17/12/2015 Scotland 2015

Can Cameron seal a deal on EU reform over dinner in Brussels?

David Cameron wants his EU reform proposals at the top of the menu

tonight as he dines with his European counterparts.

But is his main demand too hard to swallow?

We have a report from Israel, home of the last Church of Scotland

school in the world, where Muslims, Christians and Jews

And Scotland 2015 takes a look back at...

Political tsunamis, refugee crises and broken bridges.

Tonight, over fillet of venison with parsnip mousse,

David Cameron got his first opportunity to lay out

in detail his proposals for EU reform.

But all day other European leaders have been lining up to say

the Prime Minister's main demand of restricting in-work benefits

for EU migrants is too tough to stomach.

At stake, as they see it, are some of the founding principles

of the European Union - free movement between

In a moment, we'll go live to Brussels.

The Prime Minister met his European counterparts tonight to press

forward EU reform. Mr Cameron will then put the UK's new deal with

Europe two and in-out referendum before the end of 2017. I want to

see real progress in all four areas. We are not pushing for a deal

tonight but we are pushing for real momentum so we can get the deal

done. I will be battling hard for Britain through the night. David

Cameron set four key objectives, protection of the single market for

Britain, less red tape, exempting the UK from ever closer union with

the EU and, controversially, restricting access to in work

benefits for four years. The EU's most senior officials have cast

doubt on the chances of agreement on that. The consultations I have led

with all members, they show goodwill of all the parties involved, but it

doesn't change the fact that some parts of the British proposal seem

unacceptable. Earlier today, MSP is on Holyrood's European and external

relations committee were warned that leaving the EU, if it comes to that,

will be long, complex and painful. It would be a gargantuan exercise

which would tie the civil service, Whitehall and the devolved

administration, up in knots for years. It will paralyse the

operation of day-to-day government was -- because so much time will be

devoted to trying to and picking these very complicated issues. And

so the implication is just for governments and government,

day-to-day government, are absolutely horrendous. Whatever

happens, we will be in uncharted waters, renegotiating a country's

relationship with the rest of the EU while already a member.

Joining me now from Brussel's is Matthew Karnitschnig,

who is Politico magazine's chief correspondent for Germany.

Good evening. This is an important dinner for David Cameron. How is it

going so far? Well, I think he has started out by making much the same

case we have seen him making to the British public and to other European

leaders in recent weeks, saying that the Europeans need to be more

flexible in their approach to the benefits and other issues that he is

raising. We don't know yet how it has been received, but we know that

he intends to speak for a few hours at least and that the dinner is

still going on, so we will have to wait a bit longer before we hear

what the others have to say. It wasn't looking too good for him

earlier on, with various leaders including Angela Merkel lining up to

save his central demand really wasn't going to fly. This is the

central problem that Cameron faces, because Angela Merkel is his

greatest ally on this issue and yet he doesn't have her support on this

last basket, as they are calling it, the in work benefit issue. It

doesn't really seem as if they are going to be able to find an easy

solution to it. The other questions he is asking for, cutting red tape

and so on, they are not that's controversial. But this other

question about benefits and the freedom of movement, that cuts to

the core of what Europe means to most countries and leaders here at

the dinner, so it is not clear how he will surmount that problem.

