05/02/2016 Daily Politics

Hello and welcome to the Daily Politics

David Cameron is back on the road selling his deal

Will he be able to convince sceptical European governments

or the European parliament even to sign up to it?

Labour say 800,000 people have fallen off the electoral register.

Is the government making it too difficult to vote?

Is six hours of retail therapy plenty or should we be able to shop

And is this Europe's most serious faultline?

We visit the border that separates the two halves of Belgium.

On this side we are in a Flemish town, that side is a Walloon town.

All that in the next hour and with us for the first half

of the programme today is the Editor of the Independent,

He's cost the British taxpayer almost ?12 million since taking

refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy to avoid arrest and extradition

to Sweden on rape and sexual assault claims.

Now a UN panel has ruled that the Wikileaks founder,

Julian Assange, has been "arbitrarily detained" and should be

compensated and allowed to walk free.

Mr Assange is about to make an appearance at a press

He is still in the Ecuadorian Embassy in Knightsbridge. Just at

the back of Harrods. If any of you feel like making a visit. That is

previous footage. He has not yet turned up to the press conference

today. He had said that he would leave

the Ecuadorian Embassy and face arrest had the UN panel

ruled against him. I reject the finding

of this working group, Julian Assange is a fugitive

from justice, he is hiding from justice in the

Ecuadorian embassy. He can come out onto the pavement

any time he chooses. But he will have to face justice

in Sweden if he chooses to do so. It is right that he should not be

able to escape justice. This is frankly a ridiculous finding

by the working group The suites have issued a European

Arrest Warrant for Julian Assange for charges of rape and other

charges. Is what -- in what way is the Foreign Secretary roll and the

panel right? No way. Usually when Philip Hammond is required to say

something he seems quite liked but he did quite well. Most people think

this stinks. This is a UN panel working group. Laypeople. Not

lawyers. Some of the courage implied they were international jewellers.

The UN human rights Council is chaired by the Saudis. Well-known

human rights defenders! Julian Assange's priced complexes getting

more and more expensive. It is martyrdom -- --. This is a man who

is wanted for rape. In Sweden. There are judicial system is famous for

being one of the independent ones. He is a fugitive from justice. The

sad thing is it has brought the UN into disrepute which has not had a

good time of late. Julian Assange, everyone who has met him says he has

the integrity of Beelzebub and the charm of a corporate. You are not

doing his PR very well. I would be happy to speak to him, but he is not

taking visitors, which is a shame. The question for today

is all about onions, The French have apparently come up

with a new spelling for onion. Is it: a) oignon b) ognon c)

