Germany’s election result is a warning to Merkel – not a far-right triumph | Mary Dejevsky
With no mainstream outlet for discontent over migration, the real problem facing the chancellor is not AfD gains but the future effects of her deal with TurkeyHow bad is bad? As the results of Germany’s three regional elections came in, thelosses suffered by the chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right CDU were described as “dramatic”. In a vote widely seen as tantamount to a referendum on the welcome Merkel had extended to Syrian refugees, the verdict was interpreted as an unequivocal thumbs-down, with electoral momentum passing – almost unthinkable in Germany – to the xenophobic far right. The CDU was being punished for an unpopular policy devised and articulated, with uncharacteristic audacity, by its leader.
Protecting the rights of refugees and migrants requires a response based in hospitality not hostility. A contribution to the openGlobalRights debate on thefuture of refugee protection.
On Wednesday, Vienna hosted nine countries – and 18 ministers – to discuss the migration crisis in the western Balkans. Despite the size of the diplomatic shindig, a few names were left off the list.
The pulse of cultural productivity no longer rings louder in the centre, but is dispersed around the peripheries, and paradoxically this location is often adjacent to those who feel stuck.
In the context of growing frustration over the techno-financial determinism in the European political landscape that has cast veil upon veil over executive functions and facilitated the normalization of neo-liberal regimes, a new cosmopolitical movement was launched in Berlin – DiEM 25.
Britain is to hold a referendum on leaving the European Union, and the “Brexit” group—largely represented by the country’s nativist UKIP party—have a fabulous music video to promote their cause.
The mechanics of leaving the EU – explaining Article 50
The UK’s renegotiation of its EU membership concluded on Friday at the European Council in Brussels. The text of the settlement is contained in the Council conclusions. We also now know that the EU referendum will take place on Thursday 23 June 2016. Some comments on the renegotiation and referendum:
The fight for the UK to remain a member of the European Union is now fully on. The country will have a momentous decision to make on 23rd June this year. I unfortunately won’t have a vote on my future as a German living in the UK, the country I have lived and paid my taxes in for the last 15 years. But I will take the opportunity to debunk as many dangerous myths of the Brexiters as I can and I will start today with the economic argument about trade.
You often hear that “the rest of Europe sells us more stuff th
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