EU reveals figures behind its ‘Balkans backyardism’
While International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has been busy talking to countries around the world about the UK’s future trading relationship, the EU’s statistics agency has revealed the figures for its exports to the Western Balkans countries that it has been courting for years.
These six countries are currently being paid vast sums each year from EU taxpayers to upgrade their infrastructures and their human rights, as precursors to joining the EU as full members.
Whilst Germany and other EU states benefit from this policy of expansion, the UK doesn’t. This is because the majority of exports to the region come from the EU – but far less from the UK.
For 5 out of the 6 countries, the EU is responsible for the lion’s share of the world’s exports into each country. In fact 58.5% of all exports into the region come from the EU, according to the EU’s own figures. In 2017 these totalled €26 or €29bn euros, depending on which EU figures you use.
It will come as no surprise that Germany is the largest exporter to the Western Balkans region. As the EU said itself in the report it released last week:
“Among the EU Member States, the largest exporters to the Western Balkans in 2017 were Germany (16% of the EU exports of goods to the Western Balkans) and Italy (14%).
“Together they accounted for over one third of all exports to this region.”
- Official Eurostat report: EU-Western Balkans Trade Rlations – 17 May 2018
[Statistical note: We have had problems trying to reconcile all the numbers in the EU’s report. Putting it frankly, some of them don’t seem to add up. A good example is in the quotation above. 16% plus 14% = 30% and that’s not “over one third”.]
MRS MAY – WORLD LEADER
Last week Theresa May was in the Balkans. And no, this is not a euphemism.
The Prime Minister attended the EU Summit in Bulgaria, which currently holds the rotating 6-month presidency of the EU Council. Also attending were the leaders of the six Western Balkans countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia.
Mrs May also visited Macedonia while she was in the region and had separate talks with its PM Zoran Zaev.
Macedonia is the only one of the six Western Balkans countries to which the UK exports anything significant. The other countries bought very little from the UK – some as low as £6 million.
OBSERVATIONS
This article illustrates two points:
1. FORGET ‘LITTLE ENGLANDERS’ WHAT ABOUT THE ‘LITTLE EUROPEANS’?
With Liam Fox continously jetting around the world, there is nothing ‘Little Englander’ about the aspirations of those who see great opportunities in a post-Brexit Britain. Quite the opposite – the UK has always been far more outward-looking and global than the EU.
The EU elites have concentrated far too much on their own back-yard, which helps to explain why in 60 years they never managed to get around to a trade deal with the world’s largest economies such as the US and China.
2. UK TAXPAYER CONTINUES TO PAY FOR EU27 TO BUILD MARKETS TO BENEFIT EU27
For many years the EU has been heavily focused on its own enlargement. It has done this at the UK taxpayer’s expense, as the UK is one of the few EU countries to be a net contributor and therefore paymaster for the EU’s expansionist projects.
In concentrating on enlargement, the existing member states such as Germany and France were of course using UK money to develop markets on their doorstep – and this continues to happen to this day and will continue through Mrs May’s Transition Period.
Over and again we see Remainer politicians ridiculing the government and pro-Brexit organisations like ourselves, saying that this or that country isn’t worth bothering with. This happened only this weekend, when Liam Fox made an announcement about the progress of trade talks with Australia and New Zealand.
Whenever we report good trade news, it is ridiculed. So let’s just take Australia.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY - COMPARING WESTERN BALKANS TO AUSTRALIA
UK goods exports to Australia in 2017?
Answer: £4.8 billion
UK goods exports to all 6 Western Balkan EU candidate countries combined?
Answer: £1.7 billion
The UK’s exports to Australia on its own are worth almost 3 times the UK's combined exports to the EU’s 6 Western Balkan candidate countries.
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: Brexiteer, Braintree, EssexDate/Time: 21 May 2018, 4.20pm
Message: Unfortunately both the civil service who are advising May, and the Prime Minister herself have no vision, no outward view of trade other than the EU. May seems to regard the EU as the be all and end all of trade relations. She seems to forget we pay billions of pounds to trade with the EU, we pay nothing to trade with other nations outside the EU. As well as the costs, the laws we must implement some 945 since the referendum! Just let go, move on, the EU market is shrinking. It's on the way down, don't hang on to these losers, it's not going to improve with the Balkans joining.
Name: Shieldsman, Surrey, UKDate/Time: 21 May 2018, 3.47pm
Message: There was a very good article in the Telegraph on the 18th May. 'Remainers cannot call themselves liberal while they try to preserve the EU's control', by Rado Tylecote. My view is, the EU is the epitome of the old European Rivalries, with the French and Germans in modern parlance vying to be top dog. With the French President (Macron) clearly thinking it is his role to lead the amalgamation of the Empire.
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EXCLUSIVE - SHOCK ADMISSION BY EU
“UK RESPONSIBLE FOR 1/4 OF EU COUNTRIES' EXPENDITURE ON DEFENCE”
LATEST EU FIGURES SHOOT MAY’S SURRENDER OUT OF THE WATER
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY - DEFENCE SPENDING IN THE EU 2016
UK is by far the biggest funder of defence in the EU
UK spent €47bn, out of EU total of €200bn
4 Member States accounted for 71% of total defence expenditure in the EU
Apart from UK, only 2 EU countries spent NATO minimum of 2% on defence
EU countries are spending LESS on defence since 2010 (from 1.5% down to 1.3%)
RULE BRITANNIA – UK DOMINATES DEFENCE SPENDING IN THE EU
As you can see below, the UK is easily the largest investor in defence in the whole of the EU. Here is how the EU itself was forced to admit the news on Friday:-
“The United Kingdom spent the most on defence (€47 bn in 2016). This is equivalent to almost a quarter (24%) of the total EU public expenditure on defence.”
- Latest statement from EU on member states' defence spending, 18 May 2018
NATO has had a minimum level of spending on defence for a number of years. Most recently this was a major discussion point at the NATO Summit in Wales in 2014, when all member countries agreed to increase their defence expenditure to the 2% of GDP minimum.
Apart from the UK, only Estonia and Greece spend above the NATO 2% minimum. Estonia has recently increased its spending dramatically as a result of Russia conducting major military exercises on its borders over the past few years – hence British Typhoon jet fighters now being based there.
Greece has always spent a lot on defence, partly as a result of its long-standing disputes with Turkey. German arms manufacturers have been the major beneficiaries, even during the spending straitjacket put on Greece by the Troika of which the German government was a part.
THE EU ARE GETTING WORSE – BY THEIR OWN ADMISSION
The chart below shows that not only are the EU countries failing to keep their promises, they are actually spending LESS now, as a proportion of their GDP, than in 2010.
To be clear, the data we are using comes directly from the EU Commission’s statistics agency, and they admit what we are telling you. For example:
“EVOLUTION OF 'DEFENCE' EXPENDITURE OVER 2002-2016”
“At the level of the EU-28, slight decreases in the share of 'defence' expenditure compared to total expenditure were noted over 2002-2016 (2002: 1.5 % of GDP vs. 2016: 1.3 % of GDP), with the share in total expenditure dropping from 3.3 % in 2002 to 2.9 % in 2016.”
- Official Eurostat report: How much is spent on defence in the EU? – 18 May 2018
As we have pointed out many times, Mrs May has unilaterally given away the UK’s negotiating hand over defence. Not only that but she has agreed to all the EU’s plans for military aggrandisement since the Referendum. And unknown to most MPs she has allowed the UK to become even further committed to a raft of EU defence structures and funds.
The position of the Prime Minister is that the UK commits completely and without conditions to the continued defence of the EU27.
This is complete madness in our considered opinion. Whilst no-one is suggesting that we should threaten the EU with the complete removal of our defence and intelligence umbrella unless they play ball on Brexit, Mrs May has gone to the opposite extreme and given the EU everything. A cast-iron, gold-plated guarantee.
To those who say “Ah yes, but she’s being very clever because nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” we would simply reply “No”.
Firstly the woman is clueless about the EU and about negotiating. She is also clueless about defence and about foreign policy, having never had any experience in these areas.
Secondly Mrs May has set a climate in Brussels where the EU expects to demand and receive the most absurd and unreasonable things. That is exactly what has happened over the past two years.
The EU is now used to this and the whole battlefield is of the EU’s making. By agreeing to everything in principle, May has made the UK look weak. She has made the running extremely difficult for a new PM to take over and start reading the facts of life to the EU.
THESE EU FIGURES ARE INDEFENSIBLE
The latest report on defence expenditure by EU countries makes for shocking reading, unless you have been following the research reports of Brexit Facts4EU.Org in the last few years.
The official figures just released by the EU for 2016 tell a deeply worrying story. The EU is steaming full speed ahead towards a full military capability which they undoubtedly intend to use to replace NATO. We have reported on this many times and there can no longer be any doubt about this.
The latest EU figures show that not only have EU countries been unable to spend the NATO minimum of 2% of GDP on defence, they have actually been spending LESS over the course of this decade.
The figures show that the overall spend of EU countries has fallen from 1.5% to 1.3% since 2010. This is despite NATO calling for increased spending and despite EU countries such as Germany promising to do that.
CONCLUSIONS
We have a British Prime Minister who has surrendered on every vaguely-important point in the Brexit negotiations so far. Most importantly she has given the EU one of the UK’s most powerful bargaining chips – its defence and intelligence umbrella. Let’s be clear, without the UK protecting the EU it would collapse under very small provocation.
Only a couple of weeks ago the German press was reporting how only 4 of its force of Typhoon fighters were operational at any time.
So Mrs May's government has promised total defence and intelligence cover to the EU, for nothing in return. At the same time the EU countries are spending LESS, not more on defence. And to cap it all the EU itself is now building its own full military capability which will most definitely try to take over from NATO.
It is our opinion that the entire defence policy of the United Kingdom requires a radical re-think, given the mood music in the European capitals. We can see advantages in forming new alliances and bilateral partnerships. We also believe that greater anglosphere cooperation would significantly alter the landscape for defence and peace both in Europe and also in the rest of the world.
A good starting point for the Prime Minister would be to start informing herself of the facts before giving away yet more very strong hands held by the UK, in the continuing Brexit negotiations.
[ Sources: EU Commission | Eurostat ] Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
09.35am, Sunday 20 May 2018
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: Chris, Devizes, UKDate/Time: 20 May 2018, 6.31pm
Message: Hi. Off-topic - the EFTA/EEA Option Given the quagmire that May has got us into, and the apparent unwillingness of the Tory Brexiteers to take action, I wondered if Facts4EU has looked into the EFTA/EEA option in any detail? I have started to look at this, and have concluded that it might well be an acceptable way forward. As I understand it, membership of the EEA allows tariff-free trade with the EU in goods and services, including financial services, whilst also allowing independent free trade deals with 3rd party Countries (since it is not a Customs Union). The downsides are that an annual fee is required (about £9bn in our case), and it requires free movement. Also, although the EFTA court mirrors judgements by the ECJ, these are not binding on EFTA member states. In Norway for example, only 10% of their laws come from the EU. So it's not the hard Brexit we all want, but it seems to me to be better than the ridiculous customs union arrangement May is striving for.
Reply: Hi Chris. Yes we went into this a long time ago, before the Referendum, and rejected it utterly. This whole EEA/EFTA thing is only being resurrected by certain people (both Brexiteers and Remainers) with vested interests. Please don't believe what you're being told. Perhaps we should do another article about this but it would take some time. As ever we're just so short of resource. For us this EEA thing is like Remainers constantly trying to re-run the Referendum campaign. For the moment we'll just say that this 'option' isn't an option at all - it's simply not Brexit. We do understand how people are being deceived once again, however.
