News from across Europe

[AlbertC]

Germany's Merkel wants 1 million electric car charge points by 2030

Angela Merkel wants to encourage people to switch to electric cars as part of efforts to cut carbon emissions. The chancellor says mobility in the future must be "climate friendly."

Merkel wants 1 million electric car charge points by 2030 – DW – 11/03/2019

Angela Merkel wants to encourage people to switch to electric cars as part of efforts to cut carbon emissions. The chancellor says mobility in the future must be "climate friendly."

m.dw.com

 

[AlbertC]

Poll reveals majority of eastern Europeans 'fearful for democracy'

Survey across seven countries reveals widespread unease 30 years after fall of Berlin Wall

Jon Henley, European affairs correspondent
Mon 4 Nov 2019 00.01 GMT

Poll reveals majority of eastern Europeans 'fearful for democracy'

Survey across seven countries reveals widespread unease 30 years after fall of Berlin Wall

www.theguardian.com

 

[Richard White]

Poll reveals majority of eastern Europeans 'fearful for democracy'

Survey across seven countries reveals widespread unease 30 years after fall of Berlin Wall

Jon Henley, European affairs correspondent
Mon 4 Nov 2019 00.01 GMT

Poll reveals majority of eastern Europeans 'fearful for democracy'

Survey across seven countries reveals widespread unease 30 years after fall of Berlin Wall

www.theguardian.com

This is why Viktor Orban won't lose in Hungary. People are afraid to vote for anyone else and if they do they may just disappear or suddenly have government trouble.

I personally voted for the Hungarian Socialist Party in the last Hungarian election.

That said the older generation in Hungary (and I suspect all of eastern Europe) pre-1993 know all too well the power of government.

Best not to interfere. The House of Terror museum in Budapest was not built with concrete cells for no reason.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Poll reveals majority of eastern Europeans 'fearful for democracy'

Survey across seven countries reveals widespread unease 30 years after fall of Berlin Wall

Jon Henley, European affairs correspondent
Mon 4 Nov 2019 00.01 GMT

Poll reveals majority of eastern Europeans 'fearful for democracy'

Survey across seven countries reveals widespread unease 30 years after fall of Berlin Wall

www.theguardian.com

Half those countries are central Europe. Just saying. Anyway, my people....and all I got from that article was that all is well.

The spirit of scepticism in regards to authority and spirit of dissent are alive and well, as it should be.

 

[AlbertC]

Spain: Sanchez, Casado clash on Catalonia during TV debate

The independence issue took center stage as Spain's leading politicians debated the Catalan separatist movement ahead of Sunday's vote. At the same time, Spanish King Felipe VI faced protests while visiting Barcelona.

Spain: Sanchez, Casado clash on Catalonia – DW – 11/05/2019

The independence issue took center stage as Spain's leading politicians debated the Catalan separatist movement ahead of Sunday's vote. At the same time, Spanish King Felipe VI faced protests while visiting Barcelona.

m.dw.com

 

[AlbertC]

Spain issues international arrest warrants for Belgium-based Catalans

Tuesday, 05 November 2019

Spain’s Supreme Court on Tuesday issued international warrants for the arrest of three former members of the Catalan Government, two of them based in Belgium, in connection with the attempted secession in 2017.

Spain issues international arrest warrants for Belgium-based Catalans

www.brusselstimes.com

 

[AlbertC]

I was a teenager in East Germany when the Wall fell. Today we are still divided

Sabine Rennefanz

Three decades on, the country’s unification is still a source of sadness and trauma – which the far right know how to exploit

Wed 6 Nov 2019 15.45 GMTLast modified on Wed 6 Nov 2019 23.30 GMT

I was a teenager in East Germany when the Wall fell. Today we are still divided | Sabine Rennefanz

Three decades on, the country’s unification is still a source of sadness and trauma – which the far right know how to exploit, says politics writer Sabine Rennefanz

www.theguardian.com

 

[SunriseChampion]

^Coincidentally, I just finished watching a DW mini-doc on the east-west divide in German football and how it all went wrong for the east after reunification.

Even the football is massively skewed towards the west (p.o.s. RB Leipzig notwithstanding).

 

[Northern Light]

^Coincidentally, I just finished watching a DW mini-doc on the east-west divide in German football and how it all went wrong for the east after reunification.

Even the football is massively skewed towards the west (p.o.s. RB Leipzig notwithstanding).

