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  • Vatican excommunicates hundreds of thousands of splinter sect followers

    Vatican excommunicates hundreds of thousands of splinter sect followers

    In an unprecedented and sharply escalated step that has shaken global Catholicism, the Vatican has excommunicated every member of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a conservative traditionalist splinter group counting more than half a million worshippers worldwide. The extraordinary punishment comes after the group defied a direct order from Pope Leo XIV to consecrate four new bishops during a ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday.

    The crackdown extends far beyond the SSPX’s six active bishops, all of whom have now been formally excommunicated. In a highly unusual departure from standard church discipline, the Vatican has also ruled that all lay followers who remain affiliated with the society are to be classified as schismatic and stripped of their communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican did leave an open door for reconciliation, noting that any members who choose to leave the SSPX and return to full communion with the institutional church will be welcomed with sincere pastoral affection.

    Founded in 1970, the SSPX has long stood in opposition to the sweeping modernizing reforms adopted by the global Catholic Church at the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Named for Pope Pius X, a 20th century pontiff famous for his staunch resistance to theological and liturgical modernization, the group retains traditional liturgical practices rejected by most modern Catholic communities. Unlike the standard Novus Ordo Mass celebrated in local languages around the world, all SSPX services are held exclusively in Latin, with priests facing the altar rather than the congregation during worship. Communion is only placed directly into the mouth of kneeling worshippers, a departure from the common practice of allowing congregants to receive the sacrament while standing and holding it themselves. Women in SSPX congregations are also required to cover their heads during services, and the group as a whole adheres to far stricter, more traditional social teachings than the mainstream modern Catholic Church. It also rejects the Vatican’s modern stance of pursuing open interfaith dialogue with other Christian denominations and non-Christian religious traditions.

    Today, the SSPX claims approximately 600,000 followers spread across the globe, with its largest concentrations of members in the United States and France. In the United Kingdom alone, the group hosts regular Masses at 26 separate locations, stretching from Lerwick in the Shetland Islands down to Devon, with its main UK regional hub based in Wimbledon, South London.

    For many long-time SSPX followers, the break with the Vatican does not weaken their commitment to the group – if anything, it has reinforced their conviction that they are the ones upholding true Catholic doctrine. Rita Reid, a 76-year-old retired bed and breakfast owner from Jersey in the Channel Islands, said the excommunication announcement left her feeling stronger in her beliefs. “Before the consecrations yesterday I said to my husband, ‘Do you know what? Even if they excommunicate us, go ahead, bring it on, it’s not going to make one bit of difference,” Reid shared in an interview.

    Reid, who previously attended both modern mainstream Catholic services and SSPX gatherings before committing fully to the traditionalist group, described SSPX liturgies as far more profound than the contemporary Mass, saying she feels the true presence of Jesus in SSPX ceremonies that is missing from the modern liturgy, which she called “so weak and wishy-washy.” She also criticized mainstream Catholic parishes for failing to consistently teach traditional social values, such as the church’s historic teaching against premarital sex, arguing that this lack of clear guidance has led younger generations of Catholics to abandon core doctrinal teachings.

    This is not the first time the SSPX has clashed with the Vatican over unauthorized episcopal consecrations. In the 1980s, SSPX bishops were excommunicated for similar acts of disobedience to Rome, but that earlier punishment was later reversed by the Vatican as part of outreach efforts to repair the rift between the church and the traditionalist group. In recent years, Vatican officials had held ongoing talks aimed at reaching a full reconciliation that would bring the SSPX back into full communion with Rome.

    Analysts and Catholic observers had widely expected that the unsanctioned consecrations in Geneva would lead to excommunication for the four newly ordained bishops and the society’s existing leadership. What has caught many off guard is the Vatican’s decision to extend the excommunication penalty to all 600,000 lay members of the SSPX, a far harsher step than most predicted. The move pushes the traditionalist group further away from the center of Catholic power than it has ever been in its 54-year history.

    Excommunication is one of the harshest disciplinary penalties the Catholic Church can issue, effectively expelling recipients from full membership in the faith and barring them from core elements of Catholic spiritual life. Excommunicated believers are considered out of communion with the church, meaning they cannot receive the sacraments – including confession and marriage – through official Catholic channels. In an official statement released Thursday, the Vatican clarified that “The sacred ministers of the Society of St Pius X administer the sacraments illicitly, while the sacrament of penance they administer and the marriages they witness are invalid.”

