Brussels to Rome: Your government is ‘xenophobic’

by host October 4, 2018

October 4, 2018

Italian newspapers focused on the ongoing Brussels-Rome feud.

ANSA and Il Fatto Quotidiano, among others, reported on the latest in the spat between European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici and Italy’s Interior Minister and Deputy PM Matteo Salvini, after Moscovici on Wednesday called Italy’s government “xenophobic.” Salvini responded by accusing the commissioner of “talking through his hat, there’s no racism or xenophobia in Italy, but finally a government chosen by citizens, which has blocked migrant smugglers and shut the ports.”
Today, Corriere della Sera and Il Fatto Quotidiano reported on the government’s plans to introduce a “citizens’ income.”

Thursday was a big news day in Germany, after the country celebrated Unity Day on Wednesday.

Spiegel and Bild reported that thousands had protested in Munich on Wednesday against the rise of the far right and in support of a united Germany.
Bild wrote that Chancellor Angela Merkel was facing a renewed attack from within her own party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The paper reported that two politicians were likely to challenge the chancellor for the party’s leadership in a December ballot. The chancellor has been party leader for 18 years.
Tagesschau reported that senators in the U.S. will on Thursday receive the conclusions from the FBI’s week-long investigation into sexual assault allegations about Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh, with a final vote on his confirmation expected this weekend. Tagesspiegel wrote that more than 650 law professors had signed an open letter urging senators to reject Kavanaugh.

British Prime Minister Theresa May dancing to ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” at the Tory party conference made the headlines across the U.K.

The Guardian wrote: “Dancing Queen: Theresa May steps out again,” while the Times reckoned the PM was ending the age of austerity with her pledge to spend “billions despite Brexit uncertainty.”
The Express meanwhile focused on the “sharp retort” from European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt, who pointed out the irony in the PM’s choice of music. “While dancing to ABBA today, Prime Minister May overlooked the fact that Björn from ABBA called Brexit a ‘disaster,’” Verhofstadt said.
The Guardian also reported that the U.K.’s Brexit bill could eventually “rise as EU reveals record spending promises.”
BBC News and the Telegraph featured a story on a “modern slavery victim,” a 58-year-old man who was freed from a “six-foot shed” in Cumbria.

The resignation of France’s Interior Minister Gérard Collomb continued to dominate the media.

Le Monde wrote that Collomb’s departure was another crisis for President Emmanuel Macron. The headline: “The executive minimizes, the police worry and in Lyon, we wait.”
Le Figaro and LCI found the resignation deserving of a live blog.
Other media picked up an AFP story noting that 90-year-old Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the National Front, did not attend a Wednesday court hearing into offensive comments he had made because he is in hospital. His lawyer said Le Pen’s health was “alarming.”