Reading the Blogs

There has been a lot of angst in the press about the refusal of the government to allow retired Ghurkhas the right to live in this country if they retired before 1997.
EU Referendum is compelled once again to point out the lack of understanding exhibited by the British media and even the leader [...]

A factual error leads to a fallacy

Debate on Quaequam Blog
Which claimed the Constitution was 95% the same as the previous treaties.
A fallacy is, very generally, an error in reasoning. This differs from a factual error, which is simply being wrong about the facts.

I will go into this a bit later, but first I would like to put [...]

Modest Brussels bureaucracy

Looks like Labour Movement for Europe trolls are out today.
This from the Independent
 
Sir: Marc Glendening is talking through his hat in when he mentions the “over-centralised structures of the EU” (Letters, 27 March). The EU can only legislate with the approval of the ministers from its member states in the Council and any [...]

British Parliament Controls EU Legislation Not

Phillip Johnston Home Affairs Editor of the Telegraph has an article in Mondays edition on how measures of constitutional significance are handled in the British Parliament. One might wonder exactly what Mr Johnston has been doing with his time if he has only just realised the impact our membership of the EU and the way [...]

The Gangplank

EUOBSERVER reports 

EU parliament MEPs have reacted furiously to a UK parliament report which questions the right of the European Parliament to make laws on criminal and police matters due to the fact that most of its members are non-British.

Which is not quite the point made by the report but this slight myth is [...]

We are on our way to a European Army

From Eureferendum
At a meeting in Brussels today, Claude-France Arnould, Director of Politico-Military Affairs at the European Council declared that the EU Battle Groups were more a tool for political integration than to attain military objectives.

Dialogue, Debate and Democracy

Margot Wallström informs us on her blog that “The Commission launched an internet discussion last Monday 27th on the future of Europe as part of our “Plan D” which of course stands for Dialogue, Debate and Democracy.” The EU commissioner for Communication / propaganda tells us that she wants to “encourage everyone who [...]

EU Embassy

The EU’s External Action Services/Embassies/Consulates/High Commission/Missions.

In a declaration attached to the Treaty, the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) stated that “as soon as the Treaty ESTABLISHING a CONSTITUTION for Europe (meaning the Union) was signed, the Secretary General of the Council or High Representative for the CFSP, the Commission [...]

The EU ID Cards and an Uninformed? Minister

Mr. John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): Will the Home Secretary confirm that people are right in thinking that this is all part of an EU requirement to prepare for a common system across Europe, and that that is why he is in such a hurry to get rid of our liberties in this respect?

Mr. [...]

The Two Courts

The Two Courts
The European Court of Human Rights ECHR
The European Court of Justice ECJ
Confusingly we have two European courts witch our governments have allowed to hold sway over our domestic national laws. As a point of fact no government should allow any other court to make any laws which our courts must obey, we are [...]

Some negotiation some myth

Governments have been flooded by legal actions from large corporations claiming, often successfully, that differing tax regimes in the EU are unfair. The UK is fighting big claims from Marks & Spencer and Cadbury Schweppes, among others. These claims could cost the British taxpayer billions if the ECJ finds aginst the governments and it looks [...]

To destroy the constitution is an act of treason

An article by Anne Palmer
Although two Countries (France and Holland) have given a resounding NO to a Constitution for the European Union, and the peoples voices were loud and clear in a referendum, it is as if everyone in the Commission and the European Council were deaf because the work to implement certain Articles contained [...]

Parliament Research Paper

The Future of the European Constitution. Parliament Research Paper 05/45 13th June 2005. (47 pages)
Upon reading the above Paper, it becomes obvious it was a great mistake to allow the people a say on this proposed EU Constitution. The people obviously cannot be trusted to come up with the right answer [...]

Second referendum in Netherlands impossible in near future

Taking account of the Dutch peoples’ overwhelming no, the Dutch parliament has decided not to ratify the EU Constitution. The government has withdrawn the bill without waiting for the European Council meeting mid-June. Le Figaro says that this rules out having another referendum on it in the future.

Do we now get a referendum

Two of the main architects of the Constitution John Kerr and Giuliano Amato, Tony Blair the Labour spin machine Kinnock from the House of Lords, even Denis MacShane are all calling for the end of the referendum process. Arguing that the rejection of the constitution by the French and the Dutch means [...]

A COMMON corporation tax

Eurealist :: Main Page: “View Article A COMMON corporation tax
by Eurealist on May 25, 2005 10:55AM (BST)
A COMMON corporation tax could be in place across Europe within three years, the EU Tax Commissioner predicted today. Laszlo Kovacs said those countries that currently opposed such a move, seeing it as an attack on their sovereign [...]