Obviously there are a lot of issues to be discussed, not least the

refugee crisis. How high up the menu Cameron's proposals? I think they

had the refugee discussion earlier. It was interesting to hear that he

mentioned the refugee crisis itself in his introduction, and I think

that is a dangerous strategy because some people might confuse him --

accuse him of conflating the issues, one being the migrants coming to the

EU and the other being war refugees from Syria. But the important point

is that the British exit question really doesn't top the agenda in

most countries in the EU at the moment. They have other problems,

they are worried about the refugee crisis, Germany in particular, the

other countries along the Balkan route, Austria and so on. Part of

what he is doing tonight is to try and convince the other European

leaders that they need to deal with this problem now and they need to

come to some kind of solution by next summer in February, which is

very tight. Here, opinion poles are suggesting a growing number of

Britons want to leave the EU. Is there a well there among any of the

leaders to help him make sure that Britain votes to stay? I think there

is. The Germans, Angela Merkel in particular, really wants to keep the

UK in. She recognises the economic importance of the UK, it is the

second-largest economy in the EU after Germany. But there are

political reasons. The UK has often been an important ally for Germany

on issues of structuring the EU, on the EU budget and on trying to hold

off some of what they look of the Germans regard as the profligate

southerners from using the EU for their own political means. Thank you

very much. The last remaining Church

of Scotland school in the world What makes it even more unusual

is that it teaches Christian, Muslim and Jewish children together

in an attempt to create an environment of tolerance,

despite the violence. But the school has become embroiled

in the region's politics too. Fiona Walker has been to Israel

to find out why the Church of Scotland is running

a school in the Holy Land. 3000 miles away on the edge of Tel

Aviv sits Jaffa, an hour from Jerusalem, an hour from Gaza.

Amongst the religious conflict, which defines the Middle East, lies

something of a surprise. It is nativity rehearsal time at Tabeetha

school in Jaffa. Nativity is a Christian tradition but about a

Jewish family. And Joseph is being played by Mohamed, who is Muslim. In

the grade six Hebrew class, it is the turn of a Muslim boy to light

the candle in the Jewish festival of an actor. -- Hannukah. Learning

about different faiths helps the children understand each other. We

are all friends, we are all connected as friends. The state of

Israel can be both including all sorts of people and it can be

beautiful, as it is in this class and in this school. That pretty much

sums up what we are told about the ethos of the school. Whereas pupils

in Israeli state schools are mainly taught separately, here, the Church

of Scotland is bringing people together. Does evil really need to

exist? It is subjective, what is evil for some might not be for

others. The religious studies class is being taught by a teacher from

Aberdeen. Over 30 years I have been here, there have been many ups and

downs in the Middle East and in the school. What I see is that we are

giving a safe place here for children from all backgrounds to

come, to be accepted and to accept, and then to go out into the world

and perhaps pass that on. That is why it is normal for these pupils to

talk about politics. It is their reality. Being a student in

Tabeetha, I am quite affected all round. At one point, I see my

brother being stopped for wearing a gold necklace. It just looks too

suspicious. From the other side, I hear my friend's family being

victimised from a terrorist attack or something. It just... I don't

know where to go. So what we do is learn from it. This is a great four

class but in fact this is not just a classroom. We are under ground. And

this is a bomb shelter. The children have to be able to get in there

within 90 seconds of a siren going off, which gives you the context in

which these pupils are living. This school was set up by a Scottish

woman before the Middle East problems we know of today. What on

earth is the Church of Scotland doing running a school in Israel?

With this school in particular, because it was given to us in a

will, without an obligation to continue to look after it. Because

we are in the holy land, there is a real sense of needing to keep a

presence here, and we felt that was important as a church. At a time

when we were giving other properties away, we kept hold of it. The other

reason is that this school is multi-faith, something they save the

children would not get in the Israeli state system. The children

you have here are children probably from the kind of backgrounds which

are fairly moderate and might interact with other faiths anyway.

In a way, you are preaching to the converted. We need to do what we can

in this place. Will we reach everybody? No. Will we be able to

challenge really extreme views? Perhaps not. But with the people who

come here, they see something different, and they are the people

who in the future will be able to influence those around them more

than we can here today. There are concerns for the future. The funding

from the Israeli government has been cut drastically. The church sees

that as discrimination against Christians and they say that even

the children can feel that they are not equal, like when they went to

sing for the Pope in Jerusalem. The Jewish children who were there

singing in the concert were given free access and were allowed to take

anything with them, but our children were refused entry with their bags,

they were not allowed to take their lunches in with them, and things

like that, on the surface, seem petty but they actually impact quite

hugely on the lives of children here. Because they see they are

being treated differently. We invited the Israeli government to

respond but we have not received a reply. Too young to fully understand

the politics, these children sing jingle bells in Arabic before home

time. Home to their life in a divided land they call the holy

land. That was Fiona Walker reporting,

and you can catch her documentary from Israel on Radio Scotland

at 9.30am on Sunday morning. Joining me now to look back

through some of the standout moments of 2015 are Katherine Trebeck,

who's a policy and research advisor for Oxfam UK, and Liam Kirkaldy,

a journalist with Holyrood Magazine. So I guess if we are thinking about

big stories of the year, you could argue that the biggest Scottish

story of the year was the general election result, the SNP tsunami

that saw each of its opponents reduced to a single MP. Seems a long

time ago, but this will bring back memories. Taking a risk, having a

punt, having a go, that pumps me up. And if I'm getting lively about it,

it's because I feel bloody likely about it. I will work with Labour.

