UK
Who gains from Rishi’s ‘long-term’ thinking? Not the planet, not the north … not even him

‘Let Rishi be Rishi’, is the new Tory catchphrase. So far, that seems to be code for ‘let Britain be rubbish’ – and Suella Braverman is circling

‘Sunak comes across as a sort of robo-carer, whose display reads, ‘We’re doing everything we can.’’ Photograph: Reuters

Marina Hyde

THE GUARDIAN
Tue 26 Sep 2023 

Buy shares in gun turrets, because Suella Braverman has made landfall in Washington to offer her esteemed take on the 1951 UN refugee convention. As a former practitioner in the field of … hang on, let me get my magnifying glass … planning law, the home secretary will regard herself as vastly superior to any of the legal minds who collaborated on the multilateral postwar treaty – as well as far better suited to rocking a “Suella 4 Leader” T-shirt at any future pledge drive/torchlit pitchfork procession. In the strict interests of appropriate venues, the United States has never actually ratified the convention – but that’s not important, because the home secretary obviously thinks one of its soft-wingnut thinktanks will serve as a cool backdrop. Think of her trip as the international equivalent of one of those primary school visits that a campaigning politician uses to announce a new weapons contract or crackdown on sex offenders. It’s top-flight politics: this is just how we do it.


Back at home, meanwhile, things feel less full of promise for Suella’s beleaguered line manager. The prime minister’s handlers seem to have alighted on a plan that some summarise as “let Rishi be Rishi” – a strategy that assumes Rishi Sunak has a personality other than “billionaire dweeb with a govern-like-no-one’s-watching decal on his kitchen wall”. Nonetheless, breaking the glass on this timeworn phrase formulation does perhaps indicate we have reached a particular stage of the game. As with “let Truss be Truss”, “let Boris be Boris” and even “let Gordon be Gordon”, this exhortation tends to come late in the political day. It always feels like a nice way of saying that the individual in question is terminally inadequate, but that all options for disguising this have now been exhausted.


Still, what does Rishi being Rishi look like? Instructed to buy a character off the peg, the PM seems to have decided his defining trait is long-termism. And in order to show his frustration with short-termism, Sunak has hit on the galaxy-brain idea of rowing drastically back on two long-term projects. Both HS2 and net zero targets now seem destined for one of Sunak’s seven bins – a hint that he hasn’t taken the country’s rejection of his party in the opinion polls too well. The net zero U-turn in particular suggests our spurned hero is at the stage of buying sulphuric acid and going to the country with the slogan “If I can’t have you, no one can.”

In fact, next month’s Conservative party conference will be held under a banner reading “Long-term decisions for a brighter future” – a slogan so tedious that I can only read up to the word “decisions” before having to break off and stare defeatedly out of a window for an hour. Somewhat awkwardly, the aforementioned party conference will take place in Manchester, meaning that Sunak is currently having to pretend that that bit of the HS2 line might still happen. Then as soon as he is back in London, he can effectively reveal he was just being polite. As I say: this is top-flight politics. It’s how we do it.


Yes, as things are mooted, the long-planned, hugely expensive London-to-Manchester HS2 line will go to neither London nor Manchester – a genuine feat of infrastructural dadaism that should receive some kind of global recognition. This may well be the most embarrassing British folly since Watkin’s Tower, a late-19th-century attempt to build a tower in Wembley Park that was almost an exact rip-off of the Eiffel Tower, except 150 feet higher. Only the bottom layer was ever built, before it was discovered that the foundations were unsteady and the builder went bust. It was eventually brought down in a controlled explosion.

In fairness to Sunak, the over-budget, under-managed horror show into which HS2 has thus far descended isn’t really his fault – but it is arguably a bit of a pisser for a man who only last week decided to lay out what he felt was British people’s major gripe about our politics. “They feel that much gets promised, but not enough is delivered.” We really are through the looking glass if cancelling some more delivery is the answer. Despite having correctly diagnosed the problem, Sunak comes across as a sort of robo-carer, whose display reads, “We’re doing everything we can.” The impression is of an administration that has stopped trying to fix problems and is now trying to convince people that they need to live with them. It’s palliative politics, giving the tacit impression that the best the UK can be offered is a sort of end-of-country care.

Of course, an even less appealing option is available, and as Rishi lets himself be Rishi, we are – almost incredibly – starting to see sightings of it in the wild. Last week, following the net zero announcement, Tory MP Chris Skidmore refused to rule out submitting a no-confidence letter, while another former minister told the Guardian: “There is a sense [Sunak] can’t win an election. People are thinking about that and increasingly irritated. In November his 12 months are up, and it only takes 15% to call a no-confidence vote … ” Surely, surely not – and I do mean that. Even so, the most realistic short- and medium-term advice you can offer to anyone hoping to hear much less from Suella Braverman is … get used to disappointment.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

Greens must shed ‘moral superiority’ image, says German vice-chancellor

Robert Habeck said supporters of climate action must have the most compelling arguments

Robert Habeck giving a speech at a Green party rally in June. Photograph: Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images

Is the world’s most powerful green politician doomed to fail?


Philip Oltermann in Berlin

THE GUARDIAN

Tue 26 Sep 2023 

Germany’s vice-chancellor has called on supporters of environmental reforms to shed their reputation for “moral superiority” and focus on having “the better arguments” amid a backlash against climate policies across Europe.

Robert Habeck, the minister for economic affairs and climate action and a leading Green politician, said environmental parties had to push back against their instincts if they wanted their climate agenda to succeed in the long run.

Historically, he said, the Greens’ problem was “the allegation – and with every allegation that sticks there is a grain of truth – of moral superiority, of always knowing it best”.

“That’s something that dates to the green movement’s origins. To survive as a grassroots movement you have to claim to have access to some higher form of truth that others don’t. But as we Greens are transitioning to something with a broader political appeal, we are working to reduce that claim to truth and have the better arguments instead.”

Habeck’s struggles mirror similar developments in the Netherlands, where anger at plans to cut nitrogen pollution led to a shock poll win for a new farmers’ protest party, and Britain, where the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, last week announced a U-turn on some of the government’s climate commitments.

Habeck proved his ability and popularity in managing the 2022 energy crisis, but has recently struggled in his effort to overhaul Germany’s fossil fuel-reliant heating sector.

A proposed ban on the installation of conventional new gas or oil heating systems from 2024, drawn up by Habeck’s ministry, came under fire this year and was only approved earlier this month after a protracted period of government infighting.

