"Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer"

All sorts of insults were traded this afternoon before Godfrey Bloom UKIP MEP was thrown out  of the European Parliament.  Wonderful stuff.

It was supposed to have been a high-minded debate on the Irish collapse and the euro crisis but instead the talk in the European parliament today degenerated into a screaming match about goose-stepping Nazis, Spitfires and Adolf Hitler.



Cross-posted from Calling England

"Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer"

What Has Europe... etc?

Surprise, surprise, there's some disquiet within the EU at the moment; I don't know how these muppets ever thought such a project would work.  For muppets read delusional and traitorous b@st@rds.

Poland isn't happy; the Czech Republic isn't happy; neither is Hungary nor Slovakia.  And those are just the governments.  Germany is squabbling with France over Sarkozy's proposal to create a designated EU humanitarian relief fund (The European Union Natural Disaster Rapid Relief Fund - EUNDRRF.  Is anyone managing to keep track of all these abbreviations?)

I think the only government not making waves at the moment is our own - perhaps Cameron, like Blair, sees himself as a future President.  Let's see what he does with the EU's proposal to raise the British contribution to their budget to £10.3bn by 2013.

EU Foreign Minister, Cathy Ashton, is to speak on behalf of the EU at the UN.  Apparently Cameron won a 'concession' here - she'll only be allowed to speak in the General Council and not the Security Council.  It always goes the same way - give a centimetre and they take a kilometre.

Speaking of kilometres, road pricing across Europe, "for the sake of the environment", seems to be on the cards but that shouldn't come as a surprise given the number of surveillance cameras already lining our roads.

I think I've already mentioned Italy's proposal to extend expulsion (aka deportation) to EU nationals as well as the Roma in France but it's worth repeating if only to draw attention to the way politicians play with words.

Scotland and Norway aren't too happy either.  They're threatening Iceland with legal action over mackerel fishing rights.

It pays to riot in the EU says Evans-Pritchard and I think he has a point. Ireland, which abided by the rules, is paying more for its borrowings than Greece, which did not.

Thanks to Open Europe for this link.  Five activists from the group Désobéissance Civile Belgique occupied a crane in the centre of Brussels to protest against the Lisbon Treaty, which they said "rejects the European member states and has been ratified without consulting the citizens". They attached a banner to the crane criticising the "antidemocratic movement" of the EU. They also argued that no referendum has been held on the euro and that EU President Herman Van Rompuy was elected without elections.  Good for them - that's five more up a crane in Brussels than there are in Great Britain.

Open Europe also reports that the EU wants to set up a database to fight "radicalisation", noting that it should target not just terrorists, but also the far left, the far right, and anti-globalisation activists

My eye and Betty Martin  "EU citizens favour stronger European economic governance. 75% of  Europeans are in favour of giving the EU a stronger role in the co-ordination of member states' economic and budgetary policies."

The German Constitutional Court has strengthened the ECJ and Lisbon Treaty.   "EU decisions may only be checked if European institutions seriously overstep their powers" .  I wonder what 'Common Purpose' is in German?

This looks promising:  86m euros and 750 'citizens'  could "launch a devastating cyber attack on the EU."     It's time to raid the piggy-bank, folks.

Other Sources:
New Europe
Euractiv
EU Observer
Heise.de
Open Europe

What Has Europe... etc?

Conflicting Press Reports

Every day there are a few articles across all the papers about what's happening in the EU and every day brings a contradiction on policy.

Yesterday it was reported that Germany had bowed to France's demand that there be no treaty changes to allow for the eurozone bail-outs and new economic "governance" but  today's articles report Sarkozy has said that treaty changes will be necessary after all and that progress towards economic government of all the 27 eurostates should be strengthened.

Ms. Merkel agreed that Europe needs more integrated "economic government"—a French phrase that Germany has long resisted—while Mr. Sarkozy accepted that such coordination should take place mainly at the level of the 27-country European Union, and not, as France has insisted up to now, among the smaller circle of 16 countries that share the euro.

The rumours about a Spanish bailout persist:

In the meantime, Spain admitted that the European financial crisis is taking a toll on the country's banks, with foreign banks refusing to lend to some.  Spanish Treasury Secretary Carlos Ocana admitted officially for the first time that some Spanish banks faced a liquidity freeze in the interbank market and said the government was working to restore confidence.