We are not going to have a coalition. We are not going to have

a deal. Am I tough enough? Hell, yes, I am tough enough.

We are saying the Conservatives are the largest party. Is this exit poll

is right, Andrew, I will publicly eat my hat.

Not only am I the youngest, but I am now also the only 20-year-old in the

whole of the UK that the Chancellor is prepared to help with housing.

The House will show its appreciation in a way other than clapping.

Hard to believe that was all just seven months ago. Any highlights for

you, Liam? For me, it would be the SNP landslide in Scotland. It was

completely unprecedented. Previously, the party had a maximum

of 11 MPs in its history, and to go from that to 56 was incredible. It

was this time last year that Nicola Sturgeon would have come in and we

would have seen the huge growth in membership. There were stories of

SNP MSP is being dragged into HQ to answer phones because there was such

a level of interest. This was coming from the back of the referendum. It

was proof that 45% might not be enough to win a referendum, but it

is enough to clean up in first past the post. Do you think anyone in the

party for saw it? No. I think it was a shock for them, and fund Labour as

well. And what about the UK picture, Katherine? How did the pollsters get

it so wrong? To me, that is the biggest story, the huge dent put in

to the prediction power of pollsters. Everything now will be

taken with a huge grain of salt. Although of course, the BBC's John

Curtice was right for some time. But for me, the bigger story was more a

development, and that was the way the issue of inequality has risen up

on the political radar, to the point that it has cost party recognition

as being one of the biggest issues of our time. In October, we had

credit Suisse reporting that globally, the 1% owners much wealth

as the rest of the 99% of the world's publishing. In Scotland, we

have seen all the parties recognise that as an issue. They have slightly

different ways to tackle it, but for me, that was one of the key defining

features of 2015. Thinking about Scotland and the SNP, the honeymoon

has not lasted long. They are already down from 56 to 54. It is

true, there have been scandals. Having lost two MPs is a blow and

questions are being raised over various issues on domestic policy,

things like the U-turn over cooperation, stop and search

armoured policing, and issues around numeracy and literacy levels. But at

the same time, the party is still polling highly and I am not sure how

that would affect the public if they were to vote. On the division

between wealthy and the poorer in society, we saw a budget yesterday

that was described as anti-austerity, but perhaps some

people were expecting more from the SNP on that. Will that dent their

popularity next May? I think people will be conscious that it is tough

times, but it is where those tough times come from. There are

recognition is that all governments have spending choices. People are

now conscious that the level of inequality and its effect on poverty

is not acceptable. The fact that all parties are now recognising that is

significant and hopefully, we will see that through the election

campaign heading into May. They will hold each other's feet to the fire

and scrutinise each other's policies. We did see an embarrassing

climb-down by the Chancellor over the cuts to tax credits. Would you

have expected that after them winning a majority? It was a

surprise. There is still going to be 12 billion in welfare cuts. There

will still be significant cuts to people's benefits, no doubt about

that. I think it was largely as a result of pressure from his own

backbenchers. And any signs of a Labour recovery? It is hard to look

past the surge in membership of the Labour Party. In a way, there is a

greater level of engagement. Certainly in Scotland, we saw the

SNP surge. More people are tuned into issues of politics and engaged

at different levels. Wherever you are on the political spectrum, I

think it is fantastic that more people are paying attention, because

that can only lead to more people being knowledgeable about politics

and hopefully getting better outcomes ultimately. It is all part

of an exciting dynamic. Well, soon after the general election, Scotland

lost one of its longest serving and most respected MPs, the former Lib

Dem leader Charles Kennedy, who had just lost his seat to the SNP. He

died at the age of 55 after a battle with alcoholism.

Liam, how do you think he will be best remembered? From my point of

view, the thing I would think of would be his opposition to the Iraq

war. That was a really important time in UK politics. It almost

defined the next ten years. If you look at the vote on air strikes in

Syria recently, that was one time that there will be a lot of people,

particularly in the Lib Dems but also across the House of Commons,

who will be thinking they could have done with advice from Charles

Kennedy at that point. It was a sad end to an illustrious political

career. Desperately sad, obviously for his family, but as you say, for

political life to lose someone like Charles Kennedy to me, he was one of

those rare people who was genuinely respected and warmly liked by all

quarters. And for the profound loneliness of public life to

manifest in alcoholism, it is desperately sad in every way.

