How can anyone seriously campaign to rejoin the EU after reading this? - PART THREE

At least the EU is offering “town twinning” and giving Ukrainians LED light bulbs….

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

EU Commission President offers totally insensitive comments in a war zone

Following a Brexit Facts4EU.Org investigation of official EU data over several days, we present a deeply shocking report about the EU and Putin’s Russia. Facts4EU.Org can reveal that the EU’s supposed ‘sanctions’ on trade with Russia since his illegal invasion of Ukraine are little more than words.

The failing EU - Part Three
A Brexit Facts4EU.Org exclusive, in conjunction with CIBUK

Part One : The decline and fall of the EU empire – latest economic slide to zero revealed (Friday)
Part Two : EXPLOSIVE : EU sanctions? What EU sanctions? EU’s saintly claims blown out of the sky (Saturday)
Part Three : LED bulbs and town twinning – can the EU be serious? (This report)

The EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, made a visit to Ukraine on Thursday (02 Feb 2023) and gave a long speech to President Zelenskyy, to the Ukrainian people, and for the press.

Ms von der Leyen’s first message was about economic aid. She then had other topics she wanted to talk about and she spoke at length about them. Below we summarise some of these.

Let there be (EU) light….

After talking about aid and reconstruction as if the war had already been won, the EU Commission President waxed lyrical on the subject of the EU providing LED light bulbs to Ukraine, available from post offices. (Assuming these haven’t all been bombed to the ground by Putin’s forces.)

'Forget the war, Volod, let's talk about the EU's Green Deal'

“From this week on, indeed, the LED light bulbs are available to Ukrainian citizens at the post office. These are the first batches of the 30 million LED light bulbs we promised. But in fact, I am happy to announce that we can overshoot our goal. We are now able to provide 35 million LED light bulbs.”
- EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Kyiv, 02 Feb 2023

Green energy support

In the middle of a bitter and bloody fight for the very survival of Ukraine, the EU Commission President stood in the heavily bombed capital city of Kyiv and made further remarks. She felt it appropriate to talk about green energy.

She continued her long speech to President Zelenskyy by describing how the EU planned to help Ukraine achieve green energy. In the middle of Ukraine’s desperate and bloody battle for its very survival, this is what she said:-

'Oh Volod, Volod. Please stop talking about tanks, I want to talk about renewable gases'

“Renewables will not only bring clean energy; they will also increase Ukraine's energy security. Because they are home-grown, and because a decentralised energy system is plain and simply safer. So, we are now working on making available significant funding for solar panels that will be deployed across Ukraine.”
“And the final element in the energy security: Today, we are signing a Memorandum of Understanding on renewable gases, such as biomethane or hydrogen.”
- EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Kyiv, 02 Feb 2023

Greta Thunberg was not present

The EU Commission President then went on to talk about the EU’s sanctions

Our analysis of the EU’s official data yesterday shows clearly that the EU is making more and more money from its sales to Russia. Any thought that sanctions have prevented Russia from receiving badly needed supplies is completely false. In the fact the opposite is the case. From the EU these supplies have risen by 40% per month since the start of the war.

Not only that, but when it comes to imports from Russia – providing much needed foreign currency to keep Putin’s economy afloat - the EU has been more than generous. Our report yesterday showed that the EU has spent over €150bn euros buying goods from Russia in the first nine months of the war.

Despite this, Ms von der Leyen told President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people the following :

“My second message today is that we are making Putin pay for his atrocious war. Before Russia started this war, we were very vocal about the severe economic costs we will impose on Russia if it invades Ukraine.
“Today, Russia is paying a heavy price, as our sanctions are eroding its economy, throwing it back by a generation.”
- EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Kyiv, 02 Feb 202

EU's Russian imports have fallen very slowly compared to UK

As we showed yesterday, when it comes to buying from Russia the EU’s very gradual reduction has been far less than that of the UK and took a long time starting. Indeed in November the EU’s imports from Russia actually started increasing again, by +30% based on the previous month.

