Thursday, September 18, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Italian parliament says no to lab-grown meats

Published 22 November 2023
– By Editorial Staff
Italian minister of agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida.
2 minute read

Italy’s parliament became the first country in the world to vote to ban lab-grown meat. The issue sparked much debate in the country, but was passed by a large majority.

Last spring, the Italian government passed a new law stating that lab-grown meat could not be produced or sold in the country. The reason given was to protect both Italian agriculture and the food industry. Agriculture minister Francesco Lollobrigida has been strongly opposed to the use of lab-grown meat from the start, pointing out that lab products threaten the traditional link between food and agriculture.

The debate over the bill has been intense in Italy, and last week protesters from different sides gathered outside the parliament to make their voices heard in connection with the vote. Critics say there is nothing synthetic about lab-grown meat because it is created by growing natural cells without genetic modification. Ettore Prandini, head of the large agricultural organization Coldiretti, once confronted two MPs from the opposition party More Europe, calling them “criminals” for opposing the ban on lab-grown meat with placards denouncing it as “anti-scientific and anti-Italian”. Benedetto Della Vedova, one of the MPs, instead accused Prandini of being a “hooligan”.

Parliament passed the bill by 159 votes to 53.

“We are protecting our food”

Lollobrigida praised MP:s for supporting the new law, saying it would protect Italian citizens.

We are protecting our food, our food system, by maintaining the relationship between food, land and human labor that we have had for millennia, the agriculture minister was quoted as saying by the BBC. Italy is the world’s first country safe from the social and economic risks of synthetic food, Lollobrigida added.

The law specifically bans synthetic foods made from animal cells without killing the animal, and also prevents manufacturers from using meat-related words on labels to describe plant-based protein. Failure to comply with the law could result in a fine of up to 60,000 euros.

At the time of writing, lab-grown meat is only allowed in the US and Singapore, but is expected to be approved by the EU. In Sweden, Ica has begun working with a Swedish lab-grown meat start-up, with plans to develop a ground meat product.

Facts: Laboratory-produced meat

The production of lab-grown meat uses animal stem cells, which means that the final product is real meat (i.e. not vegan). In the past, cells from unborn calves were reportedly used, but it is unclear whether this method is still used and to what extent. Cells can also be taken from living animals. The cells are then 'grown' in nutrient solution in a bioreactor, which causes them to grow.

Source: Wikipedia, Djurens Rätt

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Orbán: “We feel sorry for the Swedes”

Deteriorating safety

Published today 9:40
– By Editorial Staff
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has on several occasions in a short period of time highlighted Swedish politicians as a cautionary example.
2 minute read

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is once again attacking Sweden’s government. In a new post on X, the Hungarian leader writes that he “feel for the Swedish people – trapped in disorder while their leaders spend their time pointing fingers”.

In his Wednesday post, Orbán lists figures to show the contrast between Hungary and Sweden. Hungary reportedly had zero bombings and zero illegal migrants during 2024, while 132 people smugglers were caught and 16,000 illegal migrants were stopped.

Sweden, on the other hand, according to Orbán’s sources, had 317 gang-related explosions during 2024, with 32 in January alone. 62,000 people are connected to criminal networks, 8,935 illegal migrants, and the firearm murder rate stands at 4 per million inhabitants – compared to the EU average of 1.6.

“Safe, orderly, under control”, Orbán writes about his own country, while describing Sweden as a country where “law and order collapses”.

The Hungarian leader also quotes Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who earlier this year admitted “that we don’t have control over the wave of violence is quite obvious”.

“Yet they lecture us about the rule of law,” Orbán writes, concluding with the words: “This chaos must not become Europe’s future, our people deserve better!”

Ongoing war of words

Orbán’s latest statement is a continuation of the war of words between him and the Moderate Party-led Swedish government. As recently as last weekend, the Hungarian prime minister attacked crime developments in Sweden and Swedish authorities’ inability to act, claiming among other things that “this is how a country collapses” and that “what remains is barbarism”.

