“If you want to know how the EU will look like in about five years time, you should look at Belgium today”, writes former Belgian MEP Derk Jan Eppink in De Volkskrant. Both are “permanent construction sites where the roofs are rebuild [sic] to hide a problem with the foundations”, and share a similar outcome after the 25 May elections (general elections took place in Belgium on the same day as European elections in most of member countries) as well as the same fundamental problem: a gap between North and South. Continue reading
Tag Archives: European elections
Particularly Close to Germany
Italy to push for ‘United States of Europe’ when it holds the EU presidency
In addition to a push for a ‘United States of Europe’ lead by Germany via the EU and its control over the ‘Troika’, calls for a ‘European Army’ have already been made in the past by member nations such as Poland and Italy. What may seem like science fiction or a joke nobody will take serious today is tomorrow’s reality, and as the addage goes: the truth is stranger than fiction. Although a lot of EU nations don’t like each other at the moment, the further integration of iron and clay (Daniel 2:43) continues to be their only solution. With Italy’s high involvement, and even with the Vatican, it’s reminiscent of the WWII era connection between the church and the German leadership. Or better yet, the Holy Roman Empire of the past.
Look for calls of a European Army to grow, especially as resurgent Russia is on the doorstep and the United States is suicidally fading away from the world stage. As with all nation building, the political structure comes first, then the economy. After the economy comes the military. The Fourth Reich is coming.
Italy will use its presidency of the European Union to push for a “United States of Europe,” the prime minister has said
Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, has said that Italy will push for a “United States of Europe” during its six-month EU presidency, in a move likely to raise hackles in Britain.
Launching an appeal to convince European leaders to show “that a stronger and more cohesive Europe is the only solution to the solve the problems of our time“, Mr Renzi said: “For my children’s future I dream, think and work for the United States of Europe.”
He further called for “courageous leaders” to work towards achieving that goal – something that Britain has always objected to. In 1988 Margaret Thatcher, then prime minister, dismissed the idea that the United States might be a model for the future of Europe and David Cameron is actively trying to prevent the election of a committed federalist, Jean-Claude Juncker, to the head of the European Commission.
Greek records first surplus as EU moves closer to balanced budgets
BRUSSELS – Cash-strapped Greece recorded its first primary budget surplus in a generation last year, according to data released by Eurostat on Wednesday (23 April).
Excluding interest on its debt repayments and a number of one-off measures to prop up its banks, Athens recorded a surplus of €1.5 billion, worth the equivalent of 0.8% of its economic output in 2013. Despite this, Greece still recorded an overall deficit figure of 12.7 percent, up by 4 percent on the previous year as the crisis-hit country endured a sixth straight year of recession. Continue reading