Mediaboss Marketing

In about two years, the United Kingdom will officially leave the European Union, and commentators around the continent are speculating about which country will be next. In Western Europe eyes are on France and the Netherlands, as both have strong Euroskeptic movements, bolstered by anti-immigration parties. But to identify the larger but creeping threat to the EU, you need to look east.

One country facing a rising tide of Euroskepticism is the Czech Republic. Anti-immigration sentiment has surged in the Central European state ever since it joined the EU in 2004.

About two thirds of Czech people oppose taking in refugees, and a 2015 poll found that 94 percent favor closing the borders completely. Czech politicians have capitalized on these sentiments, with a growing number of politicians running under an anti-immigration banner.

Subscribe to Newsweek from $1 per week

This dislike for immigration has led to animosity toward EU members who favor an open immigration policy, notably Germany, and increased hostility toward the European Union itself. This new Euroskepticism is personified by the incumbent president Milo Zeman.

Read more:Why Europe's populist revolt is spreading

Zeman has been the president of the Czech Republic since 2013. Prime minister under the very popular President Vclav Havel, Zeman rose to power as part of a Western-oriented shift in Prague's politics. But as contempt in the general population toward the EU grew, Zeman altered his priorities.

Today, the 73-year-old represents a growing hatred for the elite among the Czech population. Zeman has popularized the term Prask kavrna, or the Prague Caf Society, to describe intellectuals who oppose his policies. In November 2016 he said :

"Everyone can express their opinion. I only despise those people who believe that their opinion is superior. And that's what I call a Prague cafe. Often, but not always, they are failed politiciansWhy do they have to be the conscience of the nation?"

After the U.S. election he said he was "very happy" about Donald Trump's win, a sentiment with which not many in Europe agreed. In defying the standard, Zeman highlighted the growing belief in the Czech Republic that relations with Brussels aren't considered to be essential anymore.

While the grounds on which some Czech Euroskeptics, including Zeman himself, criticize the bloc might be controversial notably that it allows the migration of Muslim refugees, whose integration Zeman describes as impossiblethere are ways in which officials in Brussels and Strasbourg have brought this conflict upon themselves.

Ever since the 2004 enlargement of the European Union to include several former Eastern Bloc countries, European technocrats have believed that financing Central and Eastern European infrastructure and agriculture will make them nod along with the policies of the Brussels machine.

When the Czech foreign minister Lubomr Zaorlek demanded the resignation of EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker after the Brexit vote, no word came out of Brussels. A similar message out of France or Germany would not only have prompted a reaction, it might have led to a resignation.

In a comparable fashion, the ruling European Commission has shown itself to be equally tone deaf when it comes to the political history of its post-Communist member states. In December 2016, 14 Czech and Slovak Members of the European Parliament penned an open letter to Juncker, condemning a press release in which he had described the deceased Cuban dictator Fidel Castro as a hero to many.

Castro supported the brutal Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, following the Prague Spring. When questioned by a Czech journalist about the collaboration of Fidel Castro with the inhumane regime that was the Soviet Union, Juncker's spokesperson said that considering the question that way took a "very narrow view of reality.

The East-West divide is apparent in more than just a growing contempt for the EUit also manifests itself through relations outside the union. The Czech Republic's second-largest trading partner is China, after Germany. The history of this relationship dates back to 1949, when the former Czechoslovak Republic recognized the People's Republic of China, something the U.S. only did 30 years later. China continues to be an ally of the Czechs. It even condemned the repression directed toward the Czechoslovak revolution against the Warsaw Pact in 1968.

In 2014, Milo Zeman traveled to Beijing to vouch for improved business and tourism relations, and proposed a direct flight connection between Prague and China's capital. The Chinese in turn seem receptive to the affection from this small Central European nation: On the way to the U.S. in March 2016, the Chinese delegation stopped in Prague for a symbolic visit. Zeman has blamed the United States and the European Union for straining the Czechs relationship with China by attempting to lecture Beijing on human rights.

The European Union forbids members signing independent trade deals not agreed upon by all 28 member states, which has led to the bizarre situation in which the 300,000-inhabitant state of Iceland has a free trade agreement with China, while the rest of Europe doesn't.

If the EU does not improve on its ability to expand the political inclusion of countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the already crumbling trust between Brussels and these members will entirely collapse, and its newest members will end up quitting.