Name: Chris, Devizes, UKDate/Time: 20 May 2018, 12.59pm
Message: Excellent work. I'm sure that if you carried out a similar exercise on Cyber Security in the EU, you would find that GCHQ provides almost all of it. Yet the useless May does not seem to understand the use of bargaining chips. There are some very interesting related points made by Michael Portillo on 'This Week'. See iPlayer here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0b3lkdb/this-week-17052018 (At 30 and 37 mins in). I think that unless we see some action from Boris/Davis/Gove/Fox next week, then it is game over, and we are stuck in the EU in perpetuity. None of the Tory Brexiteers seem to want to challenge May. Their threats are just hot air.
Name: Andrew James, CambridgeshireDate/Time: 20 May 2018, 10.56am
Message: Excellent research and nicely summarised, thank you. Do you mind if I send this to BBC News?
Message: Thank you Andrew. Please feel free to send the link to the article to anyone you think might be interested. (See the red text immediately above this grey box which says "SHARE THIS ARTICLE ONLINE".) Unfortunately the BBC don't seem to be interested in any of our research, but don't let that stop you trying!
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EUROZONE EXPORTS FALL
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY - EUROZONE EXPORTS MAR 2018
Eurozone exports (to outside EU) in Mar 2018 : €199.9bn
The same month a year ago : €205.9bn
This is a fall of 2.9% on March 2017
On Friday the statistics agency for the EU Commission released figures showing that exports from the Eurozone actually fell in real terms in March.
Comparing March 2018 to March 2017, exports from the Eurozone countries fell from €205.9bn to €199.9bn, a drop of 2.9%.
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: John Finn, Coventry, UKDate/Time: 20 May 2018, 9.21pm
Message: Come on, guys, you're better than this This is a misleading article. EZ exports in March 2017 were huge - the highest on record by some margin for any month. The fact that exports in March 2018 are 3% down on last March is hardly disastrous.
Reply: We're very tired after working all weekend for nothing, so we'd better not reply to this.
Name: D Price, BerkshireDate/Time: 20 May 2018, 11.57am
Message: Once the UK leaves the EU export figures will take another knock - UK exports to the US and elsewhere can no longer be counted as EU exports, nor can the remittances home from "freely moving" EU migrants. The EU will have to counter that loss with true exports into the UK's common market, which I suspect will fall significantly from the current levels if they irritate too many consumers in this country. If you then include defence expenditure, FDI, student intakes and the like then the EU's key economic performance indicators are going to be looking pretty poor all round.
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HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT STANDS UP AGAINST EU AND SOROS
“Rather than fix a liberal democracy that has run aground, we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy”
- Viktor Orban, addressing the Hungarian National Assembly, May 2018
Whilst most British political commentators have been struggling to catch up with the EU and Brexit in the last two years, a variety of fascinating battles have been taking place across the European Union and beyond.
These often go unreported in the UK, or if they are mentioned it is through the lens of a BBC or Sky luvvie type who frankly knows very little about it.
Hungary is a case in point. Members of the Brexit Facts4EU.Org team have been to Hungary dozens of times in the last few years, and some of us even visited several times before the fall of Communism. Some of us do business there and some just love Budapest. We don’t claim to be experts but perhaps we have some insight.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH A DEMOCRATIC LEADER WHO HAS A POPULAR VISION?
Last week the National Assembly elected Viktor Orban as Prime Minister of Hungary for a fourth term, following the overwhelming victory of his party in the recent elections. We looked at what the Hungarian Prime Minister had to say when addressing the Parliament, after his new government was formed.
“Hungary is ready to take on a big challenge,” he said, speaking about the coming four years, “now we will be hunting for big game” as “the stars above Hungary shine brighter than ever.”
“With the third consecutive, two-thirds majority in our pocket, we should aim at the impossible because anyone can achieve the possible,” said the prime minister.
“We need to say it out loud because you can’t reform a nation in secrecy: the era of liberal democracy is over,” and instead “we want Christian democracy because we are Christian democrats,” he said.
“Rather than try to fix a liberal democracy that has run aground, we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy which guarantees human dignity, freedom and security, protects the equal rights of men and women, the model of the traditional family, puts the brakes on anti-Semitism, protects our Christian culture, and provides opportunity for the maintenance and development of our nation.”
OBSERVATIONS
There is much we could write about Hungary – and about the other EU countries which are now in a state of open opposition to many of the EU elite’s policies. Regrettably we are so short of resources that this short article and the one below is all we can offer you at the moment.
Still, it’s better than you having to rely on the BBC.
One thing is very clear. Whether you like Mr Orban's policies or not, he has some. And he expresses them. And he fights for them and leads from the front. And his policies are backed by the majority of the Hungarian people.
[ Sources: Hungarian government | Hungarian Prime Minister's Office ] Journalists and politicians can contact us for links, as usual.
09.00am, 19 May 2018
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Name: Brexiteer, Braintree,EssexDate/Time: 19 May 2018, 09.44am
Message: Having lived under a dictatorship for many years the Hungarian people are voting at the ballot box for what THEY want. There used to be a time in the UK where the British electorate were able to do the same, that was pre 1973, before we joined the EEC. Now whoever we vote for, our political masters have their own EU agenda. Perhaps the Hungarian voters should look around the EU to see what can happen if elected politicians forsake their electorates, and decide they know best.
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ORBAN'S SPOKESMAN SLAMS THE "OPEN SOCIETY" OF SOROS & LEFT-WING MEDIA
“As a country on the frontier of the EU, Hungary considers migration a matter of national security, and we take seriously our obligation to protect that border.”
“We believe that foreign-funded groups active in this sensitive area should be subject to tighter rules and greater transparency.”
- Zoltán Kovács, spokesman for Viktor Orban, Fri 18 May 2018
EUROPEAN MEDIA ATTACKS HUNGARY
Last week the Politico news site published a piece entitled: “Hungary’s illiberal infection of the western Balkans.” Politico is very widely read in Brussels, and it is pro-EU in its editorial position. Apart from that we consider that it produces good journalism.. You can you can read that article here. It was penned by a man working for one of George Soros’ Open Society organisations.
Below is some of the robust response sent to the Editor of Politico, by the Hungarian Prime Minister’s spokesman, Zoltán Kovács.
SOME CHOICE EXCERPTS FROM THE HUNGARIAN RESPONSE
Below are some excerpts from the response sent to Politico by the Hungarian Prime Minister’s spokesman, Zoltán Kovács. You can read all of his response here.
“Behold the world according to the Open Society network. The author, an analyst at none other than the Open Society European Policy Institute, makes the same arrogant mistake so many of these figures commit. That is, without them and their ideologically driven Soros-funded organizations, civil society ceases to exist.”
“The pending legislation to which the author refers is about transparency and accountability of NGOs operating in Hungary with foreign funding. Specifically, it places tighter regulations on those groups that use foreign funding to promote or aid migration in Hungary.”
“As a country on the frontier of the EU, Hungary considers migration a matter of national security, and we take seriously our obligation to protect that border. We believe that foreign-funded groups active in this sensitive area should be subject to tighter rules and greater transparency. To paint this as a set of draconian laws that will result in police raids on law-abiding organizations is a wilful distortion of the facts.”
“For the past two years, the United States has been consumed by the controversy that a foreign power may have intervened in its election. It’s stunning then that some are shocked that countries — Hungary is not alone in this — are imposing stricter regulations on groups that survive almost entirely on foreign funding to carry out activities that are often blatantly partisan and drive an agenda that seeks to influence political outcomes.”
OBSERVATIONS
Politico’s coverage of Hungary is usually negative, in line with EU thinking. Hungary is one of the EU Commission’s pariah states which it is attempting to punish through the ECJ, for daring to reject the Commission’s imposition of migrant quotas, amongst other things.
The media in the EU is highly variable, just as it is in the UK. That said, overall we see less independence of thought in the more important news organisations in the continent of Europe than we do in the UK. That is not to say we're happy with the balance in the UK, just that it's slightly better.
The influence of the "Open Society" foundations and organisations funded by US billionaire socialist George Soros is pervasive and deeply worrying. We have in our possession a document detailing all the MEPs in the EU Parliament who benefit from financial and other support from his 'Open Society' grouping. It makes very troubling reading.
The Hungarian government isn't perfect - no governments we've ever come across are. However the Hungarian government has had the 'cojones' to stand up to a multi-billionaire with enormous power and influence. We thoroughly applaud them for that. Open Society has started acting with complete arrogance, so whether they have any merit to any of their arguments we don't care. We don't like bullies.
We have so much more we could bring you this weekend, including the fabulous news from Italy. Strategically the UK's Brexit position is affected by all that goes on in the EU. We would love to bring this to the attention of all our politician readers, but lack of financial resources continues to make this very difficult.
How mad is that, when you have the useless BBC consuming hundreds of millions of pounds per annum and yet unable to provide vaguely decent news and facts about Brexit and the EU?
[ Sources: Politico | Hungarian government ] Journalists and politicians can contact us for links, as usual.
09.00am, 19 May 2018
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It is now clear it has been agreed that the United Kingdom's already much delayed exit date of 1st Jan 2021 from the EU will be delayed still further.
This comes from a variety of reports we have seen of the Tuesday meeting of Mrs May’s Brexit cabinet sub-committee, The situation is now intolerable so today we start speaking out very firmly.
WHAT ORDINARY PEOPLE EXPECTED TO HAPPEN
On 23rd June 2016 the UK voted to leave the EU
PM Cameron had said he would invoke Article 50 the next day
It was expected that UK would leave on 23rd June 2018 at the latest
No nonsense about hard and soft, staying in parts like the Single Market, Customs Union, or EEA
Leaving meant leaving – lock, stock & barrel
WHAT HAS ACTUALLY HAPPENED
Article 50 was delayed by 9 months – meaning a delayed independence date of 30th March 2019
Extra 21 month “Transition Period” then added, meaning a delayed independence date of 1st Jan 2021
NEW - Extra delay if customs deal in place at end of transition - independence delayed beyond Jan 2021
WHY THIS MATTERS
Leaving the EU’s Customs Union means the UK no longer having to apply the EU’s high-price ‘Common External Tariff’ to all goods we import. This is one of the big and immediate benefits of leaving the EU – significant numbers of products in the shops will become cheaper. And this particularly applies to goods such as food and clothing which disproportionately affect those on low incomes.
WHAT THE PRIME MINISTER SAID THIS WEEK
In Skopje on Thursday the PM denied the stories in the Daily Telegraph and Politico, that the UK would effectively stay in the Customs Union applying the Common External Tariff for a period after the end of the Transition Period.
“No we are not [climbing down]. The United Kingdom will be leaving the customs union, we are leaving the European Union.
“Of course we will be negotiating future customs arrangements with the European Union and I have set three objectives, the government has three objectives in those.
“We need to be able to have our own independent trade policy, we want as friction-less a border between the UK and the EU so that trade can continue and we want to ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.”
- Theresa May, Skopje, Macedonia, 17 May 2018
She failed to answer the accusations from the morning papers, that the EU’s Common External Tariff could continue to apply to the UK after the end of the so-called Transition Period.
OPINION - MAY’S BETRAYAL TOO FAR
To be clear, this week the government – including the supposedly pro-Brexit ministers Boris Johnson and Michael Gove – have agreed to Mrs May’s insistence that the UK could stay in the EU’s Customs Union after 1st Jan 2021, if the EU and/or Ireland haven’t agreed a customs deal with the UK.
Before some of our readers complain about our interpretation and try to use the government’s form of words at us, we need to say something.
It won’t wash. The government is full of – surprise, surprise – politicians. The tools of their trade are words not truth. In cases like this they use words to obscure the truth.
The latest example is Mrs May saying in Sofia that “First of all, we are very clear that we will be leaving the customs union. We will be, in future, outside that customs union able to develop our own independent trade policy.”
