Our "Partner" the EPP

The joy and excitement of recieving an EPP newsletter is almost too much to bear. So I thought I would share some of their insights with you.

EPP AND EPP-ED GROUP PRESENT PROPOSALS TO ADOPT THE CONSTITUTION BEFORE 2009 In a joint letter sent in June to the Austrian Chancellor and President of the European Council, Wolfgang Schüssel, they said "the continuation of the ratification process is inevitable since fifteen member states have already gone a long this path".

So a treaty that requires unanimous ratification must go ahead, as a majority has accepted it. Hmmm.

EPP CONGRATULATES TOPOLANEK AND ODS FOR THE VICTORY IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC The President of the EPP, Wilfried Martens, has congratulated Mirek Topolanek, President of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), for his “great victory” in the elections hold on 3rd of June in the Czech Republic.

For those of you not concentrating, that would be the election that ended in complete stalemate.

The Brewers of Europe

The Brewers of Europe is a group that I automatically feel kinship with. They have been responsible for some great times in all of our lives, and we should not forget that.

They also speak a lot of sense.

“Given that the extent and nature of any problems varies greatly from country to country, any pan-European anti-alcohol regulation will not work. For example, trying to pluck policies from Sweden and impose them on Italy would be a recipe for failure.

Whilst they are of course correct, their argument works for just about anything that the EU does. For this reason it is likely to fall on deaf ears.

A Greek Tragedy

If I were Greek, I would be very unhappy to hear this news.

Greeks entering the workplace from the mid-1990s onwards will have to work until they are around 75 years of age to avoid a collapse of the social insurance system, according to a study by the country's second largest bank.

To work until you are 75 is unbelievable. What makes it worse is that these people could easily save for their own pension, but their contributions will be needed for those that don't. Governments that over spend on useless state actions, and skimp on what the the real need is are completely immoral. In Europe we have another phrase to describe it though..... The European Social Market Model.

More Expensive Public Services

The EU is about to make public services in Ireland more expensive.

The European Commission warned the (Irish) Government yesterday that its practice of exempting public bodies from applying VAT to public services such as car parking and bin charges is illegal.

So rubbish collection, car parking and other local services will all get more expensive. Excellent, lets hope the Irish start to see the negative side of rule by Brussels.

Pretty Shrewd Operator

Mandelson, often tries to sell himself as a free trader. He blames the frequent protectionist things that he does on the rules that he must adhere to. Is he really telling us the truth? Andy Robertson, chief executive of NFU Scotland, and a protectionist like all of his kind, thinks otherwise.

"Mandelson is a pretty shrewd operator, and I think he understood after briefing from officials of the importance of agriculture to the rural economy right across Europe. It seems clear that he was not prepared to give any more ground."

He may be trying to spin this as a personal victory. However the importance of agriculture to the political elite, and Peter's propensity to suck up. People like him believe in nothing but furthering their own careers, and like all those who went before him, he has gone native with a vengeance.

Selfish Intransigence

This is the way in which the USA and EU are being described after the failure of the WTO trade talks.

The round had hit a roadblock “because the US and the EU refuse to stop dumping by cutting real money from their agricultural support”, Oxfam International said.

Having read that though I can't agree. After all the selflessness of EU and US consumers and taxpayers is praiseworthy indeed. They are apparently willing to pay more than necessary for their food as well as excess tax for the sake of their farmers. Personally, I would like to see a little more selfishness from Europe's consumers.

Subsidies Don't Work

Another triumph for Regional Development Aid

A chicken plant built with more than £1m of EU regional funding, is shutting for the second time in two years.

Surprise surprise, they cannot make it work. When the state chooses to take money from successful businesses and give it to unsuccessful ones, we should not be surprised when things go wrong.

National Interest

One of the things that led me to becoem an implacable foe of the EU was the realisation that even when they do something with the best of interests at heart, the results are usually completely unrelated to the aims. The reason for this is usually the competing national interests of the members. Take Climate Change

When European Union officials created a market for trading pollution credits, they boasted that it was a "cost-conscious way" to save the planet from global warming.

Whatever you think of Global Warming, theoretically they were right in making this statement. A pollution trading scheme, automatically cuts pollutions where the cost of doing so is least.

However, they managed to screw it up.

The mistake came when the European Commission allowed the EU's 25 governments to provide too many permits

Basically, if a national government provides too many permits, its local companies can make money by selling those to foreigner companies. So it becomes a way for governments to create exports with the flick of a pen.

The worst of this is that the incompetence that led to this situation, then allows extremist greens to attack the whole concept of emissions trading as somehow immoral.

So even when the EU chooses the best option available to it, they still make a mess of it.

Do Tariffs have an Upside

Now I am a hardline free marketeer, and would love to see a world without tariffs. My belief is that usually the cost of the tariffs outweigh the benefits. Our beloved EU has taken it a step further however, if this is to be believed.

According to the British Retail Consortium the EU decided to hike the tax even though it will provide no conceivable benefits to European bag manufacturers.

The tax in question is a tariff on plastic bags. So if there is no benefit to any EU based manufacturer, is this just a revenue raising exercise?

Doing Some Good

Now and again, I like to see how people are finding this Blog. The google search terms in particular are interesting. Today I found this one, of which I am very proud. Someone Chinese typed the question "Is trade a zero-sum game?" into google and came to visit this blog article. At least someone in the People's Republic is better informed now.

Completely Transparent

Or not as the case may be. We all know that the EU is a conspiracy by the powerful to throw off their democratic shackles, but now even some of the powerful are complaining about being left out. They are complaining that they are not told what goes on in EU meetings.

