European Union

Racially motivated attacks against Muslims and Africans in Poland are on the rise.

As reported by Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international broadcaster, three students from Turkey and Bulgaria were cursed at by young men on a tram earlier this month in Bydgoszcz, a city of nearly a half-million people in northern Poland. They were told to get out of country because Poland is for Poles.

Also, foreign exchange students in Torun, a student city also in Poland’s north, have come under increasing threat. A young Turk was recently cursed at and badly beaten. Two other students were forced to their knees in a bar and forced to “apologise” for being Muslim and not Christian.

“I am shocked by the lynch atmosphere of this incident,” said Ewa Walusiak-Bednarek, a spokeswoman for the University in Torun. “We have had exchange students for 10 years and this has never happened. Now it’s happened twice this year.”

The university has a tradition of pairing exchange students with their Polish peers, who are known as guardian angels, to “help students from abroad get used to everyday life and understand the country better,” Walusiak-Bednarek said.

“The number of Polish guardian angels has increased from 30 to 110 since these attacks. Nearly all of our 130 foreign exchange students are able to have their own.”

According to DW, Anna Tatar, who keeps track of racist attacks around Poland in her “brown book” for the foundation, which is called “Never Again.” She recorded 400 cases in 2009-2010 and 600 two years later. The count rose to 850 in 2013, according to Police statistics, and it doubled by 2015.

“We have observed a further rise since summer 2015, higher than the official numbers suggest,” she told DW. The racially charged atmosphere stems from the refugee debate during the parliamentary election campaign in fall 2015, she said. Poland has not taken in any refugees, but the numbers entering Europe overall has incensed many Poles, causing it to become a major campaign issue.

“The media have painted the refugees with one, broad brush,” Tatar said.

According to Polish government officials have been noticeably quiet following racially motivated attacks. At times, it plays down the racial motivations that may be behind them. A right-wing demonstration in Bialystok last April called to “hang Jews”. The public prosecutor concluded the incident was repugnant, but not racist.

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NATO and Russia still “have profound disagreements on the crisis” in Ukraine, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg made the comments after the NATO-Russia Council, their main forum for dialogue, held more than three hours of talks in Brussels on December 19.

Western diplomats said the fact that the NATO-Russia Council, where the Russian ambassador to the North Atlantic alliance sits with members states’ envoys, had met at all was significant after an increase in Russian military deployments.

“Without talking, we cannot solve our differences,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said after the meeting in Brussels.

Russia has alarmed NATO by equipping its Baltic fleet with nuclear-capable missiles and stepping up Cold War-style aerial incursions to probe Western air defenses. In October, it demonstratively sent its sole aircraft carrier close to Europe’s shores on its way to Syria.

Russian Ambassador Alexander Grushko gave a detailed briefing on Russian military exercises involving around 120,000 personnel in recent months, NATO diplomats said.

There was also discussion in Brussels of the tactics being used by Russian pilots, which NATO says are unsafe. These include flying barrel rolls over Western aircraft, not sharing flight plans, and flying without the transponders that allow jets to be identified by ground radar.

But Stoltenberg said there continued to be “profound disagreements” on one of the central issues in east-west relations: Ukraine.

He said NATO members would not recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and that the alliance remained deeply concerned about eastern Ukraine, partly controlled since 2014 by rebels whom NATO accuses Moscow of financing.

Despite an internationally-monitored ceasefire, diplomats have cited increasing reports of shelling and civilian casualties.

NATO for its part has responded to increased Russian military activity by planning to deploy troops to the Baltic states and Poland next year. Although it says its plans are defensive, Russia has been irked and sought explanations.

Separately, Ukrainian Europe Minister Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, who met EU officials in Brussels, told Reuters six Ukrainian soldiers had been reported killed on Monday and another 26 wounded in shelling by Russian-backed rebels.

The EU extended economic sanctions against Russia on Monday due to a lack of progress in implementing the Minsk ceasefire deal, under which a cessation of fighting was due to be followed by Kiev agreeing to hold local elections in the region.

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Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPO) has offered to act as a go-between for US President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin after signing a cooperation agreement with Putin’s party.

