Rolling European Politics Thread

The UK Conservatives voted with Hungary - though Theresa May is saying the MEPs didn’t tell her they were going to do so, which is bizarre.

OK, the Austrian governing parties split on the vote: "conservative" ÖVP voted yes, far right FPÖ voted no -- given that Austria would be in charge of proceedings under Article 7, I think Sebastian "Hey, I'm a high school graduate" Kurz has something cute planned.

It's unusual insofar that not before Austria expressed their intention to vote for it - breaking the christian democratic ranks, which also include Orban and Merkel, for one - no one gave this a chance. I'm assuming Merkel gave her MEP's the nod to follow Austria and that sealed the deal.

May's reading is bizarre indeed, in more than one way. Saying her MEP's don't actually listen to her/keep her informed isn't agl.

maybe marginally better look than "i control my racist MEPs"??

Perhaps. Is it better to have controlled and lost them than to not ever have controlled at all?

French right-wing MEPs split on Hungary. There's a hope among some French that the EPP will split and one side will ally with LREM, Macron's party, thus (I suppose) strengthening Macron.

Macedonia votes 90% in favour of changing their name but with only 36% turnout. Standard reports of Russian interference, PM determined to carry on regardless

Wanted to write something about the #CumEx scandal that has scammed European taxpayers for billions of euros, but I'm having trouble finding English-language stories, lol. A German whistleblower says thank god for Brexit, because apparently it was organized from London. Plenty of continental banks involved, though.

Le Monde is calling it 'the tax heist of the century' while The Guardian is harping on about the Irish backstop. I guess when you're already on your way out…

iirc English media wasn't in the #CumEx media group exposing this (Le Monde, Die Zeit, De Tijd, NDR, Politiken, DR, Reuters, Follow The Money etc)

Give it time though, the project names #CumEx and #CumCum are guaranteed to draw attention to English media. xp

so excited for our future as the Nigerian 419 centre of Europe

Reuters is British, no? I checked their frontpage, and there is nothing.

'BREAKING NEWS: A case of BSE, known as mad cow disease, has been confirmed on a farm in Aberdeenshire - Scottish government'.

The latest from Reuters.

They've this about consequences for Santander

xxp

I get why British media are less concerned, the countries involved are Belgium, Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, France, Spain and Italy, perhaps Finland as well. But the firms involved are British, and the banks are from all over the world.

it's truly infuriating

good piece here https://cumex-files.com/en/

fuck those goddamn investment assholes

How can nick mullen remain as president of the DSA after this

Jesus, the Mayor of Gdansk - Pawel Adamowicz - has died, having been stabbed on stage at a charity event last night.

https://www.ft.com/content/0037f404-4fea-11e9-9c76-bf4a0ce37d49

is portugal the anti-austerity success story some are touting it as?

hard to tell without a subscription!

The arrival of a left coalition* into government happened to coincide with an economic upswing. I think it's fair to say that austerity politics were a fucking disaster for Portugal, destroying a lot of the social fabric, forcing a generation of uni grads into immigration, etc. but am less certain that what's come after can be called a success story - economic recovery is overwhelmingly due to a boom in tourism, which of course is bringing its own troubles: gentrification, downtown Lisbon and Oporto becoming almost all airb&bs, destruction of the environment.

Basically I fear that once the next crisis hits we'll be as badly off as the last time - or worse.

* not actually a coalition, more like a group of deals

are other industries in decline?

I'd say yes, but with the caveat that this has been happening for decades and is not down to the current government: you gotta remember being an isolated fascist dictatorship for much of the 20th century means we've always lagged behind a lot. Fishing and agriculture, still the main sectors when I was growing up, have been in dramatic decline for a long time; the textile industry got badly mutilated once competition moved in from South East Asia. It's a small country, and there's very little we produce that is competitive on an international scale - cork is the big one, which is why I get angery whenever I see wine bottles here in the UK that do without it.

This is also why, despite being fucked in many ways by the EU, you'll never get a strong euroskeptic movement in Portugal - we know that if it goes bust we're done for.

bless yr country for Clean Feed Records and proper wine corks.

I thought there was a cork shortage! to what extent do you think the perhaps overstated tech boom can be put down to govt management or is it totally coincidental?

