed digital IDs, which also had the approval of the Swiss government, and both houses of parliament. It was Switzerland's second vote on digital IDs. An earlier proposal was rejected in 2021, amid concerns the data would be held centrally, and controlled largely by private providers. Sunday's revised proposal keeps the system in government...

European officials fear that US President Donald Trump's new rhetoric on Ukraine is aimed at shifting blame to Europe. Trump is calling on the EU for tougher sanctions against Russia and tariffs on China and India, which Europeans consider unfeasible.European officials fear that US President Donald Trump's latest rhetoric on Ukraine "is intended to set them an impossible mission" that will allow the American leader to "shift the blame from Washington if Kyiv fails in the war or runs out of money," the Financial Times reports, writes UNN.Details As the publication writes, "after months of pressuring Ukraine to settle with...

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism. Daniel became CEO of the David Horowitz Freedom Center in 2025. PM Keir Starmer in the UK, Macron in France and other Western leaders who decided to recognize an Islamic terrorist state inside Israel have tried to pretend that they aren’t recognizing Hamas or helping Hamas.However, Hamas leaders have made it clear again and again that they are and that it’s the result of Oct 7.“The powerful blow that was delivered to Israel on...

"The Israeli prime minister’s plane took an unusual circuitous route to New York in an apparent attempt to avoid entering the airspace of countries where he is wanted for war crimes...avoided Spanish and French airspace, according to the aviation website Flight Tracker."

If U.S. President Donald Trump really wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize, he needs to stop the war in Gaza, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday. Speaking to France's BFM TV from New York, Macron said that only Trump has the power to put pressure on Israel to end the war. "There is one person who can do something about it, and that is the U.S. president. And the reason he can do more than us, is because we do not supply weapons that allow the war in Gaza to be waged. We do not supply equipment that...

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce the UK's recognition of a Palestinian state in a statement on Sunday afternoon. The move comes after the prime minister said in July the UK would shift its position in September unless Israel met conditions including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza and committing to a long-term sustainable peace deal that delivers a two-state solution. It represents a major change in British foreign policy after successive governments said recognition should come as part of a peace process and at a time of maximum impact. The move has drawn fierce criticism from the Israeli...

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...

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...

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has become a “problem,” adding she will try to put pressure on Israel over the Gaza war as her country currently holds the EU presidency. “Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen says in an interview with the Jyllands-Posten daily, adding that the Israeli government is going “too far.” The center-right leader slams the “absolutely appalling and catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza and new settlement project in the West Bank. “We are one of the countries that wants to increase pressure on Israel, but we have not yet obtained...

As an openly gay politician who lives with her Sri Lanka-born partner in Switzerland, Alice Weidel was an unusual choice to many to lead Germany’s far-right AfD into Sunday’s elections, where it scored its best-ever result. To her legions of political foes, Weidel serves as a “fig leaf” for a party that has railed against asylum seekers, Islam and multiculturalism and some of whose top figures have voiced revisionist views on Germany’s Nazi past. On Sunday the 46-year-old, who says Margaret Thatcher is her political idol, led the Moscow-friendly AfD to a record result of around 20 percent. She told...

Former President Mary Robinson has condemned what she called “ridiculous”, “nonsense” and “malicious lying” regarding Israeli claims that it is ready to distribute aid into Gaza. Mrs. Robinson said that Israeli claims that UN agencies are not working quickly enough to distribute aid are “all ridiculous”. “We saw the most there was incredible collaboration between the Egyptian Red Crescent… and the UN,” she said, after a visit to Egypt and the Rafah crossing alongside former New Zealand president Helen Clark. Following the visit, Mrs. Robinson said that targeted sanctions should be imposed on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and all...

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...