János Allenbach-Ammann

I guess the sign is back in the window...

Wenn Panik Politik macht Die EU reagiert im Krisen­modus: Deregulierung hier, neue Integrations­projekte dort.

Habe versucht, den aktuellen Zustand der EU-Wirtschaftspolitik für die @republik.ch einzufangen. www.republik.ch/2026/02/27/w...

a man in a suit and tie is saying `` this is the worst '' in an office . ALT: a man in a suit and tie is saying `` this is the worst '' in an office .

I understand the need for EU industrial policy, but there is a very real risk of the EU landing in the worst of all worlds by shutting off foreign competition, relaxing its own competition enforcement, gutting the ETS, and tailoring the Competitiveness Fund to its big, old corporations.

The Economist making itself look ridiculous again. 🤷‍♂️

How tenaciously Palantir courted Switzerland Internal documents show how the country finally rejected pitches by tech company Palantir.

Finally available in english and paywall-free

We are sued for this article.

Palantir doesn't want policymakers and decisionmakers or anyone to read this article...

Streisand, Galore! 😉

www.republik.ch/2026/02/18/h...

Share-Pic Palantir English.png

Palantir Technologies is suing Republik Magazine over an investigation into Palantir’s activities in Switzerland, published in December 2025. The lawsuit demands a counterstatement and is currently being heard by the Zurich Commercial Court.

Link in comments. #palantir #freemedia

Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir: “Palantir is here to disrupt (…) and, when it's necessary, to scare enemies and, on occasion, kill them. And we hope you're in favor of that."

« Hausaufgaben machen » ist deutsche Staatsräson.

So viel Angst vor den Möglichkeiten der Politik, dass man sich an vermeintlich objektive, äussere Kriterien festklammert, welche die Hausaufgaben definieren, die die Politik abzuarbeiten hat.

Die EU-Botschafter haben soeben grünes Licht gegeben für die Bilateralen III mit der Schweiz. Offiziell bestätigt wird das am 24. Februar im Rat für Allgemeine Angelegenheiten. #SchweizEU

Genau deshalb wird das Lobbying gewisser deutscher Unternehmen in der Kommission auch nur halbernst genommen. Diese Unternehmen werden eher als chinesische statt europäische Konzerne gesehen.

Bootlicking at the Munich Security Conference The Munich Security Conference lived up to its reputation for being the festival of bland fanaticism that it’s always been, only more so this time.

"Idea that VDL'd be 'v much reassured' by Rubio’s remarks-at a moment when the US has declared itself a threat to Europe-is just real boot-licking nonsense; a betrayal of European citizenry. It’s not just VDL. Elites room gave Rubio a mass standing ovation"

www.un-diplomatic.com/p/bootlickin...

Griechische Grenztruppe tötet ohne Kontrolle Autopsien der 15 Toten von Chios zeigen, dass diese nicht ertrunken sind. Gegenüber »nd« äußert der Frontex-Grundrechtsbeauftragte Bedenken zur Küstenwache. Die Regierung eskaliert nun gegen NGOs.

Beim Angriff der Küstenwache auf Geflüchtete vor #Chios mit 15 Toten gibt es erste Beweise: Laut Obduktionsbericht kein Ertrinken, sondern Tod durch Schädel-/Hirnverletzung. Anwält:innen wollen die Täter zur Verantwortung ziehen und die griechische Regierung schlägt mit einer Hetzkampagne zurück.1/3

a man in a suit and tie stands in front of a blue and yellow flag ALT: a man in a suit and tie stands in front of a blue and yellow flag

My favourite factoid from today's EU summit so far: The Merz/Meloni/DeWever coalition that really wants to push for European competitiveness invited a large majority of member states to its pre-summit meeting, but it did not invite the most successful major EU economy of the past years: Spain.

die autor:innen der palantir-recherchen von links nach rechts: marguerite meyer, lorenz naegeli, adrienne fichter, balz oertli, jennifer steiner

🔥🔥🔥It's official: Der Krieg der Tech-Autoritären Oligarchie gegen die Medien hat eine neue Stufe erreicht: Palantir klagt gegen uns. Sie wollen ein Recht auf Gegendarstellung.

