No. 229 June 3 2021. Martin, Ryan and Varadkar Open to EU Treaty

No. 229 June 3rd 2021.

Martin, Ryan and Varadkar open to EU treaty change and referendum.

It would seem that German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s sights are set on an EU Health Union, as she has said that she is open to making changes to the EU's founding treaties, particularly in the area of health policy. "I believe that Europe needs more competencies in the area of health. This will probably also require changes to the treaties," Merkel said.

Then, last week, Micheál Martin called for greater EU powers in the areas of public health, saying that “The case for significantly increasing the public health competencies of the European Union is stronger than it has ever been” while lauding the “tremendous success” of the EU’s vaccine policy! Mr Martin added that “all three coalition party leaders are clear that we have to open to potential treaty change” and a referendum.

Read more here.

Ireland proposes EU rapid response military force!

Some EU states have dreams of military grandeur and while most are ex- colonial powers, it would now appear that Ireland, or at least the government, wants to join the club. It has been reported that at a recent meeting of the bloc’s defense ministers, Ireland co- sponsored a proposal with thirteen other EU countries including Germany and France calling for a rapid military response force that could intervene early in international crises.

Read more here.

Green Party TD wants urgent hearing of High Court CETA challenge.

Green Party TD for Dublin South Central, Patrick Costello is seeking an urgent hearing of his action concerning the constitutionality of CETA, which provides for the establishment of “investor courts”. He is concerned that this system involves an unconstitutional transfer of sovereignty and judicial power and that if is brought into force without being sanctioned by a referendum; that procedure would be contrary to Articles 15 and 34 of the Constitution. Read more here.

Page | 1

The EU Council and Commission are out of control!

In March 2021, the EU passed the regulations for a European Peace Facility a designation which turns out to be grossly misleading, as it is about being able to finance EU military operations and arms deliveries to third countries more effectively than with the previous instruments. The facility was launched as an external budget instrument in a legal gray area outside the EU budget and it was allocated over €5 billion. So, that’s it for the EU Parliament; they can’t scrutinise it or ask for answers. The unelected EU Commission has thus acquired control of a well-stocked war chest! Read more here.

German Green Party on the war path!

The German Green Party is on the war path! That was the case in 1998, when then Green Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer organised Germany’s first post-war international military intervention, sending the German army to war against Serbia, and so it is again today.

Currently, the German government is drastically increasing military spending, while the Greens are promoting militarism and preparations for war in their campaign for this year’s federal election. Since Annalena Baerbock was appointed the Green Party’s choice as potential chancellor, the warmongering of the Greens has taken on outright hysterical forms. Baerbock maintains that it is urgently necessary to put a stop to Russian aggression, provide Ukraine with more military support and support its admission into NATO and the EU.

Read more here.

The secret cult known as the EU Common Fisheries Policy!

Once a year, representatives of the 27 member states on the Council of the EU meet to set the bloc’s fishing quotas. The decisions are made behind closed doors, often ignoring scientific advice. This process is contributing to the depletion of fish stocks around our coasts. The Mediterranean and the Black sea are already the most overfished regions on the planet. The High Priests of the cult consist of the 27 Governments that meet as the Council of the European Union.

The Council is responsible for determining not only national fishing quotas but also the total allowable catches (TACs), with the aim of protecting the biodiversity of marine ecosystems and tackling overfishing, which is responsible for the depletion of fish stocks. From the outside, the process of setting fishing quotas can resemble an arcane ritual.

Read more here.

Page | 2

Waiving Covid patents or not!

Last week at a Paris summit to help Africa overcome the impact of the Corona pandemic French President Macron called for a waiving of COVID vaccine patents so Africa could begin to produce its own jabs.

The absence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who only sent a video greeting, was a clear indication that she is protecting the interests of the German pharmaceutical industry and opposes any waiving of patents. Of course, the BioNTech, which along with Pfizer produced the leading anti-Covid vaccine, is a German biotechnology company and its profits need to be defended.

Read more here.

Mozambique will soon host EU military.

Mozambique will soon receive an EU military training mission to assist in combating a “jihadist” uprising in the north of the country. Leading the charge is Portugal, the former colonial masters of that country, which now holds the EU Presidency. Already Portuguese troops are on the ground and will make up half of the entire military mission. South Africa has also pledged a military contingent.

To be clear it is the government in Maputo that has sought military assistance. It is also worth noting these are not the first foreign forces to try to quell this insurgency, which began in 2017 in the predominantly Muslim northern province of Cabo Delgado. The US Green Berets, plus two mercenary outfits Wagner from Russia and the South African Dyck Advisory Group (DAG) in conjunction with the Mozambican army have all failed to defeat the rebels. Both the insurgents and the Mozambican state forces have been accused of atrocities. Read more here.