Note the the use of the expression “able to develop our own independent trade policy”. That is not the same as being fully independent and able to enact new free trade deals. We predict that this phrase will be used to repeatedly to suggest the UK can act independently, when it can’t. We would only be satisfied with “we will have our own independent trade policy and will be able to act on it on day one, unfettered by the EU”.
THREE STRIKES AND YOU’RE OUT
Let’s be clear. May had already delayed Brexit twice. This is the third time. Firstly she refused to invoke Article 50 (and we don’t care about her reasons), secondly she has somehow persuaded the weak Brexiteers in Parliament to delay everything with a ridiculous Transition Period. And now she’s saying that even that won’t be enough.
Well it’s enough for us. Three strikes and you’re out, Theresa.
For a long time we were persuaded to give you the benefit of the doubt and not to ‘go heavy’ against you. We sat back as you floundered on the European stage, quite obviously clueless about the EU and what it does. We watched you being embarrassing because you’re no leader and because you don’t have the first clue about how to negotiate.
Now we have to conclude that not only are you ignorant and incompetent when it comes to Brexit, you are also acting deliberately against the democratic decision of the British people. In short, you are acting to delay and thwart Brexit.
We now formally withdraw all support from you and from your government in relation to Brexit, and foreign and defence affairs.
On a positive note for readers, please throw your support behind the Rt Hon John Redwood MP and the Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP. These are two Conservative MPs and former ministers who are standing up to be counted. And if Jacob Rees-Mogg will now stand up and say no to the PM we will gladly throw whatever weight we have behind him.
We find it deeply regrettable that no other Brexit organisation seems to want to rock the boat with the Conservative Party – presumably some in these organisations have political ambitions – and so the true Brexiteers such as Redwood and Paterson don’t realise how much support their position has in the country. Do email them, please.
[ Sources: No.10 | DT | Politico | other media ] Journalists and politicians can contact us for links, as usual.
06.15am, 19 May 2018
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: W Alkaway, Essex, UKDate/Time: 20 May 2018, 11.06am
Message: It is now absolutely imperative that the Tory Party gets rid of Theresa May as PM. Plenty of grounds for her dismissal. She is denying the majority demands of the people of Great Britain in the Leave EU Referendum result and the last General Election where her Manifesto promised us a clean break. This is clearly not happening. In fact, the reverse is. PM May is doing all in her power to keep us tied in to trade, defence, immigration, EU Laws and ECJ. That was not what we voted for, and she knows it. Hence her confusing double handed reassurances to us, the British public. Britain expects its leaders to abide by the Will of the People. That is Democracy. Without that basic principle, we are no better than the worst Dictatorships in the world. The leader of a truly Democratic Nation cannot act independently from the majority of voters. May is clearly deeply implicated in stopping our leaving. She was, and still is, a Remainer. She acts like a groupie when attending EU summits. Who in the Tory Party voted in a Remainer as the new PM and are keeping their 'puppet' in power? Those in Parliament with any scruples must now unseat PM May and replace her. We will have a PM who is honest, patriotic, and who truly believes we should leave the EU because the people democratically voted for this. Then, and only then, will we have regained the hard-won freedoms granted in our Magna Carta.
Name: Chris, Devizes, UKDate/Time: 19 May 2018, 10.58am
Message: And this is a perfect day to bury bad news, of course. It shows there is absolutely no limit to May's treachery. This new delay means that we remain in the EU at least until the next election in 2022. I assume that Liam Fox will resign, since his department is literally redundant now. It is vital that the 60 Tory Brexiteers now trigger a vote of no confidence.
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One of the thousands of funds operated by the EU Commission (and paid for by the taxpayer) is called the ‘Europe For Citizens’ Fund.
Priorities for 2018 are fighting Euroscepticism
and promoting migrants
There are two main 'strands' of this programme. Strand 1 is for 'European Remembrance' and Strand 2 is for 'Civic Engagement'.
According to an independent report commissioned by the EU from Deloitte and seen by Brexit Facts4EU.Org, only 20% of funding goes to the 'headline act' of Strand 1. Below we report on Strand 2.
THE MAJORITY OF THE PROGRAMME & FUNDS GO TO EU PROPAGANDA
In practice, this Fund has become yet another mechanism for the EU to promote itself and fight a rearguard action against the rising tide of Euroscepticism, which saw the majority of the Italian people voting for anti-EU or Eurosceptic candidates in their general election in March.
In its own words, the EU’s priorities for this Fund in 2018 are:
Debating the future of Europe and challenging Euroscepticism
Promoting solidarity in times of crisis
Fostering intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding and combatting the stigmatisation of migrants and minority groups
European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018
Grants range from £8,000 to £128,000 per project. Below we show some examples:
The Europe for Citizens Fund is implemented by the Executive Agency for Education, Audiovisual and Culture (EACEA), which in turn is governed by the Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs, part of the EU Commission.
WHO GETS THE MONEY?
Grants are given to organisations who apply from all the EU countries, plus Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The EU lists details including contact points and country information for all countries, however the UK is listed as having “no designated contact point”.
Below we show a typical listing from another EU country (Poland), and the listing for the UK. (Incidentally, clicking on 'Calendar of Events' on the UK's listing takes you to an irrelevant page from 2013.)
We should start by being clear that this programme is one of many. The EU is spending billions on itself, in numerous ways, and this "Europe for Citizens" programme is just a small part of the overall effort.
Nevertheless it's essential that we continue to shine a bright Brexit light onto even the smallest of the innumerable heads of the EU Hydra. Remainers continue to be given the majority of airtime in the UK in order to try to reignite their Project Fear mantra. Alas people have short memories so we must not let Remoaners re-create their misguided version of what the EU really is.
BRAINWASHING THE CITIZENS
The EU's self-propaganda is rarely described as such overtly. It's either covert and direct - and many individual projects in this Europe for Citizens Fund are like this - or it's covert and insidious. An example of the latter is the EU's Erasmus+ Projekt, which we have been campaigning against for years.
As Mrs May mentioned it yet again in Parliament at PMQs on Wednesday it seems that once again we will have to run a series of articles outlining why the UK should not even begin to think about continuing to fund Erasmus+ after the UK exits the EU. If Mrs May knew the first thing about it - or anything else about the EU come to that - she wouldn't even suggest such a thing.
MUTTON DRESSED AS L'AGNEAU
Returning to the "Europe for Citizens' programme, we would draw your attention to an aspect of it which is repeated in so many other areas of the EU's activity.
All descriptions of this programme start with Strand 1 - Remembrance. Remembrance is something which many EU citizens would see as being a good thing, so the EU presents it as the top ‘strand’ of this fund. In fact only 20% of the overall Fund goes on Strand 1, despite it being the headline act.
By far the largest part of funding occurs in Strand 2: "Democratic engagement and civic participation". This Fund is yet another way in which the EU tries to promote itself and its political agenda.
In other words, the EU takes a word or expression it knows is uncontroversial - or even popular - and uses it to 'brand' one of its darker programmes. In this case the first thing you see is 'Remembrance' when in fact this programme is really about combating euroscepticism and populism.
The decisions on which projects are given grants are of course made by EU bureaucrats, who share a certain political philosophy. This is very apparent when you look at the types of projects receiving funding.
Facts4EU.Org did once consider applying for a grant under the EU priority “Debate on the Future of Europe”, but we reluctantly concluded that our application might not be well received in Brussels.
No doubt if we saw the light and started spouting total and utter pro-EU tosh with no basis in facts, they'd be showering us with grants...
[ Sources: EU Commission | EACEA | Europe for Citizens | Deloitte ] Journalists and politicians can contact us for links, as usual.
06.40am, 18 May 2018
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: Peter Wood, Bucks, UKDate/Time: 18 May 2018, 12.46pm
Message: I think you will probably agree that chairman Putin does not waste time with unimportant politicians; so who does he talk to as the representative of the EU? http://www.dw.com/en/merkel-putin-talks-russia-keen-to-find-common-ground/a-43835268 This is the real EU, the bureaucrats in Brussels are puppets and a facade; Germany is the only power in the EU worth talking to. Discuss!
Name: Jon, WalesDate/Time: 18 May 2018, 09.27am
Message: I wonder how many UK MPs actually know about all these EU funds, and IF they do know, they're not passing this information to constituents in a transparent manner? As the second highest NET contributor to the EU scam, It is assumed ALL MPs will have informed their constituents how UK taxpayers money is being spent in other countries - I think not? On top of that is our massive Foreign Aid budget. It is time government spent UK money in the UK. I doubt many MPs have a clue how the EU works to start with, but those who do know are probably already on the EU gravy train. Once again we see Prime Minister Mrs May cave in to demands from unelected foreign EU bureaucrats. Why she does not walk away from these questionable negotiations can only mean she is set to ignore the largest democratic vote in British history - and she will be remembered for just that. I don't think Mrs May realises just how powerful she is. I no longer believe a word Mrs May has to say, and I find this difficult for I was prepared to give her the benefit of my doubts. Instead we see delay after delay after delay - there is no excuse for this. Mrs May has to realise the EU are 'playing' her like a puppet. UK political spin doctors seem to think if they call some delay by another name we wont notice. Readers must ask themselves why we should trust any Member of Parliament when the majority are attempting to subvert Brexit?
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EU President Tusk insults USA & Trump on TV and on Twitter
This is effectively done in your name by an unelected Pole with no mandate
Meanwhile BBC reports ongoing Trump sex claim news
Today the leaders of the 28 EU member states, including Theresa May, are meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria for the latest EU Council meeting. Yesterday EU President Donald Tusk made a statement ahead of today’s meeting:-
“We are witnessing today a new phenomenon: the capricious assertiveness of the American administration.
“Looking at the latest decisions of President Trump someone could even think: with friends like that who needs enemies.”
EU Council President Donald Tusk, Sofia, 16 May 2018
Below is the BBC’s news page at 4am today. Ironically the BBC puts President Trump top of its world news, with a story about the porn actress Stormy Daniels. Tusk's insulting tweet and statement directed at President Trump isn't mentioned.
So, the BBC's headline is an American story. Much closer to home than the BBC's lead article, the EU President was insulting the US President in regard to more important matters, but this story was not given any prominence. Here is the totality of how the BBC reported it, as of 4am this morning:-
ALSO IN THE SPEECH - TUSK REMINDS REMAINERS WHAT EU IS BECOMING
During President Tusk’s speech he took the opportunity to remind all EU citizens, including the Remainer politicians in the UK who continue to deny such things, that:-
EU UNITED ECONOMICALLY, POLITICALLY, MILITARILY
“Europe must be united economically, politically and also militarily like never before.”
“To put it simply: either we are together, or we will not be at all.”
EU Council President Donald Tusk, Sofia, 16 May 2018
It is now extremely common for top EU officials and politicians to talk about the EU's rapid moves towards becoming a united military power. We have quoted countless other examples of this in the last couple of years.
The latest example above is from the EU Council President. Presumably not even Nick Clegg can dismiss him as a "dangerous fantasist"....
OBSERVATIONS
The BBC loves to report stories about things the US President says on Twitter. Readers will recall the outrage last year from the BBC and other media when President Trump drew attention to what was happening in the EU member state of Sweden as a result of its open borders policy. The US President was of course proved to have been right.
The BBC took part in the ridiculing of the US President, whereas at Brexit Facts4EU.Org we researched and reported on the latest crime figures from Sweden, which vindicated the US President completely. We published our analysis of the data produced by the Brottsförebyggande rådet - known as Brå - which is part of the Swedish Ministry of Justice. Naturally the BBC had no interest in our research of the facts.
However, it seems that when it’s the EU President and not the US President who’s making a statement on Twitter and on camera, the BBC is less interested.
SELF-IMPORTANT TUSK
EU Council President Tusk thinks he is representing the views of the people of the EU28 countries, whether we like it or not. He may not be elected, but that doesn’t stop him making pronouncements.