As reported by the Reuters news agency, FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache and the party’s recently defeated presidential candidate Norbert Hofer attended the signing ceremony in Moscow, as did officials of Putin’s United Russia party including Pyotr Tolstoy, a deputy chairman of the lower house of parliament.

The FPO has long taken a pro-Russia stance, calling for an end to European Union sanctions against Moscow imposed over the annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine. It has also denied allegations that it receives funding from Moscow.

On a recent visit to the United States, FPO officials met people close to President-elect Donald Trump, including his pick for national security adviser Michael Flynn, the FPO said in a statement announcing the Russian deal.

“It is particularly important to Strache that the US and Russia stand shoulder to shoulder,” according to an FPO statement, saying that could improve the situations in Syria and Crimea and lead to a lifting of sanctions on Russia.

“The FPO acts as a neutral and reliable intermediary and partner in promoting peace!” it said.

In a separate report, The Local noted that Strache signed a five-year agreement with senior United Russia officials during his trip to Russia.

“The aim is to work together on various levels, from youth party wings via regional branches to international issues,” the eurosceptic FPO said in a statement.

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European Union visa-free travel for Ukrainians is closer, according to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini.

The commissioner issued a statement after the December 19 meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Council on December 19.  She said: “On visas: another issue that I know is very much close to the Ukrainian population and authorities’ hearts. The Council and European Parliament have agreed on the revised suspension mechanism. This paves the way for final procedural steps, which will enable visa liberalisation for Ukraine soon”.

In turn, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsyntsadze said the EU had once again confirmed that the Ukrainian side had fulfilled all its obligations.

The Council was chaired by Mogherini. The Ukrainian delegation was led First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Stepan Kubiv, who was accompanied by other government officials.

In other related news, the Netherlands appears closer to ratifying the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, after the amendments requested by the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, were accepted by the other 27 EU member states last week. The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area has been provisionally applied since January 2016 and has already increased the trade volume between the EU and Ukraine by 7.5% in the period October 2015-September 2016 compared to the previous year.

In terms of recent developments, the Association Council welcomed the signing of the financing agreement for Public Administration Reform (PAR) programme, a €104m contribution to support policy development, civil service and human resource management.

Furthermore, the announcement of the PRAVO programme of €52.5m adds up to the support of rule of law in Ukraine, namely via judiciary and law enforcement.

The meeting concluded with the signing of financing agreements for four Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) programmes in which Ukraine participates and of five agreements between Ukraine and the European Investment Bank (EIB), underlining the importance of further successful cooperation in line with the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ukraine and the EIB.

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Another diplomatic row between Turkey and Germany is brewing. The administrators of a prestigious Istanbul high school have reportedly warned teachers over Christian and Christmas-related content in German language classes.

As reported by the Reuters news agency, the Istanbul Lisesi, a state-run high school that offers a curriculum in both German and Turkish, said in a statement that administrators had met the head of the German department over concerns that teachers were devoting too much ti...

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The president of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) Group in the European Parliament Gianni Pittella has criticised Joseph Kabila’s decision to postpone the presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“The attempt of Joseph Kabila to remain in power beyond his term is unacceptable and is a danger to both the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and to the Great Lakes region as a whole, which will suffer a new wave of instability,” he said. “We strongly believe that respect of democracy, peace and peaceful transfer of power must now be the only priority for all political forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Unfortunately Kabila is showing time and time again his desire to go the opposite way.”

In turn, S&D MEP Cécile Kyenge said: “Unless there is any last minute surprise, everything points to the likelihood that this will actually happen and Kabila is increasing his resolve to keep his hands on the Congolese presidency illegally.”

“The European Union cannot continue to support a country which does not comply with its constitutional responsibilities, from the Head of State to the municipal level,” added Kyenge. “If Joseph Kabila continues on his current path and establishes an illegal and illegitimate regime the EU must act.”

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Apple is fighting back. Accused of taking “unilateral action” and retroactively changing the rules, “disregarding decades of Irish tax law, US tax law, as well as global consensus on tax policy, that everyone has relied on,” Apple has rejected all charges resulting from the European Commission’s investigation. Now, the EU institution has released more information on the landmark competition case.

