Hugo Soepenberg

European living in Romania | Liberal | ALDE | USR | Manager in the BPO industry | Tweets in 🇬🇧 & 🇳🇱

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

Dit is moeilijk verteerbaar. De overheid doet iets illegaals, wordt door de rechter teruggefloten, maar hoeft niet alle slachtoffers te compenseren.
Advies is dus om vanaf nu overal bezwaar tegen te maken, just in case.
https://t.co/asLspcAPoL

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

He's definitely an improvement compared to Orban, but we need to be wary. His speech during EUCO was nationalistic and here, he claims he killed accelerated accession for Ukraine at the last minute.

[Magyar Péter (Ne féljetek) @magyarpeterMP]

4 órás intenzív vita után tudtuk lezárni az Európai Tanács ülésének első napirendi pontját.
Az állam- és kormányfői csúcs záródokumentumába Ukrajna kapcsán csak már évekkel ezelőtt konszenzussal elfogadott szöveg került. A több hetes szövegezés alatt magyar javaslatra sokat finomodott a nyilatkozat. Valamint Ukrajna uniós csatlakozási folyamata kapcsán kezdeményezésemre utolsó pillanatban kikerült a szövegből a csatlakozás gyorsítására utaló kitétel. Nem volt egyszerű.
Másfél év után először lehet minden tagállam által elfogadott zárónyilatkozat.
Így is lehet, ha valaki nemcsak asztalt borogatni és félelmet kelteni jön, hanem igyekszik kompromisszumot találni.

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

@AnoukvanBrug Makkelijke tweet. Het lijkt een groot bedrag, maar is slechts 1,65% van BNP in de EU. Tuurlijk kunnen er keuzes worden gemaakt (landbouwsubsidies), maar we moeten de EU versterken, incl budgetten. Ter vergelijking, de NL begroting is 35% van het BNP, dat is pas veel te veel.

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

The irony: Vance is in Budapest to put his thumb on the scale of the elections to help Orban win in Hungary.

[Jay in Kyiv @JayinKyiv]

Likely a statement drafted in the Kremlin, JD Vance says almighty "Ukrainian intelligence" is rigging elections in both the US and Hungary.

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

An expected false flag operation by Orban seems to be happening. Extremely worrying with the elections next week. If successful, this should have consequences for the relationship with the EU. If Serbia is involved, it should also have consequences for their accession talks.

[Szabolcs Panyi @panyiszabolcs]

💥What we’ve all feared is happening: Hungarian Russia expert András Rácz wrote three days ago about a potential Russia-backed false flag attack in Serbia targeting the gas pipeline to Hungary. The same information had already reached multiple journalists, including myself, weeks earlier, from sources connected to Hungarian government circles.

Now Viktor Orbán has announced that Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić informed him about “explosives of devastating power” found at the gas pipeline connecting the two countries. Orbán and his propaganda machine are already amplifying the news everywhere, with the prime minister convening his security cabinet.

It remains unclear what measures the government might take using this alleged false flag operation as a pretext. But if the second part of the information we received also proves true, Orbán could declare a state of emergency, significantly affecting the election campaign—which he is currently losing—and potentially disrupting the organization of the April 12 election.

The opposition Tisza Party has been widening its lead to 15–20 points, if not more. Orbán accuses them of being "Ukrainian agents" for months. His propaganda would very soon link the Serbian false-flag both to Ukraine and the Tisza Party, I have no doubts about that.

I encourage all foreign reporters covering the Hungarian election to pay close attention and not fall for the government’s propaganda or the narratives pushed by its pundits on the Orbán government payroll, including here on X.

The situation could soon be very serious.

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

@rkemp59 @trias_politica @RPlasterk Buitengewoon slechte column, als je hier tegen bent zijn er veel betere argumenten te bedenken.
Subsidiariteit is juist het argument om dit wel te doen. En er is geen instantie voor nodig om dit in de gaten te houden. Het EP en nationale parlementen doen dit al.

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

How did this happen?? This will be explained as support from the EU for Trump's mock-UN, filled with dictators. This should have immediate consequences for @dubravkasuica and anyone in the commission involved. Unacceptable.

[Dubravka Šuica @dubravkasuica]

Today I am attending the inaugural Board of Peace event in Washington on behalf of the @EU_Commission.

Our objective is clear: coordinated action, accountable governance, and tangible results for the Palestinian people.

As the largest international donor to the Palestinian people, we bring a full spectrum of instruments to support the implementation of the Peace Plan and UN Security Council Resolution 2803 - from humanitarian relief and early recovery to governance reform and institution-building, to security and economic support.

Since 1994, the 🇪🇺 has provided almost €30 billion in assistance to the Palestinian people. Since 2020 we provided nearly €3 billion in financial assistance and €1.8 billion in humanitarian aid.

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

@SlootLau Als je deze (terechte) discussie wilt voeren laat dan wel het hele plaatje zien. Want je bron, het CPB, trekt een totaal andere conclusie uit dezelfde cijfers. En je gebruikt de cijfers ook verkeerd. Bv: de 36% is niet tov totaal aan belastingen, maar tov eigen inkomen.

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

@JohnJHarwood Then do something about it. Take the brave Iranians as an example, fill the streets and protest peacefully.

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

@Daractenus They're not standing up for Russia, Trump is planning to use these funds himself. They were part of Trump's (or Putin's) 28-point plan.

