Italy: A Brewing Storm Within the EU

 

Over the last couple of years, the main challenge to EU cohesion has been Brexit, with the media sharply focused on the negotiations and all relevant developments. Since the release of the draft withdrawal agreement, largely perceived as a victory for the EU, those who support the European project and believe in a strong leadership from Brussels have projected confidence and optimism for the future. According to these voices, the divisions caused by the rise of nationalism and populism in the past years are healing, the relationship between member states is normalizing, while a future of stability and harmony awaits.

However, such a vision might prove naive, as it discounts a much greater risk to the EU than Brexit ever was: the political and economic powder keg that is Italy.

The EU’s Backdoor Path to a Unified Superstate

For years there has been a struggle in the Eurozone between those that want to transform it into a transfer union and those that who want a Europe of independent and cooperating countries. The latter including Austria, Finland, the Netherlands and Germany want strict limits for deficits and debt brakes as envisioned in the Fiscal Stability Treaty. Some, such as the European Constitutional Group, even demand a mechanism for an orderly break-up of the Eurozone. The former including Mediterranean member states led by France, do not openly call their objective a fiscal union or the creation of a “European Super State” but prefer to talk about a “deepening of the European project.” The reason for this division is straightforward: The central and northern European countries would be the contributors to a transfer union while the club Med would be on the receiving side.

The Political Turf War in Europe and why Britain is Considering Joining NAFTA

 

QUESTION: Marty; There is talk that Britain will join NAFTA rather than the EU. Does that make sense? What do you think?

How to set up a universal basic income for all Europeans

 

Belgian Economist François Denuit suggests introducing the euro-dividend as a new pillar of social rights on which member states could build up their own basic income policies. A big leap forward towards building a truly and ambitious Social Europe.

A month ago, following a public consultation involving more than 16,500 participants drawn from civil society, the European Commission made public its reflection on the social dimension of the European Union (EU) and adopted a recommendation in favour of a “European pillar of social rights”. While we should applaud the willingness of the institution and its president, Jean-Claude Juncker, to re-engage with its right of initiative in social affairs, this proposal must be accompanied by other initiatives if the Commission hopes to meet its aim of a “social triple A” for the EU. A systematic support for national social protection systems in the form of a euro-dividend could offer a complementary and ambitious way to address current social, economic and political issues.

New European Order: Angela Merkel pledges to shape EU future in GERMANY’S image

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she will use close cooperation with Emmanuel Macron [GETTY]

 

ANGELA Merkel has refused to give up on her ambitious plans for the European Union and has pledged to push forward her relaunch plans.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she will use close cooperation with Emmanuel Macron to restart the European Union and shape the continent’s future.

Mrs Merkel doubled down in her commitment to the European project in remarks to voters on the campaign trail.

EU Lawmakers Urge “Federal Union” For European States… Or Else

The beginnings of the United States of Europe, courtesy of a German Fourth Reich which dominates the European Union to serve its own purpose.

 

 

The leaders of the lower chambers of parliament of Germany, Italy, France, and Luxembourg have called for a European “Federal Union” in an open letter published in Italian newspaper La Stampa on Sunday.

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In less than a month, on March 17 next, we Presidents of the national parliaments of the EU we will meet in Rome, how will the representatives of governments, for the sixtieth anniversary of the Treaty from which it began: our Union.  

But it is plain for all that recurrence requires much more than just a historical commemoration. Birthday comes the most critical stage ever crossed by the European project. 

Heads of Germany, France, Italy to discuss ‘Relaunching Europe’ after Brexit vote

The leaders of Germany, France and Italy will meet on Monday to discuss how to keep the European project together in the second set of talks between the premiers of the euro zone’s three largest economies since Britain’s shock vote to leave the bloc.

Pope Francis: Europe’s Top Unifier

Caption: Pope Francis waves as he delivers a message from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 25, 2015. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

 

Europe’s prestigious Charlemagne Prize for promoting unity goes to the pope—an important sign of what’s to come.

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That news will come as no surprise to those familiar with theTrumpet.com. For years we have said that the Catholic Church must play a powerful role in European unity.

The European Common Market has “so far … been unable to bring about full political union,” wrote Herbert W. Armstrong in his book The United States and Britain in Prophecy. “This will be made possible by the ‘good offices’ of the Vatican, who alone can be the symbol of unity to which they can look.”

