Tomorrow, the European Parliament we will be hosting the representatives of the Ukrainian opposition. A few days ago in Kiev there was a symbolic alliance of the opposing parties – they appeared together in a brotherly embrace: Yatsenyuk (Batkivshchyna), Klitschko (Udar) i Tiahnybok (nationalistic Svoboda). You do not have to be a great political expert to see that the only thing that joins these different groups is the reluctance towards President Yanukovych and the desire to remove him from power in the 2015 elections.

The leaders agreed that in the second round, they will support the candidate from their party who gets the most votes.

Recent studies show that if the election were to be held today, in the first round, Yanukovych would receive 16%, Klitschko 16%, Yulia Tymoshenko 9%, Tiahnybok 5%, and Yatsenyuk 3%. From this group, only Klitschko’s support is on the rise. It’s also easy to calculate that the consolidated opposition can undoubtedly win against the current president.
 
However, there is still a lot of time until the elections. The fate of the EU Association Agreement-Ukraine will have a great influence on the domestic politics. If it is signed, it will strengthen the position of the current President and the Party of Regions.

The Plenary Session in Strasbourg is being characterized by taxes, more precisely by the collection of taxes. It is estimated that the EU countries are losing approximately one trillion euro as a result of tax fraud and tax haven operations. As this number might be difficult to imagine, I can say it’s comparable to the amount that the EU spends each year on health care. 

The number is staggering, but the percentages make an even greater impression. The experts chosen by the S&D have proved that this way, Estonia is losing 28% of its government spending. Estonia is small, but for example Italy is much larger and it is being estimated that the country is losing about 180 billion euro annually.

If we do not want to sit back and do nothing, we need to change the accounting system and general automatic information about transfers of money. Dark clouds are gathering over the tax havens, which after all do not exist in isolation, and are subject to the jurisdiction of the Member States.

This topic will also be addressed by the European Council tomorrow, which will be discussing the plan to fight tax fraud. It is expected that discussions will begin very soon with Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Switzerland.

This whole issue has been known for a long time, but the discussion was speed up by the story over secret bank data, bought out by the German secret service from the bank in Liechtenstein. It turns out that thousands of wealthy Germans avoided paying taxes through these institutions. Apparently, the Germans received a hundred times more than the investment in buying the data cost…

If a non-governmental organization releases a book on an educational topic, it means that it contains information that is not included in the school curriculum. This is happening frequently and all over the world. The appropriate ministers can then decide if they want to allow the issued book into the schools program, or not.

When writing this, I’m referring to the book „Lekcja równości” (lesson of equality) written by Kampania przeciw Homofobii (Campaign against homophobia), which received necessary recommendations from Agnieszka Kozłowska- Rajewicz, Minister for Equal Treatment. There is an argument being evoked by the Law and Justice (PiS) and United Poland (Solidarna Polska), around the issue of the way homosexuals are being treated. It shows that the parties’ only response to the issue is to sweep it under the rug or shout about it.

The European Commission recently carried out a massive study on the behaviour towards homosexuals in the European Union. After interviewing more than 90,000 people in the European Union and Croatia, 25% admitted that they had experienced physical violence, and another 25% had been verbally attacked. How much of the hostility comes from ignorance? Probably a lot.

The problem is not so much homosexuality, but the way it is treated by society.

However, to make it less sad, I have enclosed a reprint of the American press,”10 Reasons to Oppose Marriage Equality.”

1. Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester and air conditioning.

2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behaviour. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all like many of the principles on which this great country was founded; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of marriages like Britney Spears’ would be destroyed.

6. The only valid marriages are those which produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.

7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.

