Cultivated-meat plant of Good Meat in Alameda, California (Just Eat)
When I wrote about the three mistakes people make about cultivated meat — comparing its current price to that of traditional (and subsidized) meat, comparing cultivated meat to a perfect world, and betting against progress — I also pointed out the industry does have real challenges:
Growing more than muscle fibers in order to make complex meats, like steaks.
Cultivating meat at scale.
Getting regulatory and political approval.
I investigated those challenges for Nieuwe Oogst, a Dutch agrarian magazine. Here is a summary for English readers. (more…)
Former Spanish defense minister María Dolores Cospedal confers with then-President Alberto Núñez Feijóo of Galicia during a People’s Party congress in Seville, April 7, 2018 (PP)
King Felipe VI has asked the leader of Spain’s conservative People’s Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to try to form a government.
He is unlikely to succeed.
Feijóo’s party won the election in July with 136 out of 350 seats, but even with the backing of the far-right Vox (Voice), which has 33 seats, and the one deputy of the Navarrese People’s Union, he would fall five votes short of a majority.
Outgoing prime minister, and Socialist Party leader, Pedro Sánchez stands a better chance of cobbling together a majority — but only just. (more…)
Dutch parliamentarian Pieter Omtzigt makes a speech in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, June 26, 2019 (Council of Europe/ Ellen Wuibaux)
Dutch parliamentarian Pieter Omtzigt has thrown the November election in the Netherlands wide open by announcing the formation of a new political party.
His New Social Contract would replace the conservative Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) as one of the three parties vying for first place. The others are outgoing prime minister Mark Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), led by Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz, and the joint Labor Party-Green list, led by EU commissioner Frans Timmermans.
Omtzigt would cut support for the BBB in half, reducing the agrarians to sharing fourth place with Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party (PVV).
Omtzigt’s unconventional mix of left- and right-wing policies would also enable him to lure voters away from the Socialists. And it opens up more possibilities for a coalition government after the election. (more…)
Dutch, Italian and Spanish socialist party leaders Frans Timmermans, Nicola Zingaretti and Pedro Sánchez meet in Brussels, March 21, 2019 (PES)
The Dutch parliamentary elections in November are shaping up to become a three-way race.
Outgoing prime minister Mark Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) is neck and neck in the polls with the conservative Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) and a joint list of the Labor Party and Greens. All three have between 15 and 18 percent support.
Geert Wilders’ nationalist Freedom Party is polling in fourth place with 9 to 12 percent. Ten other parties are below 7 percent.
That makes it hard to imagine a coalition government that doesn’t include at least two of the three largest parties. The VVD (of which I am a member) may need to choose between a coalition with the right or the left. Both pose risks. Either would require a third and probably a fourth party for majority. (more…)
Prime Ministers António Costa of Portugal, Pedro Sánchez of Spain and Stefan Löfven of Sweden attend a meeting of European socialist party leaders in Brussels, October 15, 2020 (PES)
An election that centered on Spanish identity has handed power to parties from the two regions that most clearly define themselves against it: the Basque Country and Catalonia.
Neither Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’ left-wing bloc of the Socialist Party and Sumar (Unite), nor a combination of Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s conservative People’s Party and the far-right Vox (Voice), will have a majority in the next Congress, which convenes in August. Basque and Catalan nationalists won enough seats on Sunday to decide who becomes the next prime minister.
Sánchez holds the best cards despite placing second. He governed with the support of Basque and Catalan parties before. But they may ask for more this time than he is willing to give.
The odds are against Feijóo. He grew his party from 89 to 136 seats, and claimed victory on Sunday night, but he would need both the anti-regionalist Vox and one of the four regional parties from the Basque Country and Catalonia for a majority. That is an improbable combination. His best hope is that Sánchez will fail too and the country must hold a repeat election next year. (more…)
Columbus Monument in Barcelona, Spain (Unsplash/Benjamin Voros)
The outcome of Sunday’s election in Spain could usher in a new period of confrontation with the independence movement in Catalonia.
If, as the polls predict, the conservative People’s Party and far-right Vox (Voice) win a majority, the next government would be far more hostile to Catalan interests than Pedro Sánchez’, a coalition of the Socialists and far left.
The last major protests were in 2019, when nine of Catalonia’s leading separatists, including the region’s former vice president, were convicted of sedition for organizing a referendum on independence. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Barcelona and smaller Catalan cities. At night, trashcans were burned and there were altercations with police. (more…)
Palacio de las Cortes, seat of the Spanish Congress of Deputies, in Madrid, August 16, 2017 (Shutterstock/Vivvi Smak)
Spaniards elect a new Congress and Senate on Sunday. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the conservative People’s Party, hopes to unseat Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, a Socialist, but surveys give neither man a majority. The relative strength of the far left and far right, which have been polling at a combined 25 to 30 percent percent, could decide who forms the next government.
This election guide explains everything you need to know: the Spanish electoral system, the parties, the issues and which coalitions may be possible. (more…)
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte arrives in Brussels to meet with other European leaders, February 12, 2015 (European Council)
Mark Rutte stunned the Dutch parliament on Monday, when he told lawmakers he would not seek his center-right party’s nomination for a fifth term as prime minister.
Rutte had already submitted his resignation to King Willem-Alexander after the four parties in his government failed to do a deal on asylum reform, but he left the door open in a news conference on Friday to running again.
