By James P. Tucker Jr.
Bilderberg luminaries are upset that growing nationalism in the United Kingdom is threatening their campaign for a “United States of Europe.” Even one of their own, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, is supporting the “British rebellion.”
Bilderberg is considered to be the most exclusive and secretive club in the world. To be admitted, you have to own a multinational bank, a multinational corporation or a country. Since its first meeting in 1954, Bilderberg has been attended by the top powerbrokers, financial minds and world leaders.
British Prime Minister David Cameron promised to offer citizens an up-or-down vote on whether to leave the European Union (EU) if his party can return him to office in the next election, expected in 2015. He said on January 23, 2013, that public opposition to membership in the EU is “at an all-time high.”
Cameron said in a speech in London that his Conservative Party should renegotiate the terms of the UK’s membership in the 27-nation EU.
“Once that new settlement has been negotiated, we will give the British people” a chance to vote on whether to stay or quit the EU, he said. “A one size fits all” approach to the EU is misguided.
Britain has always had reservations about EU membership. It refuses to use the euro and maintains the pound as currency. When Lady Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, she told The Spotlight in a private conversation that she would never surrender national sovereignty to an international organization. Membership in the EU was like belonging to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, she said. Treaties can be used for the benefit of nations without yielding a “bit of national sovereignty,” she added. Britain kept the pound because a nation’s currency is “a symbol” of its sovereignty, she said.
Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, said Cameron was “playing a dangerous game” dictated by domestic politics.
“This was an inward-looking speech that does not reflect European reality and will not impress many of the EU’s European partners,” he said.
Laurent Fabius, Foreign Minister of France, compared the EU to joining a sports club—“you can’t say you want to play rugby,” he told a popular French radio station.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said countries should not be allowed to write their own terms for EU membership. “A policy of cherry-picking won’t function,” he said.
However, Italian leader Monti countered that the EU “does not need unwilling members.” But he “hopes” Brits will choose to remain in the bloc and “help shape its future.”
A source told AMERICAN FREE PRESS that Thierry de Montbrial, founder and president of the French Institute for International Relations, was heard saying that this public opposition threatens the future of the EU. In addition, he reportedly expressed concern that the growing nationalism and unrest would likely sink any future plans for globalization.
James P. Tucker Jr. is the world’s foremost expert on the global elite. Tucker is AFP’s editor emeritus and the author of Jim Tucker’s Bilderberg Diary.