onion or d) zwiebel? A little later in the show Amol,

who has GCSE French, The Prime Minister's embarked

on another tour of European capitals in an effort to ensure

that his draft deal meets with the approval of all

the other 27 member states. He needs everything go one. -- every

single. Poland has said it supports aspects

of David Cameron's EU renegotiation package but plans to limit benefits

for EU migrants need Because of the number of Polish

workers in this country. Here he is speaking

a little earlier. We want to see a full

strategic partnership That is because of the shared

interests and shared ideals Shared interests in strong defence

and supporting Nato, and standing up to

Russian aggression. Shared interests in terms

of growing our economies and seeing them grow and integrate

more closely together. Shared interests in making sure that

Europe has genuine energy security. And shared interests in making sure

that Europe is a Europe that respects and understands

the importance of nation states and the role that they play,

and proud nation states like Britain and Poland working

together inside Europe. Well, the Prime Minister is racking

up the air miles because he's now Our correspondent Ben Wright

is in the Danish capital Copenhagen. I guess he can look forward to an

easier time in Copan -- Copenhagen than in Warsaw? Yes, Denmark is a

natural ally of the UK when it comes to the EU. It does not have the

euro, it has history of referendum, a semidetached relationship with the

European Union, so David Cameron will have a warm reception. He will

be pleased with how his trip to Warsaw went. A Number 10 spokesman

said there was more to do on the issue of welfare but the leader of

the governing party, an important voice in Poland, has been seeing

after meeting David Cameron that he is very pleased with the deal that

Poland is getting on the issue of benefits, migrant benefits. He does

that think there is a big problem, sounding very supportive. -- does

not think there is a big problem. It sounds as if the potential problem

of Poland is solved. Is David Cameron intending to visit all of

the European capitals, two down and 25 to go, as ugly London does not

count, is he doing a grand tour of Europe? -- presumably London. He has

been doing a tour ahead of this really go she Asian. He has not been

to Copenhagen yet. -- this negotiation. He was going to be here

about a week ago but scrapped that so he did go to Brussels and meet

Jean-Claude Juncker. He has been do a visit to Copenhagen. He has done a

lot of shuttle diplomacy moving around European capitals over the

last few months. It is the first time he has done Copenhagen since he

began the renegotiation. He will get an easy time, a warm reception, but

he is doing a lot of work to make sure that he nails down the details

of this renegotiation and when he sits down with every other EU leader

in a fortnight that they are on board. That is what this process is

about over the next fortnight. Thank you.

We're joined now from Brussels by Guy Verhofstadt.

The former Prime Minister of Belgium, he is now the leader

of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

In your view, does the European Parliament have a veto over the

Cameron settlement? Not a veto, but one of the main points of the

agreement, of the potential agreement, is a change in what we

call secondary legislation, or that means that Council and Parliament as

to agree on the proposal and that cannot be done in the normal

legislative procedures. All think of work benefits is classic legislation

in which the European Parliament plays a full role. Can you clarify?

Will the parliament vote on the overall settlement or bullet ward

one parts of the settlement that have legislative consequences? It is

the part where it has legislative consequences and that is for later.

Once agreement has been done in European Council the crucial part of

the settlement, this agreement, will be put through the normal

legislative procedure through the European Parliament and it is the

full responsibility of the European Parliament to accept, change, modify

it. The general feeling in the European Parliament is that this

goes through, the whole agreement, because we think that you are better

off with Britain inside the European Union than outside. For obvious

economic and precisely for geopolitical reasons. I understand.

Let me look at the details where the settlement could run into trouble.

The red card arrangement that David Cameron has managed to get into the

settlement so far. 15 European parliaments within 12 weeks could

cause the commission and or the council to think again. Does that

have to go through the European Parliament and do you think they

would vote for that or not? No. It is an internal commitment inside the

European Council. It is the European Council. If you have to decide we

have to decide as European Council and if a number of these majority,

55, of these national parliaments, are against that, we shall stop this

part of the legislation. That is an internal commitment. It has nothing

to do with what is foreseen in the treaty. The treaty there is a

similar procedure that is first seen so it is not so now. It is

duplicating a little bit what is in the treaty. For the Prime Minister

may be the most important part that he has managed to negotiate into the

settlement, in work benefits for migrants coming from the EU to this

country, future migrants would not qualify for a fool in work benefits

straightaway but would be graduated over four years. What with the

Parliament's attitude be? It is impossible to predict because I

cannot see already what is going to be the position of the different

groups. The general feeling in the Parliament is that this has to be

system in the hands of the European Commission other than of one member

state. The proposal on the table sees a system in which it is the

European Commission who is proposing to the other member states. The

second filling in the Parliament is light does not exaggerate. Maybe it

is a problem in Britain but when you see it in general Labour mobility

inside the European Union is so also what we are talking about, it is ten

times lower than the mobility in the United States. One of the

consequences of this is that there are 2 million vacancies in the

European Union. We are broadcasting from a country where net migration

was over 300,000 so labour mobility is not a big issue in Britain. That

could be. When you compare yourself to your counterparts in the US it is

a very low figure. American labour mobility has always been high. 2

million Americans cross state boundaries every year for jobs. That

is not the issue. Is it possible that the European Parliament could

change elements of their settlement after Britain has voted in a

referendum? I can only tell you that there is vote part is on the

classical legislative procedure so that means that, and the council,

and the Parliament, are discussing together, changing, modifying, what

is in this, but we are involved. The negotiations have started this

morning. I am one of the representatives. We are not waiting

until the end of the legislative procedure. What parts of the

settlement would you think of voting against?

