A Commission of One

The longstanding plan to reduce the size of the European Commission has just succeeded beyond all expectations, but not quite as intended.
Legally there is now only one Commissioner, José Manuel Barroso, who was recently re-appointed as President according the procedure laid down in the treaties.
The five year terms of the other 26 persons who were [...]

German judgement is a call to action against the EU’s democratic deficit

EUobserver / [Comment] German judgement is a call to action against the EU’s democratic deficit
The Karlsruhe Court effectively finds that the Lisbon Treaty would increase the EU’s widely acknowledged democratic deficit if its ratification is not linked to the adoption of internal procedures at Member State level such as to safeguard the involvement of the [...]

Why is Brown hanging on?

The Telegraph tells us Lord Mandelson charged to the rescue and made up for 15 years of hurt and for his trouble he is now effectively the deputy prime minister, we also have another paid up and paid by EU backer in the cabinet in the form of Mrs Kinnock.
But says the Telegraph Mandelson did [...]

What are you for Mr Prime Minister?

From England Expects
Think about it, what political party would go into a European Election campaign seriously highlighting the importance of the EU in the creation of legislation? After all only a year or so later the same people (MEPs often vanish during national elections – curious) are standing up infront of the same electorate trying [...]

The Minster for Europe on Lisbon Treaty

Open Europe informs us that  Europe Minister Caroline Flint admits she has not read the Lisbon Treaty
During questions yesterday in Parliament, Europe Minister Caroline Flint admitted that she had not read the Lisbon Treaty in its entirety.
Following a series of vague answers on the implications of the Treaty for European defence, Shadow Europe Minister Mark [...]

EU Chaos or a failing project

It would seem that Clive Mathews is trying to argue that those of us who question the EU are simply nutty conspiracy theorists who base our abhorrence of this construct on 50 year old quotes of long dead fathers of the EU.
As I said in a previous post that argument is the classic straw man, [...]

Irish Matters

The Irish Times is reporting that Taoiseach Brian Cowen has admitted that the Irish Government was not in a position to report “sufficient progress” to the Dáil on the guarantees sought from the EU on the Lisbon Treaty.
So they have agreed to a new referendum based on these guarantees but cannot tell the Irish people [...]

Quoting Monnet

The important point to remember about Jean Monnet is that as one of the early major promoters of a unified Europe, without any shadow of doubt he fully supported the aims and beliefs of the founding fathers of the European Project. These were that Europe should become one nation state along the same lines as [...]

outrageously undemocratic behaviour

The National Platform EU Research and Information Centre
24 Crawford Avenue
Dublin 9
Web-site: nationalplatform .org
Wednesday 18 March 2009
Dear Friends,
According to the Irish Times news report below, a meeting is taking place in Brussels today between the entire EU Commission and Mr Martin Territt, Head of the EU Commission Representation in Ireland, to discuss how [...]

Nailing Jelly and EU Laws

I must confess that I had lost touch with Martin Coles of Ironies Too, I used to read his original Blog Ironies. Here Mr Coles has a blinder, the President of the EU parliament Hans-Gert Poettering, reacting angrily to the perceived insult to the EU metered out by Czech President Vaclav Klaus during his speech [...]

Forign Jobs for Forign Workers

A certain Keith Dunnell who holds the post of National Statistician has revealed  figures showing that jobs for foreign workers has increased at a far greater level than jobs for British workers.
Since Labour came to power in 1997 the jobs for foreign workers has almost doubled whilst jobs for British workers have only risen by [...]

Challenging God is not Atheism

I think atheists are in danger of falling into the trap of allowing theists to define their non belief in a god as being against god. I am an atheist and do not feel that this is a definition of my position. I am not against god, I just do not believe god exists, how [...]

A Weak Democracy

if it was the war that ended the great depression perhaps it will be revolution that will end this one, because instead of their being conflict between nations there is growing conflict between the self serving political elites and the people they are paid to serve.

Libertas in more trouble

After a second Libertas politician withdrew his support for the organisation the EU Parliament is to conduct an investigation into the signatures used to try and establish Libertas group as a European political party.
They have already put on hold the payment of €200,000 of our money due to be given to the party.
Estonian MP Igor [...]

Good For Britian?

I watched Question Time last night for the first time in ages, no it has not improved.
One of the questions as to be expected concerned the wildcat strikes, it would appear that the Conservatives would not attempt to take back the authority to look after the British state its companies, its people or their jobs [...]

