European Union

French President Emmanuel Macron is currently visiting the heads of government of Spain and Portugal. His talks with the two left-wing prime ministers are focussing on the migration issue, the future of the EU and collaboration in the energy sector. Can a Southern European alliance give the EU fresh impetus?

Russia has reacted critically to a US declaration on the annexed Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula. The US has stressed in its Crimea Declaration that it refuses to acknowledge Russia's annexation of Crimea. For commentators in Russia and Ukraine the declaration is a direct consequence of the Helsinki summit.

Our Prime Minister, Theresa May, has urged the public not to be “worried” by her government’s plans to stockpile food and medicine to prepare for a no-deal Brexit.

She is taking us all for fools.

Gary Lineker got it right when he responded:

“A wealthy nation putting itself in a position where it has to stockpile food, medicine, etc., in times of peace is utter madness. What Are We Doing?”

‘Utter madness’ is the appropriate description of what’s going on.

When a former football player can say what’s happening but our political leaders cannot, you can tell that the country is in deep, deep trouble.

Theresa May has tried to play down the impact of the impending disaster that a no-deal Brexit means for Britain.

Ms May confirmed that plans for stocking up on essential goods are underway – in case imports from the EU are cut off by clogged ports, or regulatory disputes.

But, asked if it was “alarming” for people, the Prime Minister responded:

“Far from being worried about preparations that we are making, I would say that people should take reassurance and comfort from the fact that the government is saying we are in a negotiation, we are working for a good deal.

“I believe we can get a good deal, but, it’s right that we say – because we don’t know what the outcome is going to be – let’s prepare for every eventuality.”

She added:

“This is not just about stockpiling. That concept, what it is, is about making sure that we will be able to continue to do the things that are necessary once we have left the European Union, if we leave without a deal.”

Read her words carefully. She is giving the country reasons to panic, and at the same time telling us not to panic.

We may not have enough food. Don’t panic!

We may run out of medicines. Don’t panic!

The ship is about to hit the rocks. Don’t panic!

The ship is sinking. Don’t panic!

Stockpiling food and medicines, says Mrs May, is about “making sure that we will be able to continue to do the things that are necessary once we have left the European Union…”

Continuing to do the things that are necessary?

Such as being able to eat food to enable us to live?

Such as being able to get the medicines many of us need to stay alive or stay well?

Mrs May says we should take “reassurance and comfort” from the government’s plans to save the country from a no-Brexit deal by ensuring we have enough food and medicines.

The Prime Minister hasn’t a clue about offering “reassurance and comfort”.

She was the Home Secretary who warned the country that Brexit was not in the country’s best interests.

Then she volunteered to be the Prime Minister to do to the country what she previously said would be bad for the country.

The only way to provide Britain with “reassurance and comfort” is to stop Brexit.

It should be obvious by now that Brexit is doing huge damage to Britain before it’s even gone ahead.

And if it is allowed to go ahead, it will inflict grievous injuries to our nation state and its inhabitants for years and decades to come.

The workers at Honda and Airbus who voted for Leave are now learning that ‘Leave really means Leave’.

Yes, those companies and many others are now preparing to leave Britain as a direct consequence of Brexit.

Our economy needs frictionless access with our most important, most vital, and most profitable international market place – the EU.

Without that, many of our most successful businesses in the UK cannot be profitable. They cannot survive here.

Brexit cannot give Britain frictionless trade with the EU. How many times do we have to repeat that before it sinks in?

Forgive the voters. They could not have had any real idea that voting for Brexit would mean losing their jobs and result in shortages of food and medicines and the basics of life.

Blame the politicians who sold the damned lies of Leave, and not the voters who unwittingly fell for them.

But now we must wake up.

We can’t trust those politicians who told us that Brexit would lead us to the promised land, only to take us on a journey to a barren Britain that’s impoverished, depleted and demeaned.

Here, we warned the nation to see that Brexit would bring us pain.