The Berlaymont is not willing to let Apple and Ireland continue “business as usual.” It published...

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On 20 December 2016, the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) endorsed, on behalf of the Council a mandate for negotiations on the regulation on the European Union Agency for Asylum. On the basis of this mandate, the presidency will start negotiations with the European Parliament. 

"To tackle irregular migration and to improve the management of the asylum systems requires action on various fronts. This includes the transformation of the EASO into a proper EU Agency for Asylum. Today, the Council is taking an important step in that direction, as we have an agreement on the main building blocks of the agency. Our objective is to ensure that it can support the member states in implementing the Common European Asylum System and provide technical and operational assistance." 

EU Ambassadors endorsed the text of the mandate ('partial general approach') on the understanding that the parts relating to other files of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) reform will be revisited once there is agreement on them. 

The proposal for a European Union Agency for Asylum aims to improve the implementation and functioning of the CEAS by building on the work of the current European Asylum Support Office (EASO).

  The new regulation will further develop EASO into a fully-fledged Agency responsible for facilitating the functioning of the CEAS, for ensuring convergence in the assessment of applications for international protection across the Union, and for providing operational and technical assistance to Member States.

Following its Communication of 6 April 2016 on the reform of the common European Asylum System, the Commission presented in May and in July seven legislative proposals, including the above-mentioned proposal for a regulation on the European Union Agency for Asylum, with a view to: 

• improving the functioning of CEAS by eliminating differing treatment of asylum seekers and varying recognition rates among member states;
• reducing secondary movements and contributing to a fairer distribution among the Member States of the responsibility to offer protection to those in need.

Immigration topped the agenda at the 32nd session of the joint parliamentary assembly of the Africa Caribbean Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU), which opened in Nairobi, Kenya, on December 19.

“The history of humanity is the history of migrations. Zero migration has never existed, and it never will,” said Louis Michel (ALDE, BE), EU Co-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA). “We must manage migration flows in a human way, in line with our values. Fortress Europe is not working.”

The session was opened by Kenya’s President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, and attended by the Speaker of its National Assembly, Justin Bedan Njoka Muturi.

During the session, JPA Co-President for the ACP countries Netty Baldeh (Gambia) reaffirmed the importance of the ACP-EU partnership in the current political context. He said: “Our discussions are about people, not abstract themes or statistics, but concern humanity in general.”

In turn, Michel advocated consolidated cooperation. “With Brexit, the retreat into nationalism, the proliferation of conflicts in Syria, the Yemen and elsewhere, it is vital to reaffirm and reinforce our partnership,” he said.

“We must manage migration flows in a human way, in line with our values. Fortress Europe is not working,” added Michel.

The issue of migration and resettling migrants in their home countries will be further debated on December 21.

The role of trade in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will also be debated with United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary General Mukhisa Kituyi.

Another debate slated for December 21 is on “Demographic growth: challenges and opportunities” and will focus on population growth issues and the consequences of strong demographic pressures in various regions of the world. Some African countries, such as Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia will be among the most populated countries in the world by 2050.

The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly brings together MEPs and MPs from 78 EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries that have signed the Cotonou Agreement, which is the basis for ACP-EU cooperation and development work.

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To replace its submarines dating back to the 1990s, Australia opted for the construction of 12 French ocean submarines. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian inked the inter-governmental agreement (IGA) in Adelaide that will see French shipbuilder DCNS design and build the Shortfin Barracudas (Shortfin Barracuda Block 1A). The total cost of the 12 submarines, including separate agreements with US and Australian contractors, will hit Aus $50 billion (34 Mds Euro). This contract would be the most important contract concluded by France with a foreign country.

