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[smjjames]

Not sure what to think about that, but there certainly needs to be a way to deal with the troublemakers who have broken rules but haven't committed a crime.

[TheDarkStar]

It seems open to abuse - refugees could be sent away for nothing more than annoying whoever is in charge and it's still pretty much a punishment because it's forced relocation where people are separated from friends/family/home (or something like it).

[Sheb]

It seems open to abuse - refugees could be sent away for nothing more than annoying whoever is in charge and it's still pretty much a punishment because it's forced relocation where people are separated from friends/family/home (or something like it).

Well, it is a kind of punishment. The issue is how do you deal with things which are bad, but aren't bad enough that you bother to get the judicial system involved. In a way, it's similar to what would happen with a bully in a school.

[martinuzz]

In the new election program for Merkel's CDU, the US has been degraded from being 'Germany's closest friend' to 'Germany's most important partner', and is also no longer mentioned as 'the cornerstone of Germany's international relations'.
This signifies the cooling of relations between Merkel and the US president, after Trump has sneered multiple times at Merkel for taking in refugees, and calling her policy insane. The cooling of relations was already apparent earlier, when German minister of foreign affairs Sigmar Gabriel said that Trump endangers the peace in Europe.
Polls made by Pew Research Center showed last week that currently, 35% of Germans has a positive image of the US. At the end of Obama's presidency, it was still 57%.

[Sheb]

Macron apparently proposed a program of widespread political reform, including reducing the number of MP by a third, switching to proportional and imposing term limits. I don't really get it TBH, it wasn't a priority for him in his campaign, and those reforms wouldn't strengthen his hand (LRM got 60% of the seats, but only 32% of first-round vote and 49% of second-round vote) so it seems a weird thing to burn political capital on.

[Helgoland]

Legacy-building or genuine concern for the country. The latter does occur on occasion, even though it's rare in the modern age.

[Sheb]

Legacy-building or genuine concern for the country. The latter does occur on occasion, even though it's rare in the modern age.

Yeah, but it's just weird that it wasn't really a plank of his platform pre-election.

[smjjames]

Pretty sure Macron talked about political reform, even if it wasn't part of his partys platform.

Though with the size reduction of the Parliament, one has to wonder which part? Is he going to do everybody that isn't part of his party (which would be an all too obvious power grab)? Or is he going to do some sort of random thing? Theres going to be losers from his party if he does something that won't look like a power grab and those newly elected members aren't going to want to be booted from their new job so soon.

[Sheb]

Pretty sure Macron talked about political reform, even if it wasn't part of his partys platform.

Though with the size reduction of the Parliament, one has to wonder which part? Is he going to do everybody that isn't part of his party (which would be an all too obvious power grab)? Or is he going to do some sort of random thing? Theres going to be losers from his party if he does something that won't look like a power grab and those newly elected members aren't going to want to be booted from their new job so soon.

I guess they'd just wait for the next election for the reduction in seat number to take place.

More concerning is that he wants some legislative acts to be able to pass with only a comittee vote, not a full vote. He also threaten a referendum on the matter f the Assemblée Nationale doesn't reform itself according to his wishes within a year.

[smjjames]

http://www.politico.eu/article/trumps-plans-to-praise-walesa-irk-polish-government/ heh, they shoulda known that Trump is the kind that likes to shake things up and (sometimes) doesn't give a damn about diplomatic norms.

[martinuzz]

The Belgian police is looking for two terrorism suspects. After a raid at a garage box in Anderlecht past tuesday night, where police found three AK47s, 15 AK magazines, a riot gun, 3 pistols with ammo, radios, bulletproof vests, a police flashing light, and two police uniforms, the police fears that the raid may have spooked the fugitives and trigger them to carry out a terrorist attack in a hurry.

French police, cooperating with the Belgian investigation say that they believe the terror cell was planning another attack in France, on the 14th of july.
In Belgium, two brothers were arrested, and in France, one person was arrested that had been in contact with the two Belgian suspects.

However, it is believed that not all members of the terror cell have been arrested. One or two are still at large. The Belgian justice department fears a repeat of what happened on 22th of march 2016. The attack of Zaventem was carried out in a hurry, after police had discovered a safehouse and arrested one suspect.

http://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/belgen-zoeken-nog-terreurverdachten-na-inval-vrees-voor-versnelde-uitvoering-aanslag~a4504925/
https://nieuws.vtm.be/binnenland/parket-zoekt-nog-terreurverdachten

[smjjames]

Ouch, a terror attack in France on the 14th would have been terrible (well, any terror attack is terrible, but on France's equivalent of independence day is doubly terrible), especially since the US President would be around and they'd be equally happy to ruin his day as well.

In what I'm sure is some schadenfreude for you guys, Trump was unable to find a luxury hotel for the G20 because... they had all been booked by others, oops, heh. I suppose he couldn't share with Putin, heh.

[martinuzz]

Ouch, a terror attack in France on the 14th would have been terrible (well, any terror attack is terrible, but on France's equivalent of independence day is doubly terrible),

Last year's terror attack in Nice was on the 14th of july already 

[Sheb]

France announce climate plan, including phasing out coal for electricity by the end of Macron's term ( 2022, but it's only 10% of total generation) and banning all fossil-powered car by 2040.

[martinuzz]

The Dutch government has again denied access to a Turkish politician.
Turkish vice-premier Tugrul Türkes wants to come to Apeldoorn next week, to speak at the remembrance ceremony for the failed coup 1 year ago, that is being organised there coming tuesday.

The Dutch government has stated that 'the coup was an injustifiable assault on Turkish democratic institutions. In that, we are in the same line as Turkey. However, given the current situation in Turkey, and the bilateral relation between our two countries, we do not find it desirable for Türkes, or any other member of Turkish government, to come to the Netherlands.

Now we have to wait and see if Türkes is going to try and enter the country anyways, like their minister did back during the referendum campaign.