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Tbilisi, Georgia — The speaker of the Georgian parliament signed into a law Thursday a bill that severely curtails LGBTQ+ rights in the country and mirrors legislation adopted in neighboring Russia.

Shalva Papuashvili, the parliament speaker, said on social media that the legislation does “not reflect current, temporary, changing ideas and ideologies, but is based on common sense, historical experience and centuries-old Christian, Georgian and European values.”

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili had refused to sign the bill and returned it to parliament on Wednesday. It was introduced by the governing Georgian Dream party and approved by lawmakers last month.

The bill includes bans on same-sex marriages, adoptions by same-sex couples and public endorsement and depictions of LGBTQ+ relations and people in the media. It also bans gender-affirming care and changing gender designations in official documents.

“This law protects the rights of all citizens, including freedom of expression, so that the rights of others are not violated, which is the essence and idea of true democracy,” Papuashvili wrote.

Parliament gave the legislation its final approval as Georgia, a largely conservative country where the Orthodox Church wields significant influence, prepares to vote in a parliamentary election. The law has been widely seen as an effort by the governing party to shore up support among conservative groups. It was decried by human rights advocates and LGBTQ+ activists, who said it further marginalized an already vulnerable community.

By signing the law, Georgian Dream “have taken homophobia to a new level, and that is political and institutional homophobia,” said Ana Tavadze, an activist with Tbilisi Pride, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group.

Georgian Dream’s aim is to “fabricate” problems ahead of the election to distract people from “their failure” to solve issues involving unemployment, education and healthcare, Tavadze told The Associated Press.

The law has drawn comparisons with Russia, where the Kremlin has been highlighting what it calls traditional family values. Russian authorities in the last decade have banned public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” and introduced laws against gender-affirming care, among other measures. Its Supreme Court effectively outlawed LGBTQ+ activism by labeling what the authorities called the LGBTQ+ “movement” operating in Russia as an extremist organization and banning it.

In Georgia, the LGBTQ+ community has struggled even before the legislation was introduced. Demonstrations and violent outbursts against LGBTQ+ people have been common, and last year hundreds of opponents of gay rights stormed an LGBTQ+ festival in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, forcing the event’s cancellation. This year, tens of thousands marched in Tbilisi to promote “traditional family values.”

A day after parliament gave its final approval to the anti-LGBTQ+ bill, transgender actor and model Kesaria Avramidze was stabbed to death in her apartment in Tbilisi. Rights advocates had worried that the bill would stoke more violence.

Papuashvili, the parliament speaker, said that by not signing the bill, President Zourabichvili and the Georgian opposition “did not have enough courage to openly express their opinion regarding this law.”

Some analysts say parts of the Georgian opposition are walking a fine line ahead of the Oct. 26 election between condemning the move to curtail LGBTQ+ rights and not wanting to alienate some voters.

Zourabichvili has long been at odds with the governing party and vetoed a “foreign influence” law adopted by parliament earlier this year. She was overridden by parliament, where Georgian Dream dominates.

The measure requires media and nongovernmental organizations to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad. It ignited weeks of protests and was widely criticized as threatening democratic freedoms. Those opposing the law compared it to similar legislation in Russia which is routinely used to suppress dissent, and accused the governing party of acting in concert with Moscow, jeopardizing Georgia’s chances of joining the European Union.

The South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million formally applied to join the EU in 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but the bloc halted its accession in response to the “foreign influence” law and froze some of its financial support. The United States imposed sanctions on dozens of Georgian officials in response to the law.

Georgian Dream was set up by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia and served briefly as Georgia’s prime minister in 2012. It promised to restore civil rights and “reset” relations with Moscow, which fought a brief war with Georgia in 2008 over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Russia then recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian province, Abkhazia, and established military bases there.

Many Georgians backed Ukraine as Kyiv battled Russia’s invasion in 2022. But the Georgian government abstained from joining sanctions against Moscow, barred dozens of Kremlin critics from entering the country, and accused the West of trying to drag Georgia into open conflict with Russia. The opposition has accused the governing party of steering the country into Russia’s orbit to the detriment of its European aspirations.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Two Swedish teenagers were jailed Thursday in pretrial detention in connection with two predawn explosions in the vicinity of the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen a day earlier. Prosecutors said investigators were establishing “whether the motive could be a terror attack.”

No one was injured in the blasts on early Wednesday in a neighborhood with several foreign diplomatic missions, although the nearby Jewish school was closed following the explosions.

The pair, who cannot be identified under a court order, were ordered held for 27 days. They faced preliminary charges of possessing illegal weapons and carrying five hand grenades. Two of the grenades blew up when the suspects threw them at a house near the embassy, prosecutor Soren Harbo said.

“This was pretty close to the Israeli Embassy,” Harbo said before Thursday’s court hearing. The explosions caused damage to a roof terrace of a nearby house. The diplomatic mission was not harmed.

Thursday’s hearing was held behind closed doors after the preliminary charges were read. Reporting from inside the court room, Danish broadcaster DR said the teenagers, ages 16 and 19, are suspected of acting “in association and together with prior agreement with one or more perpetrators.”

Both denied the charges, local media reported.

The two suspects were arrested Wednesday shortly before noon on a train at Copenhagen’s central station. Danish media ran photos of a man in a white hazmat suit being taken away by police on a train platform at the station. A third suspect, age 19, who had been arrested near the embassy, has been released, police said Thursday.

In Denmark, the charges are one step short of formal charges and allow authorities to keep criminal suspects in custody during an investigation.

Separately, shots were fired late Tuesday at the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm. No one was injured. No arrests have been made.

The Danish domestic security service, known by its acronym PET, said that “Swedish authorities have assessed that at least one specific act directed at the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm, which was carried out by young criminals in Sweden, has links to Iran.”

In May the Swedish domestic security agency SAPO accused Iran of using established criminal networks in Sweden as a proxy to target Israeli or Jewish people. The announcement came after the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm was sealed off in late January after what was then described as “a dangerous object” was found on the grounds of the diplomatic mission. Swedish media said the object was a hand grenade.

