Longtime British feature writer Simon Jenkins expressed the United Kingdom’s growing frustration with the EU.
He wrote:
“The European Union is ghastly. It poisons all it touches. Europe
sabotaged Margaret Thatcher’s last government. Europe mugged [former
Prime Minister] John Major to death. Now Europe has driven Tony Blair
[to act unwisely] in Europe. The protectionist cartel is internally
corrupt and externally a menace to global trade and peace. Britain’s
leaders are humiliated whenever they try to reform it” ( The Sunday
Times, emphasis added throughout). That’s calling a spade a spade.
The latest British humiliation consists, over a period of seven years,
of losing £7 billion (approximately $12 billion) of the rebate that
former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had so skillfully
negotiated with the EU.
Newspapers (right and left) agreed that the United Kingdom got almost
nothing in return for this controversial, “last-minute” concession. At
the end of the day, France gave no real ground on the enormous
agricultural subsidy payments French farmers regularly receive from the EU.
An unexpected development
No EU budget deal was expected at the end of
Britain’s six-month’s presidency of the European Union. It appeared
effectively blocked. But due to the last-minute U.K.
rebate “surrender” (apparently without the knowledge of British
Chancellor Gordon Brown, who was in Washington, D.C., at the time), a
surprise agreement was produced.
However, the biggest surprise of the recent summit among all the leaders
of EU member nations was Angela Merkel, the new German chancellor. Some EU
politicians hailed her as “Europe’s new power broker” as she got the
lion’s share of the credit for breaking the budget deadlock.
Angela Merkel’s first month at the seat of German power has generally
been judged a very good one in both foreign and domestic affairs. The
German upper house of parliament just approved a number of tax reforms
that will help reduce the budget deficit.
Interestingly enough, “She talks passionately about how a coherent and
integrated EU is an essential part of making
Europe more competitive with the rising economies of Asia” ( Financial
Times ). However, this is not the way in which many Britons view the
activities of the EU.
Progress by stealth
Christopher Booker continued his article on the steady loss of British
sovereignty to the European Union. “In recent months … the EU
has continued stealthily to take over so many of the powers of our
government and Parliament from behind the scenes—with full permission
and even encouragement from our ministers …
“Far from being some kind of setback, the rejection of the new
constitution has turned out to be a trigger for one of the EU’s
biggest power grabs for decades, across a whole range of policy areas,
from defence, immigration and taxation, to the way we run our police,
our courts and our judicial system” ( Daily Mail ).
For instance, the EU is rapidly forming its
own police force. The newly constructed “Europe Police College” is now
in position to train senior officers all over Europe—with an outpost
already pretty much in place in Hampshire County, England. As well,
according to The Daily Express, the European Union is apparently
planning a direct tax of 3.5 pence on the pound proposed by current
European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso. That eventuality
will set “the cat among the pigeons.”
Also, according to a report in The Sunday Telegraph, the European
Commission “effectively insists that the provisions of the Charter [of
Fundamental Rights] be enshrined in all new EU
legislation.”
Reacting swiftly to this turn of events, Chris Heaton-Harris
(Conservative member of the European Parliament from Britain) stated:
“This shows that the Commission has no intention of taking any notice of
the voters in France and the Netherlands, who decisively rejected their
blueprint for a federal superstate.” Brussels bureaucrats were further
accused of cherry-picking certain parts of the proposed constitution and
sending them through the back door.
Liam Fox, Conservative British shadow foreign secretary, firmly stated:
“I have repeatedly made clear my fear that the EU
is determined to ignore the results of the two referenda and instead
press ahead with the implementation of many elements of the constitution
treaty.”
This is not how true democracies (or a genuine democratic union) are
supposed to function. But it is exactly how some bureaucracies tend to
further their agendas.
The Bible and the European Union
World News and Prophecy has focused a great deal on the political
affairs of Western and Central Europe. The reason is that there exists a
prophetic connection between the politics of today’s Europe and
catastrophic future occurrences surrounding the existence of what the
Bible defines as a “beast” power at the end of this age (Revelation 13).
We are apparently in a transition period that will ultimately end with
the glorious presence of the Kingdom of God on this earth.
So an integral part of biblical prophecy deals with a latter-day revival
of the Holy Roman Empire, predicted extensively in the Old Testament
book of Daniel and the New Testament book of Revelation. The Hebrew
prophet Daniel spoke of a series of “kingdoms” to arise on the world
scene (Daniel 2).
Comparing the Bible with secular history, the first of these was the
Babylonian Empire (Daniel 2:38).
It was followed by three others clearly identified as the Medo-Persian,
Greco-Macedonian and Roman empires (verses 39-40).
The Roman Empire at the time of the end
The fourth and final kingdom, the Roman Empire, was to be stronger than
all the others (verse 40). Its reign would last for centuries. Then in
connection with this final world empire, the Bible predicts that a group
of 10 kings or leaders of nations, through alliances or other political
arrangements, will ultimately give rise to a final union that will
astound and astonish the whole world (see Revelation 17:12-14).
It
is on record that the idea of beginning a new Roman Empire was on the
minds of the founders of the organization (the European Economic
Community or EEC) that eventually gave rise to
the present European Union. In spite of some setbacks over the decades,
Europe has continued to prosper as barriers to integration (such as
national sovereignty) continue to tumble and considerable progress is
made in economic and, to some degree, political unity.
It is interesting to note that one secular writer recently referred to
the general geographical region as “a Holy Roman Empire of Franco-German
bureaucracy.”
What eventually became the expanded European Union began as the EEC
(or Common Market) of six nations on March 25, 1957. The 50-year
anniversary is only a little over a year from now. Where will we be by
then in the fulfillment of Bible prophecy in Europe? Will some
astonishing push forward occur at this anniversary time?
To understand the essential biblical and historical background of events
in Central and Western Europe, please request our two free booklets The
Book of Revelation Unveiled and You Can Understand Bible Prophecy. WNP
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