World
‘No to the Russian law’: Georgians protest ‘foreign agents’ bill
![‘No to the Russian law’: Georgians protest ‘foreign agents’ bill ‘No to the Russian law’: Georgians protest ‘foreign agents’ bill](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023-03-07T210052Z_915729407_RC27PZ9OUF9Y_RTRMADP_3_GEORGIA-POLITICS-FOREIGNAGENTS.jpg?resize=1920,1440)
Police within the Georgian capital Tbilisi have fired water cannons and tear gasoline to disperse crowds protesting in opposition to a proposed “overseas brokers” regulation that’s paying homage to a Russian measure used to silence critics.
Tons of of police converged on streets round Georgia’s parliament constructing late on Wednesday evening in a bid to interrupt up the protests. 1000’s gathered there for a second day, holding Georgian and European Union flags and chanting “no to the Russian regulation”.
Tear gasoline billowed down Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue, the place parliament is situated, forcing a minimum of a number of the demonstrators to maneuver away.
The protesters are demanding authorities drop the invoice on “transparency of overseas funding”, which requires any organisations receiving greater than 20 % of their funding from abroad to register as “overseas brokers” or face substantial fines.
The ruling Georgian Dream celebration says it’s modelled on laws in america that dates from the Thirties. Critics, together with President Salome Zourabichvili, say it’s much like a regulation Russia enacted in 2012 that has been used to close down or discredit organisations important of the federal government and will hurt Georgia’s possibilities of EU membership.
Georgia utilized for EU membership along with Ukraine and Moldova days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February final yr.
In June, EU leaders granted formal candidate standing to Kyiv and Chisinau however instructed Tbilisi it needed to implement a number of reforms earlier than it may very well be thought of.
1000’s of individuals have been massing for days in Tbilisi to protest in opposition to the regulation and clashes broke out on Tuesday after legislators accepted the measure in its first studying. Police used tear gasoline and water cannon in opposition to the demonstrators and stated greater than 70 folks had been detained. Some 50 cops had been additionally wounded, they stated.
The protests restarted on Wednesday afternoon with a march down Rustaveli Avenue to mark Worldwide Ladies’s Day, which is a public vacation.
“We can not let our nation grow to be pro-Russian or a Russian state, or undemocratic,” stated Vakhtang Berikashvili, a 33-year-old software program engineer.
One other protester, Elene Ksovreli, 16, stated the Georgian folks “is not going to enable them to make Russia outline our future”.
“We, younger folks, are right here to guard our all the things,” she instructed the AFP information company.
Aza Akhvlediani, 72, known as the Georgian authorities “silly”.
“I do know what’s taking place in Moscow. They cease each passerby and do no matter they please to them. I believe the Georgian authorities needs the identical,” she stated.
Politicians within the EU have additionally expressed concern.
The draft regulation “goes immediately in opposition to the Georgian authorities’ declared ambition to obtain candidate standing for EU membership”, stated an announcement from EU members Maria Kaljurand and Sven Mikser. “The brand new regulation’s goal, underneath the guise of selling transparency, is to stigmatize the work of civil society organizations and media,” the assertion added.
In response to the scenario, the US urged the Georgian authorities to indicate “restraint” and permit peaceable protests, whereas Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy known as for “democratic success” in “pleasant Georgia”.
The draft regulation has deepened a rift between Georgian Dream, which has a parliamentary majority, and Zourabichvili, the pro-European president who has moved away from the celebration since being elected with its help in 2018.
She has pledged to veto the invoice if it reaches her desk, though parliament can override her.
Zourabichvili, talking to CNN, urged authorities to chorus from utilizing power and portrayed Georgia as a sufferer of aggression by Russia, which she stated was decided to take care of affect within the Caucasus area.
“Clearly, Russia just isn’t going to let go very simply however Russia is dropping its conflict in Ukraine,” she stated.
Georgia and Ukraine had been as soon as a part of the Russian-dominated former Soviet Union.
Critics say Georgian Dream is simply too near Russia and has taken the nation in a extra repressive path.
Georgian society is strongly anti-Moscow following years of battle over the standing of two Russian-backed breakaway areas, which flared into conflict in 2008.
Georgian Dream chairman Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday stated the regulation would assist root out these working in opposition to the pursuits of the nation and the highly effective Georgian Orthodox Church.
He criticised Georgia’s “radical opposition” for stirring up protesters.
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World
Germany's right wing poised for major wins as centrist parties stumble
![Germany's right wing poised for major wins as centrist parties stumble Germany's right wing poised for major wins as centrist parties stumble](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/09/GettyImages-2169317905.jpg)
Germany’s right wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is expected to win its first election since the party was formed in 2013, as anti-mass immigration sentiment sends voters to the polls.
Exit polls on Sunday showed AfD securing a winning 33.5% share of the vote in Thuringia and 31.5% in Saxony. Meanwhile, the center-left Social Democratic Party – to which Chancellor Olaf Scholz belongs – brought in less than 8% of the vote in both states, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The election follows a wider trend of success for conservative groups across Europe in recent months. French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron’s government narrowly quashed a conservative takeover of the French parliament earlier this year.