In a statement, PET said, “If we have a state actor who gets young criminals to carry out actions aimed at Jewish targets in our neighboring country, then we can be concerned that this will also happen in Denmark.”

In Stockholm, the operative of Sweden’s domestic security agency SAPO, Fredrik Hallstrom, said, “The latest incident at the Israeli Embassy is not classified as a terrorist crime at the moment.”

His counterpart at the Swedish police’s National Operations Department, Johan Olsson, told the same press conference that the charges were of “aggravated weapons offenses, causing danger or other serious illegal threats and damage.”
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Vienna — The European Union is set to vote Friday on a massive tariff increase on Chinese electric vehicles that Germany fears could spark a trade war with Beijing.

Reuters reported Wednesday that the measure already has enough votes to pass, with support from France, Greece, Italy and Poland, whose populations make up 39% of the EU. At least 65% of the EU’s population must vote against the tariff plan to stop it.

Regardless, analysts say, continued negotiations will be needed on China’s subsidies to its EV industry.

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron in Berlin called Chinese subsidies “unbearable.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday said talks with China must continue, and he indicated Germany might abstain from the vote.

“More trade with more partners from more countries — that’s what sensible risk management looks like in an uncertain world,” Scholz said, as reported by Reuters.

“That’s why negotiations with China on electric vehicles must continue and why we must finally tackle the areas where cheap Chinese imports are harming our economy, for example steel,” he said.

Bloomberg reported that Germany expected a significant number of EU states to abstain from voting on the tariffs.

German automakers are against tariffs, fearing that retaliation from Beijing could impact access to China, their largest market.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said Wednesday “A trade war with China would do us more harm than good for a key European industry and a crucial sector in Germany.”

If the vote passes, it could see tariffs on Chinese EVs as high as 45%.

Beijing has hinted that it could retaliate with tariffs on German and Italian vehicles and on European agricultural products such as dairy, pork and French brandy.

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao visited Europe in late September and met with officials and businesspeople in charge of foreign trade and commerce in the EU, Belgium, Germany, Italy and other auto-manufacturing countries to lobby the EU to abandon the tariffs.

During the negotiations, the Chinese side proposed to set a minimum import price, but the European side refused.

The vote was pushed from September 25 to Friday to allow time for more consultation between the two sides.

Analysts believe the EU may make some compromises due to the complex interests within the EU.

Ja Ian Chong, associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, told VOA, “Because the EU is made up of many national entities with cross-cutting interests, these may lead to the vetoing of tougher action, much the same way ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is ineffective in the face of PRC (People’s Republic of China) pressure.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said during a visit to Beijing in early September that he would urge the European Commission to reconsider raising tariffs on China’s EVs.

Francesco Sisci, an Italian Sinologist, told VOA that the centrifugal forces of member states and political parties within the EU are too strong to make difficult decisions.

In the past, the EU “was ruled by a solid majority centered around People’s parties and Social-Democratic parties and a triangle made of Germany, France and Italy, Sisci said. “Both these two architectures are now partially shattered.”

“The People’s parties and Social-Democratic parties have still a majority but a thin one,” he said. “Italy, with a right leaning government, didn’t vote for the present President of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and it is dragging its feet on many EU policies.”

“Germany and France have governments at home that are under siege from new rightist parties,” he added.

Sisci told VOA Mandarin that Germany’s car industry “is dependent on the sales in the Chinese market and yet risks being squeezed out of all markets because of the Chinese EV competition. There are no good or clear alternatives.”

Although China’s EVs have a price advantage in the European market, Chinese businesspeople working in the automotive industry there are more cautious.

Yang is a Chinese businessman in Austria who does automobile maintenance, annual inspection and second-hand car trading. He did not give his full name because of privacy concerns.

Yang said that because of Europe’s economic downturn, consumers there are careful with their money and will not easily replace their gasoline-powered vehicles with all-electric vehicles.

“Many European consumers choose hybrid electric vehicles,” Yang said, talking about his own business. “This year’s data report shows that the sales of all-electric vehicles have decreased by one-third, while hybrid electric vehicles have increased.”

He said tariffs will certainly affect the price of Chinese electric vehicles in Europe, but European consumers are more concerned about other factors such as the life and endurance of the car.

“All-electric vehicles may not be a big market in Europe,” he said.

The EU’s vote comes after a probe into China’s subsidies for the industry and 100% tariff hikes on Chinese EV imports to the U.S. and Canada.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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London — A surge in support for far-right parties in Europe is driving calls for a toughening of migration laws, while also raising questions over the future of military aid to Ukraine.

Austria’s Freedom Party, which was founded by former Nazis after World War II, is the latest European far-right party to score a shocking win, taking just under 29% of the vote in Sunday’s parliamentary election, ahead of the second-place People’s Party with 26.3%.

‘Fortress Austria’

The Freedom Party, led by Herbert Kickl, campaigned on a platform of ending migration by creating what it called “Fortress Austria,” carrying out the “remigration of uninvited foreigners” and suspending the right to asylum. The party also opposes military aid for Ukraine and wants to end sanctions on Russia.

Kickl successfully appealed to voters’ frustrations over recent years, said Austrian pollster and political analyst, Peter Hajek.

“Elections are won in those four and a half years before, by taking a position which is clearly distinguishable and good from the point of view of the target audiences,” Hajek told The Associated Press. “And quite simply that’s what the Freedom Party managed to do with two big topics: on the one hand migration, and on the other — still — the coronavirus.”

Far-right success

Far-right, anti-immigration parties have won parliamentary elections in the Netherlands in 2023, Italy and Hungary in 2022, a state election in Germany in last month and the European parliamentary elections in France in June.

Hans Kundnani, an adjunct professor at New York University and the author of the book Eurowhiteness, said centrist parties in Europe are alarmed by the rise of the far right.

“Another election in Europe, another far right success. The response of the center-right in Europe to that has been to say we have to get even tougher on immigration. The center right has increasingly been mimicking far right parties, especially far right ideas on these questions around identity and immigration and Islam,” Kundnani told VOA.

