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BREXIT NEWS 12-21 Jan 2018  
 ANGELA MERKEL'S
OVERSEAS AID SCANDAL
ANOTHER BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG EXCLUSIVE
Screengrab © internet, unknown
German in-country ‘Foreign Aid’ rockets 2900%
as cost of migrant influx starts to show
During our research for the latest piece in our ‘USA Brexit Special’ series, we uncovered a set of alarming facts for Germany.
THE ROCKETING BILL FOR ‘MERKEL'S MADNESS’
  • German government is now classifying some in-country expenditure on immigrants as 'overseas aid'
  • In 2016 this amounted to over $6.7 billion dollars
  • in just 4 years it has grown a staggering 29 TIMES
  • Germany has declared this sum to the OECD as 'ODA', equivalent of 'overseas aid'
Like the UK, Germany donates a significant amount of ‘Official Development Assistance’ (ODA) each year. ODA is the term used by the OECD for what most people might normally call “Overseas Aid”.
HOW THE MIGRANT SHOCK IS STARTING TO HIT GERMANY
Below is a graph we have created from the raw data contained in the OECD’s files on international aid. During our research we noticed a sudden increase in the level of German ODA in 2015, and again in 2016. Eventually we discovered a line item in the raw data called “Other in-donor expenditures”.
Sounds innocuous, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not so innocuous if you’re a German taxpayer.
In summary it means the costs of dealing with migrants within Germany itself. The German government continue to refer to this as ODA (‘overseas aid’ in colloquial terms), but this money is all being spent in German cities, towns and in the countryside, dealing with the consequences of allowing in 1.5 million migrants in a short time period.
Here’s how this line has rocketed in just four years.
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
HOW DOES THIS COMPARE INTERNATIONALLY?
The graph below shows how much Germany spent on 'foreign aid' internally in 2016, compared to the total amount spent by all other 28 DAC Donor countries combined. It clearly shows how Germany's internal spend is vastly in excess of what other countries are claiming.
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
GERMAN ‘FOREIGN AID’ - INSIDE AND OUTSIDE GERMANY
To be completely fair, Germany has also increased its external overseas aid, i.e. excluding the monies it is spending internally. However these have been increasing by far less than the expenditure on the immigrants who have made it into Germany. Over four years, Germany's external aid spend increased by only one-hundredth of the increase in its internal spend. The figures are 29% versus 2907% over four years.
BACKGROUND INFO – WHO ARE THE BIGGEST DONORS?
The three most generous countries in the world have been the USA, the UK, and Germany, in that order. In recent years the EU has lied, and it claims it is the biggest donor in the world but this is simply untrue, as we explain again in one of our ‘USA Brexit Special’ latest pieces here.
The EU falsely tries to claim as its own the aid given by each individual member country. This is false, because the EU isn’t a country and because that aid has nothing to do with EU membership. It’s what countries have given based on their own choices – nothing to do with the EU.
OBSERVATIONS
Above and exclusively, we have given you one of the clearest demonstrations yet of how the migrant crisis is starting to affect the German economy.
Long-standing readers may recall that we predicted minimum costs well in excess of €100 billion euros for Germany, as a result of Frau Merkel’s rash ‘all welcome here’ announcement in 2015, which threw open the EU’s doors to millions of illegal migrants. We predicted similar but proportionate costs for other EU countries too.
Now we see amounts starting to appear in official German documents. Above, we discovered this line in obscure and difficult to find data regarding overseas aid.
We observed a rapid increase in the overall level of German generosity in terms of its international aid programme. A 38% increase in one year seemed suspicious to us. The reality is that this has been caused not by a voluntary spasm of generosity by the German government, but by the need for them to spend huge amounts on the massive influx of migrants who have entered the country.
Please note that the above only shows the picture up until the end of 2016. We expect the figure to keep rising.
IS THIS REALLY OVERSEAS AID?
Some readers may question how it is that these massive and fast-growing sums are being included in the official figures that Germany submits to the OECD in its return on what most people think of as overseas aid.
Well, this is one of the reasons why governments work with like-minded individuals running organisations like the OECD, and how they're able to keep changing the designation of funds like these. You may feel as we do that funds should be given clear names and the use of monies should be transparent to the electors in each country. Sadly this is not the case.
The official designation used by the OECD is now “Official Development Assistance”. It is this vague term that allows the German government to mask its internal spending on the consequences of the Frau Merkel’s migrant policies, and to use it to boost its international image by claiming to be a much bigger international aid donor than it really is.
We believe that technically Germany will now appear to be the second-largest international aid donor in the world, supplanting the UK. Only it won’t be. An increasing and very significant proportion of its ‘international aid’ will in fact be spent within Germany.
In future the Brexit Facts4EU.Org team will show countries' international aid after excluding figures which countries spend internally. We believe that this is what most people around the world think of when talking of overseas aid.
GENEROUS GERMANS, DISINGENUOUS CHANCELLOR
Finally, the Germans are generous people, like the British, the Americans, and others. We absolutely applaud the German people's spirit in assisting less fortunate people in poorer areas of the world over many years.
Our criticisms above have nothing whatsoever to do with German people, only with their government's treatment of costs it has incurred. We do not agree that it is right to hide a massive hike in its costs as a result of Frau Merkel's totally disastrous migrant policy, which has cost the EU as a whole very dear indeed.
We also do not agree that this should be used artificially to inflate Germany's reputation as a major donor of international aid.
[ Sources: OECD | USAID | DFID ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.30am, 21 Jan 2018
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Name: W Alkaway, UK      Date/Time: 21 Jan 2018, 5.54pm
Message: Brilliant idea Hard Brexit of Braintree. We can now follow Germany's furtive example and simply take back our aid contribution for our own needs 'What's good for the goose is good for the gander' The EU crows about its aid record, but fiddles the figures. High economic immigrant numbers in the UK are straining our health services, schools, housing, transport ....everything. Our Civil Service cannot, or rather WILL NOT, give us exact numbers on immigration. Breaking news today, an unknown strain of TB has been found in immigrants and life threatening scabies is now rife in Paris; both extremely contagious and lethal. And guess what? Those infected immigrants are being put into isolation care; more unnecessary expense and take up of hospital capacity. Unnecessary because, if it hadn't been for ignorant Angela Merkel's open invitation, they wouldn't be arriving by the boatloads. If it hadn't been for open borders, courtesy of the EU mandarins, national boundaries could not have been breached by the swarms of economic migrants heading for cushy northern Europe. Worse than cost, is the issue of immigrants from poor countries spreading diseases to the indigenous populations of Europe. TB had been eradicated through years of immunisation. These people are dragging us back down to their low Dark Ages standards. It just gets worse and worse. Very few intend to work, very few have found jobs they can do, and most lack a basic education so the prospects of them ever working, and being of benefit to Europe, are slight. Merkel's assurances they were needed because of an aging population was an outright lie. She could have invited out-of-work Europeans into Germany. But did not. Instead, huge numbers of Africans and Middle Eastern 'Economic' migrants have 'invaded' Europe, abused our people, taken our money, and caused mayhem and terrorism. The only solution is to return them from where they came. Going back to aid, it's well known that NGOs spend our cash on dubious 'projects' not of our choosing. There is huge corruption in Third World Countries, where aid money gets siphoned off by local unscrupulous officials and leaders. Flash cars, jewellery, expensive villas, expensive mistresses. A total waste. This has got to STOP. Why should the West fund this? In the early 1960's Egypt, my mother bought a bag of rice only to find printed on the bag were the words to the effect of 'Aid donated by USA'. Instead of being handed to the needy, somehow, this corrupt shopkeeper was selling aid rice on for his own profit. Corruption is still rife. Chucking money at a problem never solved anything. Incidentally, the US was donating Foreign Aid even before the EU became a poisonous reality. The trouble with an undemocratic system is the self-appointed, highly paid, undemocratic bureaucrats think they can lie to the people, yet face no repercussions. Time to watch the Nations of Europe now standing up to this repression. Should be an interesting year ahead. PM Theresa May can stop kissing the cheeks of the elite on the Brussels Band Wagon, and start pleasing us, the electorate of the UK.
Name: Hard Brexit, Braintree, Essex      Date/Time: 21 Jan 2018, 12.59pm
Message: There is an argument that the UK should do the same. We should divert some of the £13 billion of aid money allocated by the British Government for overseas aid, to say the health services, schools, housing. As we take in economic migrants as well as refugees, the services in the UK are stretched more and more. I would much prefer monies being allocated by our elected representatives, rather than given to NGO's and charities, and some of these "aid projects" are questionable. Money for the Ethiopean Spice girls? The official population of the UK is 64.5million, the Government admits that it estimates there are one million illegal immigrants on top of that. Supermarket analysis of store cards estimate the population as between 75-80 million, this analysis is of basic foodstuff sold. There is also the argument that aid given out just encourages a benefit culture in the third world. Better to spend money in your own country to support services, rather than support overpaid charity CEO's lifestyles. Aid money should be allocated to specific projects to help people to help themselves, rather than supply a lifestyle choice of benefit dependency in the third world.

