Europe

Just go the vote, and make sure your family and friends go to give their votes.

I'm not local, I cannot vote over here, but had seen multiple times in modern times voter suppression has been a big deal, it's easier to make you not to bother to vote than change your mind who to vote.

I had worked brexit UK, where people voted it due they weren't happy about the PM. As it was good time to vote against him. Without thinking what brexit actually was. So use your voice by voting. What do you wish the future of country will be in this new era.

I know German has issues, as every Europe union contries. If the problems are easy to solve they would have been solved already, don't belive one tag line promises.

I'm just wanna say, as a fellow user. Just go to vote.

Estonia's large Russian-speaking minority used to be taught in Russian. The government has responded to Russia's invasion with a reform to end this. Now, lessons will only be taught in Estonian.

geteilt von: https://feddit.org/post/8357814

The left side of the graph shows the results, the right side shows possible coalitions

https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/bundestagswahl-2025-ergebnisse-so-hat-deutschland-gewaehlt-aktuelle-daten-a-6ace92df-43cc-48de-b183-2c98c7c19c2f

A new framework aimed at increasing the competitiveness of European industry is targeting lower energy costs and stronger purchase incentives for local and sustainable products, according to a leaked early draft of the measures.

[...]

EUROPE FOCUS “European preference criteria” are set to become a prominent factor in public and private procurement, according to the draft text, as well as new labelling for industrial products to more clearly delineate greener products from fossil-based ones.

The new measures could set out “minimum local content” requirements along with more robust sustainability criteria for public procurement, as well as exploring options for embedding similar “non-cost criteria” into product legislation.

CIRCULARITY, HYDROGEN The Commission could be set to limit the export of waste raw materials deemed critical for circular production, and is expected to ease restrictions on movement of raw materials across the region in the Circular Economy Act, expected next year.

Policymakers are also looking to clarify rules on low-carbon hydrogen production, and are set to launch a third call for projects through the Hydrogen Bank, the auction house set up to incentivise projects and investment, in the third quarter 2025.

CBAM REFORMS, DECARBONISATION TARGETS With a targeted package for the chemicals sector, which the draft text refers to as the “industry of industries”, expected towards the end of the year, the Commissions’ review of the proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) continues.

Intended to levy fees on the CO2 emissions of energy-intensive goods imports such as steel and fertilizers, the Commission is proposing to simplify the framework ahead of its roll-out next year, and reduce the administrative burden on businesses.

[...]

We went inside one of Europe’s biggest abandoned buildings, the one of a kind ICC Berlin. Find out more about the ICC Berlin, and the opportunity to redesign this world-famous landmark.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/38502251

Tap for article

Centre-right CDU and CSU parties win election, say exit polls

Germany’s centre-right CDU and CSU parties have won the federal elections with about 28.5 to 29 per cent of the vote according to exit polls, paving the way for CDU leader Friedrich Merz to become chancellor at a time of economic and political upheaval in Europe’s largest democracy.

The far-right Alternative for Germany co-led by Alice Weidel recorded its best result with 19.5 — 20 per cent of the vote on Sunday, according to the preliminary projections by state broadcasters ARD and ZDF. That is double what the anti-immigration party achieved in 2021.

Meanwhile Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party won just 16 to 16.5 per cent of the votes.

Archived

Whilst the threat to Europe’s economic autonomy from a reliance on Chinese technologies has been evident for some time, many are now fearing that this dependence has created significant vulnerability in terms of national security [...]

Security services are fearful that sensors embedded within the hardware [of green energy technology] could collect data, control assets or even be used to monitor shipping and submarine activity if attached to wind turbines, for instance. As Chinese businesses dominate renewable supply chains in the green energy sector, there are limited options to source equipment from Western suppliers [...]

There are also wider concerns about the ownership of European terminals by Chinese companies, such as in Hamburg and Piraeus in Greece. One research paper commissioned by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Policies suggested that not only should Chinese investment in critical infrastructures be reviewed (and potentially blocked) at a European level, but that ports using Chinese software should be identified as well as the data being transmitted. It was also suggested that all EU members should put in place laws, ‘…to retake control of ports/terminals and other maritime infrastructures ownership and/or considered contingency plans in case that is required in a scenario of conflict (kinetic or otherwise) with China, in co-ordination with EU and other Member States.’

[...]

In the nearly three years since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the country’s people have endured continuous attacks, “psychological terror…displacement and hardship”, top UN aid coordinator Matthias Schmale said on Friday.

Briefing from Ukrainian capital Kyiv after another night of “air sirens and more loud explosions”, Mr. Schmale noted that the crisis began in 2014, with Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. “So, all children that were born since - all children up to the age of 11 - have never experienced their country at peace,” he said. Tweet URL

According to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, 2024 saw a 30 per cent increase in civilian casualties compared to 2023. “The humanitarian situation is worsening, especially in frontline areas,” it said in an update, highlighting that a full 36 per cent of Ukraine’s population - 12.7 million people - needs humanitarian aid this year.

...

Speaking from Zaporizhzhia in southeast Ukraine, Toby Fricker from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that more than 2,520 children have been killed or injured since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.

“The real number is likely far higher and it’s getting worse”, said Mr. Fricker, chief of communication in Ukraine.

“There was a more than 50 per cent increase in child casualties in 2024 compared to 2023 and what we see is no place is safe: schools, maternity wards, children’s hospitals, all have been affected by attacks.”