EU summit

Immigration is likely to top the agenda at an EU summit on October 17, as European leaders from across the political spectrum have called for a toughening of asylum laws amid growing domestic political pressures.

“A shift in the EU towards thinking much more in terms of a ‘Fortress Europe’ — that’s building a wall essentially around the EU,” Kundnani said.

The hardening of attitudes marks a sharp turnaround from 2015 when more than 1 million irregular migrants entered the EU, many of them destined for Germany. In 2023, the number had fallen by 75%, to 280,000 people.

The 27-member bloc has agreed to a new pact on asylum and migration, due to come into force in 2026. It’s unlikely to calm Europe’s debate on immigration any time soon, according to Raphael Bossong, a migration expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

“This package that has been agreed upon is about 10 laws. Multiple investments are needed across 27 member states, and an implementation plan with 10 sectors of implementation,” he told VOA. “So it’s a lot of stuff. And to get that into place to really work as a system, as it’s intended, is — even in two years — highly ambitious.”

Ukraine

While strong opposition to immigration unites Europe’s far-right parties, they are divided over support for Ukraine following Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Austria’s Freedom Party, the Alternative for Germany party and Hungary’s Fidesz party under Viktor Orban all oppose military aid for Kyiv and want to end sanctions on Moscow.

Yet other European far-right parties, such as the ruling Brothers of Italy party under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Poland’s Law and Justice party — which was in power until last year — are strongly pro-Ukrainian.

The issue is clouding European politics, argues analyst Hans Kundnani of New York University.

“Precisely what divides these two groups of far-right parties to a large extent is the question of Russia and Ukraine,” Kundnani said. “If you’re on the far right but you’re pro-Ukrainian, then I think a lot of European centrists have no problem with that. And they’re willing to turn a blind eye to almost anything else that these far-right parties do, especially on questions like immigration.”

Much of European Union foreign policy, including aid for Ukraine, requires a unanimous vote from all 27 members, making it easy for individual governments to veto EU decisions. Hungary’s Viktor Orban has repeatedly blocked EU aid packages for Ukraine.

Coalition talks

Despite its shocking victory, Austria’s Freedom Party is still well short of a majority. Rival parties are refusing to join them in government and could form their own coalition. The tactic has been used by other more centrist parties in Europe to keep the far-right from power — with mixed results, said Kundnani.

“They form these incoherent coalitions in response to the rise of the far right,” he told VOA. “Those coalitions then aren’t really able to do very much or offer citizens very much, which further empowers the far right. So it just gets worse and worse.”
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TALLINN, Estonia — Four Russian journalists went on trial in Moscow on Wednesday after being accused of working for an anti-corruption group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, which was designated by authorities as an extremist organization in 2021.

Antonina Favorskaya, Artyom Kriger, Sergey Karelin and Konstantin Gabov were arrested earlier this year and charged with involvement with an extremist group, a criminal offense punishable by up to six years in prison. All four have rejected the charges.

The trial, which is being held behind closed doors, is the latest step in the Kremlin’s unrelenting crackdown on dissent that has reached unprecedented levels after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. The authorities have targeted opposition figures, independent journalists, rights activists and ordinary Russians critical of the Kremlin with criminal and misdemeanor charges, jailing hundreds and prompting thousands to leave the country, fearing prosecution.

The four journalists were accused of working with Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which was designated as extremist and outlawed by the Russian authorities in 2021. That designation has been widely seen as politically motivated.

Navalny was President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest and most prominent foe and relentlessly campaigned against official corruption in Russia. In February, Navalny died in a remote Arctic prison while serving a 19-year sentence on a number of charges, including running an extremist group, which he had rejected as politically driven.

Favorskaya and Kriger worked with SotaVision, an independent Russian news outlet that covers protests and political trials. Gabov is a freelance producer who has worked for multiple organizations, including Reuters. Karelin is a freelance video journalist who has done work for Western media outlets, including The Associated Press.

As they were led into the courtroom on Wednesday, a crowd of supporters greeted them with applause. In the courtroom, the four smiled at their loved ones from a glass defendant’s cage.

Addressing reporters from behind the glass, Kriger cast the case against him and his fellow journalists as a cautionary tale and urged journalists still in Russia to leave the country: “It is not a joke. Any person can be charged with anything.”

Favorskaya, in turn, spoke about hope: “Everything that is happening now, the darkness that surrounds us, it is not forever, and we will definitely see the country that Alexei [Navalny] dreamed of, we will definitely live in a country where rights and freedoms will be [respected] and journalists and other people will not be jailed for their views.”

Shortly after the hearing began, the judge ordered that the proceedings be held behind closed doors upon a request from the prosecution, even though the defense objected to it.
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Geneva — Russian authorities have subjected hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war to “widespread and systematic torture” while supervisors in detention facilities aware of that treatment did nothing to stop the abuse, according to a report published by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“We have interviewed 174 Ukrainian prisoners of war, and this includes five medics since March of last year, and almost every single one provided credible and reliable and detailed accounts of torture and severe ill-treatment,” Danielle Bell, head of the U.N. human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, told journalists in Geneva.

Speaking Tuesday via video link from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Bell said the POWs described “severe beatings, electric shocks, sleep deprivation, dog bites, mock executions” and other threatening and degrading treatment.

She said 68% of the POWs reported that “sexual violence, torture and ill treatment occurs at all stages of captivity under appalling internment conditions” across multiple facilities in the occupied territory and the Russian Federation.

She said the routine nature of the abuse, which occurred on a daily or weekly basis and continued throughout the period of internment — sometimes as long as up to three years — “indicated knowledge of faculty supervisors.”

“When external officials of the Russian Federation visited internment sites, in many instances, the torture and ill treatment temporarily ceased and conditions improved, indicating that those responsible for these facilities were aware of the mistreatment,” she said.

“Russian public figures have openly called for the inhumane treatment and execution of Ukrainian POWs,” she said, adding that “these factors, combined with the adoption of broad amnesty laws for Russian service persons, have contributed to a climate of impunity.”

