Chris Powers

@nor4drenaline @paulaerizanu And again, juries don’t have to reflect popular opinion. Imagine if court juries worked that way. 🥜

@ChrisPowersEU @paulaerizanu 'objectively best' according to neither the overall jury nor the overall public. again, Ro ranked second worldwide with the public, and vox populi vox Dei

Breaking news: the head of Moldova’s public broadcaster, Vlad Țurcanu, has quit over a big scandal linked to the jury’s low scores for the Romanian Eurovision contestant, which generated outrage in both Moldova and Romania

@nor4drenaline @paulaerizanu As long as the Moldovan and Romanian public and jury do not apologize for having failed to guarantee Australia's victory, after objectively the best performance, I will never cope. And yes, that's exactly how this sounds.

@ChrisPowersEU @paulaerizanu Ah, here the mask slips! Cope harder

@nor4drenaline @paulaerizanu And fwiw, "objectively good" is an oxymoron. I thought Romania's entry was meh. Australia should have won.

@nor4drenaline @paulaerizanu Ah, here the mask slips! You're hurt because you want unification and you're sad the jury didn't vote with that in mind (i.e. that it wasn't politically biased). FYI it's gaining popularity but support for unification in Moldova only 42% dw.com/en/could-roman…

@chokemefanny @paulaerizanu Failing to see because Moldova-Romania is not an invader-victim situation. And if it was then it would make exactly the opposite of the point you're making. You're basically calling for the jury to back Romania because Moldovan voters did. But that's not how juries work

@ChrisPowersEU @paulaerizanu and about failing to see how the situations are similar… there would be outrage from ukrainians. giving 12 points to ur invader. and in this case, both romanians and moldovans are outraged by this because the russians voted purely based on politics and to create conflict.

@chokemefanny @paulaerizanu Sorry but that just screams of being butt hurt about the outcome. I think Australia should have won, but you won't find me calling for all the public broadcasters' heads.

@ChrisPowersEU @paulaerizanu not about poland. it’s about romania getting 3 points because of corrupt judges. had the judges been fair and objective, we would’ve gotten either 12/10/8 from moldova. We’ve received less points from them in other years but this year it’s simply because of politics reasons.

@nor4drenaline @paulaerizanu Sure it does. The juries frequently disagree with the public. From the outside, it looks like the public vote was politically biased by those who want to align more with Romania. The jury looks independent. And in any case, the guy having to resign over it is ridiculous

@ChrisPowersEU @paulaerizanu The expectation was for them to be fair, which they clearly weren't considering how much the public (amateur and musically trained alike) loved the performance. Second place in the worldwide televoting and your sister country's jury only gives you 3 points? It just doesn't add up

@chokemefanny @paulaerizanu Surely you could argue that being the case if the jury *had* given Romania 12 points? I fail to see how the jury in Moldova awarding 12 points to Poland is *anything* like Ukraine giving a post-war Russia 12 points.

@ChrisPowersEU @paulaerizanu it’s not the same. this is more like ukraine giving russia 12 points if russia comes back next year basically. eurovision is inherently a political contest and yeah, resigning over this is dramatic but I’m sure he had other things going on and this was the cherry on top.

@chokemefanny @paulaerizanu Would never dispute that some juries look like they vote in a political way. But the day the head of the Finnish public broadcaster would have to resign over the country's jury vote in Eurovision is the day hell freezes over.

@ChrisPowersEU @paulaerizanu well the nordics do it, greece/cyprus do it and this is more about having anti romanian kremlin puppets as juries. Romania could’ve received 8/10/12 points, instead we got 3 because those russians lowered us in their tops to create conflicts between romania and moldova.

Hungarian government website very out of date!

@NicholasVinocur @gerardofortuna You simply can’t go round saying the “Europeans can’t decide” as a fact if the policy decision has been deliberate and repeatedly expressed to not do that because they have had no reason to think Putin is up for real peace talks.

@ChrisPowersEU @gerardofortuna What?

Zelenskyy is pushing EU leaders to name a peace envoy amid stalled Russia-Ukraine peace talks, but the Europeans can't decide. HRVP Kallas is the obvious choice, but she's a non-starter for Putin. Others close to the talks whisper it should be a non-EU person. In today's Playbook

@NicholasVinocur @gerardofortuna Ah good to know it’s just you guys deciding what the EU’s stance should be for them. I was scared I had missed something!

@ChrisPowersEU @gerardofortuna The issue has been on the table for more than 2 years, with no progress

With the involvement of representatives of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia, Hungarian–Ukrainian expert-level consultations aimed at resolving the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia will begin. This was agreed upon during my telephone conversation over the weekend with Ukrainian Foreign Minister @andrii_sybiha. Both sides have appointed their negotiating delegations, which will hold their first consultations online. As a result, discussions can begin as early as tomorrow, laying an important foundation for the prompt and reassuring settlement of minority rights issues. I trust that the dialogue will be constructive and productive, and that the negotiations will soon bring tangible progress for the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia. I wish the delegations every success and productive work in achieving this goal.

@Glenn_Diesen Trying to understand your argument: how was this a NATO attack (but none of the others were)?

After today's attack on Moscow, I am convinced that a Russian retaliation against NATO is coming: - Ukraine has the right to strike Russia, but this was also a NATO attack. Russia has now every right to strike NATO. Absolute madness.

Ukraine now reaching past the point Prigozhin got to in his weird rebel moment. 🎵 it’s comin’ home 🎵

@JohnHealey_MP @Frialum Your party needs to pass proportional representation. Labour didn’t deserve its massive majority on a third of the vote, and you’ll say the same about Reform, the way things are going. Fix it now.

I’m proud of UK leadership on Ukraine - under the last Government, and stepped up with this Labour Government. But there is nothing to be proud of by removing Ukrainian flags and promoting Putin as a leader - like Reform does. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

@kevinhollinrake @jcartlidgemp You need to get behind Proportional Representation before his party becomes the government and before first past the post makes your party extinct.

Reform’s ‘no Ukraine flags’ policy is hardly surprising given their Head of Policy, James Orr, description of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as: A “regional Slavic conflict between Russia and Ukraine” And that it is not a “war”, but “a conflict happening in the world that I don’t care very much about.” Had Reform been in power in 2022 and taken this position, the whole of Ukraine would likely now be occupied by Russia with Putin plotting his next move. They are a danger to our national security.

My message at #LennartMeriConference - saying Russia’s army moves at a snail’s pace is an insult to snails. If a snail started in Avdiivka in Feb. 2022 and moved west, it would now be in Czechia. Russia is still stuck in Donbas. 🇺🇦 has the momentum, we must step up our support.