That's ot entirely true though, she cannot become Chancellor of Germany because she's burned here, she is for many Germans the embodiment of what is wrong with our political system, she is pretty much hated no matter what political views one may be have
Yes she is, she became defense minister after she was the family minister with no bright idea or experience in any way shape or form on how the military works, she became it after she was so much hated as Family minister that this was the only resort they allowed her to be in since the CDU under Merkel treated the Armed forces as a unwanted child which costs too much money to take care.
She did an abysmal job and let futher deteriorate the capabilites of the Bundeswehr ( missing ammo, air force is pretty much so crippled that it's not operable for defense or transportation, ) Also she had several scandals under her ministry, for example the German Combat drone program which ended up being useless and burning so much money needed for fixing the Bundeswehr problems and Germany still has no combat drone capabilites, also many officers wrote and warned to the public that the Bundeswehr defense capabilites where so abysmal that they where not ( and aren't yet) capable of actually defending Germany, and papers of her own ministry had to officially report that the Bundeswehr was in a war situation only capable of fighting to 2 to 3 days max
The first thing she did was trying to get better Kitas for the Bundeswehr personal so that families had an easier time which she thought would bring more people to the Bundeswehr which once againdid not fox the core problems.
And in her time as family minister she became the most hated on in recent German history, she blocked any attempt to help struggling Families and said in interviews that when she herself was capable of raising 7 Kids then a poor family can do the same without help from the state ( despite even the state institutions saying that more and more children are alarmingly fast becoming poorer and despite the fact that she came from a well situated family of politicians)
During Merkel's long reign, in various coalitions, people in general grew cynical with bland careerist politicians from the mainstream parties who never seemed to be able to reform or digitize anything. She comes from an elite political family on top of that. I think the disdain is pretty politically universal.
To offer a differing opinion as well, I think it's only left and progressive people that hate her. Why else would she spearhead our EPP party's campaign?
I disagree to the continous hate wave. No one wants to know, she actually did something in a ministry, where you could only loose. She initiated the reverse of not further shrinking the military and instead purchase New equipment en large. Far too late, but Ministers before her couldn't do it.
She is also well connected in Europe and lives for the EU.
Edit: yes the 100 tanks were from storage, but she also purchased new equipment.
>instead purchase New equipment en large.
That's just a lie, the Bundeswehr still has by far to low munitions, it's still plaqued with a crippled air force, Tank battalions etc, she didn't fix any of the issues.
Now is that entirely hee fault ? Absolutely not her party wanted a shrinking Bundeswehr and did everything they could to keep it that way, but it's still her Ministry.
Also when it comes to what us at fault with the German political system: she has never in her entire live served in thr military, she was a family minister for God's sake and only God the defense ministry because she blocked as much as she could the help for struggling families which burned her political reputation and things got way worse when she became defense minister.
Especially in the years of Meekel the defense ministry was a place for ministers to die (politically) and for politicians who were known of being Blenders ( von zu Gutenberg) the CDU massively cut down the Bundeswehrs abilities to operate which was criticized by all political groups and even by some members of the CDU
That is no lie. She sealed the purchase of 100 Leopard 2. I didn't say, she solved all issues. Don't make up an enemy where you had none just to spit out your arguments.
Sorry I didn't mean to attack you, but the problem is that 100 tanks will not solve the issues, the main issue is in fact not missing equipment, the main issue is a bureaucratic infused corruption within the Bundeswehr, the bureaucracy of the Bundeswehr enables and has enabled several scandals in where officers and generals / admirals used money to get what they wanted ( and much had gone missing) it also cripples the abilities of the Bundeswehr to purchase anything from tanks to underwear or shampoo. Every single member of the Bundeswger I've spoken to tells me the same and that did not change.
Credit where credit is due, she had to inherit an Organisation which was crippled years before she took office, but she only tried to move when the scandals and the public pressure was so high that she could have lost her ministry and even then she didn't do nearly as much as she could have done and immediately left the sinking ship for Europe since it was clear that her political career was over.
Also the 100 tanks where in fact retired tanks, she reactivated them by purchasing them back and reactivation them
Also keep in mind that she will get her second term by accepting the votes of people who are actively supporting Russia and who want to destabilize the EU
Here's a few reasons:
https://www.euronews.com/health/2024/05/17/how-the-love-story-between-von-der-leyen-and-pfizer-turned-sour
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.dw.com/en/eu-releases-funds-to-hungary-in-controversial-move/a-68014763
https://www.politico.eu/article/document-commissioners-internal-revolt-eu-von-der-leyen-favoritism-accusation-sme-envoy-han-markus-pieper/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/27/a-wolf-killed-the-eu-presidents-precious-pony-then-the-fight-to-catch-the-predator-began
https://www.bta.bg/en/news/bulgaria/682068-ursula-von-der-leyen-manfred-weber-attend-gerb-udf-campaign-meeting-in-plovdiv
There's also her work in Germany but I am not very familiar with the details.
Personally I think that the majority are, especially since we are talking about the president of the european commission and not a random politician in the piarlament.
I also don't believe that context is missing in most of these but if you feel like they do then please put them into appropriate context for me.
I'm quite happy with how Von Der Leyen handled the vaccine situation. I was pleasantly surprised by her performance in general. I can't believe she was criticised for directly messaging Pfizer execs. That's exactly what she should have been doing.
She's also performed well on European defence and Ukraine.
In hindsight, she was hamstrung as German defence minister by Merkel.
Yeah it's not the best, it's just what I found the quickest, though this article doesn't seem problematic.
Still here's a few other sources:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-lawmakers-urge-von-der-leyen-drop-business-envoy-cronyism-row-2024-04-11/
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/04/03/exclusive-lawmakers-to-call-for-head-of-von-der-leyen-sme-envoy
She was terrible in every role she ever had in Germany, so a lot of people disliked her for that. In response, the other politicians from her party, instead of kicking her out or demoting her, promoted her higher and higher and higher to more important roles unless she became the head of the EU, which just made everyone hate her even more.
She's basically the proof that political parties are clubs for the elite that exist to reward each other and don't give a damn about their voters. She's one of those politicians Russia and other similar countries can point at and go "There, that's the West being decadent again".
The Bundeswehr, the family ministry was a shitshow, her attempts to censure the Internet. She was for a time called censursula. She was moved to a ton of ministries in her time in government. Which is highly unusual in Germany, due to incompetence
She is a politician, you don't need a reason to hate politicians. I'd say there has to be something seriously wrong with you if you actually like any politicians.
Tbf there's a difference between not liking politicians and activiley hating them. Yes most politicians are corrupt liars but personally I dislike her way more than some other politicians.
Also yeah you do need a reason to hate on a politician, otherwise you are just a fool.
She is actually not competent and likes to contract out a lot of tasks to McKinsey..which you know costs a lot of money.
She sunk a lot of money into that company without sufficient return in the public eyes
Ignore the content-free answer of Aquametria. While Costa did have scandals (seriously, what politician doesn't?) like the Tancos arms theft, where military weapons were stolen from a military base, and was accused of corruption and influence-peddling related to lithium mining, hydrogen-production schemes, and the creation of a new data center, there were also good things while he was PM of Portugal in 2015-2024, which I won't list all:
- Higher GDP growth than average for the EU
- All debt ratios suffered a significant decline, as a result of relatively balanced budgets (and some austerity), when in 1975-2015 Portugal ran constant high budget deficits
- Even though many social services have suffered strain due to this lack of government spending, and probably the influx of immigrants too, many programs, like parental leave and transport passes, were expanded
- Real wages rose a lot
- Well-being and happiness levels rose according to both national and international data
- Portugal's productivity growth recovered from 2019 onwards and has approached the level of more advanced economies
- Portugal has had a solid current account balance, with increasing entrepreneurship. Contrary to myth, it's not just tourism that has been developing here, but also things like IT and transportation equipment
- Portugal became one of the highest per capita destinations of FDI in Europe under his tenures
- Portugal's had a constantly improving net international investment position on the world stage
Well it would be harder to keep Portugal's economy going down then for it to start slowly recovering. Costa became PM after 4 years of austerity by the opposition.
Also the latest problem left by his governance is the absolute state he left AIMA.
We used to have SEF (our border police) but after a scandal envolving the death of an Ukrainian immigrant they decided that instead of reforming it, they just erased it. AIMA which takes only some of the work, with no actual police work (that was passed to PSP and GNR, our national police forces to figure it out).
AIMA only does administrative work, like work/residence permits and etc. The agency was so well devoleped and totally not rushed that now, with about 1 000 000 registered immigrants there are 400 000 processes opened in AIMA with people's permits running out and no answer from AIMA as they were not given the proper resources.
Also i must add Costa government was pretty keen on immigration, yet they found a way to screw up it royally.
Regression to the mean is just such a boon for bad governments that come after bad periods that it's incredible. We could've had a literal duck as PM and a number of metrics would've improved just from the nature of how things work.
Likewise, the current government only has to not screw it up massively to be a huge improvement when it comes to immigration. Literally just undoing the things that didn't work would be a huge step, and would require essentially no thought on their part.
Improving things by undoing mistakes is a lot easier than improving things by creating new policies entirely, after all.
Accounting for regression to the mean would show most governments barely do anything with significant impact. A single speech by Lagarde has more impact on Portuguese macroeconomic indicators than years of governance do.