The United Nations report, which describes conditions of detention as poor, “with most POWs reporting food shortages, lack of medical care, overcrowding and poor hygienic conditions,” says 10 Ukrainian POWs have died due to “torture, lack of medical care and dire health conditions.”

Of the 205 Russian POWs interviewed since March 2023, the report says 104 were subjected to torture or ill-treatment by Ukrainian authorities “during the initial stages of their captivity,” including severe beatings, threats of death and physical violence.

“However, in nearly all cases, torture and ill-treatment stopped when prisoners arrived at official places of internment, where conditions appeared generally compliant with international standards,” it says.

Bell underlined differences in the scope and scale of the treatment meted out to Ukrainian and Russian POWs by their captors.

She observed that the torture or ill treatment of the Russian POWs by Ukrainian authorities takes place during their initial capture, in the early days.

She said these practices stop and the captives “are safe once they are inside the internment facilities,” whereas the abusive treatment of Ukrainian POWs in Russian detention centers “happens throughout the duration of their internment.”

Bell attributes the better treatment of Russian POWs in large part to the monitors having unrestricted access to Ukrainian sites where they are held, noting that U.N. officials are “able to carry out a very open dialogue with Ukrainian authorities on where to make improvements.”

She added, however, that the mission cannot look out for the welfare of Ukrainian POWs because it does not have access to them in the Russian Federation, “though we have been asking for access for a long time.”

Other human rights developments

Besides delving into the torture experienced by POWs since Russian armed forces’ full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the 30-page U.N. report also covers key human rights developments in the country from June 1 to August 31, 2024.

The report finds civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure have increased significantly during that period, noting that 589 civilians have been killed and 2,685 injured. That represents “a 45% increase in casualties on the previous three months” and brings the total number of civilians killed since the start of the war to 11,743, with 24,614 injuries.

“During the reporting period, Russian armed forces continued to target energy infrastructure across Ukraine, affecting essential services and deepening concerns about the plight of the civilian population with winter approaching,” Liz Throssel, spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office, said at the release of the report.

She also said intensive military attacks by Russian armed forces against cities across Ukraine such as Sumy, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia “have damaged and destroyed civilian property and infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and even a geriatric care home.”

“And we have documented even more attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure,” said Throssel.

Bell said the Russian Federation has launched nine waves of large-scale, coordinated attacks between March and August targeting Ukraine’s energy generation facilities, primarily thermal, hydroelectric and heating plants.

“The cascading damage from these attacks has affected essential services like electricity, water, heating, sewage and public education,” she said. “Vulnerable populations — for example, older persons, persons with disabilities, lower income households and children — have been disproportionately affected.

“Rolling blackouts are expected to resume this winter,” she said. “But let me emphasize, significant efforts are underway to restore Ukraine’s generation capacity and to mitigate the risks of a harsh winter. But this situation is exacerbated by ongoing attacks.”

The High Commissioner’s report will be submitted to the U.N. human rights council next week.
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Copenhagen — Police in Denmark and Sweden said on Wednesday they were probing explosions and gunfire around Israeli embassies in their capitals that took place amid spiraling Middle East tensions.

In Denmark, police said three Swedish nationals had been arrested after two blasts were reported in the “immediate proximity” of the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen early Wednesday.

Swedish police said the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm had been targeted in a shooting on Tuesday just before 6 p.m.

No injuries were reported from the incidents, but both came amid heightened international fears as Iran fired missiles at Israel, which has vowed to respond to the attack.

“Two explosions occurred at 3:20 a.m. at the Israeli Embassy. It is our preliminary assessment that it was due to two hand grenades,” Jens Jespersen of the Copenhagen police said at a press conference.

He added that three Swedes between the ages of 15 and 20 had been arrested.

The police officer explained that one suspect was arrested shortly after the incident near the crime scene and that the other two had been arrested later.

Police said in an earlier statement that two suspects had been arrested on a train at Copenhagen Central Station.

“It’s too early to say if there is a link” between the blasts and the Israeli Embassy, Danish police spokesperson Jakob Hansen said of the Copenhagen incidents.

By midmorning, the area in Copenhagen was cordoned off and police were working at the scene, an AFP correspondent observed.

Denmark’s intelligence service, PET, said it was monitoring events “closely” and assisting the police investigation.

“We are also in dialogue with the Israeli embassy about security, and are constantly assessing the scale of the security measures already implemented in relation to a number of Jewish locations,” PET said in a statement to AFP.

Writing on X, Israeli Ambassador to Denmark David Akov said he was “shocked by the appalling incident near the embassy a few hours ago.”

Swedish police said in a statement that information indicated the Israeli Embassy building had been hit by shots on Tuesday evening.

“We’ve made finds that indicate a shooting at Israel’s Embassy, but we don’t want to disclose exactly what finds have been made since there is an ongoing investigation,” Rebecca Landberg, Stockholm police press officer, told AFP.

Landberg added that an investigation had been opened into an aggravated weapons offense, endangerment of others and unlawful threats.

Police had made no arrests, but Landberg said police were actively gathering and analyzing material from the many surveillance cameras in the area.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, several incidents apparently targeting Israeli interests in Sweden have been reported.

In February, police found a grenade in the Israeli Embassy compound grounds, which the ambassador said was an attempted attack.

In May, gunshots were fired outside the Israeli Embassy, which prompted Sweden to boost security around Israeli interests and Jewish community institutions.
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Vatican City, Holy See — Pope Francis opened the second phase of his big Catholic reform project Wednesday, with widespread calls for women to take up more positions of responsibility in the church topping the agenda but ordained ministry still ruled out. 

Francis presided over an opening Mass in St. Peter’s Square with the 368 bishops and laypeople who will meet behind closed doors for the next three weeks to discuss the future of the church and how to make it more responsive to the needs of Catholics today. 

Several of the most contentious issues are officially off the table, after they encountered resistance and objections during the first session of the synod, or meeting, last year. They include ministering to LGBTQ+ Catholics and allowing women to serve as deacons. 

