Tag Archives: Jean-Claude Juncker

Theresa May went to the EU27 and made matters worse. Why can’t Parliament vote NOW?

Glad to see the back of her: EU security guards watch Theresa May get in her car and clear off back to the UK.

Theresa May’s latest talks with the EU have been a disaster. Instead of changing their agreement to make it easier for her to win support from Parliament, the EU27 countries have removed elements that would have helped.

A phrase that the EU “stands ready to examine whether any further assurance can be provided” on the Irish border backstop has been snipped.

And wording that the backstop would not be “a desirable outcome” was also cut from the text.

So the EU is now not happy to offer any further help on the border backstop – because it now sees it as desirable? That is the obvious inference.

And there will be no more negotiation, according to the EU27:

Apart from that, it was all about language. Paul Mason reckons Mrs May got “handbagged”:

Then there’s the apparent row between Mrs May and Jean-Claude Juncker over his description of her argument as “nebulous”…

She seems to be demanding to know why he described her in that way. Well, let’s consider what she actually said:

We can only conclude that there is no more room in which Mrs May can wriggle (what a horrible thought). But she refuses to re-schedule the “meaningful vote” on her deal, in Parliament, for next week.

Instead, it will happen some time in January. And nobody is happy about it.

In a press release, Mr Corbyn added: “People and businesses need certainty. The Prime Minister should put her deal before Parliament next week in our country’s interest.

“She has admitted her deal is likely to be defeated by a significant margin. There is no time to waste, and parliament must take back control.”

In the midst of all this, it’s perfectly reasonable for some people to ask what Labour can negotiate that the Conservatives can.

The logical argument is that a Tory Brexit is organised on Conservative priorities, whereas a Labour Brexit would be different:

The longer Mrs May delays, the less likely it is that we can get a useful deal with Europe. She is deliberately endangering the prosperity of the entire country for the sake of her own pride.

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Juncker mocks May’s conference speech ‘dance’. This bodes ill for Brexit [VIDEO]

Jean-Claude Juncker seems to have taken great pleasure in Theresa May’s little routine. It seems likely the EU will lead her on a merry dance as well.

Perhaps it would have been better if Theresa May had actually shot herself in the foot, rather than doing it metaphorically with that silly attempt-at-a-dance she did before her speech to the Tory conference last week.

I’m sure you don’t need reminding but I’m going to do it anyway – using a Tweet that proposed an appropriate change of lyric. Here she is:

https://twitter.com/JamesMelville/status/1047527227909447681

Now here’s Jean-Claude Juncker:

Mr Juncker is President of the European Commission and, although he has denied mocking Mrs May, we can certainly infer that he has an opinion about her as a result of that little giggle.

I think the Brexit negotiations are about to go off the tracks, yet again.

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The two most powerful EU officials just said Brexit can still be stopped

This is good to know:

Britain could still “change its mind” about Brexit at this late stage and return to be a member of the European Union, the two highest officials in the European Union have said.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, European Council president Donald Tusk said that Europeans’ “hearts are still open” to “our British friends” to remain in the bloc.

“If the UK government sticks to its decision to leave, Brexit will become a reality, with all its negative consequences in March next year, unless there is a change of heart among our British friends,” he told MEPs.

Quoting the Brexit Secretary, he added: “Wasn’t it David Davis himself who said ‘if a democracy cannot change its mind, it ceases to be a democracy’? We here on the continent haven’t had a change of heart – our hearts are still open to you.”

He was immediately backed up by Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission.

“President Tusk also made some comments on Brexit, he said that our door remains open. I hope that will be heard clearly in London,” Mr Juncker added.

The intervention is especially welcome after the publication of a so-called “killer” graphic depicting the possible shapes of a post-EU UK trade deal with the bloc (above). The Huffington Post explains:

The EU has warned Britain is heading for a ‘Hard Brexit’ – with a “killer graphic” claiming a bare-bones trade deal will be the automatic result of Theresa May’s plans.

The image sets out what the EU thinks is the consequence of each of Mrs May’s demands.

Starting with full EU membership on the left, it goes through each of the non-EU countries that it thinks the UK could possibly use as a template for a future relationship.

Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein (all European Economic Area members) are ruled out because of ‘red lines’ ruling out the European Court of Justice, free movement of migrants, ongoing cash payments and EU trade rules.

The next country ruled out is Switzerland, (a member of Efta, the European free trade association), the next is Ukraine (which has an ‘association agreement’ with the EU), and finally Turkey (which has a form of customs union but no migration deal).

The final flags are for South Korea and Canada, both of which have signed free-trade deals with the EU in recent years.

But the graphic also depicts such basic free trade deals – which don’t include full access for services rather than goods – as not being far from a ‘no deal’ Brexit.

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International politicians react to President Trump

160201donaldtrumpcatart

World leaders (and UK politicians) have been making their feelings felt on the subject of Donald Trump’s election as the 45th US President.

UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said Mr Trump’s election as US President is a rejection of a failed economic consensus, but his answers to the big questions facing America are wrong:

161109-corbyn-comment

Other Labour figures – mostly right-wingers – were far more critical of the newly-elected leader-to-be of the Free World, giving their views on LabourList as follows:

Mike Gapes, Labour MP for Ilford South – “As Ukraine, Baltic states and NATO worry about the future, Putin and the FSB will be celebrating their own role in electing a useful idiot.”

Dan Jarvis, Labour MP for Barnsley Central – “Decent left of centre politics defeated by divisive right wing populism. Repercussions will be felt around the world incl here. Get ready.”

Owen Smith, Labour MP for Pontypridd and former leadership contender – “A racist in The Whitehouse & a human rights abuser in The Kremlin. Time for us to leave Europe, or time to try and lead it & rebuild hope? It’s The Enlightenment that’s in jeopardy, not The Establishment I’m afraid.”

Steve Reed, Labour and Co-op MP for Croydon North – “President Trump, a terrifying day for the world and for everyone who values democracy and freedom.”

Kezia Dudgale, leader of Scottish Labour – “Ctrl + Alt + Delete”.

In a statement Dugdale later added: “Like countless people in Scotland, the UK, and across the globe I watched with great sadness as the results from the presidential election came in.

“While we must all respect the result of this democratic contest, today is a dark day for those of us who believe in compassion, tolerance and equality.

“Donald Trump was responsible for a hate-filled campaign that was dominated by lies, misogyny and racism. As president-elect, he now has a responsibility to America and the world to heal the deep divisions he has caused.

“Across the US, there will be women, gay people and Muslims who will now be incredibly worried about the direction of their country, but there will also be countless working-class Americans who will be hurting today. They all need reassurances that I very much hope will be forthcoming from the Republican Party.”

Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley – “When my children wake up I shall tell them that when I was little Thatcher & Reagan were in charge. I’ll tell them things get better.”

This Writer pulled her up for that comment:

David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham – “If you have woken up today feeling lost, heartbroken and helpless: Don’t mourn, organise. Don’t give up. They want you to give up. Don’t. Join a political party, a trade union, a community group. Campaign, organise and try to make the world a better place. What choice is there? Just don’t quit and don’t give up. Giving up is what they want you to do. Things can and will get better. But don’t mourn, organise.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message of congratulations to Donald Trump on his victory in the US presidential election.

“Mr Putin said he hopes [to] work together to lift Russian-US relations out of the current crisis, resolve issues on the international agenda, [and] look for effective responses to global security challenges, according to the Kremlin.

“The President said he is confident that Moscow and Washington can establish a constructive dialogue based on the principles of equality, mutual respect, and genuine consideration for each other’s positions. This would be in the interests of both peoples and of the entire international community.

“Mr Putin wished Mr Trump success in the high office and responsibility of head of state.”

Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, had this to say:

161109-juncker-comment

(UK-based left-wing journalist Paul Mason was withering in response: “No elected leader of Europe would pen this obsequious pile of crap. Social-democrats, Greens and the radical left should repudiate letter.”)

It seems clear that the result has been divisive, both in the States and elsewhere.

I wonder whether this could lead to strained diplomatic relations as statespeople struggle to see past their own feelings to reach pragmatic solutions to international problems.

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Why so much hysteria over the Hellenic debt?

