Atlantic Sentinel

Category: News

  • Netanyahu on Verge of Losing Power

    Benjamin Netanyahu
    Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits a security check point in the West Bank, February 6, 2020 (GPO/Haim Zach)

    Benjamin Netanyahu is finally on the way out after clinging to power through four elections in two years.

    The Likud party leader has been Israel’s prime minister since 2009 following a three-year term in the 1990s.

    He is facing trial on three charges of bribery and fraud, has disparaged journalists, vilified prosectors and judges, and politicized Israel’s vital relationship with the United States. Republicans adore Netanyahu, but Democrats have become less unanimous in their support of his country.

    It’s why I’ve urged his rivals to do a deal with Arab parties, who have been largely excluded from power in the Jewish state. To deny Netanyahu a sixth term requires breaking that taboo. (more…)

  • Separatist Parties Agree to Form New Government in Catalonia

    Plaça de Sant Jaume Barcelona Spain
    Early morning in Plaça de Sant Jaume, Barcelona, seat of the Catalan regional government (iStock)

    Catalonia’s leading pro-independence parties have reached an agreement to install Pere Aragonès as regional president.

    Aragonès has been acting president since September, when Quim Torra of the center-right Together for Catalonia (Junts) was forced to step down. Aragonès’ Republican Left won the election in February.

    The agreement comes after three months of negotiations during which the Republicans raised the possibility of forming a minority government if Junts would not move closer to their position.

    The sticking point was how to continue the independence process. The Republicans want to give talks about self-determination with Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez a chance. They often vote with the social democrat in the national Congress. Junts does not expect Sánchez will meet the separatists’ demands, which include a recognized referendum on independence from Spain and an amnesty for the organizers of the 2017 referendum, which had been forbidden by the Spanish Constitution Court. They were convicted in 2019 to between nine and thirteen years in prison. (more…)

  • Catalan Republicans to Form Minority Government

    Pere Aragones
    Acting Catalan president Pere Aragonès gives a speech in Barcelona, Spain, December 14, 2020 (ERC)

    Catalonia’s leading independence party has announced plans to form a minority government after almost three months of fruitless coalition talks.

    Negotiations between the Republican Left, led by Acting President Pere Aragonès, and the formerly center-right Together for Catalonia (Junts), which now presents itself as a big tent, have stalled.

    Time is running out for the separatists, who together hold 74 of the 135 seats in the regional parliament. If a new president isn’t inaugurated by May 26, snap elections would automatically be called. (more…)

  • Three Things to Watch in Britain’s Local Elections

    Bristol England
    Aerial view of Bristol, England (Shutterstock)

    Scotland’s will be the most closely watched election, but voters across the UK go to the polls on Thursday.

    In addition to the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, all sixty seats in the Welsh Assembly, all 25 seats in the London Assembly, thirteen mayoralties and thousands of seats in 143 English councils are contested.

    There is also a parliamentary by-election in Hartlepool, which has voted Labour since the constituency was created in 1974.

    Polls opened at 7 AM local time and will close at 10 PM. Due to coronavirus restrictions, many localities won’t start counting votes until Friday. Full results aren’t expected until the weekend.

    Here are three things to watch: (more…)

  • German Right Picks Unpopular Laschet to Succeed Merkel

    Armin Laschet
    Minister President Armin Laschet of North Rhine-Westphalia makes a speech in the German Federal Council in Berlin, December 14, 2018 (Bundesrat/Sascha Radke)

    Armin Laschet will lead Germany’s Christian Democrats into the September election. His rival, Markus Söder, bowed out after the executive committee of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the larger of the two “Union” parties, threw its weight behind Laschet in a late-night vote.

    Following seven hours of debate about whether and how to vote, 31 of the committee’s 46 members backed Laschet in the early hours of Tuesday.

    The alliance of the CDU, which competes in fifteen of Germany’s sixteen states, and Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU) does not have a formal procedure for electing its joint chancellor candidate. (more…)

  • Waiting for a Deal in Catalonia

    Barcelona Spain
    Skyline of Barcelona, Spain (Unsplash/Anastasiia Tarasova)

    Two months after they expanded their majority in the regional parliament, Catalonia’s pro-independence parties have yet to form a new government.

    The separatists for the first time won more than 50 percent of the votes in the election in February. The formerly center-right Together for Catalonia (Junts), which now presents itself as a big tent, lost two seats. But the Republican Left and far-left Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) gained six, giving the three parties, which have governed Catalonia since 2015, a comfortable majority of 74 out of 135 seats.

    The Republican Left and CUP quickly did a deal, which would pull the anticapitalists into government for the first time. (They previously supported minority governments of Junts and the Republican Left.)

    An agreement with Junts has proved elusive. (more…)

  • Rutte’s Future in Doubt After Botched Coalition Talks

    Emmanuel Macron Mark Rutte
    French president Emmanuel Macron speaks with Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte during a European Council summit in Brussels, June 24, 2018 (Elysée/Philippe Servent)

    Two weeks after parliamentary elections in the Netherlands, attempts to form a coalition government have broken down amid incriminations that could put Mark Rutte’s prime ministership at risk.

    Rutte won the election, but a botched start to the negotiations to form his fourth government has thrown doubt on his political survival.

    The liberal has been in power since 2010. (more…)

  • Netanyahu Rival Would Be Kingmaker in New Knesset

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud is projected to place first in Israel’s parliamentary election with 31 to 33 seats, down from 37.

