The EU’s latest assault on internet freedom

Andrew Tettenborn
spiked.com

Soon online speech will be regulated by Brussels.

As things stand, what you can and cannot say on the internet is largely a matter for national law, decided by national parliaments. This means that every nation in Europe currently has different laws and practices. 

But the EU has quietly been moving to change this. Take last year’s Copyright Directive, which more or less demands the introduction of automated content filters on social-media platforms. And last month, it became clear that an impatient Brussels wants to turbocharge this process by bringing internet regulation to the EU level, where it can pull the necessary strings.

The EU Digital Services Act sounds innocent on the surface. It is ostensibly aimed (in Euro-speak) at enhancing the so-called Digital Single Market by harmonising national laws and removing competitive barriers. Member states have not yet been consulted or made aware of any specific proposals in the Act. But thanks to the leak of an internal briefing to the Digital Single Market steering group, obtained German digital freedom activists Netzpolitik, we can see what Brussels has planned.

One of the EU’s key concerns, as the briefing makes clear, is the lack of EU-wide rules and regulations covering what people can see and say online. The fight against online hate speech, for example, is said to be ‘expensive and inefficient across the Single Market’. There are also no EU-wide rules on online advertising, nor does the EU have oversight of online services as a whole.

The prescription? EU regulation of the internet. 

 

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Brussels Becomes First Major City to Halt 5G Due to Health Effects

Take Back Your Power

Great news. A Belgian government minister has announced that Brussels is halting its 5G plans due to health effects.

The statement was made by Céline Fremault, the Minister of the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, responsible for Housing, Quality of Life, Environment and Energy. From an interview last Friday, with L’Echo:

“I cannot welcome such technology if the radiation standards, which must protect the citizen, are not respected, 5G or not. The people of Brussels are not guinea pigs whose health I can sell at a profit. We cannot leave anything to doubt.”

– Céline Fremault, Minister of the Government (Brussels-Captial Region), responsible for Housing, Quality of Life, Environment and Energy

Ms. Fremault accurately identified that a 5G pilot project is not compatible with Belgian radiation safety standards (9 V/m, or 95 mW/m2 according to this online converter), and stated that she does not intend to make an exception. (In the Building Biology guidelines, the threshold for extreme concern is 1 mW/m2. However, many government agencies still only consider thermal effects, instead of the cumulative body of thousands of peer-reviewed scientific studies.)

Perhaps with Brussels heading up the European Union, and with one of the two major 5G appeals being addressed to the EU, officials there are better informed and motivated to protect themselves.

May support increase for Ms. Fremault and all officials who are hearing the call to sanity and prioritizing the people over the technocratic oligarchy. 

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Scientific Evidence on 5G Harm

• EHTrust: Scientific Research on 5G, Small Cells and Health
• Dr. Martin Pall’s free e-book: “5G: Compelling Evidence for Eight Distinct Types of Great Harm Caused by Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Exposures and the Mechanism that Causes Them” (PDF, 90 pages)
• Dr. Joel Moskowitz: “5G Wireless Technology: Cutting Through the Hype“
• Electric Sense: “5G Radiation Dangers – 11 Reasons To Be Concerned“
• Health resources summary from WhatIs5G.info
• Health resources summary from TelecomPowerGrab.com
• EMF interview by Luke Storey: Dr. Jack Kruse
• SaferEMR: Summary 400 new EMF scientific studies, Aug 2016 to present (EMF in general)
• Research from Magda Havas
• News from Clear Light Ventures
• Articles from BN Frank at ActivistPost

Three Cheers For MEP Dan Hannan: Why Not A Better Brexit Deal For Everyone?

MishTalk.com
 
The EU values political correctness more than jobs.

The result was a collapse in support for Angela Merkel, and the rise of AfD and FDP in Germany. Let’s not forget Marine Le Pen in France, Beppe Grillo in Italy, and the far right in Austria.

For the sake of political correctness, the EU is bound and determined to punish the UK for Brexit even though new studies suggest that a Hard Brexit Will hurt the EU More Than Britain.

The European Union will lose more than twice as many jobs as Britain after a hard Brexit, research by one of the world’s leading universities found as tough UK-EU divorce talks begin in Brussels.

Hard Brexit describes what will happen if the UK and EU fail to reach a divorce deal by 29 March 2019. Britain would revert to WTO tariffs on imports and exports to and from the EU rather than the zero tariffs afforded by membership of the bloc.

