JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/the-other-27-eu-countries-want-britain.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/the-united-kingdom-leave-stay-vote-in.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/today-is-big-day-will-britain-remain-in.html
OTHER TODAY STORIES JUNE 29,2016
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/the-sins-of-america-why-judgement-will.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/the-dow-was-up-269-points-tuesday.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/israel-to-hold-cybersecurity-conference.html
41 KILLED 249 INJURED IN ISLAMIC SUICIDE BOMBERS IN TURKEY
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/day-1-that-peace-loving-islamic.html
EU SPAIN #11 (POSSIBLY MIGHT PRODUCE THE WORLD LEADER)
HOW THE COMMON MARKET TO EUROPEAN UNION WAS BORN.
Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (1951)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:11951K/TXT
Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:11957E/TXT
Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (1957)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:11957A/TXT
01-BELGIUM-1958 *** (A BELGIAN WILL NEGOTIATE THE UK EXIT FROM EU) *
02-NETHERLANDS-1958 *
03-LUXUMBOURG-1958 *
04-ITALY (ROME)-1958
05-FRANCE-1958
06-GERMANY-1958
(THESE 6 SIGN THE TREATY OF ROME)(THE REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE)
07-IRELAND-1973
08-DENMARK-1973 *
09-UNITED KINGDOM (BRITAIN)-1973 ** (DROPPED OUT JUNE 23,16) *
10-GREECE-1981
Schengen Convention (1985)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law/treaties-other.html#new-2-26
11-SPAIN-1986 ******* (IMPORTANT SAY IN THE EU) *
12-PORTUGAL-1986
Treaty on European Union (1992)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:1992:191:TOC
13-AUSTRIA-1995
14-FINLAND-1995
15-SWEDEN-1995 *
Treaty of Nice (2001)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:12001C/TXT
Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (2004)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:12004V/TXT
16-CYPRUS-2004
17-CZECH REPUBLIC-2004
18-ESTONIA-2004
19-HUNGARY-2004
20-LATVIA-2004
21-LITHUANIA-2004
22-MALTA-2004
23-POLAND-2004
24-SLOVAKIA-2004
25-SLOVENIA-2004
26-BULGARIA-2007
27-ROMANIA-2007
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (2007)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law/treaties-other.html#new-2-38
Treaty of Lisbon (2007)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:12007L/TXT
28-CROATIA-2013
** DROPPING OUT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION TRADE BLOC.
*** NEGOTIATOR WITH HOW UK EXITS THE UNION TRADE BLOC.
******* THESE COUNTRIES COULD HAVE A BIG SAY IN FUTURE EU HAPPENINGS.
* KINGS AND QUEENS IN EU COUNTRIES-MONARCHIES.
JOINING COUNTRIES TREATIES WITH THE EU-ACCESSION TREATIES
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law/treaties-accession.html
OTHER EU TREATIES AND PROTOCOLS
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law/treaties-other.html
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html
DANIEL 7:8,24
8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn,(WORLD DICTATOR) before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD DIVISION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(EITHER THE EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR BOOTS 3 ORIGINAL COUNTRIES FROM THE 6 FOUNDING MEMBERS OR THE DICTATOR TAKES OVER THE WORLD ECONOMY BY CONTROLLING 3 WORLD TRADE BLOCS)
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies,(UNITED NATIONS TROOPS) gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950
Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.
No one will enter the New World Order... unless he or she will make a pledge to worship Lucifer. No one will enter the New Age unless he will take a Luciferian Initiation.- David Spangler Director of Planetary Initiative United Nations.
THE EU WORLD DICTATOR
REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(EU WORLD DICTATOR) and he that sat on him had a bow;(PEACE) and a crown was given unto him:(WORLD LEADER) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he (FALSE POPE) causeth all,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
OTHER EU OUT STORIES I DONE
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/uk-lawmaker-wants-parliament-to.htmlhttp://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/the-other-27-eu-countries-want-britain.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/the-united-kingdom-leave-stay-vote-in.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/today-is-big-day-will-britain-remain-in.html
OTHER TODAY STORIES JUNE 29,2016
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/the-sins-of-america-why-judgement-will.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/the-dow-was-up-269-points-tuesday.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/israel-to-hold-cybersecurity-conference.html
41 KILLED 249 INJURED IN ISLAMIC SUICIDE BOMBERS IN TURKEY
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/06/day-1-that-peace-loving-islamic.html
EU SPAIN #11 (POSSIBLY MIGHT PRODUCE THE WORLD LEADER)
HOW THE COMMON MARKET TO EUROPEAN UNION WAS BORN.
Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (1951)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:11951K/TXT
Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:11957E/TXT
Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (1957)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:11957A/TXT
01-BELGIUM-1958 *** (A BELGIAN WILL NEGOTIATE THE UK EXIT FROM EU) *
02-NETHERLANDS-1958 *
03-LUXUMBOURG-1958 *
04-ITALY (ROME)-1958
05-FRANCE-1958
06-GERMANY-1958
(THESE 6 SIGN THE TREATY OF ROME)(THE REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE)
07-IRELAND-1973
08-DENMARK-1973 *
09-UNITED KINGDOM (BRITAIN)-1973 ** (DROPPED OUT JUNE 23,16) *
10-GREECE-1981
Schengen Convention (1985)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law/treaties-other.html#new-2-26
11-SPAIN-1986 ******* (IMPORTANT SAY IN THE EU) *
12-PORTUGAL-1986
Treaty on European Union (1992)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:1992:191:TOC
13-AUSTRIA-1995
14-FINLAND-1995
15-SWEDEN-1995 *
Treaty of Nice (2001)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:12001C/TXT
Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (2004)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:12004V/TXT
16-CYPRUS-2004
17-CZECH REPUBLIC-2004
18-ESTONIA-2004
19-HUNGARY-2004
20-LATVIA-2004
21-LITHUANIA-2004
22-MALTA-2004
23-POLAND-2004
24-SLOVAKIA-2004
25-SLOVENIA-2004
26-BULGARIA-2007
27-ROMANIA-2007
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (2007)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law/treaties-other.html#new-2-38
Treaty of Lisbon (2007)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:12007L/TXT
28-CROATIA-2013
** DROPPING OUT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION TRADE BLOC.
*** NEGOTIATOR WITH HOW UK EXITS THE UNION TRADE BLOC.
******* THESE COUNTRIES COULD HAVE A BIG SAY IN FUTURE EU HAPPENINGS.
* KINGS AND QUEENS IN EU COUNTRIES-MONARCHIES.
JOINING COUNTRIES TREATIES WITH THE EU-ACCESSION TREATIES
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law/treaties-accession.html
OTHER EU TREATIES AND PROTOCOLS
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law/treaties-other.html
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html
DANIEL 7:8,24
8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn,(WORLD DICTATOR) before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD DIVISION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(EITHER THE EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR BOOTS 3 ORIGINAL COUNTRIES FROM THE 6 FOUNDING MEMBERS OR THE DICTATOR TAKES OVER THE WORLD ECONOMY BY CONTROLLING 3 WORLD TRADE BLOCS)
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies,(UNITED NATIONS TROOPS) gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950
Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.