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THE BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG 
USA SPECIAL !
 
All you ever wanted to know about Brexit, UK, & EU - in relation to the USA
EU WRONGFULLY STEALS
'MOST GENEROUS DONOR NATION' STATUS
FROM USA - Read more...
This is Day Two of our USA Special. Today we bring you some fascinating information on how the EU has lied about its humanitarian aid efforts to claim top spot from the USA. Click the 'International Aid' button and we show how it's the USA and not the EU which is the world's most generous nation, with the UK in second place.
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If you can support us with a donation of even just a couple of pounds or dollars, we would really appreciate it. We receive no state funds, nor donations from corporates or institutes, so we really need the help of people like you!
TO OUR AMERICAN AND INTERNATIONAL READERS
We invite you to come on a journey with us. Over the coming few days we hope to shed some light for you on the EU, on the UK's decision to leave ('Brexit'), and on the USA's relations with the EU now and after Brexit. We will bring you solid facts from official sources - we share your President's dislike of 'fake news'.
     
Yes, we're pro-Brexit and we don't hide this fact. The vast resources of the BBC, Sky News, ITN and the majority of the commentariat and journalists need no help from us to present their side of the story - known as 'Remain'.
On June 23rd 2016, the British people stood up against the Establishment and voted to leave the European Union after 43 years. They did so in the biggest exercise in democracy that the United Kingdom has even seen.
You can be part of this historic journey with us, as we present some punchy bullet-pointed facts and some easy-to-read charts which show you the facts at a glance. Each article has the facts, followed by our Observations. Sometimes in the Observations you might notice the British sense of humour creeping in. Sorry about that, but sometimes if we didn't laugh we'd cry. Ask any ordinary Brit who voted Brexit and they'll probably tell you the same thing.
     
It's so hard for ordinary people to get their voice heard. We do our best on their behalf. We hope you enjoy the ride. Oh yes, for our British readers we think you might also like a lot of what is contained in this, our 'USA Special'! Some of it you'll know, some of it you won't.
Click on the dark blue buttons above to start reading.
       Best regards, the Facts4EU.Org Team, 06.50am UK time, Jan 20, 2018
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Name: : Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 20 Jan 2018, 10.41am
Message: I think a "USA Special" an excellent idea. I have always 'argued' for POTUS and FLOTUS to visit us. I have also suggested President Trump would be good for the US as he wasn't a politician. Sure I don't agree with everything POTUS does, but then I don't agree with everything our own UK leaders do, though I sure felt insulted by his predecessor who came over and tried telling us how to vote in the referendum. I was encouraged when ordinary US citizens often apologised for the former POTUS' words. The doom and gloom merchants need to look at how much better the US has done since President Trump accepted his mammoth task (albeit in the face of hostility). In a similar manner, the doom and gloom merchants should look at how much better the UK has done since June 2016. For example, we have seen both the DOW and FTSE reach record highs this month. Unfortunately, mainstream media concentrate on poor news, and this is where Brexiteers have to stay calm, present the truth, and VERY importantly, guide users to Facts4EU.org. Remainers have a big problem when presented with 100% FACTS, and we all remember how much they wanted facts, though many still remain in denial, 'despite the facts'. I feel it important to point out to readers that President Trump (like him or not), has held his position longer than President Macron (like him or not). I am one among the many who would welcome a visit from POTUS to our great country. What's the problem, he's been here before?

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 MACRON DOES
THE TALKING
© Le Figaro
UK DOES THE HEAVY LIFTING
New border control treaty is signed
“London has succumbed to the pressure of the Elysee,”
says leading French newspaper
Yesterday the UK played host to the 35th UK-France Summit in the south of England. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May signed a new treaty on the control of the border between France and the United Kingdom.
The new treaty aims to "strengthen joint management of our common border with improved treatment of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum."
Theresa May gave the French a wide variety of concessions as well as substantial extra funds. President Macron gave the British the possibility of a loan for a few winter months in 2022 of an old artwork – the Bayeux Tapestry - depicting a British military defeat by the Normans.
WHAT THE BRITISH GAVE
  • £45 million in additional funding to help the French with their migrant crisis
  • This is on top of £160 million already provided in the last four years
  • Fast-track adult migrant visas – times cut from 6 months to 1 month
  • Fast-track ‘child’ migrant visas – from 6 months down to 25 days
  • British military helicopters provided to help French in their former African colony of Mali
  • This is in addition to RAF super-transport aircraft already helping the French
  • Also on top of the doubling of UK’s UN peacekeeping contribution in the region
  • Plus £50m of new, additional British humanitarian aid to former French colonies
 
WHAT THE FRENCH GAVE
  • Loan to UK, possibly in quiet winter months of 2022, of old artwork depicting British defeat by Normans
Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2018
In concrete terms, the British gave the French valuable materiel and military personnel to assist them in their travails in their former colony of Mali in north-west Africa. The assistance includes heavy-lift helicopters and heavy-lift transport aircraft, neither of which the French have in the form needed.
RAF C-17 Globemaster super-transport                                   © MOD
The British are also giving substantial amounts of additional money to assist the French with their problems controlling migrants in northern France, as well as additional funds via the UN for France’s former colonies in north Africa. France does not make similar contributions in respect of the UK’s former colonies.
All the British might get in return for its largesse (and it’s not yet confirmed that this will happen) is the possible loan of an old artwork for a few months.
NO ‘ACCORD’ ON BREXIT
Despite all the substantial concessions made by the UK to France, the French President indicated that there will be no compromises from him on Brexit and that a bespoke trade deal is not on the table. “There shall be no hypocrisy in this respect otherwise it will not work or we would destroy the single market and its coherence,” he said.
The French were represented on this visit by their President, their Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, plus other officials. The UK was represented by Prime Minister Theresa May, Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, and others.
OBSERVATIONS
We recognise the frustration felt by those of our readers who support the Conservative Party, when we have to criticise Mrs May and her government. Once again we will repeat that we adopt a party-neutral stance and only comment on matters relating to Brexit and the EU.
 
What happened yesterday was directly related to Brexit and the EU, and we must say very simply that Mrs May is an embarrassment to us.
It gives us no pleasure whatsoever to speak of the country’s Prime Minister in these terms, but if anyone can tell us how we can interpret yesterday’s events in any other way, we’re all ears.
PROCESSING MIGRANTS
Some readers may be surprised at the French insistence that the UK speed up its visa applications procedure for the illegal migrants based around the northern ports of France.
The French press talks of how Britain “only took 8 minors in 2017” and seem to prefer to think that:
  1. This is shameful, and
  2. It is caused by Britain’s unwieldy visa application system
In reality, the last time that there was a great deal of publicity regarding Britain taking illegral migrants from the Calais area, the ‘children’ who arrived at processing centres in the UK didn’t look a day under the age of 25, and in some cases looked far older. We have no direct knowledge of the migrants currently in the Calais region, and it is perfectly possible that none are in fact children at all.
The second point to make is that we understand that the French have managed to start processing more migrants now, and that unsurprisingly the majority are refused asylum in France on the grounds that they are not refugees at all. Regrettably, these illegral migrants are not deported, but are simply released by the French police, ready to make further attempts to cut their way into the back of lorries en route to England.
It is a natural reaction for people of a country to seek to apportion blame onto other countries.
In this case we suggest the French people would be better advised to blame Frau Merkel of Germany, who caused the rapid escalation in the EU’s migrant crisis in 2015 and 2016. This crisis still continues to this day, although on a lower overall scale thanks to massive bribes of taxpayer money to Turkey to stem the flow. 15% of that money is provided by the British taxpayer, even though the UK is not in the Schengen area.
Nevertheless the continued ramifications will once again be felt in the EU in early March, when the Italians go to the polls. Migrants continued flooding into Italy long after the EU had started crowing about falling numbers entering Greece. We would not be surprised if the Italians choose to punish their established politicians and thereby the EU.
[ Sources: Elysée Palace | No.10 | MOD | Le Figaro ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.55am, 19 Jan 2018
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Name: Steve R, London      Date/Time: 20 Jan 2018, 08.18am
Message: She could have told him. Non merci Emanuelle! Nous avons notre own version of le tapestry, made in Leek and now dans le Reading museum. Voulez-vous ave a look at ow you ripped us off en 1066?
Name: Pud, Essex, UK      Date/Time: 19 Jan 2018, 12.50pm
Message: Anyone arriving in the UK from France who wants to claim asylum should have to prove that they are a French citizen and state that they are trying to escape from the French government. All others should claim asylum in France or one of the other safe countries they travelled through to get there.
Name: Getahead, UK      Date/Time: 19 Jan 2018, 12.09pm
Message: 1066 "depicting British defeat by French," They were Normans ( Norsemen) not French. We spent the next 500 years defending our territories from the French before Calais, our last stronghold, fell.

