Europe

Paywall? https://archive.is/qDNRM

Paywall? https://archive.is/TzfCE

A new study shows that other countries are more attractive to economically successful foreigners. Discrimination also plays a major role.

The survey excludes asylum seekers who do not yet have recognized residence status in Germany. The survey period ran from December 2024 to April 2025.

"A key finding of our survey is that it is precisely those who moved to Germany to work or study, who are better educated or more economically successful and who have a better command of the German language, who are more likely than average to consider leaving or express concrete plans to emigrate," said IAB researcher Katia Gallegos Torres.

Immigrants with a master's degree or doctorate and higher earners in particular have considered leaving Germany in the last twelve months.

"Almost two-thirds of immigrants report perceived discrimination, for example at work, on the housing market, in public spaces or in contact with the police," says Gallegos Torres

https://archive.is/MGFOV

The EU must be open to resuming Russian gas imports in the event of a peace deal being brokered to end the war in Ukraine, Austria has said

Archived version

Taiwan sealed a partnership deal on Tuesday with U.S. and German-based Auterion for drone software battle-tested in Ukraine to help strengthen the island's defences against growing military threats from giant neighbour China.

Auterion, whose software is used in Ukrainian drones operating combat missions against Russia, said the deal could eventually lead to the technology being used in millions of drones for Taiwan.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has ramped up its military pressure over the past five years, including staging half a dozen rounds of war games. Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Taiwan has been studying how Ukraine has deployed drones, both in the air and at sea, to successfully offset Russia's numerical advantage on the battlefield, given China's forces also outnumber Taiwan's.

Auterion said it had agreed to a strategic partnership with Taiwan's defence ministry's research and development arm, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, for uncrewed systems and drone swarming software.

...

"The partnership is super long-term. So I think in terms of, if you're trying to put that in number of drones or dollars, we're expecting millions of drones eventually over multiple years and hundreds of millions of dollars in value that's being created," he added, speaking at a ministry-organised sea drone exhibition at the northeastern Taiwanese port of Suao.

...

Taiwan has been working to transform its armed forces to be able to wage "asymmetric warfare", using mobile and often cheaper weapons which still pack a targeted punch, like drones and truck-mounted missiles.

Chung-Shan President Li Shih-chiang thanked the five foreign companies who participated at the Suao exhibition.

"I believe that you will soon be sanctioned by the Chinese government, but do not fear, because you have chosen the democratic camp," he added.

...

Archived

Russia fires 440 drone, 32 missiles overnight on Ukraine's capital Kyiv with the main barrage demolishing a residential building, killing at least 15, injuring dozens others

An overnight Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed [at least] 15 people and injured 156, local officials said Tuesday, with the main barrage demolishing a nine-story Kyiv apartment building in the deadliest attack on the capital this year.

Photos of a combined Russian missile and drone attack in Kyiv overnight Tuesday.

[...]

Explosions echoed across the Ukrainian capital for almost nine hours, Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said, destroying dozens of apartments.

Russia fired more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, calling the Kyiv attack “one of the most terrifying strikes” on the capital.

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said 139 people were injured in Kyiv. Mayor Vitalii Klitschko announced that Wednesday would be an official day of mourning.

The attack came after two rounds of direct peace talks failed to make progress on ending the war, now in its fourth year.

[Edit typo.]

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-century-of-unions-in-europe-1920-2022/

Archived

During his official visit to Austria, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed that Russia had proposed exchanging abducted Ukrainian children for captured Russian soldiers—a proposal he firmly rejected, as was reported on June 16.

Speaking at a joint press conference [...], Zelenskyy stated: “We do not exchange them for anything. It is absolutely unfair. Frankly speaking, this is madness, which the Russians, by the way, proposed: we give them military personnel, and they give us children.” The Ukrainian president emphasized that such exchanges are legally and morally unacceptable, underscoring that kidnapped children are victims of Russian aggression, not subjects of negotiation.

Zelenskyy further stressed that Russia’s deportation of Ukrainian children constitutes a war crime. The International Criminal Court has previously issued arrest warrants for Russian officials, including leader Vladimir Putin, over the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia. Kyiv estimates that over 20,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly taken since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Earlier, Ukraine rescued five more children abducted by Russia, including minors who had been held in reeducation camps and subjected to military training.