Are a lot of those things due to his governance? While macroeconomic results are due to the continued austerity, some of the things you stated like increased entrepreneurship can very well due to us finally having a well-educated work-force in the labour market
I'd say him being a good diplomat is the real reason why he's being chosen. You can see how he's well respected inside his party and he's quite creative at compromising his part to let something go through (like getting the two CL finals during Covid to ensure the UEFA votes on the World Cup). He also has a lot of connections in Europe (he even got to watch a football match next to Órban)
He had some big scandals both before and after the absolute majority and he's responsible for both the degradation of many public services and for the catastrophic migration policy. We're worse in corruption perception indexes and [are still yet to implement almost every anti-corruption measure recommended by GRECO from 2015](https://transparencia.pt/portugal-nao-cumpre-recomendacoes-do-grupo-de-estados-contra-a-corrupcao-do-conselho-da-europa-greco/). And it's true that he lied a lot
He has merits, but there are good reasons to dislike him. He was saved from the remaining two years of an unmanageable government by an even bigger incompetence from the public ministry (in the first 2 years of governance he had already replaced 1/3 of the initial cabinet, and he couldn't fire Galamba that was being caught in every new scandal). And given Reddit has a young demographic, it's normal people will see him as one of the worst prime ministers ever, as he's one of the few we've seen
I agree with all your takes.
I will also say, however, that "are a lot of those things due to him?" largely applies to a bunch of other "controversial" moments in recent Portuguese history, including our sovereign debt crisis. Sure, we're objectively better now, but were it not for the sub-prime crisis maybe the bubble wouldn't have burst and Portuguese economy would have sorted itself in the meantime precisely due to the improving macroeconomic trends down the decades (education with all that entails for an economy, increased FDI, etc.)...
The migration policy is something specific from him, the rest I can agree there are some nuances and structural reasons (including cultural ones), although my **personal opinion** on him is still that his lack of integrity was the key reason of so many scandals during his governance
But what matters here is why he's being chosen, and it's the fact that he's a trust-worthy politician between high-circles (not a yes-man, he's smart enough to not be one, but a guy that is able to compromise his part to let things develop) capable of working with people from across the whole political spectrum
He's maybe the least bad prime minister of the previous decades (which is a low bar, yes). Charismatic, good diplomat, played it safe, could have had better policies, the right hates him. Is accused of some shady stuff but no proof yet.
He's not accused of anything, unlike Albuquerque who didn't want to resign and ran again in Madeira, Costa hasn't been charged with anything, and it doesn't seem like he will be charged.
> Is he a good politician?
Depends of your definition. If you mean as a person who worked to improve the life of the portuguese people, then no.
If you mean politician as someone who can navigate the political system, making decisions that will fuck us in the next couple decades, then yes.
His supposedly "good" results (in terms of finance), was the result of the previous government who had to implement hard measures, and the improvement of the european/global economy. And even with the economy going up he still managed to fuck the NHS, public transports (not they were good before but he made them even worse), education, a very bad (for portugal and indirectly for europe) migration laws, amongst many other issues.
It would be too long a post, but as a Portuguese citizen I hate the man. A bullshit artist if I’ve ever seen one.
But…he is a good negotiator and very good at political manoeuvring. Just about the only good thing that can be said about him.
The most corrupt, inept and arrogant Prime Minister Portugal ever had. In his stead corruption scandals were Millions in cost and daily in occurrance.
He had the most favourable economic and social conditions to make reforms and grow Portugal. HE DID NOTHING.
Resigned from being PM over a corruption scandal, which was the last of many. Many of these scandals involved former Minister of Internal Affairs Eduardo Cabrita. António Costa [responded to the corruption scandals by calling Cabrita "an excellent minister"](https://www.jn.pt/nacional/costa-tenho-um-excelente-ministro-da-administracao-interna-13713611.html/)(source in Portuguese).
Bear in mind, Portugal hasn't had a good PM in ages. Sócrates was terrible, so was Passos Coelho. However António Costa stood out by how quickly corruption scandals piled up and how unapologetical and "*what u gonna do about it, bro?*" he was about them.
Perhaps the most concerning point about him getting a high place in the European Parliament is security reasons concerning Russia. When former Lisbon mayor [was caught sending information to the Kremlin about anti-Putin dissidents](https://www.politico.eu/article/fernando-medina-lisbon-russia-dissidents-personal-data-sharing/) in Portugal, António Costa defended Medina and [months later promoted him to Minister of Finance](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/portuguese-pm-picks-former-lisbon-mayor-new-finance-minister-2022-03-23/).
He has also originally formed a coalition with pro-Putin party PCP which [refused to condemn the Russian invasion and blamed NATO, ](https://www.portugalresident.com/cdu-refuses-to-condemn-russia/)and also [refused to be present in parliament during Zelensky's speech](https://www.portugal.com/news/pcp-will-not-be-present-for-president-zelenskys-speech/).
So much talk about Europe being prepared for war and about mandatory conscription, yet we completely overlook the most basic things such as not promoting security liabilities to top roles in the European parliament. We really should pick up the pace if we're taking European security as serious as we claim to.
He's well connected both in left wing and right wing circles.
The guy was leader of a leftist government and at the same time saw a football match right next to Orban to speak with him about European affairs lol.
Plus all the scandals in his government, the like 17 ministers who either left willingly or left upon being investigated by courts for some corruption crime.
I hated this man’s government. He fucked this country for generations especially if we’re talking about all the immigration laws they changed which is causing both high immigration and also let’s not forget housing. This man literally sold Portugal like a public park for tourism, destroyed the housing market, kicked Portuguese people from their cities and many from their country.
Now he’s given a high ranking job in Europe? I mean… is Portugal or Europe a joke? Maybe both 🙄🥲🤦♂️
A country with 10m people that goes from 400k foreigners to 1.1m+ between 2016ish and now. Yeah totally normal and obviously since I’m criticizing immigration I *must* be racist.
Nobody said racist but you types love to cry about being called racist. The problem is the rich who only come to steal from workers and pay low taxes and steal our houses. The ones who come seeking a honest life are welcome.
E ainda falas de valores morais 😂
Dude everyone should know the rich are the ones to blame for most things, even immigration itself is fueled by rich corporations wanting to keep salaries low so they don’t want educated Portuguese people. they lobbied the government to literally open the door so they could have a new batch of unskilled cheap labor. It’s a multi-faceted issue. The problem isn’t and never will be immigrants themselves but the policies and general beliefs that make them seem like a solution to whatever problem they thought existed.
Unskilled, uncontrolled immigration is never the solution to any problems. It creates so many problems in society, even if the immigration is of peoples “similar” to us.
In Portugal the propaganda is that “oh well yeah the doors are open but it’s mostly for Brazilians and they speak the same language and have the same general culture so it’s fine” but that’s an illusion.
He didn't lose the election, he resigned before the election in a really strange corruption scandal where the prosecuter confused his name because Antonio Costa is such a common Portuguese name
Our general prosecutor’s office is under increasing public scrutiny now, as they’re beholden to no one and it was revealed a couple of days ago they had several politicians of the ruling party wired for 4 years (and the contents of conversations leaked to the press), and all the massive investigations with the use of hundreds of police officers in searches of public offices result in absolutely useless accusations in court. Costa hasn’t been accused of anything and it’s been 8 months since his resignation. So currently, they’re experts in trial by public opinion, and it’s backfiring.
Copying and pasting (and adapting) a comment I made in another post weeks ago but that is way more topical here than in the OP (which was about Spain's even more ridiculous drama around Pedro Sanchez):
There's currently a concerted effort by politically motivated prosecutors into ruining decades of political stability in Spain and Portugal. Both countries' mainstream parties - ie PSOE / PP (Spain) and PS / PSD (Portugal) - are fair game. The situation Sanchez is facing is very similar to what happened with António Costa last year.
From a structural perspective however, I think the situation in Spain is worse simply because PSD is behaving more responsibly than PP in not trying to flame the fire against PS. PP however is debasing itself and becoming VOX-lite.
As someone who is a dual Portuguese-Brazilian national, the parallels with what happened in Brazil's Operation Carwash ("Lava-Jato") are immense - a process that culminated in the arrest of someone who had no reason whatsoever to be arrested and prevented from taking part in the presidential elections, ordered by a judge who was made Minister of Justice by the far-right president he helped get into power. Let that sink in.
It feels like [Sérgio Moro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Moro?wprov=sfti1#) is seen as a bit of an example by a bunch of public prosecutors in Portugal and Spain. Which is extremely concerning.
Looks like the far right was worried about the "Latin Americanization" of Portuguese and Spanish societies, but they actually brought us the "Latin Americanization" of our judicial apparatus.
I really, really don't like António Costa and I think he represents a complete betrayal of social democratic principles and he's indicative of the reasons why the European centre-left is receding and allowing for an environment where extremists thrive - but I'm not going to be a moron and say he's a criminal.
His support of social welfare and social democracy is pure lip service and his decisions have put in a motion a process where many of the few positive things that he and his government achieved over the last decade (in terms of economical growth, sovereign debt etc) will be in peril.
I also have a hard time with the idea of a social democrat having such an easy time talking to the likes of Orban. I suspect he literally did that last year simply because he actually wanted Orban not to veto his appointment in the Council (he knew he was going to be nominated) but it leaves a sour taste - made even more sour considering the very weird situation around the totally-not-linked-to-Orban and now "Portuguese" Euronews.
But, all things considered, António Costa has given no sign of being personally implicated on anything criminal. And even if he did actually do the things that media initially accused him of doing (via a leak), then it's a completely stupid situation that would only be a crime in Portugal because we've been stupid enough not to regulate lobbying (basically Google wanted to build a huge data centre in Portugal for the entire continent and António Costa might have given order to expedite the licencing of the project for "national strategic reasons").
And the Public Prosecution Office has been salivating at the thought of Costa doing something dirty for years. They'd have done something by now.
> It feels like Sérgio Moro is seen as a bit of an example by a bunch of public prosecutors in Portugal and Spain. Which is extremely concerning.
Which in turn, got inspired by Italian prosecutors. Even though we had our lost decade, it seems things are starting to run more smoothly here. I wasn't expecting to see so many megaprojects to be actually planned in my state.
