Valletta (AFP) – Interior ministers from four EU countries meet Monday in Malta to try to work out an automatic system to determine which countries will welcome migrants rescued in the central Mediterranean.

The ministers from France, Germany, Italy, and Malta hope to end the long, drawn-out negotiations that have seen vulnerable asylum seekers including babies stranded at sea, sometimes for weeks.

They take place ahead of a European summit in October in Luxembourg.

The mooted automatic distribution system would only be a temporary solution until the current system, the “Dublin regulation”, can be revised.

Its critics have long argued that it places an unfair burden on the Mediterranean frontier countries Italy, Malta, Greece, and Spain.

Italy’s new, pro-EU government has moved quickly to turn the page on the hardline anti-migrant policies pursued by former far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini, who closed the ports to those rescued.

A successful European migrant agreement would be a blow to Salvini, showing that cooperation gets better results than confrontation.

After a meeting last week, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and French President Emmanuel Macron both called for a reform of Europe’s “ineffective” policy.

Countries that did not volunteer to take migrants should face financial penalties, they argued.

– Rotation? –

In a sign of how things have changed over the last few weeks, Italy late Sunday authorized charity rescue vessel the Ocean Viking to disembark its 182 people rescued at sea in Messina, Sicily.

The Italian decision “puts an end to five days of unnecessary suffering,” said charities SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders (MSF) which operate the ship.

“It is unacceptable that the people who have survived this very dangerous crossing… are stranded at sea for days and sometimes weeks before finding a Place of Safety,” the ship’s search and rescue coordinator Nicola Stalla said.

“It is urgent that a European agreement is found to put an end to these repeated stand-offs,” he said in a statement.

At an informal meeting of foreign and interior ministers in Paris in June, 15 countries agreed to the creation of a “European Solidarity Mechanism”.

Croatia, Finland, France, Ireland, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg, and Portugal said they would “actively” take part.

But Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orban, rejected redistribution quotas in comments made during a visit to Rome on Saturday.

Monday’s meeting in Malta will try to decide where those rescued can be relocated — and whether that covers just those fleeing war and persecution, or economic migrants too.

France and Germany are reportedly willing to receive 25 percent of people plucked from vessels in the Mediterranean.

But they are not keen on Italy’s idea for migrants to be sent to countries across southern Europe on a rotation basis.

Italy could take 10 percent of new arrivals — a lower proportion because it has already hosted tens of thousands of new arrivals.

The number of migrants arriving in Europe via the Mediterranean has dropped sharply in recent years. The UN’s refugee body recorded nearly 115,000 arrivals in 2018, down from 170,000 in 2017 and over one million in 2015.

Malta’s Interior Minister Michael Farrugia on Sunday bemoaned the lack of European solidarity when it comes to migrants, despite having “supported one another when faced with harsh economic realities.

“If this doesn’t change, then I don’t see the migration issue being solved,” he told the Times of Malta. “Unfortunately, I see it becoming a divisive issue between member states in the years to come.”

European migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos will also attend the Malta talks, as will Finland’s interior minister — as they hold the EU presidency.

Source: https://news.yahoo.com/eu-ministers-malta-thrash-migrant-system-030217177.html

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ROME, July 5. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed with Pope Francis the issue of protecting the Christian population of the Middle East and humanitarian assistance for Syria, the Russian leader told a news conference after talks with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

“We discussed the issues of protecting the Christian population of the Middle East and humanitarian assistance in Syria. It is important that the positions of Russia and the Vatican coincide in the issues concerning traditional values, promoting inter-religious and inter-civilizational dialogue,” the Russian leader said.

Putin recalled that at the meeting with the pontiff the issues of developing relations between Russia and the Vatican were also discussed. The sides agreed on paying special attention to cooperation in the fields of culture, education, and healthcare, he noted.

The Russian president gave a positive assessment of the talks in the Vatican. “This was a very kind discussion. [We spoke about] some international issues and also about developing bilateral relations between Russia and the Vatican, including the spiritual aspect of this cooperation and humanitarian ties.”

