28/02/2014 Politics Europe

China has blamed separatists from the north`west of the country. Now

it is time for Politics Europe. Welcome to Politics Europe. On

today's programme `they rolled out the red carpet for her. Angular

Merkel had a cosy cup of tea with the Queen but her message was that

easy. Who do you think should be the easy. Who do you think should be the

next president of the European commission? Will be looking at all

of the candidates. Emigration from the rest of Europe into Britain is

on the rise. What now for the government 's target to cut the

numbers? In Europe, but not in the EU. Could Switzerland be the model

for Britain if it leaves the European Union? The latest from

Europe in 60 seconds, our guide. The Nordic model of prostitution has

been backed by MEPs who voted to legalise the selling of sex and to

criminalise those buying it. Smaller German parties, including the far

right, are more likely to Dean European Parliament seats after the

Parliament scrapped the rule requiring 3% of votes to get a seat.

Tough anti`smoking rules of an voted for including the introduction of

mandatory health warnings covering two thirds of cigarette packets. All

new cars were too fitted with a life`saving device from 2015 which

automatically dials emergency services in the event of a crash.

MEP said that it will cut response times and save lives. In a

high`profile visit to London, the German Chancellor angular Merkel

said that she will work with Britain to reform Europe. She said that she

wants Britain to remain a strong voice inside the EU. `` Angela

Merkel. Let's talk about Macclesfield it to

Britain. `` angular metal. David Cameron cannot have history on set

for Christmas. She said that there would be no fundamental reform. It

was a meeting of minds. Two of the most important politicians in

Europe. They can get the reforms that we need to see in Europe. She

made it clear that if there was to be a treaty change it could not be

within Mr Cameron 's timetable. Should not close any doors. She was

being pragmatic and so was the Prime Minister. She was confirming what

was being said, there would be no fundamental renegotiation. It is a

United States of Europe, you can be in or out. The arguments of the same

now as they were 40 years ago in essence. It is just that it has

gotten much worse. We could have a referendum now if Parliament wanted.

She will not do that because he is not genuine. Situation is clear. We

need reform and change. She wants change in Europe and she knows that

it is changing. They are very much the same mind in many ways. She says

that she wants a fundamental reform of the European architecture. But

she said that those wanting that would be in for a disappointment.

Those wanting that in the speech were in for a disappointment. But

the negotiations are ongoing. We have a very fair prospect of success

despite the misery guts approach of my colleague here.

(CROSSTALK) If you are going for a major treaty

change, treaty changes that affect the whole continent, they always

take a long time. They have to be ratified by every Parliament and

often by a referendum. I would suggest to you that the French

president needs a referendum on this like a hole in the head. Francois

Hollande does not want that. He has a limit to the number of days that

he will be in power. I hope very much that the reform agenda that is

being discussed and will be discussed will produce the right

results for us before 2017. Gerard sits here huffing and puffing but

UKIP will never be in power and will not give the people in this country

referendum. We will give them a referendum and we can get reform.

Every month to go to Strasberg we get rafts and rafts of legislation.

What do they want to reform? (CROSSTALK)

We go to Europe and we defend this legislation. The reason they go to

Brussels and turn this rubbish out is because they're being paid an

extra ?250 a day for doing it. (CROSSTALK)

What percentage of votes in the Parliament you think you will get?

Yellow I will get about 80 votes. Is it not demeaning that we are cosying

up to the Germans. We do not have to demean ourselves do it? What is the

point that? They seem desperate to suck up to the Germans. We take the

German seriously as we should. Taking them seriously something

else. The Mac Nigel said that you can just have fun. The Conservatives

in Europe are teasers. We stand for our own country and want to run our

own affairs. We cannot control immigration. The first time that

there was a German headline on the Son. Norway is not in the EU. Do you

think that the Queen and Mrs angular Merkel spoke in German? The Queen

would have said something and courtesy. That he would be English.

Certainly British. Figures released yesterday show that there was a 30%

increase in immigration into Britain. A big rise. There was a

drop in the number from outside Europe. The government did not like

that at Vince Cable said it was absolutely right and committed to

reducing that figure `` eczema can to reducing that figure was not

realistic. Yvette Cooper, she said that the

target is in tatters. She is right. She is not right at all. I was

Immigration Minister in the 1990s. This is one set of figures... When

you look at the position from the start of the government, we have

been reducing net migration will stop but more importantly, the

nature of the migration has been changing. It has been changing from

a largely unproductive group to a productive group. Who was that? 70%

of entrants were coming for education, going to bogus

universities or colleges which we have dealt with very severely. 30%

in two normal productive work. It is changing around. Hold on. Your party

promised to get immigration down to tens of thousands by next year. It

has now gone up to 212,000. You are going in the wrong direction. We are

going in the right direction. How is that possible? That is ridiculous.