9. Children can never succeed without both a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy or longer life spans.

You could say – this is a model operation with the use of national and European “forces and resources.” When David Cameron warned that he will be turning the bolt for immigrants, including immigrants from the EU, there was an unusual silence. The exception was the inquiry to the Prime Minister from Janusz Palikot (the second inquiry so far). Whereas, I presented this issue to the Groups of Socialists and Democrats. And so, there came an official written question to the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, and Inclusion, László Andor.
I indicated in this inquiry, which regulations of the European law are being breached or will be breached by the British government according to its announcements. It concerns the directive on the right to the freedom of movement for EU citizens and their family members and the right to reside within the territory of the member states. The second regulation, which the British are ignoring, concerns the right of workers to be able to remain in a member state even after their employment has finished. Bear in mind that the regulation will be binding in its entirety and will be directly applied in all the member states. You could also invoke Article 45, Treaty of the Functioning of the EU, which is the basis of the regulations above.
Today marks the three week period that the Commission had to give a response. Together with Janusz Palikot, we visited László Andor yesterday, who concisely and accurately described his actions. He demanded an explanation from the British and gave evidence of them breaching the law. But, to no avail. Yesterday, we were informed that he would take the case to the European Court of Justice.
I am surprised that the Polish media that was informed of this fact didn’t notice the significance of the event. I don’t know if the court has already made a decision, but at this stage we simply have the win.

David Cameron is a professional. When announcing (in the Polish media too) the crackdown on immigrants, he was setting the stage for concrete decisions. The government’s plans were declared in the House of Commons by the Queen in her speech prepared by the Prime Minister, as it had been usually held in Britain. It will be exactly as promised – more difficulty to access housing benefits, a decreased period of unemployment status and in general all immigrants (including those of the EU countries) will be treated like a group of sub-humans that are subject to real segregation.

In this case, along with my political group, I prepared a written question to the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, László Andor, while Janusz Palikot addressed the same inquiry to the Polish Prime Minister. The reason behind it was our belief that the fundamental EU Treaty principle of freedom of movement was breached. We have received many signals from the UK saying that the Poles are mistreated- housing allowances are granted in a completely inconsistent way. Famous for their independence and impartiality, the British courts need “only” 5 years for settling the alimony cases of Poles. In general, the British government is acting as if locusts from the new member states came to exploit the Crown; not working and not paying taxes. Just like that. 

Tomorrow in Brussels we will discuss these issues with the Chairman of the Palikot Movement, who will meet with the leadership of the S&D group, as well as with Commissioner Andor.

Our European flyers went into the world. Preliminary statistics – of the 10 awards we were giving, two people declined. There were many people who asked for a contact and want to collaborate with Europa Plus. On this occasion, we have done a short review of the bullets shot at us and Aleksander Kwaśniewski from February.

Chronologically, it was something like this:

- The room – too small and too dim,
- no women,
- only oldies among them,
- they’re breaking down the left wing,
- they want to force their way into the European Parliament,
- Palikot is weighing down Kwasniewski,
- and vice versa,
- he didn’t look good and he probably drank (Kwasniewski, not Palikot),
- they are taking money from Nazarbajew,
- and Kwasniewski is taking money from Kulczyk,
- he is plotting with Russian Jews,
- And in general, will he stand for the election or not?!

And so it was loud and there were a lot of names dropped.

But here we go!
PS Since yesterday, an updated Europa Plus website has been operating. We removed the Hyde Park section, but thanks to that you can comment on any article. There will be more political commentaries and interaction. Enjoy! http://europaplus.org.pl/

Tomorrow we will publish a Europa Plus program. Tomorrow, on Europe Day, we want to publicly pledge the direction of our work on the program which is being formed before your eyes. I do not want to spoil the premiere, but to spice up your appetite today, here are a few thoughts that you can read about in details tomorrow.
• We are not afraid of the word “federalization”. More power should go to Brussels with regard to cases when the citizens can benefit from that. Conversely, we’re eliminating absurdities – such as the working time of doctors should be regulated by the members states themselves.
• This process must be accompanied by the principle of “more democracy in Europe.” The parliament must exercise realistic control over the bureaucracy. It must assume more power in Europe.
• We want to make the European economy compete with the rest of the world.
• We demand the completion of operation “a common European market.”
• The single currency will ensure the safety of businesses and citizens.
• Common English language taught broadly and for free will ease our lives.
• Europeans should spend at least one hour a week on shared history lessons in schools.
…

Not enough?

