Yesterday, the elections for the Parliament of the European Union took place. According to a report in BBC, the right wing in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands all made solid gains and will be able to have more of a say in dictating EU policy going forward. Briefly, the way that the EU parliament is that individual parties within a country form blocs within the parliament; for example, the Eurosceptic Alternative for Deutschland party in Germany (AFD) is part of the Identity and Democracy Party bloc (ID) within the EU. Some of the shocking news of the evening came out of France. According to a report in the Washington Post, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, called a snap legislative election due to the gains made by the far-right National Rally (RN). My fear with elections is that these far-right will undermine European democracy and stop the flow of aid to Ukraine, as it is well known that some of these parties have close ties to Russia.
Tag: Italy
High-Ranking Cardinal Found Guilty in Embezzlement Case.
Over the weekend, former high-ranking Cardinal Angelo Becciu was found guilty of Embezzlement and Fraud by a criminal court in the Vatican and sentenced to five and a half years in prison. According to a Reuters report, the trial centered on the purchase of a building in London formally by the department store Harrods for £350 million in 2013 through an Italian financier named Raffaele Mincione, while Becciu was the second highest ranking member of the Secretariat of state. According to a report by the CBC, Minicione was also found guilty of embezzling funds from the Vatican. In 2018, with Becciu in another position within the Vatican, the Secretariat attempted to turn to another financier, Gianluigi Torzi, who himself fleeced the Vatican out of millions and was also found guilty of fraud and embezzlement. Eventually, the Vatican took a £140 million loss on the entire investment. No one told Becciu that making a habit out of embezzlement is a bad idea.
Crispin Corruption Report 