Tag: Angela Merkel

In Close German Election, Angela Merkel’s Bloc Sees Worst Election Results Since 1949

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Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right bloc is in a tight race with the Social Democrats, as projections showed her party endured its worst result in parliamentary elections since 1949.

ARD public television projected that according to early counting and exit polls, Social Democrats, whose candidate is outgoing Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz, had 25.5% of voter support, The Associated Press reported. Merkel’s Union bloc was at 24.5% with her would-be successor Armin Laschet, governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state in Germany.

Projections from ZDF public television put Social Democrats at 25.7% to the Union bloc’s 24.6%. Both sets of projections had the environmentalist Greens at third place with about 14%.

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German Chancellor Merkel Says Vaccine Passport Has Unanimous Support Within European Union

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel says European leaders agree on the concept of a COVID vaccination passport that would allow people to travel more freely through the region amid the ongoing pandemic and continuing health-safety restrictions.

“Everyone agreed that we need a digital vaccination certificate,” Merkel said Wednesday after a meeting with European leaders.

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Angela Merkel to Step Down, Paving Way for New German Chancellor in 2021

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by Alex Christy   German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Monday that she will not seek re-election as party leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Merkel has been chair of the CDU since 2000 and chancellor since 2005, according to Reuters. While she has said she is not seeking re-election, she announced it is her intention to remain chancellor until the next general election in 2021. “It is time today for me to start a new chapter. This fourth term is my last term as chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. In the next Bundestag election in 2021, I will not run again as chancellor. I will not run for the German Bundestag any more, and I do not want any other political office,” Merkel said to reporters in Berlin, according to CNN. The CDU and Socialist Democratic Party (SPD), the parties under Merkel’s coalition, recently “suffered heavy losses” in regional elections, CNN reported. Merkel has been one of the leading proponents of further European integration. Her open refugee policy has been met with the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has risen in popularity amid other anti-establishment sentiments in Europe on the right. On the center-left, the Greens have…

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Trump Notches a Big Win Against Russia After Merkel Folds on US Gas Imports

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by Chris White   German Chancellor Angela Merkel is offering government support for a for project that would supply Germany with U.S. natural gas — the move comes as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to loosen Russia’s hold on Europe’s energy markets. Merkel told lawmakers in early October that her government will co-finance the construction of a $576 million liquefied natural gas shipping terminal, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The project had failed for years to gain any traction in a country that receives the bulk of its gas from Russia. Trump has lobbied intensely for European countries — Germany in particular — to shift their energy imports from Russia to the U.S., if for no other reason than to diversify their energy markets. He told world leaders at a Group of 20 summit in 2017 that the U.S. wants to make it easier for companies to ship natural gas products to Eastern Europe. German and U.S. officials said Berlin is hoping that forging ahead on the project might help lessen the possibility of Washington leveling sanctions against Nord Stream 2, an unbuilt gas pipeline that would double Russia’s energy exports to Germany. Some U.S. officials believe the White House’s…

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Trump to Germany: Don’t Give Russia More Weapons

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Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin

By Sheryl Kaufman   The press and former CIA Director John Brennan are expressing hysterics over a press conference where President Trump disappointed them by not showering outright insults on the Russian President. The reporters moved past what may be the most significant development of Mr. Trump’s very busy trip to Europe, what they read at the time as an insult to Germany. Last Wednesday at the NATO summit, President Trump spoke against the proposed expansion of the natural gas pipeline from Russia directly to Germany via the Baltic Sea. The Nord Stream 2 project has nearly completed permitting and is set to begin laying pipe later this year. It will run parallel an existing nearly 800-mile undersea pipeline and double the capacity of Russia to move gas directly to Germany. About a third of Europe’s natural gas is currently supplied by Russia. The new pipeline would allow Russia to expand its dominant position as an energy supplier to Europe and give it flexibility to bypass an onshore pipeline that passes through Ukraine, Slovakia, and Czech Republic to Germany. That would deprive these countries of transit fees, but more significantly it would allow Russia greater control of their energy supplies.…

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OFF THE RECORD: President Trump Singlehandedly Delivers the Most Eyebrow-Raising G7 Trade Summit Ever

Chris Alto
OFF THE RECORD

After years of mundanity surrounding the G7 world trade summit – the once-a-year snore-fest where the six, or seven, (or eight) leaders of the West come together as frenemies to see who can pick each others’ pockets most stealthily – we were treated to perhaps the most entertaining piece of political theater the world has ever seen. The excitement began when President Trump arrived. Last year, you’ll remember he made headlines over his ‘step aside‘ moment caught on camera. And you might also remember that – apart from the typical preening over ‘climate change’ initiatives like the Paris Accord (and the United States’ refusal to sign on) – the meeting came and went without much notice. Heck – even the protesters didn’t even bother to show up. The reason why is simple enough: this was President Trump’s first visit, and I suspect he wanted to do two things: (1) Observe; and (2) Give our trading partners a chance to do the right thing on their own. After all, that’s what friends do, right? Well, it’s a year later, and President Trump has been very vocal – some might even say notorious! – about his positions on trade. – America First –…

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