@stollmeyer.eurosky.social
Founder & Executive Director of https://DefendDemocracy.EU/ Busy defending democracy against hybrid & technological threats. 🏆Politico’s #Power40 Support #DefendDemocracy: https://defenddemocracy.eu/get-involved/donate
As I have said since Feb 2025, Trump is in office to solve Putin's problems. How else are you going to ensure that Putin's failed state becomes prosperous? it is already having to be propped up by China.
Amazing. Watching a random episode called 'Europe by train' from a Dutch TV series, only to find out that I know not one but BOTH main characters that are being interviewed!
Train expert @jonworth.eu & Reinout Wissenburg, who back then was Head of Sustainability for ProRail.
npo.nl/start/afspel...
EUrope is pressuring the wrong side.
"The collective power of all those in Brussels should be used to block the ambitions of people like Putin and Orbán, not to twist the arms of Ukrainians while they’re fighting on Europe’s behalf."
#StandWithUkraine🇺🇦 #EUpol🇪🇺
landsbergis.com/europe-again...
Glad to hear that the European Commission agrees that our #EnergyTransition “is crucial for our energy security, affordability & independence and, equally, for our competitiveness.”
#GreenDeal
#Iran #geopolitics
#HandsOffOurEU🇪🇺
bsky.app/profile/vond...
As I've been saying for more than a decade:
For EU's energy & geopolitical security,
Speed up our energy transition!
More efficiency & renewables instead of more dependencies.
EPP & oldskool (German) industry: economic pain from delaying & weakening the Green Deal etc is on you.
#EU2030 #EU2050
Why Europeans must stand up to Trump’s illegal war in Iran.
Keeping Trump happy is "strategically counter-productive:
The US war on Iran will only weaken US support for Ukraine—and Russia will be a key beneficiary."
ecfr.eu/article/stra...
Dit is precies waarom ik in 2020 stichting @defenddemocracy.bsky.social oprichtte.
Onze oproep van vorig jaar:
defenddemocracy.eu/europe-secur...
De Haagse #DemocracyDrinks worden georganiseerd door @nhc-nl.bsky.social (NHC), het Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) en The Hague Humanity Hub. Zij gaan over de communicatiemiddelen daar.
democracydrinks.org/the-hague/
Media must stop normalising the far right.
Every uncritical mention of far-right rhetoric is an editorial decision with political consequences.
Every headline, every clip, every click adds weight.
#DefendDemocracy
#HandsOffOurEU🇪🇺
www.politico.eu/article/medi...
Dit is precies waarom ik in 2020 stichting @defenddemocracy.bsky.social oprichtte.
Onze oproep van vorig jaar:
defenddemocracy.eu/europe-secur...
Energy security is Europe’s economic security. When tensions rise, prices jump and confidence falls. The answer is not new dependencies, but faster electrification, renewables and efficiency.
The real risk is moving slow.
The clean transition is Europe’s shield against volatility.
At the #EIB today.
On transatlantic military cooperation in the AI age.
We agree: "European Democracy Shield is an important step but EU Commission’s level of ambition does not yet match the scale of the threat we face. Defending democracy is a long-term strategic task that must be backed by political will and adequate resources."
www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pres...
The 🇺🇸🇮🇱 regimes breaking international law with a 'war of choice' rather than out of self-defence is bad enough.
But I am utterly disappointed with the appeasement by European leaders. Where is our values-based spine?
To my former 🇳🇱 PM, now NATO SG, Mark Rutte:
How low can you go?
#Iran #EUpol
Just last week the German government gutted the heating law which was supposed to drive a transition away from gas.
The timing could not have been worse: Gas prices are up 50% today and this crisis could worsen significantly. This will happen again and again and the consumer pays the price.
#Anthropic: “No amount of intimidation or punishment will change our position on mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.”
Transparency, ethics & rule of law do also matter for security.
Respect.
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
"The US may have abandoned its role in leading the rules-based order. But that doesn't mean that system is dead.
There is every reason to hope that middle powers take up the leadership mantle instead."
By Ivo Daalder, former US ambassador to NATO:
www.politico.eu/article/look...
#DefendDemocracy
I didn't know they still exist in the Netherlands: gentlemen's clubs.
Today I addressed 25 eminent retired gentlemen on the topic of 'democracy under pressure'.
In return I was offered a typical Dutch lunch 🥛🥪🍇, a box of chocolates, and the promise they would discuss opening their club to women 👵👵
Same Brussels square, this time with more people and much better weather 😎
If you’re curious about what I was doing near the European Parliament today, check out @defenddemocracy.bsky.social ’s post 🦋
Today we contributed to a roundtable with senior EU stakeholders on tech sovereignty.
"We work at the nexus of democracy, security and technology, which is where hybrid warfare is taking place. The way out of the geopolitical mess starts with digital sovereignty."
#DefendDemocracy
#HandsOffOurEU🇪🇺
Trump's SOTU speech reveals the strategy: using election lies to justify federal interference in the midterms. Local election officials, states, courts and others need to be empowered to stand up to these attacks and voters need information to help navigate around obstacles laid to suppress votes.
The artist who created this lives in Riga, the capital of Latvia 🇱🇻
bsky.app/profile/stol...
Irish Data Protection Commission was asked today in Committee: have you ever taken a GDPR decision on Google?
Answer... No.
Ireland is responsible for supervising Google's data use across the whole EU. It has produced no decisions.
Kudos @sineadgibney.bsky.social for asking the question.
4 (or 12!) years of Russia’s war.
Ukraine ambassador tells EU:
“Don’t buy Putin’s bullshit.”
#DefendDemocracy
#HandsOffOurEU🇪🇺
#StandWithUkraine🇺🇦
euobserver.com/204122/four-...
Time to put to bed the idea that time is somehow on Russia's side.
Russian losses now exceeding recruits, the Russian economy now entering the "death zone," all while continuing to crawl ahead at a snail's pace in Ukraine. Time may once have been a Russian advantage. But that's no longer the case.
When will @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu @ec.europa.eu & @consilium.europa.eu learn that appeasement never works?
Reminder: A CJEU Advocate General recently proposed that the Court annul the VDL Commission’s decision of Dec 23 to unlock €10.2bn which was in effect a bribe to buy Orban's cooperation
💙💛
Zou “mijn” generator hier al tussen zitten aan het Oekraïense front?
Nog ruim een week om die 4 ton te halen, dat moet lukken toch?
Je bijdrage is nog belastingaftrekbaar ook.
#SlavaUkraïni🇺🇦
#DefendDemocracy✊
#HandsOffOurEU🇪🇺
#NAFO🪖
Als vissen die niet weten hoe cruciaal water is, beseffen wij niet dat de samenleving waarin we ons bewegen onder druk staat. Van buiten, en van binnen. Ja, ook onze vrije democratie kan kapot. In sommige Europese landen zien we dat al, nu zien we tekenen in de VS. Goed dat Defend Democracy bestaat.
For the 5th year in a row, Defend Democracy's February event was dedicated to Ukraine.
I very much hope that next year we will not be commemorating Russia's ongoing aggression, but celebrating Ukraine's victory.
#DefendDemocracy
#HandsOffOurEU🇪🇺
#StandWithUkraine🇺🇦
