Yeah, the article is really lacking in information.
My guess: tech-bro VC-backed start-up culture has clawed its way into every field by now. So in theory while it should have been pretty easy going for anyone selling and installing solar the last couple years, competitors might have more capital at their disposal. That in turn means faster scaling and rapid expansion (like over at Enerpal and 1komma5) as long as the money keeps flowing. Doesn't matter if you're profitable, you just wanna squeeze out the competition.
That appears to be working.
Although it could also just be Sonnen's expansion into the North American market being deemed more worthy of attention, who knows
Article indeed lacks details, but my guess would be that they bought the company in 2019 and loaded it with the bank debt from that purchase expecting that in a growing market and low interest rates the company would be able to pay back their own purchase.
But now a few years later, with more competition diminishing profits and higher than before interest rates on the loans, and suddenly it looks much less possible. Obviously Sonne will not admit to this, but such shady practises are sadly very common for company takeovers.
Their initial aim was to stop Le Pen’s party winning an outright majority, which seemed a likely outcome a week ago. It seems instead their efforts may have handed the initiative to the other extreme of French politics, the far-left.
Mélenchon said the New Popular Front would want to implement its manifesto, including revoking Macron’s controversial pensions reforms and introducing big hikes in the minimum wage.
Disappointing from Politico, I thought they had a good read on politics but it seems they're incompetent enough to not be able to understand the french political landscape: the far left is mostly composed of NPA and LO who are trying to gain power through revolution, not the classic socdem parties playing by the elections rules
Edit : wow thanks for the context, friends, didn't know they had changed owners
Politico was bought years ago by German Axel Springer SE, the producers of trash like BILD and WELT (also a short-lived BILD TV that was designed as a best-of between RT and Fox News). They don't have a clue about french politics, just like they don't have a clue about anything else. All they got is a right-wing desinformation agenda.
They'd be wise to not have Melenchon to be a candidate for Macron's position though, because he still has some actually extreme views. If they can present a more moderate option then that'd be a good step though. Either way, Le Pen lost again, and that's the main goal here.
This was just an election for the French parliament. Macron is president, who is directly elected by the French public. However the next presidential election is in 2027.
Never mind the Holocaust-denying public media-disbanding police-empowering Putin-asskissing Right, the real threat is the pension-giving, minimum wage-setting Left!!
Looting can't coexist with discipline, it makes soldiers ignore objectives and being more interested in how to transfer questionable goods back home. It's suitable for barbaric raids of a hit-and-run nature of the past, but in a long multi-layered offensive it means soldiers on the ground has low morale and act on their own, that renders their part of the front vulnerable. Modern armies make sure their troops have food, fuel and other resources for them not to ask around and be easy targets for a sabotage or just hunger, and looting is even worse than that.
Today, no looted goods can cover the price of the offensive. The land taken is useless if it's underdeveloped or\and littered with mines and metal. Human resources aren't effective as uneducated slaves you can't trust as it was long ago.
Modern warfare is political and economical. Looting is done by making other party depend on you, work for you, without hurting their own productivity. Let them be happy to take loans for your people to build them infrastructure, mines, oil rigs, provide security, pocket their politicians and get on boards of all important corporations. Choke them with a belt to make a road. That's when you order to shoot any individual anachronic looters on sight for they mess with your bigger picture.
Doesn't make it any more ethical, but shows how outdated some doctrines may be.
Unhappiness and fear linked to fascism? Unbelievable! But yeah, I think that's something you more or less directly learn as German if you look back on our democracy, the Weimarer Republik, before rise of national socialism. Many people didn't believed in democracy at the first place, but the bad economic situation made it even worse. If you are unhappy or even fear about your future that's a great attack point for right wing propaganda.
It works for both left and right wing populism. Unfortunately, the former tends to (almost always) manifest the latter. Just look at all left-wing populists who (understandably) hate Joe Biden rolling out the red carpet for Donald Trump.
Justifiable hatred of the establishment undermines institutions beyond repair, and since left wing politics are grounded in facts, whereas populism is not a fact-based ideology, left wing populism almost always fails, and populism has become practically synonymous with fascism.