The EU: a cuckoo and vulture fund paradise.

So the Government opted to favour cuckoo funds and the market at the expense of “Generation Rent” Why was even some well-informed progressive opinion surprised? And why is there next-to-no discussion of the role of the EU in creating the ideological hegemony of pro-market, pro-finance capital interests in this country and the other Member States of the EU?

Although housing policy is considered to be reserved to the nation states under the principle of subsidiarity, the compulsory economic and fiscal policies of the EU and a historical background of strong enforcement of austerity policies, highlight the responsibility of the EU for the current housing crises. Few now believe that “Social Europe” has much to offer housing policy in the EU Member States.

Read more here.

Page | 3

The EU failed miserably with vaccines.

When the pandemic reached Europe in the early months of 2020, it was every country for itself. France, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic rapidly introduced export bans on medical equipment. Italy, where the outbreak was most devastating, looked to China for support. Borders closed one after another.

That was not how the European Union was supposed to work. Dry, legalistic and technocratic, the union is not meant to be about politics at all — it’s supposed to be about competent policymaking, conducted above the narrow interests of national states.

Read the article by Chris Bickerton here.

EU 'peace' fund to help Libyan coast guard? The EU is mulling the use of a special budget, designed to deliver military aid, to support Libya's coast guard. "The EU should engage more not only politically but also within the overall capacity-building initiatives," states a document, dated February this year.

The document proposes using the so-called European Peace Facility as part of a deal to re-launch the stalled Libyan coast guard ‘training’ exercises. The off – budget Peace Facility comes with a €5bn war chest and allows the EU to shore up the armies of EU- friendly governments in Africa, and elsewhere. "These measures may include supplying military and defence related equipment, infrastructure or assistance," it said.

Read more here.

EU & Canada Agree New Rules for CETA’s ICS Appeals Body

One of the assurances which the Irish government gives us about the ICS of CETA is that it will have an appeals body called the Appellate Tribunal.

Barry Finnegan, Attac-Ireland, digs into recently published detail and demonstrates here that its appeals arbitrators can be part- time employees financially reliant on corporations suing governments, cases can be brought at the World Bank’s discredited ICSID, and that the trend there, as feared by anti-CETA campaigners, is that most recent cases are in the “oil, gas and mining [and] construction” sectors.

Read more here.

Page | 4

Health strains!

One effect of the Northern Ireland Protocol is that from next January the EU will take control of medicines coming into the North. Representatives of the pharmaceutical industry say that the supply of 98% of medicines from Britain to the North is at risk of being discontinued.

In the meantime according to the Regulator, the MHRA, “Under the Protocol, NI must follow the EMA centralised procedure for medicines authorisation and Tagrisso can be dispensed in Northern Ireland for patient use in line with the rest of the UK at the discretion of oncologists.” That process is much more complicated and involves delays which do not exist when a treatment is approved by the regulator. Read more here.

Cold War plus!

Not content with months of worsening relations and the potential for military escalation, the European Parliament has now put forward a draft report insisting the EU be more confrontational in its approach to Moscow. A draft report (2021/2042 (INI)) published online by the assembly’s Committee on Foreign Affairs has caused consternation in the Russian media, after statements came to light that argued that the bloc “should establish with the US a transatlantic alliance to defend democracy globally” and “deter Russia” from supposed aggression in Eastern Europe. As part of its vision for future relations with Moscow the paper concludes that the EU should put forward a number of “incentives” designed to persuade Russians that a turn to the West would be beneficial, including visa liberalization and “free trade investment” Read more here. Don’t scare the horses!

Javier Solana has recently written: “PESCO was written into the 2009 Lisbon Treaty but didn’t take shape until 8 years later – which shows that sometimes the path is already charted, and just needs to be walked.

In addition, we should persevere in the archetypal modus operandi of the European project, as envisioned by Jean Monnet himself: taking advantage of any crisis that may affect us in order to further integration.” As we’ve often pointed out, the EU operates incrementally and never wastes a good crisis – don’t scare the horses!

Javier Solana was the EU’s high representative for common foreign and security policy, secretary- general of NATO, and foreign minister of Spain.

Page | 5

The EU Commission's Pharma echo chamber!

Who meets the European Commission to discuss the scarcity of COVID vaccines and medicines in Europe and globally? An investigation of recent meetings show a disconcerting pattern: only those not questioning big Pharma’s monopoly on patents seem to be allowed in. While mega-philanthropist Bill Gates and the pro-patent lobby are a powerful force influencing the EU’s response, proponents of COVID technology-sharing face closed doors.