Putin arrived on his sixth visit to Vatican City on Thursday to hold his third meeting with Pope Francis. During his visit to the Holy See in 2000 and 2003, Putin met with Pope John Paul II. In 2007, he met with Pope Benedict XVI. His previous meetings with Pope Francis took place in 2013 and 2015.

Source: https://tass.com/russias-foreign-policy/1067180

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A Senegalese migrant brought to Italy by migrant transport NGO Sea Watch has said that Matteo Salvini is “right” to insist that other EU nations accept boat migrants.

Khadim Diop, 24, made his comments on the day of the arrest of Sea Watch-3 captain Carola Rackete. Speaking to Euronews, Diop called Ms. Rackete a “good girl” but said that Salvini “is partly right”.

“He wants Europe to do its part on migrants. Germany must take a share, as must France and other countries. You can’t leave everything to Italy. There is a crisis everywhere. It is not easy for anyone,” he added.

In a weeks-long stand-off, Salvini had refused docking for the migrant transport NGO onto Italian soil until other EU nations had volunteered to take 40 of the migrants, while Brussels had urged the right-populist government to let all migrants land in Italy without condition.

Ms. Rackete, a German national, was arrested on Saturday after forcing her way into Italian waters and ramming a patrol boat in an effort to dock the Sea Watch-3. She faces up to 27 years in prison if found guilty of the charges brought against her which include aiding illegal migration.

Breitbart London@BreitbartLondon

Migrant Ferry Captain in Court for Abetting Illegal Migration, Ramming Police Boat

Migrant ferry captain in court for abetting illegal migration, ramming police boat – Breitbart image

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The German government has also weighed in on the arrest of the open borders activist with foreign minister Heiko Maas and Chancellor Angela Merkel demanding the release of Rackete, according to Il Giornale.

In a closed-door meeting, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte rebuffed Ms. Merkel, telling her: “In Italy, the executive power is distinct from the judiciary.”

“The prime minister, despite being the highest governmental authority, cannot intervene to recommend the behavior that judges must take. It is in the hands of the judiciary,” Conte added.

Conte’s strong comments are a stark contrast to the more diplomatic tone the Italian prime minister has made to Ms. Merkel in the past.

Leaked audio from earlier this year showed Conte more willing to take migrants, telling Merkel: “We’ll take them, of course, of course, but Angela, do not worry, I’m very determined.”

Interior minister Matteo Salvini, meanwhile, has called the actions of Ms Rackete an “act of war” and welcomed her arrest after previously accusing the NGO of people trafficking.

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Source: https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/07/02/angela-merkel-demands-sea-watch-captain-release-migrant-redistribution/

[Disclaimer]

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The post Europe’s Iron Curtain: The Refugee Crisis Is About To Worsen first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Italy – the entry point for thousands of migrants, mainly from Africa – had threatened to veto the conclusions of the entire agenda if it did not receive help on the issue.

In a compromise, new migrant centres are to be set up in EU countries on a “voluntary” basis.

They would determine who are “irregular migrants, who will be returned”.

The relocation and resettlement of genuine refugees would also take place on a voluntary basis, the agreement says.

However, it was unclear which countries would host the centres or receive refugees.

The joint communique also speaks of restricting the movement of asylum seekers between EU states.

• Could the migration crisis finish the EU?
• The Aquarius: Migrant taxi service or charitable rescuers?

“After this European summit, Europe is more responsible and offers more solidarity,” said Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. “Today Italy is no longer alone.”

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said more needed to be done to resolve disagreements.

What has been agreed?

In addition to the migrant processing centres, hosted by EU members on a voluntary basis, the 28 EU leaders also agreed several other measures:

• strengthening external border controls, and boosting financing for Turkey and countries in North Africa
• exploring the possibility of “regional disembarkation platforms”, which are aimed at breaking the business model of people-smuggling gangs by processing refugees and migrants outside the EU. However getting North African countries to host such centres could be very difficult and Morocco again on Thursday rejected the idea
• internal measures taken by member states to stop migrants moving within the EU, which the agreement said undermined asylum policy and the border-free Schengen travel area
• boosting efforts to “prevent the development of new sea or land routes” into Europe
• more investment in Africa to hep the continent achieve a “substantial socio-economic transformation” so people no longer leave for a better life
• Further work to reform EU asylum policy, including changes to the so-called Dublin regulation under which migrants must be considered for asylum in the first safe country where they arrive

Whose needs does the deal meet?

