UK to be fined £305 million

Don't we just love the Common Agricultural Policy. On its own, its damaging enough, combine it with an incompetent UK government and the results are even worse.

It looks likely that the United Kingdom government has been fined as much as £305 million for its failings in implementing the new Single Payment Scheme of the Common Agricultural Policy.

We couldn't even distribute cash to farmers, and now the EU is to fine us for it. Just one question. Why should we pay the EU for incompetence, surely if anyone deserves this cash, it is the farmers who have been let down.

EU faces Split

Typical bullying arrogance in this statement by Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Huebner.

The European Union's failure to revive its constitution risks dividing the bloc and undermining the richer old members' willingness to finance development of the poorer newcomers.

Translation: Vote for the treaty or we will stop paying you money. She does offer hope however:

Unless the EU agrees on a treaty to replace the charter rejected by Dutch and French voters in 2005, a group of countries may decide to move ahead with integration faster than others.

Which is fine by me. If they want to push for greater serfdom, let them. Lets break this taboo that we all have to be in the same prison cell.

Note: Ms Huebner is a Pole, who is threatening her own countrymen on behalf of Brussels. Just shows that Brussels makes traitors of them all.

EU Plan to Increase Poverty

The EU wants us all to be poorer, much poorer. So they have come up with a plan to achieve this. Typically they are selling it in a slightly more positive way.

German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel told reporters on Tuesday that all 27 EU environment ministers backed in principle a proposed unilateral cut in EU emissions of 20 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels.

Interesting that this is being pushed by the Germans. Those of us with a little more memory than a goldfish will be aware that the Germans were responsible for the fiasco that was the launch of emissions trading. They gave their companies too many permits, so that they could export them.

This leads me to believe that nothing will be done to actually cut emissions. I am sure they will find ways of using this declaration to screw us poor serfs though.

Wisdom From Daniel Hannan

Read the whole thing, its worth it. For me the stand out however is this:

Which brings us to something that neither side of the debate likes to acknowledge. The bits of the constitution to which people object are, in general, the bits that restate the status quo. Voters are complaining, not about what Brussels proposes to do next, but about what it is doing now.

The truth is that a vast number of people only became aware of certain EU (in)competences when they read about them in the constitution. Because the EU has no reverse gear, Brussels thinks this is irrelevant and Europhiles seem to think that we should simply accept that which has gone before.

Seeing as most of us have never had a vote on anything to do with the EU, their argument is complete bollocks.

Hat Tip: The Devil

Paying for Market Access

This whole logic is baffling me.

The three non-EU members, part of the European Economic Area (EEA), pay annual contributions to the EU in return for access to the bloc's internal market allowing Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to sell their goods and services across the union.

The EU is once again asking non members to cough up, so as to be allowed access to new members Bulgaria & Romania. I know that the EU's foundation is based on this crazy idea, but having to bribe for the right to market access seems completely stupid (as well as immoral) to this extremist free marketeer.

I mean, if a Bulgarian wants to buy salted fish from Norway, why shouldn't he?

This logic is the reason why we need to destroy the EU, not just leave it.

Is My Logic Right ?

The thing I understand from this story is that EU Red Tape costs us 14% of our wealth.

European Union countries on Monday backed moves to slash EU red tape by a quarter from 2012 to boost growth. EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said cutting the cost of red tape would boost the bloc's growth by the equivalent of 3.5 percent over time.

This benefit comes from cutting a quarter of all red tape. So why not cut it all and get much richer? Probably because the EU would lose its reason for existence. The same goes for all bureaucracies.

I am willing to bet with anyone, that come 2012, the problem, far from being 25% better, will be a lot worse.

Very Big Brother

Be afraid, be very afraid. Big Brother has just got a lot bigger.

Police in European Union countries will be able to access DNA, fingerprint and car registration databases run by other member states under an agreement reached on Thursday.

But those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear right........ Bulls**t. Their good intentions can be assessed by how much further some of them want to go.

They failed to back a proposal to allow police to pursue suspects across national borders.

