European Politics > EU Scanners tied to Chinese government; Macron battered at EU; Scholz caves to US pressure on NSII; Greens in hot water over Covid bonuses

..

Security scanners across Europe tied to China govt, military

By ERIKA KINETZ, AP

today

Passengers walk next to Nuctech security scanners at the Brussels Eurostar train terminal on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. A growing number of Western security officials and policymakers fear that China could exploit Nuctech equipment to sabotage key transit points or get illicit access to government, industrial or personal data from the items that pass through its devices. Nuctech dismisses those concerns, countering that its European operations comply with local laws, including strict security checks and data privacy rules. (AP Photo/Erika Kinetz)

At some of the world’s most sensitive spots, authorities have installed security screening devices made by a single Chinese company with deep ties to China’s military and the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party.

The World Economic Forum in Davos. Europe’s largest ports. Airports from Amsterdam to Athens. NATO’s borders with Russia. All depend on equipment manufactured by Nuctech, which has quickly become the world’s leading company, by revenue, for cargo and vehicle scanners.

Nuctech has been frozen out of the U.S. for years due to national security concerns, but it has made deep inroads across Europe, installing its devices in 26 of 27 EU member states, according to public procurement, government and corporate records reviewed by The Associated Press.

The complexity of Nuctech’s ownership structure and its expanding global footprint have raised alarms on both sides of the Atlantic.

A growing number of Western security officials and policymakers fear that China could exploit Nuctech equipment to sabotage key transit points or get illicit access to government, industrial or personal data from the items that pass through its devices.

Nuctech’s critics allege the Chinese government has effectively subsidized the company so it can undercut competitors and give Beijing potential sway over critical infrastructure in the West as China seeks to establish itself as a global technology superpower.

“The data being processed by these devices is very sensitive. It’s personal data, military data, cargo data. It might be trade secrets at stake. You want to make sure it’s in right hands,” said Bart Groothuis, director of cybersecurity at the Dutch Ministry of Defense before becoming a member of the European Parliament. “You’re dependent on a foreign actor which is a geopolitical adversary and strategic rival.”

He and others say Europe doesn’t have tools in place to monitor and resist such potential encroachment. Different member states have taken opposing views on Nuctech’s security risks. No one has even been able to make a comprehensive public tally of where and how many Nuctech devices have been installed across the continent.

Nuctech dismisses those concerns, countering that Nuctech’s European operations comply with local laws, including strict security checks and data privacy rules.

“It’s our equipment, but it’s your data. Our customer decides what happens with the data,” said Robert Bos, deputy general manager of Nuctech in the Netherlands, where the company has a research and development center.

He said Nuctech is a victim of unfounded allegations that have cut its market share in Europe nearly in half since 2019.

“It’s quite frustrating to be honest,” Bos told AP. “In the 20 years we delivered this equipment we never had issues of breaches or data leaks. Till today we never had any proof of it.”

============================================================================================

Macron slammed for turning EU into ‘Africa’s hotel’

& ‘Beijing’s prey’

MEP Jordan Bardella launched a scathing attack on the French president

(FILE PHOTO) © Photo by Philipp von Ditfurth/picture alliance via Getty Images

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron came to the European Parliament in Strasbourg to sell France’s vision for its six-month presidency of the EU.

Instead, he had to face harsh criticism from French MEPs, the most cutting of whom was Jordan Bardella from presidential candidate Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party. 

He accused Macron of turning Europe into “the backyard of Washington,” “the prey of Beijing,” “Erdogan’s doormat,” and “Africa’s hotel.”

“Mr. President of the Republic, how can you claim that you are reuniting Europe when you have been dividing France until the end?” Bardella asked, adding that the French presidential election in April would also decide the future of the EU. 

“For France and for Europe, it is essential that your term remains a single term,” he said. 

The far-right MEP didn’t stop there, claiming that the nations of Europe don’t want to be “dissolved, replaced or submerged” under his watch. 

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola was forced to interject: “This is not a national debate.” 

However, others also took aim at Macron. MEP Yannick Jadot, who is running as the Greens’ candidate in the presidential election, accused Macron of “climate inaccuracy,” while MEP Manon Aubry, co-leader of the parliament’s The Left group, claimed the president’s European achievements were based on “arrogance.”

Macron, who defended himself against the barrage of criticism, will likely seek re-election in April but is yet to put his name forward.

He currently leads the French polls but may face stiff competition from the far-right. The French presidential election will take place during the country’s six-month EU Council presidency.

