DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
HERES GOING TO BE THE BEGINING OF THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE THAT WILL GUARENTEE ISRAELS SECURITY FOR THE 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY OF DANIEL 9:27.
MEPs pressure member states on diplomatic service-The European Parliament is keen to maintain the institutional power balance (Photo: EUobserver)HONOR MAHONY Today OCT 7,09 @ 09:20 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs are rushing to establish the European Parliament's formal position on the union's fledgling diplomatic service amid fears that member states will create a body that is beyond democratic scrutiny and control.Euro-deputies are keen to have the service attached to the European Commission and part of the overall community budget rather than an independent service only answerable to, and funded by, national governments.A diplomatic service is one of the major innovations of the proposed Lisbon Treaty, along with an EU foreign minister and a permanent president of the European Council.
A draft report on the issue, due to be voted on in plenary on 22 October, urges the commission to make use of the fact it has quasi-veto power over the formal decision by member states to establish the service.The External Action Service (EAS) should be administratively and budget-wise within the Commission, formally a part of the Commission,said German centre-right MEP Elmar Brok, in charge of drawing up the report, on Tuesday (6 September).According to British Liberal deputy Andrew Duff the diplomatic service should be a sui generis body attached to the Commission.MEPs are also calling for the service, whose exact shape and size still has to be fixed, to be staffed on the basis of merit, expertise and excellence and for balance in representation from the Commission, the Council - representing member states - and national diplomatic services.
Foreign minister hearing
The issue is set to cause a power scuffle with national governments. Member states – only slowly waking up to the foreign policy implications of the treaty - are reluctant to let parliament dictate the terms of the diplomatic service. This is not something that has great support in the Council,Swedish Europe minister Cecilia Malmstrom told this website when asked about making the service part of the commission's structure.But the parliament, which only has the right to be consulted by member states on the diplomatic service, believes it can influence the proceedings by playing hardball during its hearing of the foreign minister.This is the preparatory report. We will then have the hearing of the candidate for vice-president of the commission and foreign minister,said Mr Duff, referring to the fact that the new foreign minister will also be a member of the commission.We'll fail to support him. We've drawn blood before and we will do it again,the MEP, in charge of the hearings procedure, said.The European Parliament conducts hearings on the suitability of all members of the college of the commissioners and set a precedent in 2004 by rejecting an Italian nominee. This created a shift in the balance of power between the institutions which MEPs have been keen to build on ever since.The issues raised by the creation of a diplomatic service go to the heart of the union's perennial struggle between those who want an EU foreign policy that is a result of intergovernmental co-operation and those who want a communitarian approach, with the involvement of the commission and MEPs.
Blair manuouevre
The foreign service is just one point of unclarity in a list of several created by the Lisbon Treaty, which looks set to come into force early next year.Another issue is the exact job description of the proposed president of the European Council. Smaller countries fear the creation of a powerful post run by large member states.
Yesterday, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg circulated a confidential memo calling for the post to maintain the institutional balance of the union, according to the Irish Times.The memo also calls for someone who has demonstrated his commitment to the European project.This is being interpreted as a move against former British prime minister Tony Blair, who has been increasingly mentioned as a contender for the job.Poland has also indicated it may be unhappy with the Blair candidacy.We are not interested in a celebrity. It should be someone who is willing to spend a lot of time carrying out shuttle diplomacy among member states and talking to the commission in search of compromises,Polish EU affairs minister Mikolaj Dowgielewicz told EUobserver.
EU macro-regions could get own funding from 2014
VALENTINA POP Today OCT 7,09 @ 09:14 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – EU macro-regions such as the one surrounding the Baltic Sea could by 2014 be granted their own budget line from the Union's common coffers, the Swedish EU presidency said on Tuesday.The Baltic Sea Strategy is fantastic, but it has its limitations. It mainly focuses on projects and won't solve all the problems of the region,Swedish minister for EU affairs Cecilia Malmstrom said at a press panel during the Open Days, a marathon of events in Brussels dedicated to regions and cities.The Baltic Sea Strategy is the EU's pilot project for so-called macro-regions comprising several member states featuring a common geographical characteristic. As with the states bordering the Baltic Sea, the EU could soon see a strategy for the Danube region, one for the Alps and another for the Carpathian mountains.In the case of the Baltic Sea Strategy, the main aims are to clean up the highly polluted waters, to connect the transport and energy networks of the bordering countries and to spur research and exchange among different universities.