Undaunted, the EU Commission President ploughed on about town twinning

There then followed a passage about Ukraine joining the European Union before the EU Commission President reached her finale. For this, Ms von der Leyen thought it appropriate to talk about twinning. We assure readers we are not making this up.

'Volod, I'm sure you'll get German tanks, once they've been repaired. Meanwhile, there's always town twinning'

“My final point – and it is last but certainly not least: We are connecting more and more our people, our companies and our cities. Last year, Volodymyr, you called for our cities to twin – the twin partnerships. They heard you, and they are doing it.

Credit: Twitter, click to enlarge

“So let me report you that we have now 100 large cities in the European Union that are twinned with 36 Ukrainian cities by now. Munich with Kyiv for example; Turku with Kharkiv. Almost 1,000 smaller towns in the European Union have partnerships with municipalities in Ukraine – with Hromadas.

“And, just like as you called for, they are ready to help rebuild the sister cities in Ukraine. Our network, Eurocities, has already launched a project on the sustainable rebuilding of cities in Ukraine. And I think it is amazing because there are urban planners, engineers, architects fully on board.
“And the New European Bauhaus concept will inspire them. They partner in Ukraine to launch the capacity-building programme. For example, they share knowledge for rebuilding smartly, for example by recycling concrete so that Ukraine could use half of the debris from destroyed buildings to rebuild better.
“Our LIFE programme will provide the first steps on that, this is EUR 7 million for the programme to start. So, our vision is to turn the destruction of war into opportunities to build a beautiful and healthy future for Ukraine.”
- EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Kyiv, 02 Feb 2023

Er… We believe it’s just possible that President Zelenskyy is currently focused on fighting a war. It’s just possible he now has other things on his mind than twinning and Bauhaus - a pre-war German building design style.

Former Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Sir John Redwood MP, speaks exclusively to Brexit Facts4EU.Org and CIBUK.Org, commenting on all three reports in this series and Brexit generally.

“Facts4EU has done a great job making the case for Brexit.
“It was always about being free to make our own laws and spend our own taxes which we can now do. The EU robbed us of cash and damaged many of our industries.
“Common fishing and farming policies made us dependent on imports from the continent. Complex regulations favoured German and French industry over our own.
“The EU is undermining the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. Going back into the EU would be a dreadful idea, putting us under their power to harm yet again.”
Former Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Sir John Redwood MP, Sun 05 Feb 2023

Observations

The title of this three-part series is “How can anyone seriously campaign to rejoin the EU after reading this?”

We are compelled to ask Rejoiners how they can possibly want to surrender British sovereignty to a foreign empire run by people so out of touch with reality. This is not about one person. They’ve been like this for many years and are only getting worse with each passing year.

Ursula von der Leyen was German Defence Minister. It might have been thought she would understand something about war, but it seems not.

We realise that Ms von der Leyen had little to point to in terms of the EU sanctions having made much difference to its trade with Putin’s despotic regime. Nevertheless, for her to stand in a war-ravaged city in a country fighting on a daily basis for its survival, with civilians and military personnel being killed and maimed every day, and to witter on about “town twinning” and “the New European Bauhaus concept” almost defies belief.

Is the EU Commission on a different planet?

One can only speculate what President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people made of all of this. Perhaps they just had to bite their tongues and ask for more EU cash. That’s what we would have done.

For UK Rejoiners, however, they must confront this reality. Here we have the EU in all its glory, prancing around on the world stage playing gesture politics.

The sheer insensitivity of these ideologues playing their violins and talking about wholly irrelevant EU policies while Kjiv and the rest of Ukraine is burning – this surely displays these EU fanatics in their true, washed-out colors.

Brexit Britain stood up to be counted while the EU had meetings and put out disinformation

Whatever your views about this war, most countries’ governments have a broadly similar position. We can therefore judge the EU against Brexit Britain on this basis. The UK has outperformed the EU27 on military training and supply of weapons, massively outperformed the EU in cutting its Russian imports, and hasn't bothered President Zelenskyy with irrelevant and self-promoting ideological projects.