Germany drops new hint on Nord Stream 2

The pipeline may remain unregistered if Russia invades Ukraine

America ready to sacrifice climate change for gas profits

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz © Sean Gallup / Getty Images

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected a chance to rule out halting the certification process of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline on Tuesday, hinting that it might be a consideration in case of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

At a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the German leader gave the strongest indication yet he would seriously consider stopping the project. In recent months, politicians in Washington, Brussels, and Kiev have suggested using Nord Stream 2 as a way to ensure that Russia does not consider invading Ukraine.

“Russia will have to pay a high price should there be a military intervention against Ukraine or in Ukraine,” Scholz said, responding directly to a question about whether an attack on Ukraine would mean “the political end” of the pipeline.

Nord Stream 2 is a system that directly connects Russia to Germany, making the gas transit process less reliant on third-party countries. The pipeline was completed in September but is yet to be certified.

Approval of the project, which could have come this month, was suspended in mid-November by the German Federal Network Agency over a regulatory issue regarding the operator’s lack of premises inside Germany.

The US and Ukraine have accused Nord Stream 2 of being a Russian political project rather than an economic endeavor, and Washington has claimed that it threatens Europe’s “energy security.” Now, with Russia being accused of preparing for war with Ukraine, the threat of sanctions on Nord Stream 2 are being used as a form of deterrence.

Scholz’s latest statement is a departure from previous comments made by other members of the government in Berlin. Last week, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht stated that political differences should have no bearing on the operation of the pipeline.

“We should not drag [Nord Stream 2] into this conflict,” she said. “We need to solve this conflict, and we need to solve it in talks – that’s the opportunity that we have at the moment, and we should use it rather than draw a link to projects that have no connection to it.”

The reversal here was certainly a consequence of American pressure on Berlin. Stopping Nord Stream II would cost Germany and other EU countries a fortune in gas in the coming years. It would benefit the USA which would replace Russian gas with far more expensive American gas. The expense would be from shipping the gas across the Atlantic. This would also result in excessive and unnecessary CO2 pollution from all that shipping. Pipelines do not cause pollution or climate change. Ships, trains, and trucks cause a significant amount of the earth's anthropogenic CO2.

Climate change seems to be unimportant to the Biden regime when money is at stake.

Earlier this month, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland admitted that America is working alongside EU partners to stop certification of the pipeline.

“What we are doing now is working with the Germans, working with the EU to slow their consideration of the implementation of the pipeline,” she said. “This German Government has taken significant steps to do that, and they’ve also reconfirmed the agreement we had with the previous government with regard to what happens to Nord Stream 2 – namely, it’s suspended if Russia aggresses against Ukraine.”

Top German govt officials probed over suspected embezzlement

Vice chancellor, foreign minister and four others are under investigation

by the Berlin public prosecutor’s office

Green Party co-leaders, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck,

in Berlin, Germany, on December 6, 2021. © AFP / Markus Schreiber/POOL/AFP

German vice chancellor and minister for economic affairs and climate action, Robert Habeck, and the country’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, have found themselves at the center of an embezzlement investigation launched by the Berlin public prosecutor’s office. The probe focuses on the politicians’ activities back in 2020, before they were sworn in as German government officials, according to Der Spiegel magazine.

Habeck and Baerbock, along with the other four members of Germany’s Green party’s federal board, allegedly awarded themselves so-called ‘Covid bonuses’ to the tune of €1,500 ($1,700) per person. The sum was paid to all employees working at the party’s main office to offset possible difficulties associated with working from home. However, the party’s own auditors took issue with the bonus since according to the Greens’ own rules the payment should not have exceeded €300. Moreover, the auditors argued that any such decision should have involved the party’s treasurer and delegates from regional offices, which apparently was not the case.

In the wake of the Spiegel report, a spokesperson for the Berlin public prosecutor’s office confirmed on Wednesday evening that the probe was indeed launched on January 6.

All suspects except one are MPs in the Bundestag, which gives them immunity until any official charges are brought.

A spokesperson for the Green party stressed that the Federal board’s decision to hand out bonuses was seen as justified by “all those involved” at the time, (in other words, "it seemed like a good idea at the time!"), however, the party’s leadership had since returned the money they had personally received. According to the Greens’ representative, the “board members and the federal office of the party are cooperating fully with the prosecutor’s office in order to clarify the matter in a swift and complete fashion.”

It is worth noting that the Green party is expected to elect a new federal board next week, with neither Robert Habeck nor Annalena Baerbock running for a post anymore.

=============================================================================================

Bavaria Election: Merkel's Conservative Allies Humiliated

Exit polls show CSU losing majority it has long enjoyed

as far-right AfD, and far-left Greens, makes gains

The Guardian
Kate Connolly and Josie Le Blond in Berlin

The Bavarian leader, Markus Söder, reacts to his party’s worst election result for six decades.

