:00:00. > :00:36.But first on BBC News, Politics Europe.
:00:37. > :00:39.Hello, and welcome to Politics Europe,
:00:40. > :00:42.your regular guide to the top stories in Brussels and Strasbourg.
:00:43. > :00:46.The EU has pledged billions of taxpayers' money
:00:47. > :00:50.to help Syrian refugees, but with peace talks stalled and
:00:51. > :00:53.fighting escalating, will they do anything to ease the suffering
:00:54. > :00:59.David Cameron's back on the road selling his deal
:01:00. > :01:06.Will he be able to convince sceptical governments to
:01:07. > :01:10.The border guards are back, with more than a million migrants
:01:11. > :01:19.Is the dream of a border-free Europe dead?
:01:20. > :01:21.And is this Europe's most serious faultline?
:01:22. > :01:30.We visit the border that separates the two halves of Belgium.
:01:31. > :01:41.On this side, we are in a Flemish town
:01:42. > :01:43.and that side is a Walloon town.
:01:44. > :01:46.So all of that and more in the next half-hour.
:01:47. > :01:53.First, our guide to the latest from Europe in just 60 seconds.
:01:54. > :01:55.A deal has finally been struck between member states
:01:56. > :01:58.in the European Commission to fund humanitarian aid for refugees
:01:59. > :02:02.The UK will be the second-biggest contributor.
:02:03. > :02:05.The European Union and USA have agreed new rules to
:02:06. > :02:07.allow companies like Google or Facebook to process personal data
:02:08. > :02:17.In Rome, officials met to review the fight against so-called
:02:18. > :02:22.Islamic State amid warnings the group were threatening Libya.
:02:23. > :02:25.But IS have lost a significant amount of territory recently.
:02:26. > :02:32.But more recently, more ups than downs.
:02:33. > :02:34.German border police should shoot at refugees entering
:02:35. > :02:37.the country illegally, according to the far-right AFD party.
:02:38. > :02:39.But the remarks were roundly condemned.
:02:40. > :02:46.And the European Parliament will allow diesel cars to emit double
:02:47. > :02:51.the legal emission limit of nitrogen oxide until 2020.
:02:52. > :02:54.Extra leeway is being given because emissions were four times
:02:55. > :03:02.With this us for next 30 minutes, I am joined by Labour MEP Richard
:03:03. > :03:09.Let's talk first about the ?7 billion worth of aid
:03:10. > :03:14.that has been pledged to help Syrian refugees in the Middle East region.
:03:15. > :03:17.2.3 billion of it coming from the European Union, a big chunk
:03:18. > :03:23.Richard, hundreds of millions have already been spent on refugees
:03:24. > :03:28.in the region, and the flow of migrants is still increasing.
:03:29. > :03:33.Why would more money make any difference?
:03:34. > :03:36.It would make more difference if you were a Syrian refugee sitting
:03:37. > :03:43.in a camp and your food rations are $19 a day.
:03:44. > :03:46.I was at the camps in Lebanon, $19 a month, not enough for a loaf
:03:47. > :03:53.I understand the humanitarian reasons, but these are vast sums
:03:54. > :03:57.of money of which Britain is a big part, but it is being sold to us as
:03:58. > :04:02.money well spent not just because it helps people to survive, but that it
:04:03. > :04:10.There is no evidence that is the case.
:04:11. > :04:14.I partly accept that, but it is a pretty dirty deal if the only reason
:04:15. > :04:17.Britain or Europe would give money to Turkey and Lebanon and Jordan to
:04:18. > :04:20.help refugees is only to stop refugees coming here, and what we
:04:21. > :04:23.have to do first and foremost is yes, manage the refugee crisis,
:04:24. > :04:28.I am involved in a lot of activity at the European level.