Adopted by the European Commission in June, the strategy still needs the endorsement of all member states – something the Swedish EU presidency is hoping to achieve by the end of October.The strategy does not provide for new funds, only how to better co-ordinate existing projects among the eight countries concerned – Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Germany, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.As discussions on the next seven-year EU budget (2014-2021) are about to begin, Ms Malmstrom was asked if the so-called macro-regions could get their own financing in the future.I could imagine, within the cohesion funds, one headline for macro-regional co-operation,she said. It is not on the agenda so far, but it could very well come up,she added.EU regional affairs commissioner Pawel Samecki said that discussions on this matter had already started last month in Stockholm, when foreign ministers gathered for an informal meeting on the Baltic Sea strategy.The question was raised whether we should have a separate budget line for macro-regions. It is a relevant question, which would have other implications as well, as to who will manage this money – the EU commission, existing structures or a new body?
Carsten-Ludwig Ludemann, a local official with the German city of Hamburg, said it was actually good that the commission did not attach a specific sum to the Baltic Sea strategy, as it was still facing acceptance issues with the member states not concerned.We are a federal state and all 16 Bundeslaender [regions] had to approve the strategy, which they did. But no land said they wanted a Danube or another strategy now,he noted.The Baltic Sea strategy is due for review in 2011, under the Polish EU presidency, when countries and regional organisations responsible for specific projects will report about the actual implementation of the measures.It is very important to make states responsible,Finnish EU affairs minister Astrid Thors said.I hope we won't need to name and shame countries in two years time,she added.
Future of internet has dangers for privacy, Brussels warns
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today OCT 7,09 @ 09:25 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - There is a dark side to some of the impressive new online technologies that are appearing, from social networking to behavioural advertising to RFID smart chips, the European Commission's internet chief has warned.While such technologies offer great vistas of opportunity, the commission is monitoring their development closely for the very real potential threats to privacy they contain, information society commissioner Viviane Reding said on Monday at a debate on the future of the internet in Brussels.Ms Reding threatened that if social networking sites such as Facebook themselves do not make moves to ensure the profiles of minors are kept private, she would intervene with legislation to force them to do so.
Privacy must, in my view, be a high priority for social networking providers and for their users. I firmly believe that at least the profiles of minors must be private by default and unavailable to internet search engines,she told the meeting in the European Parliament, organised by Icomp, an industry initiative backed by Microsoft to discuss the online marketplace.The European Commission has already called on social networking sites to deal with minors' profiles carefully, by means of self-regulation,she continued.I am ready to follow this up with new rules if I have to.But she said she worries about all users of social networking, not just children, and fears that most users of such sites are unaware of the dangers to their privacy.
Social networking has a strong potential for a new form of communication and for bringing people together, wherever they are,she said.But is every social networker really aware that all pictures and information uploaded on social networking profiles can be accessed and used by anyone on the web?
Advertising concerns
The EU's internet chief also said that behavioural advertising - those ads that appear that seem to know exactly the sort of books or vacations or concerts you would be interested in - was another privacy concern repeatedly mentioned to the European Commission these days.Behavioural adverts are able to do this by keeping track of internet users' web browsing to better target them with advertisements.Ms Reding said that the EU executive was watching this development for infringement of privacy: European privacy rules are crystal clear: a person's information can only be used with their prior consent.The commission is closely monitoring the use of behavioural advertising to ensure respect for our privacy rights,she added.I will not shy away from taking action where an EU country falls short of this duty.The commissioner also warned of the perils contained within the internet of things - the use of radio frequency identification (RFID), or smart chips, that could be attached to any product.There is enormous potential from a world in which all mugs, containers, shoes or airplane parts are attached with tiny identifying devices. Analysts predict that common events that plague businesses and individuals such as running out of stock, product wastage, and theft. Losing your keys could be a thing of the past, if we know where a product is at all times. But there are also great privacy pitfalls in such a world, noted Ms Reding.I am convinced [RFID] will only be welcomed in Europe if they are used by the consumers and not on the consumers,she told the crowd.No European should carry a chip in one of their possessions without being informed precisely of what they are used for, with the choice to remove or switch it off at any time.The Internet of Things will only work if it is accepted by the people.
Her speech also focussed on the need for a single online market for digital content, which she has repeatedly argued is fragmented, a competitive disadvantage for Europe when compared to the United States.Before the end of the current commission's mandate, she said, she and internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy would publish a reflection paper over a set of possible legislative options to create such a single digital market.Ms Reding would also like to see the development of a European Rights Registry to ease the digitalisation of books. Such a registry would aim to overcome the current problem of books republishing online books that are out of print, but whose copyright ownership remains cloudy.Although the Luxembourgish Ms Reding has expressed an interest in returning to Brussels as part of President Jose Manuel Barroso's second college of commissioners, it is not clear that if she returns, she would be awarded the same dossier.She underlined that in making her comments on the future of the internet, she did not want to pre-empt the new commission.
