If we leave EU, returning asylum seekers will be harder (and identifying them too)

[S]hould it go [leave the European Union], Britain may inadvertently become a brighter beacon for those hoping for international protection who are already near the UK borders, reports EUobserver. EU asylum law gives governments the right to return people to the EU state they first entered. The UK is a staunch defender of the agreement, also known as the Dublin regulation, because they get to send people packing. A Thursday vote to reject the EU would annul the UK's participation and also deny the UK access to Eurodac, an asylum-seeker fingerprint database. It means EU states would not need to accept the return of any asylum seeker who somehow made it to the UK: https://euobserver.com/uk-referendum/133902

A British exit from the EU could jeopardise the jobs, homes, and healthcare of the 1.2 million Brits living in Europe, according to new research from the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank. ECFR's network of researchers across the 28 member states gathered data on exactly what a Brexit might mean for expats in their countries, setting out the rules on working, studying, buying property, and accessing healthcare and pensions for EU versus non-EU citizens. Report author Author Dina Pardijs said: "Amid the Punch and Judy politics of the referendum campaign, one group is following developments with extra concern - the 1.2 million British citizens living in other EU countries. If there is a Brexit, it will be their homes, jobs, education, and future prospects that are used as a bargaining chip between a retreating UK and the rejected EU member states": http://www.ecfr.eu/publications/summary/brits_abroad_how_brexit_could_hurt_expats

On market day in the southern French town of Eymet, English voices float over the stalls bursting with fruit and vegetables, charcuterie and duck confits, reports EurActiv. Some are tourists, but most are British expatriates, many of whom have enjoyed the warm weather and easy pace of life in the Dordogne region for decades and are now more than a little jittery over a possible Brexit: http://www.euractiv.com/section/uk-europe/news/brits-of-frances-dordogneshire-fret-over-brexit/?nl_ref=15268178

OK, so it's not as scary-sounding as a potential recession, but if Britain splits from the EU, the [European Investment Bank] wouldn't be able to be as generous with U.K. infrastructure projects as it has been, says Politico Morning Exchange. Here's a big number: Over the last 8 years, the EIB has provided €43 billion for long-term investment in the U.K., compared to €1 billion in all the EFTA countries - Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, and Liechtenstein - combined. This argument won't sway many voters come Thursday, but it's emblematic of a whole chapter of lesser-known secondary effects of a Brexit: https://dub129.mail.live.com/?tid=cmgb7bX4I35hGQAAAhWtgaUg2&fid=flinbox

European Council President Donald Tusk today (20 June) used a Portugal press conference to launch an impassioned plea to Britons, asking them to vote to stay in the EU in four days' time, reports EurActiv. He warned that Brexit could be "the first step in the disintegration of the EU" and that the EU's enemies would pop open a bottle of champagne if the UK quits the bloc: http://www.euractiv.com/section/uk-europe/news/tusk-begs-brits-to-vote-remain-in-brexit-referendum/

The referendum has become something of a battleground for all democracies where anti-immigrant hostilities are building, says the New York Times in an editorial: https://dub129.mail.live.com/?tid=cm2fo3K2035hG0QAAhWthXCA2&fid=flinbox

A Darwinian political struggle is happening behind the scenes in the EU, but if UK were to leave the EU it would put its unity at risk, plunge parliament into legislative chaos and 'unfriend' our important friends in Europe, writes William Horsley, an independent journalist and broadcaster, in an op-ed in EurActiv. [B]ehind the scenes, he says, a Darwinian political struggle takes place all the time among those nations to assert rival national interests in the decisions taken through the Union's laws, policies and actions: http://www.euractiv.com/section/uk-europe/opinion/the-darwinian-case-for-the-uk-to-stay-in-europe/?nl_ref=15268178

The urge of many British people to vote Leave in the coming referendum is fuelled by a sense that the UK tends overall to be a loser in this continental-scale struggle for advantage…But…a quick look at the unfolding story of the EU shows that, despite bruising setbacks and frustrations, the UK has used its EU membership hugely to its own as well as Europe's advantage: http://www.euractiv.com/section/uk-europe/opinion/the-darwinian-case-for-the-uk-to-stay-in-europe/?nl_ref=15268178