Conventionnaly powered submarines
The vessels will be a scaled-down, conventionally-powered version of France's 4,700-tonne nuclear-fuelled Barracuda but boast the same stealth capabilities.Australia awarded DCNS the main contract in April, beating off competition from Germany TKMS (ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems) and Japan Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

"Home-made vessels" with French know-how and US weapons
The IGA is the last foundation stone needed to ensure Australia is able to develop a cutting-edge sovereign submarine capability, this will be a sovereign defence industry creating 2,800 jobs at the very cutting edge of technology. This was the sine qua non condition for winning the contract. And in France probably between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs will be perpetuated thanks to this contract. Design and mobilisation work has already been launched with Australian experts working in Cherbourg while DCNS was to open new offices in Adelaide later Tuesday employing up to 300 engineers.
US defence contractor Lockheed Martin was named in September to fit the combat systems for the Barracudas.

Geopolitical background
If Australia decides today to renew its fleet of submarines, it is because the Pacific has become one of the hotspots of the planet. The Chinese government claims several archipelagos of the region, multiplying the frictions with the riparian states that also dispute them, like Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan or Vietnam. For several months, with enormous operations of backfilling, Beijing transforms coral reefs into artificial islands to place new advanced bases at the disposal of the army. According to the Pentagon, also worried by these maneuvers, China would have gained more than 600 ha on the waters.

For President François Hollande, who said the contract is historic, the announcement "marks a decisive step forward in the strategic partnership between the two countries, which will cooperate over 50 years on the major element of sovereignty represented by sub-marine capacity ".

Many politicians have spoken, many policymakers have written and many analysts have analysed. And most of them agree: the world is changing; Europe faces a volatile security environment; the mix of challenges is unprecedented. So now is the time for the members of the European Union to be serious about defence cooperation.

One of the people who has understood the urgency of the matter is Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Besides publishing the highly-anticipated EU Global Strategy, Mogherini and her team have been working on three proposals that aim to make European defence stronger and more agile.

Recently Mogherini stepped forward with the Implementation Plan on Security and Defence, which introduces measures to put in place the security and defence aspects of the EU Global Strategy. She launched the European Defence Action Plan, which creates conditions for efficient defence spending and an innovative industrial base. And she published a follow-up Implementation Plan for the Joint Declaration on EU-NATO cooperation.

These three initiatives have the potential to provide the changes and reforms that European defence cooperation needs so badly to be more successful.

The European Commission is a relative newcomer when it comes to the field of defence, and is stretching the limits as to what is permitted under the Treaty of Lisbon. The 1998 Saint-Malo declaration, for example, was a bilateral agreement between France and the United Kingdom that paved the way for the creation of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).

What the three initiatives put forward by Mogherini have in common is that they place the Commission in the lead in creating a more attractive framework, whether it be a European defence market or closer cooperation with NATO on operational matters.

“This move by the EU is not entirely new – the Union has acted in security and defence for years. What is new is the scale of actions”

This is exactly what the EU should be doing. To achieve practical cooperation, it should assist member states and help them to coordinate efforts to increase defence cooperation.

This move by the EU is in itself not entirely new – the Union has acted in this field for years, with institutions such as the European Defence Agency, tasked with joint capability development and research. What is new rather, is the scale of the proposed actions.

With the Implementation Plan on Security and Defence, Mogherini proposes more detail regarding the practicalities of the defence and security side of the EU Global Strategy. The plan sets out a level of ambition in security and defence that includes prioritising capability development, deepening defence cooperation and adjusting the EU structures to deal with situational awareness, planning and conduct. The plan also includes financial measures and investigates possibilities for permanent structured cooperation.

The European Defence Action Plan focuses on creating favourable conditions for increased and more efficient defence spending by member states. It initiates a European Defence Fund to support investment in joint research efforts and the joint development of defence capabilities of strategic importance. The plan also creates conditions for investment in the European industrial base as a way of stimulating badly-needed openness and competition in the European defence market.

22 out of 28 NATO countries are also members of the EU. To avoid unnecessary duplication and enhance cooperation in the fields of hybrid threats, maritime issues, cyber security and capacity building, among others, Mogherini brought forward an Implementation Plan for the Joint Declaration on EU-NATO cooperation.

