标签： Europe

Just one month after Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party secured a landmark electoral victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, the faction has achieved another unprecedented breakthrough: its candidate Tobias Rausch has won election as the state parliament’s speaker, marking the first time a far-right party has claimed this prestigious parliamentary post since the end of World War II.

Despite the AfD holding three fewer seats than the 42-seat majority required to control the 83-member legislature on its own, the 35-year-old candidate secured a comfortable victory in Tuesday’s vote, drawing backing from nine lawmakers across rival political parties. Five of those cross-party votes came from members of the hard-left Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), while the identities of the remaining four supporters remain undisclosed – a detail that has sparked intense political speculation across the country. Political observers have openly questioned whether the four unknown votes came from members of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a party that has publicly ruled out any cooperation with the AfD. All 15 CDU state lawmakers had previously pledged not to support Rausch, but only five abstained from the vote as planned, leaving unaccounted-for voting behavior that has fueled ongoing questions.

Following his win, Rausch, a trained real estate agent who has served as a state lawmaker for a decade and is a close confidant of regional AfD leader Ulrich Siegmund, rejected the long-standing post-war German political consensus that erected a “political firewall” to block far-right politicians from institutional power. “The days of political firewalls should be a thing of the past,” Rausch said in his post-vote remarks.

While the role of parliament speaker is largely ceremonial in Saxony-Anhalt, it carries significant institutional authority: Rausch will now preside over parliamentary debates, regulate access to the state parliament building in Magdeburg, and serve as the official representative of the legislature at state and national public events. Ahead of the inaugural session, the AfD also successfully pushed to shift its seating from the far-right fringe of the legislative chamber to the center, another symbolic shift that underscores the party’s growing institutional influence in the state.

The election result triggered immediate condemnation from across Germany’s mainstream political spectrum. Susan Sziborra-Seidlitz, leader of the Saxony-Anhalt branch of the Green Party, called the outcome a watershed moment that had crossed a fundamental red line in post-war German politics. “A line has been crossed,” she said. “We will not let ourselves be intimidated, and we will not sit by when rights are curtailed either here or for people in the state.”

Outside the Magdeburg parliament building, more than 300 protesters gathered to voice their opposition to Rausch’s win, holding aloft banners reading “Never again is now” – a deliberate reference to Germany’s post-war commitment to preventing the reemergence of extremist politics. Crowds surrounded regional AfD leader Siegmund as he spoke to reporters, repeatedly displaying the anti-far-right protest signs to push back against the party’s breakthrough.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has already classified the Saxony-Anhalt branch of the AfD as a “right-wing extremist” organization, a label the party’s leadership has repeatedly rejected. The AfD is widely known for its pro-Russian policy stance, anti-immigrant agenda that includes proposals to segregate child refugees in public schools, and documented intolerance toward LGBTQ+ communities.

Siegmund, the popular and charismatic regional AfD leader, is now set to run for the post of state premier in a December legislative vote, a bid that will also require the support of 41 additional lawmakers to win. Just as with Rausch’s speaker bid, Siegmund will need cross-party backing to secure the role, but the BSW has already ruled out entering a formal coalition with the AfD. The hard-left party has instead announced it will back an independent non-partisan candidate for state premier and abstain from the December vote, leaving Siegmund’s path to the top state office uncertain at this stage.

As the threat of AI-powered deepfakes grows increasingly pressing for public figures worldwide, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has taken a proactive step to safeguard her identity by filing an application to trademark her distinctive voice with European Union regulators.

The application, submitted to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) on Monday, is publicly visible on the agency’s official website, and a spokesperson for the prime minister’s office has since confirmed the filing to reporters. As a core part of the application process, Meloni recorded a four-second audio clip that features her repeating the Italian phrase “Io sono Giorgia” – translated to “I am Giorgia Meloni” – twice. This phrase holds special personal and political significance: it served as the title of Meloni’s 2021 autobiography and has been a staple of her political campaigning for years.

Meloni is far from the first high-profile individual to seek legal protection for their personal identity against unauthorized AI manipulation. Earlier this year, American actor Matthew McConaughey pioneered this approach in January by trademarking both his likeness and voice. Just a few months later in April, global pop superstar Taylor Swift followed suit, submitting three separate trademark applications in the United States: one centered on a promotional photograph from her record-breaking Eras Tour, and the other two featuring audio clips of her introducing herself during the rollout of her most recent album.

By August, the movement for stronger legal protections had gained broad traction among performers, with more than 80 artists calling on Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham (note: the original text incorrectly referenced this as the British Prime Minister) to introduce new legislation that would enshrine a universal legal right for all UK residents to own and control their own voice. High-profile actors including Matt Lucas, Hugh Bonneville, and Nicola Coughlan were among the signatories, warning that unregulated AI cloning leaves performers vulnerable to having their voices exploited without consent or compensation.

Voice cloning technology works by training AI models on existing audio recordings of a target individual. While low-quality clones can be generated from as little as a few seconds of sample audio, high-fidelity, convincing replications typically require hours of recorded material to train properly. For public figures, who often have thousands of hours of speeches, interviews, and public appearances available online, the risk of unauthorized cloning is particularly acute.

Meloni’s decision to trademark her voice comes less than a year ahead of Italy’s upcoming general elections, scheduled for 2025, making the threat of manipulated deepfake audio and video to disrupt the political process particularly urgent. This is not the first time Meloni has been targeted by bad actors using deepfake technology: in 2024, she sought €100,000 (£84,920) in damages after non-consensual deepfake pornographic videos of her were uploaded to public platforms online. Just a few months ago, in May 2024, deepfake AI-generated images of Meloni wearing lingerie circulated widely across social media, prompting her to speak out publicly about the broader dangers of this technology.