No one will enter the New World Order... unless he or she will make a pledge to worship Lucifer. No one will enter the New Age unless he will take a Luciferian Initiation.- David Spangler Director of Planetary Initiative United Nations.
THE EU WORLD DICTATOR
REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(EU WORLD DICTATOR) and he that sat on him had a bow;(PEACE) and a crown was given unto him:(WORLD LEADER) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he (FALSE POPE) causeth all,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
THIRD ANGEL - TO DR DOCTORIAN-We are five angels from the five continents. of the world.
Then one of the angels with wings showed me Europe from one end to the other - from the north all the way down to Spain and Portugal. In his hand he had a scale of measurement. I saw him fly over Europe, and I heard the words, I am grieved. I am grieved. Unrighteousness, uncleanness, ungodliness - all over Europe. The sin has risen to heaven. The Holy Spirit is grieved. I saw the rivers of Europe flooding and covering millions of houses. Millions drown. Suddenly I heard earthquakes all over Europe. Countries that have had no earthquakes shall be shaken, said the angel. And suddenly, in my spirit, I saw the Eiffel Tower in Paris crumbling falling down. A great part of Germany destroyed. The great city of London - destruction everywhere. I saw floods all over Scandinavia. I looked to the south and saw Spain and Portugal passing through hunger and great destruction.Many will die from hunger all over Spain and Portugal. I was disturbed by all this news, and I said, Lord, what about your children? The angel said, I shall prepare them. They shall be looking for the appearing of the Lord. Many will cry to me in those days and I will save them. I shall perform mighty miracles for them and show them My power. So in the midst of great destruction, there will be the grace of God in those countries. I was happy that God has His protection over His children.
UN to elect new Security Council members-By EUOBSERVER-JUNE 28,16
Today, 09:34-The UN General Assembly will elect five new non-permanent members of the Security Council for the 2017-2018 term on Tuesday. Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden are competing for two seats under the Western European and Others Group, which are currently held by New Zealand and Spain.
EFTA prepares to cooperate with UK-By EUOBSERVER-JUNE 28,16
Today, 09:11-Members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) will seek to maintain close trade and business links with the UK, according to a decision by EFTA ministers meeting in Bern, Switzerland, on Monday. Iceland will be heading EFTA as of 1 July, as well as taking over the leadership of the European Economic Area. EFTA has four member states - Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Gibraltar and Scotland in talks to stay in EU-By EUOBSERVER-JUNE 28,16
Today, 09:10-Gibraltar chief minister Fabian Picardo is in talks with Scotland‘s first minister Nicola Sturgeon over a plan to keep parts of the United Kingdom in the European Union, according to the BBC. Northern Ireland could also potentially be included in the discussions. Greenland, which left the EU in 1985 after a referendum even though Denmark retained its membership, could form a precedent for such a plan.
No talks before Brexit notification, EU leaders say-By EUOBSERVER
27. Jun, 19:03-German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Francois Hollande and Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi said Monday that article 50 should be triggered as soon as possible to launch negotiations on the British exit from the EU. They agreed that the EU will not hold any informal discussions with the British goverment before the notification is made. The three leaders met in Berlin ahead of an EU summit Tuesday and Wednesday.
Poland to push for 'radical' new EU treaty By Andrew Rettman-JUNE 28,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:30-The EU should have a new treaty that shifts power from the European Commission to EU states and Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk should resign, Poland has indicated ahead of Tuesday’s (28 June) summit.Polish foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski told press on Monday that prime minister Beata Szydlo would likely outline Poland’s post-Brexit vision at the leaders’ dinner.“These proposals are quite radical. We are thinking about a new European treaty and to give the main power in the EU to the European Council, not the commission,” he said.“We also blame the leadership of the European Union for the mistakes, at least a part of the European leadership should suffer the consequences and they should give the space for negotiations and talks to new politicians”, he added.Speaking the same day in an interview with the Rzeczpospolita daily, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the powerful head of the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), said mounting euroscepticism in countries such as France and the Netherlands showed that “the vision of the EU forced upon us by the Lisbon Treaty has failed”.He said “member states should have more sovereignty inside the union … we have to maintain a Europe of nation states that cooperate with each other, ideally creating a confederation”.He said “the bureaucratic pressure from Brussels [the commission] should be weakened” and that its role should be limited to regulating the single market.He also said the European Parliament “should be composed of representatives of national parliaments”.He said the EU should at the same time strive to become a “superpower”, with a European Council president who would command an EU “army” and take charge of a more robust foreign policy toward China, Russia and the US.He added that Tusk, the Polish European Council chief and his long-time political nemesis, should "disappear from European politics."“As a negotiator, Donald Tusk bears direct responsibility [for Brexit] … but that also goes for the whole European Commission in its current composition”.-City of Warsaw-Waszczykowski, in his press briefing, added that EU countries should stop meeting in novel formats, such as the founding group of six, or the Normandy format in which France and Germany handle talks with Russia on Ukraine.He warned that deeper integration of eurozone states would be equally divisive, but that if Poland were to adopt the euro in current conditions it would create an “economic catastrophe” in the country.The minister spoke after meeting in Warsaw with the foreign ministers of Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary and Romania and the UK's minister for European affairs.He also met with his counterparts from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany and France in Prague later the same day.For her part, Szydlo, the Polish PM, spoke with British leader David Cameron by phone on Monday and is to hold a bilateral meeting with him in Brussels on Tuesday.She said she wanted Polish people who had emigrated to the UK to return to Poland but also that those who aimed to stay in the UK should “have the same rights as before”.Mateusz Morawiecki, the deputy PM, went further by inviting bankers from the City of London to relocate to Warsaw, saying “our economy will grow much faster than those in the eurozone, which are in stagnation”.-Senseless, absurd?-Other Polish politicians criticised the PiS ideas, however.Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, a left-wing former Polish PM, warned that there is no appetite in the EU for a new treaty. “These proposals are senseless, because they amount to an invitation for a no-holds-barred [political] scrap”.Ryszard Petru, an economist who founded the liberal Modern party, predicted the EU would split into three zones: the eurozone, pro-EU countries outside the euro, and “almost-out of the EU” states such as Hungary and Poland.“If you’re looking for the most eurosceptic country after the UK in the EU, sadly that’s Poland,” he said.He said Polish authorities should have consulted with their EU partners before presenting their new vision of the treaty, but that Kaczynski is a recluse who hardly speaks to anybody outside PiS.The idea that Tusk or Juncker should resign was “absurd”, he added.