No doubt that idea will never completely go away. Whats the odds that around 2010, it will be agreed on?

Make Turkish an Official Language

More empty gesture politics that will cost us serfs dearly.

A group of parliamentarians in the European Parliament has proposed the acknowledgement of Turkish as an official language of the European Union, saying this would help improve dialogue with Turkish Cypriots.

For the sake of making a point, they want to add even more to the cost of Babel. Most of the Turkish Cypriots I have met seem more comfortable speaking English than Turkish, a fact that shows this idea in a more realistic light.

Send Um Home

Rare good news from the EU

More than 1,000 British prison places are likely to be vacated after a deal yesterday obliging European countries to take back criminals to serve their sentences at home.

We can finally get rid of other countries scrotes (God knows we have enough of our own). They will of course be free to return the minute their sentences are up, but that is a completely different issue entirely.

EU Bullying

They are at it again.

The European Commission has warned Switzerland over tax breaks which it offers to companies who have their headquarters there.

Being unreconstructed socialists, the Eu believes that all money belongs to the state, and that what is not taken in tax is the generosity of the state. At least thats what I understand from this.

It added that Switzerland's refusal to change those rules breached a 1972 agreement between the EU and Switzerland not to offer subsidies that affected competition.

Repeat after me.

• Low tax is not a subsidy, and those who think different are communists.
• Low tax is not a subsidy, and those who think different are communists.
• Low tax is not a subsidy, and those who think different are communists.

I will vote against my party and for democracy

The above is a philosophy that we can all agree with. Don't we hate it when politicians put party loyalty above principle. The man who said it is to be congratulated. So who was it? Denis MacShane, tireless campaigner for democracy and accountability........ Here campaigning for the EU Constitution

Many express the banal view that Europe should simply be a free-trade area when the very birth of Europe was profoundly political

Wanting to push "Europe" forward

Today the politics of protest in France, as in Italy, is about resisting change. It seeks to uphold the status quo. And for Europe as a whole, that is a disaster.

Being at the heart of Europe

Once again Britain risks being left behind and, as in the past, reacting defensively with nervous irritation to the ideas shaped in other EU capitals.

On how the Serfs should behave

"We don't believe that the British people will repudiate an international treaty that has been negotiated and signed in good faith and honour by the British government which received an overwhelming vote of confidence at the second reading of the bill in the House of Commons.

The man is an obsessive Eurofanatic. He has never seen an EU idea he doesn't like, and he has the gall to pretend to be a supporter of democracy. Its like getting a lecture on human rghts from Stalin. And what is the massive attack on democracy that he is worried about?

It is over the proposal to tear up more than seven centuries of history and require MPs to sit rather than stand to vote.

Rather puts the superstate into perspective doesn't it.

Socialism is Alive and Well...

In France. Segolene Royal has launched her manifesto. Highlights include: (pdf)

• Give priority to business investment by lowering tax where the profit is reinvested and increasing it where it is distributed to shareholders.
• The Minimum Wage to be increased to €1500 as soon as possible in the new
• parliament
• Bank charges will be controlled by the government
• Extend collective bargaining to all levels and all subjects
• Create the right to a first job for young people so that no young person stays unemployed for longer than six months
• Guarantee on a permanent basis the financing of public hospitals
• Work for the establishment of a World Environmental Organisation
• Promote the idea of a “world agricultural policy”
• Promoting mass trade unionism
• Tax the revenues of the private channels in favour of the public service media
• Raise living standards and social protection in all European countries through a social chapter

Ideas like these deserve to reside in the dustbin of history, not in the manifesto of a current politician. I hope, for France's sake, that this economic illiterate does not win. Hat Tip EU Referendum

We can't Protect our Farms

The UK farming lobby, has long had an ambiguous relationship with the EU. Recipients of massive amounts of cash they are at the same time squeezed by quotas and bothered by petty rules. Now they have something else to worry about.

The Government was yesterday forced to defend its decision not to ban imports of turkey from Hungary as farmers' leaders demanded an urgent review of the movement of meat into Britain. David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, said Britain was powerless to block imports under European law, despite concerns that the infection could have reached the UK from Eastern Europe.