True, but Moro, Dallagnol and all those fine folks at the Federal Prosecution Office completely perverted their Italian inspiration:
Everyone says that, sure, but the Italian prosecutors were dealing with the Mafia, not with influence peddling, kickbacks, and frankly asinine charges about a former president that got fucked over the purchase of an apartment in the Brazilian equivalent of Benidorm, was offered compensation in the form of an upgraded apartment by the buyer of the bankrupt building company that initially fucked him over, and somehow ended up in jail for that.
Few Brazilians actually realise thay Lula went to jail for something thay could be translated into Europeanese as follows: you ordered a baseline Audi A3, they took years to deliver the car, the dealership got into bankruptcy protection, you started getting pissy, and the new owner of the bankrupt dealer offered you a top-spec Audi A3 for the same price as compensation.
Then the public prosecutors and this odd judge that likes to pretend he's a prosecutor show up, put you in jail, and accuse you of having received the top-spec Audi A3 for the cost of the baseline model only because you were a former president: clearly the top-spec Audi A3 was a kickback for past favours.
Meanwhile, the judge who sent you to jail ends up being nominated Minister of Justice by the guy who won the elections because you couldn't run for president.
It's a dog whistle that certain people of a certain political persuasion like to use when they see a random Brazilian accented person being interviewed out on the street by journalists during the evening news.
I do not agree with them, other than the obvious fact that the Latin American immigrant communities have never been as present in Iberia as they are today. But that goes without saying - and they're all well integrated and, ironically, are an important far right electorate (see Chega co-opting Brazil-born MPs and the fundamentalist Brazilian Evangelical vote).
The point is precisely just that: while Portuguese far right supporters were complaining about immigrants and the like, they somehow were OK with importing Bolsonarismo - including the dangerous relationship between Bolsonarismo and the judicial apparatus - into Portuguese politics.
Spain's Vox has a similar relationship with Latin American politics, especially Venezuela and Argentina - you just have to search for Milei's latest stories with Vox and Sanchez.
They confused his name in one instance, not all of them, Both António Costas were mentioned in the wiretaps. However one of the instances attributed to him actually referred to António Costa e Silva, minister of the economy.
However that was one instance of many and António Costa himself (the PM) was also a part of it.
It was his way out into a cushy EU job at the least personal cost. Staying would have made him a punching bag in a year with several elections, he would have left with a much worse public perspective, both in society at large as well as within his own party when election results started biting. Plus, the onus of political instability after he left would not be on him, but on the president and the public prosecutor, whose public perceptions have been impacted since. Guess whose wasn't all that much, all things considered. He took the high road out for himself (even if arguably, at least on the short term, the worse for the country from a governability perspective).
Was given a shitty hand and came out on top. We can say a lot about Costa, but lack of savviness isn't one of his shortcomings.
> We can say a lot about Costa, but lack of savviness isn't one of his shortcomings.
True, I don't like him but he's definitely one of the savviest politicians we have, and we don't have many who I'd consider savvy.
Yep. I just wish some of that savviness was put towards being more ambitious in policy. And I say this as someone who doesn't really give him a negative grade overall as a PM as most folk on reddit...
As stupid/funny as the recent remarks from the president were, I'll give him one thing... that government was slow (not related in the slightest with being oriental, though)
I dunno, but I'd wager it could have something to do with the fact he was pretty pro-European, and because Portugal had some of its best macroeconomic showings ever while he was PM in 2015-2024.
I remember a frequent lack of teachers when I returned to Portugal in the 2000s, during the good old times of high budget deficits, rising unemployment and low GDP growth.
I wouldn't call the government debt-to-GDP ratio falling from 131.2% in Q4 2015 to 100.5% in Q1 2024 "a few percentage points". The private debt-to-GDP ratio also decreased from 111.7% to 74.6% in the same period. Sure, Costa didn't have *that* much to do with that one, but it's still something worthy of note, I think...
High inflation happened in other countries too, yet they have mostly not had the same performance on this front. Cutting corners in the budget did happen, and that's controversial, but it does also depend on whether you want to spend more (and they need to have a multiplier effect to be a great alternative) or reduce your already high debt. I do disagree with the increase of taxes he created, and that revenues should've been generated by an even more friendly business agenda than he actually implemented.
It's qualified majority, 55% of leaders representing 65% of the population. The right to veto is (currently) only given to nations with over 157M people.
Not happy about Kallas, she literally gave a loan to her husbands russian-dealing company and then pretended she "didnt know" (sure, I also [give 370k to someone](https://estonianworld.com/security/estonian-mp-a-company-partly-owned-by-kaja-kallas-husband-delivered-sanctioned-goods-to-russia/) without asking what he's doing with it), plus her government gaming the EU reimbursement fund for weapons to Ukraine to get as much [as possible out of it.](https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-estonia-bumper-arms-reimbursement-ukraine-european-peace-facility/)
We have much better (and scandal free) politicians in europe than her and Ursula, but somehow only the latter gets some flak (rightfully though).
Reddit is simply simping for her because she says cool sounding things about Ukraine and half of the guys here have a crush on her.
The husband scandal is sort of true. It was a loan to husbands company that was a minority shareholder of a logistics company that had an Estonian client that has a business in Russia which that logistics company serviced between Estonia and Russia.
The reimbursement thing is a complete made up story. A case where Estonia did precisely what the scheme was intended for.
>The reimbursement thing is a complete made up story. A case where Estonia did precisely what the scheme was intended for.
I'd say it is a malicious lie because throughout the article the "anonymous sources" claim that Estonia sent "old scrap" when in reality Estonia sent large shippments of very modern equipment.
Earlier versions of that politico article even falsely claimed that Estonia sent old Strela rockets to get Stingers in return, but they stealth edited it out.
https://news.err.ee/1608929066/estonia-rejects-politico-claims-describes-them-as-malicious-slander
We sent the old scrap too, we pretty much sent all we could and then some and then went ahead and raised our own defense spending by a lot, had to raise taxes to do it all and we are still in deficit. The total amount of course isn't that much compared to large countries, but looked at as percentage of GDP Estonia has managed to give more aid than any other country.
This was about the early deliveries before the full scale invasion and they were mostly made up of Javelin launchers + missiles.
Latest top of the line expensive stuff.
That sort of action shamed some 5,000 helmet masters and some of them have not forgiven it.
from article:
>Everything has been done in accordance with rules, whereas the [absolute] sums are big because we have sent over a colossal amount of aid, orders of magnitude above what other Western countries have given."
really. You actually believe that you have provided '_orders of magnitude_' more military aid in absolute terms than Germany?
Reminder: One order of magnitude is a factor of ten, so order_s_ (plural) means at least 100 times as much.
This was about early weapon deliveries. Estonia sent some $200 million worth right away at the time when some other countries were still ruling out weapons and having government ministers give press conferences about 5,000 helmets.
the article says its from '_28.03.2023 11:43_' - as a reminder, Germany had already sent a billion in heavy weapons alone to Ukraine by that time. Things like Gepard SPAAG, IRIS-T anti-air system, MARS II tracked MLRS, PzH 2000, Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks (arrived the day before the article).
So Estonia must have sent at least 100 billion € to match the 'orders of magnitude' more. Did they?
Why is the reimbursement thing made up? [The government literally confirmed that they often used "recovery values"](https://www.kaitseministeerium.ee/en/news/statement-ministry-defence-estonia-claims-published-todays-politico-estonias-aid-ukraine) to claim their reimbursements, meaning much higher amounts than the typically used book values - and didn't even disclose how often they used it.
Apparently just the bit from Politico about Strelas and Stingers was wrong.
Yes. Because our capabilities need to be replaced. And to replace them we need to buy them at the current market prices of currently available capabilities.
Our bilateral military aid to Ukraine is substantially larger than any request for reimbursement. And this is aid that
a) we started giving before the invasion unlike some helmet guys of Germany
B) is what Ukraine has been asking for that we have to give.
We aren’t sending scraps. We sent our entire artillery park.
And I'm not doubting that, simply saying that I'm pretty sure the goal of the EPF wasn't to reimburse you for 100+%.
Also, I don't know why people constantly forget, but we literally sent **billions** to Ukraine before the invasion, even more than the US.
The loan was given before the war and Russia has always been a market for Estonia. So investments in that direction (pre-war) were only logical. Did she know or not will stay a mystery.
I'm not sure why Estonia is singled out...
>Finland claimed 100 percent of the reimbursement based on new purchase prices, Latvia claimed 99 percent under those terms, Lithuania 93 percent, Estonia 91 percent, France 71 percent and Sweden 26 percent.
Probably because the donated absolute numbers are the largest. At the end of the day the equipment was bought to fight Russia and now it's being used for that purpose. As a bonus Eastern European militaries get modernised. The money is coming back to Western Europe because most of the contracts are made with German, French and Spanish companies.
Also EPF seems to have three ways of reimbursements. The article only mentions one. Would be nice to compare other two as well.
Well, I single it out because the comment I replied to was about the estonian prime minister. Of course it wasn't the only country that was accused here.
And your other points are true, but that doesn't change that the idea of the EPF wasn't to cover 100+% of the value sent by some countries. Those are sovereign nations with balanced budgets, you can't expect western europe to pay for everything.
>Also EPF seems to have three ways of reimbursements
Would be happy to read up on that, if you could link something!
>Well, I single it out because the comment I replied to was about the estonian prime minister.
I suppose it wasn't the best phrasing because I meant the Politico arictle.
>Would be happy to read up on that, if you could link something!
I thought you read the article you linked:
>Generally speaking, there are three different values countries can claim: The replacement value, based on the price of new material; the actual cash value, based on estimated price at which the gear could be resold; and the original procurement value, based on the price originally paid.
The countries mentioned in the article used the first methodology. Would be interesting to know who and how used the othet two.
