Europe

Paris (AFP) – The river Seine is still failing water quality tests one month before the Paris Olympics when it is scheduled to host the open-water swimming competition and the swimming leg of the triathlon, results showed Friday.

June 28 (Reuters) - A growing proportion of non-European Union citizens ordered to leave EU territory are being returned to countries outside the bloc as part of efforts to rein in irregular migration, data from the EU's statistics office shows.

• At the Public Spaces conference in the Netherlands on June 6th, Alexis Kauffmann from the French Ministry of Education and co-founder of the non-profit software platform FraMaSoft, discussed France’s move towards a comprehensive open source-based education strategy, 2023-2027. The aim is to achieve digital sovereignty and reduce dependence on big tech companies like Microsoft and Google, which are widely used in education systems in other countries.
• “One of the key actions is to offer authoring tools to our teacher and tools based on open source software. No Google Classrooms. Not Microsoft Teams. We have chosen Moodle Elea as a learning management system,” explained Alexis Kauffmann who also pointed to other tools to learn to code and mathematics like Jupyter.
• France uses an app platform with open-source tools like Nextcloud, Big Blue Botton, and Collaboration. They even have their own ‘github’ (owned by Microsoft) called La Forge, where teachers share code.
• “To support this, we have public funds for digital commons, we organise workshops and finance the software, and therefore we can do without Microsoft and Google,” Alexis Kauffmann explained.

“I am not saying it is easy. The biggest obstacle is political courage to resist the lobbyists both at a national and European level,” he said and pointed to other risks like the quality of big tech’s products, being isolated in Europa, and artificial intelligence.

He hopes other European countries will follow suit and quoted The European Council Recommendation on education:

Hungary’s pro-Kremlin leader Viktor Orban takes over the rotating presidency of the European Council on July 1, just weeks after fellow nationalist and populist parties surged across the bloc in European polls. Hungarian diplomats have promised a “normal” presidency over the coming six months, while experts note that the role carries limited powers. But Orban’s choice of slogan for the job suggests the EU’s serial provocateur is unlikely to shun the spotlight.

Moscow allegedly plotted to kill an investigative journalist in Austria. Now his home is protected by officers with submachine guns.

• The University Hospital Centre Zagreb (KBC Zagreb) is under cyberattack that started on Wednesday (June 26) night. All services are working, but the processing of patients is slower than usual, Milivoj Novak, Assistant Director at the hospital, has said.

• The attacks have been claimed by the pro-Russian NoName057(16) hacker group and have resulted in a temporary unavailability of the institutions’ websites and online portals. The sites are back online now.

• It is currently unknown whether the cyberattack against the hospital involved the deployment of ransomware, and whether it’s connected to yesterday’s DDoS attacks on the websites of several Croatian government and financial institutions: the Ministry of Finance, the Tax Administration, the Croatian National Bank (HNB), the Economic Bank of Zagreb (PBZ), and the Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE).

Archived link

Since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine, Russians have filed at least 3,500 denunciations against their fellow citizens for their statements, posts, books, and websites — sometimes resulting in high-profile criminal cases. However, the consequences of most of these complaints receive little public attention. Furthermore, many of those filing reports are not public figures but ordinary Russians who meet in anonymous Telegram channels. The independent outlet iStories analyzed the most active of these informant channels and interviewed their members to uncover who they are, what they report, and why they choose to participate in state repression. This is an English translation.

>Late last year, Moscow resident Usman Baratov posted a picture of a chicken with the caption: “No eggs for you! Bring the cocks back from the front.” His post was a reaction to the sharp rise in egg prices (over 50 percent), a topic even Vladimir Putin had to address.

>Within a month, calls to strip Baratov of his Russian citizenship started appearing on social media. Pro-Kremlin bloggers saw his post as “discrediting” the Russian army, and informers joined the harassment, sending complaints about Baratov to the Russian Investigative Committee and the prosecutor’s office.

>One of the most active voices calling for denunciations against Baratov was the anonymous Telegram channel Direct Action. The channel, aiming to “create public outcry,” asked followers to report Baratov to pro-government media in order to ensure he “was no longer laughing.” A few days later, a criminal case was opened against him on charges of “inciting hatred or enmity.” Baratov has now been in pre-trial detention for five months. Thanks to Direct Action, he faces up to six years in prison.

