:00:00. > :00:00.boycotted the poll in protest at the overthrow of the democratically
:00:00. > :00:00.elected Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi. Now on BBC News, Politics
:00:00. > :00:50.Europe. On today's programme. The EU
:00:51. > :00:55.president accuses David Cameron of chauvinism and scaremongering.
:00:56. > :01:00.Britain has been debating whether to limit the free movement of people
:01:01. > :01:07.across Europe. The Maltese government is under fire for its
:01:08. > :01:14.plan to sell 2000 passports for 650,000 euros each. Political
:01:15. > :01:21.parties gear up for the parliament elections in May. Candidates seek
:01:22. > :01:28.their party 's nomination is to be president. Boatbuilding, broadband,
:01:29. > :01:50.transport. Projects in Cornwall funded by the EU. Here is our guide
:01:51. > :01:53.to Europe in 60 seconds. Multis plans to sell passports to
:01:54. > :01:59.foreigners to 650,000 euros have made the EU angry. Under the scheme,
:02:00. > :02:08.they can live in any member state not just Malta. Citizenship must not
:02:09. > :02:14.be up for sale. The Greek Prime Minister set up a stall for it being
:02:15. > :02:20.president of the union. Jobs and growth will top the agenda over the
:02:21. > :02:26.next six months. Tough talking from a man about the future of the EU. A
:02:27. > :02:34.simple choice to Europe. Reform or decline. His private life
:02:35. > :02:40.overshadowed his plans to get the economy moving again. Honey
:02:41. > :02:42.accidentally contaminated with genetically modified pollen will not
:02:43. > :03:05.have to be listed. I have been joined by an MEP and
:03:06. > :03:10.some guy. Let's look at the stories and a bit more detail. The planned
:03:11. > :03:20.to sell EU passports were 650,000 euros each. That is about half ?1
:03:21. > :03:23.million. Should that be legal? Yet to think that they're not just
:03:24. > :03:28.selling Maltese passports. They then have the right to go all along the
:03:29. > :03:33.border. Ireland and Portugal have also done that. Ireland made of a
:03:34. > :03:38.?200 million from this. It's happening right across the board.
:03:39. > :03:44.The big problem is and selling it to wealthy businessmen who will invest
:03:45. > :03:51.into Malta. The problem is Bulgaria and Romania who will hang out to
:03:52. > :03:56.other countries. There is evidence it is happening. When Spain has
:03:57. > :04:05.given amnesty to people from Morocco, the problem is that Spain
:04:06. > :04:09.which has 50% or 60% youth unemployment, these people will then
:04:10. > :04:19.gradually drift west. Is Malta being different to us? I hear we have a T1
:04:20. > :04:27.investor scheme where you get the passport if you contribute ?1
:04:28. > :04:30.million. There are many countries around the world including the US
:04:31. > :04:36.and Canada that have this. There are schemes in place in most countries.