It's all looking a bit tense, isn't it? In fact, Alexis Tsipras could have this look on his face because he's playing a particularly tricky game of Spider Solitaire on his laptop - it's the Troika that should be scared at the moment.

It’s all looking a bit tense, isn’t it? In fact, Alexis Tsipras could have this look on his face because he’s playing a particularly tricky game of Spider Solitaire on his laptop – it’s the Troika that should be scared at the moment.

Greece defaulted on its loan from the ILF last night (Tuesday). Gosh.

The world didn’t stop turning; life went on; and if there was any mass hysteria, it was on the part of neoliberals who – it seems – will do anything to keep everyone else in line with their worldview.

The neoliberals at the IMF, ECB and EU want people to believe that Greece (and, in fact, any other country that takes out a loan from western banks) has the wherewithal to pay back its debts. Their way of life depends on it because without that belief, countries start demanding debt relief packages and the whole racket that – as Vox Political mentioned yesterday – returned around $5 for every $1 lent in 2011 will fall like the house of cards it is.

Fintan O’Toole had it right in the Irish Times: “The story must be maintained: Greece must keep punishing its people to pay back the money being borrowed to make the payments on the unpayable loans.

“In the upside-down world we inhabit, Syriza, which has called a halt to this fiction, is a bunch of mad fantasists, while the troika that goes on acting as if the fictions were real is the voice of hard-headed realism. Everything – from the lives of ordinary Greeks to the foundations of the European Union – must be sacrificed to the story.”

But nobody believes that story any more. Everyone knows that Greece doesn’t have the wherewithal to pay back its debts. In fact, increasingly harsh demands by the Troika have made the problem worse, rather than better.

Everybody knows that debt relief will have to happen.

The Guardian‘s economics editor, Larry Elliott, wrote: “Somehow or other, Greece’s debt burden will be reduced. It can happen through a deal in which Athens gets debt relief for economic reform. Or it can came through a default that would swiftly follow Greek exit from the single currency.”

Richard Murphy, of Tax Research UK, agrees: “This fact has been obvious for some time. Greece has rising debt that is well above any internationally recognised sustainable level and because of falling income, imposed on it by the EU and IMF, has not the remotest chance of paying that debt off.”

He continues: “What is left is unserviceable without radical reform of the Greek economy that permits it to grow again, and that reform is not possible unless existing debt is written off. That’s because without that write off all the money needed to invest for growth will instead go in debt servicing,” as Vox Political has also mentioned in the past.

“If Greece was a company a pre-packaged insolvency would probably solve most of its problems, in days. It is time we did the same for countries. But don’t hold your breath because bankers object to this, largely because the guarantee that countries won’t fail is what they think underpins their own risk, and the last thing they want to do is accept responsibility for that.”

But Greece has failed. It is precisely its membership of the Euro that made it inevitable. Without its own sovereign currency, Greece could not take measures to prevent that failure. So Mr Murphy is right again and the banks are wrong. Again.

Meanwhile the neoliberal attempt to rule Greece undemocratically from beyond that country’s borders continues. The current plan is to make wild claims about the purpose of the yes/no referendum on the new loan conditions, called by Alexis Tsipras, to take place on Sunday. Merkel, Hollande and Juncker want the Greek people to believe it is about whether they stay in the Euro – which is not an inevitable consequence of a ‘no’ result, and would not, in any case, be a disaster (see yesterday’s post).

They’ve already lost that one, though. You see, everybody knows what’s on the table isn’t their last offer. They already gave in on that one, several renegotiations ago. If they had pulled the plug the instant Greece started to demur, they would have had leverage when Greece came back to the table but they didn’t. Now they’re on the sliding scale. They’ve admitted they need Greece to be paying back something, which means that Greece is now in a position to decide what that something should be.

(I got the above from an episode of Doctor Who entitled Deep Breath; if someone threatens to kill you and then doesn’t, they have nothing left with which to threaten you, having foolishly gone to their most extreme option first. Good show, Doctor Who.)

Angela Merkel has said the Troika won’t negotiate on anything at all until after the referendum. This has given Mr Tsipras a chance to bring in a new offer – it doesn’t even matter what it is – making him look like the reasonable man at the table. Already Merkel is on the back foot. She can refuse, look unreasonable and face a ‘no’ vote on Sunday, or she can agree, look weak and – again – face a ‘no’ vote on Sunday.

