Daily gym class in schools
On 18 April, the initiative for more exercise for children and youth, called Tägliche Turnstunde (Daily Gym Class), brought to life by the Bundessportorganisation (BSO, Federal Sports Organisation), succeeded by gaining 150,844 signatures in favour of making a daily hour of physical exercise in schools mandatory. On 24 April, the Tägliche Turnstunde was already a [...]
Alternative for Germany
The newest political party in Germany, AfD (Alternative for Germany) is advocating a departure from the eurozone. AfD held its first national conference on 14 Apr., drawing in 1,500 of its nearly 10,000 members. The party includes many middle-class conservatives. Experts say it’s unlikely AfD will attract enough federal votes to earn a parliamentary seat, [...]
No Second Kidnapper
Wolfgang Priklopil, the man who abducted Natascha Kampusch and imprisoned her for eight years, “almost certainly” acted alone, as Jörg Ziercke, president of the German criminal police BKA stated when presenting a special investigator’s report. A woman claimed to have seen a second person pull Kampusch into Priklopil’s van, but was found to be “objectively [...]
Croatia’s 1st MEP Election
Only 20 per cent of Croatia’s eligible voters turned out for the first European Parliament election in the country’s history on 14 April. Croatia voted on their first 12 European Parliament seats and will officially join the EU on 1 July. Political analyst Davor Djenero attributed the low turnout to a “weak campaign” to inform [...]
Bieber Behaving Badly
Canadian pop phenomenon Justin Bieber left some memorable impressions on his European tour this spring. It began when the 19-year-old Bieber didn’t have legal documents for his pet capuchin monkey. German authorities seized the animal from his private jet. Now animal rights advocates are trying to block Bieber’s representatives from retrieving the monkey. Later, while [...]
Five euro bill 2.0
In May, a cashier could surprise you with a new €5 bill in your change. The new paper money will be brought into circulation on 2 May in Austria and throughout the eurozone. The modernised bills have been planned for years and were developed to tackle insufficient security and to keep the bills state-of-the-art. The [...]
Latvia’s non-citizens
On 23 March, roughly 400 people formed a non-citizens congress in the Latvian capital Riga, demanding full political rights for so-called “non-citizens”. This resulted from Latvia’s Russian minority voicing its anger over escalating institutional discrimination. Nearly 300,000 people, 13% of Latvia’s population, have non-citizen status and as a result, have special passports and restrictions placed [...]
Italy in political deadlock
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano’s efforts to form a government remain fruitless after February’s election results. No party achieved a majority in Parliament. The President held a meeting with political leaders on 20 March, declaring it “an absolute necessity to give the country a government”. Pier Lugi Bersani’s Democratic Party gained 29.5% of the vote in [...]
Whistleblower website
An anonymous whistleblower website was launched in March by the Austrian Ministry of Justice, allowing users to call attention to alleged cases of corruption without having to reveal their identity. Three senior prosecutors will be in charge of pursuing new leads, says Ilse-Maria Vrabl-Sanda, head of the WKStA (Public Prosecutor’s Office against corruption). The virtual [...]