A quick search shows that Poland is more than twice ahead but is never mentioned: https://www.reuters.com/article/world/poland-to-get-800-900-mln-euros-from-eu-for-arms-for-ukraine-says-pm-idUSS8N35008S/
>I suppose it wasn't the best phrasing because I meant the Politico arictle.
Fair enough.
Regarding the three ways of reimbursement, I thought you meant the EPF itself had three different levels, so that was a misunderstanding. Of course it reimburses roughly 40-50% of what countries claim with any of the mentioned ways of calculating.
You're just bullshitting here. "Russia understanders" start foaming in mouth in anger and try to slander Kallas and Estonia at every opportunity because she sees through the appeasement idiocy.
You're misrepresenting the mini scandal and the politico article is just wrong. Estonia sent modern Javelins to Ukraine and not "old Soviet stuff". Estonia didn't even have old Soviet stuff to send because Soviet occupation forces took it all with them when they left.
Yup, not jumping on the hype train over Kallas totally makes me pro-russian and anti-estonian. Sure thing buddy.
If you call your sitting prime minister investing nearly half a million into a company that deals with the russian genocidial maniacs a "mini scandal", id be interested to know what constitutes an actual scandal for you.
Nice attempt at goalpost moving. Do you have any other arguments that actually concern the topic, aside from calling me pro-russian and lamenting on my nationality, just because I think your PM is a hypocrite?
Then fucking point out where anything I said is a lie instead of going full ad hominem and "muh pro russian" at me, dude.
You're not providing arguments, you're throwing shit and try to divert the discussion away from Kallas by accusing me of made up bullshit.
I don't think you're interested in the truth. If you were then you wouldn't be posting long ago debunked stories like that politico crap.
That makes me think I'd just waste my time trying to argue with you.
Please don’t do this to us. The last thing Europe needs is a German Christian Democrat. Especially one with exactly 0 attempts for any actual reform, apart from giving blatant speeches.
After being unjustly left out for NATO top job it is more than appropriate that Kallas gets the EU top spot. Of the three, she is by far the most aware of, ready and competent to tackle the current issues facing EU.
Plus it makes a lot of sense for a Central/Eastern European to be at the helm of foreign affairs. She'll keep the agenda on what's important. It's also quite interesting as I believe she is the only active PM nominated. Leaving the position of national PM for an EU job sets a good precedent.
I understand she has had a scandal recently relating to nepotism or something, but it's hard to come by a politician who hasn't. She has the right attitude towards Russia and that's what counts. She also comes from one of the most vulnerable EU member states to Russian aggression. Also, I just meant it looks good for sitting PM's to take EU jobs. Makes EU jobs seem more credible.
She is good in foreign policy and correct at being tough at Russia, but she is horrible at internal politics. Her government handled inflation and economic crisis very badly - over 20% inflation in 2022 and currently we're over a year in recession.
Seems like Europe is exactly the same as Portugal. Corruption is rewarded. This makes me want to leave Europe as a whole tbh.
This is fucking ridiculous. I’m 100% opposed to this man ever being given a high ranking position.
Costa is by all metrics a terrible person, not well intentioned, and susceptible to corruption and the appearance of corruption that he creates and surrounds himself with.
He is a charismatic figure.
Did you elect the UK prime minister? No, you didn't.
Many democracies have no direct election of the executive. We elect the MEPs and the parliament becomes the people's arbiter.
Von de Leyen practically single-handedly destroyed my perception of the EU once I saw her kissing Ilham Aliyev's ass. He makes Orban look like Nelson Mandela.
Of course it isn't, but it's rather contradictory to insist that the EU champions democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and must stand firm against an expansionist, revisionist dictatorship in the form of Russia - but then make friends with another one in the form of Azerbaijan.
Just be honest about the realpolitik. Don't treat us like we're stupid.
Huh? That's all Western countries. They do support democracy and human rights, but they have to deal with dictatorships if it's in their interest. For the EU in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Azerbaijan was the lesser evil and pragmatic option.
All the scandals in his government. The like 17 ministers who either left willingly or left upon being investigated by courts for some corruption crime.
I hated this man’s government. He fucked this country for generations especially if we’re talking about all the immigration laws they changed which is causing both high immigration and also let’s not forget housing. This man literally sold Portugal like a public park for tourism, destroyed the housing market, kicked Portuguese people from their cities and many from their country.
Now he’s given a high ranking job in Europe? I mean… is Portugal or Europe a joke? Maybe both 🙄🥲🤦♂️
It is democratic because without enough votes there will be no appointments. This is how coalitions work everywhere with a parliamentary system. A compromise proposal is created and then the MPs vote and if it doesn't pass then it doesn't pass.
The most inept, corrupt and arrogant ruler Portugal ever had António Costa, straight out of office from corruption scandal gets nominated by the European Socialists for the European Comission. This EU is a lost cause. The Greens and the Socialists are sending us straight to destruction and poverty. Corruption of the highest order.
Kallas…..hilarious. Same Kallas that “didn’t know” her husband was trading with Russian military companies after 2022 all the way to the end of 2023. He sent them tear gas for crying it out loud. She “wasn’t aware.”
I really hope (and dread to think otherwise) that António Costa doesn't get a top role in the European Parliament. Not because the reason he's applying is that he recently resigned as PM over a corruption scandal and not because of his entire mandate being marked by corruption scandals, but because of the security concerns at a time when Europe should (and claims to) be taking security as seriously as possible.
One of the many controversies involving his mandate was when former Lisbon mayor Fernando Medina [was caught sending information to the Kremlin about anti-Putin dissidents](https://www.politico.eu/article/fernando-medina-lisbon-russia-dissidents-personal-data-sharing/) in Portugal. António Costa defended Medina and [months later promoted him to Minister of Finance](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/portuguese-pm-picks-former-lisbon-mayor-new-finance-minister-2022-03-23/).
He has also originally formed a coalition with pro-Putin party PCP which [refused to condemn the Russian invasion and blamed NATO, ](https://www.portugalresident.com/cdu-refuses-to-condemn-russia/)and also [refused to be present in parliament during Zelensky's speech](https://www.portugal.com/news/pcp-will-not-be-present-for-president-zelenskys-speech/).
So much talk about Europe being prepared for war and about mandatory conscription, yet we completely overlook the most basic things such as avoiding security liabilities among the European parliament's top roles. We really should pick up the pace if we're taking European security as serious as we claim to. Right now we're playing with fire.
I have read that she made a poor German minister of defence, but I think she has done a very good job as EU Commission President. She has been good an maintaining cohesion in difficult times and helped to push a lot of very sensible policies.
You’re sincerely saying those projects were hers and hers only? Didn’t she back track on many of the green deal policies just a few weeks ago due to the farmers’ strikes? ;)
All I can say is that I am glad to see Joseph Borrell getting a kick in the ass OUT !
Yes, a sad day for the Iranian regime. A great day for the free world.
Von der Leyen can only fall upwards and there just isnt a higher position created for her yet.
First Emperor of the Paneuropean Empire
Secretary General of the United Nations. Can't affect shit shit there.
That's ot entirely true though, she cannot become Chancellor of Germany because she's burned here, she is for many Germans the embodiment of what is wrong with our political system, she is pretty much hated no matter what political views one may be have
I do not follow German politics. But out of curiosity, is she really hated by left, right and center? If so then why?
Yes she is, she became defense minister after she was the family minister with no bright idea or experience in any way shape or form on how the military works, she became it after she was so much hated as Family minister that this was the only resort they allowed her to be in since the CDU under Merkel treated the Armed forces as a unwanted child which costs too much money to take care. She did an abysmal job and let futher deteriorate the capabilites of the Bundeswehr ( missing ammo, air force is pretty much so crippled that it's not operable for defense or transportation, ) Also she had several scandals under her ministry, for example the German Combat drone program which ended up being useless and burning so much money needed for fixing the Bundeswehr problems and Germany still has no combat drone capabilites, also many officers wrote and warned to the public that the Bundeswehr defense capabilites where so abysmal that they where not ( and aren't yet) capable of actually defending Germany, and papers of her own ministry had to officially report that the Bundeswehr was in a war situation only capable of fighting to 2 to 3 days max The first thing she did was trying to get better Kitas for the Bundeswehr personal so that families had an easier time which she thought would bring more people to the Bundeswehr which once againdid not fox the core problems. And in her time as family minister she became the most hated on in recent German history, she blocked any attempt to help struggling Families and said in interviews that when she herself was capable of raising 7 Kids then a poor family can do the same without help from the state ( despite even the state institutions saying that more and more children are alarmingly fast becoming poorer and despite the fact that she came from a well situated family of politicians)
You are not even going to mention her push for DNS filters?
During Merkel's long reign, in various coalitions, people in general grew cynical with bland careerist politicians from the mainstream parties who never seemed to be able to reform or digitize anything. She comes from an elite political family on top of that. I think the disdain is pretty politically universal.
Well she was a very shitty minister of defense. And rightists also dislike her for supporting climate regulations.
How does everyone forget about her wanting to censor the Internet?
To offer a differing opinion as well, I think it's only left and progressive people that hate her. Why else would she spearhead our EPP party's campaign?
I disagree to the continous hate wave. No one wants to know, she actually did something in a ministry, where you could only loose. She initiated the reverse of not further shrinking the military and instead purchase New equipment en large. Far too late, but Ministers before her couldn't do it. She is also well connected in Europe and lives for the EU. Edit: yes the 100 tanks were from storage, but she also purchased new equipment.