The Trojan Horse Party to get EU Funding

The Trojan Horse Party
Libertas described as Eurosceptic by EUphiles is set to be awarded recognition as an EU Political party in Strasburg later today thus making it eligible to receive EU  funding.
THE INSTITUTIONS, BODIES AND AGENCIES OF THE UNION
In order to be qualified as a “political party at European level”, a party must:
·   [...]

Mandelson says go and look for work in Europe

When Norman Tebbit in response to a question – that rioting was the natural reaction to unemployment said;
I grew up in the ’30s with an unemployed father. He didn’t riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking ’til he found it.
Ever since then Tebbit and in fact the whole [...]

Lisbon Treaty Woes

The Germany constitutional court has already set aside two days to hear one complaint about the Lisbon Treaty (10 and 11 February by conservative MP Peter Gauweiler who says the treaty undermines freedoms guaranteed in the German constitution.
Now another complaint has been lodged by Markus Kerber, a commercial lawyer, Dieter Spethmann, a former chief executive [...]

Debating The Propaganda Budget

The Open Europe report “The hard sell:
EU communication policy and the campaign for hearts and minds”
Detailing the billions of euros a year the EU spends promoting itself and its central aim of ‘ever closer union’ has been attacked by the EU Communication department /propaganda ministry although on the one hand Joe Hennon, Speaking for [...]

Plain English

I start from the position that one should never ever sign a legal document unless they are quite clear of the meaning of the document and what the effect of putting their signature to a legally enforceable document the will have in the event of a dispute between the parties.
We are constantly told that this [...]

House of Lords debates

House of Lords debates
Friday, 15 December 2006
European Union (Information, etc.) Bill [HL]

Lord Dykes (Liberal Democrat) Link to this | Hansard source
My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time. We have just had a most important and lengthy debate on a crucial subject, to be followed by an [...]

Lisbon Treaty Infection Spreads

Only in Brussels would the word Democracy by synonymous with an infectious disease; after the French and Dutch voted against the Constitution the series of referendums was halted to prevent the infection of rejection spreading to other countries. With the single exception of Luxemburg perhaps the most pro EU state where there was a massive [...]

Support for the EU at rock-bottom

A new poll by ComRes, commissioned by the Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIB), shows support for the EU at rock-bottom.
The overwhelming majority of Britons want a referendum on whether the UK stays in the European Union.
Most voters are deeply unhappy about the way the European Union is run, and believe it is out of [...]

That’s not democracy

Both the Mail and Sun pick up on another comment made by Lord Malloch-Brown:

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown: My Lords, the constitution that was rejected by the Dutch and the French led to very big changes, which led to a treaty that was no longer a constitution. With 24 countries having approved the treaty, I am not [...]

Lisbon Treaty Replay

Lord Malloch-Brown: My Lords, 24 of 27 countries have ratified and are now ready. Ireland sought and has received guarantees, but the treaty has not been reopened. In that regard, it is a referendum on the same treaty as before. Hansard
The Irish government is going to ask its citizens to vote on exactly the same [...]

Call it Margret but why give the EU the power

Debating EU treaties is quite a lot like wading through mud, you read the treaties and asses the possible consequences arising from the transfers or granting of powers to the EU. When the results are published they are usually met with a chorus of rebuttals based on the premise that the EU would never do [...]

We have a communications problem

The EU commissioner for Propaganda is at it again in a post on her blog she describes a visit to a Prague where she says of the Commissions meeting with President Vaclav Klaus.
“He kept a conciliatory tone and denied having compared the EU with the Soviet Union or going against science on climate change. My [...]

Another EUmyth bites the dust

The EU told us that the headline:
The draft European Union Constitutional Treaty threatens Member States’ national control over energy sources.
was a myth! instead the EU Propaganda unit offered the
The Facts:
This is complete nonsense. The current text of the draft Constitutional Treaty merely simplifies and clarifies already existing arrangements under previous treaties (most recently the [...]

Smear Tactics

It is I suppose only to obvious that in the build up to the second Irish referendum, the EU and its acolytes will continue with their tactics of smearing those who oppose rather than actually openly debating the issues.
Its “just re-hashed, unproven speculative analysis that did the rounds of the Euroblogs well over a [...]

Internet regulation

Andy Burnham Culture Secretary wants internet-service providers (ISPs) to offer parents “child-safe” web services, and says giving film-style ratings to individual websites is one of the options being considered.
In other words the government is going to set up a registration and control system for internet publishers, in short this is going to impact on bloggers [...]