:04:37. > :04:40.This is a case for each country to decide what their rules are. Once
:04:41. > :04:49.they have rules and they are transparent, they have to abide by
:04:50. > :04:53.them. You want is giving them a passport. They are then free to go
:04:54. > :04:58.everywhere. It must be a concern to everyone in the EU. We have to make
:04:59. > :05:07.sure that the rules which are set out that they are adhered to. In all
:05:08. > :05:17.fairness, we can't see they are breaking the rules. Being able to
:05:18. > :05:20.travel freely as one of the main parts of the treaty made in the
:05:21. > :05:24.1950s. Poorer countries like Romania and Bulgaria joining in recent years
:05:25. > :05:29.mean that David Cameron says there should be limits to the freedom of
:05:30. > :05:39.movement. It has been met with a hostile reaction. As an EU citizen
:05:40. > :05:44.with one of these, I can arrive in a French city and start working and
:05:45. > :05:47.settle down if I want. It is just like members from other member
:05:48. > :05:52.states including those from Bulgaria and Romania. One man is trained to
:05:53. > :05:56.change that by calling for tougher controls on the freedom of movement
:05:57. > :06:01.from poorer EU countries. There's even talk of a on the numbers able
:06:02. > :06:05.to come and work in Britain. It has been met with derision by the Europe
:06:06. > :06:17.Parliament this says the idea will not fly. I have to offer him
:06:18. > :06:27.nothing. If he wants to redefine the relationship between United Kingdom
:06:28. > :06:40.and European Union, the relationship defines us. It is a right which is
:06:41. > :06:44.not up for negotiation. It can't come as a surprise that the
:06:45. > :06:47.principle from movement exist and is applicable throughout the union
:06:48. > :06:56.without discrimination, because we don't do that. The problem is that
:06:57. > :06:58.the principle of freedom of movement is etched into the fabric of the
:06:59. > :07:12.European Union. Many say it is nonnegotiable. We do not
:07:13. > :07:20.discriminate. They pay taxes where they work. These proposals are
:07:21. > :07:27.against European and treaty law. Everyone else will defend the
:07:28. > :07:35.discretion of free movement. What is getting a better wrap is giving
:07:36. > :07:39.access to benefits. The pension secretary has suggested two years
:07:40. > :07:47.before welfare can be claimed. This is agreed by the government, but
:07:48. > :07:51.they don't like to debate. It is the way they have gone about it. You
:07:52. > :07:56.can't work with people with similar views. You need to work with these
:07:57. > :08:00.people and not threaten them and lecture them. When it comes to
:08:01. > :08:17.Europe, they have always gone in different directions. They fell out
:08:18. > :08:25.with David Cameron over his plans on Europe. The elections will be based
:08:26. > :08:37.on whether you are in or out. We want to see the benefits of the
:08:38. > :08:42.opinion. David Cameron is talks on the European Union were meant to
:08:43. > :08:47.keep sceptics on board. It is not enough. Some Conservatives believe
:08:48. > :08:57.it is time for Britain to pack its bags and leave the EU altogether.
:08:58. > :09:03.We are joined by Bulgaria 's minister. Thank you for joining us.
:09:04. > :09:09.You described the British attitude to free movement as an intimidation
:09:10. > :09:18.campaign. That is pretty strong, isn't it? It is the way our citizens
:09:19. > :09:26.see it. That is why I had to say how we felt. What is more important now
:09:27. > :09:30.is that the campaign is granted and we are ready to reset correlations
:09:31. > :09:40.and start giving positive messages from both sides this country that
:09:41. > :09:47.has taken an a net increase of 3 million migrants. It is hardly an
:09:48. > :09:56.unwelcoming country in general. Definitely. That is where we were
:09:57. > :10:07.surprised. Bulgarians are not a nation which is ready to come in big
:10:08. > :10:11.numbers into the United Kingdom. We have proved in the past years that
:10:12. > :10:18.those Bulgarians are already here in the United Kingdom and contribute
:10:19. > :10:26.and are good members of the communities they live. That's where
:10:27. > :10:30.this campaign isn't understood. Is a bigger problem that are going to
:10:31. > :10:35.lose poorer you are in risk of losing some of your best and
:10:36. > :10:56.brightest and hardest working of the country. I'm you afraid we will get
:10:57. > :11:00.the benefit of them instead? They support the British economy in this
:11:01. > :11:15.case. That is part of the rules within the union. We are ready and
:11:16. > :11:21.we do accept that on our side. We also have to accept some difficult
:11:22. > :11:32.rules including another transitional period that was in our treaty. EU
:11:33. > :11:37.citizens are allowed to come and land and Bulgaria. There was debate
:11:38. > :11:43.there, but I government said it was part of our commitments and not
:11:44. > :11:52.negotiable. Yes, from 1st of January 2014, we apply these rules. The
:11:53. > :11:56.evidence we have seen so far is that there hasn't been avalanche of
:11:57. > :12:02.Bulgarians coming to this country. Those that have been coming here are
:12:03. > :12:08.coming to work. Do you have a view of when it is appropriate for those
:12:09. > :12:17.who come here when they should qualify for their qualify for
:12:18. > :12:21.welfare. I wouldn't enter into the debate on changes of social welfare
:12:22. > :12:27.and healthcare. It is a national responsibility. The national
:12:28. > :12:34.governments and parliaments have possibilities to change their rules.