Few see the signs of the Vatican playing this role, so far. Many of Europe’s modern leaders are from Europe’s very secular, multicultural left. But now, as Europe is becoming increasingly desperate for unity—with the euro, the border-free Schengen zone, and even the European Union itself under threat—we’re seeing more signs that it will look to the Vatican.

Will Western Civilization Survive the European Project?

Faced with cascading economic, sociological and security calamities brought on by the arrival of many thousands of mostly Muslim migrants, publics in nation after nation are beginning to push back.

Varoufakis: Greek Deal Is “Coup”, Turns Greece Into “Vassal” State, And Deals “Decisive Blow” To European Project

For those curious to know what Yanis thinks about the deal, below are some “impressionistic thoughts” from the man himself. Highlights include the characterization of the Greek deal as a “decisive blow against the Euorpean project”, a “statement confirming that Greece acquiesces to becoming a vassal of the Eurogroup”, and the “culmination of a coup”.*  *  *

On the Euro Summit’s Statement on Greece: First thoughts via Yanis Varoufakis

In the next hours and days, I shall be sitting in Parliament to assess the legislation that is part of the recent Euro Summit agreement on Greece. I am also looking forward to hearing in person from my comrades, Alexis Tsipras and Euclid Tsakalotos, who have been through so much over the past few days. Till then, I shall reserve judgment regarding the legislation before us. Meanwhile, here are some first, impressionistic thoughts stirred up by the Euro Summit’s Statement.

EU Demands Complete Capitulation From Tsipras

European leaders gave Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras a straightforward choice: ditch his principles or quit the euro.

Tsipras was presented with a laundry list of unfinished business from Greece’s previous bailouts at an emergency summit that stretched in its 14th hour by 5:59 a.m. Monday in Brussels. Euro-area chiefs gave Tsipras three days to enact their main demands to keep alive chances of adding bailout funds of as much as 86 billion euros ($96 billion) to earlier commitments of 240 billion euros.

With Greece running out of money and its banks shut the past two weeks, the gathering was billed as the country’s last chance to stay in the euro. Tsipras, who says he wants to keep Greece in the currency union, has been in financial limbo since his government missed a payment to the International Monetary Fund and allowed its second rescue package to lapse on June 30.

What Europe’s Elections Were Really About

• Europe’s impoverishment, resulting from its economic underperformance and unrestrained immigration, mostly from Islamic countries, has caused its voters to opt for national identity, nationalism, regionalism, and the chance to express themselves through a referendum on Europe. Austria’s Freedom Party warmed voters of the prospect of becoming “strangers in their own country.”
• Thanks to this promise — a referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union — and that Britain never adopted the euro as its currency, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron was the only sitting European leader not punished by the voters.
• Everywhere in Europe, electorates have lost confidence in the bureaucrats of the European Union in Brussels and those of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. They want once again to be empowered to decide their own political and economic fate.

Europe is in political turmoil. In ever larger numbers, European voters are turning their backs on the established parties and are flocking to populist or nationalist parties on both the right and the left. This shift is happening all over Europe. Last month, one could see it in Britain, Spain, Poland, Italy and Austria. What all the parties have in common is their dissatisfaction with the policies of the European Union, whether because of immigration, the EU’s austerity policies, or its social/ethical agenda.

Greek exit would trigger eurozone collapse, says Alexis Tsipras

Greek prime minister warns of the ‘the beginning of the end of the eurozone’, but says a deal between Athens and creditors could be close

Alexis Tsipras warned on Tuesday that the failure to agree a rescue deal for Greece would spell the end of the eurozone as he submitted a revised package of reforms to negotiators in Brussels.

The Greek prime minister said if Greece fails, Europe’s leaders will have a bigger disaster on their hands because “it will be the beginning of the end of the eurozone”.

Merkel wants a braver Germany. But will the German people let her have it?

German power is now mostly seen in economic terms. Given its 20th century past, the dream of simply being a bigger Switzerland still holds a strong appeal to the German public: a country without any serious external security concerns, focused on prosperity and wellbeing.And yet recently Angela Merkel has put her country on a new course. She is redefining German power. This is not happening via grand speeches, but through concrete steps and sometimes discreet messages. And it is happening as a result of circumstances, not because of a comprehensively pre-prepared plan. Last year, in quick succession, war broke out in Ukraine, populist and extremist parties made strong gains in European elections, and the Greek conundrum returned to the eurozone. Because of all these crises, Merkel has been reappraising what her country should be doing as Europe’s powerhouse.

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.