Latest news with #European-US
The Independent
10-03-2025
- Business
- The Independent
US remains ‘indispensable partner at time of great peril', says Irish premier
The US remains an 'indispensable partner at a time of great peril in the world', the Irish premier has said as he travels across the Atlantic for a week of engagements. Taoiseach Micheal Martin will visit Austin, Texas, before heading to Washington DC for the traditional St Patrick's Day celebrations in the US capital. He is set to take part in a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday. The leaders are expected to discuss a range of issues, including the ties between the US and Ireland, the economic relationship, the war in Ukraine, and the situation in the Middle East and Northern Ireland. The Taoiseach will present Mr Trump with the traditional shamrock bowl, extending St Patrick's Day greetings from the people of Ireland to the people of the US. A host of Irish Government ministers will also travel to the US, including Tanaiste Simon Harris, who will visit Philadelphia and New York, at a time which has been described as a key juncture in European-US relations. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly will lead an NI Chamber business delegation to North Carolina. Ms Little-Pengelly will later travel alone to Washington DC for engagements. Ms O'Neill, along with her Sinn Fein party colleagues, said she would not travel to Washington DC for St Patrick's Day as part of 'a principled stance against the threat of mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza'. Speaking in advance of his US visit, the Taoiseach described St Patrick's Day as an 'opportunity to celebrate Ireland's international connections and partnerships'. 'The US is one of Ireland's strongest partners, a partnership built on a rich foundation of ancestral ties and close economic, diplomatic and political links,' he said. 'My visit will aim to further strengthen the bonds between our two countries with a focus on economic, political and people-to-people connections. 'Many of the events in Austin and Washington DC will be an opportunity to recognise their invaluable contribution both to the US across the fields of innovation, creativity, community development, business, and academia, and to deepening the close bonds across the Atlantic. 'My visit is also an opportunity to highlight our strong and growing trade and investment relationship, a relationship that is increasingly two-way. 'Ireland is the sixth largest source of foreign direct investment in the US, supporting hundreds and thousands of jobs across the US. 'I am delighted to be meeting with President Trump and to have an opportunity to reflect with him on the bilateral relationship. 'President Trump knows Ireland well, having visited on a number of occasions, and I know that his beautiful golf club in Doonbeg is very close to his heart. 'I will update him on the situation in Northern Ireland and express our deep appreciation to the US for their continued support for peace and reconciliation on our island. 'My visit to the US comes at a moment of great peril for the world. 'The US remains an indispensable partner and global actor. I look forward to discussing with President Trump how Ireland, together with our EU partners, can work with him and his administration to end conflict and to secure peace, whether in the Middle East or in Ukraine.'
Local Germany
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Local Germany
FACT CHECK: Is it fair to say that Germany doesn't have a right to free speech?
US Vice President JD Vance effectively reconfigured the US-Germany relationship last week when he spoke at the Munich Security Conference. His speech took a shocking turn when he said that Europe's biggest enemy was 'the threat from within," suggesting that unnecessary regulations and censorship were a bigger threat than Russian military aggression. Vance claimed that free speech was 'in retreat' in Europe. Then he reiterated his point on Monday in response to an interview by US broadcaster CBS with prosecutors from Germany's Central Office for Combating Hate Crime on the Internet (ZHIN). Vance shared a clip of the prosecutors explaining that insulting someone or spreading malicious gossip and threats on the internet can be a crime in Germany. On X, Vance wrote that the policy was "Orwellian' and should be rejected. Insulting someone is not a crime, and criminalizing speech is going to put real strain on European-US relationships. This is Orwellian, and everyone in Europe and the US must reject this lunacy. — JD Vance (@JDVance) February 17, 2025 Interestingly, contrary to the US Vice President's claims, the compiled by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project, with a score that was slightly higher than the US (ranked 17th) as of 2023. So what are the rules around freedom of speech in Germany? 