European Politics Thread

Wait, this part sounds dangerous... you can be charged with having sex with someone you didn't know was intoxicated?

Or is it a "failure to check" law, which would be more reasonable ("due diligence" and whatnot)?

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."

I imagine it will work the same way it works for sexual acts with children in the court cases I've read: Just like people who intend to partake in a sexual activity with a very young-looking person need to verify that said young person is past their 16th birthday, people partaking in sexual activity with a person who has slurred speech and smells of alcohol ought to refrain to partake in said sexual activity, or at least to verify that their partner is still capable of saying yes or no.

The threshold of "defilement" is not that low; it requires people incapable of judgment and/or resistance, not merely a slight impairment. Say if you are so drunk you can't tell people apart, as per this case.

Edited by SeptimusHeap on Feb 2nd 2024 at 9:18:10 PM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Spanish farmers join the wave of protests in Europe (just when it seemed that it might start to calm down elsewhere)

Farmers in Catalonia, Andalusia and Extremaduran took their tractors, blocking roads, beeping horns and waving flags, just like their counterparts did in Germany, Italy, France, Belguim and the Netherlands.

Their demands are the same; they say that the EU regulations plus the high cost of fuel make it hard for them to make a profit, or compete against countries where environmental and sanitary regulations are more lax, like Morocco.

Add to that the worst drought in the history of Catalonia.

The BBC talked to some farmers who said:

Interestingly, French farmers accuse Spain itself of the same practices; Spanish farmers blame the non-EU countries of. A former French minister even accused Spanish Tomatoes of being "falsely organic.".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68216353

....................

Relatedly, the EU announced the scrapping of a proposal halving pesticide use across the EU.

This, of course, is done in the hope of calming the farmer's protests in Europe, and it may be working.

Ursula von der Leyen the head of the European Commission, said that the proposal had become a "symbol of polarization.".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68218907

Edited by jawal on Feb 6th 2024 at 5:21:04 PM

Every Hero has his own way of eating yogurt

It’s pretty convenient, since lifting pesticide regulations doesn’t require the EU to alter its current agricultural model. You could say it’s back to business as usual.

Flippé de participer à ce grand souper, je veux juste m'occuper de taper mon propre tempo.

It says something about the policy people that they’re all choosing to lower environmental standards rather than roll back on free trade with countries that have lower standards.

"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran

To be fair, it's easier to roll back on environmental standards than on free trade in general.

Instead of focusing on relatives that divide us, maybe we should try to find the absolutes that tie us.

Well, consider: if food costs more to produce, who's going to pay for that? Are European policymakers willing to hit European consumers with their share of the cost of cleaner agriculture?

I despise hypocrisy, unless of course it is my own.

Casting some votes in Switzerland:

• Regarding retirement reform, went for higher retirement ages and against expanding retirement options. Half disagreeing, half agreeing with the government, per my usual considerations about government spending.
• Voted yes on a cantonal initiative to overhaul the judge appointment procedure since AFAIK it was mandated by the federal court anyway.
• Voted no on a canton initiative that wanted to make protesters liable for damages/police expenses incurred when managing illicit protests and require permits. While violence against police is a genuine issue, I concur with the government that we can't handle this on a "protester pays" basis (who defines protester, for example?). I don't plan to enable anti-protests attitudes, either.
• Voted no on the government proposal because the permit requirement on its own is still not acceptable to me. Put a casting vote for it though, in case both pass.
• Voted yes on a canton initiative that would establish a right to access to shores. With some reluctance because it seems to be pretty expensive (half a billion franken), but I am a sightseer and environmentalist.
• After a bit of thinking, went with a no on prolonging the Kloten runways. It's not entirely clear to me whether a longer runway would increase aircraft traffic, but the land use is a problem.
• Voted yes on a municipal investment project for some bits of infrastructure. One cannot simply let it rot away.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

The other answer would be for the state to pay the difference of cost so that the european farmers can remain competitive while the laws of standards adjust to take out the less regulated competitors from the market.

That however is still bound to open another can of worms, not only on a domestic level but on an international one.

Instead of focusing on relatives that divide us, maybe we should try to find the absolutes that tie us.

There’s also the option of reducing the ridiculous profit margins of the big food firms to guarantee a minimum price for the farmers. Since those ridiculous margins are a large part of the reason a lot of farmers aren’t paid enough to begin with.

Edited by Lyendith on Feb 10th 2024 at 11:10:16 AM

Flippé de participer à ce grand souper, je veux juste m'occuper de taper mon propre tempo.

I hadn't actually considered the post-colonial implications it would have if the EU imposed tariffs on countries with less strict regulations.

This one's related to Finland (not sure on reopening a thread on the Nordic countries).

Been a school shooting. CBC goes into analyzing the past incidents in the country and compare how the firearms culture in Finland and America are different.

Edited by Ominae on Apr 3rd 2024 at 6:40:52 AM

"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"

The vid notes it is shocking since school shootings in Finland are very rare even with the prevalence of gun ownership in Finland.

Disgusted, but not surprised

A few days ago, the yearly NatCon conference was shut down by Belgian Police on order of the local mayor. A Court now overturned this, and it is resuming

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/17/natcon-conference-resume-brussels-court-overturns-closure-order

Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian

The article sems to fail to say what is natcon.

(I eventually found https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_conservatism )

Edited by gropcbf on Apr 18th 2024 at 11:36:40 AM

In other words, a party for the Make Europe White Again crowd.

I despise hypocrisy, unless of course it is my own.

With the exception of the Scottish National Party, it’s generally always a bad thing when a party has “national” in it’s name.

You linked to the general Article on National Conservatism, not to the conference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Conservatism_Conference

In any way, it seems like shutting the thing down was not legal, despite how good it might have felt, hence it continuing.

Edited by Forenperser on Apr 18th 2024 at 1:10:50 PM

Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian

Left-nationalism is a thing and sometimes produces decent results - though even then, the SNP included Alex Salmond. Just as often, it ends up looking exactly the same as right-nationalism.

I despise hypocrisy, unless of course it is my own.

Nationalism in general is patriotism's Evil Twin. They look the same at first glance. But while patriotism is more "my country is awesome", nationalism is more "every other country sucks".

Patriotism can become nationalism of course when one becomes increasingly insecure about how awesome their country really is, leading them to make fun of everyone else to overcompensate.

Edited by M84 on Apr 18th 2024 at 10:24:25 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised

On the other hand, sometimes nationalism is what it takes if you want to break away from a country that's stepping on your own sub-country. The SNP have valid reasons to say "England sucks, let's blow this joint and go back to Europe."

I despise hypocrisy, unless of course it is my own.

The SNP was more or less born from resentment over being treated as England's vassal state instead of being a supposed equal partner country in a union.

Disgusted, but not surprised

That's generally the gist with nationalistic parties in Europe when they represent a stateless nation.

Nationalistic parties representing a state-nation tend to be that bullshit indeed, but as a rule they refuse to aknowledge themselves as nationalistic.

Edited by Eriorguez on Apr 19th 2024 at 4:40:56 PM