During the political event, Orbán claimed that 284 underage girls had been arrested for murder in Sweden. However, the claim was incorrect – according to his source, German newspaper Welt, it concerned 284 girls between 15 and 17 years old who were investigated for various types of violent crimes, not just murder.

The Hungarian leader argued that this development had been ongoing for fifteen years under different Swedish governments and that politicians had “relegated the country outside European civilization”.

— By the way, these are the Swedes who lecture us about the rule of law, he added as a final jab, referring to how the Kristersson government has directed harsh criticism at what it considers Hungary’s democratic backsliding and restrictions on LGBTQ rights and other civil liberties.

CDU wins in North Rhine-Westphalia – AfD triples its support

Published 15 September 2025
– By Editorial Staff
AfD party leader Alice Weidel regards the preliminary result as a major victory.
2 minute read

The CDU appears set to become the largest party in the state election in Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia. But it is primarily the national-conservative Alternative for Germany that has reason to celebrate after tripling its voter support.

When polling stations closed on Sunday, initial projections showed that the Christian Democratic CDU, led by former BlackRock executive Friedrich Merz, received around 34 percent of the vote. The Social Democratic SPD came in second place with 22.5 percent.

However, the biggest change comes from Alternative for Germany (AfD). The party appears to have received 16.5 percent – a significant increase from 5.1 percent in the 2020 election.

Sunday’s election was the first local election since the political upheaval in German politics earlier this year, and for AfD the result represents another step in the party’s westward expansion.

The national-conservative party has made historic gains in recent years and become the second-largest political force at the national level. The voter base has traditionally been found in eastern Germany but is now also growing in the west – as Sunday’s results in North Rhine-Westphalia demonstrate.

Strict opinion laws

Despite AfD’s growing support in both elections and opinion polls, the party struggles to gain actual political influence. The other established parties have consistently refused to cooperate and formed various coalitions to keep AfD out of power.

Several German authorities have gone even further and argued that AfD should be completely banned and classified as unconstitutional.

Germany’s strict opinion laws make many immigration-critical and nationalist positions criminal acts. While several neighboring countries have considerably freer debate, German authorities often use 1930s history as an argument to silence political opposition.

AfD’s recent successes have, however, raised the question of whether German opinion laws and attempts to isolate AfD actually work – or whether they instead drive more dissatisfied German voters to the party.

Von der Leyen’s media plans spark anger: “Pure George Orwell’s 1984”

Totalitarianism

Published 12 September 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Swedish EU parliamentarian Dick Erixon from the Sweden Democrats is not impressed by von der Leyen's speech about the EU needing to "protect" establishment media.
3 minute read

Ursula von der Leyen presented plans in the European Parliament for a new media support program and increased EU funding for traditional establishment media.

Sweden Democrats’ EU parliamentarian Dick Erixon calls the EU Commission President’s speech “pure George Orwell’s 1984” and accuses von der Leyen of wanting to stifle freedom of expression.

In her speech to the European Parliament, the heavily criticized EU Commission President complained about how traditional establishment media are struggling for survival and spoke about rural areas where the local newspaper has become “a nostalgic memory” while warning that this has created “news deserts where disinformation thrives”.

As a solution, von der Leyen presented a “Media Resilience Programme” that will actively support what she and other EU power holders consider to be independent journalism and media literacy.

She also announced that the EU Commission proposes to “significantly boost funding for media” in the next EU budget, but only certain media will be able to access EU citizens’ tax money.

“Wants to protect legacy media”

Dick Erixon, the Sweden Democrats’ representative in the European Parliament, is among several who are directing very harsh criticism at the proposals.

“Deplorable speech by Ursula von der Leyen: Wants state authorities to protect legacy media from source criticism. It was a particularly divisive speech we heard in the European Parliament today. Ursula spoke about freedom but wants to stifle freedom of expression”, he states.