You take this over the whole term. We are reducing net migration. We

have a set of figures from September last year. The situation even after

September and after January has changed dramatically as a result of

the government clamping down on benefit abuse. How do you know that?

These figures do not include any remaining as Bulgarians who have

come since the law was relaxed. And UKIP made it quite clear that from

the 1st of January, 27 million Bulgarians...

(CROSSTALK). We want people to help our economy. Before 2014, Romanians

and Bulgarians who came here to work are welcome. Do you understand why

people despair when your party promises to get immigration down but

it goes up by 60,000 two 220,000. And you come in to this programme

and say it is going on the right direction? Over the whole period it

is doing right direction. What are you on? What did you put in that?

There is something in the water. It has given me a good laugh. They

cannot do it because they're against immigration. Is this not something

that Britain should be proud of? Our economy is doing so well that young

Italians, young French, young Germans, young Spaniards, are coming

to this country because there are jobs, because they are welcomed and

overall they will be a huge asset to our economy. That's come back to the

numbers. We have 212,000 people coming. This figure has been going

on since Labour were in power. We are adding an extra million people

to the population every five or six years. That is completely

unsustainable. The current government cannot control

immigration while it is a member of the EU. It is as simple as that. We

have a policy of controlled immigration were we allow people in

a work permit basis where they did have the skills that we wanted. Real

vacancies that need to be filled. What about the vacancies now? You'll

make we have 1.5 million unemployed. A lot of these people are coming in

and driving wages down. When they do work, they are doing that. We also

have people who are not working. People are living rough outside the

bushes in my street. They were not working. It is out of control. It is

not out of control and the companies in this country that are developing

and are world leaders who like migration, moving imported stuff

around, they would not agree. Do not talk about denying people in this

country work. Nine out of ten of all of the new jobs that have been

created are British citizens. But that in perspective. Instead of this

being a good news story, it can be presented negatively. You cannot say

that this shows the success of the British economy because it flies in

the face of what your policy is supposed to be. Our policy is clear.

We want the right kind of immigration. We want economic

benefits, benefit to the country which helps us to develop. The

abusers, which have gone under the labour government previously, are

being denied now. Endless waves of cheap labour.

in Switzerland, they have had a referendum about immigration. They

are not that keen on it. Forgive the cliche that

Switzerland's relationship with Brussels is like a cuckoo clock. A

bit in, a bit out. In Europe but not in the EU. You can travel to France

and Germany without a passport and can export these because they are a

part of the single market but Switzerland is not in the euro

although these are pretty widely accepted. The country voted to stay

out of the EU in the early 2000. Swiss `EU relations are governed by

more than 100 different bilateral agreements, one of which commits

Switzerland to sending millions of euros in aid payments to EU members

in Eastern Europe. In this posh restaurant, a political scientist

explains what this says about the Swiss psyche. Switzerland is a

country where the local authorities are very important. It is from the

bottom up. We feel and I think it is real that Europe is a construction

of elites and is upside down, Brussels outward. It is against the

whole culture of our country. That uneasiness was exposed in the

referendum this month. Swiss voters chose to narrowly impose quotas on

how many people can come into the country from the European Union.

Legislation is being awaited to fill in the details. When at the

Ambassador to Switzerland from Brussels, he is number one priority

last year was selling the benefits of the European Union. We think that

the agreement we have had with Switzerland for over ten years has

been of great benefit, to them and to ask. Switzerland is a country

which has done very well in weathering the economic downturn.

One of the reasons is because it has been able to fill jobs. It has been

able to do that because it can call in workers and labour from the EU.

He is less dramatic now. Negotiations about education and

science have been called off. There is a warning of further

consequences. Eurosceptics say that referendum ranks along with the

scenery and the chocolate is one of the attractions in Switzerland

because it provides an alternative model or the British relationship

with Europe. You would be very welcome to join us in a free`trade

arrangement. It is not completely exclusive. It needs some

imagination. Thank you, dear Tower, but many believe that the idea of

more detached Swiss style arrangement is totally cuckoo. ``

Dieter. We never deal with cliches in this

programme. Would you keep like to see Britain have the same

relationship as Switzerland? No. It is almost as bad. With then had an

agreement not to join the EU but they also decided not to join the EU

economic area. They have bilateral arrangement. They get saddled with

legislation we wouldn't want. We would be more distant from the EU?

