Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 17 OcTOber 2017
Populist parties gain more victories in European politics

By FRANK JORDANS the Freedom Party is break-
Associated Press ing taboos,” said Carsten
BERLIN (AP) — Right-wing Koschmieder, a political
parties chalked up two scientist at Berlin’s Free Uni-
more victories in Europe versity.
over the weekend, coming Even German leader An-
second in Austria’s national gela Merkel, who was
election and entering an- lauded for her humanitar-
other state parliament in ian response in opening
Germany, putting further her country’s borders to
pressure on mainstream hundreds of thousands of
conservatives to take a refugees trapped in Hun-
harder line on immigration. gary in the summer of 2015,
The issue has been at the has shifted markedly on the
forefront of European poli- issue amid pressure from
tics since 2015, with the in- members of her own cen-
flux of more than two mil- ter-right Union bloc.
lion migrants fuelling voters’ Merkel sought Monday to
fears of unrestricted immi- play down the threat from
gration. the right after the national-
Populist politicians across ist Alternative for Germany
Europe have seized on the won seats in the state leg-
issue to warn that migrants islature in Lower Saxony, a
from Africa, Asia and the month after becoming the
Middle East could under- Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, head of Austrian People’s Party, arrives to the election party in third-strongest party in a
mine Europe’s way of life. Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2017, after the closing of the polling stations for the Austrian national vote.
The strategy has paid off at national elections. While Merkel has refused to
the polls, boosting backers (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader) publicly admit any mistakes,
of Britain’s move to leave liamentary elections, put- go areas” wherever they previously have earned the she recently agreed to limit
the European Union and ting it in a strong position to settle. Freedom Party and even the number of migrants
helping put a far-right can- join the next government. Ahead of the Austrian elec- Kurz a rebuke from other German takes in each year
didate into the final round Party leader Heinz-Chris- tion, the leader of Austria’s European countries, there — a key demand from her
of France’s presidential tian Strache has described centrist People’s Party, Se- was little outside criticism CDU’s Bavaria-only ally, the
elections. people fleeing wars in Syr- bastian Kurz, adopted the this time. Christian Social Union. The
On Sunday, the right-wing ia, Iraq and Afghanistan as Freedom Party’s stance on “The consensus in the Eu- party is fearful of losing its
Freedom Party received “invaders,” and claimed immigration in a bid to woo ropean Union has become absolute majority when Ba-
more than a quarter of earlier this year that Mus- their voters. to throw refugees out and varia elects a new state as-
the vote in Austria’s par- lim immigrants create “no- Whereas such tactics might it’s become difficult to say sembly next year.q

Bomb kills reporter who covered

Malta’s ‘Panama Papers’ link: AP

By STEPHEN CALLEJA nounced her slaying.
Associated Press One of the topics the veter-
VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — A an reporter examined was
Maltese investigative jour- what the documents from
nalist who exposed the the 2016 leak said about
island nation’s links to off- Malta. She wrote that Mus-
shore tax havens through cat’s wife, the country’s
the leaked Panama Papers energy minister and the
was killed Monday when a government’s chief-of-staff
bomb exploded in her car, had offshore holdings in
the prime minister said. Panama to receive money
Daphne Caruana Galizia, from Azerbaijan.
53, had just driven away The slain journalist had
from her home in Mosta, a been a regular columnist
large town on Malta’s main for The Malta Independent,
island, when the bomb writing twice weekly for the
went off, sending the ve- newspaper since 1996. She
hicle’s wreckage spiraling also wrote a blog called
over a wall and into a field, “Running Commentary,”
Prime Minister Joseph Mus- which was followed by in
cat said. Malta.
Caruana Galizia’s death A half hour before she was
resulted from a “barbaric killed, she posted to her
attack” that also amount- web site an item about a
ed to an assault on free- libel claim the prime min-
dom of expression, Muscat ister’s chief of staff had
said. He described her as brought against a former
“was one of my harshest opposition over comments
critics, on a political and the latter made about cor-
personal level” as he de- ruption. q