Moving on to probably the biggest story of the year, certainly in

Europe, the refugee crisis. Merely a million migrants have entered Europe

in the past year, often risking their lives in perilous journeys.

As a father, I feel deeply moved by the sight of that young boy on a

beach in Turkey. And Britain is a moral nation, and we will fulfil our

moral responsibilities. We must respond as human beings. We simply

cannot walk by on the other side of that little boy that we all were so

touched by last night would just become one of many, many more.

Was it that photo, of Aylan Kurdi that focused minds here in this

country about what was going on? I think it was a pivotal moment. This

year has been a difficult year across the world. Oxfam has

responded to 37 emergencies around the world. So people are hearing

heartbreaking statistics after heartbreaking statistics. And to see

those stories and those experiences summed up in one fragile little cold

body on the beach, is human beings relate to other human beings. So it

is natural that that embodied all those statistics which have almost

become unrecognisable and certainly unpalatable to people. When we think

about defining moments, to me, if the rich world can respond to this

with more solidarity and compassion, this will be the defining moment of

a generation, if we can sort this out. These are not migrants. I am a

migrant. These people are fleeing perilous circumstances. It is the

key turning point. History will look back on how we respond to the

refugees. We saw in that short film, even the emotion in David Cameron

and Nicola Sturgeon when they were talking about the photograph. Only,

how would you compare the response north and south of the border to

this crisis? I think there is a greater will in Scotland to take in

more refugees. I would prefer to compare the response of the UK to

somewhere like Germany. Germany has taken nearly a million refugees now,

and the UK responds in comparison is pretty shameful, it is a tiny number

in comparison. As for the photo itself, I was actually uncomfortable

with putting that photo on the front of a newspaper. Why? If it had been

a British child, I am not sure the newspapers would have done it. I

question whether they would have got permission from parents. In

retrospect, I think it worked, although there is also an argument

that the media doesn't always cause this sort of thing, it reacts to it.

So it might be that national sentiment was building up, and the

papers reacted to it. In terms of how different countries responded,

it is important to recognise how Scotland has responded in terms of

normal, everyday people. The Syria vigils started in Scotland and then

became something that was replicated around Europe. And in the last week,

we have seen a lovely initiative in Glasgow, providing welcome packs for

the refugees who will be housed in Glasgow. It is Scottish people at

their best, recognising that it is time to open our hearts and cities

to people who need us. It is not all positive reactions, though. The

Paris terror attacks last month prompted some strong views about

people coming from Syria, not least from US presidential hopeful Donald

Trump, who managed to cause offence at home and abroad.

We are not going to take them into our country. If we do take 'em in,

they are going back if I win. My judgment is that he is not the kind

of person that is suitable to represent Scotland in the way that

global Scots do. Given that Donald Trump is keen on

calling other presidential candidates and losers, look at the

decision of the Supreme Court said today it is Donald Trump who the

loser. What did you make of that whole

spat, Liam? I thought it was bizarre. It is a pretty strange

situation when you have the former First Minister of Scotland in a

bizarre fallout with a presidential candidate like that. They're a lot

of things you can call Donald Trump up on. It is strange that he ends up

in trouble over wind farms, given the comments he has made on picking

in refugees. Do you think Donald Trump is in tune with the fears of

some people, though, about the world after the Paris terror attacks? Some

people will understandably be scared, but it is easy to contrast

his reactionary and hyperbolic comments with those of the people

and the president of France, who reaffirmed their commitment to

welcoming 30,000 refugees just after the attacks. The people fleeing

Syria are fleeing the sort of terror that was visited on the streets of

Paris. There is no clearer divergence than between those two

politicians. A final mention of the story that made us all experts on

the closure of the Forth Road Bridge. A huge disaster for the

Scottish Government. Yeah, it is not great. I am not sure if it will put

people off voting SNP in the future. I think people are so used to

transport disasters that they will just put it down to bad luck. I

think the key thing for them is that they have initially promised that

things will be back by the end of the year. If weather delays, there

be strife. We're taking a break over

the festive season and we'll be back Until then, have a good

Christmas and New Year Treetop dining

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