As far as we’re concerned, this little former Polish politician is an apparatchik, a bureaucrat… a clerk. He has no democratic mandate from the peoples of the EU and would never even get elected in his own country of Poland if he stood for office again.
It seems extraordinary that this EU official thinks he should talk about the president of the UK's closest ally in such personal terms. It hardly sounds like diplomatic language for him to say “Looking at the latest decisions of President Trump someone could even think: with friends like that who needs enemies.”
Now, Remainers will no doubt say that they don’t like President Trump’s tweets either. The answer to this is simple:-
Tusk didn’t only tweet this, he also said it in a prepared written and TV statement
Trump is elected and can pretty much say what he likes, Tusk is not
Trump gets attacked by the BBC for his tweets, Tusk does not
Let’s be clear. This article does not concern what you might or might not think of President Trump or his policies. This is not about the US President, it’s about one of the unelected EU ones.
Our question is:
Given that the UK still just about has a government and supposedly an independent foreign policy, on whose authority did this eurocrat make his statement yesterday?
THE BBC, THE USA, AND THE EU
Last year there were numerous BBC pieces about President Trump’s mention of Sweden in relation to the effects of mass immigration policies on society and on crime.
Yesterday it was the unelected EU President making wholly inappropriate remarks about Donald Trump. Yet the supposedly impartial BBC will barely say a word about it so we have had to do so.
[ Sources: EU Council | White House | BBC ] Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
06.55am, 17 May 2018
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: Chris, Devizes, UKDate/Time: 17 May 2018, 3.01pm
Message: Re: And still they do nothing. With absolute dismay, I have just read this report in the Express. Yet again May has caved in (and blatantly lies about it too) as it emerges she has agreed to stay in the customs union (and hence in the EU) beyond 2021. We will not be able to strike trade deals during this time of course. It seems that the 60 Tory Brexiteers are not prepared to challenge her. Democracy in the UK is dead.
Message: We have been trying to get information for some hours. We prefer to wait until we have some certainty before commenting in detail, because Mrs May is now so close to a line that very few people in the country would want to be crossed.
Name: Chris, Devizes, UKDate/Time: 17 May 2018, 10.27am
Message: Farage is in cracking form on this very topic. With a bit of luck, all the capitulation from 'Treeza the Apeeza' will be of no consequence if the whole rotten edifice which is the EU is crumbling.
Name: Liz F, UKDate/Time: 17 May 2018, 07.09am
Message: Unbelievably it's almost two years since the referendum and we seem to have made little progress towards leaving the EU. Predictably the media give generous air-time to pro-Remain politicians and campaigns and I've just seen the following article in the Independent on 26th April about yet another pro-EU demonstration in London to be held on 23rd June. I know I've mentioned this before, but it must be time for pro-Brexit voters to have our own "summer of action and mobilisation" (well, at least a demonstration) to remind the Government of their obligations towards the 17.4 million people who voted leave. If Remainer groups can be so coordinated and organised, surely we can do the same? With all good wishes
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LIES, DAMN LIES, AND REMAINER POLITICIANS
NEW JOBS DATA SHOWS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT 'REMAIN' THREATENED
Yesterday the Office for National Statistics released the latest employment figures. Yet again they showed an excellent performance by the UK economy.
They also provided yet more proof of the systematic campaign of lies by the government Remain campaign ahead of the Referendum in early 2016. Below is a simple comparison between what you were threatened with if you voted Leave, and what has actually happened.
GEORGE OSBORNE & HM TREASURY, 23 May 2016
One month before the Referendum
“[Brexit] would lead to an increase in unemployment of around 500,000”
From the document:
'HM Treasury analysis - The immediate economic impact of leaving the EU'
“The analysis in this document comes to a clear central conclusion: a vote to leave would represent an immediate and profound shock to our economy. That shock would push our economy into a recession and lead to an increase in unemployment of around 500,000”
OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS, 15 May 2018
22 months after the Referendum
“[Unemployment] was 4.2%, down from 4.6% a year earlier, the joint lowest since 1975”
From the document:
'Statistical bulletin UK labour market: May 2018'
“The employment rate (the proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 years who were in work) was 75.6%, higher than for a year earlier (74.8%) and the highest since comparable records began in 1971.”
“Average weekly earnings increased by 2.9% excluding bonuses”
THE LATEST GREAT NEWS
The claims propagated by the Cameron government, the official Remain campaign - and by almost every Remoaner MP and peer since the Referendum - were once again decimated by the latest official government figures yesterday.
In a large series of labour market statistics released by the Office for National Statistics, the claims from anti-Brexiteers under Project Fear Mk1 and Mk2 were once again blown apart.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY - EMPLOYMENT AND JOBS
Extra 679,000 jobs since Referendum
Number in work has risen to 32.34 million
Of the increase, a net 96.4% are full-time jobs
Employment: 75.6% - highest since records began
Significantly higher than in EU27 (68.1%)
Unemployment: 4.2% - lowest since 1975
Half that of the Eurozone (8.5%)
Average weekly earnings for employees increased by 2.9%, excluding bonuses
Adjusted for price inflation they also increased in real terms by 0.4%
EMPLOYMENT - AND THE REMAIN CAMPAIGN'S THREATS
According to Office for National Statistics data which we have analysed, the numbers in employment since the Referendum have risen by 679,000.
That's over 2/3rds of a million more people in jobs now, than before the Referendum.
This is a far cry from a massive fall of 500,000 - 820,000 in those employed, predicted by George Osborne, the Treasury, and the Remain campaign. In fact it's the opposite of what they told you would happen if you dared to vote Leave.
Since the Referendum almost two years ago we have regularly reviewed official data concerning the performance of the UK economy. The vast bulk of this data shows the opposite picture to that which was presented by the Remain campaign and the Cameron government prior to the vote on June 23rd 2016.
On almost every measure you can name, the Cameron government and its Remain campaign have been proved wrong. So wrong were they that it’s impossible not to conclude that a deliberate policy was pursued, to lie to the people in a concerted and systematic fashion. Presumably they thought they would never be caught out.
Despite being proved wrong over and over, Remoaners inside Parliament and outside continue to pretend that “the people were lied to by the Leave campaign”. They have been so vocal with this lie that people across Europe and even in places like the USA and Australia now believe it.
Where DO they get the nerve? When will they apologise? When will all the international and national ‘expert’ organisations which joined the government in predicting economic Armageddon actually say sorry, instead of quietly releasing corrections to their appallingly-bad predictions? When will the BBC, Sky News and ITV ever stop talking down the British economy?
REJOICE, JUST REJOICE
We can be pretty certain of one thing. Remoaner politicians - elected and unelected - and their friends in the Remoaner media will gloss over the data we have shown above. That's the problem with facts. They can put things into black and white. The problem for Remoaners is that the facts have been against them since well before the Referendum and they continue to be against them now.
All politicians should of course be delighted with the news we have reported. It's all very positive for the country. Brexiteers will once again be pleased, but then Brexiteers tend to be positive people in our experience. So let's forget Remoaners for a moment and raise a glass today to all the people who have got new jobs since the decision of the British electorate to embrace a great new future outside the failing European Union!
[ Sources: Office for National Statistics | HM Treasury ] Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
06.55am, 16 May 2018
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: Jon, WalesDate/Time: 16 May 2018, 11.50pm
Message: My immediate thought (among others), took me back to the time when [fantasy EU army] Clegg tried to take on Nigel Farage, and lost in spectacular fashion. So I thought, let 'remain' MPs try and take on Brexit Facts4EU - If they have the courage? A good way is to expose one of the chief remain MPs for their constant pessimistic views. I say to the Hon Ms Soubry MP, and others, that If you feel so confident in your thoughts, I challenge you to take on Facts4EU from where your spin would be swiftly corrected - IF YOU HAVE THE GUTS?
Name: Michael Wood, WalesDate/Time: 16 May 2018, 4.18pm
Message: I voted to leave the EU and I expected us to have no mandatory attachments to the Union afterwards. What really annoys me about these politicians and others, especially since they are so ignorant of what membership involves ( as set out so often on your site) is that they don't seem to realise that if we stay we do not need the House of Commons, the Lords or most of the Civil Service. They have very little to do now that the EU decides everything that surely we should get rid of the middlemen, i.e. the aforementioned House of Commons, the Lords and Civil Service. But, of course, they will be telling us 'we have need of them still!'
Name: John Finn, Coventry, UKDate/Time: 16 May 2018, 3.28pm
Message: Regarding FACTS4EU reply to me: Absolutely agree. Whichever measure you choose, EU Nationals or Born in EU, there has been an increase in numbers since the referendum (June 2016). I was, in a roundabout way perhaps, pointing put that the pro-Remain media had cherry-picked the slight fall in EU National numbers since March 2017 to create a completely fraudulent connection to NHS staff shortages. The fact that those "Born in the EU" increased over the same period suggests we are seeing more EU born workers taking British nationality.
Name: Patrick H, LondonDate/Time: 16 May 2018, 11.55am
Message: Have no fear - we are all (17.4 Million) waiting in the wings patiently for Friday, 29 March 2019 at 11 pm to arrive. Until then Mrs. May et al can waffle and obfuscate but she/they cannot hide forever - ..cometh the moment 'March 2019' and with no appropriate deal negotiated, we immediately move to WTO or cometh the disappointment, anger/rage, retribution and political revenge will ensue? Generally speaking, British people suck it up politically and just get on with their lives, but this time there is real simmering anger at the way Brexit has been handled and how the will of the people has been so appallingly and arrogantly dismissed by the establishment. If Brexit is a failure, sedition will break out, of that, I have no doubt!
Name: John Finn, Coventry, UKDate/Time: 16 May 2018, 11.35am
Message: Regarding yesterday's figures, I noticed a few of the usual suspects in the media were highlighting a 28k fall in the number of EU nationals in the employment figures. Obviously this was going to lead to staff shortages in the NHS blah blah blah! Ignoring the fact that 28k out of 2.3 million is probably within the margin of sampling error anyway, I decided to check out the numbers. It was true - the number of EU nationals was indeed down compared to Jan-Mar 2017. HOWEVER, the number of people BORN IN EU (not UK) countries was UP. I couldn't quite reconcile this for a minute or two until a possible explanation occurred to me. The discrepancy was likely due to an increase in EU nationals who have gained UK citizenship. That would probably ruin the narrative, though.
Reply: John, those born in EU27 and working in UK immediately prior to Referendum: 2,335,356. The same category now: 2,366,342. That's an increase of 30,986. Forget nationalities, it's a red herring. The other thing to note is that the numbers are vastly bigger than reported by ONS. We proved that last year with N.I. numbers issued by HMRC which are several times higher than immigration numbers.
Name: Brexiteer, Braintree, EssexDate/Time: 16 May 2018, 09.22am
Message: I noticed that manufacturing growth figures in Germany for the last quarter are down 0.1%. The analysts blamed the weather. As the German economy is the powerhouse of the EU economy, nobody mentions the possible consequences for employment and growth this downturn has in the block. Yet when similar growth downturn is announced in the UK, the blame is put on Brexit, despite the best employment and jobs growth figures for decades. Let's face it the elite establishment are desperate to find any reason to stop Brexit. The problem is the people, the electorate can see through this, they can get the same information on the internet and make their own judgements. This unnerves the elite, the politicians, the civil service. They are not used to their judgements being challenged by people who sometimes are better informed than they are. The elites are losing control all across the EU as people reject at the ballot box the paths mapped out for them by their political masters.
