At 20:00 yesterday evening local time in Italy, the registration of the lists of political forces for the European elections was completed. In the country, the European vote will be held on June 8 and 9, reported the Italian news media “Euronews Italy”, ANSA, “RAI News”, “Mesagero”, Sky TG 24 and “Corriere della Sera”, quoted by BTA.
Italy, as one of the large member states of the EU, is divided into five constituencies radiating a certain number of MEPs – one southern, two northern, one central and one covering the islands. More than 10 lists were registered in each of these districts, but the mainstream media today publishes lists of only the candidates from the leading political forces.
Among the leading figures who are on the lists of these leading powers are Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, the leader of the Italian Democrats Ellie Schlein. Meloni and Tajani are at the top of the lists of their respective right-wing parties – Italian Brothers and Forza Italia, which they head and which are part of the ruling coalition. Schlein is at the top of the list of the Democratic Party. However, Renzi, in contrast to them, has preferred to take lower positions in the lists of his political formation Italia Viva and give way to other candidates.
Meloni’s party two years ago won the Italian parliamentary elections with 26 percent and now polls predict that it will achieve the same result in the Euro vote.
Both Meloni, Tajani and Schlein have already made it clear that, if elected as MEPs, they would prefer to give up those seats and continue their work in Italy – Meloni and Tajani will remain as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister respectively. and Schlein will remain a member of the Italian Parliament. For the same reason, Renzi had announced that he would prefer not to be at the head of his party’s electoral list.
From the opposition Democratic Party, Lucia Annunziata, a famous and respected journalist, and Cecilia Strada, a writer and journalist, daughter of the creator of the non-governmental organization “Imergency” Gino Strada, have also announced as candidates.
Former European Commissioner Emma Bonino has been expelled from Renzi’s centrists.
Major absentees among the candidates include 5-Star Movement leader and two-time Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, and most notably Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the right-wing and sovereigntist League party Matteo Salvini.
League is falling in the polls and Salvini preferred to bet on another leading candidate – the controversial General Roberto Vanacci, who has distinguished himself by participating in many overseas military missions, including in the Middle East, but who caused a scandal with a book in which he racist and anti-LGBT comments. The League, which is allied with Germany’s Alternative for Germany and France’s National Assembly, is currently at 7 percent in Eurovote polls, lower than its performance even in national elections.
The controversial former Deputy Minister of Culture Vittorio Sgarbi is also on the list. It was erected by Italian brothers. Sgarbi resigned in February over allegations that he received royalties for speeches and lectures he gave while in office. Sgarbi’s name was also involved in a stolen painting story.
And the small Union of Greens party from the left nominated the Italian activist Ilaria Salis as its candidate for MEP. Salis is now in Hungarian custody on trial for allegedly attacking neo-Nazis at a rally in Budapest more than a year ago. The case has been highly publicized and has been poisoning the relations between Italy and Hungary for months.
In addition to the European elections, on June 8 and 9 Italians vote in local elections in a number of towns, including for mayors of Florence and Bari, as well as in regional elections in the northern region of Piedmont. On June 9, election day ends at 11 p.m. local time.
In Italy, the registration of the Eurovote lists has ended – 2024-05-02 23:44:06
#MPs #argue #Sovietera #deportations
While debating the amendments to the Immigration Law in relation to the requirements for knowledge of the national language for Russian citizens living in Latvia, MP Viktorija Pleškāne, while mentioning deportations, also pointed out that after the restoration of independence, 300,000 people “deported themselves” to other countries due to the policies implemented in Latvia.
After the politician’s statements, the leader of the session, the member of the Saeima Speaker, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica (JV), stated that she was forced to remind that the code of ethics for deputies states that a deputy is based on facts, their honest interpretation and reasoning.
Kalniņa-Lukaševica emphasized that it is not acceptable to belittle and minimize the importance and volume of deportations from the Saeima podium. “Let me remind you that in the deportations of 1941, 15,400 people were taken out of Latvia in one night, and in the deportations of 1949, 42,149 people were deported from Latvia in one night,” said the member of the Saeima Speaker.