:04:29. > :04:39.As the deal was being done in London less than half a mile
:04:40. > :04:42.from here, Russian aircraft and Assad ground troops were pummelling
:04:43. > :04:55.Everybody needs to take a compassionate approach to this,
:04:56. > :04:58.but if we look at what was said by the National Audit Office,
:04:59. > :05:02.so much of the aid has not been reaching where it should be going.
:05:03. > :05:04.If you look, the Department for International
:05:05. > :05:06.Development have huge concerns over whether the aid is actually reaching
:05:07. > :05:11.We will keep an eye on it, because the situation as you say is terrible
:05:12. > :05:15.Just to say, we have been working painstakingly
:05:16. > :05:22.to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to the table, the talks did nothing and the
:05:23. > :05:27.alternative is to do nothing, but after five years of war in Syria,
:05:28. > :05:37.Earlier this week, the draft on the EU reforms was published.
:05:38. > :05:40.David Cameron says there will be plenty of negotiations to follow
:05:41. > :05:45.But just to get this far has been a hard trek for the Prime Minister.
:05:46. > :05:47.Setting off on his Europe reform journey before
:05:48. > :05:51.the election, David Cameron said he wanted to ban EU migrants from
:05:52. > :05:57.That has proved to be a steep challenge.
:05:58. > :05:59.The draft suggests only graduated access to benefits
:06:00. > :06:02.from initial complete exclusion, then increases over the four-year
:06:03. > :06:14.Then child benefits linked to the standard of living
:06:15. > :06:16.in the country where the child lives,
:06:17. > :06:24.The UK can also apply for an emergency brake on welfare,
:06:25. > :06:27.but it is not completely clear how that brake is pulled,
:06:28. > :06:30.who does the pulling, and for how long it will last?
:06:31. > :06:32.The Prime Minister has also set a milestone of protection
:06:33. > :06:34.for economies which have not adopted the euro.
:06:35. > :06:36.And unless the draft does deliver, prohibiting discrimination
:06:37. > :06:39.Another aim of David Cameron's expedition was to get Britain out
:06:40. > :06:41.of ever closer union with the European Union.
:06:42. > :06:44.And the draft recognises that the UK is not committed to further
:06:45. > :06:46.political integration into the European Union.
:06:47. > :06:51.The Prime Minister also called for sovereignty of national parliaments
:06:52. > :06:55.to be bolstered, but this looks like it is set to be an uphill slog
:06:56. > :06:58.for the PM, with confusion over what his red card realistically means in
:06:59. > :07:01.terms of giving national parliaments greater powers to club together
:07:02. > :07:13.It is also unclear what powers MEPs might have to reject
:07:14. > :07:19.Limit child benefits, and a ban on so-called sham
:07:20. > :07:22.marriages, all of which could leave the British Prime Minister with more
:07:23. > :07:28.We're joined now from Brussels by the Conservative MEP Kay Swinburne.
:07:29. > :07:34.Are you broadly happy with what the Prime Minster has achieved?
:07:35. > :07:38.I think the Prime Minister set out his clear agenda and has obviously
:07:39. > :07:44.been in and got support from all of the other member states so far.
:07:45. > :07:47.It has the final leg to go in the last stages of negotiations.
:07:48. > :07:50.Yes, I'm happy he set his priorities, he has got what he
:07:51. > :07:53.has aimed for in all four areas, and I'm hoping he can deliver
:07:54. > :08:00.in that final set of negotiations in the middle of this month.
:08:01. > :08:06.In what way has UK sovereignty been enhanced by this settlement?
:08:07. > :08:10.There are several things within that, and it is very important that
:08:11. > :08:14.we were excluded from the ever closer union, especially
:08:15. > :08:17.as those eurozone countries decide to get closer in terms of
:08:18. > :08:23.For us, it was important we were differentiated outside of that
:08:24. > :08:29.But we are outside of it - that is really just reinforcing
:08:30. > :08:36.There are some big issues here in terms of what they will need to
:08:37. > :08:39.do going forwards, and to make sure we are well outside
:08:40. > :08:45.For us, it is also important that we have this new red card system, that
:08:46. > :08:49.we have a system whereby if there is a piece of legislation that actually
:08:50. > :08:52.does not suit us for whatever reason and it is impacting on our economy,
:08:53. > :08:58.we would be able to, with others, say that it is not acceptable.