The return of tariffs to goods and services would cost 526,830 British jobs and 1.209 million jobs in the remaining 27 EU member states, according to researchers at Belgium’s University of Leuven, one of the top 50 global universities. The damage would lead to a 4.48% drop in UK GDP and 1.54% in EU GDP, researchers found.

Free Trade Benefits

As I have pointed out previously, a free trade agreement can fit on a napkin. Her is my proposal once again: “Effective immediately all subsidies and tariffs cease regardless of what any other nation does.”

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What DON'T they want you to know? Eurocrats now making record numbers of EU laws in SECRET

Express UK 

 

Brussels is shutting up shop and deliberating on an ever greater number of intrusive regulations away from the harsh light of public scrutiny, minimising opportunities for criticism and opposition. 

 

Dynamite figures uncovered by an EU observer investigation show that secret lawmaking is now at its joint highest level ever in the history of the bloc, raising serious questions over the health of European democracy. 

 

Campaigners and politicians today described the development as "astonishing" and said they were "alarmed" by the number of sweeping regulations being cooked up behind closed doors. 

 

The issue revolves around the numbers of Brussels bills, originating from the unelected EU Commission, which are being rushed through without lengthy debates in the EU Parliament.

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How EU has dished out £4.2 BILLION to world’s most corrupt regimes

Express UK

Eurocrats splashed out the jaw-dropping sum of money on programmes including combatting racism against migrants, bankrolling Government reforms and, perhaps most incredibly of all, directly financing national budgets.

They authorised 15 bank-busting payments to 29 countries in the space of just 15 days in December, embarking on a staggering splurge at a time when voters in Europe are suffering under crushing austerity regimes.

Astonishingly just five of those countries are ranked in the top half of nations in terms of institutional corruption, with most of them judged to be in the worst 50 globally.

British taxpayers will be stung for an eye-watering £462,000,000 to pay for the projects, and could be required to carry on funding them even after the country has left the EU in spring 2019.

Critics today blasted the payments, saying the EU has "no right" to blow hard working families' money abroad and adding: "At Christmas we should remember charity starts at home."

Earlier this month, Brussels agreed to hand over an jaw-dropping £1billion to the African nations of Ethiopia, Niger, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal, which between them register an average ranking of 99 out of the 168 nations included in Transparency’s 2015 corruption index.

 

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Hillary Clinton's War Policy: "Turmoil, Chaos, & Catastrophe Lie Ahead"

Brian Cloughley
Strategic Culture.org

As a result of Trump’s stumbling, Hillary Clinton seems to be on course to become next president of the United States and it is depressing to reflect on what some of her policies might be if she achieves that office. Unfortunately, the future looks bleak for peace and stability around the world.

She is one of the Washington-Brussels war-drum beaters who planned the 2011 aerial blitz on Libya to destroy the government of President Gaddafi, in whose murder she rejoiced, giggling that «We came; We saw; He died». The US-NATO devastation of Libya caused massive deprivation and suffering, opened the way for feuding bands of militants to fight each other for control of parts of the country, and created a haven for the lunatic extremists of Islamic State.

Immediately after Gaddafi was brutally put to death, Clinton went to Libya and declared that she was «proud to stand here on the soil of a free Tripoli and on behalf of the American people I congratulate Libya. This is Libya’s moment, this is Libya’s victory, the future belongs to you». Her sentiments were echoed by the NATO Secretary General of the time, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who expressed pride that the seven months of rocket, bomb and missile attacks on a defenceless country had been «one of the most successful [operations] in NATO’s history». Not only that, but «Libyans have now liberated their country. And they have transformed the region. This is their victory». Both of them were talking nonsense, but have never given the slightest indication that they regretted for a moment their energetic role in creating the Libyan catastrophe.

Clinton attempted to justify the military assault on Libya by reflecting on the military presence of the United States around the world. She expressed satisfaction that the US maintains massive military bases in so many countries as a result of former conflicts and arrogantly declared «You know, the United States was in Korea, and still is, for many years. We are still in Germany. We are still in Japan. We have a presence in a lot of places in the world that started out as a result of conflict. And if you think about South Korea, there were coups, there were assassinations, there was a lot of problems for the Koreans to build their economy, to create their democracy. This doesn’t happen overnight. And, yes, it’s been a couple of years. I think it’s worth European support, Arab support, American support to try to help the Libyan people realize the dream that they had when they went after Gadhafi».