EU to use aid and trade to stop Africa migration By Nikolaj Nielsen-JUNE 28,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:29-EU leaders are likely to agree to use all means possible to keep irregular migrants from leaving Africa to reach Europe when they meet at a summit in Brussels later, according to leaked papers seen by this website.The heads of state are set to back a master plan to use development aid and trade as leverage against so-called countries of origin in Africa.Most of the people disembarking from Libya to reach Italy by boat come from Nigeria, The Gambia, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Senegal and Egypt. Few are Syrians and most are said to be economic migrants.The renewed emphasis on Africa follows border closures in the Western Balkans and a March deal with Turkey that has resulted in a sharp reduction of people entering Greece.Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel pushed the EU-Turkey deal after some 1 million sought asylum last year in her country.Around 64,000 people have since reached Italy from the North African coast this year. And almost 3,000 have died in the attempt.A senior EU official said the hope is to find similar leadership with Africa."We need 'Merkels', leaders who add their own leverage to the EU leverage, like Merkel did with Turkey," said the official.-'Small piece of the puzzle'-Leaked draft conclusions from the summit, seen by this website, suggest EU states are prepared to do whatever is necessary.The draft says the EU will "create and apply the necessary leverage" to slow the flows from Africa.This includes using "all relevant EU policies, instruments and tools, including development and trade".The same document also wants to speed up returns.Those caught in the EU without the right for international protection will be sent home even if there are no readmission agreements, formal arrangements that allow for the returns.The draft notes the need to apply "temporary arrangements" until such agreements are formalised and applied in full.But such moves are likely to upset African states. EU leaders and African heads of state had already clashed on the issue last November at the Valletta summit in Malta.The EU at time wanted, among other things, a so-called EU travel document to speed up returns of unwanted migrants who have no ID cards or passports.African nations baulked at the plan in Valletta but the EU is moving ahead with the idea anyway. MEPs in the EU parliament's civil liberties committee in May backed the travel document proposal."It is one small piece in the puzzle and one step in the right direction," said at the time the MEP in charge of the file, Finnish conservative Jussi Halla-aho.The plan now is to focus the so-called countries of origin in Africa but also transit countries like pariah state Sudan.-Problems with Sudan-Sudan's ministry of interior has requested the EU help fund border infrastructure at 17 crossing points.This includes computers, scanners, servers, cars and aircraft. It also wants two reception centres in Gadaref and Kassala, with so-called "custody rooms".Sudan deported at least 442 Eritreans, including six registered refugees, to Eritrea in May, a month after the EU commission had announced €100 million development aid package for Sudan.EU development commissioner Neven Mimica made the announcement following his visit to the country, whose president Omar al-Bashir is wanted for genocide.Mimica didn't meet Bashir but he did hold meetings with the Sudan's interior ministry, among others in the government.The commission says funding won't go to the Sudan government.-External investment fund-Part of the package on Tuesday includes a proposal, to be presented in September, for a new external investment fund.An EU source told EUobserver that the idea behind the investment fund is "to create better conditions in these countries so that less people would leave".The fund will pool private and public funds together to help build things like big infrastructure projects.It's part of a larger idea announced earlier this month by the EU commission to shore up money and bilateral relations with African states.The commission said some €3.1 billion will be mobilised for its so-called partnership framework. The money is then expected to trigger total investments of up to €31 billion and possibly €62 billion.European Investment Bank (EIB) chief Werner Hoyer, for his part, will on Tuesday brief the heads of the state on separate but linked proposal to the external fund.But an EU source said it was unlikely there would be clear commitments made by EU heads of state to the EIB plan and the external fund."Don't expect any clear commitments to this but those will be mentioned," he noted.
EU parliament wobbles on Brexit timelineBy Aleksandra Eriksson-JUNE 28,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 10:12-MEPs are set to adopt a resolution on Tuesday (28 June) urging Britain to end the ”damaging uncertainty” of Brexit by quickly starting exit talks.European Parliament (EP) members earlier roared criticism at David Cameron when the British prime minister announced that he would hand over responsibility for the UK’s exit procedure to a successor in October.Leaders of four political groups in the EU assembly - the centre-right EPP, the socialists, liberals, and greens - drafted a resolution over the weekend in which they call upon the UK to immediately activate article 50 of the EU treaty.The clause says that a member state needs to officially notify the EU Council that it intends to withdraw from the Union, triggering exit talks.The EP’s draft text, to be adopted at an extraordinary session ahead of the EU summit on Tuesday, warns of the ”damaging uncertainty for everyone” if the UK postpones the negotiations.If the draft were to be adopted in its current form, it would see the EP throw its weight behind European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and several other EU leaders who have called for a swift divorce.But it’s unsure whether MEPs will stick to their hard line.Socialists and liberals, the second and fourth largest groups in the European Parliament, respectively, are sticking to their hawkish position.”We won’t be hostage of a political caprice by Mr Cameron”, said Jan Bernas, spokesperson of socialist leader Gianni Pittella. ”He should respect the will of the people in the referendum that he wanted.”The liberal and socialist group leaders also tabled amendments asking the EU Commission not to appoint a new British commissioner following Jonathan Hill’s resignation last week.Cameron said on Monday that he wanted to seek a replacement so long as the UK remained a full member of the bloc.But the EPP and the Greens have tabled amendments softening their previous stance, suggesting that the article 50 notification must take place ”as soon as possible” instead of right away.”The UK wanted to leave as soon as possible, it’s part of respecting the referendum outcome”, said Theo Georgitsopoulos, the spokesperson of EPP leader Manfred Weber.”Triggering article 50 would be better today than tomorrow … but it’s not for us to decide,” he said.The conservative ECR group, which hosts Cameron’s Tory party MEPs, also tabled its own resolution that said article 50 should be triggered in a ”considerable and measured manner”.