In general, what I think we have to do, to take this serious leak, we

are positive towards a reform of the European Union, and we want to

secure and help Mr Cameron -- seriously. We want to help the

public opinion in Great Britain, and that this will become signed in the

treaty. The thing is David Cameron is asking for, the European Union

needs another number of reforms, government for the euro, defence

security, the different crisis we are facing, the refugee crisis,

geopolitical, they are asking and requesting a more integration on the

continent. They will be no treaty change either side of the German or

French elections next J, that is the reality. -- next year. But we can

start to prepare to work on them. If we play it very well, we can do the

situation very well for Britain and for the union. They are asking for

special status, let's give it to them, but let's also secure a

further deepening of the European Union, further integration, to give

us the possibility and the capability to fight against a

different crisis. But will you do that in the knowledge that it is

well-nigh impossible for Britain to be part of the deeper political

integration? That is what we recognise, we recognise the request

of the British government under David Cameron to have a separate

status inside the union and that is what we have tried to do, to bring

together the request of the British population in general, to not be so

involved in European Union integration, and also more European

integration for the other parts of the European Union, for the

Eurozone, it is necessary. We can find each other, Mr Cameron asking

on the one hand for a special treatment, and at the same time Mr

Cameron recognising that the rest of Europe and the Eurozone has two

further go into a deeper integration. It is a win win

settlement, that is what we will try to achieve. We will find out more as

the weeks progress and I hope that we can talk to you so that you can

mark our card as the developments take place. Thanks for joining us.

That was interesting. There have been rumblings at the European

Parliament, that they could cause trouble for this settlement and that

would be a real setback for David Cameron, but I did not detect that

in the interview. I did not detect that, but many of the viewers, said

there is a view in Scunthorpe, worried about immigration. We do

have a viewer in Scunthorpe! This is a Eurocrat who has said Labour

mobility is not a problem, but we know 80% of the population says

immigration is the thing they are most worried about, and so that is a

patronising view, very elitist Brussels view, and that makes people

say, the EU is out of touch, and I'm sure the guest from Ukip will say

that a man like that is out of touch with the British public. OK, we will

stick with Europe. The referendum is a fight between those who want to

stay and those who want to leave? Not quite. One of the campaign

groups has complained about its ongoing struggle with complained

about its ongoing struggle with which is a rival struggle with which

is a rival campaign group, despite wanting the same result -- ongoing

struggle with Vote Leave. And there is also the idea that Labour Leave

have been arguing with Vote Leave. What is happening? Just say you

don't lose the will to live, I will try to cut to the latest in this

very long tail of infighting and Civil War. We have these different

groups campaigning for the outside, and they want to win the official

designation going into the campaign, because they get public money and

they will get TV broadcasts and free mailshots, so that is why there are

these different groups, and now we have Vote Leave and Vote.LeaveEU.

And now Labour Leave has said it has had enough of the infighting going

on at Vote Leave and it will take itself away, cut the ties it has had

with Vote Leave and be an independent organisation, and one of

the co-chairs is the MP Kate Hoey, who said she will not support Vote

Leave any more, in its bid to be the official out campaign voice. They

want to be an independent organisation and work with the

grassroots campaigns. Added to that, we have a letter leaked to the Times

newspaper, written by John Mills, the Labour Party donor, he is deputy

chair of Vote Leave. Writing to two people on the board, who used to be

on the board at Vote Leave, he says they have got to stop the bickering,

and that they have lost the backing of Kate Hoey. If you are still with

me... Only just! LAUGHTER One of the chairs of Vote.LeaveEU,

who has back rolled their campaign, he says those men who used to be on

the board of Vote Leave, Matthew Elliott and Dominic Cummings, they

are no longer on the board, but they are still running the campaign. --

bankrolled. He says they are to the nastiest individuals he has ever met

any but not put them in charge of a shop. -- and he would. Vote Leave

say they are not getting involved in any of this, and they say they have

seen the letter and they wishing well. Very well. I will now go and

lie in a dark room and recover! If you want to win a political campaign

you have got to make it simple and true, but right now the end campaign

have a ambassador in David Cameron who is working very hard, and the

out campaign to not have a clear and simple message and they don't have a

leadership. -- right now the Inn campaign. Yet they are ten points

ahead in the latest poll for new guv, apparently. -- you go.

