Monthly Archives: January 2020

Poland’s largest opposition party elects new leader

Former justice minister Borys Budka was elected the new leader of the Civic Platform, Poland’s largest opposition party, in elections held across the country on Saturday.

According to Poland’s state news agency PAP, Budka received 79% of all votes.

Around 9,400 party members from all over the country were entitled to cast their votes.

Among Budka’s competitors were other prominent Civic Platform’s politicians including former culture minister Bogdan Zdrojewski, former defence minister Tomasz Siemoniak, and former interior minister Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz.

The four-year term in office of outgoing party leader Grzegorz Schetyna ends by the end of January.

Schetyna announced last week that he would not be running for the position of head of the grouping.

In December, the Civic Platform party picked deputy parliamentary Speaker Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska as its candidate for the country’s presidential race next year.

The Civic Coalition, led by the Civic Platform (PO) party, won 27.40 percent of the vote and 134 seats in the lower house, in Poland’s parliamentary elections, last october.

(26. 1. 2020 via thenews.pl)

uid_98061871a62ede1cef9ae830b35880eb1576747631891_width_907_play_0_pos_0_gs_0_height_515

EPP considers extending Fidesz suspension

Conservative group is struggling to find common ground on the question of Fidesz’s future.

Europe’s center right can’t make up its mind about Viktor Orbán.

The European People’s Party is seriously considering extending the suspension of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, EPP officials and insiders said — another sign that the conservative political family is struggling to handle ideological divisions between its moderate and right-wing factions.

The EPP suspended Fidesz last March over concerns about the rule of law in Hungary and anti-Brussels rhetoric. A decision on whether to extend the suspension is expected at the EPP’s political assembly on February 3-4, when EPP President Donald Tusk and party leaders will gather in Brussels. It’s still unclear, however, whether an actual vote will be called at the meeting.

“Tusk is not happy with the situation, but for now, suspension will be maintained,” one EPP insider said, while adding that Tusk could still choose another option.

After Fidesz was suspended, the EPP appointed a three-man panel to investigate the situation in Hungary and issue a recommendation on whether the party should stay or be expelled. As a result of the suspension, Fidesz was stripped of its voting rights in the group and no longer participates in any party meetings.

EPP officials say the so-called wise men have not yet issued any recommendation.

But EPP officials say the so-called wise men have not yet issued any recommendation, and Orbán hasn’t done anything to alleviate any of the party family’s concerns since the suspension. Tusk tweeted earlier this week that he would “present my assessment of the report after my consultations with party leaders at the upcoming EPP Political Assembly.”

Internal divisions
The new EPP leader — Tusk took over the presidency late last year — faces a dilemma: He is struggling to find common ground within the EPP on the question of Fidesz’s future.

Members of the EPP from countries like Sweden, Finland and Luxembourg have long argued that Fidesz, which has been accused of undermining checks and balances in Hungary, does not belong in the EPP. Last week, 99 members of the EPP group in the European Parliament were among 446 MEPs voting in favor of a resolution criticizing the European Council for failing to effectively address rule-of-law problems in Hungary and Poland.

But Orbán’s party has allies among EPP members from France and Slovenia, and to a lesser extent in Spain and Italy. Party members in Eastern countries like Croatia and Bulgaria — whose influence within the EPP is growing — are also keen to see Fidesz stay.

Some party officials blame the powerful German conservatives, the main delegation in the EPP group, for their ambivalence toward Orbán. While many German EPP MEPs voted in favor of the recent resolution raising concerns about the state of democracy in Hungary, they have not completely shut Orbán out, with some members preferring to delay a decision on Fidesz.

“I would be in favor of extending the suspension,” said Daniel Caspary, a lawmaker from Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

The question of Fidesz’s future is also a first test for Tusk as EPP leader. He had publicly promised to reach a decision by the end of January. Speaking at the EPP’s November congress in Zagreb, the Polish politician said Orbán was a “very close friend,” but he didn’t agree with “ideas represented” by the Hungarian leader, especially his “illiberal democracy.”

Keeping options open
Hungarian officials say that their first choice is staying in the EPP, as long as the political family is willing to move away from its centrist positions.

The Fidesz party’s leadership sees its “long-term future within the EPP — of course an EPP that is changed on many important, basic questions,” said MEP Tamás Deutsch, head of the Fidesz delegation in the European Parliament and a founding member of the party.