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had earlier taken the rare step of blocking the conclusions of the joint communique until the leaders had settled the migration issue. Both Italy and Greece want other countries to share the burden.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had said that the migration issue could be a defining moment for the EU – but she also needed the summit to avert a political crisis at home that could bring down her government.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, from her Bavarian coalition partner, the CSU, had given her a deadline of this weekend. He has threatened to start turning away migrants who have already registered elsewhere from the border in his home state.

Without the CSU, Mrs Merkel would lose her parliamentary majority.

It is unclear whether the measures agreed will be enough, and speaking to reporters at 05:00 local time (03:00 GMT), she acknowledged the EU still had “a lot of work to do to bridge the different views”.

• Merkel’s Bavarian ally threatens migrant mutiny
• Reality Check: Who is responsible for migrants at sea?

The bloc is deeply divided over the migration issue, with several Central European states rejecting an EU scheme to relocate 160,000 refugees from overcrowded camps in Greece and Italy.

How many migrants are entering the EU?

The flows of people include refugees fleeing the Syrian war and other conflicts, urgently seeking asylum.

It is not a crisis on the scale of 2015, when thousands were coming ashore daily on the Greek islands. The European Council – the EU’s strategic leadership – says the numbers illegally entering the EU have dropped 96% since their peak in October 2015.

But this month’s tensions over migrant rescue ships barred from entry to Italian ports – most recently the German charity ship Lifeline – have put the issue firmly back in the EU spotlight.

The Lifeline was only allowed to dock in Malta after intense diplomacy among several EU states, who each agreed to take some of the migrants on board. Malta said that Norway had now also agreed to take a share.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44652846

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German chancellor Angela Merkel has led by example on how to approach the refugee crisis in Europe. But her two-year struggle to get other European Union countries to follow suit, by overhauling the bloc’s asylum rules, won’t be over any time soon.

Despite the looming June deadline, Merkel said in a statement today (June 26) that there would be no agreement reached at this week’s EU summit.

At the center of the impasse is a disagreement about who should bear the ultimate responsibility for handling an asylum seeker’s claim. Currently, migrants are processed in the state in which they arrive—something that has recently placed a lopsided burden on countries like Italy, where the migrant crisis has not abated as much as it has elsewhere.

Even then, Germany is still home to the majority of Europe’s refugees.

The post Merkel is struggling to get EU countries to follow Germany’s lead on migration first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s momentous decision three years ago to open her nation’s borders to refugees has come to define her political career. Now the policy is threatening to end it as biting internal politics over asylum increasingly surface.

The threat to Ms. Merkel’s approach is emanating from an unlikely source. Members of a key Bavaria-based conservative sister party to the chancellor’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are pressuring her to sharply draw down the open-borders policy.

In a push spearheaded by German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and Bavarian Minister President Markus Soeder, the CDU-allied Christian Social Union has given Ms. Merkel a mandate to take action within two weeks.

If she fails to develop a plan with European Union partners to reform the bloc’s asylum policies by that time, Mr. Seehofer and Mr. Soeder say, they will take unilateral action and begin implementing a policy to turn away asylum-seekers at the German border.

Such a development is likely to deal a crushing blow to Ms. Merkel’s fragile centrist political coalition just three months after its inauguration.

Analysts say the situation could suddenly spell the end for Ms. Merkel, who is Europe’s longest-serving democratically elected leader, having held the chancellorship since 2005.

Pushing her out could recast the whole future of the EU at a moment when eastern members are increasingly hostile to bloc’s refugee policies.