There's more trouble ahead for Greece as another ratings agency, Moody's, followed S&P's lead last month and downgraded their sovereign debt to junk level.  No wonder the EU is talking about creating their own credit ratings agency!

Almost three-quarters of investors recently polled by Bloomberg News said they believed Greece would default on its debt payments. Greece's budget cuts and ailing economy are unlikely to generate enough wealth to meet interest payments, investors say.  The Greek prime minister George Papandreou also faces internal turmoil, as civil servants and public sector benefit holders radically oppose the fiscal tightening.

Since he hasn't had his name in the papers for, ooh, at least 24hrs, Barroso has grabbed some more headlines by saying that some countries in Europe could be headed for "military coups" .  Who better to rescue them from themselves than the incredibly open and democratic EU? At least any popular uprisings will give EuroGendFor a chance to test its strengths.

Mr Barroso’s warning lays bare the concern at the highest level in Brussels that the economic crisis could lead to the collapse of not only the beleaguered euro, but the EU itself, along with a string of fragile democracies.

And this farcical Franco-German political, economic and military construct is what Cameron & Co want to ally us with.

Cross-posted

Conflicting Press Reports

The Road To Ruination

What a scam all this is:

The EU will introduce a 'surprise' (aka hitherto secret) new plan today to combat global  warming, committing Britain and the rest of the EU to the most ambitious targets in the world.  The plan proposes a massive increase in the  target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in this decade.

The EC is determined to press ahead with the cuts  despite the financial meltdown, even though it would  require Britain and other EU member states to impose far tougher  financial penalties on their industries than are being considered by  other large economies.

Business leaders fear that thousands of jobs could be lost and energy bills could soar. Carbon taxes on road fuel, heating and other sources of emissions could be introduced, with proceeds reinvested in renewable energy products.

The possibility of trade wars also rears its head with the suggestion that EU industries could be  protected by imposing border tariffs on imported goods from non-EU  countries with less stringent emission controls. The tariffs would be  introduced with a requirement for importers to buy emissions permits.  Free trade my ar*se - the EU is a protectionist bloc.

The EU Climate Commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, is also under pressure to explain her failure to close the loophole which has allowed alleged fraudsters to make millions of euros through the EU's emissions trading scheme.   She had apparently been informed about the fraudsters targeting the Danish carbon industry in August 2009, but had said she didn't know about the fraud until December 2009.

In so-called missing trader fraud, bogus traders open an account in a national carbon registry, buy emissions allowances in one EU country VAT-free and sell them on with VAT added. The trader pockets the VAT without paying it to the national exchequer and the trader goes "missing".

Meanwhile more detail is emerging of the LibServatives' Energy Bill,  including a 'smart' energy grid and a dedicated investment bank which, for householders, will mean more borrowing, more debt, more taxes, more monitoring, higher energy bills.

I'd argue that greater damage is done by corporations through deforestation and subsequent species loss but what equivalent 'trading' scheme can tptb invent that will tax the ordinary person while letting the real culprits off the hook?  The smallest examples of this are charging shoppers for unrecyclable plastic carrier bags and for recycling the supermarkets' own  wasteful packaging.  They always hit the ones at the bottom of the food chain.

The Road To Ruination

One More Time

What has the European Union done for us? 

The BBC gives us news about the EU:    

In all the hoo-ha about the euro and the EU the German FM, Guido Westerwelle, responded to an attack on Merkel by saying: "It doesn't matter whether you think Ms. Merkel is terrible or whether you think I'm terrible. It's about whether Europe will stand or fall!"

German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, presented his proposals for moves towards an 'economic government' and said, "We won't make it without amendments to the existing treaties. I know many other countries are sceptical."

Former Italian PM and Commission President Romano Prodi: [This is] "a very important step towards the gradual creation of a European fiscal federalism....Combining the resources of the eurozone countries and the Commission with those of the European Central Bank is a step beyond the stability and growth pact.   I therefore consider the recent decisions made in Brussels as a very important step towards the gradual creation of a European fiscal federalism."

Jean-François Copé, President of the UMP party in the French Parliament, said, "I said to him, you know David, I know the euroscepticism of your party, but let me tell you something...We need you. We need you for Europe...I hope this sentence has been kept in his mind."

I wonder if Cameron will be able to resist the flattery and blandishments of the EU - none of his predecessors has.

