LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn called for the European Union, alongside other international organisations, to be “defeated”, and accused them of being “utterly united in deflation” in a shocking speech which has been unearthed.
Brexit news: Footage has emerged of Jeremy Corbyn calling for the EU's "defeat" (Image: Getty)
Footage has emerged of Jeremy Corbyn calling for the “defeat” of the European Union and other international organisations. During the Durham Miners Gala in 2010, the Labour leader warned Britain “will not be silenced” and that we will “win through”. In the video, rediscovered by talkRADIO, Mr Corbyn said: “And I’ll tell you what can defeat us, it’s not them, it’s us. They, the world’s bankers, International Monetary Fund, European Union, they are utterly united in what they want.
“Utterly united in deflation, suppressing the economy, and creating unemployment.
“Utterly united in that.”
He continued: “We will not be silenced by these people. We will win through.
“We will defeat them and we will win that decency that we want in this world.”
Separate footage from 2009, obtained by Left-wing website The Red Roar, also shows Mr Corbyn launching an astonishing attack against the European Union during a resurfaced interview.
The Labour leader pours scorn on the idea of repeating votes on the same issue, which will come as a blow to Labour supporters seeking a second referendum on Brexit.
In his speech to Irish activists, Mr Corbyn said the Lisbon Treaty made the EU “subservient to the wishes of Nato”.
He said: “We are creating here one massive great Frankenstein which will damage all of us in the long run.
“What it does is create this military machine, this military Frankenstein, which will be so damaging to all of us.”
In his speech, the year after the country rejected the Lisbon Treaty by 53.4 percent to 46.6 percent, Mr Corbyn says he expects officials to ignore the result.
He tells the audience: “Don't scrap your posters, don't recycle them, because you're going to need them for a third referendum.
“Because I've got a feeling they're going to keep on voting until they get the answer they want.”
The Russian president said he ‘understood’ Theresa May’s position on Brexit.
Theresa May won the backing of Russian leader Vladimir Putin for her Brexit stance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin | Pavel Golovkin/AFP via Getty Images
At a press conference in Moscow shown on Russian national television, the Russian president said he “understood” May’s position in “fighting for this Brexit,”according to the Guardian.
“The referendum was held,” he said. “What can she do? She has to fulfill the will of the people expressed in the referendum.”
Putin also offered his analysis of the democratic merits of holding a second national vote. “Was it not a referendum?” he said. “Someone disliked the result, so repeat it over and over? Is this democracy? What then would be the point of the referendum in the first place?”
Giuseppe Conte's laid back and diplomatic style has earned him friends among foreign leaders | Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images
ROME — The Italian government wants to give Europe “a shake,” according to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, but he dismissed fights with other EU members as mere “misunderstandings.”
The prime minister, who never campaigned for office or ran in Italy's election, heads a populist coalition that has clashed with Brussels over its spending plans and with France over a range of issues from migration to transport links to the Yellow Jackets protest movement.
In an interview with POLITICO on Monday, the day before an address to members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Conte said the spats have not damaged Italy's standing in Europe.
Italy is not “isolated,” the prime minister said, but rather has “not given up on expressing its opinions even when what it had to say was uncomfortable.”
Conte, a lawyer and professor at the University of Florence, was plucked from relative obscurity to lead the nation last June after the 5Star Movement and League formed a coalition government. Although both of those parties are, in different ways, Euroskeptic, Conte rejected the suggestion that the government is anti-European.
“Being anti-establishment and pursuing change doesn't mean being anti-EU. On the contrary, because we do care about Europe, we want it to become a Europe of the people, closer to the needs of the people,” he said.
“It's during moments of crisis that one must give things a shake, get back on one’s feet and restart" — Giuseppe Conte
The prime minister, who is far more popular than his predecessors, as well as Deputy Prime Ministers Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio, according to an Ipsos poll published mid-January, said the issue is reforming the EU in a way that works for everyone. “Some people say we wanted to challenge the EU, I say we actually want to give it a shake to revive it,” Conte said.
“It's during moments of crisis that one must give things a shake, get back on one’s feet and restart.”
Conte will appear in Parliament after meeting European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker earlier Tuesday, and said he will make it clear to MEPs "that we really need a different approach on immigration and on the EU’s economic and fiscal governance.”