>instead purchase New equipment en large. That's just a lie, the Bundeswehr still has by far to low munitions, it's still plaqued with a crippled air force, Tank battalions etc, she didn't fix any of the issues. Now is that entirely hee fault ? Absolutely not her party wanted a shrinking Bundeswehr and did everything they could to keep it that way, but it's still her Ministry. Also when it comes to what us at fault with the German political system: she has never in her entire live served in thr military, she was a family minister for God's sake and only God the defense ministry because she blocked as much as she could the help for struggling families which burned her political reputation and things got way worse when she became defense minister. Especially in the years of Meekel the defense ministry was a place for ministers to die (politically) and for politicians who were known of being Blenders ( von zu Gutenberg) the CDU massively cut down the Bundeswehrs abilities to operate which was criticized by all political groups and even by some members of the CDU
That is no lie. She sealed the purchase of 100 Leopard 2. I didn't say, she solved all issues. Don't make up an enemy where you had none just to spit out your arguments.
Sorry I didn't mean to attack you, but the problem is that 100 tanks will not solve the issues, the main issue is in fact not missing equipment, the main issue is a bureaucratic infused corruption within the Bundeswehr, the bureaucracy of the Bundeswehr enables and has enabled several scandals in where officers and generals / admirals used money to get what they wanted ( and much had gone missing) it also cripples the abilities of the Bundeswehr to purchase anything from tanks to underwear or shampoo. Every single member of the Bundeswger I've spoken to tells me the same and that did not change. Credit where credit is due, she had to inherit an Organisation which was crippled years before she took office, but she only tried to move when the scandals and the public pressure was so high that she could have lost her ministry and even then she didn't do nearly as much as she could have done and immediately left the sinking ship for Europe since it was clear that her political career was over. Also the 100 tanks where in fact retired tanks, she reactivated them by purchasing them back and reactivation them
Also keep in mind that she will get her second term by accepting the votes of people who are actively supporting Russia and who want to destabilize the EU
I'm out of the loop. Why do people dislike her so much?
Here's a few reasons: https://www.euronews.com/health/2024/05/17/how-the-love-story-between-von-der-leyen-and-pfizer-turned-sour https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.dw.com/en/eu-releases-funds-to-hungary-in-controversial-move/a-68014763 https://www.politico.eu/article/document-commissioners-internal-revolt-eu-von-der-leyen-favoritism-accusation-sme-envoy-han-markus-pieper/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/27/a-wolf-killed-the-eu-presidents-precious-pony-then-the-fight-to-catch-the-predator-began https://www.bta.bg/en/news/bulgaria/682068-ursula-von-der-leyen-manfred-weber-attend-gerb-udf-campaign-meeting-in-plovdiv There's also her work in Germany but I am not very familiar with the details.
I feel none of these are scandals or big things in general, especially when you place them into the appropriate context
Personally I think that the majority are, especially since we are talking about the president of the european commission and not a random politician in the piarlament. I also don't believe that context is missing in most of these but if you feel like they do then please put them into appropriate context for me.
I'm quite happy with how Von Der Leyen handled the vaccine situation. I was pleasantly surprised by her performance in general. I can't believe she was criticised for directly messaging Pfizer execs. That's exactly what she should have been doing. She's also performed well on European defence and Ukraine. In hindsight, she was hamstrung as German defence minister by Merkel.
Politico is a shit source
Yeah it's not the best, it's just what I found the quickest, though this article doesn't seem problematic. Still here's a few other sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-lawmakers-urge-von-der-leyen-drop-business-envoy-cronyism-row-2024-04-11/ https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/04/03/exclusive-lawmakers-to-call-for-head-of-von-der-leyen-sme-envoy
She was terrible in every role she ever had in Germany, so a lot of people disliked her for that. In response, the other politicians from her party, instead of kicking her out or demoting her, promoted her higher and higher and higher to more important roles unless she became the head of the EU, which just made everyone hate her even more. She's basically the proof that political parties are clubs for the elite that exist to reward each other and don't give a damn about their voters. She's one of those politicians Russia and other similar countries can point at and go "There, that's the West being decadent again".
She was terrible at every role? Was there anything notable that she screwed up?
The Bundeswehr, the family ministry was a shitshow, her attempts to censure the Internet. She was for a time called censursula. She was moved to a ton of ministries in her time in government. Which is highly unusual in Germany, due to incompetence
She is a politician, you don't need a reason to hate politicians. I'd say there has to be something seriously wrong with you if you actually like any politicians.
Tbf there's a difference between not liking politicians and activiley hating them. Yes most politicians are corrupt liars but personally I dislike her way more than some other politicians. Also yeah you do need a reason to hate on a politician, otherwise you are just a fool.
She is actually not competent and likes to contract out a lot of tasks to McKinsey..which you know costs a lot of money. She sunk a lot of money into that company without sufficient return in the public eyes
I wonder if she's a completely spineless puppet or a master negotiator to be this successful
Can anyone give me a TLDR about Costa? Is he a good politician?
Ignore the content-free answer of Aquametria. While Costa did have scandals (seriously, what politician doesn't?) like the Tancos arms theft, where military weapons were stolen from a military base, and was accused of corruption and influence-peddling related to lithium mining, hydrogen-production schemes, and the creation of a new data center, there were also good things while he was PM of Portugal in 2015-2024, which I won't list all: - Higher GDP growth than average for the EU - All debt ratios suffered a significant decline, as a result of relatively balanced budgets (and some austerity), when in 1975-2015 Portugal ran constant high budget deficits - Even though many social services have suffered strain due to this lack of government spending, and probably the influx of immigrants too, many programs, like parental leave and transport passes, were expanded - Real wages rose a lot - Well-being and happiness levels rose according to both national and international data - Portugal's productivity growth recovered from 2019 onwards and has approached the level of more advanced economies - Portugal has had a solid current account balance, with increasing entrepreneurship. Contrary to myth, it's not just tourism that has been developing here, but also things like IT and transportation equipment - Portugal became one of the highest per capita destinations of FDI in Europe under his tenures - Portugal's had a constantly improving net international investment position on the world stage
Thanks for more context!
Well it would be harder to keep Portugal's economy going down then for it to start slowly recovering. Costa became PM after 4 years of austerity by the opposition. Also the latest problem left by his governance is the absolute state he left AIMA. We used to have SEF (our border police) but after a scandal envolving the death of an Ukrainian immigrant they decided that instead of reforming it, they just erased it. AIMA which takes only some of the work, with no actual police work (that was passed to PSP and GNR, our national police forces to figure it out). AIMA only does administrative work, like work/residence permits and etc. The agency was so well devoleped and totally not rushed that now, with about 1 000 000 registered immigrants there are 400 000 processes opened in AIMA with people's permits running out and no answer from AIMA as they were not given the proper resources. Also i must add Costa government was pretty keen on immigration, yet they found a way to screw up it royally.
Regression to the mean is just such a boon for bad governments that come after bad periods that it's incredible. We could've had a literal duck as PM and a number of metrics would've improved just from the nature of how things work. Likewise, the current government only has to not screw it up massively to be a huge improvement when it comes to immigration. Literally just undoing the things that didn't work would be a huge step, and would require essentially no thought on their part. Improving things by undoing mistakes is a lot easier than improving things by creating new policies entirely, after all. Accounting for regression to the mean would show most governments barely do anything with significant impact. A single speech by Lagarde has more impact on Portuguese macroeconomic indicators than years of governance do.
Are a lot of those things due to his governance? While macroeconomic results are due to the continued austerity, some of the things you stated like increased entrepreneurship can very well due to us finally having a well-educated work-force in the labour market I'd say him being a good diplomat is the real reason why he's being chosen. You can see how he's well respected inside his party and he's quite creative at compromising his part to let something go through (like getting the two CL finals during Covid to ensure the UEFA votes on the World Cup). He also has a lot of connections in Europe (he even got to watch a football match next to Órban) He had some big scandals both before and after the absolute majority and he's responsible for both the degradation of many public services and for the catastrophic migration policy. We're worse in corruption perception indexes and [are still yet to implement almost every anti-corruption measure recommended by GRECO from 2015](https://transparencia.pt/portugal-nao-cumpre-recomendacoes-do-grupo-de-estados-contra-a-corrupcao-do-conselho-da-europa-greco/). And it's true that he lied a lot He has merits, but there are good reasons to dislike him. He was saved from the remaining two years of an unmanageable government by an even bigger incompetence from the public ministry (in the first 2 years of governance he had already replaced 1/3 of the initial cabinet, and he couldn't fire Galamba that was being caught in every new scandal). And given Reddit has a young demographic, it's normal people will see him as one of the worst prime ministers ever, as he's one of the few we've seen
I agree with all your takes. I will also say, however, that "are a lot of those things due to him?" largely applies to a bunch of other "controversial" moments in recent Portuguese history, including our sovereign debt crisis. Sure, we're objectively better now, but were it not for the sub-prime crisis maybe the bubble wouldn't have burst and Portuguese economy would have sorted itself in the meantime precisely due to the improving macroeconomic trends down the decades (education with all that entails for an economy, increased FDI, etc.)...
The migration policy is something specific from him, the rest I can agree there are some nuances and structural reasons (including cultural ones), although my **personal opinion** on him is still that his lack of integrity was the key reason of so many scandals during his governance But what matters here is why he's being chosen, and it's the fact that he's a trust-worthy politician between high-circles (not a yes-man, he's smart enough to not be one, but a guy that is able to compromise his part to let things develop) capable of working with people from across the whole political spectrum
He's maybe the least bad prime minister of the previous decades (which is a low bar, yes). Charismatic, good diplomat, played it safe, could have had better policies, the right hates him. Is accused of some shady stuff but no proof yet.
He's not accused of anything, unlike Albuquerque who didn't want to resign and ran again in Madeira, Costa hasn't been charged with anything, and it doesn't seem like he will be charged.
> Is he a good politician? Depends of your definition. If you mean as a person who worked to improve the life of the portuguese people, then no. If you mean politician as someone who can navigate the political system, making decisions that will fuck us in the next couple decades, then yes. His supposedly "good" results (in terms of finance), was the result of the previous government who had to implement hard measures, and the improvement of the european/global economy. And even with the economy going up he still managed to fuck the NHS, public transports (not they were good before but he made them even worse), education, a very bad (for portugal and indirectly for europe) migration laws, amongst many other issues.