The first sight of Cameron's cojones

It's good to see Cameron taking NATO to task over Afghanistan. The coalition is hardly balanced when the USA and the UK bear the brunt of the burden. He also had something to say on the state of the euro and Britain's position - am I hoping too much that it's a case of softly, softly? I just wonder who the monkeys will be:


What Cameron had to say on the Kandahar/Helmand split:

One More Time

My Goat's Been Got

The long grass of democracy

I'd hoped that this coalition would grow on me.  I was waiting for the action, not the words because we all know that words mean only what the politicians want them to mean - see Clegg's sudden discovery that what the Libdems and the Conservatives meant by 'Big Society' were the the same thing after all and that they really shouldn't have been arguing about it in the run-up to the election, oh goodness me no, we're all friends now.

I didn't like Clegg before and I like him even less now.  He's an in-the-pocket, paid-for, dyed-in-the-wool EU f/wit and that, by extension, means he doesn't tell the truth.  Like all British politicians over the decades he doesn't tell the truth about the government stance on the EU; the government pursue their own agenda for their own reasons while telling the people that it doesn't really mean anything and to go back to sleep and not worry our little heads about it - this is big boys' stuff.  I wonder what successive generations of politicians have been promised in return for selling the country down the river?  I wonder if Ted Heath died a happy man?

The other thing I don't like about Clegg is how he seems to have taken over Carswell and Hannan's idea of the Grand Repeal Bill for himself and his Party so they will get any kudos if (big 'if') anything of any consequence is actually repealed.

Cameron was weak in Opposition and he's weak now - a strong leader of the Conservative Party, sure of his position and a true belief in the principles of the Party, wouldn't have been so quick to fall into bed with a bunch of eco-internationalists who retain a belief in social engineering and wealth redistribution.

The only thing the LibServatives agree on is that Labour's repressive laws have gone too far and need rolling back.  I'll eat my red hat if they do anything about RIPA or the Civil Contingencies Act and as for the Human Rights Act which the Conservatives repeatedly pledged to repeal and put in their election manifesto, well, we can forget that too.  I wouldn't count on changes to the Digital Economy Bill or anti-terror legislation either.  As for cctv, they're not actually taking any of them down they're just saying that any more must be paid for by local councils and that any revenue from them will now be forwarded to central government.

Am I cynical?  You bet.  I have more faith in the new Home Secretary, Theresa May, when she says they're considering repealing Labour's 24-hr licensing laws and taking the decision whether to prosecute or not away from the CPS and giving it back to the Police.  Whoever thought that 24-hr drinking would make the British adopt 'a European cafe culture' should be sectioned.

One other point is that all these 'little nudges' from the Red Tories and the Red LibDems will bring is into line (or, if you prefer, 'harmony') with the grand concept of the EU.  Layer upon layer of bureaucracy with everything driven by 'localism' but all that does is drive actual, real power away from the people to an unelected body in Brussels.  Nothing will get rid of the fact that we are ruled from Brussels, whether we elect our Police Chiefs or not, or have local petitions about our MP.  I've written before about the likes of Hannan and Carswell being 'useful idiots' - I'd rather not believe it but when their ideas dovetail nicely with the overall scheme for the EU, you can't really blame me.

I've just remembered  something else.  Who remembers when Clegg said that the Conservative Party in Europe was allied to a bunch of 'nutters and homophobes' since it left the EPP?

The leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, wants to abolish the nation state.  He wants a 'United States of Europe' - taking over responsibility for justice and security policy, taxation and creating 'a European army'.  The LibDems are also in bed with the Feminist Initiative from Sweden - one of the party's policies is to abolish marriage and create ' genderneutral' names.  Then we have the Latvians - one of its leaders equated gays to paedophiles and the party regards homosexuals as 'degenerates'.   By Clegg's own reasoning he's not only nutty and homophobic but hypocritical too.  I wonder how long it will be before Cameron's Conservatives re-join the EPP?

The upshot of all this is that no, I'm not applauding Clegg or Cameron.

References:
Panem et circenses - vote for an English Anthem
Telegraph - Clegg: tell us what should be scrapped
Guardian - Clegg:  democracy shake-up
Daily Mail - Clegg: Human Rights Act
Daily Mail - Clegg: Grand Reform Act
Guardian - Theresa May speaking to the Police Federation
Old Andrew Pierce article

My Goat's Been Got

Another Sneaky Power Grab By The EU

EU seeks more powers over national finances

While everyone here has been getting into a blather about proportional representation and who 'won' or 'lost' the election our EU colleagues have been busy working out how to take over even more control of our national destinies.

