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Germany’s Scholz in India to press on EU trade deal

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited India on Saturday seeking to deepen business and defence ties between the two major economies and jumpstart progress on an EU trade deal despite differences over Ukraine.

India Germany
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) walks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (L) during his ceremonial reception at India's presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on February 25th, 2023. Photo by Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP

“We want to further strengthen our bilateral relationship with India and our cooperation on global issues, such as mitigating climate change and transforming our economies in a just, green and sustainable way,” Scholz told the Times of India in an interview.

“There is huge potential for intensified cooperation, in sectors such as renewables, hydrogen, mobility, pharma, digital economy, and many more,” Scholz told the paper.

Scholz, accompanied by executives from big German firms like Siemens, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and was due to head to Bengaluru to visit German software firms including SAP on Sunday.

Scholz said he wanted progress towards a trade deal between the European Union and India that has long been held up by disagreements on tariffs and access for Indian workers to Europe.

“I am in favour of applying more pressure,” Scholz told reporters. “In recent years there have been periods when really not much has happened. My impression is that this is changing.”

Scholz was due to discuss a bid by Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems to build six submarines in India in a deal reportedly worth several billion dollars.

Ukraine war

The two sides also differ on the Ukraine war, with India refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion at the United Nations and ramping up purchases of oil from its biggest supplier of arms.

“We talked about the whole situation and exchanged very openly our assessments on the concrete situation that Russia’s attack on Ukraine has created,” Scholz said after meeting Modi.

“I believe one can say that no one here (in India) is under any illusions, including the government, that this is an offensive war started by Russia in order to acquire a part of its neighbour’s territory,” he said.

“I think that it is important that so many countries recently again very clearly condemned Russia’s offensive war (at the UN). But we should know… that also most countries that didn’t vote (in favour of UN resolutions) view and judge it as an offensive war,” he said.

He also said that he and Modi discussed China’s 12-point paper released on Friday calling for a “political settlement” to the crisis, and that it has “both light and shadow”.

“There are things that are noticeably correct, for example the renewed condemnation of the use of nuclear weapons. Missing, from my point of view, is a recognisable line that says there must be a withdrawal of Russian troops,” Scholz said.

Scholz did not say whether he raised concerns about minority and media rights in the world’s biggest democracy during his talks with the Hindu nationalist premier.

Last week Indian tax officials raided the local offices of the BBC in a move rights groups linked to a documentary by the British broadcaster about Modi’s role in deadly sectarian riots in 2002. The Indian government denied the two were linked.
  

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CRIME

German far-right politician back in court over Nazi slogan

Controversial German far-right politician Björn Höcke went on trial Monday over a banned Nazi slogan that has already earned him a conviction.

German far-right politician back in court over Nazi slogan

Höcke, a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), was fined €13,000 in May for knowingly using the phrase “Alles für Deutschland” (Everything for Germany) at a 2021 campaign rally.

A motto of the Sturmabteilung paramilitary group that played a key role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, the phrase is illegal in Germany, along with the Nazi salute and other slogans and symbols from that era.

Höcke, a former high school history teacher, claimed he was unaware of the slogan’s Nazi past but judges in Halle agreed with prosecutors that he fully understood what he was saying.

The same court will now have to decide whether Höcke, the leader of the AfD in the eastern region of Thuringia, is guilty of knowingly using the slogan a second time at a party gathering in his home state in December 2023.

Höcke had called out the phrase “everything for” and allegedly incited the crowd to reply “Germany”.

If convicted, he could face a fine or up to three years in jail, according to German media. A verdict could come as early as this week.

Considered an extremist by German intelligence services, Hoecke has long courted controversy.

He once called Berlin’s Holocaust monument a “memorial of shame” and has urged a “180-degree shift” in the country’s culture of remembrance.

But the scandals haven’t dented his popularity, and Hoecke is gunning to become Germany’s first far-right state premier when Thuringia holds regional elections in September.

READ ALSO: Germany’s far-right AfD sees strong gains in local eastern elections

The anti-Islam, anti-immigration AfD is currently polling in first place in Thuringia. The party is also expected to perform strongly in two other regional elections in eastern Germany in September.

But in a country where coalition governments are the norm, Germany’s mainstream parties have consistently ruled out cooperating with the AfD.

The AfD scored a record 16 percent in the European Parliament elections earlier this month, outperforming Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party.

READ ALSO: What the EU elections say about the state of politics in Germany

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