    The ruling now leaves SSPX members with a clear choice: remain part of a movement the Vatican has formally labeled a schism, or abandon their traditionalist beliefs and practices to retain their membership in the Roman Catholic Church. For many SSPX followers, however, the conviction remains firm: it is the modern Vatican that has strayed from true Catholic doctrine, not the traditionalist movement that seeks to preserve the faith unchanged.

  • Albanian police use tear gas and pepper spray as Tirana protest turns violent

    Albanian police use tear gas and pepper spray as Tirana protest turns violent

    TIRANA, Albania — What began as a peaceful environmental movement has escalated into violent confrontation on the streets of Albania’s capital, as weeks of sustained protest against a luxury Adriatic coastal development tied to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner spilled over into clashes between demonstrators and police Thursday.

    The ongoing daily demonstrations, branded the “Flamingo Revolution” by organizers, launched more than a month ago in opposition to the proposed high-end resort project planned for Albania’s Narta Lagoon, a critical habitat for protected migratory flamingos. What started as a movement centered on conservation concerns quickly expanded into a broader uprising against the government of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama, drawing thousands of participants to the streets in recent weeks.

    On Thursday, several hundred demonstrators assembled outside Albania’s national parliament building in central Tirana, chanting calls for Rama’s resignation and carrying signs reading “Rama must go to jail.” The situation deteriorated rapidly when a segment of the crowd began pelting law enforcement officers with rocks, eggs, and plastic bottles. Protesters also used sections of broken metal barriers to smash the windows of a parked police vehicle. In response, police deployed tear gas, pepper spray, and water cannons to disperse the agitated crowd.

    One protester, Agustela Thoma, framed the escalation as a reaction to months of unheard demands. “The protesters want their voice to be heard inside parliament, as the prime minister for so many days has not heard them and has ignored them. But enough is enough,” Thoma told reporters.

    Albania’s Interior Minister Besfort Lamallari released a sharp condemnation of the unrest, labeling the clashes as “acts of vandalism and criminal violence” targeting police. “Police officers are public servants, citizens of the Republic, and family members just like everyone else. They serve the law, public order, and the safety of every citizen, without distinction. An attack against them is an attack against the state,” Lamallari said. Official government updates confirm 12 police officers suffered injuries during the confrontation, while 18 demonstrators have been taken into custody.

    The proposed development, which spans an abandoned island and adjacent coastal stretch, has been framed as a transformative economic opportunity by Rama’s administration. For the post-communist Balkan nation, which has long sought accession to the European Union, the luxury resort is pitched as a key step to break into the lucrative high-end global tourism market. But the project has drawn fierce pushback from both environmental advocates, who warn it will destroy protected wetland habitats, and political opponents of Rama, who have criticized the government’s close ties to the Kushner-linked venture.

  • Tesla sales jumped last quarter in a possible sign the worst of the Musk backlash is behind it

    Tesla sales jumped last quarter in a possible sign the worst of the Musk backlash is behind it

    Electric vehicle giant Tesla has delivered a surprising strong performance in the second quarter of this year, with sales surging 25% compared to the same period last year — a jump that suggests consumer backlash tied to CEO Elon Musk’s controversial political stances may be largely behind the company. The Austin-based automaker announced Thursday that it delivered 480,126 vehicles to global customers in the three-month period, far outpacing both the 384,126 deliveries recorded a year ago and the 401,000 delivery forecast that Wall Street analysts projected in a FactSet survey. This quarter marks the second consecutive period of rising sales, marking a sharp turnaround from Tesla’s slump just months ago, when the company reported two straight years of annual sales declines and ceded its long-held title as the world’s top-selling electric vehicle manufacturer to China’s BYD.

    The sales rebound comes after more than a year of consumer pushback against Tesla and Musk. Last year, widespread boycotts and protests erupted across Europe and the U.S. after Musk publicly endorsed far-right political candidates in European elections. Demonstrations included effigy burnings of Musk in Milan, vandalism targeting Tesla vehicles and stores, and pledges from thousands of consumers to avoid purchasing the brand’s EVs. In the U.S., additional anger stemmed from Musk’s leadership of a former Trump administration task force focused on cutting federal government spending, which drove many of Tesla’s traditional liberal-leaning customer base away from the brand. A U.S. federal $7,500 tax credit for new EV purchases was also eliminated for Tesla late last year, raising the effective cost of the company’s vehicles and keeping many price-sensitive buyers on the sidelines even amid rising gasoline prices that have otherwise boosted overall EV demand.