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USA SPECIAL !
COMING TOMORROW !
The attacks on President Trump in the British and European media are relentless, with the BBC and Sky News no longer making any pretence at impartiality.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, continues to tweet out his nonsense, making Americans feel unwelcome in our capital city.
And the President himself has cancelled his proposed trip to the United Kingdom this month, to inaugurate the new American Embassy building south of the River Thames.
In light of all of this, the Brexit Facts4EU.Org team are researching and writing a "USA Special". This will be a short series of punchy articles about the US in relation to the UK, the EU, and Brexit. It will start tomorrow.
DO NOT MISS IT!
The Brexit Facts4EU.Org Team, Wednesday 17 Jan 2018
 BRING ON THE CLOWNS
© EU Parliament, Tues 16 Jan 2018
VERHOFSTADT & WEBER RIDICULE UK
AS THE EU'S NEW DEMANDS GROW
We bring you two clips which the BBC will not show you
Yesterday morning in Strasbourg, the EU Parliament met. Once again the entire shooting match of MEPs, interpreters, staff, and files were transported the 270 miles from their normal location of Brussels to Strasbourg – at enormous cost.
Thanks to the glories of the internet, we can bring you (entirely free of charge) clips of two senior EU parliamentarians ridiculing the UK, its senior political figures, its government, and Brexit.
The two MEPs we are highlighting from yesterday are important for Brexit. They each lead a major political grouping in the EU Parliament, and the EU Parliament has an effective veto over any deals made between the EU and the UK on Brexit.
1. MANFRED WEBER, European People's Party (Christian Democrats)
Weber is an arch Europhile, which transcends his conservative, supposedly right-wing credentials. In the UK he would be seen by many as being a liberal or socialist.
Yesterday, he ridiculed the UK and in particular the idea that the UK will revert to its traditional blue passport. He was of course grandstanding for the citizens of the EU27. He deliberately pretended that the argument was over changing the colour of the passport, saying that there is nothing in EU law preventing the UK from doing this, without leaving.
A CLIP OF HERR WEBER YESTERDAY IN THE EU PARLIAMENT
NOTE: Sometimes the EU doesn't seem to like its proceedings played by us. If the video doesn't appear below, click here instead.
IMPORTANT: WHAT WEBER SAID ABOUT TRANSITION DEAL
“Don't take the conditions of a Transition Period for granted.”
“Stop complaining, deliver.”
“Why do you don't (sic) tell the people the truth?"”
2. GUY MAURICE MARIE LOUISE VERHOFSTADT, is a former Prime Minister of Belgium.
We could of course just leave things there, as that description will be enough for many people. We should perhaps add, however, that Mijneer Verhofstadt is the head of the ‘liberal’ grouping in the EU Parliament known as ALDE.
In the global context, the EU decription of ‘liberal’ means nothing of the kind, but we have insufficient time in this article to analyse EU politics.
A CLIP OF MENEER VERHOFSTADT YESTERDAY IN THE EU PARLIAMENT
NOTE: Sometimes the EU doesn't seem to like its proceedings played by us. If the video doesn't appear below, click here instead.
IMPORTANT: WHAT VERHOFSTADT SAID ABOUT TRANSITION DEAL
“I am very pleased by the latest version of the [Brexit] negotiation directive of the European Council.”
“They make very clear that it’s the whole ‘acquis’. If you stay in the Union in this Transition Period, it’s for the whole two or three years, all the policies of the EU, and all the legislation of the EU that will be applicable.”
“The only thing that will change is that Britain will not be represented any more in the institutions. Not in the Council, not in the Commission, and not in the Parliament.”
BREXIT BLOCKED UNTIL 2021 - IT DOESN’T GET ANY CLEARER
Mr Verhofstadt has stated clearly that the UK will remain inside the EU until at least 2021. The UK voted to leave in 2016.
Mr Verhofstadt's statements above are unequivocal and so the UK government must rebut them immediately.
THE TRUTH ABOUT EU PASSPORTS
Both Verhofstadt and Weber found the issue of passports funny, so we should look at some facts.
In 1981 the EU Council first passed a Resolution governing EU Passports. Amongst other things it stipulated that the first words should be ‘European Community’ (later changed to ‘European Union’) and that:
“The passport format will be uniform.
Passport cover (a) Colour : burgundy red.
(b) Information on the cover:
In the following order: - the words "European Community",
- name of the State issuing the passport,
- emblem of the State,
- the word "Passport".
The words "European Community" and the name of the State will be printed in similar typeface.”
OBSERVATIONS
The truth is of course that as a member of the EU, we are all forced to have ‘EUROPEAN UNION’ as the first words at the top of our passports – the colour is not the first thing for most British people.
It is also the case that the whole passport question was stated very clearly by the government and all commentators as being something symbolic. We agree. We do not wish to see the title of an undemocratic regime like the EU, which is not even a country, democratic or otherwise, above the name of our country.
So, Herr Weber and Mijneer Verhofstadt, next time one of you asks “Why do you don’t (sic) tell the people the truth?”, as you did yesterday Herr Weber, we will simply turn the question back to you. All politicians lie, but you two really take the biscuit.
That last expression is an idiom you may wish to add to your collection, Mr Verhofstadt, as we know how much you love to sound English.
MEPs ARE ANOTHER COUNTRY, THEY DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY
MEPs are, as a rule, on the far extremes of EU fanaticism. If they were UK politicians they would be the equivalent of the most left-wing faction within Momentum, or the SS Division of the British National Party – if such things existed.
The point we are trying to make is that MEPs are not normal, on the whole. If British people were able to listen to them on a regular basis they would be astonished. This doesn’t happen of course, because the BBC only play you clips when MEPs are attacking Nigel Farage.They don't even show the leader of the Conservative MEPs, Syed Kamall, but that's probably because he's both incredibly boring and utterly useless.
Syed Kamall yesterday, entertaining Jean-Claude Juncker                    © EU Parliament
These Euro-fanatics live in the bubbles of Brussels, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, and the major political capitals of the EU27. They have huge salaries, very generous pensions and living and travel allowances, and they travel in limousines, private jets and trains, and spend a lot of time in expensive hotels.
THE TRAVELLING CIRCUS
On Tuesday 2,500 plastic trunks containing files and equipment were loaded on to a convoy of lorries for the 5 hour trip to Strasbourg. Later, two private trains for the use solely of EU politicians and officials were boarded for the express trip from Brussels.
© Google Maps
Tomorrow the entire circus will be loaded back up onto transporters and trains and it will return to Brussels. This will then be repeated for four days next month, and the month after that, and for the remainder of the year, as it always is.
Back in 2014 the EU itself calculated the annual costs of using Strasbourg once a month at €103 million euros or £91 million pounds. If that was the EU’s estimate you can easily double it, in our experience.
SUMMARY
The most important message to take away from this article is what the two powerful MEPs we featured had to say about Britain, Brexit, and particularly their new demands.
Once again we urge the government to break off all negotiations with the EU on the grounds that the institution is dysfunctional, aggressively anti-British, and completely unreasonable in every way.
[ Sources: EU Parliament | EU Commission | EU legal database ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       07.45am, 17 Jan 2018
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Name: R Ellison, UK      Date/Time: 18 Jan 2018, 5.39pm
Message: The question has got to be asked: How much is George Soros paying Theresa May? No one could be so weak as our Prime Minister, with Britain holding all the strong cards to be more than able to leave the EU with a clean break.
Name: Hard Brexit, Braintree, Essex      Date/Time: 18 Jan 2018, 4.13pm
Message: The EU seem to think they have the upper hand in the Brexit negotiations. They are so arrogant and superior, perhaps they should remember, "Pride comes before a fall". They are adamant that the UK is not going to get a deal on services in any trade negotiations. Fine the UK should not beg for it at any cost, Eire Prime Minister was reminded yesterday by Nigel Farage in the EU Parliament, just how vulnerable their economy is to a no deal Brexit. German, French, Dutch economies have also a lot to lose in a no deal scenario. There are plenty of other countries outside of the EU who could supply our economy's needs. Once you lose a customer it's very difficult to retrieve them. The UK Government only has to look to Trump's USA where he has cut corporation tax, cut taxes and encouraged business back home. Apple is going back to the States, paying a one off $38 billion dollar tax and opening a site creating 20,000 jobs. The EU has plans, it was touched on yesterday in EU Parliament, to increase corporation tax for all countries, impose a tax on financial services and a nations wide EU income tax. Bring it on, that will make the EU more competitive! We already have seen the screeching from countries reluctant to having to pay more into the budget after the UK contributions dry up. The UK could do a Trump and watch the fun start, by cutting taxes - corporation and personal - just as the EU27 suddenly realise that being uncompetitive is not good for business in the wider world, or losing the UK's valuable market to WTO rules. Whether our leaders would have the nerve to do that is debatable, but a serious threat might just concentrate a few European Government minds.
Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 17 Jan 2018, 8.15pm
Message: In answer to SibeliusFan below: "does anyone know how Croatia manages to have blue passports, not Burgundy, then, apparently against the EU regulations?" This link may help you.
Name: Colin R, UK      Date/Time: 17 Jan 2018, 7.20pm
Message: I am worried that this whole farce is going to sour our relations with our European friends and result in very unpleasant consequences. The only hope is that European people and elected governments will see through the smoke screen and realise that the whole EU circus is set up for the sole benefit of the thousands of commissioners and bureaucrats on the gravy train. With luck they will then support our efforts to end the farce.
Name: SibeliusFan      Date/Time: 17 Jan 2018, 10.40am
Message: Re: Bring on the Clowns (Well, they were addressing a packed house weren't they! And such bile!!) Regarding passports: I think they've watched too much BBC. The BBC tried its best to make the blue passports a big issue all day(ad nauseum) when the story first arose, but that doesn't mean that it really is a big issue for everyone who voted to leave the EU. I would like to ask though, out of interest-- does anyone know how Croatia manages to have blue passports , not Burgundy, then, apparently against the EU regulations?

