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Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the British people felt disempowered and far removed from the political process under the European bloc and called for its reform after the UK leaves.

She said the remaining 27 member states should push to reinstate a purely economic framework instead of its current setup.

Speaking during a debate on Brexit on BBC Radio 4s Any Questions? The Berwick-upon-Tweed MP said the EU had deviated from its original function.

It was set up absolutely in the aftermath of war to try and stabilise Europe and try to help those countries, as theyve joined, to become democracies because democracies are the stable governments framework where every citizen is engaged with their leadership, she said.

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I think that the point is that the EU has got too big for its boots, bluntly, and its wanting to create a superstate

Anne-Marie Trevelyan

Why is it that the EU which is not the EEC (European Economic Community), which was what was set up isnt working for the British people? And indeed for many others across those states within Europe who are in the EU.

She then accused the European Union of wanting to create a superstate.

I think that the point is that the EU has got too big for its boots, bluntly, and its wanting to create a superstate, said Ms Trevelyan.

For all oflastyear, this sense of disempowerment for something too far away from us as voters, as citizens of the UK, we felt too far removed from the people who are making decisions about the curvature of bananas and any number of other things.

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She said the EU had a role in developing democracies and preserving an economic community but had lost its way.

The EU has migrated far from that and citizens dont like it, the politician added.

The British have led the way and I really hope that the EU 27, if they feel it works for them more than not, will go backwards towards an economic framework, which is not about an EU telling everybody how to run their countries.

Also speaking on the panel was the editor ofpro-EUnewspaper The New European, Matt Kelly, who insisted the European bloc was established to keep ourselves safe.

He said: The European Union was not established to regulate the curvature of a banana, it was established to regulate our propensity in a very violent continent, to stop killing ourselves and to keep ourselves safe and to develop in harmony as a community of nations.

See more here:
'EU too big for its boots!' Tory MP rips 'SUPERSTATE' Eurocrats for 'disempowering' UK - Express.co.uk

There is "no reason" an independent Scotland would not be accepted into the European Union, a key European Commission representative has said.

Jacqueline Minor, the European Commissions head of representation in the UK, said the country would already be aligned with the EU requirements and that is it would be starting from a different point that any other countries applying for the EU membership process.

Speaking on BBC's Good Morning Scotland show, Ms Minor was asked whether an independent Scotland would be able to enter the EU.

"I think, had Scotland achieved independence, there would be no reason why it would not be accepted into the normal accession process, she said.

Although Ms Minor did not say that an independent Scotland would have priority in gaining EU membership, she hinted the process could be made easier

"I think, obviously, there are some things that would facilitate that process, namely that Scotland would at a previous point have been aligned with the European acquis.

"So it would have a familiarity with European processes, it would probably still have on its statute books a fair amount of European rules, which would mean it was starting from a point different from other applicant countries, who normally have to go through the entire process of aligning their rules with European rules, she said.

Her comment came after she previously said if Scotland became independent, it would have to wait in line with other countries such as Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to join the EU, when she wasspeaking ataScottish Parliamentary Journalists Association event.

"Were Scotland to become independent, they would join that list, she said.

She also said it might be easier for Scotland to meet the membership criteria such as democracy, rule of law, anti-corruption and protection of minorities than other candidates.

SNP MSP Stuart McMillan said: "This is an important intervention, which makes clear that, as an existing member of the EU, Scotland would be in a completely different situation from other countries seeking membership.

"There is no 'queue' to join the EU. There is a process, and a country must be in line with the requirements of membership - which Scotland, as a full part of the EU up until this point, already is.

"Theresa May's determination to pursue a Tory hard Brexit is the only risk to Scotland's relationship with Europe, which is crucial for jobs, household incomes and our economy."

In her prior intervention, Ms Minor doubtedScotlands ability to secure a special deal as part of the Brexit negotiations.

"The negotiations will be with the United Kingdom and that means essentially the Westminster Government.

"The first question is will the Westminster Government argue in favour of a differentiated arrangement, and it seems to me that at present they are not suggesting that they will," she said.

