Browse content similar to 11/04/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
in Lebanon. Mr Dell' Utri has been accused of alleged collusion with | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
the Mafia and was declared a fugitive on Friday. | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
Now on BBC News it's time for Politics Europe. | :00:00. | :00:40. | |
Welcome to Politics Europe. Your regular guide to the top stories in | :00:41. | :00:47. | |
Brussels and Strasbourg. On today's programme: Anti` EU parties on the | :00:48. | :00:55. | |
rise across Europe. We report from the Netherlands on why voters are | :00:56. | :00:57. | |
turning against the European project. As grease returns to the | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
bond market after four years, we ask, is the Greek economy on the | :01:03. | :01:10. | |
mend? You want to join a group, but don't know which is which? Let me | :01:11. | :01:13. | |
explain. With European elections on the rise, `` horizon, we bring you | :01:14. | :01:19. | |
our guide to the groups in the EU parliament. All that to come and | :01:20. | :01:26. | |
more in the next half hour. First, more trouble in Ukraine. Catalan | :01:27. | :01:31. | |
independence and MPs rap for your vote. Here is our guide to the big | :01:32. | :01:41. | |
stories of the week in 60 seconds. Greece jumped into the financial | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
market with its sale of long`term government bonds since the economy | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
almost collapsed four years ago. 3 billion euros sales was welcome news | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
ahead of the visit to Athens from German Chancellor Algol a call. | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
Tempers flaring Ukraine's parliament between opposing nationalist and | :01:57. | :01:58. | |
separatist factions following a heated debate about pro`Russian | :01:59. | :02:04. | |
activists using government `` seizing government buildings in | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
several Ukrainian cities. Spanish MPs overwhelmingly vote against | :02:10. | :02:12. | |
Catalonia 's bid for an independent referendum in a decision that is | :02:13. | :02:14. | |
likely to increase the divide between both sides. Listed companies | :02:15. | :02:20. | |
across the EU must get shareholder approval on pay for top executives | :02:21. | :02:23. | |
under a draft law aimed at addressing public anger over large | :02:24. | :02:31. | |
pay rises. Who says politicians aren't down with the kids? Members | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
of the European Parliament have been in a rap battle to engage young | :02:36. | :02:47. | |
voters. With us for the next 30 minutes I am joined by Martin | :02:48. | :02:52. | |
Callahan, MP for the Conservatives and Katherine still are, MEP for | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
labour. Let's look at one of the stories in detail. Grease. It | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
managed to get its bond issue away. It is back in the bond market. I | :03:02. | :03:04. | |
would suggest that this is partly because in the bond market, there is | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
a search for a yield and Greece is offering a lot more than the Germans | :03:11. | :03:16. | |
or the British or Americans. Greece. `` the country is mired in | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
stagnation. You are right. It is difficult. It is to be welcome but | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
it is a fragile state of affairs. We want to see them improve because of | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
the austerity measures sacrificed on the Greek people. It is shocking. | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
Terrible. If you speak to Greek colleagues, it this fragile news is | :03:37. | :03:44. | |
to be welcomed. There is a long way to go. Is there a concern in the | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
European Parliament about what are called the Club Med countries, | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, that they are on the verge of | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
a deflationary trap? We saw this week earlier that prices in Spain | :04:00. | :04:06. | |
are falling. Industrial production prices advocating Greece, Cyprus, | :04:07. | :04:13. | |
Portugal, falling. The Eirene of the euro is that it was supposed to | :04:14. | :04:16. | |
cement solidarity across Europe and it is doing the opposite of that `` | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
the irony. Northern Europe is generally doing OK. But those | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
countries are diverging. Greece is by no means out of the woods yet. | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
They have unsustainable levels of debt. Someone will have to pay that. | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
Resume and Lee from the eurozone countries. It is usually concerning. | :04:36. | :04:38. | |
There is no obvious solution `` presumably. White you spoke of the | :04:39. | :04:45. | |
sacrifices they have made. More than anyone else. As a result of this | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
deflationary trend, which magnifies the level of public debt, their | :04:52. | :04:58. | |
public debt is rising as a percentage of GDP. They have raised | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
taxes and cut public spending, made people unemployed, at their debt has | :05:04. | :05:14. | |
risen from 130% of GDP to 170% of GDP. We should acknowledge it has | :05:15. | :05:17. | |
been a right`wing agenda of austerity that has been imposed on | :05:18. | :05:20. | |