Orbán is set to appear at a “National Conservatism Conference” along with Salvini.

“The EPP is doing something wrong,” he added, citing sliding results in European elections and a diminishing number of heads of government. He predicted that in the future there would be a “strong, right-wing, conservative, Christian democrat” pan-European party, adding that the question now is whether this force will be the EPP or another group.

Orbán, meanwhile, appears to be keeping his options open.

Earlier this month he met with Polish ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party leader Jarosław Kaczyński and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to discuss cooperation between their two parties. PiS is a member of the more right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) in the Parliament.

And just as the EPP’s political assembly meets in Brussels in early February, Orbán is set to travel to Rome to appear at a “National Conservatism Conference” along with Italian far-right party leaders Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni, and French National Rally member Marion Maréchal, niece of Marine Le Pen. Other expected attendees include the head of the ECR group in the Parliament, PiS member Ryszard Legutko.

Speaking on Hungarian radio last week, Orbán said that when it comes to his wish to see a change in the EPP, there is “hope that is diminishing by the day, but still exists.”

Nevertheless, there are signs the prime minister is willing to wait and see how the political winds blow. Orbán “can live” with an extended suspension from the EPP, said one senior member of Fidesz.

(23. 1. 2020 via politico.eu)

images

Poland to sign $4.6 bn F-35 jet deal with US: defence minister

Poland will this week sign a USD 4.6 billion deal to buy 32 F-35 fighter jets from the United States, Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak announced on Monday.

He said in a tweet that the signing ceremony would take place in Dęblin, eastern Poland, on Friday.

The announcement comes after the US Congress in September cleared the sale of 32 F-35 fighter jets to Poland in what Błaszczak said was “one of the last steps before the contract can be concluded.”

“But this is not the end of our work,” he tweeted at the time. “We will be negotiating hard to secure the best possible price.”

Earlier that month the US Department of State approved the sale of 32 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, produced by American company Lockheed Martin, and related equipment and support, for an estimated cost of USD 6.5 billion, according to the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).

The agency said that the planned deal aimed to “provide Poland with a credible defense capability to deter aggression in the region and ensure interoperability with U.S. forces.”

The “proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of a NATO ally which is an important force for political stability and economic progress in Europe,” the DSCA said in a statement.

It added that the sale “is consistent with U.S. initiatives to provide key allies in the region with modern systems that will enhance interoperability with U.S. forces and increase security.”

Poland’s Błaszczak said last year that the purchase of the F-35 jets would be “the most important contract in the history of the Polish armed forces.”

Meanwhile, the US ambassador to Poland, Georgette Mosbacher, hailed the planned deal as “another important step in Polish-US relations.”

“We are stronger together,” she tweeted in September.

In February last year, Poland’s government signed a deal to buy 20 HIMARS artillery rocket systems from America for USD 414 million as part of a military modernisation drive.

Poland in March 2018 signed what officials described as a historic deal to buy an American Patriot air defence system for USD 4.75 billion.

Meanwhile, the Polish president in October 2017 signed into law plans to steadily increase the country’s defence spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2030.

(27. 1. 2020 via thenews.pl)

Hungary launches armed river patrols to catch swimming migrants

Hungary’s military has deployed a patrol boat to its river border with Serbia.

The river is a key point of entry for migrants trying to reach the EU. The crew of the new vessel will be tasked with monitoring the Serbian shores of the river and intercepting migrants trying to swim across to the Hungarian side.

Speaking to Euronews, Hungary’s Deputy Defence Minister, Szilárd Németh, said his country was struggling with large numbers of people trying to gain access to the European Union.

“If they come in groups, they always have leaders. They have excellent equipment, we found night-vision goggles, and even a ground sensor,” he said.

While swimming across the Tisza River is dangerous at the best of times, Németh said migrants were lumbered with extra equipment for when they make it to the other side.

“Fence cutters, spades, maps, lists of addresses, taxi numbers, they have them all. They are very well prepared to cross the border of Hungary,” he said.

Travelling to other EU countries
Human rights groups say while Hungary is on the frontline, it’s often other European countries that migrants are trying to reach.

“If you speak to the migrants here, they will tell you that their relatives are in Austria, their friends are across the border, and so on. And, unfortunately, this encourages them. Communication is very good among them,” said Róbert Lackó, a refugee coordinator in Serbia.