In a wide-ranging interview, Habeck also defended the decision to pay the energy-intensive German industrial sector large subsidies to smooth its transition to green technologies.

“Our economy is changing,” Habeck said. “But it doesn’t mean we should willingly accept the loss of our old strengths, namely energy-intensive industries like steel or the chemical industry.”

In July, the EU gave Germany the green light to pay steel giant Thyssenkrupp €2bn (£1.7bn) of state subsidies for its proposed climate-neutral plant in Duisburg.

“If we want economic security, we need those industries,” said Habeck, a former Green party leader, who has governed in a three-party coalition with Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats and the liberal FDP since December 2021.

Even though Germany fell into a recession last winter, and its economy has stagnated since, Habeck insisted that the country would regain its status as the EU’s economic powerhouse.

“It won’t be an industrial nation like in the 1960s, when you couldn’t hang out your washing in the Ruhr valley because the soot turned everything black. But yes, we will have a highly productive, digital, renewable economy,” he said.

“Other regions are powering on too, but we will have many leading businesses and Germany will have renewed its prosperity.”

‘Staggering’ green growth gives hope for 1.5C, says global energy chief


IEA’s Fatih Birol says uptake of solar power and EVs is in line with net zero goal but rich countries must hasten their broader plans


Fiona Harvey 

Environment editor

THE GUARDIAN

Tue 26 Sep 2023 

A view of a research project on organic fruit cultivation under solar panels, in Gelsdorf, Germany. Photograph: Christopher Neundorf/EPA

The prospects of the world staying within the 1.5C limit on global heating have brightened owing to the “staggering” growth of renewable energy and green investment in the past two years, the chief of the world’s energy watchdog has said.

Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, and the world’s foremost energy economist, said much more needed to be done but that the rapid uptake of solar power and electric vehicles were encouraging.

“Despite the scale of the challenges, I feel more optimistic than I felt two years ago,” he said in an interview. “Solar photovoltaic installations and electric vehicle sales are perfectly in line with what we said they should be, to be on track to reach net zero by 2050, and thus stay within 1.5C. Clean energy investments in the last two years have seen a staggering 40% increase.”

But Birol also noted that greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector were “still stubbornly high”, and that the extreme weather seen around the world this year had shown the climate was already changing “at frightening speed”.

The IEA, in a report entitled Net Zero Roadmap, published on Tuesday morning, also called on developed countries with 2050 net zero targets, including the UK, to bring them forward by several years.

The report found “almost all countries must move forward their targeted net zero dates”, which for most developed countries are 2050. Some developed countries have earlier dates, such as Germany with 2045 and Austria and Iceland with 2040 and for many developing countries they are much later, 2060 in the case of China and 2070 for India.

Cop28, the UN climate summit to be held in Dubai this November and December, offered a key opportunity for countries to set out tougher emissions-cutting plans, Birol said.

He wants to see Cop28 agree a tripling of renewable energy by 2030, and a 75% cut in methane from the energy sector by the same date. The latter could be achieved at little cost, because high gas prices mean that plugging leaks from oil and gas wells can be profitable.

But Birol warned that the geopolitical situation, with many nations at loggerheads over the war in Ukraine, and still frosty relations between the US and China, would make for a difficult summit.

He said: “The most important challenge [to limiting temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels] is the lack of international cooperation. Cop28 is a critical juncture, and should send a strong signal to energy markets that governments are taking the climate seriously. They should move to reduce the consumption of unabated fossil fuels.”

He also called for Cop28 to agree a doubling of energy efficiency. “To reduce fossil fuel emissions, we need to reduce demand for fossil fuels. This is a golden condition, if we are to reach our climate goals,” he said.

Birol stopped short of endorsing the call that some countries have made for a full phase-out of fossil fuels by 2050 to be agreed at Cop28, but he said all countries must work on reducing their fossil fuel use.

Rishi Sunak, the UK’s prime minister, last week reaffirmed his commitment to net zero by 2050, but reversed and delayed some key policies that would help to attain the goal. Sunak is also planning a large new round of North Sea oil and gas licences, despite clear advice from the IEA that no new upstream oil or gas projects should be built on the road to net zero.

Birol also refused to single out any countries, but made it clear that the richest countries should be moving much faster on renewable energy, energy efficiency, reducing fossil fuel use and bringing forward their net zero targets.

Birol said: “Advanced economies have special responsibilities in fighting climate change. What I would expect advanced economies to do is to increase their ambition further, rather than reducing it. Clean energy would create lots of new jobs and employment, and build a modern industry [needed] to have a competitive position with other countries. Industry knows that the next chapter of global industry is based on clean energy technologies.”

Tessa Khan, executive director at Uplift, a campaigning organisation, said: “This [IEA report] is yet more confirmation from the world’s energy experts that we can’t have new oil and gas projects if we’re going to stay within a safe climate, and that massively scaling up renewables is key to achieving that.

“Yet the UK is part of a tiny club of wealthy countries that while professing to lead on climate is massively expanding oil and gas production. Just five nations – the US, Canada, Australia, Norway and the UK – are responsible for over half of all planned oil and gas field developments from now to 2050.”

Europe’s banks helped fossil fuel firms raise more than €1tn from global bond markets

Exclusive: Pan-European investigation looked at thousands of transactions since Paris climate agreement in 2016


Jillian Ambrose 

Energy correspondent

Tue 26 Sep 2023 

The Vankor oil and gas field in Russia owned by Rosneft. Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters

Banks including some of Europe’s largest lenders have helped fossil fuel companies to raise more than €1tn (£869bn) from the global bond markets since the Paris climate agreement, according to an investigation by the Guardian and its reporting partners.

In the push to zero carbon, Europe’s biggest lenders face growing pressure to limit their financial support for fossil fuel companies through direct loans and other financing facilities.

But analysis of thousands of transactions since 2016, when more than 190 countries agreed at a UN summit in Paris to limit global warming by curbing pollution, has revealed that lenders including Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Barclays have continued to profit from the expansion of oil, gas and coal by supporting the sale of fossil fuel bonds.

The findings have raised concerns among sustainable investment campaigners that banks are continuing to offer “hidden” financial support to energy companies that are responsible for increasing the world’s carbon emissions – even as they pledge publicly to phase out direct lending for new projects.

The Guardian worked alongside other European newspapers and the Dutch platforms Investico and Follow the Money to look in detail at 1,700 bond issues recorded by the financial information provider Bloomberg.