• The 3,500 complaints against Russian citizens is only a minimum estimate based on public posts. The most active groups of anonymous informers emerged only after the start of the full-scale war. Before that, they existed as groups on Russian social media where people would share propagandistic and homophobic memes.
• One of these groups, Direct Action, spun off from a group called Bloodseeker, which posts homophobic and pro-Kremlin content. However, the war and the subsequent repressive policies brought by Russian authorities against their own population led to a surge in denunciations, targeting not only anti-war statements but also LGBTQ+ content, “Russophobia,” drugs, and other topics.
• For serial informers like Ekaterina Mizulina, the head of the Safe Internet League, and Vitaly Borodin, the head of the Federal Security and Anti-Corruption Project, denunciation has become a calling card. Mizulina alone filed 148 reports over just two years, targeting bloggers, journalists, publishers, artists, and other content creators. Lawmakers and activists like this tailor their denunciations to their current agenda, primarily focusing on public figures and their statements.
• In addition to calls for denunciations, these Telegram channels urge followers to harass and spam victims. This June, informants complained about people holding a “photo shoot” in a St. Petersburg cemetery. Channel administrators created dedicated chats to instruct followers on the types of comments to leave on the targets’ social media pages and which posts to report.
• Followers often report back on their successes. By June 7, 2024, members of Direct Action claimed to have blocked 109 pages related to LGBTQ+ topics and the war in Ukraine, including opposition media sites (although it’s not possible to verify whether these pages were blocked as a result of these informants). They also boast about forced public apologies (such as a Belgorod resident’s for supporting Ukraine and criticizing the mistreatment of migrants in Russia), dismissals (like the Higher School of Economics firing a transgender teacher in spring 2022), and misdemeanor charges (including those against Popcorn Books for publishing books with LGBTQ+ characters and a drag performer from Yekaterinburg for singing the Russian anthem while holding a rainbow flag).

Archived link

• The war in Ukraine has altered the balance of interests between China and Russia. They have drawn closer together and further away from the West without reconciling their different world views, says a joint report by the Mercator Institute for China Studies, Chatham House, and the German Marshall Fund
• The new China-Russia alignment is characterized by a strong, flexible political bond but lacks a shared ideology or legal framework. It reflects mutual instrumentalization and is highly contingent on external factors.
• This alignment has evolved from a mere challenge into a complex security threat to Europe and its transatlantic partners.
• Although the United States and Europe see threats from Russia and China as separate and carrying different degrees of urgency, it is imperative to understand the nature and the extent of the threat they pose together.
• Russia’s war on Ukraine is a direct threat to European security. Beijing’s assistance to Russia turns China into a security threat to be contained rather than only a “partner, competitor and systemic rival”.
• China is providing Russia with an economic lifeline, helping Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions and expand its military-industrial complex with unrestricted exports of critical dual-use goods.
• China is supporting Russia also with hybrid operations and increased military cooperation, reducing Russia’s diplomatic isolation and promoting Russia’s narrative in the Global South. Attempts to drive a wedge between the two “limitless partners” are likely to be counterproductive. Instead, the key is to change Beijing’s calculus for supporting Moscow.

The policy recommendations for transatlantic partners provided here revolve around three pillars:

1. Revising Europe’s view of China to acknowledge the security threat it represents.
2. Recognising China’s potential role to play in ending the war in Ukraine, yet without weakening European security.
3. Clarifying red lines and imposing costs on China for its support for Russia’s war effort.

Here is the study (pdf)

Although Chinese companies are seen as innovative, government subsidies that violate the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are also thought to be behind the high competitive pressure.

German firms estimate the probability of a trade war with China due to the Taiwan conflict in the next ten years to be high at around 70 per cent.

The companies' approval rates for tariffs on subsidized Chinese e-cars and the possible prevention of sensitive technology transfer, which threatens to transfer high technology from German companies to the Chinese military, are also remarkably high.

• Around 80 per cent of German companies consider tariffs on Chinese products, including e-cars, as justified or partially justified, according to a survey by The German Economic Institute in Cologne. The business community's high approval rates for a tougher approach towards China are based on threats its technology could be used by China for military purposes and the "extraordinarily high and widespread subsidies in China", which suggests that "the ability of Chinese firms to offer much lower prices is not the result of fair competition alone", the study authors says.
• "The use of trade defense instruments has nothing to do with protectionism," the study says, adding that "these instruments are legitimized by the World Trade Organization (WTO)". The aim of an anti-subsidy investigation is precisely to distinguish between fair and unfair (subsidy-induced) competitive pressure.
• "Given the lack of transparency of subsidies in Chinese state capitalism, [subsidy investigation] is a certain challenge," the researcher say. However, should the EU investigation infer subsidies that are higher than in reality, China would have the opportunity to provide evidence to the contrary.
• For now, however, "China's subsidization is a violation of the rules and ultimately a protectionist measure". The researchers add: "All too often, statements by high-ranking German politicians suggest that the EU and Germany are putting themselves in the wrong by using anti-subsidy measures. The opposite is the case."
• At least half of the companies (this also applies to the various depicted subgroups) state that Chinese competitors offering comparable products undercut their prices by more than 20 per cent. Chinese companies even enter the market with prices that are more than 30 per cent lower than those of the companies surveyed. This applies to 63 per cent of companies that feel strong competitive pressure from China, but also to 37 per cent of innovative companies, i.e. firms that continuously conduct research and development.
• China's subsidy regime has consequences for industrial employment in Germany, the researchers claim. Although Chinese companies are seen as innovative, government subsidies are also thought to be behind the high competitive pressure.
• The researchers add that in view of China's export offensive, it is "important to show that the EU is prepared, if necessary, to use its toolbox against Chinese distortions of competition and Chinese threats".