But now, we can all feel the pain – and feeling is believing.

The only way to stop the pain of Brexit is to stop Brexit.

Speak up. Squeal. Shout. Scream. Brexit is avoidable. But very soon – very, very soon – it will be too late.

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• Follow my journalism page on Facebook: Jon Danzig writes
• Follow my Stop Brexit campaign on Facebook: Reasons2Remain

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The post Don’t panic, says Theresa May appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

DRAFT REPORT on the implementation of the EU association agreement with Ukraine
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Michael Gahler

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

DRAFT REPORT on human rights concerns in private military and security companies’ operations affecting third countries
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Karol Karski

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

Commission v Spain
Environment and consumers
On account of its delay in implementing the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive, Spain is ordered to pay a lump sum of €12 million and a penalty payment of almost €11 million per six-month period of delay

Commission v United Parcel Service
Competition
Advocate General Kokott suggests that the Court of Justice should confirm that the Commission’s decision prohibiting the acquisition of TNT Express by UPS should be annulled due to a procedural error

European Union v Gascogne Sack Deutschland and Gascogne
Law governing the institutions
Advocate General Wahl: the Court of Justice should set aside the judgments of the General Court by which it ordered the EU to pay compensation for material damage to a number of companies as a result of the excessive length of proceedings before that court

Vernaza Ayovi
DFON
The framework agreement on fixed-term work does not mean that non-permanent workers in the Spanish public sector must be guaranteed reinstatement in the event that their disciplinary dismissal is found to be wrongful

AY
Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
The execution of a European arrest warrant cannot be refused on the ground that a decision of the Public Prosecutor’s Office has closed a criminal investigation when, during that investigation, the requested person was interviewed as a witness only

Société des produits Nestlé v Mondelez UK Holdings & Services
Intellectual and industrial property
EUIPO must reconsider whether the three-dimensional shape of a ‘4 Finger KitKat’ can be retained as an EU trade mark

Dyson
Energy
Not providing consumers with information on the testing conditions that resulted in the energy classification indicated on the energy label of vacuum cleaners does not constitute a ‘misleading omission’

Commission v Spain and Others
State aid
The Court of Justice sets aside the judgment of the General Court on the ‘Spanish tax lease system’

Generalstaatsanwaltschaft (Conditions de détention en Hongrie)
DFON
An assessment of detention conditions in the issuing Member State made prior to the execution of a European arrest warrant must be limited to the prisons in which it is actually intended that the person concerned will be held

Minister for Justice and Equality
Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
A judicial authority called upon to execute a European arrest warrant must refrain from giving effect to it if it considers that there is a real risk that the individual concerned would suffer a breach of his fundamental right to an independent tribunal and, therefore, of the essence of his fundamental right to a fair trial on account of deficiencies liable to affect the independence of the judiciary in the issuing Member State

It is a poor reflection of the pro-Remain campaign that even two years after the referendum, much of Britain is still basking in shocking ignorance about how the EU functions, the reason it exists, and how it is a democracy run by its members for the benefit of its members.

We are leaving the EU based entirely on a misunderstanding and worse, a pack of lies.

There is probably less than a 10% chance of another referendum, and if there is another referendum, currently only a 50-50 chance of Remain winning.

Unfortunately, the Remain campaign, starting from May 2015 up until now, has been entirely inept, disorganised, and without a dynamic and effective strategy.

It could have been very different.

We should have won the 2016 referendum without much difficulty. But the Remain side was smug, and not at all prepared for the panzer warfare launched with such brilliant effect by the Leave campaign, albeit all based on lies, deceits and false promises.

Remainers lost forty years of opportunities at awareness raising since winning the 1975 referendum. We let the likes of the Daily Mail, the Daily Express and the small UKIP party pollute the nation with misinformation about the EU and EU migrants.