Bonds are issued by companies to help raise funds for specific projects, or their general operations. They effectively act as an IOU between the company and investors purchasing the bond. Banks earn fees by underwriting and marketing the bonds to their clients and other investors, and by providing advisory or administrative services. Underwriting banks guarantee bond sales by buying them before selling them on to investors on the global bonds market. Typically a single bond issue will involve the help of multiple banks.

The investigation focused only on bonds from energy companies identified by the campaign group Urgewald as having publicly disclosed their aims to increase their production of fossil fuels, and only since the Paris climate agreement. The agreement enshrined the goal to limit rising temperatures to well below 2C above pre-industrialised levels. Climate experts have warned that no new fossil fuel projects are compatible with the Paris accord.

The research revealed €1tn in such bonds issued through the global bond markets since the start of 2016. Big borrowers included Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras and Russian state oil company Rosneft. The Paris agreement committed global governments to taking action.

Europe’s top facilitators of fossil fuel bonds, according to the research, were Germany’s Deutsche Bank, Britain’s HSBC and Barclays, and the French banks Crédit Agricole and BNP Paribas.

Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras was one of the big borrowers through global bond markets, the research found. 

Photograph: Paulo Whitaker/Reuters

As pressure grows on Europe’s financial centres to adopt climate compatible policies, many banks have moved away from classic lending relationships with big fossil fuel companies towards more indirect support by helping to issue corporate bonds, according to campaigners.

Most banks choose not count the bond sales they are paid to work on when measuring their performance on climate change, even though the funds raised play a large role in supporting new high carbon projects for some of the biggest emitters.

Climate experts, including Andreas Rasche, the professor of business in society at Copenhagen Business School’s Centre for Sustainability, have criticised the banks for failing to take responsibility for their role in helping fossil fuel companies to access funds through the bond market.


Rasche said: “Participating in underwriting activities makes banks complicit in the emissions arising from bonds issued by oil and gas companies. You help them raise money, and you know what this money will be used for – thereby you are involved in the activity.”

Campaigners suggest the global bond markets have emerged as “the back door” for big polluters planning to access financing for their projects amid growing scrutiny of direct bank financing.

“We cannot ignore the bond market any longer,” said Alice Delemare Tangpuori, a strategist for the climate campaign group the Sunrise Project. “The role of banks has been quite hidden. But they are essentially the cheerleaders for these bonds.”

“Fossil fuel companies are effectively using bonds as a back door for raising money,” Delemare Tangpuori said. “The same companies are now turning to the bond market to raise funds. And the same banks are more than happy to help them do that. Access to the bond market is the kill switch for those looking to defund fossil fuel companies.”

Lara Cuvelier, a sustainable investments campaigner with Reclaim Finance, said: “It’s a way for them to keep working with these companies, to keep the commercial links in place. Helping these companies raise funds on the bonds market shows an unwillingness to break these ties and stop supporting fossil fuel companies.”

“This new money that they are helping these companies access is not compatible with their commitment to reach net zero by 2050,” Cuvelier added. “This investigation clearly demonstrates the urgent need for banks – and also for investors – to adopt sector specific policies that cover all financial services, including bonds.”

According to the research, Deutsche Bank was the biggest, acting as an underwriter or bookrunner for fossil fuel bonds that raised a total of €432bn since the Paris climate agreement. At the same time, the bank promised to reduce its “financed emissions” for the oil and gas sector by 23% by 2030 and 90% by 2050.

Deutsche Bank said it had significantly reduced its engagement with the oil and gas sector since 2016. Photograph: Ralph Orlowski/Reuters

The bank said in a statement that it “has significantly reduced its engagement with the oil and gas sector since 2016 and in particular last year”. It added that Deutsche Bank has “no intention at all to shift the scope of business from lending to bond issuance for clients in the fossil fuel sector”.

The research found that the British bank HSBC facilitated bonds that raised €423bn for fossil fuel companies since 2016 while pledging to shrink its financed emissions for the oil and gas sector by 34% by the end of the decade, before reaching net zero by 2050.

HSBC did not respond to a request for comment.

At the same time, the French banks Crédit Agricole and BNP Paribas helped to issue bonds that raised €351bn and €295bn respectively, according to the investigation. Crédit Agricole has pledged to reduce its financed emissions to zero by 2050. BNP Paribas said earlier this year it would stop all financing for new fossil fuel projects, but the policy still allows the bank to finance the fossil fuel companies themselves.

A spokesperson for BNP Paribas said the historic scope of the investigation did not reflect the bank’s recent progress in “turning the page on fossil fuels”. The bank claimed that its share of the bond market for oil and gas companies had fallen to 0.99% in 2023, compared with a market share of 3.39% in 2020.

Crédit Agricole said the decision to exclude bond arrangements in its climate targets was in accordance with the methodology adopted by an alliance of banks during the Cop26 UN climate talks in Glasgow in 2021. “However, once the bond is held by the investor, it is taken into account in their invested issues,” the bank’s spokesperson said.

London-headquartered Barclays is one of few banks that includes its capital markets activities in its ambition to become a net zero bank by 2050. The bank helped fossil fuel companies to raise bonds worth €350bn in the years since the Paris agreement, according to the research.

A Barclays spokesperson said the bank’s climate targets, which were set in 2020, cover not only its direct lending but also the capital markets financing it has facilitated, such as bond issuance. “We were one of the first banks to do this,” the spokesperson said.

The investigation found that Mexico’s state oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos, emerged as the largest beneficiary of fossil fuel bonds after raising €115bn since 2016. Petrobras has raised €38bn in the same period while Roseneft raised €34bn. Shell and BP raised €31bn and €29bn from fossil fuel bonds respectively.

UK FOOTBALL

Everton owner received £400m from Alisher Usmanov companies, documents suggest

Exclusive: Questions mount over ties between Farhad Moshiri and tycoon, before he was put under sanctions


Simon Goodley

THE GUARDIAN

Tue 26 Sep 2023 

Farhad Moshiri, left, and Alisher Usmanov have long had business ties and jointly owned a stake in Arsenal. Composite: Getty/Rex

The Everton Football Club owner, Farhad Moshiri, received more than £400m from Alisher Usmanov companies in the run-up to the Russian billionaire being placed under sanctions, documents suggest, raising fresh questions about the financial ties between the two men.