Name: Not4EU, UKDate/Time: 16 May 2018, 08.19am
Message: What is confounding the 'experts' regarding our economy is the real people. The 'experts' don't seem to understand that the MAJORITY voted to LEAVE. Consequently, most people are HAPPY that we're leaving & are confident, so are spending/investing despite their many efforts to destroy the economy in a fit of wanting an 'I told you so' pique. The only things that we are unhappy about is the undermining & treasonous (yes it is) actions of those working against this country, personified in the 'apparent' ineptitude of May and her Govt. Stand up for what the country voted for May & the country will stand behind you.
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MOST DANGEROUS WOMAN IN EUROPE IS EU BREXIT BOSS IN 10 MONTHS’ TIME
Forget slow Barnier, watch out for Mogherini
A year ago we reported on comments by the Italian former communist and EU Vice-President that she was looking forward to ‘taking over the file’ from Monsieur Barnier, as the new person in charge of Brexit.
Ms Mogherini is in charge of the EU’s relationships with ‘third countries’ and this is what the UK will become after 29th March next year.
Here is what she said yesterday about her role :
“And I have always said, from the beginning of the story, you have to ask me about Brexit once it falls under my responsibility, which would be External Action. At a certain moment, it will be a third party.”
- Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice-President of the European Commission, and Head of the European External Action Service.
To understand the full import of this quote, we recommend watching the video of her full speech, contained in the article below.
OBSERVATIONS
If you watch the part of her speech (in article below) where she refers to taking over Brexit, you will have seen the chilling smile. This is trademark Mogherini. Remember the cultural and political background of this woman – 8 years a member of the Communist Party.
On countless occasions we have listened to, watched, or read Ms Mogherini’s output. Many times we have commented that we are certain she is no friend of the UK. We have also written that we consider her to be the most dangerous woman in Europe.
These are opinions based on our experience of watching her. We have no concrete evidence for our views, other than an accumulation of small facts which build a picture.
We cannot understand why no journalists in the UK ever seem to want to write about her.
If nothing else they might just want to take a quick look at the large section of the EU website which is devoted to one of Ms Mogherini’s many areas of responsibility: the ‘European External Action Service’ (EEAS).
It’s interesting just how many times Ms Mogherini’s face usually beams out from the pages. Totalitarian states have a tendency to do the same with their leaders.
As we write there are four pictures of Ms Mogherini on the EEAS homepage alone. Generally there are many more within different sections of the EEAS site, although we notice a reduction today. Possibly our previous comments about ‘the cult of personality’ have hit home, and we may not have been the only ones in the EU to comment.
SWAPPING BARNIER FOR MOGHERINI
Regular readers know that we do not hold a high opinion of the intellect of Monsieur Barnier. We may not rate him, but then he hasn’t had to be very bright to run rings around the British government’s Brexit negotiators.
That said, Monsieur Barnier is at least a cultivated French gentilhomme.
Ms Mogherini on the other hand is as bright as an Italian general’s over-decorated chest, but if we were Mrs May we would never turn our back on the Italian – particularly if she’s wearing stillettos.
You were warned here first.
[ Sources: EU Commission | EU ISS ] Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
06.55am, 15 May 2018
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: Brexiteer, Braintree, EssexDate/Time: 15 May 2018, 08.42am
Message: WTO here we come! This woman is a clueless Marxist who would get on well with Jeremy Corbyn. She believes in the totalitarian EU. With her as a negotiator even the Remainers will see that the UK is better off as an independent sovereign country.
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Yesterday the EU Institute for Security Studies held an event entitled “The future of EU foreign, security, and defence policy post Brexit”.
The event was addressed by EU Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier, and by the EU High Representative, Vice-President and de facto Foreign and Defence Secretary Federica Mogherini.
This event got little coverage in the UK, with Ms Mogherini’s speech seemingly not meriting a mention.
Below we present two videos for you. The first is of Ms Mogherini where she makes interesting comments about the way the UK is still agreeing to all EU grabs for military power.
EU VICE-PRESIDENT AND DEFENCE CHIEF MOGHERINI - MON 14 MAY 2018, BRUSSELS
Below we present what Ms Mogherini said about EU common defence yesterday. You can either watch the video, or read excerpts.
“On foreign policy, on security policy, even on defence, we are still taking decisions unanimously at 28. And let me tell those of you who are following the work in the Council, we have not had particular problems in finding unanimity over the last couple of years, on the contrary.”
“Second, the EU defence. I see a Union that is much more confident about its potential and also its responsibilities as a global security provider. The European Union of security and defence is taking, finally, its first real steps. For the first time in our history, just now; and still taking decisions at unanimity at 28.
“We now have a European Defence Fund for research and for our defence industry. We have joint projects and common commitments under the Permanent Structured Cooperation [PESCO] used for the first time ever after ten years of the Lisbon Treaty. And I have proposed to have one single financial instrument - the European Peace Facility - to finance all our missions and our support to external partners in the security field.
“So, never as now, paradoxically, we are moving forward on one of the biggest dreams of our founding fathers and mothers – a European Union that is based also on defence and security, and still, with the European Union having the United Kingdom as its own Member State so far.”
“When the withdrawal process comes to an end, the United Kingdom will not be part of our Union anymore. It will be a friend, it will be a partner, but as a "third country". And I have always said, from the beginning of the story, you have to ask me about Brexit once it falls under my responsibility, which would be external action. At a certain moment, it will be a third party. Britain will not be a "half-member", or a member "ad honorem": because there is no such thing. Either you are a member or you are not.”
“I am also convinced that the UK will maintain a strong interest on their side in taking part in our military and civilian missions. These missions contribute to our collective security, in Europe and beyond. And if you think about our fight against piracy in the Indian Ocean, or our new training missions in support of Iraq's security sector reform, you clearly see that the United Kingdom could have an interest, and will have an interest in continuing to be associated closely to our missions and operations.
“The difference will be, they will not sit at the table where these missions and operations will be decided, but they will be, obviously, welcome to join, because cooperation with our partners in this field is not new.”
“And finally, we will still have an interest, I believe a reciprocal interest, to develop some of our military capabilities together. So I believe we can and will find ways for the United Kingdom to cooperate with us, in the framework of our Permanent Structured Cooperation, and with the European Defence Agency. As you know, talks are underway with the Member States and within the Member States and they are part of the Permanent Structured Cooperation in particular, on the modalities for the participation of third countries to projects under PESCO.”
The second video is of Michel Barnier, talking about Brexit. As usual a lot of this is waffle but there are some interesting comments too.
EU COMMISSION CHIEF BREXIT NEGOTIATOR MICHEL BARNIER - MON 14 MAY 2018, BRUSSELS
Below we present what Monsieur Barnier said about Brexit and EU common defence yesterday. You can either watch the video, or read excerpts.
“Solidarity is not to be negotiated. Any trade-off between security and trade would lead to an historic failure - and it would be a strategic mistake, benefiting those who want to weaken us.”
“The level of ambition of our future partnership will very much depend on the UK's readiness to commit. The more the UK converges with EU foreign policy and substantially engages alongside the EU, the closer the cooperation is likely to be.
“Of course, some defence and intelligence actions take place outside the framework of the EU, such as in NATO. Bilateral relationships will also continue to develop.”
OBSERVATIONS
If you have time, we urge you to watch both videos. Naturally neither Barnier nor Mogherini explicitly said what they really think, so you have to read between the lines.
The last excerpt we cited from Michel Barnier is really quite extraordinary. He actually said “Of course, some defence and intelligence actions take place outside the framework of the EU”. The truth of course is that almost ALL defence and intelligence actions take place outside of the framework of the EU.
Don't forget, it's people like Barnier and his cronies in the EU Commission who are busy doubling the EU funds to indoctrinate the youth of the EU countries. With such a loose grip on reality it really is worrying that these people should have anything to do with the education of the young people across the continent.
UK MUST NOT PAY FOR, NOR BE SUCKED INTO, EU'S MILITARY NIGHTMARES
Last year the British government made another nauseating attempt to curry favour with the EU. Mrs May unilaterally declared that the UK would continue all defence cooperation unconditionally. At the time we threw up our hands. Defence and security are very, very strong hands for the UK.
Putting it simply, there are only really two serious military powers in the EU: the UK and France. And in security and intelligence the UK’s capabilities make most of the EU27’s agencies look like hapless amateurs.
The EU needs the UK to defend it militarily and to provide security and intelligence. There should be no question of the UK offering anything. Instead the British government should have sat back and waited for the EU to come cap in hand.
Our final point is about NATO. Just listen to Mogherini. Yes she makes passing reference to NATO – because she has to. However it’s clear that she intends to have a full replacement for NATO under the EU banner.
Watching the progress of that replacement will be entertaining, given that almost no EU country apart from the UK has properly funded its NATO defence commitments this century. How the EU thinks it will be able to fund its own military forces is an interesting question.
But then, perhaps that’s where the EU sees the UK continuing to play its role - as banker...
[ Sources: EU Commission | EU ISS ] Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
06.55am, 15 May 2018
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Name: Chris, DevizesDate/Time: 15 May 2018, 10.25am
Message: This is an extremely dangerous development, because it effectively pitches the EU and its new army directly against the Americans who provide most of the funding for NATO. You can see how it will end up: There will inevitably be future conflicts where the Communist Mogherini supports Russia via the EU army, and directly against America via NATO. She is quite possibly the biggest threat to World peace since the Cuban missile crisis. The UK must not play any part in this, but must continue to strongly support NATO. It's yet another reason why we need a new leader in place of the useless incompetent May.
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IS QUITALY GETTING CLOSER?
EU27’S 3RD LARGEST COUNTRY
RUN BY EUROSCEPTICS?
Lega's Matteo Salvini 5SM's Luigi di Maio
ITALY SHOULD GET ITS FIRST EUROSCEPTIC GOVT TODAY
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY - ITALIAN DEVELOPMENTS
First Brexit, then Trump, then populist wins in several EU states
Now a Eurosceptic government to run Eurozone’s 3rd power
Excitement has been mounting in the Facts4EU.Org offices over the weekend, as final negotiations to form a new government have been concluding in Italy following their elections in March.
Our latest information is that the leaders of the Five Star Movement and the Lega – the two parties with the most votes – will seek an audience with the Italian President today, in order to present their proposal for a new Italian government. The identity of the proposed Prime Minister is still a secret, which we hope to confirm to you later.
We will not say much more now but will monitor developments and report to you in more detail as the information becomes available.
For now, be aware that if events proceed according to the information we currently have, this will shake the foundations of the EU. Nothing will happen immediately, but the ramifications of one of the six founder members of the EU having a Eurosceptic government will be profound.
[ Sources: Various private sources ]
06.45am, 14 May 2018
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: Steve R, LondonDate/Time: 14 May 2018, 3.42pm
Message: [Off topic] If the Conservative party, or Labour, thinks that delivering BINO is going to be accepted by the majority that voted for BREXIT, including the items mentioned on the government's 'fear' leaflet such as leaving the single market and customs union, while accepting free movement and payments and the EU army- they can think again.Voters will stay at home or vote UKIP. Parliament and especially the House of Cronies will be despised. A new Brexiteer leader should explain or admit the stitch up so far, put legislation up for abolition of the Lords or cut their number and appoint Brexit supporting Lords, and tell Conservative Central Office that so called Conservatives who do not honour a proper Brexit will be deselected. Also that the regional party will have the say and not be stitched up by dirty tricks by a metropolitan party full of go-anyway professional lying shysters.
Name: Not4EU, UKDate/Time: 14 May 2018, 08.44am
Message: I just hope that it doesn't turn out like Greece. Optimistic but wary.
Name: Katie, High WycombeDate/Time: 14 May 2018, 08.42am
Message: Isn't this just delicious? I enjoyed your previous articles about Italy and I love the country like you seem to do so I can't wait to read your assessment when the dust's settled!