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 TAKE, TAKE, TAKE
EU TO IMPOSE NEW DEMANDS
Free movement to continue until end-2020
The EU’s new negotiating demands are circulating in a leaked draft, which imposes new restrictions on the UK during the so-called ‘Implementation’ or ‘Transition’ Period.
EU’S NEW RESTRICTIONS AND DEMANDS
  • Extending free movement rights until December 31, 2020
  • “In particular, the provisions of the citizens’ rights part of the withdrawal agreement should apply as from the end of the transition period”
  • A special status to all EU citizens arriving before that time, meaning right to stay, right to benefits, etc
  • Veto on UK replacing existing EU trade deals with non-EU countries, “unless authorised to do so by the EU”
  • EU laws to have primacy: “The direct effect and primacy of union law should be preserved,” which means that the UK would have exactly the same legal obligations as member states.
  • Fishing quotas will not be changed, there will merely be ‘consultations’
OBSERVATIONS
This is a leaked document and is a 'draft'. However our experience with previous leaked documents from the EU of this nature is that it will all be genuine. No-one is ever disciplined or sanctioned after one of these leaks and no enquiries are conducted. You may wish to conclude that these leaks are therefore of the official kind.
In effect, the EU has taken what was agreed with Mrs May in the rushed ‘Phase 1’ accord before Christmas and has tightened the terms considerably. They have also added further restrictions.
Given that the terms of Phase 1 were already unacceptable to mainstream Brexit thinking, the new demands and restrictions make any thought of a deal even more unthinkable than it already was.
We have consistently said that the government’s negotiating strategy was that the UK would remain in the EU to all intents and purposes during the ‘Transition Period’. For us, this period is a nonsense which simply delays Britain’s departure until 2021.
This is emphatically not what anyone voted for. David Cameron promised that in the event of a Leave vote he would invoke Article 50 immediately, which would have meant the UK’s departure on or before 24 June this year.
Instead we are looking at 01 January 2021 as the earliest date at which the country could be said to have exited the European Union, and even then it would involve the UK in commitments and obligations after that date which we consider to be untenable.
This isn't Brexit and the only reason we are not already taking strong action is because we don't believe the government will be able to reach any kind of deal with the EU and therefore all of this will fall apart. If that weren't the case, we'd have been building the barricades by now.
[ Sources: EU Commission ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       07.25am, 16 Jan 2018
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Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 16 Jan 2018, 12.26pm
Message: This incessant bullying from the EU; now we know how the Greeks felt in their negotiations. It is very clear to the nation, we will not be treated fairly by the EU bureaucrats, therefore we must move to WTO rules immediately! Are you listening T. May
Name: R Ellison, UK      Date/Time: 16 Jan 2018, 10.57am
Message: No wonder the EU Commissars don't want to let go of us. The UK is too precious to let go. We are thriving. They treat us as the fat Cash Cow, and want to bleed us dry. Who in their right minds clings on to the Sinking Ship, the 'SS EU', unless your name is PM May? And no one who has leadership qualities would even listen, or succumb, to the bullying of the likes of Tusk, Barnier, Junker, Merkel or Macron with their frenzied, madcap, inconceivable demands. It's shameful our Leader and her Chancellor are giving off all the wrong vibes, both appearing appeasing, anxious to negotiate and please, even when it's clear to the whole country that the EU want to strip us of all our assets. Oh but what they do wish to give us are their problems including hundreds of thousands of their African/Middle Eastern immigrants:- already an untenable, massive social, economic and law and order problem which the EU cannot handle. This 'social experiment', was actioned by Angela Merkel, spokesperson to a higher Order. As you so rightly entitle this article, it's 'Take, Take, Take'. There is no other option but for PM T. May to get Britain out immediately. Time for the EU to start sweating! UK based businesses can then start planning for our official exit a year from now. Now that's progress.

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 GOOD BREXIT NEWS
KEEPS ON ROLLING
(SORRY ABOUT THAT)
The flow of good economic data continues to come in at such a rate that we struggle to keep up with it. Last week the Office for National Statistics issued their “Short-term economic indicators commentary: January 2018”.
Here are the results:
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
The data relates to the 3-month period to end November 2017, compared to a year earlier. It shows continued growth in all areas. Although construction was down in the last 3 months this wasn’t by enough to offset the overall rise since a year ago.
OBSERVATIONS
Every week we produce charts and articles analysing a wide variety of facts. Our research is from official sources and we always aim to go back to raw data rather than relying on someone else’s reproduction of the data and someone else's analysis, as the BBC and some other media often do.
Despite this, whenever we report something on Twitter, we get people attacking us and claiming our facts are wrong. They don’t provide a link to an article rebutting our work, because of course there isn't one and they can’t write one. All they can do is try to make some disparaging remarks about our work, because they don’t like what it tells them.
Once again our work above is accurate and it uses official data, this time from the Office for National Statistics.
The news is all positive again.
Sorry about that.
P.S. Our Twitter handle is 'Facts4euOrg' and you can take a look here, without needing a Twitter account.
[ Sources: Office for National Statistics ]
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       02.45am, 16 Jan 2018
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USA SPECIAL !
The attacks on President Trump in the British and European media are relentless, with the BBC and Sky News no longer making any pretence at impartiality.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, continues to tweet out his nonsense, making Americans feel unwelcome in our capital city.
And the President himself has cancelled his proposed trip to the United Kingdom this month, to inaugurate the new American Embassy building south of the River Thames.
In light of all of this, the Brexit Facts4EU.Org team are considering a "USA Special". This will be an article (probably more than one) about the US in relation to the UK and the EU, and to the UK and EU post-Brexit.
The Brexit Facts4EU.Org Team, Tuesday 16 Jan 2018
READERS' COMMENTS
Please send us your comments and we will publish them here. You can of course use a pseudonym if you prefer, and it's always nice to know roughly where you're writing from. Please always state the headline of the article you're commenting on.
Name: Simon Jones, Wiltshire      Date/Time: 16 Jan 2018, 7.01pm
Message: Odd, isn’t it. Donald Trump is a difficult individual to defend; I’ve tried in my own wider social group to try to express how the Trump phenomenon gains traction where the alternatives are so poor and fundamentally unresponsive to concerns of millions of voters. Frankly, nobody wants to discuss it and they just wish it would all go away, but, the Office of the President of the United States of America is an entirely different matter. The ridiculous grandstanding from second rate British politicians, and even regrettably the PM and the incessant negativity and derision to which this Office is subjected has become a very poor joke. I would welcome a visit from the POTUS as a champion of the American people, encompassing as he does all the diplomatic power, financial weight and military strength that only the USA provides. In particular I see no reason why the State visit should not go ahead; there is a petition here. Contrast too with the visit from Macron; a President with barely 25% support (in the first round of the election) who will come to the UK with nothing but menaces and demands for money. Where do our priorities lie?
Name: J Slater, UK      Date/Time: 16 Jan 2018, 11.15am
Message: Excellent idea! Expose the lies and hypocracy of our Government compared with the open nature of Donald Trump's Presidency. The difference between Leaderships is interesting: PM May promised to get us out of the EU, and has prevaricated all the way. President Trump made promises in his Electioneering Campaign which he IS delivering. I know which type of Leader I prefer. As for our relationship with the US compared with the EU, the former has helped Great Britain in war and peaceful times and trades hugely with us to our benefit. Whereas, the EU has 'stolen' huge sums from the UK for 40 years on the pretence that we were benefiting somehow. Even now, the EU is trying to punish us for even daring to Leave the EU, taken by a democratic Referendum vote. Go for it, Facts 4EU... 'I float like a butterfly, and sting like a bee!'

