Posts Tagged ‘Euroskeptic’

Illegal Immigration Crisis Reordering French Politics

Thursday, December 28th, 2023

All across the EU, unlimited illegal alien immigration by unassimilated Muslims is wrecking the post-Cold War neoliberal establishment. The effect has already been seen in France, but it was felt more keenly recently when France passed laws cracking down on illegal immigration more in line with Marine Le Pen than President Emmanuel Macron.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has claimed “an ideological victory” as Emmanuel Macron’s government reached a compromise with hardline conservatives on a beleaguered immigration bill.

The French president’s centrist coalition moved towards introducing a much tougher immigration bill than initially planned on Tuesday, with the government agreeing to harden the access to state benefits for recently-arrived immigrants. The proposals echo some of the far right’s long-time obsessions, including the ideas of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the National Rally party, who campaigned in favor of a “national preference,” which meant excluding foreigners from state benefits and council housing.

Funny how “France for the French” is a “far right obsession.”

What welfare state benefits should illegal aliens receive upon moving to a country? How about nothing? Does nothing work for you? They should receive food and water only for the short period of time it takes to deport them back to their country of origin.

Even legal immigrants should be ineligible for welfare benefits upon first arriving. Let them work a specified number of years before providing access to the welfare state.

While the proposals put forward by Macron’s Renaissance party do not go that far, the National Rally has been jubilant over the government’s decision to take what they claim is a step in their direction.

“Under pressure from National Rally voters, this bill will harden the conditions surrounding immigration,” Le Pen told reporters at the National Assembly. “We can salute ideological progress, an ideological victory of the National Rally, because it will now be etched in legislation that there is a national priority,” she said, adding that her MPs would vote for the compromise legislation.

After a shock defeat of Macron’s flagship immigration bill last week, when it was dismissed by the National Assembly without a debate, the government has tasked a joint committee of senators and MPs with finding a compromise. But the government needs the support of the conservative Les Républicains party, which has become very hardline on immigration, to get their draft legislation through parliament.

“Very hardline” is a codeword for “actually agrees with French voters.”

On Tuesday, the joint committee reached a compromise on a draft that is much more hardline than the one initially tabled by the government. It includes a compulsory five year wait for non-European immigrants who don’t have a job before claiming housing and child benefits.

Good.

All across Europe, Euroskeptic parties fighting against allowing illegal unassimilated Muslim immigration are ascendant over traditional leftwing Euroestablishment parties. The EU elites insistence on pushing Muslim immigration on resisting populations have pushed Le Pen, long regarded as “unacceptable,” to the center of political consensus in France, at least on this issue, which is increasingly one of utmost importance to voters.

It elite decree that valid issues are off the table for reputable politicians to discuss, then voters will turn to “disreputable” politicians to make their voices heard.

Finland Elects Euroskeptic Government

Wednesday, June 21st, 2023

Here’s some underreported news.

Finland’s newly elected parliament on Tuesday voted in favour of National Coalition Party leader Petteri Orpo to become prime minister, as widely expected, ushering in a right-wing government and ending Social Democrat Sanna Marin’s rule.

Orpo will lead a coalition of the conservative NCP, the nationalist Finns, the minority-language Swedish People’s Party and the Christian Democrats, which together won a majority of parliamentary seats in the April 2 election.

The new finance minister will be Riikka Purra, head of the eurosceptic Finns Party, while the NCP’s deputy leader Elina Valtonen will become foreign minister when the government takes office later on Tuesday.

“I warmly thank you for the confidence you’ve shown me,” Orpo told parliament shortly after the vote.

A self-styled fiscal conservative, Orpo campaigned on a promise to reduce the government’s budget deficit by cutting spending while also reducing taxes and seeking to boost private sector job creation.

The new coalition also shifts immigration policy to the right, aiming to cut refugee quotas, raise the bar for work-based visas and make it more difficult for foreigners to obtain citizenship, key priorities for the Finns Party.

Orpo is hardly a bomb-thrower, with previous stints on the boards of the European Investment Bank and the European Stability Mechanism, which are embedded very deep inside the EU’s deep state. Nor will Finland’s new coalition be mistaken for the second coming of Ronald Reagan.

But time and time again we’re told that the EU policies (just like Social Justice policies in the U.S.) are popular, while time and time again EU member states elect government that oppose many of those policies, especially those favoring unlimited Muslim immigration into member countries.

Finally, those who assert that Euroskeptacism goes hand in hand with appeasing Russia will find that they’re mistaken, as Orpo backed Ukraine and Finland joining NATO.

For Finland Russia’s prox­im­ity is a key geostrategic fact, and the war in Ukraine indi­cates how the prob­lems asso­ci­ated with Russia’s aggres­sive behav­iour have mate­ri­al­ized. Russia is defin­ing its inter­ests in a way that threat­ens peace in Europe and creates inse­cu­rity in others. During the past decade, there have been upris­ings in several of Russia’s neigh­bors, which the Krem­lin has sought to violently suppress. Russia seeks a new sphere of influ­ence and wants to halt the demo­c­ra­tic devel­op­ment of other coun­tries. Not NATO, but the people’s will to decide for them­selves seems to be a threat to Putin’s regime.

Finland’s new government, like the old, is firmly in the NATO camp. Funny how fighting the Soviet Union/Russia repeatedly throughout the 20th Century will do that…

Brexit Aftershocks

Friday, June 24th, 2016

It’s shaping up to be an interesting day:

  • Tory Prime Minister David Cameron is resigning. “Mr Cameron announced shortly after 08:15 BST that he had informed the Queen of his decision to remain in place for the short term and to then hand over to a new prime minister by the time of the Conservative conference in October.” Current favorite to replace Cameron is pro-Leave MP Boris Johnson.
  • Under terms of the Lisbon Treaty, it will take about two years to negotiate the terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
  • World markets are going crazy.
  • The Pound Sterling is at its lowest exchange rate in 30 years.
  • Scotland, Northern Ireland and London voted heavily to stay in the EU, while Leave won pretty much everywhere else, including Wales. Now there’s talk of a second Scottish Independence referendum.
  • Euroskeptic parties across the continent are calling for their own independence votes.
  • Obama continues to demonstrate his magic touch at persuasion.
  • I would say the panic selling is largely unwarranted; there’s no reason that UK can’t negotiate an orderly exit from the EU and continue to participate in the European Economic Area the way that Norway and Switzerland do now. There was talk before the Brexit vote that the EU wouldn’t go along with this out of spite, but if the endless Greece crisis has shown, Eurocrats negotiate their non-negotiable demands all the time, and I doubt even Angela Merkel is willing to put Europe through a deep recession (which is to say, deeper even than the current one the Euro seems to have engendered in perpetuity) just to “teach the UK a lesson.”

    More later…