What they were saying in 1971 (4)

European Court’s decisions will he binding on our courts which night then have to rule on the validity or applicability of the United Kingdom statute.
(iv) The Law Officers have emphasised that in accepting Community Law in this country we shall need to make it effective as part of a new and separate legal [...]

What they were saying in 1971 (3)

the transfer of major executive responsibilities to the bureaucratic Commission in Brussels will exacerbate popular feeling of alienation from government. To counter this feeling, strengthened local and regional democratic processes within the member states and effective Community regional economic and social policies will be essential.

What they were saying in 1971 (2)

The task will not be to arrest the process, since to do so would be to put considerations of formal sovereignty before effective influence and power, but to adapt the institutions and policies both in the UK and in Brussels to meet and reduce the real and substantial public anxieties over national identity and [...]

What they were saying in 1971

The ability and the ultimate political right in the last resort to withdraw will remain for a very considerable time though it may come to have mainly theoretical significance.
In that last resort the ultimate sovereignty of the State will surely remain unchallenged for this century at least.
Meanwhile it will continue to be important [...]

Criminalizing Genocide Denial

According to the CNN Turk, A decision was made at the meeting of the EU Ministers of Justice and Internal Affairs meeting in November 2008. To pass a bill criminalizing the denial of the fact of Genocide. The law will be introduced in the EU member countries in the course of two years.
According to the [...]

Imigration Report

A European Commission report released today claims that contrary to common widespread fears, the two EU enlargements of 2004 and 2007 have not led to a massive influx of central and eastern European workers to the “old” member states.

EU immigrant workers have not caused “serious disturbances” on labour markets, and workers from the ‘new’ EU [...]

EU`s anti-democratic nature

Liberal MEP Andrew Duff has told EUobserver that Until the Czech government ratify the Lisbon treaty their EU presidency which starts in January 2009 will not have credibility and authority.
After complaints about the bulling adopted by members of an EU Parliament delegation to Prague this week Duff said;
“We certainly ought not to [...]

Pie In The Sky

As forecast here in April the Government’s unpopular pay for mile scheme is to be reintroduced following the Galileo satellite restructuring process when the EU took control of the project last year after a private-sector group abandoned it.
The spin was that the Blair administration was taking note of the 1.8 million people who [...]

The EU has No Democratic Legitimacy

In short democratic legitimacy of the EU is non existent, none of the peoples of the nation states have ever voted for the creation of the European Project, it was created as a top down political structure where national politicians could exchange ideas and explore ways of working together for the betterment of all. But [...]

Convoluted Thinking

The convoluted thinking of DANIEL GROS director of the Centre for European Policy Studies is shocking in its complete disregard for the democratic process and any legal boundaries.
His suggestion is that the leaders of the member states should sign the consolidated text of the Treaties which results from the incorporation of the amendments of [...]

The EU is anti democratic

Faced with the rejection of the Constitution, its rehash in the Lisbon Treaty and the as yet unacknowledged popular widespread rejection of the central EU bureaucracy right across the EU, Joschka Fischer writing in Die Zeit newspaper last week has put some bones on the thinking behind the idea of a central core of states [...]

Treaty Problems

Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski will only sign the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty if Ireland approves it in a new referendum,
“If Ireland makes another decision — but not under pressure, and without changing its constitution — in the same way as the first, then Poland will not place a block on the treaty,” Kaczynski said.
“And [...]

The European Union is literally falling apart.

The European Union is literally falling apart; and its all the fault of Poland and the USA according to Pravda in a roundup of Lisbon Treaty news:
European experts were originally concerned about Poland’s unpredictable behavior. However, the reaction of Polish President Lech Kaczynski turned out to be a lot more unpredictable than anyone could ever [...]

No NO and Thrice NO

No NO an Thrice NO !
The Irish Examiner could have used Frankie Howard`s famous catch phrase when it printed a letter from John Scanlan Co Cork.
THE Lisbon Treaty was never about making the EU work more efficiently. A study by Prof Helen Wallace of the London School of Economics showed EU institutions are working [...]

They’ll be persuaded in the end

They’ll be persuaded in the end – is the opinion expressed by French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner at the news that the Polish president Lech Kaczynski has indicated he will not sign the Lisbon treaty until Ireland gets over its No vote, the German president Horst Koehler is also refusing to sign the Treaty until [...]

Can the NHS survive the EU

“Can the NHS survive the EU”
Nobody is really addressing the question “Can the NHS survive the EU” with news that the Commission will present draft rules that patients in the EU can get treatment outside their own country without pre-approval from their doctor. The measure is being presented as part of a wider package to [...]