We must get reports like this out there

Reports like the one above take far longer to research, write and produce than many people realise. If they were easy, readers would see other organisations also producing these daily.

However, there’s little point in the Facts4EU.Org team working long hours, seven days-a-week, if we lack the resources to promote them effectively – to the public, to MPs, and to the media. This is where you come in, dear reader.

Facts4EU.Org needs you today

We are a 'not for profit' team (we make a loss) and any payment goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

We badly need more of our thousands of readers to become members, to support this work. Could this be you, today? It's quick and easy, we give you a choice of two highly secure payment providers, and we do NOT ask you for further support if you pay once. We just hope you keep supporting us. Your membership stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

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[ Sources: EU Commission ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sun 05 Feb 2023

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Reader Comments 11

1. Sparky , Sunday, February 05, 2023, 07:24:

John Redwood says that the EU robbed us of cash, made us dependant on fish imports and the EU is undermining the GF agreement. Brexit is robbing us of cash by forcing massive admin costs on businesses to export, our tastes in fish is largely for imported fish, cod and haddock, the deal that Johnson signed and agreed with the EU is threatening the GF agreement but Johnson didn’t understand what he was signing. He blames the EU, but Brexit is the issue. Last three days have been a dig at EU but where are the Brexit wins from the last three years?

2. Northern Muppet , Sunday, February 05, 2023, 08:36:

So, you'd STILL like to rejoin, eh Sparkly?
.

3. Have You Wondered , Sunday, February 05, 2023, 09:03:

Sparky:
.
As I keep repeating, but you and Remainers on other sites never answer, the biggest win is:
.
Why does the UK need another level of corruption above that which the UK has already?
.
The 'EU Supertanker' is out of control with its history of decline in trading goods that was meant to bring peace, being replaced by political and military ambition as recent Russian events prove, they are clearly inept.
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The purser, head of ECB , Lagarde, with a conviction for financial negligence !! (wiki Christine Lagarde)
.
There are 705 MEP crew aboard the self confessed 'Supertanker' who are paid handsomely plus €4778 a month unaccountable expenses as decreed by the ECJ on 25 Sept, 2018 to keep them subservient? That ECJ ruling also allows them to use the money to top up their pensions by investing in un-eco and arms manufacturing.
.
27 Commissioners in the officers ward room who were unelectable in their home country, loaded on the EU gravy train, itself mired in questionable democracy and accountability.
.
A corrupt accounts dept. Re: Andreasen 'Brussels Laid Bare'.
.
Funding Putin war using record amounts illegal fuel from Russia (Brussels Times)
.
A dodgy ships credit card - Target2. (Professor David Blake. City University of London et al)
.
A captain who allegedly speaks for the Commissioners but whose credibility was hampered when investigated for dodgy defence contracts in which she 'lost' data from her phone, now refusing to release texts re: the Pfizer contracts and refuses to be interviewed by the press (Politico in particular)
.
Behind the facade of democracy you have the real captains calling themselves the Eurogroup who actually run the ship but allegedly have little, if any, constitutional standing (en. wiki pedia. org wiki Eurogroup) but sank the good ship 'Greece' in an act of piracy. Ref: Varoufakis: Adults in the Room.
.
Why does the UK need another level of corruption?
.

4. Have You Wondered , Sunday, February 05, 2023, 09:17:

Search "EU imports of Russian LNG jumped 36% last year" It's in a well known Brussels paper. (can't post links - sorry. Sign of the 'Times')
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Well VDL - after all those fine meaningless words - does the word hypocrisy spring to mind?
.
Sparky : Why does the UK need another level of corruption?
.