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YET ANOTHER BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG EXCLUSIVE
EU’S FALLING SHARE OF WORLD EXPORTS
15 YEARS OF DECLINE IN EU’S TRADE
Careful analysis by Brexit Facts4EU.Org of the EU’s latest official international trade figures shows that the EU’s share of world exports is in steady decline.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not the same as previous analyses of the size of the combined EU economies as a share of the world's economy, which also shows a continuous fall. This analysis relates purely to exports.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY - EU EXPORTS
15 years ago the EU countries had 18.5% of world exports
In latest EU figures this has dropped to 15.6%
And without the UK it drops to just 13.9%
The chart below shows the drop in the EU’s share of world exports in the last 15 years for which data is available, 2002-2016.
The chart above includes the United Kingdom as a member of the EU, of course. The UK is the second-largest economy in the EU and is the fifth-largest in the world according to the IMF’s latest figures.
We decided to take a look at what the EU’s share of world exports would have been if the UK had left the bloc in 2016.
As you can see, the UK’s departure will make a further dramatic impact on the EU’s falling share of the world’s export market.
From 18.5% only 15 years ago, the EU’s share without the UK would have dropped to just 13.9% in 2016.
OBSERVATIONS
Since the Referendum the EU has been rushing to play catch-up on trade. Its shockingly poor performance over many decades in reaching trade deals was exposed during the British EU Referendum campaign. Since then the EU has made trade announcements almost every month – often repeating announcements that had previously been made.
Unfortunately for the EU, one of the first important trade announcements it had to make after the Referendum was to confirm that its much-lauded and awaited trade deal with the USA (TTIP) was no more.
Just to be clear for the BBC, neither the Canadian nor the more recent Japanese deal has yet been ratified, despite these being trumpeted by the EU elites and by Remainer politicians in the UK.
The overall message from the export figures above – which we extracted from the EU’s own official statistical databases – is that the EU is in significant decline as an exporter. Furthermore, if you strip out the contribution made by the UK to the EU’s figures, the situation for the EU is much worse.
This is just another reason why Mrs May’s absurd ‘Customs Partnership’ must be kicked immediately and firmly into the long grass. Dubbed ‘crazy’ by Boris Johnson, ‘cretinous’ by Jacob Rees-Mogg, and with even Michael Gove saying yesterday that there were “significant question marks” about it, this ridiculous idea was apparently put forward by Mrs May’s anti-Brexit civil servant advisor Olly Robbins.
We can only hope that Mrs May will finally make clear her customs (and therefore international trade) policy this week. For the avoidance of doubt there is only one practical option and that is for the streamlined customs arrangements or so-called 'Max Fac' option.
[ Sources: Eurostat | EU Commission ] Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
06.45am, 14 May 2018
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.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG EDITORIAL
PRIME MINISTERS LEAD,
THEY DON'T ASK FOR HELP
Earlier today the Prime Minister’s ‘article / statement / press release’ on Brexit came across our desks. Our Twitter editor asked for an opinion and I responded “Complete tosh.”
When my comment was posted on Twitter it caused some positive and negative comment so perhaps I should explain. In this piece I don’t speak for everyone on the team, although much of it is common to most members. We retain our party-neutrality and my comment was not meant in any party-political sense.
THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN OVER
Nearly two years ago we expected to be free of all this nonsense. I and my colleagues expected to go back to our day jobs which in my case is business, not politics.
We had won the Referendum, despite the constant tsunami of lies and misrepresentations from David Cameron, George Osborne, and the global Remain Establishment.
Instead, you know what has happened. Almost two years after the vote we are still fighting like it’s 2016. The new Prime Minister has – frankly – been useless. She was always known as a ditherer and it seems that gaining the reins of ultimate power hasn’t changed her. She still can’t make a decision.
In July 2016 she assembled a 74% pro-Remain cabinet and has kept it that way. She herself campaigned for Remain and when asked she refuses to say that she would now back Leave if the question were put today.
Mrs May knows precious little about the EU nor about business. She is incapable of enacting the decision of the British people. Instead she has constantly been seeking ‘compromise’.
We didn’t vote for your bloody compromises, Theresa, we voted to leave. You can’t be half in and half out. And who would want to be if you could? Make a decision and run with it, for good or bad.
‘WHICH WAY?’ MAY
Regrettably Mrs May is also a disaster on the world stage, and that is where the Brexit battle is often played out. Most of the public don’t see much of what happens in Brussels because the BBC fails to report it unless it’s something they think is negative for Brexit. Mrs May generally looks like she can’t even find a room, let alone command it with her presence.
(Talking of the BBC, let me address their news editors: Take us on if you think you can. Your EU/Brexit coverage would embarrass a 9-year old, if our 9-year olds hadn’t been indoctrinated by the teachers being churned out by our teacher training colleges. Your presenters are intellectual pygmies who clearly know nothing, they don’t bother to educate themselves, and they wouldn’t last 5 minutes in the real world inhabited by our ordinary readers.)
Back to Theresa. Her article is here if you would like to read it. It says nothing new. If you trust the PM and want Brexit then it may sound fine to you.
IT'S ABOUT TRUST
Unfortunately I’m afraid I simply can’t trust nor respect this Prime Minister any longer. I have held back for long enough – nearly two years after the hard-won Leave victory. For heaven’s sake, this woman doesn’t even have a policy on the Customs Union and the UK’s future relationship with the EU. After almost 2 years.
It’s not our job to comment on who should lead the Conservative Party, but this party is the party of government. It most definitely is of interest to us who is Prime Minister. All we want is someone who will deliver a clean and full Brexit, not some watered down token.
We’re not interested in ‘hard’ or soft’ as this wasn’t on the ballot paper. Leaving the EU was on the ballot paper, and that’s what people voted for. This means leaving all the ghastly EU infrastructure embedded in tens of thousands of EU laws, regulations and directives.
It means leaving the Single Market, Customs Union, jurisdiction of the ECJ, leaving the CAP and Common Fisheries Policy, Erasmus, foreign aid programmes, all the various EU agencies, leaving Europol and all the ridiculous and dysfunctional new security and defence apparatus.
THE 'DELAY MAY' AND THE 'GIVE WAY MAY'
It does not mean trying to find fudges at every turn. It does not mean giving in to the EU at their every demand. It means a clean break.
Just do it Prime Minister. Or don’t do it. But for goodness’ sake be honest with the British public for once. We are now convinced that you are unwilling and unable to deliver Brexit. Your dithering will already have cost billions. Admit to yourself that you just don’t have what it takes to take us into the bright Brexit future we voted for.
Finally, to loyal Conservative voters who are regular readers, and to the many Tory MPs who read us, sorry. I just can’t sit back any longer while Brexit is under so much threat. I’ve been more than patient, but it is our majority view that May will never deliver and that she’s now a real danger.
Surely everyone must worry - regardless of their political affiliations - when a Prime Minister says:
“Trust me, I’ll take back control — but I’ll need your help”?
And this is on the main political issue which has dominated her premiership for almost two years.
Over to others now to work out how to transition to a new PM. No need for a General Election, and surely the Tory Party is capable of working out something behind the scenes to ease Theresa out and to ease a hero in?
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: Chris, DevizesDate/Time: 15 May 2018, 10.17am
Message: Replying to John Finn: Yes we have argued this before, and you are yet again completely wrong, and have misinterpreted events. That election should have been a massive landslide for May, that is why her advisers talked her into it. But she alienated the very people who keep her in power (retirees like myself). Many still voted Tory to keep Corbyn out, and because UKIP was (and is) in total disarray. Corbyn increased his vote by buying them at £27k a time. Simple as that. But all that happened before we had seen the true magnitude of May's incompetence, and her usual supporters will not be conned again. That is why it is absolutely imperative we get a new strong, pro-Brexit leader.
Name: John Finn, Coventry, UKDate/Time: 14 May 2018, 4.50pm
Message: Reply to Chris, Devizes: I'm sure we've argued about this before. I accept May had a poor campaign but I don't believe that cost her the election. The Tories increased their share of the vote from 37% in 2015 to 42.4% in 2017. They'd have snatched off your arm for that any time up to May 2017. Thatcher only got 42.4% (same as May) when she won her landslide victory in 1983. The difference then was that the left of centre vote was split between Labour and the SDP-Lib alliance. The expectation in 2017 was that a lot more of the left-leaning voters would stay at home but they didn't. They turned out in droves to back Corbyn. These people were never going to vote Tory. May didn't lose them - Corbyn won them. I'm afraid that's where we are and it won't be any easier for a pro-Brexit leader.
Name: Chris, DevizesDate/Time: 14 May 2018, 2.57pm
Message: Replying to John Finn: The 2017 General Election result had absolutely nothing to do with Brexit. May almost lost for three reasons: 1) Her wooden, charisma-free and anti-social character. 2) The social care fiasco, which alienated her core vote (older people). 3) Corbyn offered a £27k bribe to every student in the Country. Where I live (a safe Tory seat), I don't see any softening on Brexit. If anything, people are increasingly frustrated about the constant appeasement and sell-out. They want a proper Brexit more than ever.
Name: John Finn, Coventry, UKDate/Time: 14 May 2018, 12.47pm
Message: Reply to STEVE R, London: Steve if you read my earlier post you might notice that I supported Barrister-B and gave my reasons. To summarise, May has 2 problems (1) She hasn't got sufficient support from Parliament to take a firm NO Deal stand. (2) Reason 1 might not be a problem if, say, 70% of the public backed her and a hard line approach. They don't - so she can't go "over the heads" of parliament and seek a mandate in a GE. She tried this in 2017 and lost (or fell well short). A change of leader won't alter this position.
Name: Chris, DevizesDate/Time: 14 May 2018, 10.54am
Message: Replying to Barrister-B: You are correct that if we had a General Election now, and May was still in charge, the Tories would get absolutely slaughtered and we would have Corbyn in No.10. That is because she has shown herself to be weak, inept, incompetent, naive, and utterly unfit for the task of governing. She is clearly very uncomfortable on the World stage, and is even extremely nervous in the Commons during PMQs. You have to wonder why she went for the job in the first place. The British people can see all of this, and most hold her in utter contempt, including me, a life-long Tory voter, who would never vote Tory again if she is still there. However, I am totally confident that if we had a strong charismatic and pro-Brexit leader, such as JRM, the Tories would win a substantial overall majority, and would be able to secure a proper Brexit. It would also be a golden opportunity to de-select Remoaners like Soubry and Clarke. The first step is a vote of No Confidence to force May to step down, followed by a leadership contest, followed by a General Election. But it needs the 60 Tory Brexiteers to grow some balls and do something about it, and stop just making hollow threats.
Name: Steve R, LondonDate/Time: 14 May 2018, 10.24am
Message: To Patrick, London. You are seriously concerned that politicians may not come forward if Mrs Maybe had her fingers prised off the no. 10 doorknob? Once a leader is gone, they emerge like rats out of a sewer when the manhole cover is left off.
Name: Steve R, LondonDate/Time: 14 May 2018, 10.19am
Message: To Barrister B. Please explain your legal logic in proposing that a change of PM to one who supports Brexit, has the presence of mind to do it, appoints ministers who are not Remainers, sacks subversive civil servants rather than promoting them, orders the right software and equipment to leave with no deal, and tells the EU where they can stick their demands for billions of wonga, ...would MEAN A GENERAL ELECTION and, if it did, not bring out more than the 25% who voted in the council elections TO VOTE FOR THE PARTY WHO DOES WHAT THEY BLOODY VOTED FOR. (I tried to put it all in one sentence to help the legal mind understand.)