    While Tesla did not release a regional breakdown of its Q2 delivery numbers, preliminary data from European industry groups already showed massive sales gains across the continent in May, including a 300% year-over-year jump in Germany alone. The rebound in European demand is largely attributed to targeted pricing moves Tesla rolled out starting last year: the company introduced lower-priced variants of its popular Model 3 and Model Y lines, and cut the cost of consumer leases and auto loans across European markets. Broader market trends have also helped: rising gasoline and diesel prices, spurred in large part by ongoing geopolitical tensions tied to the Iran conflict, have driven a widespread surge in overall EV adoption across the continent.

    Looking ahead, Tesla is betting that regulatory approval of its controversial Full Self-Driving (Supervised) driver assistance system will further accelerate sales growth in Europe. The technology, which is already available to customers in the U.S., earned regulatory approval in the Netherlands back in April, with Estonia, Greece and Lithuania following suit in subsequent months. Expanded approvals across more European nations are expected to draw new customers to the brand.

    Even with the strong global headline numbers, U.S. sales continue to struggle, according to estimates from automotive research firm Cox Automotive. The group projects that Tesla’s U.S. deliveries fell 20% year-over-year in the second quarter, dragged down by the lingering impact of the eliminated federal tax credit and ongoing consumer discontent with Musk.

    In an unexpected market move, Tesla’s stock dropped 6% in midday trading Thursday despite the much-better-than-expected delivery results. Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein attributed the counterintuitive dip to profit-taking by investors, who have booked gains after a sharp recent rally in Tesla shares. Over the past 12 months, Tesla’s stock has jumped more than 40%, fully recovering from a deep decline in early 2024. The rally has been fueled in part by Musk’s successful shift in market narrative, which has reframed Tesla’s long-term growth story around its artificial intelligence, automated driving technology, humanoid robot division and planned self-driving robotaxi service rather than its core vehicle manufacturing business, a pivot that has won over Wall Street investors.

  • Watch: BBC at site of deadly Russian attack on Kyiv flats

    Watch: BBC at site of deadly Russian attack on Kyiv flats

    In the wake of a devastating Russian attack that left a residential neighborhood in Kyiv shattered, BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford has traveled to the scene of the violence to document the aftermath. The target of the strike was a nine-story apartment building, a structure that once housed dozens of ordinary Ukrainian families going about their daily lives. Today, that building stands no more; it has been reduced to a sprawling pile of twisted concrete, broken glass, and splintered rebar, a stark physical reminder of the human cost of the ongoing conflict.

    Rainsford’s on-site reporting captures the full scale of the destruction, offering audiences a first-hand look at the damage inflicted on civilian infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital. What was once a community of homes is now a scene of chaos, with rescue workers sifting through the debris in search of survivors and recovering the remains of those killed in the attack. The assault, which targeted a purely civilian site, has underscored the risks that ordinary residents of Kyiv face daily amid sustained Russian missile and drone strikes across the country.

    As one of the few international correspondents still reporting regularly from within Ukraine during the full-scale invasion, Rainsford’s dispatch from the destroyed apartment block brings unfiltered, on-the-ground context to the attack, cutting through official statements to show the real-world impact of the violence on civilian populations.

  • Top EU court dismisses Google appeal of $4.5 billion antitrust fine

    Top EU court dismisses Google appeal of $4.5 billion antitrust fine

    BRUSSELS — In a landmark decision that solidifies European regulators’ leading role in reining in the power of big tech, judges at the European Union’s highest judicial body have rejected Google’s final appeal against a record 4.1 billion euro ($4.5 billion) antitrust penalty. The fine was originally issued over allegations that Google abused the dominant market position of its Android mobile operating system to stifle competition and narrow consumer options.

    The legal battle stretches back six years to 2018, when the European Commission first unveiled the penalty over Google’s business practices related to Android. Since that initial ruling, the case has wound its way through multiple layers of the EU’s judicial system, with Thursday’s judgment from the European Court of Justice bringing the long-running dispute to a definitive close.

