Outrage over EU plot to kick UK out of UN Security Council

Reblogged from express.co.uk

BRITAIN and France are being pressured to give up their seats on the UN Security Council and hand them over to the EU instead.

By Marco Giannangeli

PUBLISHED: 00:01, Sun, Nov 29, 2015

GETTY

UN Security Council President Mark Rycroft and UK Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond

 

The “preposterously impertinent” declaration from the European Parliament followed a vote by MEPs last week that saw nearly 500 of them declare that the UK and France do not represent European views enough to warrant their place. 
It comes as Eurocrats try to bolster the EU’s position as a global player amid criticisms that the Paris terror attacks and the migrant crisis prove that the open borders is a failing concept. 

It also emerged that Europeans face having their fingerprints checked every time they travel to Britain under new security proposals confirmed by the Home Office. 
The MEPs’ vote, prompted by Finn Paavo Väyrynen, was met with incredulity last night. 

AFP/GETTY

 

The news comes in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris which killed more than 130 people

David Campbell Bannerman MEP, co-chairman of the influential Eurosceptic Conservatives for Britain group, said: “This is an outrageous and dangerous powergrab from the EU. Britain has already been forced to relinquish its seat at the World Trade Organisation by the EU, which means we have lost our ability to negotiate international trade deals. The EU is always trespassing in nation state areas.

“This is proof of a determined push towards ever-closer union and creation of an EU superstate. 
“It would spell the end of Britain being at the heart of international defence and security at a time when the world faces an unprecedented terrorist threat.”

Conservative Gerald Howarth MP said: “It’s an absurdity. Europe is not a nation state and it is preposterous impertinence to suggest they should supplant two leading nation states which are both nuclear powers.” 

AP

The recent influx of refugees from the Middle East has destabilised much of mainland Europe

 

Ukip leader Nigel Farage added: “I warned last year that Brussels wanted a European army and a seat on the UN Security Council. Nick Clegg called me a liar and said I was talking a dangerous fantasy. 

It would spell the end of Britain being at the heart of international defence and security

David Campbell Bannerman MEP

“There are no sensitivities towards any British interests in the European Parliament. They are hell-bent on building a United States of Europe.” 
The timing of the vote, during the run-up to a UK referendum on Europe, was particularly misjudged, said Professor Wyn Grant of Warwick University. “Both France and Britain have been members of the UN Security Council from the beginning and they are Europe’s only nuclear powers,” he said. 

“The problem with the EU having a seat would be getting a consensus. Britain and France agree most of the time. The same can’t be said for the rest of Europe.” 

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UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon has endured a particularly turbulent time in global geopolitics

 

A UN spokesman said: “The Secretary General has made it clear that he is open to reform of the Security Council but, ultimately, this is a matter for member states themselves to decide.” 

Home Office Minister James Brokenshire confirmed that Britain is considering following France’s lead in fingerprinting EU visitors. 

He said: “Home Secretary Theresa May and her French counterpart have had a number of discussions concerning the need to fingerprint individuals at the external border of the Schengen area, as part of the strategy to manage the unprecedented flow of migrants.”

‘NYC far & expensive’: Russian MP says UN headquarters must be moved from America

Published time: 21 Oct, 2015 Reblogged from rt.com

United Nations headquarters in New York © Lucas Jackson / Reuters

 

A lawmaker from ruling party United Russia says the United Nations Organization should move its headquarters from the United States to a place equidistant from all capitals of UN member-countries. 

 

“The reforms are necessary and they should reflect the growing importance of the new centers of power – our partners from the BRICS bloc. This especially applies to India which is now world’s third-largest economy and which will become the country with the world’s largest population in the next seven or eight years,” MP Vyacheslav Nikonov said at the State Duma session on Wednesday.

The lawmaker added that other centers of power were Brazil and South African Republic – the largest economies in South America and Africa.

Nikonov also insisted that the headquarters of the United Nations should not remain in the United States as “over the past 20 years this country has applied illegal sanctions to more than half of all humanity.” Another example of the US behavior that required urgent action was the recent decision to restrict the rights of Russian parliamentary speakers who needed to visit the New York City to take part in the inter-parliamentary events at the UN, he noted.

READ MORE: Move UN HQ to neutral country, says Russian MP
“Why should it be in New York City? It’s far away and it’s expensive. Why don’t we choose the following criteria instead – determine a point on Planet Earth that would be equidistant from the capitals of all 183 member-countries of the UN,” RIA Novosti quoted the lawmaker as saying.

This is not the first time that a Russian politician proposes to move the United Nations offices from NYC. In August, State Duma MP Igor Zotov (Fair Russia) addressed the UN Secretary-General with a letter in which he stated that the UN headquarters must be located in a neutral country and accused the USA of using its position to apply leverage against its political opponents.

Zotov noted that the current placement of the UN offices allows the United States to manipulate the work of the General Assembly through “selective” access of other nations’ politicians to the working meetings of the body. He also suggested that the decision to move the UN headquarters is made through a broad consensus of representatives of all UN member-countries, various activists and politicians, and legal and political experts.

READ MORE: Top senator urges UN to punish nations that impose unilateral sanctions
This initiative appeared soon after the scandal in which US authorities issued a delayed and restricted visa to the chair of the Russian upper house, Valentina Matviyenko, who planned to attend an inter-parliamentary conference at UN headquarters and meet UN Secretary-General in New York City. As a result, the entire Russian delegation had to cancel its participation in the event and the meeting between Matviyenko and Ban had to be postponed.