Incidentally, this is also why the left-wing has a tendency for infighting. Again, left-wing politics are broadly driven by facts whereas populism is not. The right wing flourishes under these conditions because none of their beliefs are grounded in empirical or normative reality.
I was thinking about this before scrolling comments. It seems many on the right support/vote for policies that actively make their quality of life seemingly better in the short term, and are surprised and disappointed when the long-term consequences of their decisions begin happening to become noticeable (usually more for me, less for thee?). When they discover the policies affect them, personally, they become angry and belligerent, looking to place blame on external factors. The left (I don't mean neoliberal) seem to go within, asking things like, "how did my voting choices affect this? What have I learned? How can I calibrate my choices for better results, going forward?" then try to make better decisions, even if it hurts them more, personally, in the short term, hoping for better across-the-board results long term?
I've just begun milling this, so I've no idea if this is correct or not. I'd love to see some research on it.
The contemporary witnesses are dying. I wouldn't say it's because of them not being able to tell their stories anymore, but a human life is enough time for a society to forget. And if I say society, I really mean the majority of people forget, nowadays just many have forgotten, too many, but not the majority. There always have been a few people who couldn't forget because they never knew, never wanted to know, we call them neo-nazis. They are on the rise again, all the crises of the last years have helped them and still do so, but I don't think people who haven't forgotten would follow them.
These things come with software (which is updateable) and remote maintenance options. Luxcara say they checked the IT security of the product they bought but the next buyers won't necessarily do the same.
It contradicts the idea that renewables make us independent from autocracies.
It contradicts the idea that renewables can ensure economic growth.
It's embarrassing for Germany which used to be one of the leading builders of wind turbines but has lost a lot of market share in the past decade. Gamesa has massive technical issues, Vestas is investing in India, and now German wind parks built with Chinese turbines.
And in addition to that, let's not forget that the cheap price comes from a country with intransparent supply chains and from the use of forced labour.
The problem is the same with the solar industry that Germany once had (or any sort of domestic manufacturing, really). Without heavy subsidies they cannot compete with the cheap Chinese prices, making them non competitive on the market.
It's not just any products. China as a country is capable of making long-term bets on select industries: they select scientists, they build up regional supply chains, and importantly, they give subsidies, supposedly until Chinese companies have won the market but who knows. Their leadership was clever enough to make a couple of good bets on green tech. And that's what sets them apart any EU country right now.
Even with subsidies the West could not compete due to China's lower production cost from their cheap & forced labor forces or their lack of various regulations.
This will not happen. What we're fighting for today is depriving the far-right and its allies from getting more than half the seats in the national assembly. We actually have a chance to prevent them from becoming our new government, but nothing is sure yet.
Whatever happens, the next 1 to 3 years is/are going to suck a lot.
Not really. The scenario where the left wins the most seats is the least probable one. The two that can really happen are the far right gaining enough seats to govern the country, or nobody having a majority.
Interesting how quickly things can change. According to the exit polls, lefties might win the most seats, followed by Macaron and then by the right-wingers.
Yeah I was very surprised. I thought the best it can be hoped for is that RN cannot form a government, but they might actually end up in 3rd place. Let's go France!
They didn't exactly suffer a blow. They increased their number of seats in the parliament from 89 to 142. Yes, they are the 3rd biggest group when most polls were putting them on top, but their influence is increasing a lot and they stay in a position of opposition which may favor them for the next big election, the presidential election of 2027.
The biggest group in the new parliament, Nouveau Front Populaire, was formed less than a month ago. They have much to prove if they want to gain long term trust of the electors, and this with only a relative majority, which will make it difficult for them to vote reforms on their terms.
All am saying is, I am glad we avoided the worst yesterday, but there is still much work to do. One battle won, war against fascism continues...
The NFP has the problem that it's a group of several different parties, they agreed to some things before the election, but after the election they have to actually work together, and also with the Ensemble group to get any majorities at all.
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