    “The appeal filed by Google and its parent holding company Alphabet challenging the earlier ruling from the General Court is dismissed in full,” the Luxembourg-based court stated in its official ruling. This outcome formally upholds the penalty that was originally handed down for anti-competitive behavior tied to Google Search’s abuse of market power within the Android ecosystem.

    Android, an operating system Google positions as free and open-source, currently holds the title of the world’s most widely used mobile operating system, outpacing Apple’s iOS in global market share. Throughout the appeal process, Google maintained that its Android platform has driven down consumer prices for smartphones, expanded access to mobile technology, and created robust competition against its largest rival, Apple.

    This penalty against Google is just one of three major antitrust fines that the European Commission levied on the tech giant between 2017 and 2019, which together add up to more than $8 billion in total penalties. These early enforcement actions placed the 27-nation EU years ahead of other major global economies in the movement to curb anti-competitive practices by the world’s largest digital firms.

    In the years following those initial penalties, the European Commission has expanded its regulatory crackdown on big tech significantly, launching new antitrust investigations targeting other leading digital players including Amazon, Apple and Meta (formerly Facebook). It has also enacted sweeping new regulatory frameworks designed to specifically target the market power of the largest digital platforms, most notably the landmark Digital Markets Act.

    Agustín Reyna, director general of the European Consumer Organization, praised the court’s final judgment, noting that the ruling underscores the need for expanded proactive regulation like the Digital Markets Act to stop unfair corporate practices before they harm consumers and competition. “Today’s judgment sends a very clear message: dominant companies cannot use their power to shut out competition and limit consumer choice,” Reyna said. “Today is a big win for Europe.”

  • Former Spain and Arsenal playmaker Santi Cazorla retires at 41

    Former Spain and Arsenal playmaker Santi Cazorla retires at 41

    After more than two decades of dazzling playmaking, trophies, and inspiring resilience against devastating injury setbacks, beloved former Spanish international footballer Santi Cazorla has called time on his professional career at the age of 41. The 41-year-old made the heartfelt announcement public via a reflective post on his personal Instagram account, bringing a close to one of the most memorable careers in modern Spanish football. “There are stories that don’t end…they live on forever,” Cazorla wrote in the caption of his retirement post, adding a simple note of gratitude: “Thank you for everything.”

    Most recently, Cazorla had returned to his boyhood club Real Oviedo in 2023, a homecoming that delivered immediate success: he played a key role in guiding the side to promotion to Spain’s top-flight La Liga at the end of the 2023-24 season. However, the club could not hold onto its top division status, dropping back to the Segunda Division in the most recently completed campaign.

    Cazorla built his reputation as one of the most technically gifted midfielders of his generation during successful stints at two of Europe’s most well-known clubs: Spain’s Villarreal and England’s Arsenal. During his six-year tenure at Arsenal from 2012 to 2018, he emerged as a fan favorite and a consistent creative catalyst under legendary manager Arsène Wenger, helping the club claim two FA Cup titles during his spell in North London.

    On the international stage, Cazorla’s legacy with the Spanish national team is defined by two major continental triumphs: he was part of the iconic Spanish squads that won back-to-back UEFA European Championship titles in 2008 and 2012, cementing his place in Spanish football history. A cruel injury kept him from featuring in Spain’s 2010 FIFA World Cup win, a highlight many believed he deserved to be part of after his standout performances in the years leading up to the tournament.

    Throughout his decades-long career, Cazorla faced and overcame repeated severe injury scares that many believed would end his career far earlier. Most notably, a persistent ankle injury kept him sidelined for nearly two years in the mid-2010s, requiring multiple surgeries and raising fears that he would never return to top-level football. His eventual comeback was widely hailed as one of the most inspirational stories in modern sport, showcasing his unmatched grit and love for the game.

  • German prosecutors charge a Ukrainian over Nord Stream pipeline explosions

    German prosecutors charge a Ukrainian over Nord Stream pipeline explosions

    Four years after coordinated undersea blasts tore through the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline network linking Russia and Germany, German federal prosecutors have officially brought criminal charges against a former Ukrainian army officer in connection with the attack, the office confirmed Thursday.

    Per German privacy regulations, authorities are only identifying the suspect as Serhii K. The charges leveled against him include explosive endangerment, intentional property damage, disruption of public infrastructure, and acting as an accomplice to war crimes through the deliberate targeting of civilian assets, prosecutors outlined in an official public statement.