Tomorrow I invite you for more!

Apparently bookies in London get bets on whether or not Aleksander Kwasniewski will stand for the elections to the European Parliament. This is of course a joke, but the subject is present in the public debate. He himself has commented on this twice, first said he is not excluding the idea of being a candidate and recently he said that for now he is not going to stand for the election. And so it began.

Instead of listening to the voice of the former president, opponents have released a deep sigh of relief. Meanwhile, we learned something banal – Aleksander Kwasniewski is not a candidate now, because at this moment … noone candidates.

The former president could make two false moves. The first is confirming his candidacy – then everyone, instead of getting to work, would be waiting for a miracle. The second disastrous move would be to announce he does not stand for the election – then we would hear that the entire Europa Plus project is bogus, and that in general, people were deceived.

For me personally, it is enough that the co-creation of Europa Plus by Aleksander Kwasniewski is concrete and tangible. Just the way you make politics. When we really need him, he is there. At this stage he will not do things which can easily be done by others. 

To all those who are afraid of Europa Plus, afraid of Aleksander Kwasniewski in politics (of course not European, but a  national one) I am dedicating an important message: prepare for the worst.

The map of Europe which shows the levels of unemployment in the European Union countries is worth the look.

Let’s first exclude, however, two dark islands – Spain and Greece. These countries depart significantly from the average (already quite high) unemployment rate in the EU.

A number of conclusions which break down a stereotype over unemployment deserve to be emphasised here.  Firstly, there is no connection between eurozone adhesion and unemployment rate. There is, furthermore, no relation between the “old” and “new” Union division and level of unemployment whatsoever. When we look at the line of high unemployment which starts in Latvia and finishes in Portugal or in Ireland, we can see that the situation on the job market does not necessarily depend on issues related to the eurozone adhesion.

Germany and Austria are two countries which witness relatively lower levels of unemployment. We can, however, also observe a longer line marking lower unemployment which starts in Great Britain and finishes (surprisingly!) in Romania.

I would like to spare a few word on four countries of the “new” Union where the statistics are quite favourable – Estonia, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Romania. Estonia was the first to start a fight against crisis. Making use of its location and economic bonds with Finland and Sweden, the country managed to push the economy into a relatively good state. Similar reasons made Czech and Slovenian’s economy doing quite well. Romania’s result is sensational. I believe its low unemployment rate is due to the fact that the country is still quite poor and the sate remains to be a big employer itself.

Making plans for combating unemployment in Poland, with those 2, 3 million unemployed citizens in mind, we shall remember that it is not the miraculous, single system that could be in force in all European countries but a well ordered internal economic policy that matters the most. Poland has a big internal market whose capabilities might trigger significant changes on the job markets. What might boost our economy is the trade cooperation with the East, especially with the Russian Federation. This potential has not been fully developed yet. Finally, there is a need to introduce a radical change in the use of the European money to boost entrepreneurship. Where apparently trivial, these are quite fundamental issues, which will be promoted by Europe Plus with regard to the job market in Poland and in Europe.

If numerous ‘fans’ of Aleksander Kwasniewski feel like following his Ukrainian mission activities I have a surprise for them. A day schedule of the former President and Pat Cox for both today and tomorrow.

Monday

9-12 Meeting with President Yanukovych
12-13:30 Meeting with PM Azarov
14-30-15:30 Meeting with Speaker Rybak
16-17 Meeting with Tymoshenko defence team
17-18 Meeting with Lutsenko
18-19 Meeting with former Congressman Slattery
19-20 Meeting with EU Ambassadors 27

Tuesday

7:20-11:20 Flight Kyiv- Brussels
12-13:15 Meeting with AFET Enlarged Bureau
15-16 Meeting with the Delegation EU-Ukraine
16-18 Meeting with Yatsenyuk, the leader of the parliamentary fraction ‘Fatherland’, and Lady Ashton
18-19 Meeting with former PM Kluyev