EU leaders to seek clarity over Brexit date By Eric Maurice-JUNE 28,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:08-When will Brexit actually happen? At a summit in Brussels on Tuesday (28 June), EU leaders will discuss the issue amid disagreement over the timing of the legal process and even speculation that it may never happen.Article 50 of the EU treaty, which is the framework for the exit negotiations, will not be triggered "at this stage", British prime minister David Cameron said on Monday.On Sunday, the 27 other EU countries had agreed that they would not push Cameron to notify the activation of Article 50 during the summit.An EU diplomat said on Monday that there was “no British authority that is able" to do it at the moment.The leaders, he said, would have to "reconcile two worries" – the fact that Cameron cannot launch the process, and the risk of uncertainty for the EU and UK's economies and for the good functioning of the EU.They will try to deliver a message of stability for the financial markets and businesses in member states, and a basis for a short-term plan, another diplomat said.They will agree that the process should start as soon as possible. But they are likely to disagree on when it would be necessary.After a meeting in Berlin on Monday with Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi French president Francois Hollande and German chancellor Angela Merkel expressed different views.While Hollande said there was "no time to lose", Merkel said that Britain needed "a certain amount of time to first analyse things".Merkel set the tone on Saturday when she said that there was "no reason to fight now".An EU source admitted that Friday's call by the presidents of the EU institutions to trigger Article 50 rapidly "however painful that process may be" was now "no longer valid"."The stakes are far too high," a third EU diplomat explained. "There is an emerging convergence on not punishing the British."Merkel, Hollande and Renzi said that there would be “no informal or formal talks on the exit of Britain until an application has been filed to leave the European Union”.Officials in Brussels said that would also be the message of other leaders at the summit.But Merkel refused to set a deadline for when Article 50 should be triggered, and some in London and Brussels are considering the possibility that it will never happen.-Time limit-On Monday, Cameron said the British voters' decision "must be accepted and the process of implementing the decision in the best possible way must now begin". But he left the decision to a future government in a few months.A few hours later his health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, urged against invoking Article 50, because it "puts a time limit of two years on negotiations after which we could be thrown out with no deal at all"."Before setting the clock ticking, we need to negotiate a deal and put it to the British people, either in a referendum or through the Conservative manifesto at a fresh general election," Hunt told the Daily Telegraph.His call, the first from a minister, comes after several Conservative and Labour MPs floated the idea that the British parliament could try to overturn the referendum outcome, and officials in Scotland and Northern Ireland said their assemblies would block the process."If the Brits came back and said 'that was a joke', no one would tell them 'you still have to go'," the first diplomat in Brussels said."All 27 would prefer that the UK stays in the EU. But it's up to the British authorities, not to the EU, to clarify the situation," a senior EU official said.-'Hoping is human'-He noted that "nothing happened as expected", with Cameron refusing to trigger Article 50 just after the referendum and the Brexit campaign leaders appearing to have no plan for the future.He said that "one should never say never" and that no Brexit was a possibility. "A sovereign decision can undo what another sovereign decision has done earlier."Other officials are more sceptical about the possibility."To keep hoping is human," another diplomat said. "But the question has been so existential. The political reality is in contradiction with the human reflex of always having hope."But if the UK keeps dragging its heels over invoking Article 50, "we'll have to think of something else", he said.
Column / UK referendum briefing-Brexit vote devours UK's Labour Party By Benjamin Fox-JUNE 28,16-EUOBSERVER
London, Today, 11:29-If the chatter in Brussels and capitals across the EU is about how and whether the bloc can survive Brexit, the same questions are being asked of the UK and its political parties.“We’re doomed” messages started popping up on my phone from Labour party officials shortly after midnight on Thursday as the numbers from Newcastle and Sunderland in the North East of England indicated a decisive swing to the Leave campaign.Some of the post-referendum political carnage was easy to foresee. It was always likely that Scotland would vote strongly to remain in the EU.Every Scottish region voted heavily for remain. A second Scottish referendum on independence is inevitable and could take place within a year.First minister Nicola Sturgeon described the result as “democratically unacceptable” and, on Monday (27 June), said she was “determined to explore every avenue to retain Scotland’s EU status”.“It is, therefore, a statement of the obvious that a second referendum must be on the table, and it is on the table," said Sturgeon.Similarly, David Cameron’s immediate resignation in the event of a Leave vote was entirely predictable, with his political assassin Boris Johnson the likely successor.Yet after a campaign in which the Conservative party descended into an entirely predictable civil war, and the result prompted a prime minister’s resignation, there is a strong case to say that the opposition Labour party is more broken.-Corbyn the saboteur-If the Conservative MPs were evenly split between Remain and Leave, it was assumed, rightly, that most Conservative party members and supporters would back Brexit. In other words, a Remain vote would have to be delivered by Labour voters.It wasn’t, and the party may well be finished as a political force as a result.Polling data suggests that 63 percent of Labour voters backed Remain, and Labour supporters in their city heartlands, particularly London, came out in their droves for Remain. But swathes of Labour seats in the North East, South and West Yorkshire, saw Leave majorities of 60-40 and more.The blame for the failure lies primarily with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn utterly failed to persuade the party’s base, particularly the white working-class, to vote Remain.Both Corbyn and his finance spokesman John McDonnell are left-wing eurosceptics in a party that is overwhelmingly in favour of EU membership.The Labour Remain campaign was under-resourced and repeatedly marginalised by Corbyn’s team, led by press secretary Seamus Milne, a former journalist noted for his sympathy towards Russian president Vladimir Putin. As a result, Labour’s campaign was tepid to the point of non-existence.On migration, Corbyn’s most significant contribution was to comment that it was impossible to control numbers as long as free movement of labour existed.“Rather than making a clear and passionate Labour case for EU membership, Corbyn took a week’s holiday in the middle of the campaign and removed pro-EU lines from his speeches,” wrote Will Straw, the director of the Remain campaign, and a former Labour candidate, on Monday.“Rather than confronting concerns about immigration with Labour’s values of contribution and reciprocity, Corbyn distanced himself from the manifesto commitment to restrict in work benefits for new arrivals to this country and planned a trip to Turkey to talk about 'open borders'.”By Monday lunchtime most of Labour’s shadow ministers had resigned as part of a mass walk-out to force Corbyn’s resignation. The 230 Labour MPs will vote on a no-confidence motion on Corbyn on Tuesday and his removal or a fresh leadership election appears inevitable.-See no evil-A year after being demolished by the Scottish National Party in Scotland, what is to prevent the story being repeated in northern England, where UKIP took second place in dozens of seats in the 2015 election? “Corbyn is useless. A very nice man but incapable of leading,” one party official told EUobserver on Friday, before the mass walk-out of shadow ministers started on Sunday.The UK’s campaign-fatigued electorate will probably be sent back to the polls in October for a snap general election. In the absence of a functioning government or opposition, Nicola Sturgeon is the only senior UK politician offering leadership. For those who fear the collapse of the UK, this should be deeply worrying.A Brexit vote was always going to open a Pandora's box. But nobody imagined how many layers and sub-sections it would have. The Leave campaign slogan to ‘Take back control’ won’t happen any time soon. In the meantime, UK politics, not to mention its economy, is in complete disarray.Benjamin Fox, a former reporter for EUobserver, is a consultant with Sovereign Strategy and a freelance writer.