The UK House of Lords EU Committee says the public has a right to know what goes on behind closed doors. The peers claim important decisions are reached, yet no report is ever made to Parliament and no publicity is given about them by the Home Office.

The first Parliament will know about the decisions will be when they are asked to rubber stamp them.

The billion euro Babel

Cranmer has a great post about translation.

It is projected that next year the costs of translating speeches and documents into all the languages of the European Union will reach the astronomical sum of a billion euros.

So their modelling of the Euro Parliament on Babel was a good idea. When they did so however, they forgot how the story ends:

The Lord destroyed the Tower of Babel, and scattered the peoples over the face of the earth. Does such a fate await the European Union?

Well I have always thought of the other side as being a religion, but Serf would be pleased to be an agent of the almighty.

Bloggers Block

The Serf is clothed in sack cloth and ashes. The announcement at the end of last week that the Conservative Party will continue to be friends with Federasts has made him depressed. Writing about a butter embargo, a crack down on banking profits or the EU's relations in the Middle East, hold no appeal. So I am temporarily blocked.

Vodaphone has Been Sleeping

Interesting remarks from Vodaphone on the new regulations over roaming charges.

"We believe this whole initiative is illegal because the EU treaty protects companies and customers from arbitrary and unjustified regulation,"

As they appear to have been sleeping for the past few years, I have a pointer for them.

"arbitrary and unjustified regulations R US"

Edith Cresson Goes Unpunished

Its official, there is no penalty for helping your friends onto the gravy train.

Europe's highest court ruled yesterday that Edith Cresson, the former EU commissioner, acted improperly in hiring her dentist as a top scientific adviser but should keep her £30,000 a year pension from Brussels.

She is guilty but she recieves no punishment. Just a thought, but what do you think they would do if a former commissioner joined the Better Off Out campaign. Do you think they would be so forgiving?

Help, I Agree With MacShane

I am in a somewhat delicate state, having just read the old traitor Denis MacShane and agreed with what he said.

Germany can now wave its red-yellow-and-black flag as proudly as France waves the tricolour, or Americans plant the star-spangled banner, everywhere. To love one's country is no longer a sin between the Rhine and the Elbe.

Despite what the Federasts would love to believe, Serf is most definitely not someone who hates Germans. I have visited Germany a number of times and enjoyed the experience. I especially enjoyed the sausages and beer.

I do however have one question for Mr MacShane, a little thing that is niggling at the back of my mind. You see, I too believe that everyone has the right to be a flag waving patriot, and yet there are some countries that still do not have that right. What does he think about this, or this, does he agree with this train of thought?

It is just that Europhiles seem to be anti English / British rather than representing some continental love in.

Dead Africans are No Problem

We all know that the CAP (Cruelty to Africans Policy) is immoral and makes the poor suffer. Not content with that, Environmental rules are responsible for closing down a charity.

A highly-responsible charity that helps to save thousands of lives in Africa faces possible criminal prosecution, thanks to the bizarre interpretation of EC waste rules by officials of the Environment Agency, who prefer to see valuable medicines buried in landfill rather than put to use in Africa.

Note this seems to be a combination of stupid EU regulations and Officious Idiots. The charity has this to say:

As a result of legal action against Inter Care by the Environment Agency we are in the process of suspending all activities involving collection and screening of returned prescription medicines as they, allegedly, contravene environmental protection legislation. The legal fees incurred in fighting this prosecution threaten to bankrupt us.

We have gone from a law abiding nations, whose laws were designed for our benefit, to a lawless society whose laws are apparently for the benefit of no-one.

The reason for this is that a generation of politicians has been too stupid to understand our Common Law system and have instead imposed an inferior one courtesy of the EU. The common law ideals worked well against the jobs worths who wish to spoil our lives. Why on earth did we have to downgrade?

EU Slogan

As has been mentioned here before, the EU needs a new slogan. The Guardian is asking for ideas. Some of my favourites were:

1. Don't call us, we'll rule you
2. "Throwing good money after bad since 1992".
3. "Bureaucracy is enlightenment"
4. "Peace in our Time" - with Neville Chamberlain's picture on the flag.
5. "Robbing Peter to pay Paolo"

Attack of The Puritans

Since they are no longer able to offer Marxist economics, and sexual freedoms are the norm, the left has struggled to find a role. With every passing year, it is clear that the role is that of the Puritan. The left hate fun and they hate freedom. Green politics has been a major boon for them, allowing them to ban all kinds of things as well as increasing taxes (for the planet of course).
As global cheerleader for the left, the EU has been at the forefront of multinational nannying. Their latest target is alcohol.

Finland (Current EU President) wants EU-wide laws in place by 2010 to ban alcohol ads before the 9pm watershed as well as sports sponsorship deals such as Budweiser's association with the World Cup. The £28m deal with Fifa covers the South Africa 2010 and 2014 tournaments as well as Germany 2006. Other proposals in the commission's strategy against binge drinking include controls on the prices of alcohol and discount offers as well as health warnings on alcoholic drinks.

Now many countries already have tyrannical approaches to alcohol, but on a country basis these are always reversable. Now these bastards want to control the price of alcoholic beverages, on a European Scale!!!!!!
They also want to ban sponsorship by drinks companies. Imagine sports without alcohol sponsorship. Where would they find alternative sources of cash?
Oliver Cromwell made the people of Britain miserable with his Puritan revolution. He banned everything that was pleasurable and fun. But the reign of his philosophy was limited. We should make sure that history repeats itself.

New Blog

There is a new Eurosceptic blog in town. The Tap