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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 4-Nov-2014
4-Nov-14 World View -- Germany threatens Britain with EU expulsion over the migrant issue

Web Log - November, 2014

4-Nov-14 World View -- Germany threatens Britain with EU expulsion over the migrant issue

Mystery drones fly over France's nuclear sites

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Germany threatens Britain with EU expulsion over the migrant issue
Mystery drones fly over France's nuclear sites

Germany threatens Britain with EU expulsion over the migrant issue

Polish jobseekers boarding buses to the UK (Getty)

Polish jobseekers boarding buses to the UK (Getty)

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel is warning Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron that Britain might have to leave the European Union if Cameron insists on adopting quotas that would limit the number of migrant workers coming to Britain.

German sources are saying that if Cameron proceeded with his plan, then:

"There will be no going back. Should Cameron persist [in this plan], Chancellor Angela Merkel would abandon her efforts to keep Britain in the EU. With that a point of no return would be reached. That would be it then."

It should be noted that this isn't about migrants from Syria or northern Africa, which is an entirely different issue. This is about migrants who are EU citizens living in eastern Europe, mainly in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. These and other east European states joined the EU in 2004-2007, but restrictions on migrant labor did not fully disappear until January 2014.

A big driver of east-to-west migration is the big gap in average wages. In 2012, an average working in Bulgaria or Romania got a little over $4,000 a year, while the figure was $33,000 for UK and Denmark and $27,000 for Germany.

Cameron is also concerned about "benefit tourism," where jobless migrants shop around from country to country to find the best social welfare and unemployment benefits.

Cameron is fighting a political battle in Britain, over the rise of UKIP, the UK Independence Party, which favors Britain leaving the EU and has been gaining popularity.

But for Merkel, there is no possible compromise on this issue. British quotas on EU migration would call into question the European Union's "four freedoms" -- the free movement of people, goods, services and capital -- that form a significant part of the foundation for European unity. Der Spiegel and BBC and Independent (Ireland)

Mystery drones fly over France's nuclear sites

Officials in France, which gets more than two-thirds of its electricity from nuclear power, the highest proportion in the world, are concerned about a flurry of mystery drones that in the last month have flown over 15 of the country's 19 nuclear power plant sites. On Friday of last week, there were drone flights at five separate nuclear sites.

There is the fear of a security risk. The drones are small, of the kind that anyone can purchase for a few hundred dollars, but a terrorist might be tempted to launch a drone with an explosive payload. However, officials say that the drones present no danger to the public, since France's nuclear sites have been prepared for possible earthquakes or plane crashes, which presumably would be worse than an exploding drone.

However, a Greenpeace spokesman, while denying that Greenpeace had anything to do with the drones, warned that a medium-sized bomb on a drone could hit cooling pools that hold radioactive material.

French authorities are searching for the perpetrators who, if found, will face fines of up to 75,000 euros and year in prison. AP and Digital Journal

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 4-Nov-14 World View -- Germany threatens Britain with EU expulsion over the migrant issue thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (4-Nov-2014) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 4-Nov-2014 4-Nov-14 World View -- Germany threatens Britain with EU expulsion over the migrant issue

Germany threatens Britain with EU expulsion over the migrant issue

Mystery drones fly over France's nuclear sites

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 4-Nov-2014
4-Nov-14 World View -- Germany threatens Britain with EU expulsion over the migrant issue