Photograph: Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images

Angela Merkel’s conservative partners in Bavaria have had their worst election performance for more than six decades, in a humiliating state poll result that is likely to further weaken Germany’s embattled coalition government.

The Christian Social Union secured 35.5% of the vote, according to initial exit polls, losing the absolute majority in the prosperous southern state it had had almost consistently since the second world war. The party’s support fell below 40% for the first time since 1954.

Markus Söder, the prime minister of Bavaria, called it a “difficult day” for the CSU, but said his party had a clear mandate to form a government.

Among the main victors was the environmental, pro-immigration Green party, which as predicted almost doubled its voter share to 18.5% at the expense of the Social Democratic party (SPD), which lost its position as the second-biggest party, with support halving to less than 10%.

Annalena Baerbock, the co-leader of the Greens, said: “Today Bavaria voted to uphold human rights and humanity.”

Andrea Nahles, the leader of the SPD, delivered the briefest of reactions at her party’s headquarters in Berlin, calling the results “bitter” and blaming them on the poor performance of the grand coalition in Berlin.

The anti-immigration Alternative für Deutschland, which entered the national parliament for the first time after a federal election last year, repeated the feat in Bavaria – once considered to be off-limits – and will enter the regional parliament for the first time having secured about 11% of the vote.

Katrin Ebner-Steiner of the AfD told jubilant party supporters she would spend the next five years “representing your strong voice” at a time when Germany and Bavaria were in a “dreadful state” over migration. “We’re cut from a different wood from the bloodless mainstream parties,” she said, promising to “fight for victory not for us, but for Bavaria”.

The Free Voters, a regional protest party, is also likely to enter parliament, having secured a historic 11.5%. Its leader, Hubert Aiwanger, said shortly after the result that he had called the CSU leadership to start coalition negotiations.

Turnout, at 72.5%, was at its highest level for almost 40 years, thanks in part to the clement weather, in part to the historic nature of the vote.

The CSU, the sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), has ridden for decades on a ticket of folksy beerhall rhetoric and pledges to protect the heimat (homeland), combined with the drive for economic success – often referred to as “laptop and lederhosen”.

Merkel did not react to the results, but the CDU’s general secretary, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, called them “bitter … but not surprising”, citing the governmental infighting of recent months. She said the party would urgently consult before a state election in Hesse in two weeks’ time. “We need to address the issues which are burning under people’s fingernails,” she added.

At the previous election in 2013, the CSU secured 47.7% of the vote, compared with 62% at the height of its popularity in 1974.

The party more or less took for granted its dominant position as the standalone leader in Bavaria, but its power base started to erode with the demise of the mainstream political landscape across Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

However, the dramatic slide in the CSU’s fortunes coincided with the arrival of about 1 million refugees to Germany in the summer of 2015 through Bavaria, causing uncertainty and some xenophobia.

The CSU leadership under Söder and the party leader, Horst Seehofer – who is also the federal interior minister – did its best to blame the growing sense of instability in Bavaria on Merkel’s refugee policy.

In an effort to tackle the backlash against Muslim refugees, it introduced a law requiring classrooms and public buildings to hang the crucifix and ban the full-face Islamic veils.

The fallout over the refugee crisis and disputes between Seehofer and Merkel over how to control Germany’s border have almost led to the collapse of her fragile coalition.

But in the weeks running up to the election, successive polls showed the CSU’s hardline stance and its near-success in causing the government’s collapse had prompted a haemorrhaging of voters to other parties.

The CSU’s dismal result leaves in doubt the political futures of both Söder and Seehofer.

Speaking on Sunday evening, Seehofer said the party would “draw the necessary consequences” from the poor result over the following weeks, but did not refer to his or Söder’s futures.

The forthcoming makeup of the Bavarian government is unclear, although the Greens have signalled their willingness to enter a coalition with the CSU, which in turn is uneasy about such an alliance. Statistically, the CSU could also form a government with the Free Voters, with whom they have considerably more in common.

Reacting to the vote, Thomas Steinleitner, a baker from the town of Deggendorf who abandoned the CSU for the first time, said the party had lost touch with its supporters.

“They just repeated what the AfD said, and I don’t identify with them any more. The CSU and CDU – all the big parties – it feels like they work together with industry, but us normal people are not important to them,” he said.

This is an aberration for recent elections in the EU. The positioning of AfD in the state parliament is overshadowed by the dramatic doubling of the Greens and the decrease in seats for the CSU. Basically, Bavaria has rejected Seehofer's attempts to move it to the right in regard to immigration and Islamization, and the state has politically shifted a little to the left. This is not a good thing for Germany.

Bavaria, Germany