Name: John Finn, Coventry, UKDate/Time: 14 May 2018, 10.05am
Message: In normal circumstances you would be correct - but these are far from "Normal". First, as I made clear at the time and have reinforced several times since, May's failure to secure a decent majority has severely hamstrung government negotiations. Thanks to the Lords and the opposition parties, the UK has lost most of its leverage in the negotiations and the EU know this. May is a bit like a union leader entering negotiations with management in the knowledge that the union members have already ruled out strike action. Even worse, the management know it as well. If I thought for one moment that Gove or JRM could change the dynamic in any way then I would support a leadership challenge like a shot but, other than talk a bit tougher, I can't see there's much they can do. For this reason I agree with Barrister-B, London (below), i.e.bringing down May is loaded with risk for questionable benefit. A second problem is that it's not totally clear to me that the public has much of an appetite for a hard fought Brexit. Very few people seem to be prepared to make even minor sacrifices, such as boycotting EU goods or giving up continental holidays. These are actions we could all take which might force the EU countries to press the elite to be more accommodating to the UK. Remember keeping us in the EU isn't much use to EU economies if our trade deficit disappears. That, though , will take organised action to get as many as possible of the 17.4 million leave voters involved.
Name: Not4EU, UKDate/Time: 14 May 2018, 08.21am
Message: Absolutely. May is just dancing the illusion of democracy choreographed by the EU, and has been since Day 1. What makes me angry is that we were never fully 'in' in the first place, and we vote to LEAVE the bits that we were in and she's still unwilling. It is absolutely disgraceful that she, and the MPs, have allowed unelected Lords with vested EU interests to not only speak for the 'counterparty' but propose and vote on legislation designed to undermine and negate our position and not a comment from them. Surely the fact that these Lords have not recused themselves from EU matters shows that they have no honour and are not working in our interests. I and, quite likely 17.4m others, would happily offer our unpaid service (with a promise to stand down once we have properly left the EU) to be made a voting member of the Lords to ensure that we leave properly, as per the referendum. May, you want our 'help'? Then do this, NOW.
Name: Barrister-B, LondonDate/Time: 14 May 2018, 08.09am
Message: Can't agree with your proposition I'm afraid. We are faced with an unreconstructed Marxist who's an IRA apologist to boot. I cannot support any move to unseat a sitting Conservative Prime Minister when such a move might let in Corbyn. We should trust the Prime Minister. Many ministers and MPs repeated this yesterday. She said all the right things in her article so I don't understand your problem. She's delivering Brexit from what I see.
Name: Jon, WalesDate/Time: 14 May 2018, 01.05am
Message: I agree with every word in the above article. I am also fed up of seeing some UK MPs 'fighting' against a democratic vote. They don't question the outcome when elected in other elections! They didn't question the outcome of the 1975 referendum (back then they lied - Re: FCO 30/1048). Indeed, when prospective MPs come knocking on our door to persuade us to 'lend' them our vote, do they give us the whole story, or a version to see them elected? Unelected peers will often say they are upholding parliamentary democracy when it's clear their majority have set themselves up for radical reform due to their actions. The bloated Lordships House of 800+ peers is primarily a revising chamber, yet many of them see fit to interfere with our exit which is not their role. Many peers miss the obvious point we are still shackled to the dictatorial EU at this time, TAKING RULES from Brussels. One may ask of what use our MPs and peers are, and WHY are they not screaming from the rooftops that Prime Minister Mrs May is allowing the UK to be effectively governed by Brussels bureaucrats? In my opinion, all governance from Brussels should have ceased immediately post-Leave vote, and EU demands ignored save for our obligations. Had former Prime Minister Cameron notified Brussels the day after a Leave vote as he clearly stated, we would be leaving the EU political union by the end of June THIS YEAR. This is one reason why many people distrust [some] MPs and peers.
Name: Big Mach, CheshireDate/Time: 13 May 2018, 9.22pm
Message: I regret to say that you are right. I believed TM when she became party leader and said, "Brexit means Brexit" I was encouraged by her Lancaster House speech. Unfortunately the words have not translated into action. She accepted the EU timetable which is designed to delay the process until we end up with a take it or leave it deal. We should have been planning for a 'No Deal' outcome from the day that TM became PM. On Ireland we should have quoted what you have subsequently researched in respect of customs officials on both sides of the border saying that infrastructure at the border is not necessary. MaxFac should have been the only option on the table and they could take it or leave it. Peter Lilley and Nigel Lawson said we should have started with a WTO option and then offered them the opportunity to negotiate. They were right. Unfortunately it may be too late for a leadership challenge. On the positive front, the Brexit process cannot be stopped unless Parliament vote to withdraw Article 50. But even if they do, they would still need all 27 remaining EU members to approve and I don't think they all would. The new Italian leadership are already cheering us on. They would not allow our Parliament to reverse the democratically expressed will of the people. Then there are countries who want to accelerate EU integration. If we were back on board we would be a drag anchor on their ambitions. We have always opposed a stand alone EU army, which is the ambition of Juncker and Verhofstadt. Once we pass March 2019 there is no turning back. As a third country we would need to apply for membership all over again, which means we would have to sign up to the Euro and Schengen. It wouldn't happen. We are mire in the mud, but they can't get us back in the shackles.
Name: Patrick H, LondonDate/Time: 13 May 2018, 8.35pm
Message: FACTS4EU, I am guessing most that follow your articles are of the same opinion "May" must go now if a clean Brexit is to be delivered. My concern, however, is that there appears nobody in the wings that are forcibly thrusting forward. Individuals make a lot of noise but are not willing to stand up and offer themselves up for leadership "now". It is almost as if they are simply waiting in the wings until May resigns under pressure, and only then present themselves as a rightful successor. Their personal careers come first, so will not rock the political boat just in case? (no heroes here I fear).... not very inspiring to the general public, but if it is simply a means to an end, Brexit success, then so be it. Let the man or woman step forward now and the 17.4 Million will support them!
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YET ANOTHER BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG EXCLUSIVE
2/3rds OF UK’s
TOP EXPORT MARKETS
ARE OUTSIDE EU
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY
In 2017 only 17 out of the top 50 markets for British goods were in the EU
33 of the top markets where the UK sold most were in the rest of the world
On Thursday the Office for National Statistics (ONS) issued its latest revised trade data, which Brexit Facts4EU.Org has analysed.
Amongst the data released by the ONS is the list of the top 50 countries to which UK companies export. These are effectively the UK’s top 50 customers for goods.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG EXCLUSIVE ANALYSIS OF LATEST GOVERNMENT FIGURES
Only 17 EU member states feature in the top 50
10 EU countries don’t even feature in the list at all
UK’s biggest customer (USA) bought 30% more than biggest EU customer (Germany)
The 10 EU countries to whom the UK sells so little that they don’t appear in the ONS table are:
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg [See statistical notes below.]
Malta
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
WHERE IS THE GROWTH COMING FROM?
We also looked at how well each country’s demand is growing. This shows that the picture does not look likely to change significantly in the future.
Despite the large amounts of UK taxpayer funded money which the EU gives to its less-advanced members each year, 7 out of the top 10 fastest growing export markets for the UK are outside the EU.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org has produced many articles about international trade, with most of them focusing on the overall sums involved.
In this article we have looked solely at the numbers of countries rather than amounts. We did this based on the ONS choosing to look at the top 50 export markets for UK goods.
IMPLICATIONS FOR BREXIT
Remainers rarely seem to understand that the EU is not composed of 28 fairly equally-sized countries. Some of the 28 countries are barely larger than British towns.
In the case of the UK’s top 50 export markets, only 1/3rd of them are in the EU. These 17 countries are important of course, but what about the 10 EU member states which don’t make it into the UK’s top 50 list at all?
Putting it simply, 10 EU countries will supposedly be voting on the eventual trade deal with the UK and yet they have little relevance for the economy of the United Kingdom in cash terms.
WE DON’T WISH TO BE RUDE
Articles like this one always give us a small headache. It is hardly British to crow about our relative size and strength as a nation, compared to minnows such as Malta or Cyprus.
Nevertheless, the smallest countries in the EU will not think twice before scuppering a sensible EU deal with the UK, if they think it is in their interests to do so. This could even happen over some matter of their internal politics, where the governing party has the need to look macho to its own people.
It is therefore important to ram it home to the British people that the EU is a very ‘uneven playing field’, to borrow Michel Barnier’s over-used expression.
Can you imagine Mrs May having to turn down a deal with the EU because the town of Kirklees in West Yorkshire doesn’t like it? Yet this could be the scenario on the EU side, if someone like the anti-British PM of Malta decides to flex his rather diminutive frame.
The British have a reputation for self-deprecation. On the whole we rather approve of this national quality. However when it comes to the indoctrination of the British public – particularly our young people – by globalist campaigners who knock their own country at every opportunity, we are forced to stand up and tell people the facts of life.
To reassure our readers in the EU’s capitals and beyond, this doesn’t mean we’ve come over all world-dominating. That really isn’t our or the United Kingdom’s style at all. It simply means we would like everyone to recognise the realities of life.
Statistical notes: The ONS lump Belgium and Luxembourg together when showing exports and imports. Technically they are two separate EU member states. When counting numbers of countries we have treated the combined exports as being to Belgium, because Luxembourg is so tiny.
We would also point out that the UK’s exports to both Belgium and the Netherlands are artificially inflated by what is known as the ‘Rotterdam effect’. This is the name given to the fact that a proportion of the UK’s exports to Belgium and the Netherlands do not really enter those countries and instead are forward-shipped from Belgian and Dutch ports to the rest of the world. HMRC now estimate this affects as much as 4% of UK goods exports. If true, this is enough to knock those two countries well down the list of the UK’s top 50 export markets.
[ Sources: Office for National Statistics | HMRC ] Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
06.15am, 13 May 2018
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: Jon, WalesDate/Time: 13 May 2018, 11.18pm
Message: Over the years we've heard much talk of inequality within UK shores. In fact, it's almost never ending. Whilst I accept there is an element of truth to this inequality, those same people should ask themselves one serious question: WHY are UK politicians set to continue subsidising the majority of EU member countries [and military ambitions] following a clear electoral instruction to exit the EU? Remoaners should also remember we have a massive 'foreign aid' budget, which means the better our country does, the higher that budget is. With respect, remoaners need to understand there is a difference between leaving a political EU construct, and the geographical Continent of Europe. UK MPs and peers need to quit their political spin.
Name: Chris, DevizesDate/Time: 13 May 2018, 10.22am
Message: Yes, the BBC likes to constantly remind us that the EU represents the largest single market in the World, but the claim is quite evidently false, since population size is irrelevant. What actually counts is GDP, since that tells you how much money they have to spend. I believe that the EU GDP (excluding the UK contribution) is around $13trn compared to $18.5trn for the USA. The US market is far more important.
Reply: Yes Chris, the EU is not the biggest single market - that's just yet another Remainer lie. Latest figures from IMF have the EU27 on only $14.7 trillion, compared to the USA on $19.4 trillion. The USA is the biggest market by far.
Even if you add in the UK to the EU's total it only comes to $17.3 trillion - which is $2,100 billion dollars less than the US. The Remainers' claim of the EU being "the biggest market in the world" was always a fantasy. What's worse is that the EU as a market is also shrinking in global terms.
Name: Shieldsman, SurreyDate/Time: 13 May 2018, 09.51am
Message: So much for Anna Soubry's 500 million EU customers. How many do we actually have?
Reply: Good point, Shieldsman. The Remain side have repeatedly lied about this - before the Referendum and after - and we constantly tried (in vain) to get the BBC and other media to report the correct number. The EU27 comprises 443 million people, the last time we checked.
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WHAT WILL IT TAKE, NICK CLEGG?
TANKS ON YOUR LAWN?
EU's VP and Foreign & Defence Secretary summarises EU defence moves
Yesterday in the beautiful Italian mediaeval city of Florence, the EU's Vice-President, High Commissioner, and de facto Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary gave a highly contentious speech about the 'State of the Union'.