The Spanish state can no longer be reformed-The results of the EFA parties in the Spanish elections highlight the need for change-JUNE 27,16-EUROPEAN FREE ALLIANCE
Yesterday’s results of the elections in the Spanish state unfortunately proved for yet another time that the country as it is can do very few to reform itself.After 6 months of political deadlock that led to new elections, voters simply decided to prolong a situation that leads nowhere by choosing right, regressive and centralist political options.A situation which is in stark contrast with the political and social reality in Catalonia, where preparations are underway for an independent Catalan Republic. In this respect, EFA hails the electoral success of its member party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), which achieved the best electoral result ever in the Spanish general elections, with gains in all 4 Catalan provinces and establishing itself as the main pro-independence political force with 9 seats in the new Spanish parliament. ERC has already called upon En Comu Podem, which registered losses compared with the December 2015 elections, to join forces with the rest of the pro-independence block and make the change in Catalonia a reality. And this change cannot be anything else than the Catalan Republic.The situation in Madrid is also in contrast with what is currently happening in the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre, where Unidos-Podemos won and EFA-backed EH Bildu political platform maintained its 2 seats. According to EFA Vice-President Lorena Lopez de Lacalle (Eusko Alkartasuna) "EHBildu is a long term project that has the aim of creating a Basque independent republic which will be based on social justice, peace and gender equality. Our determination and conviction is strong and we will keep on working for and listening to our people so that sooner or later we will harvest the fruits we're longing for".EFA will continue to assist all its member parties in the Spanish state to pursue the only pragmatic solution to this situation and the only option for change: real autonomy and independence.
Brexit nerves help traditional Spanish parties By Sarah Morris-EUOBSERVER
Madrid, 27. Jun, 08:13-Jitters about the turmoil to come from Brexit may have thrown Spain’s traditional parties a lifeline after a six-month political crisis.In a general election held on Sunday (26 June) after the four main political parties failed to agree on a government following a first vote in December, the conservative Popular Party (PP) gained 33.0 percent of the vote.The PP increased its number of seats in parliament to 137 from 123 in December. Even if it fell short again of the absolute majority of 176 seats, the result has increased the bargaining power of incumbent prime minister Mariano Rajoy.The Socialist Party (PSOE), led by Pedro Sanchez, came second with 22.7 percent of the vote, compared to 22.0 percent previously. It gained 85 seats, five less than it had had.The party defied opinion polls which had forecast that it would be eclipsed by the anti-austerity alliance, Unidos Podemos, the way the Syriza party eclipsed the PASOK party in Greece.The PP and PSOE - Spain's two traditional parties - likely benefited from the first effects of Brexit, as people stuck with familiar politicians against the more radical newcomers, the anti-austerity Podemos and the centrist Ciudadanos.On Friday (24 June), the stock exchange in Spain plunged a record 12 percent and Rajoy warned voters against the ”uncertainty" represented by the two new parties. The PSOE also described the result of the British EU referendum as being a consequence of “populism”.Podemos - which allied with far-left Izquierda Unida (United Left) in the election - lost more than 1 million votes compared to December. Their Unidos Podemos pair obtained the same combined number of seats at 71.-Same positions-The result dashed the hopes of supporters hoping to make pony-tailed politics lecturer Pablo Iglesias prime minister.“The results aren’t good enough for us,” Iglesias told reporters. “The loss of support for the progressive bloc worries us. It worries us that the conservative, right-wing bloc and the PP have more support together. It’s time to reflect.”Centrist party Ciudadanos, which gained 40 seats in December in its first national election, lost 5 seats, probably as voters switched back to the PP.The results mean all four main parties remain in the same position, potentially kicking off protracted negotiations to form coalitions.However, some analysts think the strengthened hand of Rajoy and the uncertainty unleashed by Britain voting to leave the EU could concentrate the minds of the parties.-'We demand the right to govern'-If the PP can persuade pro-business Ciudadanos to join it in a coalition, the two would have 169 seats, while the combined Socialists and Unidos Podemos have 156. Both would still be short of an absolute majority.“We won them [the elections] and we demand the right to govern and to be useful to Spaniards”, Rajoy told a crowd of supporters outside his party’s headquarters in Madrid, who cheered him as “prime minister”.The failure of Podemos to overtake the PSOE also gave it the upper hand in bargaining. The Socialists fought the election campaign saying they would not allow either Rajoy to continue as prime minister or Iglesias to succeed him.Sunday’s numbers may give the party more potential to manoeuvre for a Socialist-led government.
Then one of the angels with wings showed me Europe from one end to the other - from the north all the way down to Spain and Portugal. In his hand he had a scale of measurement. I saw him fly over Europe, and I heard the words, I am grieved. I am grieved. Unrighteousness, uncleanness, ungodliness - all over Europe. The sin has risen to heaven. The Holy Spirit is grieved. I saw the rivers of Europe flooding and covering millions of houses. Millions drown. Suddenly I heard earthquakes all over Europe. Countries that have had no earthquakes shall be shaken, said the angel. And suddenly, in my spirit, I saw the Eiffel Tower in Paris crumbling falling down. A great part of Germany destroyed. The great city of London - destruction everywhere. I saw floods all over Scandinavia. I looked to the south and saw Spain and Portugal passing through hunger and great destruction.Many will die from hunger all over Spain and Portugal. I was disturbed by all this news, and I said, Lord, what about your children? The angel said, I shall prepare them. They shall be looking for the appearing of the Lord. Many will cry to me in those days and I will save them. I shall perform mighty miracles for them and show them My power. So in the midst of great destruction, there will be the grace of God in those countries. I was happy that God has His protection over His children.
UN to elect new Security Council members-By EUOBSERVER-JUNE 28,16
Today, 09:34-The UN General Assembly will elect five new non-permanent members of the Security Council for the 2017-2018 term on Tuesday. Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden are competing for two seats under the Western European and Others Group, which are currently held by New Zealand and Spain.
EFTA prepares to cooperate with UK-By EUOBSERVER-JUNE 28,16
Today, 09:11-Members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) will seek to maintain close trade and business links with the UK, according to a decision by EFTA ministers meeting in Bern, Switzerland, on Monday. Iceland will be heading EFTA as of 1 July, as well as taking over the leadership of the European Economic Area. EFTA has four member states - Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Gibraltar and Scotland in talks to stay in EU-By EUOBSERVER-JUNE 28,16
Today, 09:10-Gibraltar chief minister Fabian Picardo is in talks with Scotland‘s first minister Nicola Sturgeon over a plan to keep parts of the United Kingdom in the European Union, according to the BBC. Northern Ireland could also potentially be included in the discussions. Greenland, which left the EU in 1985 after a referendum even though Denmark retained its membership, could form a precedent for such a plan.
No talks before Brexit notification, EU leaders say-By EUOBSERVER
27. Jun, 19:03-German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Francois Hollande and Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi said Monday that article 50 should be triggered as soon as possible to launch negotiations on the British exit from the EU. They agreed that the EU will not hold any informal discussions with the British goverment before the notification is made. The three leaders met in Berlin ahead of an EU summit Tuesday and Wednesday.