Francis has entrusted these topics to 10 study groups that are working in parallel to the synod, raising questions about what exactly will come out of the gathering when it concludes Oct. 26 with a final set of proposals for Francis to consider. 

Francis launched the reform process in 2021 to put in practice his goal of creating a church that is more inclusive, humble and welcoming, where ordinary Catholics have a greater say in decision making than the all-male priestly hierarchy. 

The process, and the two-year canvassing of rank-and-file Catholics that informed it, sparked both hopes and fears that real change was afoot. 

In his marching orders Wednesday, Francis urged delegates to leave aside their long-held and self-interested positions and truly listen to one another to “give life to something new.” 

“Otherwise, we will end up locking ourselves into dialogues among the deaf, where participants seek to advance their own causes or agendas without listening to others and, above all, without listening to the voice of the Lord,” he said in his homily. 

The first phase of the synod process ended last year by concluding it was “urgent” to guarantee fuller participation by women in church governance positions, and calling for theological and pastoral research to continue about allowing women to be deacons. 

Deacons perform many of the same functions as priests, such as presiding over baptisms, weddings and funerals, but they cannot celebrate Mass. 

Advocates say allowing women to be deacons would help offset the Catholic priest shortage and address longstanding complaints that women have a second-class status in the church: barred from the priesthood yet responsible for the lion’s share of the work educating the young, caring for the sick and passing the faith onto next generations. 

Opponents say ordaining women to the deaconate would signal the start of a slippery slope toward ordaining women to the priesthood. The Catholic Church reserves the priesthood for men, saying Christ chose only men as his 12 apostles. 

Francis has repeatedly reaffirmed the all-male priesthood and as recently as this weekend sharply criticized “obtuse” agitators pressing for a female diaconate. After a contentious visit to Belgium where he was challenged by female students, Francis said such calls were an attempt to “make women masculine.” 

His arguments have outraged proponents of women’s ordination, who have organized a series of events outside the synod this month in Rome to press their case. 

“It’s so insulting to keep on saying that the only valid role that will get the approval of this pope is to be nurturing, is to be a mother, while you can be nurturing and mothering and be a priest,” said Miriam Duignan, a trustee at the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research. 

“He is putting a spiritual stamp of approval on sexism,” she said at a prayer event this week co-organized by the Women’s Ordination Conference. “It is so irresponsible and dangerous for him to constantly criticize, belittle, dismiss and demonize women who are just saying ‘Stop lying. Stop hiding and stop trying to relegate us to second-class citizenship.'” 

While ordained ministry for women is out of the question, a host of other proposals are being discussed, including calls for women to have greater positions of responsibility in seminaries and sit as judges on canonical courts that decide everything from marriage annulments to priest discipline cases. 

There are 368 members of the synod, including 272 bishops and 96 non-bishops. In all, 85 women are participating, including 54 with the right to vote. 

In addition to delegates who were selected by their respective bishops conferences, Francis named a few members himself to participate, including two bishops from mainland China, many of his closest cardinal advisers and the exiled Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez. 

Also on the list of pontifically nominated members is the retired prefect of the Vatican’s doctrine office, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, who has been critical of the synod process and Francis’ pontificate as a whole. 

In an essay this week on German Catholic site kath.net, Mueller took particular aim at the penitential liturgy that Francis celebrated Tuesday during which he begged forgiveness for a host of sins as a way to atone for the church’s transgressions before the start of the meeting. 

Mueller blasted what he called “newly invented sins” -– including sins against the synod itself and the sin “of using doctrine as stones to be hurled,” a reference to how conservatives have criticized Francis’ reform efforts as undermining traditional church doctrine. 

Mueller said such a laundry list of invented sins “reads like a checklist of woke and gender ideology, somewhat laboriously disguised as Christianity.” 

Non-bishop members named by the pope include the Rev. James Martin, an American Jesuit who runs an LGBTQ+ outreach ministry. Martin has a sympathetic ear in both Francis, who approved same-sex blessings unilaterally after the first session of the synod ended, and the Rev. Timothy Radcliffe, who is one of the “spiritual assistants” for the synod. 

In an essay this week in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Radcliffe argued strongly for even doubters in the church to recognize the good in LGBTQ+ Catholics and their relationships, and why the church ought to welcome them. 

“The acceptance of gay people is seen in some parts of the church as evidence of Western decadence,” he wrote. “But the church must fight for the lives and dignity of gay people, still liable to capital punishment in 10 countries and criminal prosecution in 70. They have the right to live,” he said. 

At the same time, those opposed to a pastoral approach to gays have gifts the Western church should appreciate, including a deep sense of the divine life in all of creation, he said. 

“The Body of Christ needs all our gifts,” he concluded. 
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish police said on Wednesday they were investigating two blasts in the vicinity of Israel’s embassy in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen.

“No one has been injured, and we are carrying out initial investigations at the scene,” Copenhagen police said on social media platform X.

“A possible connection to the Israeli embassy, located in the area, is being investigated,” they said.

A large area was cordoned off amid heavy police presence, according to local media reports.

Investigators were seen wearing coverall suits as they combed the scene for evidence, tabloid B.T. reported.

The Israeli embassy was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.

Police said they will give an update on the investigation in the hours ahead.
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ATHENS, Greece — Hundreds of firefighters and volunteers in southern Greece battled a wildfire for a third day that has killed two people and devastated a large forested area, prompting pledges of assistance from other European Union countries.

Two waterbombing aircraft from Italy joined the firefighting effort late Tuesday after Greece requested help through the 27-country bloc’s emergency civil protection mechanism. A third plane from Croatia was also expected.

The Greek fire service said more than 400 firefighters, assisted by 22 aircraft, were engaged against the blaze in the rugged mountains of Corinthia in the Peloponnese region.

The authorities were optimistic that progress had been made as the main front of the blaze was out, leaving a large number of scattered fires.

However, it remained unclear whether that success could be expanded on before winds whipped up and spread the blaze again.