Even before Pleškāne’s speech, the leader of the “Latvija first” party, Ainārs Šlesers, in connection with the amendments on requiring knowledge of the national language, stated, among other things, that the term “collective responsibility” was very often used in the Soviet Union. “So, if someone in your family has done something bad, then everyone is responsible. Who were sent to Siberia in their time? Let’s accept those whose family had done something against the Soviets. So that’s how it was, right? Of course, innocent people have been sent away, but the idea was collective responsibility,” Shlesser said.
Shlesser also expressed that more than 30 years have passed since Latvia regained its independence, and the generations are already starting to change. The politician claimed that many pensioners would rather have a heart attack than pass a language exam, and that these people are not a threat to Latvia’s security.
MP Ināra Mūrniece (NA) responded to what Shleser said, saying that the draft law is about security, not about deportations and collective responsibility. The politician emphasized that her family has been deported twice. Mūrniece expressed her hope that “absurd and stupid” statements about the people’s suffering and deportations will no longer be heard from the Saeima tribune.
Later in the debate, MP Vilis Kristopans (LPV) said that on March 25, 1949, his grandfather, grandmother, mother, father, and brothers were put in a wagon and taken to the Omsk region in the Soviet Union.
At the same time, Kristopans pointed out that after the restoration of Latvia’s independence, several hundreds of thousands of people left, “some of whom had their house or apartment taken away by the bank and were still saddled with debts”. “Isn’t it the same deportation? And you, the National Union, were in the nth governments, and as a result of your actions several hundreds of thousands have been deported in the same way,” emphasized the deputy.
Kristopans emphasized that he does not support these amendments regarding the requirement of knowledge of the national language, as he is categorically against retaliation against some part, including the elderly.
Parliamentarian Jānis Dombrava (NA), reacting to Pleškāne’s statements, assumed that the politician plans to follow the example of former deputy Gloria Grevcova, possibly violating the article of the Criminal Law regarding the denial, justification and trivialization of genocide, war crime.
“Something similar is heard here from Mr. Kristopanas. Stop doing these things here! It is not the place in the Saeima where you try to trivialize the events that happened against the Latvian people during the Soviet occupation and also during the occupation of Nazi Germany, with the events that have happened In Latvia after the restoration of independence, where people have made voluntary decisions,” emphasized Dombrava.
Pleškāne answered him, stating both that there was occupation and deportations, and that “because of your government, precisely because of your decision-making, we lost and are losing people” who left Latvia due to economic conditions.
Deputy Artūrs Butāns (NA) said that he was ashamed of what he had to hear from the Saeima rostrum about deportations. The politician noted that the Migration Commission has presented data that shows that it is the older generation that “best, most successfully, most actively” passes the language requirements.
During his repeated speech, Shleser called to think about what decision the Saeima is making now. Citing examples, the politician explained that knowledge of the Latvian language cannot be used to assess loyalty, and called for solving real problems. Similarly, Kristopans later spoke a second time, explaining his position.
In her answer, Mūrniece expressed her regret that Shlesser and Kristopan did not take the opportunity to apologize during the second appearance. “I don’t understand why we here, more than 30 years after the restoration of independence, have to despise the tragic history of our own people. I want to say that you really spat in the hearts of many families today,” said Mūrniece.
As reported, the Saeima today conceptually supported the amendments to the Immigration Law, with which the requirement of knowledge of the national language is planned to be applied to an additional few thousand Russian citizens.
There was no tsunami warning VIDEO
– 2024-05-02 22:57:42
Regulators in the European Union are expected to launch an investigation into Meta, the parent company of the social network Facebook, over concerns that it cannot deal with disinformation coming from Russia and other countries, the Financial Times reported on Monday. quoted by Reuters.
Regulators suspect that Meta’s moderators are not doing enough to stop the spread of political advertising that risks undermining the election process, the publication reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The European Commission is not expected to name Russia explicitly in its statement, which is expected to be released later today, but will only point to the manipulation of information by foreign entities, says the FT material, quoted by BTA.
Meta and the EC have not yet responded to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Dozens of countries around the world, including Britain, Austria and Georgia, will elect new leaders this year.
The European Parliament elections are also coming up in June.
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#investigate #Meta #Russian #disinformation
EU to investigate Meta over Russian disinformation – 2024-05-02 23:45:55