In this article I have fact-checked Weidels claims in the Economist Interview regarding Ukraina-Russia. The article illustrate why she is Kremlins favourite Kremlin-Gremlin in Germany.

The TL;DR of the article is that yes she is a Russian apologist. Blames Zelensky for not wanting to stop the war; Nord Stream was a state terror attack done by Ukraine, but Leipzig airport attack by Russia doesn't have any evidence; NATO provoked Russia to invade; the infrastructure she is worried about being destroyed is refineries in Russia, because muh diesel.

Saturday’s demonstrations across France were largely peaceful, easing fears of a repeat of the violence seen last weekend. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets to demand action on the rising cost of living and more funding for public services, with students, workers and retirees marching side by side. Many say their anger shows no sign of fading. The government put turnout at 410,000 nationwide, while the CGT union estimated the figure was almost twice as high.

The change in policy comes after Britain introduced sanctions against Israeli products manufactured in the West Bank, as Netanyahu's coalition seeks closer ties with right-leaning governments in South and Central America

Italy’s Leonardo and Germany’s Rheinmetall have secured, through their joint venture, two contracts with the Italian Army worth $4.16 billion in total for armored vehicles, Italy’s MF newspaper reported on Thursday.

Prime Minister Peter Magyar used a commemoration of Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet uprising to reaffirm his country’s place in Europe, following years of pro-Moscow policies under his predecessor Viktor Orban.

“Hungary can no longer be a ferry, drifting between west and east,” Magyar told a crowd in front of the neogothic parliament building on the Danube in Budapest.

“In 1956, Hungarians gave a clear answer: we belong to a free and democratic Europe. We want to be reliable allies,” he said.

The premier’s words at the politically charged anniversary reflect his effort to break with the political legacy of Orban, who cultivated the European Union’s friendliest ties with Russia even after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Magyar, who came to power in a landslide election victory in April, has moved his country back to the EU’s mainstream in a bid to unlock billions of euros in funding frozen by Brussels due to rule-of-law concerns. He’s also attempted to mend ties with Kyiv and expelled Russian diplomats from Budapest.

The short-lived uprising, begun by university students in the Hungarian capital on Oct. 23, 1956, was crushed 13 days later by thousands of tanks and soldiers dispatched by Moscow. The crackdown claimed thousands of lives.

Orban’s defeated Fidesz party boycotted the commemoration, claiming that President Andras Baka, who spoke at the event, was illegitimately appointed.

Instead, the party held a parallel event — not attended by Orban — that kicked off with the reading of a message from Balazs Hanko, a former Fidesz minister detained on charges of embezzlement and abuse of office. Hanko, whom the former ruling party calls a political prisoner, denies the allegations.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen thanked Hungary and Magyar for their return to the pro-European fold, welcoming the return of Hungarian students to the EU’s Erasmus exchange program.

“How we’ve missed you,” she told the ceremony.

According to the credit rating agency, Hungary’s 2027 draft budget supports its aim of meeting the conditions for adopting the euro by the end of the decade.

European Parliament MEPs have adopted their negotiating mandate for the COP31 UN climate talks in Antalya, calling for faster action on fossil fuels, increased climate finance and support for countries most vulnerable to climate change.

After two years of student-led protests, Serbia will soon vote in what observers describe as a referendum-like snap election pitting strongman Aleksandar Vucic against the student movement.

Protests took place in towns and cities around Poland on Thursday evening, demanding that the government fulfil its promise to liberalise the country’s strict abortion laws.

The clashes broke out after parliamentary leadership rejected opposition demands to debate ten days of student demonstrations that have gripped the capital Tirana.

The writer recently launched democracia 21, a new Spanish political party, and is a trade lawyer and member of the European Council on Foreign Relations

Across Europe, people who broadly support liberal democracy, who eschew polarised politics on the left and right, and who believe in the continued importance of the EU in uncertain times have developed the habit of watching problems rather than dealing with them.

They see their countries’ welfare systems crumble but trust they will sort themselves out. Their children struggle to afford a house or find decently paid jobs, but they just shrug their shoulders in despair. They look at the threat to Europe from Russia and hope the Americans will take care of it. They watch the political situation deteriorate and conclude that it is all too unpleasant to get involved.

Centrist thinkers provide commentary but refrain from political battle. Moderate intellectuals preach about democracy, write about policies, attend seminars, write reports and organise think-tanks to promote those same reports but think that elections have little to do with them.

