Italy Threatens EU With “Nuclear Option”: Give 200,000 Migrants EU Visas, Sending Them North

 

Two weeks after Italy reacted with anger to Austria’s deployment of troops and armored vehicles to the border between the two nations, while reactivating border controls at the Brenner Pass over concerns that Italy will be unable to handle the roughly 85,000 migrants and refugees who have entered the country so far in 2017, the Italian government has threatened to retaliate in way that assures an imminent migrant crisis as well as an escalation of tensions between the two EU nations.

According to The Times, an Italian minister and a senator have threatened to issue temporary EU visas to thousands of migrants in an effort to “resolve” Italy’s escalating migrant and refugee crisis, which would then allow the refugees to travel north. The move, which has been described as a ‘nuclear option,’ would allow the nearly 200,000 migrants currently stranded in Italy, to travel across Europe using a Brussels directive loophole.

A Matter of National Interest

BERLIN (Own report) – In light of the drastic warnings of the EU’s possible disintegration, Berlin seeks to prevent the formation of contending forces. “The European Union is drifting apart to an extent hardly imaginable 15 years ago,” according to a recent analysis, written by a board member of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). The “dividing lines” between the north and the impoverishing south, as well as between western and eastern EU member countries are disquieting. To prevent the formation of a southern European bloc opposing the German austerity dictate, Berlin is particularly trying to integrate France into its EU policy. Yesterday, the German chancellor sought closer cooperation with the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to undermine an alliance of the Visegrád members against German predominance. At the same time, promotion of the EU has been intensified within Germany. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel explained how Germany ultimately profits from its net contributions to the EU budget: The success of German exports depends on “the people in the other EU countries” being able “to afford” German products – with the help of Brussels’ subsidies.

Divide and Rule

BERLIN/PARIS (Own report) – With today’s special summit of four heads of state, Berlin is preparing the EU’s transformation in response to the Brexit. The German chancellor will meet in Versailles this afternoon with France’s president and the prime ministers of Italy and Spain. Selected southern EU members have been included in alleged leadership meetings with the German chancellor to prevent a southern European bloc from emerging, which could possibly, in the future, put an end to German austerity dictates. With Great Britain’s exit, the neo-liberal oriented EU countries are loosing the necessary quorum for a veto in EU bodies. Berlin could also encounter problems with the Eastern European “Visegrád Group,” which does not want to support the emergence of a powerful integrated core around a German hub, because it would consolidate a two or even three-class EU. Reinforcement of the EU’s anti-refugee border-management and particularly its resolute militarization are emerging as the common denominators for the Union’s transformation.

ITALY CRISIS: Monte dei Paschi to get staggering €20BN government bailout

ROME must hand Italy’s oldest lender Monte die Paschi di Siena (MPS) a controversial bailout or face a financial crisis that could destroy its economy and the eurozone.

The troubled bank is teetering on the edge of a full-scale meltdown after failing to raise £4.2billion from private investors in a last-ditch effort to survive without state intervention.

To stop panic ripping through Italy’s banking system, the government is now set to inject €20bn (£17bn) into the most vulnerable lenders.

EU Takes Concrete Steps Toward a Military

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini gives a press conference on the European Defense Action Plan at EU headquarters in Brussels on November 30. (JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images)

 

EU leaders say Europe needs a defense union so it can be a ‘superpower.’

Nations in the European Union have often talked about working together on defense. Many pro-EU politicians wanted some form of an EU army. But in terms of having actual, practical plans, they have had little success—until now.

On November 14, EU defense and foreign ministers agreed on concrete steps toward greater European military cooperation.

EU crafts defence plan in Trump’s shadow

EU battlegroups could form the core of the new “multifunctional civilian and military capabilities” (Photo: Public Affairs Office

 

A jumbo-sized meeting of 56 EU foreign and defence ministers endorsed a plan to create a mini military HQ and to have joint rapid-reaction forces on Monday (14 November).

The EU foreign service will create the HQ, called “a permanent operational planning and conduct capability”, which will command “non-executive military missions”, such as training the Libyan or Iraqi military, but not combat.

They also agreed that the EU needed its own joint forces that could be sent, if needed, to “situations of high security risk in the regions surrounding the EU”, for instance, in Africa, but said those types of operations would be commanded out of national HQs.

Europe Pushes for an Army and an Empire

(L to R) Luxembourg’s Foreign minister Jean Asselborn, Italy’s Foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni, Germany’s Foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Belgium’s Foreign minister Didier Reynders, France’s Foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and Netherlands’ Foreign minister Bert Koenders address a press confeence after post-Brexit talks at the Villa Borsig in Berlin on June 25, 2016. (JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images)

 

In the wake of Brexit, leaders from the across the Continent are calling for the EU to overhaul its military.

Officials across Europe are pushing for the Continent to develop an army and send it oversees. Though Europe is greatly divided, this is one of few areas on which all sides agree.

Defense reform is “a matter of urgency” European Union officials believe. The EU needs its own armed forces, navy and intelligence service. Poland believes Europe should have “a European army” and “a strong European president with far-reaching authority.”

“The EU wants its own empire as former Commission President José Manuel Barroso made clear when he was in charge,” said UK Independence Party spokesman Mike Hookem. While this comment may seem farfetched, it’s clear the EU wants to rapidly step up its military involvement in North Africa and the Middle East.

Iran’s Rouhani to visit Italy, Vatican next month – source

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will visit Italy next month, his first trip to a European Union capital, and also meet Pope Francis, a diplomatic source said on Wednesday.

Iran Warns of ‘Third World War’

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the chairman of Iran’s powerful Expediency Council, warned in comments that the “outbreak of World War III” is coming in the near future, according to a report by Iran’s Fars News Agency.

“The threat of the outbreak of the third world war by the terrorists is serious,” Rafsanjani was quoted as saying in a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who was in Tehran this week for a meeting with Iranian officials.