Mediaboss Marketing

New York Times

Tony Blair Urges UK to Stay Centered, and Close to Europe New York Times But as the anniversary of that victory approached, Mr. Blair tried to bolster the sagging center ground of British politics, while predicting that voters might think again about the economically damaging hard break with the European Union that he ... British election: Labour offers Brexit pledge on European Union nationalsNormangee Star Theresa May accuses remaining 27 EU members of 'lining up to oppose' Britain over BrexitThe Independent all 481 news articles »

Read the original:
Tony Blair Urges UK to Stay Centered, and Close to Europe - New York Times

European Union leaders are poised to support allowing Northern Ireland, if it unites with Ireland, to automatically become part of the multi-nation bloc after Britains departure via Brexit.

Leaders of 27 EU nations attending a Saturday summit in Brussels plan to confirm their positions favoring a motion by Ireland, an EU member, to allow Northern Ireland, which is part of Britain, to remain in the group.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has said he wants the final deal on Britains exit from the EU to guarantee that if Ireland and Northern Ireland unite, Northern Ireland would bypass the lengthy process for a country to join the EU.

The deal should guarantee that at some future time, whenever that might be, if it were to occur, that Northern Ireland would have ease of access to join as a member of the European Union again, Kenny told reporters during a February visit to the European Commission, the EU's executive branch in Brussels.

Kenny pointed to the former East Germany, which he said followed a seamless process to immediately become a member of the EU when it reunited with West Germany in 1990.

Though negotiations between Britain and the EU are expected to last two years and cover many topics, including trade and immigration, Irelands position apparently generated strong backing going into the Brussels summit Saturday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel this week said the 27 EU nations negotiating with Britain were united behind Ireland.

"There are many special interests, if we just think of the Republic of Ireland and its shared space with Great Britain and the problems in Northern Ireland, Merkel said during a speech in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament. That's why it was a good accomplishment to stick together like this.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, meanwhile, has promised to make Ireland one of her main priorities as she negotiates Britains break from the EU. May has described avoiding a hard border with Ireland which would mean checkpoints or passport controls.

The 310-mile border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is the only land boundary between Britain and Europe.

The sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles that began in 1968 involved Protestants loyal to Britain and Catholics who wanted a united Ireland. More than 3,600 people died and 40,000 were wounded.

The hostilities ended with the 1998 Good Friday agreement, which among other things allowed travelers to go back and forth between the countries without checks.

Britain has an important responsibility to make sure that nothing is done to jeopardize the peace process in Northern Ireland, and to continue to uphold the Belfast Agreement, May wrote in a letter last month to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council.

Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator for Brexit, said in March that the group will be particularly attentive in the talks to anything that may, in one way or another, weaken dialogue and peace in Ireland.

If and when Ireland and Northern Ireland might unite remains unknown, considering that so-called Brexit negotiations between Britain and the EU are expected to run into 2019.

In Britains June 2016 referendum on whether to remain in or leave the EU, voters in Northern Ireland favored remaining 56% to 44%. But the overall result for Britains voters was 52% to 48% to leave.

The minutes of Saturdays summit are to include a paragraph stating that a united Ireland would be an EU member.

The reference to a united Ireland reflects months of the Irish government's lobbying efforts. Kenny has traveled to Brussels and several European capitals to convince other leaders that the Brexit agreement must guarantee an invisible border in Ireland and close trade links to the United Kingdom.

Tusk, in a letter Friday to leaders of EU countries, named Ireland as one of three top priorities that must come first in the Brexit negotiations. Others include the rights of citizens and the money Britain will need to pay the EU before it leaves more than $60 billion, according to some estimates.

Stupp is a special correspondent.

Read more:
European Union leaders may welcome a united Ireland after Britain's departure via Brexit - Los Angeles Times

Europe should create a new class of supranational MEPs after Brexit in order to demonstrate that the European project is alive and kicking, a high-level EU ministers meeting was told on Thursday.

Under the new plan, the 73 British seats in the European Parliament that will fall vacant after Brexit will be transformed into new seats representing a a single European constituency, according toa document submitted to EUs General Affairs Council in Strasbourg.

The proposal over how to re-allocate the seats, which was tabled by the Italian foreign minister and has been seen by The Daily Telegraph, would enable all the the European political families to contend them on a trans-national basis.

In the past, efforts by federalists to create EU-wide MEPs have been shot down as unrealistic by EU member states, but the Italian paper says that Brexit now provides the perfect opportunity to revive the scheme.

See the original post here:
European Union may create new class of 'supranational' MEPs after ... - Telegraph.co.uk

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

You may know that we Hungarians never give up the fight, Orbn said defiantly, and I will today once again try to apply the power of common sense in this debate.

Orbn was referring to specific EU complaints about Hungarys unilateral opposition to the heavy-handed pressures of American financial speculator George Soros, a major financer of abortion and open immigration throughout the world. Yet in his address, the Prime Minister went further, asserting Hungarys right to self-governance and challenging the EU to acknowledge the state of crisis into which it has fallen.