Is six hours enough time to go shopping on a Sunday?

I can't understand why anyone would want to shop on a Sunday

with so many fine political programmes to watch.

But the government wants local authorities in England and Wales

to have the power to allow shops to open for longer.

Here's the Business Secretary, Sajid Javid, earlier this week.

We will introduce amendments in this bill to allow local authorities

to decide whether to extend hours in their areas.

Central government will not be dictating how to use this power.

The decision will be entirely local, reflecting local preferences,

shopping habits and economic conditions.

If the people of Bromsgrove or Barking say they want to see

longer Sunday opening hours, who are we here in Westminster

Not everyone on the Government's own benches are happy with the idea

Among them Stewart Jackson, who joins us now from his

You are outside the cathedral, I would say. The Conservatives always

boast they are the party of devolution, that they people decide.

-- let the people decide. You must welcome the idea this is a matter

for local councils? I think this is driven by our manifesto commitment

to create 2 million private sector jobs, and that is a laudable aim,

but you only have to look back in history, 20-30 years to see the mess

Margaret Thatcher got into over this issue, she had a huge majority and

lost it. I'm not convinced there's strong economic case that economic

prosperity will follow from the liberalisation of Sunday shopping

hours and there are many people on the Conservative backbenchers who

follow similar views. Why should it not be a matter for local

government, taking into account local feelings and the local demand?

Rather than being determined by MPs. I absolutely agree, and when I spoke

to the Prime Minister earlier in the way, I said to him, I thought the

best way forward to avoid a needless row with backbenchers is to have a

competitive regime where local authorities who are worried about

voids in their retail town centres and out-of-town shopping centres and

also the internet, they can bid to vary their regime for shopping and

then we can look at it in 18 months, and if it has been a success we can

roll it out to all local authorities across the country, and that seems

to be a fair compromise. We are looking at some very serious

concerns from the shop workers unions, faith groups, and also

issues around quality-of-life, but more importantly, convenience stores

might suffer as a result of these changes in legislation. You are

going to vote against the measure, how big will the rebellion be on the

Conservatives side? I can't hear anything. Let me try again.

Certainly people have looked at figures around their tea, I do think

it will be a massive rebellion, it will not be like the EU referendum

rebellion -- figures around 30. It will be a problem for a government

with a small majority and it will depend on the Scottish National

party and what undertakings are made to them to prevent them from voting

against the government this legislation. Since we have got you

here. How has the David Cameron legislation. Since we have got you

settlement and the EU -- on the EU, if we can call it that, how is that

going down on the backbenches and in your constituency? Can you hear me?

We seem to have lost him. Lines are down to Peterborough, there we go.