At this rate there won't be any point having general elections because all the important decisions will be made by a bunch of unelected foreigners in Brussels.

It's called being 'progressive'.

Another Sneaky Power Grab By The EU

Capital Control For Europe?

This is definitely what I don't need to read at the moment. It's from an article by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in the Telegraph discussing the state of the eurozone's finances and the possibility of capital and exchange controls in Europe.

"...  such options were studied earlier this decade, just in case. This document is sitting in a drawer at the Directorate of Economic and Monetary Affairs in Brussels.

"It was written by a small cellule of EU officials in 2003 or 2004 (If I remember correctly) under prodding from Paris. It explores the legal basis for measures to stabilise the euro and EMU.

"After combing through the EU treaties and court judgments, it concluded that Brussels may impose “quantitative restrictions” on capital inflows.

"Free movement of capital in the EU is not an “absolute freedom” and could be limited in an emergency.

“Should extremely disturbing capital movements endanger the operation of economic and monetary union, Article 59 EC (Maastricht) provides for the possibility to adopt restrictive measures for a period not exceeding six months,” it says.

"It would be renewable every six months. Any decision would be taken by EU finance ministers under qualified majority voting, so no country could veto it.

"The document was shown to me by one of the authors at the time. Part of it was later included in a published report, but nobody noticed — except Bernard Connolly, former currency chief at the Commission and later global strategist at Banque AIG. He always suspected that the EU experiment would end in capital controls.

"So has the bond crash in southern Europe reached the point where it is “extremely disturbing” and “endangers” monetary union?"

Here's a link to a video about the IMF and capital controls (No, I haven't watched it yet but someone might have a spare fifty minutes!)

There are also recent articles on capital and exchange controls here and here.

Calling England

Capital Control For Europe?

Sovereign Debt Implosion

All the front pages of the papers this morning are examining Brown's unintended revelation that if anyone's bigoted, it's him.  Mandelson, Harman, Johnson and other Labour spinners have been out in force making excuses for his comments in a damage-limitation exercise which is going nowhere.  I've only one more thing to add: people are quoting other 'off-mic' moments such as John Major's "eurosceptic bastards" or Bush's "yo Blair".  The fact is that none of the instances cited can be compared to Brown's - of all those mentioned he is the only one who insults an ordinary, decent voter and reveals his contempt for the British public.

Tonight is the third and last of the Leaders' Debates and will concentrate on the economy - supposedly Brown's strength where his intelligence and fiscal competence will shine.  I doubt it.  In the last forty-eight hours Greece has been downgraded to junk status, Portugal to A- and Spain to AA.  Investors are now fleeing Italy so can Ireland be far behind?  Britain can't be shielded from events in the eurozone and I'm only surprised that carpet-baggers have held off from attacking Sterling for so long.  British banks have £25bn exposure to  Greece and Portugal but £75bn to Spain so while Germany drags its heels and its MPs whine that Greece should be kicked out of the eurozone, nothing is actually being done and the problem spreads.

President of the European Council, van Rompuy, had this to say about the crisis:
“The sun is  rising
sleeping yet in Europe
still the same sun.” 

So  we can all rest easy in our beds and not worry that the EU has also demanded we raise our contribution to their budget by another £450m.  In perverse double-speak EU Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski said:

the huge spending increase is needed to allow Brussels to help aid the economic recovery.

The social and financial consequences of international socialism and wealth redestribution has never been so exposed for what it is: as an unworkable and wicked ideology.

Calling England

Sovereign Debt Implosion

Food For Thought

Alex Salmond has said that, in the event of a hung UK Parliament, he will consider dropping the current ban on SNP MPs voting on England-only issues. It seems Nick Clegg isn't the only one relishing the thought of pulling the anti-democratic strings of "a balanced Parliament". Last October Salmond said:

“There’s a vast, overwhelming majority of people in Scotland, regardless of political preference, who rather like the idea of the Westminster parliament being hung by a Scottish rope."

However, the cavalry is racing towards us in their usual, last-minute dash: in an attempt to placate the English, the Conservatives have pledged to introduce a policy of “English votes for English laws” if they form the next UK government in an attempt to answer the West Lothian question. Last night they indicated that they would not countenance any formal arrangement with the SNP which would see Nationalist MPs voting on Enland-only matters.