“It would mean that the positions on the fringes of the European Union in Eastern and Central Europe to not accept any refugees will become stronger, which would be a potential end to German-led European policy and German-led refugee policy as we know it,” said Gero Neugebauer, a political scientist in Berlin.

“It’s like the domino theory in a way if the coalition falls apart: First one stone falls, then another and another,” Mr. Neugebauer said.

The Christian Social Union has been vehemently against the open-door refugee policy, which was implemented in a manner that effectively ignored EU regulations that require refugees to undergo the asylum process in the first country of their arrival.

Ms. Merkel’s decision to allow unrestricted travel for asylum-seekers brought more than 1 million newcomers to Germany, predominantly from the Middle East and North Africa, overwhelming German authorities and creating cultural and political backlash.

The policy won support from Ms. Merkel’s core base when it went into effect in 2015, as violent conflicts in Syria and Iraq were spawning a surge of refugees toward Europe. But it has rankled many Germans since.

Last year, the right-wing, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, or AfD, entered German parliament for the first time with 12.6 percent of the vote. Support for the previously fringe party had effectively tripled since 2013, when the AfD failed to even enter parliament.

The party’s popularity has risen on the heels of a series of government blunders tied to the overall refugee situation. One was a December 2016 terrorist attack carried out by a migrant who many Germans believed should have been deported. Another came with the recent discovery that authorities had botched thousands of asylum applications in the city-state of Bremen.

In an attempt to counter the AfD’s rise, Ms. Merkel and her centrist government have walked back some aspects of the open-door refugee policy — most notably by increasing deportations, allowing only limited migration of refugees’ families and forming bilateral deals with outside partners such as Turkey in an attempt to halt the flow of migrants toward Germany.

Such actions have greatly decreased the number of arrivals, but Mr. Seehofer ramped up pressure in recent weeks to toughen German immigration policies further by beefing up border security and reinstating the European regulations mandating that refugees remain in the country where they are registered.

Ms. Merkel accepted the border moves but rejected the reinstatement of the EU policies. Instead, she has called for wider, international measures that would create a unified European asylum policy to replace country-by-country actions.

“I’m deeply convinced, whenever we talk about the dangers of the European Union, that it’s first and foremost about the foreign policy polyphony that we have and secondly that we still don’t have a common strategy to answer the question of mastering migration,” the chancellor said in a June 10 appearance on the German political talk show “Anne Will.”

“If Europe doesn’t accomplish that,” she said, “then Europe is in danger.”

But instead of getting in line with her, leaders of Ms. Merkel’s sister political party have dug in their heels. Mr. Seehofer, in particular, has bucked the chancellor. He said in an interview published Thursday by the German newspaper Passauer Neue Presse that if Ms. Merkel tries to stop his push for tighter immigration controls, he and his Christian Social Union allies will end their coalition with her.

“If you dismiss a minister who only cares about the safety and order of his country, that would be unprecedented,” Mr. Seehofer said. “I am chairman of the CSU, one of three parties in this coalition, and I act with full backing of my party. If the person in the chancellery is dissatisfied with the work of the federal minister of the interior, then she should end the coalition.”

The threat could force Ms. Merkel to curb her divisive refugee policies ahead of the Christian Social Union’s tough battle against the AfD in regional elections in Bavaria in October, said Olaf Boehnke, a senior adviser in Berlin with Rasmussen Global, a Brussels-based think tank.

“Seehofer is trying to kill two birds with one stone,” Mr. Boehnke said. “The CSU is under enormous pressure in Bavaria, and it’s in his own interest to say, ‘I’m the strong Bavarian guy in Berlin.’”

Ms. Merkel, a notorious behind-the-scenes and international political operator, is now seen to be scrambling to bring an EU-level migration deal to the fore. She has even agreed to French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to erect a common eurozone budget, a move many saw as a concession to get Mr. Macron’s support for a revamped asylum policy at major migration summits this weekend and next at EU headquarters in Brussels.

