Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is starting a three-day tour in Europe to discuss the future relationship arrangements of his country with the EU.
He “will today begin a three-day visit to Finland, Latvia, Denmark and the Netherlands to continue his discussions with European partners on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU,” a government statement said.
It said the foreign secretary will meet the foreign ministers of all four countries to “outline the U.K.’s determination to build a new relationship with Europe after Brexit which will offer a bright future that benefits all on our continent.”
Hunt said the U.K. shares “history and values with our partners in Europe" and that they "work side-by-side to defend the rules-based international system on which our safety and prosperity depend.”
“I’m delighted to be visiting four close European partners this week to reiterate that these strong ties will not diminish once we leave the EU,” he added.
A European establishment spoiled by history is worrying about the future of the EU while the 2019 summer election is approaching. The ballot could be a revolution in the political map with a solid step back of democratic Christians and of social-democratic components of the EU parliament - the traditional roots of the post-war peace process in the old Continent. A “populist” nightmare is involving politicians, media activists, intellectuals and social scholars riddling the image of a future where the founder’s own idea of Europe could be at stake. But is it a real picture? An official source of the Eurobarometer says a few different things: for the first time since 2007, more Europeans do not believe “my voice counts in the EU,” according to a survey of over 27,000 people across the continent. Yet the same poll — released on July 4 to mark one year until the 2019 European Parliament election — also found a warm welcome for the anti-establishment parties shaking up politics in the bloc. So maybe people are smarter than old politicians, and the sovereigntist wave is justified by a really bad management of the refugees-migrant policy and the total incapacity of European governments to handle the complex changes due to a globalization too much influenced by “finance without borders” and running like a bull outside the stable. Furthermore, the EU Commission’s (non-democratic) leadership lost power, and the EU Counsel rises with its national interests. It has been over a decade that the EU has been just a sum of different interests where the stronger count (Germany and its French vassal) and the lesser pay (Greece, Spain, Italy and others).It is an epic political fail that joins the American and European establishment both punished by elections and characterized by harsh, foolish debate. Hyper-spoiled elites from both sides of the Atlantic got a bad wake up and a hysterical and paranoid reaction because reality has proven to be different from their wishful thinking. Some examples that astonished us are the Hollywood star Robert De Niro with his “F..k the President” with a “privileged” audience’s standing ovation and actress Demi Moore’s statement: “This awful country with disgusting people and everything about it, I’ll boycott everything about Trump” mean that a system short-circuit has occurred, and respect for a country that gives you a chance and for its institutions mean nothing. In Europe, we can see the ugly copy of that already absurd behavioral pattern.Still, the Eurobarometer survey says there is no danger for EU institutions: the survey, carried out for the European Parliament by Kantar Public, a consultancy firm, found that 48 percent of EU citizens surveyed agree that their voice counts in the EU, while 46 percent disagree — and Brexit appears to have improved the pro-EU mood. Before the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU in 2016, just 37 percent of Europeans agreed that their voice counted in the EU.However, citizens feel more connected to national politics than pan-European: 63 percent of Europeans agree their voice counts at the national level, with that figure topping 90 percent in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.The good news for the Eurocrats and politicians preparing for next year’s election is that support for the EU is “the highest score ever measured since 1983,” according to the survey report. It seems there is no danger for the future.So maybe it is just the end of the first stage of EU building that now needs a further step toward a more democratic phase with the so-called “political” phase after the euro currency stage. Not an easy task. The refugee/migrant issue shows all the limits of unrealistic EU policies better, squeezed among a failed globalism in its priorities like the building of new markets, new consumers, new models of society, new types of families ready to spend more and more fragile to new needs and people’s defensive attitudes that do not allow pro-migrant policies. So, weak European politicians choose a hidden way to achieve this task pushed by the old “globalist” elite: humanitarian emergency, using African and Middle Eastern wars and troubles as valves to set migrant flow. Almost immediately, this project went out of control and the European ruling elite found out how harsh the feedback could be with a sinking political support. Now they are depicting new populism as a danger as the seed for new xenophobic attitudes and the chance fascism could rise again in Europe but is the swan song of an obsolete political paradigm, still watching at the last century, defeated by complexity of the modern world. The paradigm is called globalization, now turned “bad” with is financial influence, the rooms for political parties is limited: how to defend local communities from aberrations and unwilling effects of this system on the one side; take advantage of many chances the global market gives on the other side. To achieve this task you do not need any ideology, but just a vison about the future - like circular (non-destructive) economy - and a strong personal ethic and strong popular mandate to resist to huge market forces that have no soul, ethic or morality but can exert big pressure over national and local government, especially if they are corrupted. The Italian government’s “war” against gambling games business, prohibiting any kind of advertising, is a good example of the new role of politicians that people want. The change of paradigm means that old political categories and narratives are fading. A good example is the Brexit troublemaking process that has been weakening PM Theresa May’s UK government.The European Parliament’s next election in July 2019 could show a new political map with a great rising of “sovereigntist” and “anti-establishment” parties. In several European countries, including Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Switzerland, right-wing parties have taken the reins of government. And even where populists haven’t gained power, groups such as Britain’s UKIP, the French Front National, and Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland are gaining record popularity.If the survey results are anything to go by, the EU will have difficulty getting more people out to vote next year than they have in the past (turnout in the 2014 ballot was 42.6 percent, a record low). According to this year’s survey results, only half of the EU population has an interest in the Parliament elections. As for what should be on the agenda ahead of the election, citizens picked terrorism as the most pressing topic of discussion, ahead of youth unemployment and immigration. So fear will once again lead public opinion choices.Could this new political map in Europe change even the Mediterranean framework? Sovereigntist and anti-establishment parties want to break free from foreign economical-political influence and will not exert undue influence over other countries. That could open a chance window to build more local oriented/independent governments and could mean the end stop for a neo-colonial attitude in the Mediterranean basin. Of course nothing will come easy, but even Donald Trump’s anti-establishment attitude could help this change toward more bad-globalism-independent societies and states. The U.S. needs to cut bonds between Berlin and Moscow, but in the meanwhile wants to foster its own relation with Putin. Europe has to stay in the Atlantic full-flagged field but with new rules and far from any Euro Asiatic influence. Even the NATO burden-sharing issue is just a political tool to deal with European countries to balance a negative security bill and a trade exchange. Trump wants to cash credits and to stress the political “croupier” role of Washington in Europe more. The spirit of a pragmatic democrat and tireless unifier like Konrad Adenauer seems to need a big revamp and a new paradigm.
Europe 2019 revolution: A change of political paradigm
Underlining the common threats, “including terrorism and the destabilising activities of Russia,” Hunt thanked the four countries for the solidarity they showed with Britain “when Russia used a chemical weapon on British soil,” referring to the Sergei and Yulia Skripal poisoning incident this March.
Hunt said the U.K.’s strategic choice in Brexit negotiations “is to build a deep and special partnership with the remaining member states.”
Israel’s nation-state law discriminates against the country’s Palestinian minority, British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said Monday.Corbyn made the remarks on Twitter in reply to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who joined the criticism against Corbyn over his alleged participation in a wreath-laying ceremony in Tunisia four years ago to honor the perpetrators of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.“The nation-state law sponsored by @Netanyahu's government discriminates against Israel's Palestinian minority. I stand with the tens of thousands of Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel demonstrating for equal rights at the weekend in Tel Aviv,” Corbyn said.Israeli army storms Palestinian school in West BankBritish tabloid the Daily Mail published photos of Corbyn at the ceremony holding a wreath while standing near the graves of members of the Black September group. The event took place in 2014, before he was elected Labour leader.The Black September group is believed to be behind a deadly terrorist attack that targeted Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympics in Germany which left 11 dead.“The laying of a wreath by Jeremy Corbyn on the graves of the terrorists who perpetrated the Munich massacre and his comparison of Israel to the Nazis deserves unequivocal condemnation from everyone,” Netanyahu said on Twitter.Israel detain 520 Palestinians last monthHowever, Corbyn told the British press that although he was present at the ceremony, he was not involved.The Daily Mail cited sources close to Corbyn as saying that he was at a service to commemorate the 47 Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in 1985 on a Tunisian base of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). The monument to the airstrike victims is only yards away from a plaque that lies beside the graves of the Black September members.An Israeli airstrike killed 47 people and wounded 65 others on Oct. 1, 1985, according to official sources in Tunisia.Israeli PM slams protesters against ‘nation-state’ lawCorbyn said “wreaths were laid at the graves of those who died” in the airstrike and “on the graves of others killed in Paris in 1992”, referring to PLO members killed by Mossad agents.“I was there because I wanted to see a fitting memorial to everyone who has died in every terrorist incident everywhere.“Because we have to end it. You cannot pursue peace by a cycle of violence. The only way you can pursue peace is by a cycle of dialogue,” he said.