    Yamina, a new right-wing party led by former economy minister Naftali Bennett, would hold the balance of power in the new Knesset with seven or eight seats, according to exit polls.

    61 seats are needed for a majority. (more…)

  • Liberal Parties Look for Allies in Netherlands

    Giuseppe Conte Mark Rutte
    Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte is received by his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, in The Hague, July 10, 2020 (Palazzo Chigi)

    Talks to form a coalition government are underway in the Netherlands, where Prime Minister Mark Rutte won the election on Wednesday but fell short of an overall majority.

    Four parties will be needed to form a government. Rutte’s right-liberal VVD (of which I am a member) and Trade Minister Sigrid Kaag’s left-liberal D66 would be needed in almost any combination. The two have 58 seats. 76 are needed for majority. (more…)

  • Curaçao Election Result Will Set Off Alarm Bells in Netherlands

    Willemstad Curaçao
    Flag of Curaçao in Willemstad (iStock/Flavio Vallenari)

    Two days after parliamentary elections in the European Netherlands, voters on Curaçao, one of the three autonomous Dutch islands in the Caribbean, went to the polls on Friday.

    The result was a resounding victory for the populist Movement for the Future of Curaçao (MFK), led by Gilmar Pisas, which won nine out of 21 seats in the island Estates. (more…)

  • Catalan Separatists Close In on Post-Election Deal

    Palau de la Generalitat Barcelona Spain
    Palace of the Catalan regional government in Barcelona, Spain at night (iStock/Tomas Sereda)

    Catalonia’s separatist parties, which won a majority in last month’s election, have taken the first step to forming a regional government.

    The Republican Left, the formerly center-right Together for Catalonia — which now presents itself as a big tent — and the far-left Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) have divided up five of the seven seats on the presidium of the new parliament, with the speakership going to Together’s Laura Borràs.

    The Republican Left, the biggest party for the first time since the Civil War, has its eyes on the regional presidency. (more…)

  • Dutch Intervene to Break Stalemate in Curaçao Legislature

    Willemstad Curaçao
    View of Willemstad, Curaçao (iStock)

    The Dutch government has intervened on Curaçao to break what it described as an “antidemocratic” impasse on the island.

    The government of what is nominally an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands had requested the intervention to reconstitute the island legislature. “At the moment,” Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath said earlier this week, “democracy isn’t functioning on Curaçao as it should be.”

    All ten opposition lawmakers refused to attend virtual meetings of the Estates, denying the ruling parties, who also have ten seats, a quorum to swear in a tie-breaking deputy: Emmilou Capriles, who succeeds Jeser El Ayoubi.

    The Dutch government has now appointed Capriles by decree.

    The same opposition lawmakers tried to use the death of a ruling party lawmaker to bring down the government last summer. They failed, but not before encouraging riots. (more…)

  • Three-Way Race for First Place in Catalonia

    Salvador Illa
    Spanish health minister Salvador Illa listens to a debate in Congress in Madrid, October 28, 2020 (PSOE/Eva Ercolanese)

    Pro-independence parties are projected to defend their majority in the Catalan parliament on Sunday, but the regional branch of Spain’s ruling Socialist Party could place first in the election.

    The Catalan Socialists, led by former health minister Salvador Illa, who resigned from Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’ cabinet two weeks ago to campaign, are polling at 21-23 percent, up from 14 percent in the last regional election and 20.5 percent in the last national election.

    The Socialists and their allies in the far-left Podemos (We Can), who have 6-8 percent support, oppose Catalan independence but do want to give the region more autonomy. Although talks about transferring more power to Barcelona are still on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. (more…)

  • Dutch Government Falls Over Child Benefits Scandal

    Mark Rutte
    Prime Minister Mark Rutte answers questions from Dutch lawmakers in The Hague, September 17, 2020 (Tweede Kamer)

    Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has tendered his government’s resignation to King Willem-Alexander.

    With only two months to go before elections, and the government remaining in a caretaker capacity to manage the coronavirus crisis, the resignation is largely symbolic.

    But smaller parties in Rutte’s coalition felt they had to take responsibility for what an inquiry described as an “unprecedented injustice” in the tax service, which wrongly accused more than 20,000 families of fraud.

    Lodewijk Asscher, who was the responsible minister in charge of social affairs in the last government, stepped down as leader of the now-opposition Labor Party on Thursday. (more…)

  • Biden Plans $1.9 Trillion Coronavirus Rescue Program

    Joe Biden
    Former American vice president Joe Biden campaigns in Greenville, South Carolina, August 30, 2019 (Biden For President)

    Joe Biden plans to ask Congress for $1.9 trillion in the first weeks of his presidency to cope with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.

    Matthew Yglesias and Punchbowl News, a new Capitol Hill-focused newsletter, have the details:

    • $400 billion for health, including $50 billion for testing, $30 billion for protective gear and $20 billion for vaccinations.
    • Hire 100,000 public health workers.
    • A mandatory paid sick leave program.
    • $1,400 cheques to all Americans on top of the $600 cheques sent in December.
    • Extend federal unemployment benefits at $400 per week.
    • Extend the eviction moratorium.
    • $30 billion in rental assistance.
    • Raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
    • Raise the child tax credit to as much $3,600 per year for families with young children.
    • $350 billion in financial relief for local, tribal and state governments. (more…)