How to safeguard against the Constitution

Lord Owen writing in the Times suggests three ways to limit the damage of the EU Constitution in the event of a yes vote, the three methods he proposes are at the behest of our own government. The opportunity for improvement is presented by the Government’s European Union Bill. Intended to pave the way [...]

They read what they want into any Poll

Bruno Kaufmann President of The Initiative & Referendum Institute – Europe’s Direct Democracy Think Tank
No other country in Europe has received as much financial assistance from EU taxpayers as Spain has since its accession back in 1986.
The Spaniards also said ‘yes’ to a new European Treaty, which in fact weakens the country’s voting right in [...]

Brevity favours the Liars

Brevity favours the Liars
Reading the headline in The Telegraph “How the EU will change your lives”
I expected the article to be a reasonably comprehensive description of the innumerable of ways the EU will affect the people and the government of the United Kingdom. From undermining the power of the Westminster government, and our elected representatives [...]

Direct EU Taxation

Direct EU Taxation.
The FOC “Myth Series” states clearly that “We control tax and social security”
The Government negotiated successfully to keep a national veto over tax proposals. Social Security proposals are subject to an effective veto through a national ‘emergency brake’ mechanism allowing any Member State to refer a proposed law to the European Council (the [...]

How does Citizenship affect the Queen?

The FOC papers Tackling myths about the European Constitutional Treaty or put another way the FOC hoodwinking for Europe
Myth Five: The Constitutional Treaty creates a European superstate
The Queen will remain the Head of State
The President of the European Council will not replace any head of State or Government. He or she will not act as [...]

Does it matter who is telling the truth?

EU Referendum carries a transcript of the John Humphrys interview with Richard Corbett MEP and Neil O’Brien, on the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme this morning. But the following post “That defence question” is the one that is important, in the interview both parties made claims about the status of defence in the proposed constitutional [...]

Tracing the development of the Union power.

How the EU system works against democracy and a member state government.
Declarations and Preambles are important because these are used to extend the power of the Union beyond the treaty agreements.
The European Union Treaty introduces a new and decisive stage in the process of [the] European Union which within a few years will lead to [...]

Corbett II

They complain about inefficiency. So the constitution introduces several new measures to streamline and improve decision-making. It increases the areas in which governments take decisions by qualified majority voting rather than by unanimity – a vital factor if the enlarged Union is to be able to function without being blocked by vetoes, though the veto [...]

Towards Tyranny!

A government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power. The office, authority, or jurisdiction of an absolute ruler
That is the plan, look at the convention proceedings and the resulting totally non-democratic, zero-accountability constitution and there can be no other possible conclusion.
I do not know where that came from but if we care [...]

The EU arrest Warrant

The EU arrest Warrant entered into force in January 2004 in eight EU member states – Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK. However, several other states have been very slow to adopt it.
Perhaps the President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus had a good reason that others are reluctant to give [...]

Just a reminder

Just a reminder
This is an old posting on Euobserver, but could do with being revisited, because it is obvious that some within the Union do not believe in sticking to their international treaties. If sovereign nation states agree an international treaty, they are agreeing to all of it, not only the bits they like. Why [...]

The Two Courts

The Two Courts
The European Court of Human Rights ECHR
The European Court of Justice ECJ
Confusingly we have two European courts witch our governments have allowed to hold sway over our domestic national laws. As a point of fact no government should allow any other court to make any laws which our courts must obey, we are, [...]

The Little Things

EU Referendum
Democracy brings its own rewards
I did like Stephen Robinson’s comments in his op-ed in The Telegraph today. Headed: “If only Britain had the problems that beset American democracy”, he noted that there were: two parties slogging it out over important issues, including the role of the state, appropriate levels of taxation, the national defence [...]

With Fond Memories of Stephen

With Fond Memories of Stephen
When we talk to others or write about the EU and our thoughts do people understand the basics do we loose them when we start to mention MEP, ECJ, CAP, CFP, and any number of acronyms the EU has wrought. Do we need a different language to get our message through [...]

White Paper on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe

Whilst I have been away the Foreign & Commonwealth Office has released the governments “White Paper on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe” with a foreword by the Prime Minister.
Our Tone has
“no hesitation in commending it to the country as a success and as a major step forward in creating the kind of Europe [...]

Four Rebuttals to the EU Fanatics

Four Rebuttals to the EU Fanatics

This piece and the following were based on a speech FIVE REBUTTALS TO THE EU CONSTITUTION FANATICS delivered by Philippe de Villiers, Member of the French National Assembly, and President of the Movement for France (MPF), to the “Rally for a Referendum”, held by the Congress for Democracy on [...]