Photo : Harren&Partner Group/dpa/picture alliance
21 October 2023, Saturday | NIAS Europe Daily Brief #652
EM In Brief
By Padmashree Anandhan
BELGIUM
Justice minister resigns upon pressure on mishandling the extradition of a Tunisian
On 20 October, Vincent van Quickenborne, Belgium’s Justice Minister announced his resignation following the attacks in Brussels. The resignation comes after pressure on his managing of the Tunisian gunman case. On 16 October, two Swedish were shot by a Tunisian who was already subject to be extradited in 2022. The failure of the Belgian justice authorities to extradite and allowing the Tunisian to live illegally resulted in the pressure on Vincent to resign. (“Belgium justice minister resigns after deadly Brussels attack,” France24, 20 October 2023)
GERMANY
New spaceport to be launched from North Sea in April 2024
On 21 October, Deutsche Welle reported on the growing significance of satellite data in economic sectors, industries and in self-driven vehicles. This nuanced demand have provoked new space ventures amongst countries especially among private actors like SpaceX. Similarly, Germany has planned to construct its own “spaceport” which is expected to be launched in its first rockets by April 2024. This new facility will not be like USs Cape Canaveral or Kazakhstan’s Baikonur (a land-based) rather will be launched from North Sea. For the launch, the Netherlands’ company T-minus will first launch a rocket from the German-Offshore Spaceport Alliance (GOSA) mobile platform. This platform will be 350 kilometers from the coast of Germany’s EEZ in Berlin. The North Sea platform is expected to become the future place to launch Europe’s microlaunchers, and rockets. According to Federation of German Industries (BDI) the market activities are intertwined with space technology and are predicted to boost by 7.4 per cent annually on the success of space technologies by 2040. (Alexander Freund, “Taking on SpaceX: Why Germany is building its own spaceport,” Deutsche Welle, 21 October 2023)
DENMARK
Meteorological institute issued warning on rise in water level due Babet storm
On 21 October, a storm was reported across the UK, northern Germany, southern Scandinavia with powerful winds, rain, and storm surges. This has led to power outage, floods in coastal areas, cancellation of flights ferry and rail services. Till now four have reported to be dead in the UK, and three in England and Scotland. Due to the storm, the water levels were reportedly rosed by two meters which is the highest in century according to a German news. In response Denmark’s meteorological institute has issued warning on strong winds and high levels of water till 22 October. (“Storm Babet batters northern Europe, killing at least 4 people,” Le Monde, 21 October 2023)
RUSSIA
Lavrov visit to North Korea aims to boost military cooperation
On 19 October, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister visited North Korea to discuss bilateral cooperation with Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader. During his visit, military cooperation remains key part of the discussion. He also pledged “complete support” for North Korea. Earlier, the US released its intelligence update on confirming the shipment from North Korea to Russia’s military warehouse near Tikhoretsk near Ukraine’s border. According to the report in BBC, North Korea is reported to have “stockpile of arms” whereas it’s economy’s performance remains low. This leading to shortage in food and medicine, Lavrov’s visit comes in favour for an exchange. (Derek Cai & Jean Mackenzie, “Russia's Lavrov hails deeper ties in N Korea visit,” BBC, 19 October 2023)
REGIONAL
Commission calls for a check on social media giants over spread of false information
On 19 October, the European Commission demanded details from Meta and TikTok on the steps taken to counter disinformation in the Israel-Hamas conflict. The move comes after the Commission gave a week for the media companies to report the measures taken in combatting the spread of violent content and hate speech in their platforms. According to EUs internal market commissioner the widespread of the “illegal content and disinformation” poses risk of stigmatizing specific communities and weakening of “democratic structures.” This points to the EUs latest Digital Services Act which has been challenged to be implemented due to the war in Israel, which has resulted numerous social media posts containing false information and misrepresentative videos. (“EU probes Meta and TikTok over Hamas-Israel online content,” Deutsche Welle, 19 October 2023)