World

STRASBOURG, FRANCE — France sought on Tuesday to reinforce the label of “EU capital” over Strasbourg by inaugurating a building adding to the European Parliament’s estate in the eastern city.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne hailed the addition of the 15,000 square-metre glass-fronted premises — renamed the Simone Veil Building after a French politician who was the parliament’s first woman president — as “the symbol of a European Union further anchored in Strasbourg”.

The ceremony underlined France’s attachment to keeping Strasbourg as the base of the European Parliament, a site chosen because it sits on the border with Germany and symbolises the postwar reconciliation that gave rise to the European Union.

Many MEPs who travel nearly monthly from Brussels for parliamentary plenary sessions in Strasbourg frequently grumble about the distance and cost. But the parliament’s location is written into an EU treaty that is unlikely to be changed.

France is cementing the parliament’s place in the city by offering the Simone Veil Building, built in 2021, at a cut-price rent for offices after a purchase deal fell through. The lease is for 700,000 euros ($765,000) a year, around 20 per cent of the estimated market rate.

Borne used her trip to also meet centrist French MEPs in an effort to come up with a leading candidate ahead of EU elections next June that are predicted to see surging support for the far right in France.

She has been portraying the centrist and centre-right French parties backing President Emmanuel Macron as a pro-EU bastion against far-right populism and nationalism.

“We need someone with a fairly political profile, but who isn’t too technocratic, one who speaks about changes the EU brings to our lives,” one French minister said on condition of anonymity.

Names circulating to head the ballot in France include Stephane Sejourne, who chairs the centrist Renew grouping in the European Parliament, EU commissioner Thierry Breton, and French European affairs minister Laurence Boone.

LAMEZIA TERME, Italy — The massive historic trial concluding on Monday targets the ‘Ndrangheta mafia, which has surpassed Sicily’s better-known Cosa Nostra to become Italy’s wealthiest and most powerful criminal organisation.

Based in the southern region of Calabria, the ‘Ndrangheta has developed a near-monopoly on the European cocaine trade and has tentacles across the globe.

Here are five things to know about the group:

Origins

The ‘Ndrangheta is rooted in the poor, rural region of Calabria, at the toe of Italy’s boot, and dates back at least to the unification of Italy in 1861.

Its name, derived from Greek, refers to valour, and top members today continue to be sworn into the group in formal ceremonies.

Long dismissed as a purely rural phenomenon — and overshadowed by the more visible Costa Nostra — it came to public attention in the 1980s and 1990s in a series of kidnappings across Italy.

Affiliates are believed to have been responsible for kidnapping the grandson of US-born oil tycoon John Paul Getty in 1973, severing his ear to help procure a ransom.

It was only in 2010 that Italy first classified the ‘Ndrangheta as a mafia organisation under the law.

Main activities 

Controlling the bulk of cocaine flowing into Europe, the ‘Ndrangheta has far surpassed the Cosa Nostra — made famous by “The Godfather” movies — in power and wealth.

Now extending far beyond Calabria, it operates in over 40 countries around the world.

Besides its main source of wealth, drug trafficking, it is involved in money laundering, extortion, trafficking of illegal waste and other criminal activities, using shell companies to invest illegal gains in the legitimate economy worldwide.

Within Calabria, the extent of the ‘Ndrangheta’s reach in the local economy — infiltrating public sectors from town halls to hospitals — has made it nearly impossible to eradicate.

Outside Italy within Europe, it is active primarily in Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands and Spain, whose ports are the main entry points for cocaine in Europe, with the ‘Ndrangheta often working in conjunction with other organised crime groups.

The ‘Ndrangheta’s family structure — with individual “clans” based on blood ties — has meant that the mafia has relatively few turncoats, frustrating authorities’ attempts to crack down on the group.

How much is it worth? 

Experts believe there are some 150 ‘Ndrangheta families and their associates in Calabria, with thousands more worldwide.