But the prospects for such a revamped policy may be slim because Italy, Hungary, Poland and Austria are all now led by right-wing, anti-immigrant forces bent on bucking a Merkel-led bloc and stopping refugees at all costs.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte clashed with Ms. Merkel on Wednesday as Italy signaled that it simply won’t agree to any new EU migration plan if the bloc doesn’t prioritize measures to assist Rome in dealing with its own surge of migrants. The Mediterranean nation is the leading point of arrival for refugees fleeing unrest in Libya by boat.

“[Ms. Merkel] is trying to practice the same magic and come to a compromise. She has to, or else she’ll lose all support,” said Mr. Boehnke. “It will be a hard task this time around. She has to acknowledge that the populists are very successful in stimulating this atmosphere that we have to urgently do something about migration.”

If Ms. Merkel isn’t able to stanch those forces and make progress, then the coalition ruling Germany will end, said Mr. Neugebauer. That would not only provide more footing for the AfD to gain ground by attacking Ms. Merkel and her political partners as incompetent, he said, but it also would lend weight to forces within the EU that have sought to dismantle the liberal, German-led status quo within the bloc.

“[It] would be a danger for the German democracy and everything that stands behind it if she’s not able to implement something,” Mr. Neugebauer said.

Source: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/21/angela-merkels-open-borders-policy-could-spell-end/

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Quebec City (CNN)President Donald Trump said Friday that Russia should be reinstated to a leading group of industrialized nations ahead of his visit to the G7 summit this weekend.

CNN’s Elise Labott, Matt Wells, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Hilary McGann contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/08/politics/russia-g7/index.html

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New Italian PM agrees with US president that Kremlin should be back at the table.

LA MALBAIE, Canada — Italy’s new prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, broke sharply with the EU on Friday at his first international summit, and joined U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for Russia to be reinstated to the exclusive club of industrialized nations.

Trump called for Russia’s reinstatement as he left the White House to travel to the G7 leaders’ meeting in Quebec.

The Western powers and Japan ejected Russia from the G8 in 2014 in response to the Kremlin’s invasion, and subsequent annexation, of Crimea.

Conte posted his support for Trump’s view on Twitter, apparently between meetings with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. It’s unclear if Tusk or Juncker were aware of Conte’s statement before their meetings.

At a news conference, Tusk and Juncker mostly sidestepped questions about Conte’s position, saying they expected there would be overall agreement on Russia policy. But they also pushed back on Trump’s suggestion that Russia rejoin the club.

“I see a lot of speculation about G6 plus 1 or G7 minus 1, or G7 plus one,” Tusk said. “But let’s leave seven as it is. It’s a lucky number. At least in our culture.”

Tusk added that the G7 faced enough obstacles in their quest for unified positions without adding Russia back into the mix. Juncker, meanwhile, noted that EU leaders were re-engaging Russia in other formats, such as a recent economic forum in St. Petersburg attended by French President Emmanuel Macron.

But he said Russia still had to be held accountable for its actions.

“As we see it, Russia is in violation of international law because of its annexation of Crimea, equally because of what it has done in the east of Ukraine,” Juncker said. “Over and above that, of course, there are good reasons leaving these factors aside to renew our relationship with Russia and this is something which we intend to do,” he said. “I expect that it will be something we discuss.”

“But,” he added, “we need to take a stand against an aggressive approach and aggressive action on the part of Russia.”

Since Russia’s ejection, Western nations, including the U.S. and all EU countries, have been unified in the need to maintain economic sanctions and other pressure on Russia over its military intervention in Ukraine, in Crimea and in the eastern Donbas region, where the Kremlin continues to support an armed insurgency.

–Other G7 powers have not indicated any willingness to ease the pressure on Russia.–

Conte’s statement adds further diplomatic chaos to the G7 leaders’ summit, which was already descending into a chaotic war of words on Twitter. Trump on Thursday lashed out at the summit host, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who criticized Trump for imposing unilateral tariffs on steel and aluminum.

While Trump was still traveling, and expected to arrive late at the summit, his comment calling for Russia to be reinstated is certain to further inflame tensions in Quebec.

