All posts tagged: Austria

EU to tell countries to fight poverty — without offering fresh cash – POLITICO

EU to tell countries to fight poverty — without offering fresh cash – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“There is no strategy without money,” said Juliana Wahlgren, director of the European Anti-Poverty Network. “How are we going to implement it if, funding-wise, this is not a priority?” Poverty target slipping The EU wants to reduce the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million from 2019 to 2030, and eradicate it by 2050. That target was set in 2021. But by 2025, that number had fallen by just 3.4 million, according to the draft of the strategy seen by POLITICO. Across the bloc in 2025, 20.9 percent of the population was at risk of poverty, down only marginally since 2019, when it stood at 21.1 percent. The picture varies sharply across the bloc. Romania and Bulgaria have reduced the share of people at risk of poverty by around a third over the past decade, while some of the EU’s richest countries have moved in the opposite direction. The Covid-19 pandemic reversed a trend of falling poverty numbers in France, Austria and Germany, among others. In those …

Austria expels 3 Russian diplomats over alleged espionage – POLITICO

Austria expels 3 Russian diplomats over alleged espionage – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“Espionage is a security issue for Austria,” Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger told POLITICO. “This government has made a policy shift and is taking consistent action against it. We have made this unmistakably clear to the Russian side, also with regard to the ‘forest of antennas’ at the Russian mission.” Meinl-Reisinger said it was “unacceptable” for the officials to invoke their diplomatic immunity to carry out spying operations in Austria, and said the country would move to tighten the espionage provision in the criminal code to curb the illicit activity. As a result of its proximity to the Iron Curtain, Vienna was a hotbed for foreign spies throughout the latter half of the 20th century. Because the country’s criminal code punishes only espionage actions that directly target Austria, it continues to be seen as a relatively safe haven for intelligence agents. Since the start of the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Austria has revoked the diplomatic status of 14 Russian officials found to “have engaged in acts incompatible with their diplomatic status.” However, around 220 staff …

Europe’s Socialists face far-right reckoning after Romania deal – POLITICO

Europe’s Socialists face far-right reckoning after Romania deal – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The move exposes a gap between political red lines in Brussels and messy national realities, where the far right’s rise is making it harder for mainstream parties to govern without them. Socialists in Brussels were unaware of the plans in Romania, according to two officials familiar with the matter, granted anonymity to speak frankly. Iratxe García, chair of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), told POLITICO she expects its Romanian peers to work with pro-European forces in future. The 2024 EU election produced the most right-wing Parliament in the bloc’s history. The far-right Patriots group — home to France’s Marine Le Pen and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán — became the third-largest force, followed by the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists, which includes France’s Giorgia Meloni, Poland’s Law and Justice, and the AUR. Socialists and Democrats chair Iratxe García, who said she expects the group’s Romanian peers to work with pro-European forces in the future, speaks at an event in Lisbon in June 2025. | Horacio Villalobos/Corbis via Getty Images Across Europe, populist right-wing parties are gaining ground …

‘Sarah Ferguson is sending message during ski resort stay – here’s what it is’ | Royal | News

‘Sarah Ferguson is sending message during ski resort stay – here’s what it is’ | Royal | News

Published by Sam Flores

Sarah’s location had remained a mystery since she was repeatedly mentioned in a tranche of documents released by the US Department of Justice concerning the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Her Austrian retreat has been characterised as possessing “everything you’d need for a lengthy stay”. On the Daily Mail’s Palace Confidential podcast, the publication’s Editor-at-Large Richard Kay suggests Sarah’s appearance conveyed a “message” that she wished to stay under-the-radar. He said: “Sarah has finally emerged. We knew she would at some stage and we’ve been hunting for her high and low over recent months. “She has been holed up in Austria at a health clinic, one she has visited before. And living rather comfortably in a £2,000-a-night chalet. “What has she been doing? That is the big mystery. She was photographed getting out of a large vehicle with blacked out windows and she didn’t actually look much like the Fergie we’re familiar with. “Her red hair was covered up with a baseball cap, she was wearing spectacles, dare I say it, she looked rather dowdy. …

