Ruben Cober | Essential Europe

Writes about European news, politics & challenges Substack Essential Europe/Europa, best belangrijk/Nijmans Nieuwsbriefje

[Ruben Cober | Essential Europe @RubenCober]

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[Ruben Cober | Essential Europe @RubenCober]

@sorenpind Back to sleep

[Ruben Cober | Essential Europe @RubenCober]

Essential Europe is a reader-supported newsletter that brings you clear analyses of news, politics and challenges that Europe faces. From political decisions, economic trends to EU policies. Have a look at: https://t.co/Vio3KlZujI

[Ruben Cober | Essential Europe @RubenCober]

“If two Arab boys need to be taken care of, I’m not sending two girls in.” “As soon as certain surnames come up, we bring in the police.”

An emergency nurse in Germany told German newspaper Die Welt about the enormous precautions hospitals need to take while treating clan members. People shouldn't have to live like this in what was once one of the highest trust societies in the world.

“It usually doesn't take long for 20, 30, 40 family members to show up in front of the hospital. They have special Telegram groups where they alert each other, and they want to make their presence felt in a way that's often aggressive: 'We're here; we stand by our people—and you can expect trouble if anything happens to them.' In these circles, it's common for the mothers and women to scream loudly and in high drama. This high noise level is a stress factor for the staff and also for the patients."

[Ruben Cober | Essential Europe @RubenCober]

Subscribe to my newsletter for free to receive clear critical posts on European news, politics and challenges shaping the future of our continent
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[Ruben Cober | Essential Europe @RubenCober]

If the European Convention on Human Rights undermines the rights and security of Europeans, and protects those non-Europeans who have no right being here and are a threat to our security, maybe it’s time to change the bloody thing

@ALSpeyerbach

[Ruben Cober | Essential Europe @RubenCober]

@DonArturito Ora et Labora

[Ruben Cober | Essential Europe @RubenCober]

@DonArturito

[Ruben Cober | Essential Europe @RubenCober]

In contrast to all the talk about 'far-right radicalisation' on migration, German citizens have been thinking about migration and integration in roughly the same way for decades. Since 1990, more than 75 percent of Germans have wanted asylum migration to Germany to be reduced or even stopped altogether. In fact, in almost every Western European country, a majority of citizens wants far less migration, or even “no migration at all and recent migrants sent back.”
I wrote about this in more detail here:
https://t.co/X51IyrEnwn

[Ruben Cober | Essential Europe @RubenCober]

Angela Merkel’s former fixer Peter Altmaier is now warning for a ‘state crisis, for the first time in the history of the German Federal Republic since 1949’. Altmaier argues that in the past, whenever a government was unpopular, an alternative coalition was always possible. Today, that is no longer the case. At least: not without the AfD. The newest history books still have to be written, but Germany has taken its historic place again: as a warning to the rest of Europe.
https://t.co/r6iN33kuwj

[Ruben Cober | Essential Europe @RubenCober]

Merz’s clownish performance abroad and his faltering coalition at home have political consequences. While Merz’s CDU/CSU and the SPD keep muddling through, the far-right AfD keeps surging in the polls. According to INSA, the AfD would now be the largest party in the Bundestag elections, with 28% of the vote, 7 points more than in the February 2025 election. In September, voters in Sachsen-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern will go to the polls. In both states, the AfD has repeatedly been above 40% over the past year.

[Ruben Cober | Essential Europe @RubenCober]

Subscribe to my newsletter for free to receive clear critical posts on European news, politics and challenges shaping the future of our continent
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[Ruben Cober | Essential Europe @RubenCober]

Far-right parties are tapping into frustration over asylum and migration by claiming there is a cultural and political elite that does not listen to voters’ concerns. And they are increasingly right. Ignoring concerns and preferences that voters have had for decades, is the real 'threat to democracy'.

[Ruben Cober | Essential Europe @RubenCober]

While German voters’ views and preferences remain fairly stable, the way their country is changing keeps accelerating. Despite the tough talk of political imbecile and Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the number of naturalisations in 2025 has reached a record high: at least 310,000 migrants received a German passport.

On top of that, Merz’s incompetent government is becoming less and less able to actually remove people who are supposed to leave Germany.

In the first three months of this year, Germany deported 4807 people who were supposed to leave, 21 percent fewer than in the same period in 2025. Germany sent back a grand total of three (!) Syrians.