EU discussion / and other European countries

Qatar warns the EU.

Exclusive: Qatar's energy minister warns EU law could stop it supplying LNG to Europe
Qatar will not be able to do business in the EU, including supplying Europe with LNG to plug its energy gap, if further changes are not made to its corporate sustainability rules, Qatar's energy minister Saad al-Kaabi told Reuters on Thursday. Qatar, one of the world's top liquified natural gas exporters, has argued that the EU's corporate sustainability due diligence directive (CSDDD) adopted in 2024, poses a significant risk to state-owned QatarEnergy.
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Kaabi, who is also the chief executive of QatarEnergy, told Reuters his concern centres on the potential for fines of up to 5% of total global revenue for companies that do not have climate change transition plans aligned with the Paris Agreement goal of preventing global warming exceeding 1.5 Celsius.
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Qatar supplies between 12% and 14% of Europe's LNG since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
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https://www.reuters.com/business/en...u-law-could-deter-business-europe-2025-10-16/
 
European nations have no choice but to raise retirement ages – our case study shows why
Part of the solution is incorporating new automatic adjustment mechanisms, or rules that adapt pensions according to changing economic and demographic realities. These mechanisms make pension systems more predictable and credible, and reduce their reliance on series of ad-hoc reforms that are fraught with political difficulties.
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We also propose compensating the workers and retirees that bear the brunt of lowered pensions. This would be done through a one-off transfer of liquid assets from the government to households.
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https://theconversation.com/europea...tirement-ages-our-case-study-shows-why-268412
 
Viktor Orban was once a critic of Russia, even saying that the return of Russia was a threat. Now he's one of Putin's best buddies in the EU. Why? Some background here from a 2018 article.
  • Strengthening Hungary's international standing.
  • Hungarian economy could profit from better connections with Russia.
  • Better bargaining position vis-a-vis Western countries.
  • Orban believes that a good relationship with Russia helps him in conflicts with domestic opposition.
  • A perception that the West was weak and soft and cynical for continuing business with Russia even after the 2008 Georgian-Russian war.
  • 2008 financial crisis hurt the West and benefited the Eastern powers.
  • Perception that the emerging East would overtake the West.
  • Orban found Putin's model of governing appealing (authoritarian and business elites dependent on the leader).
  • Orban's new foreign policy thinking also influenced by a good relationship with Netanyahu.
https://www.direkt36.hu/en/orban-jatszmaja/
 
EU worried it will fall behind.
The continent’s leaders have long worried they will be left behind as the U.S., China and Russia vie for economic, technological and military dominance. Officials now fear they have reached that point.
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The need for consensus, which defines the 27-member EU, often leaves it flat-footed in response to unreliable actors and fast-changing circumstances although the EU surprised many with its swift and resilient response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Pierre Vimont, a former senior EU and French diplomat now at Carnegie Europe, said the EU’s institutions are struggling but that there was little will in capitals to spend years arguing over the bloc’s future setup.
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https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/eu...tm_social_post_id=609002692&mod=e2tw&mod=e2tw
 
VorZakone said:
EU worried it will fall behind.
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You make a lot of salient points.

The end of WW2 was one of the 'drivers' of the first European combined action, in the formation of European Economic Community EEC; then the European Community EC, and now the European Union EU.

Will the possibility/threat of a WW3, be a 'driver' of more change, e.g. the formation of a United States of Europe (USE)?
Hungary out... Ukraine in!!
 
Swiss voters reject new tax on super-rich and civic duty for women
Some 84 percent of voters said no to a proposal to extend mandatory civic or military service to women, while around 79 percent voted against the inheritance tax, according to initial projections.
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The tax measure was a proposal to impose a 50 percent levy on inheritance above a tax-free amount of 50 million Swiss francs (€53.6 million) and direct the funds toward measures to mitigate climate change. It was put forward by the youth wing of the leftist Social Democrats.
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https://www.politico.eu/article/swiss-vote-against-tax-for-super-rich-and-civic-duty-for-women/
 
Mogherini (former chief diplomat of EU, and kind of the third/fourth most senior leader of EU back then) arrested for fraud.
 
Revan said:
Mogherini (former chief diplomat of EU, and kind of the third/fourth most senior leader of EU back then) arrested for fraud.
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One wonders how much shady shit goes down in the EU bureaucracy. Remember Qatargate.
 
Surprising given their cheese consumption.
 
VorZakone said:
French have longest retirements.