Poland to push for 'radical' new EU treaty By Andrew Rettman-JUNE 28,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:30-The EU should have a new treaty that shifts power from the European Commission to EU states and Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk should resign, Poland has indicated ahead of Tuesday’s (28 June) summit.Polish foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski told press on Monday that prime minister Beata Szydlo would likely outline Poland’s post-Brexit vision at the leaders’ dinner.“These proposals are quite radical. We are thinking about a new European treaty and to give the main power in the EU to the European Council, not the commission,” he said.“We also blame the leadership of the European Union for the mistakes, at least a part of the European leadership should suffer the consequences and they should give the space for negotiations and talks to new politicians”, he added.Speaking the same day in an interview with the Rzeczpospolita daily, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the powerful head of the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), said mounting euroscepticism in countries such as France and the Netherlands showed that “the vision of the EU forced upon us by the Lisbon Treaty has failed”.He said “member states should have more sovereignty inside the union … we have to maintain a Europe of nation states that cooperate with each other, ideally creating a confederation”.He said “the bureaucratic pressure from Brussels [the commission] should be weakened” and that its role should be limited to regulating the single market.He also said the European Parliament “should be composed of representatives of national parliaments”.He said the EU should at the same time strive to become a “superpower”, with a European Council president who would command an EU “army” and take charge of a more robust foreign policy toward China, Russia and the US.He added that Tusk, the Polish European Council chief and his long-time political nemesis, should "disappear from European politics."“As a negotiator, Donald Tusk bears direct responsibility [for Brexit] … but that also goes for the whole European Commission in its current composition”.-City of Warsaw-Waszczykowski, in his press briefing, added that EU countries should stop meeting in novel formats, such as the founding group of six, or the Normandy format in which France and Germany handle talks with Russia on Ukraine.He warned that deeper integration of eurozone states would be equally divisive, but that if Poland were to adopt the euro in current conditions it would create an “economic catastrophe” in the country.The minister spoke after meeting in Warsaw with the foreign ministers of Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary and Romania and the UK's minister for European affairs.He also met with his counterparts from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany and France in Prague later the same day.For her part, Szydlo, the Polish PM, spoke with British leader David Cameron by phone on Monday and is to hold a bilateral meeting with him in Brussels on Tuesday.She said she wanted Polish people who had emigrated to the UK to return to Poland but also that those who aimed to stay in the UK should “have the same rights as before”.Mateusz Morawiecki, the deputy PM, went further by inviting bankers from the City of London to relocate to Warsaw, saying “our economy will grow much faster than those in the eurozone, which are in stagnation”.-Senseless, absurd?-Other Polish politicians criticised the PiS ideas, however.Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, a left-wing former Polish PM, warned that there is no appetite in the EU for a new treaty. “These proposals are senseless, because they amount to an invitation for a no-holds-barred [political] scrap”.Ryszard Petru, an economist who founded the liberal Modern party, predicted the EU would split into three zones: the eurozone, pro-EU countries outside the euro, and “almost-out of the EU” states such as Hungary and Poland.“If you’re looking for the most eurosceptic country after the UK in the EU, sadly that’s Poland,” he said.He said Polish authorities should have consulted with their EU partners before presenting their new vision of the treaty, but that Kaczynski is a recluse who hardly speaks to anybody outside PiS.The idea that Tusk or Juncker should resign was “absurd”, he added.
EU to use aid and trade to stop Africa migration By Nikolaj Nielsen-JUNE 28,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:29-EU leaders are likely to agree to use all means possible to keep irregular migrants from leaving Africa to reach Europe when they meet at a summit in Brussels later, according to leaked papers seen by this website.The heads of state are set to back a master plan to use development aid and trade as leverage against so-called countries of origin in Africa.Most of the people disembarking from Libya to reach Italy by boat come from Nigeria, The Gambia, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Senegal and Egypt. Few are Syrians and most are said to be economic migrants.The renewed emphasis on Africa follows border closures in the Western Balkans and a March deal with Turkey that has resulted in a sharp reduction of people entering Greece.Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel pushed the EU-Turkey deal after some 1 million sought asylum last year in her country.Around 64,000 people have since reached Italy from the North African coast this year. And almost 3,000 have died in the attempt.A senior EU official said the hope is to find similar leadership with Africa."We need 'Merkels', leaders who add their own leverage to the EU leverage, like Merkel did with Turkey," said the official.-'Small piece of the puzzle'-Leaked draft conclusions from the summit, seen by this website, suggest EU states are prepared to do whatever is necessary.The draft says the EU will "create and apply the necessary leverage" to slow the flows from Africa.This includes using "all relevant EU policies, instruments and tools, including development and trade".The same document also wants to speed up returns.Those caught in the EU without the right for international protection will be sent home even if there are no readmission agreements, formal arrangements that allow for the returns.The draft notes the need to apply "temporary arrangements" until such agreements are formalised and applied in full.But such moves are likely to upset African states. EU leaders and African heads of state had already clashed on the issue last November at the Valletta summit in Malta.The EU at time wanted, among other things, a so-called EU travel document to speed up returns of unwanted migrants who have no ID cards or passports.African nations baulked at the plan in Valletta but the EU is moving ahead with the idea anyway. MEPs in the EU parliament's civil liberties committee in May backed the travel document proposal."It is one small piece in the puzzle and one step in the right direction," said at the time the MEP in charge of the file, Finnish conservative Jussi Halla-aho.The plan now is to focus the so-called countries of origin in Africa but also transit countries like pariah state Sudan.-Problems with Sudan-Sudan's ministry of interior has requested the EU help fund border infrastructure at 17 crossing points.This includes computers, scanners, servers, cars and aircraft. It also wants two reception centres in Gadaref and Kassala, with so-called "custody rooms".Sudan deported at least 442 Eritreans, including six registered refugees, to Eritrea in May, a month after the EU commission had announced €100 million development aid package for Sudan.EU development commissioner Neven Mimica made the announcement following his visit to the country, whose president Omar al-Bashir is wanted for genocide.Mimica didn't meet Bashir but he did hold meetings with the Sudan's interior ministry, among others in the government.The commission says funding won't go to the Sudan government.-External investment fund-Part of the package on Tuesday includes a proposal, to be presented in September, for a new external investment fund.An EU source told EUobserver that the idea behind the investment fund is "to create better conditions in these countries so that less people would leave".The fund will pool private and public funds together to help build things like big infrastructure projects.It's part of a larger idea announced earlier this month by the EU commission to shore up money and bilateral relations with African states.The commission said some €3.1 billion will be mobilised for its so-called partnership framework. The money is then expected to trigger total investments of up to €31 billion and possibly €62 billion.European Investment Bank (EIB) chief Werner Hoyer, for his part, will on Tuesday brief the heads of the state on separate but linked proposal to the external fund.But an EU source said it was unlikely there would be clear commitments made by EU heads of state to the EIB plan and the external fund."Don't expect any clear commitments to this but those will be mentioned," he noted.