For most of the forty years it didn’t seem to matter. Leaving the EU was not a mainstream call or promise of the main parties. There were grumblings, but these were on the sidelines of politics, occupied by a few diehard Eurosceptics.

Complacency ruled. If there was another referendum, of course the status quo would win. David Cameron banked his prime ministership on it. But he lost, and left.

It was a huge shock that Leave won the referendum – a shock to Remainers, and a shock to Leavers.

Few expected Brexit to win. It’s rare indeed for a referendum to go against the advice of the government, of Parliament, of the main parties and, dare I say it, of most experts.

The official ‘Stronger In’ campaign lacked panache, flair and any sense of direction. Their strategy was no match for the Leave campaign.

Trying to scare voters into opting for Remain was no way to win. The Remain campaign spent precious little time or energy explaining to the nation how the EU works, how it is a democracy, and how Britain has greatly benefited from its membership.

Fear, not facts, ruled the day. Or so the Remain strategists thought.

But when the day came, fear lost.

We should have learnt. The British don’t like to be scared or cowed into doing something. They react the opposite way.

That should have been known from the stoical reaction of the Brits to the Blitz, when the Nazis thought they could frighten Blighty into submission. How wrong they were.

And how wrong was Stronger In. Their strategy didn’t work.

They lost the Referendum, but they also lost the arguments. The Leave lies about the EU won, and there was little in the way of an effective counter attack, using the only antidote known to work against lies: the truth.

Well, that was two years ago. What of the truth now?

Unfortunately, misinformation about the EU still prevails. And there is still no effective counter-attack.

There is no national, prominent, brilliant and well-funded ongoing awareness raising campaign by any pro-EU, anti-Brexit group to undo the lies of Leave.

(Yes, there are many smaller groups trying, often valiantly, but nothing that is anywhere close to a dazzling, nation-wide, compelling campaign that’s needed to undo the lies of Leave politicians).

Across the country, enormous numbers of people still believe that the EU is a dictatorship run by unelected, faceless bureaucrats.

They still believe that the EU rules over us, without us having any real say.

They still think that the EU annual membership fee represents poor value for money, which would be better spent on something else.

They still believe that we have uncontrolled borders, with too many citizens from the rest of the EU coming here, without any restrictions.

They still think we’ll get our country back as soon as we’ve left the EU.

They even still believe that the EU accounts are a sham that the auditors refuse to sign off.

And so on, and so on, and so on.

All these beliefs are based on myths; on misinformation that has been carefully and successfully imbued into the nation’s psyche and mindset over many years.

And they could all be undone by a proper explanation to the nation of the truth. Because when properly explained, truth outshines lies, at least eventually.

We know this from many awareness raising campaigns of the past, whether it’s a campaign to explain that smoking causes cancer; the campaign to demonstrate that wearing a seatbelt saves lives; the five-a-day campaign to eat more fruit and veg; the NHS FAST campaign to help people recognise strokes.; the campaign to boycott products from apartheid South Africa…

All these successful campaigns and many others were based on getting facts and the truth out to the public in an effective, believable, emotive and memorable way.

It’s something the pro-Remain movement has not done well. It’s hardly done it at all.

The focus currently is getting a new referendum – coined the ‘people’s vote’. But there will be no point getting a new vote unless we can decisively win that vote.

Not just a reversal of the last vote: 52%-48%. But a conclusive vote of 60%-40% or more, to see this matter settled for at least a generation.

But that’s not going to be achievable if large parts of the country still believe the lies that won the 2016 referendum – lies that would be used again if there is another referendum.

There’s an old saying: look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves.

The nation needs a compelling reason to have another vote. Demolish the lies that led to Brexit, and the call for a new vote will look after itself. And be truly winnable.

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• Follow my journalism page on Facebook: Jon Danzig writes
• Follow my Stop Brexit campaign on Facebook: Reasons2Remain

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The post We still haven’t won the arguments we lost appeared first on Ideas on Europe.