Here we go. You have another is peace, can you hear me? I have

another BBC gizmo. -- ear piece. peace, can you hear me? I have

was asking, how has the EU settlement, such as it is so far,

how has that gone down with your colleagues on the Tory backbenches

and people in your constituency? There is a sense of palpable

disappointment, we wish the Prime Minister well, people like me have

kept their counsel for several months, because we believe that he

was going to make good on his pledges at the Bloomberg speech in

2013, for a radical renegotiation of our relationship and action

repatriating powers, but what we have seen, unfortunately, does not

stack up -- actually repatriating. Despite the best efforts of the

Prime Minister, the European Union is set on ever closer union and is

fundamentally not something that can be reformed. We heard from the

former trimester Belgian, he seems to be happy with a system where the

core of the European Union, the Eurozone continues with further

integration, but Britain does not need to be involved in this -- the

former Prime Minister of Belgium. That seems to be something the Prime

Minister has emphasised in this settlement. That is all well and

good, but very eminent people have said that without the toes and

treaties in place, the blandishments and agreements made to David Cameron

will effectively in the future, if we vote to remain, will be worthless

vetos -- vetos and treaties. Unless we have treaty change, we can't give

effect to our very serious concerns about the future direction with our

country in the European Union. What about your constituency? The Prime

Minister says you should not listen to your constituency is said Shea

shows on this issue, you have got to make up your own mind. --

constituency associations. You don't know me very well, if that was the

case! It was a question. LAUGHTER I understand what he is saying, this

is a fundamental issue and you should go with your head and your

heart. I will be consulting my constituents, they know where I

stand and have done since I resigned from a government post in 2011 to

campaign for a EU referendum. The Prime Minister's words were

misconstrued, he has a job to do and he will take his position. We have

got to unite again as a party of government after this referendum and

we should keep civilised and moderate in our time. Thanks for

joining us. We thank you for being civilised and moderate in dealing

with the dodgy ear piece. Labour claim that 800,000 people

have disappeared from the electoral register since the government

introduced changes to the way that In the past the head of a household

could register all eligible voters Now voters have to

register individually. And, as Giles reports,

there are also concerns about the obstacles faced

by those with disabilities. Last year's general election

programme as most of us If you are blind, of course,

it was more like this, but apart from not seeing the story

unfold, there's no reason why such a disability should exclude

you from the process. Provided you have registered

to vote, and there is the issue. This is the government's own website

and it boasts that it takes five minutes to register

to vote individually which is what the government

wants us all to do. It points out you need a bit

of data about yourself, you can register by post,

and you can even get It points out, if you are a Crown

servant, a diplomat, for example, or in the Armed Forces,

there are separate forms. What it doesn't mention, anywhere,

is any information you could look up and advise for a friend

who was blind about how Nowhere, nothing,

not a phone number. And that, some people say,

points to a wider problem about how easy it is being made for people

to register to vote. If there was cross-party support

for electronic voting and automatic registration,

it would help a lot more people Personally, I think young disabled

people can find it a turn-off if they can't vote in secret

or if information that they need to educate themselves

about politics is inaccessible. For the record, blind people can

call their local council's election officer and organise

to be registered. But so far many haven't,

meaning their voices are not But are the government turning

a blind eye to a wider problem? The change to individual voting

registration also means that according to Bite The Ballot over

800,000 people seem to have disappeared from the previous

electoral roll, and they are not happy with the government's

explanations. At the moment we are making it

as difficult rather than as easy In other words we are making our

democracy as awkward Yes, he is a former Labour Cabinet

minister, now a lord, There is no doubt that changing

boundaries and removing the number of members of Parliament,

precluding trade unions from funding parties who are fighting

in our democracy, and changing the registration system which has

already resulted in large numbers dropping off, has to be seen

in the context of a government which believes that what is best

for it is best for the nation. We were hoping to speak

to a minister about this afternoon, but at the last minute we were told

no one was available. "Individual electoral registration

is an essential measure We have worked hard with local

authorities for years now to clean up the register -

any entries removed will be people who have moved house,

died or never existed because they It's time now to find out

the answer to our quiz. Coming up in a moment

it's our regular look at what's been For now it's time to say

goodbye to Amol Rajan - So for the next half an hour we're

going to be focussing We'll be looking at how the draft

deal on the UK's EU membership is going down elsewhere in Europe,

the prospect of borders being introduced across

the continent in the wake of the migrant crisis and we'll

focus on the home of so many First, though, here's our guide

to the latest from Europe - The deal has finally been struck

between member states in the European Commission

to fund humanitarian aid The UK will be the second

largest contributor. The European Union and the USA have

agreed new rules to allow companies like Google or Facebook

to process personal data It has rumbled on for years

and privacy groups still In Rome, officials met to review

the fight against so-called Islamic Amid warnings that the group

were threatening Libya. But IS has lost a significant amount

of territory recently. We have had ups and downs,

but more recently more German border police should shoot

at refugees entering the country illegally, according

to the far right AFD party. But their remarks

were roundly condemned. And the European Parliament

will allow diesel cars to emit double the legal emission limit

of nitrogen oxide until 2020. Extra leeway has been given

because actual emissions are four And with us for the next 30 minutes

I've been joined by Labour MEP, Richard Howitt and Ukip

MEP James Carver. Let's talk first about the ?7

billion worth of aid that's been pledged to help Syrian

refugees, ?2.3 billion of it A big chunk coming from Britain as

well. Hundreds of millions have been spent on refugees in the region. The

flow of migrants is still spent on refugees in the region. The

increasing. Why would more money make any difference? It would make

more difference if you are make any difference? It would make

refugee city in a camp and your food ration is $19 a day. -- $19 a month.

