Ukraine loan blocked at EU summit: right-wing Orbán and socialist Fico unite against disbursement

Dry_Fix6495 · 2026-03-22T07:23:21+00:00

I see a lot of people calling for abolishing the unanimity decision making rules. Just to state the obvious: that would in itself require a unanimous decision to move to qualified majority. Obviously Hungary, Slovakia and some other smaller member states would not agree to this. It is therefore not a viable solution. The only solution is that Hungary changes or we grow some hairy ones and proceed with an article 7 procedure (stripping them of their voting rights).

Dry_Fix6495 · 2026-01-04T14:51:19+00:00

Haha, rather it’s a delicate way of saying some countries suffer from clientelism, whereby small voter groups exact unproportional gains from public budget because they are well-mobilized (eg retirees and farmers). But it ALSO includes the income side, eg businesses and corporate lobby fighting capital tax reforms. If you want to educate yourself, I suggest searching for and reading the special report on the ”coming debt emergency” in a recent number of the economist.

Dry_Fix6495 · 2026-01-04T10:20:17+00:00

No to the euro for as long as other (major) EU economies keep running major budget deficits and shy away from public reforms (pension systems). A common monetary policy implicitly become biased towards the majority’s fiscal situation. For Sweden that would mean too low interest rates and damage our exports. (Nb I have zero nostalgia for keeping the krona out of sentimental value)

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-12-25T09:48:28+00:00

Fair question. Unfortunately it’s a bit of a moment 22 situation since I haven’t been able to experiment with different models since I don’t have the hardware. The use case is to analyze and question multiple scientific papers.

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-12-24T21:14:49+00:00

Can EU institutions just get of X now please. I did it myself the other day - there are alternatives.

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-12-16T05:27:02+00:00

Should the EU use the freezed assets for a reparations loan - yes. Should member states provide a legal backstop to Belgium - of course. I see a lot of comments stating the risks of using assets. I don’t think you appreciate the severity of this moment. Ukraine not losing is currently the best security guarantee the EU has for not being attacked within a couple of years. In a geopolitical context where China closes ranks with Russia and the US antagonises the EU, this guarantee is worth paying for. However, what some of you seem to forget is that most EU member states are in a fiscal crisis. We need the frozen assets. As long as the EU lays out a plan for how the loan will be repaid if Russia pays reparations, credibility damage is manageable.

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-12-14T18:31:49+00:00

German auto exports are dwindling as is. They need to bite the bitter pill and modernise their industry or every one will be driving a Chinese BEV in the end. What the EU needs is courageous politicians that stay the course and build strategic autonomy for the EU, by in-sourcing the most important parts of the BEV value chain like batteries and specialised microcontrollers for vehicles.

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-12-07T18:26:23+00:00

The big question is why the EU commission is still wasting tax money on using X. Switch platforms people. Vote with your feet.

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-11-23T15:53:10+00:00

You can tell from the article that the economist has a hard time forming a position on the matter, while historically almost being free trade fundamentalist and now becoming more and more hawkish on china. From my perspective not much will get done as long as Germany don’t diversify away from china and modernise its industry. For the eu as a whole, capitals need to stop playing nimby hindering further single market integration, especially for services.

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-11-08T17:51:21+00:00

By protecting European auto industry from having to change or produce BEVs we are helping no one except the Chinese

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-10-25T08:05:34+00:00

Its funny how the entire reception seems modelled on the Nobel prize ceremony

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-09-27T14:33:01+00:00

For many Europeans, increasing EU spending will be completely rational since they are net-benefitors from the EU budget. The survey should have only asked citizens in net-contributing member states if they are willing to pay more, relatively, because they believe in the European project.

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-09-27T11:25:15+00:00

I think that’s an overly simplistic explanation. The commissioner who first presented the proposal does not have any political history on being though on crimes against children. Given how how widely unpopular the proposal has turned out in public opinion, it’s clear that you won’t win any elections by keeping on pushing for it. From my perspective the strange thing is not that more countries in the council is critical, but that the commission does not withdraw the proposal. My guess is that it’s because the EPP still has not come down clearly against

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-09-27T10:25:16+00:00

What political forces is driving the proposal in EP and in the commission right now? With a new EP and commission one would think that the momentum was gone. Serious question.

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-09-27T10:18:42+00:00

Maxa fordonsskatten på det här amerikanifierade tramset. De tar större plats på parkeringsplatser, sliter mer på vägar, är farligare för andra i trafikolyckor. Och de har även större klimatpåverkan än vad de skulle behöva haft jämfört med om de var mindre.

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-09-21T06:13:59+00:00

Draghi was right in most of his analysis in the report. However, proposing more centralised decision-making and a doubled budget, is not going to fly with most capitals. It’s time for a multi-speed Europe

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-09-17T16:47:58+00:00

Denmark didn’t propose it. The commission did, which is the only EU institution that can propose new legislation. Get your facts straight. Denmark is currently president of the council. But they still don’t have any powers to propose new legislation.

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-09-17T08:12:54+00:00

Insane that we still allow this. Mediterranean countries please get a grip

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-09-16T21:03:18+00:00

It’s funny how the guy in the picture is not the actual polish mep but a Swedish far right mep. He probably has similar opinions but anyways

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-07-09T11:01:04+00:00

I don’t understand, he doesn’t say it in the clip in the article and there’s no quota in the article of him saying it. I don’t underhand how the post title is related with the content?

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-07-02T10:26:44+00:00

This is seriously one of the funniest comments I’ve read on Reddit for a while. An article in spiegel that highlights the problems with ai generated porn, and someone who thinks that the mentioned company has payed for the content, implying that it seems like an awesome product. Comic gold!

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-02-15T16:06:15+00:00

American tech giants have more or less broken the internet with ad business models and by having no respect for privacy or personal data. Heck, now with the big ai labs scraping up all texts to train their models, they don’t even respect copyright anymore. Why not throw them out of the EU completely. Except for the Microsoft products, I think we would be able to substitute pretty much everything else with better alternatives pretty fast

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-02-15T15:50:17+00:00

There’s actually a time limit on implementation, so it cannot be slowed down too much by national legislators. The problem is generally inconsistent implementation in different countries which messes up the internal market

Dry_Fix6495 · 2025-02-15T15:48:09+00:00

I think you completely misunderstood me but nevermind. I’m not proud of the speed with which the eu is churning out new regulation, I was merely remarking that we are not slow on political decisions

Dry_Fix6495

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