If British voters decide to leave the EU this week, Switzerland will likely reap an influx of money from the City of London, reports Politico. But the Swiss…are more worried about the negative fallout from a Brexit than busy counting their potential gains. They are worried that any quick post-Brexit gains will be more than offset by longer-term damage to the EU's single market and the knock-on effects that would have on them: http://www.politico.eu/article/switzerland-frets-itll-be-a-loser-from-brexit-eu-referendum-currency-euro-france/

Whatever the results of the British referendum on whether or not to quit the EU, heavyweights France and Germany - both founding members of the bloc - will find themselves under pressure to defend what's left of their vision for Europe, says EurActiv. They may be forced to only pursue issues such as security, as enthusiasm for the bloc has eroded due to a morose economic outlook and as populist rhetoric gains ground: http://www.euractiv.com/section/future-eu/news/which-way-forward-europe-divided-on-post-brexit-path/?nl_ref=15268178

The only way forward [for the EU] is the way of reforms, writes Hans van Baalen, leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in the European Parliament, in an op-ed in EUobserver. The deal brokered by prime minister Cameron and the other 27 EU member states needs to be implemented, preferably with, but if necessary, without the Brits, he says. Eliminate burdensome regulation, empower national parliaments in the European legislative procedures (red card), pursue a strict immigration and refugee policy, strengthen European external borders and create a truly internal market: https://euobserver.com/opinion/133883

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is looking beyond the 'modest' financial stability risks posed by the possible exit of Britain from the European Union, reports Politico Morning Exchange. Speaking to reporters at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, Kashkari said he was more concerned about the long-term implications of a Brexit for the eurozone - and he has the American Civil War in the back of his mind: https://dub129.mail.live.com/?tid=cmgb7bX4I35hGQAAAhWtgaUg2&fid=flinbox

As Britain counts down to a Brexit decision, Brussels is holding its breath, reports Politico. Eurocrats in the main EU institutions say they are riding a swirl of emotions ahead of Thursday's U.K. referendum - a vote whose outcome is far from certain and one in which most of them cannot take part, but whose fallout could have historic ramifications for what is known here as the "European project": http://www.politico.eu/article/for-eurocrats-nothing-left-to-do-but-pray/

The European Commission has adopted a proposal to set maximum wholesale roaming charges at € 0.04/min, € 0.01/SMS and € 0.0085/MB in the EU. This is important to prepare the end of roaming charges for consumers set for 15 June 2017. Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said: "In a year from now, we'll say goodbye to roaming charges. Our ambition is to abolish unjustified geo-blocking on the same occasion. We also want the cross-border portability of content to be a reality in 2017 so that Europeans can travel with their films, music, sports broadcasts, e-books across the EU. This will clearly be a triple win for European consumers". See the Commission's statement here: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/commission-prepares-ground-end-roaming-charges-june-2017

Former environment correspondent Rebecca Pow MP writes [in Politics Home] that the South West's beaches and £9.4 billion tourist economy are best protected by EU directives, with the UK working to pursue environmental objectives internationally: https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/environment/environmental-protection/opinion/house-commons/76368/rebecca-pow-mp-uk-beaches

EU environment ministers have agreed on a five-year plan that would define illegal wildlife trafficking as a serious crime for the first time, reports EUobserver. The initiative aims to undermine criminal industry, estimated to be worth €20 billion, by toughening existing laws, combatting organised crime and boosting cooperation between countries. It comes amidst a surge in poaching that could threatens to extinguish elephants and rhinos in the wild: https://euobserver.com/tickers/133911

"The EU is not perfect: it's large, confounding, and relentless bureaucratic. Think of it like Gerard Depardieu: it's an unwieldy European body that's a source of great bewilderment. But Britain leaving it would be a huge destabilizing decision, so we would expect the Brexit camp to have some pretty solid arguments. Unfortunately, many of them are bullshit," said host John Oliver on his Last Week Tonight [American TV] show, reported in the Daily Beast: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/20/john-oliver-goes-off-on-brexit-britain-leaving-the-eu-is-absolutely-insane.html?source=TDB&via=FB_Page

Courtesy of Peter Morris, European Movement in North East