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From EUOBSERVER side bar:

A poll, produced by the Louis Harris Institute and published by Le Figaro, shows support for Mr Kerry across all ages, political persuasions and social classes. The survey also shows a hostile opinion of US President George Bush. Over four in five voters (82 percent) believe that Mr Bush has made the World “more dangerous”.

Exactly three quarters of those asked said that a Kerry win would be “good for Europe” and slightly more said it would benefit France.

François Miquet-Marty, from the Louis Harris Institute told Le Figaro, “French ‘Kerryism’ stems primarily from opposition to George Bush and the American intervention in Iraq, which is still condemned by the French people”.

Now I wonder what the French are going to say when an American poll comes out strongly for one side in the next French Presidential election. Mind your own business perhaps?

Would not the Louis Harris Institute be better employed asking the French people if they believe the EU Parliament is acting in a disgustingly discriminating manner by refusing to accept Rocco Buttiglione a Roman Catholic as a member of the Commision?

According to Mandelson on Newsnight; It is not because he is Roman Catholic at all, it`s because he holds Roman Catholic views! Oh that’s OK then.

Also in the Telegraph
Here :

An opinion on the EU machinations of yesterday:

“Peculiarly, MEPs chose to make a stand not over the widespread fraud and waste in Brussels, but over a man professing sentiments which may not be held by the majority, but which do echo the views of significant numbers of ordinary people. It is not just Catholics who believe homosexuality is a sin, as Rocco Buttiglione said, and that a married woman benefits from the protection of a man. The people of Italy - still a Catholic country - have the right to be pretty angry that the person chosen by Silvio Berlusconi to represent them in Brussels has been rejected for holding these views, and that this has brought down the whole commission. Mr Berlusconi is the duly elected prime minister. Not all Italians like him, but they do respect his right to govern”

…….
The EU is gradually taking on the style of a state, and one which enshrines values that tend to be politically correct and Leftish. It mutates old-fashioned liberal themes, such as separating church and state, into a sort of secular religion, to be policed from Brussels. These values inform its rapidly expanding institutional and legal structures, whether they be the Human Rights Act, which celebrates rights more than duties, or the deluge of regulations and directives that interfere in the discretion of both individuals and businesses. The EU’s underlying values might seem rational, but they are quite often contrary to common sense. They are monolithic too, in defiance of the tolerant, diverse and cosmopolitan attitudes prevalent in European society for half a century or more.

But the most worrying thing is that they lack legitimacy. They are the creed of a new European political class, aloof from ordinary people but impatient for power and status. The European parliamentary elections in May are a good example of this. Turnout was down again across Europe and, in Britain, only 38 per cent of people voted in a ballot for which they have very little affection or respect. The paradox of yesterday’s events is that they are a great victory for the European Parliament, but not for democracy.

Allegations are surfacing in Brussels that our “Mandy” is up to his old tricks again, but this time in the EU. A report in the Telegraph
Herehas it that according to Socialist officials (who they) Peter started to make enemies by making contradictory pledges in an attempt to win votes and promote his insider mystique.

Mandelson is alleged to have slipped out of a crucial make-or-break meeting of the 200-strong Socialist bloc on Tuesday night to make a series of hurried telephone calls to the Barroso team disclosing what had occurred in confidential talks behind closed doors.
He was allegedly heard passing on comments made by two Socialist commissioners, Sweden’s Margot Wallstrom and Germany’s Gunther Verheugen, who were calling for an emergency reshuffle of the new team
“He was snitching on ‐colleagues. He was trying to curry favours with Barroso’s people at the expense of ‐comrades,” said a leading official.
“He’s going to find out quickly that playing these Westminster games here in the EU is going to tick a lot of people off. It’s a disastrous start.”

I thought they were all Barroso`s people or are Wallstrom Verheugen Madlesson and comrades forming a separate power block within the Commssion?

The former Labour spin doctor allegedly told his fellow Socialists that he favoured action to strip Mr Buttiglione of the justice portfolio, even as he continued to tell conservatives that he was full-square behind the beleaguered Italian.
“This double-dealing has gone down very badly in the Socialist group. The whole episode has echoes of the Brown-Blair story 10 years ago,” said a leading Socialist, referring to the controversial manoeuvres in 1994 that led to Tony Blair’s emergence as Labour Party leader.

Now at times like these when all of these “comrades” are vying for power it is important that they do stick all together so they can ensure that we do get the socialist government we deserve.

First part of a question for a Commissioner designate by the EU Parliament.

Protection of the rights of citizens is at the heart of our democratic system

based on the rule of law. The Charter of Fundamental Rights

incorporated into the Constitutional Treaty and the European legal

system provides citizens with additional protection, even against their own

Member State.

Supposing our member state government decided to leave the Union, would not the EU feel obliged to protect our rights and force the government to reconsider their action?