The EU has been critical about the passing of the new foreign influence law, which is due to come into effect next month.

Under it, media and non-governmental organisations that receive over 20% of their funding from abroad will have to register as “organisations acting in the interest of a foreign power”, submit themselves to stringent audits, or face punitive fines.

The Georgian government argues the rules will ensure transparency of money flowing to support NGOs and protect Georgia from foreign interference.

Its opponents have dubbed it "Russian law” because of its similarities with an existing law in Russia and believe the real reason for the legislation is to stifle dissent ahead of October's parliamentary elections.

"The European Council calls on Georgia’s authorities to clarify their intentions by reversing the current course of action which jeopardises Georgia’s EU path," the leaders said in a document released on Thursday.

They added that they maintained their "steadfast solidarity with the Georgian people" and expressed a "readiness to continue supporting Georgians on their path towards a European future".

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/259212

> British authorities must reconsider whether to open an investigation into imports of cotton allegedly produced by slave labour in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, a London court ruled on Thursday, allowing an appeal by a Uyghur rights group. > > The World Uyghur Congress, an international organisation of exiled Uyghur groups, took legal action against Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) after it declined to begin a criminal investigation. > Rights groups and the U.S. government accuse China of widespread abuses of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the western region of Xinjiang, from where the vast majority of Chinese-produced cotton emanates. > > Beijing vigorously denies any abuses and its embassy in Washington has previously described allegations of forced labour as "nothing but a lie concocted by the U.S. side in an attempt to wantonly suppress Chinese enterprises". > > "The Chinese government has made it very clear that the allegation of 'forced labour' in Xinjiang is nothing but an enormous lie propagated by anti-China elements to smear China," a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London said. > In its legal action, the World Uyghur Congress argued that the NCA wrongly failed to investigate whether cotton from Xinjiang amounts to "criminal property". > > Last year, a judge at London's High Court ruled there was "clear and undisputed evidence of instances of cotton being manufactured ... by the use of detained and prison labour as well as by forced labour". > But the legal challenge was dismissed on the grounds that the British authorities' approach to the law – which was that there has to be a clear link between alleged criminality and a specific product – was correct. > > The Court of Appeal overturned that decision, ruling that "the question of whether to carry out an investigation ... will be remitted to the NCA for reconsideration". > > Rahima Mahmut, UK Director of the World Uyghur Congress, described the ruling as "a monumental victory and a moral triumph". > "This win represents a measure of justice for those Uyghurs and other Turkic people who have been tortured and subjected to slave labour," Mahmut said in a statement. > > A spokesperson for the NCA said: "We respectfully note the judgment of the Court of Appeal and are considering our next steps."

Marine Le Pen, former president of France's far-right party National Rally and currently a French presidential candidate, on Thursday raised the question in an interview with a French newspaper of who would be in charge of the military if her party takes over the government after snap parliamentary elections starting Sunday, June 30.

French tycoon Vincent Bolloré has put his sprawling media empire at the service of France’s nationalist right, precipitating a rightward shift in French politics. Pulling strings from behind the scenes in the manner of Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire corporate raider has orchestrated an alliance of bitter right-wing rivals in the run-up to Sunday’s legislative elections, bolstering the far-right National Rally’s chances of victory.