    The September 26, 2022 bombings damaged both strands of the Nord Stream system, which were constructed to carry Russian natural gas to Western Europe via the Baltic Sea. The sabotage came at a moment of already sky-high global energy and geopolitical tension, just seven months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At the time of the attack, European nations were already racing to sever their long-standing energy ties to Moscow to cut off a key source of revenue for the Kremlin and pressure Russia to end its military campaign.

    Prosecutors’ investigation confirms the alleged plot’s core objective was to permanently disable the pipeline network, cutting off Russia’s ability to earn critical foreign currency from gas exports to fund its military operations in Ukraine.

    The case has progressed rapidly since authorities first took Serhii K. into custody. He was arrested in August during a raid on a vacation bungalow in a small Italian village, where he had been staying with family members. Law enforcement officials confirm he surrendered peacefully to arresting officers, and he was extradited to German custody to face investigation in November 2024.

    Investigative findings show Serhii K. and other co-conspirators used a private yacht to carry out the attack, launching the vessel from the northern German port of Rostock. The yacht was rented from a German maritime company using forged identification documents and coordinated through a network of intermediaries, according to evidence gathered by prosecutors.

    Of the two affected pipelines, the 2022 blasts ruptured Nord Stream 1 — for years Russia’s primary natural gas export route to Germany, which had already been shut off by Moscow just one month before the attack. The bombing also damaged the never-operational Nord Stream 2, which had its German certification halted by Berlin just weeks before Russia’s full-scale invasion, following widespread international pressure.

    The Nord Stream project had drawn fierce criticism from the United States and many of its allies for years before the attack, with Western leaders repeatedly warning that the pipelines would increase Europe’s political and economic dependence on Russian energy. In the years following the blasts, Russia has leveled unsubstantiated accusations that the U.S. orchestrated the attack, claims Washington has repeatedly and firmly denied.

  • Google must pay €4.1bn fine for using Android to ‘block’ rivals

    Google must pay €4.1bn fine for using Android to ‘block’ rivals

    After years of legal wrangling between Google and European antitrust regulators, Europe’s highest judicial body has finalized its ruling: the U.S. tech giant must comply with a €4.1 billion (£3.5 billion) fine for anti-competitive behavior tied to its dominant Android mobile operating system. The decision dismisses Google’s latest appeal of the penalty, closing a years-long chapter in one of the most high-profile antitrust cases against Big Tech.

    The case traces its origins back to 2018, when the European Commission first leveled a €4.3 billion (£3.9 billion at the time) fine against Google, accusing the company of leveraging Android’s market power to freeze out competing products. The fine was adjusted down to €4.1 billion in 2022 as part of a procedural review, but Google continued to challenge the ruling before Europe’s top court. Wednesday’s dismissal of the appeal leaves the trimmed penalty intact, marking the largest penalty the European Commission has ever issued against Google to date.

    Regulators laid out three core illegal practices in the original 2018 ruling. First, Google forced manufacturers of Android-powered handsets and tablets to pre-install both Google Search and the Chrome web browser as a non-negotiable condition for gaining access to the Google Play app store, the primary distribution hub for Android applications. Second, the company offered financial incentives to major device manufacturers and mobile network operators that agreed to exclusively pre-install Google Search across their product lines. Third, Google blocked manufacturers from selling devices running modified, forked versions of Android by threatening to revoke their licenses to pre-install Google’s popular apps. Regulators did acknowledge that Google’s default Android setup does not prevent end users from manually downloading alternative browsers or search engines after purchasing a device.

    In a statement responding to the latest ruling, a Google spokesperson criticized the court’s decision, arguing it fails to acknowledge the company’s substantial investments in maintaining Android as an open, interoperable, and free operating system for developers, partners, and users. “In any event, we adapted our agreements to comply with the initial decision back in 2018 and we remain focused on continued innovation and openness for our users, partners and developers,” the spokesperson added. The company’s chief executive Sundar Pichai echoed this sentiment when the original fine was announced, writing in a 2018 blog post that the ruling threatened the core business model that has made Android a platform that expanded consumer choice rather than restricting it.