the Greek people. It would have been different if there was a different | :05:21. | :05:28. | |
political flavour in power. (CROSSTALK) it was the Socialists in | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
power when it went wrong in the first place. You need to accept that | :05:33. | :05:40. | |
lessons are being learned. Banking unions show there will be reformed. | :05:41. | :05:47. | |
You cannot escape from the fact that austerity measures imposed on the | :05:48. | :05:50. | |
Greek people have been because of politics in play. That has been the | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
dominance of right.. Debt is going up because they are locked into a | :05:57. | :05:58. | |
currency union. Austerity means paying your way and balancing the | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
books. The Labour Party may want to argue you can keep spending on | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
spending without raising the money, but in France the Socialist were | :06:07. | :06:15. | |
elected on an end to austerity. (CROSSTALK). Moving on. European | :06:16. | :06:22. | |
elections Lexmark are the most recent since the crisis and has | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
brought us close to the European collapse `` next. The fallout has | :06:28. | :06:34. | |
led to frustration with the European project and right`wing parties like | :06:35. | :06:41. | |
the French party, the Freedom party in the Netherlands and others are | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
expected to do well, standing on an anti` EU platform. | :06:46. | :07:02. | |
The EU dream has gone sour for some. Beljan dock workers joined trade | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
unionists at this protest last week. Most rallied peacefully for the EU | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
to work better. A few picked a fight with police. The talk here in | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
Brussels is of an EU in trouble. Austerity, economic crisis and high | :07:17. | :07:23. | |
unemployment in several countries is spawning disillusionment with the | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
whole European project. In northern Europe, the anti` immigrant, anti` | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
EU right light doing well. In southern Europe, the radical left | :07:32. | :07:38. | |
are on the rise. While MEPs come back to the EU parliament after they | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
elections, many will have won their seat because of their opposition to | :07:44. | :07:46. | |
Brussels, even in countries that are traditionally very pro`European. | :07:47. | :07:54. | |
Tolerant and liberal and green, the Netherlands popular cliche petals | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
on. It was one of the founding countries of what is now the EU. | :08:00. | :08:05. | |
Half an hour from Amsterdam at different politics has emerged. At | :08:06. | :08:07. | |
the last European elections in 2009, the Freedom Park he won half the | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
vote in this town. That is the party of Kurt filters, the hard Right | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
peroxide head populist who rails against Muslims and the EU `` | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
Freedom party. It won for MEPs and topped the poll in the Netherlands. | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
Some will back in again. The Freedom party. Why? For free country. Lee it | :08:27. | :08:37. | |
is terrible. These people take the jobs from Dutch people. It is not | :08:38. | :08:46. | |
good. This place isn't buzzing with Euro election fever. Several people | :08:47. | :08:49. | |
I have spoken to do not know there is a pole and none have `` many | :08:50. | :08:56. | |
don't have an interest. What is surprising is that this pretty | :08:57. | :08:59. | |
little town with tourists than teashops is somewhere where the far | :09:00. | :09:06. | |
right have done well in the past. Look around, you don't see any black | :09:07. | :09:17. | |
people over here. When the crowd called for fewer Moroccans in the | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
Netherlands, this is what he said. The police received hundreds of | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
complaints that he was inciting ritual hatred. His poll had shrunk. | :09:27. | :09:33. | |
Tommo was a member of the party before being thrown out in 2010. `` | :09:34. | :09:41. | |
Kurt Tomlin. He says the party has gone too far. The way he speaks | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
about the Moroccans he will go to jail and he has to go to jail for | :09:48. | :09:54. | |
it. It is too far. Let me put it in English, do you want less Welsh | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
people? Do you want less Scottish people? Do you want less people from | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
Europe? No, it's not possible. In France, Maria Lipman has tried to | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
rebrand the National front. It suggests they will do well in the | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
elections also. Builders has elected a pact of far right parties but the | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
support could be fragile. Ukip is not a racist party and Nigel Farage | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
is careful to say that. He is an end to a European party and is open to | :10:26. | :10:32. | |
closed borders. This is what people in fenland and so on in Denmark are | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
saying. Those likely to top the polls are saying we are not racist | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