:12:35. > :12:38.Within the European rules, the experts follow closely what is being
:12:39. > :12:49.proposed and adopted in United Kingdom. What's important is that
:12:50. > :12:56.the changes aren't being done in a disk entry way. This is the General
:12:57. > :13:08.agreement in my meetings with parliamentarians. They reconfirmed
:13:09. > :13:22.that any change will have no disk on a tree nature. Thank you for joining
:13:23. > :13:25.us. There are two things here. We have always welcomed people who want
:13:26. > :13:30.to come here and work. But there said, a lot of people choose to work
:13:31. > :13:36.elsewhere within the European Union. I think that is a very positive
:13:37. > :13:41.thing. People are quite welcoming of that particularly given that many of
:13:42. > :13:46.our doctors and professionals and the city of London benefits hugely.
:13:47. > :13:52.Many of the Europeans are working. The real issue is that there is no
:13:53. > :13:56.continuity or consistency in social and welfare benefits in Europe. Some
:13:57. > :14:01.countries allow you to have access to welfare within three months, some
:14:02. > :14:12.insects, some in a year. There is no consistency. UK had this instantly.
:14:13. > :14:23.People come here and benefit. We can start to make a difference once it
:14:24. > :14:26.is on the table for debate. The bigger issue here is that the
:14:27. > :14:29.freedom of movement of people may work when you're talking about two
:14:30. > :14:36.economies but when you open them up particular to Bulgaria, the minimum
:14:37. > :14:42.wage is 350 euros or odd man. The average is 150 or odd month traffic
:14:43. > :14:48.is only ever going to be one way. We can't. We have 1 million children
:14:49. > :14:51.are employed. But that is not as the results of Romanians or Bulgarians.
:14:52. > :14:58.It is the fault of the system. Our MPs have a strong. We should have
:14:59. > :15:03.the skills being offered so they could come here and work. We can't
:15:04. > :15:06.have an open border. The jewel party leader was predicting that they
:15:07. > :15:11.would be pouring in. There is no evidence this has happened. They
:15:12. > :15:18.will be disappointed. We are only 17 days in. I understand. Think tanks
:15:19. > :15:23.think there will be 250,000 over the next five years. In addition to
:15:24. > :15:28.those already here. 250,000 Romanians and Bulgarians can Chamakh
:15:29. > :15:34.yes. Over five years. The Institute for democracy says Moore. It is not
:15:35. > :15:37.similar to Bristol. It makes no sense to have an open border when we
:15:38. > :15:45.had 2.4 million people unemployed in our own country. But if we stay in
:15:46. > :15:49.the European Union, welfare payments, they are a different
:15:50. > :15:54.matter, but the principle of free movement of people is, it doesn't
:15:55. > :15:57.say free movement of workers, free movement of benefits, it is the free
:15:58. > :16:05.movement of people, it covers everybody. There is no advocate in
:16:06. > :16:09.the UK to change that. They are asking for a debate. I call it
:16:10. > :16:16.democracy, not popular is on. We need to have an open debate. There
:16:17. > :16:20.is plenty of room. We need to make sure that as the EU and margins, and
:16:21. > :16:24.it will, we already have countries that are signed up to come and join.
