European parliament's largest far-right bloc to rally in Madrid next week
MADRID: The European Parliament's largest far-right bloc will hold its first summit in Madrid next week with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and France's Marine Le Pen in attendance, Spanish party Vox said on Monday.
Patriots for Europe will meet on February 7 and 8 under the presidency of Vox leader Santiago Abascal to outline their strategy for the coming months, party spokesman Jose Antonio Fuster told reporters.
The group has realigned the EU far right and became the parliament's third-largest force after Orban helped launch it last year to shift Brussels rightwards.
Its 84 lawmakers include France's National Rally, the Party for Freedom of Dutch anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders, Vox, Austria's Freedom Party and Chega from Portugal.
The bloc overtook the European Conservatives and Reformists, associated with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, after last year's EU elections, in which the far right performed strongly in several countries.
Fuster said there was an alternative to the coalition between the European People's Party of European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and the Socialists and Democrats.
Slamming 'their climate fanaticism and their open-door policies to mass immigration,' Fuster said his group 'represents millions of Europeans who want common sense to return to European institutions.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asharq Al-Awsat
5 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
EU Tells Israel to Reverse Move to Cut Off Palestinian Banks
The EU on Wednesday urged Israel to undo a move by a far-right minister that threatens to paralyze Palestinian financial institutions. Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Tuesday that Israel had cancelled a waiver allowing its banks to work with Palestinian ones. "The European Union is deeply concerned by the instruction by Israel's finance minister Smotrich to cancel the waiver on cooperation with Palestinian banks, which could cut them off from the Israeli financial system, devastate an already crippled Palestinian economy, and may lead to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority," EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said. "The EU calls on Israel to revert this decision immediately and to refrain from any action that could lead to the collapse of the Palestinian authority." The Palestinian financial and banking system is dependent on the regular renewal of the Israeli waiver. It protects Israeli banks from potential legal action relating to transactions with their Palestinian counterparts, for instance in relation to 'financing terror'.
Arab News
6 hours ago
- Arab News
Kosovo deepening relations 26 years on from its liberation
Kosovo is a European country with the euro as its only official national currency, but it is not a member of the EU. Kosovars can travel freely through the EU Schengen Area, but the country is not a member of the free zone. Kosovo has a NATO peacekeeping mission but is not a NATO member, although it aspires to join the alliance as a peace-loving country. The EU signed the Stabilization Accession Agreement in 2015, which was the first contractual agreement between Kosovo and the EU. And since Jan. 1, 2024, Kosovo has had a visa liberalization regime with the EU. In December 2022, Kosovo's leadership submitted a letter formally applying for membership of the bloc. Our military was present in Kuwait in 2021 as part of an international peacekeeping operation in the Inherent Resolve mission. It was decorated with medals in a touching ceremony, for which I had the honor of being present. When the devastating earthquake hit Turkiye in February 2023, Kosovo sent a search and rescue team to help the country's people in their time of dire need. Kosovo, once a security consumer, is rapidly becoming a security provider. As well as seeking membership of both the EU and NATO, Kosovo has also made progress toward membership of the Council of Europe. One further step is needed in order for it to be a fully fledged member. Kosovo's society is vibrant, young and European. But at the same time, it shares some cultural values with the Middle East. Lulzim Mjeku Kosovo's society is vibrant, young and European. But at the same time, it shares some cultural values with the Middle East. Its most valuable asset is its young and vibrant society, which is emerging in the global market. Kosovo has the youngest population in Europe. The workforce is skilled and multilingual, and English is only just short of an official language. Kosovo has an internet penetration rate of 96.4 percent, making it the most business-competitive country in the Western Balkans. Kosovo also ranked first in the Western Balkans for real economic growth between 2023 and 2025 and in the rule of law, while in the context of improvement in political rights and civil liberties, it is second in Europe and third globally, according to the World Bank, the World Justice Project and Freedom House. Its advancement has also been noticed by the Henley Passport Index and the Global Passport Power Rank. And in Transparency International's latest Public Perception of Corruption Index, Kosovo was ranked in 73rd place, an improvement of three places from the previous year. Kosovo, located in the heart of the Balkans, has access to Southeast Europe, Central Europe, the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea. It is a member