[...]

Investigations reveal a system of indoctrination of children abducted by Russia. [...] Ukraine has identified over 150 locations where Russia is holding or has relocated abducted Ukrainian children, including families involved in illegal adoptions. These are around 40 camps, over 40 adoptive families, more than 50 educational institutions, and several Russian state-run facilities—spread across Russia and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

These forced relocations are part of what human rights groups call a state policy of Russification. Children are placed in camps or foster families, issued Russian passports, and compelled to forget their heritage. Some are enrolled in military schools, others are sent deep into Russia, given new biographies as if their pasts never existed.

[...]

Here is the full study (pdf, 319 pages)

Here is the executive summary (pdf, 17 pages)

TLDR:

• CETA has effectively eliminated duties for 98.6% of all Canadian tariff lines and for 98.7% of EU tariff lines. As a result, the simple average EU tariff on Canadian exports decreased from 5.1% to almost zero, while the Canadian tariff on EU exports declined from 4.2% to nearly zero
• Bilateral trade in goods and services between the EU and Canada has increased from €64 bn to €72 bn in the pre-CETA period (2012-2016), representing a 12.5% increase
• During the post-CETA period (2017-2023), total bilateral trade increased by 71%, from €72 bn in 2016 to €123 bn in 2023, despite the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020
• When considering the increase in bilateral trade from 2016 (the year before CETA came into effect) to 2023, the total bilateral trade in goods increased by 65.0%, while total bilateral trade in services increased by 81% in the same time perio- CETA has effectively eliminated duties for 98.6% of all Canadian tariff lines and for 98.7% of EU tariff lines. As a result, the simple average EU tariff on Canadian exports decreased from 5.1% to almost zero, while the Canadian tariff on EU exports declined from 4.2% to nearly zero.
• Bilateral trade in goods and services between the EU and Canada has increased from €64 bn to €72 bn in the pre-CETA period (2012-2016), representing a 12.5% increase.

Archived

Despite public condemnations, the European Union’s response to Beijing’s repressive tactics against dissidents beyond China’s borders remains ineffective and lacks coordination, according to a survey of 10 EU governments conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its media partners, alongside interviews with European lawmakers.

Since 2023, the European Parliament has recognized transnational repression as a growing threat to human rights and the rule of law, and called on member states to facilitate reporting, investigate allegations and sanction the perpetrators.

But China Targets, an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and 42 media partners, found that the Chinese government continues to target Chinese and Hong Kong dissidents as well as Uyghur and Tibetan advocates using surveillance, hacking and threats against them and their family members in an effort to quash any criticism of the regime.

[...]

"The EU must set clear red lines, backed by criminal investigations, sanctions, and diplomatic consequences, to show that fundamental rights are not negotiable," says Hannah Neumann, European Parliament member.

[...]

Most of the targets interviewed by ICIJ and its partners said they had not reported state-sponsored threats to the authorities in their adopted countries for fear of retaliation from China or because they didn’t have faith in local authorities’ ability to help. Of those who had filed a report — including Nurya Zyden, a Uyghur rights advocate who said she was followed by two Chinese men from Dublin, where she lives, to an activist gathering in Sarajevo, Bosnia, last year — most said police did not follow up on their case or told them that they couldn’t do anything because there was no evidence of a crime.

[...]

Despite having sent “important political signals” through pronouncements and public condemnations, the EU’s response remains “fragmented” and “urgently” needs strengthening, said Hannah Neumann, a European lawmaker who led a 2023 report for the European Parliament on authoritarian regimes’ threats against human rights defenders.

[...]

“Currently, information on cross-border repression is scattered among local law enforcement authorities and is poorly coordinated,” says [Engin] Eroglu [who leads the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with China and was himself one of several politicians targeted by a sophisticated cyberattack allegedly linked to the Chinese government]. “Without cooperation between authorities, it is very difficult to determine the severity of cross-border repression measures, as these measures alone often do not violate local law.”

[...]

A spokesperson for the Belgian ministry of foreign affairs told ICIJ partner De Tijd that Belgian intelligence services, which are in contact with civil society organizations, have “insight into the general trends” of transnational repression in the country and that in recent years, “the intensity of the campaigns seems to have increased.”

According to EU Parliament member Eroglu, better information-sharing among member states is essential.