Records seen by the Guardian appear to show that Moshiri borrowed £145m from a company wholly owned by the Russian-Uzbek tycoon from about 2020.

The papers also set out how, between 2018 and 2022, Moshiri sold about £270m of shares in a company whose largest shareholder was Usmanov. Moshiri did not pay for those shares, public accounts imply, which accounting experts suggested could mean the share sales were a gift.

Usmanov is one of the world’s richest people and is said to be close to Vladimir Putin. He has long had business ties with Moshiri and the pair jointly owned a stake in Arsenal Football Club. Moshiri sold his Arsenal shares back to Usmanov in 2016 in order to fund his initial investment in Everton.

The discovery of the previously unreported financial records raises fresh questions about the relationship between the men – as well as the true wealth of Moshiri, just days after the British businessman disclosed a provisional deal to sell Everton to the US investment firm 777 Partners.

The papers also appear to misalign with Moshiri’s previous statements about how he could continue to fund the Premier League club himself, as well as his promise to provide ongoing financial backing that was crucial in Everton’s auditors signing off its 2022 accounts this year.

In January, Moshiri told TalkSport: “I put my money where my mouth is, that’s the most an owner can do.”


After being presented with the information laid out in the internal documents, a spokesperson for Usmanov declined to discuss precise details of the funding but said: “Mr Moshiri and his companies are indeed indebted to Mr Usmanov and entities affiliated with him. We hope that the debt will be repaid after Mr Moshiri closes the sale of the Everton club, which is now being actively announced in the press.”

It is not clear how such a repayment could currently be made as Usmanov has been under UK government sanctions since March 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – a move he has consistently argued was “unfair and unjustified”. UK citizens cannot transfer funds to individuals who are under sanctions without government permission.

The Russian billionaire had already been barred from entering the UK since September 2021, at which point the Football Association reportedly made it “clear to Alisher Usmanov that he would not be permitted to loan money to Everton – or any other football club”.

However, documents seen by the Guardian lay out a string of Moshiri debts to Usmanov companies – raising questions about whether Moshiri invested any of those funds into Everton.

The extent of the Russian tycoon’s previously undisclosed financial links to Moshiri also raises further questions about the wealth of the former accountant turned Premier League owner, which has been estimated at £1.6bn.


Documents suggest that Windfel Properties – a company owned by Usmanov – loaned Moshiri £70m between about 2020 and March 2022. A Moshiri-owned company also appears to have borrowed a further £75m from Windfel during that time, the papers outline.


Treasury’s sanctions police ‘reviewing’ finances of Everton FC owner, Guardian understands

Read more

Separately, Moshiri also appears to have received about £270m by selling shares in USM, the conglomerate created by Usmanov in which the Russian is the largest single shareholder with a 49% stake, according to internal records.

The windfall came despite publicly available documents, which were filed in Cyprus, suggesting Moshiri had never paid for those shares.

The Briton has been listed as owning 10% of USM, but the company’s own accounts appear to set out how, in order to take up an “option” of acquiring that stake, Moshiri would need to pay $200m (£160m).

Internal documents record how the $200m “deferred payment” to acquire the shares remained unpaid by March 2022. The Guardian can also reveal that the outstanding debt was cut from an original $780m by USM, after a $490m writedown in 2016. Accounting experts said this raised questions about whether Moshiri was effectively being gifted hundreds of millions of dollars.skip past newsletter promotion


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According to internal records, the Everton owner’s debt to USM was further reduced by the British businessman not taking up about $90m of USM dividends – even though he did not appear to have bought a stake in the company.

In a series of transactions in UK pounds and US dollars, Moshiri then sold some of those USM shares – seemingly back to the company – for about £270m between 2018 and 2022, according to internal documents. The final sales are dated in the financial records as taking place in February 2022. Lawyers for Moshiri said he continued to own a 5% stake in USM and that his interest in it was never an “option”.

The huge sums that appear to have been received by Moshiri from Usmanov companies add to the recurrent questions about the nature of the relationship between the Everton owner and the Russian billionaire before he was sanctioned in March 2022.


These questions have been refuelled by recent Guardian reports of how a series of football managers claimed they were interviewed for the Everton manager’s job in the presence of Usmanov; and how former manager Carlo Ancelotti held discussions with the Russian about a series of incentive payments dependent on Everton’s performance in the Premier League.

While acknowledging his involvement at the club, Usmanov has always insisted that he owns no direct or indirect stake in Everton and that Moshiri has made all the decisions at the club. He has also consistently stated that he has followed Premier League rules and broken no laws.

Moshiri has always said he has invested his own money into the Premier League club and that he has not misrepresented his status or relationship with Usmanov.

During the timeframe the British businessman appears to have benefited from £415m of funding from Usmanov companies, he was also being publicly credited with investing £600m into Everton, according to an analysis of the club’s accounts conducted by the fan website TheEsk.org. In total Moshiri is said to have invested £750m into Everton.

However, the club has been searching for an investor since it was forced to distance itself from Usmanov in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Before the war, Usmanov’s companies had been a leading sponsor of Everton, contributing an estimated £114m to the club’s coffers since 2017. Last month, a proposed investment deal from MSP Sports Capital collapsed.

Earlier this year the Sunday Times Rich List estimated Moshiri is worth about £1.6bn. Aside from Everton, Moshiri has been listed as the owner of UK property valued at more than £100m, including Liverpool’s Royal Liver Building and a series of luxury homes in north London, owned via a portfolio of Isle of Man companies. At least one of the London homes was given to Moshiri by Usmanov “not for money”, according to Land Registry documents.

A lawyer for Moshiri did not address questions about the amount of money received by Moshiri from Usmanov companies or the suggestion that the debts had been used to fund Everton.

She said: “As the owner of Everton FC, Farhad Moshiri has always acted in the best interests of the club and its supporters. He is not controlled by or acting on behalf of Alisher Usmanov (or anyone else). These false claims have been disproved by independent investigations.”

Donatella Versace hits out at Italian government’s anti-gay policies




LGBTQ groups laud fashion designer for speech in which she said ‘minority voices’ were under attack

Associated Press in Milan

Tue 26 Sep 2023 19.48 BST

Gay rights groups in Italy have praised Donatella Versace for speaking out against the government’s anti-gay policies in a heartfelt and personal speech while receiving a fashion award.

“Our government is trying to take away people’s rights to live as they wish,” Versace said on Sunday night, citing in particular a government policy that allows only the biological parent in same-sex couples to be officially recognised as the parent. “They are restricting our freedoms,” she said.