but we are anti` European `` Finland. We want less things done in | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
Brussels. UKIP says it won't join the likes of Le Pen and builders in | :10:44. | :10:46. | |
an EU parliamentary group. Here in the Hague, the centre coalition | :10:47. | :10:53. | |
knows it and the EU must do more to rebuild trust. When you look at the | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
next European Commission they should strengthening the single market, | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
making trade agreements with other parts of the world and transferring | :11:04. | :11:13. | |
powers from Brussels to the member state as the only way to preserve | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
Europe for the future. FIFA white in the Netherlands might struggle to | :11:19. | :11:21. | |
beat its excess at the last elections, I'd Kurt filters could | :11:22. | :11:26. | |
find themselves in Brussels joining others whose hostility to the EU has | :11:27. | :11:35. | |
hit home `` at. Another country where the far right is riding high | :11:36. | :11:39. | |
is France where it Marie Le Pen 's `` Maria Lipman 's National front | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
made gains in the local elections. Middling towns, but nevertheless | :11:45. | :11:53. | |
they took up over there. Largely at the expense of Francois Hollande 's | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
Socialist party. We speak with an expert in the dynamics of the French | :11:59. | :12:04. | |
right. Would it the fair to say that of this phenomenon of going outside | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
the mainstream, that within Europe, the National front is the most | :12:09. | :12:14. | |
successful case. It is one it is doing particularly well at the | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
moment. It is very favourable for them. It has also worked a lot on | :12:21. | :12:27. | |
its own image and strategy and I think that accounts for its excess. | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
If you look at some of the places where it did well, industrial or | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
former industrial towns in the north, Marseilles, one of the | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
biggest districts there. What is striking is that they are all | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
historically the old readouts of the Communist Party. Is it the same | :12:50. | :12:53. | |
people? That's right. For a long time, people thought the National | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
Front would do very well by transferring the vote from | :12:58. | :12:59. | |
conservatives to the extreme right, but what we witnessed over the past | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
2`3 years is a substantial shift from traditional socialist and | :13:06. | :13:08. | |
communist voters towards the National Front. We describe in this | :13:09. | :13:16. | |
country the National Front, which I have seen in France, the far right. | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
When you look at it economic policies, in this country they look | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
benign. They look like the sort of things Tony Benn is talking four, | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
anti` euro, high government spending. It would not work very | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
well with Nigel Farage for instance. It is rare that in the sense the | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
National Front distances itself from neoliberal politics for a time now | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
and adopts neither right nor left stances in economic and social | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
policy, you could say that the policy put forward by the National | :13:53. | :13:55. | |
Front are very close to an old left recipe. In the local French | :13:56. | :14:05. | |
elections, there were 30,000 or thousands of municipalities up for | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
the vote and the National Front only fronted up to about 560 of them. | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
This time, they have to fight nationwide. What would be able good | :14:15. | :14:27. | |
result for them? If you can see the National Front about 20, that would | :14:28. | :14:30. | |
be a good result. Usually it does three well when there is a strong | :14:31. | :14:32. | |
leader, so in the presidential election people voted for the man | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
rather than the party. But over the past two weeks, the municipal | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
election has shown that it can do well without a recognisable leader. | :14:43. | :14:48. | |
You have places where the candidate was fairly unknown, and they did | :14:49. | :14:53. | |
very well. It shows that people tend to vote for the National Front, for | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
the content, for what they put on the table, rather than whether it is | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
leading. Will be centre`right party, the party that Mr Sarkozy was | :15:04. | :15:10. | |
president of, will that still come first? That is the big debate. The | :15:11. | :15:17. | |
last result showed that the UN paid the Conservative party in France, it | :15:18. | :15:25. | |
might just come first. The Socialists were below 20%. The | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
Nationalists with 22%. One of the consequences of this rise of parties | :15:32. | :15:34. | |
outside the mainstream, mainly on the right, but not entirely, is that | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