Czech and Lisbon

Dr. Alexandr Vondra, Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs of the Czech Republic, confirmed press reports that the Czech government reached the conclusion at a cabinet meeting on Friday that the Lisbon Treaty does not conflict with the Czech constitution, the conclusion will now be sent to the country’s constitutional court.
The court was tasked with [...]

EU Justice Commissioner is a convicted fraudster

New EU Justice Commissioner is a convicted fraudster.
The EU’s new Justice Commissioner, Jacques Barrot, was given an eight-month suspended jail sentence in France in 2000 for swindling government money. He was later pardoned by former French President Jacques Chirac, a close friend. Barrot was never barred from holding public office and failed to [...]

The perils of accommodating Ireland.

The perils of accommodating Ireland.
Interesting confirmation of the legal situation in the face of changes to the Lisbon treaty to accommodate Ireland, and pave the way for a second referendum.

Austria’s chancellor, Alfred Gusenbauer, has said that if any changes are made to the Lisbon Treaty following its rejection by Irish voters earlier this month, [...]

She has a hole in her head

“She has a hole in her head,” Firestorm in Swedish media over ‘EU blogger registry’

The report calls on the European Commission and EU member states to apply competition law to the media to ensure media pluralism (Photo: European Commission)
TERESA KUCHLER AND LEIGH PHILLIPS
Today @ 09:34 CET

Swedish media have erroneously reported that the EU plans to [...]

No Respect for Democracy

“I respect fully the NO vote from Ireland.”

The EU Propaganda Minister writing about the Irish referendum says:

Unfortunately she than starts to argue that perhaps her respect is not quite a full as she claims, by repeating the Commission line;

The issues which this Treaty was designed to help resolve have not gone away: In particular, how [...]

The vision of a shared future

Giving the lie to the idea of a two speed EU president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, has told Bild am Sonntag. That “As long as the reform treaty is not in force, there cannot be any new accessions to the EU, perhaps with the exception of Croatia,”
He said that there would have to [...]

A farrago of lies and disinformation.

One could almost feel sorry for the EU apologist’s and fellow travellers, as they struggle to propagate their well rehearsed arguments for ignoring the Irish vote, by painting black to white. Almost! …..but these scumbags inhabit a world of hyperbolic spinning half-truths and inconstancies and had no intention of taking the slightest notice of [...]

Ireland has no wish to stand in the way

The most sickening episode yesterday was the sight of Taoiseach Brian Cowen, telling the assembled press, after the referendum results had been announced, that Ireland had no wish to stand in the way of the EU Treaty.

Cowan had just told the Irish people that he had no intention of allowing their democratic decision to stand [...]

This odious little man

This odious little man clearly has no intention of accepting the results of the Irish referendum, instead he want to re-hash the arguments played out in the run up to the referendum and pretend that somehow that will answer the concerns of the Irish people.
No it will not, they have been presented with your view [...]

France threatens to go ahead without Ireland

The pressure is mounting on the Irish to vote yes! this time it is the French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner who is interfering, claiming that a no vote in Ireland would be ignored and the rest of the EU would go ahead with implementing the treaty anyway whilst Ireland would be expected to put [...]

EU Propaganda of course not!

It is good to see that the EU Commissioner is in no way trying to influence the outcome of the Irish referendum and is not in anyway interfering in a wholly internal matter for the Irish people. Other than her propaganda visit to Ireland to promote the Treaty .

Perhaps therefore it is only desperation following [...]

EU Democracy?

Margot Wallström is worried about democracy: Transparency
Why do we need openness and transparency? Because the right to know is just as important as the right to vote.
With respect Commissioner I would disagree, openness is not as important as voting, it is part of the democratic process but cannot be used to replace voting. You [...]

The EU is still splashing our money about

This time it is 123 million euros to Togo
Concluded in Lome under the 10th European Development Fund, the agreement was signed Friday by EU Commission Head of Delegation Filiberto Sebregondi and Togolese Cooperation, Development and Planning Minister Gilbert Bawara.
46 percent of this money is aimed at boosting the economy through funding infrastructure projects.

Speaking during [...]

Climate Change aids EU Integration

Of course there is no chance that the EU will take the slightest notice of the facts on climate change as reported by Booker this morning. The EU has far too much invested in the industry to allow little things like facts get in its way. The climate change scenario fits extremely well with [...]

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