“We must all fight for freedom, in a time that still sees trans people suffering terrible violence, a time when children of same-sex couples are not considered their children, a time when minority voices are attacked by new laws,” said Versace, who has been the creative director of the fashion house founded by her brother Gianni Versace since his murder in 1997.

The speech received a standing ovation from a fashion crowd at La Scala in Milan, where Versace received a humanitarian award.

Gay rights activists praised her for clearly challenging the government’s actions, but called on the entire fashion community to do more.


‘Orphaned by decree’: Italy’s same-sex parents react to losing their rights

“Donatella Versace was the first person in Italy to be so clear and explicit in the face of the government’s homophobic politics,’’ said Franco Grillini, a longtime gay rights activist. “She is one of the most important names in fashion, and I invite others to follow her example.”

Besides blocking recognition of children of same-sex couples, the rightwing government of the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is pushing through legislation that would ban seeking a surrogate abroad, making it punishable with prison terms and stiff penalties. A 2004 law already banned surrogacy within Italy.

The head of Italy’s Gay party also praised Versace’s support and called on her to back its campaign to get a referendum on gay marriage on the Italian ballot. It hopes to begin gathering signatures in January, aware that “this parliamentary majority does not want to give us rights”. Italy approved same-sex civil unions in 2016, the last major western country to do so.

“Donatella Versace’s declaration is important (...) She made clear how this government is diminishing freedoms and rights for the LGBTQ community,’’ said Fabrizio Marrazzo, a spokesperson for the Gay party and the referendum for egalitarian marriage. “We ask her to support us, in particular the campaign to make marriage for lesbians, gays and trans people the same as for everyone else.”

Versace was accompanied to the awards by Alessandro Zan, the Democratic party lawmaker who drafted legislation expanding anti-discrimination protections to the LGBTQ+ community. The legislation was stalled even before the Meloni government took office.

In a touching moment, Versace also recalled the day her brother Gianni came out to her.

“I was 11 years old when my brother Gianni told me he was gay. For me it changed nothing. I loved him and I didn’t care who he loved,’’ she told the crowd.

Nord Stream pipelines blasts: A maze of speculation

Matthias von Hein

DW
09/25/2023

One year ago, a series of explosions destroyed a central element of Europe's energy infrastructure. It remains unclear who was responsible.

When the pipelines were punctured, giant bubbles of methane gas could be seen from the air near the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea

Danish Defense Ministry/Xinhua/picture alliance

It was 2 a.m. on September 26, 2022, when seismic monitoring stations in Denmark, Sweden and Germany registered a weak earth tremor.

At the same time, workers at the pipeline operator Nord Stream registered a sharp drop in pressure in the 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) gas pipes that connect Russia and Germany. As the sun rose over the Baltic Sea, giant bubbles of methane gas could be seen from the air near the Danish island of Bornholm. They were coming to the surface from about 80 meters (260 feet) underwater. Further tremors followed. Soon it became clear: Several sections of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines had been blown up.

A key component of German and European energy infrastructure had been destroyed.
Investigations yield nothing substantial

It is here that the trail of officially confirmed findings runs cold. Instead, a vast realm of conjecture, speculation and suspicion has opened. Straight after the attack, many pointed the finger at Moscow. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter, today known as X: "'Gas leak' from NS-1 is nothing more that [than] a terrorist attack planned by Russia and an act of aggression towards EU."

Reactions from officials were sharp: "Any deliberate disruption of active European energy infrastructure is unacceptable & will lead to the strongest possible response," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on the same platform after meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen following the attack.

A year after the undersea explosions, it has not yet been officially confirmed who was behind the attacks on the gas pipelines. Investigations are underway in Germany, Sweden and Denmark, but very little information has been made public. Increasingly, attention is turning toward what investigative journalists are publishing.

In March 2023, a German investigative team caused a stir when it published research pointing towards Ukraine. The 15-meter yacht "Andromeda" played a key role. According to the collaborative investigation by stations of the German public service broadcaster ARD and Die Zeit newspaper, five men and one woman set sail on the boat from the Baltic Sea port of Warnemünde, in Germany, on September 6, 2022, about three weeks before the pipeline attack. Investigators from the German Federal Police Office (BKA) were reported to have found traces of explosives on board the yacht — the same substance that had been detected on the bottom of the Baltic.

Ukrainian special operations forces?

In early June, a report appeared in the Washington Post media outlet which supported this version of events. It claimed that European and American secret services had already been warned about plans for an attack by Ukrainian divers on the Nord Stream pipeline in June 2022. According to the Washington Post, the special operations forces reported directly to the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, was not informed about the plans.

In late August, following an extensive investigation, a 20-person investigative team from German news magazine Spiegel and public broadcaster ZDF also concluded: "The clues point in one direction: toward Ukraine." Wolf-Wiedmann-Schmidt was one of the members of the team. The journalist told DW: "The investigators found nothing which could prove that Russia could be behind it, and even less which suggested that the US could be behind the attack. There is absolutely no evidence of that."

In February, a widely published report by acclaimed American journalist Seymour Hersh accused the US of initiating the explosion. Hersh had based his report on a single, anonymous source.

Who blew up Russia's Nord Stream pipeline?  13:05

US threats against Nord Stream

In any case, Hersh could point to statements made by US President Joe Biden during his inaugural visit from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in early February 2022, before Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine. At that time, Biden said in front of the gathered press: "If Russia invades ... then there will no longer be Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it."

A few days after the attack, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the Nord Stream explosions offered "a tremendous opportunity to once and for all remove the dependence on Russian energy."

The German-Russian energy partnership had been a thorn in the side of the US long before the war in Ukraine — as well as for Ukraine and other European countries. Washington had long sought to prevent the construction of Nord Stream 2, a pipeline that ran parallel to its predecessor and was completed in September 2021, and used sanctions to delay it considerably. The second pipeline was never put into use, as the German government blocked approval shortly before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russian motives

Russia also had a motive to destroy the gas pipes: Because the Russian company Gazprom had already stopped the flow of gas through Nord Stream 1 in the summer of 2022 – and in doing so violated its contractually assured delivery obligations. That would have opened the door to recourse claims from its Western partners. The destruction of the pipeline allowed Gazprom to invoke "force majeure" — rendering the recourse claims invalid. This theory, however, assumes that Russia would abide by the rulings of international courts.

