As a European national living in the UK, it comes as a relief that someone outside Britain – Emmanuel Macron in this case – addressed the elephant in the room.
“Those who explain that we can easily live without Europe, that everything is going to be all right, and that it’s going to bring a lot of money home are liars,” he said.
It seemed like most European leaders were denying that pro-Brexit campaigns were mostly based on misinformation, lies, and misguided polemic arguments. His comments came better late than never, however, I would have preferred to have heard him speak earlier.
It’s now only seven months until Brexit and the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union still seems uncertain.
Curbed immigration, access to the customs market and a handy solution to the Irish border were presented as easy agenda items to a nation hoping to „take back control.” Back then, top supporters of the Leave campaign (such as UKIP leader and EMP Nigel Farage, former London Mayor and potential future Tory leader Boris Johnson as well as other prominent figures) assured British voters that it was a matter of choice to get rid of unnecessary EU laws, stop wasting money on the European project and take back control on immigration, using hard borders.
The blame was placed on the EU for causing the UK’s long-lasting austerity in the post-Blair era; freedom of movement across the Union supposedly feeding terrorism and illegal immigration, and EU nationals taking jobs away from Brits.
In fact, no one explained that austerity in Britain predominantly resulted from the global financial crisis in 2008; Britain’s treatment of minorities and marginalisation of youth from disadvantaged background evidentially contributed to the presence of extremism in its soils – not to mention those military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan; and EU nationals paying more in tax than they cost in the UK.
Don’t let me be misunderstood – I’m Greek and have experienced a sceptical past with the EU. I’ve been exasperated by radical political calls made by unelected representatives and I’ve lived the frustrations of the Greek bailout, dictated by EU practices. I criticised its role in undermining our national sovereignty and followed closely the voting for a Grexit back in 2015.
Criticism towards the Union should serve to provide constructive feedback to drive change – Europe certainly needs that to get closer to its people. In the case of Brexit, both campaigns lack rationale. The Remain side stood to be “proud to be European” rather than addressing existing challenges the EU faces and how to get through them in unity with the rest of the member states. Meanwhile, most positions expressed during the pre-referendum campaign in Britain by Leave supporters drove a sickening detestation towards something that most people hadn’t previously cared about.
The monumental referendum wasn’t widely called for, yet people were still expected to vote on it. Even during David Cameron’s time, there was a lack of inference, dialogue or discussion beyond threatening to leave the members’ club. No one from the UK side came up with any suggestions or proposals for reform in European policymaking.
It’s my understanding that in a representative democracy, elected people with proven expertise take decisions in the interest of the public they represent. The reason is that often the public lack the required understanding and knowledge of complex concepts to take such calls itself. In that sense, the Brexit referendum was a monumental violation of democracy and undermines the interest of the British public. Driving a whole nation to the verge of fiscal and diplomatic isolation for the sake of populism and partisan benefits is simply irresponsible politics.
The unfolding of the events of the last three years has made the life of millions of EU nationals living and working in the UK – including myself – needlessly awkward. Over a million British expats living across the EU are experiencing something similar.
At the time of writing, a no-deal Brexit seems closer than ever before. Is this what the 17.4 million people who voted to leave the EU wanted?
Starting January 1st, 2018, Budapest's Central European University (CEU) will no longer be permitted to enrol new students in any programs, unless an agreement is reached between the United States ...
Article 50, Day #1
London (UK), Wednesday 29 March 2017, 14°C - Mostly Sunny
If it’s true that people get more aggressive than normal during a divorce, then Brexit feels like a rather intense one. It’s understandable that emotions run high in such situations, ranging from anger to the “lost” years or the one-night-stands that didn’t happen to arguments over who will take the kids and manage the assets. To a certain extent, this narrative serves a purpose in understanding some basics of the UK’s request to leave EU.
(source: Erie News)
It might be hard to argue on whether Britain lost time and chances to grow wild while being an EU member state, however, one can certainly say that the managing of kids and assets makes things more complex. That’s due to the lack of lined-up strategy concerning EU nationals living in the UK as much as the Brexpats living across Europe. Assets such as access to the common market and EU funding contribute to a mosaic of a messy break-up.
No matter what, the 29th of March 2017 will be always remembered as the day Britain asked to withdraw from a Members’ Club, of which it was a crucial part of for almost half a century.
Whether that’s a surprise or not lies not only in the outcome of the July referendum; but even years before, when voters sent the likes of Nigel Farage to represent of the strongest European MS in the European Parliament. Any intention to fix the faulty institutionalism of EU is simply invalid when the public elects someone to defend UK’s interests in Brussels that wouldn’t vote for in any domestic or national elections. But these can happen in Liberal Democracies...
(Source: Steve Bell/Guardian)
In the haze of whether Tories will succeed in the course of negotiations and while Scotland - and potentially Northern Ireland - began voicing doubts over the plan, headlines across national and regional news’ sources offer a sort of reflection of what’s in people’s minds.
