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Die Europäische Union sollte keinen „Handel“ mit Migranten betreiben oder eine „eigennützige Solidarität“ praktizieren. Amnesty International warnt davor, die Steuerung der Migrationspolitik an Drittstaaten wie Libyen oder Tunesien zu verlagern, in denen die Menschenrechte nicht gewährleistet sind.

Die aus der Ukraine nach Europa exportierten Zuckermengen haben die vertraglich festgelegte Obergrenze erreicht, welche EU-Landwirte schützen soll, teilte die EU-Kommission mit. Nun könnten die Grenzen für ukrainischen Zucker geschlossen werden.

In today’s edition of the Capitals, find out more about Brussels stepping towards withdrawing the Article 7 procedure against Poland, Czech lawmakers warning about Russian operations threatening the EU elections, and so much more.

Russian influence and disinformation campaigns in the EU pose a significant threat to the integrity of the upcoming European Parliament elections, according to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security Committee of the Czech Senate.

Tens of thousands of Iranians flocked to the streets of Tehran Wednesday (22 May) to join the funeral processions of president Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage, who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

Nachdem die rechtspopulistische Partei von Marine Le Pen angekündigt hat, nach den nächsten Europawahlen die Zusammenarbeit mit ihrem deutschen Pendant, der AfD, abzubrechen, sucht die AfD nach Möglichkeiten, die Wogen zu glätten. Dazu könnte sie einen drastischen Schnitt mit ihrem Spitzenkandidaten machen.

Leaked wiretaps of leading politicians from the liberal Renew Europe-linked Bulgarian party “We Continue the Change”, in which one is heard saying that the party has a lot of money available in cash, have shaken the campaign ahead of Bulgaria's early parliamentary and EU elections, scheduled for the same day.

The parties in Slovakia's parliament have unanimously adopted a coalition resolution condemning the recent assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico and urging people not to spread hatred.

Ein umstrittener Transitzuschlag, den Deutschland auf Gasflüsse erhebt, wird ab Juli wieder erhöht. Die Ankündigung des deutschen Betreibers am Dienstag (21. Mai) verschärft die Spannungen mit Österreich und Brüssel.

Air strikes continue in Gaza. Credit: WHO

By Mouin Rabbani
AMMAN, Jordan, May 22 2024 (IPS)

The ICC Prosecutor’s applications for arrest warrants regarding the Situation in Palestine represent a milestone. But they are of little credit to Prosecutor Karim Khan.

It is abundantly clear that Khan has been sitting on this file for years, hoping it would simply disappear. Two matters forced his hand.

First, his 2023 indictments of senior Russian officials despite a previous pledge that he would only pursue cases referred to his office by the United Nations Security Council and ignore the rest – particularly the investigations concerning Afghanistan and Palestine that were opposed by the US and UK.

Having gone back on his commitment, the hypocrisy associated with continuing to ignore the Palestine investigation initiated in 2021 became simply too overwhelming, particular as Israel’s genocidal onslaught against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip intensified in 2024.

Second, the global outcry against his inertia became too loud to ignore. Much as Khan would have preferred to pursue the policy preferences of the US, UK, and Israel, the main sponsors of his campaign for ICC prosecutor, his inaction became untenable.

According to Khan. his office been investigating the Situation in Palestine since early 2021, and is examining all violations of the Rome Statute as since 2014. Yet in his case too, history appears to have commenced on 7 October 2023.

His applications wholly ignore, any and all, issues unconnected with the current situation in the Gaza Strip. Nothing about the crime against humanity that is apartheid, nothing about the war crime of illegal settlement, nothing about Israel’s previous onslaughts against the Gaza Strip, or its systematic sniper attacks against demonstrators during the 2018 Great March of Return.

Ever the careful politician attentive to those who got him elected, he pointedly indicted three Hamas leaders but only two Israeli officials. This raises numerous questions: why did he seek an arrest warrant for the head of Hamas, who according to available reports was not involved in the planning or execution of the 7 October 2023 attacks, but not Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who has explicitly identified Palestinian civilians as legitimate military targets?

Why did Khan decline to apply for arrest warrants for the Israeli military’s chief of the general staff, or any of the senior Israeli military commanders directly responsible for perpetrating the crimes he has enumerated, or other members of Israel’s war cabinet who share full responsibility for its decisions?

Why did he pointedly ignore the crime of genocide, which is explicitly identified in the Rome Statute? It may well be the case that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is also considering Israel’s responsibility for genocide, but unlike the ICJ the ICC does not deal with individual criminal responsibility.

It seems indisputable that Khan is once again playing politics. His problem is that his efforts to curry favour in Washington will gain him nothing, and he is already being attacked from across the US political spectrum for violating the sacrosanct principle Israeli impunity. Washington will now stop at nothing to ensure that only Khan and Hamas are held to account.

US attempts to interfere with ICC procedures themselves constitute crimes under the Rome Statute. Will Khan seek to hold the raving lunatics who have taken over the Washington asylum to account, or look the other way in the hope of achieving absolution?

The flaws of Khan’s conduct notwithstanding this remains an enormously significant development. Together with the ICJ genocide case, it has now become impossible for Israel to maintain its state of exceptionalism.

It is increasingly being judged both legally and politically on the basis of its actual conduct rather than through the sordid prism of twentieth-century European history. For Israel this represents a defeat of strategic proportions.

Mouin Rabbani is Co-Editor of Jadaliyya, Non-Resident Fellow with the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies (CHS), and Non-Resident Fellow at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN).

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Le Parti du centre suédois fera pression pour que les Libéraux soient expulsés de leur groupe commun « Renew » au Parlement européen après les élections de juin, si ces derniers continuent leur coopération avec les Démocrates de Suède, un parti d’extrême droite, au niveau national.

Die schwedische Zentrumspartei werde darauf drängen, dass die schwedischen Liberalen nach den EU-Wahlen aus ihrer gemeinsamen Fraktion Renew Europe im EU-Parlament ausgeschlossen werden, wenn sie weiterhin mit den rechten Schwedendemokraten auf nationaler Ebene zusammenarbeiten, sagte die EU-Abgeordnete Emma Wiesner.

Ukrainian servicemen operating a howitzer in Kharkiv region near the Russian border work around the clock to stop an incursion by Moscow's troops, and they are finally getting the shells to do it.

European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová has said she would recommend that the EU executive withdraw the Article 7 procedure against Poland, launched in 2017, following discussions on the issue among EU ministers at the General Affairs Council on Tuesday.

Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini's League party has submitted a bill to the Chamber of Deputies proposing a mandatory six-month period of military or civilian service for all young people aged between 18 and 26, while the far-right party's centre-right allies, including Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, oppose the measure.

Rassemblement National’s (RN) President Jordan Bardella announced on Tuesday that the party will end the alliance with his German counterpart Alternative for Germany (AfD), a fellow member of the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) group.

Spain is recalling its ambassador to Argentina, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Tuesday, amid an escalating diplomatic row between the two nations.

Le parti de la Ligue du vice-Premier ministre Matteo Salvini a présenté un projet de loi à la Chambre des députés proposant un service militaire ou civil obligatoire de six mois pour tous les jeunes âgés de 18 à 26 ans.

Russian physicist Anatoly Maslov was convicted of treason and sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony on Tuesday (21 May) in the latest of several cases against experts working on the science underpinning Russia's development of hypersonic missiles.

The next European Parliament will need to negotiate with EU countries two key files which aim to harmonise corruption and transparency requirements for foreign-funded organisations, both proposed after a string of corruption cases, like Qatargate, shook the outgoing legislature.