:16:25. > :16:27.We need to have sensible rules that they have to get to certain
:16:28. > :16:33.standards before they are allowed that try to free movement or free
:16:34. > :16:42.passage. We have the Ukraine, Serbia, all of them. We will be out,
:16:43. > :16:49.we will be able to control it. As you may know, 2014 is the year of
:16:50. > :16:54.fresh elections for the European Union. The voters in May. In
:16:55. > :16:58.Britain, polls open on Thursday, the 22nd, day after my in case you want
:16:59. > :17:03.to make another. The votes would be counted until Sunday the 25th
:17:04. > :17:09.because of other European countries working at the weekend. Up for grabs
:17:10. > :17:14.are 151 seats across 28 nations. In the United Kingdom, 73 MEPs will be
:17:15. > :17:19.returned with seats allocated according to a share of the vote. It
:17:20. > :17:22.is a PR system. The election will determine the make-up of the
:17:23. > :17:25.European Parliament for the next five years. The voters also
:17:26. > :17:29.important because for the first time, national leaders will have to
:17:30. > :17:34.the result into account when deciding who should be the next
:17:35. > :17:37.President of the EU Commission. That has led the European political
:17:38. > :17:43.groupings to nominate their own candidates. A party of European
:17:44. > :17:46.socialists has already made Martin Schultz, the current President of
:17:47. > :17:50.the European Parliament, as their choice for the President. The
:17:51. > :17:57.grouping will decide next month whether to choose the current
:17:58. > :18:05.economic affairs commissioner or a former prime minister of Belgium. He
:18:06. > :18:17.is a well-known federalist. In March, the writers and do evil party
:18:18. > :18:28.will decide their candidate. -- People's Party. One of the options
:18:29. > :18:32.is an EU commissioner. There we go. Who would you like to be the next
:18:33. > :18:43.President ? None of the above. They have -- do you have a candidate? Any
:18:44. > :18:47.star be decided between the states. I would like to see the next UK
:18:48. > :18:53.commissioner be the President. Who is that? We won't know that until
:18:54. > :19:06.July but I would like to have Nick Clegg... LAUGHS who would you like
:19:07. > :19:08.the next President to be customer I don't think we should be in the
:19:09. > :19:12.European Union. I knew you are going to say that. I
:19:13. > :19:17.know. If you don't get away, who would you like? None of the above.
:19:18. > :19:21.All it will happen is that it will be a big stitch up like we have with
:19:22. > :19:25.the President of the Parliament. The socialist as an aside their man,
:19:26. > :19:29.they will have a deal, be PUP will select theirs. It would be
:19:30. > :19:35.democratic it will be business as usual. What letter to the European
:19:36. > :19:42.Parliament ? -- what will it do to the European Parliament? We have a
:19:43. > :19:46.huge group of maybe 35%, maybe more, of those outside of the mainstream
:19:47. > :19:54.right and those to the further right. UKIP do very well. You're
:19:55. > :19:56.thirsty third place in the poll. We have a head in France at the
:19:57. > :20:01.moment. There is also Holland and Italy. What will that do to the
:20:02. > :20:08.Parliament? My biggest concern is that most of the work is done and on
:20:09. > :20:13.legislation, individual dossiers. Europe doesn't work on this. It
:20:14. > :20:16.means that there will be less people doing more work and it means that
:20:17. > :20:21.the centre will have to work harder to get those votes on proportion. So
:20:22. > :20:29.there is a big chunk of the European Parliament, will it mean more
:20:30. > :20:36.clashes between the Parliament and Brussels elites? I hope so because
:20:37. > :20:40.they have had an easy ride. I think the make-up of the parliament will
:20:41. > :20:43.change radically and maybe they will start listening to national
:20:44. > :20:48.democracy is a bit more. Do you think we will come first ? I hope
:20:49. > :20:53.so. But do you think it? I think we have a chance. Very political these
:20:54. > :20:59.days. The biggest chunk of the European Union budget was in the
:21:00. > :21:07.agricultural policy. Where does the second largest chunk go? No, not to
:21:08. > :21:10.flex but to MEP's pensions. It is sent back to member states to their
:21:11. > :21:15.poorest areas. Over the next seven years they will be sent to more than
:21:16. > :21:21.300 early in euros. Where does it all go? In the latest instalment of
:21:22. > :21:30.our European Union A-Z we have them looking at EU regional funds.