Countries like the Czech Republic are divided between the East and the West; a complete lack of interest in the ramifications of this divide and a no-compromise position on the issues of international trade will grow into the next big crisis of the European Unionmaybe even its last.

Bill Wirtz is a Young Voices Advocate and a law student in France. Young Voices is a nonprofit writing project for politically independent millennials.

Read the rest here:
Forget Frexit, the EU's Next Threat Comes From the East - Newsweek

Momentum, an upstart political movement that called for Mondays rally, has announced it will run at next Aprils election. Photograph: Laszlo Balogh/Reuters

Thousands of Hungarians have marched across central Budapest in a show of support for the European Union, protesting against what a new political movement sees as a creeping rise in Russian influence under prime minister Viktor Orbn.

The rally follows a series of major demonstrations in Budapest in recent weeks, triggered by a new law that would drive out of Hungary a top university founded by US financier George Soros.

Momentum, an upstart political movement that called for Mondays rally dubbed We belong to Europe, announced it would run at a parliamentary election next April.

Healthcare, education, [public] transportation are failing, Andrs Fekete-Gyr, the Momentum leader, told demonstrators. We struggle to make things work every day.

Fekete-Gyr added that the group would unveil its election manifesto in October.

The group gained national prominence with a referendum campaign that torpedoed Orbns bid for Budapest to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Orbn, a former critic of Moscow, changed tack after returning to power in a 2010 landslide. In a key speech, he called for transforming Hungary into an illiberal state, citing Russia and Turkey as templates for success.

He still holds a firm lead in opinion polls. But on Saturday he told leaders of his centre-right EU political group he would comply with demands from Brussels to change measures branded an attack on academic freedom.

Viktor Orbns performance at the European parliament has shown that it is not only Hungarians who are tired of Orbn and his Fidesz party, said Daniel Kiss, a 23-year-old university student, who carried EU flags at the rally with his girlfriend.

He blasts the EU, but at the same time we need European money to stay afloat, he said. We have had enough.

Orbn has said Hungary should remain a member of the EU, but is also seeking reforms and wants to avoid a further loss of national sovereignty.

In the past seven years, Orbn has eliminated checks on his power by taking control of the public media, curbing the powers of the constitutional court, and placing loyalists in top positions at public institutions.

But Orbns unorthodox fiscal stabilisation measures have slashed the budget deficit, sent unemployment to record lows and Budapest forecasts economic growth above 4% this year and next, which would be the fastest rates since Orbn took power.

Despite the street protests, the fragmented Hungarian opposition so far looks unable to mount a serious challenge.

A survey in April by thinktank Zavecz Research put support for Orbns Fidesz party at 27% of voters. The Socialist party scored 13%, the nationalist Jobbik 11% and Momentum just 2%.

Even some protesters, like 26-year-old Bence, who wore a mask of Vladimir Putin on the back of his head, were sceptical of a breakthrough next April.

In such an election system, even Momentum or some other smaller opposition party getting into parliament would be a big deal, he said. But that is just what this is all about.

View post:
Hungarians send message to Orbn in march supporting European Union - The Guardian

Heads of state from 27 European Union countries all except British Prime Minister Theresa May put on a display of unity Saturday ahead of negotiations over Britains divorce from the bloc, colloquially known as Brexit.

Gathered in a meeting room at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, the leaders agreed on their priorities within one minute, a spokesman for the EU institution said.

Discussions regarding Britains withdrawal from the EU are set to start after the U.K. parliamentary election in June and last until March 2019.

The remaining 27 countries were eager to show there are no cracks in their negotiating position and meant to make one thing clear to London: The bloc will not split off into opposing groups that disagree over how to treat its departing member.

The leaders rubber-stamped a list of demands, including protecting the 3 million EU citizens living in Britain, a guarantee to keep peace in Northern Ireland and a budget settlement from Britain estimated to be more than $60 billion.

It is with unity that Europe will preserve its interests, French President Francois Hollande told reporters after the summit.

There was some concern that the U.K. will try to approach the negotiations with divide-and-rule tactics, said Agata Gostyska, a senior fellow at the Center for European Reform, a London-based think tank. The EU has something big at stake. Its the EUs fate. This is one of Germanys priorities, to keep the EU united.

Earlier this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Britain will feel the difference once it leaves the union because it no longer can have the same advantages.

Gostyska said leaders are afraid that conceding too much to the U.K. in Brexit negotiations could set a dangerous example.

