EU Budget Virtual March
The DM is organising a ‘virtual march’ on 10 Downing Street this Saturday in advance of next week’s EU summit, to
protest against Tony Blair’s offer to massively increase Britain’s contribution to the EU budget.
The government has proposed that Britain pays over £5bn extra to the EU between 2007 & 2013, to bring our total net
contribution in that period to an incredible £40bn. This would be a 48% increase on the £27bn Britain will have
contributed in the current budget period. Yet the government has failed to secure any reform of the EU’s wasteful Common
Agricultural Policy, which was previously said to be essential before changing the rebate would be considered.
Blair’s huge generosity with public money also comes just days after EU auditors refused to approved EU accounts for the
11th year running.
The Democracy Movement is calling on Tony Blair to not only refuse any extra money to the EU during final negotiations
on the EU budget next week, but to immediately halt all payments to the EU until he can at least be sure public money is
safeguarded through the proper auditing of EU accounts.
Blair’s concession will hit us all in the pocket and will mean less money available for public services on which we all
depend. This issue affects everyone directly. Please forward this message to as many people as possible and encourage
them to join in the protest, or send your own message to your address book referring people to our Virtual March webpage
at:
http://www.democracymovement.org.uk/march
Virtual March: here’s what to do on Saturday 10th December 2005, anytime after 12noon:
—————
1. Visit the ‘E-mail the Prime Minister’ page on the Number 10 website by clicking this link:
http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/page821.asp
2. At the bottom of the page, choose ‘International Affairs’ in the category box and click the ‘Go’ button;
3. On the following page, enter your contact details and protest message to Tony Blair;
4. Then click ‘Submit’, and you’re done! Thank you for joining in.
Please let us know if you have any problems using the Number 10 website or leaving your message. If you have a problem
using the link we have provided above, try clicking here (http://www.number10.gov.uk) or typing this address directly
into your web browser. Then click the ‘Email the Prime Minister’ icon on the right of the screen and follow the
instructions above.
————————————-
Full DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT e-Bulletin for December 2005 follows:
http://www.democracymovement.org.uk
+ DM to hold ‘virtual march’ on 10 Downing Street over EU
rebate sell-out
+ New book sets out ‘Alternative Futures’ to the EU
+ Blair challenged to resist EU criminal law power grab
+ EU leaders miss the ‘elephant in the room’ at Hampton
Court
+ Latest These Tides magazine guns for euro-dreams
+ SALE! Big price cuts on our Keep the Pound merchandise
CAMPAIGN NEWS
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+ DM calls ‘virtual march’ on 10 Downing Street over EU
rebate sell-out
=================================================
The DM is organising a ‘virtual march’ on 10 Downing Street
this Saturday in advance of next week’s EU summit, to
protest against Tony Blair’s offer to massively increase
Britain’s contribution to the EU budget.
The government has proposed that Britain pays over £5bn
extra to the EU between 2007 & 2013, to bring our total net
contribution in that period to an incredible £40bn. This
would be a 48% increase on the £27bn Britain will have
contributed in the current budget period. Yet the government
has failed to secure any reform of the EU’s wasteful Common
Agricultural Policy, which was previously said to be
essential before changing the rebate would be considered.
Blair’s huge generosity with public money also comes just
days after EU auditors refused to approved EU accounts for
the 11th year running.
The Democracy Movement is calling on Tony Blair to not only
refuse any extra money to the EU during final negotiations
on the EU budget next week, but to immediately halt all
payments to the EU until he can at least be sure public
money is safeguarded through the proper auditing of EU
accounts.