“It is the member states who decide how effective and fruitful the initiatives proposed by Mogherini will be”

Its detailed proposals are the most far-reaching since the creation of the CSDP. They are a major leap forward – and one may wonder why these initiatives were not taken sooner. The simple answer is that the situation was never as urgent as it is today. Never has the EU been under pressure from threats that are so many in number and so diverse in scope; both internally and externally. European defence needs European efforts now more than ever.

Perceptions matter too. The media and politicians have been wary about the idea of an EU army, which presumably is the ultimate objective of these plans.

But current proposals are not about an EU army but rather about creating conditions for member states to invest in capabilities more effectively, avoid unnecessary duplication and simplify cooperation. They would allow for more cooperation between, for example, the Netherlands and Germany, or the Visegrád countries. The plans should also give room for hugely important bottom-up defence initiatives between the countries.

In the end however it is important to point out that it are member states who decide how effective and fruitful the initiatives proposed by Mogherini will be. Member states should look critically at the proposed plans. But the proposals should help tackle the capability gap that member states – and as a consequence the EU – suffer from.

It should be borne in mind that the European Commission can only shape the framework and create the necessary conditions for increasing the effectiveness of defence spending and cooperation. Should Mogherini’s initiatives fail to be successfully implemented by member states or prove to be otherwise inadequate, Europe risks losing the momentum to achieve major progress on the European defence cooperation and integration.

If today’s security environment ultimately proves not conducive to achieving the results needed, one should seriously wonder whether it ever will be.

IMAGE CREDIT: CC / FLICKR – European External Action Service

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The Deficiencies, Mistakes and Contradictions of the New EU Foreign and Security Strategy
Evolution or Devolution? From the « Solana Paper » to the « Mogherini Paper »
András István Türke
CERPESC 16/E/3/2016 - 20 December 2016

The events of the last 20 years, the first operations and missions, show that the Common Security and Defense Policy, the CSDP (the European Security and Defense Policy: the ESDP, before 2009) does not exist only on paper. Europe must act to prevent wars and crises or to stop them. The European Union and its member countries are confronted with decisive choices for the future of Europe as a political entity. The external (and above all, energy) dependence of the Union is particularly emphasized by the European security strategies. The documents that function as strategies (the first, the 2003 ESS and the most recent, 2016 EUGS) of the European Union are quite poor in terms of content and objectives. They list the challenges, without drafting the places and means of the overall strategic presence. The purpose of this analysis is to examine the major development issues of EU strategic thinking during the period 2003-2016. Can we talk about development, stagnation, or devolution? Is the new strategy capable of fulfilling its role and can really serve as the basis of our ambitions?

Armed police and dogs are in a manhunt around Zurich to arrest the perpetrators of an apparent hate crime against an Islamic Centre in Zurich on Monday evening.

According to eyewitness reports, an unknown shooter fired against a praying crowd and fled the scene.  He was approximately 30 years old with a woolen hat.

The three wounded individuals are three men 30, 35, and 56 Swissinfo reports.

Three people are reported injured. There are reports of a dead body, but that is yet to be confirmed that the body is related to the incident.

A spokesperson for the local police confirms the incident took place inside the religious Centre’s building at 17.30 in the evening.

The police are appealing for witnesses.

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A truck ran into the Christmas market in Berlin of Monday evening, killing 12 people and injuring at least 48 people. The Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere resisted calling the event a terrorist attack, although he said “there are things pointing to one.”

The number of casualties was rising as the injured succumbed to their wounds from three to nine to 12.

Police are treating the event as a terrorist attack. An eyewitness told Sky News that “this wasn’t an accident” as the truck was doing 64km/hour (40 mph).

The truck had Polish plates. The man believed to be the original driver — a Polish man named as Ariel Zurawski — was found dead in the passenger seat.

The were two perpetrators involved, one dead and one arrested. The man arrested is thought to be the driver of the vehicle, German TV reports. The arrested man is a Pakistani asylum seeker who entered Germany last year, BBC reports. The 23-year old man is known as Naved B.

He had a petty crime record.

The incident occurred on the corner of Kantstrasse and Budapester Strasse, according to the public broadcaster DW. The location is close to Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

US President-elect, Donald Trump, talked of “Islamic terrorists” slaughtering Christians.

