Monthly Archives: November 2019

CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer gets ovation after ultimatum at party conference

The embattled leader of Germany’s ruling Christian Democrats has challenged delegates at the party’s conference to back her vision or else “end it here and now”, amid deep divisions over the future direction of the party.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer told the CDU’s annual conference in Leipzig she was putting her future on the line in response to stinging criticism over her leadership style.

The 57-year-old, who took over as CDU head from Angela Merkel almost a year ago, shocked party members towards the end of a rousing 90-minute speech by inviting them to move to vote her out if they wanted to.

“If you want, let’s get this out into the open today. Let’s lay it to rest, here, now and today,” she said. “But if you’re of the opinion that we should embark on this road together, let’s roll up our sleeves and get on with it.”

Most of the 1,000 participants gave her a standing ovation, applauding for seven minutes.

Saxony’s state leader, Michael Kretschmer, who is hosting the congress, told delegates the applause was a signal that Kramp-Karrenbauer had the backing of the party. “Today is not the end, Annegret,” he said. “Today is when we really get going.”

The 74-year-old party is reeling from recent poll disasters, and low public approval ratings for Kramp-Karrenbauer. It has lost millions of voters to the rightwing populist Alternative für Deutschland as well as to the Greens. Its share of the vote in polls for the Bundestag, which is currently home to seven parties, is hovering at around 30% – a paltry figure compared to the results it was used to.

It is also struggling to agree on the direction it should take once Merkel’s term as German chancellor ends. Merkel announced last year that she was stepping down as CDU leader after 18 years and would not stand as chancellor again after her fourth and current term, which is due to end in 2021.

Kramp-Karrenbauer admitted the party had had a “difficult year” following historically poor showings in state polls in Saxony, Brandenburg and Thuringia as well as in the European Union parliamentary elections. But in a dig at her arch-rival, Friedrich Merz, who called Merkel’s government “abysmal” and has led the calls for the party to shift from the centre to the right, she said the tendency within the party to criticise its own members in the government was self-defeatist and “not a good campaigning strategy”.

Addressing delegates after Kramp-Karrenbauer, Merz did not, as had been widely expected, continue his criticism of the government. He instead thanked Kramp-Karrenbauer for a “combative, courageous and forward-looking speech” and said the years of CDU-led governments had been “good years for Germany”. He said he was happy to take part in reshaping the CDU “if you want me”.

But Merz supporters speaking on the conference sidelines said if Merkel’s grand coalition broke up, Merz would be waiting in the wings. One of his staunchest backers, Christian von Stetten, said before the conference that “the party’s future direction will not just be left to Kramp-Karrenbauer”.

Kramp-Karrenbauer has been seen as Merkel’s successor, sometimes even referred to as “mini Merkel” since she was narrowly elected party leader last December. She was subsequently appointed as defence minister and has drawn both praise and criticism for pushing for Germany to play a stronger role on the international stage.

Among the issues due to be discussed at the two-day conference are digitalisation, including whether the Chinese firm Huawei should participate in the future of its 5G network, a proposal to ban headscarfs for young girls, the introduction of a basic pension and whether the German flag should be flown outside schools.

While Merkel’s presence will continue to loom large in the party as long as she remains chancellor, her role at the conference is low-key for the first time since 2000. In an opening speech she defended the work of her coalition government but reiterated that she would not interfere in the question of where the party chose to go.

(22. 11. 2019 via theguardian.com)

He may be stepping down as President of the European Council, but Donald Tusk is stepping up for a new challenge after being elected to lead the centre-right European People’s Party.

The EPP is the largest political grouping across the continent, but has suffered losses amid the rise in populism and extremist parties.

Tusk’s task is to try and turn around the fortunes of the grouping.

The former Polish prime minister is committed to the European cause and many hope this passion will help revive the party’s brand.

“I think we’ll see a big focus on the rule of law, respect for democracy and respect for human rights. I think that is something that is very important. We are going to take the populists head on over the next five years with him as president,” said Neale Richmond, an Irish Senator.

Tusk was chosen at a party meeting in Zagreb on Wednesday evening.

One of his first tasks will be to rule on the status of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s populist Fidesz party within EPP.

A decision will be made in January after an EPP internal investigation, Tusk said on Thursday.

Fidesz was temporarily suspended from the EPP in March before the EU elections due to alleged violations of the rule of law.

“My opinion is quite clear when I express my opinion about illiberal democracy” conducted by Orban, Tusk said. “I think we have to be very determined in fighting against this kind of idea.”

(21. 11. 2019 via euronews.com)

Romania’s centre-right President Klaus Iohannis won a second term early Monday, crushing his socialist challenger in a presidential election runoff with a pledge to resume judicial reforms slowed down by successive Social Democrat (PSD) governments.

Two separate exit polls showed Iohannis garnered 64%-67% of the vote, with former prime minister Viorica Dancila of the left-leaning PSD taking 33-36%.

“The winner today is modern Romania, European Romania, the normal Romania,” Iohannis told reporters in his victory speech.

Under a succession of PSD governments, Romania has rolled back anti-corruption measures. Along with ex-communist peers Poland and Hungary, it has been heavily criticised by Brussels for its actions.