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Terrorists behind Paris & Brussels attacks got over €50K in welfare - report

Comment: The vast majoroty of terrorists are known to and supported by Intel agencies precisely because they seek to entrap, dupe and incite them into carrying out terror plots and / or becoming double agents. This is the history of terrorism: a creation of the state for the state.

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RT

At least five terrorists involved in the Paris and Brussels terrorist attacks were receiving welfare benefits from the state, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing local authorities. 

 

Belgian financial investigators looking into the terrorist attacks found that Salah Abdeslam, charged with taking part in the Paris assaults, had collected €19,000 ($21,000) in welfare payments, which were stopped just a few weeks before the attacks were carried out in the French capital in November, WSJ reports.  

However, Abdeslam should not have been receiving payments as he partly owned a bar, which he was managing at the time. Belgian officials say this made him ineligible for welfare.

In total, the authorities say that five terrorists who took part in the Paris and Brussels attacks were able to claim a total of over €50,000 ($56,000).

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Might The Donald actually want peace?

Comment: Trump probably isn't on the scale of psychopathy as Killary but the guy is still a waste of time in terms presidential integrity. Even if "wins" he will be bound by the same shadow government that will determine his actions - what he is allowed and not allowed to do. Once again, the system is beyond repair. The sooner we build communities outside of this entropic paradise for psychopaths the sooner we can gradually offer alternatives to replace it - after the inevitable collapse.

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Brian Cloughley
Strategic Culture Foundation

Donald Trump is erratic. We all know that. It is insulting to assert, in the words of Britain's new Foreign Secretary, the erratic Boris Johnson, that he is «frankly unfit to hold the office of President of the United States», but he's certainly unpredictable and says some things that are, to put it mildly, intriguing. The fact remains that he could be next president of the United States, which makes it important to look at what he might do if that comes about, especially in the light of America's military catastrophes so far this century.

Obama followed his predecessors in expanding America's iron fist as self-appointed global policeman. He vastly increased the US military presence around the world and intensified the Pentagon's aggressive confrontations with China and Russia.

In China's case this was effected by sending US Naval E-P3 electronic surveillance aircraft on missions close to the mainland, deploying EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, ordering B-52 nuclear bombers to overfly the South China Sea where the US Navy also carried out extended manoeuvres by massive strike groups of nuclear-armed aircraft carriers and guided missile cruisers. All this in a region where the US has not the slightest territorial interest or claim. China's Sea is 12,000 kilometres, 7,000 miles, from the American mainland, yet Washington considers it the sacred right and duty of the United States to act as a global gendarme and give orders to China about its posture in its own back yard, where there has not been one instance of interference with commercial shipping passing through that region.

As to confrontation with Russia, the US has ensured that its Brussels sub-office, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, will go on playing its toy-soldier games right up to Russia's borders. The official statement after NATO's war drum-thumping conclave in Warsaw on July 8-9 is indicative of its determination to continue its attempts to menace Russia, which has not made the slightest move to threaten a single NATO member. It is absurd to claim that 'the security situation has deteriorated' in the Black Sea and the Baltic because of Russian action.
These regions would be perfectly calm if it were not for constant provocations by US-NATO warships and combat and electronic warfare aircraft which deliberately trail their coats in attempts to incite reaction by Russian forces.  

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"EU Wants An Empire" - Brussels Plans To Expand Into Middle East, Africa

Joseph Jankowski via PlanetFreeWill

 

The latest EU foreign policy document, titled “A Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign And Security Policy“, calls for an extension of the Union's influence in regions as far as Central Asia and Central Africa.

It also outlines “gradual synchronisation and mutual adaptation” between different member states’ individual defence strategies.
The executive summary of the document reads:

It is in the interests of our citizens to invest in the resilience of states and societies to the east stretching into Central Asia, and to the south down to Central Africa. Under the current EU enlargement policy, a credible accession process grounded in strict and fair conditionality is vital to enhance the resilience of countries in the Western Balkans and of Turkey. Under the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), many people wish to build closer relations with the Union: our enduring power of attraction can spur transformation in these countries.

The documents speaks of transforming the current EU system and commits to the deliverance of a global governing body.

