English

First they came for Assange…

 So, here is an idea: Let us join forces to block Assange’s extradition from any European country to the US, so that he can travel to Stockholm and give his accusers an opportunity to be heard. Let us work together to empower women, while protecting whistle-blowers who reveal nefarious behavior that governments, armies, and corporations would prefer to keep hidden.

To read the article, please click here
 

FT Alphachat 28 MAR 2019: On Democracy, Europe, the UK and Greece

Alphaville’s Jemima Kelly and Izabella Kaminska sat down with Yanis Varoufakis, former finance minister of Greece and current organiser of a trans-European group, DiEM25, of what he calls “radical Europeanists” — in favour of union, without deflation or austerity. Mr Varoufakis answers criticism from the left, pointing out that even if the euro or the EU were poorly conceived, leaving them now would have catastrophic consequences for the poor.

BBC Question Time, Sheffield 27th March 2019

“Britain needs a People’s Debate on its business model and its Constitution independently of how Brexit pans out… The most sensible way would be for the UK to exit the EU but stay in both a Custom’s Union and the Single Market for an indefinite period (though not forever). After the People’s Debate is complete, a People’s Vote can decide whether Britain rejoins the EU or drops out of the Single Market, the Customs’ Union or both…”

The swallows of the EUROPEAN SPRING are in full flight. If you missed it, watch the launch of our European Parliament election campaign at the Bozar, Brussels

On Monday 25th March, the EUROPEAN SPRING was launched at the Bozar Theatre in front of friends, supporters and hopeful citizens of Europe. For the first time in Europe’s history, a common list of candidates is presented across Europe promoting a single agenda – the NEW DEAL for EUROPE that we worked on together for more than two years. Europe has not had much to celebrate recently. Now we do!

Why Norway plus gives Britain the time it needs to get out of its Brexit mess – op-ed in The Telegraph

Brexit is, undeniably, important. The Prime Minister’s faulty negotiations have now turned what the majority of the British people considered an opportunity into a national crisis. However, now is perhaps the moment to reflect that, in an era of trade wars, geopolitical realignment and existential threats to our nations’ democracies, Brexit is not as important as we have allowed ourselves to imagine.