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Alas none of us are hedge fund managers... or married to one. The Team (and one member in particular) has donated as much as it can. Can you please help fund our work?
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 THE FRENCH GRAIN TRAIN
© L'Elysée
HOW FRANCE LIVES ON EU BENEFITS
PAID FOR BY THE UK & OTHERS
Another exclusive Brexit Facts4EU.Org special report
The French still go ‘CAP in hand’ to the EU for subsidies after all these years
With the French government once again threatening to charge the UK for France’s problems policing its migrant camps at the border, we turn the spotlight on the French.
Specifically we look at one aspect of the amazing story of how the third-richest EU economy has played the EU benefits system for years and got away with it, taking billions per year in subsidies for its grossly inefficient farming sector.
TWO COUNTRIES OF SIMILAR SIZE
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
The UK’s economy is slightly larger than that of France, but its population and land mass are both smaller. The latest population stats for Jan 2017 from Eurostat show 65,808,600 for the UK and 67,024,500 for France. One fairly significant area of difference is that France still retains a sizeable rural economy, subsidised by the French State and particularly by the other EU countries.
For decades France has fiercely protected one of the first features of what was originally the EEC or ‘Common Market’ – that of the Common Agricultural Policy or CAP. It has done so because it is by far the biggest beneficiary of what are effectively subsidies for running an inefficient agricultural sector.
LOOK AT HOW MUCH FRENCH FARMERS RECEIVE
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
It used to be the case that the CAP was talked about a great deal by British politicians, when the European Union was being discussed. Over the years, however, as more member states joined, the rest of the EU increasingly put pressure on the CAP, forcing it to become smaller over time. Because it is now a smaller proportion of the overall EU budget, much of the British media don’t even mention it any more.
This is a mistake.
In 2016, the EU spent €62.8 billion euros on the Common Agricultural Policy.
France received €10.0 billion of this.
That is an enormous sum of money.
Incredibly, rich France received nearly a sixth of these subsidies, with a grand total of €10,054,952,000 (10.1 bn) Euros. This made it the recipient of by far the biggest subsidy. With the UK receiving just €3.97 bn Euros, this means:
France receives over 2.5 times more agricultural payments from the EU than the UK
OBSERVATIONS
We looked at this area of EU profligacy for two reasons:
  • France has started suggesting once again that the UK should pay for French border problems, and
  • President Macron is starting to play a sleight of hand, suggesting that France may now compromise on the CAP budget
On the second point, we suspect you may hear about this on the BBC soon. Please ignore whatever they say. If the French compromise on CAP, they’ll ensure they get it back elsewhere in the EU budget, don’t worry.
We deal in the reality of the EU – the way it gets money from the few net contributor member states such as the UK, and the way it spends that money. We look at the way decisions are made and at the nature of those decisions.
In short, we see the EU for what it really is – red in tooth and claw, so to speak.
By contrast, we see, hear and read Remoaner politicians and commentators in the UK on a daily basis, prattling on about what they think the EU is and does. They present a happy valley where all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds, as the French philosopher Voltaire had it. Alas, they are all sadly deluded.
Unfortunately, the ignorance of Remoaners doesn’t stop them lecturing the British people as if they actually knew what they were talking about. Day after day we produce solid evidence such as that above, showing that the EU is profoundly dysfunctional, undemocratic, warped in its thinking, and unrepresentative of the peoples of the 28 EU countries.
Absolutely all of the data we researched to produce this article came from the EU itself. It’s up-to-date – or as up-to-date as the EU ever is. Remoaners can’t simply dismiss information like this. They have to face it, and then tell the British people why they still think that the voters got it wrong.
Honestly, what justification can you think of, for why France should receive over 2.5 times the agricultural subsidies we receive in the UK? Come to that, what justification can you think of for any agricultural subsidies to be collected and distributed by the EU at all? If countries want to subsidise their agriculture and rural economies, (something which the British government will do post-Brexit), let them do it themselves.
If we were President Macron, we’d keep very quiet indeed about wanting any more monies from the United Kingdom.
[ Sources: EU Commission | Elysée Palace ]
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       06.55am, 15 Jan 2018
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Name: : Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 20 Jan 2018, 09.29am
Message: I'm catching up reading articles, but this one made my blood boil. After reading, I felt a more apt headline might be: 'The French GRAVY Train'? For this rich country to be 'on the take' from the CAP is insulting to all taxpayers, especially British taxpayers. French farmers need to learn to live within their means, and Mr Macron should budget for his country accordingly? I fully expected Mrs May to cave in to Mr Macron's demand for more UK money. In my opinion, to extract more UK money was the only reason for his visit to the UK? For Mrs May to then give away in excess of £44 million to Mr Macron to further assist French border issues just beggars belief. Mrs May should have been firm and said, "NO, British taxpayers have already given enough".
Name: : Deansy, London      Date/Time: 15 Jan 2018, 1.11pm
Message: You're right that we haven't heard much about the Common Agriculturalk Policy for a long time. I remember reading that it was a much smaller amount of money than it used to be. Not if you're French it seems. I find it totally unacceptable that they receive an amount like that each year just for having an inefficient rural economy. Lovely country but they really are clueless in business. No wonder they're doing okay if they get subsidies like this from the European Union. I remember you did one of your graphs showing how much less they give Brussels than we do. Maybe you should show that again?
Name: W Alkaway, UK      Date/Time: 15 Jan 2018, 12.51pm
Message: It's all about bribery and corruption. Rub my palms with silver and I will praise you, the EU, to the Heavens! The French have prostituted themselves to the EU. Why would the French politicians cause waves when they receive huge funding under the CAP. So have the Irish (Eire) living the life of Reilly with their transformed (EU funded) road networks, and all manner of hand outs. So have all the other nations who benefit from the EU's, so called, munificence. No questions asked as to where did all the funding come from. Likewise, have our own Remainer MPs and Cabinet Members, Head of Civil Service, and too many others. Those who are drawn into the Crazy Gang do so with one thought: 'what's in it for me?' A high paying job in Brussels? Play my cards right and I'll be on that Gravy Train. The EU slyly tap into the selfish of human nature in those who are weak and pliable. This is part and parcel of the way the EU Bureaucrats operate in order to win support. Yes, it all boils down to money. That filthy lucre taken from the hard workers of the UK, in the main. No amount of brain washing will work with the British people. You can subtly invite media students over to the EU for 'work experience' to try and influence their young minds, our future news writers and news readers. You can broadcast sweet classical music over the radio from, yes you guessed it, the 'EU Orchestra'. But, you see the fog has lifted and we read and digest and discuss facts from unbiased sources (definitely not the BBC). Every new action by the EU bureaucrats unveils yet more moves to totally control us in their straightjackets. What the EU politicians didn't bank on was the British people. Yes, we the people stood up, the shackles of the past 40 years now discarded, and we voted in large numbers to LEAVE the EU. This was much to the surprise of our own political parties who clearly were ignoring us. Some politicians, voted in to office by us the people, are still not listening to the majority. We are no longer silent. We WILL be heard and you, PM, WILL do our bidding . Another Referendum is not permissible under our democracy rules. The results of the Referendum we had have not yet been put into place. Time to hurry up Mrs May and Team. Your time, and our patience, is running out fast.
Name: Steve R, London      Date/Time: 15 Jan 2018, 10.06am
Message: The latest population figures show that the UK has getting on for 2m higher population than France. Density is much higher. SE England has densities similar to Holland and Belgium but not shown. Migration for the UK is much higher and only Germany has similar rates. Europarl showed that France receives over twice the net payments from the EU that the UK receives. Will May point this out to Macron? Before the referendum as finance minister in Hollande's failed government he told us that we would be 'completely killed' - not half - if we left. This silly puffed up elitist product should be told where to stick his subsidies.