Blair’s concession will hit us all in the pocket and will
mean less money available for public services on which we
all depend. This issue affects everyone directly. Please
forward this message to as many people as possible and
encourage them to join in the protest, or send your own
message to your address book referring people to our Virtual
March webpage at:
http://www.democracymovement.org.uk/march
Virtual March: here’s what to do on Saturday 10th December
2005, anytime after 12noon:
—————
1. Visit the ‘E-mail the Prime Minister’ page on the Number
10 website by clicking this link:
http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/page821.asp
2. At the bottom of the page, choose ‘International Affairs’
in the category box and click the ‘Go’ button;
3. On the following page, enter your contact details and
protest message to Tony Blair;
4. Then click ‘Submit’, and you’re done! Thank you for
joining in.
Please let us know if you have any problems using the Number
10 website or leaving your message. If you have a problem
using the link we have provided above, try clicking here
(http://www.number10.gov.uk) or typing this address directly
into your web browser. Then click the ‘Email the Prime
Minister’ icon on the right of the screen and follow the
instructions above.
===================================
+ New book sets out ‘Alternative Futures’ to the EU
===================================
A new book has been published as a timely contribution to
the growing debate in Britain and across Europe on the need
for fundamental change in how European countries work
together in the 21st century.
‘Britain & the European Union: Alternative Futures’ provides
a groundbreaking analysis of the economic and democratic
effect that EU membership has had on Britain. Published by
the Campaign for an Independent Britain, this important new
book offers not only a concise examination of the costs of
EU membership, but also a well-reasoned study of alternative
relationships Britain, perhaps together with other European
countries, could more beneficially forge in the future.
Options scrutinised include a defence of the status quo
through to various renegotiations of membership and options
for withdrawal.
This rhetoric-free study should be compulsory reading for
anyone interested in Britain’s political and economic
future.
Britain & the European Union: Alternative Futures
by Mark Baimbridge, Brian Burkitt & Philip Whyman (2005)
with foreword by Frederick Forsyth
Special discount for DM supporters: only £5 +p&p (RRP £7.50)
To buy your copy securely online, or to order by post, click
here:
http://www.democracymovement.org.uk/merchandise
=====================================
+ Blair challenged to resist EU criminal law power grab
=====================================
In response to news that the EU has gifted itself sweeping
powers to demand member countries impose criminal sanctions
for breaking EU rules, DM campaign director Marc Glendening
has written to Tony Blair asking for an undertaking that the
government will refuse to impose any criminal sanctions the
EU orders, given that they opposed the EU being given this
power.
To read the full exchange, including the astonishing
response to the DM’s letter from the Foreign Office, which
manages to contradict itself in one paragraph alone, click
here:
http://www.democracymovement.org.uk/challenge
==========================================
+ EU leaders miss the ‘elephant in the room’ at Hampton
Court
==========================================
Democracy campaigners staged an eye-catching stunt at the
Hampton Court EU summit to highlight the failure of EU
leaders to recognise and respond to the EU’s fundamental
flaws. A pantomime elephant-in-the-room tried in vain to get
the attention of ‘Tony Blair’ (a protestor in a Blair mask).
Today’s EU is over-centralised and out of date - a product
of ‘big is best’, top-down, elitist thinking stuck in the
1950s. Yet EU leaders plan to fiddle at the margins of the
EU’s problems with vastly expensive schemes like a
‘globalisation fund’, while overlooking the fact that the
basic idea of the EU is fatally flawed. Rigid, centralised
decision-making can neither suit the different needs and
wants of Europe’s diverse countries nor respond quickly and
flexibly enough to rapid global change.
Marc Glendening, DM campaign director, commented: “The
elephant in the room at Hampton Court is that Europe doesn’t
need today’s EU in order to co-operate and prosper.
Europeans need a more dynamic, flexible form of co-operation
to replace the EU - one that respects democracy and Europe’s
diversity. That’s what EU leaders should be discussing.”
For links to pictures of the stunt, click here:
http://www.democracymovement.org.uk/elephant
To read more about our campaign for a constructive
alternative to today’s EU - Vision Europe - that will enable
co-operation but will instead respect democracy and Europe’s
diversity, click here:
http://www.democracymovement.org.uk/ve