Some of the today’s headlines
"Today Britain steps into the unknown": Beginning with the Guardian, its cover shows a jigsaw with the European map whereas pieces missing in the place of the UK. The left-lined newspaper has kept it consistent with its approach over the Brexit since the pre-referendum campaign covering extensively on European issues as much as possible implications of the withdrawal of UK from the EU.
“Brexit begins”: In the same spirit with Guardian, I the paper for today hosts a map of the European Union on its front page with a dotted line around UK indicating its removal with pair scissors.
“DEAR EU, IT’S TIME TO GO”: Daily Mirror focusses on the possible deals that will affect both brexiteers and remainers, stressing the importance of unity towards the negotiations for the UK.
“Dover & Out”: The Sun in its front page calls for unity behind May’s triggering of article 50. Its editorial line focuses in the main article of the day calls for "constructive negotiations, leading to a mutually-prosperous friendship with our former EU partners".
And Daily Mail: “Freedom” takes 30% of the Mail’s cover while the top part of the page hosts a response of the paper’s editor Sarah Vine on an utterly sexist (and stupid) comment of hers following up the meeting between Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon and the Prime Minister of the UK, Theresa May - also known as the “Legs-it” article...
Blanket media coverage and calls for revenge just fuel the cycle of violence
"The first requires a wiser foreign policy than most western nations have shown towards the Muslim world over the past decade. The second is even harder to achieve. It demands patience and restraint in publicising terrorist incidents and in responding to them"
Week #6, Saturday, September 12th, 2015, Athens, 25°C, Summer still lives here.
(Reposted from Carta.info and Cartoon by Spiros Derveniotis)
There are two things that cannot be underestimated these days in the pre-election political climate of Greece. One is the immediate state of stupor every Greek gets into while thinking about the Third Memorandum of Understanding applied in the country; and the other is the fact of SYRIZA led coalition scheme having no chance of getting more than 5% in the Greek border-line territories, who have been affected by the recent immigration waves.
The first part of the above refers to the second electoral clash taking place within less than a year for pretty much the same reason as the first; incompetence of a government to secure and maintain a majority in the parliament. This could result in low turn out rates in this coming election – lower than ever in the modern history of Greek politics – since the current political system has failed to solve the nation’s financial problems. The Greek economy appears frozen; capital controls are still emerging with distractive impacts on both exports and imports, unemployment keeps on growing while liquidity problems have devastated a high number of small-to-medium businesses across the country.
After an eight-month long term, SYRIZA has managed to shut down any talks of a Grexit — at least for the time being — and Alexis Tsipras is perceived as a superhero who can keep their savings safe, at least by those in the high populated urban areas of the Greek mainland. Latterly, this might give him a significant lead in the ballot despite the rebellious tensions in his party the past months.
Things are notably different on the Aegean islands, which are at the heart of an ongoing humanitarian crisis, right in the middle of the busiest tourist time of the year. This catastrophe has nothing to do with xenophobia or whether refugees are welcome or not, but the inexistent mechanism either in diplomatic or pragmatic terms, to counter the phenomenon. The Islanders are unhappy with this and they won’t hesitate to express their anger in the ballot if they ever take place that is: more than fifty thousand refugees remain packed in Kos and Lesbos alone.
And when saying packed, this refers to the fact that that large numbers of asylum seekers remain in the streets, squares and with questionable living conditions – mostly depending on donations of the residents of the islands involved in this frenzy.
In a diplomatic sense, the Greek government could have established some kind of communication under the credentials of the European Commission with Turkey, where most of the refugees come from. They could together, at least attempt to tackle the trafficking organisations who take advantage of these war victims and they could try to somehow secure a safer transportation method for the refugees to the EU, as their advance north is inevitable. The picture of the Syrian toddler lying dead on the Turkish shore manifests itself another lost fight with deep moral consequences not only as a national issue but as a wider European one.
Getting back to the talk of the town these days, Tsipras main opposition in this campaign, Vangelis Meimarakis, has managed to improve the popularity of his centre-to-right New Democracy party over the past months. Meimarakis’ great display of moral politics was timely, just as SYRIZA was losing the support of its MPs and electorate. His side voted in favour of the so-called Agreekment, aligning themselves to their opposition, he showed his party are currently putting the country’s interests, rather than their own politics at the fore – as it would be an instant call for a national election. When Tsipras brought the outcome of his negotiation with the creditors in Brussels to parliament, many SYRIZA's MPs didn’t agree with the new bailout reforms, which jeopardised the majority in the government. The New Democracy’s MP’s votes in favour of the negotiation deal were crucial as the SYRIZA government didn’t have a high enough threshold of its own MPs support to get the paper passed. At the time, Meimarakis explained his decision to vote for SYRIZA’s plan – despite being political enemies – as the ultimate solution before bankruptcy. New Democracy is now closer than ever to SYRIZA in opinion polls and Meimarakis won’t hesitate to urge a pro-EU partnership to form a government if things go well.
