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Eurosceptic Bloggers

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Top ten EU achievements in 2006

With achievements like this, who can argue against the beneficence of the EU .

  1. It took steps to ban misleading claims on food packaging, helping consumers choose healthy foods and avoid obesity.
  2. Another of the EU's targets has been roaming charges on mobile phone use within the EU. Extortionate prices – averaging four times the price of a domestic call – are now being curbed.
  3. A new law regulating chemicals will protect workers and consumers, requiring industry to replace hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives wherever possible.
  4. In the technology field, the EU has been developing its own satellite navigation system, Galileo.
  5. Internationally, the EU has sent troops to the Congo and south Lebanon
  6. Other major achievements in 2006 include Bulgaria and Romania's EU entry
  7. Slovenia's adoption of the euro,
  8. Cuts in sugar prices and an end to overproduction,
  9. The opening of the European market to trade in services,
  10. Measures to tackle illegal immigration.
So here goes:
  1. Does anyone really believe that it will make a difference.
  2. If the public had really been that worried about it, the market would have provided a solution.
  3. Reach is a morons approach to health and safety, based on a wish that we lived in a perfect world.
  4. Why????? The American GPS is freely available for use.
  5. Of course the might of the EU is so useful, (he laughs to himself) what would we do without it.
  6. Circular argument. A major achievement of a club, is two new members.....
  7. Poor old Slovenia, it was doing so well.
  8. A quarter achievement. Right direction, not nearly far enough. However, it was only made necessary by the existence of CAP (which wouldn't exist without the EU).
  9. Real attempts to liberalise failed, so we stuck a plaster on the wound.
  10. Haven't actually noticed that one, must have been a summit or conference.
Shame it cost so much to achieve so little isn't it. Thanks to Istanbul Tory for pointing out this little gem.

8 comments:

Rigger Mortice said...

never was so little owed to so many by so few

Anonymous said...

Yep, all pretty ephemeral.

The only exception I would possibly make would be the GPS system, Galileo. Speaking as both an IT and nautical type, I would humbly suggest that redundancy in this area is no bad thing. The American system may not be totally bullet-proof.

But that's not exactly sufficient reason for the maintainance of a supra-national uber-bureaucracy, I grant you.

James Higham said...

Roaming charges - how could the public have done a damned thing about it, even had they wanted to?

The Lincolnshire Patriot said...

would you mind if i link to my blog?
www.lincspatriot.blogspot.com
Tony

Anonymous said...

Barry Bethel,

The EU wrote "In the technology field, the EU has been developing its own satellite navigation system, Galileo. In January 2006, the system received its first test signals from an experimental satellite sent into orbit at the end of 2005. Consisting of a constellation of 30 satellites, Galileo is set to become fully operational in 2008, providing navigation assistance to land, sea and air traffic as well as to travellers around the world."

The EU doesn't launch the very expensive Galileo system for providing travellers with a second redundant system. The aim is to make the EU militarily independent of the American GPS system.

Here the link: European Union Approves Military Acess to Encrypted Galileo Signal

Why would the EU military need an independent system?

For the wars of the new superstate? Naturally, the youth of Europe will be happy to die in the "humanitarian" (formerly termed colonial) wars of the EU in Africa and oil rich regions.

Serf said...

Barry, I agree with your general thrust, but as Colin says, there are other things in play.

Serf said...

James

What I am trying to say is this:

The mobile phone service market is competitive, every market has a number of players, and price competition has been fierce.

If one player thought that roaming charges were an area to gain a competitive advantage, then they would not be as high as they are, because it would have sparked competition.

The fact that such competition has not happened, means that this issue cannot be very important to the consumer.

The EU fixing prices in this area (an idea with a less than stellar track record) most probably means that the prices of something else will go up to compensate.

Croydonian said...

And if mobile phone companies cannot make money on roaming charges, they will raise prices elsewhere. Basic business economics really.