However, 60-year-old Iohannis has been credited by Western allies and the European Union with trying to protect the rule of law, in particular by challenging attempts to limit judges’ independence.

The president’s powers are mostly limited to nominating a prime minister on the basis of who can command a majority, challenging laws in the Constitutional Court, and appointing some chief prosecutors.

Iohannis will now have a chance to install anti-corruption and anti-mafia prosecutors who are serious about tackling endemic corruption.

His plan has the backing of Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, who became head of a liberal minority government by winning a parliamentary vote of confidence three weeks ago.

Viorica Dancila’s PSD had increased the burden of proof in corruption cases, reorganised panels of judges and set up a special unit to investigate magistrates for potential abuses, a move widely seen as an instrument of political coercion.

Romania’s judicial reforms have been monitored by Brussels since it joined the EU in 2007; in October, Brussels said the reforms were going backwards.

Iohannis, a soft-spoken ethnic German and former mayor of Sibiu, became president in 2014.

He helped to secure popular approval for a referendum last May that proposed a ban on governments altering legislation by emergency decree and a ban on pardons for corruption-related crimes.

(24. 11. 2019 via euronews.com)

Voters have entrusted Poland’s ruling conservatives with building a prosperous and secure country, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday in a major policy speech outlining his new government’s priorities.

In a broad-ranging address to parliament, Morawiecki said that maintaining strong GDP growth would be a key goal for his party, which secured a second term in power after winning Poland’s October 13 parliamentary elections.

“Thanks to this, we will be closer to the standard of living in Western Europe with every year,” Morawiecki added.

His address was scheduled to be followed by a vote of confidence in the new government headed by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Morawiecki’s Cabinet was expected to gain the backing of the lower house, where the conservatives have a majority.

In his speech, the prime minister told parliament that Law and Justice would continue increasing the share of Polish capital in the ownership of domestic companies.

He vowed to simplify the country’s tax system and offer more support for small and medium-sized enterprises.

“Poles are a great nation with a great past. It’s time for a great future,” Morawiecki told deputies, stressing the importance of the family and traditional values.

He said his government would offer extra support for parents with three or more children.

In an apparent reference to efforts by liberals to introduce LGBT-inflected education, Morawiecki warned he would not allow what he described as social experimentation in schools.

PM vows to prevent ‘cultural war’

“Whoever raises an ideological hand against children will be raising a hand against the whole community,” he insisted.

Morawiecki added: “Those who want to poison children with ideology … to break up family ties and enter schools without invitation and write ideological textbooks, those people will be putting an explosive charge under Poland, aiming to trigger a cultural war in Poland. There will be no war, I will not allow it.”

Grzegorz Schetyna, head of the opposition Civic Platform party, gave the prime minister’s speech short shrift.

He said Law and Justice was set to continue with its “ineptitude, breaking of the law, violating the principles of democracy, brutal propaganda and lies.”

Law and Justice, allied with two smaller groupings in a United Right coalition, secured a second term in power after winning Poland’s parliamentary elections in October.

Morawiecki’s new Cabinet was sworn into office on Friday during a ceremony at the presidential palace in Warsaw.

Morawiecki said earlier this month that his new government would largely be a continuation of the previous one.

Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński said ahead of the elections that his party would bring in a raft of new policies during the first 100 days of its next term in power.

(19. 11. 2019 via thenews.pl)

Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera resigned following his party’s poor result in the Spanish elections on Sunday.

In the April 2019 elections, the party came third, receiving 4.1 million votes and 57 seats but on Sunday, the party won just 10 seats in Spain’s 350-seat congress.

Rivera broke into Catalan politics when he was 26-years-old. His party Ciudadanos or the Citizens party was created as a centre-right, anti-nationalist party.

“We have lost almost half of the votes,” Rivera said on Sunday after learning of the unexpected result.

It was instead the far-right Vox party who had a victory, becoming the third most popular party and winning 52 seats.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s party received the most votes but fell short of gaining a majority in congress.

Many political observers expect the country’s political stalemate to continue.

(11. 11. 2019 via euronews.com)

The German city of Hannover became the first regional capital and the first city in the country to elect a mayor of Turkish origin on Sunday, in a powerful symbol for German citizens of Turkish immigration descent.

Belit Onay, of Die Grünen, the German Green party, won 52.9 % of the vote against the CDU candidate Eckhard Scholz, who got to 47.1%.

Hannover is the fourth large city in Germany after Freiburg, Darmstadt and Stuttgart in which a “Grüner”, a politician of the Green Party, has become mayor.

The former mayor, the Social Democrats’ Stefan Schostok, resigned earlier this year.

Onay, a lawyer by profession, has served as an MP in the Lower Saxony Parliament since 2013, and before that had been a city councillor since 2011.

The 38-year-old new mayor was born in Goslar, Lower Saxony, to Turkish parents who emigrated from Istanbul to Germany in the 1970s.

Earlier on Sunday, as Hannover was voting, Onay shared photos of himself and his wife going to the polls.

Germany hosts almost 3 million people of Turkish origin. Many came after 1945 as “guest workers” and settled in the country.

Germany’s Turkish population is the second-largest Turkish population in the world, after Turkey itself.

(11. 11. 2019 via euronews.com)