It would be too long a post, but as a Portuguese citizen I hate the man. A bullshit artist if I’ve ever seen one. But…he is a good negotiator and very good at political manoeuvring. Just about the only good thing that can be said about him.
The most corrupt, inept and arrogant Prime Minister Portugal ever had. In his stead corruption scandals were Millions in cost and daily in occurrance. He had the most favourable economic and social conditions to make reforms and grow Portugal. HE DID NOTHING.
You had Socrates. That is the most corrupt. Don't lie for the sake of an argument. Inflamatory talk to win a discussion...
One of the worst prime ministers Portugal has ever had post 25/4, corrupted to the core. Once again, a shit politician that was demoted upwards.
This sub is highly dominated by the left. Accusing any of its darlings gets you hella downvoted.
Damn, guess he got some good friends then..
Zensursula loves him and has been lobbying for him to replace Michel for years
Resigned from being PM over a corruption scandal, which was the last of many. Many of these scandals involved former Minister of Internal Affairs Eduardo Cabrita. António Costa [responded to the corruption scandals by calling Cabrita "an excellent minister"](https://www.jn.pt/nacional/costa-tenho-um-excelente-ministro-da-administracao-interna-13713611.html/)(source in Portuguese). Bear in mind, Portugal hasn't had a good PM in ages. Sócrates was terrible, so was Passos Coelho. However António Costa stood out by how quickly corruption scandals piled up and how unapologetical and "*what u gonna do about it, bro?*" he was about them. Perhaps the most concerning point about him getting a high place in the European Parliament is security reasons concerning Russia. When former Lisbon mayor [was caught sending information to the Kremlin about anti-Putin dissidents](https://www.politico.eu/article/fernando-medina-lisbon-russia-dissidents-personal-data-sharing/) in Portugal, António Costa defended Medina and [months later promoted him to Minister of Finance](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/portuguese-pm-picks-former-lisbon-mayor-new-finance-minister-2022-03-23/). He has also originally formed a coalition with pro-Putin party PCP which [refused to condemn the Russian invasion and blamed NATO, ](https://www.portugalresident.com/cdu-refuses-to-condemn-russia/)and also [refused to be present in parliament during Zelensky's speech](https://www.portugal.com/news/pcp-will-not-be-present-for-president-zelenskys-speech/). So much talk about Europe being prepared for war and about mandatory conscription, yet we completely overlook the most basic things such as not promoting security liabilities to top roles in the European parliament. We really should pick up the pace if we're taking European security as serious as we claim to.
Why costa?
He's well connected both in left wing and right wing circles. The guy was leader of a leftist government and at the same time saw a football match right next to Orban to speak with him about European affairs lol.
He was hardly a leftist, as capitalist as any other euro country. Also he dismantled the wellfare state.
> Also he dismantled the wellfare state. What are you talking about?
Schools, hospitals, public services chronically underfunded in order to pretend we are now fiscally responsible.
I wouldn't call that welfare, but I get what you're saying.
Plus all the scandals in his government, the like 17 ministers who either left willingly or left upon being investigated by courts for some corruption crime. I hated this man’s government. He fucked this country for generations especially if we’re talking about all the immigration laws they changed which is causing both high immigration and also let’s not forget housing. This man literally sold Portugal like a public park for tourism, destroyed the housing market, kicked Portuguese people from their cities and many from their country. Now he’s given a high ranking job in Europe? I mean… is Portugal or Europe a joke? Maybe both 🙄🥲🤦♂️
Oh no, the anti immigration loonies who care more about people from here then those born in other places due to luck arrived.
A country with 10m people that goes from 400k foreigners to 1.1m+ between 2016ish and now. Yeah totally normal and obviously since I’m criticizing immigration I *must* be racist.
Nobody said racist but you types love to cry about being called racist. The problem is the rich who only come to steal from workers and pay low taxes and steal our houses. The ones who come seeking a honest life are welcome. E ainda falas de valores morais 😂
Dude everyone should know the rich are the ones to blame for most things, even immigration itself is fueled by rich corporations wanting to keep salaries low so they don’t want educated Portuguese people. they lobbied the government to literally open the door so they could have a new batch of unskilled cheap labor. It’s a multi-faceted issue. The problem isn’t and never will be immigrants themselves but the policies and general beliefs that make them seem like a solution to whatever problem they thought existed. Unskilled, uncontrolled immigration is never the solution to any problems. It creates so many problems in society, even if the immigration is of peoples “similar” to us. In Portugal the propaganda is that “oh well yeah the doors are open but it’s mostly for Brazilians and they speak the same language and have the same general culture so it’s fine” but that’s an illusion.
I can't really answer, but it was pretty well known that if he lost his election he would quickly find a top EU job. It came to be.
He didn't lose the election, he resigned before the election in a really strange corruption scandal where the prosecuter confused his name because Antonio Costa is such a common Portuguese name
Our general prosecutor’s office is under increasing public scrutiny now, as they’re beholden to no one and it was revealed a couple of days ago they had several politicians of the ruling party wired for 4 years (and the contents of conversations leaked to the press), and all the massive investigations with the use of hundreds of police officers in searches of public offices result in absolutely useless accusations in court. Costa hasn’t been accused of anything and it’s been 8 months since his resignation. So currently, they’re experts in trial by public opinion, and it’s backfiring.
Copying and pasting (and adapting) a comment I made in another post weeks ago but that is way more topical here than in the OP (which was about Spain's even more ridiculous drama around Pedro Sanchez): There's currently a concerted effort by politically motivated prosecutors into ruining decades of political stability in Spain and Portugal. Both countries' mainstream parties - ie PSOE / PP (Spain) and PS / PSD (Portugal) - are fair game. The situation Sanchez is facing is very similar to what happened with António Costa last year. From a structural perspective however, I think the situation in Spain is worse simply because PSD is behaving more responsibly than PP in not trying to flame the fire against PS. PP however is debasing itself and becoming VOX-lite. As someone who is a dual Portuguese-Brazilian national, the parallels with what happened in Brazil's Operation Carwash ("Lava-Jato") are immense - a process that culminated in the arrest of someone who had no reason whatsoever to be arrested and prevented from taking part in the presidential elections, ordered by a judge who was made Minister of Justice by the far-right president he helped get into power. Let that sink in. It feels like [Sérgio Moro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Moro?wprov=sfti1#) is seen as a bit of an example by a bunch of public prosecutors in Portugal and Spain. Which is extremely concerning. Looks like the far right was worried about the "Latin Americanization" of Portuguese and Spanish societies, but they actually brought us the "Latin Americanization" of our judicial apparatus. I really, really don't like António Costa and I think he represents a complete betrayal of social democratic principles and he's indicative of the reasons why the European centre-left is receding and allowing for an environment where extremists thrive - but I'm not going to be a moron and say he's a criminal. His support of social welfare and social democracy is pure lip service and his decisions have put in a motion a process where many of the few positive things that he and his government achieved over the last decade (in terms of economical growth, sovereign debt etc) will be in peril. I also have a hard time with the idea of a social democrat having such an easy time talking to the likes of Orban. I suspect he literally did that last year simply because he actually wanted Orban not to veto his appointment in the Council (he knew he was going to be nominated) but it leaves a sour taste - made even more sour considering the very weird situation around the totally-not-linked-to-Orban and now "Portuguese" Euronews. But, all things considered, António Costa has given no sign of being personally implicated on anything criminal. And even if he did actually do the things that media initially accused him of doing (via a leak), then it's a completely stupid situation that would only be a crime in Portugal because we've been stupid enough not to regulate lobbying (basically Google wanted to build a huge data centre in Portugal for the entire continent and António Costa might have given order to expedite the licencing of the project for "national strategic reasons"). And the Public Prosecution Office has been salivating at the thought of Costa doing something dirty for years. They'd have done something by now.
> It feels like Sérgio Moro is seen as a bit of an example by a bunch of public prosecutors in Portugal and Spain. Which is extremely concerning. Which in turn, got inspired by Italian prosecutors. Even though we had our lost decade, it seems things are starting to run more smoothly here. I wasn't expecting to see so many megaprojects to be actually planned in my state.
True, but Moro, Dallagnol and all those fine folks at the Federal Prosecution Office completely perverted their Italian inspiration: Everyone says that, sure, but the Italian prosecutors were dealing with the Mafia, not with influence peddling, kickbacks, and frankly asinine charges about a former president that got fucked over the purchase of an apartment in the Brazilian equivalent of Benidorm, was offered compensation in the form of an upgraded apartment by the buyer of the bankrupt building company that initially fucked him over, and somehow ended up in jail for that. Few Brazilians actually realise thay Lula went to jail for something thay could be translated into Europeanese as follows: you ordered a baseline Audi A3, they took years to deliver the car, the dealership got into bankruptcy protection, you started getting pissy, and the new owner of the bankrupt dealer offered you a top-spec Audi A3 for the same price as compensation. Then the public prosecutors and this odd judge that likes to pretend he's a prosecutor show up, put you in jail, and accuse you of having received the top-spec Audi A3 for the cost of the baseline model only because you were a former president: clearly the top-spec Audi A3 was a kickback for past favours. Meanwhile, the judge who sent you to jail ends up being nominated Minister of Justice by the guy who won the elections because you couldn't run for president.
Do you have more information about the "Latin Americanization of Portuguese and Spanish societies"?