    This latest ruling is far from the only antitrust action Google and its parent company Alphabet have faced from European regulators in recent years. In 2024, the Commission ordered Google to pay a €2.4 billion (£2 billion) fine for abusing its market power in the shopping comparison service space, prioritizing its own offering over that of rivals. A year later, in 2025, regulators issued another €2.95 billion (£2.5 billion) penalty after finding Google broke competition rules by prioritizing its own ad tech products in search results, at the expense of competing ad providers.

    Notably, this €4.1 billion EU penalty is not the largest fine Google has ever been ordered to pay globally. In October 2024, a Russian court hit the company with an unprecedented fine of two undecillion roubles for restricting access to Russian state media channels on Google-owned YouTube, a sum that exceeds the total global GDP.

    Readers interested in tracking the latest developments in global technology policy and Big Tech regulation can sign up for the outlet’s Tech Decoded newsletter to receive top stories and trend analysis directly to their inboxes.

  • EU border delays ‘not bearable’ over summer, warns airport boss

    EU border delays ‘not bearable’ over summer, warns airport boss

    As the peak summer travel season approaches, the European Union’s newly launched digital Entry-Exit System (EES) has become a source of major disruption for non-EU travelers, with airport leaders and industry groups warning that unresolvable delays could ruin the travel plans of millions of visitors.

    Berlin Airport chief executive Aletta von Massenbach recently told the BBC that non-EU nationals entering the German capital now face passport control wait times of up to two hours under the new biometric registration system. She specifically highlighted terminals hosting low-cost carriers Ryanair and Wizz Air, where queues consistently stretch between 60 and 120 minutes, warning that the current situation is “not bearable over the summer.” The root of the problem, von Massenbach explained, lies in the fragmented structure of the system: each EU member state operates its own unique sub-system, creating unnecessary complexity that undermines smooth border processing.

    Rolled out for full operation across the bloc in April, EES was designed to modernize EU border control. The system requires all non-EU travelers entering the 29-nation Schengen free movement zone to register facial and fingerprint biometric data, which is stored digitally and verified when travelers exit the zone. Officials designed the framework to boost border security and eventually cut down on long-term wait times, but rollout has been far from smooth. While the system has functioned as intended at some locations, consistent reports of crippling queues at peak travel periods have emerged across the continent, with dozens of passengers reporting missed flights due to extended delays.

    One tourist who experienced the disruption firsthand is Anne Robinson, a UK resident from Dunbarton, who says the stress of her June EES-related ordeal has convinced her to avoid travel to Europe entirely this year. Robinson and her 13-year-old son Jack faced 90-minute queues just to enter Rome upon arrival, and the problems only grew when it came time to return home. Though the pair arrived at Rome Fiumicino Airport three and a half hours ahead of their scheduled departure to the UK, most EES automated checking machines were out of service, forcing them to queue for an additional 90 minutes for exit checks. By the time they cleared border control, their flight had already departed. Stranded in Rome, the pair had to pay £250 for replacement flights departing two days later, and Robinson’s travel insurance claim to recover the unexpected cost was rejected. “That was too stressful,” she said, explaining her decision to skip future European trips in 2026.

    Industry groups representing airports and airlines across Europe and North America have united to call for urgent action to address the crisis. Airlines UK and Airlines for America say the rollout of EES has been deeply inconsistent across member states, and warned that with summer travel demand set to hit peak levels, EU officials need to prioritize contingency planning and re-evaluate whether the current full rollout timeline is realistic.

    Jet2 chief executive Steve Heapy echoed that criticism, saying it is baffling that EU officials continue to push forward with full implementation when the system has clearly not been rolled out properly across member states. He called for regulators to allow EES checks to be paused at locations where infrastructure and operations are not yet ready, a change that he says would immediately deliver a far better experience for holidaymakers.

    The continent’s leading airport lobby group, ACI Europe, has gone even further, writing directly to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to sound the alarm over the scale of the delays. The group says wait times at some busy airports already reach five hours during peak travel windows, and conditions are set to worsen as the summer holiday season brings even higher passenger volumes. ACI Europe warned that the delays are already causing major disruptions to airline operations: “airlines face half-empty planes at gate closing time, while passengers are stuck in border control queues.”

    While current EU rules already allow member states to suspend EES checks under specific circumstances, ACI Europe is pushing for a policy change that would allow countries to pro-actively pause the system at ports of entry when high passenger volumes are expected. That change, the group argues, would give airports and border authorities the flexibility they need to avoid crippling queues this summer.

