Everyone Will Serve the EU With Absolute Obedience.

Let He Who Refuses Beware.

Yesterday (10/4/19) the European Union (EU) Council (EUCO) met in emergency session. To discuss delaying Britain's exit from the EU. The Brexit.

During this summit the anti-democratic and totalitarian nature of the EU was laid bare for all to see.

The summit occurred yesterday (10/4/19). However the conclusions for the meeting were published on Tuesday (9/4/19). A full 24 hours before the summit even began.

These conclusions were published by the office of the President of the EUCO, Donald Tusk. They simply detailed the so-called; "Flextension Plan" which EUCO President Tusk has been pushing since around March 29th (29/3/19).

Nominally that plan allows Britain to leave the EU as soon as it adopts the Withdrawal Agreement.

However if we've learnt anything in the last four months it's that there is a roughly 300 strong faction of British MP's known as; "The Remoaners." They will always vote against the Withdrawal Agreement, seeing it as a way to force Britain to remain in the EU against its will.

So despite the nominal claim that Britain could leave at any time Tusk's plan demands Britain remains in the EU until the spring of 2020. This takes Britain into the period of the next, 7 year EU budget. Committing Britain to make large contributions to that EU budget until 2027.

Tusk's plan also requires that Britain continues to be bound to EU rules until it leaves. This includes participating in the May 2019 EU Parliament election.

However Tusk's plan requires Britain to give up its rights of EU membership.

Meaning that while it is forced to elect Members of the European Parliament (MEP's) those MEP's will have no say in the appointment of the EU commissioners which make the EU rules which Britain will be bound by. Let alone the EU rules themselves.

What is most shocking about this is that the EUCO President is a wholly unelected position. It is appointed by the EU Parliament.

As such the EUCO President is not allowed a vote in the decisions of the EUCO. Which is made up of the elected Heads of Government of the EU member states, 27 (EU 27) in this case. The EUCO President certainly has no right to dictate to the EUCO what its decisions will be.

Instead the EUCO President's role is to advise the EUCO of the views of the EU Parliament and how its decisions will impact on the EU Parliament. However this is simply an advisory role. The EU Parliament is wholly subordinate to the EUCO.

For example in September 2018 the EU Parliament voted to suspend the voting rights of Hungary. However Hungary continues to enjoy full voting rights within the EU. The EUCO decided not to take the advice of the EU Parliament and action its request.

The EUCO President's other main role is to facilitate discussions within the EUCO. To do this effectively the EUCO President must be utterly impartial.

Rather than making a decision for the EUCO it is the EUCO President's job to provide a structured environment to allow the EUCO to make its own decisions. For example by making sure each member of EUCO is given time to express their point of view without being shouted down.

One of the key parts of providing this structured environment is publishing discussion documents. These are something I'm very familiar from various other international negotiations. Particularly at the United Nations (UN).

Discussion documents always lay out a series of options. Reflecting the different views of the parties participating in the discussion. It allows all parties to consider each other's positions before the meeting itself begins.

Trying to reconcile the different options within a discussion document with each other in a final agreement is one of the main tasks of any summit. Along with making sure the final, reconciled agreement translates effectively into all the languages of those participating.

Today (11/4/19) Julian Assange has been expelled from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, UK and arrested. His request for his asylum status to be extended was denied.

The Julian Assange case centres on a long running dispute over how the language of the EU Arrest Warrant translates from French to Swedish to English.

The treaty under which EU arrest warrants are issued was negotiated in French.

In France criminal cases are investigated by a Magistrate. A Judaical authority known as an; "Investigating Magistrate." As a result EU arrest warrants can only be issued at the request of a; "Judicial Authority."

However this system of Investigating Magistrates is pretty much unique to France.

In Sweden which originally issued the EU arrest warrant criminal cases are investigated by the police. A non-judicial authority. They are only put before a Magistrate once charges have been issued. This is almost identical to the situation in Britain which has been asked to execute the EU arrest warrant.

So the question in the Assange case is whether the Swedish police have the authority to issue an EU Arrest Warrant without a Magistrate filing charges. There is also the secondary question of whether the British police can execute the arrest warrant without a Magistrate filing charges.

In short it is an argument over whether the term; "Judicial Authority" is interpreted in the English and Swedish meaning of the term.

Or interpreted in the French meaning of the term. Meaning simply the police conducting an investigation rather than a Magistrate authorising formal charges.

The discussion document produced by EUCO President Tusk ahead of yesterday's (10/4/19) meeting should have laid out at least three options;

Option 1: Rejecting any request for Brexit it to be delayed. The default position under the treaty.

This option would have gone on to state that the option of the UK adopting the Withdrawal Agreement remained open. Even after Britain had left the EU.

It would also have stated that as a treaty relating to national security the 1998 Belfast Agreement takes precedence over EU trade rules. As such the Republic of Ireland is under no obligation to impose border controls with Northern Ireland to protect the EU Single Market.

Finally it could have included a commitment to establish an EU fund to compensate EU traders impacted by a No Deal Brexit.

Option 2: Britain's request to delay Brexit until June 2019.

This option would have gone on to state that Britain would have to participate in May's EU Parliament elections. However any MEP's it elected would not take up their seats when the new session of the EU Parliament begins at the end of June 2019.

Option 3: This is EUCO President Tusk's suggestion of a "Flextension" which I detailed above.

There would also be the possibility of Option 4, Option 5, Option 6 and so on. Reflecting any other suggestions made by members of the EUCO.

Rather than producing a discussion document containing all the options EUCO President Tusk instead published a conclusion document. Containing no other options than his suggestion. The only allusion to the fact this was in any way negotiable was that the specific end date was left blank.