your party is likely to come third in the European elections. We have | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
to wait and see in the election. There is still a long way to go in | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
the campaign. You are long way behind the polls. We are, if you | :15:49. | :15:56. | |
believe the polls at the moment. It is likely there will be a low | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
turnout, it is up to us to try to get the voters go to come and | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
support us. At this stage in the political cycle, you should be | :16:05. | :16:07. | |
romping home in European elections, against the government, it is that | :16:08. | :16:14. | |
is what oppositions do. But you have a battle to beat Ukip. We have to | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
get out and fight for every single vote. We have a different situation | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
in Scotland than we have in other parts of England and Wales, where | :16:24. | :16:30. | |
Ukip is threatening both parties. I think in Scotland, what we are | :16:31. | :16:33. | |
trying to do is try to make sure we get as many votes for Labour to | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
fight against the Nationalists. When I wear this badge in the European | :16:40. | :16:46. | |
Parliament, they think it is about the UK, not about the EU. At a time | :16:47. | :16:53. | |
when unemployment in the Eurozone is about 12%, youth is over 20%, in | :16:54. | :17:00. | |
some countries it is as high as 60%, almost, in Spain and Greece. | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
Economies are barely growing, welfare is being cut, poverty has | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
been growing, particularly in the Club Med countries, why is it the | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
far right that is making the running and not be left? Think the far right | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
is very simple answers to many questions, and also they are | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
antiestablishment. There is a perfect storm coming together. You | :17:24. | :17:29. | |
are the establishment. It is interesting, when it talk about | :17:30. | :17:32. | |
forming political groups, these people can't work together. The only | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
parties, certainly my party, has a manifest for 31 parties saying that | :17:37. | :17:42. | |
it covers 20 countries, and that is a manifesto for change and delivery. | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
That isn't what I asked. What I try to ask is, why has the left, why had | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
they perceive that 2008 was a crisis of capitalism, and we have seen what | :17:53. | :18:03. | |
the outcome has been, why has the establishment not capitalised on | :18:04. | :18:06. | |
that? Why has it been the far right? In Britain, the BNP is now | :18:07. | :18:14. | |
nowhere... Ukip is nowhere. Where has the left unwell? For the first | :18:15. | :18:22. | |
time since I was a in 1999, this could be the largest group in the | :18:23. | :18:28. | |
European Parliament. In European Parliament elections, if we get one | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
more MEP within get the chance to form the presidency of the European | :18:35. | :18:41. | |
Commission. Your rants is that the national party is not a socialist | :18:42. | :18:54. | |
party, it is just a nationalist tinge. These nomenclature is not all | :18:55. | :19:03. | |
that interesting or useful. Let me go back to our guest, I suppose it | :19:04. | :19:09. | |
is not surprising, is it, that when you look at the state of Europe now, | :19:10. | :19:12. | |
and the lack of opportunity, growth, jobs, to Chile for young people, it | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
is not surprising that nonmainstream parties are doing well `` | :19:18. | :19:28. | |
particularly for young people. Mainstream parties seem to have | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
tried out different solutions, and voters don't see how that can make a | :19:35. | :19:37. | |
difference to their daily life. That is the great strength of extreme | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
parties on both sides. In France, going that what you have just | :19:44. | :19:45. | |
discussed, I think it is not surprising that the left is not | :19:46. | :19:51. | |
doing so well. For many years, maybe ten years, the Conservative party | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
and the socialist parties in France, put immigration, national | :19:56. | :19:59. | |
identity, at the centre, has been the most important issues, and a | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
radicalised these issues. I think that explains as well why it is the | :20:05. | :20:07. | |
extreme right and not the extreme left. Who is going to be the extreme | :20:08. | :20:12. | |
right candidate in the US presidential election? Certainly not | :20:13. | :20:22. | |
Nicholas Sarkozy. I think if there is a candidate, it will be either | :20:23. | :20:31. | |
the ex` PM. I think it is likely to be him. Do you know your ETP from | :20:32. | :20:40. | |
your SND and good GU EE from your E F a? They do, they are paid to. If | :20:41. | :20:50. | |
you don't, fear not. He is going to explain all in his latest A`Z of | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
Europe. Look at all those MEPs, more than | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
700. To make things more manageable, and the parliament has a of | :20:59. | :21:05. | |
pan`European groupings. There is some crazy art on display that | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