5. The Brexit Facts4EU.Org team , Sunday, February 05, 2023, 09:51:

FROM THE BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG TEAM
Those Rejoiners who posted yesterday about the EU's numbers are wrong. Instead of presenting the EU's import and export figures for Russia, as we have done, the EU chose instead to present the share of theEU's business with Russia as a percentage of the total of all imports and exports. This is highly unusual - and misleading. The obvious thing to have done would be to present the simple charts of imports and exports, as we did. Their problem, of course, was that these charts do not make the EU look good at all. They obviously then tried to find something which presented a better picture. We stand by our story.

6. jon livesey , Sunday, February 05, 2023, 17:38:

1. Sparky , Still banging on about fish? Total UK Food and Drink exports are about 20bn a year, out of total exports of 600 bn. So roughly 3% of total exports. And Fish represents a small proportion of Food and Drink.
And by the way, UK Food and Drink exports are up since 2016, not down.

7. jon livesey , Sunday, February 05, 2023, 19:51:

I looked up UK Fish exports and they amount to 1.5 bn a year. Compared to 600 bn total exports, that is one quarter of one percent. Oh, and fish exports are up, not down.

8. Jon, Wales , Sunday, February 05, 2023, 21:01:

I commend Brexit Facts4EU.org for researching and producing this quality three-part series.
I further commend those Members of Parliament who support these facts and speak up accordingly, for they will be rewarded at the ballot box.
It's quite unbelievable how anyone would wish to rejoin the EU when fact after fact is presented here showing up the commission and EU construct for what it is.
As an aside, though much has been written about the absurdity of the NI Protocol, this is a fight we must take head on in order to scrap the protocol, because we cannot have a foreign 'power' intruding upon United Kingdom integrity.
I did NOT vote for part of our country to be hived off to the EU, nor for a foreign commission and its political court to oversee OUR country.
I implore UK elected Members of Parliament to scrap the NI Protocol?

9. Gazzablack , Sunday, February 05, 2023, 22:02:

There is a rule of law crisis in the EU.
.
The current EU crisis began in 2020 when Germany said, via it's courts, that EU law did not apply to Germany.
Germany used the justification of it's own constitution to temporarily suspend EU law - because they did not want to be responsible for the massive EU Covid costs .
Of course, if Germany could do tnis, then any other member state could do the same.
.
Since Germany did what it did, many members have followed suit - each one suspending, or opting out, of EU law.
Each such opt out damages the rule of law inside the EU.
Every time the rules do not apply to a member state but does apply to all the other members, the very fabric of law is undermined.
And because it keeps happening, there is a crisis.
.
France did so because it wanted to have some control over it's foreign policy. So IT acted contra to EU law and treaty obligations the EU has agreed with the UK, unilaterally to threaten the UK.
It did so by sending boats to UK territorial waters and by illegally threatening the Jersey electricity supply.
.
Worse some members are refusing to back down. Germany officially backed down but there is nothing to prevent it doing the same again
Both Poland and Hungary have refused to back down and now Poland is being fined €1 million a day, and Hungary is having billions withheld or denied it.
.

10. Gazzablack , Monday, February 06, 2023, 00:35:

Nicole B Scicluna, Assistant Professor in Government and International studies, and Stefan Auer, Associate Professor of European Studies argue that part of the cause of the current crisis has been in the EU from the beginning.
The EU purports to be a legal system, and it has an all powerful court.
But from the Treaty of Rome that court, the European court of Justice (ECJ), has been given a political function.
.
The ECJ was given two jobs. Every court in a respectable legal system interprets and upholds law - the EC J was given this job.
But the ECJ was also tasked with advancing 'ever closer union'.
That is not interpreting law, indeed it is not law at all.
It is a political policy that pre-supposes all member states wanted ever closer union or even understood what the phrase meant.
And it is that political purpose which stopped the ECJ being a respectable court.
The academics write that this second job as an 'engine of integration' has risked tearing the EU apart.
When Major events, such as the political choice to borrow a lot of money during the pandemic arise the EU takes the political decision and it's political court acts as it's willing 'enforcer'.
That leaves states like Germany no choice but to 'break pig's of EU control when they fundamentally disagree.

11 comments, page 1 of 2

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