A war crime according to international law

According to international law, the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline would be an illegal act, even in the context of a military conflict, Bonn-based international law expert Stefan Talmon told DW. "That is because the Nord Stream pipeline is a civilian infrastructure project. According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, destroying civilian infrastructure is not only a violation of international law, but a war crime."

At least it would be if one of the two countries at war, Russia or Ukraine, could be proven to be behind the attack. If a third country had blown up the gas pipeline, the law professor explained, "that would not come within the framework of the law of armed conflict, instead it would ultimately be a terrorist attack." Talmon is critical of possible claims for compensation because of so-called state immunity: "Before a national court, Russia as well as Ukraine or a third country could invoke this state immunity, as it also applies for such unlawful attacks."

It remains to be seen whether the perpetrator will ever be identified, and if so, whether the case of the Nord Stream explosions will ever have its day in court. If a trial were to be held, Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants it to take place in Germany.

This article was originally written in German.

Key details behind Nord Stream pipeline blasts revealed by scientists

Researchers in Norway reveal further analysis of 2022 explosions as well as a detailed timeline of events


Miranda Bryant in Oslo

THE GUARDIAN
Tue 26 Sep 2023 

Scientists investigating the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines have revealed key new details of explosions linked to the event, which remains unsolved on its first anniversary.

Researchers in Norway shared with the Guardian seismic evidence of the four explosions, becoming the first national body to publicly confirm the second two detonations, as well as revealing a detailed timeline of events.

The recently discovered additional explosions took place in an area north-east of the Danish Baltic island of Bornholm about seven seconds and 16 seconds after the two previously known detonations.

Using information from seismic stations in northern Europe and Germany, including the Swedish National Seismic Network and Danish stations on Bornholm, seismologists deployed advanced analysis techniques to observe and pinpoint the blasts.

Seismologists at Norsar, Norway’s national data centre for the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty (CTBT), told the Guardian they had so far found a total of four explosions – one south-east of Bornholm and three north-east of the island.

Two clear seismic events, named Event S and Event N, were identified on 26 September 2022, soon after the attack. The first, on Nord Stream 2, occurred at 02:03:24 (UTC+2), and the second, on Nord Stream 1, at 19:03:50 (UTC+2).

The gas leak at the Nord Stream 2 pipeline off the Danish Baltic island of Bornholm, south of Dueodde. 

Photograph: Danish Defence/AFP/Getty Images

Norsar said there could potentially be further explosions buried in the data.

The explosions made holes in both Nord Stream 1 pipelines and one of the Nord Stream 2 pipelines. By November last year, Swedish investigators had confirmed that the breaches were caused by man-made explosives.

Investigations are continuing, but officials quoted in the US and German press have said the evidence points towards a Ukrainian-backed group, or a pro-Ukrainian group operating without the knowledge of the leadership in Kyiv.

German investigators have focused on a 51ft rental yacht called the Andromeda, which was hired by a mysterious crew of five men and one woman, at least some of whom were travelling on false passports.

Der Spiegel, which recreated the Andromeda’s journey, quoted investigators as saying the evidence all pointed at Kyiv’s involvement. There is debate, however, over whether a small crew of divers operating from a pleasure yacht would have been capable of carrying out the difficult, deep and slow dives necessary to place the explosives.

A leaked US defence document, reported by the Washington Post, showed the CIA had been tipped off by an allied European agency in June 2022, three months before the attack, that six members of Ukraine’s special operations forces were going to rent a boat and use a submersible vehicle to dive to the seabed using oxygen and helium for breathing, in order to sabotage the pipeline. But the leaked US document said the planned operation had been put on hold.

Other reports in the Scandinavian media have pointed to a cluster of Russian ships, with their identifying transponders turned off, in the vicinity of the blast sites in the days before the explosions.

The Nord Stream pipelines are operated by two companies, Nord Stream AG and Nord Stream 2 AG, both majority-owned by the Russian state energy company Gazprom. Nord Stream 1 and 2 are both twin pipelines, and together they bring up to 110bn cubic metres of gas annually from Russia to Germany.

Nord Stream 1 went into operation in 2012. Nord Stream 2 was completed in September 2021 but has never transported any gas. From the outset it was mired in controversy in the face of adamant opposition from German allies, in particular the US and Poland, who both believed the Germans were making themselves and much of the rest of Europe hostage to Russian energy supplies.

The US made clear that bilateral relations would be badly affected if Nord Stream 2 went into operation. Once the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, all talk of opening the pipeline was shelved.

Ben Dando, head of the department of test ban treaty verification at Norsar, an independent research foundation specialising in seismology and seismic monitoring. Photograph: Fredrik Naumann/Felix Features

The newly discovered events, named NB and NC, took place about seven seconds and 16 seconds after the event previously known as Event N, which they now refer to as NA.

Investigations by Denmark, Sweden and Germany are understood to be planned for publication in a joint study with Norsar. Authorities for all three countries declined to comment on the investigations.

In July, the UN security council heard investigators had found traces of undersea explosives in samples from a yacht, but that they were unable to reliably establish the identity or motives of those involved or whether it was the work of a specific country.


Using information from a number of seismic stations in northern Europe and Germany, including the Swedish National Seismic Network and the Danish stations on Bornholm, seismologists used advanced analysis techniques to observe the additional two explosions.

According to their calculations, the second and third explosions (NA and NB) were 220 metres apart from each other (with the third west of the second) and the fourth was several kilometres south-west of the second.

Pipes at the landfall facilities of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline in Lubmin, Germany, in 2022.

Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters

Andreas Köhler, a senior seismologist at Norsar, said the distance between NA and NB “fit very well with the distance between both pipelines of Nord Stream 1 at the westernmost gas plume location northeast of Bornholm.” Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 both have two pipelines each.

The location of the final explosion, however, is less clear because there are less station observations. “This best fits an explosion on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, but we cannot exclude a location at Nord Stream 2,” said Kohler.

Analysis of the source mechanism from the signals showed they were generated by explosive devices.

Based in Kjeller, near Oslo, Norsar monitors events across the world including nuclear testing in North Korea, the impact of CO2 storage on the Norwegian continental shelf and conflict zones such as Ukraine.

It takes 10 minutes for shock waves to reach them after a nuclear test in North Korea, with location accuracy of 150-200 metres, leading to the claim that it is “10 minutes from Kjeller to North Korea”.