EU parliament wobbles on Brexit timelineBy Aleksandra Eriksson-JUNE 28,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 10:12-MEPs are set to adopt a resolution on Tuesday (28 June) urging Britain to end the ”damaging uncertainty” of Brexit by quickly starting exit talks.European Parliament (EP) members earlier roared criticism at David Cameron when the British prime minister announced that he would hand over responsibility for the UK’s exit procedure to a successor in October.Leaders of four political groups in the EU assembly - the centre-right EPP, the socialists, liberals, and greens - drafted a resolution over the weekend in which they call upon the UK to immediately activate article 50 of the EU treaty.The clause says that a member state needs to officially notify the EU Council that it intends to withdraw from the Union, triggering exit talks.The EP’s draft text, to be adopted at an extraordinary session ahead of the EU summit on Tuesday, warns of the ”damaging uncertainty for everyone” if the UK postpones the negotiations.If the draft were to be adopted in its current form, it would see the EP throw its weight behind European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and several other EU leaders who have called for a swift divorce.But it’s unsure whether MEPs will stick to their hard line.Socialists and liberals, the second and fourth largest groups in the European Parliament, respectively, are sticking to their hawkish position.”We won’t be hostage of a political caprice by Mr Cameron”, said Jan Bernas, spokesperson of socialist leader Gianni Pittella. ”He should respect the will of the people in the referendum that he wanted.”The liberal and socialist group leaders also tabled amendments asking the EU Commission not to appoint a new British commissioner following Jonathan Hill’s resignation last week.Cameron said on Monday that he wanted to seek a replacement so long as the UK remained a full member of the bloc.But the EPP and the Greens have tabled amendments softening their previous stance, suggesting that the article 50 notification must take place ”as soon as possible” instead of right away.”The UK wanted to leave as soon as possible, it’s part of respecting the referendum outcome”, said Theo Georgitsopoulos, the spokesperson of EPP leader Manfred Weber.”Triggering article 50 would be better today than tomorrow … but it’s not for us to decide,” he said.The conservative ECR group, which hosts Cameron’s Tory party MEPs, also tabled its own resolution that said article 50 should be triggered in a ”considerable and measured manner”.
EU leaders to seek clarity over Brexit date By Eric Maurice-JUNE 28,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:08-When will Brexit actually happen? At a summit in Brussels on Tuesday (28 June), EU leaders will discuss the issue amid disagreement over the timing of the legal process and even speculation that it may never happen.Article 50 of the EU treaty, which is the framework for the exit negotiations, will not be triggered "at this stage", British prime minister David Cameron said on Monday.On Sunday, the 27 other EU countries had agreed that they would not push Cameron to notify the activation of Article 50 during the summit.An EU diplomat said on Monday that there was “no British authority that is able" to do it at the moment.The leaders, he said, would have to "reconcile two worries" – the fact that Cameron cannot launch the process, and the risk of uncertainty for the EU and UK's economies and for the good functioning of the EU.They will try to deliver a message of stability for the financial markets and businesses in member states, and a basis for a short-term plan, another diplomat said.They will agree that the process should start as soon as possible. But they are likely to disagree on when it would be necessary.After a meeting in Berlin on Monday with Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi French president Francois Hollande and German chancellor Angela Merkel expressed different views.While Hollande said there was "no time to lose", Merkel said that Britain needed "a certain amount of time to first analyse things".Merkel set the tone on Saturday when she said that there was "no reason to fight now".An EU source admitted that Friday's call by the presidents of the EU institutions to trigger Article 50 rapidly "however painful that process may be" was now "no longer valid"."The stakes are far too high," a third EU diplomat explained. "There is an emerging convergence on not punishing the British."Merkel, Hollande and Renzi said that there would be “no informal or formal talks on the exit of Britain until an application has been filed to leave the European Union”.Officials in Brussels said that would also be the message of other leaders at the summit.But Merkel refused to set a deadline for when Article 50 should be triggered, and some in London and Brussels are considering the possibility that it will never happen.-Time limit-On Monday, Cameron said the British voters' decision "must be accepted and the process of implementing the decision in the best possible way must now begin". But he left the decision to a future government in a few months.A few hours later his health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, urged against invoking Article 50, because it "puts a time limit of two years on negotiations after which we could be thrown out with no deal at all"."Before setting the clock ticking, we need to negotiate a deal and put it to the British people, either in a referendum or through the Conservative manifesto at a fresh general election," Hunt told the Daily Telegraph.His call, the first from a minister, comes after several Conservative and Labour MPs floated the idea that the British parliament could try to overturn the referendum outcome, and officials in Scotland and Northern Ireland said their assemblies would block the process."If the Brits came back and said 'that was a joke', no one would tell them 'you still have to go'," the first diplomat in Brussels said."All 27 would prefer that the UK stays in the EU. But it's up to the British authorities, not to the EU, to clarify the situation," a senior EU official said.-'Hoping is human'-He noted that "nothing happened as expected", with Cameron refusing to trigger Article 50 just after the referendum and the Brexit campaign leaders appearing to have no plan for the future.He said that "one should never say never" and that no Brexit was a possibility. "A sovereign decision can undo what another sovereign decision has done earlier."Other officials are more sceptical about the possibility."To keep hoping is human," another diplomat said. "But the question has been so existential. The political reality is in contradiction with the human reflex of always having hope."But if the UK keeps dragging its heels over invoking Article 50, "we'll have to think of something else", he said.
