Day: June 9, 2024

The post В рядах ВСУ воруют топливо почти на всех уровнях first appeared on The News And Times.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Voting has ended to elect the European Union’s regional lawmakers for the next five-year term after the last remaining polls closed in Italy, as surging far-right parties dealt a body blow to two of the bloc’s most important leaders: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Official results were expected any moment after Italian polling stations closed at 11 p.m. local time (2100GMT), officially ending a marathon election spanning four days across 27 bloc member countries.

An initial projection provided by the European Union indicated far-right parties have made big gains at the European Parliament.

In France, the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen dominated the polls to such an extent that Macron immediately dissolved the national parliament and called for new elections, a massive political risk since his party could suffer more losses, hobbling the rest of his presidential term that ends in 2027.

Le Pen was delighted to accept the challenge. “We’re ready to turn the country around, ready to defend the interests of the French, ready to put an end to mass immigration,” she said, echoing the rallying cry of so many far-right leaders in other countries who were celebrating substantial wins.

Macron acknowledged the thud of defeat. “I’ve heard your message, your concerns, and I won’t leave them unanswered,” he said, adding that calling a snap election only underscored his democratic credentials.

In Germany, the most populous nation in the 27-member bloc, projections indicated that the AfD overcame a string of scandals involving its top candidate to rise to 16.5%, up from 11% in 2019. In comparison, the combined result for the three parties in the German governing coalition barely topped 30%.

Scholz suffered such an ignominious fate that his long-established Social Democratic party fell behind the extreme-right Alternative for Germany, which surged into second place. “After all the prophecies of doom, after the barrage of the last few weeks, we are the second strongest force,” a jubilant AfD leader Alice Weidel said.

The four-day polls in the 27 EU countries were the world’s second-biggest exercise in democracy, behind India’s recent election. At the end, the rise of the far right was even more stunning than many analysts predicted.

The French National Rally crystalized it as it stood at over 30% or about twice as much as Macron’s pro-European centrist Renew party that is projected to reach around 15%.

Overall across the EU, two mainstream and pro-European groups, the Christian Democrats and the Socialists, remained the dominant forces. The gains of the far right came at the expense of the Greens, who were expected to lose about 20 seats and fall back to sixth position in the legislature. Macron’s pro-business Renew group also lost big.

For decades, the European Union, which has its roots in the defeat of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, confined the hard right to the political fringes. With its strong showing in these elections, the far right could now become a major player in policies ranging from migration to security and climate.

Bucking the trend was former EU leader and current Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who overcame Law and Justice, the national conservative party that governed Poland from 2015-23 and drove it ever further to the right. A poll showed Tusk’s party won with 38%, compared to 34% for his bitter nemesis.

“Of these large, ambitious countries, of the EU leaders, Poland has shown that democracy, honesty and Europe triumph here,” Tusk told his supporters. “I am so moved.”

He declared, “We showed that we are a light of hope for Europe.”

Germany, traditionally a stronghold for environmentalists, exemplified the humbling of the Greens, who were predicted to fall from 20% to 12%. With further losses expected in France and elsewhere, the defeat of the Greens could well have an impact on the EU’s overall climate change policies, still the most progressive across the globe.

The center-right Christian Democratic bloc of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which already weakened its green credentials ahead of the polls, dominated in Germany with almost 30%, easily beating Scholz’s Social Democrats, who fell to 14%, even behind the AfD.

“What you have already set as a trend is all the better – strongest force, stable, in difficult times and by a distance,” von der Leyen told her German supporters by video link from Brussels.

As well as France, the hard right, which focused its campaign on migration and crime, was expected to make significant gains in Italy, where Premier Giorgia Meloni was tipped to consolidate her power.

Voting continued in Italy until late in the evening and many of the 27 member states have not yet released any projections. Nonetheless, data already published confirmed earlier predictions: the elections will shift the bloc to the right and redirect its future. That could make it harder for the EU to pass legislation, and decision-making could at times be paralyzed in the world’s biggest trading bloc.

EU lawmakers, who serve a five-year term in the 720-seat Parliament, have a say in issues from financial rules to climate and agriculture policy. They approve the EU budget, which bankrolls priorities including infrastructure projects, farm subsidies and aid delivered to Ukraine. And they hold a veto over appointments to the powerful EU commission.

These elections come at a testing time for voter confidence in a bloc of some 450 million people. Over the last five years, the EU has been shaken by the coronavirus pandemic, an economic slump and an energy crisis fueled by the biggest land conflict in Europe since the Second World War. But political campaigning often focuses on issues of concern in individual countries rather than on broader European interests.

Since the last EU election in 2019, populist or far-right parties now lead governments in three nations — Hungary, Slovakia and Italy — and are part of ruling coalitions in others including Sweden, Finland and, soon, the Netherlands. Polls give the populists an advantage in France, Belgium, Austria and Italy.

“Right is good,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who leads a stridently nationalist and anti-migrant government, told reporters after casting his ballot. “To go right is always good. Go right!”

———

Associated Press journalists Sylvain Plazy in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

———

See AP’s coverage of global elections in 2024 here.

Former President Trump’s probation interview is set for Monday following his criminal conviction in his hush money case, according to a source familiar with the plans.

The interview is a standard part of the sentencing process for felony defendants convicted in New York state court. The probation officer will ultimately prepare a report to inform the judge’s sentencing decision.

Trump will sit for the interview virtually from Palm Beach, Fla., the source added.

The development was first reported by NBC News.

The interview comes less than two weeks after a New York jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment with an intent to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election. It marked the first criminal conviction of a former U.S. president, though Trump has vowed to appeal.

Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the recent trial, on Friday granted a request for Trump’s lead defense attorney in the case, Todd Blanche, to attend his client’s interview. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) office did not oppose the request.

Moments after the verdict was announced in the courtroom, Merchan had confirmed that Trump would sit for a probation interview.

“We will order a probation report,” Merchan said. “Mr. Blanche, the clerk of the court will give you instructions on how to go about scheduling that interview and getting that probation report.”

As part of the report, the New York probation officer will gather Trump’s prior criminal history — which is none — employment history and economic status. If available, state law also requires the report to include findings about a defendant’s “physical and mental condition.”

Trump’s sentencing is set for July 11. Most first-time offenders convicted on Trump’s charges do not face jail time, and his legal team has signaled they will urge the judge not to incarcerate the former president. Their appeal could also delay any sentence the judge imposes.

When reached for comment about the probation interview, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the case a “witch hunt.”

“President Trump and his legal team are already taking necessary steps to challenge and defeat the lawless Manhattan DA case. The American People will not fall for the Biden-directed Hoaxes and will hold Crooked Joe and his comrades to account this fall,” Cheung said in a statement.