Greece’s minister for climate change and civil protection, Vassilis Kikilias, said so far up to 5,000 hectares (12,300 acres) had been affected by the blaze.

“The situation is very difficult,” he told a press conference. “We didn’t expect that at this time of year … there would be so many wildfires and that they would be so difficult to handle.”

While wildfires are common in the summer, this year the season started much earlier than usual, in April, and has extended well into the fall. The fire service said a total of 41 wildfires broke out all over the country over the past 24 hours.

Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said firefighters had been hampered in their initial response Sunday by the difficult terrain and poor road network.

“During the first, crucial stage of the fire, firetrucks had great difficulty approaching (the blaze) because of the narrow roads,” he said. “The many ravines and the gale-force winds blowing that day greatly impeded” the firefighting effort, Marinakis added.

Officials ordered another village be evacuated as a precaution Tuesday, a day after half a dozen similar orders were issued. A major highway that was closed overnight as flames swept close by was reopened on Tuesday.

The blaze destroyed a historic church in the mountains and reportedly damaged buildings outside the threatened villages, but the fire service was not immediately able to provide further details.

The two victims were identified as local residents who got trapped late Sunday by the fast-advancing blaze.

Greece, like other southern European countries, is plagued every summer by destructive wildfires that have been exacerbated by global warming. Over the past few months, the fire service has had to cope with more than 4,500 wildfires — which Kikilias said was the highest number ever recorded in a single fire season.

This year’s had been flagged as the most dangerous season in two decades after the countryside was left parched by a protracted drought and early summer heat waves.

Still, Greece’s big investments in extra waterbombing aircraft, warning drones and other equipment have led to most blazes being extinguished shortly after they broke out.
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London  — Another overseas, nonpermanent judge at Hong Kong’s top court, 86-year-old Briton Nicholas Phillips, has chosen not to renew his term after it ended on Sept. 30, becoming the fifth foreign judge to step down from the Court of Final Appeal this year.

Phillips told VOA through his chamber, Brick Court Chambers, in an email Monday, “I have declined the invitation to serve for a further 3 year term on the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong for personal and not political reasons.”

According to the chamber, he would not comment further.

The Hong Kong Judiciary thanked him in a statement sent to online media The Witness for his contribution to the work of the Court of Final Appeal and his support for the rule of law in Hong Kong during his tenure over the past 12 years. It added that “the recent changes in court personnel will not affect the operation of the Court of Final Appeal.”

It went on to say despite the departure of the judges this year, the majority of serving and outgoing nonpermanent judges have publicly reaffirmed their continued confidence in Hong Kong’s independent judicial system and the courts’ commitment to upholding the rule of law.

The Court of Final Appeal is formed by the chief justice, three local permanent judges, and 10 nonpermanent judges. The nonpermanent judges include four local judges and six overseas judges.

Anthony Gleeson, an 85-year-old former chief justice from Australia, did not renew his term in March, citing his advanced age. Canadian judge Beverley McLachlin also said she would not renew her term after July because she was 80 and hoped to spend more time with family.

In June, two British judges, Lawrence Collins, 83, and Jonathan Sumption, 75, resigned from the court, saying it was because of the city’s worsening political situation and “profoundly compromised” rule of law.

Rights activists say Hong Kong’s government is using the foreign judges to lend credibility to its crackdown on rights and freedoms since Britain returned the financial hub to China in 1997.

The Washington-based Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation issued a report in May criticizing overseas judges in Hong Kong for undermining its freedoms and called for them to quit. The foundation said it was shocked that it took Phillips so long to quit despite a series of high-profile cases targeting Hong Kong’s pro-democracy groups, which prompted at least two judges to resign.

Alyssa Fong, public affairs and advocacy manager for CFHK Foundation, said the more foreign judges that resign, the less the Hong Kong government can use them to justify rights abuses.

“I urge Phillips’ fellow common law judges from the U.K. and Australia to immediately follow suit. It is dumbfounding that some judges continue to choose to ruin their reputations and their integrity for the Hong Kong authorities and Chinese Communist Party,” she told VOA.

After Phillips’ departure, six overseas judges remain in the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal — Leonard Hoffmann and David Neuberger from Britain and William Gummow, Robert French, Patrick Keane, and James Allsop from Australia.

Hoffmann, 90, has been a nonpermanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal since 1998, and his term will end in mid-January next year. Gummow’s term will expire next July, while the terms of the other three Australian judges will expire in 2026 or 2027.

At the end of June, Neuberger heard Hong Kong’s case accusing Apple Daily newspaper founder Jimmy Lai of unauthorized assembly and agreed with the controversial verdict. Neuberger came under criticism, then resigned as chairman of an expert panel of the Media Freedom Coalition.

Kevin Yam, a Hong Kong activist-lawyer now based in Australia, pointed out on social media X that Phillips could have left office on the grounds of age, but he chose to use personal reasons, which he notes would invite some speculation.

“When even Phillips does this, the four remaining Australian judges on the HKCFA stick out even more like sore thumbs,” Yam said on X.

The Hong Kong government awarded Phillips the Gold Bauhinia Star in July last year and described him as “a strong supporter of the rule of law in Hong Kong and very much a friend of Hong Kong.”

Beijing agreed to uphold Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” political structure when colonial ruler Britain transferred the city back to China in 1997.

Critics say Beijing has violated that deal by forcing harsh security laws on Hong Kong that have seen independent media shut down or leave the city and dissidents face arrest or flee abroad.

Beijing says Hong Kong’s 2020 National Security Law was needed to maintain stability after a series of pro-democracy protests in the past decade, but has used it to arrest, jail and try hundreds of activists, stifling Hong Kong’s once vibrant civil society.

In March, Hong Kong lawmakers unanimously and quickly approved their own sweeping national security law known as Basic Law Article 23, strengthening the government’s ability to silence dissent.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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Madrid — Among those not present at Tuesday’s inauguration of Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, was the Spanish monarch. 

Sheinbaum did not invite King Felipe VI of Spain to the ceremony after the monarch did not respond to a letter demanding that he apologize for Spain’s 16th century defeat of Mexico’s powerful Aztec rulers. 