'There shall be no censorship' It's generally understood that freedom of speech is valued and protected in Germany. German Basic Law (Grundgesetz) clearly says as much in Article 5 (paragraph 1): 'Every person shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions in speech, writing and pictures…There shall be no censorship.' Although the next line adds that these rights have 'limits' which are spelled out in further laws, and 'in provisions for the protection of young persons and in the right to personal honour'. Hate speech is a crime One notable limit to free speech in Germany is anything considered hate speech. Hateful speech that targets specific groups of people (especially based on their race, ethnicity or religion) or which glorifies the Holocaust, or denies the fact that it happened, is considered incitement to hatred (Volksverhetzung) and is punishable. As Sonja Eichwede, a legal policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, previously told The Local, this extends to using 'slogans of anti-constitutional organisations, [or] calling for or condoning criminal acts against certain groups of people'. For this reason, regional far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Björn Höcke has been charged and fined for using Nazi party slogans in his speeches. While these rules put a certain limit on free speech, they are generally understood to be necessary in Germany, given the historical events which ultimately led to the Holocaust when hateful speech and propaganda was used to incite hatred and then violence against Jewish people and other minorities. Sections 86 and 86a of Germany's penal code ban online or offline distribution of 'flags, insignia, uniforms, slogans and forms of greeting' that belong to known anti-constitutional groups – which is why doing a Nazi salute is a punishable offence in the Bundesrepublik. As German prosecutors explained in their interview with CBS, in some cases people are surprised to learn that their comments online are criminal. Publicly insulting someone online, as well as spreading malicious gossip, violent threats and fake quotes can all be prosecuted in Germany. Repeat offenders could potentially face jail time, but in most cases judges apply fines or confiscate electronic devices like smartphones as a punishment. These protections were tightened after the murder of Walter Lübcke, a politician with the centre-right Christian Democrats who had become the victim of a barrage of hate speech when he publicly defended then-Chancellor Angela Merkel's immigration policies. Germany has since ramped up task forces to crack down on internet hate speech. There are 16 units across the country, some of which investigate thousands of cases each year. Watchdog groups warn that Germany censors certain acts of protest Criticism of how Germany enforces its limits to freedom of expression doesn't only come from right-wing perspectives. Amidst ongoing protests against Israel's attacks in Gaza, pro-Palestine activists have complained that Germany is unfairly prosecuting certain speech and expression. For example, the Düsseldorf Administrative Court upheld a ban on the phrase "From the river to the sea". Some German authorities have argued that the phrase qualifies as incitement to hatred (against Israel), whereas pro-Palestine protestors contend that the phrase is a call for the liberation of an oppressed people. Watchdog group CIVICUS warned at the end of 2023 that the German government was failing to 'protect its citizens' freedoms of expression'. A report by CIVICUS Monitor cited disproportionate measures used against pro-Palestine protestors and the climate justice group Last Generation in particular. Is the US really a bastion of free speech? US law also contains some basic limits to free speech, such as slander and libel laws that are aimed at preventing individuals from saying or writing false defamatory statements. But it lacks the more robust protections against hate speech, aloud or online, that Germany has enshrined. Free speech maximalists argue that the right to say anything – good, bad or ugly as it may be – should be staunchly protected. And the US is often held up as an example of a country that maintains this unfettered freedom of expression. The Trump administration, however, has already made some efforts to silence or suppress certain speech. On the same day that Vice President Vance chastised Europe for what he saw as unfair censorship, the and Air Force One because the AP decided not to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the 'Gulf of America' as Trump has declared it should be called.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
JD Vance Doubles Down on Lecturing Germany: ‘This Is Orwellian'
JD Vance brought his lecturing of Germans into a second week Monday by slamming laws in the country meant to curb hate speech and the prosecutors who carry them out. The vice president claimed Germany is 'criminalizing speech' and warned that its restrictions on citizens might put 'real strain' on the U.S. ally's relations with the White House. Vance, 40, shared his reaction on X after a clip from CBS News' 60 Minutes went viral highlighting how strict Germany's anti-hate crime laws are, including the possibility of prison for those who merely reshare a post that includes false or hateful speech. 'Insulting someone is not a crime, and criminalizing speech is going to put real strain on European-US relationships,' Vance posted on X. 