Reporting that growing numbers of Brits back the exit from the European Union, a new Guardian/ICM poll showed voters favor leaving the EU by 53% to 47%. Only a few weeks ago, those numbers were reversed, with a majority backing British Prime Minister David Cameron’s attempt to keep the U.K. in the EU. Started Nov. 1, 1993 with the signing of the Maastricht Treaty by former French President Francois Mitterand and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the EU finds itself in trouble. For the last 23 years, 29 EU countries found out what happens when you open up borders and allow immigration automatic work rights in foreign countries. Britain’s watched its jobs markets and economy shrink under the constant pressure adding immigrants into Britain’s shrinking economy. No one in the EU anticipated the Middle East immigration nightmare, now threatening the EU.
EU officials support President Barack Obama’s backing of the Saudi Arabian proxy war in Syria to topple Syrian President Basha al-Assad. Despite the known disasters of toppling Mideast dictators, like Iraq’s Saddam Hussein April. 10, 2003, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak Feb. 11, 2011 and Libya’s Col Muammar Gaddafi Aug. 24, 2011, the EU has backed the Saudi proxy war in Syria killing over 250,000, displacing 11 million to neighboring countries and Europe. Human rights groups like London’s Amnesty International and New York’s Human Rights Watch have called the five-year-old Syrian War the worst humanitarian crisis since WWII. Today’s massive influx of Middle East and North African refugees has caused deep cracks in the EU. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been forced to dial back her ambition plans of incorporating millions of Mideast refugees.
British voters see the effects of Merkel’s immigration policies, lowering wages and robbing British voters’ jobs. With the EU backing the Saudi proxy war creating the current Syrian immigration crisis, it’s no wonder U.K. voters lean toward getting out. Cameron’s done a good job of intimidating voters about the fallout from leaving the EU. Calling the Brexit the beginning-of-the-end for Western political civilization, European Council President Donald Tusk gave the most dire warning yet. Tusk’s threat of a European collapse are preposterous, overstating the Brexit on the U.K and the EU. What a Brexit might do is give other EU countries reason to question the benefits of a common economy, in terms of creating jobs and mobility for EU members. While Britain never joined the Eurozone, a substantial number on the 19 members have watched their economies shrink.
Keeping the Pound-Sterling, the U.K. wanted no part of the Eurozone in 1999, retaining the Bank of England’s right to coin and print its own currency. Several Eurozone countries, including Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy, have faced economic hardship with the one-size-fits-all currency. “Why is it so dangerous? Because no one can foresee what the long-term consequences would be,” said Tusk, referring to Britian leaving the EU. Tusk fears that if the Brexit vote wins June 23, it would generate similar votes in other EU countries, not happy with being forced to take Syrian refugees. “As a historian, I fear that Brexit could be the beginning of the destruction of not only the EU but also Western political civilization in its entirety,” said Tusk, showing the kind of hyperbole exposing a different agenda. Tusk fears massive jobs losses at the EU.
Comprised of the European Council, Council of the European Union, European Parliament, European Commission, Council of Justice of the European Union, European Central Bank and European Court of Auditors, the EU is one of world’s biggest bureaucracies. With a budget of 143 billion euros, employing thousands of employees, the EU is the largest employer in Europe. Tusk’s worry has more to do with losing the EU bureaucracy, should other countries decide they’re in fact better off without the EU. Countries like Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic have closed their borders and refused to take Syrian refugees. Tusk fears that Brexit would trigger a chain reaction, causing other EU countries to follow suit. Bailing out Greece July 13, 2015 to the tune of 130 billion euros, Tusk and EU Commision Presidenr Jean-Claude Juncker, pleaded with Greece to stay in the EU.
With the big Brexit vote scheduled for June 23, the Guardian’s recent poll showing 53% favor the Brexit to 47% opposed corroborates last week’s Independent poll showing 55% favor Brexit, to 45%. Orlando, Florida’s June 12 Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] massacre killing 50, injuring 53 at a gay nightclub looks to push U.K. voters more toward the Brexit. When Islamic terrorists struck the London Tube July 7, 2005 killing 56, injuring 700, Britains got a bad taste of Islamic extremists. Yesterday’s Orlando massacre reminds Brits that under current EU immigration policies the U.K. remains more vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Only two weeks ago, Cameron and his Tory party were convinced U.K.voters would stay in the EU. If today’s polls establish any trend, it looks like the U.K. no longer sees the benefits of EU membership outweighing the costs.