...

Underscoring the essential role played by women in Ukraine “beyond the battlefield”, UN Women Geneva Director Sofia Calltorp explained that “there is another story unfolding, and that is the story of all those women and girls who are bearing the brunt of this war.”

In 2024, the number of people killed and injured in Ukraine increased by 30 per cent, Ms. Calltorp noted. “Of them, 800 women lost their lives and more than 3,700 women were injured last year in Ukraine. We also know that the vast majority of Ukrainian refugees and displaced persons are women, and 6.7 million women are in need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance.”

...

Mirror: https://archive.is/2025.02.23-020539/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-22/ukraine-opposes-us-demand-for-500-billion-fund-in-minerals-deal

Three years into the full scale invasion of Ukraine, we ask what life is like in areas under Russian control. We look at “ripe for russification” Crimea, which was annexed 11 years ago, Moscow’s subsequent efforts to assert itself in the separatist East, and the Kremlin’s challenges in subjugating parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

...

Weidel admitted meeting Wu but said she met him once in months. As for their discussions, Weidel said that she sought an understanding of China’s position on Germany.

...

The damning findings come days ahead of German parliamentary elections in which AfD has rattled mainstream politicians. As per latest opinion polls, the party stands second in popularity and way ahead of incumbent SPD. While AfD’s links to the neo-Nazi movement have led to widespread concerns and contributed to its ostracisation by German parties, the links to China have led to fresh concerns whether a top contender for German chancellorship has been groomed by China.

The findings are all the more damning as European far-right has long been supported by Russia and China is Russia’s principal ally. The AfD is so extremist that even French far-right party, National Rally (RN), broke ties with it in the European Union (EU) elections last year. Moreover, AfD has previously been charged with spying for China and such allegations contributed to the RN-AfD split.

...

AfD leader Alice Weidel’s long relationship to China

In light of revealation of Weidel’s secret meetings with the top Chinese diplomat in Germany, fresh attention has come on her long relationship with China that goes back to decades. It is bound to be explored whether she has been groomed by China to do the Communist Party’s bidding in Germany and Europe.

...

As an economist, Weidel worked for the state-owned Bank of China and lived in China for six years. It has been reported that she was on scholarship during those years. Her doctoral thesis was also written on Chinese pension system.

...

In China, Weidel worked at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

While Weidel today leads a party linked to neo-Nazis, her grandparents were members of the Nazi Party. Her grandfather, Hans Weidel, was a prominent Nazi judge who persecuted political opponents of the Nazi regime. He was appointed by Adolf Hitler himself.

Russia initiated the large-scale deportation of Ukrainian children on February 18, 2022, just six days before launching its full-scale invasion, according to Andrii Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

By the morning of February 19, 2022, more than 2,700 children, primarily from orphanages and boarding schools, had been illegally taken to Russia. The occupation authorities falsified their names, dates, and places of birth and issued them Russian passports. Some of the children were later placed in foster care.

“Russia began kidnapping our children even before the full-scale invasion, which proves that this was a planned crime with the aim of erasing the Ukrainian identity of the children and forcibly assimilating them,” Yermak said.

He added that Russia has attempted to portray the abductions as evacuations due to security risks.

Ukraine has managed to return 1,221 children, but thousands remain in Russia. “We continue to fight for the return of every Ukrainian child abducted by Russia. No exceptions. No conditions,” Yermak stated.

According to the National Information Bureau of Ukraine, as of February 2025, 19,546 Ukrainian children have been deported or forcibly relocated to Russia.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova. They are accused of forcibly transferring Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia.

On February 6, Daria Zarivna, Advisor to the Head of the President’s Office and Operational Director of Bring Kids Back UA, announced the return of eight Ukrainian children unlawfully taken to temporarily occupied Crimea..

Archived

The Government is coming under renewed pressure over Chinese involvement in a major North Sea wind project.

The Green Volt North Sea farm, due to be Europe’s largest floating offshore wind farm, is a joint venture between a Japanese and an Italian-Norwegian company.

The Treasury has reportedly selected Chinese firm Mingyang Smart Energy to supply wind turbines.

The wind farm will be about 46 miles off the coast of Aberdeenshire and will generate up to 560MW of electricity. The firm says it is aiming for the plant to be operational in 2029.

There are concerns that the Chinese state could switch off the power once the wind farm is operational, or that the platforms could be used as spy sensors.

Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West Christine Jardine said the Government needed to ensure the software could not be accessed remotely or be at risk of being switched off by others.

She said the Government must follow “rigorous processes”, adding: “That must include an assessment of any opportunities for remote access to the turbines, as the software will normally remain in control of the manufacturers, even once commissioned, which would leave them vulnerable to being switched off. We need local control."

Energy minister Kerry McCarthy said the department had processes in place to ensure any risk in the project was minimised.

Ms McCarthy said: “We have discussions with a wide range, variety, of international investors, but we do absolutely recognise this needs to be balanced against national security implications, and that is something that we work on constantly across Government.”

[...]

[UK] Chancellor Rachel Reeves flew to the country in January to meet the country’s leaders, and Foreign Secretary David Lammy will meet his Chinese counterpart this week.

This is despite concerns about China’s human rights record, and potential for them to use backdoors in Britain’s energy infrastructure to blackmail a future government.

[...]

Big oil, governments and one of Europe’s largest polluters are among the developers of planned projects off our coast

Paywall? https://archive.is/yBKuo