What are the neoliberals going to do?

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Fears over Cameron’s ‘rocket boosters’ TTIP pledge

Cameron at the G20: He reckons he has put "rocket boosters" on the planned TTIP agreement. But is it just a lot of hot air?

Cameron at the G20: He reckons he has put “rocket boosters” on the planned TTIP agreement. But is it just a lot of hot air?

Does anyone else think David Cameron’s pledge to put “rocket boosters” on plans for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership has more to do with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s doubts about the project than anything else?

A little more than two weeks ago, Mr Juncker announced that he was reviewing part of the proposed trade agreement between the European Union and the United States of America – the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) scheme, a part of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement that critics say would make it possible for corporations to sue national governments for damages if new legislation was likely to affect their profitability.

(Note that a BBC report has described it as an element of TTIP which “would allow foreign investors to go to an international tribunal for compensation if a government breaks the rules”. This is not true – Mr Juncker has stated that the Commission “will not accept that the jurisdiction of courts in the EU Member States be limited by special regimes for investor-to-state disputes” – but what can we expect from a BBC that is hopelessly enslaved to Conservative ideology?)

According to the BBC, Cameron claimed that EU and US leaders had all agreed that TTIP “is a deal we want”. Oh really?

The report goes on to say he “‘sensed an enthusiasm'” – honestly, visit the site and read it yourself if you think Yr Obdt Srvt is making it up! – “from EU leaders and US President Barack Obama during a meeting in Brisbane earlier, and was now ‘hopeful of progress’ on TTIP.”

So did they actually say they wanted this deal to go through? Or is Cameron just talking through his hat again?

Conservative ministers seem to be making a habit of coming back from meetings with foreign ministers with an extravagant claim, only for it to fall apart under examination – look at George Osborne’s disastrous failure over the EU surcharge.

Regarding the concern Mr Juncker raised over ISDS, Cameron blathered: “We’ve signed trade deal after trade deal and it’s never been a problem in the past.” How reassuring. But those trade deals were not the same as this, and it is right that Mr Juncker should examine the evidence critically in the light of public outcry. Cameron really has no power in this matter; it is an agreement between the EU – not the UK – and America.

Cameron also tried to make light of fears that ISDS would ‘lock in’ his changes to the English National Health Service, and make it possible to lock them into the health service in other parts of the UK if they fall under Tory control in the future. “There’s no threat, I believe, from TTIP to the National Health Service,” he wibbled, “and we should just knock that on the head as an empty threat.” Again, how reassuring. But he provided no guarantees and we should not believe him if he did.

You see, Cameron wants to lock his changes into the NHS, and he sees TTIP as the mechanism for achieving this.

His problem is that talks are proceeding at a pace that means any agreement will take place after the UK’s General Election in May next year – and an elected Labour government would repeal the Health and Social Care Act 2012, which allowed private healthcare firms to cherry-pick services in the English NHS, the very next day.

This is one reason you should ignore claims that Ed Miliband’s Labour Party is unelectable. Cameron is clearly terrified that he will lose power before he can hammer the final nail in the coffin of public healthcare in the UK.

His claims that all involved are keen to accelerate the TTIP agreement with “rocket boosters” are just – appropriately – gusts of hot air.

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Is ISDS the TTIP-ping point for Juncker?

Jean-Claude Juncker.

Jean-Claude Juncker.

This is shaping up to be a very bad week for David Cameron.

Not only is his ‘welfare reform’ plan a laughing-stock after the DWP was revealed to be posting fake tweets about Universal Credit; not only was he struck by a passing jogger when he was in Leeds to discuss the (don’t laugh) High Speed 3 project (less than a week after a man threw a bag of marbles at hime during Prime Minister’s Questions); but now…

His much-cherished plan to ‘lock in’ privatisation of National Health services in England is in jeopardy after incoming European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker announced a review of the relevant part of a proposed trade agreement with the United States of America.

The decision must pile insult on top of injury for Cameron, who launched a famously lonely campaign to prevent Juncker’s appointment as president, attracting almost no support at all from his EU colleagues (only Hungary supported him) and confirming the catastrophic loss of influence the UK has suffered in the European Union under Cameron’s premiership.