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 MORE EU HEALTH WORKERS
THAN EVER CHOOSE TO
WORK IN THE NHS
A BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SPECIAL REPORT
Over the past year there has been a steady stream of scare stories about the NHS in relation to Brexit.
Readers may remember us having to debunk a BBC story about a ‘drop of nearly 90 per cent’ in EU nurses registering to work in Britain – and last year we had to do this not once but twice.
There have been many stories like that one. There is no doubt that the average voter has been given the impression that doctors and nurses from the EU who work for the NHS have been deserting in droves.
WE DON’T HAVE TIME TO CORRECT THE BBC EVERY DAY, BUT...
Regrettably this article seems to focus on producing negative statistics which put Brexit as the cause of an apparent crisis in the NHS. It is our belief that the real news is that EU staff numbers are up, not down.
© BBC
Remainers want you to believe EU staff are flooding out of the NHS due to Brexit. This is simply not true. In fact more are arriving than are leaving.
We have conducted research into the latest figures and bring you the truth about ‘our NHS’ and about those who have come from EU27 countries to work in it.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG OVERALL SUMMARY
EU HEALTH WORKERS CONTINUE TO CHOOSE UK
  • The number of EU staff working in the NHS since the Referendum is UP, not down
  • The number of EU staff joining the NHS is MORE than EU staff leaving
  • The number of joiners from the EU was nearly 40% HIGHER in 2017 than five years ago
  • Since the Referendum, the proportion of EU staff has gone OVER 5% for the first time
Every year for many years, the number of employees from EU27 countries who are working in the NHS has increased. Despite the impression you’ve been given by elements of the media, this trend has continued after the Referendum.
In fact, numbers of EU staff in the NHS are 7.5% higher than before the Referendum
At the end of 2014 there were 47,459 EU nationals working in the NHS, whereas by June of last year – a year after the Referendum - this number had increased to 62,542 people.
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
GETTING THINGS IN PROPORTION
Before the Referendum the proportion of total NHS staff that came from the EU27 was under 5%. Back in 2014 this stood at 4.1% and it was rising steadily. The increase continued up until the Referendum…. And has continued well past this. By June last year it stood at 5.2%.
In other words, far from the NHS seeing the proportion of its EU staff falling, the opposite has happened. A higher proportion of NHS staff now come from EU27 countries than ever before.
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
Nevertheless, it’s important to keep things in proportion. Despite the growing numbers from the EU, almost 95% of NHS staff continue to be from the UK or other countries. We mention this because when you listen to the BMA and other professional bodies talking, you would think that EU staff must make up half the workforce. EU staff are valued of course, but they’re still a small proportion of the total.
Some detailed statistics:-
  • There were 62,542 NHS staff from the EU in June 2017
  • This is an increase of 7.5% since the Referendum
  • There were 12,303 new joiners from the EU last year
  • This compares with 10,165 who left
  • 5.2% of NHS staff are now from the EU and this has climbed from 4.1% in Jan 2015
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
The chart above is quite informative. We looked at the number of staff from the EU27 countries who started working for the NHS in 2013, five years ago. If the NHS were now experiencing a ‘cliff-edge’ scenario, as predicted by some professional bodies, then you would expect numbers of new starters from the EU would be fewer today, but this isn’t the case.
In fact the latest figures show a 38.5% increase in new NHS employees from the EU in the last year, compared to five years ago.
THE BIAS OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
Below is the then-Chairman of the BMA, Dr Mark Porter, in a video they released the day after the Referendum. The BMA describes itself as “the trade union and professional body for doctors in the UK”.
© YouTube / BMA
“We stand together as one profession with our colleagues from across Europe and the world with whom we live, work and study and on whom the NHS depends.”
- Dr Mark Porter, Former Chairman, BMA, 24 June 2016
The BMA has a section of its website devoted to Brexit. Needless to say, no Brexiteer would feel at home there.
THE BIAS OF THE BBC
In addition to the BBC article we referenced above, and all the other occasions when the BBC mentions Brexit disparagingly in relation to the NHS, you may be interested to know that the BBC now works in collusion with the BMA and other organisations.
One of the documents we researched, produced by the BBC, reads like a co-production with organisations which clearly have an axe to grind. For example, here’s an excerpt:
“What the experts say
Danny Mortimer, co-convenor of the Cavendish Coalition, a group of 37 health and social care organisations which have come together to ensure staffing needs are met after Brexit”
(A long quote follows, which begins: “The BBC’s analysis is really clear.”)
STATISTICAL NOTE: It was not easy to produce the information above. The data we used was always the latest official data available and was correct at either June or Sept 2017. We used various sources to cross-check, although this was complicated by them using differing time periods. Please also note that the figures are for England. Scotland and Northern Ireland don't collect nationality data, and Wales does but it's much harder to find. We believe that the principles behind our conclusions for England will apply to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
OBSERVATIONS
Every now and again we find ourselves compelled to correct false news being put out by the BBC, when we feel that a steady flow of misinformation is turning into a successful brainwashing exercise for them.
This is the case over the various scare stories which continue about the NHS. It is a shame that the Dept of Health isn’t correcting the misinformation being put out, but of course its Secretary of State was a Remainer, in common with the vast majority of the Cabinet.
In any event we decided that we needed to act, and to produce a report showing how the NHS is not suffering from a haemorrhaging of talent back to EU27 countries.
TO REITERATE, MORE EU27 NATIONALS
WORK IN THE NHS THAN EVER BEFORE
If you knew this, then please forgive us for wasting your time. If however you had formed the impression from TV news and other media sources that somehow the NHS was seeing a reduction in its staff from the EU, then we hope you found the report useful in correcting those lies.
To be honest, we were surprised at some of our findings. Given the appalling level of bias from the BBC and other parts of the the media, and the even worse level of bias from sections of the medical profession itself, we’re amazed that anyone from the EU27 wanted to stay working for the NHS. We expected a small fall. To find that numbers continue to increase was a surprise.
AND FINALLY...
For our part we will simply say that we have never met a Brexiteer who wishes ill to any EU27 national living and working in the UK. Naturally we hope that in the case of the NHS the right language skills are checked, as well as professional qualifications, but we would say exactly the same about any foreign national wishing to work in the Health Service. And we’re sure that all EU nationals would say the same about their own health services.
No-one has ever talked of repatriating anyone – unless they’re a mad Remoaner, of course. Brexiteers tend to be welcoming sorts!
[ Sources: NHS Digital | BMA | NHS Employers | The Health Foundation | House of Commons Library ]
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       07.55am, 14 Jan 2018
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Name: Liz F, UK      Date/Time: 14 Jan 2018, 12.39pm
Message: Ah yes, the impartial Beeb. On their website under the heading 'Why you can trust BBC News' they are at pains to emphasise just how impartial and trustworthy they are:
"The BBC is recognised by audiences in the UK and around the world as a provider of news that you can trust. Our website, like our TV and radio services, strives for journalism that is accurate, impartial, independent and fair. Our editorial values say: 'The trust that our audience has in all our content underpins everything that we do. We are independent, impartial and honest. We are committed to achieving the highest standards of accuracy and impartiality and strive to avoid knowingly or materially misleading our audiences. Our commitment to impartiality is at the heart of that relationship of trust. In all our output we will treat every subject with an impartiality that reflects the full range of views. We will consider all the relevant facts fairly and with an open mind.'"
Well if the BBC says they're impartial, they must be. Sadly many in the UK and the EU believe it too. Fortunately we have sites like Facts4EU that aren't afraid to challenge and highlight their hypocrisy.