Such a decision could only be taken at EU level, and no doubt Hungarian Ministers would not be in favour.

Which illustrates a point very neatly. Where cross border cooperation is needed, the EU structures actually encourage selfishness, undermining the very basis for its existence.

Constitutional Immunity

Whilst the implications are a little scary, its nice to see the reality of the EU painted so starkly.

Le Monde gives prominent coverage to a judgement made yesterday by the Conseil d’Etat – France’s supreme court for administrative justice – which granted European law an effective “constitutional immunity”. This means EU acts transposed in France have legal supremacy, even if they conflict with the French Constitution.

To paraphrase the Quisling Heath, I think the French have given up some essential sovereignty.

Question. Where does the EU get this power from. Surely as members who sign the treaties, we confer power on the EU. This ruling however suggests that the EU just has that power, apparently from nowhere. Just exactly how does that work?

Good News From The EU

Now this might persuade a lot more male support for the EU.

EUROPEAN men are flocking to Bulgaria to buy "breast-boosting beer" after the country's accession to the EU has meant that customs duties on the tipple have been abolished. The millet-based ale called Boza allegedly makes women's breasts bigger, but was previously expensive.

So are we looking at the "Harmonisation of Breasts Directive"?

For those of you interested, the original supplier of this elixir is here.

EU to Set Punishments

Franco Frattini has launched his latest attack on the independence of national justice systems.

Releasing toxic chemicals, dumping hazardous waste and other serious "green crimes" would be punished by up to 10 years in prison and a €1.5m fine anywhere in Europe.

This crosses the boundary, by setting penalties at EU level. But sod sovereignty and all that, the people want it:

Franco Frattini, European commissioner for justice and home affairs, believes that the public is so concerned about damage to the environment that the measure will be popular across the continent.

The bastards never miss an opportunity do they. Even more worrying is the eagerness of some of our own quislings to collaborate.

The move is backed by UK Conservative environment spokeswoman MEP Caroline Jackson, in a U-turn on the party's traditional stance on EU matters. "EU leaders should establish a clear unified legal framework so that environmental lawbreakers can be prosecuted through their criminal courts in all 27 member states," Jackson said.

I look forward to this woman being deselected.

Helping The Poor

I am always curious as to how governments and others choose the recipients of their aid. Take this example of EU aid.

The European Union (EU) council of ministers has approved a €980m funding programme to help SA achieve higher economic growth and address its skills shortage.

First of all why South Africa? After all it is rich compared to the standards of the continent in which it resides. Why did they decide that what they needed was money for training? Finally the amount, how was that calculated? After all they failed to spend it all last time:

The indicative amount was approved despite government’s inability to spend all of the funds assigned under the previous package. The total decommitted funds from the previous funding package amounted to about €70m.

We are to pay them more money than they were pledged last time, despite them being unable to spend the last lot.

The reality is that South Africa is a place of massive potential, held back by a socialist government. It needs a capitalist revolution. So the EU, is simply doing abroad what it does at home. Ignoring the real problems and pretending that throwing money at "Skills" is what is needed.

Euroreality

Following a comment left on a previous post, I became aware of New Pro EU blogger, Euroreality. I await his contributions to the debate with interest.

EU to add £3.300 to Price of Cars

When businesses indulge in price fixing, Neelie Kroes and her team spring into action. They take legal action to prevent consumers being price gouged, because thats what the EU is for. Its all about protecting consumers from greedy businessmen. But who is to protect consumers from rapacious regulators?

After weeks of wrangling, bureaucrats in Brussels will today announce limits on the amount of carbon dioxide new vehicles can emit. An EU-commissioned report claims the proposals could add an average of £2,500 to the price of a car. But motor manufacturers claim the cost could be as high as £3,300.

The difference is hardly worth arguing about, you will be screwed either way, and for what? For the sole purpose of giving more power to Brussels (using global warming as an excuse).