“Israeli PM @Netanyahu’s claims about my actions and words are false,” Corbyn also said on Twitter in his response to Netanyahu.Israeli navy detains 5 fishermen off Gaza coast“What deserves unequivocal condemnation is the killing of over 160 Palestinian protesters in Gaza by Israeli forces since March, including dozens of children,” Corbyn said, referring to the Israeli army’s killing of unarmed Palestinian protesters during the Great March of Return gatherings earlier this year.Protests in Tel AvivCorbyn was referring in his tweet to thousands of people, mostly Israeli-Arabs, who demonstrated in Tel Aviv last Saturday against the controversial nation-state law which was passed by Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, last month.The law defines Israel as a Jewish state with a “united Jerusalem” as its capital. It also promotes Hebrew as the only official language, stripping Arabic as an official language while recognizing its “special status”.The legislation risks further alienating the Arab minority, who argue that they already face discrimination from Israeli Jews and the government and feel as though they are second-class citizens.Palestinians who have Israeli citizenship make up 21 percent of the population and are known as Israeli Arabs and have members in the Knesset.Anti-Semitism claimsThe accusations directed at the Labour party are not new, but they grew after Labour’s success in last year’s snap election with the party winning 262 seats in the House of Commons and attracting attention as an alternative to the current Conservative government.In a 2016 renewed leadership contest following resignations from his shadow cabinet, Corbyn secured his position as leader with 61.8 percent of the votes from party members.A joint editorial published last month by The Jewish Chronicle, Jewish News and Jewish Telegraph that appeared on the front pages of all three papers under the headline “United We Stand” described the Labour Party as the “natural home” for Britain’s Jewish community but claimed the party had “seen its values and integrity eroded by Corbynite contempt for Jews and Israel”.“The stain and shame of antisemitism has coursed through Her Majesty’s Opposition since Jeremy Corbyn became leader in 2015,” the editorial charged.Accusing the party of becoming “institutionally racist,” the editorial underlined “the strong concerns raised in the Jewish community”.Row over definitionThe latest row over anti-Semitism accusations by the UK’s Israeli lobby arose over Labour’s refusal to accept the full text of the working definition of anti-Semitism produced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).The party expressed concern over creating a code of conduct that could be “used to deny Palestinians, including Palestinian citizens of Israel and their supporters, their rights and freedoms to describe the discrimination and injustices they face in the language they deem appropriate”.Corbyn signaled that three of the four IHRA examples of anti-Semitism would be added to the party’s code of conduct, namely “comparing contemporary Israeli policies to those of Nazis,” “suggesting Jewish people are more loyal to Israel than their home country” and “holding Israel to different standards to other democratic countries”.But Corbyn also signaled that he would continue to reject the fourth example: “Denying Jewish people have a right to self-determination – for example by claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a ‘racist endeavor’."
UK Labour leader slams Netanyahu's 'false' claims
Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s Islamophobic comments regarding the niqab and the burka have led to a sharp rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes, an advocacy group said.Tell Mama, which tracks and documents anti-Muslim violence, has reported a four-fold increase in hate crime against Muslim women, especially those that wear the niqab or burka.“In the week before Johnson’s comments, Tell Mama reported no incidents against women wearing a niqab,” the group said in a statement, citing the former Foreign Secretary’s comments in which he compared Muslim women who wore the niqab and the burka to “letterboxes” and “bank robbers” in an article in the Daily Telegraph.However, following Johnson’s comments, Tell Mama reported: “A London woman wearing a niqab reported being abused… with another three incidents reported in the capital and Luton the following day and another taking place in London on Friday.”Muslim body slams Islamophobia within UK's Tory partyThese attacks, both verbal and physical, have not been limited to Muslim women wearing the niqab and the burka as “anti-Muslim abuse directed at women wearing the hijab also rose significantly with five incidents reported in Guilford, Leicester and London on the day that Johnson’s column was published,” the group said.In total, there have 21 individual cases in which Muslim women wearing the niqab, burka or hijab have suffered racial abuse and assault in the week Johnson’s article was published which was on August 6th.This number has risen by 15 in comparison to the five incidents reported a week before the publication.The former Foreign Secretary has refused to apologize for the Islamophobic comments and has come under investigation from within the Conservative party over possible breaches of the party’s code of conduct.A plethora of senior individuals and organizations have called on Johnson to apologize and that he faces a full disciplinary inquiry.
UK: Johnson’s remarks fuel anti-Muslim hate crimes
“We want to safeguard our operational capacity as we leave the EU, and so we have put forward precise, credible proposals that ensure our ability to act is maintained,” he said.
The British foreign secretary said they “are now at the point where the EU also faces strategic choices: with the option to move the negotiations forward and achieve a deal that works in our mutual interests.”
“My simple message is that we need to take that opportunity,” he added.
The U.K. is set to leave the EU on March 29, 2019 but a final deal to shape future U.K.-EU relations still has to be agreed upon by the sides.