    Following a high-level meeting on the issue held in Brussels this week, von Massenbach said she believes EU officials are finally starting to recognize the severity of the problem. A European Commission spokesperson acknowledged that issues exist, but pushed back against claims that the system itself is the core problem, noting that in most EU airports, disruptions from EES remain limited. Where problems do occur, the spokesperson said, they stem from member states failing to deploy enough border guards, sufficient infrastructure, or working automated equipment to support the system.

    The spokesperson reaffirmed that the European Commission is continuing to offer full support to member states working to implement EES, and is prepared to increase that support “in view of the coming summer period” to limit disruptions for non-EU travelers.

  • Merz unveils sweeping reform push for Germany: Tax cuts, pension overhaul and new sick leave rules

    Merz unveils sweeping reform push for Germany: Tax cuts, pension overhaul and new sick leave rules

    BERLIN — One year after taking office, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his cross-party center-right to center-left coalition government have unveiled an ambitious 34-measure reform package designed to pull Europe’s largest economy out of its extended period of stagnation, while attempting to reverse the administration’s plummeting public approval.

    Germany’s economy has faced mounting headwinds in recent years: after two consecutive years of contraction, it recorded only modest growth in 2024, with the government projecting just 0.5% growth for the coming year. Multiple structural and geopolitical pressures have dragged on activity, including persistently high energy costs stemming from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, intensifying global competition from Chinese manufacturing firms, trade tariffs and threats from former U.S. President Donald Trump, and long-term demographic strain that has ballooned costs for the country’s public health and pension systems. More recently, fallout from the ongoing conflict in Iran has further downgraded growth projections.

    Against this backdrop, the coalition’s new reform plan targets four core areas of policy change: income tax relief for working households, a comprehensive overhaul of the underpressure pension system, stricter sick leave regulations to boost productivity, and widespread cuts to Germany’s notoriously burdensome bureaucracy.

    For low- and middle-income families, the tax reforms will deliver annual relief of 10 billion euros ($11.4 billion) once fully phased in by 2028. A typical household with two working parents, two children and a combined taxable income of 60,000 euros ($64,416) will receive an annual tax break of roughly 600 euros ($644) under the plan.

    The pension system overhaul, the most consequential structural change on the agenda, will gradually adjust the retirement age — currently ranging between 65 and 67 years based on working history — to align with ongoing increases in national life expectancy. The framework follows recommendations released last month by a government-appointed expert and political panel, with two key goals: preventing a decline in overall pension benefits and avoiding drastic long-term hikes to the mandatory payroll contribution that employees pay into the national pension system.

    To address what Merz has repeatedly called unacceptably high sick leave rates that erode national productivity, the coalition is tightening rules around medical certification. Under the new regulations, employers will be permitted to require a doctor’s note for any sick leave, regardless of duration. Previously, workers could take up to three sick days off without a medical certificate, and could obtain a one-week leave certificate via a telephoned request without an in-person doctor visit.

    For bureaucracy reduction, the plan eliminates hundreds of unnecessary reporting and documentation requirements, cuts data protection rules to the minimum standard required by EU regulation, and streamlines the process for filing income tax returns to reduce administrative burdens for households and businesses.

    In public remarks during the package’s launch at the Berlin chancellery garden, Merz framed the reforms as a decisive step toward securing Germany’s long-term prosperity. “These reforms all have one goal: We’re setting out into the future,” he said Thursday. “We’re strengthening ourselves so that we can live well in these new times.”

    The chancellor also pushed back against widespread criticism that his coalition has been bogged down by internal infighting and delivered little tangible progress in its first year in office, leaving the administration deeply unpopular with voters. “From the very beginning, we set an agenda with a single goal in mind: We want to get Germany back on track. It is now clear that this is possible,” Merz said, appealing directly to German citizens to back the plan. “We know that you, ladies and gentlemen — the citizens of our country — want decisions, and you don’t want conflict. And that is exactly what we have delivered. Join us; support us in carrying out the reforms that are now necessary.”

    Not everyone has welcomed the proposal. Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party — which secured second place in last year’s national elections — dismissed the package as inadequate. In a post on social platform X, Weidel called the measures “even more left-wing redistribution, and minimal compromises that don’t deserve to be called ‘reforms’.” She added, “The fact that this is being sold as a ‘breakthrough’ shows only one thing: this government’s complete inability to reform.”