Handbook against EU fake news comes out in English

(ANSA) - Rome, January 22 - An Italian 'handbook' uncovering fake news about the European Union has come out in English.
    The book, Euxit, emergency exit for Europe, was written by Roberto Sommella, the Director of External Relations of the Italian Antitrust Authority, the founder of La Nuova Europa, and honorary citizen of Ventotene, home of the namesake European Manifesto.
    The book is published by Rubbettino and it can be downloaded in an e-Book version - http://www.store.rubbettinoeditore.it/euxit-emergency-exit-fo-eu rope.html At a crucial time for the EU, when each election is a referendum on the euro and the Union, Sommella counters the arguments of those who wish to return to national borders and currencies, starting from the effects of Brexit on British financial markets, with the aim of dismantling three stereotypes about migrants, the countries that profit from ECB policies and those who would like to withdraw from the EU.
    As regards migration flows, he argues that we are not facing an invasion. According to UN data in the World Population Prospects, migratory flows in Europe from 2000 to 2010 were of 1.2 million people per year. That is 0.2% of the EU's population of 500 million. Nothing we cannot handle, given that the United States reached one million in the same period, he says. Even in Italy, some clichés have to be dismantled, Sommella writes. In spite of three billion euros in expenditure to manage the refugee emergency, the benefits of migratory flows are significant. In 2014, social security contributions paid by non-EU workers in Italy amounted to approximately eight billion euros while about 642 million went out for pension benefits and 2.420 billion for non-retirement pensions (unemployment, sick leave, maternity leave, family allowances), making for a surplus of about 4.5 billion euros. The financial contribution of migrants who are fully integrated into the social and productive system is positive in terms of taxes too. Foreign taxpayers declared incomes of 45.6 billion in 2014, paying 6.8 billion in income taxes.
    The book also undoes the myth which says that Italy is the the main beneficiary of Mario Draghi's 'bazooka' when discussing the effects of the ECB Quantitative Easing.
    Comparing the variables recorded early in 2015 (the year of the launch of the QE) with more recent data, it turns out that Germany is the one that has benefited the most from the monetary policy of Frankfurt, he says. Euxit also looks at who spends more and who has gained more from participating in the Union. Each German has "spent" 1,034 euros for Europe, the Italians stopped at 623 per capita, while the Spaniards each received up to 335 euros, the Poles 1,522, the Portuguese 2,100, Greece 2,960 euros net per Greek citizen. However, turning to the allocation of EU structural resources, we find that the percentage of funds granted to Central and Eastern Europe (from 177.57 to 180.93 billion, up 2.6%) is increasing compared to Western Europe (from 169 billion to 140 current, down 16%), he says. Therefore in the same Eastern European countries where new walls are being built against migrants, EU structural transfers have become more and more important, accounting for between 2 and 3% of GDP.
    Sommella calls for the drafting of a European Constitution, the strengthening of the European Parliament's powers and the reform of the EU electoral law to allow voters to choose directly the President of the Commission. Only then will it be possible to go from the present Confederation to a true Federation of states, abandoning this Middle Earth, similar to the situation that led to the explosion of the Former Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, Sommella argues.