Today, a diplomatic dispute between Mexico and Spain over the event half a millennium ago is motivated more by domestic political tensions in both countries, analysts said. 

The issue of Spain’s colonial past has also revealed political splits within Spain’s own left-wing coalition government, observers noted. 

In 2019, Mexican President Andres Lopez Obrador, who is known as AMLO and is an ally of Sheinbaum, wrote to King Felipe and Pope Francis to ask them to apologize for the abuses during and after the 1519-1521 conquest. 

Sheinbaum said that when King Felipe failed to respond, he was not invited to the ceremony, Reuters reported. 

The snub to King Felipe prompted the Spanish government to say it would not participate “at any level.” 

During a visit to New York last week for the United Nations General Assembly, Reuters reported that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez ruled out participating in Tuesday’s ceremony in Mexico City. 

“Spain and Mexico are brotherly peoples. We cannot therefore accept being excluded like this,” he said. 

“That’s why we have made it known to the Mexican government that there will be no diplomatic representative from the Spanish government, as a sign of protest.” 

Historic wounds 

Historians agree that Spain’s conquest of Mexico was marked by violence. 

However, accounts from that time, including The True History of the Conquest of Mexico by Captain Bernal Diaz del Castillo, counter claims of cruelty while also being critical of the campaign by Hernan Cortes. 

Spain’s government has rejected Mexico’s demand for an apology for the conquest, saying the events of the past cannot be judged by the standards of today. 

Observers suggest that Sheinbaum’s decision not to invite the Spanish king was motivated by a current of anti-Spanish thought she shares with AMLO. 

Commentators said both Mexican leaders have sought to appropriate a version of history which blames the Spanish conquest for ills which afflict modern Mexico.  

Jos Maria Ortega, a Mexico-based analyst who has co-written The Dispute of the Past: Spain, Mexico, and the Black Legend, said: “AMLO and Sheinbaum share the idyllic view that Mexico had existed for thousands of years when this was not the case. 

Mexico as it exists today won independence from Spain in 1821 after a war that spanned 11 years. 

“AMLO will blame corruption, which is a problem for Mexico, on the time of conquest. This plays well with some Mexicans who are anti-Spanish but not those who are pro-Spanish,” Ortega told VOA. 

Analysts suggest Mexico’s first female president was interested in provoking a diplomatic row with Spain for domestic political gain. 

Tomas Perez Vejo, a professor at the National School for Anthropology and History in Mexico, said Sheinbaum sought to exploit anti-Spanish feelings among supporters. 

“Sheinbaum is a supporter of what is known in America as woke, or the politically correct, and defends the Indigenous people. There is also a populist element in which Spain is seen as the enemy by [Mexican] nationalists,” he told VOA. 

“Relations between Mexico and Spain have been complicated since AMLO came to power in 2018. But this relationship is too important in terms of trade, tourism, which have carried on as if nothing happened despite the political ill feelings,” he said. “This latest row is not going to cause lasting damage.” 

European roots 

Both Lopez Obrador and Sheinbaum are descendants of more recent immigrants from Europe. AMLO’s maternal grandfather was born in Spain and Sheinbaum’s grandparents were Jews from Lithuania and Bulgaria. 

On the other side of the Atlantic, the dispute has revealed divisions within Spain’s minority coalition government. 

The Socialist-led government will not attend the inauguration but representatives of Sumar, the far-left Spanish party, which is the junior partner in Spain’s coalition, have accepted an invitation to travel to Mexico. 

“Sumar is more about examining the context of history. But the Socialists do not want to do that. The polarization between parties is seen over the colonization of America,” Oriol Bartomeus, a professor of politics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, told VOA. 

Some historians argue that Mexico, for three centuries known as New Spain, was not formally a colony, but an overseas territory of Spain and that its inhabitants held full rights as subjects of the Spanish crown.  

That argument has not dampened the drive by some Spanish politicians to call for atonement for the nation’s imperial past. 

Ernest Urtasun, the minister of culture who is a member of Sumar, this year announced museums would review their collections to “overcome a colonial framework,” El Pais reported. Mexico and other nations formerly dominated by Spain have demanded the return of pre-Hispanic artifacts currently owned by museums in Europe. 

Ana Maria Carmona, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Seville, noted that divisions over the conquest of Mexico between the Socialists and Sumar were the latest in a series of tensions in the government. 

The two parties fell out over laws on sexual protection, animal rights and housing, she said.
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London — As the anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel approaches, many European countries are strengthening their calls for Israel to end its assault on Hamas targets in Gaza amid growing horror at the civilian death toll.  

The militant attack killed 1,200 people, including Israelis and people of several other nationalities. Around 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas. The assault prompted outrage from Israel’s allies in Europe.

“This Hamas attack is terrible, and it is barbaric. In these dark hours for the Jewish state, we … stand firmly by Israel’s side,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in the hours following the attack.

Then-British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak echoed those words of support.

“I want to express my absolute solidarity for the people of Israel. Now is not a time for equivocation, and I’m unequivocal,” Sunak said on the day following the attack. Israel’s Western allies, most prominently the United States, said the country had the right to defend itself.

Israel responded with waves of airstrikes on Hamas targets and a ground invasion of Gaza. Israel officials defended targeting schools and hospitals in Gaza, saying Hamas fighters were using them as bases and to store weapons.  

‘Miscalculation’

But soon, Western concern grew over the mounting civilian death toll, which reached 22,000 by the end of 2023, and has since climbed to over 41,000.

“I think there was a miscalculation on behalf of most Western governments — that they went all in in support for Israel early on, making it very, very difficult to find some sort of off-ramp to also tell Israel when it was wrong, when it acted excessively,” said Andreas Krieg, a Middle East analyst at Kings College London.

“As this became clearer in late 2023 and early 2024, most Western governments found it very hard to backtrack from the initial unequivocal support that they gave to Israel.”

There was also global concern over the lack of aid reaching Gaza amid the devastation.