On the South Lawn of the White House, Trump claimed to be Putin’s worst nightmare but then said “Russia should be in this meeting. Why are we having a meeting without Russia being in the meeting? And I would recommend, and it’s up to them, but Russia should be in the meeting. They should be a part of it.

“You know, whether you like it or not — and it may not be politically correct — but we have a world to run. And in the G7, which used to be the G8, they threw Russia out. They should let Russia come back in. Because we should have Russia at the negotiating table.” It was unclear what negotiation Trump had in mind.

A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, who was on an official trip to China, told reporters Russia was focused “on other formats.”

Other G7 powers have not indicated any willingness to ease the pressure on Russia, and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, has worked hard to maintain unity on the issue in Brussels.

Conte’s statement will be especially problematic for Mogherini, who is Italian.

The first draft of the contract drawn up between the two parties in Conte’s government — the far-right League and the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement — contained a line calling for the end of Russian sanctions “immediately.” The text was amended in later versions.

In his first speech in the Italian parliament this week, Conte said that Italy remains a committed NATO partner but he added that “we will promote a revising of sanctions, starting with those that demean Russia’s civil society.”

Yet he didn’t indicate whether this should take place ‘immediately.” That’s because Rome has not yet decided whether to veto the rolling over of the sanctions during a meeting of EU leaders at the end of the month.

“We have to think about it,” said the League’s leader Matteo Salvini on Thursday at a reception at the Russian embassy in Rome.

Russia had been scheduled to host the G8 summit in 2014, and was planning to hold the leaders’ gathering in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, which was also the site of the Winter Olympics that year. Instead, officials quickly rescheduled the G7 summit for Brussels, the capital of the European Union, which participates in both the G7 and the G20 but normally does not host summits. Russian remains a part of the G20.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/conte-trump-russia-g8-breaks-with-eu-backs-call-for-to-return/

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted Moscow is not trying to split the European Union.

He was speaking hours before arriving in Austria, on his first trip to Western Europe in almost a year.

He told Austria’s ORF television he wanted a “united and prosperous” EU, calling it Russia’s most important commercial and economic partner.

In Vienna, he said EU economic sanctions against Russia were hurting both sides.

Speaking after talks with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, Mr Putin said Russia had overcome all difficulties caused by the sanctions.

Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s southern Crimea peninsula in 2014 triggered the sanctions, which were later ratcheted up as Russia helped separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Russia has hit back with counter-sanctions on food and raw materials.

• Is Europe seeing a nationalist surge?
• Is Russia really interfering in European states?
• Russia’s action man president

More than 10,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in eastern Ukraine.

Another major concern among many European liberals is close links between the pro-Putin United Russia party with far-right parties in the EU.

The two populist parties now ruling Italy favour closer ties with Moscow and are both Eurosceptic.

In the ORF interview Mr Putin played down the links between United Russia and Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, the FPÖ. The parties have a co-operation agreement, but the FPÖ denies claims it has received money from Moscow.

Splits on sanctions

The FPÖ has some key posts in Austria’s coalition government – it is in charge of the interior ministry and defence – and says it wants to get the EU sanctions on Russia lifted. However, the coalition has agreed to back EU policy on sanctions.

Italy’s new government openly called for a review of EU sanctions on Tuesday, starting with those that “threaten civil society in Russia”. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told parliament in Rome that Italy was in favour of opening up towards Russia, which represented a key partner for Italian business.

“The more problems at the heart of the EU, the more risks and problems there are for us,” Mr Putin told ORF.

“We need to build co-operation with the EU. We don’t have a goal of dividing anything or anyone in the EU.”

Russian soldiers in unmarked camouflage took control of Crimea in March 2014

What some call a “new cold war” was also fuelled by Russia’s role in the Syrian civil war and the poisoning of a former Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter, in southern England. The UK blamed the Kremlin for that attack; Russia furiously denied any role in it.

Pro-Putin activists have been accused of spreading “fake news” on social media to undermine the tough Western stance on Russia and help empower nationalists in the EU.

Austria and many other EU states depend on Russia for much – and in some cases all – of their natural gas.

Mr Putin is now meeting Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, as well as business leaders.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44364429

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