Europe2.eu – European tidbits

The divided Germany

It has been more than thirty years since the German reunification but the recent European parliament election once again makes it very clear that there still exist two Germany when it comes to politics.

In nearly all of the geographical parts that once made up the east German state, the Alternative für Deutschland party now is the largest party in terms of votes. In fact, the only outliers from this pattern are Berlin, Potsdam city center and its surrounding land district, the district of Eichfeld which borders the “west Germany”, and the three Thuringian city centers of Erfurt, Weimar and Jena.

At the same time, there is not a single election district in the old west Germany where AfD is the party with the largest share of the vote. Here, that party is instead almost everywhere the Christian-democratic CDU – or in Bavaria its sister party CSU – with a few city center exceptions where the Greens or in some even fewer cases the Social Democratic Party comes out on top.

In addition, it is also worth noting that in the eastern parts a not insignificant number of voters chose to give their vote to the new Bündnis Sarah Wagenknecht, a break-away from the Left party, while the same BSW in the western part garnered much lower numbers.

It is clear that Germany has a deep political divide and that it even after three decades have something to do with its divided history. That so many voters – in many cases around half of the voting population – in the eastern part chooses to give their vote to parties either to the extreme right or the extreme left cannot be viewed as anything else than a deep dissatisfaction with the traditional parties and their policies. A dissatisfaction that in some way or another must be listened to and taken seriously in order to stop anti-democratic forces from harnessing the discontent for their own purposes.

Macron’s high gamble

President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to dissolve the French parliament and proscribe a national election as soon as the result of the election to the EU parliament was clear is a high stakes gamble.

One thing to remember is that the French national elections and the elections for the EU parliament in France follows two different electorial systems. The EU parliament election is a proportional vote while the French elections is a variant of majority vote. This do mean that the Rassemblement National’s result in the first is not necessarily directly corresponding to a potential result in a national election. And this is probably one of the calculations made by Macron. The two-round voting system means that in the second round there will be only a couple names to choose by in each single seat electorial district.

Traditionally, the Rassemblement national/Front National’s results in French elections to the National Assembly as well as presidential elections have been tempered by the electorate’s willingness to come together and vote for “anyone but FN”. This is pretty much how every French president from Jacques Chirac forward have got their job.

The big question looming over the coming election is if this “anyone but…” voting pattern will still hold. The RN’s success in the European election is a sign that many French voters are prepared to vote for them, maybe also in a national election, and already in the last election where RN got 88 seats in the National Assembly this cordon sanitaire showed signs of breaking.

The second part of Macron’s calculation may be that elections to the European parliament and elections to the French National Assembly are in people’s mind two different things. Traditionally in most countries there is a clear increased willingness among many voters to be somewhat more “daring” in their choice of candidates for the in their minds more abstract and less important European Parliament than for their respective national parliaments. So when forced to show their cards in “a real election” some may be slightly less inclined to pick the more unsafe card.

At least that must be what president Macron hopes for in his high stakes gamble.

Orkney may take into consideration to become Norwegian again

Kirkwall Harbour, Orkney — Kirkwall Harbour. Photo: Stevekeiretsu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Orkney Islands are dissatisfied with the current funding and attention it receives from the UK government. Something that now has lead to Orkney council to start to investigate “alternative forms of governance”. The most radical of proposals being becoming a Norwegian territory again.

Historically Orkney was under Norwegian and later Danish rule from the early viking age until 1472 when the islands became Scottish as part of the wedding dowry for Margaret of Denmark when she married the future wife of King James III of Scotland.

The less radical – and probably more likely – options for Orkney to pursue is however a status more akin to that which the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man enjoy today.

Source: BBC Scotland

Mixed material clothes hard to recycle

If you want to be environmentally friendly, you should in particular avoid buying clothes made of mixed material textiles. The worst offender being the all too common blend of cotton and polyester.

Because while both textiles made out of cotton and the synthetic, plastic fibre polyester are technically recyclable today, the mix of the two in one textile product makes it nigh impossible to recycle.

In addition to the recycling problem, there is also the environmental impact from microplastic – microscopic plastic pieces are continuously shed from the polyester fibres during wear and washing of the clothes – that end up in nature and are virtually undegradable.

In short, there are a multitude of reasons for avoiding clothes that consist of or includes polyester.

Source: BBC Future Planet

Portugal builds hydro battery

As a part of the strive for renewable energy production, Portugal is constructing a new hydro plant that in effect will work as a giant battery.

By utilizing renewable energy from wind, sun, wave and hydro power to pump water up to a giant reservoir during periods of low electricity demand – such as during night time or on weekends – the hydro plant’s water reserve is “reloaded” with water that later can be used in the usual way to produce hydro electricity when needed.

In this way the hydro plant works as a giant battery, storing energy for later use. The technique is not entirely new – similar setups already exist – but for Portugal the new construction will bring the country further on its way to get 80 percent of their energy needs from renewable sources.

Source: ARD Tagesschau

Tuna returns to the Danish-Swedish sounds

The tuna which has been absent from the Öresund area for many years is starting to reappear according to countings done by Danish and Swedish researchers.

New regulations and better controlling introduced 15 years ago are thus providing results and in combination with an increased amount of the fish species that the tuna feeds on, the tuna stock is now replenishing.

During 2022 the researchers tagged 48 tuna individuals in order to better track their movements for future research.

Source: SVT

Polish companies eyes small nuclear plants

Two companies controlled by two of Poland’s richest persons are eyeing the possibilities to construct small-scale nuclear reactors (SMRs) as the country continues its plans to use nuclear energy production in order to lower their dependency on coal and gas.

It is the energy company ZE Pak and the chemical company Synthos that are looking into constructing between four and six SMRs at the current coal power plant in Pątnów in central Poland.

Source: Ny Teknik

Helsinki-Stockholm hyperloop

FS Links, a consortium dedicated to lay the foundation work for the use of hyperloop technology in northern Europe, has presented a pre-feasability study on how the Finnish and Swedish capital cities Helsinki and Stockholm could be connected by a hyperloop network. A connection that would reduce travel time down to approximately 28 minutes! The construction cost would be an estimated 19 billion euro, which at a first glance sounds like a lot of money, but in comparison to some estimates recently published for a conventional high-speed railway connecting Sweden’s three biggest city it actually no longer feel all that extreme. Of course this is all a very early study and not a formal prospect.

Helsinki-Stockholm hyperlink proposal — Helsinki-Stockholm hyperlink (Source: Golem.de)

Sources: Golem.de and Hyperloop-One.com

Second metro line in Warsaw nearing completion

The first section of the Polish capital’s second underground metro line has been completed and are now subject to final inspections and checks before opening. Originally intended to be completed in time for the Euro 2012 football world cup, delays changed the time plan and the seven stations spread over six kilometres of track are now to be operative in mid-November this year.

Polish PM Donald Tusk becomes new president of the European Council

Current Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has been designated as the next president of the European Council and as such tasked with chairing the meetings of the council which consists of the heads of government of the European Union member states as well as being the figurehead of the EU, a role he will officially take over from current president Herman Van Rompuy on December 1.

The selection of Tusk, an influential and high-profile liberal-conservative politician from one of the newer EU member states of central Europe could be seen as an acknowledgement of the growing importance of central and eastern Europe in European affairs, with Poland emerging as the regional heavyweight.