Uns, das @republik.ch-Magazin. Ein kleines unabhängiges Schweizer Medienhaus, finanziert von Leser:innen und werbefrei.

Welcome to Count Deregula's castle

Roggen aus früheren Zeiten: Die Zukunft alter Sorten steht in Brüssel auf dem Spiel Die EU will das verschachtelte Saatgutrecht vereinfachen – doch Fachleute kritisieren massive Einschränkungen für kleine Züchterinnen und Züchter

Die Zukunft alter Sorten steht auf dem Spiel

Die EU will das verschachtelte Saatgutrecht vereinfachen – Fachleute kritisieren massive Einschränkungen für kleine Züchter:innen. Ein Entwurf der Staaten könnte zum Verschwinden alter Sorten führen, warnen sie.

www.derstandard.at/story/300000...

Worth reading.
We want long lasting competitiveness and wealth creation.
We can get both, being truth to our goals and principles.

Europe is chasing the wrong fix for its growth crisis The continent’s old growth model no longer works in today’s world. And EU leaders need a plan that matches the scale of this shift.

Tomorrow’s summit is a chance for EU leaders to stop chasing the wrong fixes — and finally sketch a response that matches the scale of Europe’s economic challenge.

Here, lucasguttenberg.bsky.social, @sandertordoir.bsky.social and I lay out what that could look like.

www.politico.eu/article/euro...

In the short term, this suggestion will not be taken seriously. But the EU's economic policy of the past years was a story of everybody becoming more and more French, so I would bet that this will become very relevant in the medium term.

The French Haut-commissariat à la Stratégie et au Plan just released a paper calling for a 30% tariff on all imports from China. www.strategie-plan.gouv.fr/files/files/...

Absolutely, it’s a credit to the transparency activists who have pushed the EU to publish this data.

From a point of view of European sovereignty, I'd argue the EU officials have to start thinking independently before they can truly start to act independently. And I don't think that their independent thinking is helped by meeting hundreds of US interest representatives a year.

How important is this? It's impossible to say exactly how much influence these meetings buy, but there is a reason why companies spend big on lobbying and try hard to get the ear of EU commissioners and their staff.

Contrast this to the contact with Chinese companies, for example: The data I checked showed exactly one meeting with a Chinese company in all of 2025. The data is imperfect and some companies could act through EU subsidiaries (e.g. TikTok Ireland), but the difference could not be more pronounced.

An excel table showing the number of meetings companies got with Commission cabinet members in 2025.

And the graph above doesn't even show the whole picture. Many ostensibly Irish companies are actually the subsidiaries of US companies (e.g. Meta). Amazon, the company that got the secondmost lobbying meetings with Commission cabinet members, is registered in Luxemburg.

I took a look at the data for 2025 and the lobbying meetings held by the cabinet members of EU commissioners suggest that US companies still enjoy a very smooth access to top EU decision-makers.

You'd think the whole debate around EU autonomy (especially from the US) would also trigger a rethinking about whose voices should be heard at the highest level of the Commission.

Well...

No.

Big step for the ECB, but also, no good reason why offering collateralised loans to other central banks had to involve so much drama - you can lend on these terms to the Sparkasse Saarbrücken, why not Banco Central do Brasil?

Europas Illusion der Stärke Die strukturellen Schwächen der EU bleiben – trotz dem vorläufigen Grönland-Sieg.

Meine Nachlese zum EU-Gipfel der vergangenen Woche für die @republik.ch. Die EU freut sich an ihrer neu gefundenen Stärke und Einigkeit. Bisher ist das vor allem Rhetorik. Die EU muss die neue Weltunordnung nicht nur analysieren, sondern auch darin handeln können.
www.republik.ch/2026/01/29/e...

A new level of mafia statehood: if you do not give money to this person, his praetorian guard will come and terrorize you.