December 4, 2021

AUSTRIA: Chancellor Resigns; Predecessor Quits Politics. Austrian Residents Who Refuse To Get Covid Vaccine From February Will Face Fines Of Up To €7,200. EU Chief Calls For Throwing Out Nuremberg Code

US News
written by Frank Jordans, Associated Press
Thursday December 2, 2021

BERLIN — Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg announced Thursday he is stepping down just two months after taking over from predecessor Sebastian Kurz, who stumbled over corruption allegations.

Schallenberg, a former foreign minister, said he would leave office as soon as the conservative Austrian People's Party names a new leader. Kurz was the party's long-time leader, and some had speculated he might return as chancellor. But he announced Thursday morning that he was quitting politics entirely to spend more time with his family.

“I'm of the firm opinion that the two posts - head of government and leader of the party with the most votes in Austria - need to be quickly united in a single hand,” Schallenberg said.

Schallenberg took office in October following Kurz's resignation as chancellor. Austrian prosecutors had announced that Kurz was one of the targets of an investigation into suspected bribery and breach of trust. The Greens, the junior coalition partners in Kurz's government, demanded his replacement.

Kurz and his close associates are accused of trying to secure his rise to the leadership of his party and the country with the help of manipulated polls and friendly media reports financed with public money. He became the leader of his Austrian People’s Party and then chancellor in 2017.

Kurz said Thursday that he had always done his best to “move our beautiful Austria a little bit in the right direction,” but acknowledged having made some mistakes during his 10-year career.

Still, Kurz insisted: “I’m neither a saint, nor a criminal.”

“I’m a human being with strengths and weaknesses,” he told reporters in Vienna, adding that he looked forward to defending himself against the corruption allegations in court.

After resigning as chancellor, Kurz became the Austrian People's Party's parliamentary leader. The position afforded him immunity from prosecution until it was lifted last month.

Kurz said the recent birth of his first child had prompted the decision to leave politics.

Austrian media reported that Interior Minister Karl Nehammer could replace Kurz as the head of the Austrian People’s Party and then also succeed Schallenberg as chancellor.
The Post Millennial
written by James Anthony
Thursday December 2, 2021

Ursula Van Der Leyen, the head of the EU commission, told the press on Wednesday that she is in favour of scrapping the long-standing Nuremburg Code and forcing people to get vaccinated against COVID.
In an interview she gave to the BBC, the EU chief said that it was "understandable and appropriate" to consider vaccine mandates, especially due to the new Omicron variant of COVID 19, which has been now detected in 12 different member nations of the EU.

"How we can encourage and potentially think about mandatory vaccination within the European Union? This needs discussion. This needs a common approach, but it is a discussion that I think has to be led," commented Van Der Leyen to the BBC.

The WHO, however, has strongly encouraged countries not to enact travel bans because of Omicron, and further iterated that early data points to the fact that most Omicron cases are not severe. Most of the world's governments are not paying attention to the WHO's guidelines on this occasion, however.

The Nuremberg Code was enacted in 1947, immediately after the Second World War to prevent many of the egregious human rights abuses enacted by the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese during the war.

Especially were at issue the performance of medical procedures on subjects without their consent. These procedures, often performed under the command of people such as Dr. Josef Mengele or Hideki Tojo, often were akin to the worst kinds of torture. Since then, full and proactive ongoing consent has been required.

Reproduced here below is the section of the Nuremberg Code which is in question.

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