What does we're done for mean? I'd give the EU about ten years the way it's going. Solutions and new ways will need to be looked at.

We're done for means: having a common market and currency gives Portugal some slight advantages that helps it keep afloat on the international market (also: EU subsidies). I share your pessimism regarding the EU but unless there's some radical change to the system internationally - not ruling this out - Portugal without EU membership is in deep deep trouble.

ogmor, I think there *is* a shortage right now, the result of devastating forest fires two years ago. But in the long run it's still one of our biggest exports.

I have been told that there has been some good work done in the tech sector, but it's difficult for me to disassociate this from the start-up enterpeneurship culture that was running wild during the crisis years, and which mostly amounted to some rich kids getting to show off while "employing" ppl who were basically drifting from unpaid internship to unpaid internship. I still have friends in associated industries who regularly get paid late, or not at all. Plus, you know, all the usual issues with Silicon Valley tech-utopianism: the Web Summit has that stench all over it, pretty funny to remember they had Ja Rule over there shortly pre-Fyre Festival. This year they tried to get Marine Le Pen before the obvious predictable backlash put the kibosh on that.

At any rate I'd say support for this particular sector has been a constant between the right-wing govt we previously had and the current one: it's a good chance to blabber about Supporting Innovation and get pictures taken with celebrities. For the right-wingers it also had the advantage of seeming like a private sector solution to the crisis; a lot of "make your own app!" type advice given out to unemployed graduates.

the EU-Mercosur trade deal not looking like such a great piece of business right now

looks like manu and leo agree

& Bolsonaro responds by saying that EU concerns "evoke a colonialist mentality".
Post-colonialism: every nation must be free to destroy its own natural resources.

Nothing says post-colonial like a bunch of white people burning indigenous communities out of their homes.

layers and layers of colonizers

Has the EU-Mercorsur deal been cancelled or is it all just liberals shouting into the void again?

good martin sandbu article in the FT here. Trump’s trade war, China slowdown and Brexit all pose a serious threat to the stability of the euro (and therefore europe?). It’s in Germany’s hands, but will depend on a politics ability to wean themselves off a historical policy of running a trade surplus, which does no one, least of all other eurozone countries, but including themselves, any favours.

Paywalled tho so i put it in a pinboard note here.

goes well with this accompaniment to adam tooze’s recent survey of the past four decades or so of German politics in the LRB.

As a semi-hegemonic state within the eurozone, it’s pretty worrying that the political economy of Germany is so dysfunctional.

spanish supreme court have decided franco's getting his grave downsized, you love to see it

just found out meades did a franco building doc last month that I missed, perfect!

it was good and scary and angry

Supreme Courts are on fire today.

yeah everything I know about the valley of the fallen makes it seem like a nightmare

i'd prefer desecrated but downsized will do for now i s'pose

Yeah, good day for Supreme Courts. I need to see that doc.

https://www.politico.eu/article/jan-jambon-flemish-parties-toughen-migration-stance-in-coalition-agreement/

Flemish parties toughen migration stance in coalition agreement
Flemish nationalist Jan Jambon announced the three-party deal Monday.

In the UK there are gammons, in Belgium there is Jambon itself.

Great that we all learned the right lessons from the last crisis and that the EU is showing skeptics what for by pulling together in solidarity!

https://www.politico.eu/article/virtual-summit-real-acrimony-eu-leaders-clash-over-corona-bonds/?fbclid=IwAR1ewCarJ_y_3h2oiCiE1a0GIooHMbm4wINPxrhQSOXwIM4Si7h80dxPM_g

This is playing with fire. Can't see the EU surviving this.

It'll survive it, but it's another idiotically selfish move that's bound to decrease its life expectancy in the long run.

Unlike you to be so positive Pom.

But yes it won't collapse overnight, but it gives the anti-EU forces more ammunition. All little steps along the way.

seems that germany is going to be the death of it

Next Bundestag election will be held some time next year. A proper shift to the left is still possible, but I'm not exactly getting my hopes up.

Merkel seemed to be the only thing keeping the fascists at bay, so I'm worried.

I've said before here that I can't imagine Portugal ever going full euroskeptic, despite having been dealt a very rough hand during the last crisis, because the prospects of economic survival outside the EU are just so grim. But if this carries on that just might do it.