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 FARAGE THINKS 2ND REF
WILL DECIDE THINGS FOR GOOD
REMAINERS THINK THEY HAVE A BETTER CHANCE
WITH THE FOLLOWING BALLOT PAPER
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
After the amazing result in the British Referendum on EU membership, you can imagine governments now thinking that they should limit the answer to the only one they want, can't you?
Just a little something to make you smile this weekend. Please read on for our serious news.
       The Brexit Facts4EU.Org Team, 11.15am, 13 Jan 2018
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 EU AGAIN ADMITS
UK NET PAYMENTS TO EU
ARE MUCH HIGHER
© EU Commission
EU’S FINANCE CHIEF WARNS OF
CUTS & HIGHER CONTRIBUTIONS POST-BREXIT
EU TO LOSE UP TO £11.5 BILLION PER YEAR DUE TO BREXIT
This week saw the EU starting to face up to the harsh realities of life without Britain – or more specifically without Britain’s money.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY
  • EU27 will lose “€12 - €13 billion euros” per year from budget
  • 50% of the ‘black hole’ will come from cuts
  • 50% of the ‘black hole’ will come from increased contributions
There were several speeches in the EU over the past week about the EU’s new budget, post-Brexit. These ranged from the rambling and embrrassing (Jean-Claude Juncker’s, for example) to the harsh, machine-gun style of the EU’s Budget Commissioner, German Gunther Oettinger.
EXCERPTS FROM HERR OETTINGER’S SPEECH
You can watch a clip, or read what we transcribed below.
© EU Commission
Facts4EU.Org transcription:
“The hole on the revenue side is because of net contributor the United Kingdom which sadly is going to leave us following a transitional period which is being negotiated by Michel Barnier at present, we’re helping him with that, and at the end of that we’ll be short of €12-13 billion annually, on a structural basis.”
“Our provisional proposal is to close the Brexit hole by making savings on the existing budgetary structure using 50% savings, 50% fresh money.”
“I know that 50% fresh money is too much for some of you, for others it’s not enough, but at the end of the day we all have to agree together.”
- Gunther Oettinger, EU Budget Commissioner, Brussels, 08 Jan 2018
ONCE AGAIN THE EU CONFIRMS 'REMAIN' LIED IN THE REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN
In yet another shocking admission which won't make the BBC news, the EU has again revealed that the figure for the United Kingdom’s net contributions is significantly higher than the British public were told.
The figure used by the Remain campaign, and by BBC Reality Check, and by the ONS, and by the Treasury, and by the House of Commons Library, and by David Cameron and George Osborne, was £8.4 billion per year.
BBC 'Reality Check'
                         BBC quoted £8.385 bn / yr as the UK's net contribution                       © BBC
At Facts4EU.Org we calculated the figure many times using a combination of official UK government and EU Commission figures. Whilst it varied according to exchange rate fluctuations and many other factors, we stated repeatedly that the correct figure was well over £10 billion per year.
Last week the highest-ranking financial officer for the EU, Budget Commissioner Gunther Oettinger, again announced the correct figure is:
“€12 – 13 billion Euros per annum”
In pounds sterling, that’s £10.7 – £11.6 billion.
And that’s a lot more than £8.4 billion.
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
The true net cost, according to the top money man at the EU, is in fact 27% - 38% higher than the figure which was claimed by all on the Remain side. That is way beyond any ‘margin of error’ and nor is it explained by exchange rate fluctuations.
OBSERVATIONS
Last year we reported on another speech made by Herr Oettinger, which once again was not picked up by the BBC, Sky News, or ITN. In it, the EU Commissioner admitted that the EU would lose “between €12-15 billion euros” per year, or £10.5 - £13.2 billion pounds per year at the then exchange rate.
This week Herr Oettinger refined his figures, talking of “€12 - €13 billion euros” or £10.7 - £11.6 billion pounds per year. (We use the Bank of England’s latest daily spot exchange rate.)
We believe that Herr Oettinger is now talking of the lower range of £10.7 - £11.6 billion per year because he was referring only to the EU’s annual budget. On top of that, the UK pays into many funds which the EU carefully keeps ‘off-the-books’.
The EU is continuing to try to keep these payments as quiet as possible, to make it easier for Mrs May to keep paying them after Brexit. If you add in these extra payments the annual figure would increase significantly. However, even without adding in everything, the annual net contributions are much higher than voters were told.
THE EU FACING REALITY
Nevertheless it is clear that the EU is now having to persuade the EU27 member states to face up to the reality that the second-largest paymaster of the EU is leaving. One of the two magic money taps is about to be turned off.
It is a simple fact that the EU does not publish tables which clearly show who pays for the EU. In fact it is really very time-consuming to try to track down the exact figures for payments into the EU and receipts from it.
The EU does not want you or anyone else in the EU to know the picture below, exclusively produced by the Brexit Facts4EU.Org team.
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2018
The reasons are simple. The people in countries (like the UK) which pay the lion’s share of the EU’s budget would be outraged if they knew. And the people in countries which are heavily subsidised (like Poland) must think of the money they receive as being “EU money”, and not money coming from the UK or Germany.
In this way, the EU inculcates in ordinary EU citizens a sense of loyalty to the institution of the EU and a warm feeling about it. In reality, it’s the poor old taxpayers of the UK and Germany who have kept the EU afloat for decades, but no-one in the EU wants the people of the EU to know this.
We have a question for those of you who read Facts4EU.Org each day. Would you care if we closed, and if no-one shone the bright light of facts and truth on Brexit and the EU? We’re not talking here about one of the many sites which simply give you summary paragraphs from newspapers and links to the stories. There are many of those. Some of them are very well-known and receive a lot of money. You see their senior people on the TV sometimes.
No, we’re talking about original investigative journalism, bringing you facts which no-one else does. Unique content, based on hours or days of research of official data from the EU, the UK government, or from EU27 governments. We’re talking about work which is read by MPs, MEPs, thinktanks, and mainstream journalists. We even influence the debate internationally and we know we even number senators amongst our relatively small but important readership.
It’s January and everyone’s broke. If you read us regularly but have never donated before, now is the time we really need you. If you can help with something, no matter how small, thank you.
[ Sources: EU Commission | BBC | Bank of England ]
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       07.30am, 13 Jan 2018
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Name: : Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 20 Jan 2018, 01.35am
Message: Excellent article that should help UK remain MPs, and make the EU think. Mr Oettinger, the EU's Budget Commissioner, had no choice but to confirm the NET loss to the EU budget after Brexit. I haven't heard one UK remain politician apologise as yet. They realise they have no option but to confront realities which should have been addressed many years ago, yet they chose to ignore and carry on regardless, despite protests. As the charts above clearly show, only a handful of EU member countries are NET contributors to the EU construct, whilst the majority of EU countries are on the receiving end. The EU forever go on about transparency, so they MUST be required to fully declare all funding avenues, and the UK Treasury MUST equally be required to publish EVERY EU fund it pays into, and the amounts. From a UK perspective, there must be no cover up like there was in the 1970's (re: "FCO 30/1048"). It is blindingly clear tens of £billions (or more), are disappearing into the EU construct from the UK, so perhaps we should be a little selfish whilst we get our own house in order?
Name: : Simple Simon, Cambs, UK      Date/Time: 13 Jan 2018, 2.04pm
Message: Nice piece of reporting, thanks. Interesting they can talk of making cutbacks but then when they talk about our supposed financial obligations to them, they pretend that they can't cut anything and we owe everything that was even mooted vaguely for years to come!
Name: : Brexit means Brexit, Essex, UK      Date/Time: 13 Jan 2018, 10.48am
Message: Quelle suprise! I am shocked, who would have thought it, the British Government has been lying to its electorate about the cost of the EU to its taxpayers. Does that mean the figures in the Budget Red Book published after every Budget are false? No wonder Jacob Rees-Mogg questioned the Government about what the £3billion figure published was for. Also the UK Government contributes monies to the EU aid budget, as well as the UK's own contribution of 0.7% of GDP. All the UK has become is a cash-cow for this corrupt Empire. Just imagine what all this money we are contributing to the EU budget could do to our, the taxpayers of the UK's, infrastructure: schools, hospitals, roads etc. Taxpayers' money spent in the UK, allocated to projects by elected MP's, accountable to us the taxpayers. Could be a novel idea called democracy - you never know it might catch on.