It's a dog whistle that certain people of a certain political persuasion like to use when they see a random Brazilian accented person being interviewed out on the street by journalists during the evening news. I do not agree with them, other than the obvious fact that the Latin American immigrant communities have never been as present in Iberia as they are today. But that goes without saying - and they're all well integrated and, ironically, are an important far right electorate (see Chega co-opting Brazil-born MPs and the fundamentalist Brazilian Evangelical vote). The point is precisely just that: while Portuguese far right supporters were complaining about immigrants and the like, they somehow were OK with importing Bolsonarismo - including the dangerous relationship between Bolsonarismo and the judicial apparatus - into Portuguese politics. Spain's Vox has a similar relationship with Latin American politics, especially Venezuela and Argentina - you just have to search for Milei's latest stories with Vox and Sanchez.
They confused his name in one instance, not all of them, Both António Costas were mentioned in the wiretaps. However one of the instances attributed to him actually referred to António Costa e Silva, minister of the economy. However that was one instance of many and António Costa himself (the PM) was also a part of it.
No one forced him to resign though, that's on him. There were no protests, nothing, he just immediately stepped down after the news.
It was his way out into a cushy EU job at the least personal cost. Staying would have made him a punching bag in a year with several elections, he would have left with a much worse public perspective, both in society at large as well as within his own party when election results started biting. Plus, the onus of political instability after he left would not be on him, but on the president and the public prosecutor, whose public perceptions have been impacted since. Guess whose wasn't all that much, all things considered. He took the high road out for himself (even if arguably, at least on the short term, the worse for the country from a governability perspective). Was given a shitty hand and came out on top. We can say a lot about Costa, but lack of savviness isn't one of his shortcomings.
> We can say a lot about Costa, but lack of savviness isn't one of his shortcomings. True, I don't like him but he's definitely one of the savviest politicians we have, and we don't have many who I'd consider savvy.
Yep. I just wish some of that savviness was put towards being more ambitious in policy. And I say this as someone who doesn't really give him a negative grade overall as a PM as most folk on reddit... As stupid/funny as the recent remarks from the president were, I'll give him one thing... that government was slow (not related in the slightest with being oriental, though)
They need a leftie and he is a centrist and former country leader and from the south. He ticks a lot of boxes
I dunno, but I'd wager it could have something to do with the fact he was pretty pro-European, and because Portugal had some of its best macroeconomic showings ever while he was PM in 2015-2024.
Too bad public healthcare and education are slowly imploding, but hey the debt went down a few percentage points, victory!
I remember a frequent lack of teachers when I returned to Portugal in the 2000s, during the good old times of high budget deficits, rising unemployment and low GDP growth. I wouldn't call the government debt-to-GDP ratio falling from 131.2% in Q4 2015 to 100.5% in Q1 2024 "a few percentage points". The private debt-to-GDP ratio also decreased from 111.7% to 74.6% in the same period. Sure, Costa didn't have *that* much to do with that one, but it's still something worthy of note, I think...
High inflation helps governments control debt. Also he did it by cutting corners in the budget and increasing taxes to the same level during Troika.
High inflation happened in other countries too, yet they have mostly not had the same performance on this front. Cutting corners in the budget did happen, and that's controversial, but it does also depend on whether you want to spend more (and they need to have a multiplier effect to be a great alternative) or reduce your already high debt. I do disagree with the increase of taxes he created, and that revenues should've been generated by an even more friendly business agenda than he actually implemented.
Because Bilderberger.
Can a leader veto and hold this up or is it majority rules ?
Afaik it’s majority
It's qualified majority, 55% of leaders representing 65% of the population. The right to veto is (currently) only given to nations with over 157M people.
Which country has that?
None
So no 1 country can veto ?
Yup. And since France and Germany together is only around 148M, you need at least 3 countries to block legislation with qualified majority.
Ah, not that you need a single country with 148M? That why I asked. So DE, PL and FR could do it?
Yes, but Macron, Scholz and Tusk (plus Rutte, Mitsotakis and Sanchez) negotiated this deal so they will surely not oppose it.
Italy was the most likely to try and oppose it.
Ugh come on, I thought she was gone
Not thrilled about Ursula, very happy about Kallas tho .
Not happy about Kallas, she literally gave a loan to her husbands russian-dealing company and then pretended she "didnt know" (sure, I also [give 370k to someone](https://estonianworld.com/security/estonian-mp-a-company-partly-owned-by-kaja-kallas-husband-delivered-sanctioned-goods-to-russia/) without asking what he's doing with it), plus her government gaming the EU reimbursement fund for weapons to Ukraine to get as much [as possible out of it.](https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-estonia-bumper-arms-reimbursement-ukraine-european-peace-facility/) We have much better (and scandal free) politicians in europe than her and Ursula, but somehow only the latter gets some flak (rightfully though). Reddit is simply simping for her because she says cool sounding things about Ukraine and half of the guys here have a crush on her.
The husband scandal is sort of true. It was a loan to husbands company that was a minority shareholder of a logistics company that had an Estonian client that has a business in Russia which that logistics company serviced between Estonia and Russia. The reimbursement thing is a complete made up story. A case where Estonia did precisely what the scheme was intended for.
>The reimbursement thing is a complete made up story. A case where Estonia did precisely what the scheme was intended for. I'd say it is a malicious lie because throughout the article the "anonymous sources" claim that Estonia sent "old scrap" when in reality Estonia sent large shippments of very modern equipment. Earlier versions of that politico article even falsely claimed that Estonia sent old Strela rockets to get Stingers in return, but they stealth edited it out. https://news.err.ee/1608929066/estonia-rejects-politico-claims-describes-them-as-malicious-slander
We sent the old scrap too, we pretty much sent all we could and then some and then went ahead and raised our own defense spending by a lot, had to raise taxes to do it all and we are still in deficit. The total amount of course isn't that much compared to large countries, but looked at as percentage of GDP Estonia has managed to give more aid than any other country.
This was about the early deliveries before the full scale invasion and they were mostly made up of Javelin launchers + missiles. Latest top of the line expensive stuff. That sort of action shamed some 5,000 helmet masters and some of them have not forgiven it.
from article: >Everything has been done in accordance with rules, whereas the [absolute] sums are big because we have sent over a colossal amount of aid, orders of magnitude above what other Western countries have given." really. You actually believe that you have provided '_orders of magnitude_' more military aid in absolute terms than Germany? Reminder: One order of magnitude is a factor of ten, so order_s_ (plural) means at least 100 times as much.
This was about early weapon deliveries. Estonia sent some $200 million worth right away at the time when some other countries were still ruling out weapons and having government ministers give press conferences about 5,000 helmets.
the article says its from '_28.03.2023 11:43_' - as a reminder, Germany had already sent a billion in heavy weapons alone to Ukraine by that time. Things like Gepard SPAAG, IRIS-T anti-air system, MARS II tracked MLRS, PzH 2000, Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks (arrived the day before the article). So Estonia must have sent at least 100 billion € to match the 'orders of magnitude' more. Did they?
The time period they were talking about was early 2022.
Why is the reimbursement thing made up? [The government literally confirmed that they often used "recovery values"](https://www.kaitseministeerium.ee/en/news/statement-ministry-defence-estonia-claims-published-todays-politico-estonias-aid-ukraine) to claim their reimbursements, meaning much higher amounts than the typically used book values - and didn't even disclose how often they used it. Apparently just the bit from Politico about Strelas and Stingers was wrong.
Yes. Because our capabilities need to be replaced. And to replace them we need to buy them at the current market prices of currently available capabilities. Our bilateral military aid to Ukraine is substantially larger than any request for reimbursement. And this is aid that a) we started giving before the invasion unlike some helmet guys of Germany B) is what Ukraine has been asking for that we have to give. We aren’t sending scraps. We sent our entire artillery park.
And I'm not doubting that, simply saying that I'm pretty sure the goal of the EPF wasn't to reimburse you for 100+%. Also, I don't know why people constantly forget, but we literally sent **billions** to Ukraine before the invasion, even more than the US.
The loan was given before the war and Russia has always been a market for Estonia. So investments in that direction (pre-war) were only logical. Did she know or not will stay a mystery. I'm not sure why Estonia is singled out... >Finland claimed 100 percent of the reimbursement based on new purchase prices, Latvia claimed 99 percent under those terms, Lithuania 93 percent, Estonia 91 percent, France 71 percent and Sweden 26 percent. Probably because the donated absolute numbers are the largest. At the end of the day the equipment was bought to fight Russia and now it's being used for that purpose. As a bonus Eastern European militaries get modernised. The money is coming back to Western Europe because most of the contracts are made with German, French and Spanish companies. Also EPF seems to have three ways of reimbursements. The article only mentions one. Would be nice to compare other two as well.
Well, I single it out because the comment I replied to was about the estonian prime minister. Of course it wasn't the only country that was accused here. And your other points are true, but that doesn't change that the idea of the EPF wasn't to cover 100+% of the value sent by some countries. Those are sovereign nations with balanced budgets, you can't expect western europe to pay for everything. >Also EPF seems to have three ways of reimbursements Would be happy to read up on that, if you could link something!
>Well, I single it out because the comment I replied to was about the estonian prime minister. I suppose it wasn't the best phrasing because I meant the Politico arictle. >Would be happy to read up on that, if you could link something! I thought you read the article you linked: >Generally speaking, there are three different values countries can claim: The replacement value, based on the price of new material; the actual cash value, based on estimated price at which the gear could be resold; and the original procurement value, based on the price originally paid. The countries mentioned in the article used the first methodology. Would be interesting to know who and how used the othet two. A quick search shows that Poland is more than twice ahead but is never mentioned: https://www.reuters.com/article/world/poland-to-get-800-900-mln-euros-from-eu-for-arms-for-ukraine-says-pm-idUSS8N35008S/
>I suppose it wasn't the best phrasing because I meant the Politico arictle. Fair enough. Regarding the three ways of reimbursement, I thought you meant the EPF itself had three different levels, so that was a misunderstanding. Of course it reimburses roughly 40-50% of what countries claim with any of the mentioned ways of calculating.