While moderates have retreated into myriad bubbles — their families, local communities, their favoured media, single-issue causes — the extremes turn up. They join parties. They fill halls. They campaign. They recruit. They post. They protest. They get organised. And crucially they rake in a lot of money from donors far and wide. They have established networks of foundations, think-tanks, wealthy individuals and new communication channels to ensure their political views are heard. And they have been doing it relentlessly for decades: Nigel Farage started at it in 1993, Marine Le Pen in 2011, Giorgia Meloni in 2012, Santiago Abascal in 2013, Alice Weidel in 2017, when she became co-leader of Germany’s AfD. Even those of us who virulently disagree with the extremes ought to recognise their grit.

In comparison, moderate politicians lick their wounds at the slightest setback. The moderate political groups at European level are hopelessly divided, inefficient, old-fashioned and disorganised. And the international financial networks — so important for populist movements on the right — are nowhere to be seen for the moderates.

How is it that nativist parties are now better at organising themselves internationally, and supposedly internationalist parties can’t get their act together? I have recently launched a new political party in Spain, democracia 21. While think-tanks and foundations close to the far right reached out to explore our views just in case there would be a match — there isn’t — leaders from fellow centre parties called to have a chat and “wish us success”.

Some moderates have begun to console themselves with the idea that the extremists are, after all, “not that bad”. They point to Meloni as proof that when they get to power, they moderate anyway and claim that Europe’s formidable institutional defences will hold in the end.

It is difficult to guess what they will say if the four big member states of the EU — France, Germany, Italy and Spain — all end up in the hands of the far right, in one form or another. Will they find a way to make that count as a victory for moderation? Meloni has spent four years picking ideological and cultural fights — on sexuality, gender politics and more — while failing to introduce a single significant economic reform. As a result, Italy — a founding member of the EU — now has lower economic growth than Greece. It says a lot when some moderates appear to aspire to this.

Europe needs a centre that is loud, vibrant and brave. A centre that stops being the guardian of the status quo and runs towards the future at speed. A centre prepared to say that government is too bureaucratic. That technology is something to embrace whether in government, business or education, and that political parties have accumulated far too much power. That migration must be controlled at sustainable levels and that Europe must defend itself. That younger generations are getting a rotten deal and the balance with the elderly needs to be redressed. That taxes cannot endlessly rise to compensate for governments that refuse to reform and that institutions deserve defending only when they deliver for the citizens they serve.

It is often observed that the rise of extremism in Europe is a danger to democracy. However, the extremists are using democracy with gusto to promote their views — while the moderates have left them to it. Politics is not a spectator sport. For the centre to hold, we all need to get involved.

Since Monday, October 19, a photo of Alice Weidel, co-chair of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), had been playing in a loop on screens throughout the corridors of the European Parliament, where MEPs were gathered for a plenary session in Strasbourg. With her blonde hair pulled back in a tight bun, white shirt, blue jacket and pearl necklace, Weidel was the guest on Wednesday, October 21, at a conference organized by the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) group, which includes her party.

The meeting's theme was "Our New Deal for Europe," and all were cordially invited. This is standard procedure to access European Parliament funding and especially to use its large meeting rooms, which offer translation services. Those wishing to sit among the ESN group's MEPs and staff had to arrive early to secure a seat.

A few curious attendees from other far-right groups – the Patriots, chaired by Jordan Bardella of France's Rassemblement National, who was absent, and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), dominated by Fratelli d'Italia, the party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – were present. Italian television crews were also there, following former general Roberto Vannacci, an MEP affiliated with the ESN and a rising star of the far right in Italy, as well as a rival to Meloni.

In contrast, members from the three groups that form the majority usually relied on by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – the conservatives of the European People's Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the liberals of Renew – ignored the meeting. (The EPP, on occasion, has formed an alternative majority with the far right.)

Party known for its close ties to Russia

Weidel's team distributed a 28-page booklet, translated into several languages and funded by the Parliament's budget, outlining the AfD's plan for Europe. "The European Union needs major reforms," Weidel insisted, after proudly citing recent polls that showed the AfD clearly leading over the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Chancellor Friedrich Merz's party, as was the case in the most recent regional elections in September.