It is apparent that from all participants in this national election in Greece, the only radical position expressed is by the far left “Laiki Enotita“ party (Popular Unity for Greeks), which claims that the risk of a Grexit wouldn’t be as painful as the media insinuate. The leader of the newly formed party and one of the rebellious of SYRIZA, Panagiotis Lafazanis, claims that the prospect of withdrawal from the euro-currency will allow Greece to resurrect its economy based on its own resources.
What the former member of the SYRIZA led coalition government hasn’t yet said — and what might cost him on the 20th of September — is, how and with what resources this is to be achieved. There’s no doubt that Lafazanis’ party aims to — and probably will — attract large scores of those who voted “No” in the July’s referendum, while there is still a high percentage of the undecided in the latest polls.
In a final review — one of many that will arise across media these days — any government that will come out of this election will hardly serve its term in full. It has been already seven different Prime Ministers since 2007, the time the crisis erupted in Greece, and these days nothing seems to be stable in diplomatic or social aspects. And this guarantees a painful time to come…
Both the Jacobins and Bolsheviks butchered their upper ruling classes and executed their royal families. They broke with Christianity and waged war on it, intending to wipe it off the face of the earth. They succeeded in involving the people of the nations in wars fought with energy and enthusiasm - the revolutionary wars of the past, the war against Germany today. Their theories and revolutionary ideas had enormous influence beyond the borders of their own countries. The methods of National Socialism are different, but basically they too pursue a single idea: the extermination and annihilation of people who think differently from them.
What once used to be the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin
(Taken at Ehem. Irakische Botschaft der DDR)
Behind pieces of broken glass, smashed doors, charred ceilings, and paper there are great stories to be told.
The former Iraqi Embassy in Berlin has been a staple tourist destination even for the not so adventurous explorers. Looters, vandals and a large assortment of other idiots have all had a go at the deserted building – stealing and destroying everything that wasn’t bolted down. The yet unguarded three-level house offers itself for an amazing journey between distraction, street art and some short hardcore war and terrorism stories.
The Iraqi Embassy was planned and designed in 1974 by a German-Iraqi Architect Group (headed by Horst Bauer). The building itself was constructed mainly of standardised prefabricated elements (the oh so famous plattenbauten) which were produced by the Berlin-based factory Kombinat Ingenieurhochbau Berlin.
It was always suspected to be a retreat camp for terrorists. Der Spiegel reported in 1991 that in addition to harbouring Iraqi secret agents and Arab terrorists, RAF (a German terrorist group) followers were given refuge in the Embassy. It was reported as well that in 1990, the embassy had amassed an explosive storage for potential attacks. In 1980, several staff members of the Iraqi embassy were arrested by German Authorities due them being a potential threat to exile Iraqis living in West Berlin (the “potential threat” being that they carried a briefcase full of explosives).
After the start of the First Gulf War in January 1991, the German Government expelled the Iraqi Embassy staff from the country (under no pressure of their Nato counterparts) – leaving the building empty until this day. Of course, the Diplomats have since returned, setting up camp in Bonn, then in Zehlendorf and finally moving into a new building in Dahlem in 2010 – but it seems like they are doing everything in their power to avoid the negative karma of the East German Embassy.
The photos were taken with my Canon EOS 1100D.
(Some of the above info on the history of the building retrieved from http://digitalcosmonaut.com/2013/111-places-in-berlin-abandoned-iraqi-embassy/)
Of Greeks and Germans: Re-imagining our shared future
From Yanis Varoufakis, Finance Minister of Greece (source)
Any sensible person can see how a certain video[1] has become part of something beyond a gesture. It has sparked off a kerfuffle reflecting the manner in which the 2008 banking crisis began to undermine Europe’s badly designed monetary union, turning proud nations against each other.
(Read the original)
I write, I talk, I make weird noises but most of all, I am learning. A London based Student in Journalism and Communications Studies, Traveler, Activist, Agoraphobic, OCD & Human Being.
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Another provocative act by Bild with a Greek written article on their intentions as reflected in their own reports the past weeks (and years).
Let's talk about hypocrisy.
(Enjoy responsibly)
“ERT is a case of an exceptional lack of transparency and incredible extravagance. This ends now,” Kedikoglou claimed. The operations of the historic worldwide network went off air overnight. Police troops cleared the headquarters of ERT in Agia Paraskevi, Athens, cutting off the power and seizing all equipment the day after.
Germans might not be soft negotiators, but they definitely pose a great sense of self-sarcasm.
The Walking Debt/ The lost Son of Zeus/ The Greek Minister of OMFG/ Every time he smiles, an angel dies/ He's Facebook friends with Voldemort/He even plays the bouzouki/ He is the highway to HELLas etc are part of the lyrics.
"Q: Wolfgang Schäuble offered to dispatch 500 German tax investigators.
A.T.: He should send 5000 if they can help us to combat tax evasion. And while he’s at it, the German government can help us to bring some clarity into the Siemens corruption scandal."
Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras being sarcastic in an interview for STERN, 18. Februar 2015.
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