Not enough to buy a loaf of bread for a family of seven. I understand

the humanitarian reason but this is a vast sums of money of which

Britain is a big part but it is being sold as money well spent not

just because it will help people to survive but because it will stop the

outflow. There is no evidence that is the case. I partly accept that

but it is a pretty dirty deal of the only reason Britain or Europe would

give money to help with refugees is to stop refugees coming here. What

we have to do first and foremost is manage the

we have to do first and foremost is the war in Syria and I am involved

in a lot of activity. The talks have broken down.

in a lot of activity. The talks have done in London less than half a mile

from here Russian aircraft and Assad ground troops were pummelling the

from here Russian aircraft and Assad biggest city in Syria. Everybody

needs to take a compassionate approach. The National Audit Office

have said so much of the aid has not been

have said so much of the aid has not International Development

have said so much of the aid has not concerns over whether the aid is

reaching where it should be going. We shall keep an eye on it because

the situation is dire for the refugees. We have worked

painstakingly to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to the table. The talks

happened and the alternative is to do nothing and after five years of

civil war... We need to move on. Now, earlier this week the draft

deal aimed at satisfying the UK's David Cameron says there will be

plenty of intense negotiations to follow before a final document

is signed off, but just to get this far has been a hard trek

for the Prime Minister. Setting off on his EU reform journey

before the election, David Cameron said that he wanted

to ban EU migrants from getting The draft proposal suggests only

a graduated access to benefits from initial complete exclusion

and increases over the four year 28 different trial benefits. --

the child lives. 28 different trial benefits. --

Child. The UK can also apply

for an emergency brake on welfare, but it's not completely clear how

that brake is pulled and for how The PM also set himself a milestone

of protection for economies which have not adopted the euro

and on this the draft delivers, prohibiting discrimination

between currencies. Another aim of David Cameron's

expedition was to get Britain out of ever closer union

with the European Union. The draft does recognise that the UK

is not committed to further political integration

into the European Union. And the Prime Minister also called

for sovereignty of national But this looks like set to be

an uphill slog for the PM, with confusion about what his red

card realistically means in terms of giving national parliaments

greater powers to club together The summit may be in sight,

but it is also unclear what powers MEPs might have to reject

the so called emergency brake, limit child benefits and a ban

on so called sham marriages which could leave the

British PM in hot water. We're joined now from Brussels

by the Conservative MEP Are you broadly happy with what the

Prime Minister has achieved? The Prime Minister has set out his clear

agenda and has been and got support from all of the other member states

so far and has the final act to go. Yes, I am happy. He has set his

priorities and got what he aimed for in all four areas and I am being he

can deliver in that final set of negotiations at the middle of this

month. In what way has UK sovereignty been enhanced by the

settlement? There are several things within that. It was very important

we are excluded from the ever closer union is specially as the eurozone

countries decide to get closer in terms of their political and fiscal

union, so for us it was important we were differentiated outside of that

was no intention of joining. We are outside, so that is reinforcing the

status quo. In what way was sovereignty enhanced? No. There was

big issue is resolved in terms of going forward. To make sure we were

well out of that was important. The red card system, a system where if

there is a piece of legislation that does not suit us for whatever reason

and is impacting on our economy we would be able to with others

collectively say that it is not acceptable. That does not enhance

British sovereignty, that involves getting together 15 other

parliaments within a 12 week period and some of these parliaments

rebelling and voting against the stated position of their elected

governments. That is a mechanism, nothing to do with British

sovereignty. In terms of member states having more say over the

legislation a key part of that part of the document is that member

states will have more of the regulation done at national level

and lessen European Michael and that is something the UK and other

European states are calling for, so in terms of sovereignty what can be

done at national level will be done from now on and that is an important

part of that section that seems to have been overlooked over the last

few days. Could this settlement run into trouble in the European

Parliament? We have three representatives. I met with someone

and they have of Labour, and there is a strong will to help Britain

stay in the European Union. This is the message the British electorate

should hear, that our fellow countries, despite the frustrations,

do not want Britain to leave. Francois Hollande, I have sat

internal meetings listening to him, he has said this week he can be part

of the compromise that that shows the will across Europe to support

us. Francois Hollande is not a member of the European Parliament.