The war in Ukraine has marked a significant breakthrough for Norsar in terms of the potential use of seismology in conflict monitoring. “The technology that is used to find explosions the other side of the globe can also find explosions closer to home,” said its chief executive, Anne Strømmen Lycke.

Anne Strømmen Lycke, the CEO of Norsar. 

Photograph: Fredrik Naumann/Felix Features

\It started monitoring Ukraine for the Civil Radiation Authority due to concerns of radioactive landfall over Norway after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. It monitors bombing around the power plant on a continuing basis and has been able to contribute evidence to the UN truth commission.

In June, its scientists were able to confirm the time and location of reports of two explosions at the Kakhovka dam using data from seismic stations in Romania and Ukraine.

“It’s amazing, the accuracy of the observation and the use of it. The UN truth commission for Ukraine has contacted us to ask us to verify some events, among them the Kakhovka dam, so they are interested in having these cold data as basis for their considerations.”

Norsar is also investigating whether its technology could be used in the future to monitor ceasefires.

“We know that we could see, based on frequency content and signal difference, between different helicopter types and likely also different weaponry types,” Strømmen Lycke said.

“And that could be something to verify and then you could actually monitor and trace after unravelling who did what. I suppose that is why the UN truth commission is interested in these things.”

CANADA

UPDATED
House Speaker Anthony Rota resigns over honouring man who fought for Nazis

Speaker of the House of Commons Anthony Rota speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023.

 THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang (The Canadian Press)


Tue, September 26, 2023 


OTTAWA — House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota is resigning after he invited a man who fought for the Nazis to attend a speech that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered to Canada's Parliament last week.

The Liberal MP, who was first elected Speaker in December 2019, shared his decision ahead of question period in the House of Commons today, referring to his time in the role as "his greatest honour."

All sides had called for Rota to resign after he invited and recognized in the House a Ukraine military veteran now living in Canada who had served in a Nazi unit during the Second World War.

All members of Parliament stood and applauded 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, who lives in Rota's northern Ontario riding, without knowing the details of his past last Friday during the official visit by Zelenskyy.

Rota, who as Speaker was tasked with remaining impartial and maintaining order in the House of Commons, has been facing international scrutiny over the controversy.

Only two Speakers elected since Confederation have left partway through a parliamentary session, including one who died and another who was named governor general.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2023.

The Canadian Press

Canada’s House of Commons speaker resigns over standing ovation for Nazi


Graeme Massie
Tue, September 26, 2023 

Canada’s Speaker of the House of Commons has resigned over his chamber invitation to a man who fought for the Nazis in the Second World War.

Anthony Rota announced he was stepping down from the position on Tuesday after meeting with leaders of all political parties following days of controversy.

The blunder took place during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to Canada’s Parliament on Friday.

After Mr Zelensky’s speech to Parliament, Mr Rota introduced 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, a man he described as “a Ukrainian Canadian war veteran… who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mr Zelensky then led a standing ovation for Hunka, who was sat in the parliamentary gallery, which Mr Trudeau has since called “deeply embarrassing.”

Mr Trudeau’s office later said that it was given no notice of the presence of Hunka, a Ukrainian veteran who fought in a volunteer unit under Nazi command.

After Mr Zelensky’s speech, it emerged that Hunka had been part of the First Ukrainian Division, also known as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division or the SS 14th Waffen Division.

Mr Rota apologised to MPs on Monday and said he had not been aware of his constituent’s involvement with the Waffen-SS Galicia Division.

Yaroslav Hunka, right, waits for the arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Onatario on 22 September (AP)

“This House is above any of us, Therefore, I must step down as your Speaker,” Mr Rota said on Tuesday. “I reiterate my profound regret for my error in recognising an individual in the House.”

Polish officials have said they want Hunka to be extradited to face trial for his role with the unit, which committed atrocities against Poles during the war.

Jewish community groups had called for an apology, with the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center demanding Mr Rota’s resignation.

“Speaker Rota’s decision… has left a stain on our country’s venerable legislature with profound implications both in Canada and globally,” said the organisation in a statement on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recognize Yaroslav Hunka, who was in attendance in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Ontario, on 22 September (AP)

“This incident has compromised all 338 members of Parliament and has also handed a propaganda victory to Russia, distracting from what was a momentously significant display of unity between Canada and Ukraine. It has also caused great pain to Canada’s Jewish community, Holocaust survivors, veterans and other victims of the Nazi regime.”

Mr Rota, who represents the Northern Ontario riding of Nipissing-Timiskaming, was first elected as Speaker in 2019

Canada parliament speaker resigns after calling Ukrainian Nazi veteran a ‘hero’

Anthony Rota steps down after meeting with party leaders in Ottawa having invited Yaroslav Hunka to special session


Leyland Cecco in Toronto

THE GUARDIAN

Tue 26 Sep 2023 

The speaker of Canada’s parliament has resigned after inviting a Ukrainian Nazi veteran to attend a special session of parliament, and then calling the man a “hero” amid two standing ovations.

Anthony Rota stepped down as speaker on Tuesday after meeting with party leaders in Ottawa amid growing cross-party calls for his resignation.

“This house is above any of us,” he told lawmakers.

Earlier in the day, Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, called the situation “deeply unacceptable” and an “embarrassment”. The government house leader said Rota should do the “honourable thing” and step down. The Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, also criticized Justin Trudeau for the fiasco, saying the prime minister had “brought shame on Canada” after the government’s failure to have its “massive diplomatic and intelligence apparatus vet and prevent honouring a Nazi”.

The scandal began on Friday, when lawmakers in Canada’s parliament welcomed the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Following a speech by Zelenskiy, Rota singled out 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, whom he had invited to sit in the gallery, describing the man as a “Canadian hero”.


Canada’s house speaker apologises after praising Ukrainian veteran of Nazi unit

Zelenskiy raised his fist in acknowledgment as Hunka saluted from the gallery.

But over the weekend it emerged that Hunka had been a member of the Waffen-SS “Galicia” Division or the SS 14th Waffen Division, a volunteer unit that was under the command of the Nazis.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies said that the division “was responsible for the mass murder of innocent civilians with a level of brutality and malice that is unimaginable”.

Other prominent Jewish groups joined in the condemnation of Hunka’s invitation and the incident quickly became a major political embarrassment for Canada’s government.

Rota later said he had “subsequently become aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision” to invite the war veteran, who lives in Rota’s electoral district. “I particularly want to extend my deepest apologies to Jewish communities in Canada and around the world. I accept full responsibility for my action.”