:08:59. > :09:00.That does not enhance British sovereignty, that involves getting
:09:01. > :09:03.together 15 other parliaments within a 12-week period.
:09:04. > :09:07.It would involve some of these other parliaments rebelling and voting
:09:08. > :09:11.against the stated position of their elected governments.
:09:12. > :09:16.That is a mechanism, nothing to do with British sovereignty.
:09:17. > :09:19.In terms of member states actually having more say over the
:09:20. > :09:23.legislation, a key part of that part of the document is that actually
:09:24. > :09:26.member states will have more of their regulation done at national
:09:27. > :09:32.That is something that not just the UK is calling for
:09:33. > :09:39.In terms of sovereignty, what can be done at national level will be
:09:40. > :09:45.That is an important part of that section that has been overlooked.
:09:46. > :09:49.I want to bring in our guests in London.
:09:50. > :09:54.Could this settlement run into trouble in the European Parliament?
:09:55. > :09:56.We have three shepherds of the parliament representatives
:09:57. > :10:10.There is a strong will there to help Britain stay in the European Union.
:10:11. > :10:13.This is a message that the British electorate should hear, that our
:10:14. > :10:16.fellow countries, despite all of their frustrations and irritations,
:10:17. > :10:30.they don't want Britain to leave, and I have sat in internal meetings
:10:31. > :10:33.listening Francois Hollande, a big critic of David Cameron,
:10:34. > :10:35.and he has said he could be part of the compromise.
:10:36. > :10:41.Will the European Parliament be a thorn in the British side
:10:42. > :10:49.Quite frankly, the three representatives of the European
:10:50. > :10:53.Parliament are MEPs from the three groups, not representatives
:10:54. > :10:57.from my group or Kay's group or two other groups, but they have a very
:10:58. > :11:01.different approach to the direction the European Union should be going.
:11:02. > :11:03.If elements of this deal come before the European Parliament,
:11:04. > :11:10.I see Britain's future outside the European Union.
:11:11. > :11:13.This is much further than hashing a debate on what is conceivable or
:11:14. > :11:20.What this is about is what is not in this re-negotiation.
:11:21. > :11:23.The fact that the supremacy of the British Parliament, the supremacy
:11:24. > :11:27.of the European courts, I can go on and on in so many different areas.
:11:28. > :11:33.He has not achieved anything, not just what he has wished,
:11:34. > :11:35.but what David Cameron put to the British people
:11:36. > :11:40.It shows how little power we have in the European Union.
:11:41. > :11:45.Coming back to Kay Swinburne, if this was watered down further in the
:11:46. > :11:49.process before we get to the summit, if some of it is taken back a bit,
:11:50. > :11:52.given so many of your colleagues in London and the European Parliament
:11:53. > :11:55.think it is a pretty watered-down document anyway, it couldn't survive
:11:56. > :12:05.I have to restate there is a large number of us who fully support
:12:06. > :12:08.the Prime Minister's negotiations as they currently stand, and think
:12:09. > :12:19.But what if it's watered down further?
:12:20. > :12:22.In terms of watering it down, this is a negotiation.
:12:23. > :12:24.These are things on the table at the moment.
:12:25. > :12:27.I'm asking you what would happen if it is watered down further, though?
:12:28. > :12:30.I have full faith the Prime Minister will get his negotiation at the
:12:31. > :12:34.level he is anticipating, and that we will be able to therefore support
:12:35. > :12:39.For me, it is very much a case of we have goodwill, and we will be
:12:40. > :12:47.Now, is the dream of a borderless Europe about to end?