In power for thirteen years, Rutte is Europe’s longest-serving elected leader after Viktor Orbán. His surprise exit, combined with the meteoric rise of a new farmers’ party and the likely merger of the Labor Party and Greens, could redraw the Dutch political landscape, which has been dominated by Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) for thirteen years.
Rutte stays on as caretaker until a successor can be sworn in, which could be a year from now. Elections aren’t due until November. Forming a coalition government in the Netherlands usually requires months of negotiation. Reforms in agriculture, housing and labor law may be put on hold in the meantime. (more…)
Spanish People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo gives a press conference after meeting with other European conservative party leaders in Brussels, June 29 (PP)
Polls predict the conservative People’s Party (PP) will win the election in Spain this month. But with 31 to 37 percent of the votes, it would fall well short of a majority.
Leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo has said he would first seek the acquiescence of the outgoing Socialist Party, which is polling at 27 to 29 percent, to form a minority government. That may be an option if Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez resigns or is forced out as leader. The centrist wing of his party never warmed to his coalition with the Basque and Catalan separatists and far left.
If the Socialists vote against him, Feijóo would need the support of Vox (Voice). The far-right party rules several Spanish regions and municipalities with the PP.
What would a minority PP government look like? And what might a deal with Vox entail? First I’ll list the highlights from the two parties’ election programs, then some of the concessions the PP has made to Vox in the regions. (more…)
Cultivated meat in a petri dish (iStock/Svetlana Cherruty)
Two Californian companies, Good Meat and Upside Foods, have received approval to sell cultivated meat in the United States. They plan to offer it in upscale restaurants first and in grocery stores by 2028.
It makes America the second country in the world to legalize cultivated meat. Singapore was first in 2020. Israel could become the third: its regulators have received applications by food companies.
Europe is falling behind. It may take years before the EU allows meat grown from animal cells on its single market. However, the Netherlands — where cultivated meat was invented — is making it possible to taste cultivated meat at its two companies, Meatable and Mosa Meat. RTL News reports that the Dutch Food Safety Authority is expected to issue guideline for tastings in the coming weeks.
It is exciting news for those of us who like to eat meat, but don’t like to slaughter animals for it. Two in three Americans would try cultivated meat, according to a survey. The Good Food Institute, a think tank that promotes alternative proteins, has found similar interest in Europe.
A loud minority is vehemently opposed, and they are fed arguments by a livestock industry that considers cultivated meat a threat.
Let’s tackle the three biggest mistakes they make. (more…)
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez speaks with European Council president Charles Michel in Versailles, France, March 10, 2022 (European Council)
When Pedro Sánchez came to power in Spain five years ago, even his allies doubted that his coalition government — the first and most left-wing since the Civil War — could last. Yet with the support of far-left populists, former communists and Basque and Catalan separatists, Sánchez has been able to enact a throng of progressive reforms.
Sánchez has a knack for defying the odds, as I told Pratik Chougule on the Star Spangled Gamblers podcast. He was ousted by his party after losing the 2015 and 2016 elections, but avenged himself in the 2017 primary. He plotted the first successful vote of no-confidence against a sitting prime minister the following year and has managed to stay in power since despite never winning an outright majority.
The social democrat’s luck may finally run out. Polls for the general election next month, which Sánchez brought forward from December after his coalition parties lost the municipal and regional elections in May, point to a victory for the conservative People’s Party and far-right Vox (Voice).
At the risk of writing Sánchez’ political obituary too soon, here is a look back at what he has achieved as prime minister. (more…)
Glovo courier makes a delivery in Milan, Italy at night, February 17, 2019 (Unsplash/Andrea Ferrario)
European labor ministers have agreed to bring millions of gig-economy workers into regulation.
Reforms, which still need to be approved by the European Parliament, would put the onus on platforms like Deliveroo and Uber to prove their workers are not employees.
Employees are eligible for minimum wage and sick pay, protected against summary dismissal and they qualify for pension and unemployment benefits. (more…)
German finance minister and Free Democratic Party leader Christian Lindner boards a government plane to Washington DC, April 22, 2022 (Bundesfinanzministerium)
Germany’s Free Democrats are turning their backs on climate and sustainability. Across the border in the Netherlands, by contrast, a liberal-led government has accelerated its program to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
The Dutch coalition — which includes two Christian democratic and a left-liberal party in addition to the Free Democrats’ ally VVD — is raising taxes on coal use and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in order to pay for subsidies on green hydrogen, solar panels and secondhand electric cars. It is also banning most gas-powered boilers in favor of electric heat pumps by 2027.
The German liberals resist a similar ban. They nearly torpedoed an EU phaseout of diesel and petrol cars. (more…)
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez visits UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, December 28, 2022 (La Moncloa)
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez has unexpectedly called an early general election after his Socialist Workers’ Party was defeated in local elections on Sunday.
General elections weren’t due until December. By bringing them forward to July, Sánchez is taking a gamble — and not for the first time. (more…)
Pedro Sánchez speaks at a conference of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, January 30, 2016 (PSOE)
Elections are held in over 8,000 Spanish municipalities, 38 provinces and twelve out of seventeen regions on Sunday.
They are the first test for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’ Socialist Party regional elections were held in the Basque Country and Galicia during the pandemic in 2020.
This guide explains how the elections work, what municipalities, provinces and regions do, and how the political landscape has shifted in Spain in the last few years. (more…)