The prime minister’s office said there was no advance notice Hunka would attend Friday’s session of parliament because he was a guest of the speaker and the list of attendees is not shared.

In Canada, like others with Westminster-style parliaments, the speaker of the house of commons is a non-partisan role. The speaker is elected by all lawmakers and oversees the function of parliament.

On Monday, Trudeau called the moment “deeply embarrassing to the parliament of Canada and by extension to all Canadians”. But his party also attracted further scrutiny after the government house leader, Karina Gould, asked for Rota to “be struck” from the official records of parliament, including all recordings from the day.

Amid mounting condemnation of Rota, social media users speculated his resignation was imminent. The political commentator David Moscrop posted a picture of Rota and a head of lettuce, a nod to the final, embattled days of the former UK prime minister Liz Truss.

The focus on Hunka also prompted interest from Poland, where the country’s education minister said he had “taken steps” for Hunka to be extradited. “In view of the scandalous events in the Canadian Parliament, which involved honouring, in the presence of President Zelenskiy, a member of the criminal Nazi SS Galizien formation, I have taken steps towards the possible extradition of this man to Poland,” Przemysław Czarnek said in a social media post on Tuesday.

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center said in a statement the event had also “handed a propaganda victory to Russia, distracting from what was a momentously significant display of unity between Canada and Ukraine”.

Poland's education minister says he's 'taken steps' to extradite Yaroslav Hunka

CBC
Tue, September 26, 2023 

Yaroslav Hunka, right, waits for the arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Sept. 22, 2023. Poland’s education minister says he has 'taken steps' to effect the extradition of Hunka, after it emerged the veteran served in the Nazi SS Galizien formation during the Second World War. 

(Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press - image credit)More

Poland's education minister says he has "taken steps" to effect the extradition of Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian Canadian, to Poland after it emerged that the veteran served in the Nazi SS Galizien formation during the Second World War.

On Friday, Hunka was invited to sit in the parliamentary gallery by Speaker Anthony Rota for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's address to Parliament. Rota introduced Hunka as a "Ukrainian hero" and a "Canadian hero," prompting a standing ovation in the House of Commons.

Over the weekend, it emerged that Hunka was part of the First Ukrainian Division, also known as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division or the SS 14th Waffen Division, a voluntary unit that was under the command of the Nazis.

"In view of the scandalous events in the Canadian Parliament, which involved honouring, in the presence of President Zelenskyy, a member of the criminal Nazi SS Galizien formation, I have taken steps towards the possible extradition of this man to Poland," Przemysław Czarnek said in a social media post Tuesday.

Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Arif Virani told reporters Tuesday that he can't comment on Czarnek's move because no extradition request has come across his desk and no one from the Polish government has reached out to him.

Rota apologized to the House on Monday, insisting the decision to invite Hunka, who lives in Rota's riding of Nipissing–Timiskaming, was entirely his own. Calls for Rota to step down continue to grow.

Rota said Monday that he personally regrets inviting his constituent and giving him attention after Zelenskyy's remarks by pointing Hunka out in the gallery.

"I am deeply sorry I offended many with my gesture and remarks," Rota said. "This initiative was entirely my own. I want to really tell you that the intention was not to embarrass this House."

While Rota appeared emotional as he issued his statement, he conveyed no intention to resign.

Rota expected to meet House leaders

On Monday, the Bloc Québécois requested a meeting with Rota and the other parties' House leaders, according to a letter obtained by CBC News.

The letter, from Bloc House leader Alain Therrien, said Hunka's invitation has created "a crisis of confidence without precedent" in the House of Commons. The meeting is expected to take place at noon Tuesday.

On his way into Parliament Tuesday, Rota was asked if he expects to retain his position as Speaker of the House.

"We'll have to see about that, and I'm sure you'll hear more later on today," he said.

On his way into a cabinet Meeting Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he is sure that the meeting will feature "very important conversations."

"As I said yesterday, this was deeply embarrassing for the House and for Canada," Trudeau said. "It is a good thing that Speaker Rota apologized personally and I'm sure he's reflecting now on how to ensure the dignity of the house going forward."

Calls to step down

Opposition parties said it's not enough for Rota to apologize for inviting Hunka to the day's festivities.

NDP MP Peter Julian, the party's House leader, said "regretfully and sadly" Rota cannot continue in his role after this incident.

"The Speaker has to be above reproach," Julian said. "This is an unforgivable error that puts the entire House in disrepute. Unfortunately, I believe a sacred trust has been broken."

On Monday afternoon, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet issued a statement calling for Rota's resignation, saying his errors have caused damage and that he has lost the confidence of the House.

Conservative MP Andrew Scheer, the party's House leader, said he doesn't accept that Rota alone was to blame for the invitation. He said the Liberal government should have done a better job of vetting who was in attendance for Zelenskyy's speech.

"This is a grave incident," said Scheer, who was House Speaker from 2011 to 2015.

"[Rota's] statement doesn't answer the questions around how this person was allowed to be in the chamber. A straightforward Google search will show he served in this particular division. If basic, rudimentary vetting as to who might be in the gallery isn't done — that's remarkable," Scheer said.

Rota did not share invite with PMO: Speaker's office

The Speaker doesn't report to the Prime Minister's Office. While Rota is a Liberal MP, the Speaker is elected by all members of the House.

A spokesperson for the Speaker said Rota did not share his list of invitees with the Prime Minister's Office or any of the opposition parties before Friday's event.

Speaker of the House of Commons Anthony Rota rises to speak in a December 2022 file photo. Rota invited Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian-Canadian who now lives in North Bay, Ont., to witness Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's address to Parliament on Friday.

Speaker of the House of Commons Anthony Rota rises to speak in a December 2022 file photo. Rota invited Yaroslav Hunka to witness Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's address to Parliament on Friday. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press)

The Speaker was allocated a set number of spots in the viewing gallery and the list of potential guests was shared with Parliament's Protocol Office, which co-ordinates the sending of invitations.

The names of confirmed guests are then passed on to the Corporate Security Office to "facilitate accreditation of guests," Amélie Crosson, the Speaker's communications director, said in a statement to CBC News.

"Mr. Hunka's son contacted Mr. Rota's constituency office and asked if it would be possible for Mr. Hunka to attend the address in the House of Commons by Mr. Zelensky. This request was accepted by the Speaker's Office," Crosson said.