Analysts say the ultimate impact that AfD and other party politicians can have will be determined by how willing centrists are to work with them.
GERMAN RIGHT WING CANDIDATE STABBED IN LATEST ATTACK AHEAD OF ELECTIONS
DRESDEN, GERMANY – AUGUST 29: A skinhead supporter of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party waves a German flag while taunting leftist, anti-fascist protesters following the final AfD Saxony election rally prior to state elections on August 29, 2024, in Dresden, Germany. The AfD is currently leading in polls in both Saxony and Thuringia ahead of state elections scheduled for Sunday in both states. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
“The center-right will decide to what extent an AfD win would be a turning point: So far, they have been relatively consistent in excluding cooperation — more so than in other Western European countries,” Manès Weisskircher, a political scientist at the Dresden University of Technology, told the Journal.
The German elections this weekend come just days after a Syrian immigrant killed three people in a stabbing spree in Solingen, Germany. ISIS claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack shortly after.
![Emergency services and police at a stabbing scene in Germany Friday](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1200/675/Stabbing-scene-Germany.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Emergency services and police are deployed near the scene where three people were killed and injured in an attack at a festival in Solingen, western Germany, the German dpa news agency reported, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (Gianni Gattus/dpa via AP)
Federal prosecutors in Germany identified the suspect as Issa Al H., omitting his family name because of German privacy laws.
GERMAN TERROR ATTACK SUSPECT IDENTIFIED AS A SYRIAN REFUGEE, CHANCELLOR VOWS TO IMPLEMENT STRICT IMMIGRATION
ISIS said the attacker targeted Christians “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”
Der Spiegel magazine, citing unidentified security sources, said that the suspect had moved to Germany late in 2022, and sought asylum.
![Scholz gives speech in Berlin](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/06/1200/675/GettyImages-2156486483-1.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing a surge in right-wing sentiment across Germany. (John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images)
Similar attacks by Muslim migrants across Europe have spurred anti-immigration sentiment. Even the left-leaning Scholz called for strengthening immigration laws and ramping up deportations in the wake of the attack.
“We will have to do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and are not allowed to stay in Germany are repatriated and deported,” Scholz said while visiting the sight where the stabbing happened.
“This was terrorism, terrorism against us all,” he said.
Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report
World
Seven EU members hadn’t received any post-Covid funding by end-2023
![Seven EU members hadn’t received any post-Covid funding by end-2023 Seven EU members hadn’t received any post-Covid funding by end-2023](https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/08/69/58/16/1200x675_cmsv2_e50ff906-3ebe-5eb2-bccc-66f739cec99e-8695816.jpg)
Continued delays are jeopardising the EU’s €724bn post-Covid recovery fund, warns a new report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA).
Three years after creating a huge fund to stimulate post-pandemic recovery, EU member states have used under a third of the €724bn in grants and loans, EU auditors said in a report published today (2 September).
By the end of 2023, Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden had not received any post-Covid money at all, the EU Court of Auditors said.
Almost all member states have experienced delays in submitting payment requests, whether due to political turmoil, uncertainty over the rules, or national administrative capacity, the report said.
The Netherlands and Hungary did not sign operational agreements, the first step required to access EU funds, while Sweden did not submit a payment application, it added – while others such as the Netherlands were held back by protracted coalition negotiations.
“For the Recovery and Resilience Plan you really need political consensus and support and that the government stands behind the plan, and the Netherlands was waiting for that stability,” Ivana Maletić, senior auditor at the Luxembourg-based EU agency, told Euronews in an interview.
In the more complex case of Hungary, Viktor Orbán’s government has to meet 27 milestones intended to fight corruption and safeguard judicial independence, which he hasn’t yet done.
The other four countries — Belgium, Finland, Ireland and Poland — submitted payment requests later than others, so they were still being assessed by the European Commission, which directly manages and implements the fund, at the end of 2023.
One quarter not completed on time
Unlike cohesion funds, the normal vehicle for EU regional spending, post-pandemic financial support is tied to progress on meeting commitments, and member states are behind schedule in meeting these targets and absorbing funds.
“Timely absorption of the RRF is essential: it helps to avoid bottlenecks in carrying out the measures towards the end of the Facility’s lifespan, and reduces the risk of inefficient and erroneous spending,” said Maletić, who led the audit.
Halfway through the six-year implementation plan for the post-pandemic funds, 24% of the planned reforms and investments have not been completed on time — meaning that a significant number of the trickiest promises have yet to be fulfilled, the ECA found.
With the RRF due to expire in August 2026 and no extension expected, EU auditors are recommending the Commission provide further support to strengthen how similar funds are designed in future.
“It can happen that for some actions, member states receive substantial amounts of funds without finalising them at all because it will not be possible to finalise them within the given time,” a senior auditor told a press conference on Monday (2 September) — though Brussels then doesn’t have the power to claw back money.
The EU executive however rejected auditors’ recommendations to stop funding incomplete actions and recover transfers.
“The Commission does not consider that payments based on progress is a risk and has no legal basis to recover funds already disbursed in relation to milestones and targets already and still fulfilled,” said its response.
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