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 “WE DIDN’T WANT MIGRANTS, YOU DID”
© EU Council
HUNGARIAN PM ORBAN DEFENDS HIMSELF
IN GERMAN INTERVIEW
It has been a busy week for Viktor Orbán, the hardhitting Prime Minister of Hungary.
A week ago he was guest speaker in Bavaria, at the party conference of Angela Merkel’s CSU partners. His presence there did no harm to the prospects of Horst Seehofer, CSU’s leader, in advance of the coalition negotiations between the CDU, CSU and SDP reaching a climax tonight.
He was also a main guest at the German ‘Welt-Wirtschaftsgipfel’ conference in Berlin, as we reported yesterday.
In addition to the above, Orbán managed to fit in a devastatingly-frank interview with Bild, the biggest-selling tabloid newspaper in Germany. He certainly didn’t pull any punches.
INTERVIEW OF HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBAN
By Nikolaus Blome, Christian Stenzel of BILD, 09 Jan 2018
It was a fairly long interview, so we will extract the most newsworthy statements that the Hungarian Prime Minister made.
“Hungary is one of the few success stories of the last decade. The successful West and the poor East – that’s over! When I came into office in 2010, the unemployment rate was 12%, now it is less than 4 per cent. The economic growth rate is more than 4%. In 2009, it was still -6%. The budget deficit is well under 3%. It you give us a fair evaluation, we are doing quite well.”
[On the ECJ ruling against Hungary]: “The [refugee] quota was not fulfilled by more than twenty states, and still only we are being criticized. That is a case of double standards.”
[On why Germany has taken 2 million ‘refugees’ but Hungary won’t take 2000]:
“The difference is you wanted the migrants, and we didn’t.”
“We are doing our job by defending the Schengen external border with Serbia. This has cost us an additional one billion Euros since 2015, and Brussels is not paying a single cent. The solution of the problem is not to disperse people in the whole EU territory who are illegally staying in the EU.”
“We think that one must help where the problem is located, instead of bringing the migrants here.”
[On why Hungarians don’t want ‘refugees’]:
“We do not consider these people to be Muslim refugees. We consider them to be Muslim invaders.”
“For instance, somebody who wants to come from Syria to Hungary must cross four countries that are not as rich as Germany, but stable. So they are not running for their lives there.”
“They are economic migrants who are looking for a better life.”
[On how the lives of ‘refugees’ are valued]: “When somebody would like to come to your house, first they knock on the door and ask: ‘Can we come in, can we stay?’ But they didn’t do that; they crossed the border illegally.”
“That was not a wave of refugees, but an invasion.”
“Concerning the migration issue, I never understood how it is possible that in a country like Germany – which is the best example of discipline and the rule of law – the chaos, anarchy, and illegal crossing of borders could be celebrated as a good thing.”
[On blame]:
“Politically, the refugee issue is a European problem, but sociologically, it’s a German problem.”
“The reason why they are in your country is not that they are refugees, but that they would like to have a German life.”
“I can only speak for the Hungarian people, and they don’t want migration. It’s impossible, in my opinion, that there is a decision of the people on a very fundamental issue, and the leadership of the country decides not to follow the public will.”
“We are talking about sovereignty and the cultural identity of the country here. We have to keep the right to decide who can stay in the territory of Hungary.”
“We think that having a high number of Muslims necessarily creates parallel societies. Christian and Muslim societies will never merge into one. Multiculturalism is an illusion. We do not want that. And we don’t want something forced upon us. Take Budapest as a positive example: a cosmopolitan melting pot without a parallel society.”
[On staying in or leaving the EU]:
“The major threat now is that Brussels is trying, trickily, to transfer national sovereignty towards itself.”
“But even when we criticize the Brussels elite, our attitude is not anti-European. I don’t accept that the Brussels bureaucrats and elites consider themselves to be Europe. Brussels is not the same as the European Union.”
[On George Soros]: “Mr Soros is also running a campaign against the Hungarian government, and in that, he is not restricted by anything.... With his money, he supports 60 non-government organisations that support migrants and illegal immigration. This is not about the freedom expression, but national security.”
OBSERVATIONS
Well, the one thing you can say about Viktor Orbán is that he’s never boring. We have another, even longer, interview that he did with the same newspaper last year and even though it’s longer it makes very interesting reading.
Hungarians tend as a people to talk ‘straight’, rather than beating about the bush. They also tend to have a sense of humour which is strangely similar to the British sense of humour.
Viktor Orbán is a very confident leader who has majority support in his country. If you ask him a straight question, you tend to get a fairly direct answer. We happen to think that a politician who speaks his mind and says what he believes is both a rarity and someone to be listened to, regardless of whether you agree or not with his political views.
Quite possibly it helped that the journalists interviewing him came solidly from the luvvie-liberal tradition prevalent in the media across Europe. Faced with Guardinista-type questioning, naturally Orbán is going to come out with some ‘good copy’, as media folk say. He certainly didn’t disappoint.
THE TIMES THEY ARE A'CHANGING
We do have a very serious point to make about this, though. Two years ago Mr Orbán’s views and the policies he has pursued since then were anathema to almost every politician in the EU. He was almost universally condemned and became a figure of hate amongst the Establishments of every EU country.
© MTI
One by one, these politicians have mostly come around to Mr Orbán’s policies. They have done so quietly, never once admitting that they had been wrong before. Orbán’s policies have been adopted even in very liberal countries. Last year we pointed out that Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands was coming out with some extreme anti-migrant rhetoric in order to counter the challenge of Geert Wilders and the Freedom Party.
Fences, first built by Hungary’s government and universally condemned, started springing up everywhere. Migrants are now being repatriated, albeit at enormous cost and in tiny numbers.
EVEN THE GERMAN POLITICAL LANDSCAPE HAS BEEN AFFECTED
And in Germany, one of the key reasons why Mutti Merkel hasn’t been able to form a government in almost four months is because the mainstream parties like hers took a beating at the hands of the right-wing Alternativ fur Deutschland party which secured an astonishing 94 seats in the Bundestag. This left Frau Merkel severely weakened and she is today fighting for her political life. She has to form a coalition in principle by midnight.
© Wiki
Merkel has said many things in the last year, quite shamelessly, that you would never have heard her saying 18 months ago. It’s thanks to people like Mr Orbán that these things are now being said by mainstream politicians in EU member states.
The last dinosaur politicians who still won’t wake up and smell the coffee are some on the far left, and most of the bureaucrat-politicians in the EU buildings in Brussels.
[ Sources: Bild ]
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       10.00am, 12 Jan 2018
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Name: : Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 12 Jan 2018, 2.26pm
Message: Very interesting article; to the point, succinct and incisive. Real journalism is still alive and well in FACTS4EU - thank you.

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 BARNIER HAMPERS BREXITEERS
WITH GAG ORDER
© S Woolfe
BARNIER GOES ALL SECRETIVE
Yesterday four senior Brexiteers visited Michel Barnier, Chief Brexit Negotiator of the EU27, to discuss Brexit and were sworn to secrecy.
The Brexiteers were Steven Woolfe, formerly a UKIP MEP but now independent; John Longworth, former director general of the British Chambers of Commerce; Lord Digby Jones, former head of the CBI and former minister at the DTI; and John Mills, chairman of the Labour Leave group.
The mainstream media have provided little substantive content on this meeting, but we are pleased to bring you a video of an interview with them, published by a newly-established news organisation called Core Politics.
On Tuesday, Nigel Farage kicked things off with his own meeting with Barnier. Here is a video of Mr Farage on his radio show on LBC, where he recounts the main elements of what was discussed.
Cameras were banned by Monsieur Barnier from this meeting, as they were with the second meeting.
 
OBSERVATIONS
Interestingly, Mr Barnier was very happy to have the cameras present when he met anti-Brexit campaigners such as Jeremy Corbyn, and subsequently Messrs Adonis, Clarke, and Clegg.
However when it came to meeting senior Brexiteers such as Mr Farage on Tuesday, and with Messrs Woolfe, Longworth, Mills, and Lord Jones yesterday, Barnier would like to go covert. He refused the presence of cameras and denied his pro-Brexit visitors the right to comment afterwards on what he said during the meetings.
This is of course entirely against the professed policies and standards of the EU Commission. Last year the EU made an enormous amount of how a key EU value of ‘transparency’ would be paramount in the Brexit negotiations.
THE EU COMMISSION'S OFF-ON OPENNESS:
“The Commission, as European Union negotiator, will ensure a maximum level of transparency during the whole negotiating process.”
From “The European Commission's approach to transparency in the Article 50 negotiations with the United Kingdom”
GAGS & BLINDFOLDS
Now we see yet another example of the hypocrisy of the EU on almost every subject. Barnier specifically instructed the four Brexiteers on secrecy yesterday. According to Politico, John Longworth said that “Barnier made us promise not to repeat what he said so we can only talk about what we said to him.” Steven Woolfe apparently added: “I keep my promises so I will not divulge what he [Barnier] said.”
It is important to stress that this meeting was not an official meeting between Barnier and British negotiators, where some discretion might have been understandable. It was merely an informal meeting. There can be absolutely no justification for Barnier to insist on secrecy.
We have to say that if we had been meeting Barnier we would not have agreed to his bizarre conditions, which it seems only apply to Brexiteers. No such conditions were imposed on his meetings with Corbyn, Adonis, Clarke, Clegg, and all the numerous other Remainers he has met.
[ Sources: Core Politics | Politico | Twitter | YouTube ]
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       05.55am, 12 Jan 2018
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