“These topics must not be divisive among member states and the misunderstandings of the last few days represent the effect, rather than the cause, of the EU’s inability to suggest solutions. If we don’t address these needs and the change we’re experiencing, we risk collapsing the EU’s architecture,” he said.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio has risked the ire of the French government by voicing support for the Yellow Jackets movement | Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images
One of the “misunderstandings” has turned into a full-fledged diplomatic crisis between Italy and France, with Paris recalling its ambassador to Rome after what it described as “repeated, baseless attacks” from the ruling Italian parties.
Conte said he hopes the relationship between the two countries "can be sorted out as soon as possible" and that a meeting between Di Maio and leaders of the Yellow Jackets movement, which escalated tensions with Emmanuel Macron's government, is not government business.
However, he said 5Star leader Di Maio's meeting "must be seen in the wider context of the debate and the turmoil concerning political movements."
Relations with France have been further complicated by a planned high-speed rail link between Turin and Lyon, which the French have started work on but which the 5Stars want to scrap, and a potential merger between shipyard giants STX of France and Italy's Fincantieri, which is being scrutinized by European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager.
Conte said the future of the rail link depends on the results of a cost-and-benefit analysis, which will be made public on Tuesday, according to Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli, who called it a "very big disaster."
"We have planned billions of infrastructure investments in our budget, therefore a potential 'no' to [the rail link] ... would not represent a 'no' to infrastructure in general," Conte said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron sign the Aachen Treaty last month | Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images
As for the shipyards, "I believe the merger is virtuous and entirely compatible with EU competition rules. While respecting the evaluation prerogatives that belong to the European Commission, we expect the merger to be green-lighted because it is entirely legitimate."
Another cause for concern, for Italy and other European countries, is the Treaty of Aachen, a contract seeking to boost cooperation in areas such as foreign policy, defense, trade, mobility and research, which was signed by Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel last month.
“It's not a question of being worried, it's a question of coherence," Conte said. "If we continue to invoke a strong and supportive European project, but in fact there are countries that focus on consolidating already privileged bilateral relations, it's obvious there is a risk of altering the normal decision-making process among all member states ... we cannot allow the creation of a European Union with variable geometries," he warned.
Four years to go
The interview took place a day after a regional election in Abruzzo, in which the 5Stars finished third with just over 20 percent of the vote (a right-wing alliance, which includes the League, the Brothers of Italy and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia won 48 percent to finish first). That has led to speculation that the national coalition is coming under strain.
Conte didn't comment on the election, the final results of which weren't known at the time, but said the coalition is strong. "From the first day of this government I’ve heard the suggestion it would collapse but this has been contradicted by hard facts each time. The two political forces that make up this government might have, at times, different views but they have proved to have a single objective: improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of the country. The citizens’ income and the pensions overhaul are the most obvious examples. We have four years in government ahead of us, four years of change and structural reforms."
Conte's laid-back and diplomatic style has earned him friends among foreign leaders, many of who prefer to deal with the prime minister than Salvini or Di Maio. But he didn't hold back when stating that Italy wants to be part of a "new and bold European project, a truly inclusive and supportive one [and] while Italy is engaged in a positive and constructive dialogue with the Commission on a number of issues, including fiscal discipline and migration, it will work to change some rules that are old and outdated."
“We took a prudent approach in the budget. We are very confident our growth forecasts will materialize" — Giuseppe Conte
For months, Italy has been at odds with its EU partners over its budget, which will increase borrowing to fund measures such as a citizens’ income — a cash handout of up to €780 a month for jobseekers living in poverty — and a partial overhaul of the pension system. The latest economic data, published by the European Commission and Italy's national statistics office Istat, shows the country has entered a technical recession and the economy is forecast to grow by just 0.2 percent this year, lagging behind all other 27 member countries.
But Conte is confident things will work out: “We took a prudent approach in the budget. We are very confident our growth forecasts will materialize ... Growth will be supported by structural reforms aimed at unlocking investments and opening building sites."
The dysfunctional element of the equation, according to Conte, isn't the Italian government, it is "the EU's inability to listen to the needs of its citizens," which he said is the reason why there is a general sense of "disaffection" toward Brussels.