:12:48. > :12:49.The arrival of over a million migrants over the last
:12:50. > :12:52.year has prompted many EU countries formally in the borderless Schengen
:12:53. > :13:00.We have visited the famous Denmark-Sweden border, where
:13:01. > :13:03.crossing the Oresund Bridge between the two countries, you may have seen
:13:04. > :13:14.the TV detective series based on it, has been made a lot more difficult.
:13:15. > :13:20.Security checks at the last station in Denmark before crossing into
:13:21. > :13:25.Sweden over the Oresund Bridge. This new border control is disrupting the
:13:26. > :13:30.journeys of thousands of commuters who used to travel freely to in the
:13:31. > :13:38.two countries. Some of the passengers have said this is a new
:13:39. > :13:41.Iron Curtain. We have had no border, and suddenly we get a
:13:42. > :13:45.boarder at this station. People are really shocked and disappointed
:13:46. > :13:49.because they think they have not expected they have to show a
:13:50. > :13:55.passport to go home from work. Good morning. The border checks have been
:13:56. > :13:59.introduced as a result of a new Swedish law to deal with the
:14:00. > :14:05.unprecedented flow of migrants travelling through Denmark and into
:14:06. > :14:08.Sweden. Thank you. Have a nice day. Just this week, Sweden's migration
:14:09. > :14:16.minister travel to Copenhagen to meet his Danish counterpart and
:14:17. > :14:22.justified the new controls. In four months, September-December, there
:14:23. > :14:31.arrived 114,000 people to Sweden. In the whole year, 2015, there arrived
:14:32. > :14:34.163,000 people to Sweden. That is 1.6% of our population. It is his if
:14:35. > :14:36.in the UK would have come 1 million people in
:14:37. > :14:44.one year. There's no doubt the new law has
:14:45. > :14:47.slowed down the daily commute. But is it also the end
:14:48. > :14:50.of the line for this corner The Oresund Bridge is
:14:51. > :14:54.so much more than just It's a symbol
:14:55. > :14:58.of open borders that has powered Now there are fears that
:14:59. > :15:01.vision is fading away. I'm optimistic that we will find
:15:02. > :15:04.a better way to manage the ID control because we can't live with
:15:05. > :15:07.a Checkpoint Charlie in Copenhagen Airport between Denmark
:15:08. > :15:10.and Sweden, so we have to find a way of making it more manageable
:15:11. > :15:15.for the commuters. So I've arrived in Sweden and here
:15:16. > :15:18.are the police again, something you So we've stopped just before Malmo
:15:19. > :15:27.and ID is checked again. Sweden is facing
:15:28. > :15:33.a new political challenge as attitudes harden in the wake
:15:34. > :15:36.of the migrant crisis, something that worries the political editor
:15:37. > :15:41.of the regional paper in Malmo. We've gone from being extremely
:15:42. > :15:47.liberal and a very unusual approach for Europe to approaching almost
:15:48. > :15:51.a Hungarian style policy. It was a panic reaction
:15:52. > :15:57.and it was assumed that nothing we have previously believed will work
:15:58. > :16:01.for this particular situation, and to me that is a lack of faith
:16:02. > :16:05.in your own policies that make me It's not just in Sweden where
:16:06. > :16:10.the political weather is changing. Back in Copenhagen, the Danish
:16:11. > :16:14.parliament recently passed a law giving authorities the power to
:16:15. > :16:18.seize the assets of asylum seekers. A move that's been
:16:19. > :16:22.widely criticised. It's quite reasonable that
:16:23. > :16:25.if you have to pay for your stay in Denmark and your family's stay
:16:26. > :16:33.in Denmark, then you should pay, why should Danish taxpayers pay
:16:34. > :16:36.for your stay in Denmark? My family, the Danish People's
:16:37. > :16:39.Party, think that this piece of legislation is a step in the right
:16:40. > :16:42.direction and we will continue to work for even more tighter rules on
