#germeny

[huariqueje]

Grüne Hölle - Rosie Snell , 2008.

British , b. 1971 -

Oil on panel , 165 x 173 cm.

[markroome]

Sneakers - Bremen - Germany

[quickhoney]

#editorialillustration #iso #isometric #drugs #illustration #cute #trippy #memes #quickhoney #germeny #berlin #neukoelln #instacute #graphicdesign #design #lol https://www.instagram.com/p/BtrEeNAgT2J/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=4od2nlfumc8c

[dreamsoftheforgottenworlds-blog]

The Abandoned Playground

[ianrosmarin]

Spain, Catalonia, the European Union and the Euro

For anyone who has watched the last few days there is a feeling from my point of view that the Catalonia vote is not just a turning point for Spain but Europe. On the 23rd of June 2016 for the UK to leave the EU I have to say I have no regrets but I have to ask if those who voted to remain do?

Many have told me the European Union is great we should remain for the rule of law i.e. European Law and Freedom of movement. My short answer is Spain, Catalonia, the European Union and Euro because in truth the four are linked. Without the European Union we would not have the Euro which Spain joined and became one of the PIIGS;  Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain. The four nations which are  PIIGS is an acronym used to refer to the five eurozone nations that were considered weaker economically following the financial crisis.

Should it shock us that Catalonia does not want Spain’s debt. It makes up 16% of Spain’s population makes 20% of its GDP and one third of its exports. This makes Catalonia leaving Spain a bigger deal than Scotland leaving the UK would have been. The result has been since 2008 the people of this part of Spain whose economy would rank in size between Denmark and Finland have paid more money for the bailout of Spain then they should of. One of their key feelings is that they should keep far more of their tax which was not made better by the vast amounts debt the ECB gave them to remain in the Euro.

My feeling is now that the Catalonia referendum is to Catalonia what the Easter rising will be Ireland. The issue is not the referendum (which should have been unimportant) so much as the heavy hand of the Spanish government. They are out of line with the values of the European Union in Article 2 of the Lisbon Treaty so the question is why on earth did the EU not move to tell Spain to use Article 7 of that treaty from playing a part in the EU.

I think this weekend the EU showed its true colours. The UK government let us have two referendums they did not want us to have in 2014 and 2016 and they even changed the law to let it happen. The question is if they had not accepted the result of the UK EU 2016 referendums one would have the EU supported them or not. We have a good government in London like or hate them they did what the people wanted. This is not just about Brexit or Spain vs Catalonia referendum but the Visegrad Group in Eastern Europe; Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia they are even worst their governments are targeting ethnic minorities  Jews, Muslims and Romani as well as LGBTQ community. In Poland they have even appointed Judges who are loyal to the ruling party and in Hungary they tried to shut down the  Central European University by George Soros. Some of these actions have been stopped or slowed down but these are worrying times.

You have have to ask why on earth people in their 20s and 30s want to protect a system like this? Could North London students like it if the UK government did this on the streets of Edinburgh in 2014 because if we had remained in the EU that is what we would have voted for because they value Freedom of movement above Freedom itself. 

Many people I know on the Left who wanted to remain in the Europe Union now talk of Law and order I say as a lawyer there are bigger issues at stake. Issues like Freedom the vote may of been illegal but why did the Spanish put such a heavy hand on the voters? Could they have not let them vote then tell the Catalonia government that it was not binding? 

Well the European Union’s interest is not the local interest when it comes to Catalan. The EU aims to get its own military they will support Spain because if these guys go they take Valencia to the south, and the Balearic islands, leading many Catalan nationalists to regard all three regions- as well as the traditionally Catalan-speaking Roussillon region of France - as forming the "Catalan Countries". The French also fear they will lose Corsica which has had a movement to split from France since the 1960s. The truth issue with the EU is it wants to keep everything the same. They want the existing states to form a Federal state the problem is those member states borders have not even been worked out and in some cases the peoples living in them hate each other. Just like we saw in Catalan this weekend. In fact this is an issue all over Western and Southern Europe which is full of regions that want to leave the state they are part of for one reason or another. You just need to look at Italy and Veneto region (or even most of the North Italy) or Germany and Bavarian nationalism. The EU is not designed for change or for the splitting of member states in fact its designed to stop them from doing that. 

This is of course in the interests of Spain, France and Germany who lead the EU. In Spain the police will fire rubber bullets and manhandle people. If you back the European still you really do not understand what is going on. The truth is any European wide state would have major issues we can see them all for ourselves in Spain and Catalan. We need to rethink of the EU but the EU refuses to be reformed. Most people like myself on the 23rd June 2016 who voted to leave voted for change we voted for a freer country and we voted to have our own voice and not to let people in some distance capital made up our minds for us. 

In time most other member states who find themselves with a Catalan will find that those states are unlikely to want to remain in the Union that did not support their birth. Even if I hope most European states do not breakup into smaller states (and was glad that Scotland remained part of the UK) the  lesson here for both the Spanish government and the EU is that this is sometimes they need respect the people’s will to vote and you cannot just send an army of police officers in. They need to remember that the vote was not legally binding but from a political point of view they seem to be doing their best to make it binding.

Speaking as a Brit who voted to leave I have to say it seems to me that both the European Union who made the Euro and Spain just do not get it. Reduce people’s freedom fail to give them a choice and they will vote to go. In the UK we gave the Scots what they wanted and the UK remains united during the Brexit vote they gave us project fear and we saw the face of the EU and left.

[style-and-kyman]

I made a thingy

[davidafan77]

[sierock]

Let'sPlay #Alan Wake deutsch #41- unterwegs werden die Probleme größer