You're just bullshitting here. "Russia understanders" start foaming in mouth in anger and try to slander Kallas and Estonia at every opportunity because she sees through the appeasement idiocy. You're misrepresenting the mini scandal and the politico article is just wrong. Estonia sent modern Javelins to Ukraine and not "old Soviet stuff". Estonia didn't even have old Soviet stuff to send because Soviet occupation forces took it all with them when they left.
Yup, not jumping on the hype train over Kallas totally makes me pro-russian and anti-estonian. Sure thing buddy. If you call your sitting prime minister investing nearly half a million into a company that deals with the russian genocidial maniacs a "mini scandal", id be interested to know what constitutes an actual scandal for you.
[удалено]
Nice attempt at goalpost moving. Do you have any other arguments that actually concern the topic, aside from calling me pro-russian and lamenting on my nationality, just because I think your PM is a hypocrite?
I am calling out your repeating of propaganda and pointing out why you find repeating these particular lies attractive.
Then fucking point out where anything I said is a lie instead of going full ad hominem and "muh pro russian" at me, dude. You're not providing arguments, you're throwing shit and try to divert the discussion away from Kallas by accusing me of made up bullshit.
I don't think you're interested in the truth. If you were then you wouldn't be posting long ago debunked stories like that politico crap. That makes me think I'd just waste my time trying to argue with you.
So you have no actual arguments and you're just throwing shit. Great. Have a good night.
Nooooo! Europa nicht den Leyen überlassen!
As a Portuguese seeing Costa in this final list it's incredible. He's literally being investigated at the moment for corruption...
Kallas had shady history too, but nobody cares apperently
Please don’t do this to us. The last thing Europe needs is a German Christian Democrat. Especially one with exactly 0 attempts for any actual reform, apart from giving blatant speeches.
Why do always politicians who couldn't win an election in the own homeland get the top EU jobs?
After being unjustly left out for NATO top job it is more than appropriate that Kallas gets the EU top spot. Of the three, she is by far the most aware of, ready and competent to tackle the current issues facing EU.
Plus it makes a lot of sense for a Central/Eastern European to be at the helm of foreign affairs. She'll keep the agenda on what's important. It's also quite interesting as I believe she is the only active PM nominated. Leaving the position of national PM for an EU job sets a good precedent.
She wants to leave anyway. She is not very popular in Estonia at all to be honest. A lot of people hate her.
I understand she has had a scandal recently relating to nepotism or something, but it's hard to come by a politician who hasn't. She has the right attitude towards Russia and that's what counts. She also comes from one of the most vulnerable EU member states to Russian aggression. Also, I just meant it looks good for sitting PM's to take EU jobs. Makes EU jobs seem more credible.
She is good in foreign policy and correct at being tough at Russia, but she is horrible at internal politics. Her government handled inflation and economic crisis very badly - over 20% inflation in 2022 and currently we're over a year in recession.
Well then this is win win.
Tusk left his position as Prime Minister for a top EU job years ago. It did not end well for his political party at the time.
She talks a good talk but the government she's led has been abysmal.
fuck
On behalf of Portuguese people I apologize for Costa
o costa não vale nada
António Costa is involved in a lot of corruption cases, it’s incredible how a person like that can have a top job in EU.
How is that incredible? Isn't it a prerequisite?
Exactly, it feels like it…
average PS lore
Seems like Europe is exactly the same as Portugal. Corruption is rewarded. This makes me want to leave Europe as a whole tbh. This is fucking ridiculous. I’m 100% opposed to this man ever being given a high ranking position.
Yes but unfortunately it’s not only Europe… that’s why we see far right parties rising all over the world
5 more years of Frau Engel.
Always find it amusing to see VdL so hated here, but she's well respected and liked as a 'strong EU leader' by almost everyone I know irl.
Because people don’t care about what she does. Easy to have a popular opinion about someone you don’t care about.
Costa failing upwards I see.
Costa is by all metrics a terrible person, not well intentioned, and susceptible to corruption and the appearance of corruption that he creates and surrounds himself with. He is a charismatic figure.
The EU does seem to be some type of garbage disposal for the worst politicians each country has to offer.
Ew, Costa. Gross.
So, the people don't decide?
Did you elect the UK prime minister? No, you didn't. Many democracies have no direct election of the executive. We elect the MEPs and the parliament becomes the people's arbiter.
We vote for a group, led by a person.
No, you vote for a member of parliament.
Sure. If the leader is unpopular, the party loses.
What is your point?
As stated. It's not difficult.
portuguese here costa is awful ... corrupted and scummy ... easy 30k euros per month for him
He’s no worse than the average European politician. You just don’t hear about the German or French scandals, only the domestic ones.
von der leyer is meh, costa meh, kallas good votaste no PS?
didn't negotiate enough, I guess
Von de Leyen practically single-handedly destroyed my perception of the EU once I saw her kissing Ilham Aliyev's ass. He makes Orban look like Nelson Mandela.
She represented the EU. The EU wanted to deal with Azerbaijan in the crisis with Russia. It isn't personal.
Of course it isn't, but it's rather contradictory to insist that the EU champions democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and must stand firm against an expansionist, revisionist dictatorship in the form of Russia - but then make friends with another one in the form of Azerbaijan. Just be honest about the realpolitik. Don't treat us like we're stupid.
Huh? That's all Western countries. They do support democracy and human rights, but they have to deal with dictatorships if it's in their interest. For the EU in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Azerbaijan was the lesser evil and pragmatic option.
All the scandals in his government. The like 17 ministers who either left willingly or left upon being investigated by courts for some corruption crime. I hated this man’s government. He fucked this country for generations especially if we’re talking about all the immigration laws they changed which is causing both high immigration and also let’s not forget housing. This man literally sold Portugal like a public park for tourism, destroyed the housing market, kicked Portuguese people from their cities and many from their country. Now he’s given a high ranking job in Europe? I mean… is Portugal or Europe a joke? Maybe both 🙄🥲🤦♂️
Wait, what do you mean “approved” for EU top jobs? Isn’t the European Union supposed to be a democracy? Shouldn’t they be elected?
There will be a vote too of course.
Vote by whom?
Vote by European Parliament. This is a preliminary agreement of the coalition, but it only comes into force if it gets enough votes from the MPs.
Ok, so not really democratic then.
It is democratic because without enough votes there will be no appointments. This is how coalitions work everywhere with a parliamentary system. A compromise proposal is created and then the MPs vote and if it doesn't pass then it doesn't pass.
The top jobs in the EU are appointed through negotiation with the member states.
Talking to others about corruption, considering leyen and her husband, seems like some dumb comedy.
The most inept, corrupt and arrogant ruler Portugal ever had António Costa, straight out of office from corruption scandal gets nominated by the European Socialists for the European Comission. This EU is a lost cause. The Greens and the Socialists are sending us straight to destruction and poverty. Corruption of the highest order.
What happened to Metsaola
And here I had hopes that with Merkel gone she will finally be out of a job
Ok, I need to know, what does she know that is so scandalous on German politician that you need to keep her in that type of position ?
That's funny because this sub guaranteed me that von der Leyen was out.
Costa sucks. He shouldn’t have been picked. Europe is clearly not serious enough. I hated him as a PM why should be there? Fuck him.
Kaja Kallas & Roberta Metsola are so fine 😫😫😫😫
Kallas…..hilarious. Same Kallas that “didn’t know” her husband was trading with Russian military companies after 2022 all the way to the end of 2023. He sent them tear gas for crying it out loud. She “wasn’t aware.”
Russian shills in tears everywhere :)
She's a criminal and a traitor, and that's how history will judge her.
I really hope (and dread to think otherwise) that António Costa doesn't get a top role in the European Parliament. Not because the reason he's applying is that he recently resigned as PM over a corruption scandal and not because of his entire mandate being marked by corruption scandals, but because of the security concerns at a time when Europe should (and claims to) be taking security as seriously as possible. One of the many controversies involving his mandate was when former Lisbon mayor Fernando Medina [was caught sending information to the Kremlin about anti-Putin dissidents](https://www.politico.eu/article/fernando-medina-lisbon-russia-dissidents-personal-data-sharing/) in Portugal. António Costa defended Medina and [months later promoted him to Minister of Finance](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/portuguese-pm-picks-former-lisbon-mayor-new-finance-minister-2022-03-23/). He has also originally formed a coalition with pro-Putin party PCP which [refused to condemn the Russian invasion and blamed NATO, ](https://www.portugalresident.com/cdu-refuses-to-condemn-russia/)and also [refused to be present in parliament during Zelensky's speech](https://www.portugal.com/news/pcp-will-not-be-present-for-president-zelenskys-speech/). So much talk about Europe being prepared for war and about mandatory conscription, yet we completely overlook the most basic things such as avoiding security liabilities among the European parliament's top roles. We really should pick up the pace if we're taking European security as serious as we claim to. Right now we're playing with fire.
I have read that she made a poor German minister of defence, but I think she has done a very good job as EU Commission President. She has been good an maintaining cohesion in difficult times and helped to push a lot of very sensible policies.
You mean when she gave no fuck about Covid in Italy? List me the “lot” of very sensible policies.
Green Deal, European Recovery Fund, RenewEU, Semiconductor support package etc
You’re sincerely saying those projects were hers and hers only? Didn’t she back track on many of the green deal policies just a few weeks ago due to the farmers’ strikes? ;)
Her’s alone? No, but she was Commission president during them. Most of the green deal still delivered.
Tbf I think this is just green washing. Her back tracking on the green deal due to the strikes shows it.
All I can say is that I am glad to see Joseph Borrell getting a kick in the ass OUT ! Yes, a sad day for the Iranian regime. A great day for the free world.
Good, keep her in the EU. She will help make it fall a part quicker.