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Feels like a weird way to present that information.
Is 3 years over the average a problem that needs fixing? I think i'm inclined to say good for the french too.
 
caid said:
Feels like a weird way to present that information.
Is 3 years over the average a problem that needs fixing? I think i'm inclined to say good for the french too.
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Good for the retired French, possibly a problem for the working ones who have to finance their retirement.
 
Germany: €30 million stolen in elaborate bank vault heist
Investigators estimate that burglars stole about €30 million during a break-in at a bank in the western city of Gelsenkirchen, police said on Tuesday. A police spokesperson described the break-in as highly professional, saying it required extensive planning, inside knowledge, and significant criminal resolve to carry out.
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Police said the perpetrators gained access to the bank from a parking garage, drilling a large hole into the vault room and later escaping through the same route with the stolen items. More than 3,000 safe-deposit boxes in the vault were forced open, containing cash, jewelry, and gold. Based on an average insured value of about €10,000 per box, police said initial rough estimates put the total losses at around €30 million.
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https://www.dw.com/en/germany-gelsenkirchen-bank-heist-30-million/a-75344406
 
Suspected power sabotage by a left-wing group in Germany.
Electricity has been restored to thousands of households in the southwest of the German capital, Berlin, after a power outage hit some 45,000 homes and 2,220 businesses on Saturday, the grid operator said on Sunday.
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A spokeswoman for Berlin's Senator for Economic Affairs Franziska Giffey said authorities believed that a malicious act was behind the fire. A Berlin police spokesman also said that it was "credible" that the letter was written by a left-wing extremist group calling itself the "Vulkangruppe" (Volcano Group), as the letter claimed.
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https://www.dw.com/en/germany-power-back-for-some-berliners-but-others-freeze-on/a-75382671
 
Latvia police board vessel after Baltic Sea telecom cable breach
An undersea telecoms cable was damaged in the Baltic Sea on Friday and Latvian investigators on Sunday boarded a ship in connection with the incident, the country's state police said in a statement.
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The latest incident is made public five days after Finnish police seized a cargo vessel en route from Russia to Israel on suspicion of sabotaging an undersea telecoms cable running from Helsinki across the Gulf of Finland to Estonia.
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https://www.reuters.com/business/me...ea-optical-cable-has-been-damaged-2026-01-04/
 
Mercusor deal approved though not all European countries are happy.

Latin America trade accord wins the required qualified majority, even as France, Poland, Austria, Ireland and Hungary express their opposition.
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Additional farm market safeguards that would kick in if there is a surge in imports from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay surge too much also won the approval of EU ambassadors, the diplomats said, on condition of anonymity.
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https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-countries-approve-mercosur-trade-deal-for-signature/
 
VorZakone said:
More on this.

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Apparently the AfD have been submitting Freedom of Information requests (or similar) by the hundreds over the past years and these have included information on critical infrastructure.......which no one would be surprised about them handing straight to Moscow.
 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-D6ookME0hmQR76fLw_aem_U8EzVf9QE2Sgah4VImsy4w

Danish troops will immediately respond to any invasion of Greenland with force, the country’s defence ministry warned as the US continues to weigh up military intervention to annex the territory.

The ministry told Danish outlet Berlingske that soldiers would be required to counter any foreign invasion without awaiting orders under the military’s rules of engagement.
 
Dans said:
Apparently the AfD have been submitting Freedom of Information requests (or similar) by the hundreds over the past years and these have included information on critical infrastructure.......which no one would be surprised about them handing straight to Moscow.
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The volume of people who have been brainwashed to weaken their own nations by attacking its own foundations - believing they are merely attacking those they politically disagree with - is the greatest accomplishment of enemies to said nations.
 
antohan said:
Personally, if a one-off $100k windfall/bribe did the job you would really have to ask yourself what you have done for Greenlanders that they would so easily switch.

It would be a fair question. Ten years ago ~16M Britons voted to leave the EU (a mistake in my opinion, but nevertheless). Mercosur (the Atlantic side of South America, basically) has spent more than 20 years trying to reach a trade deal with the EU as a priority over US deals, but France has systematically blown it into pieces. Apparently it has now reached the stage whereby France can no longer do it because everyone is realising they are in fact commanding a geopolitical sinking ship.

Just food for thought. Wrong thread again, I know, but it's all connected!
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Greenland already get all the benefits of the danish state while being exempted for paying taxes. They are a small population without that doesn't generate wealth. Even if they 100k each they wouldn't be able to fund schools, hospitals, universities etc because Denmark pays for it. And Greenlanders on top have tons of social issues. All of those would long term get worse under becoming part of the us.
 