I'm not going to pretend I have a detailed familiarity w/the situation in Germany. I've been there, post-unification, but I'm sure my understanding is superficial, at best.

Here's what I would casually observe, however. A lot of tension in East Germany as with anywhere else is the tension of change; and of dashed expectations; and by the same measure its the feeling that any hardship is not realized or respected by others, but instead perceived as 'whining'.

One could easily see a corollary in today's western Canada or the Quebec of not so long ago.

A lot of this comes from political dishonesty, both local and national.

The refusal to discuss the need to change; the reasons for change, the pain of change; and the efforts to mitigate the latter.

If one talks openly about how hard change is and will be; that it will last not years, but decades; and that there will be perpetual improvement, but periodic setbacks..........

People can brace themselves and find greater appreciation of the steps forwards; while those who are called on to help pay for mitigation can show greater sympathy and pride in their fellow citizens for enduring the tough times.

That builds on shared national strength and unity.

Misunderstandings are the result of dishonesty or very partial honesty which makes change sound easy and quick; which in turn generates less sympathy and less willingness to help mitigate the challenges of change.

 

[AlbertC]

^Coincidentally, I just finished watching a DW mini-doc on the east-west divide in German football and how it all went wrong for the east after reunification.

Even the football is massively skewed towards the west (p.o.s. RB Leipzig notwithstanding).

Yea before Red Bull put all that money into Leipzig, the main centers of football dominance in Germany are Bayern Munich in the southern state of Bavaria and then in the West. Especially in the Rhine-Ruhr metro region with multiple big clubs like Dortmund, Moenchengladbach, Schalke (Gelsenkirchen), Leverkusen, etc.

Even traditional clubs who were prominent in history in the North (Werder Bremen, Hamburg) and the South (Stuttgart) have faded significantly in recent decades.

Leipzig (Red Bull), Hoffenheim (SAP), Leverkusen (Bayer), and Wolfsburg (Volkswagen) represent the newer generation of corporate clubs that many consider to be plastic (fake) over there.

In the East, Hertha Berlin is somewhat decent and even the second club in the city, Union Berlin promoted into the first division this season.

But outside of Berlin and Leipzig, it takes a major dip in quality. Cities like Dresden, Chemnitz, Cottbus, etc. are all in the lower divisions.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Yeah, I'm pretty happy for the Berlin derby to be happening. It's good for those clubs' supporters.

Here, it's only 11' long:

It actually very succinctly explains what happened after reunification and how it's very slowly turning around.

For example, the brain drain has reversed.

PS: Man, I used to think FA had the best football league in the world, and I still love the culture of the English game and league, but man, the Bundesliga has the best supporters in general.
Lots of leagues (mostly in Europe) have a handful of clubs with mental support but in Germany it seems to be a generalised thing. I think it has a lot to do with the 50+1 rule where the supporters are the owners of the clubs, vs, for example, the bullshit that's happened in England with wealthy foreigners turning the grounds into bullshit family day commercial traps.

PPS: I have a family member working at Schalke which is pretty dope.

 

[AlbertC]

I've been a Werder Bremen fan since my teenage years. Although they have fallen off quite a bit from their glory days being among the top teams in the league and playing in European competition.

St. Pauli in the second division is a club with some pretty cool fan culture. I've never attended a game but I have visited their stadium and gift shop in Hamburg.

Also, Union Berlin always impresses with their Christmas celebrations every year:

 

[SunriseChampion]

Yeah, St Pauli has a great supporter culture.

 

[AlbertC]

'Witnesses of history': the man who kept slabs of the Berlin Wall

Hans Martin Fleischer bought the sections on impulse in 1990. His luck trying to sell them ran out, so he held on.

Kate Connolly in Brandenburg
Fri 8 Nov 2019 08.56 GMT

'Witnesses of history': the man who kept slabs of the Berlin Wall

Hans Martin Fleischer bought the sections on impulse in 1990. His luck trying to sell them ran out, so he held on.

www.theguardian.com

 

[AlbertC]

'Fed up': Spaniards frustrated on eve of fourth election in four years

Catalan separatism dominates debate ahead of poll that could redraw nation’s political map

Sam Jones in Guadalajara
Fri 8 Nov 2019 05.00 GMT

'Fed up': Spaniards frustrated on eve of fourth election in four years

Catalan separatism dominates debate ahead of poll that could redraw nation’s political map

www.theguardian.com