Column / UK referendum briefing-Brexit vote devours UK's Labour Party By Benjamin Fox-JUNE 28,16-EUOBSERVER
London, Today, 11:29-If the chatter in Brussels and capitals across the EU is about how and whether the bloc can survive Brexit, the same questions are being asked of the UK and its political parties.“We’re doomed” messages started popping up on my phone from Labour party officials shortly after midnight on Thursday as the numbers from Newcastle and Sunderland in the North East of England indicated a decisive swing to the Leave campaign.Some of the post-referendum political carnage was easy to foresee. It was always likely that Scotland would vote strongly to remain in the EU.Every Scottish region voted heavily for remain. A second Scottish referendum on independence is inevitable and could take place within a year.First minister Nicola Sturgeon described the result as “democratically unacceptable” and, on Monday (27 June), said she was “determined to explore every avenue to retain Scotland’s EU status”.“It is, therefore, a statement of the obvious that a second referendum must be on the table, and it is on the table," said Sturgeon.Similarly, David Cameron’s immediate resignation in the event of a Leave vote was entirely predictable, with his political assassin Boris Johnson the likely successor.Yet after a campaign in which the Conservative party descended into an entirely predictable civil war, and the result prompted a prime minister’s resignation, there is a strong case to say that the opposition Labour party is more broken.-Corbyn the saboteur-If the Conservative MPs were evenly split between Remain and Leave, it was assumed, rightly, that most Conservative party members and supporters would back Brexit. In other words, a Remain vote would have to be delivered by Labour voters.It wasn’t, and the party may well be finished as a political force as a result.Polling data suggests that 63 percent of Labour voters backed Remain, and Labour supporters in their city heartlands, particularly London, came out in their droves for Remain. But swathes of Labour seats in the North East, South and West Yorkshire, saw Leave majorities of 60-40 and more.The blame for the failure lies primarily with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn utterly failed to persuade the party’s base, particularly the white working-class, to vote Remain.Both Corbyn and his finance spokesman John McDonnell are left-wing eurosceptics in a party that is overwhelmingly in favour of EU membership.The Labour Remain campaign was under-resourced and repeatedly marginalised by Corbyn’s team, led by press secretary Seamus Milne, a former journalist noted for his sympathy towards Russian president Vladimir Putin. As a result, Labour’s campaign was tepid to the point of non-existence.On migration, Corbyn’s most significant contribution was to comment that it was impossible to control numbers as long as free movement of labour existed.“Rather than making a clear and passionate Labour case for EU membership, Corbyn took a week’s holiday in the middle of the campaign and removed pro-EU lines from his speeches,” wrote Will Straw, the director of the Remain campaign, and a former Labour candidate, on Monday.“Rather than confronting concerns about immigration with Labour’s values of contribution and reciprocity, Corbyn distanced himself from the manifesto commitment to restrict in work benefits for new arrivals to this country and planned a trip to Turkey to talk about 'open borders'.”By Monday lunchtime most of Labour’s shadow ministers had resigned as part of a mass walk-out to force Corbyn’s resignation. The 230 Labour MPs will vote on a no-confidence motion on Corbyn on Tuesday and his removal or a fresh leadership election appears inevitable.-See no evil-A year after being demolished by the Scottish National Party in Scotland, what is to prevent the story being repeated in northern England, where UKIP took second place in dozens of seats in the 2015 election? “Corbyn is useless. A very nice man but incapable of leading,” one party official told EUobserver on Friday, before the mass walk-out of shadow ministers started on Sunday.The UK’s campaign-fatigued electorate will probably be sent back to the polls in October for a snap general election. In the absence of a functioning government or opposition, Nicola Sturgeon is the only senior UK politician offering leadership. For those who fear the collapse of the UK, this should be deeply worrying.A Brexit vote was always going to open a Pandora's box. But nobody imagined how many layers and sub-sections it would have. The Leave campaign slogan to ‘Take back control’ won’t happen any time soon. In the meantime, UK politics, not to mention its economy, is in complete disarray.Benjamin Fox, a former reporter for EUobserver, is a consultant with Sovereign Strategy and a freelance writer.
The Spanish state can no longer be reformed-The results of the EFA parties in the Spanish elections highlight the need for change-JUNE 27,16-EUROPEAN FREE ALLIANCE
Yesterday’s results of the elections in the Spanish state unfortunately proved for yet another time that the country as it is can do very few to reform itself.After 6 months of political deadlock that led to new elections, voters simply decided to prolong a situation that leads nowhere by choosing right, regressive and centralist political options.A situation which is in stark contrast with the political and social reality in Catalonia, where preparations are underway for an independent Catalan Republic. In this respect, EFA hails the electoral success of its member party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), which achieved the best electoral result ever in the Spanish general elections, with gains in all 4 Catalan provinces and establishing itself as the main pro-independence political force with 9 seats in the new Spanish parliament. ERC has already called upon En Comu Podem, which registered losses compared with the December 2015 elections, to join forces with the rest of the pro-independence block and make the change in Catalonia a reality. And this change cannot be anything else than the Catalan Republic.The situation in Madrid is also in contrast with what is currently happening in the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre, where Unidos-Podemos won and EFA-backed EH Bildu political platform maintained its 2 seats. According to EFA Vice-President Lorena Lopez de Lacalle (Eusko Alkartasuna) "EHBildu is a long term project that has the aim of creating a Basque independent republic which will be based on social justice, peace and gender equality. Our determination and conviction is strong and we will keep on working for and listening to our people so that sooner or later we will harvest the fruits we're longing for".EFA will continue to assist all its member parties in the Spanish state to pursue the only pragmatic solution to this situation and the only option for change: real autonomy and independence.
Brexit nerves help traditional Spanish parties By Sarah Morris-EUOBSERVER
Madrid, 27. Jun, 08:13-Jitters about the turmoil to come from Brexit may have thrown Spain’s traditional parties a lifeline after a six-month political crisis.In a general election held on Sunday (26 June) after the four main political parties failed to agree on a government following a first vote in December, the conservative Popular Party (PP) gained 33.0 percent of the vote.The PP increased its number of seats in parliament to 137 from 123 in December. Even if it fell short again of the absolute majority of 176 seats, the result has increased the bargaining power of incumbent prime minister Mariano Rajoy.The Socialist Party (PSOE), led by Pedro Sanchez, came second with 22.7 percent of the vote, compared to 22.0 percent previously. It gained 85 seats, five less than it had had.The party defied opinion polls which had forecast that it would be eclipsed by the anti-austerity alliance, Unidos Podemos, the way the Syriza party eclipsed the PASOK party in Greece.The PP and PSOE - Spain's two traditional parties - likely benefited from the first effects of Brexit, as people stuck with familiar politicians against the more radical newcomers, the anti-austerity Podemos and the centrist Ciudadanos.On Friday (24 June), the stock exchange in Spain plunged a record 12 percent and Rajoy warned voters against the ”uncertainty" represented by the two new parties. The PSOE also described the result of the British EU referendum as being a consequence of “populism”.Podemos - which allied with far-left Izquierda Unida (United Left) in the election - lost more than 1 million votes compared to December. Their Unidos Podemos pair obtained the same combined number of seats at 71.-Same positions-The result dashed the hopes of supporters hoping to make pony-tailed politics lecturer Pablo Iglesias prime minister.“The results aren’t good enough for us,” Iglesias told reporters. “The loss of support for the progressive bloc worries us. It worries us that the conservative, right-wing bloc and the PP have more support together. It’s time to reflect.”Centrist party Ciudadanos, which gained 40 seats in December in its first national election, lost 5 seats, probably as voters switched back to the PP.The results mean all four main parties remain in the same position, potentially kicking off protracted negotiations to form coalitions.However, some analysts think the strengthened hand of Rajoy and the uncertainty unleashed by Britain voting to leave the EU could concentrate the minds of the parties.-'We demand the right to govern'-If the PP can persuade pro-business Ciudadanos to join it in a coalition, the two would have 169 seats, while the combined Socialists and Unidos Podemos have 156. Both would still be short of an absolute majority.“We won them [the elections] and we demand the right to govern and to be useful to Spaniards”, Rajoy told a crowd of supporters outside his party’s headquarters in Madrid, who cheered him as “prime minister”.The failure of Podemos to overtake the PSOE also gave it the upper hand in bargaining. The Socialists fought the election campaign saying they would not allow either Rajoy to continue as prime minister or Iglesias to succeed him.Sunday’s numbers may give the party more potential to manoeuvre for a Socialist-led government.