of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Economic Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Council of Europe Development Bank. Kosovo is the most business-competitive nation in the Western Balkans and business development is easy. The tax burden, including total taxes and contributions on profits, is 15 percent. The corporate tax rate is 10 percent, the time required to start a business is 4.5 days, the average gross domestic product growth over the past eight years was 4.1 percent, and total investments as a percentage of GDP are 36 percent. Kosovo provides favorable conditions for investment in various sectors due to it having the lowest labor costs in Europe and stable government policies that support the business environment. A new wave of information technology experts is making the country well known due to their professional success. Some IT applications used in Saudi Arabia were designed in Kosovo and this is an excellent example of the success of our IT sector — which exports 70 percent of its services — in the competitive international market. The Republic of Kosovo celebrates its 26th Liberation Day on Thursday. In the past, Kosovo was a federal unit of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. During the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, Kosovo had a unique situation, with active civil resistance and an armed uprising against the prolonged occupation. Now, it is an independent country. A new wave of information technology experts is making the country well known due to their professional success. Lulzim Mjeku Kosovo has established friendly relations with many countries based on respect of the UN Charter, mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, peaceful coexistence, disarmament, and opposition to racism. The issue of recognizing Kosovo's independence gained supreme legal relevance thanks to the unequivocal opinion of the International Court of Justice on July 22, 2010. The Republic of Kosovo and its allies won their case before the UN's highest judicial body when it ruled that the 2008 declaration of independence, adopted by the representatives of the people of Kosovo, did not violate any applicable rule of international law. The declaration of independence and the International Court of Justice ruling have secured Kosovo's statehood. Saudi Arabia supported Kosovo throughout, with a view to bringing peace and prosperity to the whole Balkan region. With this additional standard, Kosovo has consolidated its status and stepped into the international arena with a proactive foreign policy. This and the country's recognition by many individual states represent a key contribution to regional security. This is the key message of recognition. Recently, Kenya and Sudan have recognized Kosovo, proving that such moves come from all continents and that this process is irreversible. The process of gaining recognition for Kosovo with regard to Organization of Islamic Cooperation member states has followed the same course. A majority of OIC members now recognize Kosovo. I would like to use this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to the OIC, which has approved 15 political resolutions since 2009 calling on its member states to consider recognizing Kosovo. Kosovo is deepening its relations with all countries, including with Gulf countries. It established an embassy in Riyadh in 2010, followed by Abu Dhabi and Doha in recent years. Since its liberation 26 years ago and its independence 17 years ago, Kosovo has transformed into a modern state. It seeks to foster its international role by deepening bilateral relations with friendly countries and working to expand its membership of international organizations.
Asharq Al-Awsat
8 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Frontex: Irregular Migrant Crossings Into EU Drop 20% in 2025
The number of irregular migrant crossings into the European Union dropped by 20 percent in the first five months of the year, the EU's border agency said Wednesday. Warsaw-based Frontex said that a total of 63,700 crossings were detected this year, adding that the main nationalities were Afghan, Bangladeshi and Malian. The biggest decreases in irregular crossings were seen in the Western Balkans (minus 56 percent), the western African route (minus 35 percent) and the eastern Mediterranean (minus 30 percent). There was also a seven percent decrease in migrant crossings from Belarus into Poland and the Baltics to 5,062 crossings, Frontex said. But it pointed to a slight increase of seven percent in the number of migrants crossing the central Mediterranean towards Italy. Frontex also said that the number of migrants attempting to cross into Britain via the Channel increased by 17 percent to 25,540 compared to the first five months of 2024. "Smuggling networks operating in the area are adapting, using simultaneous departures to increase the number of successful crossings," AFP quoted it as saying. Irregular migration has become a political flashpoint across Europe, as seen most recently in the Polish presidential election on June 1 which was won by a nationalist promising to crack down on immigration. Irregular border crossings detected into the European Union were down 38 percent to 239,000 last year after an almost 10-year peak in 2023, according to EU border agency Frontex. But, led by hawks including Italy and Denmark, EU leaders called in October for urgent new legislation to increase and speed up returns and for the commission to assess "innovative" ways to counter irregular migration.