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The Russian Ambassador in Ankara, Andrey Karlov, has been shot dead.

The 22-year old off-duty Turkish policeman fired several shots at the Russian ambassador to Turkey during his visit at a photo exhibition. He was wounded and died in hospital.  He was named on Monday night as Mevlut Mert Altintas, a 22-year-old riot squad police officer who has been based in Ankara for the past two years, according to Anadolu Agency.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, confirmed Karlov’s  gunshot wound. Karlov has served as Ambassador to Turkey since 2013.

The Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, is currently in Moscow for a trilateral meeting with his Russian and Iranian counterparts. The meeting scheduled originally for December 27 was brought forward after the fall of Aleppo.

Anadolu Agency reports that the gunman was shot dead, but it remains unclear if there were other perpetrators at large.  The phrases used by  Altintas, have been previously associated with the rebel group Al Nusra, the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda. However, the young police officer has been photographed at Erdogan’s AKP event previously.

Turkey has been sustaining continuous attacks both from Kurdish separatists (PKK) and the Islamic State.

AFP reports the perpetrator shouted “Aleppo” before the shooting. Turkey has three million Syrian refugees.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday the attack on Russian envoy was a “provocation” to undermine relations Turkey and Russia carry in Syria, according to Anadolu Agency.

US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen strongly condemned the attack and has absolutely no links to the gunman, Alp Aslandogan, Gulen’s advisor on media issues, told Reuters. “Mr. Gulen categorically condemns this heinous act,” he stressed according to Russia Today (RT).

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The Russian ambassador to Ankara, Andrei Karlov, has been shot dead by a gunman while visiting a photo gallery in the Turkish capital.

The Russian Ambassador in Ankara, Andrei Karlov

The photo exhibition is called “Russia as seen by Turks” and Karlov had been attending the exhibition and got shot in the back while delivering a speech.

Police later on, has shot the gunman dead, while Karlov was rushed to hospital, among other been hit by the armed man.

The attacker shouted about Aleppo and Syria according to sources, while he is pictured wearing a suit and tie. Within the video released, the gunman can be heard yelling “Don’t forget about Aleppo, don’t forget about Syria” and uses the Islamic phrase “Allahu Akbar”.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, confirmed Karlov’s gunshot wound. Karlov has served as Ambassador to Turkey since 2013.

The Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, is currently in Moscow for a trilateral meeting with his Russian and Iranian counterparts. The meeting scheduled originally for December 27 was brought forward after the fall of Aleppo. Anadolu Agency reports that the gunman was shot dead, but it remains unclear if there were other perpetrators at large.

While there were protests in recent days across Turkey, both governments,  have been co-operating in the Aleppo ceasefire operation.

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The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, has been found guilty of criminal negligence on Monday, France 24 reports.

IMF in turmoil

Ms. Lagarde began her second five-year term at the I.M.F. in February. She was appointed following the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, when the former director was forced to resign following his arrest.

The decision is likely to have repercussions both on the political climate in France and the I.M.F.The IMF is currently dealing with a hot agenda that includes Greece, not unlike the situation of 2011.

Lagarde served as the finance minister of former President Nicolas Sarkozy. At the time, she approved an out-of-court settlement with businessman Bernard Tapie. The “negligence” allegedly cost the French state €400 million.

Lagarde faces a year in prison and a €15,000 fine.

Background

In 1993, Tapie was appointed minister and was forced to sell his company (Adidas) to avoid conflict of interest. The company was bought by a state-owned bank, Crédit Lyonnais, which sold the company one year later for a 100% premium.

Tapie went to Court feeling he was entitled to that premium. The court’s awarded him with €100 million, but Lagarde approved an out-of-court settlement that granted him four times that amount.

Apparently, courts found that this was an inside “fraud” case. In 2013, Tapie was accused of conspiring with one of the arbitrators and Lagarde’s chief of staff to defraud the state. In 2015, the businessman was forced to return the money he was awarded.

The tribunal is not accusing Lagarde of being a co-conspirator, but that she was ill-informed and negligent.

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