Johnson’s wife and the vanishing story from the Times

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 22 June 2022

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LONDON - Downing Street’s influence over the media is under scrutiny following the disappearance of a newspaper article claiming Boris Johnson tried to hire his then-mistress Carrie Symonds as his Foreign Office chief of staff back in 2018.

The story appeared on page five in the first edition of The Times on Saturday, but was pulled from later editions. Johnson was reported to have tried to secure the £100,000 role for Symonds during his term as foreign secretary – when he was still married to second wife Marina Wheeler – before the plan was vetoed by senior officials.

“Here’s the thing,” said The Spectator’s Steerpike, “newspapers might correct political articles but they rarely remove them altogether.”

And the row about the pulled article – headlined “Johnson tried to give Carrie top Foreign Office job during affair” – is not the first time that No. 10 has been “accused of trying to kill stories that feature criticism of the PM’s wife”, added the gossip columnist. “Is there a Carrie ‘cover-up’?”

Paperwork can prove that Boris Johnson attempted to secure a senior role for his then-girlfriend, Carrie Johnson, at the Foreign Office in 2019, reported The Guardian.

A source who worked with Johnson at the time said the PM – who was the foreign secretary – had repeatedly pressed for Carrie to be chosen for the senior taxpayer-funded job, a fact reflected in internal documentation from the period that could be examined by an inquiry.

Johnson was still married to his second wife, Marina Wheeler, at the time.

Macron alliance projected to lose parliamentary majority

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 19 June 2022

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By SYLVIE CORBET and THOMAS ADAMSON

PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron’s alliance got the most seats in the final round of the parliamentary election on Sunday, but it lost its parliamentary majority, projections show.

The projections, which are based on partial results, show that Macron’s candidates would win between 200 and 250 seats — much less than the 289 required to have a straight majority at the National Assembly, France’s most powerful house of parliament.

The situation, which is unusual in France, is expected to make Macron’s political maneuvering difficult if the projections are borne out.

A new coalition — made up of the hard left, the Socialists and the Greens — is projected to become the main opposition force with about 150 to 200 seats.

The far-right National Rally is projected to register a huge surge with potentially more than 80 seats, up from eight before.

Polls are being held nationwide to select the 577 members of the National Assembly, the most powerful branch of France’s Parliament.

The strong performance of the leftist coalition, led by hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon’s coalition, is expected to make it harder for Macron to implement the agenda he was reelected on in May, including tax cuts and raising France’s retirement age from 62 to 65.

Macron’s government will still have the ability to rule, but only by bargaining with legislators. The centrists could try to negotiate on a case by case basis with lawmakers from the center-left and from the conservative party — with the goal of preventing opposition lawmakers from being numerous enough to reject the proposed measures.

The government could also occasionally use a special measure provided by the French Constitution to adopt a law without a vote.

A similar situation happened in 1988 under Socialist President Francois Mitterrand, who then had to seek support from the Communists or the centrists to pass laws.

These parliamentary elections have once again largely been defined by voter apathy — with over half the electorate staying home.

Audrey Paillet, 19, who cast her ballot in Boussy-Saint-Antoine in southeastern Paris, was saddened that so few people turned out.

“Some people have fought to vote. It is too bad that most of the young people don’t do that,” she said.

Macron made a powerfully choreographed plea to voters earlier this week from the tarmac ahead of a trip to Romania and Ukraine, warning that an inconclusive election, or hung parliament, would put the nation in danger.

“In these troubled times, the choice you’ll make this Sunday is more crucial than ever,” he said Tuesday, with the presidential plane waiting starkly in the background ahead of a visit to French troops stationed near Ukraine. “Nothing would be worse than adding French disorder to the world’s disorder,” he said.

Some voters agreed, and argued against choosing candidates on the political extremes who have been gaining popularity. Others argued that the French system, which grants broad power to the president, should give more voice to the multi-faceted parliament and function with more checks on the presidential Elysee palace and its occupant.

“I’m not afraid to have a National Assembly that’s more split up among different parties. I’m hoping for a regime that’s more parliamentarian and less presidential, like you can have in other countries,” said Simon Nouis, an engineer voting in southern Paris.

“The disappointment was clear on the night of the first round for the presidential party leaders,” said Martin Quencez, political analyst at The German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Macron’s failure to get a majority could have ramifications across Europe. Analysts predict that the French leader will have to spend the rest of his term focusing more on his domestic agenda rather than his foreign policy. It could spell the end of President Macron the continental statesman.

French, German and Italian leaders visit Kyiv to show support

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 16 June 2022

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By DAVID KEYTON, JOHN LEICESTER and SYLVIE CORBET

IRPIN, Ukraine — French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that there are signs of war crimes in a Kyiv suburb following “massacres” by Russian forces.