Nicola Gratteri, a leading anti-mafia magistrate in Calabria, has estimated that the group generates an annual turnover of more than 50 billion euros ($55 billion) — much of it from cocaine trafficking.

International response 

In 2020, Italy set up the “I-CAN” programme through international policing agency Interpol to educate other countries where the ‘Ndrangheta has a presence about this specific mafia, and encourage information-sharing.

In a major swoop in May this year, more than 130 people were taken into custody after raids across Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Romania.

The most famous arrest so far has been of Rocco Morabito, one of Italy’s most wanted fugitives, who was arrested in 2021 in Brazil, following his escape from a prison in Uruguay in 2019.

Maxi-trial 

Italy’s largest mafia trial in more than three decades, which opened in Calabria in January 2021, has targeted more than 300 alleged ‘Ndrangheta members.

It focuses on just one Calabrian province, Vibo Valentia, and alleged crimes include murder, money laundering, drug trafficking and abuse of office.

The trial has shed light on the ‘Ndrangheta’s close contacts with politicians and business figures that have helped the mafia to infiltrate nearly all areas of commerce.

LONDON — Boris Johnson was “bamboozled” by data during the COVID-19 pandemic, a public inquiry into his government’s response to the global health crisis heard on Monday.

Former chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said Johnson, who was prime minister at the time, sometimes struggled to retain scientific information.

In one entry from May 4, 2020 recalling a meeting with Johnson about schools, Vallance wrote: “My God, this is complicated. Models will not provide the answer. PM is clearly bamboozled.”

Another, written in the same month, said: “PM asking whether we’ve overdone it on the lethality of this disease. He swings between optimism pessimism, and then this.”

Vallance wrote in June that watching Johnson get his head round stats was hard work. “He finds relative and absolute risk almost impossible to understand,” he said.

Another notebook entry from Vallance described Johnson as “distressed” at seeing attendees in face masks and socially distanced at a Battle of Britain memorial service in September that year.

Vallance said Johnson, who has been criticised at the inquiry by a string of former senior advisers, described the scene as “mad and spooky, we have got to end it”.

“Starts challenging numbers and questioning whether they really translate into deaths. Says it is not exponential etc etc,” he added, referring to Johnson.

Describing the leader’s attitude towards the spread of the virus, Vallance wrote: “Looked broken — head in hands a lot. ‘Is it because of the great libertarian nation we are that it spreads so much.’

“’Maybe we are licked as a species’".

Vallance also recounted how the then finance minister Rishi Sunak was overheard in a meeting in July 2020 saying the government should handle its scientific advisers rather than COVID-19.

At the time, plans were being made to reopen the country after the first national lockdown.

Other notes from Vallance written in June 2020 claimed ministers “hadn’t really read or taken the time to understand the science advice” when they wanted to axe the 2 metre social distancing rule.

“No 10 [Downing Street] pushing hard on releasing measures — including clubs and bars. They are pushing hard and want the science altered,” he wrote.

“We need to hold onto our hats. There will likely be a second peak,” he added.

The inquiry, chaired by a retired senior judge, is to interview Johnson and Sunak, who is now prime minister, later this year.

Johnson’s time as prime minister was ended after a string of scandals, including lockdown-breaking parties held at Downing Street.

SARAJEVO — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Monday of Russia’s “malign” interference in Bosnia, saying Moscow’s actions threatened the stability of the deeply divided Balkan country. 

Nearly 30 years after the end of its civil war, Bosnia remains fractured along ethnic lines, with NATO troops and later European peacekeepers stationed in the country to help keep the peace. 

“We are concerned by secessionist and divisive rhetoric as well as malign foreign interference including from Russia,” Stoltenberg told reporters in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo during the first stop of a multi-city tour through the Balkans.

“This threatens to undermine the stability and hampers reform.”

The comments came just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered a more direct warning, saying Russia was looking to instigate new crises in the Balkans and Moldova to divert the world’s attention from the war in Ukraine.