The hunt for such alternatives inevitably leads to examples of other borders and it is usually only a matter of time before someone volunteers the Switzerland-France border as a model.
Switzerland is in Schengen (so no need for passport checks) and regulations on goods are broadly aligned with those of the EU. Switzerland is not in the EU’s customs union nor its VAT regime, and that means border checks are required. Its watches and cuckoo clocks literally run like clockwork, so, the argument goes, must its borders.
But it’s not as simple as that. As the Swiss Federal Customs Administration makes clear, even though they have the latest technology and much paperwork is done away from the border, there is still some physical infrastructure and delays of up to four hours if a lorry is searched.
In 2018 Switzerland launched a new IT-based customs transformation programme. This programme aims to simplify, harmonise and fully digitise customs tax and duty collection processes. It should be in place by 2026.
However, this programme will not make controls at the border redundant. Quite the opposite. Because routine administrative work and bureaucratic procedures will be replaced by IT-based solutions, personnel will be freed up. These people will be used to strengthen security, especially for control functions and reinforcement of criminal prosecution. Some of these functions will continue to apply at the border. Hence, even with a highly technologically advanced customs management system, controls at the border will not become obsolete and nor will customs infrastructure vanish.
What about another favoured example, the Norway-Sweden border? Norway is not in the customs union either, so the origin of goods must be checked. Again, Norwegian Customs make clear what is required. Although it is technologically advanced, there is still a delay.
The average time from when a lorry arrives at the border to when it leaves is about 20 minutes. This includes roughly ten minutes waiting time, three to six minutes of handling time, and the time spent coming off the road to complete the customs process.
And there’s physical infrastructure too. All this despite existing agreements on customs facilitation, transit and rules of origin between the EU and the European Free Trade Association states, of which Norway is one.
Less often talked about are Andorra and San Marino. Both are small European nations that are in a customs union with the EU. Although Andorra’s treaty only covers goods, its borders with Spain and France are strictly controlled. This is due to the fact that Andorra has no VAT (yet) and is known as low tax territory. Thus, smuggling has always been a concern of the neighbouring countries. The customs union with San Marino covers all goods except coal and steel. It has traditionally kept an open border without checks at its frontier with Italy. However, it levies an import tax, at 17 per cent.
The Bulgaria-Turkey border is worse.Turkey is in a customs union with the EU, which removes tariffs and quantitative restrictions in bilateral trade between EU member states and Turkey for the goods covered. It also sets a single external tariff for both the EU and Turkey, so they charge the same duties on imports from non-EU countries.
Unlike the customs union covering EU member states, the EU-Turkey agreement is incomplete. It covers industrial goods but not agricultural products (except certain processed agricultural products), coal and steel products, or public procurement.
Finally, the border between Turkey and the EU is bureaucratic and lengthy. Lorry drivers need an export declaration, a customs permit, invoices for the products they are transporting, insurance certificates and a transport permit for each EU nation they will drive through. The queues at the border can be up to 17 kilometres long and the wait as much as 30 hours. While Turkey has invested significantly in modernising its border, with checks taking place an hour inland, Bulgarian officials check the paperwork for every truck and x-ray all refrigerated lorries.
Which brings us to the US-Canada border. Again, much resource has been put into streamlining this border but there are still delays - the length can be seen online. All of this indicates that regardless of the technological capabilities of the EU’s neighbouring countries, there will be checks and the borders and this means infrastructure.
BERLIN — January marks the beginning of Europe’s Schicksalsjahr: its fateful year.
Ahead of the European parliamentary election in May — the first after Brexit — populist and anti-European parties are locked in a battle of ideas with Europe’s political defenders. It’s no exaggeration to say the future of the European project is at stake.
For pro-Europeans across the Continent, the battle is an uphill one. Euroskeptics are forming alliances across borders — aided by figures like U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Steve Bannon — and are loudly drawing attention to their vision of a European Union redesigned in their image. Meanwhile, democratic and liberal voices are being drowned out by political problems at home.
In Germany, the era of Chancellor Angela Merkel is waning, and the far right is injecting anger, division and hate into our political discourse. In France, President Emmanuel Macron, who campaigned as a “radical centrist” and defender of a strong Europe, is facing similar vitriol, in the form of chaotic and violent Yellow Jackets protests taking aim at his presidency.