He is particularly critical of von der Leyen’s statement that the EU should “protect” traditional media.

“The EU will protect (yes, ‘protect’) legacy media in a new media program. Since paper newspapers are just a memory, ‘news deserts where disinformation thrives’ are created. Therefore, citizens need journalism they can ‘trust'”, Erixon writes sarcastically.

Warned about autocrats

In her speech, von der Leyen also claimed that independent media are under attack from “autocrats” who want to take control of them.

“The first step in an autocrat’s playbook is always to capture independent media. Because this enables backsliding and corruption to happen in the dark”, she proclaimed dramatically.

“A free press is the backbone of any democracy”, she then claimed and promised that the EU will “support Europe’s press to remain free”.

Dick Erixon points out, however, that von der Leyen and her allies hardly have any interest in a truly independent media landscape and that her rhetoric is rather about citizens blindly trusting what establishment media say and write – while forums that EU leaders don’t control should be made suspicious and censored.

“For Ursula, critical source examination of power holders and the establishment is of no value. ‘Trust traditional media’ was her message, while she believes that social media serves the purposes of darkness and corruption. It’s pure George Orwell’s 1984”, he says.

Wants to limit social media for children

Von der Leyen also wants to introduce restrictions on children’s use of social media. She accused the platforms of using “algorithms that prey on children’s vulnerabilities with the explicit purpose of creating addictions” and announced that an expert panel will develop proposals for EU restrictions before the end of the year.

“Our friends in Australia are pioneering a social media restriction. I am watching the implementation of their policy closely to see what next steps we can take here in Europe”, von der Leyen said.

Von der Leyen gave no further details in her speech about how the media support program will work, what criteria will be used to distribute support, or how large a budget is planned for the program. She also did not specify who will define what counts as “disinformation” or “independent media”.

The EU Commission has also proposed using private capital to support certain media, without further explaining how this will work.

Six AfD politicians dead in short time – raises questions ahead of German election

Published 4 September 2025
– By Editorial Staff
German police claim there is nothing to suggest that any of the deceased AfD politicians were victims of crimes.
2 minute read

Six politicians from the national-conservative party Alternative for Germany (AfD) have died within the span of a few weeks in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The deaths occurred just weeks before the regional election on September 14.

Four candidates and two substitutes from AfD reportedly died during an extremely short time period, which has sparked speculation within the party. The deceased are Ralph Lange, 66, Wolfgang Klinger, 71, Stefan Berendes, 59, and Wolfgang Seitz, 59, as well as two substitutes who have not yet been named.

German police claim they are investigating all deaths, but that no crime is suspected at present. Authorities state that two of the deaths were due to natural causes and information about other causes of death has not been released out of consideration for the relatives.

AfD’s deputy leader in North Rhine-Westphalia, Kay Gottschalk, spoke out on Tuesday about the rumors circulating within the party that the politicians had been murdered or otherwise died unnaturally.

— What I have in front of me – but that’s just partial information – that doesn’t back up these suspicions at the moment, Gottschalk told Politico’s Berlin Playbook Podcast.

He emphasized that the party wants the cases investigated “without immediately getting into conspiracy-theory territory” and pointed out the importance of showing consideration for the affected families.

“Almost statistically impossible”

AfD party leader Alice Weidel has also drawn attention in connection with sharing a post from economist Stefan Homburg, who argued that the number of deaths was “almost statistically impossible”.

 

Practical problems have also arisen following the deaths – ballot papers have had to be reprinted several times and some early votes have been declared invalid.

AfD has made significant progress in North Rhine-Westphalia since the last state election in 2022. According to opinion polls, the party has increased from 5.4 percent to nearly 17 percent of voter support.

North Rhine-Westphalia is Germany’s most populous state with 18 million inhabitants. In total, around 20,000 candidates are running in the September 14 election.

Despite the polling successes, AfD is still expected to be shut out from influence when other established parties join together to stop the EU- and immigration-critical party.

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