Euronews joined one of the new patrols on the river border. You can see the full story in the player above.

(24. 1. 2020 via euronews.com)

EPP Leader Tusk to Present Assessment of Fidesz in Early February

European People’s Party (EPP) leader Donald Tusk on Monday said he will present his assessment of a report by a three-member council appointed to monitor Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party and the situation in the country at next month’s EPP Political Assembly.

Last March, the EPP’s Political Assembly suspended Fidesz’s membership in the centre-right grouping in line with an agreement between Fidesz and the EPP’s leadership. The EPP also moved to set up a body of “wise men” to monitor the situation in Hungary.

Tusk said on Twitter after meeting with the Evaluation Committee comprising former European Council president Herman Van Rompuy, former European Parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering and former Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel that he will present his assessment of the report after consultations with party leaders at the meeting in Brussels on Feb. 3-4.

Hungarian Prime Minister and Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán said at an international press conference after the March 20 assembly meeting that his party had made a unilateral decision to suspend the exercise of its rights within the EPP until the three-member council finished compiling its report. He said Fidesz would set up its own “committee of three wise men” to hold talks with the EPP’s delegates and prepare a report on how Fidesz should move forward in its relationship with the EPP.

(21. 1. 2020 via hungarytoday.hu)

a_000_1d37fo_europress_eza-e1549473198777

British government in Brexit defeat over EU citizens’ rights in House of Lords

Boris Johnson’s government has lost its first parliamentary votes since the snap general election, as the House of Lords inflicted three defeats over Brexit legislation.

The upper chamber voted in favour of EU citizens living in the UK to be given physical documents as proof of their right to stay, once the country has left the bloc.

However, the government staunchly defends its digital system the votes are likely to be overturned when the Brexit legislation returns to the House of Commons.

The first amendment, backed by a Liberal Democrat peer, would give EU nationals the right to receive a residence document instead of the government’s plan to provide only digital proof. It would also grant them automatic right to stay, instead of having to apply.

The Lords passed the amendment by 270 votes to 229. Moving it, Lord Oates quoted Boris Johnson and other ministers who – when campaigning to leave the EU in 2016 – said there would be “no change” for lawful EU residents, who would “automatically be granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK”.

“Sadly, although a great deal of progress has been made with the settled status scheme, these commitments have not been honoured,” he told the chamber.

The peer added that despite the government’s best efforts, it was inevitable that the system would not reach all 3.6 million-plus EU citizens resident in the UK.

“As a result, possibly tens of thousands of otherwise eligible people may find themselves undocumented and criminalised in as little as 18 months’ time. Inevitably, those most at risk will be the most vulnerable: young people in care, the elderly and the marginalised.”

Lack of physical proof of the right to stay would “inevitably cause” problems for EU nationals with landlords, airline staff and other officials, Lord Oates continued.

Read more: MEPs warn of ‘grave concerns’ over post-Brexit citizens’ rights

For the government, Baroness Williams of Trafford said it would be wrong and counterproductive to change “a system that is working well” and already provided certainty.

“The EU settlement scheme is a vital part of transitioning the UK from free movement to a new, points-based immigration system that starts in 2021,” she added.

The vote brought a quick response from the government. Home Office minister Brandon Lewis tweeted to say he disagreed with the House of Lords. “The EU Settlement Scheme grants EU citizens with a secure, digital status which can’t be lost, stolen or tampered with. There will be no change to our digital approach,” he said.

Last week the European Parliament passed a resolution warning of “grave concerns” over EU citizens’ rights, expressing fears that safeguards for Europeans living in the UK were being jeopardised by the British government’s policy.

Afterwards, the parliament’s Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt said he had been assured that the UK would not automatically deport EU nationals who failed to meet the registration deadline.

A survey of EU citizens living in the UK carried out by the campaign group the3million found that almost 90% were unhappy about the lack of a physical document proving the right to residency.

The poll published this week revealed that many Europeans remain anxious about their status in the UK, despite the government’s assurances over its registration scheme. “Rather than making EU/EEA and Swiss citizens feel – as the scheme name suggests – settled, ‘unsettling status’ would be a much more appropriate name,” the report said.

Home Office figures say that more than 2.7 million people had applied for settled status by the end of December.