In this speech, Ms Mogherini summarised where the EU has got to on its EU Defence Union. The Defence Union is in the Treaty and its EU policy, despite former LibDem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg denying categorically that the EU had any military ambitions. It is now well-known how he attempted to ridicule this idea, most notably starting in 2014 in a televised debate with Nigel Farage. In that debate he infamously called the idea of EU common defence "a dangerous fantasy".
EU VICE-PRESIDENT AND DEFENCE CHIEF MOGHERINI - FRI 11 MAY 2018, FLORENCE
Below we present what Ms Mogherini said about EU common defence yesterday. You can either watch the video, or read the transcript.
(Defence): Security and defence are the best
example. The idea of a European Defence
Community dates back to the Fifties. But for
over sixty years it was impossible to achieve,
failure after failure, veto after veto.”
(EP hearing): I remember very well my
confirmation hearing at the European
Parliament, in 2014. I said it was time to fulfil
the potential of our Treaties on defence. But
most people told me: it is impossible, the
conditions are not there. The political will is
not there. But political will depends on us, and
us only. In fact, we made it. We took the most
significant step ever to build the European
Defence.”
(MPCC): We started with a single command
centre for our military training missions, in
Brussels. It has been operational for one year
now.”
(EDF): Then, with the Commission we
launched the European Defence Fund, that
will allow us by 2020 to invest one-and-a-half
billion every year on defence research, and
on our defence industry, to help Member
States spend better, by spending together.
”And for the first time ever in the European
history, with the Commission we have
proposed to dedicate part of the next EU
budget, in the Multiannual Financial
Framework, to the European Defence, to
support European Defence Industry and
Research.”
(PESCO): Then, with the Council we
launched the Permanent Structured
Cooperation on defence, using for the first
time ever the provision of the Treaty that
allows us to go with different level of
engagement among Member States – testing
2 speeds in the field of security and defence.
Twenty-five European countries have
committed to join forces on common projects,
to provide troops and assets for our common
missions, but also to speed-up their national
decision making and to share information.”
(PESCO projects): The 17 projects we are
now implementing are very concrete, from a
new system for maritime surveillance, to a
European training centre for our troops who
intervene in case of a natural disaster.
”The range of security issue we face today is
incredibly broad and only together can we
develop all the capabilities we need, to
protect our citizens and to build peace. As we
built, in these last 2 years, the first elements
of the European Defence, we have also
strengthened as never before our partnership
with NATO and with the United Nations.
Because we see our strength as
complementary to the strength of others.
”The instruments we have set up have an
immense potential, but it is now up to us to
make full use of this potential. It is a matter of
political will, particularly from Member States.
As the work is a collective one, and is going
on.
”We are now also focusing on our civilian
capabilities, and I have proposed to set up a
new European financial instrument, the
European Peace Facility, to give predictability
to our civilian and military missions, but also
to support our international partners.”
(EU of security and defence): All these
initiatives that I have mentioned, taken
together, make the European Union of
security and defence.”
(Defence today): After decades, finally,
today we can innovate together, we can buy
together, we can plan and act together as
Europeans.”
(European way): Because, today, the
European way has become the only effective
way to peace and security. In a world where
military means are sometimes needed, but
never sufficient alone. Where security is
never just a matter of traditional defence.
”The European way to peace and security is
something we have learnt in Africa: where
security needs the economy to flourish, and
the economy works only if it is not threatened
by criminal groups, or instability.
”The European way to peace and security is
something we have learnt in Afghanistan, in
the Sahel or in Iraq: if you want to build a
strong democratic state, a professional army
is just as important as professional judges,
doctors and police.
”The European way to peace and security is
something we have learnt in our daily work
around the world. Security only comes with
reconciliation, and a reconciliation process
requires diplomacy and local development,
and sometimes also a strong peace-keeping
force.
”Soft and hard power together, smartly and
carefully mixed, with local ownership as the
compass of any decision.”
OBSERVATIONS
Over the past 3 years we have provided an enormous amount of evidence regarding the military ambitions of the EU. There really is no longer any doubt whatsoever. We never had any doubt but we have had to keep citing the evidence.
Irritatingly this is because of people like the anti-democrat Nick Clegg, who has continued to spout total nonsense despite all evidence to the contrary. This man misrepresented the facts to the British public and continues to do so. He simply can't ever admit that he has been wrong about everything to do with the EU. His and his wife's work has been built on the fantasy that is the crumbling EU and he's unable to face the facts. And of course he will receive an EU pension.
If you wish to read more about the EU's military plans, please look at our defence summary here.
[ Sources: EU Commission | European University Institute ] Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
06.55am, 12 May 2018
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: Chris, DevizesDate/Time: 12 May 2018, 12.35pm
Message: (Off topic) Hi, I wondered if you have investigated the financial vested interests enjoyed by many of the prominent Remoaners? [Examples given by Chris but redacted by us as we have no evidence, even though we believe Chris to be right in his claims.] I'm sure there are dozens of others, who claim to be interested in democracy and due process, but are actually just self-centred greedy bastards! It would be an excellent way to discredit these Remoaners, if such facts could be brought to light.
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UK “NOT STRONG ENOUGH” TO SUCCEED- EU VICE-PRESIDENT
SLAMS TRUMP : “SCREAMING, SHOUTING, INSULTING AND BULLYING”
Thinly-disguised attacks launched on UK & USA from EU's Foreign Secretary
For the last 2 days the Great and the Good of the EU ‘Projekt’ have gathered in the magnificent mediaeval splendour of the Palazzo Vecchio and in the buildings of the European University Institute in Florence.
Presidents of countries, Presidents of EU institutions and banks, as well as professors and research fellows, High Representatives and ambassadors, and editors from the Financial Times, all sat in respectful silence as speech after speech was made extolling the virtues of ‘solidarity’, ‘unity’ and ‘more Europe’.
EU VICE-PRESIDENT AND DEFENCE CHIEF MOGHERINI
ON BREXIT
“Go back with your memories to a couple of years ago. We were all discussing the end of the European Union. Many were saying that after the UK, others would have left the EU. Our Union was in a state of deep crisis.”
“27 Heads of States and Governments recommitted to the relaunch of our Union. Because they knew the only way to effectively serve their respective national interests, in today's world, is through our Union. They knew that it is not giving up sovereignty, but the only way to regain sovereignty in today's world. No country is big or strong enough to face the world of today alone: we can do it only together.”
Ms Mogherini also spoke about her favourite topic: the EU Defence Union. Given the continuing denials from Remainer politicians about this subject we have covered this in a separate article above.
ON THE STATE OF THE WORLD:
“It's a state of chaos, a confused proliferation of crisis, where conflictuality and confrontation seem to prevail on rationality.”
“Vital work of building a common ground among players that have different views and interests, seem to be an exercise of naïveté – in these confused, chaotic times.”
“To prevent conflicts to spiral out of control. To contain tensions. To preserve what it's still working and delivering – as we are determined to do with the Iran nuclear deal. I know that this is not the mood of our times. It seems that screaming, shouting, insulting and bullying, systematically destroying and dismantling everything is already in place, is the mood of our times.”
“We need to move from the ‘I win/you lose’ approach, to the common search for common solutions, because we do have common problems to face. We are as strong as the weakest of our neighbours and partners is. The chain is as strong as the weakest of its ring is.”
Ms Mogherini was careful not to mention President Trump by name, but then she didn't have to. It was obvious to all listening who the primary target of her ire was directed at. It is worth recollecting that Ms Mogherini feels a great deal of credit for the Iran deal is down to her. As we pointed out earlier this week, she did her university dissertation on Islam.
JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER’S SPEECH
EU Commission President Juncker delivered another very typical speech which focused heavily on solidarity.
In fact he used the word solidarity 37 times, leaving no-one in any doubt how important he thinks it is. We will give you a typical passage:-
“But I am not - neither in SOLIDARITY nor elsewhere - naive, because SOLIDARITY is built, invented every day again. I remember very well that last year, when I spoke to you, I regretted that there is not enough SOLIDARITY in Europe. When everything goes well or almost well, SOLIDARITY is established by itself. But when we are confronted with crises as we have been in the last few years in the face of the European polycrisis, SOLIDARITY frays, parts, is divided.”
Herr Juncker also spoke about the EU’s youth. Given how seriously we take the EU's continued and growing indoctrination programmes for young people, we will cover this in a separate article.
OBSERVATIONS
WHY SHOULD YOU CARE WHAT THE EU SAYS ANY MORE?
On a daily basis Brexit has been attacked since victory was declared in the early hours of 24th June 2016.
Members of the Brexit Facts4EU.Org team had expected to be able to go back full-time to our day jobs but unfortunately the Establishment decided to ignore the Referendum and to fight on. The sheer scale of the lies and deliberate misinformation from Remoaners has been breathtaking and dwarfs the original ‘Project Fear’ before the vote itself.
One of the many essential roles we feel we have to take on is that of ‘grand debunker’. Millions of British people who voted Remain have now quietly realised that they were sold a pup by the Cameron government and by the massed ranks of the Establishment lined up by the Stronger In campaign. Week after week the nonsense about 820,000 job losses, instant recessions, etc, has not only been proved to have been false but to have been the opposite of what has actually happened.
It remains the case, however, that the majority of the British people have no idea just what a monster the EU really is. The reason is simple: the BBC doesn’t report it and never has. We recall watching extensive BBC coverage of President Obama’s State of the Union addresses during his years as president of the USA, but never Juncker’s during his time as EU Commission president.
Perhaps the facts that Juncker’s State of the Union addresses have been so embarrassingly awful might have something to do with that.
Above we drew attention to the number of times Juncker talks of ‘solidarity’ (and ‘more Europe’) but you will note that we didn’t refer to the idea of nation states. The reason is simple. Juncker never once referred to ‘nations’ in his speech – unless it was to the United Nations. Juncker never does because he and his comrades hate the idea of nation states. It is anathema to the entire EU Projekt.
In Vice-President Mogherini’s speech she declared that “No country is big or strong enough to face the world of today alone.” This kind of mantra gets repeated constantly in the EU and it is of course entirely self-serving for those unelected bureaucrats like her who only wish to centralise more power for themselves.
MOST REMAIN VOTERS DIDN’T VOTE FOR THIS
Now, if British people who voted Remain are reading this and they would like the United Kingdom as a nation state to disappear, they will not care what we have described above. In fact it will probably suit their open borders / one global entity idea of life.
If however you rather like being a citizen of the United Kingdom (and in our case are proud to be subjects of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II), then the words of Juncker, Mogherini, and their globalist-totalitarian comrades will make you shudder. If you read as many speeches as we do emanating from the EU, you would be in no doubt whatsover that the EU intends your country to disappear in practical terms as soon as possible.
That is something we can never allow to happen, whatever the ghastly erminskis in the House of Lords think. They may be too ignorant or too globalist to defend our country, but we’re not.
[ Sources: EU Commission | European University Institute ] Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
06.55am, 12 May 2018
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: Jon, WalesDate/Time: 13 May 2018, 03.06am
Message: Ms Mogherini needs a dose of reality about her beloved EU construct. There is no 'solidarity' across the Continent of Europe, and the disquiet one sees is the result of EU elites ignoring all the peoples across the continent. The elites forget their place by failing to seek electoral consent, and when they do may ignore the people. It is only the EU elites (aka: propaganda merchants) who believe there is solidarity. Perhaps Ms Mogherini should remember the UK is presently the second highest NET contributor subsidising the EU majority, so a little respect would be in order? UK taxpayers are becoming ever more angry by the sheer arrogance of bureaucratic EU elites, and people have now found their voice.
Name: Michael Wood, WalesDate/Time: 12 May 2018, 12.35pm
Message: Why do I get the impression that this woman is itching to start a war?
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