As she fights for her political life Soon-to-be-ex-Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel will go down swinging against her stiffest political opponents in the European Union, the Poles. Merkel and French President Emmanual Macron publicly agreed to back Article 7 proceedings against Poland for refusing to comply with EU immigration quotas and changes to its judicial system.
Immigration quotas, I might add, that are becoming harder to defend as the war in Syria is mostly over and the flow of refugees from there has slowed to a trickle. But, those brought in and stranded in camps in Italy and Greece apparently need to go somewhere else.
But, no one wants them. And the rest of the EU is trying to bully Poland and the rest of the Visigrad countries – Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia – into taking on their ‘fair share.’ The problem with this is that Merkel made this decision unilaterally and foisted it on the rest of the EU.
And she is determined not to lose this fight to Poland, not because this is any kind of humanitarian issue at this point.
No, this is about the primacy of EU diktats being enforced at the expense of logic and political cohesion. And, as I’ve been warning about all year, Merkel will put the EU before any practical consideration and bring Article 7 proceedings against Poland.
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Because she has to.
Immigration and the destruction of individual European cultures is the guiding principle behind the EU’s biggest benefactors. This policy is part of the long-term strategic goals of the EU. It has created an army which will be used to quell secessionist movements in the name of ‘continental security.’
Because despite the fevered dreams of a few hundred Latvians, the Russians are not invading Europe anytime soon.
And I have to wonder who will staff this Grand Army of the Oligarchy? After impoverishing an entire generation of people thanks to a decade-long banking system bailout, you shouldn’t be expecting the crème de la crème of the vanishing European middle class.
You can expect a number of these newly-integrated immigrants that Merkel invited at everyone else’s expense will be in their ranks. And only the most politically-acceptable members of the current armies of each country will be invited to positions of authority in this new EU army. Their loyalty will be to the EU first and their homes second.
The very definition of a Vichy gendarme for the 21st century.
Poland and the rest of the Visigrad Four – Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia – are headed for a collision course with the rest of Western Europe over this issue and many others.
And invoking Article 7 will eventually allow the European Parliament to rescind all economic aid to Poland and its voting rights within the body. While at that same time not allowing Poland free access to international trade because it will not be an independent nation at that point.
Any move to extricate itself from the EU politically or practically will be met with the most strident opposition. Look no further than Brexit talks and the brutal put-down of Catalonia’s independence movement to see Poland’s future.
The first step is a political reprimand. But, the problem for Merkel and the EU in general is that Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party is more popular than ever thanks to its opposition to her nonsense.
The same thing is happening across all of Eastern Europe. The Czechs just elected their version of Donald Trump, Andrej Babis. The Austrians put together a coalition government this week comprised of the two most anti-immigration parties in the country.
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And their new Foreign Minister wasn’t on the job more than a couple of days before publicly declaring Austria would be ending its economic sanctions against Russia which have been in place since 2014 over Russia’s reunification with Crimea.
I wonder how well that’s going to go over the next time the council of EU Foreign Ministers gets together. EU sanctions require unanimity or the measure is rescinded. Opposition to these sanctions has been growing but there has been a lack of leadership in standing up to Germany on this.
That will likely change in 2018 with Germany’s leadership in flux.
Merkel will simply continue doing what she’s told to do as the European Project proceeds steadfastly towards its original goal. It doesn’t matter that the EU will be in tatters once it gets there. Stay the course is all she and the rest of the EU elites have left.
Reprinted with permission from Tom Luongo.