The Foundation is Crumbling

All signs point to an EU crumbling, however, do not take into account further integration among nations who are willing to stay in. For Europe, because of its own national security and the not-so-dependable NATO, it must and will remain together in some form or another due to the Russian threat next door. Perhaps in the future, to mitigate this threat, Russia might even join the EU bloc in one form or another. One thing is clear: The EU will burn down, but another state will rise out of its ashes: The United States of Europe.

 

 

 

COPENHAGEN/HELSINKI/LONDON/THE HAGUE (Own report) – Demands to halt EU expansion and even begin to scale it back are being raised in several northern and northwestern European countries. In last Thursday’s referendum, the Danish population rejected the proposal for Denmark to adopt EU domestic and judicial policies. Denmark will therefore retain its “opt-out,” obtained following its “No”-majority in a referendum on the Maastricht Treaty, in 1992. There is also little chance that Denmark will join a common EU foreign and military policy, in the near future, as favored by Berlin and Brussels. Because the single currency is perceived as the reason for Finland’s economic crisis, that country’s parliament will soon debate whether to hold a referendum on leaving the Euro zone. Great Britain will hold a referendum on exiting the EU by 2017, at the latest, with already a majority in favor, according to recent polls. In the Netherlands, demands are being raised to reduce the Schengen Zone to a “mini-Schengen.” Following the convulsions in Southern Europe, the EU project – the foundation of German global policy – is also beginning to crumble in the North.

UK edges closer to EU exit as David Cameron is crushed in bid to block Jean-Claude Juncker’s leadership

Britain took another step towards the EU exit door as David Cameron warned that Jean-Claude Juncker’s appointment to the top job in Brussels would make it harder to persuade the public to remain in the 28-nation bloc.

Mr Cameron’s stark warning came after he suffered a humiliating defeat in his lonely battle to stop the veteran federalist becoming president of the European Commission. At a Brussels summit, EU leaders voted 26-2 to nominate Mr Juncker after Mr Cameron demanded an unprecedented formal vote on a post traditionally settled by consensus. Hungary’s Viktor Orban was the only leader to back the Prime Minister.

Asked if the crushing setback had taken the UK closer to an EU exit, Mr Cameron told a press conference: “The job has got harder of keeping Britain in a reformed Europe. The stakes are higher. Do I think it is an impossible job? No.”

Beppe Grillo warns that Italy will be ‘dropped like a hot potato’

Some think he’s still a comedian, however, he has it right in knowing that all roads in the European economic crisis lead to Berlin as it seeks to control Europe’s destiny for the fourth time.

In an interview with the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, Mr Grillo said: “The northern European countries are only holding onto us until their banks have recouped their investments in Italian sovereign bonds. Then they’ll drop us like a hot potato.” The comic-turned-political activist, who campaigned against austerity measures implemented by Prime Minister Mario Monti, compared the technocrat prime minister to “a bankruptcy trustee acting on behalf of the banks” and described his Five Star Movement as: “the French revolution – without the guillotine.”

He repeated his call for a referendum on Italian membership of the euro and insisted he was not anti-European, but a critic of the way the EU has evolved.

“I have only said we need a plan B. We need to ask ‘What has become of Europe? Why do we have no common tax or immigration policy? Why is only Germany getting richer?‘,” he said.