Free Republic

T Tucker Carlson's interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin could see the conservative pundit targeted by European Union lawmakers, current and former members of the European Parliament have told Newsweek.Carlson visited Russia this week, and on Tuesday revealed he would "soon" be releasing an interview with the Russian leader.

EU member states Hungary and Poland have followed through on their threat to block the continental power bloc’s seven-year budget, after Brussels attempted to push it through with conditions the populist nations said were akin to “political enslavement”. European Union rules mean that many significant decisions — including whether to approve the bloc’s seven-yearly funding programs — must be taken unanimously, with any single member state able to veto decisions. This safeguard was triggered on Monday by conservative-led Hungary and Poland, who blocked the progress of the €1.8 trillion (£1.6 trillion, $2.1 trillion) ‘Multi annual Financial Framework’ (MFF) as an...

Senior Member of European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt has made the extraordinary assessment that the lessons to be learnt from Brexit is for Brussels to push for ‘More Europe’ and to take away even more democracy from nation-states. Speaking ahead of the European Parliament’s vote on the UK-EU withdrawal deal on Wednesday, Mr Verhofstadt rejected the notion that the lesson to be learnt from Brexit is to devolve power back to the nation-state but to give more power to Brussels. The former Belgian prime minister said: “This lesson, dear colleagues, is not to undo the union, as some are arguing. The...

Nigel Farage blasted Brussels chief Guy Verhofstadt, for his apparent calls for a “European empire”, telling it straight that the EU is “building an empire”. The Brexit Party leader took to his LBC show after comments by Guy Verhofstadt about a “European empire”. Mr. Farage said: “Andrew Adonis, who of course I’ve spoken to you many times before here at LBC, is really one of the fanatics for ‘Remain’. Even Adonis said, ‘I don’t believe in a European Empire but a free European Union; the world has had enough of empires’. Well, hear-hear to that, Lord Adonis, but that is...

This year’s EU election will be the “last chance” to kill populism, Guy Verhofstadt has warned, calling for sovereignty-destroying “reform” which would transfer national powers to Brussels. In an interview with five influential establishment newspapers from across the continent on Tuesday, the veteran MEP and Brussels’ Brexit coordinator gave his backing to the vision of a federal EU superstate unveiled by Emmanuel Macron earlier this week..... “The union envisioned by [the French president] is a Europe that can stand on its own two feet, in a world of great powers in which EU nations would not be able to protect...

GUY VERHOFSTADT has ripped into the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during a furious rant as he hailed the new EU budget.Guy Verhofstadt, MEP and former Belgian Prime Minister took a huge dig at the Hungarian Prime Minister during a speech over the new EU budget. It comes amid suggestions the European Union will impose new rules to allow funds to be cut off to countries where judicial rule is threatened. Mr Verhofstadt said the new budget was “not a revolution” but was a “break from the past” before he took a dig at Hungary. He said: “We have to...

The leader of the Liberal group in the European Parliament has slammed the bloc’s Foreign Minister and top diplomat for failing to raise human rights concerns on a trip to Communist Cuba. High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini used the trip to boast that the EU is now Cuba’s most important trading partner, and also met with dictator Raúl Castro. She also made a subtle dig at President Donald J. Trump, saying the EU would continue the approach to Cuba championed by predecessor Barack Obama “regardless of the...

The European Union’s executive has unveiled a vast plan to boost coordination between the EU’s 28 national energy markets to wean Europe off unstable Russian gas supplies and provide cheaper energy for consumers. European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič on Wednesday called it “undoubtedly the most ambitious energy project” since the inception of the EU over half a century ago. He believes that improving links across borders in Europe’s energy grid could save businesses and consumers up to €40 billion ($45.4 billion) a year. A more energy-independent Europe will also increase the EU’s political options in eastern Europe. […] “Our...

Britain signs up to new union of EuropeBy George Jones and Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels(Filed: 19/06/2004) European leaders signed the EU's first constitution last night after an acrimonious summit exposed deep divisions between Britain, France and Germany over the future of Europe. The historic deal was concluded after two years of wrangling, culminating in a power struggle between Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac, the French president. Gerhard Schröder and Tony Blair celebrate the historic deal It sealed the union of 25 countries and 450 million citizens, extending across the old Iron Curtain into former communist eastern Europe. Mr Blair, weary...

The leaders of four European nations who opposed the US-led war in Iraq were meeting tomorrow to expand defence co-operation, prompting fears of more divisions within Nato and the EU. French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Luxembourg Premier Jean-Claude Juncker will join Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, who announced the meeting in Brussels last month at the height of their dispute with Washington on how to deal with Iraq. The meeting has drawn criticism from countries like Britain, Italy and the Netherlands whose governments supported the US-led war and back Nato as the core of Europe's defence....

BRUSSELS: Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, whose country is fiercely opposed to the war on Iraq, slammed the United States as "very dangerous" Sunday, saying it wanted to take over the whole Arab world, the Belga news agency said. Verhofstadt, in an address in Antwerp to his party which is preparing for legislative elections, reiterated his disagreement with the "logic" of the US administration. "America is a deeply hurt power which has...become very dangerous (and) which thinks that it must take over the whole Arab world," he told a meeting of his liberal VLD party, Belga said. Speaking in Antwerp,...

Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt says he supports a change to the country's law on human rights, to allow the prosecution of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for alleged war crimes. Mr Verhofstadt said on Tuesday he did not object to parliament broadening the scope of the law so that a war crime could be prosecuted "no matter where the person accused of the crime is located," Belgian media said. The country's 1993 "universal competence" law allows Belgian courts to try cases of alleged human rights abuses committed anywhere in the would. But last June, a Belgian appeals court ruled...