:16:43. > :16:45.refugee issues and migration rules, because we believe the number coming
:16:46. > :16:48.to Denmark, for instance from the The refugee crisis is challenging
:16:49. > :16:58.the whole idea of European integration and will continue to
:16:59. > :17:00.haunt its institutions Jo Co on the bride,
:17:01. > :17:09.she'll be in Borgen next. Schengen's on life support,
:17:10. > :17:11.isn't it? It is de facto,
:17:12. > :17:13.it's just not operating now. There's going to be a big Nordic
:17:14. > :17:18.noir vote in the EU referendum, and Jo is obviously a fan
:17:19. > :17:20.of the programme. But yes, there are intense
:17:21. > :17:23.pressures at the moment and there One, it really makes
:17:24. > :17:29.the point that Britain has opted out of Schengen, of borderless travel,
:17:30. > :17:32.we've opted out of immigration When Eurosceptics want to sort
:17:33. > :17:46.of make the debate in Britain about how we've got open borders,
:17:47. > :17:49.look, it's just not true. Were we right not to go
:17:50. > :17:51.into Schengen? I would like us to manage
:17:52. > :17:54.our migration in Europe better, I would like us for example to be
:17:55. > :18:00.part of the EU relocation scheme. I asked whether it was
:18:01. > :18:03.a sensible decision, because many people think it would not to have
:18:04. > :18:11.participated in Schengen. We're an island nation
:18:12. > :18:13.and we have different opportunities to defend our borders,
:18:14. > :18:20.and what's wrong with that? The second question,
:18:21. > :18:22.is Schengen in trouble? Of course it is, of course it is,
:18:23. > :18:25.because we've seen unprecedented numbers crossing our borders
:18:26. > :18:27.and this year by the way we will see people coming
:18:28. > :18:30.from Afghanistan, and that's going So we do have to do find common
:18:31. > :18:35.ways of dealing with it. The idea that one country
:18:36. > :18:39.on its own can solve these big Britain outside the European Union
:18:40. > :18:47.can decide properly what our borders should be without this
:18:48. > :19:11.The issue is the free movement of people.
:19:12. > :19:14.Schengen that we don't have this problem.
:19:15. > :19:16.What is happening on the bridge where Jo was reporting from, we
:19:17. > :19:19.already have, that is our situation, that's the situation whether its
:19:20. > :19:23.already have, that is our situation, that's the situation whether it's
:19:24. > :19:27.But we have the free movement of the workforce.
:19:28. > :19:30.With the changes coming in with regards to the living wage,
:19:31. > :19:33.The average living wage will be ?9 70.
:19:34. > :19:37.Someone working a 40-hour week will be earning ?14,000 a year in the UK.
:19:38. > :19:40.If you work on local figures in Rumania, they would be on
:19:41. > :19:43.If you work on local figures in Romania, they would be on
:19:44. > :19:46.We've got a situation where it will remain
:19:47. > :19:50.It's not just about controlling your border,
:19:51. > :19:53.it's about having the ability to decide who comes to live in the UK.
:19:54. > :19:57.Wasn't the weakness of Schengen that it was always going to be as strong
:19:58. > :20:01.And since the borders of southern Italy and Greece have proved to be
:20:02. > :20:04.very weak indeed, it was inevitable that Schengen couldn't survive.
:20:05. > :20:07.And after the Paris attacks, reports in the Wall Street Journal
:20:08. > :20:09.this morning that the leader of the Islamic State attack on Paris
:20:10. > :20:12.says he slipped in among EU refugees from Syria.
:20:13. > :20:14.That's the end of Schengen as long as that's pertaining.
:20:15. > :20:18.But I met the counterterrorism police in my own constituency
:20:19. > :20:21.in the east of England and yes, they are shocked on the external border
:20:22. > :20:24.that there wasn't the basic check of the passport against the terrorist
:20:25. > :20:26.database that would be natural on the British border.