He also came to the meeting to showcase the substantial economic progress made by Hungary in recent years, thanks to free market policies of fiscal restraint and pro-business legislation that fly in the face of European bureaucracy, social assistance and hyper-regulation.

In 2008 we started from a point where Greece was, Orbn recalled. The government of Hungary at the time was the first to turn to the Monetary Fund and the EU for a loan. Since then, we have fully repaid this money, ahead of maturity.

Since then, we have created hundreds of thousands of jobs. Hungary is on the road to the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union. This is 4% currently. We have created a workfare society, we are giving jobs instead of benefits to everyone who wants to work, he said.

Our aim is full employment, Orbn continued. Our budget deficit has exceeded the level you required for years it was 1.8% recently the state debt is decreasing, and our economic growth is steadily around 4%.

Acknowledging that Hungary still has a number of problems to solve, Orbn said that his nation has reason to be proud. I am convinced that the success of Hungary is also a European success, and the EU is in great need of success stories nowadays. It would be foolish if this fact did not get enough attention, due to ideological differences, he said.

While reiterating Hungarys commitment to the EU, the Prime Minister said bluntly that we are in many respects dissatisfied with the functioning of the European Union.

We are formulating criticism because we want to correct mistakes and we want to reform the European Union. We are convinced that we can only regain the trust of citizens towards European institutions, if we do everything we can to eliminate the causes of bad and inefficient operation.

While repeating the basic stance of the Hungarian government in opposition to the EUs open borders policy toward economic migrants, Orbn suggested that the EU should allow the Hungarian people the right to control their own borders as well as their fiscal policy.

Our vision, he said, is based on a strong Europe of strong member states. In such a Europe, member states bear responsibility instead of running away from it. Responsibility for state debt, the budget and border protection.

In an open challenge, the prime minister said that he wanted to influence decisions by using the tools of debate, reasoning and persuasion, and called on other EU member states to do the same. Whoever does not like the position of our country, he said, should contend their own arguments with ours, so we can fight this debate, but please, do not condemn us because Hungary has her own, independent opinion.

Hungary is a proud country, Orbn said. Hungarians have always considered themselves an important nation, devoted to the Christian values of Europe.

And while promising Hungarys commitment to the European Union, Orbn said that his people will only support the European Union if it is fair and built on open debates, capable of admitting that it needs reform from time to time.

Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter

See the original post here:
Hungarian Prime Minister Challenges European Union in Fiery Address - Breitbart News

WASHINGTON The European Union has called for Arkansas to cancel its scheduled execution Thursday of 38-year-old Kenneth Williams.

In a letter Wednesday to Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson(R), EU Ambassador to the United States David OSullivan wrote that the union wishes to make an urgent humanitarian appeal on Williams behalf.

In 1999, Williams, who was already serving a life sentence for kidnapping and murder, escaped from prison and killed a 57-year-old farmer, Cecil Boren, according to USA Today. He then fled to Missouri, where he killed another person in a traffic accident. Williams was sentenced to death in August 2000.

It is my understanding that evidence was introduced at trial to show that Mr. Williams was intellectually disabled, OSullivan wrote. While at the time there was no categorical exclusion for the execution of the intellectually disabled, this is now the case. I also understand that three doctors have submitted reports to the courts this week finding that Mr. Williams meets the definition of intellectual disability. I believe this evidence should be heard and that Mr. Williams should not be executed.

Williams is one of eight inmates that Arkansasplanned to executethis month before its supply of a lethal injection drug expired. Last week the state executed Ledell Lee. On Monday, it carried out a double execution the nations first since 2000, putting to death Jack Jones and Marcel Williams. Four inmates have been granted a stay of execution.

Arkansas Department of Corrections via Reuters

In his letter, OSullivan said the states string of executions had regrettably put an end to the de facto moratorium on capital punishment in Arkansas since it executed a man in 2005. And he called the pace with which Arkansas is carrying out these executions unprecedented.

The European Union is opposed to the use of capital punishment under all circumstances and accordingly aims at its universal abolition, seeking a global moratorium on the death penalty as a first step, OSullivan wrote. We believe that the elimination of the death penalty is fundamental to the protection of human dignity, and to the progressive development of human rights on a global scale.

He added that while the EU recognizes the serious nature of Kenneth Williams crimes and offers its sincere sympathies to the victims families and friends, it does not believe that their loss will be mitigated by the death of Mr. Williams.

In an essay published earlier this month by The Marshall Project, Williams addressed his looming death.

God has transformed me, and even the worst of us can be reformed and renewed. Revealing these truths meant more to me then being granted clemency. Im still going to eventually die someday, but to stand up for God in front of man, thats my victory.To the families of my victims, to whom I have brought pain, great loss, and suffering, as shallow as I am sorry for robbing you of your loved one can sound, I would rather say it, and mean it, than not say it at all.

The state of Arkansas is facing two federal lawsuits over this months parade of executions. On Wednesday, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied all requests for stays of execution for Williams, KARK 4 News in Little Rock reported. He is scheduled to be put to death at 7 p.m. CDT Thursday.

Heres the letter from Ambassador OSullivan:

Original post:
European Union Pleads For Arkansas To Stop Execution - Huffington Post