Meanwhile, in #Germany...

Germany is now leading the charge on #Europe’s AntiImmigration turn

#ChancellorMerz’s new hardline course promises to accelerate the EU’s #rightward pivot on migration as the bloc prepares to implement tough measures.

By Nette Nöstlinger
July 31, 2025 5:54 pm CET

BERLIN — "Past German governments sought to temper Europe’s most hardline impulses on migration. Now, under Chancellor #FriedrichMerz, Berlin is vying to lead Europe’s anti-immigration charge.

"The stark shift in Germany’s migration stance under its new government promises to accelerate the EU’s #HardRight turn on migration as the bloc prepares to implement a series of new measures aimed at drastically reducing the number of asylum seekers entering Europe — and #deporting more of those who do make it. As European leaders negotiate on how to put these measures into place, those from some of the EU’s most hardline countries are welcoming Germany’s new role.

" 'Germany is leading in some of these very important talks,' Kaare Dybvad, #Denmark’s immigration minister, told POLITICO. 'We’re happy about that.'

"In a highly symbolic example of how Germany’s government is now seeking to propel Europe’s migration shift rather than moderate it, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt recently hosted counterparts from several European countries with tough migration stances — including #Austria, Denmark and #Poland — on his country’s highest mountain in the Bavarian Alps, the Zugspitze, adorned at its summit with a golden cross.

" 'We want to make it clear that Germany is no longer in the brakeman’s cab when it comes to migration issues in Europe but is part of the driving force,' Dobrindt said at an elevation of nearly 3,000 meters.

"That message is being received well in #Brussels [#Belgium].

" 'If Germany contributes more, becomes more committed, that’s very, very positive, because we’ll simply make progress faster,' EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner told POLITICO from the sidelines of the summit in #Bavaria. 'And that’s why I’m very pleased that the German government has chosen this path and is also strongly supporting the Commission in implementing the things we’ve put forward.'

"Germany’s new willingness to lead Europe’s anti-immigration front removes one key obstacle preventing European countries from enacting policy proposals that were until recently deemed beyond the pale. Those include plans to deport migrants to third countries and to process asylum claims outside the EU, copying the #UK’s failed #Rwanda scheme, which Merz previously praised as 'something we could emulate.'

"While Germany’s migration shift began under its previous left-leaning government, Merz’s coalition, under rising pressure from the anti-immigration #AlternativeForGermany (#AfD) — now the largest opposition party in Germany’s Bundestag — is taking a far harder course to stem the defection of conservative voters to the far right."

Read more:
https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-is-now-leading-the-charge-on-europes-anti-immigration-turn/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

#Rightwing #AntiImmigrant #EuropePol #FourthReich #Denmark #TurdReich

Polish democracy hero #Wałęsa says #Trump’s treatment of #Zelenskyy filled him with ‘horror’

Updated 10:06 AM EST, March 3, 2025

WARSAW, #Poland (AP) — "Poland’s democracy hero #LechWałęsa and dozens of other former political prisoners in Poland have written a letter to President Donald Trump, telling him that his treatment of Ukraine’s president at the Oval Office last week filled them 'with horror and distaste.'

"Wałęsa, who served as president soon after Poland embraced democracy, and the others tell Trump that they found it offensive that he expected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to show respect and gratitude for the material assistance the United States has given Ukraine as it defends itself against #Russia’s invasion.

"'Gratitude is due to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed blood in defense of the values of the free world. They are the ones who have been dying on the front lines,' they say.

"The White House has demanded that Zelenskyy show more openness to potential concessions in order to bring the fighting to an end, but Zelenskyy has been resistant, saying Monday that any deal with Russia is still 'very, very far away,' while seeking greater security guarantees from Washington.

"Wałęsa posted the letter on Facebook on Monday along with a photograph of himself with Trump. It was signed by himself and 38 other former democracy activists who were imprisoned by Poland’s Moscow-backed communist regime before 1989. Among the others who signed are Adam Michnik, Bogdan Lis, Seweryn Blumsztajn and Władysław Frasyniuk."

https://apnews.com/article/poland-trump-walesa-ukraine-russia-eab6a26169183760c844580f7742fd78
#Solidarność #Solidarity #USPol #WorldPol #EuropePol #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet

Polish democracy hero Wałęsa says Trump's treatment of Zelenskyy filled him with 'horror'

Poland’s democracy hero Lech Wałęsa and 38 other former political prisoners in Poland have told President Donald Trump that his treatment of Ukraine’s president at the Oval Office last week filled them “with horror and distaste.” In a letter posted on Facebook, they tell Trump that they found it offensive that he expected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to show respect and gratitude for the material assistance which the United States has given Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s invasion. They write that “gratitude is due to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed blood in defense of the values of the free world.” Wałęsa posted the letter on Facebook along with a photograph of himself with Trump.

AP News

#TheGremlinZoo #USPol #EuropePol #Ukraine

From BBC.com: European leaders set to hold emergency summit on Ukraine

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04nw1pg3k2o

European leaders set to hold emergency summit on Ukraine

The UK PM, who is expected to attend, said it was a "once in a generation moment for our national security".

Don't Let the Wolf in the Door: Electoral Politics and Fascism

Sam Button considers the dilemmas that Western liberal politicians face once fascists have had their brief terms in office.

Interregnum

Full on thread about climate change and the ECHR!

Procedural live tooting.

#Journalism #ECHR #ClimateChange #EuropePol

https://mastodon.social/@mollyquell/110104882192762407
@mollyquell - Wasn't going to let a little thing like unending national strikes stop me from covering the big climate change cases at the European Court of Human Rights today.

Poland ready to build ‘smaller coalition’ to send tanks to Ukraine without Germany

‘We will not passively watch Ukraine bleed to death,’ Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki says.

POLITICO

James O'Brien Ruthlessly Deconstructs Jeremy Clarkson's Apology to Megan & Harry

https://youtu.be/vNikuWWOPJk

#europepol
#BlackMastodon

James O'Brien ruthlessly deconstructs Jeremy Clarkson's apology to Meghan and Harry

YouTube

What Europe Stole From Africa:

Imperial powers didn’t just steal art and artifacts. They stole Africa’s future

https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/01/17/benin-bronzes-africa-colonialism-slavery-art/

#africapol
#europepol
#history
#BlackMastodon

Benin Bronzes: Europe Stole a Lot More From Africa Than Just Art

Imperial powers didn’t just steal art and artifacts. They stole Africa’s future.

Foreign Policy

Ireland’s Great Hunger: 13 Facts About the 19th-Century Potato Famine that Devastated the Emerald Isle

https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/irish-potato-famine-facts

#BlackMastodon
#europepol
#history

13 Facts About the Irish Potato Famine

The lack of proper aid paired with layers of broken policies and a fractured response from a distant British government led to unimaginable—and likely avoidable—suffering in Ireland.

Mental Floss