South Africa brought an ongoing case of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, supported, among others, by Spain, Ireland and Belgium. An interim ruling by the court ordered Israel to “take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.” Israel insisted it operates according to international law.

Negotiations to secure a truce, brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, have so far failed.  

“Europeans don’t have the leverage that the U.S. has to actually do anything about it apart from, obviously, potentially a diplomatic statement or trying to sponsor diplomatic efforts. But if there was no coercion exercised on the Netanyahu government, nothing was going to change,” Krieg said.

In Britain, a change of government in July brought a change of approach to Israel.  Newly elected Labour leader Keir Starmer dropped the previous government’s plan to challenge an arrest warrant requested by the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes. In September, Britain announced it was suspending some arms sales to Israel.  

‘No contest’

Bronwen Maddox, director of London-based Chatham House, said the changing British approach was felt in Israel.

“There’s no question that some of these moves, for example, Britain taking more steps to express its disapproval of aspects of what Israel is doing — those are stinging in Israel. I heard a lot — I was there just really just days ago — a lot of people saying, ‘Well, if it’s a competition between security and international support, we’ll take security anytime. There’s no contest,’” Maddox told Agence France-Presse.

Germany, Israel’s second-biggest arms supplier after the United States, has been among the strongest of Israel’s allies in Europe.

“I would say the messages coming out of Germany up till now are probably the most pro-Israel of any major country in the world, even in comparison to the United States,” Krieg told VOA.

However, Berlin has also suspended several arms exports licenses to Israel in recent months.

“That’s likely not because there’s a change of policy,” Krieg said. “I think the German government is still unequivocally standing with Israel. But there is a concern over legal action being taken against the German government in Germany by lawyers who are saying Germany is no longer compliant with international law, by being complicit in this war,” he added.

After facing missile attacks from Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and Houthi rebels in Yemen, Israel has widened its military operations in recent days, launching air strikes against both militant groups and a limited ground invasion across the Lebanese border. The United Nations says over 1 million people in Lebanon have been forced to flee the fighting.

European nations offered Israel unequivocal support in the wake of October 7. After a year of brutal, escalating conflict, most are demanding an end to the fighting.
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Brussels — The new head of NATO vowed on Tuesday to help shore up Western support for war-ravaged Ukraine and expressed confidence that he can work with whoever is elected president of the United States, the alliance’s most powerful member, in November.

“There can be no lasting security in Europe without a strong, independent Ukraine,” new NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in his first speech on taking office, and he affirmed a commitment made by the organization’s leaders in 2008 that “Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces are making advances in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s army has a shaky hold on part of the Kursk region in Russia, which has provided a temporary morale boost, but as casualties mount it remains outmanned and outgunned.

“The cost of supporting Ukraine is far, far lower than the cost we would face if we allow Putin to get his way,” Rutte told reporters, a few hours after his predecessor Jens Stoltenberg handed the reins to him, along with a Viking gavel with which to chair future meetings.

But Ukraine’s NATO membership remains a distant prospect. Several member countries, led by the U.S. and Germany, believe that Ukraine should not join while it’s fighting a war. Rutte declined to speculate about what must happen before it can stand among NATO’s ranks.

Rutte did single out China, and particularly Beijing’s support for Putin. “China has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war in Ukraine. China cannot continue to fuel the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War without this impacting its interests and reputation,” he said.

NATO’s new top civilian official also underlined the importance of keeping the trans-Atlantic bond between the United States, Canada and Europe strong, with U.S. elections just a month away.

Surveys suggest the election will be a close race. It could see the return of Donald Trump, whose bluster during his last term of office about low defense spending among European allies and Canada undermined the trust of NATO member countries.

It became an existential challenge, as smaller members feared that the U.S. under Trump would renege on NATO’s security pledge that all countries must come to the rescue of any ally in trouble, the foundation stone the alliance is built on.

But Rutte said: “I know both candidates very well.” He praised Trump for pushing NATO allies to spend more and for toughening their approach toward China. He also hailed the “fantastic record” of Vice President Kamala Harris and described her as “a highly respected leader.”

“I will be able to work with both. Whatever is the outcome of the election,” Rutte said. When pressed about Trump’s commitment to the other allies, he deflected, saying only that both candidates “understand that, in the end, the trans-Atlantic relationship is crucial, not just for Europe.”

Asked whether the Netherlands, which has only just reached NATO’s spending of 2% of gross domestic product on its defense budget, has set a good example to other allies, Rutte shook his head and said “No. We should have done this earlier.”

Earlier, Stoltenberg had welcomed Rutte to NATO headquarters in Brussels for the change of leadership.

The two men, who first sat together at NATO’s table 14 years ago as the leaders of Norway and the Netherlands, greeted each other warmly, before laying a wreath to fallen military personnel, surrounded by the flags of the 32 member countries.

“Mark has the perfect background to become a great secretary general,” a visibly emotional Stoltenberg said as he ended a decade in office.

“He has served as prime minister for 14 years and led four different coalition governments, so therefore he knows how to make compromises, create consensus, and these are skills which are very much valued here at NATO,” Stoltenberg said.

Rutte said that he “cannot wait to get to work.” Among his other priorities, he said, are to increase defense spending and strengthen partnerships that the alliance has established with other countries around the world, notably in Asia and the Middle East.

After hundreds of NATO staffers applauded the two men as they moved inside to the great hall where North Atlantic Council meetings are held at the level of ambassadors, ministers or leaders, Stoltenberg helped his successor to get started by presenting him with a Viking gavel to use when chairing meetings.

Stoltenberg, NATO’s 13th secretary-general, took over in 2014, the year that “little green men” from Russia infiltrated Ukraine. Moscow annexed the Crimean Peninsula, sparking a defense spending buildup at the world’s biggest security alliance that gathered pace over his term.

His tenure was surpassed only by Dutch diplomat Joseph Luns, who spent 12 years in charge of NATO.

NATO secretaries-general run the HQ, drive the alliance’s working agenda and speak on behalf of the 32-nation organization with one unifying voice. Continuity is usually the key word when they take up office.
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