Peers also voted against plans to give government ministers powers to decide which courts can depart from European Court of Justice judgements. A third defeat followed when they backed a move to make courts refer cases to the Supreme Court if they envisage departing from EU law.

The House of Commons approved the EU Withdrawal Bill earlier this month without any changes. The legislation is designed to ensure a smooth departure from the EU on January 31, implementing the negotiated divorce deal.

(21. 1. 2020 via euronews.com)

Officials from across the world to attend Auschwitz anniversary in Poland

Representatives from 51 countries and international organisations have confirmed they will take part in commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German concentration camp of Auschwitz in southern Poland on January 27.

Among those expected to attend the event are the presidents of Germany, Israel, Austria, Ukraine, Latvia, Finland, Switzerland, Slovenia, Slovakia and Malta.

Also taking part will be the prime ministers of France, Croatia, Greece, Sweden, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Moldova, Lichtenstein, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.

The United States will be represented by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.

The list of guests includes King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Russia will be represented by its ambassador to Poland, Sergey Andreyev.

The event at the site of the former Auschwitz camp will be hosted by Polish President Andrzej Duda.

More than 200 former Auschwitz prisoners and Holocaust survivors are expected to come, including 120 from the United States, Canada, Israel and several European countries.

(20. 1. 2020 via thenews.pl)

Novák: EPP Should Strengthen Dedication to Centre-right Politics

The European People’s Party should strengthen its dedication to centre-right politics, the deputy leader of ruling Fidesz said on Monday after meeting senior German politicians in Berlin.

Katalin Novák, who is also the state secretary for family and youth affairs at the human resources ministry, told pro-govt public media that whereas “many people try to give the impression that Fidesz could be simply expelled” from the EPP and the party was idly waiting for a decision, “this is actually not the case at all”.

Fidesz is actively pursuing a form of cooperation which would “be the best possible way for Hungarians and also Europeans.”

“We hope the EPP will be capable of protecting and representing classic centre-right politics and Christian values in the future” and “it will not shift further left,” she added.

“We are very much counting on our German allies because a sober voice and a centre-right political force are much needed also in Germany,” Novák said.

(14. 1. 2020 via hungarytoday.hu)

letöltés (1)

Irish PM calls national election for Feb. 8

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said he would ask President Michael D. Higgins to dissolve parliament in order to hold a parliamentary election on February 8.

“I always said that the election should happen at the best time for the country. Now is that time,” Varadkar told a news conference.

(14. 1. 2020 via reuters.com)

Leo_Varadkar_2016

Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin agree to fight to save Iran nuclear deal

Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin agreed on Saturday to fight to save the Iran nuclear deal after meeting in Moscow amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The German Chancellor said “everything must be done” to keep the agreement, despite calls from US President Donald Trump to abandon it, while her Russian counterpart described the deal as “tremendously important.”

The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPCOA) is under pressure after Trump pulled out of it last year, triggering Iran’s decision to intensify its enrichment of uranium.

“We agreed that we should do anything to preserve the deal, the JCPOA. Germany is convinced that Iran should not acquire or have nuclear weapons,” Merkel said during a joint press conference with Putin.

“For this reason we will continue to employ all diplomatic means to keep this agreement alive, which is certainly not perfect but it is an agreement and it comprises commitments by all sides,” Merkel said.

Merkel’s visit — the first to Russia since May 2018 — came as Iran admitted accidentally shooting down a Ukrainian passenger plane shortly after its takeoff from Tehran, killing 176 passengers and crew.

Nordstream by 2021
Recent escalations with Iran were one of the “key reasons” for the Merkel-Putin meeting, said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

“In the eyes of Merkel, Putin is a person who has direct contacts with the Iranian leadership and can somehow influence their decisions. Against the background of Trump, he looks like a responsible politician,” said Russian political analyst Aleksandr Golts.

Speaking ahead of their meeting and an anticipated news conference, Merkel said there was “a lot to discuss.”

Addressing Putin, she said: “I’d like to thank you that we have such an opportunity, because to talk to each other is always better than to talk about each other.”

Putin said at the news conference that he expected the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would ship Russian gas to Germany to be finished by the end of 2021. U.S. sanctions have obstructed construction of the facility.

(11. 1. 2020 via euronews.com)

tan2020-1-11-merkel-putyin-1_0