He spoke in the town of Irpin while on a visit with the German, Italian and Romanian leaders to show support for Ukraine. He denounced the “barbarism” of the attacks that devastated the town, and praised the courage of residents of Irpin and other Kyiv region towns who held back Russians forces from attacking the capital.

The four European leaders arrived earlier in Kyiv to the sound of air raid sirens as they made a high-profile show of collective European support for the Ukrainian people as they resist Russia’s invasion.

The visit, which includes a planned meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, carries heavy symbolic weight given that the three Western European powers have faced criticism for not providing Ukraine with the scale of weaponry that Zelenskyy has been asking for.

They have also been criticized for not visiting Kyiv sooner. In past weeks and months a number of other European leaders had already made the long trip overland to show solidarity with a nation under attack, even in times when the fighting raged closer to the capital than it does now.

The French president’s office said that Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Premier Mario Draghi, representing the three largest economies in Europe, traveled to Kyiv together on a special overnight train provided by the Ukrainian authorities.

President Klaus Iohannis of Romania — which borders Ukraine and has been a key destination for Ukrainian refugees — arrived on a separate train, tweeting on arrival: “This illegal Russian aggression must stop!”

“It’s a message of European unity for the Ukrainian people, support now and in the future, because the weeks to come will be very difficult,” Macron said.

The Russian forces are pressing their offensive in the eastern Donbas region, slowly but steadily gaining ground on the badly outmanned and outgunned Ukrainian forces, who are pleading for more arms from Western allies.

Several air raid sirens rang out while the European leaders were in their hotel preparing for the rest of their visit, and Kyiv authorities urged people to seek shelter. Such alerts are a frequent occurrence.

As he left the hotel, Macron, putting his hand on his heart, said in English: “I want to show my admiration for the Ukrainian people.”

German news agency dpa quoted Scholz as saying that the leaders are seeking to show not only solidarity but also their intent to keep up financial and humanitarian help for Ukraine, and a supply of weapons.

Scholz added that this support would continue “for as long as is necessary for Ukraine’s fight for independence.”

Scholz said that the sanctions against Russia were also significant and could lead to Moscow withdrawing its troops, according to dpa.

Scholz, Macron and Draghi have been criticized not only for helping too little but for speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Many leaders and regular people in the Baltic and Central European nations, which were controlled by Moscow during the Cold War, believe that Putin only understands force, and have viewed the efforts by Macron and others to keep speaking to Putin following his invasion as unacceptable.

Hopes were high among Ukrainians that the visit could mark a turning point by opening the way to significant new arms supplies.

Tamara Malko, a resident of Pokrovsk, in the Donestsk region of eastern Ukraine, said Macron and Olaf had been “very cold” toward Ukrainians so far, and hoped for a change.

“We want peace very much, vey much and have high hopes for Macron and Scholz,” she said. “We want them to see and understand our pain.”

Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai said the visit will not bring anything if the leaders ask Ukraine to conclude a peace treaty with Russia that involves giving up territory. He said that is something Ukrainians would never accept.

“I am sure that our president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is not going to make concessions and trade our territories. If someone wants to stop Russia by giving them the territories, Germany has Bavaria, Italy has Tuscany, the French can concede Provence, for instance,” he said.

“Listen, this is Russia. These are wild people. Today it will be one territory, tomorrow another one, the day after tomorrow another. And another thing: Many heroes of Ukraine died protecting the country as a whole. Nobody will forgive us if people die but we make concessions to the aggressor.”

The visit comes as EU leaders prepare to make a decision June 23-24 on Ukraine’s request to become a candidate for EU membership, and ahead of an important NATO summit June 29-30 in Madrid.

Also Thursday, NATO defense ministers are meeting in Brussels to weigh more military aid for Ukraine. On Wednesday, the U.S. and Germany announced more aid, as America and its allies provide longer-range weapons they say can make a difference in a fight where Ukrainian forces are outnumbered and outgunned by their Russian invaders.

On Tuesday, during a trip to Ukraine’s neighbors Romania and Moldova, Macron said a “message of support” must be sent to Ukraine before EU heads of state and government “have to make important decisions” at their Brussels meeting.

“We are in a moment where we need to send clear political signals — we, Europeans, we the European Union — toward Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” he said.

Macron is deeply involved in diplomatic efforts to push for a cease-fire in Ukraine that would allow future peace negotiations. He has frequent discussions with Zelenskyy and has spoken on the phone several times with Russian President Vladimir Putin since Putin launched the invasion in late February.

Scholz had long resisted traveling to Kyiv, saying he didn’t want to “join the queue of people who do a quick in-out for a photo opportunity.” Instead, Scholz said a trip should focus on doing “concrete things.”

Germany on Wednesday announced that it will provide Ukraine with three multiple launch rocket systems of the kind that Kyiv has said it urgently needs to defend itself against Russia’s invasion.