The Scottish Government previously said there should be a differentiated Brexit deal since the country had a majority of voters to remain in the EU.

Read more from the original source:
'No reason' for an independent Scotland not to be accepted into EU, says European Commission representative - The Independent

The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, greets Federica Mogherini before their bilateral meeting. Photograph: Planet Pix via Rex/Shutterstock

The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, has warned the Trump administration not to interfere in European politics, advising it to deal with America first.

Speaking during a two-day visit to Washington, Mogherini did not make specific accusations but said that she sometimes heard voices in the new administration saying the European Union is not necessarily a good idea. Inviting us to dismantle what we have managed to build and which has brought us not only peace, but also economic strength.

Its not for me or another European to speak about domestic political choices or decisions in the US. The same goes with Europe no interference, Mogherini said, speaking at the Atlantic Council thinktank. Maybe America first means also that you have to deal with America first.

Mogherinis tone echoed the increasing alarm in Brussels over the new administrations attitudes. Donald Tusk, the head of the European Council, has listed the new US administration and its worrying declarations as one of the leading global threats to the EU.

Trump has not missed a chance to deride the EU, going out of his way to praise Brexit, and in an interview just before taking office, he depicted the continent as being dominated by Germany and on the brink of collapse.

President Trump believes that dealing bilaterally with different European countries is in US interests, that we could have a stronger relationship with the countries individually, said Ted Malloch, the man tipped to be Donald Trumps nominee as ambassador to the EU. He also accused Europe of blatant anti-Americanism.

The presidents chief strategist, Steve Bannon, gave encouragement and space to the European far right when he ran the Breitbart website, which has announced plans to expand its operations in Europe, much to the alarm of European capitals.

Mogherini stressed that she had not heard any such anti-EU sentiment in her meetings in Washington, which included the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson; the national security adviser, Michael Flynn; and the presidents son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, as well as senators from both parties.

She described all those meetings as good, and said she came away reassured on some issues, including the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, of which Trump is a strident critic and the EU a strong supporter. The administration appears to be backing off its campaign pledge to dismantle the agreement.

She also took the opportunity to remind the administration, which hosted the UK prime minister, Theresa May, as the presidents first foreign guest, and promised her a favourable trade deal, that Britain did not have the right to negotiate independently until it was outside the EU, which was two years away at least.

The strength of the EU and the unity of the EU I believe is more evident today than it was a few months ago. This has to be clearly understood here, Mogherini said. This also means respect for the EU not simply as an institution. It is a union of 28 member states.

Mogherini expressed cautious optimism that Brussels and the new administration in Washington could learn to cooperate on a case-by-case basis.

We believe we are probably entering a time of a more pragmatic and transactional kind of relationship with the United States, Mogherini said.

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EU foreign policy chief tells Trump not to interfere in Europe's politics - The Guardian

Wall Street Journal

In Departure, ECB Officials Stump for the European Union Wall Street Journal The ECB's unelected civil servants are mounting their defense of the EU as Europe's elected leaders are enmeshed in national debates. Britain is preparing to leave the EU, and elections will be held this year in France, Germany, the Netherlands and ... and more »

See the article here:
In Departure, ECB Officials Stump for the European Union - Wall Street Journal

10 February 2017

The sixtieth anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which laid the foundations for the European Union, will be celebrated in Rome this March. This anniversary is reminiscent of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which was celebrated with great pomp in East Berlin in October 1989. Only a few weeks later, the GDR collapsed. Likewise, the European Union is in the throes of a fatal crisis. All the tensions, conflicts and contradictions that the Treaty of Rome was supposed to have overcome are emerging once again.

The ferocious denunciation of the EU by US President Donald Trumphis threat of retaliatory tariffs, his suggestion that he might seek an alliance with Russia at the expense of Europe, and the close connections of his chief strategist Stephen Bannon to right-wing extremists in Europehas made it clear that the EU can no longer base itself on the support of the US, a fundamental prerequisite of its existence in the past.