Having made sure that his option was the only one on the table Tusk then effectively locked the EUCO in a room until all 27 of its members gave in and signed the document he had produced. Yesterday's (10/4/19) summit dragged on for more than 10 hours.

The EUCO is also extremely opposed to scrutiny from EU citizens and voters. As a result no cameras or microphones are allowed in EUCO summits and no formal minutes are taken. Let alone published.

The British police simply would not be able to behave towards Julian Assange in the way that EUCO President Tusk has behaved towards the EUCO.

For example the police are not able to write Assange's confession for him. Nor are they able to detain him until he caves in and signs the confession they wrote for him. Instead there is a clear time limit on his detention. Including an uninterrupted 8 hours for sleep.

Throughout Assange's detention the police must keep a written, audio and video records. To ensure that his rights are not abused and that undue threats and intimidation tactics are not used.

If the police behaved towards Assange in the way Tusk has behaved towards the EUCO the EU would have no choice other than to condemn it as a serious human rights violation.

Due to its immense fear of being scrutinised by voters the EUCO meets in something of a cosmic black hole. Where all light is sucked in and nothing is allowed out.

This is shockingly anti-democratic, even in comparison to an international body like the UN. If you're so inclined you can access any document for an UN meeting online. You can also watch the meetings live online as they take place.

Even the UN Security Council (UNSC) conducts its business in public by default. The rare closed UNSC sessions are a necessary evil for a body which has spent a large part of its life trying to avoid actual nuclear armageddons.

The EUCO's deep fear of being scrutinised by voters makes it extremely difficult to tell what occurs during any EUCO summit. Yesterday's (10/4/19) was no exception.

However I get the impression the meeting began with only five nations supporting Tusk's plan. The Republic of Ireland, the Baltic States of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia along with Germany.

Ireland's current Prime Minister or Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is very much not of the generation of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Nor the 1998 Belfast Agreement which ended them. 

As a result he doesn't understand that the 1998 Belfast Agreement takes precedence over the EU's trading rules. 

Therefore he fears being forced to impose border controls with Northern Ireland which will damage the Irish economy. A fear not at all helped by British MP Priti Patel's threat that Brexit would trigger a famine in Ireland.

In reality the only threat to the Irish economy in the event of a No Deal Brexit is an incompetent Taoiseach. Although an incompetent Taoiseach is a threat to the Irish economy at any time.

The Baltic States of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are the ones that most enjoy treating Britain as their personal piggy bank or ATM. Germany is the nation they will start using as their personal ATM once Britain leaves.

As the hours of the summit dragged on reports emerged of more EU leaders caving in and submitting to EUCO President Tusk's demands. First 7, then 11, then 17 and so on.

It seems that Britain almost owes France something of a debt following last night's (10/4/19) summit. 

France blocked Tusk's plan to trap Britain within the EU until the spring of 2020. Instead limiting his plan until October 2019. A change which prevents Britain being trapped into making large contributions to the EU budget all the way into 2027.

I say Britain almost owes France a debt. French President Emmanuel Macron still fell short of the courage and initiative needed to veto any extension.

The choice of October 2019 seems to be the result of input from EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Like EUCO President the EU Commission President is a wholly unelected position. Instead appointed by the EU Parliament.

Jean-Claude Juncker's term as EU Commission President expires at the end of October 2019. At the press conference following the EUCO summit Juncker revealed that he won't be seeking another term as EU Commission President. 

Seeming to suggest that even he's accepted that the way the EU has behaved by trying to block Britain from leaving makes his position untenable.

Reducing the length of the delay from 12 months to 6 months was really the only concession the EU 27 were able to win from EUCO President Tusk. Eventually they all caved and agreed to his plan.

This extension sees Britain remain a member of the EU until October 31st 2019 (31/10/19). It does though have the nominal option of leaving before then in the highly unlikely event the 300 or so Remoaners adopt the Withdrawal Agreement.

The EUCO will not meet again to discuss the Brexit issue until June 2019. After all EU leaders don't want the people who vote for them receiving monthly reminders of the anti-democratic and totalitarian nature of the EU.

During the period of delay Britain will be pay into the EU budget and be bound by all EU laws. Including participating in the May 2019 EU Parliament. The EU 27 agreed to strip Britain of its right to choose the EU commissioners who make those rules let alone have a say in the rules themselves.

I honestly think that British Prime Minister Theresa May was prepared to agree to this EUCO offer when it was put to her. However it was pointed out to her that it is in no Prime Minister's power to unilaterally turn the UK into a vassal state of a foreign power.

So Prime Minister May might think she was signing an agreement with the EUCO. The British political and legal system though would have just viewed it as her signing a confession to the offence of treason and by extension her letter of resignation.

Much like Julian Assange or Jack Shepard she would then be arrested the moment she set foot back in Britain.

Having had the consequences of her actions explained to her Prime Minister May did reject the EUCO offer at the last minute. Forcing the EUCO to quickly amend its offer to remove the requirement that Britain gives up its right to choose EU commissioners and influence the rules they make.

Instead EUCO introduced vague language about behaving in a sincere and responsible manner, with the duty of sincere cooperation. This is all to vague too be binding and the EU has already violated it by attempting to prevent Britain from leaving. Meaning Britain is certainly not bound by it.

As to what Britain is going to do with this extension I have no idea. Like everyone else I'm waiting for British MP's and Parliament to decide.

One thing we do know for certain though is that there is a roughly 300 strong Remoaner faction in Parliament. They will continue to view delays to and ultimately the overruling of Brexit as their reward for refusing to adopt the Withdrawal Agreement.

How the British Parliament is going to behave over the next 6 months is perhaps indicated by the one decision Parliament has managed to make today.

They've decided that from this evening they're going to go on holiday. Not returning until April 23rd (23/4/19).

15:30 on 11/4/19 (UK date).