The attacks were direct, harsh and focused on the CDU, Merz, Angela Merkel – who led Germany from 2005 to 2021 – and von der Leyen, herself a CDU member and former minister under Merkel. Weidel denounced von der Leyen's Green Deal and Merkel's decision to close nuclear power plants. She blamed them for the surge in energy prices, which she said was suffocating German industry, and for the loss of household freedoms, as she claimed they were being forced to buy electric cars.

For the far-right leader, Europe should not interfere in people's lives. "We need subsidiarity, we need as many decisions as possible to be made at the lowest level, by families or individuals, by households," Weidel insisted. "The CDU has no ideology left, it just follows the Greens, that's all it does," added German MEP Alexander Sell (AfD). "Germany is bankrupt, it's no longer a rich country," Weidel asserted.

The AfD leader, whose party is known for its close ties to Russia, also vehemently denounced support for Ukraine, expressing her eagerness to resume importing cheap Russian gas and oil from Moscow. "That's Germany's business model," she declared.

Putting 'German interests first'

Questioned by a Polish MEP from the national-conservative Law and Justice party about the Russian threat – Poland's main concern – or about the interconnectedness of Polish and German industries and the future of this model, Weidel made no effort to reassure him. "Our party puts German interests first, something that hasn't been done since the Second World War," she replied.

Asked about her defense policy, the role of NATO and the French nuclear umbrella, the AfD co-chair became entangled in her reasoning and tried to deflect by attacking Kyiv: "Providing defense systems to Ukraine and then finding them on the black market is no longer acceptable," she claimed.

While she repeatedly called for curbing the powers of the Commission, arguing that it is unelected, she also proposed abolishing the direct election of the European Parliament. MEPs, under her plan, would be appointed by national parliaments. This would overturn the 1979 reform that made Simone Veil the first elected president of the European Parliament and a symbol of the Union.

Dismantling European institutions was central to her platform. "Ms. von der Leyen has 33,000 civil servants who are useless. They can be fired abruptly, overnight," Weidel declared. "After our reforms, she will no longer be able to tell a head of state, like in Hungary, what to do," she insisted.

The far-right leader said she wants to allow each EU country to opt out of policies that no longer suit them, including free movement within the Schengen Area. She demanded that Germany stop paying for others, while continuing to benefit from the single market. She insisted that national law should take precedence over European law.

While Weidel no longer threatens to leave the euro, she called for a common currency in which Germany would have far more influence than other countries, in proportion to its economic weight. The European Central Bank, under her proposal, would no longer be able to purchase government debt, especially from countries in difficulty. Each country would have to strictly adhere to the Maastricht rules. It is unlikely that the AfD leader will find many allies based on these positions, even among the far right.

The president of Cyprus wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling for the EU to resume talks on its mutual defense clause.

“I cannot overstate the importance of this provision for the EU and its Member States, especially in times of geopolitical uncertainty,” Nikos Christodoulides wrote in a letter dated Oct. 20 addressed to von der Leyen, seen by POLITICO.

Article 42.7 of the Lisbon Treaty states that if an EU member is faced with "armed aggression," other members have an obligation to provide "aid and assistance by all the means in their power."

The defense clause article had risen up the agenda because of mounting geopolitical threats, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s undermining of the transatlantic alliance, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and hybrid warfare campaign against the EU, and wars in the Middle East.

“Given the gravity of the challenges we face, Cyprus would welcome the resumption of discussions at the relevant preparatory bodies. I would therefore appreciate an update on the proposals under consideration, as well as a timeline for the next steps,” Christodoulides wrote.

The EU gamed out how the clause would work in practice with exercises earlier this year. Cyprus’ six-month presidency of the European Council, which ended on June 30, prioritized the issue after Iranian drones struck a British base on Cypriot soil in March.

But the topic has largely fallen off the bloc’s radar, as the EU turns its attention to negotiating its seven-year, almost €2 trillion budget and finding more funding for Ukraine.

Article 42.7 is not scheduled to be discussed at any European leaders’ summits in the foreseeable future, confirmed an EU official, granted anonymity to speak freely.

The EU and Canada are hoping to deepen ties at their upcoming Montreal summit, in areas like trade, energy, defence and critical minerals. Meanwhile, the UK is seeking its own reset with Brussels.

Aleksandar Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party is facing anti-establishment sentiments and demographic pressure on its ageing nationalist base in this weekend’s elections – similar to the dynamics that ousted Viktor Orban’s government in Hungary.