EU Foreign Policy Cheif Federica Mogherini writes in the foreword:

We will invest in regional orders, and in cooperation among and within regions. And we will promote reformed global governance, one that can meet the challenges of this 21st century. We will engage in a practical and principled way, sharing global responsibilities with our partners and contributing to their strengths. We have learnt the lesson: my neighbour’s and my partner’s weaknesses are my own weaknesses. So we will invest in win-win solutions, and move beyond the illusion that international politics can be a zero-sum game.

The latest plan outlines how how the EU wants autonomy in defence and security matters.
“European security and defence efforts should enable the EU to act autonomously while also contributing to and undertaking action in co-operation with NATO,” the Brussels document reads.
  
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MERKEL’S WORST NIGHTMARE: Germany calls for Referendum as ‘people want to be free of EU

Express UK 

 

Far right figures in Alternative for Germany have promised to call their own vote if they clutch power in country’s general election in autumn next year. 

A party spokesman branded Brussels a “bureaucracy monster”, before adding: “Next year the AfD will enter the German parliament and Dexit will be top on our agenda”.

They called the vote a Dexit as it stands for a Deutschland exit from the EU.

Eurosceptism has swept across the continent after the people of Britain backed Brexit in the historic EU referendum on June 23.

Party leader Frauke Petry, who caused controversy earlier this year when she called on German police to open fire on illegal immigrations, reacted with delight at Britain’s decision to sever ties with Brussels.

She said: “This is the chance for a new Europe, one which maintains partnerships and respected national sovereignties.

“The Great Britain decision to leave the EU is a signal to the Brussels Politburo and its bureaucratic attachments. If the EU does not finally leave its wrong path, and the quasi-socialist experiment of deeper political integration, more European Nations will reclaim their sovereignty the way British are.”

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David Cameron rules out second EU referendum after Brexit

Independent 

 

The Prime Minister’s spokesperson said that holding another vote was “not remotely on the cards”. The clarification comes amid a petition calling for a re-run in the event of a close result and following speculation that the government may go to the country again once the terms of Britain’s new relationship have been agreed. 

 

Mr Cameron chaired the first Cabinet meeting since the Brexit vote at midday on Monday, where ministers confirmed plans for a special government unit to draw up options for Britain’s renegotiation with the EU. 

 

However, formal negotiations cannot start until Britain activates Article 50 – initiating the formal two-year procedure for withdrawing from the EU. Mr Cameron has said this will be a task for the next Prime Minister, who will not be in place until a Conservative leadership election has concluded by October. 

 

And also on Monday, the head of the Brexit campaign said it was important to delay the formal process of leaving the EU because people need to "go away on holiday". 

 

Vote Leave chief executive Matthew Elliott welcomed Mr Cameron's decision to delay the "divorce" for several months, despite pressure from Brussels for a rapid departure.

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It’s Not Just the UK – Widespread Support for EU Referendums Seen Across the Continent

Michael Krieger

Actions have consequences, and people can only be pushed so far before they snap. I believe the Paris terror attacks will be a major catalyst that will ultimately usher in nationalist type governments in many parts of Europe, culminating in an end of the EU as we know it and a return to true nation-states.

Although I think a return to regional government and democracy is what Europeans need and deserve, the way in which it will come about, and the types of governments we could see emerge, are unlikely to be particularly enlightened or democratic after the dust has settled.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims of these horrific events, but the Paris attacks didn’t happen in a vacuum. The people of Europe have already become increasingly resentful against the EU,  something which is not debatable at this point. This accurate perception of an undemocratic, technocratic Brussels-led EU dictatorship was further solidified earlier this year after the Greek people went to the polls and voted for one thing, only to be instructed that their vote doesn’t actually matter.

– From last year’s post: A Message to Europe – Prepare for Nationalism

If you aren’t paying close attention to what’s happening in Europe, you may be surprised by the extent of “elite” panic at the notion that the British people could decide to leave the EU. Here’s just one example, from Donald Tusk, president of the European Council.

Why is it so dangerous? No one can foresee what the long-term consequences would be. As a historian, I fear that Brexit could be the beginning of the destruction of not only the E.U., but also of Western political civilization.

While there’s no doubt that a Brexit will result in major disruptions to the status quo system, isn’t that the point? Moreover, that’s some downright apocalyptic talk by Mr. Tusk. What’s driving it?