In a social media post addressing the incident, Meloni emphasized that the issue extends far beyond her own experience. “Deepfakes are a dangerous tool, because they can deceive, manipulate, and strike anyone. I can defend myself. Many others cannot,” she wrote. Her latest move to trademark her voice represents one of the most high-profile proactive steps by a sitting head of government to address the growing regulatory and security challenges posed by unregulated AI deepfakes.

In a shocking development that has sent ripples through Germany’s national intelligence community, federal authorities have taken former head of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) August Hanning into custody on serious allegations of espionage, treason, and illegal procurement of classified information on behalf of a foreign state, Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office confirmed this week.

Hanning led Germany’s primary foreign intelligence agency from 1996 to 2005, and has operated as an independent private security consultant since stepping down from his official role. Prosecutors outline two key accusations against the former spy chief: first, that he leveraged classified intelligence materials to prepare a formal analysis for a foreign intelligence service, and second, that he maintained ongoing, undisclosed close contact with a second separate foreign spying entity. To date, investigating officials have declined to publicly name the foreign powers implicated in the case.

A second former BND staffer, identified only as Mandred D. for privacy reasons under German law, was also arrested in a coordinated operation across two German states. Mandred D., who served as Hanning’s chief of staff during his tenure at the BND and remained employed by the agency until 2026, also held the same chief of staff role for Hanning’s successors between 2012 and 2026. This long-standing position granted him sustained access to highly restricted internal BND documents, which prosecutors allege he passed to Hanning in exchange for financial compensation.

Official statements from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office note that accumulated evidence indicates Mandred D. transferred roughly 2,000 classified documents to Hanning over a period of years. The vast majority of these materials were marked for exclusive internal BND use only. While investigators confirm Hanning did use a portion of this classified information to draft the analysis for a foreign intelligence officer, they have not yet confirmed whether the finished product ultimately reached the intended foreign recipient. Prosecutors also add that Hanning shared political information – much of it derived from the documents provided by Mandred D. – with the representative of a second foreign intelligence service over the course of several years.

Authorities carried out the arrests at separate locations across Germany: Hanning was taken into custody at his private residence in Nordwalde, a small town near the northwestern city of Münster, while Mandred D. was arrested in southern Germany’s Bavaria. Hanning is scheduled to appear before an investigative judge on Wednesday, with Mandred D.’s court hearing set for one day earlier on Tuesday.

The investigation into Hanning’s alleged activities was an unexpected offshoot of a separate, high-profile criminal case involving German steakhouse heiress Christina Block. Block is currently facing charges from Hamburg prosecutors for orchestrating the 2023 kidnapping of her two youngest children during a bitter public custody dispute. Investigators allege Hanning was involved in a failed earlier attempt to kidnap the children, an accusation he has publicly denied. During searches tied to the Block case, law enforcement seized an electronic storage device that contained a cache of sensitive, recently generated BND documents, ultimately leading investigators to Hanning and Mandred D.

This arrest marks the second major espionage scandal to roil Germany’s top intelligence agency in as many years. In 2023, a high-ranking BND officer identified as Carsten L. was charged with treason for allegedly passing hundreds of thousands of euros worth of classified state secrets to Russia. The materials included sensitive information related to the ongoing war in Ukraine and details on the Wagner mercenary group. His trial remains ongoing as of this reporting.

As Ireland prepares to deliver its annual national budget on Tuesday, the government is poised to unveil a targeted package of measures designed to alleviate mounting cost-of-living pressures on working families and households across the country. The core changes to personal taxation will see the entry threshold for the higher rate of income tax raised from its current level of €44,000 (£37,000), putting more disposable income directly into the pockets of middle-income earners. Alongside tax adjustments, targeted support packages for rising energy bills and childcare costs are expected to feature prominently in the final plan.

Speaking ahead of the formal budget announcement, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Ireland’s head of government, confirmed that the core priority of this year’s budget is straightforward: to ease the financial strain that is hitting household budgets across the nation. The broad parameters of the budget were first outlined earlier this year in the government’s Summer Economic Statement, which laid out plans for €1.5 billion (£1.27 billion) in tax adjustments and €7 billion (£5.92 billion) in additional public sector spending. A large share of this extra public spending has been categorized as “standstill” funding, allocated solely to cover the sharp rise in operating costs for existing public services, rather than funding new programs or expansions.

Unlike many of its European neighbours, Ireland currently holds a much stronger fiscal position, driven by a sustained unexpected windfall from ballooning corporation tax receipts that leave the state collecting far more revenue than it allocates to public services. New official figures published last week project that Ireland will record a budget surplus of €6.9 billion (£5.84 billion) for 2026. While this marks a significant surplus, it is lower than the €9.2 billion (£7.79 billion) forecast the government released back in April. The downward revision is attributed to already implemented fuel subsidies and unexpected overspending across multiple government departments, most notably in the public health system.

To prepare for long-term fiscal obligations, the government has allocated a share of this year’s surplus to national wealth funds earmarked for future public spending commitments. However, this approach has drawn criticism from Ireland’s independent fiscal watchdog, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, which has argued the government is not setting aside enough of the current surplus to buffer against future economic downturns and long-term liabilities.

Alongside the core cost-of-living measures, a handful of new policy proposals are also expected to be confirmed this week. These include a new tax-free individual savings scheme modeled after the popular UK ISA system, which would allow Irish residents to save a set amount each year without paying tax on returns. A separate proposal for a government-funded “culture card” for teenagers, which recipients could use to pay for cultural and entertainment events such as concerts, is also set to be announced, though details remain unclear around the monetary value of the card and the eligibility criteria for applicants. Final approval of the full budget package is expected from party leaders across the governing coalition, including the Taoiseach, before its public unveiling.