My view and the view of the party is that we leave the European Union.

They sell us far more than we sell them. They have trading arrangements

with Mexico, Israel and other countries. We could trade with them

and control our borders and our legislation. Are not clear what our

relationship would be with the EU. (CROSSTALK). This is of no interest

in me. It does indicate that you can have a country like Switzerland

which is having to abide by literally hundreds of regulations

but has no say at all at the top table. That may be OK for

Switzerland. It is not OK for Britain. (CROSSTALK). Trouble UKIP

is that you don't think big. (CROSSTALK). There is an ideological

thrust... U`boats don't want the Swiss model so we can move on. The

Swiss did a report in 2006... Your record is not 80%, it is 65.4%. The

iMac they can't get their own statistics right. The last figure I

saw was 78%. (CROSSTALK). Just under three months to go until the

European elections. It will be exciting. It's exciting in here.

They pretend you wind. Despite your palpable enthusiasm that I can feel

through the camera, the turnout of the elections is expected to be

lower. The turnout across the EU has been down in every European election

since they first began in 1979. This year, the powers that be have come

up the cunning plan to give the voter more of a say in who gets the

top jobs in the EU. You excited yet? I bet you are.

The European Parliament is on a mission to persuade you, the voter,

that it matters and so does your vote. Economic crisis has made the

European electorate weary than ever but the get out and vote campaign is

trained to send a message. This election will be different. ``

trying to send a message. The main political groups here in

Strasbourg have come up with a cunning plan. Call it three men in a

boat. They are putting for their preferred candidate to be the next

president in the European Commission. `` three men in a vote.

There is the Socialist candidate, the current president. The NEP and

Liberal candidate. The probable candidate on the centre`right,

another former prime minister. The idea is to persuade voters that they

can have a role in picking the next leaders of remote institutions. The

man leading the Socialist group of MEPs is determined to focus on

Parliament's Bill Haas role. We should get rid of the lack of

democracy in the EU. The Prime Minister decides who should run.

They always choose the weakest one. They have the biggest influence.

Eurosceptic groups in Strasbourg are not putting forward any commission

candidates. Not the first time, many of them smell the Federal is to

plot. They are trying to turn the whole of the legislature into a

shadow government able to nominate somebody to act as a Prime Minister

of Europe. We don't believe in this process and do not think it is

legally valid and think it is nonsense. The three people say the

same thing. There are no policy differences. These guys may be known

in the building that the idea of anybody having brought popular

appeal in 28 member states across Europe is a pretty tough ask. ``

brought popular appeal. If any national leaders decide to flex

their muscles which they probably will then their chances of any of

these guys getting the top job will disappear fairly rapidly. Everyone

knows who Europe's big guns really are. National leaders still rule the

roost. There are plenty of conversations going on already about

the top EU jobs. The vision of Euro enthusiasts is to make the whole

process of choosing the commission president more open, more democratic

but it is complex and rather than less haggling behind closed doors,

they could end up being rather more. These candidates are all hard line

it European federalist. Where is the choice? There isn't much choice. The

European Parliament should get a say at all. You agree? We aren't

bothered about this. They are all in favour of the United States of

Europe. I think that they will bring a lot of votes to us. In what way?

When they see them talking... It will boost our vote. Elite they turn

up? (CROSSTALK). Neither of you are involved. You

have left the main centre`right group and you don't care. It is not

the function of the European Parliament. European leaders should

decide these matters. Will one of these become the next president? If

you are building a single, unified political state which is what they

are... Somebody had to elect a president. Is that right? There is

no reference in the treaties or the Constitution to the Parliament. The

Parliament has taken these powers on itself. It should be told very

clearly that it is not a function. Who will be the president? Issued

the shops. He is the worst. You are going to the disaster strategy?

Hoodie you think it should be? I don't know. It should be up to the

leadership in each country. It is an important job. They could be some

good candidates. Those candidates they're presented, I don't think the

public is aware of who they are and what they are and care. We will have

to leave it there. Thank you very much. That is it today. Thanks to my

guests. They are both MEPs. Goodbye. If you are lucky enough to have some

sunshine on Saturday, it is proof that you don't necessarily need high

temperatures to feel the warmth of the sun. We have now reached a