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Brussels' unethical relationship with Israel is reason enough for UK to leave the EU

Anthony Bellchambers
Global Research

The economy of the state of Israel that enables it to treat the international community with such contempt, is dependent entirely upon its trade with the EU single market. And that, apart from any other consideration, is another important reason for the UK to vote to leave the European Union.

The position of the EU as Israel's primary trading partner is enabled under the EU-Israel Association Agreement, notwithstanding that Article 2 of that Agreement very clearly states:

"Relations between the parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this agreement." 

It is a blatant fact that Israel - as illegal occupier of the Occupied Palestinian Territories has been in gross breach of this provision since the very inception of the Agreement and yet the EU has turned a blind eye to the continuing violations that include the illegal settlement of over a half a million Israelis on Palestinian soil in a deliberate effort to prevent the establishment of an independent state for the largest indigenous people of the region.

The reason for this intolerable state of affairs is unquestionably the influence of the lobbyists embedded within the councils and committees of the European Union at virtually every level in Brussels and elsewhere, who exert a corrupting effect upon EU political and economic policy in order to skew EU political decisions, funding and bilateral trade to the favour of the (non-member) Israeli state.

A vote to divorce the United Kingdom from the EU would clearly indicate British rejection of such artificial and dangerous 'arrangements' that have such an adverse impact upon both regional and world peace.  

The Brussels Terror Attacks: Fake Videos and Images. “The Man in the Hat”

Prof Michel Chossudovsky 
Global Research

After a month of exhaustive police investigations, the Belgian authorities have identified and arrested the alleged (surviving) terror mastermind of the airport bombing, the “man in the hat” Mohamed Abrini. The other four alleged terrorists involved in the kamikaze bombing attacks at the airport and the metro station are reported dead. 

According to reports, Abrini was identified on a Brussels airport still photo released by one or more airport video security surveillance CCTV cameras.

This photo –which identifies three of the terror suspects– has become a central piece of evidence in the police investigation.

In this still photo, the mystery “man in the hat” allegedly Mohamed Abrini is seen accompanying the two alleged suicide bombers, who according to reports blew themselves up in Brussels airport.

Moreover, Abrini happens to be, according to French police investigators, the main surviving suspect of the Paris November attacks.

The official story is that the attacks in both Paris and Brussels were ordered by the ISIS, which just so happens to be supported by Turkey and Saudi Arabia in close liaison with Washington and NATO headquarters in Brussels. (The issue of US-NATO-Israel support of the Islamic State is amply documented).

According to media reports:

The revelation that a Paris attacks suspect escorted two of the Brussels bombers to their deaths at the city’s airport is the strongest sign yet that the Islamic State attackers who brought mayhem to both European cities — killing a total of 162 people — were intimately linked. (See Guardian April 9, 2016)

Abrini is said to have confessed “his presence at the crime scene,” according to the official communique.

The Authenticity of the Still Photo of the Three alleged Terrorists at Brussels Airport 

Our analysis below will largely focus on the authenticity of the still photo allegedly from the Brussels airport CCTV surveillance cameras.  CCTV systems are able to to take high resolution images on a time lapse basis.  The still picture could also have taken by closed-circuit digital photography (CCDP), which is used to generate still digital images.

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See also:

The Brussels Attacks: What is True, What is Fake? Three Daesh Suspects at Brussels AirportBy Prof Michel Chossudovsky, March 25, 2016 
Fake Video Used in News Coverage of Brussels Terror Attacks By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, March 22, 2016 
Media Manipulation: More Fake Video Reports of the Brussels Terror Attacks By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, March 23, 2016

Brussels to embark on radical plans to create joint EMU treasury and euro parliament

Comment: You couldn't get anything more blatantly fascist...

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The Telegraph

The survival of economic and monetary union will require the creation of new supra-national institutions, including a joint eurozone treasury and a separate euro parliament, according to the single currency's bail-out chief. 

Klaus Regling, head of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), joined a clamour of voices in Brussels who are pushing for member states to cede sovereignty in bid to establish a full-blown fiscal union on the Continent. 

The first step will be the creation of a eurozone finance ministry, backed by a separate chamber for the currency's 19 member states in the European parliament, said Mr Regling, who oversees the euro's €500bn rescue fund. 

The move is necessary to "increase the robustness and minimise the vulnerabilities of the currency union", said Mr Regling.

