Europe

For the second report in succession, the OECD has lowered its growth expectations for both France and Germany -- down to 0.8 and 0.4 percent respectively.

Britain's forecast is also down to just 1.4 percent, with only Spain amongst major European nations bucking the trend and set to maintain its recent strong performance with 2.6 percent growth predicted in 2025.

US growth is expected to be 2.2 percent in 2025, down from the OECD's 2.4 percent projection in December, before falling to 1.6 percent in 2026 -- a drop of 0.5 percentage points on the OECD's previous forecast.

China, meanwhile, is expected to maintain healthy growth at 4.8 percent in 2025 and 4.4 percent the following year.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/58664309

https://archive.is/dDxHw

-Volkswagen intends to shorten the time between development and launch to 36 months from 54 months, Thomas Schafer, CEO of the company's passenger car brand, told reporters last week. The German group hopes to achieve the faster turnaround by working closer with Chinese EV maker Xpeng Motors.

-Renault, whose profit sank 66%, revealed in January that it opened a research and development center for EVs in Shanghai.

-Stellantis is partnering with Leapmotor Technology to sell compact EVs from the Chinese startup in Europe.

-Mercedes-Benz will reduce annual production capacity of its German factories from 1 million vehicles to 900,000. Volkswagen will cease production at two German factories and cut 35,000 jobs by 2030.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/26937940

The group that drafted a key blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term convened a meeting in Washington D.C. this week to consider proposals for bulldozing the European Union (EU).

The Polish investigative outlet VSquare revealed that the Heritage Foundation gathered hardline conservative groups on 11 March to hear how they would overhaul the current structures of the EU.

The “closed-door workshop” featured a debate on a new paper produced by the lobby groups MCC and Ordo Iuris entitled: “The Great Reset: Restoring Member State Sovereignty in the 21st Century”.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/7258566

BERLIN—The headstones of Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Ernst Thälmann, and other revolutionary martyrs have been vandalized in a shocking desecration at the Friedrichsfelde Cemetery in Berlin.

The metal plaques carrying the names and dates of birth and death of the leading Communists buried around the Memorial to the Socialists have been taken in an attack reported to German police on Monday.

The tombs surround a giant gravestone bearing the inscription “The Dead Remind Us,” and form part of an enclosed park within the cemetery whose walls bear the names of hundreds of other revolutionaries killed in the struggle, from those slain fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War to victims of Nazi terror in Germany itself.

Each year, on the second Sunday in January, crowds march to the monument to lay red carnations on the tombs.

Police say they have no clues as to the perpetrators but recognize a political motive is “clearly identifiable.”

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Check out the rest of the article inside.

https://archive.ph/mhPRN

Tensions are rising between Paris and Algiers. The current diplomatic crisis, described by analysts as the most serious since Algeria's independence in 1962, raises the risk of a rupture in bilateral relations between France and its former North African colony.

The current quarrel was triggered in July 2024 by French President Emmanuel Macron's support for Morocco's claims of sovereignty over Western Sahara.

The resource-rich territory, considered by the UN as "non-autonomous", is controlled for the most part by Morocco but claimed by the Polisario Front, a Sahrawi independence movement supported by Algeria.

The move infuriated Algiers, which announced the "withdrawal with immediate effect" of its ambassador to France.

Relations have deteriorated ever since, first with the incarceration of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal in Algiers in mid-November, who was accused of having undermined the integrity of Algerian territory in statements made to a far-right media outlet in France.

Greenland’s probable new prime minister has rejected Donald Trump’s effort to take control of the island, saying Greenlanders must be allowed to decide their own future as it moves toward independence from Denmark.

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, whose centre-right Democrats won a surprise victory in this week’s legislative elections and now must form a coalition government, pushed back on Thursday against Trump’s repeated claims that the US will annex the island.

“We don’t want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders, and we want our own independence in the future,” Nielsen, 33, told Sky News. “And we want to build our own country by ourselves.”

the report https://parliamentnews.co.uk/uks-economic-stagnation-leads-to-drop-in-affluence-rank

Donald Trump has threatened a 200% tariff on wine and champagne from European Union countries, in the latest threat of escalation in the global trade war started by the US president against the country’s biggest trading partners.

Trump said in a post on Thursday on his Truth Social platform that the tariffs on all alcoholic products from the bloc would be retaliation for a “nasty” 50% levy on bourbon whiskey announced by the EU.

The EU’s action against bourbon whiskey – due to come into force on 1 April – was itself part of a €26bn response to Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, which came into effect on Wednesday.

In what a leading legal advocacy group has called a “glaring miscarriage of justice”, the head of the Pessac Mosque in the French commune of Meaux, has been “wrongfully convicted” of terror apology in violation of free expression and due process.

CAGE has reported that Abdourahmane Ridouane was accused of glorifying terrorism based on his support for the Palestinian struggle against genocide, colonisation and apartheid. “The ruling comes after years of legal battles during which the State relentlessly tried to silence Ridouane and force his expulsion from France,” explained the advocacy group. “He received a suspended sentence and was banned from national territory for two years. As a result, the State is looking into his immediate deportation.”

Ridouane, who recently won a case to renew his residency in France, is known for his outspoken support for Palestine and his criticism of France’s neo-colonial policies in Niger, his country of origin.

One thing the EU is consistent on is their love for genocide and ethnic cleansing. From Donbas, to Gaza, to Syria, EU is steadfast in their support for crimes against humanity.

https://archive.ph/xUq98

On 25 February he said on air: “Every year in France, we commemorate what happened in Oradour-sur-Glane – the massacre of an entire village. But we have committed hundreds of these, in Algeria. Are we aware of this?”

He was referring to the village where an SS unit returning to the front in Normandy massacred 642 residents on 10 June 1944. Leaving a chilling memorial for future generations, the village was never rebuilt.

Challenged by the anchor over whether “we [the French] behaved like the Nazis”, Aphatie said: “The Nazis behaved like us.”

On X, he acknowledged his comments had created a “debate” but said it was of great importance to understand the full story over France’s 1830-1962 presence in Algeria, saying he was “horrified” by what he had read in history books.

After being suspended for a week by the channel it means that “if I come back to RTL I validate this and admit to making a mistake”.

https://archive.ph/yAZxn