The only satisfactory conclusion to this mess of devolution is for England to have her own Parliament but, as I've said before, all it will do is cement the break-up of the UK and deliver us, weakened, into the hands of the EU.  Mind you, I did have a thought.  Since it was the UK which signed up to the EU and the UK would no longer exist if Scotland was fully independent, wouldn't that mean that all existing treaties between the UK and the EU would be null and void?   How can you have treaties between two parties, one of whom no longer exists?  And how would the constitutional position of HM the Queen be affected?  Would she still be Head of State and Queen of Scotland?  There are so many constitutional anomalies to make it a political nightmare yet at the same time it seems an incredibly simple solution to the EU problem.  I must be missing something.
Calling England

Food For Thought

Enough With The Nudging Already!

MINDSPACE. That's a snappy little title for a report on influencing behaviour through public policy isn't it?

"Messenger: we are heavily influenced by who communicates information
Incentives: our responses to incentives are shaped by predictable mental shortcuts such as strongly avoiding losses
Norms: we are strongly influenced by what others do
Defaults: we "go with the flow" of pre-set options
Salience: our attention is drawn to what is novel and seems relevant to us
Priming: our acts are often influenced by sub-conscious cues
Affect: our emotional associations can powerfully shape our actions
Commitments: we seek to be consistent with our public promises, and reciprocate acts
Ego: we act in ways that make us feel better about ourselves"

When they say 'we', of course they don't mean themselves, they mean 'citizens, actors, stake-holders, the public': they mean 'they'.

Look at the man-boy in this explanatory video; he's one of the authors of the report. I can't comment on what he's saying, because the audio has now packed up, but I'm sure it's all very worthy and for the good of the cause.

I've had enough of these wet-behind-the-ears policy wonks being given taxpayers' money so they can devise more and better ways of making us conform to the government's ideal, monochrome, biddable citizen. And this is just one small report amongst hundreds; there are thousands of man-boys like Hallswood working throughout the EU and the UN - this one is just a tiny, tiny cog. So, what does that make us, the people they seek to control? Ants, that's what it makes us. Irrelevant, wrapped up in our little bubbles with plenty of soma to keep us busy; working hard to pay our bills, slightly niggled and discontented without the energy or time to question why.

I've had enough of being shaped and nudged. I've had enough of being told how to behave, what to do, where to go, what to eat, what to drink, what to think, what to say. If you ever think that getting an ID card is a good idea, ask yourself why. If you ever think that the world government's* stance on global warming is right, ask yourself why. If you ever think that you're not getting the representation in Parliament you voted for, ask yourself why. Question and challenge - every time.
*Yes, it's here already in all but name; it's just that we can't see the wood for the trees.

Am I still looking forward to coming home?


Calling England

Enough With The Nudging Already!

Roll Over Or Fight Time...

(Strong language warning - don't read further or listen to the videos)

... is coming soon to a voting booth or street near you if Brown's speech to the Progressive Governance Conference is anything to go by.  We are finished.  They came in by stealth, took advantage of our phlegmatic nature ("mustn't grumble") and robbed us blind.  The clip comes, funnily enough, from the BBC:



They're so sure of themselves it frightens me - they don't listen; they treat us like tax-fodder and worse than a parent would treat a child.  They fuck with our laws, they fuck with our sovereignty, they fuck with our heads.  Brown says he wants to look back on today from a hundred years hence and read about his place in history - I'd quite like that too.

This video is the epitome of the past thirteen years and the more I hear it, the more encouraged I am that Brown's version of history won't prevail:

Fuck You Gordon Brown
Jelly Babies galore to GrumpyOldTwat

Roll Over Or Fight Time...

What Has Europe Done For Us?

Well, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance has issued this 'Monitoring' Report, for one thing.  Pages 37-38 are particularly interesting as they address the media and political parties.  ECRI reminds the government that they have it within their power to ban  political parties and that the media should adhere to strict guidelines laid down in 2003.   Apparently we're not trying hard enough to accommodate the whole world and his mother although ECRI says they do detect 'encouraging signs'.

They have a finger in every British pie; there are placemen in all the British institutions, put there with the connivance of successive governments and to rid ourselves of them would probably seriously destabilise the country. It's an intricate network of deceit and betrayal.
Goodnight Vienna

What Has Europe Done For Us?