He added it would "imply a significant transfer of sovereignty, requiring democratic legitimacy", which could be provided by a "special chamber of the European Parliament composed of deputies solely from euro area Member States". 

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Greece Prepares To Leave

The Automatic Earth

Speculation and expert comments are thrown around once more – or still – like candy on Halloween. Let me therefore retrace what I’ve said before. Because I think it’s really awfully simple, once you got the underlying factors in place.

But first, if one thing has become obvious after Syriza was elected to form a Greek government on January 25, it’s that the party is not ‘radical’ or ‘extremist’. Those monikers can now be swept off all editorial desks across the world, and whoever keeps using them risks looking like an awful fool.

All Syriza has done to date, when you look from an objective point of view, is to throw out feelers, trying to figure out what the rest of the eurozone would do. And to make sure that whatever responses it got are well documented.

Because of course Greece (through Syriza) is preparing to leave the eurozone. Of course the effects and consequences of such a step are being discussed, non-stop. They would be fools if they didn’t have these discussions. And of course there will be a referendum at some point.

There’s just that one big caveat: Syriza insists on needing a mandate from its voters for everything it does, whether that may be kowtowing to Greece’s EU overlords or walking away from them. At present, however, it doesn’t have a mandate for either of these actions.

The best it can do is to drag out negotiations as much as it can, and let Europe openly assert its perceived superior power over the Greek population as much as it wants to, complete with more iron-fisted demands for austerity, more budget cuts, more asset sales. Tsipras and his people will let this go on until the Greeks are even more fed up with Brussels than they already were when they elected Syriza in the first place.

It’s a subtle game, but it’s the only one open to Tsipras and his crew. Even if they’ve long concluded that trying to negotiate a deal with Germany et al was a lost cause way before talks started, Syriza has to go through the motions until it is confident the people of Greece are ready to vote in a referendum on eurozone membership. 

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The Rise of the European Right: Reaction to the Neoliberal Right

Boiling Frogs Post
Prof. James Petras

In the absence of a Left alternative, the working class voters have opted for two alternatives: Massive voter abstention & strikes.

The European parliamentary elections witnessed a major breakthrough for the right-wing parties throughout the region. The rise of the Right runs from the Nordic countries, the United Kingdom, the Baltic and Low countries, France, Central and Eastern Europe to the Mediterranean.

Most, if not all, of these emerging right-wing parties mark a sharp break with the ruling neo-liberal, Christian and Social Democratic parties who have presided over a decade of crisis.

The ‘new Right’ cannot be understood simply by attaching negative labels (‘fascist’, ‘racist’ and ‘anti-Semitic’). The rise of the Right has to be placed in the context of the decay of political, social and economic institutions, the general and persistent decline of living standards and the disintegration of community bonds and class solidarity. The entire existing political edifice constructed by the neo-liberal parties bears deep responsibility for the systemic crisis and decay of everyday life. Moreover, this is how it is understood by a growing mass of working people who vote for the Right.

The so-called ‘radical Left’, usually defined as the political parties to the left of the governing Social Democratic parties, with the exception of SYRIZA in Greece, have failed to capitalize on the decline of the neo-liberal parties. There are several reasons that account for the lack of a right-left polarization. Most of the ‘radical Left’, in the final account, gave ‘critical support’ to one or another of the Labor or Social Democratic parties and reduced their ‘distance’ from the political-economic disasters that have followed. Secondly, the ‘radical Left’s’ positions on some issues were irrelevant or offensive to many workers: namely, gay marriage and identity politics. Thirdly, the radical Left recruited prominent personalities from the discredited Labor and Social Democratic parties and thus raised suspicion that they are a ‘new version’ of past deceptions. Fourthly, the radical Left is strong on public demonstrations demanding ‘structural changes’ but lacks the ‘grass roots’ clientelistic organizations of the Right, which provide ‘services’, such as soup kitchens and clinics dealing with day-to-day problems.

While the Right pretends to be ‘outside’ the neo-liberal establishment challenging the assumption of broad powers by the Brussels elite, the Left is ambiguous: Its support for a ‘social Europe’ implies a commitment to reform a discredited and moribund structure. The Right proposes ‘national capitalism’ outside of Brussels; the Left proposes ‘socialism within the European Union’. The Left parties, the older Communist parties and more recent groupings, like Syriza in Greece, have had mixed results. The former have generally stagnated or lost support despite the systemic crisis. The latter, like Syriza, have made impressive gains but failed to break the 30% barrier. Both lack electoral allies. As a result, the immediate challenge to the neo-liberal status quo comes from the electoral new Right parties and on the left from the extra-parliamentary social movements and trade unions. In the immediate period, the crisis of the European Union is being played out between the neo-liberal establishment and the ‘new Right’.