allows me to explain. Think of the group says political armies, each | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
one has to have at least 25 foot soldiers from at least seven member | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
states. You want to join the group, but you don't know which is which? | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
Let me explain. There are a seven to choose from. On the centre`right, | :21:27. | :21:29. | |
the European People's party, the largest, with 86% of seats. Also on | :21:30. | :21:35. | |
the right, the European Conservatives and reformists with | :21:36. | :21:38. | |
7%. That is where the Tories are. The Socialists and Democrats, where | :21:39. | :21:44. | |
you will find Labour has a quarter. The Lib Dems are with the Liberals, | :21:45. | :21:50. | |
Ukip's home is the European freedom and democracy group, and then there | :21:51. | :21:54. | |
are two small groups for the Greens and Nationalists. They aren't quite | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
as rigid as the political parties back at home. Sometimes, the line of | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
the group, the majority line, is one, but there are two or three | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
countries that are not satisfied, and they are going to vote with | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
another group. This is a process of permanent negotiation. Do the | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
political groups get any perks? They do, they get funding to pay for | :22:19. | :22:21. | |
things like staff, officers and communications. Political perks, | :22:22. | :22:29. | |
like the chairman, divvied up on group size. More members means more | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
influence. Has anyone set up any new groups of lately? A very young | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
looking David Cameron set up the European Conservatives and | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
reformists, after withdrawing his MPs from the European People's | :22:44. | :22:52. | |
party. The only ones who sit alone in the chamber are known as the non` | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
attached. Some are shunned for holding extreme views, and others | :22:57. | :22:58. | |
because they are extremely independent. But Hans Peter Martin | :22:59. | :23:09. | |
from Austria, he was in an independent group. I was turned into | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
a soldier, and they got a lot of letters from voters, e`mails, saying | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
hey, you have been a well`known journalist, you have written | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
interesting books, I voted for you as an original, I didn't want to | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
have another party. The troops are preparing for a big skirmish, the | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
European elections. It could see a change in the balance of power. | :23:31. | :23:38. | |
He has now taken to talking to inanimate objects! How important are | :23:39. | :23:44. | |
these groups? They are very important. They determine the | :23:45. | :23:47. | |
positions in the Parliament, the whip, how we vote for different | :23:48. | :23:55. | |
things, they are... Was at a mistake for you to come out of the | :23:56. | :23:59. | |
centre`right union? Absolutely not. We stopped our association with the | :24:00. | :24:06. | |
EEP, they want more integration, control of taxation, customs, home | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
affairs, and we didn't agree with that. We wanted to set up an | :24:11. | :24:14. | |
alternative with people we did agree with. You are a bit of a Billy no | :24:15. | :24:27. | |
mates. We have 57 MPs from 11 member states, and will have more after the | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
election. They are dribs and drabs, aren't they? They are not the main | :24:32. | :24:37. | |
members. We have some coalitions, there aren't many governments | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
anyway. That is a fair point. Is there much difference between the | :24:43. | :24:48. | |
mainstream centre`right group and the socialist group? No, exactly. | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
That's not true, there are differences. There are clear | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
differences in terms of social policy, in terms of how we see | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
things, and you can see how in this Parliament, sometimes votes can be | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
down to that one vote, it is so close. It looks as though in the new | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
Parliament, those votes again will be very close, and it looks as | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
though, Martin you are sitting here as the leader of a delegation, it | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
looks like you will have a very tough time trying to create a group, | :25:18. | :25:20. | |
which I think is a good thing, because I don't want to vote your | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
party into politics in what I want a strong socialist group. If the | :25:25. | :25:31. | |
electorate decides, we will see. That is all for today, my thanks to | :25:32. | :25:37. | |
my guess Martin Callinan and Catherine Stiller. | :25:38. | :25:52. | |
Hello there. We saw quite a contrast in weather conditions across the UK. | :25:53. | :26:01. | |
We will continue this picture through the course of the night, | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
where it is staying windy across the North, with showers. Further | :26:07. | :26:08. |