#62: MASS IMMIGRATION TO BLAME FOR FRENCH RIOTS SAYS POLISH PM
Court rules Bolsonaro can't run for office until 2030 + Austrian gallery accused of exposing children to pornography + EU split on tractor ban + MORE!
POLISH PM LINKS FRENCH RIOTS TO IMMIGRATION
In expressing concerns about the riots engulfing France, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki blamed the unrest on the failure of the EU to control illegal migration and to respect the sovereignty of its member states.
He also criticized the immigration policies of the European Union and called for a Europe of secure borders.
“Our program is the Europe of secure borders – security and public order – these are the values from which everything else starts!” said Morawiecki.
“Looted shops, torched police cars, barricades in the streets – this is what is currently happening in the center of Paris and in many other French cities. We don’t want such scenes on Polish streets. We don’t want scenes like this in any city in Europe,e” he continued.
“This is why we will defend the conclusions of the European Council of 2018, we will defend the principle of the voluntary admission of immigrants. Stop illegal migration. Safety first.”
The Polish Prime Minister’s comments came as France faced its third night of protests over the killing of Nahel, a teenager of Algerian descent who was shot by a police officer during a car chase on Tuesday.
The protests have involved mass violence and the blocking of roads and fuel depots, sometimes developing into major riots, described as the most violent in recent history.
ELECTORAL COURT BARS BOLSONARO FROM RUNNING FOR OFFICE UNTIL 2030
The federal electoral court has decided to bar former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro from running for all public office for the next seven years.
The ruling, which was made by a slim majority of four to three, is a significant setback for Bolsonaro’s political future and his potential bid to challenge his rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in the 2026 presidential election.
Bolsonaro rejected the decision saying that he would take it to the Supreme Federal Court, the highest judicial authority in Brazil.
“I have not attacked the voting system; I just showed its possible flaws,” Bolsonaro said on Friday.
“This trial doesn’t make any sense.”
Lula has faced criticism for politicizing the judicial process after nominating his friend and former defense lawyer, Cristiano Zanin, as a judge at the Supreme Federal Court.
Zanin, 47, served Lula since 2013 and secured his release from prison in November 2019, after being convicted for money laundering and corruption.
Supporters of Bolsonaro fear that Zanin could influence the outcome of Bolsonaro’s appeal or other cases involving Lula and his allies.
AUSTRIAN GALLERY PROMOTES “PORNOGRAPHIC” EXHIBIT TO CHILDREN
The exhibition “Body and Territory” at Kunsthaus Graz has sparked criticism from the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) for allegedly exposing children to pornography.
The FPÖ claims that the exhibition violates Austria’s youth law by showing “pornographic” depictions of naked bodies, such as a pregnant woman urinating or men holding their erect penises.
Some of the images have been published on the party’s website. They have also threatened to take legal action against the Kunsthaus, which is financed by the provincial government of Styria.
FPÖ state party secretary Stefan Hermann has demanded that guided tours for school classes be stopped and that access to this exhibition be made impossible for minors.
“The legal situation is therefore clear, and in the opinion of the FPÖ the violation of the Kunsthaus against these provisions is just as clear. Because as of June 28, 2023, it was no problem for children and young people to buy an admission ticket and visit the “Body & Territory” exhibition in the Kunsthaus,” said Hermann.
“As if that wasn't enough, the website even advertises a "conversation-oriented, age-appropriate" tour for students in grades 5 to 13.”
EU SPLIT ON RADICAL “TRACTOR BAN”
The EU’s attempt to impose a radical plan to ban tractors under the guise of “reviving nature” has been narrowly rejected by a committee vote in the European Parliament but it could still move towards becoming law as another vote is set to take place
On Tuesday, 44 MEPs voted against and 44 in favor of the proposal, which will face another vote in the plenary session next Monday.
The plan, called the “Regulation for the Restoration of Nature”, is the brainchild of the Commissioner responsible for climate policy, Frans Timmermans, who has been pushing his agenda for a year.
The proposal would force EU countries to restore at least 20% of their land and sea areas by 2030, and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.
This would mean unleashing straightened rivers, irrigating dried up moors, and planting trees on every tenth field of farmers. Critics say that it would turn back time and erase the traces of human progress.
Critics of the proposal, including the EPP, the ID parliamentary group, to which the FPÖ belongs, and parts of the liberals, argue that the plan would violate property rights, impose unrealistic and costly obligations on farmers.
ROMANIAN PRESIDENT WANTS PERMANENT US TROOP PRESENCE
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has called for a "“permanent” presence of US troops in the NATO nation that borders the Ukraine.
Iohannis made the comment at an Independence Day ceremony with the US Embassy in Bucharest.
“As a concrete manifestation of this commitment, thousands of American soldiers are today in Romania, contributing, alongside their Romanian, French, Dutch, Belgian and other allied nations comrades, to ensuring our security, but also of the Euro-Atlantic area,” said Iohannis.
"I assure you of the full cooperation of the Romanian authorities in creating the best conditions for a persistent, even permanent, presence in Romania of the forces of our main Strategic Partner."
Bordering on the Black Sea and within Russia’s reach, Romania has been of strategic value to NATO for some time now.
Throughout the war in the Ukraine, Romania has welcomed nearly 3,000 US troops at several military bases across the country.