Will the European Parliament be so in the British side in this

settlement process? I can tell you how I will be voting. There are

three representatives of the European Parliament from the three

groups, not a representative from my group and two other groups. A very

different approach to the direction in the European Union. If elements

of this deal come before the European Parliament will use vote

against it? I have to. This is further than hashing a debate on

what is conceivable and inconceivable. It is about what is

not in this renegotiation. Supremacy for the British Parliament.

Supremacy of the European Court. The working Time directive. He has not

achieved anything. A manifesto pledge that he put in last year's

general election. That shows how little power we have.

Kay, If this was watered down further, if some of it is taken back

a bit, given that so many of your colleagues in London think it's a

pretty watered-down document, it could not survive further watering

down? I have to restate that, there are people who fully support the

Prime Minister's negotiations and think he has gone after the right

things and think he's doing a very good job. What if they are

watered-down further? This is a negotiation, there are things on the

table at the moment. I know that, so what about if it is watered-down

further? I have faith that the primaries to is going to get his

negotiation at the level he is anticipating and that we will be

able to support him in his actions -- I have faith that the Prime

Minister is going. We have good will and we will be acting upon the

goodwill. Thanks for joining us. Now - is the dream of

a borderless Europe at an end? The arrival of over a million

migrants over the last year has prompted many EU countries -

formerly in the borderless "schengen" area -

to re-erect their borders. Jo Coburn has visited the

Denmark/Sweden border where crossing the famous Orsen bridge

between the two countries has been You might have seen the TV detective

series based on it. Security checks at the last station

in Denmark before crossing This new border control

is disrupting the journeys of thousands of commuters

who used to travel freely Here we have no border for 50 years

and suddenly we get a border People are really shocked

and disappointed because they think they have not expected

that they have to show a passport to

come home from work. The border controls have been

introduced as a result of a new Swedish law to deal

with the unprecedented flow of migrants travelling through

Denmark and into Sweden. This week, Sweden's migration

minister travelled to Copenhagen to meet his Danish counterpart

and justify the new controls. In four months, September,

October, November, December, In the whole year 2015 there arrived

163,000 people to Sweden. It is as if in the UK

there would have There is no doubt the new law has

slowed down the daily commute, but is it also the end

of the line for The Oresund Bridge is so much more

than just an impressive It is a symbol of open borders that

has powered this region There are fears that

vision is fading away. I am optimistic they

will find a better way to manage the ID control

because we cannot live with Checkpoint Charlie

in Copenhagen airport between Denmark and Sweden

so we have to find a way to make it I've arrived in Sweden

and here are the police again, something you would not

have seen six weeks ago. We've stopped just before Malmo

and ID is checked again. Sweden is facing a new political

challenge as attitudes Something that worries the political

editor of the regional We have gone from being

extremely liberal and a very unusual approach for Europe

to approaching almost There was a panic reaction

and it was assumed that nothing we have previously believed

will work for this particular situation and to me that is a lack

of faith in your own policies that makes me worried for

other policies as well. It is not just in Sweden where

the political weather is changing. In Copenhagen the Danish parliament

recently passed a law giving authorities the power

to seize the assets of asylum seekers, a move that has

been widely criticised. in Denmark and your family's stay

in Denmark then you should pay. is a step in the right direction

and we will continue to work for even more tighter rules

on refugee issues and migration to Denmark, for instance

from the Middle East, Shane Den is on life support, it is

search for a solution. Shane Den is on life support, it is

de facto, just not operating -- Shane Den is on life support, it is

Schengen. You are right, there will be a vote in the referendum. There

are intense pressures at the moment, and there are two points about that,

it really makes the point that Britain has opted out of borderless

travel, we have opted out of immigration. At the European level.

It is a fact of life. Are you happy? When Eurosceptics want to make the

debate in Britain about the fact we have open borders, it is not true.

