this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
43 points (87.7% liked)

Europe

10267 readers
852 users here now

News and information from Europe 🇪🇺

(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)

Rules (2024-08-30)

  1. This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
  2. No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
  3. Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
  4. No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
  5. Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
  6. If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
  7. Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in other communities.
  8. Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
  9. No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
  10. Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.

(This list may get expanded as necessary.)

Posts that link to the following sources will be removed

Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media (incl. Substack). Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com

(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)

Ban lengths, etc.

We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.

If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.

If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the primary mod account @EuroMod@feddit.org

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 25 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] germanatlas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 hours ago

Fuck Springer

[–] Zwiebel@feddit.org 20 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Pls stop posting axel springer trash

[–] Pip@feddit.org -4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Same here. Ground news has a very different view on Politico Europe

[–] Siegfried@lemmy.world 0 points 1 hour ago

Ground? Somobody actually uses that biased thing?

[–] CyberEgg@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Fuck Politico, fuck Axel Springer, fuck Döpfner. Don't share their BS, don't give them clicks.

[–] Pip@feddit.org -2 points 4 hours ago (3 children)
[–] gigachad@piefed.social 9 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Germans know that the biggest German news paper, Bild, is a right propaganda paper at least since the 60s. They publish fake news on a regular basis and have an absolutely inhumane concept of society. Politico was bought by Axel Springer, the very same publisher in 2021. They are not yellow press, still they belong to the same publisher and for sure follow the same interests.
Yes, you are allowed to post articles from Politico, but we are allowed to criticize you for it.

[–] Pip@feddit.org -3 points 4 hours ago

Okay, you do you.

[–] CyberEgg@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I made a post.

Also, I don't know Ground's evaluation system, but categorising a medium owned by Axel Springer SE and publishing fossile and military lobby articles as left leaning is quite wrong if you ask me.

[–] Pip@feddit.org -1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I think we have very different images of unions and social democrats. They usually support fossils (mining, steel) and defence industry, no?

Leftwing doesn't mean green to me, but I see that this overlaps often as well.

[–] CyberEgg@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Bro, you need to read up on your basics. Like what "fossiles" mean, what the unions are for and what their positions are, what the german social democrats are nowadays. I can't (I don't want to) teach you up on this.

[–] Pip@feddit.org -2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

You think that steel is produced with renewables and that mining is not linked to fossiles?

Unions work to protect workers in the fossils and defence industries. Their are quite well protected by comparison BTW.

I don't think that the German social democrats define what leftwing means for all of Europe.

[–] einkorn@feddit.org 3 points 3 hours ago

You think that steel is is produced with renewables

The whole trajectory in Europe is to move steel production to renewables or at least hydrogen based methods.

[...] mining [...] fossiles

Unions work to protect workers in the fossils [...] industry

There is no fossil fuel industry left to protect in Germany. The few remaining coal mines are a dying breed and even closing up shop before the legal phaseout in 2035 because it's just not economically viable anymore.

I don't think that the German social democrats define what leftwing means for all of Europe.

No, they don't but since we are arguing under an article about a situation in Germany, Social Democrats referees to the SPD in particular. And to understand why the SPD nowadays can hardly be considered a left leaning party you should read about the Seeheimer Kreis and the neoliberal agenda they have been pushing for years and which has formed the majority of SPD policies in recent years.

[–] einkorn@feddit.org 6 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

It is legit in the sense that the Axel Springer Verlag is a tax paying publishing establishment. Other than that, however, there is not much credibility. You might also want to read up on the owner Mathias Döpfner and his legal billion Euro tax scam.

[–] Pip@feddit.org -3 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

Based on the wikipedia section you shared, Dopfner's criticism of Google, Kuwait Airlines and the German political establishment seems quite mainstream and liberal left. Could it be that you take offense with his Zionism? That is the only thing that doesn't sound mainstream.

[–] einkorn@feddit.org 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

You might want to switch to the German pages for some juicer bits. I mainly posted the English page for the international audience here.

Short summary for non-German speakers:

  • Döpfner is very likely implicated to some degree in the Cum Ex tax scams
  • He is linked to Peter Thiel via his sons endeavors in the US
  • He used his position and influence to push support for political parties a the publisher
  • The controversy around Julian Reichelts abuse of power at the Axel Springer Verlag highlights a "tech bro"-like environments at Bild, the main paper of the publisher.
[–] Pip@feddit.org 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Okay, that warrants concern about the publisher, but none of it directly implicates Politico Europe.

Did he ever use his losigom and influence to pish support for far right parties? Which parties?

[–] einkorn@feddit.org 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Okay, that warrants concern about the publisher, but none of it directly implicates Politico Europe.

Döpfner made clear after the acquisition that he intends to push the same "values" in Politico as in the rest of the publishing house.

Did he ever use his losigom and influence to pish support for far right parties? Which parties?

Not openly, but the narrative and framing pushed by the Bild paper sits firmly between CDU/CSU and AfD positions and frequently contains articles that only barely miss the classification as hit pieces against actual left leanings actors.

[–] CyberEgg@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Döpfner praised US Vice President JD Vance's Munich Security Conference speech, where he called for an end to the political isolation of the European far right. Döpfner called the response by European leaders "whiny."[29]

Yeah, so left wing...

[–] Pip@feddit.org -1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Half of the commentators here complain nonstop that European politicians are too whiny and need to be more assertive!

As much as I find such simplifications useless (on how heads of state should act), that does not indicate their political affiliation.

[–] CyberEgg@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

So praising a right winger's endorsement of the european far right as inspiring is somehow something the left would do? Do you really think that?

[–] Pip@feddit.org -1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Source please.

Naturally, I did not claim that.

[–] CyberEgg@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

The source is linked above. That [29].

You just claimed that Döpfner seems to be representing liberal left mainstream opinions. I provided evidence that that is not quite the case.

[–] Pip@feddit.org 0 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

It's the financial times, I can't access it is paywalled. So I cannot check your statement that Dopfner said not only that Europeans responses were whiny, but that he endorsed far right positions.

[–] CyberEgg@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

In seiner Rede hatte der US-Vize unterstellt, es gebe keine Meinungsfreiheit in Europa. Und dies als größere Bedrohung für die Region als Russland oder China bezeichnet. In einem Interview mit dem »Wall Street Journal« hatte Vance zudem der deutschen Politik geraten, mit allen Parteien zusammenzuarbeiten – also ausdrücklich auch mit der AfD.

Geht es nach Döpfner, dann habe Vance sagen wollen, dass Washington mit Europa zusammenarbeiten wolle – der Kontinent zunächst aber definieren müsse, wofür er stehe, und aufhören müsse, Angst vor seinen eigenen Leuten zu haben.

»Ehrlich gesagt finde ich, dass es eine inspirierende Botschaft ist«, sagte Döpfner der »Financial Times«. »Man muss nicht alles wörtlich nehmen, aber man sollte versuchen, es ernst zu nehmen.« Es sei strategisch unklug und sogar gefährlich, dass »die meisten Europäer nur in einem weinerlichen Tonfall reagiert haben«, sagte Döpfner. Schließlich brauche Europa ein transatlantisches Sicherheitsbündnis und eine transatlantische Handelsbeziehung.

https://www.spiegel.de/politik/j-d-vance-mathias-doepfner-nennt-rede-inspirierend-und-europaeer-weinerlich-a-46ab5fa4-0b56-46c8-aa1a-287ce66b2917