• The ongoing EURO 2024 is a case in point with a significant portion of sponsors hailing from China, alongside Qatari state-owned entities like Qatar Airways and Visit Qatar. The European Football Federation UEFA's flagship event, therefore, appears less European on the sponsorship side and more entangled in the geopolitical interests of autocratic regimes.
• Some of these sponsorships raise serious concerns and call UEFA's credibility and ethical standards into doubt. The sponsors are linked to a wide range of contentious issues such as allegations of mass labour abuses of Uyghurs, pornographic content for minors to illegal subsidisation, political interference, and fundamental human rights violations.
• AliExpress came under fire over the platform's failure to enforce its own terms of service, posing risks to consumers’ health by selling fake medicine and food as well as dietary supplements. The European Commission also highlighted that AliExpress still allows pornographic material on the platform and that it is possible for minors to access the material. Already in 2022, the Biden Administration added AliExpress to an annual list of markets that the United States identifies as engaging in counterfeiting and copyright violations.
• Nevertheless, UEFA has chosen AliExpress as its sponsor for EURO 2024, and the platform received further backing when David Beckham, one of the most prominent figures in world sports marketing, was announced as their global ambassador in late May 2024.
• UEFA has also entered into partnerships with payment platform Alipay and blockchain company AntChain, run by an Alibaba affiliate company, Ant Group. In a 2024 financial statement, Alibaba disclosed that numerous entities within its business empire are partially owned by Chinese state-owned enterprises. This highlights Alibaba’s extensive ties to the Chinese government and is especially concerning in light of concerns that Alibaba is involved with offering facial recognition software solutions.
• Vivo, a Chinese multinational technology company and EURO 2024 sponsor, is among those who reportedly benefit directly or indirectly from using Uyghur workers.
• BYD, a leading Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer and EURO 2024 sponsor, has also been implicated in using aluminium made by Uyghur forced labour, according to a February 2024 report by Human Rights Watch.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a security agreement to be inked between Kyiv and the European Union on Thursday would advance "peace and prosperity" across the continent.

• The NGO 'Stop Uyghur Genocide' is urging the financial regulator to refuse the application on legal grounds. The group said that minority Uyghur people in China are being used for forced labour in Shein’s Xingjiang-based cotton supply chain.
• A letter to the British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said allowing the business to list would be “inconsistent with the UK’s obligations to the United Nations body, International Labour Organisation, which protects labour standards across organisations”.
• UK businesses have to publish a statement every year that lays out steps they have taken to ensure slavery and trafficking aren’t taking place within the organisation’s supply chain or operations, under the Modern Slavery Act.

It was a confrontation that marked the culmination of a BBC investigation that had begun 51 days earlier - hours after five people, including a seven-year-old girl named Sara, had died in the sea off northern France. She had suffocated beneath a crush of bodies inside an inflatable boat.

That investigation had taken the reporters from the informal migrant camps around Calais and Boulogne, to a French police unit in Lille, to a market town in Essex, to the Belgian port of Antwerp, Berlin, and finally to Luxembourg and a three-day stakeout at the gates of the country’s migrant reception centre.

Eventually, a man was identified as a the smuggler who had been paid to organize Sara and her family’s dangerous voyage to England.

After the confrontation, the investigators informed the French and British police about their findings.

Archived link

• The Hungarian branch of anti-corruption organization Transparency International received a letter containing a total of 62 questions in their six-page official letter, giving them thirty days to respond.
• The letter of notification were signed by Hungary’s new sovereignty protection office (SPO), a controversial body set up with broad powers which has been condemned by rights groups as a means to investigate against citizens and stifle dissent.
• Transparency International Hungary says it believes that it is no accident that our organisation has been targeted by the SPO. As a non-governmental organization fighting corruption, the success of our investigative, analytical and legal work, and perhaps even our mere existence threatens the regime of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has been leading the most corrupt government in the European Union.
• The Guardian reports that Átlátszó, one of the country’s best-known investigative outlets, received a similar notification that they were being investigated as organisations that, “using support from abroad, conduct activities aimed at influencing the will of the voters”.

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on Wednesday ordered the dissolution of extreme right and radical Islamist groups, four days before the June 30 first round of high-stakes legislative elections that could see the far-right National Rally (RN) come to power after a short, divisive campaign. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments for all the latest developments on the campaign trail.

Hello everyone,

This community is only a few hours old, and already there is a meta post ha ha.

I was just thinking that the EU flag doesn't include non-EU countries such as Switzerland, the UK, Norway, Ukraine, Iceland, Albania, Georgia, etc.

Maybe a more "map-based" logo like this one could be considered too?

!

Raphaël Glucksmann, co-founder of the centre-left Place Publique party, emerged from a surprisingly strong showing in the June 9 European elections to find himself a key member of a new leftist alliance in France – one hastily forged to battle the far-right party leading in polls ahead of snap elections called by President Emmanuel Macron. But while the left might be demonstrating a newfound unity, Glucksmann has come under fire for striking a deal with a hard-left faction that has been accused of anti-Semitism and being soft on Russia.

• Rivian and Volkswagen Group intend to enter a joint venture to create next generation software-defined vehicle (SDV) platforms to be used in both companies’ future electric vehicles.
• Volkswagen Group to invest an initial $1 billion in Rivian, with up to $4 billion in planned additional investment for a total expected deal size of $5 billion.
• Joint venture is expected to build on Rivian’s industry-leading software and electrical architecture to create best-in-class software-defined vehicle technology platform.
• The tie-up comes as competition intensifies between EV makers and Western countries move to impose tariffs on Chinese imports.