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"Velvet revolution": Thousands of Moldovans rally against pro-EU govt, "forced bondage" of Euro-integration

RT

The massive protest was organized by the oppositionist Communist Party which claimed attendance of more than 50 thousand people. Other sources estimate that only around 15 thousands protesters flocked to the main square of Chisinau.

The authorities applied extra measures to stop additional crowds of protesters from reaching the capital, local media reported. Authorities were accused of using unprecedented steps to prevent the action, through stopping and collecting and registering data of drivers and the license plates of vehicles carrying protesters from country’s regions to Chisinau.

The opposition movement had arranged buses from the regions under the “campaign to Chisinau” slogan to participate in the main protest, claimed by the Communist Party as a “velvet revolution.”

“Before signing the agreements in Vilnius, the government is secretly holding talks with EU, ignoring public opinion, the Parliament, thus flagrantly violating the Constitution. Moldova is able to build its own democratic state without imposing West European standards,” the country’s former President and Communist leader Vladimir Voronin said at the rally, warning of government’s plans to negotiate a deal with the EU at a summit in Lithuania next week.
The demonstrators brought official flags and historical symbols of Moldova, Russia and the CIS bloc and demanded the resignation of the pro-European government and called for early elections. Voronin said that Russia could aid the Moldovan economy by providing cheaper energy as part of the Customs Unions agreement.

“Moldova can become a European country, only if it joined the Customs Union, which gives people a lot of opportunities for full development of the country,” Voronin said.

The opposition leader congratulated the people and government of Ukraine, who have shown “their political will and did not yield to the pressure of Brussels that wanted to draw the country into forced bondage.” He called on Moldova to follow in Kiev’s footsteps.

“Moldova should follow in Ukraine's footsteps and suspend the preparations for concluding an agreement with the EU,” Voronin said.

The country’s Prime Minister Iurie Leanca however says his government has a different stance on EU integration.

“We respect Ukraine's decision to suspend preparations for signing the association agreement with the EU. But we have made our own choice and it remains unchanged,” Leanca said. 
Leanca called European integration “a priority model of development” saying that moving closer to the EU “does not run counter to relations with the CIS countries.”

On Wednesday, Deputy Foreign Affairs and European Integration Minister of Moldova Julian Groza said that Moldova’s cooperation with the EU will be strengthened, regardless of relations between Kiev and Brussels.

“Relations between Moldova with the EU will be consolidated regardless of relations with other countries,” Groza said, as Chisinau plans to stamp and later sign a partnership agreement with the EU at a summit in Vilnius next week.  
 
Moldovan protests followed Ukraine’s suspension of preparations for an association agreement between Kiev and Brussels that was also planned to be signed in Lithuanian capital. The decision was taken after Kiev weighed the questionable financial benefits from partnership with the EU and the possible negative effects of the association on its trade relations with Moscow. Ukraine’s decision to halt what is widely considered as a first step towards integration with the European bloc, was welcomed by Russia and heavily criticized by the EU.

Belgians stage mass protest against austerity measures

France 24 

Tens of thousands of Belgians marched on central Brussels Friday, protesting against austerity measures flagged by the incoming government. The measures could include cuts to unemployment benefits and limits on early retirement. 

Leaders of unions, which organised the demonstrations, said more than 50,000 people had gathered on a mild but damp morning in the Belgian capital. Police said it was too early to give an estimate on the numbers attending.

Belgians face cuts to unemployment benefit, limits on early retirement and spending reduced or frozen in the public sector.

“This is a demonstration by workers against austerity measures which are blind. We have been given a budget which is unfortunately not balanced,” said Bernard Noel, national secretary of the CGSLB union.

The demonstration included metal workers, public service employees, workers from the brewing industry, builders and teachers, most dressed in green, red or blue, the colours of the three main unions in Belgium.

“The austerity should be paid by those who created it, the banks, the financiers,” said Pierre Dellamaria, a 43-year-old laboratory technician.

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