The most unpopular EU Commission in history

+ Western multinationals grab Ukraine's productive land

Dec 12, 2024

Today I am providing my English translation of two articles, originally in Italian.
(Footnotes and all emphasis mine)

The first one is an article published on Movisol.org today, Friday 6th December 2024:

The most unpopular EU Commission in history and the European Parliament go head-to-head

Anglo-American circles that intend to wreak havoc in the next 50 days can count on the EU institutions. The European Commission and the European Parliament have given unequivocal signals in this direction.
On 1st December [2024], in their first official act after taking office, the new High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Kaja Kallas and the new President of the European Council Antonio Costa travelled to Kiev, where Kallas raised the possibility of sending European soldiers to Ukraine.
Kallas, Costa and the other members of the new European Commission had just been approved by the European Parliament [EP] on 27th November [2024], albeit by 31 votes less than last July, when the EP had voted Ursula von der Leyen's second mandate: 370 votes against 401 in July. The Commission thus obtained a majority of only 51%, the worst result ever in the history of the European Union.
Indifferent to her own unpopularity, von der Leyen renewed Kiev's promise of EU membership and announced that she would adopt the Draghi report's programme, focusing on three “pillars”: “closing the innovation gap with the US and China”, “a common plan for decarbonisation and competitiveness” and “increasing security and reducing dependencies”. At least in words, he made concessions to European industry affected by the destructive impact of decarbonisation, promising to “accompany people and companies along the way” and to save the automotive industry.
Without an ounce of self-criticism, von der Leyen acknowledged that the biggest challenge for European companies “is high energy prices”. Turning reality upside down, she boasted that she had responded to Russia's “energy blackmail” and promised to “reduce costs for households and businesses... and replace Russian LNG imports”.
Not only was it von der Leyen, Draghi & friends, and not Russia, who implemented an “energy blackmail” that drove up prices, but von der Leyen is de facto admitting the total failure of that policy, as pipeline gas from Russia has been replaced by LNG imports from Russia itself (as well as the US). Her promise to lower energy prices is hollow, as the only way to do this is to lift sanctions.
The next day, the European Parliament, which placed a banner in blue and yellow at the opening of its website proclaiming “We stand by Ukraine as long as it takes”, passed a resolution calling for escalating the war against Russia by supplying long-range weapons to Kiev. The resolution was adopted with 390 votes in favour, 135 against and 52 abstentions.
The text “calls on the EU and its member states to further strengthen their military support for Ukraine, including through the provision of aircraft, long-range missiles, including Taurus missiles, modern air defence systems, including Patriots and SAMP/Ts, ammunition, man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS), artillery, and training programmes for Ukrainian forces, and also calls for an accelerated delivery of promised equipment to meet Ukraine's urgent needs; reiterates its position that all EU Member States and NATO allies should commit themselves collectively and individually to providing military support to Ukraine amounting to at least 0,25 % of their annual GDP welcomes the signing of the joint security commitments between the EU and Ukraine and calls on the Commission and the Member States to act swiftly to implement the commitments effectively; calls on the Commission and the Council to give priority to the full operation of the European space communication capability IRIS2 and to grant access to Ukraine (and Taiwan) as soon as possible”.
The resolution also criticises Germany for refusing to supply Taurus missiles to Kiev, while praising Biden's decision to allow deep strikes against Russia. It reiterates support for the Kiev regime's “peace and victory plan” and “deplores the German Chancellor's recent telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin” (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-10-2024-0055_IT.html).

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The second article was published on Movisol.org on Monday 9th December 2024:

Western multinationals grab Ukraine's productive land

It is well known that Ukraine's “Black Earth” is some of the most fertile land in the world and has been bought up at bargain prices by profit-hungry multinationals and funds, mainly from the USA. On 13th November [2024], Belgian MEP Barbara Bonte (Patriots for Europe, PfE, photo) submitted a question with a request for a written answer to the European Commission, entitled “Ukrainian farmland is increasingly owned by the United States”. “According to several disturbing reports”, the text says, “agribusiness and investment companies, mainly from the US, but also from Saudi Arabia, are buying Ukrainian farmland on a large scale. Cargill, ADM, Blackrock, Oaktree Capital Management and Bunge Limited, for example, have reportedly acquired control of a large part of Ukrainian farmland”. Ms Bonte goes on to ask two questions:
“1. What is the Commission's assessment of the impact of this sell-off of European farmland to multinational corporations that only serve US interests, on the EU's strategic dependence for food supply? How will the Commission address this impact?
“This strongly suggests that the US is seeking to recover its military support for Ukraine and to secure a geopolitical presence there in a post-conflict scenario, through control of Ukrainian farmland and the profits it generates. How does the Commission intend to prevent the US from cherry-picking in Ukraine and Europe from having to deal only with handicaps?”
On 21st February 2023, the American Oakland Institute, an environmental think-tank, published an informative study on the same subject, entitled: War and Theft: The Takeover of Ukrainian Agricultural Land1, which states, among other things: “About 4.3 million hectares are cultivated on a large scale and the majority, 3 million hectares, are in the hands of a dozen or so large agribusiness companies. Moreover, according to the government, about five million hectares - the size of two Crimeas - have been ‘stolen’ by private interests from the Ukrainian state. The total amount of land controlled by oligarchs, corrupt individuals and large agribusinesses is thus more than 9 million hectares, more than 28% of the country's arable land”.
With the dominance of the cartel formed by big agribusinesses in Ukraine in recent years, many farmers have been displaced and driven to seek agricultural work in the Midwest of the US and European countries, sending remittances back home. Thanks to NATO, the Ukrainian farmer was returned to the status of serf.