Gehrman said:
Greenland already get all the benefits of the danish state while being exempted for paying taxes. They are a small population without that doesn't generate wealth. Even if they 100k each they wouldn't be able to fund schools, hospitals, universities etc because Denmark pays for it. And Greenlanders on top have tons of social issues. All of those would long term get worse under becoming part of the us.
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So you should have no problem holding a referendum then. A vote for remaining with Denmark would make any military action a far more clear cut violation than if you refused to have one.

Of course, it would be bonkers to hold it just because Trump expressed an interest but there surely is an established process for people in Greenland to request it. Just follow it.
 
Surely another question is that "Being part of USA" isn't enough.

What does that mean? Are they an overseas territory? Are they like Guam/Samoa/Puerto Rico?

Or are they going to be a proper US 51st state?

Because if its the latter (although that's very doubtful), it's going to get insane amounts of money, investment and infrastructure poured into it as 2 extra seats in the Senate is a huge deal in this political system.

Either way the best option here for Greenlanders is just do, "No."

I did read an opinion piece a few days ago that the Greenland situation is actually a clever roundabout way to overcome the supermajority required in congress to leave NATO. Doubt Trump is that smart though.
 
antohan said:
So you should have no problem holding a referendum then. A vote for remaining with Denmark would make any military action a far more clear cut violation than if you refused to have one.

Of course, it would be bonkers to hold it just because Trump expressed an interest but there surely is an established process for people in Greenland to request it. Just follow it.
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Greenland can hold a referrendum whenever they want but its not going happen whilst staring down the barrel of the gun held by the paedophile manbaby.
 
Gehrman said:
Greenland can hold a referrendum whenever they want but its not going happen whilst staring down the barrel of the gun held by the paedophile manbaby.
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That's a princi0led attitude which elicits the wrong reaponse. If it's auch a foregone conclusion you'd be better off initiating the process, string him along, get past midterms... he will get bored eventually, or have other more pressing matters, and if seen through completion he can throw a tantrum, have a hissy fit, talk a bit of bollocks, but not more than that.

There's absolutely zero chance he can take military action after a referendum votes to stay as part of Denmark. Until then, all he and his acolytes see is what any primary school kid observes in geography class: how random it seems that such a massive island in North America belongs to a small country in Central Europe.

A bit like 40+ years ago with a tiny island in the Atlantic South. The islanders didn't want to be part of Argentina either, but nobody asked them.
 
antohan said:
That's a princi0led attitude which elicits the wrong reaponse. If it's auch a foregone conclusion you'd be better off initiating the process, string him along, get past midterms... he will get bored eventually, or have other more pressing matters, and if seen through completion he can throw a tantrum, have a hissy fit, talk a bit of bollocks, but not more than that.

There's absolutely zero chance he can take military action after a referendum votes to stay as part of Denmark. Until then, all he and his acolytes see is what any primary school kid observes in geography class: how random it seems that such a massive island in North America belongs to a small country in Central Europe.

A bit like 40+ years ago with a tiny island in the Atlantic South. The islanders didn't want to be part of Argentina either, but nobody asked them.
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Him and his administration have said they are going to take it no matter what. The easy way or the hard way. And continue saying they don't rule out military action. If Greenland wanted to become part of the US or claim independence they can hold a referrndum but they feel no need to hold a referrndum because right now they know better off being a part of Denmark.
 
Was thinking, if countries like Russia and the US is interfering in European elections, how about actual Europe interfering in European elections?

No, better place to do it, than Hungary, its long been an eyesore, siding with Russia whenever it can, despite being very dependent on EU and NATO.

It is rather sad, to see that Orban is getting support from multiple prominent foreign leaders, even a couple here in Europe in fact, with no pushback, center/left leaders apparently don't care either way, oh, the complacency....

Measures should be taken to give the opposition the best opportunity to win, threats should not be off the table, they should be told that EU-membership is on the line(or at least, suspension of certain EU rights) if they stick with Orban, and isolated in whatever else way.
 
That would take some balls, which seem in short supply in the EU. How Orban has gotten away without heavy sanctions up to now is crazy. The EU could be sleep walking to disaster.
 
Presidential election in Portugal today. According to polls the top 3 have roughly the same odds of progressing to the second round: a center-left candidate, a trumpist candidate and a small government feck the poor liberal. Edit: the liberal one is also accused of sexual harassment.
 
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maniak said:
Presidential election in Portugal today. According to polls the top 3 have roughly the same odds of progressing to the second round: a center-left candidate, a trumpist candidate and a small government feck the poor liberal.
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I hope the first one wins.
 
Center left candidate got 31%, the trumpist got 23.5%

Second round will be decided by the center right. A socialist or a trump wannabee.
 
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