We were right not to go into Schengen? I would like us to manage

We were right not to go into migration in Europe better and to be

part of the EU negotiation scheme. I said, was it a sensible decision not

to have participated in Schengen? Yes, because we are an island nation

and we have given opportunities to defend our borders, and what is

wrong with that? Schengen is in trouble across Europe, of course,

because we have seen unprecedented numbers crossing our borders. This

year we will see big numbers coming from Afghanistan and that will be

the next refugee crisis, so we have got to find ways of dealing with it,

but they must be common ways. The idea that one country can solve this

international crisis is observed for stop -- is absent. Britain outside

the European Union can decide properly what our borders should be

without this free movement. It is the free movement. People have the

right... This is the issue, it goes to free movement of people. He says

because we're not in Schengen we do not have this problem. What is

happening at the bridge where Joe was reporting from, that is the

situation, whether that is Heathrow Airport or Calais will stop we have

the free movement of the workforce, and with the changes coming

regarding the living wage, more people will come, and the average

living wage will be ?9.70 and someone working a 40 hour week will

be earning ?14,000 a year in the UK, and if you work on local figures in

Romania, they will be on something like a quarter of that. It will

remain attractive people to come here, so it is not just about

controlling the border, it is about having the ability to decide who

comes to live in the United Kingdom. The weakness of Schengen, it was

always going to be as strong as the weakest external border. And since

the borders of southern Italy and Greece have proved to be very weak

indeed it was inevitable that Schengen could not survive. After

the Paris attacks, reports in the Wall Street Journal that morning

that the leader of the attack on Paris said he slept in Armonk EU

refugees from Syria -- said he slipped in Armonk. -- amongst. Yes,

there was not the check on the database, the terrorist database,

and we are going to press for that to happen, but for everyone

watching, we need robust checks at our borders, but to people that want

to go on holiday to Spain and send their kids on a school exchange to

Germany, and somebody who gets a job in Italy, they will not have to go

down to an embassy in London, get a Visa and possibly be refused, your

party leader says he would like to go back to the 1950s, which is what

you used to have to do. We have international agreements, that is

ridiculous. This is about a situation where we have... You want

free movement? I want a British government which can decide policy

without interference. I have got to stop you there. 20.

Of all the nations in the European Union the Belgians

are perhaps most comfortable with their EU membership.

Belgium the home to many EU institutions of course

But as Adam Fleming discovered the country itself is really

The author Brigitte Raskin lives on the fault line that

On this side we are in a Flemish town.

This side, the street is called one thing in Flemish,

on the other side, it is called something else in French.

Here you have, we are in the Flemish community,

and that is the French speaking community.

This is the Flemish region, and that is Wallonia.

The Flanders side of the street is also richer, better educated

and has lower unemployment than the Wallonian side.

Brigitte has written a book about the dispute which has complex

historical origins, but very modern consequences.

One day there was a man on a cycle who had an accident.

His cycle was on the Flemish side and the man was on the Walloon side.

In Brussels they are bilingual, and did I mention, in the east,

there is a community which speaks German?

It means an alphabet soup of multiple levels of government.

Which I discovered at the Royal Palace.

The king was hosting a New Year's reception for all of them.

If you are into Belgian politics, which I have become in the last few

On the reception line, the Prime Minister who runs

the federal government which looks after the big stuff,

along with the minister president of Flanders, his equivalent

from Wallonia, and separate leaders representing the French,

Dutch and German language communities,

which all have their own parliaments, as well.

The boss of the Brussels capital region was in there, as well.

Although I'm not sure how many of the city's 19 mayors

Even the local journalists need a list.

Critics say that the spate of terrorist attacks allegedly

planned in Belgium recently is a result of a weak

Others, like Mark from the New Flemish Alliance,

Do you think in 10 years Belgium will still exist as a country?

I'm a strong believer in the fact that powers will shift.

More and more powers will go to the regional level.

Other powers, where there is an added value to work together,

will be on a larger scale, but this larger scale

will not be Belgium, because it is too small.

At least you can guarantee some national unity this summer,

soon it is Euro 2016 and Belgium's football team is the best

Do you get a sense of evaporation when you are in Brussels? Yes,

Brussels is the third part, it relies entirely on public funding,

they have the institutions and Nato. Whether it is Belgium or island,

Europe has been a unifying force which has been able to overcome

division -- Ireland. OK, that is it.