“Pay attention to the Balkans. Believe me, we are receiving information: Russia has a long plan,” said Zelensky, according to Ukrainian media. 

“If the countries of the world do nothing now, there will be such an explosion again.”

Moscow maintains strong links throughout the Balkans, thanks in part to shared cultural and religious ties to the region’s Slavic communities. 

Bosnia’s Serb leader Milorad Dodik remains a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and frequently travels to Moscow. 

Dodik is schedulled to appear in a trial this week after being indicted for passing a string of laws that would allow the Bosnian Serb entity to bypass or ignore decisions made by the country’s international high representative Christian Schmidt.

Dodik has already hinted that he will not comply with the court’s decision if convicted.

The 64-year-old leader has held enormous sway over Bosnia’s Serb entity for years and has frequently stoked ethnic tensions with his secessionist threats.

On Monday, Stoltenberg underlined the need for Bosnia’s political leaders to work towards unity, reconciliation and strengthening national institutions. 

“This is crucial for the stability and the security of the country,” he said after meeting Bosnian Prime Minister Bojana Kristo.

Stoltenberg is set to travel to Kosovo later on Monday where he will meet its leaders and visit a NATO camp, followed by trips to Serbia and North Macedonia. 

Since the 1992-1995 war Bosnia has remained split into two semi-autonomous blocs — the Serbs’ Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.

The two are linked by weak central institutions.

BUENOS AIRES — Thousands of rapturous supporters of Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei took to the streets of Buenos Aires on Monday, waving yellow flags bearing the image of a lion — the totem of the wild-haired libertarian.

The flags were selling “for two dollars”, in support of Milei’s plan to ditch the country’s volatile peso in favour of the US currency to try to halt inflation.

One supporter dressed up as a lion, while another wore a makeshift chainsaw on his head — a nod to the power tool Milei carried around during his campaign, vowing to slash government spending.

“Freedom! Freedom!” chanted the massive crowd which congregated at Milei’s campaign headquarters before heading towards the historic Obelisk monument.

Milei, a 53-year-old economist and political newcomer, has upended Argentine politics by ousting the traditional parties that have governed in recent decades — and were punished by voters amid a crippling economic crisis.

“I’m happy, I have hope. A change was necessary,” says Nicolas Paez, a 34-year-old architect with a blue-and-white Argentine flag draped around his shoulders.

“I really didn’t think he was going to win, but the youth made the difference,” he added.

In the crowd, supporters took selfies with a man wearing a mask of Milei, a black suit and a tie with a dollar bill print.

In recent years the government has strictly controlled the peso and access to dollars, leading to a complex plethora of exchange rates.

“I’m not afraid of Milei, I’m afraid that my father won’t be able to pay his rent. I firmly believe in the dollarisation of the economy. The Argentine peso is no longer worth anything,” says Juan Ignacio Gomez, a 17-year-old high school student who came alone to celebrate Milei’s victory.

‘Hit rock bottom’ 

Milei beat Economy Minister Sergio Massa from the long-dominant Peronist coalition.

“Peronism in this country is a cancer. We have had enough of it. It is synonymous with poverty,” said Nacho Larranaga, a 50-year-old writer.

“Milei is a stranger, but better a madman than a thief.”

Miguel Besnador, a 57-year-old refrigerator repairman, is convinced Milei will put an end to the economic crisis.

“Dollarisation won’t happen immediately because we don’t have dollars, and inflation won’t go down in two days,” he admits. “But sometimes you need to hit rock bottom to go up”.

In Massa’s camp, supporters of the populist Peronist movement — known for a generous welfare programme and heavy subsidies — were crushed.

“Argentina is like that, when you least expect it, it hugs the tyrant. Then it cries,” said Diego Avellaneda, a 55-year-old metallurgist.

“We are going to return in four years... to rebuild the pieces of the country that they are going to leave behind,” cried Camila Velaron, 20.