This could open a window of opportunity for some of the other member states to say, Look, if the U.K. can still have this good deal and enjoy a very favorable access to the single market, then why shouldnt we go down the same path? she said.

But despite the EUs strong positioning, Merkel emphasized at the summit that the union is not allied against the United Kingdom a veiled response to Mays warning from the campaign trail this week that EU countries are ready to line up to oppose us.

Officials at the EU institutions in Brussels were quick to flaunt their resolve, which they said was a sharp contrast to the British government.

It took the U.K. nine months to prepare the notification letter after Article 50, a senior EU official said before the summit, referencing Mays letter to officially start the Brexit process in March. Twenty-seven heads of state and government will have their position on Brexit adopted only one month later.

U.K. citizens voted to leave the 28-country European Union in a June 2016 referendum, propelling shocked leaders into preparations to remove the country from the bloc, which it joined in 1973.

The document outlining the EUs position for negotiations says that the talks can move into a second phase only once the U.K. shows sufficient progress on the 27 leaders first three priorities. May originally wanted the talks to simultaneously decide on criteria for Britains exit as well as a future trade agreement but the EU shut down her request.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny secured a victory Saturday by inserting a statement into the summit minutes guaranteeing that if Northern Ireland unites with the Republic of Ireland, the country would automatically be an EU member. Northern Ireland, a part of the U.K., voted to remain in the EU last year with a majority of 56%. But polls show that most people still would reject a bid to unite with the Republic of Ireland.

Kenny called the reference to a united Ireland a significant legal statement from the European Council for something that may happen.

But he warned that the talks are unlikely to remain as quick as they were on Saturday.

We won't always be as calm and measured as today, I foresee, he said.

Unity between EU countries is fragile, and Brexit negotiations, as they drag on and become more complex, still could drive leaders of the 27 member states apart.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, the EUs executive arm, said he is concerned the countries will face tough decisions over a shared budget once Britain leaves. The U.K. is one of the top contributors to the EU budget; its exit will leave a hole of around 18 billion euros per year, according to 2015 figures. Other member states will need to pay more to make up for the loss.

Clearly there are those who dont want to pay a penny more and those who dont want to give up a penny either, Juncker said after the summit.

EU leaders face another threat to their unity next week when French voters elect a new president. Marine Le Pen, who will face off against Emmanuel Macron, has promised to take France out of the EU.

The consequences would be serious if France turned away from the EU, Hollande warned in his final EU news conference Saturday. The choice of the French people is a choice for France, but also for the EU.

Stupp is a special correspondent.

Read the original:
European Union leaders minus Britain gather ahead of 'Brexit' negotiations to plot their moves - Los Angeles Times

Greeks appear evenly divided in their views of the European Union, according to a recent survey of European attitudes by the Eurobarometer.

More specifically, 34 percent of those polled said that belonging to the EU is a good thing against 32 percent who said the opposite. Thirty-three percent said EU membership is neither good nor bad.

The survey, commissioned by the European Parliament and published on Thursday, suggests that Greek public opinion differs significantly from the EU average, which saw 57 percent of citizens saying belonging to the EU is a good thing, as opposed to 14 percent who expressed the opposite opinion.

European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said the findings of the survey into Europeans attitudes toward the European Union are, for the first time since the start of the crisis in 2007, very encouraging.

They show that European citizens expect the Union to respond with a single voice to their very acute fears about recent international upheavals that have made the world more uncertain and dangerous, he said, adding that it is up to political leaders to show citizens who believe in the EU that they are right.

To this end, he said, we must persuade them, by our daily work and our decisions, that the Union can both protect and improve their daily lives.

Read this article:
Survey suggests Greeks split in views of European Union | News ... - Kathimerini

Wall Street Journal (subscription)

France: A European Union Or European Civilization? Wall Street Journal (subscription) Regarding your editorial France's Stark Choice (April 24): I am glad you put populist in quotes as that has been the condescending pejorative explanation for Marine Le Pen, President Trump, Brexit, etc. My explanation follows words attributed to ... 'Definitely GAME OVER' Former Italian PM says Le Pen win will finish 'close to crisis' EUExpress.co.uk Le Pen says euro a deadweight, capital controls an option if she wins powerReuters What if Marine Le Pen wins and France decides to leave the EU?India Today BBC News -Sky News Australia all 256 news articles »

Visit link:
France: A European Union Or European Civilization? - Wall Street Journal (subscription)