:20:27. > :20:29.Then I went back to the European Parliament to press
:20:30. > :20:34.But for everyone watching, of course we need robust,
:20:35. > :20:42.But to people who want to go on holiday to Spain or send their kids
:20:43. > :20:54.on a school exchange to Germany, or somebody whose husband or wife gets
:20:55. > :21:00.a job in Italy, do they want to have to go down to an embassy in
:21:01. > :21:07.London, line up, get a visa, possibly be refused?
:21:08. > :21:09.Your party wants us to go back to
:21:10. > :21:13.You have international agreements, that is ridiculous.
:21:14. > :21:15.What this is about, this is about a situation...
:21:16. > :21:17.You want free movement still, do you?
:21:18. > :21:19.I want a British government that can decide policy without
:21:20. > :21:26.What bit of "I have to stop you" did you not get?
:21:27. > :21:29.Of all countries in the European Union, the Belgians are perhaps
:21:30. > :21:35.Belgium is home to many EU institutions of course
:21:36. > :21:42.But as Adam Fleming discovered, the country itself is really two
:21:43. > :21:49.The author Brigitte Raskin lives on the fault line that runs through
:21:50. > :22:00.On this side we are in a Flemish town.
:22:01. > :22:14.It is called one thing on one side and another on the other.
:22:15. > :22:17.Here we are in the Flemish community, that is the French
:22:18. > :22:24.This is the Flemish region, and this is Wallonia.
:22:25. > :22:26.The Flanders side of the street is also richer, better
:22:27. > :22:35.educated and has lower unemployment than the well only in sight.
:22:36. > :22:38.educated and has lower unemployment than the Wallonian side.
:22:39. > :22:42.She has written a book about the dispute which has
:22:43. > :22:47.complicated historical origins but very modern consequences.
:22:48. > :22:51.One day there was a man who had an accident on a bike.
:22:52. > :22:54.the other man was on the Wallonian side.
:22:55. > :23:09.And did I mention in the east there is a community that speaks German.
:23:10. > :23:11.It means an alphabet soup of multiple levels of government,
:23:12. > :23:15.which I discovered at the Royal Palace.
:23:16. > :23:19.The king was hosting a New Year's reception for all of them.
:23:20. > :23:20.Well, if you're into Belgian politics, as
:23:21. > :23:26.On the section line, the Prime Minister, who runs
:23:27. > :23:29.the federal government, which looks after the big stuff, along with
:23:30. > :23:32.the minister president of Flanders, his equivalent from Wallonia and
:23:33. > :23:36.separate leaders representing the French, Dutch and German
:23:37. > :23:49.language communities, which all have their own parliaments too.
:23:50. > :23:53.The boss of Brussels capital region was there as well,
:23:54. > :23:57.but I'm not sure how many of the city's 19 mayors could make it.
:23:58. > :24:00.Even the local journalists need a list.
:24:01. > :24:05.Some Dutch, some French,
:24:06. > :24:09.Critics say that the spate of terrorist attacks allegedly planned
:24:10. > :24:16.in Belgium recently is a result of a weak central government.
:24:17. > :24:18.Others like Mark from the New Flemish Alliance thinks
:24:19. > :24:22.Do you think in ten years Belgium will exist as a country?
:24:23. > :24:27.I am a strong believer of the fact that powers will shift.
:24:28. > :24:30.More and more powers will go to the regional level
:24:31. > :24:33.and other powers, where there is an added value to work together,
:24:34. > :24:42.But this larger scale will not be manageable because it's too small.
:24:43. > :24:45.At least you can guarantee some national unity this summer.
:24:46. > :24:48.Soon it is Euro 2016 and Belgium's football team is the best
:24:49. > :24:52.Do you get a sense of evaporation when you're in Brussels?
:24:53. > :24:59.Brussels is a third part, it is a capital city not like London
:25:00. > :25:01.which relies entirely on public funds, because of
:25:02. > :25:21.Whether it is Belgium, the Basque country or Ireland,
:25:22. > :25:24.Europe has being a unifying force that has enabled past division to