This turmoil is a symptom of Europe’s internal crisis: Europeans have lost trust in liberal democratic institutions and in their governments’ ability to deliver economic prosperity and navigate the destabilizing effects of migration, globalization and digitalization. Increasingly, they are turning to populist strongmen who offer easy answers — but no real solutions.
Berlin must realize that Europe can’t move forward without a strong Franco-German engine.
This battle of ideas is one that pro-European democratic forces can, and must, win. And it is one in which Germany must take a leading role.
Since the era of former Chancellor Helmut Kohl — the leader who brought a unified Germany through the end of the Cold War — the country has been an engine of European integration, dedicated to a vision of Europe as a Continent that safeguards democracy, human rights and the prosperity of its citizens.
Germany is the bloc’s undisputed economic heavyweight and has the diplomatic clout to tackle the strong headwinds the EU faces from the outside its borders. These include a weakened but belligerent Russia, flexing its muscles in Ukraine and exploiting populist movements; a neo-authoritarian China seeking to divide the bloc; an unpredictable U.S. president who sees Europe’s gains as America’s losses in a zero-sum competition for global power.
To lead the Continent through these increasingly choppy waters, Germany will have to reorient its foreign policy in several concrete ways in the year ahead.
It's becoming increasingly urgent for Germany to take a firm stand against Chinese investments in domestic companies that would result in technological transfers in critical industries.
First, Berlin must realize that Europe can’t move forward without a strong Franco-German engine and should accept Macron’s repeated invitations to build a stronger Europe together.
We need to work with Paris to strengthen the eurozone’s financial system and budget, enhance defense and intelligence capabilities after the U.K. leaves the EU, push back on Poland and Hungary’s illiberal turns and develop an effective European asylum policy. The recent approval by German and French cabinets to extend the post-World War II Elysée Treaty and deepen cooperation across our economic and security sectors is a welcome step forward.
Second, Germany must double down on efforts to solve the migration and refugee crisis that has destabilized Europe.
The Continent needs a EU-level solution that will efficiently grant asylum to those who are eligible and just as quickly return those who are not back to their countries of origin. It’s clear frontline states such as Spain, Greece and Italy cannot handle the crisis alone. The backlog of applications is turning entry posts such as the Greek island of Lesbos into permanent refugee camps.
We must also remember that climate change is a powerful driver of migration. If all nations do not play their part in reducing carbon emissions, more people will be forced to leave their homelands due to severe droughts, rising sea levels and powerful storms.
Third, Germany should withdraw its support for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline deal with Russia, a project that would carry Russian gas to Germany across the Baltic Sea and bypass traditional routes through Ukraine. The deal hurts Germany’s energy independence and makes Europe more susceptible to Russian influence. It is a geopolitical mistake that sends the wrong signal to Moscow at a time when Putin is stoking tensions with Ukraine, intervening in democratic elections and fomenting chaos in Syria.
Fourth, Germany must develop a comprehensive geopolitical strategy to respond to China’s growing influence in Europe, where it is attempting to divide the bloc by building political leverage in Central and Eastern Europe.
Yes, Europe is in danger. But we can, and will, overcome this risk if we match it with equal resolve and creativity.
It's becoming increasingly urgent for Germany to take a firm stand against Chinese investments in domestic companies that would result in technological transfers in critical industries. We must also seriously debate whether it would be wise to allow Germany’s next-generation 5G network to be developed by Chinese company Huawei, which could hurt Germany’s technological sovereignty.
Germany and other EU members must speak to China with one voice when it comes to Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative in order to ensure that European companies can compete fairly. The EU should also lodge a broad, multiactor complaint at the World Trade Organization to address China's unfair trade practices, and work to reform the institution to strengthen the rules-based international system and respond to Chinese misbehavior.
These four foreign policy priorities will provide Germany’s pro-European voices with a solid strategic platform going into the May election and a strong counterpoint to messages of fear from populist groups.
There is no direction for Europe but forward. Yes, populists and authoritarians are seeking to divide us. Yes, Europe is in danger. But we can, and will, overcome this risk if we match it with equal resolve and creativity.
Cem Özdemir is a member of the German Bundestag for the Green Party and a former member of the European Parliament.