'This is Orwellian, and everyone in Europe and the US must reject this lunacy.' Vance's latest lashing comes just after he drew the ire of many Europeans with a speech at the Munich Security Conference. There, he scolded continental leaders for allegedly stifling dissent and free speech. He also claimed the NATO nations' enemies were not Russia or China, but rather were the 'enemy within.' Critics slammed Vance for being so brazen in what was his first major speech on the international stage as VP. That outrage drummed up media attention stateside that brought new attention to what 'free speech' looks like across the pond. The German prosecutor Svenja Meininghaus defended his country's laws on 60 Minutes when he was pressed by CBS' Sharyn Alfonsi. 'Is it a crime to insult somebody in public?' Alfonsi asked, which received a simultaneous 'yes' from the panel of prosecutors. Alfonsi followed up by asking if the resharing of another's illegal statement on social media—like hitting 'share' on Facebook, retweeting on X, or 'ReTruthing' on Donald Trump's platform—would be a crime, too. 'In the case of reposting, it is a crime as well, because the reader can't distinguish whether you just invented this or just reposted this,' Meininghaus explained. 'That's the same for us.' Vance's outrage with that interaction came a day after he snapped at the CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan for claiming—during an interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, where she discussed Vance's Munich speech—that Nazis 'weaponized' free speech to perpetrate the Holocaust. 'He was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide, and he met with the head of a political party that has far-right views and some historic ties to extreme groups,' she said of Vance on Face The Nation. Rubio refuted her comment immediately. Once the clip made its rounds online, other Republicans, including Vance, chimed in to do the same. 'This is a crazy exchange,' he said. 'Does the media really think the holocaust was caused by free speech?' Vance critics, like the ex-MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, pointed out that Vance was grilling NATO allies for supposedly suppressing free speech while his administration is actively denying White House access to Associated Press reporters because the wire service refuses to refer to the newly-renamed 'Gulf of America' as such in its copy. 'Hey @JDVance, I know you're busy lecturing the Europeans on free speech, but have you seen this?' Hasan posted, quoting an article about the AP's freeze out. Vance responded Monday: 'Yes dummy. I think there's a difference between not giving a reporter a seat in the WH press briefing room and jailing people for dissenting views. The latter is a threat to free speech, the former is not. Hope that helps!'
Russia Today
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Vance blasts ‘Orwellian' German laws
The criminalization of free speech in the EU could put a 'strain' on relations between Washington and its allies there, US Vice President J.D. Vance said on Monday, calling on Western nations on both sides of the Atlantic to 'reject' such policies. 'This is Orwellian,' the vice president wrote in a statement on X (formerly Twitter). He was referring to an interview with three German state prosecutors released by the US broadcaster CBS on Sunday. Focused on Germany's efforts to fight offensive content on the internet, the interview included the prosecutors saying that insulting anyone in public or online is a crime in their country. The interview was recorded against the background of a series of coordinated raids recently launched by German police against some 50 individuals suspected of spreading hate speech online. People found guilty of such crimes in the federal republic could face fines or even jail time in the event of repeat offenses, according to the prosecutors. 'They don't think it was illegal. And they say, 'No, that's my free speech',' one of the prosecutors, Dr. Matthaus Fink, told CBS. 'And we say, 'No, you have free speech as well, but it also has its limits'.' The courts can also order the confiscation of their electronic devices, the prosecutors said. People are usually 'shocked' when it happens, another prosecutor, Frank-Michael Laue, said. 'It's a kind of punishment if you lose your smartphone. It's even worse than the fine you have to pay.' The German Criminal Code states that anyone who 'attacks the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously disparaging or slandering' them in a way that is 'likely to disturb the public peace' can face up to five years behind bars. The legislation is primarily aimed against insults linked to one's race, nationality, religion or ethnic background but is not limited to these. According to CBS, the German laws specifically prohibit the spread of malicious gossip, violent threats and fake quotes online. Reposting false information is punished as well, the broadcaster said, citing the prosecutors. Vance responded to the interview by saying that 'insulting someone is not a crime, and criminalizing speech is going to put real strain on European-US relationships.' He then called on 'everyone in Europe and the US' to 'reject this lunacy.' The statement came just days after the vice president sharply criticized Washington's EU allies for abandoning their core values, including free speech, as well as fearing their own voters and failing to uphold democratic principles at the Munich Security Conference. His words were lauded by President Donald Trump, who called Vance's speech 'brilliant.' 'In Europe they're losing their wonderful right of freedom of speech,' Trump said on Friday.