:21:31. > :21:39.Welcome to Cornwall. And the Isa Brussels, it is on par with or
:21:40. > :21:42.Transylvania. That is because Cornwall's annual income is less
:21:43. > :21:46.than three quarters of the EU average. It means it qualifies for
:21:47. > :21:51.special regional funding called convergence will stop it is designed
:21:52. > :21:57.to even out economic disparities across Europe. In Wales, it is the
:21:58. > :22:00.only place in the UK there gets it. In typical youth style, there is a
:22:01. > :22:04.flotilla of other funds as well but the bulk of regional money goes to
:22:05. > :22:09.regions like this. In Cornwall's case, 500 million pounds goes here
:22:10. > :22:14.over six years. Where has that Congress should not this yacht
:22:15. > :22:19.builders was awarded ?190,000. Local beneficiaries they had to match the
:22:20. > :22:22.funding with the own money. This is what it paid for. The mould for
:22:23. > :22:30.making the whole for the new model of yacht. The boats go to the super
:22:31. > :22:36.rich but they are helping to spread the wealth by creating jobs.
:22:37. > :22:39.Cornwall is very pretty around the outside and in summer when all of
:22:40. > :22:44.the Range Rovers comedown from London and park outside the cottages
:22:45. > :22:47.and feels very different. But you drive and five miles and their
:22:48. > :22:53.industry was lower than last ten years. There has been a huge change.
:22:54. > :23:00.Up the road is used to be fields but now it is higher education campus.
:23:01. > :23:08.It the centrepiece for a university studying environment and
:23:09. > :23:14.sustainability. 21 . They all seem quite cheap competitor because
:23:15. > :23:19.project, broadband. BT got ?53.5 million to pay for it. The company
:23:20. > :23:25.was stumping up the same amount. It all comes together here at the
:23:26. > :23:29.innovation centre. Travis Head set on. Strap it on your head. The
:23:30. > :23:34.investment on the Internet, new workspaces, education and employment
:23:35. > :23:39.board the scams company which has gone from warm worker last summer to
:23:40. > :23:46.11 by the end of this month. It made me feel a bit sick. It is so weird.
:23:47. > :23:49.There isn't really an aspect of the business operation done here which
:23:50. > :23:54.isn't some way as it did by European Union convergence funding. Devo
:23:55. > :24:02.debate every night thinking the founding fathers of the EU?
:24:03. > :24:08.-- do you go to bed every night. I wouldn't go that far but it has made
:24:09. > :24:14.it a lot easier for us. In return, the EU gets its flat busted
:24:15. > :24:18.everywhere. Yes, everywhere. It rages critics who think that the UK
:24:19. > :24:24.could spend its own money, thank you very much. It really be said that?
:24:25. > :24:29.As a local councillor, I am not sure that investment would have
:24:30. > :24:32.happened. It has happened through the European Union and it is going
:24:33. > :24:39.to happen in the future. We want to do our best to make the most of the
:24:40. > :24:43.investment. Sometime, and yes, it Europe fund at this as well.
:24:44. > :24:46.Insiders admit that not every year of regional funding was well spent
:24:47. > :24:49.like rural airports and Spain which are a lot quieter than this one.
:24:50. > :24:58.Regional funds aren't going anywhere. They are staying a crucial
:24:59. > :25:01.and that part of the budget. What is not to like about this? Look
:25:02. > :25:07.at all of this funding doing great things. Because it is our own money.
:25:08. > :25:11.And the last round Britain put in ?30 billion and got ?9 billion back.
:25:12. > :25:18.That is not good value for money. Look at my area, Merseyside, every
:25:19. > :25:21.?2 88 we only get ?1 that. That is our money. It would be better spent
:25:22. > :25:27.here. 20 seconds to reply. Wales is a huge
:25:28. > :25:32.recipient of convergence funding and also gets a large amount of in. I
:25:33. > :25:34.will take whatever we get so long as the standard correctly and make a
:25:35. > :25:39.difference to our economy. And who could blame if for taking what you
:25:40. > :25:41.can get? Thank you to my guests today. That
:25:42. > :26:05.is all for now. Mixed fortunes were many of us as we
:26:06. > :26:06.can. Chances are it is the Reynolds is a gimmick it