From 🇪🇺: One of the three German politicians vying to lead Merkel’s CDU party became the first major European voice to link today’s mass arrests in Hong Kong with the EU-China investment deal.

A prominent critic of the deal in the European Parliament asked: “Democracy in HK is dying before our eyes, and the priority of our dear European leaders is to sell us their investment agreement with Beijing. How can we be so out of time?” https://t.co/392P5xZ3VV
Interesting take https://t.co/awMCzgSPFD
EU Commission spokesman @MamerEric defended the bloc’s decision to reach an investment deal, and added the need to engage China on issues like climate change, when asked about the impact of the human rights situation in Hong Kong on EU-China relations.
“The coordinated arrest of over 50 pro-democracy activists on accusations of subversion under the National Security Law sends a signal that political pluralism is no longer tolerated in Hong Kong. The EU calls for the immediate release of those arrested,” @ExtSpoxEU says.
Swedish FM on Hong Kong mass arrests: https://t.co/msgXS7BIbr
Head of the European Parliament’s trade committee - the body that will scrutinise the CAI deal - strikes a strong tone on the mass arrests in HK, saying they “mark a violation of the spirit of the EU-China investment deal sustainability commitments” - incl human rights. https://t.co/QCxMPSjaMz
The list keeps growing. Here’s ex-Belgian prime minister and high-profile MEP @guyverhofstadt’s take

➡️ EU Parliament “will never ratify” deal without “proof that the human rights of Hong Kongers, Uyghurs & Tibetans improve”. https://t.co/fXdaQgPhHx
5 @Europarl_EN members ask @eucopresident @vonderleyen @JosepBorrellF to take urgent action on Hong Kong, incl
• raising issue at UN Security Council
• sanctioning “at least” Carrie Lam
• providing lifeboat to persecuted democrats on member-state level

#ReportingNotEndorsing
Beijing and Hong Kong authorities “deliberately misled the world about the true purpose of the National Security Law”, which as the mass arrests show is being used to crush dissent and opposing political views, @DominicRaab says. https://t.co/e2yGIdlXSF

More from World

Watch the entire discussion if you have the time to do so. But if not, please make sure to watch Edhem Eldem summarizing ~150 years of democracy in Turkey in 6 minutes (starting on 57'). And if you can't watch it, fear not; I've transcribed it for you (as public service). Thread:


"Let me start by saying that I am a historian, I see dead people. But more seriously, I am constantly torn between the temptation to see patterns developing over time, and the fear of hasty generalizations and anachronistic comparisons. 1/n

"Nevertheless, the present situation forces me to explore the possible historical dimensions of the problem we're facing today. 2/n

"(...)I intend to go further back in time and widen the angle in order to focus on the confusion I  believe exists between the notions of 'state', 'government', and 'public institutions' in Turkey. 3/n

"In the summer of 1876, that's a historical quote, as Midhat Pasa was trying to draft a constitution, Edhem Pasa wrote to Saffet Pasa, and I quote in Turkish, 'Bize Konstitusyon degil enstitusyon lazim' ('It is not a constitution we need but institutions'). 4/n

You May Also Like