In discussing the Iraq war in 2003, the WSWS explained that the post-war order was in fact, a departure from the historical norm. David North, chairman of the International Editorial Board of the WSWS, wrote that [t]he more basic tendency of American capitalism, rooted in its somewhat belated emergence as a major imperialist power, had been to augment its world position at the expense of Europe. This analysis has now been confirmed. Trumps stance on the European Union is only the most extreme expression of a development that has been underway for a long time.

Highlighting the deepening tensions, the White House has increasingly cast Germany as an economic adversary of the United States. Peter Navarro, the head of Donald Trumps National Trade Council, went so far as to effectively declare Germany a currency manipulator. He said the euro was grossly undervalued and was equivalent to an implicit Deutsche Mark, whose low valuation, as the Financial Times put it, gave Germany an advantage over its main trading partners.

Earlier this week, Jens Weidmann, the head of Germanys Bundesbank, shot back that German companies are above all competitive because they are excellently positioned in global markets and convince with innovative products.

Berlin has reacted to Washingtons threats through economic and military countermeasures, trying to unite Europe behind its own hegemonic aims.

German weekly Die Zeit published a report entitled Counterattack, which claims that the EU has begun to prepare for a trade war against the US. It plans to react to punitive tariffs from the Americans with retaliatory measures, and is seeking a free trade agreement with Mexico and several Asian states. Where the Americans shut themselves off, the Europeans should, instead, be open, it states.

Berlin is making use of the threats from Washington and the possibility of closer relations between the US and Russia to bring Europe under its own dominance. For some time, a discussion has been carried out in the German media that portrays Brexit and the election of Trump as opportunities rather than merely a danger.

This week, outgoing German President Joachim Gauck gave a speech on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty in which he said that [t]he time has come for European countries and in particular for Germany, which for many years took their lead from the United States, to become more self-confident and autonomous. He cynically insisted that it was necessary not to abandon the values on which the European project is based, and called for Europe to increase its defence capabilities.

Germanys attempt, seven decades after its defeat in the Second World War, to rise once again to dominance over Europe is exacerbating national tensions and providing political fodder for right-wing nationalist forces.

In most European countries, the ruling class is split on this question. In France, while the far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is demanding Frances exit from the EU and is orienting to Trump and Putin, her possible opponent in the runoff election, Emmanuel Macron, is emphasizing a decidedly German- and EU-friendly course.

However, the fundamental cause of the crisis of the EU is not to be found in the election of President Trump. Even before the US election, the EU had already entered the deepest crisis in its entire history. Brexit, the Euro crisis, national debt, the refugee crisis, tensions between east and west and between north and south, and the rise of right-wing, chauvinist parties threatened to break it to pieces.

At the same time, explosive social tensions are developing beneath the surface. One out of ten people in Europe is officially unemployed, and one out of four is impoverished or socially marginalized. In the poorest countries in Eastern Europe, the average monthly wage is only 400. Even in the wealthier countries, millions of people work under precarious conditions on the edge of destitution.

The ruling class is responding to this crisis by militarizing, strengthening and arming the state apparatus, closing borders and imposing unending austerity. The European working class confronts two dangers, which are in fact two sides of the same coin. First, it is faced with the transformation of the EU from an economic union into a military union that is also arming itself to suppress internal social and political dissent. For example, France has been under a state of emergency for 15 months. Second, it is faced with the splintering of Europe into national states under right-wing authoritarian regimes. Both of these trajectories mean a decline into war and barbarism.

However, the worldwide crisis of capitalism, expressed most sharply in the rise of Trump and the crisis of the EU, also produces the objective prerequisites for an offensive of the working class, the only social force that can prevent a repetition of the catastrophes of the twentieth century.

The only progressive basis for European integration is the program of the United Socialist States of Europe. To wage a successful struggle against war, nationalism and social inequality, the working class needs an independent, revolutionary leadership, which opposes all representatives of the ruling class on the basis of a socialist perspective. This leadership is the International Committee of the Fourth International.

Peter Schwarz

See more here:
The election of Trump and the crisis of the European Union - World Socialist Web Site