EU to game out bloc’s mutual assistance clause in case of attack – POLITICO

EU to game out bloc’s mutual assistance clause in case of attack – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The clause states that if a member of the EU is faced by “armed aggression,” other members have an obligation to come to its “aid and assistance by all the means in their power.” The clause does not specify whether such aid includes a military response, and contains language relevant to neutral states such as Austria and Ireland. The gaming out will be conducted in the EU’s Political and Security Committee, which is composed of senior EU diplomats. Most EU members also belong to NATO and so are covered by its Article 5 mutual defense clause, which does refer explicitly to the use of military force to aid other signatories. But transatlantic tensions, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of seizing Greenland, have shaken faith in Article 5 and sparked renewed interest in EU security arrangements. Aspiring members of the bloc now increasingly mention security as an incentive to join the bloc, alongside wealth and stability.   Another factor driving interest in 42.7 is the increased risk of attack against EU states. After being targeted …

5 countries ask Brussels to tax energy companies benefitting from Iran crisis – POLITICO

5 countries ask Brussels to tax energy companies benefitting from Iran crisis – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

In the letter, the ministers argued Brussels should do as it did following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, when it authorized the imposition of a temporary “solidarity contribution” on energy companies to “mitigate the direct economic effects of the soaring energy prices for public authorities’ budgets, final customers and companies.” The 2022 measure imposed a minimum tax of 33 percent on all oil and gas company profits that exceeded the average recorded during the previous four years by more than 20 percent. In addition to proposing a similar framework, the ministers requested the Commission determine if it can also tax profits that multinational oil companies earn abroad. Oil and gas companies are making huge profits off the supply crisis provoked by the conflict in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which some 20 percent of the oil and natural gas that powers the global economy runs. French oil giant TotalEnergies is reported to have made $1 billion in profits after acquiring dozens of Middle Eastern crude cargoes during the first …

Foreigners Commit Nearly Half Of All Rapes In Austria, Syrians Largest Foreign Group Of Suspects

Foreigners Commit Nearly Half Of All Rapes In Austria, Syrians Largest Foreign Group Of Suspects

Published by Jenni Sidey

Via Remix News, The number of rape suspects in Austria has more than doubled since 2015, with foreign nationals — and Syrians in particular — driving a disproportionate share of the increase. In addition, foreigners nare now responsible for nearly half of all rapes, a major increase from 2015 as well. The figures, provided by Austria’s Interior Ministry in response to a request by Austrian newspaper exxpress, paint a striking picture of a decade-long trend. The composition of those suspects has shifted markedly. In 2015, 250 of the 688 suspects were foreign nationals — 36.3 percent of the total. By 2025, that number had risen to 538, representing 46.9 percent of all suspects, despite foreign nationals making up only 20.5 percent of Austria’s population. Reported rapes under section 201 of the Austrian criminal code rose from 826 cases in 2015 to 1,359 in 2024 — an increase of roughly 64.5 percent. The number of suspects rose in parallel, from 688 to 1,196. Preliminary figures for 2025 show a slight decline to 1,147 suspects, but that still …

Austria blocks US warplanes from its airspace – POLITICO

Austria blocks US warplanes from its airspace – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Under Austrian law, all foreign military flights must apply for permission and declare their purpose before entering the country’s airspace. Requests tied to active conflicts are rejected, but routine transit or training missions are eligible for approval on a case-by-case basis. Bauer declined to say how many requests the U.S. had made, telling POLITICO he did not yet have the figures and that compiling them would take time. “The question is — why submit a request to a neutral state in the first place?” he added, hardening Vienna’s stance against Washington. Austria has been “permanently neutral” since 1955, when its parliament persuaded the Soviet Union to end its post-war occupation of the country by passing a constitutional act vowing to never “join any military alliances, nor permit the establishment of any foreign military bases on her territory.” More than 70 years later, a majority of Austrians remain committed to the principle of state neutrality and are in favor of keeping the country out of military alliances like NATO. Center-right Chancellor Christian Stocker’s coalition government was …

Tensions surge in final stretch of Hungarian election – POLITICO

Tensions surge in final stretch of Hungarian election – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“Independent and critical outlets operate alongside a much larger pro-government media sector,” the report read. Kovács dismissed the OSCE’s concerns, calling its warnings of government influence over the media a “political opinion” and casting doubt on the credibility of its findings. As the campaign intensifies and polls continue to suggest that the opposition Tisza Party could win, analysts warn that both Tisza and the ruling Fidesz may clash after election night and challenge the result. Veteran election observer Péter Kramer, who has over 16 years of experience observing elections on behalf of the EU, warned the growing presence of parallel missions could muddy the waters. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there were disingenuous observers,” he said, noting that politically aligned groups increasingly deploy missions to shape the narrative after the vote. “It’s an international trend.” An organization closely linked to Fidesz, the Civic Cooperation Forum, has called on U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, which promotes global conflict resolution, to deploy an election observation mission ahead of the April 12 vote. Meanwhile, a conservative …