Read the Corporate Europe Observatory report here

EU’s military sectors operate under a “state of exemption” from the goals of the EU’S Green deal.

The Quaker Council for European Affairs has published a report providing an overview of EU climate policies and initiatives and “exploring the connections” between climate, peace, and human rights. The report comes after a climate deal that commits the EU and Member States to reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

But the Report says that “simultaneously, the EU also continues to invest in carbon- intensive activities such as the arms trade.” The NGO claims that EU climate policy is “not coherent” with the bloc’s stance on peace and human rights and “even impedes its declared climate aims.” The Report entitled, Climate, Peace and Human Rights: Are European Policies Coherent? says that the EU’s military sectors operate under a “state of exemption” with the EU Green deal “completely and purposely ignoring everything to do with the impact of militarisation on climate.”

Military input to EU “Strategic Compass.”

The EU is bolstering its ability to project power abroad. The latest means for doing so is through the adoption of a "Strategic Compass", which is intended to "help strengthen a common European security and defence culture". An internal document obtained by Statewatch shows how the EU Military Committee aims to ensure the views of the "Military Community" are taken into account.

Working Document from EU Military Committee (EUMC): Plan for EUMC contribution to the Dialogue Phase of the Strategic Compass. Following briefings on the Strategic Compass at

Page | 6 the Chiefs of Defence's meeting in July 2020, they "underlined the importance of an active military engagement throughout the process" and expressed the expectations that the Strategic Compass "should provide clear strategic guidance for both operational and capability matters". No doubt, The Chief of Staff, Vice Admiral Melchett, spoke up on our behalf.

Food for thought from Galway!

Insider, writing in the Galway Advertiser, points out that the EU, and its lynchpin project, the euro, had a charmed existence in publicity terms during the worst of the Brexit years from 2016 to 2019.

All EU leaders had to do was appear to be more reasonable than the British Conservative Party. It was an open goal - and they scored with ease. The liberal glow Brexit gave the EU was a far cry from the calamitous PR the EU was buffeted by in the years between 2008, when the banks ran out of made up money, and the climax of the Greek financial crisis in 2015, when columnist Fintan O’Toole - who has since reinvented himself as the leading voice of the pro-EU ultras - wrote in the July 7 edition of The Irish Times: “The EU has taken a decisive turn from democracy...We EU subjects have our own supreme ayatollahs of fiscal correctness now.” Read the article here. The Dáil endorses participation in European Defence Agency project.

The motion was moved by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney:

That Dáil Éireann approves Ireland’s participation in the European Defence Agency Project - Maritime Surveillance (MARSUR) Networking - Operational Support and Development (MARSUR III) pursuant to section 2 of the Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. You can see the voting outcome here. The debate, held on 22nd April, is here and well worth looking over.

The Greens and Social Democrats voted for the motion though they had voted against participation in PESCO when it was originally proposed. Gary Gannon of the Soc Dems said that: “What is being suggested here is quite reasonable ... I made the point at the

Page | 7 committee that it does not go far enough.” The Greens sat on their hands and supported the motion. EU-India Strategic Partnership: military cooperation deepens!

Leaders held an EU – India Summit in July 2020 and endorsed an “EU-India Strategic Partnership: A Roadmap to 2025” as a guide to joint action over the following five years. This was followed by the EU-India leaders' meeting in Porto on 8th May 2021. Among the decisions taken were to: Establish regular security consultations between the EU and India, focusing on exchange on strategic priorities and security issues; Strengthen military-to-military relations and exchanges; Further enhance mutual understanding through seminars, visits and training courses hosted by defence institutions on both sides; Establish a maritime security dialogue explore opportunities for further maritime cooperation and deepen cooperation between the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) ATALANTA and the Indian Navy. It’s just another step in the emergence of a global European Military Union. We’re not the only ones concerned!

The EU was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2012 in recognition of “six decades of promoting peace and reconciliation” in Europe. In his acceptance speech in Oslo, the then president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, said the world could “count on our efforts to fight for lasting peace, freedom and justice”. Now, critics are asking why, if the EU’s mission is to promote peace, it wants to use public money to fund the supply of weapons to foreign armies.

Read the article here.

Matters of defence.

“An ambitious strengthening of NATO-EU cooperation is urgently needed,” German and Dutch diplomats wrote in a “Food for Thought” paper now circulating among allied and EU governments. The paper, obtained by POLITICO, proposes a new “joint declaration” by leaders of the EU and NATO, and stronger political consultations going forward.

The paper proposes “joint travels and statements of the NATO Secretary General and the President of the European Council, the president of the European Commission, and/or High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy when appropriate.”