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

@SlootLau @lexhoogduin Dit is een interessante tweet met wat context over die Amerikaanse groei: https://t.co/tm1BVOtzIi
En binnen de EU moeten we de interne markt eindelijk eens afmaken om groei te stimuleren. Bv banken unie, makkelijker maken voor werknemers en ondernemers om te verhuizen binnen EU

[✙ Constantine ✙ @Teoyaomiquu]

Watching Americans sneer at Europe today and chant “over-regulated,” “europoor,” or “no growth” is pure historical amnesia.

In 2008, right after the financial crisis, U.S. total public-sector debt was about 86% of GDP. That was already the result of one massive cleanup after deregulation ran the system into the ground. Instead of treating that moment as a hard lesson, the United States went in the opposite direction.

Since then, U.S. debt-to-GDP has nearly doubled. Today, total federal and state debt sits around 160% of GDP, with close to 5% of GDP burned every year just to service interest. That is what has been underpinning much of the headline “growth” people love to brag about.

The irony is brutal. The U.S. already lived through this cycle twice before: the dot-com bubble and the 2008 collapse. Both followed the same script: deregulation, debt, expansion, crash, and then public borrowing to hold the system together. And yet those lessons were apparently shelved the moment the emergency faded.

Europe chose a different path after 2008. It accepted slower growth in exchange for fiscal restraint and tighter rules. As a result, EU debt remained around 80% of GDP, and Europe today spends less than half the share of its economy on interest compared to the United States.

Calling Europe “over-regulated” while celebrating American growth without acknowledging how much debt was piled up to achieve it is hypocrisy, not analysis. You don’t get to mock restraint while quietly depending on leverage to keep GDP numbers up.

This isn’t about ideology. It’s about memory.

Europe remembers what uncontrolled markets and debt explosions do to societies. The U.S., once again, is acting like each crisis was a fluke, and calling anyone who learned from it “weak.”

Borrowing your way to growth and sneering at those who didn’t isn’t confidence.
It’s denial, and denial always comes with a bill.

Note that the image below doesn't have individual state debt.

[✙ Constantine ✙ @Teoyaomiquu]

Watching Americans sneer at Europe today and chant “over-regulated,” “europoor,” or “no growth” is pure historical amnesia.

In 2008, right after the financial crisis, U.S. total public-sector debt was about 86% of GDP. That was already the result of one massive cleanup after deregulation ran the system into the ground. Instead of treating that moment as a hard lesson, the United States went in the opposite direction.

Since then, U.S. debt-to-GDP has nearly doubled. Today, total federal and state debt sits around 160% of GDP, with close to 5% of GDP burned every year just to service interest. That is what has been underpinning much of the headline “growth” people love to brag about.

The irony is brutal. The U.S. already lived through this cycle twice before: the dot-com bubble and the 2008 collapse. Both followed the same script: deregulation, debt, expansion, crash, and then public borrowing to hold the system together. And yet those lessons were apparently shelved the moment the emergency faded.

Europe chose a different path after 2008. It accepted slower growth in exchange for fiscal restraint and tighter rules. As a result, EU debt remained around 80% of GDP, and Europe today spends less than half the share of its economy on interest compared to the United States.

Calling Europe “over-regulated” while celebrating American growth without acknowledging how much debt was piled up to achieve it is hypocrisy, not analysis. You don’t get to mock restraint while quietly depending on leverage to keep GDP numbers up.

This isn’t about ideology. It’s about memory.

Europe remembers what uncontrolled markets and debt explosions do to societies. The U.S., once again, is acting like each crisis was a fluke, and calling anyone who learned from it “weak.”

Borrowing your way to growth and sneering at those who didn’t isn’t confidence.
It’s denial, and denial always comes with a bill.

Note that the image below doesn't have individual state debt.

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

After many, many suggestions into this direction, it's finally put in writing: the US is no longer an ally of Europe. The end of an era for the West now that the US decided to leave the democratic West.
https://t.co/tMFQFs3ltA

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

@trias_politica Overigens, wel netjes dat je een correctie hebt geplaatst.

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

@trias_politica Ah, ik zie het. Net nadat ik m'n antwoord had geplaatst.
Wel een beetje een halfslachtige correctie, want het taalgebruik van het ESM is heel helder. Je probeert alleen de twijfel over de instituties en Griekenland in stand te houden. Niet chic.

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

@gertjanneerhof @DilanYesilgoz @VVD Geen enkele belofte in verkiezingstijd is spijkerhard, we leven nou eenmaal in een coalitie land, waar je altijd water bij de wijn moet doen. Die belofte was een strategische fout, want die gaat gebroken worden.

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

See the full quote in the interview here:
https://t.co/MI5StAclGB

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Newsom: "Think about the state of mind of the VP. How do you square the circle when you go to a prayer breakfast? Old testament, new testament. What's the fundamental thing that connects John to Matthew to Proverbs? It's this notion of hunger, feeding the poor, the sick, the tired. It's not an option, it's central to advancing God's will."

[Hugo Soepenberg @HugoSoepenberg]

"it's central to advancing God's will." Part of a quote, but who said it? Khamenei in Iran? Ultra-religious politician in Israel? Cult leader? Quote from the Handmaid's Tale?
Nope, all wrong, this was said by Democratic presidential hopeful Gavin Newsom on CNN #TheHandmaidsTale