Mr Juncker said the Investor-State Dispute Settlement scheme – a part of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement that critics say would make it possible for corporations to sue national governments for damages if new legislation was likely to affect their profitability – would be reviewed.

In a speech to the European Parliament, Mr Juncker said: “I took note of the intense debates around investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations.

“My Commission will not accept that the jurisdiction of courts in the EU Member States be limited by special regimes for investor-to-state disputes. The rule of law and the principle of equality before the law must also apply in this context… There will be nothing that limits for the parties the access to national courts or that will allow secret courts to have the final say in disputes between investors and States.”

He said he had taken control over the ISDS process away from Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and handed it to Frans Timmermans, the incoming, and first, Vice-President in charge of the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. “There will be no investor-to-state dispute clause in TTIP if Frans does not agree with it too,” he said.

The Financial Times has reported that Juncker made his decision “largely at the behest of Germany, which has turned sour on ISDS”. This will rub salt into the recently-opened wound caused when the EU billed the UK an extra £1.7 billion for membership, based on calculations of our economic improvement (Germany is getting a rebate).

“Germany’s misgivings have in turn fed into a more generalised distemper with global trade across the EU, encompassing the French far right and fringe parties elsewhere. They claim ISDS has morphed into a tool of multinational companies that use the arbitration panels to circumvent, or even alter, national laws at their whim,” the paper reported.

This is exactly what has caused hundreds of thousands of people to complain to the European Commission after details of the TTIP proposals were leaked from secret meetings.

Even now, TTIP remains largely unreported by the mass media here in the UK, which is mainly run by right-wing, pro-privatisation moguls. Mr Juncker announced his decision in a speech on October 22 – a week ago – but the only British newspaper to report it was the FT.

For Cameron, the humiliation is just as bad, whether the media reports it or not.

This is not a victory for campaigners against ISDS or the TTIP – although Mr Juncker’s decision may discourage the United States from taking the project further. It remains as important as ever that anyone with an objection needs to make that objection known.

But it is a good sign.

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History is made as Vox Political agrees with David Cameron

 

Jean-Claude Juncker, tax avoidance mastermind and now President of the European Commission.

Jean-Claude Juncker, tax avoidance mastermind and now President of the European Commission.

Believe it or not, David Cameron was right to oppose the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission.

If Private Eye is to be believed, Juncker has a record of wreaking fiscal havoc across the continent, thanks to his behaviour embracing corporate tax dodgers as finance minister and prime minister of Luxembourg.

Anti-EU readers will be interested to note that he was chair of the EU’s council of economic and financial affairs, in which role he played a key part in shaping the economic and monetary aspects of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty.

Eye 1368 (June 13-26) states that Luxembourg has turned itself into a tax haven, “but, crucially, one at the heart of Europe entitled to tax-free flows of money in and out of its borders in a way traditional sunny island havens… could only dream of.

“The Grand Duchy became the member of the economic club that pilfered from the club’s funds.”

Let’s look at examples: “An especially fruitful line has been multi-billion-pound corporate tax avoidance at its neighbours’ expense. In the most infamous case, Vodafone still routes more than £50bn worth of loans through Luxembourg for no purpose other than taking advantage of tax laws and administrative rulings carefully tailored by Juncker’s governments to facilitate large-scale tax avoidance… The company is sitting on a £17.4 billion “tax asset”, ie reduction in future tax bills around the world, courtesy of [Mr] Juncker.

“Hundreds of other multinationals, including the UK’s Glaxo, Tesco and Financial Times publisher Pearson, use Luxembourg in similar ways at enormous cost to Europe’s economies.”

And the buck doesn’t stop rolling with tax, either: “Juncker pursued an aggressive regime of financial deregulation, especially in the area of investment fund administration. So it was no surprise that when Bernard Madoff’s ponzi scheme collapsed in 2008, a large chunk of the money had come through loosely-regulated Luxembourg funds set up by Swiss banks.”

The man responsible for the above is now in charge of the European Union. David Cameron was right to oppose his appointment.

Be afraid.

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