These new regulations effectively mean that the EU has chosen hybrids as the solution. As with all government technology choices, it will inevitably be shown later to be the wrong choice. Cutting net carbon emissions could be achieved with biofuels (green even in a 6 litre Ferrari), increased use of public transport (irrespective of what people are driving), including petrol indirectly in emissions trading would offer cheaper ways of overall cuts.

But no. Brussels knows best, and you poor serfs will just have to pay through the nose for your next car.

Barroso Blames The Netherlands

I have always thought of the Dutch as a fine people, able to speak more languages than anyone else, keen to do business all over the world, friends with all, enemies to none. With the exception of them being too tall for comfort and generally having a football team that is too good, I can't see much to criticise them for. El Presidente is not of the same opinion.

José Manuel Barroso put the Netherlands under pressure for being indifferent about the EU Constitution.

Well perhaps he has a point. Anyone found guilty of indifference over that document should at least be given therapy if not sectioned. Though I doubt thats what he is talking about.

“Once you have signed an agreement you must ratify it as well”, Barroso said to Dutch journalists

I know he used to be a Maoist in his youth but even Barroso can't be this stupid surely. If signing automatically meant ratifying, then surely you wouldn't need both. Problem is that without the need for ratification, a government would effectively be a dictatorship. Its word would be law. Not very "European" is it Jose????

The EPP, the driving force in the European Union

So claims the latest EPP newsletter.

The EPP is more than ever the driving political force in the European Union (EU). With the recent election of Hans – Gert Poettering as President of the European Parliament, the EPP will lead the three main European institutions in the first half of 2007.

Which is all very well if you want a driving force, but most of us Brits would probably prefer a decent set of brakes, and perhaps a reverse gear.

Elsewhere, Wilfried Martens (President of the EPP) has this to say:

We have to face important challenges such as the delivery of energy, the illegal immigration or the climate change. At the same time, the EU has to strengthen its political union with a new Constitutional Treaty.

Remind me again, why we Conservatives sit together with these federalist extremists?

MEPs Want to Rule the World

MEPs are by my reckoning, generally jumped up little pricks who take themselves too seriously. This story seems to confirm my outrageous prejudice.

The European Parliament has with an overwhelming majority voted in favour of a global moratorium on the death penalty

Earth to Euro Parliament, you are not actually in charge of the globe.

The fact that the end of the death penalty was a gross violation of the rights of innocent people, in favour of murdering slags is another issue entirely.

Ve Haf Veys of Making U Not Talk

It seems that all is not as was previously reported, in the case of the Germans telling us what to think.

People who question the official history of recent conflicts in Africa and the Balkans could be jailed for up to three years for "genocide denial", under proposed EU legislation.

The legislation would bring in an "official history" for a whole range of conflicts, that would be beyond discussion. It doesn't mention which genocides and conflicts are included, they are to be decided case by case.

If agreed by EU member states, the legislation is likely to declare open season for human rights activists and organisations seeking to establish a body of genocide denial law in Europe's courts.

So the scum of the earth like Cherie Blair, will effectively be given the incentive to launch a crusade against free speech.

If our Quisling government ever pass such a evil piece of legislation, I will somehow get myself into a TV studio, and I will deny every single genocide & crime against humanity that I can possibly think of. Our free speech is far too important to let left wing wankers take it away from us.

I am also of the same opinion as Deborah Lipstadt, the professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies:

"When you pass these kinds of laws it suggests to the uninformed bystander that you don't have the evidence to prove your case."

Outsourcing

I can't be bothered to post today, so I am outsourcing your daily blast of Euroscepticism.

1. West Brom Blog highlights an EU land grab, in the area of education
2. Conservative Party Reptile suggests a civil disobedience approach to the EU
3. England Expects, takes a look at the new jobs for Conservative MEPs, here & here
4. EU Referendum has comment on CFP, and Cameron's approach to it. He is not impressed
5. Con Home, reports that CFP has led to the resignation of one MSP
6. Devils kitchen assesses the same story, with a rather different conclusion
7. The Reference Frame has a long post about attitudes towards the constitution
8. Finally I would be remiss were I not to mention that Eursoc has had an extreme makeover.