Top EU lawmaker says firewall against German far right stands, but willing to work with Meloni #Top #lawmaker #firewall #German #stands #work #Meloni

BERLIN (AP) — The leader of the conservative bloc in the European Parliament said in an interview published Sunday that his party would not cooperate with the far-right Alternative for Germany but expressed a willingness to work with Italy’s far-right premier to curb migration.

Manfred Weber, the German EU lawmaker who heads the European People’s Party (EPP), dismissed suggestions that his bloc could drop its refusal to cooperate with Alternative for Germany at the state and federal level in the coming years amid growing support for the far-right party.

“The firewall stands,” Weber told the Funke Medie Group, adding that Alternative for Germany “isn’t just a political competitor, but an adversary and enemy.”

Sixteen-year-old Mirra Andreeva earned the final spot in the fourth round of Wimbledon in her first appearance at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.

In this image from video released by the U.S. Air Force, a Russian SU-35 flies near a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone on Wednesday, July 5, 2023, over Syria. The U.S. Air Force says Russian fighter jets flew dangerously close to several U.S. drone aircraft over Syria, setting off flares and forcing the MQ-9 Reapers to take evasive maneuvers. (U.S. Air Force via AP)

The Defense Department says a U.S. drone strike has killed an Islamic State group leader in Syria. The military says the strike on Friday came hours after the same MQ-9 Reaper drones were harassed by Russian military jets over the western part of Syria.

A Ukrainian policeman of special police unit fires a D-30 cannon towards Russian positions at the front line, near Kreminna, Luhansk region, Ukraine, Friday, July 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Libkos)

Russian-installed authorities in the Crimean peninsula have reported shooting down a cruise missile near the city of Kerch and briefly suspending traffic on the Kerch bridge that links the annexed territory to Russia.

Muslim women pray in Visoko, Bosnia, Sunday, July 9, 2023 next to a truck carrying 30 coffins with remains of the recently identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. So far, the remains of more than 6,600 people have been found and buried at a vast and ever-expanding memorial cemetery in Potocari, outside Srebrenica. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Hundreds have lined Sarajevo’s main street Sunday as a truck carrying 30 coffins passed on its way to Srebrenica, where newly identified victims of Europe’s only acknowledged genocide since World War II will be buried on the 28th anniversary of the crime.

Weber, who is also co-leader of the conservative Christian Social Union at the national level, warned that the far right’s plans to dismantle the European Union would hurt Germany’s economy and security.

Asked whether the EPP’s outreach to Italian post-fascist leader Giorgia Meloni undermined the conservatives’ stance toward the far right, Weber said it was important to work with all European governments to tackle the challenge of migration.

“We need Italy as well,” he said, adding that fears about unrestricted migration would benefit Alternative for Germany. “We are currently working with Italy to implement a migration agreement with Tunisia. This will reduce the arrivals (or migrants) to the EU.”

Two lawmakers with the Christian Social Union raised eyebrows in Germany this week by voting with Alternative for Germany in the national legislature for the first time. Both later claimed the votes had been in error.


#Top #lawmaker #firewall #German #stands #work #Meloni

Leave a Reply

आपका ईमेल पता प्रकाशित नहीं किया जाएगा. आवश्यक फ़ील्ड चिह्नित हैं *