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Merit Wager wrote that Finland's Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen had said that Finland should not accept traditions, cultures, or customs that limited girls' freedom. According to the Swedish translation that Wager shared, Valtonen believed that girls and women should be able to decide over their own lives, and that religious or cultural norms should not be used to restrict their freedom. Wager also recounted Valtonen's statement that the National Coalition Party wanted to ban face-covering garments, such as the burqa and niqab, in schools and other educational institutions. Valtonen had said that the government led by the National Coalition Party had strengthened the rights of girls and women by more clearly criminalizing forced marriages and female genital mutilation. She had described female genital mutilation as violence and said that every girl had the right to bodily integrity. According to Wager's account, Valtonen also emphasized that equality, individual freedom, and human rights should not be overridden by references to religion, culture, or tradition. Every girl should have the right to be seen, heard, dream, and shape her future based on her own desires, she had said. #Jämställdhet #MänskligaRättigheter #KvinnorsRättigheter (translated)

The author wrote that democracy thrives on finding majorities for what is right, convincing others, and fighting for it, not on compromise. Compromises may sometimes be possible and necessary; however, whoever declares them as the goal from the outset does not want to lead, but simply wants to have peace. #Demokratie #Politik #Gesellschaft #DE (translated)

The negotiations about the MFF will become more intense afterwards, as the President of the European Council, António Costa, hopes that the member states will reach an agreement on it still this year, while there is also no consensus among the member states regarding the content of the budget in addition to its size. #EU #költségvetés #kompromisszum (translated)

Russia would like to make an agreement... but for some reason Zelensky does not want to reach a deal, U.S. Republican President Donald Trump said on Saturday that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin would like to achieve an agreement in the Ukraine war, blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for refusing to compromise. #Ukraina #Venemaa #Trump (translated)

The CDU has evolved from a conflict-ridden party politics to a consensus democracy, where the secretaries general increasingly act in defensive roles and the party in government relies more on compromises than on clear positions, which could contribute to the hollowing out of the CDU. #CDU #Konsensdemokratie #Politik (translated)

Ida Gabrielsson argued that the government formation should be based on the fact that S, V, MP, and C had campaigned for a change of power and had Magdalena Andersson as a common candidate for prime minister. She wrote that C could not count in parties that did not support Andersson and at the same time demand influence based on their mandates. According to Gabrielsson, voters had given C 7 percent and V 8.4 percent, and V would not accept C pursuing right-wing policies with the support of V's mandate. Gabrielsson stated that C could seek support from Ulf Kristersson or try to get KD and L to switch sides. If that did not happen, C needed to negotiate with S, V, and MP to get a majority behind Andersson, according to her. She wrote that V was willing to compromise, but that the parties supporting a prime minister candidate must also be able to accept each other as a government basis. She criticized C’s growth proposals, including continued privatization of the Employment Service and permanent tax subsidies to cleaning companies and large restaurant chains. Gabrielsson claimed that the Economic Institute, the Fiscal Policy Council, and others had assessed the proposals as ineffective, expensive, and ineffective in creating jobs. She also wrote that the proposals would be financed through cuts to unemployment benefits and sick pay as well as cuts in welfare. Gabrielsson asserted that the most voters preferred a red-green government, followed by the Tidö alternative, while C's centrist alternative lagged far behind. She wrote that more people had voted for S, V, and MP than for the previous Alliance if SD was excluded. Finally, she urged C to first clarify its political direction and implied that the party needed to choose a side if it could not find a centrist solution. #Regering #Sverige #Politik (translated)

"We listened carefully to all member states." The new compromise proposal creates the difficult balance between new tasks such as promoting competitiveness, defense, and security policy, traditional expenditures, as well as the lack of financial leeway for the contributors, Byrne emphasized. #EUBudget #Merz #Kürzungen (translated)

Wolfgang Kubicki said that realistically no one expects the SPD to develop the necessary reform strength. Christian Lindner has already attempted to put the Social Democrats on a reform course; the outcome of this attempt is well known. The situation has become even more complicated, as not even the agreed small steps are being implemented. Kubicki accused the SPD of seeking short-term advantages through chaos and undermining achieved compromises, as was already the case during the traffic light coalition. The Christian Democrats have tolerated this for too long because the Chancellor lacks leadership qualities, and they may have been too naive and gullible. #SPD #Reformen #Politik (translated)

China has agreed in the trade dispute with the EU to reduce exports of hybrid cars to Europe by more than half, which is seen as the first compromise without prior tensions and could relieve some pressure from Chinese competition on German car manufacturers. #EUChina #Hybridautos #Handelsstreit (translated)

Regina Laska wrote that Donald Trump promised hundreds of thousands of tons of Russian diesel after a phone call with Vladimir Putin. The U.S. Treasury then allowed an exemption from the sanctions. Given the midterms in four weeks and a diesel price at record levels, Laska interpreted the move as a possible campaign maneuver. In mid-September, Trump publicly called on Volodymyr Zelensky to stop attacks on Russian refineries. According to a Reuters report led by Laska, at that time three of the six largest Russian diesel refineries were shut down or operating at limited capacity. She also pointed to a Russian export ban on diesel until the end of October and noted that Russia imported almost seven times as much diesel from Belarus from January to July as in the same period of the previous year. Deputy Prime Minister Novak is now talking about surpluses, she wrote; however, it is unclear whether the announced delivery quantities and deadlines will actually be met. Zelensky offered to stop Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries if Russia ends its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Laska referred to this as a symmetrical de-escalation offer that is on the table for the Americans. She also cited rocket attacks on a residential building in Pryluky, glide bombs on city buses in Kramatorsk, and shelling of the energy supply in Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Odesa. She warned that Russia would respond to the diesel with terrorism. The EU also criticized Laska: On September 22, Usmanov and Fridman were removed from the sanctions list under pressure from France, Slovakia, and Luxembourg. According to Laska, Zelensky pointed out that the attacks had since increased. At the same time, the EU extended the remaining personal sanctions from six months to three years. Latvia had long resisted the compromise and ultimately paved the way for it by abstaining. Laska compared Trump's diesel concession to Russia with the European compromise in favor of unanimity. In her view, the costs of such agreements are borne not by their authors but by the people in Pryluky, Kramatorsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Oleshkiv. #Trump #Putin #Dieselpreise (translated)