BUENOS AIRES — Argentines voted Sunday in a nail-biter election pitting Economy Minister Sergio Massa against outsider Javier Milei, polar opposite candidates that have divided the country as it reels from triple-digit inflation.

Voters were gripped by fear, uncertainty and resignation as they cast their ballots, with few confident either candidate could put an end to decades of economic decline.

Massa, 51, is a charismatic and seasoned politician seeking to convince Argentines to trust him despite his performance as economy minister which has seen annual inflation hit 143 per cent.

His rival Milei is an anti-establishment outsider, who has vowed to halt Argentina’s unbridled spending, ditch the peso for the US dollar, and “dynamite” the central bank.

Argentines are “on the edge of a nervous breakdown”, said political analyst Ana Iparraguirre of GBAO Strategies, describing tensions over what comes next.

“You simply have to choose from what is available. I took a decision, I didn’t choose,” said 33-year-old architect Sofia Speroni, who came to vote with her two toddlers.

She went with Milei, “simply to say no to corruption and the current situation we are in”.

Milei’s rants against the “thieving and corrupt” traditional parties have fired up voters tired of the Peronist coalition that has long dominated Argentine politics and whom they blame for the country’s misery.

“One has to vote for the lesser evil,” said doctor Maria Paz Ventura, 26, who cast her ballot for Milei in her scrubs.

“I think we are currently doing badly, so a change can’t be bad. You have to take a bet,” she said.

‘Change for the worse’ 

Polls show the candidates in a dead heat, with Milei holding such a slight advantage that no one wants to predict an outcome.

Turnout will be crucial with polls showing about 10 per cent of voters still undecided, and the election taking place on a long weekend.

Milei, a 53-year-old economist, is a political newcomer who stunned observers by surging to the front of the electoral race just months ago.

However, Massa scored the most votes in a first-round election in October, coming seven points ahead of Milei.

Both have scrambled to shore up millions of votes from the three losing candidates.

Massa has sought to distance himself from the deeply unpopular outgoing President Alberto Fernandez and his Vice President Cristina Kirchner, who was last year convicted of fraud. Both have vanished from the public eye.

“I voted for Massa. The situation in the country is horrible, the economy is very bad. People want a change but it would be a change for the worse with Milei,” said 16-year-old Trinidad Bazan, voting for the first time.

Analysts accuse Massa of abusing state resources to boost his electoral chances, slashing income taxes for almost the whole population and granting cash payouts to millions.

‘I feel like crying’ 

Milei, whose abrasive style and controversial comments have drawn comparisons with former US president Donald Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, is opposed to abortion, pro-gun, and does not believe humans are responsible for climate change.

He has rubbed many Argentines up the wrong way by insulting Pope Francis and questioning the official toll of 30,000 disappeared under the country’s brutal 1976-1983 dictatorship.

“I feel like crying over the risk that Milei could win. His ideas scare me. I trust Massa,” said Maria Carballo, 40, an architect.

Milei has toned down his rhetoric to appeal to more moderate voters, imploring the public not to give in to fear stoked by Massa’s campaign.

There has been no mention from him of abortion, guns, selling human organs, or ditching the ministries of health and education, and he has even walked back some previous comments he has made.

In recent weeks there has been no sign of the powered-up chainsaw he used to wield at rallies — a symbol of cuts he wanted to make to public spending.

Some 36 million Argentines will be able to vote until 6:00pm (2100 GMT), with results expected a few hours later. The new president will take office on December 10.

‘Unbelievably deep hole’ 

Whoever wins, analysts warn Argentina is in for a tough road ahead.

Analysts say the strictly controlled peso is long overdue for a devaluation, and a lack of dollars has led to shortages in fuel, medicine and even bananas in recent weeks.

With central bank reserves in the red and no credit line, the next government “will be digging Argentina out of an unbelievably deep hole with very few resources to do so”, said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Argentina Project at the Washington-based Wilson Centre.